Three crowns

In 1539, Olaf Magnus noted that the Three Crowns is a historical symbol of the Svei state, and Leo Volkung is a symbol of the Getae state. A little later, Junas Petri Clint explained it as a symbol of Sweden's three main wealth: mountains, forests and water. Johannes Schefferus suggested that the three crowns symbolize the three Scandinavian pagan gods: Thor , Odin and Frey : this point of view becomes very popular among Gothicists in the XVII and XVIII centuries . At the end of the 19th century, historians of the Hildebrandt brothers suggested that the Three crowns were the Swedish version of the coat of arms of Albrecht of Mecklenburg ^[2] . During the time of the Kalmar Union, Three crowns were also present on the coat of arms of Queen Margarita . In the 1980s , French historians found evidence that the Three Crowns were used as a symbol of Sweden back in the 1330s by King Magnus Erickson : the coat of arms of the Three Crowns is included in the painted frieze at the Papal Palace in Avignon . On this frieze are the coats of arms of all cardinals and states that in 1336 participated in the plans of the Crusade ^[3] .

However, the coat of arms with three crowns has been used before. In the XIII century, they appeared on the coat of arms of Cologne as a symbol of the Three Holy Kings , whose relics were transferred to Cologne from Milan in 1164 by Frederick Barbarossa ^[4] . In medieval tradition, Three crowns were considered the emblem of the legendary King Arthur . Since 1294, this coat of arms was also used by the Cracow bishop Jan Muscat , after which it became the coat of arms of the entire Cracow bishopric , and in the 15th century also the coat of arms of the Vilnius Chapter ^[4] .

Since 1938, Three crowns are also present on the sports uniform of the Swedish National Ice Hockey Team ^[5] . Since 1982, the use of the Three Crowns as a symbol of Sweden has been protected by law ^[6] .

• Lower part of the historical coat of arms of Galicia ;
• Coat of arms of the Irish province of Munster (formerly part of the coat of arms of Ireland before World War II);
• Coat of arms of the University of Oxford (in combination with a book);
• Coat of arms of the French island of Saint Barthelemy , which since the end of the 18th century has been a Swedish colony for more than a hundred years;
• The coat of arms of the city ​​of Vyborg , which from the end of the 13th century until the Nishtadt Peace of 1721 , concluded at the end of the Northern War and securing Vyborg for Russia, was Swedish.

• Swedish heraldry
• Coat of arms of Sweden

• Lilla Uppslagsboken , Förlagshuset Norden AB, Nordens boktryckeri, Malmö 1974 .
• Nordisk familjebok ( 1916 års upplaga) på nätet (Projekt Runeberg), http://runeberg.org
• Ny svensk vapenbok , av Clara Nevéus (text) och Bror Jacques de Wærn (illustrationer), Streiffert & Co Bokförlag HB i samarbete med
• Den svenska historien (del 2 av totalt 15 band), huvudförfattare: professor Sten Carlsson och professor Jerker Rosén, Bonniers ISBN 91-0-042663-6
• Riksarkivet , Stockholm 1992 . Originalframställning med färgseparering gjord i samarbete med Skapa Publishing AB, tryckt och bunden av Butler & Tanner Ltd, England. ISBN 91-7886-092-X