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Denmark Royalty

Danish Historic Royal Flags

Last modified: 2005-07-30 by rob raeside
Keywords: denmark | scandinavian cross | dannebrog | danmark | royal |
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Royal Banner, ca. 1300

[Royal Banner, ca. 1300] by Željko Heimer

Based on Znamierowski (1999) the Royal Banner, ca. 1300. A banner of arms of, so called, Danmark Ancient: or semee of hearts gules three lions in fess passant guardant azure crowned of the first.

Denmark Ancient differs from Denmark Modern, that shows the current lesser coat of arms of Denmark, in that the three lions passant are also guardant in the Ancient coat of arms. That the difference is significant could be seen from historical Danish royal coat of arms that included both Denmark Ancient and Denmark Modern in their quarters (Modern in 1st, Ancient in 4th usually).
Željko Heimer, 6 June 2004

Eric VII of Pomerania

Some time ago I watched a report on TV about the history of Denmark. There was shown a historical flag from the Union of Kalmar, ca 1397. The flag shown was rather schematic and consists of a Dannebrog, i.e. a white cross on red. Each corner of the flag showed a banner of arms of a member of the Union of Kalmar. Because the images was shown very shortly, I am not quite sure about the colours, so I describe it from out of memory:

  • Field 1 (upper hoist) shows the arms of Denmark, three blue heraldic leopards on yellow
  • Field 2 (upper fly) shows the arms of Sweden, three yellow crowns on blue
  • Field 3 (lower hoist) shows the arms of Norway a yellow lion holding an axe on red (or blue)
  • Field 4 (lower fly) shows the flag of Pomerania, a white gryphon on red (or a red gryphon on white?)

Dirk Schönberger, 16 May 2002

Erik (VII) of Pomerania (originally Bugislav), a great-nephew of Queen Margrete I, was appointed as her successor in 1387. He became king of Norway in 1389, and elected king in Denmark and Sweden in 1396. In 1397, he was crowned as king of all three countries. He withdrew to Gotland in 1436, and was ousted in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, in Norway in 1441. He kept Gotland after resigning and lived there a-pirating in the Baltic Sea 1442-49. In 1449 he ceded the island to Denmark and moved to Pomerania, where he died in 1459.

The flag (or rather ensign) was lost in war in 1427 and hung in the Marienkirche in Lübeck, where it was destroyed in an air raid in WWII.
Ole Andersen, 17 May 2002

Cyphers on flags of Frederik IV (1699-1730), Christian VI (1730-1746) and Frederi