The Arms of the Romanian Provinces
With the adoption of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania in 1921 – the same coat of arms that forms the basis of the current state emblem – the coats of arms of the provinces of Romania, legally known as ‘sister countries’, were also adopted.
As per the Law for the adoption of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania, now whole with its sister countries from July 29, 1921, the Romanian eagle in the large shield bore on its chest the middle shield with the arms of the Romanian ‘sister countries’, united under the small shield (that of the Ruling House of Hohenzollern).
Emblazonment of the 1921 arms by József Sebestyén de Keöpeczi
The middle shield was thus quartered with an enté en pointe: in the first Wallachia, in the second Moldavia, in the third Banat, in the fourth Transylvania, while the enté en pointe was reserved for Dobruja. The law, however, mentioned these provinces not as ethnographic or historical regions, but as actual Medieval entities. As evident from the excerpt of the 1921 law, the heraldic emblems of the old Principality of Moldavia symbolically incorporate the territories of Bukovina and Bessarabia, which had historically belonged to Moldavia but were subsequently annexed by the Habsburgs in 1774 (Bukovina) and the Romanovs in 1812 (Bessarabia). Similarly, the heraldic symbols of the old Grand Principality of Transylvania encompassed the ethnographic regions of Crisiana and Marmatia, reflecting the historical governance of these regions by the Princes of Transylvania during the Renaissance period.
In the upper right corner, the arms of the old Principality of Wallachia: on a blue field, a golden eagle with a red beak and claws, holding in its beak a gold cross patée, accompanied by a golden sun on the right and a golden crescent on the left.
In the upper left corner, the arms of the old Principality of Moldavia (including Bessarabia and Bukovina): on a red field, a black auroch's head with its mouth closed, accompanied by a golden star (with five rays) between its horns, a golden rose (with five petals) on its right, and a golden crescent on its left.
In the bottom right corner, the arms of the Banat with the old Romanian Banate of Severin (adopted now): on a red field, above natural waves, a golden bridge with two arched openings, constructed from hewn stone (Trajan's Bridge), from which emerges a golden lion.
In the bottom left corner, the arms of the old Grand Principality of Transylvania (including the regions of Crisiana and Marmatia): divided into blue and gold by a narrow red stripe, from which emerges a black eagle with a golden beak, accompanied by a golden sun on the right and a silver crescent on the left; below, seven red towers, arranged four and three, each with two rows of battlements (three on top, four on the bottom) and two windows, with closed gates.
In the enté en pointe, the arms of Dobruja: on a blue field, two golden dolphins facing each other, with their tails raised upwards.
The arms of the Romanian provinces as painted by Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck in the Throne Room of the Royal Palace in Bucharest (now the National Museum of Art)
As one can observe in the collage above, the arrangement of the provincial arms in the middle shield of Romania can also be interpreted as a nod to Romania’s three unification. The upper part of the shield (quarters I and II – Wallachia and Moldavia) symbolize the Union of the Principalities of 1859, when both countries united under the rule of Prince Alexander John I. The arms of Dobruja in the enté en pointe symbolize the less important (as seen back then) union of Dobruja with Romania in 1878, after the Romanian War of Independence. The bottom part of the shield (quarters III and IV – Banat and Transylvania) are together because this is a nod to the Great Union of 1918, when these regions, formerly part of Austria-Hungary, voted to unite with Romania after World War I (known in Romanian historiography as the Romanian War of Unification).
In the case of Wallachia and Moldavia, the principalities that constituted the foundation of modern Romania, the heraldic conundrum was readily resolved, given the pre-existing utilization of their historical emblems. Conversely, for Banat, a new coat of arms was devised, echoing the heraldic symbols of Transylvania, which were already established. Consequently, the arms of Banat were depicted with an animal charge (the Cuman lion) and an architectural charge (the Bridge of Trajan over the Danube), akin to the composition of Transylvania's arms featuring an eagle as an animal charge and citadel towers as an architectural motif. The coat of arms of Dobruja remained unchanged from its pre-Unification War iteration, albeit repositioned in an entée en pointe configuration for aesthetic enhancement.
