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Stavoren (The Netherlands)

Nijefurd municipality, Friesland province

Last modified: 2011-06-17 by andrew weeks
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former Stavoren Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net

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Starum town (Stavoren) [former municipality]

Stavoren or Staveren, Frisian: Starum, is one of the 11 Frisian cities with c. 1000 inhabitants. Settled c. 900 AD, city rights 1118, member of the Hanseatic league in 1385 and a very prosperous town in those days; fell into decay at the end of the middle ages by several reasons; most popular reason is the legend of 'het vrouwtje van Stavoren' (the lady of Stavoren). She orderered one of her captains to look for the most precious material in the world; he returned with a load of grain at which she became furious and ordered it to be thrown into the sea. On that place a sandbank was formed, blocking the harbor and Stavoren's glory. It became part of the municipality of Nijefurd in 1984.
Stavoren had three flags.
The first flag was mentioned in Napolitan manuscript of 1667: 4 horizontal stripes RYRY, reintroduced 23 August 1962 and still in use.
Jarig Bakker, 1 December 1999 

Red over yellow flag

former flag Stavoren Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net

The second flag, horizontal RY was mentioned in the Dokkumer manuscript of Hesman (1708).
Jarig Bakker, 1 December 1999 

Abbot staffs flag

Stavoren old flag Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net

Blue, with two yellow crossed bishop's croziers (or possibly shepherd's crooks).
(Source: Dutch atlas made by Delisle in 1739)
My guess is that this is a "canting" (i.e., punning) flag, based on the name of the place, Staeveren/staves. There are very few canting flags - the only one I know of in existence today is the trident or "barb" on the flag of Barbados.
James Dignan, 14 November 1996

It is a banner of the arms, which indeed is a canting with its two bishops croziers.
By the way, in [sie62] Sierksma 1962 another historical flag is mentioned: four horizontal stripes red and yellow.
Mark Sensen, 30 March 1998

Between 1711 and 1870 several sources have varying flags with the symbols of the city Coat of Arms (two crossed abbot staffs with a white band) - there is one on p. 205 in FTAAATW (1975), with red abbot staffs, similar to <nl-stav2.gif>
Sierksma (Nederlands Vlaggenboek, 1962), [sie62] advised the city council to adopt a new flag: horizontal RYRY with towards the hoist  a blue square on the middle stripes with two crossed yellow abbot staffs. That proposal wasn't adopted. The abbot staffs represent the St. Odulf abbey, founded c. 830 AD, replaced to Hemelum 1495.
Jarig Bakker, 1 December 1999