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Last modified: 2021-03-29 by ivan sache
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Flag of Saint-Avold - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 15 September 2020
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The municipality of Saint-Avold (15,433 inhabitants in 2018; 3,548 ha; tourism websiteGermany, 25 km south-west of A HREF="fr-57-fo.html">Forbach.
Saint-Avold was originally known as Saint-Nabor / Sankt-Nabor. In Lorraine Franconian, the town's name gradually became Santerfor, which was transformed by the French administration in Saint-Avaux, and eventually, Saint-Avold, since 1750.
Saint-Avold emerged around an abbey built in 72O, as Nova cella, at the behest of Sigebald, bishop of Metz. In 765, his successor, Chrodegang, brought from Rome the remains of St. Nabor, an officer martyred during the Diocletian persecution. Nabor became the town's patron saint and namesake.
Fortified in 1327 by the bishop of Metz, Saint-Nabor was incorporated in 1581 to the Duchy of Lorraine. Occupied by the Frencu until 1697 during the Thirty Years' War, the town was left depopulated and ruined. Rebuilt un til 1750n Saint-Nabor experienced a period of prosperity.
Incorporated in 1766 to France with the Duchy of Lorraine, Saint-Avold was renamed to Rosselgene duringt the French Revolution. Incorporated in 1871 to the German Empire, the town underwent significant urban development from 1886 to 1913, with the establishment of new barracks for German regiments.
Incorporated again to Germany in 1941, Saint-Avold was liberated on 27 November 1944. In the 1960s, the town became a local capital of carbochemistry,and, subsequently, of petrochemistry./P>
Olivier Touzeau, 15 September 2020
The flag of Saint-Avold (photo) is vertically divided red-white with the municipal coat of arms in the center, as drawn by Robert Louis, "Quarterly, 1. Per pale, 1a. Barry of eight gules and argent, 1b. Azure semy of fleurs-de-lis or a label gules, 2. Per pale, 2a. Argent a cross potent and four crosslets all or, 2b. Or four pallets gules, 3. Per pale, 3a. Azure semy of fleurs-de-lis or a bordure gules, 3b. Azure a lion sinister rampant or armed langued and crowned gules, 4. Per pale, 4a. Or a lion rampant sable armed and langued gules, 4b. Azure crusilly fitchy two barbels addorsed or. Inescutcheon. Or a bend gules three alerions argent.
These are in fact the arms of the Duchy of Lorraine used after 1538 during the rule of Anton II the Good (1489-1544; r. 1508-1544). The arms feature in chief the arms of the four kingdoms (Hungary, Sicily, Jerusalem and Aragén) and in base the arms of the four duchies (Anjou, Gelderland, Juliers, and Bar) over which the Dukes of Lorraine exerted or claimed sovereignty. The escutcheon features the lesser arms of Lorraine.
A municipal seal dated 1586 features the arms, which were confirmed in the early 18th century by Leopold (1679-1729; Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to 1729).
The arms were confirmed on 20 October 1948 by the Heraldry Commission of the Department of Moselle.
The modern arms of saint-Avold bear the War Cross 1939-45.
[Union des Cercles Généalogiques Lorrains]
An alabaster fragment found in Nancy in the late 19th century shows the arms of Duke René II (1451-1508; Duke from 1473 to 1508), Anton's father, which lack the arms of Gelderland and Juliers. The fragment could also feature the arms used by Anton before 1538, when he inherited Gelderland and Juliers from his uncle, Charles of Gelderland (1467-1538; Duke from 1492 to 1538), and amended the arms accordingly.
[Musée Lorrain]
The Armorial Général shows the arms of "the town of Saint-Avold" (image) as "Argent a pallet azure charged with a billet of the first". Assigned by Charles d'Hozier's zealous assistants, these arms were never used by the town.
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 16 September 2020
