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If the Emperor was aboard of naval (or other?) ships before mid-19th century,
I found no record of a special flag used – presumably some kind of imperial flag
used on land would be hoisted aboard also – however, I have not studied this
deep enough to claim either.
The final result of the long discussion over
the change of the naval flags at the beginning of 19th century was the
introduction of the distinction flags.
In 1825, Emperor Francis II
determined that the pennant and the standard are to be displayed from the war
ships only when the emperor or a prince was personally aboard, and that the
merchant ships should not fly pennants at all (As we know from previously
mentioned sources, the right of merchant ships to fly the masthead pennant was
revoked in 1804).
Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~1828i.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
Adopted: 1828
Abandoned: late 19th century
The Standard for the Members of the
Imperial House was regulated in 1828 in a square form, yellow with the border of four-coloured
black-yellow-red-white flammulets and the coat of arms in the middle. The
coat of arms consists of a black double-headed eagle, each head crowned with
a royal crown and both topped with an imperial crown, holding in its talons a
sword and an orb, with an escutcheon impaled of Hapsburg, Austria and
Lorraine, and with a collar of the order of the Golden Fleece. (Lehnert;
Baumgartner, 1977; Steenbergen; US Navy, 1862; USNavy 1899; Heyer etc.)
The 1828 standard remained in used for the rest of the century, until the introduction
of the "1894 Muster", when the design was "upgraded" into the coat of arms
depicting the arms of the crown-lands, and the designs were distinguished for
Emperor, Empress and Archdukes. The wavy flammulets are now being shown as
triangular (although, one may wonder if this is only due to the printing
technique – it may well be that the flags produced retained traditional wavy
forms?).
Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~1894i.gif)
image by Željko Heimer
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~1894e.gif)
image by Željko Heimer
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~1894a.gif)
image by Željko Heimer
The Imperial and Royal Standard (Standarte Seiner Majestät des Kaisers und Königs)
included [eight] imperial crowns surrounding the central coat of arms (although
one of these [eight] was part of the coat of arms itself).
The Empress's and Queen's Standard (Standarte Ihrer Majestät der Kaiserin und Königin) included
four crowns in the corners (not counting the one on the coat of arms in the
middle), while the Archduke's and Archduchess' Standard (Standarte der k. und
k. Herren Erzherzoge und Frauen Erzherzoginnen) had no crowns beside the coat
of arms. (Baumgartner, 1977; Normal-Verordnung 1895; Ruhl; HM Stationery
Office, 1907; Neubecker, 1939)
Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
[Photo of the Imperial Standard by Valerio Volpato. Size: 240x240 cm]
A photograph of this flag was posted on eBay in 2008 – image (stretched to orthogonal proportions) posted here. Information provided by poster:
"FLAG c. 1895 Empress of Austria 's STANDARD 88" x 92"
Personal flag
representing the Empress of Austria ("personal" not referring to ownership but
rather to representation of a person). The Lesser Austrian Imperial Arms are
centered on a gold background with a gold, black, red and white triangulated
border. The eagle is surrounded by eleven shields of the Empire's provinces:
Hungary; Lombardo-Veneto kingdom (the snake azure of Milan and the lion of St.
Mark of Venice); Illyria; Siebenbürgen (Transylvania); Moravia impaling Silesia;
Tyrol; Austria above the Enns impaling Austria below the Enns; Salzburg; Styria;
Esclavonia (sic, actually Galicia and Lodomeria); and Bohemia. Various orders
are displayed beneath the shield of the Habsburgs. A depiction of the Crown of
Rudolf II, later Crown of the Austrian Empire, is placed in each of the four
corners indicating that this is the empress' "flag".
This type of flag,
called a "standard" would be flown to indicate that this personage was present
at a location or presented to a person, organization or group indicating royal
favour. This standard measures 88" x 92". It is made of a course fabric (wool)
and is definitely a service flag having strong reinforcements for displaying or
flying. Dates to the later part of 19th Century, though no later than 1915.
William Garrison, 4 August 2008
Having written my Honors Thesis on the Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary
(known to one and all as "Sissi"), I think I can speak with some authority on
this flag. The Empress, who was a member of a cadet branch of the House of
Wittelsbach, the Bavarian royal family, was married to the Emperor Franz Joseph
in a typical loveless dynastic marriage. She was artistic, cultured, and above
all very beautiful, and her husband had no idea what to make of this exotic
creature with whom he had been saddled for dynastic reasons. For that matter, he
had virtually nothing in common with her, a very dull, boring husband. She duly
produced an heir, the luckless Archduke Rudolf, who allegedly shot himself and
his mistress, the Bohemian Countess Marie Vetsers (Bohemian both in ethnic
origin and in artistic proclivities), although there is apparently some doubt
over this; recent research has suggested that Rudolf had been in negotiation
with some Hungarian secessionist elements to become the ruler of a breakaway
Hungarian kingdom. The Austrohungarian secret police, which was one of the few
elements in the ramshackle Dual Monarchy, apparently got wind of this and
presented a dossier to Franz Joseph, who may well have given Rudolf the
classical officer's option, Vetsera being merely a pretext.
As for the
flag itself, Elisabeth was assassinated by an Italian anarchist in the 1890s.
When he was arrested the perpetrator insisted that his act should not be
construed as being one of personal hatred. He said that he thought that Sissi
was beautiful and sweet, but she had to die because of what she represented. In
any event, the standard of the Empress to which Bill draws our attention would
not have been flown after Sissi's death, or at least after her funeral. It would
very likely have been draped over her coffin at her funeral. There was no
Empress until 1916, when Franz Joseph's distant cousin succeeded him as the
Emperor Karl VI, often known unkindly as Karl der Letzte (Charles the Last). I
assume that his wife, Princes Zita of Bourbon-Parma, who was the last Empress
and who died in the late 1980s, would have had an imperial standard of her own,
although I have never seen a representation of it. I have seen Kaiser Karl's
Imperial standard.
Ron Lahav, 4 August 2008
There was no specific separate standard for the Empress in ca. 1916, the only
one that was prescribed on 12 October 1915 was that of Emperor
and Empress and would have been presumably used when either of the two or
both are present personally. It seems that this standard was rarely used,
Baumgartner notes only a single occasion during Emperor's holidays on 22
December 1917 (was Zita there too?) and the possibility that it was used when
the Emperor was visiting the front lines in 1918. There was no record of this
standard being used aboard ships.
Regarding the Standard we have seen in
the picture – it was prescribed only in 1894, named Standarte Ihrer Majestät
der Kaiserin und Königin (Standard of HM Empress and Queen), and thus would
have been used by Sissi (Elisabeth of Bavaria) until her assassination in 1898.
Before that, since 1828 a single design of thr imperial standard was used for
all members of the imperial house, of a similar basic design but without the
crowns in the corners.
As Ron pointed out, there would be no purpose for
this standard since 1898 until the succession of Emperor Karl I, to be used by
his wife Zita, who would already have an other standard adopted in 1915.
However, that does not mean that the Austrian naval ships would not have been
equipped with such flag in their flag cabinets in the meantime and some probably
remained there until the end of the Dual Monarchy. I wonder if that may not be
the origin of the example we have seen.
Željko Heimer, 4 August 2008
Empress Zita would have used the 1915 pattern Empress'
standard as she came to the title in 1916.
David Phillips, 29 December 2012
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~1915i.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
The imperial standards
prescribed by the "1915" muster are in fact the only flags of that set that
were actually put in any actual use. The Emperor's and Empress' Standard, now
of a single design, on a wine red field with black-yellow-red-white-green
triangular border. In the middle was set the coat of arms impaled
Hapsburg-Austria-Lorraine crowned with two crowns – the Austrian imperial
crown and the crown of St. Stephen, and surrounded with the collar of the
Order of Golden Fleece. It is noted that the Emperor Carl I used this
standard on land during his holidays on 22 December 1917, and possibly during
his visits to the front-line in 1918. (Baumgartner, 1977)
Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
In 1915 the imperial flag were changed in colour. The flag of the emperor and empress
was called "purpur" and the illustration is a violet color very close to the Romanian royal
flag as illustrated in Znamierowski (1999)
"World Encyclopedia", p.58. The flag of the archdukes is an orangeish color, slightly
redder than the bottom stripe of the current German flag, very much
like that of the flag of the emperor (of the
Holy Roman Empire) on Znamierowski
(1999), p.55.
Norman Martin, 2 December 2001
In an image from a Spanish-language website, found at
http://nobleyreal.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html, the flag on Empress
Zita's casket at her funeral in 1989 appears to be that shown above with the
1915 pattern.
David Phillips, 29 December 2012
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~1915e.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
The Archduke's and Archduchess' Standard was similar differing
in the flag field colour – here being orange, and the two crowns were
replaced with a single heraldic crown. (Baumgartner, 1977)
![[Imperial standard]](../images/a/ah~ufe-st.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 7 October 2007
In addition to those, there is a flag preserved in the Croatian Maritime
Museum in Split that I visited in 2004 – being similar to the archducal flag
of 1894 pattern, but rectangular and with slightly different bordure, also
missing the crown-lands coats of arms and being different in some other minor details
(this last may just be result of simplification in the manufacture). Most
notably the flammuly bordure extends only along three edges. The fact
that the hoist edge is equipped as a flag sleeve may suggest that this was no
naval flag at all, but was used attached on a flag staff – possibly as a
military (army) flag or guidon of some kind. The height of this flag is
approximately 60 cm (length, possibly 80 cm?). Does this sounds as anything
recognizable from the A-H military?
Due to the degradation of time, the
parts of the embroidery in the coat or arms that should have been golden are now of
rusty dark silver colour, indistinguishable from the supposedly silver parts
of the embroidery. Also the outer flammulets, that should have been white and
yellow, are now of the same grey colour – that presumably once was white –
and painted yellow in appropriate parts (it seems that remnants of the
yellow painting is visible at some places, although it may as well be some
yellow dirt there – it is hard to tell). There is no record preserved in the
museum of how the flag was obtained or what it source was (There are some
minor artistic differences in the coat of arms drawing of the original flag and my
redrawing, which are not important for the eventual recognition of
what it is).
– Josef von Lehnert: "Beiträge zur
Geschichte der k. k. Flagge. Vortrag, gehalten im militär-wissenschaftlichen
Verein zu Wien am 13. März 1885", Organ der militär-wissenschaftlichen
Vereine, nr. 31, Mayer, Wien 1886 p. 19
– Steenbergen (ed.): "Vlaggen van
alle Natiën / Pavillons de toutes les Nations / Flags of all Nations",
Weytingh & Brave, Amsterdam, 1862 pl. 37
– "Flags of Maritime Nations,
from the Most Authentic Sources", U.S. Department of the Navy, Bureau of
Navigation, Washington, 1862. pl. 5
– "Flags of Maritime Nations", U.S.
Department of the Navy, Bureau of Equipment, Washington, 1899. pl. 7
– Lothar Baumgartner: Die Entwicklung der österreichischen Marineflagge,
Militaria Austriaca, Gesellschaft für Österreichische
Heereskunde, Wien, 1977
pp. 31-32
– Friedrich Heyer von Rosenfeld: "Die See-Flaggen, National und
Provincial-Fahnen sowie Cocarden aller Laender", Verlag der
kaiserlich-königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien, 1883 pl. 1
– No. 9. Normal-Verordnung vom 11. Jänner 1895, P.K./M.S. Nr. 2978 ex 1894 (Neue
Standarten, Commando-Flaggen und Dienst-Flaggen). Normal-Verordnungsblatt für
die k. und k. Kriegs-Marine 1895 (20.3.1895), p. 25–27 (+ 3 plates)
– Moritz Ruhl: "Flaggenbuch", Reichs-Marine-Amt, Berlin, 1905. pl. II-49 pl.
II-48
– "Drawings of the Flags in Use at the Present Time by Various
Nations", H. M. Stationery Office, Greenwich, 1907. pl. 49
– Ottfried Neubecker: "Fahnen und Flaggen. Eine bunte Fibel", L. Staackmann Verlag,
Leipzig, 1939 p. 63
Pennant Red over White over Red, ratio 1:100. Uncertain if the narrowing of the pennant
eventually leaves only the middle
stripe or if each stripe tapers so they stay equally wide.
Source: Dienst-Flaggen und Standarten der k.u.k. Kriegs-Marine, Wien 1896 (Nachtrag 1902)
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 2 December 2001
At
http://www.kleinezeitung.at/tirol/lienz/doelsach/2789367/osttirols-letztes-geleit-fuer-den-kaisersohn.story
can be seen a news article in German, with the flag, from the funeral of Dr.
Otto von Habsburg, the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary.
Elias
Granqvist, 19 July 2011
On the same topic:
http://docelinajes.blogspot.com/2011/07/funerales-por-otto-de-habsburgo.html
with very nice pictures also shows the flag over the coffin of his wife Regina
and the high attendance at the mass and the funeral.
Esteban Rivera,
19 July 2011
Otto von Hapsburg died in 2011, but I've just come across two videos on
YouTube which shows part of his funeral procession, with many, many flags –
presumably those of organisations of which he was president, patron, etc. etc,
and not all of them are from Austria.
The first film is to be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN2Zq5X2VoU&feature=related:
– The Paneuropean Movement flag appears at about 1:40;
– I'm not sure I recognise
any of the next batch – there's one with what looks like the Dalmatian arms at
2:55, so do they perhaps represent the Länder of the Empire?;
– the Teutonic
Order at 3:20? followed by veteran's organisations (the flags look like Imperial
Army colours and standards)?
– no idea about the next group – societies? A large yachting flag at 4:48
– following them, groups dressed in the Imperial
Army uniforms of 1914 (dark blue) and c.1814 (white)
– following them, a
group dressed as light infantry in light grey, but with three in dark blue with
spiked helmets (police?) carrying a y/r/w triband at 7:26;
– another group in
grey, followed by a group in 1918 grey at 8:05
– another, flagless group
– at 8:53 a large Croatian contingent (who sadly move away from the camera, so you
can't see the detail on the flags quite as clearly);
– at 9:45 a group
dressed in 1914 heavy cavalry uniforms, with standards;
– at 10:14 a group in
1914 hussar uniforms
– followed by 'not a clue' at 10:50
– followed by a
contingent representing the Low Countries (the uniforms are reminiscent of those
of the Belgian Army)? No Belgian flags, but an Imperial flag with a black and
yellow border
– at 12:00, no idea
– at 13:09, are these perhaps shooting
clubs?
Then go to the second film at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSL1iFMi0a8&feature=relmfu
– at 0:01 no idea
– at 3:00 an unknown group following a sign that reads 'Trieste', but
I'm not sure if the group with the flag are Triestese (if that's a word!)
– at 3:45 no idea
– followed by more flagless, groups religious orders, and the
family (?) bringing up the rear
Most are ceremonial standards rather than
flags; many appear to be based on the yellow Hapsburg Imperial flag, the white
version used as a regimental colour, or the post-1918 Austrian flag.
Ian Sumner, 2 November 2012
