FLAG OF LUXEMBOURG: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY

The flag of Luxembourg is the national flag of this great European duchy member of the European Union. It is made up of three horizontal stripes of equal size. Its colors, from top to bottom, are red, white and light blue. This symbol is valid and unchanged since 1972, although its origins date back to the first half of the 19th century.

The emergence of Luxembourg as an autonomous and independent territory is recent. Consequently, their flag is something that emerged in the 19th century. At first it had blue and white stripes and a red lion in the center. But before that existence, many symbols of different surrounding powers waved in Luxembourgish territory, such as the Dutch, Germans and French, mainly.

Luxembourg flag. (Drawn by User: SKopp).

The current Luxembourg flag emerged in about 1830, when the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg had already been established, but it was still a puppet state of the Netherlands. The symbol has not changed, but other powers such as Germany have waved their flags in both occupations they made in the territory in the 20th century.

History of the flag

Some of the first inhabitants of present day Luxembourg were the Celts, especially in the BC era. However, as in all of Europe, the Romans began to occupy the territory from the year 53 BC.The Roman Empire did not maintain an official flag, but a vexillum, which was a vertical banner, with the initials SPQR, initials of Senate and Roman people.

Vexillum of the Roman Empire. (Ssolbergj)

The fall of the Roman Empire and the increase in barbarian invasions caused the Franks to occupy the territory from the 5th century AD. That became the power of the Merovingian dynasty, as part of Austrasia. In that period the territory was also part of the Carolingian Empire.

For the first time, the current territory of Luxembourg became part of Middle France after the Treaty of Verdun, in 843. In the year 855, it became part of the successor kingdom of Lotharingia, which was named after the monarch Lothair II.

The change came in 959, with the division of Lotharingia. The Luxembourg territory became part of the Duchy of Lower Lorraine, also known as the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia. His shield was a blazon with three horizontal stripes, colored red, white and red.

Shield of the Duchy of Baja Lorena. (Kooij).

-County of Luxembourg

The region continued to be divided into very small monarchies later grouped into the Holy Roman Empire. One of them was the County of Luxembourg, which began to exist from 1059. This was the first time that that name was used to name a political entity. The name came from the construction of the Luxembourg castle in the High Middle Ages.

The descendants of King Sigifred founded the County of Luxembourg. Its first monarch, with the title of count, was Conrado. The territory of the county was expanding through battles, purchases and dynastic marriages. Its linguistic status was particular, occupying French and German speaking areas.

-Role in the Holy Roman Empire

After different dynastic successions to the throne, the power of the County of Luxembourg within the Holy Roman Empire was increasing. This reached such a level that, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the House of Luxembourg was elected to the throne of the empire, thus Henry VII became emperor.

He was succeeded by three other Luxembourg emperors: Charles IV, Wenceslas and Sigismund. During the reign of Carlos IV, in 1354, Luxembourg became a duchy.

Faced with the decline of Luxembourgish power, in 1437 it became dominated by the Habsburgs, while in 1443 it was conquered by the Duke of Burgundy. In this way, the Duchy of Luxembourg became a province of the Netherlands. By 1482, Luxembourg became the possession of Maximilian of Habsburg and was inherited by Philip the Fair.

This monarch married Juana de Castilla, daughter of the Catholic kings Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragón. Later, he became king consort of Spain.

Luxembourg County Symbols

In addition to the current flag of Luxembourg, this country has a civil flag of national importance. This had its origin from 1240, when the first counts of Luxembourg began to use a shield with that design. The shield consisted of a field of blue and silver stripes on which a crowned red lion is imposed.

Coat of arms of the County of Luxembourg. (SodacaniLe code de ce fichier SVG is valid.Cette image vectorielle a été créée avec Inkscape.).

At some point, this same shield kept its design, but it was adapted to the flag format. This is the same symbol that today is maintained as a civil pavilion. Of him, there have been recent proposals for adoption as a national flag.

Luxembourg Civil Pavilion. (from Denelson83).

Symbols of the Holy Roman Empire

Two flags managed to identify the Holy Roman Empire. The first of them arose between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This consisted of a red cloth with a cross in the central part, dividing the flag into four parts.

Flag of the Holy Roman Empire. (XIV and XV centuries). (User: Madden).

By the first decade of the 15th century, the Germanic symbols began to be defined. In this way the black double-headed eagle emerged, on a flag with a yellow background.

Flag of the Holy Roman Empire (since 1400). (I, N3MO).

-Duchy of Luxembourg

Luxembourg became a zone of Franco-Spanish conflict, as the Netherlands were already part of the Spanish Habsburgs who were facing the French Bourbons.

The latter occupied the territory for the first time between 1684 and 1697. Luxembourg's strategic position led the French to attack the Germans from there, until pressure led to its return to the Habsburgs in 1697.

In the 18th century, Luxembourg continued under Dutch rule, without major threats to the integrity of the territory. The Duchy of Luxembourg used as its flag and shield the same previously established during the County of Luxembourg.

However, the Austrian Netherlands did maintain another flag. Also known as the southern Netherlands, the flag was a horizontal tricolor of three equal stripes of red, white and yellow. On the left side, on the three stripes, the Habsburg double-headed eagle was incorporated.

Flag of the southern Netherlands. (self made from a low resolution raster version probably by Auseklis or Stijn_Calle, with some elements by Sodacan).

-French Revolution

The French Revolution definitely changed the future of Luxembourg. In 1795, revolutionary troops conquered the duchy and most of it was annexed to France as the Forêts department. Being part of France, the French tricolor that had been recently adopted began to be used.

Flag of France. (1794–1815) (1830–1958). (The original uploader was Skopp at Wikimedia Commons.).

The French power did not last long as it gained the animosity of the population, after establishing the mandatory military conscription, which produced a peasant insurrection. After the fall of the Republic came the government of Napoleon Bonaparte, which in Luxembourg was better received than the revolutionary.

-Creation of the Grand Duchy

Napoleon's power was undone as quickly as his advent. The powers that managed to defeat Napoleon met at the Congress of Vienna, which created a great kingdom for the Netherlands.

This would occupy Holland, Liege and the former Austrian Netherlands. The exception was Luxembourg, as it was agreed to create a separate political entity, constituted in a grand duchy, but linked to the king of the Netherlands, who would also be a grand duke.

Although the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg began to exist in 1815, the King of the Netherlands William I made no distinction in the government of that country with that of Luxembourg. The situation changed after the Belgian Revolution of 1830, in which the inhabitants of Luxembourg joined the revolt.

-Belgian Revolution

After Belgian independence, only the capital of Luxembourg came under Dutch control, while the rest of the territory became an occupied part of Belgium.

After several failed attempts at treaties, in 1839 the King and Grand Duke William I agreed in the Treaty of London to leave the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a reduced territory, and to hand over Belgian Luxembourg to this country. These borders are still maintained today.

The link with the government of the Netherlands was progressively dissolved, with the granting of autonomy. In 1866, after the Austro-Prussian War, the Germanic Confederation was dissolved.

However, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg managed to maintain its autonomy in the face of the Prussian and French threat. The separation of the dynastic families between the Netherlands and Luxembourg did not come until 1890, after a difference in the laws of succession.

Symbols of the Germanic Confederation

Despite its dynastic ties to the Netherlands, Luxembourg was part of the Germanic Confederation. This supranational entity did not maintain a flag that identified it, but in it a process of creation of the German national flag was conceived.

The first antecedent was the flag of the Urburschenschaft Veterans Fraternity in 1815, with three stripes: red, black and red. In the center was a golden oak branch. The colors were identified with the German unification, but were rejected, until in the revolutions of 1848 they were popularized and made official by the Parliament of Frankfurt am Main.

When this parliament was again replaced by the Germanic Confederation, the flag lost its validity. However, it was used again in the Austro-Prussian war.

Flag of the Germanic Confederation. (1848-1852). (Sir Iain).

Origin of the Luxembourgish tricolor

The first references to the tricolor flag of Luxembourg occurred in 1830, during the Belgian Revolution. This event demolishes the popular belief that the Luxembourg flag comes from the Dutch tricolor, because during the Belgian Revolution the political power of the Netherlands was facing off.

The origin of the colors could be in an example followed from Belgium. The arms of the counties and duchies of Luxembourg kept the colors blue, white and red, although in a structure of multiple horizontal stripes and a lion. In Belgium, on the other hand, the black, yellow and red flag was created from the colors of the arms of the Duchy of Brabant.

The flag of Luxembourg would have then only taken the colors of the shields that it maintained until then, and from there, they created a simple tricolor flag, like the one made by Belgium. However, others attribute the origin of the flag to France, and more specifically, to the inspiration of the French Revolution.

-German occupations of the 20th century

The condition that Luxembourg reached to guarantee its survival was to declare its perpetual neutrality in the face of any conflict in the area. This broke down in 1914, when German troops invaded Luxembourg during the First World War.

In this way, the Germans took control of the territory without affecting the institutional framework of the country. The occupation ended in 1918 after liberation by German and American troops.

Flag of the German Empire. (User: B1mbo and User: Madden).

During World War II, Luxembourg returned to German hands, who this time were Nazis. The German occupation began in 1940 and the royal family went into exile in London and Ottawa. The territory, due to its links with Germany, was completely annexed to this country, which had consequences on the Luxembourgish identity, including in matters such as the speaking of French and conscription to military service.

Flag of Nazi Germany. (By Fornax, from Wikimedia Commons).

The liberation of Luxembourg came with American troops in 1944. During the German occupation, the Nazi flag was used. After the recovery of independence, the flag returned to being the tricolor, which has not received changes since then. However, its official adoption did not occur until 1972.

Meaning of the flag

There is no official meaning for the colors of the Luxembourg flag. As with much of the European flags, these have a predominantly monarchical origin.

The greatest meaning that the Luxembourg flag can have is a representation of the royal family, based on its origins. For this reason, it can be identified with the monarchy, independence and the country.

Luxembourg civil flag

The first Luxembourg flag, which was an adaptation of the coat of arms of the monarchy in the County of Luxembourg, today has a very particular importance in the country.

As the flag of Luxembourg is so similar to that of the Netherlands, changes of flag have been proposed, or instead, to re-adopt the flag of the blue and white stripes and the red crowned lion.

This flag was declared a naval flag, but the situation changed since July 6, 2007, after an intervention by deputy Michel Wolter. From that day on, the civil flag of Luxembourg can be used in the territory of the country as the equivalent of the national flag. There is still a great debate in Luxembourg about whether that flag should be declared the national one.