Nettle leaf

Nettle leaf, heraldic pattern

The nettle leaf is a representation in heraldry with a meaning that has not been clearly explained.

It was originally - in silver and red - the coat of arms of the Schauenburgers and the county of Holstein , with which they were enfeoffed in 1110. As a result, it found its way into the coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein and the district of Schaumburg , where it is distributed locally.

Presentation and meaning

Coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein , today official form (Holstein nettle leaf in the back, the Schleswig lions in front)

Coat of arms of the Schaumburg district, today the official form (nettle leaf, with blue border)

The character and origin of the sign are unclear. There are old, border-like forms and three-lobed forms, so that it is not clear whether it is an originally silver shield with a red border, or a red shield with silver decorations.

The theories on origin are:

It is a herald's picture, i.e. an abstract color division of the shield field. It could be interpreted as a circumferential row of points that protrude from the edge as a kind of serrated border into the field. According to this, it is a special form of the shelves , originally a circumferential shield reinforcement.
It is a mean figure , namely the stylized representation of the leaf of a nettle plant in the middle of the field. The nettle in particular is a symbol of defenselessness.
The Counts of Schauenburg had their headquarters in the Weser Valley near Rinteln in what is now the Schaumburg district. There was the headquarters of Schaumburg on the Nesselberg (Netelenberge) , built in 1130 by Adolf von Salingleuen (more correctly: von Santersleben). Mountain, castle and family are said to have got their name from the fact that nettles would have grown there in abundance. In what is presumably the oldest written report on the Schaumburg coat of arms, in the chronicle of Cyriacus Spangenberg from 1617, it says: “In terrible old directories it is found / this Adolf von Salingleuen should have had a blue lion / in white fields in his hereditary coat of arms / but after he waved on Schawenburgk / the Keyser had given him a nettle leaf from the Nettelberg in his coat of arms instead of the lion's. "
A third interpretation refers to the explicit threefold, often emphasized by three nails , and sees in it an application that was applied to the sign. An explicit reference to the cross-nails of Christ is seen as a Christian symbol.

Friedrich Bartels describes the early historical development as follows: “The […] Schaumburger nettle leaf was first introduced by the sovereigns in 1229 under Count Adolf IV in its oldest form as a silver shield with a raised red-jagged edge. In 1257 a new shape appeared on a coat of arms seal of Count Gerhard I : a raised serrated leaf and a recessed tooth edge. The edge of the shield was so important for the entire shield in the Middle Ages that the word 'rand' was commonly used to mean shield. The focus had thus shifted to the shield image. The serrated leaf was first referred to as nettle leaf by King Eric of Denmark around 1420. "

The three explanatory approaches are already discussed in a description of Canon of Waldeck, CF Dingelstedt, who died in 1749, he writes “that the actual coat of arms of the Schaumburg counts was the silver = red shield, but the so-called nettle leaf was only a frame around this shield, which was originally only a protective weapon , then was national emblem. Whether it was a metal frame or cloth flaps that were attached to the three tips of the shield with nails as a border decoration, the striking jagged structure, which bears very little resemblance to a real nettle leaf, has the simple and probably not unique The standing design of the silver = red shield has been pushed into the background and has become the main feature of the Schaumburg coat of arms, which then appears in the form that a silver = red shield has three points on the edge at the top and four on the sides, on the three Shield corners protrude three nails, which have different lengths and nail heads at different times. "

The blazon of the Schleswig-Holstein state coat of arms, for example, expressly gives today "a silver nettle leaf on a red background", thus emphasizing the character of the common figure.

The dominance and the exact shape - such as the number of points - varies.

Historical and current forms of the nettle leaf
Bord, middle of the 13th century
(seal of the Schauenburger) ^∗
emphasizes the top cut edge ( Lembeck , NRW)
triangular pointed, end of 13th century (2nd, 3rd;
Seal of Holstein ) ^∗
emphatically triangular, floating , 1920
( Uetersen , SH)
three-lobed, around 1490 (left;
Holstein ) ^∗∗
tripartite, with cross bars , around 1600 (2nd in the middle shield;
Christian IV. ) ^∗∗
star-shaped, with arrows, around 1620 (Herzschild,
Prince Ernst ) ^∗∗∗
with nails is
( Suthfeld , NI)
Serrated ridges and diamonds , around 1850 (2nd, 3rd, around a heart shield ;
Hanau-Schaumburg )
Tips growing from the edge , around 1920
( Auguste Viktoria ) ^∗∗∗

^∗The first seal from Johann von Holstein-Kiel and Gerhard I. von Holstein-Itzehoe ; the second with Gerhard VI. von Holstein-Rendsburg , already quartered with the Schleswig lions.

^∗∗Hertzog von Hollstain coat of arms in the Wernigeroder (Schaffhausen'schen) coat of arms book (p. 33, Hertzog von Stetin on the right ); King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway in the coat of arms of the princes present at Regensburg for the Imperial Assembly in 1594 .

^∗∗∗Prince Ernst in the mausoleum in Stadthagen ; Queen Auguste Victoria in the Mount of Olives Church in Jerusalem .

use

It can be found, for example, in the coat of arms of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein , the district of Schaumburg and the district of Pinneberg, as well as in the coats of arms of various cities (e.g. Bückeburg , Rinteln , Stadthagen , Kiel , Barmstedt , Plön , Preetz , Neustadt in Holstein , Uetersen or Frond ).

In Kopřivnice (Nesselsdorf) a nettle leaf is emblazoned.

List of coats of arms with a nettle leaf

Current coat of arms

status	Surname	District / County	state	particularities
local community	Auetal	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
city	Bad Bramstedt	Segeberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Bad Eilsen	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
city	Bad Nenndorf	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
County seat	Bad Oldesloe	Stormarn district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Barmstedt	Pinneberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Beckedorf	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	Bekdorf	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Boksee	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Buckeburg	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	Bornhöved	Segeberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
Joint municipality	Eilsen	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
city	Fehmarn	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein	with emblem of Burg on Fehmarn identical
city	Flensburg	District-free city	Schleswig-Holstein	See Flensburg coat of arms
city	Friedrichstadt	North Friesland district	Schleswig-Holstein
District	Fürstenau	District of Peine	Lower Saxony
city	Gehrden	Hanover region	Lower Saxony
city	Gravelines	North department	Hauts-de-France
local community	Groemitz	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Grossenbrode	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Gülzow-Prüzen	Rostock district	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Office	Hanerau-Hademarschen	District of Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	have you	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	Heiligenhafen	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Hemmingstedt	District of Dithmarschen	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Hessian Oldendorf	Hameln-Pyrmont district	Lower Saxony
local community	Hohnhorst	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	horst	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Itzehoe	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Kamenná Horka ( Hermersdorf )	Okres Svitavy	Czech Republic
city	Kaltenkirchen	Segeberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Kiel	State capital	Schleswig-Holstein	See Kiel coat of arms
Sports club	Holstein Kiel	-	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Kopřivnice (Nesselsdorf)	Okres Nový Jičín	Czech Republic
District (from Dorsten)	Lembeck	Recklinghausen district	North Rhine-Westphalia
local community	Linden trees	District of Dithmarschen	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Luetjenburg	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
Joint municipality	Nenndorf	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	Nettelsee	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Neumunster	independent city	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Neustadt in Holstein	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein
Joint municipality	Niedernwöhren	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
Joint municipality	Nienstädt	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
city	Obernkirchen	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
city	Oldenburg in Holstein	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Oldendorf	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Oststeinbek	Stormarn district	Schleswig-Holstein
District (of Hamburg)	Ottensen	-	Hamburg
circle	Pinneberg	circle	Schleswig-Holstein
circle	Plön	circle	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Plön	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Preetz	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Prisdorf	Pinneberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
circle	Recklinghausen	circle	North Rhine-Westphalia
city	Rendsburg	District of Rendsburg-Eckernförde	Schleswig-Holstein
circle	Rendsburg-Eckernförde	district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Rethwish	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Rinteln	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	Rosdorf	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
Joint municipality	Sachsenhagen	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
city	Sachsenhagen	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
district	Schaumburg	district	Lower Saxony
local community	Schenefeld	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein
state	Schleswig-Holstein	state	Federal Republic of Germany
local community	Schönkirchen	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
circle	Segeberg	circle	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Stadthagen	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
circle	Stone castle	circle	Schleswig-Holstein
District of Wunstorf	Steinhude	Hanover region	Lower Saxony	( is here in an earlier version)
local community	Stumble	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Stoltenberg	Plön district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Suthfeld	Schaumburg district	Lower Saxony
local community	Tangstedt	Stormarn district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Tensbüttel roast	District of Dithmarschen	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Trent	District of Western Pomerania-Rügen	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
city	Uetersen	Pinneberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
local community	Wangels	Ostholstein district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	frond	Pinneberg district	Schleswig-Holstein
city	Wilster	Steinburg district	Schleswig-Holstein

Historical coat of arms

coat of arms	Surname	particularities
	Middle coat of arms of Prussia
	Coat of arms of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel (1736–1803)
	Coat of arms of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel (1803-1806)
	Coat of arms of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel (1815–1866)
	Coat of arms of the Landgraves of Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim (after 1917)
	Coat of arms of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt (1736–1804)
	Coat of arms of the Landgraviate and the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt (1804–1808)
	Coat of arms of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Homburg (1736–1866)
	Coat of arms of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Philippsthal (around 1866)
	Coat of arms of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Rotenburg (around 1834)
	Coat of arms of the Hanau-Hořovice dynasty
	Schaumburg-Lippe
	Schleswig-Holstein Province
	Schaumburg-Lippe
	County of Schaumburg (1946–1977)
	Schaumburg-Lippe district (1946–1977)
	Duchy of Holstein
	District of Oldenburg in Holstein
	Pinneberg district	First design of the coat of arms from 1924
	Pinneberg district	Coat of arms of the district from 1935 to 1946
	District of Rendsburg	until 1970

literature

Maximilian Gritzner : Regional and heraldry of the Brandenburg-Prussian monarchy. History of their individual parts of the country, their rulers and coats of arms. Heymann, Berlin 1894, p. 98 ff.
Walther Stephan (ed.): The historical coats of arms of Schleswig-Holstein and its landscapes. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1953.
Walther Stephan: The Holstein nettle leaf, its origin and meaning. In: Journal of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History . Vol. 61, 1933, pp. 1-15.
Walther Stephan: The nettle leaf as a secondary coat of arms of Count Adolf IV of Holstein-Schauenburg. In: Journal of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History. Vol. 63, 1935, pp. 343-346.

Web links

Commons : nettle leaf in heraldry - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Quoted from the municipality of Wappen. Heimatverein Exten, undated (note: year 1030 corrected to Spangenberg in 1130!).

↑ Detlev Freiherr von Liliencron : “Eleven years ago, Count Adolf the Third followed the call of his imperial lord to take him back to the holy grave. The gigantic figure of the Holsteiner was generally noticed when he rode to the side of the broad-shouldered, medium-sized Kaiser; he towered over him by a head. The clever Friedrich Barbarossa, with his southern German cheerfulness and amiability, which remained the same in happiness and unhappiness, with his deep sense of humor, which the gloomy, sober Holsteiner was unable to understand, could not help teasing the count whenever the opportunity arose. But he was very fond of him. At Iconium , when the German king was showered with arrows from an elephant tower , Herr Adolf had climbed the rope ladders that had been forgotten to pull up on the mighty beast in the chaos of the battle, and had wreaked havoc under the pagan bred above. He alone. His good sword, which Timm, the armorer, hammered in his teeth, he was, using his right hand to reach into the ladder, his left hand holding up the shield with the three nails of Christ between the nettle leaves in the coat of arms, against the hail of bullets, boldly pushed up. ”Quote from: The Battle of Stellau. 1201. Novelle, Max Hesse, Leipzig 1906, chapter 1 ( text online on projekt-gutenberg.org ; on the battle of Stellau against the Danes).

^ The Hademarsch pastor Hans Treplin (1884–1981) also reports on this tradition, even if he makes the mistake of saying Adolf III. and Adolf IV : “This pious count took part in a crusade to wrest the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem from the hands of the pagan Turks. He also returned home happy and brought a holy relic with him, namely the three nails from the cross of Golgotha ... The three particularly long, protruding points on the three corners [sc. of the coat of arms] mean the nails of the cross… “Quotation from: Around the village church , Jensen, Breklum 1964, p. 31 f.

^ Supplement from Friedrich Bartels: The city arms of Stadthagen. In: Schaumburg-Lippische Heimat-Blätter. Monthly supplement of the Schaumburg = Lippische Landes = newspaper. Vol. 28 (46), No. 11, 1977.

^ K. Rausch: The Schaumburg and Schaumburg-Lippe coat of arms. In: Schaumburg-Lippische Heimat-Blätter. Monthly supplement of the Schaumburg-Lippische Landes-Zeitung. Vol. 3, No. 6, 1952, ZDB -ID 540277-3 , p. 16 ff.

↑ Schleswig-Holstein - state coat of arms. schleswig-holstein.de, accessed April 2, 2019.

[1] Quoted from the municipality of Wappen. Heimatverein Exten, undated (note: year 1030 corrected to Spangenberg in 1130!).