The Shield of Morelia is the representative emblem of the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán, granted to the city by the Spanish crown during the time of the conquest, at the request of the then Viceroy of Mexico, Antonio de Mendoza.
Its origin and meaning are associated with the foundation of Morelia itself, which occurred on May 18, 1541 in the Guayangareo valley.
The city was originally baptized with the name of Valladolid and later that of Ciudad de Mechoacán.
However, there is a great controversy around the exact date of granting of the Royal Certificate, which granted Morelia the distinction of having its coat of arms.
History of the Shield of Michoacán
It is believed that it was on September 19, 1537 in Zaragoza, when King Carlos V and his mother Queen Juana signed the Royal Decree that grants Morelia its coat of arms. But this date does not coincide with the founding of the city.
For this reason, it is suspected that the date of issue of the document may have been altered due to the conflicts that the city had. And the year 1550 is considered the most probable.
According to heraldry scholars and researchers of the origin of the coat of arms of Morelia, this emblem has had several versions from its granting to the present.
The description of the shield that is made in the Royal Certificate signed by the Spanish kings, reads the following:
Likewise, among the oldest versions of the original shield, the one found in the book Teatro Eclesíastico that was published in Madrid by the chronicler Gil González Dávila in 1649 is cited. The work contains news and illustrations sent from America.
Shield Meaning
Also the meaning of the three kings that appear in the coat of arms of Morelia, has given rise to various interpretations and discussions, since no mention is made of it in the Royal Decree.
On the other hand, Fray Matías de Escobar in his work Americana Thebaida, expresses the following:
According to this interpretation then, the figures of monarchs represented on the shield allude to the family of King Carlos V, or perhaps to the legendary Eastern Wise Men of Christian doctrine, who visited the baby Jesus (the Christ) in Bethlehem.
The chronicler, Fray Pedro Beaumont, agrees with Escobar and maintains that the three figures symbolize the kings Carlos V, his brother Maximiliano, king of Bohemia, and his son Felipe II, under whose shadow the city would be.
This version of the image of the shield collected in 1778, is the most accepted.
But there is a different interpretation made by Father Francisco de Ajofrín, during his visit to the then city of Valladolid –now Morelia- in 1764.
He maintains that:
"The arms that this city uses as a stamp is a shield with three crowned kings, in memory of the three kings who ruled this long province of Mechoacán at the time of its conquest."
But it does not offer a foundation to support it.
References
- Fray Matías de Escobar y Llamas. Americana Thebaida, life of the Augustinian hermit religious (1729) quoted from en.wikipedia.org
- Mendoza Mendoza, Patricia. Morelia a sample of its architecture and its characters. H. Constitutional City Council of the Municipality of Morelia. 2002, Michoacán, Mexico. Recovered from dieumsnh.qfb.umich.mx
- Gabriel Silva Mandujano. The Coat of Arms of Morelia. Municipal Historical Archive of Morelia. Mexico, 2013.
- Melba Maya Guzman. Foundation and Colonial Era. Municipal Historical Archive of Morelia. Recovered from morelia.gob.mx
- Felipe II of Spain. Retrieved on September 19, 2017 from es.wikipedia.org
- Shield of Morelia. Dialogue with reality from the social sciences. (s / f) Recovered from dialogorealidadsocial.blogspot.com