Coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon

It is one of the oldest coats of arms in Europe dating back to a seal of Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon, from 1150.

It is also the main element of the arms of the present Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands; the fourth quarter of the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon; it is present on the arms of the French administrative regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Occitania (whose department of the Pyrénées-Orientales regroups the old provinces of Roussillon and Upper Cerdanya); and in the Italian provinces of Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro in Calabria, and Lecce in Apulia.

"[17] The son of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronila, Alfonso II, inherited both the titles of King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, in a style that would be maintained by all its successors to the crown.

[citation needed] The oldest evidence where the arms can be seen is from 1150, in a seal of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona.

[19] Even though a purely Aragonese origin for the four bars symbol has been proposed, the main point held by Aragonese authors (Fatás, Ubieto, Montaner), partially supported by some Catalan historians like Ferran de Segarra,[23] is that the key evidence for the Catalan origin, the Marseilles seals, is dubious.

[19] The Bars can be seen in the arms of several administrative divisions of Spain, France and Italy, all of them former territories of the Crown of Aragon.