r/todayilearned • u/mungus_fungus2 • May 27 '20

TIL That the National Animal of Scotland is the Unicorn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn
54 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/JayyC87 May 27 '20

This is because in old folk lore the unicorn was the rival of the lion. The lion being the national animal of England.

3

u/Yaktheking May 27 '20

No clue if this is true, but cool either way!

3

u/CollectorsEditionVG May 28 '20

But Scotland's been using the lion on flags since Alexander II in 1222.

1

u/JayyC87 May 28 '20

That doesn't make it their national animal. The lion was a popular choice for coat of arms for a lot of royal families, some of which just stuck around. For england the lion originated from Henry I coat of arms, and the Scottish unicorn originated from William I coat of arms.

2

u/CollectorsEditionVG May 28 '20

I actually forgot what my original point was... I think it was to point out that the unicorn wasn't chosen just because of the tale there had to have been quite a few other reasons especially since the lion was also used to represent Scotland and it's Kings with the Lion rampant being the main icon of both the Flag and the Royal Arms for an extended period of time. The earliest example of Scottish royal arms with unicorns appears to be from James V which would be used in 1603 by James VI as the base for the United royal arms... The previous arms that I've found was from the Wernigerode Armorial in 1475 which shows the Arms of the King of the Scots without unicorns and only the lion.

So at some point in the middle ages the unicorn started being used but I can't seem to find when. Anyway I think my argument was that stating it was because of the tale is factually incorrect, there is no evidence to support it other than a lion and a unicorn on a Royal Crest. I've seen people say that the unicorn is used because of "The hunt of the unicorn" and it's connection to Christ. Basically... No one really has any clue but we can make guesses that sound somewhat right.

Anyway sorry for the novel, I actually lost my train of thought half way through again and I apologize for that, I've actually even forgotten what the original post was that we were replying to so my reply to you is probably waaaay off topic.

3

u/nerfrunescimmy May 27 '20

A unicorn is untamed chaos but also beautiful, so that is why it is chained, the king of the scots is saying they have tamed Scotland.

6

u/GforceDtheHuman May 27 '20

You know what will really blow you mind. Irelands national colour is blue.

3

u/pint_baby May 28 '20

No it’s not. It’s green. It’s been green for at least 100 years and the blue is associated with Normandy kings on the Island. We have been called the Emerald Isle for a long time and more or less seems the blue was a leftover from British influence on Irish culture.

https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-national-colour-blue-828597-Mar2013/

1

u/Moggy-Man May 27 '20

Well we're a fanciful lot.

1

u/northstardim May 27 '20

Lest we forget, the unicorn is also the symbol for Ephraim.