Reichsadler
Imperial eagle is called the eagle of those state formations that relate by the eagle symbol on an imperial idea and - directly or indirectly - to continue the tradition of the Roman Empire or pursue this claim.
Throughout the Middle Ages, especially in the Holy Roman Empire until the 20th century the eagle was the symbol of the - borrowed from Roman tradition - imperial administrative and command authority. The Weimar Republic as well as the First Republic of Austria led away the imperial eagle as Republican national emblem, in Austria since 1920 as a German eagle, after the Second World War in the Federal Republic of Germany also as a federal eagle.
Origin and meaning: Late Roman eagle
Like some other European Wappenadler derives the imperial eagle of the Roman field characters, Aquilae from. He refers to this tradition due to the manorial authority as such, the Empire, and not to the person or the dynasty of the ruler, because the imperial Roman Caesars did not lead the eagle as a personal or dynastic emblem. In addition, the double-headed eagle in the Asian region is small but widespread than dynastic character since the 4th century. The late ruler gender Ostrom used for this purpose the eagle and the double eagle. Presumably, the eagle is therefore by vormittelalterlich - east Roman view is not as territorial character, but as a symbol of a dynasty. According to medieval heraldic reading but the eagle is primarily a territory and stately command of this. Building on the iconography of the Emperor of the Eastern Empire was the eagle - first with a head, two heads generally later - Europe an emblem of imperial dignity and position of the Empire, an identification with the dynasties itself is rare and appears pronounced again only in imperial Austria.
The Franks took over - among other ancient symbols - the Roman eagle as a symbol of power to establish legitimation of the Roman Empire and represent the Frankish Empire as a linear continuation of the Roman Empire. This Translatio imperii expressed in the ( non-preserved ) eagle on the Aachen palace of Charlemagne from as well as in the Roman eagle on the ancient Kameo, who in the year 1000 probably in the order of Emperor Otto III. was incorporated in the center of the cross Lothar. The imperial eagle falls as Carolingian emblem in the context of the Carolingian renaissance and its various efforts, in form and spirit to the late antiquity and to tie their Roman Empire due to its definition. This tradition later also joined the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, in particular Otto III. Whose corresponding efforts are referred to by the term restorations imperii.
Byzantine Empire, relief on the George's Church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul Opel
House coat of arms of the Palaiologos, the ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (1259-1453)
Palaiologues crest with orb and sword
The Imperial Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire
The first heraldic representation of the imperial eagle is found on a coin of Frederick Barbarossa from the years 1172 to 1190, a few decades after the Investiture Controversy and just in that time, in which the Emperor and his law firm had begun the concepts of Honor Imperii and the Sacrum introduce empire and thus to emphasize the new dignity, legitimacy and power of the Empire and of the Kingdom in relation to the papacy, the nobility and the cities. The first full-color reproduction of the imperial eagle is (black in gold box ) under Emperor Otto IV ( 1198-1218 ) historically tangible. As early as 1270 the eagle appears on the seal of the imperial city Kaiserwerth - from there he obtains within the meaning of the idea of the state of the Renovatio imperii his role as royal - imperial emblem and emblem on Empire storm flag and empire banner of the Holy Roman Empire, and thus a symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. Especially with Otto's successor, Frederick II had imperial symbols that build as the eagle on the insignia and iconography of the late antique emperors, a high importance for providing his emperor and imperial idea.
The double-headed eagle goes back to Emperor Sigismund and the year 1433 - in a transitional phase symbolizes the easy eagle the Roman-German king, the double-headed Caesar. He also serves on the Nazi banner as an image, and thus builds directed against the Islamic- Arabic tradition of expansion of the double eagle Ostrom.
He was soon assigned as Quaternionenadler with a selection of coat of arms of the States ( quaternions of the constitution ) on the wings. This eagle wearing the crucifix on his chest when he the kingdom, and the house emblem of the ruler, when he symbolizes the Holy Roman Emperor.
The eagle was regarded both as an imperial symbol as well as a symbol of the Empire. The use of an eagle, therefore, was always a commitment to the Emperor and the Empire, and was often awarded by the Roman-German emperors. So Eagle Crest are typical of many free imperial cities, the value placed on their imperial immediacy and wanted to submit to any territorial Lord, and are also found in guild emblem and others (see Other uses of the double eagle ).
Representation of the imperial double-headed eagle coat of arms as Otto IV Chronica Maiora of Matthew Paris, about 1250
Emperor Henry VI. with the royal eagle coat of arms Manesse
Representation of the imperial eagle on coats of arms and naval flags of the imperial fleet of Frederick II at the Battle of Giglio Nuova Chronica of Giovanni Villani, early 14th century
Black, nimbierter Double Eagle in Gold: Empire banner of the Holy Roman Empire ( from 1400 to 1806 in use )
Quaternionenadler, the wings with the Reich stalls occupied, as a symbol of the Empire Woodcut by Hans Burgkmair the Elder, 1510
Imperial eagle on the west side of the choir hall of Aachen Cathedral
Double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire on the coat of arms of Gelderland Nijmegen
Imperial eagle as single-headed eagle of the German monarchy on the arms of the former imperial free city of Aachen
Double -headed imperial eagle in gold on black in the coat of arms of the City of Vienna (1461-1925)
Single-headed imperial eagle on the escutcheon of the arms of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
Imperial eagle on the crest of the imperial abbey of Echternach and the town of Echternach
The eagle of the empire
Tsardom Russia and later the Russian Empire took over with the imperial double eagle " the third Rome " from 1487th Whether it. Around a direct transfer or perhaps a marriage of Ivan III of Arms acts with Sofia Palaeologus, or it was chosen by a different route, is unclear. It is found today in the national coat of arms of the Russian Federation again.
Russia, 18th century
Russia, 1906 - in a style similar to the Quaternionenadler form
The imperial eagle after the end of the Holy Roman Empire
After the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 the Eagles went on to:
- The Hapsburg Empire: The Austrian eagle, one derived from Quaternionenadler double-headed eagle with the arms of hereditary lands occupied - even before the collapse of 1804 - for the Empire of Austria, and in 1867 the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Only here is a unification of the kingdom emblem instead of dynastic symbols and feudal property rights. Today's single-headed eagle of the Republic of Austria Federal in 1919 but deliberately introduced in distance to the monarchical imperial eagle; he derives not from this but from normal crest eagles - during the haloed double eagle of the Corporate State 1934-1938 again took an explicit reference to the Roman - German imperial eagle.
- The German Confederation: This was founded in 1815 confederation adopted the double-headed imperial eagle during the German Revolution in March 1848 as a national emblem of.
- The German Reich: Here presented the single-headed imperial eagle - in addition to the Prussian eagle (since 1701) - also the emblem of the German Empire ( 1871-1918) dar. From 1914 planned the German Empire, the imperial eagle as a crest element on colonial flags and colonial coat of arms of German - East Africa, German Cameroons, Togoland, German South West Africa, German Samoa and German New Guinea to introduce. When the monarchy in Germany following form of government, the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) continued the Imperial eagle in the coat of arms. In today's federal coat of arms of Germany and on numerous other symbols of honor and the emblem tradition of the imperial eagle of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire is continued federal eagle under the name.
Also for Napoleon I and Napoleon III. was the Napoleonic eagle in taking over the Papal promised successor to the Roman Caesar power marking symbol of the army.
Small coat of arms of the Empire of Austria 1815
German imperial eagle ( German Empire ) in 1888
Second Empire under Napoleon III.
Double -headed imperial eagle on the coat of arms of the German Confederation, from March 1848
Imperial eagle on the planned Kolonialwappen German Samoa, 1914
Imperial Eagle of the Weimar Republic in 1928 and the federal eagle federal republic from 1950 ( federal coat of arms of Germany )
Imperial eagle on the standard of the Imperial President of the German Empire from 1921 to 1933, now the Federal eagle on the standard of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany
Imperial eagle on a 5- Reichsmark coin of the year 1935
Memory of the connection between the German eagle and the imperial eagle of the Weimar Republic on a West German commemorative stamp from 1969
The Imperial eagle in National Socialism
With a completely different appearance than the imperial eagle - - At the time of National Socialism (1933-1945) the Imperial Eagle of the "Third Reich" was usually associated with the swastika and a wreath of oak, often borrowed with a Jupiter cult and the Napoleonic eagle thunderbolt. There, for example, small and large statues of the imperial eagle were made with outspread wings standing on a victor's wreath engraved with the swastika. Today you can still see buildings from this period such Adler. Only the swastika was a symbol of the Nazi Party and its nationalist and anti-Semitic programmatic, was carved out as part of the denazification of Germany from the wreath.
Imperial eagle and eagle party
The Nazis took over in 1933 the imperial eagle of the Weimar Republic and modified it by supplemented him with her party symbol of the swastika and a wreath of oak. The view direction of the eagle certain stress the importance:
- Adler (as seen by the observer ) looking to left was the imperial eagle / eagle state / national coat of arms,
- Adler (as seen by the observer ) to the right of the party was looking Adler / party badge.
There are several theories, designed by Hitler himself "party eagles ". Probably the most popular and most likely theory states that the party eagle represents the " backside" of the imperial eagle. Symbolically, this would in terms of a one-party system, the leader principle and the totalitarian view of the state of the Nazi regime mean that there are two interdependent " halves ": the kingdom and the party. Both united in the Office of the "leader " of both the Chancellor, as well as party chairman, from 1934, President of the Reich and thus Head of State was.
Coat of arms of Prussia 1933-35: Eagle with sword and bundle of lightning, with Banner
Imperial eagle, squat form with applied wings, the wreath of oak leaves ( denazified with ausgemeißeltem swastika, to measure the height at Blaserturm in Ravensburg )
Imperial eagle on the locomotive E 19 12 Deutsche Reichsbahn