City of Tönning (Germany)

Stadt Tönning [Frisian: Taning], Kreis Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Holstein

Last modified: 2015-05-27 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: toenning | barrel | goose | fess wavy | stripes(5) |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• City of Tönning
• Tönning Flag with Coat of Arms
• Tönning Coat of Arms
• Tönning Flag with Coat of Arms acc. to Roll of Arms
• Tönning Plain Flag reported 1970
• Historical Tönning Flag reported 1801

• County and Municipal Flags (Schleswig-Holstein)
• Schleswig-Holstein
• Nordfriesland County
• Eiderstedt Subcounty (Amt Eiderstedt)
• Germany

City of Tönning

Tönning City Flag with Coat of Arms

It is a 5-stripes flag with alternating horizontal blue and white stripes. A modified coat of arms is in the centre of the flag (acc. to local Hauptstazung the arms should be in the 1st half, i.e. shifted to the hoist, editorial note: kms)
Source: I spotted this flag in Glückstadt on 28 April 2010 and on 14 August in the "Packhaus", i.e. warehouse, a local museum of the city.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 May 2010

Tönning Coat of Arms

Description of coat of arms:
The shield is red. The base is filled by blue waves.A silver (=white) swan armed black is standing on top of a golden (= yellow) ton swimming on the waves.
Note that the modified coat of arms displayed on flag has a yellow fimbriation and the swan, looking somehow goosy, is armed red.

The flag was adopted on 10 August 1961 by local council(?), confirmed on 6 February 2003 and approved by the county on 21 March 2003.
Source: §1(2) of Hauptsatzung of the City Tönning, version 6 February 2003
Jörg Majewski and Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 Nov 2012

Tönning Plain Flag

It is a 5-stripes flag with alternating horizontal blue and white stripes.
The version displayed by Jörg Majewski has a coat of arms, which is depicted at Reißmann 1997, p.344, there is one little difference, the fimbriation in within source is not yellow but black. I am fairly sure, that coat of arms, used by Jörg, is the one being also in or taken from Schleswig-Holstein's Kommunale Wappenrolle. Furthermore I agree with Stefan Schwoon that remarks about flags made by Stadler are not always dependable, because Stadler, being a heraldrist, obviously had only little interest of flags. So of course I am not sure, that a flag without coat of arms ever existed.
Source: Stadler 1970, p.109 ;also according to Stefan Schwoon's database; entry no.01054138
Klaus-Michael Schneider; 29 May 2010

Historical Tönning Flag reported 1801

Tönning 1801:
It is a red flag with a golden(=yellow) swan, rising its head and standing upon a golden (=yellow) ton.
Meaning: There exists a myth. According to this myth the city was founded in that place, where a swan standing upon a ton was driven onto the bank of the river Eider. The ton is also symbolizing the city's name.
Tönning gained the title of a city in 1590. Since that time the city used a seal, showing a ship upon the waves, the mast was superimposed by a shield, showing a ton with two lions as supporters. The meaning was that the politics of the city, symbolized by the ton, was limited by the sovereign, symbolized by the lions and the region (German:Landschaft), symbolized by the ship of Eiderstedt. A similar pattern was used by the city of Wismar.

Meaning:
Since the middle of the 17th century this seal was used mainly in court. Since then there also was a small seal of the city, showing only a standing ton. Probably in the 18th century the image with the swan and the ton was used as the "proper" seal of the city. It was this one, that also was used around 1800 on the city's ships (see also Paschke, who reported the flag from 1801). The seal, showing the ship was abolished in the 19th century and replaced by the current one, showing the swan and the ton but upon blue waves and with a silver (=white) black armoured swan. The waves are symbolizing the mouth of the river Eider. This image was confirmed as the city's coat of arms by authority on 22 October 1953.
Sources: Reißmann 1997 , p.344 and
Poster entitled: "Die geschichtliche Entwicklung der als deutsche Nationalflaggen auf See gefahrenen und von den seefahrenden Nationen anerkannten deutschen Kriegs- und Handelsflaggen", Engl: "The historical evolution of those German national flags used on ships and recognized as German war flags or merchant flags by the naval nations", edited by Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum (DSM)Bremerhaven, 1981, based on an original version of Kapitän zur See a.D. Karl Schultz, all flags on the poster are painted by E. Paschke.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Oct 2007

back to Nordfriesland cities and municipalities click here.