Ommelanden (The Netherlands)

Ommelanden (Nederland)

Last modified: 2014-06-28 by andrew weeks
Keywords: ommelanden | frisia | hearts |
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• Historical flags

See also:

• Groningen [province]
• Friesland
• The Netherlands
• Provinces and municipalities of the Netherlands
• The Netherlands - Index of all pages

Mark Sensen, 29 June 1997 and 20 May 1998

The flags of the Ommelanden (also known as Frisia between the [rivers] Eems and Lauwers, or Little Frisia) were banners of the arms: seven diagonal stripes white-blue with nine red hearts placed 1:3:3:2. At first (1474) these hearts were placed on the blue stripes. This was the arms of Magnus Ladulas of Sweden (1240-1290), but without the golden lion. It was believed these arms were the arms of the Frisian king Radboud (719), to which the Swedish king added the golden lion. (You can find the arms of Magnus Ladulas, although without the hearts, in the second and third quarters of the modern Swedish greater arms, and you can find the red hearts in the modern Danish arms).

Mark Sensen, 29 June 1997

Around 1555 the hearts were placed on the white stripes, and after ca. 1582 there were eleven hearts placed 1:4:4:2. Those eleven hearts represented: Vredewold, Langewold, Humsterland and Middachten (in the Wester Quarter), Ubbigo, Inndersdijk, de Marne, het Halveampt and Oosterampt (in Hunzingo), het Hoogland and Duirswolde (in Fivelgo).
This flag is very similar to the Frisian flag.

Mark Sensen, 12 January 1998