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Malmo (Sweden)

Malmö

by Jan Oskar Engene
The flag is a banner of the arms;
arms granted on 23 April 1437.

Origin of the flag

See also:

Origin of the flag

On 23 April 1437, long before the town came under Swedish rule, king Erik VII of Denmark signed a grant to the town of Malmö. The arms were derived from the king's personal arms. Hailing from Pomerania, Erik's arms were a red griffin on a silver field. The town's arms were to be a red griffin's head crowned with a golden crown on a field of silver. The grant thus represented an obvious royal favour to the city.

Malmö's town flag is an armorial banner of the arms. The heraldic artist Einar Kedja drew the model for the city flag, approved by the city council on 26 May 1950, and still used (confirmed by personal observation). In the town flag, the silver field from the arms is replaced by white.

Sources:
· Bjurling, Oscar: 'Källmaterialet. Stadens vapen och sigill', in Oscar Bjurling (ed.): Malmö stads historia, Malmö: Allhems Förlag, 1971, pp. 173-179
· Nevéus, Clara and de Wærn, Bror-Jacques: Ny svensk vapenbok, Stockholm: Streiffert, 1992 [nev92]
· Scheffer, C G U: Svensk vapenbok för landskap, län och städer, Stockholm: Generalstabens litografiska anstalt, 1967
Jan Oskar Engene, 2000-Jan-19