Coat of arms of Baden-Württemberg

The coat of arms of Baden-Württemberg will be conducted in two variants, a large and a small state coat of arms.

History and legal foundations

The establishment of the State of Baden- Württemberg in 1952 had expired not without controversy, so that an agreement on the symbols, and even the name of the country itself was difficult. Thus, the constitution announced in November 1953 initially given only the national colors of black and gold, but no crest. This was only determined by the Law on the coat of arms of Baden- Württemberg on May 3, 1954. Its use is also regulated by the Decree of the Government on the country's leadership coat of arms of 2 August 1954. The design comes from the graphic artist Fritz Meinhard.

Article 1 paragraph 1 of the above-mentioned Law describes the coat of arms as follows:

Paragraphs 2 and 3 describe the Large and Small coat of arms ( see below). Content reaches the crest back to the tradition of the old duchy of Swabia, whose last dukes, the Swabians, this coat of arms had led. The name of Swabia had been for the new state long time talking, but failed due to resistance from parts of Baden.

The use of the country's coat of arms is subject to approval and basically only allows the authorities. For general use, there are the so-called Baden -Württemberg- Signet, a coat of arms that can be used by anyone without authorization.

Large coat of arms

On the coat of arms resting on the shield a crown with plaques that reflect the most important historical components of the country. These are (of heraldic right to left)

• Franconia Franconia rake, which represents the Frankish territories in the north- east of the country; the former Duchy of East Franks had its focus in the northeast of the present land,
• Hohenzollern ( quartered by silver and black ) for the ( last Prussian ) Hohenzollern land; to 1849 existed as an independent principality of Hohenzollern and until 1945 it remained Prussian enclave in Württemberg,
• Baden ( in gold a red oblique bars)
• Württemberg ( in gold three black stag antlers )
• The Palatinate Lion ( in black a golden lion ) is reminiscent of the Palatinate, the area around Heidelberg and Mannheim accounted for a large part of the later Grand Duchy of Baden in the northwest and
• (Front ) Austria ( shield ), the shield is reminiscent of the Breisgau, and many small areas on the Neckar, on the upper Danube in Upper Swabia and the Allgäu, all of which were dependent under the name Front Austria of the Habsburg crown.

The coat of arms of the two major eponymous territories Baden and Württemberg are performed in comparison with the coat of arms of the smaller possessions slightly enlarged.

As sign holders are heraldic right deer, Württemberg represents the left grip for bathing. Griffin and stags had been the shield holder in the arms of the existing pre-war states of Baden and Württemberg. However, the grip has not turned his head like in the old Baden insignia to the outside. Furthermore, the plate holder are speckled gold - silver, as the Baden griffin originally silver and Württemberg Hirsch was originally golden. Finally, the plate holder stand on a pedestal in the national colors black and gold, which is not explicitly mentioned in the legal text.

The Great coat of arms is performed by certain authorities and institutions of the country. According to paragraph 1 of the above-mentioned Regulation are: the government, the Prime Minister, the Ministries, the Representation of Baden - Württemberg in Berlin and in European affairs, the State Court and the supreme courts of the land, the Court and the regional councils.

Small coat of arms

In the small state coat of arms resting on the shield a crown of leaves, indicating as people's crown sovereignty of the people after the end of the monarchy. The small coat of arms is performed by all state agencies and institutions that do not lead the great state coat of arms, and by the notaries.

Prehistory

The Three Lions crest occurs for the first time in 1220 in the seal of the Hohenstaufen King Henry ( VII ), which was Duke of Swabia. After the fall of the Hohenstaufen, the Duchy remained vacant, but the Swabian kingdom circle and the Swabian imperial knights used the coat of arms. In the 15th century, the Habsburgs claimed as the owner of the German royal crown fallen to the imperial title of a prince in Swabia and used the coat of arms. Special distribution found it through the Quaternionenadler. Also in monuments for high medieval dukes of Swabia and members of the Hohenstaufen family is often brought in the 15th and 16th centuries to the three lions crest. The 1805/6 to the Kingdom of Ascended Württemberg used until 1918, the Three Lions crest and the king called himself at times " sovereign Duke of Swabia ."

Similar Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of the house of Waldburg shows in gold above the other three black leopards (ie border, hersehende lion ), so different from the country's coat of arms only by the sight of the heraldic animals. The similarity of this coat of arms with the Hohenstaufen may be explained by the fact that the forest burgers were temporarily Ministeriale in Staufen services. The Waldburger filed an unsuccessful protest against the adoption of Baden-Württemberg coat of arms, as it looked in their opinion her own coat of arms too similar. From forest burg coat of arms that of today's community forest castle is derived.

The motif of the three border lions can now be found in the coat of arms of Carinthia, where it is derived from the related with the Swabians Babenbergers.

The coat of arms of Bavaria since 1923 shows the three lions as a symbol of the Swabian part of the country.

The coat of arms of Denmark points in golden, bestreutem box with red hearts border three blue lions, and the coat of arms of England shows in red with three gold, hersehende border lions ( leopards ) one above the other. However, these have a coat of arms is independent of the Hohenstaufen coat of arms history and show the lion also in other tincture.