Historical Flags of Our Ancestors - Flags of Germany 1
Imperial City of Nuremberg
Examples of Holy Roman Imperial City Flags and Banners
Shown here are examples of the flags used by the Imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire. Imperial Cities were ruled by secular princes. As vassals of the Emperor, they paid taxes to the Emperor and had to supply troops for his military campaigns. Imperial Cities had representation in the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Imperial City of Nuremberg
Nuremberg is located today in the German State of Bavaria. it is located about 105 miles north of Munich. Nuremberg was often referred to as the "unofficial capital" of the Holy Roman Empire, because the Reichstage (Imperial Diets) and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. In 1219, Frederick II granted a "Great Letter of Freedom" (Gro�en Freiheitsbrief), to Nuremberg which gave the town rights to mint their own coins and collect their own customs fees. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy to Northern Europe.
The Imperial City of Memmingen
Memmingen is a town in the Bavarian region of Swabia in Germany. It was the central economic, educational and administrative center in the Danube-Iller region during the Holy Roman Empire.
Sachsen-Polen-Litauen
Union of Sachsen-Polen-Litauen 1587-1668
The Union of Saxony, Poland and Lithuania (Sachsen-Polen-Litauen), also called  the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569�1795), was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th and 17th Century Europe.  At this time, Poland and Lithuania were ruled by a common monarch, but they were not considered a single country, but two separate countries who happened to be ruled by the same king.
This is the Royal banner (not a flag - the notion of a national flag did not exist at the time) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the rule of the House of Vasa (1587-1668).  The banner has a field of three horizontal stripes of red, white and red, and is charged with a double coat-of-arms: the large one features a Polish eagle in the first and forth quarters, and a Lithuanian knight in the second and third quarter covered by a royal crown. This smaller arms defacing the larger, has the Swedish three-crowns in quarters 1 and 4, and the Swedish lion in quarters 2 and 3.  The whole thing is surrounded by the Order of the Golden fleece.
Wettin House Flag
Flag of the Wettin House from Saxony
The House of Wettin was a German dynasty that once ruled the German State of Saxony and Thuringia for more than 800 years.  This powerful family inter-married with other Royal families of Europe and ascended the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, and Great Britain as counts, dukes, prince-electors and kings.
The royal families of the United Kingdom and Belgian are descendants of the Wettin royal line today.
Bavaria Flag
Flag of Bavaria
Bavaria is one of the oldest states of Europe dating back to Roman times. In the Middle Ages it was established as a duchy, and eventually the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, and after that Bavaria became a free state (republic), formally the Free State of Bavaria, located in the southeast of Germany.
The Flag of Bavaria consists of an array of blue and white lozenges (diamond-shaped objects (charges) that are placed on the field of the shield or flag.  The lozenges are usually somewhat narrower than they are tall.
Cologne Flag
Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne 1475-1794
The Electorate of Cologne (Kurfürstentum Köln) was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Archbishop of the City of Cologne.  Between the 10th and the early 19th century, it mirrored the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne (Erzbistum Köln).
The flag of the Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne was very reminiscent of the flag of the Knight's Templar with its black St George's Cross on a white field.
CL Flag
German Catholic League
The German Catholic League (Katholische Liga) was a confederation of Roman Catholic German states formed in 1609 after the founding of the Protestant Union a year earlier.  The competition of the Protestant Union, as an instrument of the Protestant reformers, and the German Catholic League, an instrument of the supporters of the Catholic Church, foreshadowed the episodes of civil disobedience, repression, and retaliations that would eventually ignite the Thirty Years' War.
Merchant Ensign
Merchant Ensign of Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp is the historical name for the parts of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that were ruled by the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. The territories of Gottorp are located in present-day Denmark and Germany. The Dukes ruled from Gottorf Castle in the city of Schleswig in the Duchy of Schleswig.
This red swallow-tailed Merchant Ensign was used by the commercial ships of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. Centered on its red background is the golden shield of Schleswig featuring two blue lions, placed over the white nettle leaf of Holstein.
Early Brandenburg Ensign
Naval Ensign of the Margraviate of Brandenburg
Kriegsflagge Kur-Brandenburgische Flotte
Kur-Brandenburg, also known as the Margraviate of Brandenburg (Markgrafschaft Brandenburg), was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also called the March of Brandenburg (Mark Brandenburg), or the Electorate of Brandenburg (Kurf�rstentum Brandenburg), its rulers became some of the prince-electors who voted for the Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1815, the Margraviate of Brandenburg  was replaced with the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. The term "Mark Brandenburg" is still used sometimes today to refer to the Federal State of Brandenburg in the Federal Republic of Germany.