Coat of Arms of Germany - German Confederation

German Confederation

In 1815, a German Confederation (Bund) of 39 loosely-united German states was founded on the territory of the former Holy Roman Empire. Until 1848, the confederation did not have a coat of arms of its own. The Federal Diet (Bundestag) meeting at Frankfurt am Main used a seal which carried the emblem of the Austrian Empire, since Austria had taken over the union's leadership. It showed a black, double-headed eagle, which Austria had adopted just before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
During the 1848 revolution, a new Reich coat of arms was adopted by the German National Assembly that convened in St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt. The black double-headed eagle was retained, but without the four symbols of the emperor: the sword, the imperial orb, the sceptre and the crown. The eagle rested on a golden shield; above was a five-pointed golden star. On both sides the shield was flanked by two flags with the colours black-red-gold. The emblem, however, never gained general acceptance. The coat of arms itself was the result of a decision of the federal assembly:

The federal assembly constitutes the old German imperial eagle with the surrounding scripture "German Confederation" and the colors of the former German imperial coat of arms - black, red, gold - to be the coat of arms and colors of the German Confederation and reserves the right, to make further decision about its use according to the lecture of the committee. —The Federal Assembly of the German Confederation, Federal decision about coat of arms and colors of the German Confederation of March 19, 1848

Coats of arms in the times of the German Confederation