Coats of arms of cantons and municipalities

Coats of arms

Coats of arms are enduring, shield-shaped coloured symbols that represent an individual, family, body or institution. They emerged in the second quarter of the 12th century as a means of making distinctions among knights, whose armour had made them impossible to tell apart. Coats of arms became quite common in the era of the Crusades, when they were needed and used as symbols of order and recognition. During this time, they were also further developed on the basis of similar symbols in the Arab world. For this reason, Western coats of arms generally did not use green due to that colour’s association with the prophet Mohammed. Instead, green was used only to depict plants and rural trimounts. Gold and silver (yellow and white), on the other hand, were considered noble colours and could not be superimposed over each other. Other frequently used colours were red (most common), blue and black. Content in the form of so-called honourable ordinaries was created by the division of the shield – e.g. upright (split), as is the case with the Lucerne coat of arms; horizontal (divided), as is the case with Fribourg, or diagonally divided (Zurich). Content was also created through the depiction of celestial bodies, animals, plants, mythical creatures and artefacts.

The eagle was considered the oldest and noblest animal because it was believed to be the only bird that could fly into the sun. The lion was the most commonly depicted animal on coats of arms. With regard to plants, lilies and roses (both stylised) were the most popular. Coats of arms were originally displayed on shields, which gave them their shape. This is also why the side of the shield with the coat of arms was designed from the perspective of those who wore it rather than those who saw it. Soon, however, coats of arms were also being displayed on tunics and banners.

As was the case in neighbouring countries, the nobility in Switzerland chose their own coats of arms. From the 12th century on, coats of arms were also used on seals for authentication purposes. As a result, ecclesiastical institutions (dioceses, monasteries, etc.) also began using them, as did administrative bodies seeking autonomy – for example guilds, cities, rural centres, etc. The latter often utilised the coats of arms of their historical rulers, such as the staff of the Bishop of Basel (which was used by the City of Basel and later by the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft and Jura), the lion of the Kyburg family (e.g. Thurgau, Winterthur) and the Austrian band shield (e.g. Zug). Other coats of arms referred to patron saints (e.g. Fridolin for Glarus, the Keys of Heaven of St. Peter for Obwalden and Nidwalden), while still others were “canting” coats of arms – for example in Bern (bear; in German “Bär”) and Schaffhausen (ram; in German “Schafbock”). From the end of the 12th century, nobles and princes made use of servants whose job was to maintain order at tournaments and who therefore needed to be familiar with the coats of arms and create registers for them. These servant-officials became known as heralds in the 14th century. This eventually led to the use of the term heraldry for the scholarly study of coats of arms.

During the revolutionary period at the end of the 18th century, the colour green, which had previously been frowned upon, began to be used as a symbol of freedom and was incorporated into the coats of arms of the new cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen and Thurgau. The old cantons with administrative centres of the same name (as well as Obwalden and Sarnen) shared their coats of arms with those cities (with the exception of Fribourg and Schaffhausen). Administrative centres and cantons in the other old cantons and in all new ones used different coats of arms (with the exception of Geneva).

In the 19th and 20th centuries, municipalities that previously had no coats of arms, as well as the many newly created ones, began using their own coats of arms, and by 1939, every Swiss municipality was displaying their coat of arms at the national exhibition (Landi).

The Old Swiss Confederacy did not have a common coat of arms because each canton in the confederacy was a sovereign state. It wasn’t until 1815 that the Federal Diet of Switzerland stipulated that the Swiss cross should be used as the seal, coat of arms and banner (flag) of Switzerland.

Banners and flags

A banner (from the Late Latin bandum, meaning cloth), also known as a heraldic flag, consists of a square, rectangular or triangular piece of cloth fastened to a rod. Banners were used to represent a person, a body or a military institution, for example. Unlike a flag, a banner was never reproduced and was usually made of expensive material. This exceptional importance explains why banners were consecrated and used by the military in oath of allegiance ceremonies. Those under the jurisdiction of a banner were expected to defend it with their life. The loss of a banner during a battle was considered a sign of disgrace and defeat, while capturing one from the enemy symbolised honour and victory. Banners were displayed in specific locations on certain occasions but, unlike flags, they were never raised. Banners that were no longer used were preserved and stored. Medieval heraldic flags can be divided into three groups: gonfalon (horseman’s banner), banner (main banner) and triangular banner (Swiss German: Vorfähnli).

Flags originated as maritime symbols at the beginning of the 17th century. They were initially used to indicate which country a ship was from. The practice of raising a flag on land did not begin until the rise of nationalism at the end of the 18th century. Flags are generally common items made of relatively inexpensive materials and are replaced when needed. Although the banners of Switzerland, the cantons and the municipalities do perform the role of a flag when raised, the German word Flagge never caught on for these banners in Switzerland.