3 Lions

[druiaghtagh]

What is the meaning Heraldic or otherwise behind the 3 lions on England badge please?

[quattro]

There was a programme on a couple of weeks ago about the crusades and Terry Jones claimed that the three lions were Richard the Lionheart's coat of arms and they had remained the English symbol since then .

[jjf2003]

Lions in mediaeval times were associated with Christianity, representing justice and righteous power (King of the animals / Christ the King, etc) and many royals had a lion or two on their coats of arms Richard I (lionheart) had two gold lions on a red background but paintings of the time show three because he had three on his Royal Seal. After that it became the Royal Standard of England, to be used by all English Royals.

[sft42]

3 = more than one = many = bunch of

Lions = felines = cats = pussies

Q.E.D. English = bunch of pussies

[the_brainbox]

well 3 lions are ment to be the protecters, king henry 3 had lions on his coat of arms and so on since, so the 3 lions on the shirt is just a coat of arms

[gmc2002]

There are quite afew theories as to where they come from, here is a good one... In the arms of England there are three "lions rampant", that is, walking and showing the full face. The first lion is that of Rollo, Duke of Normandy. The second is that of Maine, a country that had been annexed to Normandy. Those two lions were borne by William the Conqueror and his descendants. The third lion on the arms of England was added by Henry II to represent the Duchy of Aquitaine, for his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine. The arms appear in the 1st and 4th quadrants of the British Royal Standard http://www.martin.romano.org/ps05/ps05_430.htm

[Garriq]

The three lions could well represent the different territories ruled or claimed by the Kings of England. Certainly, before Henry Plantagenet only two were used. As he kept his wife Eleanor under house arrest for 15 years, and she encouraged rebellion against him, the third lion would have been more likely to represent the place she came from (Aquitaine) rather than her. However, the lion used in Scotland's coat of arms is rampant. England has "gules 3 lions passant guardant in pale or" ' a red background with three gold lions one above the other, the lions are standing with, three paws on the ground, one raised high. After many changes, the shield of the UK's coat of arms (and thus the Royal Standard) has been unchanged since 1837, so outside Scotland the three lions appear in the first and fourth quarters of the coat of arms, and Scotland in the second. Within Scotland the red lion of Scotland has precedence in 1st and 4th quarters, and England is only in the 2nd quarter.