Coat of arms of Munster

Coat of arms of Munster
Versions
The banner of arms, which serves as provincial flag
ArmigerMunster
ShieldAzure, three antique crowns Or
1651 depiction
Flag flying over James Joyce Tower and Museum

The coat of arms of Munster consists of three gold crowns on a blue field. Similar crowns were included on the arms of Ireland before being superseded by the golden harp in the 16th century.[1]

The meaning of the three crowns is not certain,[2] but one possibility is that they may represent three of the medieval Hiberno-Norman lordships in Munster; the O'Briens (Thomond), the Butlers (Ormond) and the Fitzgeralds (Desmond).[3] Other sources suggest that the arms (dark blue, three antique crowns Or) are derived from the short-lived dukedom of Ireland created for Robert de Vere in 1386.[4] Further sources suggest that the crown motif dates to the earlier Kingdom of Munster, based on a thirteenth-century crozier head which was decorated with a crown on a blue enamel surface and found near the Rock of Cashel, the seat of the Gaelic Irish Kings of Munster.[5]

The crowns are usually depicted as "antique" or "eastern": a gold rim with eight sharp, triangular rays, of which five are seen.[6]

  1. ^ MacLysaght 1949, p. 61: "the 'azure three antique crowns or' of Munster was, without question, regarded as the Arms of Ireland prior to the adoption by Henry VII and Elizabeth of the harp motif".
  2. ^ Munster Rugby website.
  3. ^ Clan Corrigan.
  4. ^ Kennedy 1991, "the arms of the lordship, the three crowns arms within a bordure Argent, were granted to Robert de Vere as an augmentation by Richard II in 1386 [..] Munster’s arms, which appear to have been derived from those of the former lordship (A) above".
  5. ^ National Library of Ireland.
  6. ^ Boutell & Fox-Davies 1914, p. 160.