Duchy of Brunswick - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The duchy of Brunswick was formed out of the possessions of senior branch of the house of Brunswick. The house of Brunswick originated in Othbert Count Palatine of Este in Italy. This family acquired the inheritance of the Guelph family by marriage — around the year 1000 — of Azzo II with Kunigunde, daughter of Welf II. Again important possessions were gained in (Lower-)Saxony by the marriage of Henry 'the Black' to Wulfhild (d 1126), last of the Billung-family who had been dukes of Saxony for the last ages. They were made lord of Brunswick and Lüneburg in 1181 and dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg on 12 August 1235. In 1546 the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg divided into the branches of Lüneburg (principality of Hanover) and Wolfenbüttel (the duchy of Brunswick).

Both branches used in their arms the two lions of Brunswick (said to be granted by the English king to his son in law, the duke of Brunswick in the thirteenth century), the blue lion of Lüneburg and the white horse of Saxony. The white horse is said to be the emblem of the eighth century Saxon duke Widukind after he and his barons were forcebly baptized by Charlemagne. Before he would have flown a black horse on a yellow cloth.

The standard of the dukes of Brunswick given by Siebmachers Wappenbuch, Nurenberg 1878, shows the white horse on a red cloth. The flag was blue over yellow.

The branch of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel died out however with Duke William on 18 October 1884. Brunswick and Hanover should have been rejoined at that time, but Prussia had annexed the kingdom of Hanover in 1866 and now prevented the younger branch of the house of Brunswick from taking up the ducal crown. Only in 1913 was peace sealed with the marriage of prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover to Victoria Louise, daughter of the German emperor William II. This couple was enthroned in the duchy of Brunswick. The flag they adopted shows however very much the English pattern in its form and contents. In the first and fourth quarter are the two lions of Brunswick, in the second and third the lion of Lüneburg. In the centre are the arms of Hanover (which are still on those of Great Britain!) now with a ducal crown. (source: Bulgaria Berühmte Fahnen Deutscher geschichte, Dresden 1922, p 61). To this day the princes of Hanover also are titled 'Prince(ss) of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg'. This is not a valid style under British law, however, as no application has been made to restore the titles removed by the Titles Deprivation Act, 1917.