Swedish Civic Heraldry
VÄSTERGOTLAND
Origin/meaning :
The first use of a lion in a divided shield is known from an image of arms for a local judge around 1200. Whether these arms were used for the whole territory is not known. The oldest coloured image dates from 1562 and shows nearly identical arms to the image above. On the image are 4 8-pointed stars instead of the tow 6-pointed stars in the above arms. The present arms were officially granted in 1885 and confirmed in 1942.
The meaning of the lion or the stars is not known.
Literature : Nevéus and de Waern, 1992