christopher oehler
Keywords: denmark | dannebrog |
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Last modified: 2021-08-25 by christopher oehler
Keywords: denmark | dannebrog |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[First known Dannebrog]](../images/d/dk-1427.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, September 2008See also:
The first known Dannebrog flag is a copy from the flag of 1427 that had been captured by Hanse in a sea battle. This flag was brought to the Dome of Lübeck, where it was destroyed after a bombing in 1942. The Danish however made a copy of this flag in 1881. This copy is shown in Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød city (Frederiksborg Amt) in North Zealand. Here is my photo. I shot this photo in 1977(?) in Hillerød.
Dannebrog model 1427:
It is a rectangular flag consisting of
three parts. The total ratio is approximated 1:4.
Description of hoist part:
In a beige field covered with blossomy ornaments (like on seals) there stands
face to face at the hoist a crowned St. Mary carrying Jesus in her arms and
opposite St. James with his attributes, a baton and a scallop. All three are
nimbed and in natural colour
Description of central part:
This partition
is divided by a white centred cross. The 1st field shows the arms of Denmark:
three blue, couchant leopards with queue fourchée in a golden (=yellow)
field. The 2nd field shows the arms of Sweden: three golden (=yellow) coronets
in a blue field. The 3rd field shows the arms of Norway: a golden (=yellow),
crowned, rampant lion, red tongued (and probably in the beginning also red
armed) holding an silver-bladed axe in both hands. The 4th field shows the
arms of Pomerania: a blue griffin with silvery beak.
Description of fly end
part:
It is simply a field of dark brownish red divided by a horizontal white fessy line, being the
continuation of the horizontal crossbar.
Specials:
The horizontal ratio
of the partitions is approximated: 9:17:4.
The central and hoist part are
divided by the crossbars vertically approximated 10:3:10. The central part
horizontally approximated 8:1:8.
The author supposed that the original was a
ship flag and that the images on the hoist part had something to do with the
name of the ship.
Source:
Povl ELLER: Frederiksborg Museum - Fahrer mit
Abbildungen; Hillerød 1981; ISBN 87-87237-26-1; p.28
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 1,8 September 2008
My image is a reconstruction, based on the image on p.28 of source and on my own
photo. The colours of the 1881 copy have turned really pale. So I took fresh
colours according to the well-known coats of arms. There remained however some
open questions:
I chose a light blue for the coat of St. Mary though it
seemed to be rather white in source. But there existed an image of Znamierowski,
who painted the coat blue and so I decided to trust in him. The colour of the
griffin may also be a dark silver, but it has the same shade as the leopards in
the 1st field. So I decided to paint him blue. All the ratios are estimated. The
image in source seems to show the flag not completely rolled out from a pole at
the hoist side. Therefore the image is slightly oblique. Furthermore St. Mary
has no right shoulder. I gave her back her
shoulder.
Klaus-Michael Schneider,
8 September 2008
This flag is
certainly a staple of Danish publications on the history of the Dannebrog (those
that go into any length at least). The original flag was four and a half meters
long and made of painted canvas. Strictly speaking, it is not a Dannebrog flag,
but a flag with a Dannebrog cross, that is a white cross. The rest of the flag
is made up of a field with St. Mary and the Child with St. James at the hoist,
then the arms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Pomerania in the quarters made up
by the cross. The field of Norway is blue, which was and is incorrect. Pomerania
has the colours reversed (should be red griffin on white).
The flag was
first scientifically published and discussed by Henry Petersen in an article
called "Et dansk flag fra unionstiden i Maria-kirken i Lübeck" (in English: A
Danish flag from the times of the union in St.Mary’s church in Lübeck) in
Årbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed og historie, 1882, where there is also a colour
reproduction. See our bibliography: phn82.
![[First known Dannebrog]](../images/d/dk-1427.jpg)
image scanned by Jan Oskar Engene, 2 September 2008
I made a scan of the plate, made by Professor Magnus Petersen. The colours of the flag changed over the centuries. This is especially the case with silver that turned into blue-grey. This must be taken into account when discussing the colours.
Professor Henry Petersen studied the original flag in detail in Lübeck and was
present when, in June 1881, Prof. M. Petersen made his copy (which may well be
the one you saw, Petersen notes in his article that the copied flag was made for
the National Museum at Frederiksborg). According to H. Petersen the blue colours
of the flag have faded to grayish. His account of the colours of the flag is as
follows:
The field containing Mary with the Child and St. James is described
as a white field strewn with red roses. The first quarter is described as
containing three blue leopards on yellow, the second blue with three yellow
crowns, the third blue with a yellow crowned lion holding an axe, fourth red
with a black griffin. The free end of the flag is described by Petersen as
brownish red, but he makes a remark that it was probably originally red.
Petersen also notes that the flag seems to lack a piece: A part seems to be
missing from the hoist side. As you can see from the scan above, St. Mary is
positioned very close to the hoist edge.
Jan Oskar Engene, 2 September 2008
