There has been an unexpected side-effect of Barclays' merger deal with Dutch bank ABN Amro; aside from moving its headquarters to Amsterdam, the British bank is set to ditch its 317-year-old eagle logo after it was deemed too reminiscent of the Nazi emblem for the Netherlands, which was occupied for five years during the second world war.
While understandable, the maligning of the eagle is perhaps a little unfair: Germany's coat of arms has included an eagle for 800 years - the Germanic tribes regarded the eagle as the bird of the god Odin. After Hitler came to power in 1933, he kept the Weimar eagle for two years before he replaced it with the Nazi emblem: a black eagle above an oak wreath, with a swastika at its centre. The eagle returned after the war, incorporated first into the coat of arms of the Federal Republic, and then, since 1990, as a symbol of the reunified Germany.
The eagle is a popular national symbol - present in the coat of arms of Ghana, Poland, Romania, Mexico, Nigeria and many other countries. It was also the emblem of the Roman emperor Charlemagne, and was used as a seal in Hellenistic Egypt. The United States of America chose a bald eagle as its emblem, although some American coins have shown the golden eagle.
In heraldry, much as the lion is regarded as the king of the animal kingdom, the eagle is leader of the avian world. It symbolises immortality, courage, far-sightedness and strength, and enjoys connections with the Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter. Barclays itself has recognised the aggressive nature of its emblem before - Interbrand, the brand consultant, softened its heraldic edges in 1999, and it was made gentler still in 2004. Now it appears it will be smoothed into nonexistence. The Lloyds TSB horse should probably watch its back.
· The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Monday June 25 2007. Charlemagne was described as a Roman emperor in the article above. Having ruled as king of Franks from 768 until his death in 814, long after the fall of the western empire of Rome in the 5th century, the description is not wholly accurate. His capital was at Aachen, now in modern Germany, and his empire covered most of west and central Europe. However, he was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III after he conquered Italy in 800. This was the origin of what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire.