Lion Coat of Arms: What Each Pose Means (Rampant, Passant, Sejant and More)

The lion is the most famous animal in heraldry. It stands for courage, strength, nobility and royalty, and it has been on shields since the 12th century.

A lion coat of arms can look very different depending on its pose (heraldry calls it an attitude), its colors and its parts. Those few choices are what turn a generic lion into a lion that is yours. Here is what each one means and where you have seen it before.

What a lion means on a coat of arms

The lion was the king of beasts, so it came to stand for valor and rank. Heraldry took it up from the start. The royal flavor stuck, but plenty of ordinary families chose a lion too: the idea was to be seen as brave, not to claim a throne.

Fox-Davies, whose 1909 guide is still a standard reference, put the lion’s place bluntly: “heraldic art without the lion would not amount to very much.” He also notes that the earliest lions were simply “a lion”, and that the many named poses came later, as more families needed arms that looked different from each other.

The main lion poses

Each of these is a different heraldic attitude. Here are five drawn from their blazon with our own heraldry engine:

In plain words (all from Fox-Davies, chapter XI):

• Rampant. Erect, in profile, resting on one hind paw. The classic heraldic lion, and the only pose that does not exist in nature. “Rampant guardant” turns the face to the viewer; “rampant regardant” looks back over the shoulder.
• Passant. Walking, right forepaw raised, the other three paws on the ground. Passant guardant is the same but facing out. Statant is standing, with all four paws on the ground.
• Sejant. Seated on its haunches with the forepaws on the ground. Sejant erect keeps the body upright with the forepaws raised, and is common in Scotland.
• Couchant. Lying down with the head up and alert. Dormant is the sleeping version, head on the paws.
• Salient. Springing, the two hind legs on the ground and the forepaws in the air. Rare.
• Combatant. Two lions rampant facing each other, as if fighting.
• Coward. The tail passes between the hind legs.

Lion heads and demi-lions

You do not have to use the whole lion. Fox-Davies calls the demi-lion rampant (the upper half of a lion rampant) “the most common crest in existence”. It appears as a crest above the shield, or as a charge on it.

Lion’s heads (usually “erased”, torn off, or “couped”, cut cleanly) are another classic. Both are good choices when you want the lion’s character in a smaller space, or as a crest or a ring design.

What colors a lion usually takes

A lion can be any tincture, and the usual heraldic rule applies: a metal (gold or silver) goes on a color (red, blue, black, green, purple), and a color on a metal, but not the same type on the same type. That is why so many lions are gold on blue, gold on red, red on gold or silver on red.

A lion rampant is normally “armed and langued”: its claws and tongue are drawn in red, unless the lion sits on a red field, when they are blue. Fox-Davies adds that if they are any other color, the blazon should say so.

Examples quoted by Fox-Davies include Beaumont (azure, semy of fleurs-de-lis, a lion rampant or), the Earl of Lincoln who died in 1311 (or, a lion rampant purpure) and Hutchinson (a lion rampant erminois).

Famous lions in heraldry

• England: three lions. Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or. In use since about 1200 and still in the royal arms of the United Kingdom today. They were long called “leopards” because they walk.
• Scotland: the lion rampant. Or, a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory of the second. Adopted in the 12th century by William the Lion, and still the arms of Scotland.
• Bohemia: a double-tailed lion. A silver lion with two tails on a red field, used for the Kingdom of Bohemia from 1253 and still the Czech Republic’s lesser arms. According to a legend, the second tail was added as a reward for King Ottokar I’s help in a war with the Saxons.
• Luxembourg. Barry of ten argent and azure, a lion rampant queue-forchée gules crowned or: the lion’s tail forks into two.
• Scotland’s royal crest. A lion sejant erect affronté (seated upright, facing you). Fox-Davies notes the pose is common in Scotland and is the royal crest there.

These belong to kingdoms. When you design your own, you are free to choose a similar pose, but the finished arms should still look like yours.

Add a lion to your own shield

A lion goes well with almost any shield shape. Rampant is the traditional place to start; pick a pose that suits how you want it to read. Then choose a field, a second tincture for the details, and (if you like) a border or a stripe across the middle.

The editor draws the lion rampant, passant, statant and sejant (with guardant versions of the first three), writes the blazon as you go and flags any color mistake or national arms before you download anything.

Looking for a family connection? Read our guide to the Smith family crest for an honest take on surname arms.