Herford city (Germany)

Stadt Herford, Landkreis Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia

Last modified: 2007-10-27 by jarig bakker
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3:5 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Mar 2007
adopted 15 Feb 2000

• Herford city
• Herford city CoA

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Herford city

I have claimed earlier here that the city of Herford would have a flag with the city's coat of arm on it. Checking my old fotos I didn't find any proof of my claim. So I made further enquiries. Here are the results:

The city statutes (first session 15 Feb 2000, revised 27 Apr 2004) (translated by me) state:

"In the coat of arms of the city of Herford there is an open gate flanked by wings (of building). Above the gate there is a Gothic roof topped by a cross. On the wings roofs there are flying pennants, slit into three tails right up to the middle. In the open gate is key. The colours of the left pennant are red and white, the colours of the right one black and white.

The city of Herford has a flag of white and red cloth.

The description of flag (§2(3)) can be easily misunderstood. It sounds as if the flag is a white over red bicolour.
The description of most details of the coat of arms is not very precise because there is nothing said about the colours of field, building and so on. The location of the pennants is wrong according to terms of heraldry.
On the city's homepage however I found another description of the coat of arms. I give only a translation from German:
In a golden(=yellow) shield there is a red Gothic gate with an open door in which is an upright black key (ed.note: grip at bottom beard at top pointing to right (heraldic) side). The gable is topped by a red cross, flanked by two pennants, the right one red-silver(=white) and the left one black-silver(=white). The hoist of both pennants are red (ed.note: and they are also topped by a red cross. The whole is crowned by a wall with three towers with pinnacles and a closed door at its base).
The coat of arms was granted by the Prussian King on 1 November 1899. The picture was taken from the oldest historical city seal which is known since 1231 bearing a surrounding inscription as follows:
"SIGILLUM CIVIUM HERVORDENSIUM". It was always kept with minor alterations up to now. (Source: Westfälische Siegel band II T.69 Nr.3 und 4, T91 Nr. 1;2 und 3 und von der Neustadt T69 Nr. 5 und 6)
Also used by the city was the coat of arms of the Herford abbey showing a red  bar in a silver (=white) shield.
The key in the open door is very common in various coats of arms  in the Arnsberg district (e.g. Brilon, Hallenberg, Schmallenberg, Werl, Soest). It is the attribute of  St.Peter (german: Heiliger Petrus) who was the patron and protector of the Archbishopric and Electorate of Köln. The arcbishops of Köln became heirs of the extincted counts of Arnsberg. The black and white pennant is that one of the A&E of Köln, the red and white one is that of the abbey of Herford.

And this is also the flag of the city today. So:

Description of flag: It is a red over white bicolour. The ratio of the flag is 3:5.
Source: Peter Veddeler:"Wappen-Siegel-Flaggen, die kommunalen Hoheitszeichen der Kreise, Städte und Gemeinden in Westfalen-Lippe".
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Mar 2007

"The city of Herford belongs to the district of Detmold and is limited by the City of Enger, the Municipality of Hiddenhausen, the City of Löhne, the City of Vlotho (Herford County), the City of Bad Salzuflen(Lippe County) and the City of Bielefeld."
Source: Translation from Hauptsatzung (City Statutes) of Herford §1(1). (my translation).
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Mar 2007

Herford city CoA