http://thumbnails103.imagebam.com/26072/507e67260719205.jpg

Questions:

Were the wreath and crown added at the same time? Do they have a particular significance or commemorate a particular event?

Thanks!

As far as I know, during the Habsburg Empire, the eagle didn’t wore the laurel wreath.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Wappen_Gefürstete_Grafschaft_Tirol.png

In a painting of the 16th century, Margaret countess of Tyrol 1318-1369 holds the Tyrolean coat of arms lacking the laurel wreath.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Margarethe_Tirol.jpg

My guess is that the wreath became part of the coat of arms after the establishment of the Republic of Austria so that it became distinct from the symbols of southern (Italian) Tyrol.

As for the crown, it was always part of the arms.

This site http://www.tirol.gv.at/themen/kultur/landesarchiv/forschungstipps/landeswappen/ gives the history of the Tyrolean arms in German.  Among other things it says:

Quote:

Das jüngste Beizeichen ist das grüne Ehrenkränzel , wobei einer von den Humanisten inspirierten Mode nachgeeifert wurde, die in der Heraldik den antiken Lorbeerkranz zu neuen Ehren brachte. Zu Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts bürgerte sich das grüne Kränzel als Art Oberwappen ein und wanderte langsam in den Schild, wo es über dem Adlerkopf schwebte oder ihn umkränzte. Auch hier war weiterhin Großzügigkeit und Beliebigkeit angesagt, das Kränzel konnte, musste aber nicht im oder über dem Schild vorhanden sein.

Gesetzlich normiert und rechsverbindlich beschrieben wurde das Wappen der Grafschaft Tirol erst zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts. Das Kränzel wurde weggelassen und die silbernen Flügelspangen wurden 1915 in goldene umgewandelt.

Das heutige Aussehen des Tiroler Landeswappens beruht auf einem Willensakt des Landesgesetzgebers zu Zeiten der jungen Republik Österreich. In der ersten Verfassung des Bundeslandes Tirol, der Tiroler Landesordnung von 1921 , ist festgehalten: "Das Wappen des Landes Tirol ist im silbernen Schild der golden gekrönte rote Adler mit goldenen Flügelspangen mit Kleeblattenden und einem grünen Kranze hinter dem Kopfe." Zugleich und zum ersten Mal wurden mit Weiß-Rot die Farben der Landesfahne gesetzlich fixiert.

My German isn’t good enough to translate all of this, but I think it says in essence that the wreath first appeared at the beginning of the 16th century as a humanistic conceit, either on or behind the eagle’s head, but was never considered an integral, necessary part of the arms.  When the arms were first legally defined in the early 19th century, the wreath was omitted, but the 1921 constitution of Tyrol adopted after the establishment of the republic restored it,, and it has remained part of the arms since then.

I’ve seen it asserted that the wreath commemorates the Tyrolean resistance to Bonaparte, but nothing to substantiate that.  Obviously a 16th century origin is inconsistent with that.

Thank you, all.

Google Translate has it thus:

"The latest additional motif is the green Ehrenkränzel, one inspired by the humanists was emulated mode, which brought in heraldry the ancient laurel wreath to honor new. At the beginning of the 16th Century the green Kränzel came into use as a kind of upper arms and walked slowly into the plate, where it hovered above the eagle’s head or wreathed him. Again, generosity and arbitrariness was still fashionable, the Kränzel could, but did not have to be present in or on the shield.

Legally normalized and described computationally binding the arms of the County of Tyrol was not until the beginning of the 19th Century. The Kränzel was omitted and the silver wing clips were converted to gold in 1915.

The current appearance of the Tyrolean provincial coat of arms is based on a legislative act of the will of the country at the time of the young Republic of Austria. In the first constitution of the state of Tyrol, Tyrolean order of 1921 is stated: "The coat of arms of Tyrol is in silver plate of the golden winning red eagle with golden wings clips with trefoil ends and a green wreath behind the head." At the same time, and for the first time with white and red colors of the national flag were fixed by law."

"Ehrenkranzel" seems to be "wreath of honor."  Doesn’t have the feel of a specific award, though.  Perhaps a secular version of the halo?