Celtic cross from Kirk Andrew on the Isle of Man

The arms of Man are: Gules charged with a figure of three legs in armour flexed at the knee, conjoined at the thigh all proper garnished and spurred Or

The arms date from the time of the Scottish Kings on Man. tsTheir oldest representation can be found in Wijnbergen Armory from the middle of the 13th century. It is also described in Walford’s Roll from about 1269.

The arms were also used by the kings from the House of Bruce. Aftyer him the arms are uniterruptedly used by the Lords of Man from the House of Srtanley (1406-1736) and Murray (1736-1765) and thereafter by the Kings of Great Britain from the House of Hannover and Windsor.

All this time the arms were displayed in its original simple from but by the Lords from the Houses of Stranley and Murray the arms became a part of their personal arms. In the time of the rulers from the Houses of Hannovewr and Windsor the arms were alsways used in their original form, the royal arms not augmented with the arms of Man.

KINGS AND ARMS OF MAN

NORSE RULE

Ragnald III of the Isle of Man

Godfred V of the Isle of Man

Ragnald IV of the Isle of Man

 Olaf II of the Isle of Man

Harald of the Isle of Man 

Ragnald V of the Isle of Man

Paid homage to king Henry II of England in 1187

Ivarr of the Isle of Man

Magnus III of the Isle of Man

Magnus VI,

1164

1164

1164-1187

1187-1229

1229-1237

1237-1248

1248-1250

1250-1252

1252-1265

King of Norway, sold the suzerainty of the Island tot king Alexander III of Scotland in 1266

SCOTTISH RULE

Alexander III of Scotland

King 1266-1286

Arms of Man as in the Wijnbergen Roll.

During the reign of Alexander III, the coat of arms of Man appears in a the Wijnbergen Roll of Arms, now in the Netherlands:

~1269 ca Wijnbergen n° 1277: le.Roi de men.: Gules, a triquetra in armour,with golden spurs proper.[1]

1273 Walfords Roll (1273) C 17: Le Roy de Man, Gulez a trois jambes armes argent.

NORSE RULE

Godfred Magnuson of the Isle of Man

1275

SCOTTISH RULE 1275-1290

1280 Camden Roll: D17: Le rey de Man, l’escu de gules a treis jambes armez. [2]

ENGLISH RULE 1290-1293

SCOTTISH RULE 1293-1296

ENGLISH RULE 1296-1313

Pillar Cross with the arms of Man

(Maughold Parish Cross)

At one time every parish church had a cross near its churchyard gate or stile, sadly this is the only one remaining. Made of St Bee’s sandstone this cross dates from around 1300 AD. The four sided pillar displays different sets of images. The three legs of Man arms is the oldest stone carved example of this arms on the Island. This pillar cross once stood outside the gates of the church, but in 1937 was moved inside the church gates and in 1989 inside the church itself to protect the decaying carvings.

Æ Internet: Maughold Parish Cross

SCOTTISH RULE 1313

1365 ca A.: Gules a triquetra in armour Argent. C.: A crown Gules and a leg of the arms. Armorial de Gelre (Brussels): fol. 64 n° 687 “The King of Scotland and his vassals”.L.: Kyc da Man.

As the arms are on the page with the arms of the King of Scotland, these arms of Man with the crest consequently are from the (short) time of Scottish rule (1293-’96, 1313).

DISPUTED RULE 1313-1333

ENGLISH RULE 1333

From this time there is a difference between the arms of the realm of the Isle of Man and the arms of the ruler of Man

William Montacute

1st Earl of Salisbury 1333-1344

Het wapen van Willem van Montagu, (*1301-†1344), 1e Earl van Salisbury was zilver met een balk van drie rode ruiten (Fox-Davies fig 211-212; Wag­ner, A. op.cit. no 34)

William Montacute

2nd Earl of Salisbury 1344-1392

Arms: ¼: 1&4: Argent three fusils Gules (Montagu); 2&3: Empty.

Crest: A golden crown and a griffins’ head between a pair of wings Argent.

Legend.: Die Grave v. Saelsbrye. (Gelre fol. 56 v°  n°  564: (le 2e quartier est de Man (ici 687) Adam Even))

Tomb of John Montacute in Salisbury Cathedral:

Arms: 1 (at his feet): Three fusils. (Montacute)

Arms: 2 (above his head): ¼: 1&4: Man; 2&3: Montacute.

Explicatory note near the tomb:: Sir John de Montacute. Warrior & Lord of Parliament he was the second son of the Earl of Salisbury and King of the Isle of Man. He fought at Crécy and died in 1390.

William Le Scrope of the Isle of Man Earl of Wilts

1392-1399

Seal of William le Scrope as a King of Man

Arms: Man with a label of three

Legend: [..] illum will [...] esiropp d[.........] manne et insularu [...]

Arms:  ¼: 1&4:  Gules a triquetra Argent and a label of three Argent; 2&3: Azure a bend Or and a label of three Gules. (Enc.Britt. ibid. Fox-Davies, fig. 847)

Henry Percy of the Isle of Man

1399-1405

John I Stanley of the Isle of Man

1405-1414

John II Stanley of the Isle of Man

1414-1437

Arms: Gules a triquetra Argent, spurred Or.

1417 1. Richental fol. 136 n  6.

Thomas I Stanley of the Isle of Man

1437-1459

1440 2. de gu a 3 housettes a mailles d’arg., les genoux d’or, en pairle. C.: une houette renversée genouilliere d’or, eperon de sa., cour. de gu., cap. d’arg. L.: kar caiman. (Bergshammer n° 2079).

In the Armorial de l’Europe et de la Toison d’Or the arms of Thomas I Stanley are represented on fol 80v.

“Le S de Stenteles”.

The arms are:

Arms: ¼: 1&4: Man; 2&3: Stanley: per fess indented of three points Azure and Or,  each point crested with a ball Argent

the armes of the Ile of Man, 15t century [4]

Thomas II Stanley of the Isle of Man

1459-1504

Stallplate of Thomas Stanley as a knight of the Garter

From: Plate LXXXVI from W H St John Hope: The Stall Plates of the Knights of the Garter 1348-1485

?John Duke of Albany

*1484- 1536

Son of  Alexander:

Arms: ¼ : 1. Scotland, 2: Albany: Gules a lion argent langued Azure within a bordure Argent charged with eight roundels Gules; 3. Man; 4. Bruce (Louda, Tab. 14 en mogelijk Burke’s)

Thomas III Stanley

1504-1521

Earl of Derby 1485

Constable of Engeland 1486

Arms: Argent, on a bend azure three stags’ heads cabossed or. Crest – On a chapeau gules turned up ermine an eagle, wings extended or, preying on an infant in its cradle proper swaddled gules the cradle laced gold. Supporters – Dexter, a griffin wings elevated; sinister a stag; each or, and ducally collared with line reflexed over the back azure. Motto: Sans changer.

The crest is the crest of the Latham family (co. Lancaster).

In a report of the College of Arms made when visiting Lancaster, it is related that once a child was found in an eagle’s nest on the etstates which was adopted by one of the Lathams

Thomas quartered of Latham and Stanley (Fox-Davies fig. 359). But:

The arms of  Thomas III as a Lord of Man

from Buccleuch Ms. Wrythe Garter Book: fol. 80 [5]

The arms are

Arms: ¼ I & IV: ¼ 1&4: Latham; 2: Stanley; 3: Warren: chequy of 16 pieces Or and Azure. II en III: Man.

Crest: Latham, without chapeau but with lambrequines Gules, lined ermine and tasseled Or.

Edward Stanley

1521-1572

Arms, tabbard and banner of Edward Stanley.

From a drawing of his catafalque and his heraldic display in ‘Vincent’s Precedents’.

(Coll. of Arms, Vincent 151, p. 366.)

2nd son of Thomas: Ar. on a bend Az, three stags’ heads cabossed or, a crescent for diff., quartering, 1st Latham (= Stanley), 2nd. Warren; 3rd Man. Crest same as the Earl of Derby

Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
MS.Rawl. b.39, p.9

Der Kunig mant leyt in Englant

From: Sammelband mehrere Wappenbücher BSB Cod. icon. 391 fol. 12 (~ 1530) [6]

Henry Stanley

1572-1593

Arms:  1/4: I: 1/4: 1 & 4 Stanley; 2 & 3 Lathom; II & III: Man; IV: 1/4: 1 & 4: Strange; 2 & 3: Wydeville. H.: Rivers (?) (Fox-Davies fig. 929)

Ferdinando Stanley,

1593-1594

To the Crown 1594 – 1610

Vacant due to succession dispute – reverted to English Crown 1594 – 1607

Henry Howard

1607 – 1608

Robert Cecil

1608 – 1609

William I Stanley

*1561-†1642

1609-1612 (confirmed 1610)

Crowned arms on a bookplate of William I Stanley, 1609

Here the motto: “quocunque Ieceris stabit” (whithersoever you throw it, it will stand) appears for the first time

Elizabeth Stanley

1612 – 1627

James I Stanley(“the Great Stanley”)

1627 – 1651

Thomas Fairfax

appointed 1651 – 1660

Charles Stanley

1660 – 1672

In the time of Charles (1668) silver coins were minted on which the motto: “quocunque jeceris stabit” (whithersoever you throw it, it will stand) appears. (Enc. Britt. ibid. “Jeceris being misspelled as gesseris”).

William II Stanley

1672-1702

James II Stanley

1702-1736

Half penny, 1733

Stanley motto and crest,  on the reverse the triquetra and the motto

James II Murray

1736-1764

Arms: ¼: 1. Azure three mullets and a tressure Or (Murray); 2. Man; 3. ¼ 1&4: Argent, on a bend azure three stags’ heads cabossed Or (Stanley); 2&3: Gules, two lions passant Argent (Strange); 4. ¼ 1&3: Or, a fesse chequy (4x3) Azure and Argent (Steward); 2&3: Paly of 6 Or and Sable (Atholl).

Crown: The crown of a Duke

Crest: A naked man issuantjn his dexter a dagger, in his sinister a key

Supporters: D.: A Lion S. A Savage, his feet fettered.

Motto:  furth. fortune. and fill. the fetters.

Crowned arms of James II Murray

On a map of the Island, 1833

John III Murray

*1729-†1774

in right of his wife, Charlotte 1764-1765

Photo H.d.V. 2002

Arms of John Murray

above the gate of Dunkeld House, where he committed suicide

Arms: ¼: I.: 1|2 1. Azure three mullets and a tressure Or (Murray); 2. Or, a fesse chequy (4x3) Azure and Argent (Steward); II. 1|2: 1.Paly of 6 Or and Sable (Atholl); 2. Argent, on a bend azure three stags’ heads cabossed Or (Stanley); III. 1|2: 1. Per fess indented in chief Azure, three balls Argent and a base Or. (Lathom); 2. Man; IV. 1|2: 1. Gules, two lions passant Argent (Strange); 2.: Azure three mullets and a tressure Or (Murray).

Crown: The crown of a Duke

Supporters: D.: A Lion S. A Savage, his feet fettered.

Motto:  furth. fortune. and fill. the fetters.

The arms of Man were also borne by his nephew John Murray, 4^th earl Dunmore (1730-1809), successor to Lord Botecourt as Governor of Virginia. He had taken his oath of office before the council of Virginia, 25 sept. 1771.

Arms: ¼: 1&4: Azure three mullets and a tressure Or (Murray); 2&3: ¼ 1&4 Or, a fesse chequy (4x3) Azure and Argent (Steward); 2&3: Paly of 6 Or and Sable (Atholl). In fess point: Man.

Crest: The crown of a count.

Supporters: D.: A negro slave shackled; S.: A lion.

Motto: furth . fortune 

In 1765, Charlotte Murray, 8th Baroness Strange sold the sovereignty of the island to the British government for £70,000 and the reigning Monarch of the United Kingdom became the Lord of Man.

George III

as Lord of Man, 1760-1820

as King of Great Britain 1765-1820

George IV

1820-1830

William IV

1830-1837

Victoria

1837-1901

Edward VII

1901-1910

George V

1910-1936

A.: Gules, a triquetra in armoury Argent, spurred Or.

M.: Quocunque Jeceris Stabit.

Edward VIII

1936

George VI

1936-1952

Elizabeth I

1952-present

Heir Apparent: Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales

New Constitution, 1965.

1 sovereign, gold

ACHIEVEMENT

Original picture of the Manx Coat of Arms

as displayed in the Royal Chapel at St. Johns – (next to Tynwald Hill)

Adopted 12 July 1996

The Coat of Arms of the Isle of Man (more correctly referred to as the Arms of Her Majesty in right of the Isle of Man) were granted by Her Majesty by Royal Warrant dated 12th July 1996. The Arms are an augmented version of the traditional arms which comprise the Three Legs conjoined on a red shield surmounted by a Crown and with the motto Quocunque Jeceris Stabit underneath. In heraldic terms the Arms are described:

“for the Arms: Gules a Triskele Argent garnished and spurred Or And for the Crest ensigning the Shield of Arms An Imperial Crown proper and for the Supporters Dexter a Peregrine Falcon and sinister a Raven both proper together with this Motto Quocunque Jeceris Stabit.”

In 1405, King Henry IV gave the Isle of Man with all its rights to Sir John Stanley on condition that he paid homage and gave two Peregrine falcons to him and to every future King of England on his Coronation Day. Sir John’s descendants ruled as Kings or Lords of Mann for 360 years until George III assumed the Lordship, while the presentation of two falcons continued up to the Coronation of George IV in 1822.

The Raven is a bird of legend and superstition and there are a number of places on the Island which include Raven in their names. The Island has a strong Viking element in its history and Odin, the Norse God, was, according to mythology, accompanied by two Ravens. During the Millennium Year of 1979, a replica of a Viking longship was sailed from Norway to the Isle of Man by a mixed Norwegian and Manx crew. The longship, which is now preserved on the Island, is called “Odin’s Raven”.

The Peregrine Falcon

The Supporters assigned to the Arms were chosen because of their historic significance. In 1405, King Henry IV gave the Isle of Man with all its rights to Sir John Stanley on condition that he paid homage and gave two falcons to him and to every future King of England on his Coronation Day. Sir John’s descendants ruled as Kings or Lords of Mann for 360 years until George III assumed the Lordship, while the presentation of two falcons continued up to the Coronation of George IV in 1822.

The Raven

The Supporters assigned to the Arms were chosen because of their historic significance. The Raven is a bird of legend and superstition and there are a number of places on the Island which include Raven in their names. The Island has a strong Viking element in its history and Odin, the Norse God, was, according to mythology, accompanied by two Ravens. During the Millennium Year of 1979, a replica of a Viking longship was sailed from Norway to the Isle of Man by a mixed Norwegian and Manx crew. The longship, which is now preserved on the Island, is called “Odin’s Raven”.

Motto

The motto “Quocunque Jeceris Stabit”, which translates literally as “whithersoever you throw it, it will stand”, continues to feature on the Coat of Arms. This motto has been associated with the Isle of Man since about 1300. It was, reportedly, in use before this date by the MacLeods of Lewis as ancient Lords of the Isles of Scotland which, after 1266, included the Isle of Man. [7]

Flag

The Three Legs of Man:

The three legs symbol seems to have been adopted in the Thirteenth Century as the armorial bearings of the native kings of the Isle of Man, whose dominion also included the Hebrides – the Western Isles of Scotland.

After 1266, when the native dynasty ended and control of the Island passed briefly to the Crown of Scotland and then permanently to the English Crown, the emblem was retained, and among the earliest surviving representations are those of the Manx Sword of State, thought to have been made in the year 1300 AD. The Three Legs also appeared on the Manx coinage of the seventeenth-nineteenth centuries, and are still in everyday use in the Manx Flag.

Why the Three Legs were adopted as the royal arms of the Manx kingdom is unknown. It was originally a symbol of the Sun, the seat of Power and Life. In ancient times the emblem was particularly connected with the island of Sicily (probably because of its triangular outline) but the Sicilian “Legs” were always naked and generally displayed Medusa’s head at the central point.

A rather similar device was popular amongst the Celts and Norsemen in NW Europe, and in view of this it has been suggested that the Manx Three Legs were a heraldic modification of a native badge or emblem. Support for this theory may be seen in the appearance of the ‘triskele’, or simplified “Three Legs” emblem, on coins of the tenth century Norse King, Anlaf Cuaran, whose dominion included Dublin and the Isle of Man; and it is probable that the later Manx Kings were a branch of the same dynasty.

All the early examples of the Manx “Legs” show them as if running sunwise (i.e. clockwise) and to that extent the heraldic symbol of the Island still retained an essential feature of the ancient pagan sun-symbol. Although sometimes drawn anti-clockwise, that is singularly inappropriate.

From: http://www.gov.im/isleofman/facts.xml

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