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Austro-Hungarian Empire: F III Austrian flag (and similar) in 1863 flag chart

by Devereaux Cannon, 2 June 2001

Source: Johnson's New Chart Of National Emblems (1863)

Discussion on the flag with "F III"
Discussion on a similar flag with "F II"

See also:

Discussion on the Flag

The flag, shown above, is the Austrian triband, with the initials F III in yellow on the white bar. These initials also appear in the centre of the shield on the Austrian naval ensign, which is otherwise similar to the 'War Ensign of 1897'.

One of the things I do not understand is how the initials "F III' related to Emperor Franz Joseph, whose reign ran from 1848 to 1918, if my history is correct.
Devereaux Cannon, 2 June 2001

This is a semi-educated guess, but "F III" may stand for "Francis (or Franz or Franciscus) III." The Holy Roman Emperor, Franz Joseph's great-uncle (I believe), during the Napoleonic era was Francis II.

Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire, I think, was also Francis I of Austria. If Franz Joseph was Francis II of Austria, "F III" might stand for "Francis II Imperator."
Phil Cleary, 3 June 2001

I have my reservations. At least my encyclopedias do not name the Francis I (of Austria) as Francis II of HRE, though that does not mean that he was not so. However, why he would use his HRE title on the Austrian flag is not quite straightforward.

On the other hand, your guess gave me an idea for an other guess - the ruler of Austria at the time of the chart was Francis Joseph and he was of course Francis Joseph I therefore F III might actually stand for "Franz Josef I Imperator". But as I have discussed with Devereaux, it may well be that this was more or less the generic look of the merchant flag and that each of the particular flags at the time was unique and with slightly (or not so slightly) different motive set in the middle of the Austrian triband.

Certainly there's lot of mystery here yet to untangle.
Zeljko Heimer, 3 June 2001

Except for a two year transitional period (1804-1806), he was not both [Francis I (of Austria) and Francis II of HRE]. That is, he was Franz II of the old empire until it was abolished in 1806. In the meantime, correctly predicting (probably with French help) the forthcoming abolition of the empire, he promoted Austria from Archduchy to Empire and became Franz I of Austria.
Norman Martin, 3 June 2001

I'm not sure that Zeljko's will guess will work. As I understand it (unless the Austrian convention is different), a monarch doesn't become the first until there's a second of the same name. E.g., Elizabeth I was simply Elizabeth