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Last modified: 2021-04-10 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Alsace]](../images/f/fr-al.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-al-up.gif)
Banner of arms and traditional flag of Alsace - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 5 September 2017
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Alsace was colonized by the Romans from 58 BP to the 5th century.
The region was then invaded by the Alamans, who were eventually
defeated by Clovis, King of the
Franks, in Tolbiac (now Zülpich, near Bonn in Germany) in 496 or
506.
A Duchy during the Merovingian period (6th-8th centuries), Alsace became a County during the
Carolingian period. The name of Alsace appeared in the 7th century
with Duke Etichon (aka Adalric), the father of St. Odile, the patron saint of Alsace. The division in Upper- and Lower-Alsace, matching
the counties of Sundgau and Nordgau, respectively, was probably based
on the Roman dioceses of Basle and Strasbourg.
In 843, the Treaty of Verdun shared the Carolingian Empire among the three sons of Louis the Pious (778-840), Charlemagne's son and successor. Charles the Bald (823-877) and his brother Louis the German (805-876) forced their third brother, Lothair (795-855), to sign the treaty. While Charles the Bald was crowned King of Francia occidentalis (West France), Louis the German, formerly King of the Eastern Franks, was crowned King of Germania (Germany). Lothair, who had once expected to keep the whole empire for himself, received an area sandwiched between Francia and Germania, called in Latin Lotharingia, a name subsequently transalted as Lothringen in German and Lorraine in French. Lothair was succeeded by his son, Lothair II (835-869), who promised to retrocede Alsace to his uncle Louis the German. After Lothair II had died without a heir, the Treaty of Mersen (8 April 870) incorporated Alsace to Germania, the core of the future Holy Roman Empire.
In the middle of the 16th century, King of France Henri II
(1519-1559), allied with the German Protestant princes, revendicated
the ancient Kingdom of Austrasia, which
was limited by the Rhine river and, therefore, included Lorraine and
Alsace, against Emperor Charles V. Henri II seized Metz, Toul and
Verdun (the Three Bishoprics) in 1552 but failed to seize
Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace.
In 1648, by the Treaty of Munster, the Emperor ceded both
Landgraviates of Lower- and Upper Alsace to France, as well as the
ten Imperial Towns (Haguenau, Landau [later ceded to Bavarian Palatinate in 1815], Wissembourg, Rosheim,
Obernai, Sélestat, Kaysersberg, Turckheim, Colmar and Munster), which had constituted the rich Decapole in 1354. Strasbourg was not mentioned in the treaty, but Article 57 forbid the building of any kind of fortress on the Rhine downstream from Basle. In 1678, the Treaty of
Nijmegen confirmed the incorporation of Alsace to France; explicitely listed in the treaty, Strasbourg was eventually incorporated to France in 1681. The Republic of Mulhouse was incorporated to France only in 1798.
Alsace was incorporated to Germany from 1870 to 1919 and from 1939 to 1945.
Ivan Sache, 9 December 2002
The armorial flag of Alsace is a banner of the traditional arms of the province, "Per pale, 1. Gules a bend sinister cotised fleury argent (Lower Alsace), 2. Gules a bend between six crowns bendwise or (Upper Alsace)".
In his Notice historique sur les blasons des anciennes provinces de France (Historical note on the coats of arms of the ancient French provinces, 1941), Jacques Meurgey gives the arms of Alsace as "Gules a bend between six crowns bendwise or", that is the former arms of Upper Alsace.
Meurgey further claims that Lower Alsace used "Gules a bend sinister indented", which is not correct.
The flag was created in 1949 on the initiative of
the préfets of the two departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin.
The Department Council of Bas-Rhin (the former Lower Alsace), located in Strasbourg, flies the banner of Lower Alsace.
The Department Council of Haut-Rhin (the former
Upper-Alsace), located in Colmar, flies the banner of Upper-Alsace.
Ivan Sache & Olivier Touzeau, 5 September 2017
Flag hoisted upside down
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-al!ud.gif)
Flag of Alsace hoisted upside down - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 29 August 2009
An Alsatian flag hoisted upside down "somewhere in the arrondissement of Molsheim" was reported in 2009 by Marie-Thérèse Fischer. She argued that nobody would imagine the flag of Normandy hoisted upside down with the lions feet up.
[Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, 5 August 2009]
Ivan Sache, 29 August 2009
During the German occupation (1870-1918), Alsace used, unofficially, a flag horizotally divided red-white.
After the First World War, the only official flag in Alsace was the French Tricolor. As the return to France was somewhat difficult, an
autonomist movement appeared in Alsace, promoting the red-white
flag. This flag is reported to have been used mainly in the Alsatian
countryside.
[Pascal Vagnat. Les identités
régionales, nationales et supranationales dans la grande
région Saar-Lor-Lux à travers les emblèmes :
histoire, perceptions, conflits. Unpublished MSc thesis]
Pascal Vagnat, 6 August 1998
The Alsatian flag song (1911)
The Alsatian Flag Song (Das Elsässische Fahnenlied) was written, in German, by Emil Woerth in 1911. Although Alsatian and German are two different languages, the written form of Alsatian is German.
1. Sei gegrüsst, du unsres Landes Zeichen 1. Be saluted, you, the emblem of our country, Elsass Fahne flatternd froh im Wind The Alsatian flag joyously flying in the wind. Deine Farben, lieblich ohnen Gleichen Your colours, graciously peerless, Leuchten stets, wo wir versammelt sind Shall shine for ever where we get together. Ref: Chorus: Weiss un rot, White and red, Die Fahne sehen wir schweben We shall see the flag flying, Bis zum Tod, Until death, Sind treu wir ihr ergeben We shall be faithfully devoted to him. (bis) (Twice) 2. Echt und recht, wie unsre Väter waren 2. Genuine and right, like our fathers, Wollen wir in Tat und Worten sein That is how we want to be in our acts and talks Unsre Art, wir wollen sie bewahren We want to preserve our manners Auch in Zukunft makellos und rein Also in the future, unblemished and pure. 3. Und ob Glück, ob Leid das Zeitgetriebe 3. And if time brings either luck or misfortune Jemals bringe unserm Elsassland To our Alsatian land, Immer stehn wir in unentwegter Liebe We shall keep love for ever Freudig wir zu ihm mit Herz und Hand To it with heart and hand. 4. Lasst uns drum auf unsre Fahne schwören 4. Let us therefore swear on our flag, Brüder ihr vom Wasgau bis zum Rhein Brothers from Wasgau to the Rhine Niemals soll uns im fremder Hand betören We shall never be placed in foreign hands Treu dem Elsass wollen stets wir sein We want to remain faithful to Alsace forever.
Ivan Sache, 21 June 2003
