The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric TimesWilson, Thomas
Religion
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times
Wilson, Thomas
Industries, Primitive; Swastikas; Symbolism
Among hundreds of patterns of the Swastika belonging to both hemispheres
and to all ages, none of them have sought to represent anything else than
just what they appear to be, plain marks or lines. There is no likeness
between the plain lines of the Swastika and the bent form of the human
leg, with the foot turned outward, incased in chain armor and armed with
spurs.
Whenever or however the triskelion occurred, by whom it was invented, what
it represented, how it comes to have been perpetuated, is all lost in
antiquity and may never be known; but there does not seem to be any reason
for believing it to have been an evolution from the Swastika.
_Triskelion, Isle of Man._--The triskelion of Sicily is also the armorial
emblem of the Isle of Man, and the same contention has been made for it,
i. e., that it was a modification of the Swastika. But its migration
direct from Sicily to the Isle of Man can be traced through the pages of
history, and Mr. John Newton,[233] citing the Manx Note Book for January,
1886, has given this history at length, of which the following is a
résumé:
Prior to the thirteenth century the Isle of Man was under dominion of the
Norse Vikings, and its armorial emblems were theirs; usually a ship under
full sail. Two charters of Harold, King of Man (1245, 1246 in the Cotton
MSS.), bear seals with this device. Twenty years later, after the conquest
of the island by, and its cession to, Alexander III of Scotland, A. D.
1266, the Norse emblems disappeared entirely, and are replaced by the
symbol of the three legs covered with chain armor and without spurs. "It
appears then," says Newton, "almost certain, though we possess no literary
document recording the fact, that to Alexander III of Scotland is due the
introduction of the 'Tre Cassyn' as the distinguishing arms of the Isle of
Man." He then explains how this probably came about: Frederick II (A. D.
1197-1250), the Norman King of Sicily, married Isabella, the daughter of
Henry III of England. A quarrel between the King of Sicily and the Pope
led the latter to offer the crown to Henry III of England, who accepted it
for his son Edmund (the Hunchback), who thereupon took the title of King
of Sicily and quartered the Sicilian arms with the Royal arms of England.
The negotiations between Henry and the Pope progressed for several years
(1255 to 1259), when Henry, finding that he could no longer make it an
excuse for raising money, allowed it to pass into the limbo of forgotten
objects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account