Last updated The coat of arms as used in 1605, quartered, with quarter 1 and 4 showing the Ascanian barry of ten, in or and sable, covered by a crancelin of rhombs (they are not shown in this undetailed copy) bendwise in vert (the crancelin symbolises the Saxon ducal crown), quarter 2 in azure, showing an eagle crowned in or (Palgraviate of Saxony), and quarter 3 in argent, showing three water-lily leaves in gules, representing the County of Brehna.
The title of Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which, since its foundation in 1269, was ruled in succession by 29 dukes from six dynastic houses and lines, and by an additional four dukes from a temporary dynastic branch line (Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, the first would-be duchess regnant, was kept from inheriting the duchy by male rulers of neighbouring states).
The duchy was held by various countries, including France from 1803 to 1805 and from 1810 to 1814, Prussia from 1805 to 1806, and Westphalia from 1806 to 1810. The kings of Denmark, members of the House of Oldenburg, held the Duchy of Lauenburg from 1815 to 1864, when the territory came under Prussian control as a result of the Second Schleswig War, though it was not immediately annexed to Prussia.
In 1865, the estates of Saxe-Lauenburg offered rule of the duchy to King William I of Prussia. He accepted during the same year, ruling it in personal union until the estates decided upon the merger of their state with Prussia as of July 1, 1876.
After the death in 1888 of the last ruling duke, Wilhelm I (who after 1870 was also German emperor), the now purely honorific title of Duke of Lauenburg was granted to Otto von Bismarck after his dismissal as Chancellor of Germany in 1890.
↑ The House of Wettin also adopted this coat-of-arms, when it gained Saxe-Wittenberg in 1422, which is why the Ascanian barry of ten reappears in the arms of many (formerly) Wettin-ruled states.
A duke (male) can either be a monarch ranked below the emperor, king, and grand duke ruling over a duchy or a member of royalty or nobility, historically of highest rank, below princes of nobility and grand dukes. The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank, and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province. In most countries, the word duchess is the female equivalent.
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany.
The history of Saxony-Anhalt began with Old Saxony, which was conquered by Charlemagne in 804 and transformed into the Duchy of Saxony within the Carolingian Empire. Saxony went on to become one of the so-called stem duchies of the German Kingdom and subsequently the Holy Roman Empire which formed out of the eastern partition of the Carolingian Empire. The duchy grew to become a powerful state within the empire, ruling over much of what is now northern Germany, but following conflicts with the emperor it was partitioned into numerous minor states around the end of the 12th century.
The Duchy of Saxony was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia; Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919.
The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors and kings that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.
Saalfeld is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Saxon House of Wettin, which was renamed the House of Windsor during their British reign in 1917.
Amt Neuhaus is a municipality in the District of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Amt means "municipal office" in German. The original "municipal office of Neuhaus" existed since at least the 17th century until 1885, consecutively as part of Saxe-Lauenburg, Electorate of Hanover (1689-1810), Kingdom of Hanover (1814-1866), and the Prussian Province of Hanover (1866-1885).
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in 1699, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of the Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha line in 1825, in which the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld line received Gotha, but lost Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen.
The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, was a reichsfrei duchy that existed 1296–1803 and 1814–1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial center was in the modern district of Herzogtum Lauenburg and originally its eponymous capital was Lauenburg upon Elbe, though in 1619 the capital moved to Ratzeburg.
The Electorate of Hanover was an Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, located in northwestern Germany and taking its name from the capital city of Hanover. It was formally known as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg. For most of its existence, the electorate was ruled in personal union with Great Britain and Ireland following the Hanoverian Succession.
Saxe-Weimar was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of the House of Wettin.
The Ernestine duchies, also known as the Saxon duchies, were a changing number of small states that were largely located in the present-day German state of Thuringia and governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.
The Electorate of Saxony was a state of the Holy Roman Empire established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356. Upon the extinction of the House of Ascania, it was feoffed to the Margraves of Meissen from the Wettin dynasty in 1423, who moved the ducal residence up the river Elbe to Dresden. After the Empire's dissolution in 1806, the Wettin Electors raised Saxony to a territorially reduced kingdom.
The Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire centered at Wittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. The Ascanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxon electoral dignity until their duchy was finally elevated to the Electorate of Saxony by the Golden Bull of 1356.
Henneberg was a medieval German comital family (Grafen) which from the 11th century onwards held large territories in the Duchy of Franconia. Their county was raised to a princely county in 1310.
The coat of arms of the present-day German free state of Saxony shows a tenfold horizontally-partitioned field of black (sable) and gold/yellow (or) stripes, charged with a green (vert) crancelin running from the viewer's top-left to bottom-right. Although the crancelin is sometimes shown bent (embowed) like a crown, this is due to artistic license. The coat of arms is also displayed on the state flag of Saxony.
Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg was a member of the House of Ascania and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from 1426 to 1463. His full title was Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia, however only ruling the branch duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg between 1426 and 1463.
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