Holy Roman Empire 962-1806 (Germany)

Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation

Last modified: 2010-10-08 by jarig bakker
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image by Jaume Ollé
Emperor's Banner until 1401

• Introduction
• Emperor's Banner (Imperator Romanorum Semper Augustus)
• Holy Roman Empire (800)
• Holy Roman Empire (1401)
• Holy Roman Empire (1438)
• Flag of Emperor Karl VI (1737)
• Imperial War Flag or St. George's Flag (Sankt Georg Fahne)
• Imperial Assault Flag (Reichsturmfahne)
• Unterpfälzisches Regiment zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620) [5 colors]
• Flags of battle of Moncontour 1569 (4 flags)

• Rhine Customs Administration 1805-1806 (Rheinzollverwaltung, France and Germany)
• Historical Flags
• Germany

Introduction

Starting around the 14th century, the Empire had a diet called the Reichstag (early it had a somewhat similar gathering called the Hofstag). Although it never had the power to adopt, as opposed to proposing, it had considerable de facto authority during the late middle ages. During and after the 30 Years War, it basically lost most of its power. It had something over 200 members (called Reichstände) which were princes, bishops or Imperial cities. The last completely regular Reichstag was in the mid 17th century. The following one, the Reichstag of 1663 did not adjourn until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. Despite appearances, this was accompanied by increasing irrelevence of the institution although it continued meeting irregularly in Regensburg [Bavaria]. With the foundation of the German League, its diet which consisted of the princes was named the Bundestag
Norman Martin, 5 October 2000

1. The Reichssturmfahne was not a flag, but a banner. Meyer's Lexikon of 1897 says s. v. Banner:
"On the German Imperial Banner, which the Emperor or the supreme commander appointed by him mounted, when assembling the Imperial army, was depicted at the time of Henry I and Otto the Great the archangel Michael, at the time of Frederic I (Barbarossa) an eagle, in the time of Otto IV an eagle hovering over a dragon, since the time of Sigmund, and perhaps earlier, the Imperial eagle; that was a black eagle in yellow, bearing the arms of the Emperors house on it's breast.
When investing a fief, the Emperor had together with this Imperial banner in black and yellow a second banner in red for the investion with penal judicature. This is probably the reason of combining the colours black, red and yellow to form a tricolor against the rules of heraldry....
The Reichssturmfahne was smaller than the Imperial banner, more like a chaffron..."
Since this Reichssturmfahne was part of the arms of the Duchy of Wuerttemberg since 1495 and of the royal house of Wuerttemberg up to 1918, we have 19th century pictures of it.

2. I don't think it wise to have the Holy Roman Empire sub GERMANY, since the Empire was an supranational entity, Germany being only the most important of its successor states. These successor states are in full: Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland (independent since 1648), Italy (except the southern parts), San Marino, Monaco, Luxemburg, Belgium and the Netherlands (independent since 1648).
Big parts of the Empire belong now to France and Poland, small parts to Slovenia and Croatia. Mark: East and West Prussia as well as Venice where not part of the Empire. That means, in the late middle ages it embraced all territory between the Rhone , Saone and Maas (Meuse) in the west to the Oder valley in the East, and from Holstein in the North to Tuscany in the south.
Legaly there was no GERMANY and no King of Germany. Even the title German King was very rarely used. The official title was up to the 11th century Rex Francorum (King of the Francs) and later Rex Romanorum (King of the Romans). The latter title was used in the interval between election and coronation at Rome or for sons of an Emperor, when they were elected kings in their fahthers lifetime. Because the German king was in fact Rex Francorum, he was elected by the peoples of the eastern part of the Kingdom of the Francs, living in the dukedoms of Eastern Franconia, Frisia, Saxonia, Thuringia, Bavaria, Alemannia (Suebia) and
Bohemia. Later they were represented by the seven princely electors, one of which was the King of Bohemia.
As an example: Karl IV, duke of Luxemburg and King of Bohemia, educated at the court of the of French king, was elected king in 1346 at Rhens and crowned king at Bonn (again in 1349 at the correct place Aachen/Aix). By this act he was legally king of Italy and Burgundy and had the right to be crowned Emperor at Rome. 1355 he was crowned as king of Italy in Milano and as Roman Emperor at Rome, 1365 as king of Burgundy at Arles (Provence).
Since 1508 the Imperial title was Elected Roman Emperor. The only place of coronation was in modern times Aachen.

3. Organs of the Empire were the Emperor, the Electors, the Reichstag (diet), and since about 1520 the Imperial circles. The circles were responsible for defence, trunk roads, and other things of common interest. The Reichstag had is sessions from 1594 at Regensburg and was permanent since 1664. The states (Stände) were then represented by comissioners. Hereditary Imperial commissioner was the Prince of Thurn and Taxis, better known to the public as Imperial postmaster general.
The circles had diets of their own. At the Reichtsag Italian states were not represented, but in modern times some Burgundianstates (Duchy of Savoya, Archbishop and Imperial City of Besançon, Principality of Mombeliard etc.).

4. The cross was a common symbol of Christian states, and especially of the Holy Empire. The Meyer says: "The banner of the Holy Empire bore a cross even before 1200; it is the st. George's banner... Emperor Friedrich III took the cross officially as part of the Imperial arms, but some of his successors did not use it." So you can find the cross on thousands of pictures. Most Imperial cities had it in their arms. So it was quite normal for the Imperial city of Genova to use it (see
Genoa).
A. Birken, 22 Aug 2002

Emperor's Banner (Imperator Romanorum Semper Augustus)

Nevertheless the Emperor had a banner, consisting of a black eagle, armed red, generally on a gold (yellow) field. Sometimes the same eagle is portrayed on a white field; a flag chart early in the 18th century has the yellow flag as the flag of the emperor and the white one as that of the empire, but it is uncertain as to whether this represents a real distinction. After 1400, the eagle became two-headed; possibly this reflected the practice of the defunct Byzantine Empire, their main competitor to the claim to being the Roman Empire. Increasingly, but not uniformly, the eagle acquired a sword and orb, as well as a crown. The coat of arms, but rarely the banner, also sometimes had a red border. A good representation of the early pattern can be found in Crampton 1990. I found some nice 15th century representations in a small book called Kaiser Heinrichs Romfahrt (Emperor Henry's Pilgrimage), published in Koblenz in 1895; Smith 1975 has one of these illustrations on p.114.
Norman Martin, 14 Jan 1998

Holy Roman Empire (800)

The history of the Holy Roman Empire begins not 962 under the reign of Otto I. the Great, it starts with the imperial coronation of Charlemagne on 25 December 800 at Rome. From 800 until 1165 the name of the empire was only "Roman Empire" (Imperium Romanum) as a restoration of the ancient Roman Empire. From 1165 until 1486 the state name was "Holy Roman Empire" (Sacrum Romanorum Imperium = correct: Holy Empire of the Romans) because on 29 December 1165 Charlemagne was declared "holy" by the Pope Paschalis III. Since Maximilian I. (1486-1519) until 6 August 1806 the state name was "Holy Roman Empire of German Nation" (Sacrum Romanorum Imperium Nationis Germanicae = correct: Holy Empire of the Romans by German Nation). In German language: Heiliges Reich der Römer Deutscher Nation or in the shorter version: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation).
Erwin Hoheisel, 29 Aug 2007

Holy Roman Empire (1401)

Holy Roman Empire (1438)

Flag of Emperor Karl VI (1737)

Flag of Holy Roman Empire: version  1737.
Description of flag: It is a horizontal 11-stripes flag with alternating blue yellow and white stripes of equal width. The double headed black eagle, which is topped by a golden crown is superimposing the stripes and shifted to the hoist.
It was said to be the flag of Emperor Karl VI. (1711-1740, kin of Habsburg).
Source: Jörg M. Hormann and  Dominik Plaschke: “Deutsche Flaggen: Geschichte – Tradition – Verwendung”, ISBN 3-89225-555-5, p.18
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 15 Aug 2008

Please add as primary source: [sig12] either flagchart 18 row 1 column 2 or flagchart 42 row 4 column 1 (flags have no numbers; therefore I have ordered them by position). The flag is depicted in both flagcharts. The latter is the better.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 Sep 2008

Imperial War Flag or St. George's Flag (Sankt Georg Fahne)

Two additional flags associated with the Empire worth mentioning are the Sankt Georg Fahne - a white St. George's cross on a red field frequently with a Schwenkel - (Smith 1975, p.115, labels this the Imperial War Flag) and the Reichsturmfahne.
Norman Martin, 14 Jan 1998

Even though I found no reference to the Sankt Georg Flagge as war flag except in Smith 1975, it is clear that its primary use was military and in view of Smith's identification, I would not be surprised if it were sometimes or even frequently called Reichskriegsflagge.
Norman Martin, 15 Mar 2000

Imperial Assault Flag (Reichsturmfahne)

Unterpfälzisches Regiment zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620), 6th company

Mercenary Company flags (Holy Roman Empire) 17th century - Unterpfälzisches Regiment  zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620)
Accroding to source this regiment was divided into at least 10 companies. The image of the 6th company is given, the flags of the companies 7, 8, 9 and 10 are described.
[neu39a] mentions, that this type is very seldom. The companies of this regiment all have the same pattern but the colours are varied. So having the same pattern, the flags can be reconstructed.
All companies of this regiment had a flag with ratio est. 4:5 and had been divided per bend.
The flags of companies 1 to 5 are not described. Probably the basic colour of 1st company was white (colonel), but there is no proof.
Source: Fahnen und Flaggen. Eine bunte Fibel, by Ottfried Neubecker, 1939 [neu39a], p.26-27
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 Jun 2009

Unterpfälzisches Regiment zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620), 7th company

Unterpfälzisches Regiment zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620), 8th company

Unterpfälzisches Regiment zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620), 9th company

Unterpfälzisches Regiment zu Fuß Waldmannshausen (1620), 10th company

Flags of battle of Moncontour 1569

There are several places called Moncontour in France. The Battle of Moncontour took place near the village of Moncontour (1,008 inhabitants in 2006), located in the department of Vienne, historical province of Poitou. The battle was of short duration but particularly bloody: the Huguenots lost 6,000 men (nearly one third of their troops), while the Catholics lost "only" 600 men. Henri III then bore the title of the Duke of Anjou.
An engraving representing the Battle of Moncontour (with flags) is available here.
The original is shown at the Georges Turpin Museum, Parthenay.
Another representation of the battle, in colours (with flags), is available here.
A detailed account of the battle is available here (in French).
Ivan Sache, 24 Jun 2009

Ducal regiment flag

Ducal regiment flag: The ratio was approx 11:19 plus an embowed end added to the fly. The hoist consists of diamonds of the colours blue, red, yellow and white. The fly consists of  nine horitontal stripes in order: yellow-blue-red-yellow-red-blue-white-yellow-red. One single red diamond is superimposed by a small white cross like that one of Schwyz canton, but in this case it is the ensign of the alliance of Huguenots.
Source: [neu32], p.31, image no.98
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 Jun 2009

Ducal cavalry flag

Ducal cavalry flag: It is a triangular pennant, mainly white but with blue, black and yellow pieces of cloth. The white cross of the alliance of Huguenots is placed into the upper blue piece of cloth.
Source: [neu32], p.31, image no.99
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 Jun 2009

Regiment Hohengeroldseck

Regiment Hohengeroldseck: The ratio was approx 11:19 plus an embowed end added to the fly. The hoist was yellow, flamed five times horizontally red. The fly was red with the white cross of the alliance of Huguenots in its centre. The regiment was lead by count Quirin Gangolf of Hohengeroldseck, which was a small territory in the Black Forrest. The count was colonel of 15 companies and in service of Wolfgang of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. The flags of all companies were red and yellow with the white cross. The patterns of the companies were different.
Sources: [neu32], p.31 , image no.100;  [neu39a], p.27
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 Jun 2009

Regiment Granweiler

Regiment Granweiler: The ratio was approx 11:19 plus an embowed end added to the fly. It was a 7-stripes flag, divided horizontally with ratio 1:1:1:3:1:1:1. The central stripe was red with with the white cross of the alliance of Huguenots in its centre. The others were from top to bottom: red-yellow-mixed - mixed-blue-white.
The mixed stripes were divided horizontally twice into:blue-red-yellow-white(upper) and white-yellow-red-blue(lower). I got no information about Granweiler.
Sources: [neu39a], p.27
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 Jun 2009