Coat of arms of Aberdeen

Supported by two leopards proper; and in an escrol above "Bon Accord" A second shield was also recorded, based on the city's counterseal.

This consisted of a temple, with Saint Nicholas standing in the doorway praying over a cauldron of boiling children.

This was blazoned: azure, a temple argent, St Nicholas standing in the porch, mitred and vested proper, with his dexter hand lifted up to heaven praying over three children in a boiling cauldron of the first, and holding in the sinister a crosier or.

These arms originated from an old legend surrounding St Nicholas, who is the city's patron saint due to his association with mariners.

Unbeknownst to Nicholas, his host was a cannibal, and had secretly been kidnapping local children for meat.

According to legend, the beasts were granted by James I as a gesture of thanks to the burgh for underwriting his expenses while he was held captive in England.