The Franconian Rake () is the name given to the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the region of

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is described heraldically as '' per fess dancetty of three points

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

and

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

''. The points represent a stylised heraldic rake.

Design and use

The Franconian Rake is an heraldic ordinary with a simple zig-zag line of partition that divides the escutcheon or shield into red and silver fields. This simple and regionally widespread symbol was first officially recognised as the Franconian

in 1804 when Prince Elector Maximilian IV Joseph incorporated it into the Bavarian coat of arms.''Fränkischer Rechen''
at www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de. Retrieved 2 Sep 2018 The colour "Franconian red" () used for the coat of arms is HKS no. 14. The shape of the rake represents the holism of heaven and earth and was thus used by

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

bodies, such as the

Bishopric of Würzburg In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

, as a seal or in their coats of arms. Its three upward or heaven-facing points symbolise the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

of God, while its four downward or earthward-facing points represent the four

points of the compass The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

on earth.''Die Grafen des Klettgau, die Grafen von Sulz – und ihre Herkunft''
at www.klettgau-historia.de. Retrieved 2 Sep 2018 The present name of the Franconian Rake derives from its appearance, which superficially resembles a flotsam filter or "flotsam rake" (), and it was therefore probably used as an emblem for villages based around timber-rafting facilities which grew up as a result of the transportation of logs by river.

History

The Franconian Rake is first recorded in the early 14th century on the grave of the

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

Prince-bishop, Wolfram Wolfskeel von Grumbach (d. 1333), and in a seal for the city of Gerolzhofen. The Franconian Rake was initially chosen by the Bishops of Würzburg as a symbol of their (albeit rather nominal) Franconian ducal status. It was however not a symbol for Franconia as a whole, as the former

stem duchy A stem duchy (, from '':wikt:Stamm, Stamm'', meaning "tribe", in reference to the Franks, Saxons, Baiuvarii, Bavarians and Alemanni, Swabians) was a constituent duchy of the Kingdom of Germany at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dyna ...

had ceased to exist as an administrative entity a long time ago. From 1835 the Rake appeared in the

coat of arms of Bavaria The coat of arms of Bavaria has greater and lesser versions. It was introduced by law fully by 5 June 1950: Meaning The modern coat of arms was designed by Eduard Ege, following heraldic traditions, in 1946. * First Quarter (The Golden Lion) ...

; referring to the East Franconian regions which had been incorporated into the newly established

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

after the

German mediatization German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of ...

of 1803. Only at this point did it become a symbol for the whole of Franconia in the public consciousness. Today the emblem is found as part of the coat of arms of many administrative bodies in the Franconian region e.g. the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n provinces of Upper, Middle and

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities). History After ...

, as well as in adjacent districts covering the territory of the historic East Franconian lands, e.g. Main-Tauber-Kreis in the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

or Hildburghausen in southern

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

, and many towns and villages, e.g. in the coat of arms of Volkach or Frankenhardt. So the Franconian Rake demonstrates an allegiance to the common heritage, although the Franconian lands have been split between many lords over the centuries. The Franconian Rake is also part of the large armorial achievements of the Free State of Bavaria and of Baden-Württemberg.

Examples

File:Coat of arms of Bavaria.svg, Armorial achievement of Bavaria File:Greater coat of arms of Baden-Württemberg.svg, Armorial achievement of Baden-Württemberg File:Wappen Bezirk Oberfranken.svg, Province of

Upper Franconia Upper Franconia (, ) is a (administrative 'Regierungs''region 'bezirk'' of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia, wh ...

File:Mittelfranken Wappen.svg, Province of Middle Franconia File:Unterfranken Wappen.svg, Province of

File:DEU Landkreis Würzburg COA.svg,

File:DEU Landkreis Haßberge COA.svg, Haßberge File:Wappen Landkreis Hildburghausen.svg, Hildburghausen File:Wappen Main-Tauber-Kreis.svg, Main-Tauber-Kreis File:DEU Landkreis Ansbach COA.svg, Ansbach File:Wappen Veilsdorf.png, Veilsdorf File:Wuerzburgsiebmacher.JPG, Coat of arms of the Diocese of Würzburg File:DEU Gerbrunn COA.svg, Gerbrunn File:DEU Frankenwinheim COA.svg, Frankenwinheim File:DEU Elfershausen COA.svg, Elfershausen File:Wappen Frankenbach.svg, Frankenbach File:12. PzDiv.svg, Formation sign of the 12th Panzer Division (Bundeswehr)

References

Literature

* Eugen Schöler: ''Fränkische Wappen erzählen Geschichte und Geschichten'' (= ''Die bibliophile Reihe bei Degener.'' Bd. 1). Degener, Neustadt an der Aisch, 1992, .

External links

{{Commonscat, Frankenrechen, Franconian Rake
Detailed information on the history of the Franconian Rake
Franconia