Coat Of Arms Of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

This article is about the coat of arms of the Germany, German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The greater arms of the state depict the Cattle#In heraldry, bull's head of Mecklenburg, the griffin of Pomerania, and the red eagle (heraldry), eagle of Coat of arms of Brandenburg, Brandenburg. The lesser arms depict only the bull's head of Mecklenburg and the griffin of Pomerania.

History

The symbols used in the coat of arms go back to at least the Middle Ages, when they were used by the Dukes of Mecklenburg, Dukes of Pomerania and Margraves of Brandenburg. However, the arms of the dukes were somewhat more complex as they also included many "quartering (heraldry), quarterings" representing subordinate titles, many of which are still used by their modern counterparts. This complexity was retained by the Mecklenburgian arms until the dissolution of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Free States of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Mecklenburg-Strelitz under Nazi rule.

The complex Pomeranian arms lasted until the extinction of the ducal line in the 17th century. Both Swedish Pomerania and the Province of Pomerania (1653–1815), Brandenburgian/Prussian province of Pomerania used only the griffin as their emblems, as did Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), the reconstituted post-1815 Prussian province, which existed (officially) until 1945. During the interwar period a crowned red sinister (i.e. looking towards the viewer's right) griffin was also used for the Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939), Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship, which lay between the Prussian provinces of Pomerania and East Prussia (i.e. Pomeralia), forming the so-called Polish corridor. After 1945 the portion of Prussian Pomerania east of the Oder-Neisse line (Farther Pomerania, in German) was ceded to Poland. Today, in addition to the German , the red griffin is used as the coat of arms of the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which corresponds roughly to western Farther Pomerania; the more eastern Pomeranian Voivodeship, which corresponds roughly to the remainder of Farther Pomerania and Pomeralia uses a black griffin on gold.

The Brandenburg eagle is also used as the symbol of the German state of Brandenburg. For further information, see Coat of arms of Brandenburg.

Parts

See also

*Coat of arms of Prussia
*Coat of arms of Germany
*Origin of the coats of arms of German federal states.
*Coat of arms of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

References

*

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
German coats of arms, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Culture of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Coats of arms with bulls, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Coats of arms with griffins, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Coats of arms with eagles, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Coats of arms with crowns, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

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