COAT OF ARMS The
history of the state coat of arms begins with the Crnojevics dynasty in 15th century.
Their family arms - golden crowned two-headed eagle on the red background - laid the
foundation of the Montenegrin state heraldry: the two-headed eagle became the standard
symbol of the state. After gaining the power, the Petrovic-Njegos dynasty took the golden
two-headed eagle as the state symbol. Vladika Danilo charged on its breast the
Great Arms of the Petrovic-Njegos family (shield, crown, mantling), while his successor
vladika Sava made major changes to the coat of arms: removed the family Great Arms from
the eagle's breast, and added the scepter and saru ("the imperial egg")
in its claws. He also added another symbol retained until present day - the golden lion
passant - below the golden eagle. 
With Petar I, further rearrangement of the coat of arms took place: from the eagle he
removed the royal insignia and charged on the eagle's breast the Middle Arms of the
Petrovic-Njegoss (the shield with the crown) while leaving the lion passant.
Prince Danilo also reorganized the Coat of
Arms: he charged on the golden eagle's breast the shield where on the blue background the
golden lion passant was on green ground. In one claw the eagle held the saru, and
in the other a sword and the scepter.
In the time of prince then king Nikola, the sword was
removed and later, in conformity with the Constitution of 1905, the color of the eagle was
changed from golden to silver as well as the of the background of the shield with the lion
- to red instead of blue. 
The Constitution of 1993 maintained "the
tradition" of king Nikola: the adopted Coat of Arms was a crowned silver eagle with
the sara in one and the scepter in the other claw, and charged on its breast was a
red shield with the lion passant.
FLAG
Flags as the state symbols were introduced only in the
time of Petar II Petrovic-Njegos.  Before him,
the principal Montenegrin flag had been the alaj-barjak (regimental colors) with a
single symbol on it - the cross (krst).  The Montenegrins gathered around krstas either at meetings or before
battles. The first written description of the Montenegrin flag dates from the time of
Scepan Mali (the Imposter): white, with a red frame and a golden cross on top of the
spear. The next comes form 1838: pale-yellow with the small red cross, and in 1876 the
flag was described as being red with the white cross. In the time of Prince Danilo, the
cross on the alaj-barjak was replaced by the two-headed eagle with the initials DI
(Danilo I) on its breast, with the lion passant underneath.  Prince/King Nikola made many different flags in his
time. The first of the variations was the same as Danilo's, differing only in the initials
- NI (Nikola I). Around 1910, two new variants appeared: one tricolor (red, blue and
white) with the two-headed eagle bearing 
the initials NI on its breast and the lion
passant on the sinister, the other with the two-headed eagle above the initials NI.
The state flag proclaimed in 1993 is the
tricolor - red, light blue and white.
|
