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Principality of Serbia (1830-1882)

by Jorge Candeias

National flag, 1835
Flag prescribed in the 1835 Serbian Constitution
Civil ensign, c.1838
Civil ensign, c. 1869
Military flags
Dubious flag reports

See also:

National flag, 1835

In 1815, an uprising was led by Miloš Obrenović, who was recognized pasha in 1829 and short after prince (1830). In 1835, the prince adopted a national flag similar to the current flag of Serbia.

Jaume Ollé;, 30 January 1998

Flag prescribed in the 1835 Serbian Constitution

by Ivan Sarajčić

The flag of 1835 is from the First Serbian Constitution, written by Dimitrije Davidović. Description of the flag in the chapter II says:

The colour of the flag is red, white and steel dark. Coat of arms : cross on red background, with four firesteels [ocila]. There are two crescents: oak leaves right, and olive leaves left.

Source: Serbian Military Flags up to 1918. Belgrade Military Museum, 1983

This flag is the only Serbian flag with red-white-blue stripes.

Ivan Sarajčić, 17 Febuary 1999

The text of the Constitution can be found in the book Rodoslovne tablice i grbovi srpskih dinastija i vlastele, Nova Knjiga, Belgrade (1987).

However, I have a problem with the term translated above as steel dark (celikasto-ugasita), not finding it in 1851 either 1935 V.S. Karažić dictionary, though from it I got notion that it should have something to do with steel (celik). Anyway, what colour would be dark steel? I would rather connect it with dark gray or black rather than blue, but I guess only some colour representation from the time could help us definitely (or even better the real flag). On the Karadjordje House website, the flag is presented with the blue stripe, that is true, but I am wondering if the color could have been corrected by latter historians to better match the latter national pattern. Some sources give the third stripe in some latter flags as dark grey or brown.

I believe that this first Constitution (Sretenjski ustav) was never officialized by Turkish rulers (though it was considered as legal by Serbian leaders and used as muc