Coat of arms of Saxony

Coat of arms of Saxony
Details
Armiger	House of Wettin (culture, religion ,history and aristocracy; Freestate Saxony (populistic administrations area)
Escutcheon	Barry sable and Or, a crancelin vert
Use	January 1, 700; 1311 years ago (700-01-01)

This article is about the coat of arms of the German state of Saxony today. It is used on the state flag of Saxony.^[1] It has nine black and gold/yellow (Or) stripes^[2] and is charged with a green crown in bend - running from viewer's top-left to bottom-right. Although the crown is sometimes shown embowed (bent) this is due to artistic license.^[1]

History

The today's Free State of Saxony has its origins in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg, which emerged from the Stem Duchy of Saxony in 1260, and the coat of arms is similar to the arms of 1422.^[2] The shield Barry sable and Or, a crancelin vert deduce from the ruling House of Ascania, former Counts of Ballenstedt. The Ascanians were Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg and Electors of Saxony until 1422, when arms and electoral dignity were adopted by Frederick I of Wettin, Margrave of Meissen.

It was formally confirmed in 1991:

The Saxony State Parliament has passed on 25 October 1991 the following law:

§ 1 (1) The lesser coat-of-arms of the Free State of Saxony shows an escutcheon bendy of nine pieces black and gold, a green rue-crown bendwise. (2) A greater coat-of-arms of the Free State of Saxony can be determined by a special law.

§ 2 For the rendering of the coat-of-arms the patterns, which are attached to this law as appendix, are authoritative. The coloured patterns are deposited in the Main Public Record Office of Saxony.

§ 3 The regulations necessary for the implementation of this law are issued by the State Government. It can pass on this authority.

§ 4 This law comes into force the day after its proclamation.

The preceding law is executed herewith and is to be proclaimed.

—Prof. Dr. Kurt Biedenkopf (The Minister President), Steffen Heitmann (The State Minister of Justice), Law relating to the coat-of-arms of the Free State of Saxony Of 18 November 1991,(Saxon Law and Official Gazette 1991, p. 383-385), Dresden, 18 November 1991.^[3]

Previous versions

Leader Widukind's first Saxon ensign for Old Saxony (700–785)   Archaic coat of arms of the House of Ascania from about 1000   Counts of Ballenstedt (House of Ascania) from about 1000   Duchy of Saxony from 1351 with the horse of Widukind   Margraviate of Meissen (965–1423) first in Use by the Wettin House, beloved in the heraldic   Electorate of Saxony with the green Common Rue, the Herb of the beautiful girls, a miracle cure and protection from misfortune and the Imperial Marshal's ensign (1356-1806)   Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1826–1920)   Saxe-Lauenburg (1296–1803; 1814–1876)   Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1680–1826)   Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg (1602–1672; 1826–1918)   Saxe-Merseburg (1657-1738)   Saxe-Weissenfels (1656–1746)   Saxe-Hildburghausen (1680–1826)   Saxe-Weimar (1572–1809)   Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1809–1920)   Coat of Arms of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815), ruled in personal union by King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony   Royal coat of arms of the Polish–Lithuanian and Saxon Commonwealth (1697–1706; 1734 – 1763), ruled in personal union by King Augustus II the Strong and later Augustus III of Poland   Saxony/ Saxe-Jena (1672–1690) Saxe-Eisenach (1596–1638; 1640–1644; 1662–1809)/ Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach (1572-1596; 1633-1638)/ Duchy of Saxe-Weimar (1572–1809)/ Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg (1296–1356) with the black-yellow imperial colored stripes and green Common Rue, the Herb of the beautiful girls, a miracle cure and protection from misfortune (1150 - today)   Duchy of Saxe-Coburg (1596–1633; 1680–1735)   Kingdom of Saxony (1806–1918)   Saxe-Meiningen (1680–1918)   Prussian Province of Saxony (1816–1944)   Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights ruled over the Teutonic bailiwicks, Thuringia, Alden Biesen, Hesse, Saxony, Westphalia, Franconia, Koblenz, Alsace-Burgundy, An der Etsch und im Gebirge (in Tyrol), Utrecht, Lorraine, Austria, Sicily, Apulia, Lombardy, Bohemia, "Romania", and Armenia-Cyprus. (1498-1510)   Gau Saxony (1933–1945)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Saxony (Germany) at Flags of the World
2. ^ ^{a b} Freistaat Sachsen website (official) (German) Accessed 2009-05-19.
3. ^ Flag Legislation (Saxony, Germany)

See also

• Royal Arms of England
• Coat of arms of Portugal
• Coat of arms of Belgium
• Coat of arms of Bulgaria