The Coat of Arms of the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon) was designed by Antonio de Nebrija with elements to show them working in tandem. It also saw the introduction of the Eagle of St. John as the single supporter which was chosen by Isabella alluding to her great devotion to the evangelist that predated her accession to the throne.
John the Evangelist, the author of the fourth Gospel of the New Testament, is symbolized by an eagle, often with a halo as is seen here, and which may have originally been seen as the king of the birds.
Ferdinand also appears to have favoured either Lions or Griffins. (The Griffins - allegedly 1513-1516 - predate the Habsburg reign in Spain and also use in Austria, but also appear to have been introduced after Isabella's death.) Evidence of doors lintels in the Aljafería Palace, Zaragoza show both sets of his Supporters. Zaragosa is in Aragon which is the inheritance that Ferdinand brought to the partnership and so his Supporters may have taken precedence in that Kingdom.
This changed, to a certain extent, in 1700 with the accession of King Philip V.
King Charles II was the last Habsburg ruler of Spain. He suffered ill health, not least the 'Habsburg jaw' which affected his eating and speech, all of which have been blamed on politically motivated intermarriage among Habsburgs and the dynasty's virtually unparalleled degree of inbreeding. Despite two marriages, he remained childless and Charles designated his maternal half-great-nephew, Philip of Anjou, as his heir. Charles's half-sister Maria Theresa (Not THAT Maria Theresa, though) had married Phiilp's grandfather, King Louis XIV of France. Philip was the second son of Louis, Grand Dauphin. Since neither the Grand Dauphin nor his eldest son, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, could be displaced from the succession to the French throne, it was Philip who ascended the Spanish throne at the age of 16 in 1700 and established the Spanish House of Bourbon.
Philip added, amongst other things, two Bourbon Angels as Supporters, dressed in Tabards and carrying Banners both of the Spanish Coat of Arms. This was a period of great ornamentation and saw the first use of the Pillars of Hercules. These had been used as ornamentation or a Badge, firstly by King Charles I, just like the Burgundian ragged Cross and the Yoke and Arrows of Isabella and Ferdinand. The Pillars represent the Strait of Gibraltar, one myth stating that Hercules smashed through Atlanta, thus forming the two Pillars and connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. They accompanied the Supporters and would go on to be favoured more by the Spanish Republics.
The Pillars of Hercules are blazonned as follows: Two Columns argent with Capital and Base or, standing on five Waves azure and argent, surmounted dexter by an Imperial Crown and sinister the Spanish Royal Crown, the Columns surrounded by a Ribbon gules charged with the Motto 'Plus Ultra' written or Originally a badge of Spain's sixteenth century king Charles I, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V, the Pillars of Hercules were the idea of the Italian humanist Luigi Marliano. They bear the motto Plus Ultra, Latin for 'Further beyond', implying that the Pillars were a gateway. This was derived from the phrase Nec plus ultra, 'Nothing more beyond' which was modified after the discovery of the Americas and laid to rest the idea of the Pillars of Hercules as the westernmost extremity of the inhabitable world which had prevailed since Antiquity. The fact that Charles I/V was both King and Emperor probably explains the two styles of Crown on top of each Pillar. The Bourbon kings took the Pillars up as additional Supporters and, as mentioned, they would become synonymous with the republics (in spite of the Crowns). |
The Spanish Revolution of 1868 deposed Queen Isabella II and while a new monarch was sought, a provisional government and regency, headed by Francisco Serrano y Domínguez from 8th October 1868 until 2nd January 1871, was established. Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, second son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy, was elected by the Cortes (Spain's Parliament) as Spain's monarch in 1870 and was sworn in the following year. Fraught with growing republicanism, Amadeo's reign was cut short when he abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873. The First Spanish Republic was declared as a result. There was little use of his Arms. The House of Savoy in Italy seemed to favour reguardant golden Lions as Supporters if any were used. But in Spain, Amadeus used guardant Lions in proper, i.e. natural, colouring, |
When Prince Henri, Count of Chambord, the last legitimate descendant in the senior male line of Louis XV of France, died in 1883, Alfonso XII, as he had become, became the senior male representative of the French royal dynasty and thus felt a right to bear the French Arms without the Anjou Border for difference. He also took on the Royal Arms of King Charles III of Spain, reinstating the Angels as Supporters, for his personal Royal Arms and leaving the the proper Lions and the Pillars of Hercules as the Supporters for the country.
In 1931 Alfonso XIII, son of Alfonso XII, did away with the distinction between state and personal arms by combining the two, but retaining the Angels. This was short-live again as Alfonso XIII left the country that same year and the Second Republic was proclaimed. The Pillars of Hercules were again taken as the Supporters of the much simplified Republican Coat of Arms until the rule of Franco when the single Eagle of St John was reintroduced.
Franco designated Prince Juan Carlos, the grandson of King Alfonso XIII, as his successor and, with Franco's death in 1975 and the restoration of the Monarchy (called the Transition to Democracy in Spain) he became King. The Spanish Royal Coat of Arms no longer has Supporters of any kind, while the country retains the Pillars of Hercules. It could be argued that King Juan Carlos used the ragged Burgundian Cross as a Supporter but even this was dropped by his son and successor, King Felipe (Philip) VI.