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Principality of Serbia (1830-1882)

Knjaževina Srbija

Flag of Serbia, 1835-1882 - Image by Jorge Candeias, 30 January 1998

Second Serbian Uprising, 1815
National flag, 1835
Flag prescribed in the 1835 Serbian Constitution
Civil ensign
Military flags
Dubious flag reports

See also:

Second Serbian Uprising, 1815

After the breakdown of the First Serbian Uprising in 1813, the Ottoman repression during the restoration of earlier regime provoked constant resistance. The decision to start a new uprising was made in Takovo, a village in present-day Gornji Milanovac municipality, on 25 April 1815. The elected leader was Miloš Obrenović, one of those leaders of the First Serbian Uprising who had stayed in the country after its breakdown and had tried at first to relieve the situation through collaboration with the restored Ottoman provincial government, but were eventually alienated by the worsening repression. The immediate success of the uprising caused Ottoman military intervention, which was, under the international pressure, almost immediately replaced with the negotiations. These resulted with the establishing of an informal self-government of the Serbs, which was being widened through further negotiations until 1830, when Serbia was finally officially recognized as a vassal principality, with Ottoman influence much reduced and with Miloš Obrenović as its first hereditary ruler. Serbia remained a vassal state, although with further reductions of the Ottoman influence during that time, until 1878, when it finally achieved full independence.

The Takovo flag, 1815 - Image by Tomislav Todorović & Mladen Mijatov, 25 December 2006

Most of the flags used in the Second Serbian Uprising were actually those which remained from the First Uprising, but the new one which appeared in 1815 is the white flag with a large red Greek cross in the centre, which was carried by Miloš Obrenović at the rally in Takovo when the uprising was risen. "The Takovo Flag", as it is usually called, is shown on the painting "The Takovo Uprising" by great Serbian painter Paja Jovanović (1859-1957). The paintings of events from both Serbian Uprisings were often historically inaccurate in vexillological terms (a typical error was to show the Serbian tricolour flag, which was actually created years later!), but Paja Jovanović is known to have thoroughly studied the historical circumstances of the events he wanted to paint, the 1815 rally in Takovo being just one of these. That is why his reconstruction of this flag is considered correct.
"The Takovo Flag" has inspired the flag of the Gornji Milanovac municipality.

Tomislav Todorović, 25 December 2006

National flag, 1835

In 1815, an uprising was led by Miloš Obrenović, who was recognized Pasha in 1829 and short after prince (1830). In 1835, the prince adopted a national flag similar to the current flag of Serbia.

Jaume Ollé;, 30 January 1998

Flag prescribed in the 1835 Serbian Constitution

Serbian flag according to the 1835 Constitution - Image by Ivan Sarajčić, 17 February 1999

The flag of 1835 is from the First Serbian Constitution (known as Sretenjski ustav), written by Dimitrije Davidović. Description of the flag in Chapter II says:

The colour of the flag is red, white and steel dark. Coat of arms : cross on red background, with four firesteels (ocila). There are two crescents: oak leaves right, and olive leaves left.

Source: Serbian Military Flags up to 1918. Belgrade Military Museum, 1983

This flag is the only Serbian flag with red-white-blue stripes.

Ivan Sarajčić, 17 February 1999

The text of the Constitution can be found in the book Rodoslovne tablice i grbovi srpskih dinastija i vlastele, Nova Knjiga, Belgrade (1987).
However, I have a problem with the term translated above as "steel dark" (celikasto-ugasita), not finding it in 1851 either 1935 V.S. Karažić dictionary, though from it I got notion that it should have something to do with steel (celik). Anyway, what colour would be dark steel? I would rather connect it with dark gray or black rather than blue, but I guess only some colour representation from the time could help us definitely (or even better the real flag). On the Karađorđe House website, the flag is presented with the blue stripe, that is true, but I am wondering if the color could have been corrected by latter historians to better match the latter national pattern. Some sources give the third stripe in some latter flags as dark grey or brown.

I believe that this first Constitution was never officialized by Turkish rulers (though it was considered as legal by Serbian leaders and used as much as possible). The Turkish government issued a new Constitution in 1838 (Turski ustav), but I do not know how this reflects flags.

The description of the flag in the 1835 Constitution has the Cs (firesteels) described to be turned towards the cross. This is different from the usual practice, but it may only be a bad description of the usual position of the firesteels. Also, I believe that they were meant to be of the same steel dark colour as in the flag .
Finally, oak is set in description on the right, and olive on the left. Either these are non-heraldic description, or was misunderstood, as all images that I have seen have oak on sinister (heraldical left) and olive on dexter (heraldical right).

Željko Heimer, 18 February 1999

Civil ensign

Serbian civil ensign, c. 1838 - Image by Mario Fabretto, reconstructed after CISV archives, 30 September 1998

The civil ensign, from c. 1838, added the coat of arms in the centre; this because it was necessary to distinguish the Serbian flag from the Russian one when the former was hoisted upside down to signal a danger. Because the coat of arms of the Serbian principality was adopted only in 1838, the flag could not be earlier. The only image we have of the civil ensign of that period is the uncomplete/incorrect one in the book of Le Gras [leg58].

Serbian civil ensign, c. 1869 - Image by Mario Fabretto, reconstructed after CISV archives, 30 September 1998

The Constitution of 1869 describes the civil ensign as red-blue-white with the shield (without crown and mantle) in the center and three yellow six-pointed stars on the red stripe (for the Ottoman sovereignty, as it was the case for Moldavia and Wallachia). The dates of use for this flag could be June 1869 - c. 1872.

Mario Fabretto, 30 September 1998

Military flag

The Guide of the Military Museum in Belgrade (no date indicated) [gmb8x] mentions, for room 22, showcase 9A: Banner of Russian volunteers, participants in the Serbian-Turkish war of 1876. No description of the banner is given.

Željko Heimer, 31 January 1998

Dubious flag reports

Dubious Serbian flags - Images by Jorge Candeias, 30 September 1998

Some sources (for instance Deppermann, c. 1848) report very intriguing flags for Serbia: red-white-black (or maroon) with a coat of arms in the center and four white stars in the canton (2 + 2). These flags are very dubious.

Mario Fabretto, 30 September 1998