Cantonal Flags and Coats of Arms (Switzerland) - History

History

See the List below for the histories of the individual designs.

The coats of arms of the Thirteen Cantons are based on medieval signs, originating as war flags and as emblems used on seals. For war flags, a distinction was made between Banner and Fähnlein, the former was the large war flag used only in the case of a full levy of cantonal troops for a major operation. The latter was a smaller flag used for minor military expeditions. The Banner was considered a sacred possession, usually kept in a church. Losing the banner to an enemy force was a great shame and invited mockery from other cantons.

The fashion of arranging them in shields (escutcheons) as coats of arms arises in the late 15th century.

The Tagsatzung in Baden was presented with stained glass representations of all cantons in ca. 1501. In these designs, two cantonal escutcheons were shown side by side, below a shield bearing the Imperial Eagle and a crown, flanked by two banner-bearers.

Based on these, there arose a tradition of representing cantonal arms in stained glass (Standesscheiben), alive throughout the early modern period and continued in the modern state.

• Depiction of the coat of arms of six of the Eight Cantons (omitting Zürich and Berne, but adding Solothurn and Appenzell) in a 1459 manuscript made for Albert VI, Archduke of Austria. The text denounces "the Swiss" as "faithless vassals" who hold their territories illegally.

• Standesscheibe of Unterwalden (1564)

• Early depiction of the coats of arms of the Thirteen Cantons (title page of La Republique des Suisses by Josias Simmler, printed in 1577)

• Coats of arms of the Thirteen Cantons as part of a larger collection of coats of arms of free cities by Johann Siebmacher (1605).

• Depiction of the coats of arms of the thirteen cantons and their associates, printed in 1642.

• Depiction of the coats of arms (including half-cantons) as they stood in 1912.