City of Kaiserslautern (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)

Stadt Kaiserslautern

Last modified: 2007-01-20 by jarig bakker
Keywords: rhineland-palatinate | kaiserslautern |
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3:5  image by Stefan Schwoon
Flag used since 1545

• Description

See also:

• County and Municipal Flags (Rhineland-Palatinate / Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)
• Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)
• Germany

Divided white and red with the arms. In use since 1545. There is also a banner [hanging flag] version. Source: Debus 1988.
Stefan Schwoon, 2 March 2001

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website:

Kaiserslautern became a city in the 12th century. The oldest seal is known since 1262 and shows a pale between two towers behind walls. The pale probably represents the Lautern river. In a seal from 1373 two fish are added on the pale, and one tower is transformed into a church. In the 17th century the buildings are removed and only one fish is shown, identical to the present arms.

The fish have not always been shown on the pale. In a roll of arms from 1530 the arms are as they are today, but without the fish. Similarly, on another 14th century seal the arms, without fish, are placed on the breast of the imperial eagle. The colours are also not changed since the roll of arms in 1530, the oldest coloured image of the arms.

There is another story about the origin of the fish. In the year 1497 Prince Phillip had a huge fish served at a royal banquet in Heidelberg. The fish was 6 m in length and weighed about 350 pounds. This fish was caught in the Kaiserwoog (imperial pond) in Lautern. The fish had a ring around its neck, stating that it was the first fish released in the pond on the 5th October 1230 by emperor Frederic II. The fish thus was 267 years old at the time.

Literature: Stadler 1964-1971.

Santiago Dotor, 8 January 2002