Last modified: 2006-08-19 by jarig bakker
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The three northern Bezirke [districts] of Bavaria
(Mittelfranken, Oberfranken
and Unterfranken) have their own history, distinct
from southern Bavaria, and thus some kind of regional identity as Franken
(Franconia). Many of the people there do not like the quite centralistic
Bavarian government in Munich, some of them
even want their own Bundesland Franken ['Federal State of Franconia'],
see for example this website.
Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001
The flag depicted
in this website as flag
for Franconia you can see also quite frequently on other websites, e.g.
this
website or this website.
This flag has been in use unofficially for some 10-15 years, even if in
the South Bavarian media it is not frequently seen. It shows a typical
pattern for a German flag: horizontally striped red over white with the
arms in the center. The colours derive from the arms. The arms show the
saw-tooth that has been one of the symbols of the Hochstift Würzburg
(since 1410) and later on became a symbol commonly associated with the
whole Franconia. As there was no political entity called Franconia in medieval
times, but a lot of small territories, there had never been an actual historical
coat-of-arms for Franconia. However the saw-tooth is the symbol
for Franconia in the Bavarian coat-of-arms
as well as in the coats-of-arms of the Bezirke Mittelfranken, Oberfranken
and Unterfranken. These three Bezirke also show flags of red-white or white-red.
Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001
The flag of Franconia is a banner of the arms of the region, as they
appear within the arms of Bavaria. They are
nicknamed the Franconian rake. The teeth of the rake are usually
horizontal. The flag has no official status since there is no autonomous
region of Franconia. (...) The flag is often seen during local festivities.
Pascal Vagnat, 24 April 2000
During a short stay in Bavaria, I saw the flag of Franconia in the town
of Solnhofen (together with municipal and Bavarian state flags). All three
flags were hoisted vertically, the Franconia regional flag being Bahrain-like,
red over white, with three white triangles.
Jan Zrzavy, 11 June 2000
Another unofficial flag for Franconia can be seen at this
website. This seems to be a banner-of-arms, however rotated 90 degrees.
This would certainly be used as vertical flag as well as horizontal flag.
Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001
In the Süddeutsche Zeitung of 8 July 2002 (p. 47) there was a foto of
a meeting of the Frankenbund (Franconians' Association) showing
a variant of the (unofficial) Franconian flag as a "Banner" (hanging flag).
Marcus Schmöger, 12 Jul 2002