List of coats of arms with the Brandenburg chess bar

Family coat of arms of the old Counts of the Mark, later Dukes of Kleve, Counts of the Mark, also Lords of Ravenstein, in the Armorial Bellenville (2nd half of the 14th century)

This list contains current municipal coats of arms as well as historical coats of arms of cities, countries and families that use the Brandenburg chess bar . The three-row red and silver nested bar on a golden background was the coat of arms of the dynasty of the counts and dukes from the house of von der Mark and the ruling territory of Grafschaft Mark in the Holy Roman Empire .

Origin and distribution of the Brandenburg chess bar

The origin of the Brandenburg chess bar lies in the period between 1198 and 1220, probably based on the red battlements of the ancestral home of the Märker and Altena counts, the old Berg house, which became extinct in 1225 in the male line.

In the early days, the chess bar can be found in Adolf I. Graf von der Mark and Altena and Otto Graf von Altena in combination with a rising single-tailed lion , which probably stood for the County of Altena . Its exact coloring is not known, but it was assumed in the past to be black with red arms and a golden crown. B. when creating the coat of arms for the old district of Altena . The director of the Lüner Museum, Wingolf Lehnemann, also attributes the lions that have appeared in the seal of the city of Lünen since 1320 to the Brandenburg or Altenaic origin, the colors of which have been known since 1509, as a red lion on a golden field.

Engelbert I, Graf von der Mark , was already running the chess bar , parallel to his brother Otto von Altena , with whom he shared the inheritance of Adolf I, and kept that position even after Altena's relapse to him.

The Brandenburg chess bar found widespread use in the aristocratic houses of Europe as a result of the targeted marriage policy of the Counts von der Mark and later dukes from this house; it can be found in England , France , Belgium , Luxembourg , Spain , Italy and the Netherlands in addition to the Westphalian - Lower Lorraine region Netherlands in different family and rulers coats of arms again.

In addition to the historical coats of arms of the various Brandenburg city foundations since 1226, the chess bar can also be found on the numerous side lines of the House of von der Mark, such as B. the counts and dukes of Marck-Arenberg , in coats of arms of married families such. B. in the claim coat of arms of 1609 of the Electors of Saxony , the coat of arms in the gatehouse of the Quedlinburg monastery or Luigi Gonzaga Duke of Nevers and Rethel .

In later divisions of the administrations in the area of ​​the county of Mark, the chess bar found its way again and again into numerous newly created coats of arms such as that of the Unna district or the Märkische Kreis , which is even named after the mark , so that the territory of the counts remains in the distribution of the coat of arms to this day from the mark has remained recognizable.

In the coat of arms of the Prussian kings and German emperors from 1873, the Brandenburg chess bar can be found in the lower right area. The Brandenburg Hohenzollern inherited the county of Mark and the coat of arms in 1609/66 after the male line of the House of Mark died out.

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  Coat of arms of the Counts of the Mark in the register of arms of the Westphalian nobility

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  Coat of arms of Luigi Gonzaga Duke of Nevers and Rethel

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  Coat of arms of Wilhelm II as King of Prussia

use

coat of arms

coat of arms	status	Place name / administrative area	District / district-free city	state	Remarks
	County ( HRR )	County mark
	County ( HRR )	County of Altena			until 1262
	County ( HRR )	County of Marck-Arenberg			around 1605
	Territorial State Association in the HRR	United Duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg			1521-1609
	independent city	Hamm	Hamm	North Rhine-Westphalia
	Borough	Pelkum	Hamm	North Rhine-Westphalia
	Borough	Uentropic	Hamm	North Rhine-Westphalia	Colors of the county of Mark ("a red and silver bar in gold")
	Borough	Rhynern	Hamm	North Rhine-Westphalia	only two rows
	circle	Unna		North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Unna	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Bergkamen	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia	Chess bars as a form dissolved only by coloring, the ring stands for the six communities that form Bergkamen and the structural formula of benzene , as a symbol of the local industries: petrochemicals , coal mining .
	District of Bergkamen	Rünthe	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	District of Bergkamen	Weddinghofen	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia	Color scheme see here
	city	Fröndenberg / Ruhr	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Came	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	local community	Holzwickede	Unna district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	independent city	Bochum	Bochum	North Rhine-Westphalia
	District-free city	Gelsenkirchen	Old Gelsenkirchen	North Rhine-Westphalia	Coat of arms until 1928
	circle	Märkischer Kreis		North Rhine-Westphalia	Jülich lion
	circle	Altena	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	circle	Halver	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	circle	Hemer	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	circle	Iserlohn	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Kierspe	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	former municipality	Rönsahl	to Kierspe	North Rhine-Westphalia
	circle	Ludenscheid	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia	only two rows
	city	Meinerzhagen	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Neuenrade	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Plettenberg	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	former office	Office Plettenberg	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Werdohl	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	local community	Herscheid	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	local community	Nachrodt-Wiblingwerde	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	local community	Schalksmühle	Märkischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	former circle	Iserlohn		North Rhine-Westphalia	until 1975
	circle	Oberbergischer Kreis		North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Bergneustadt	Oberbergischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Gummersbach	Oberbergischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	local community	Engelskirchen	Oberbergischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia
	District of Engelskirchen	Ründeroth	Oberbergischer Kreis	North Rhine-Westphalia	Reduced representation in the label
	circle	Ennepe-Ruhr district		North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Breckerfeld	Ennepe-Ruhr district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Ennepetal	Ennepe-Ruhr district	North Rhine-Westphalia	only two rows
	city	Schwelm	Ennepe-Ruhr district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	city	Weather (Ruhr)	Ennepe-Ruhr district	North Rhine-Westphalia
	Borough	Hasslinghausen	Ennepe-Ruhr district	North Rhine-Westphalia	until 1970
	District	Niederense / Ense	Soest district	North Rhine-Westphalia	only two rows and placed at an angle
	district	Next brace	Wuppertal	North Rhine-Westphalia
	district	Langerfeld	Wuppertal	North Rhine-Westphalia
	former city	Hear	to Dortmund	North Rhine-Westphalia
	former city	Holten	to Oberhausen	North Rhine-Westphalia
	former city	Wattenscheid	to Bochum	North Rhine-Westphalia

Seals, flags and banners

Numerous cities z. B. the city of Hamm still use the Brandenburg chess bars in their seals and flags. In the coat of arms and seal of Unna , the Brandenburg flags, the chess beam on a golden background / cloth, can be seen. The banner of the city of Hamm, on the other hand, shows the chess bar on a silver (white) background. The oldest flag of the city of Schwelm from 1749 shows the black Prussian eagle in the middle field on a dark green background, including the city coat of arms. Since 1950 the city flag has been red and white with the shield of the city coat of arms in the middle; in banner form; red-white-red with the upper white third, in it the city arms.

• Flag and banner of the city of Hamm
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  The flag of the city of Hamm

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  The banner of the city of Hamm

See also

• Beam (Heraldry) , in particular # Maerkischer chess bar
• Schacht (heraldry)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lead glass windows of Altena Castle from 1909 and other coats of arms
2. ↑ Wingolf Lehnemann: history of the city Luenen until 1806. 1993 ( online ).
3. ↑ Claim coats of arms of various houses u. a. Saxony for the United Duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg