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Historical Flags 1350-1891 (Bremen, Germany)

Freie Hansestadt Bremen

Introduction
Banner-of-Arms (reported 1350)
Hanging Flag 14th Century
17th Century Flag (reported 1685, 1700 and 1705)
1693-1891 Flag, probably mistaken (reported 1716, 1750 and 1805)
18th Century Flag (reported 1769)
Pre-1891 Flag (reported 1862)
State Ensign 1815-1891 (reported 1862)
Pre-1891 Flag (reported 1865)
State Flag 1871 and 1921

See also:

Historical Flags (Bremen)
Hanseatic Cities (Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland)
Bremen
Germany

Banner-of-Arms

Reported 1350

by Jaume Ollé

Red flag with white key, diagonal with handle pointed toward lower fly (banner of arms).

Norman Martin, 25 February 1998

Hanging Flag 14th Century

by Phil Nelson

Znamierowski 1999 shows several interesting flags of the Port Cities of northern Europe. These are derived from gonfanons, originally red in color. The flags, in a banner form [i.e. hanging flags], were flown from the stern of the vessels, the mast carrying the gonfanon of the colors. The oldest of the series, from the mid-13th century, that of Hamburg, was followed among others by Bremen in the 14th century.

Phil Nelson, 20 February 2000

17th Century Flag

Reported 1685, 1700 and 1705

by Jaume Ollé

Chequey 7 by 6 red-white. Illustrated National Geographic 1917 p. 371.

Norman Martin, 25 February 1998

Flag 1693-1891, probably mistaken

Reported 1716, 1750 and 1805

by Jaume Ollé

Horizontally striped, 9 stripes, red and white. In the hoist two vertical rows of 9 squares each, the first alternately red-white, the second alternately white-red.

Norman Martin, 25 February 1998

Schurdel 1995 implies the 9-striped flag to be in error, probably by the Allard 1695 flag chart, and then copied in other flag charts for over a century, since he states that all documents and ship paintings always have an even number of stripes.

Norman Martin, 14 September 2000

According to Schurdel 1995 and Stadler 1966 the first proven occurrence of the current civil flag dates from 1691, and it has been used continuously since then in Bremen.

Marcus Schmöger, 21 September 2001