The city of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

has for a long time had a double coat of arms — one with the eagle as a symbol of the Imperial freedom enjoyed by the city from 1226 to 1937; one with Hanseatic colors of silver over red and the so-called ''Lübeck plate''.

History

The origin of the Lübeck shield is not certain, but thought to be derived from the Hanseatic flag, first seen on a ship's seal in 1230. This is also the oldest reference to its own national emblem of the city, with the Imperial eagle appearing a little later, first seen on early 14th-century coins. The colors of the shield are thought not to come from the

County of Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

, but from the Imperial arms. From around 1450 the two arms were found combined, the eagle bearing the Hanseatic coat of arms as breast shield. Its continued use today makes it not the oldest coat of arms of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

. The oldest coat of arms of Flensburg is older. After the inclusion of Lübeck into the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...

on 1 January 1811, the city received a new coat of arms, to emphasise the position of Lübeck as a community within the French state. In this emblem, designed by the ''Conseil du Sceau'', the traditional red-and-white coat of arms sat on a pair of black eagle's wings, an approximate representation of the Lübeck double eagle; this combination on a white field. As Lübeck was one of the ''Bonnes villes'' of the Empire, a chief gules, with three golden Imperial bees, was added. This coat of arms was awarded to Lübeck by Napoleon Bonaparte on 13 June 1811 with a signed ''Wappenbrief''. After liberation from French rule in 1813, and the restoration of Lübeck's status as an independent city-state, the traditional coat of arms was reinstated. With the abolition of Lübeck's independence in the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of Nazi Germa ...

of 1937, annexing it to the

Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (german: Freistaat Preußen, ) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the domina ...

, as a part of the

Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein (german: Provinz Schleswig-Holstein ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (subsequently the Free State of Prussia after 1918) from 1868 to 1946. History It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and H ...

, the city was permitted to keep its old coat of arms. File:Wappen Deutsches Reich - Freie und Hansestadt Lübeck (Grosses).jpg , Greater coat of arms of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck during the German Empire File:Wappen Lübeck (Alt).svg , An earlier representation of the coat of arms File:Germany Luebeck coats of arms mosaic.jpg , Mosaic from the

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

over the

Elbe–Lübeck Canal The Elbe–Lübeck Canal () (also known as the Elbe–Trave Canal) is an canal, artificial waterway in eastern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It connects the rivers Elbe and Trave, creating an inland water route across the drainage divide from the ...

below the castle gate File:Leipzig Reichsgericht Wartehallenfenster Nord 4.jpg , Coat of arms in a window of the Imperial Supreme Court building in Leipzig (now the

Federal Administrative Court of Germany The Federal Administrative Court (german: Bundesverwaltungsgericht, ) is one of the five federal supreme courts of Germany. It is the court of the last resort for generally all cases of administrative law, mainly disputes between citizens and t ...

) File:DEU Luebeck COA.svg , The official coat of arms of the city since 1997, designed by Professor Kurt Weidemann

References

* Antjekathrin Graßmann (ed), ''Lübeckische Geschichte'', Schmidt-Römhild, 1989.

External links

Coat of arms of Lübeck
on ''Heraldry of the World''

from the State Archives of Schleswig-Holstein

from the official website of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck {{DEFAULTSORT:Lubeck Municipal coats of arms in Germany Coat Coats of arms with eagles Coats of arms fessy Coats of arms with crowns

History

See also

References

External links