The Skive coat of arms is the official coat of arms of Skive municipality and is used as a symbol of the city and municipality.
The oldest known version of the seal of Skive is from 1579, but the exact age is uncertain. The market towns used seals to sign agreements on behalf of the city.
The Skive town seal shows a bridge in red, with the river as a background and a silver trout underneath. The seal is clearly meant to illustrate the bridge over the Karup River at Skivehus, which was the reason for the town’s location.
The fish is reversed
In connection with the town’s anniversary in 1976, they wanted to mark it by making the old seal officially recognized as the town coat of arms. This ran up against the official heraldic rules. The fish that had been swimming from left to right on the seal was in conflict with heraldic traditions, which state that animals should face left (heraldic right), so after 400 years the fish had to be turned around and swim the right way.
The idea is that when carrying the shield on the left arm in a duel and the animal facing right, the animal’s gaze wouldturn away from the enemy when facing its opponent. This didn’t work, as the animal was symbolically meant to deter the enemy. A thoughtthat obviously hadn’t occurred to them, as the weapon was originally used as a seal for signing documents, not for wielding weapons in battle.
The coat of arms in use
The city coat of arms is used in a number of official contexts such as official letters, important signage and in the mayoral chain.
The fish in the coat of arms is used as the symbol of Skive in various works of art around the city, such as “The Fish” at Skive Library.
Sources
- Skive Folkeblad 14/12-1976
- Gormsen, Gudrun et al. Skive kommunes historie bind I, Skive Museums forlag 2001 , p. 249
- Skivebogen 1976 p. 142-3
- City coat of arms (skive.dk)
- The fish (skive.dk)