Coat-of-Arms (Westphalia, Germany)

Saxon Horse, Sachsisches Ross, Sachsenross

Last modified: 2004-01-17 by santiago dotor
Keywords: westphalia | westfalen | horse (white) | coat of arms (horse: white) | coat of arms (horse: forcene) |
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by Jaume Ollé

• Westphalian Coat-of-Arms (white horse on red)
• White Horse on British Regiments' Colours

See also:

• North Rhine-Westphalia Historical Flags (Germany)
• Lower Saxony Historical Flags (Germany)
• North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany)
• Germany

Note that opposed to the horse of Westphalia which is rearing (or forcene, see Pascal Vagnat's blazon; German steigend), the horse of Lower Saxony is jumping (German springend), like the one of Brunswick [and Hanover]. They are however of the same descent, just like the horse of the English County of Kent (arms adopted 1933, also used on flag?), and the one used on the unofficial flag of Twente, a region in the east of the Dutch province of Overijssel. The latter two are leaping, and just like all the others white on a red field. Source: Het Saksische ros in de heraldiek (The Saxon Horse in Heraldry), G.W. Nanninga in Driemaandelijkse bladen voor taal en volksleven in het oosten van Nederland, 1969 no. 2 (one of the sources mentioned that might be interesting: Geirg Schnath, Das Sachsenros, Hannover, 1961).

Mark Sensen, 21 May 1999

Mauro Pizzini asked, "why was a white horse chosen as the royal arms of Hanover, which is the reason of this choice for the British West Yorkshire Regiment?". Hanover became the ninth electorate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. In 1714 Queen Anne (Stuart) of Great Britain died without heir, and was succeeded by George, the elector of Hanover. George's grandmother on the maternal side was Elizabeth Stuart, the second child of James I Stuart. Britain had already deposed James II in 1688 because he threaten to tear Britain apart in another religious civil war. James II's son and grandson made attempts to claim the throne in 1715 and 1745, but the Hanoverian dynasty remained solidly in place even if George I was thoroughly German in orientation and not very popular in England.

The Arms of Hanover were the tierced arms of Brunswick, Luneberg and Westphalia. The arms of Westphalia (Duchy of Westphalia and Archbishops of Cologne or Köln) had for centuries been the white horse on a red field. With the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain, the Royal Arms were changed to accommodate the arms of Hanover in the fourth quarter. The positi