Coat o airms o Albanie

The coat o airms o Albanie is an adaptation o the banner o Albanie. It is based on the seal o Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg. The emblem abuin the heid o the twa-heidit eagle is the helmet o Skanderbeg, surmountit wi billy goats' horns.

The emblem haes dimensions of 1:1.5. It is sometimes considered tae violate the rule o tincture, acause in Inglis an French heraldry, sable (black) is considered a colour, whereas elsewhaur it is aften considered a fur.

[edit] Significance o the helmet

Skanderbeg's helmet is made o white metal, adorned wi a strip dressed in gold. On its top lies the heid o a horned goat made o bronze, an aa dressed in gold. The bottom pairt bears a copper strip adorned wi a monogram separatit bi rosettes * IN * PE * RA * TO * RE BT *, which means: Jhezus Nazarenus * Principi Emathie * Regi Albaniae * Terrori Osmanorum * Regi Epirotarum * Benedictat Te (Jesus Nazarene Blesses Thee [Skanderbeg], Prince o Mat, Keeng o Albanie, Terror o the Ottomans, Keeng o Epirus). It is thought that the copper strip wi the monogram is the wirk o the descendants o Skanderbeg an wis placed there bi them, as Skanderbeg niver held ony ither title but “Lord o Albanie” (Dominus Albaniae) Thus the inscriptions on the helmet mey refer tae the unsettled name bi which Albanie wis kent at the time, as a means tae identify Skanderbeg's leadership ower aw Albanians athort regional denominative identifications. Contemporary sources show that 14t century Albanians wur invariably identified as a tribal fowks, wi nae state o their awn. Thus, dependin on whaur they lived - North or Sooth, in the plains or in the muntains, an tae which ceevilization they subscribed tae - we hae Turkish Arnaut, Greek Arbanas, Albanian Arber, Arben, Arberesh, Epirotas.^[1]

Accordin tae a report bi historian Shefqet Pllana, Sami Frasheri in his Kamus-al-Alam maintains that the wirdin "Dhu lKarnejn" (awner o the twa horns) wis an appellative attributit tae Alexander the Great o Macedon, the vera name which Skanderbeg bore in the Islamic form. This seicont explanation mey be the truer, syne the theory o the Macedonian-Albanian an Epirot-Albanian continuance is strang no anerlie amang Albanians but amang aw the fowk o Europe. This opinion agrees wi the wirk o Marin Barleti who writes: “When the fowk saw aw those young an brave men aroond Skanderbeg, then it wis no haurd tae believe that the airmies o [Sultan] Murat wur so defeatit bi the Albanians. Indeed, the times when the starn o Macedon shone brilliantly haed returned, just as they seemed in those lang forgotten times o Pyrrhus an Alexander."