Herford County (Germany)

Kreis Herford, Northrhine-Westphalia

Last modified: 2012-08-01 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: herford county | horse | forcene |
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• Herford county
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Herford county

Description of flag:
The flags ratio is 3:5. It is a plain white flag with the county's coat of arms shifted to the hoist.
Description of coat of arms:
In a silver (=white) shield is an black horse forcene, facing the dexter side.
Meaning:
The horse from the coat of arms is said to be an image of the black horse of Widukind (or Wittekind), the duke of the Saxonian Engern tribe, who was the leader of a 30 years resurrection of Saxonian farmers against the armies of the Franconian king Karl der Große, aka Charlemagne. It is also said, that after Widukind surrendered and was baptized, he received a white horse as a gift from his former enemy and he gave away his black horse instead. The white horse is depicted in the coats of arms of Westphalia and Lower Saxony. But that might be an urban legend, for probably in times of Charlemagne there didn't exist shields with those images. Under NS-rule in 1938 a black cross built from four maces (Keulenkreuz) was added in the sinister chief. This cross was however abolished in 1946 because there were too many similarities to a swastika.
Approved 5 January 1970 by Regierungspräsident Detmold.
Source: Veddeler 2003, p.308
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 Nov 2007

Banner

Description of banner:
It is a plain white banner with the counties coat of arms shifted to the top.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 Nov 2007