NOBLE CONTRADA OF THE EAGLE - FROM THE PAST

From the end of the 15^th century the three military Companies all gathered under a single banner marked by an eagle to participate in tourneys and “hunts”. In honor of Emperor Charles V’s visit to Siena on 1536, an occasion of great pomp and ceremony throughout the city, the citizens of the Contrada’s district erected a large wooden eagle in one of their piazzas.

The statue, erected by the Contrada of the district that unites under a banner bearing that symbol stood on an “imposing base” that bore the inscription PRAESIDIUM LIBERTATIS NOSTRAE. When the Sienese’s hope of maintaining their liberty with the help of the emperor were dashed, the Contrada of the Eagle was permitted to continue displaying its banner of the crowned two-headed eagle, an honor granted by the royal house of Hapsburg.

During the centuries the symbol of the Contrada changed in correspondence with precise historical events. For example, in 1847, during the height of the Italian Risorgimento, the Eagle changed  its symbol to a castle with two crossed keys, eliminating the black from its colors, and thus any similarity whit the Austrian imperial coat of arms.

After Italy’s declaration of war on Austria, in June 1915, the Eagle made an official request to the city council to change its symbol to an eagle “of the Roman legion, taking to flight from a Roman Doric-style capital” which was to bear the date of entry into war.  From 1919 the Contrada never changed its banner.

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