The House of Bourbon

Repubblica Napoletana

Territorial Arms

Province of Naples

SICILY-TRINACRIA

KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES

LITTLE ARMORIAL

The House of Bourbon

Charles IV/VII          

1735-1759

Knight Toison d’Or n°  678, 1723

After 1735 trhe arms of Anjou-Naples are also on the royal arms of the Bourbons.

To end the Spanish War of Succession France, Spain and Sardinia decided in 1733 to grant the Two Sicilies to Charles of Bourbon, Infante of Spain.

Charles defeated Chales VI the next year at Bitonto and the next year he installed himself on both thrones as Charles VII. Austria agreed at the Peace of Vienna in 1738.

Charles of Bourbon bore, as an Infante, the arms of his father. But, as he had been a Grand Duke of Tuscany and Duke of Parma before he captured Naples, he bore also a coat of arms combining the arms of Bourbon and of these territories in a shield tierced per point arched, in the first Spain, in the second Parma and in the third Tuscany-Medici. 

After the Peace of Vienna he combined his arms as an Infante, as a Grand Duke and as a Duke with the arms of Anjou-Naples and Jeruzalem in one shield, making a shield divided in 24 parts with 19 different arms.

It is:

A.: ½ I. 1|2 1. ¼ of Castilia and Leon enté en point of Granada; 2. 1|2 of Aragon and Sicilia-Trinacria; II. ¼ of Austria, Valois, Burgundy and Brabant enté en point of Flanders and Tirol; and a base 1|2 of Anjou-Naples and Jeruzalem; in Fess Point Bourbon. With a dexter flank of Parma: ½. I. 1|3 of Farnese, Austria and bendy Or and Azure for Burgundy; II. 1|3 of Austria, Burgundy as before and Farnese; in fess point Portugal. And a sinister flank the arms of Medici for Tuscany.

Crown: A royal crown with five hoops.

Orders: 1. St. Januarius (Sicilies, 06.07.1738); 2. The Fleece (Burgundy,1429); 3. St. Constantin (Parma,  1697); 4. Holy Spirit (France, 1578)).

Seal of Charles VII on a letter to Pope Clemens XII, 1739. [1]

Cross of the Ordine San Gennaro

The abridged form of these arms shows:

Smaller arms of  the Two Sicilies

(corrupted form:  the lilies of Parma blue, the castle on a red field, the lion purpure on a white field, the lilies of Bourbon on a blue field)

Smaller Arms:  ½ I. 1|2 of Castilia and Leon; 2. Anjou-Naples. In nombril point Bourbon. With a dexter flank of Parma: ½. of Farnese and Portugal. And a sinister flank of the arms of Medici for Tuscany.

Crown: A royal crown with five hoops.

Ferdinand IV

King of the Sicilies 1759-1806

Knight Toison d’Or n°738, 1765

The royal arms as designed by Charles VII remained the royal arms until 1860 when Naples joined the Kingdom of Italy. The number of collars around the shield was augmented from four to six. The arms were laid down for the last time on 21 December 1816. [2]

The smaller arms were maintained, sometimes with the collars of the orders added:

Gold coin with smaller arms and orders, the arms of Portugal omitted and of Jeruzalem added, 1766

Gold coin with smaller arms and orders, 1770

The achievement consisted of the smaller arms supported by two lions, crowned and with the collar of the Order of S. Constantin.  It was different from the achievement used in Sicily-Trinacria, in which the lions were replaced by an eagle. In the 19th century the Neopolitan version with the lions served as a model for the achievement of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 

Achievement of Ferdinand IV

 the tinctures of the arms of  Farnese reversed[3]

Repubblica Napoletana

23.01. - 13.07.1799

In 1798 the army of Napoleon also advanced against Naples. Ferdinand IV took refuge to Sicily. On 24 January 1799 the Parthenopean Republic, also called Repubblica Napolitana was proclaimed. On 13 June 1799 Naples was captured by royalist troops. The republican leaders were executed. Ferdinand IV returned in July of the same year.

In its short existence the republic managed to adopt a national emblem, an emblem of state, a seal and a flag. Also coins were struck dated “In the Seventh Year of Liberty” (i.e. after the proclamation of the French Republic). 

The Republic itself was symbolized by a fasces, the axe tied on the sinister side (symbol of civil rights), its central rod crested with a cap of Liberty.

4 Tornesi coin, Anno Settimo della Libertà (1799).

The emblem of sovereignty consisted of a personification of liberty, symbolizing the sovereignty of the people, depicted as a virgin with a cap of liberty on her head or on a spear in her hand, supporting a fasces.

Silver six Carlini coin, Anno Settimo della Libertà (1799).

The figure of Liberty replaces the head of the king  (symbolized by the snake at her feet).

The emblem of the government consisted of Liberty standing in a landscape symbolizing the territory of the republic (the Vesuvius is seen in the distance) and some other symbols, for example of Commerce, Justice or the army.

Letterhead of Provisional Government of the RN

At the feet of Liberty Prosperity and Justice. The motto meaning: Liberty and Equality.

Letterhead, of the the RN Navy

Letterhead, probably of the RN Army

Letterhead, probably of the Ministry of Commerce of the RN.

The seal showed Liberty standing in a landscape within a legend with the motto LIBERTA EGUAGLIANZA / REPUBLICA NAPOLITANA.

Seal [4]

The flag consisted of three vertical stripes of blue, yellow and red (inscribed with the words REPUBBLICA PARTENOPEA 1799)..

Ferdinand IV

King of the Sicilies 1759-1806

Knight Toison d’Or n°738, 1765

Coin of Ferdinand IV, 1806.

Territorial Arms

In the 12th and 13th century the coat of arms had developed from a simple badge of rank to a family emblem. At the end of the 13th century it became the main element of the personal armorial bearings by adding a crest and the centre of an achievement by adding supporters. The arms themselves, without any decorations, developed into an emblem symbolizing a possession and in particular a well defined territory, inherited, captured or gained by marriage. This parallelled another development in which mandatory symbols like a square cross, a latin cross or a fleur de lys developed into symbols specific for certain political entities by adding other symbols and displaying them on a shield. A very early example of such a devolopment are the fleur de lys arms of France and the arms of Aragon, consisting of a red cross between four moor’s heads.

In the time of the Norman Kings the symbol of Sicily had been a tree, an emblem inspired by the trees of the Phoenicians and Roman Africa, symbolizing the territory.

In the case of Sicily an attempt seems to have been made by Alfonso I to create a coat of arms for all of Sicily consisting of a crowned shield charged with a cross potent. This was probably inspired by the black cross patée on the throne in the Palazzo dei Normanni which symbolized the administrative authority of the Sicilian Kings as vassals of the Holy See. When the Sicilian posessions of Alfonso fell apart after his death, these arms disappeared but the cross potent was maintained on the coins of his successors in Naples. It later became the arms of Calabria, the cradle of the Kingdom of Sicily.

The idea was not followed by Ferdinand II but during his reign territorial arms for all of his possessions appeared, most of them based on their 13th century royal arms. [5]

They are on the Triumphal Arch of his daughter’s father-in-law Maximilian of Habsburg, dated 1515 (printed in 1517). The arms of the Sicilian territories of Ferdinand II on it were as follows:

Arms of the Duchy of Sicily, Sicily Trinacria, Jeruzalem and Naples

On Albrecht Dürer’s Maximilian’s Triumphal Arch, 1515.

The arms are:

1. for Sicilia Citrafarum: Argent, a crowned eagle sable.

2, for Sicilia Ultrafarum: Quarterly in saltire, the cheif and base paly Or and Gules, the dexter and sinister Argent a crowned eagle Sable

3. for Jeruzalem Argent, a cross potent between four sqaure crosses Or

4. for Naples: Quarterly of barry Argent and Gules and paly Or and Gules.

All arms are royally crowned, indicating the political status of the territories

These were also the arms of the Sicilian heritage of Joanna the Mad in 1515.

They appeared in several configurations on the Royal arms of the Neopolitan kings of the House of Habsurg, the arms of the Duchy of Sicily disappearing after 1527.

The four arms of the Sicilian heritage were maintained unchanged until about the election of Charles I as a Roman Emperor in 1519 and his coronation in Aachen 23.10.1520. They are on the Nürnberg medal made by Albrecht Dürer in 1521 to celebrate his coronation. (picture)

Somewhat later the arms of Naples were augmenbted with the arms of Jeruzalem in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Seal of Charles I

Showing his imperial arms between the arms of Naples and the Duchy of Sicily. L.: S. SECTI REGNI SICILIE CITRA FARV

In the time of Philip II the arms quarterly of Naples and the arms with the eagle for the duchy of Sicily had disappeared. Instead an apparently unofficial attempt was made to introduce the arms of the House of Anjou-Naples for the kingdom. This is known from the (not thoroughly unsuspected) armorial of Virgil Solis of 1555, and of the armorial of Martin Schrot  (1581)

Crested arms of Naples by Virgil Solis, 1555

Crowned arms of Naples by Martin Schrot 1581

The idea was also adopted by Blaeu (1640) who (re-)introduced the mermaids in connection with Naples:

And by Valck (1700 ca.) who made the mermaids the supporters of the arms:

On the other hand an attempt was also made to create a coat of arms for the united Sicilian kingdoms. This is on a coin of Charles II dated 1690 and shows:

Arms: ¼: 1. Castile; 2 Leon; 3. Anjou-Durazzo; 4. Sicily-Trinacria. And an escutcheon  pp. of Austria and Jeruzalem.

The arms are royally crowned but as they are territorial arms, they are not surrounded by the Order of the Fleece of which an individual could be a member but not a kingdom.

The Arms of Anjou Durazzo  for Naples must remain unexplained for the time being

Ten years later the personal union between the two kingdoms was broken, only to be restored in 1735.

Province of Naples

For the province of Naples in the time of the 1st Kingdom of the Two Siciles an impaled of two cornucopia for Terra Lavoro and a dolphin for Otranto was introduced in 1806 by law of Joseph Napoleon, and by the same law a black horse unbridled on a golden field.

In the Kingdom of Italy the region of Naples was given a golden horse on a black field  and after WWII an Or and Gules per fess.

Arms proposed in 1910

Ams proposed in 1958

The arms proposed in 1958 are based on the arms of the city of Naples adopted by decree of 13 January 1941.

The present province of Naples has restored the black horse in gold. The decree reads (in italian):

Regno delle Due Sicilie