Last modified: 2003-01-18 by dov gutterman
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The following material represents a synopsis of the history of
Lithuanian flags:
Not much is known about Lithuanian flags prior to the 1200's. The
earliest available records talk about "yellow Gediminas
towers" on a "red field. This is a clear reference to
King Gediminas of Lithuania who ruled from 1316 to 1341. The
earliest described Lithuanian flag contains a block shaped
outline of the Voruta castle, home of King Gediminas during his
reign. Of interest however is that archeological diggings have
unearthed Lithuanian bracteate's dating from King Mindaugas'es
reign (1234 - 1263) in Gotland and elsewhere showing the same
outline on the coins as is attributed to King Mindaugases flags.
The earliest known mention of Lithuanian flags is in the
"Chronicon Dubicense"; it cites an "insignia
Lithwanorium" in the text but does not go on to describe it.
Logic would state that it must have been one of the "towers
of Gediminas". Ample documentation exists regarding the
Lithuanian flags which participated in the Tannenberg battle of
1410 against the Teutonic Knights. Lithuanian units from the
Aukstaitija province flew the red and yellow towers of Gediminas.
Aside from the towers of Gediminas (also called gates of
Gediminas), which now are identified with all things Lithuania,
there are two other "national" symbols which have
adorned Lithuanian flags since the early Middle Ages - the
Apostolic cross and the Vytis.
The Apostolic cross was introduced by King Jogiella (1377 - 1398)
who made the cross an integral part of the Gediminian royal
houses coat-of-arms. The choice of this particular symbol was a
masterpiece of diplomacy by King Jogiella. The King knew that a
"pagan" Lithuania would be no match against her many
enemies. By marrying into the Polish royal family, he also
adopted Christianity for Lithuania. This would then prevent any
future "crusades" from being undertaken against
Lithuania. As the Lithuanian kingdom was located in both
"eastern" and "western" Europe and as the
Apostolic cross was accepted as a "Christian" cross by
both Constantinople and Rome, King Jogiella could not have
selected a better symbol for the Lithuanian royal household. The
Apostolic cross thus quickly made it on to Lithuanian flags and
banners. Any battles the Lithuanian's would from then on conduct
in the defense of their realm would be against the people of the
enemy nation - not against the Christian beliefs of their
enemies.
From the available records of the Tannenberg battle of 1410, four
Lithuanian flags are described as carrying the Apostolic cross.
They were: King Jogiella's personal banner (1&4 quarter -
blue field, white Vytis; 2&3 quarter - red field white cross)
King Jogiella's personal household troop banner. (1&4 quarter
- red field, white Vytis; 2&3 quarter - blue field yellow
cross) The Lithuanian Kremenec infantry battalion. (red field,
white cross) The Lithuanian Samogitia infantry battalion. (red
field, green hill holding a white cross) .King Jogiella also
introduced a second symbol in to Lithuanian history - the Vytis.
The Vytis, which means "hero" (in German
"Held", in Hungarian "Vitez" and in Slovenian
"Vytez"), is a knight mounted on a charging horse. Its
intent was to not only honor the Lithuanian nobility (who could
easily identify itself with a knighted rider), but also the
common Lithuanian soldier who did well in battle. Through King
Jogiella's decree, a white "Vytis" placed in to a red
field would henceforth become the flag of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania. Two small distinctions were to be noted. While both
the Jogiellian and Kestutian royal households would use the same
"Vytis" as their coat-of-arms, on the Jogiellian
coat-of-arms, the shield on the "Vytis" contained the
Apostolic cross and on the Kestutian coat-of-arms, the shield on
the "Vytis" contained the "towers of
Gediminas". The "Vytis" flag is also described by
various chroniclers of the Tannenberg battle of 1410. They were:
Grand Duke Vytautis'es personal flag.
King Jogiella's personal flag (same as described above). King
Jogiella's personal Lithuanian body-guards.Lithuanian army
troops.Lithuanian garrison troops. Lithuanian-Ruthenian levy
formations. Lithuanian-Ukrainian levy formations. Grand Duke
Vytautis'es personal royal flag flew in Constanza (present day
Switzerland) when Vytautis attended a Church Council there. On a
side note, just as the Poles and Lithuanian's had militarily
defeated the Teutonic Knights in battle, so they defeated them at
the Church Council. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Pope
revoked many rights previously granted to the Teutonic Knights.
Grand Duke Sigismund Kestutaitis (1432 - 1440) was assassinated
in 1440 by Lithuanian nobles from King Jagiello's family. As a
result, many members of the Kestutian royal household fled to
Moscow. That effectively ended the Kestutian influence in
Lithuanian state affairs. From then until 1795 (when the remnants
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were absorbed by Russia), the
white "Vytis" in the red field was the official
Lithuanian state flag. The "towers of Gediminas"
remained in the Lithuanian coat-of-arms. It must be noted that
since Lithuania joined Poland to form the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the larger of the
two in terms of size. For many years, the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth was one of Europe's largest kingdoms. The Lithuanian
flags flew in Vilnius, Kaunas, Kiev, Smolensk, Odessa and nearly
at the gates of Moscow. But being large in size often seems like
an open invitation from ones neighbors to make theirs what is
yours.
As of the last partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Russia gained control of all of Lithuania (Lithuania Minor
excepted). During the Napoleonic wars, both Prussia and Russia
raised "Lithuanian" military formations. Many of the
raised formation received their own battle flags. For example,
the Russians raised the Imperial Lithuanian Guards Regiment - and
gave it their own flag. Prussia had already raised a
"Lithuanian" Dragoon Regiment back in 1717. It too flew
its own flag until 1919.
Lithuania remained under Russian control until 1914/1915 when the
German army effectively occupied all of Lithuania; though both
the Russians and the Germans continued to use "royal"
Lithuanian heraldry unchanged in design.
Lithuania regained its independence in 1918 from a 200 plus year
Russian occupation. But in 1918, the new nation needed a flag.
Initially, there were calls to resurrect the old
"imperial" banners; a prime advocate for this was Dr.
Jonas Basanavicius. His recommendation called for the new
Lithuanian state flag to be a white Vytis in a red field.
Regretfully, political circumstances were against the good
doctor. A red field was too closely associated with Lenin's brand
of communism. Thus, the old imperial flag would not do, though it
was accepted as the Lithuanian coat-of-arms. The colors of green,
red and yellow had historically been the ones most frequently
used in Lithuanian flags. These colors too are to this day very
popular in Lithuanian folk art. Thus, in late 1918, Lithuania
adopted its current "national" flag - horizontally
striped yellow (top), green (middle) and red (bottom). Yellow was
interpreted to mean the energy and warmth of the radiating sun.
Green stood for the bountiful green acreage's of Lithuania. Red
represented the blood flowing in both animal life and man alike.
Philosophically, one could say that the Lithuanian state flag is
a
celebration of life. Since its creation in November of 1918, the
Lithuanian Air Force used a unique national recognition symbol
for its military aircraft. It was a trapezoid formed from
yellow-green-red stripes. In the center of the inner red stripe,
there was a white Vytis. This symbol was placed on all six
positions as well as the rudder. As this was very cumbersome to
draw, within a few months, Lithuania changed its national
recognition symbol to the ever familiar Apostolic cross. This has
been in use ever since.
During the interwar period, Lithuania flew numerous types of
official flags. Nearly every one included the yellow-green-red
stripes in its designs.
Lithuania's independence ceased to exist in 1940. As with Estonia
and Latvia, introduced Soviet rules and regulations banned all
references and uses of republican Lithuanian symbols.
The Soviets even went so far as to ban the yellow-green-red
combination from being produced in textiles for fear of
re-igniting counter-revolutionary aspirations in Lithuanians.
Moscow introduced "politically correct" Lithuanian
state symbols and flags. Although the German military did inform
select Lithuanian partisan groups of "Barbarossa", this
was not the norm. However, enough advance notice was given so
that even by the end of the first day of the German invasion,
Lithuanian partisan forces had managed to "free" areas
of Lithuania from Soviet control prior to the arrival of German
forces. Much to their surprise, the Germans could not help to
notice that the pre-war Lithuanian flag was flying wherever
possible. As in Estonia and Latvia, the Germans were not very
tolerant of Lithuanian political aspirations - Lithuania wanted
its independence restored, Germany wanted to create its
"Ostland". Never-the-less, the Germans really had no
major objections to using the inter-war Lithuanian flag to help
their own political agendas. Lithuanian troops, conscripted by
the Germans, frequently carried small yellow-green-red shields on
their sleeves. Though not officially sanctioned, a few Lithuanian
soldiers also placed a yellow-green-red shield on to their German
helmets. With the return of the Soviet forces in late 1944 and
1945, all uses of the inter-war Lithuanian flag were once more
banned.
Throughout the 51 year Soviet occupation of Lithuania, many
enterprising Lithuanians often were able to display the inter-war
Lithuanian flag just long enough to get their message across -
the Soviets were not welcome in Lithuania. By the late 1980's,
Soviet control over the Baltics had eroded to the point where
.Lithuania was able to re-assert its independence. Since then,
all inter-war flags of the republic of Lithuania were restored to
full force.
Two small additions merit discussion - Lithuania minor and the
Central Lithuanian Republic. In geographical terms, Lithuania
"major" is usually used when discussing the traditional
Lithuanian homelands. However, East Prussia was also home to a
large Lithuanian community since antiquity. This region is
normally referred to as Lithuania "minor". In 1660,
Lithuanian's in Prussia (the ancient Prussians were cousins of
the Lithuanians) created their own "national" flag,
This was a red-white-green flag, horizontally striped. This flag
was adopted by the Lithuanian fraternity "Lituania" as
representing their student organization in 1829. The Lithuanian
sorority "Birute", Königsberg University, also adopted
these colors as their own in 1885. Photographic evidence also
indicates that this flag flew atop a Lithuanian field hospital in
Romania on 18 February 1918.
The Central Lithuanian Republic was created by Poland in 1918. It
lasted until 1921 when it was absorbed by Poland. As its state
flag, it combined the Polish eagle with the Lithuanian Vytis on a
red field.
As to sources, my art work is based in part on the following:
A.) Ian Heath; Armies of the Middle Ages; Wargame Research Group
Publishers, 1982
B.) O. Urbonas; Lietuvos Senosios Karines Veliavos Svedijoje;
Karys Magazine; March 1956 Nr. 3 (1319)
C.) Aleksandras Radzius; History of Lithuanian Flags; private
publication
D.) Vladas Vijeikis; Lietuvos Istorijos Vaizdai; Teviskele
Publications; Chicago, IL, 1979
Item "B" above is really a magazine article focusing on
the Lithuanian flags of the Swedish wars, but it makes some
references to earlier Lithuanian battle flags. If you are
interested, I have some additional art work for Lithuanian and
Polish battle flags flown at Tannenberg, 1410.
In addition to art work on just flags, I also have art work on
Baltic military uniforms (1200 - 1945), Baltic military aricraft
(1915 - 1945), Baltic navy ships (1200 - 1945) and Baltic armor
and Baltic medals/orders and one or two other smaller categories.
In each group, "flags" play a very important role.
For example, in terms of Baltic military flags, I also collect
data on the flags, or, I believe, more properly phrased, cavalry
lance pennants. I have art work for the lance pennants used by
the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Lithuanian Lancer Regiments
of the French Army, 1812. The Latvian army of 1918 - 1940,
maintained a cavalry force. I have a complete listing for their
lance pennants, by squadron, as well. I am still researching
Estonian and Lithuanian cavalry lance pennants on the squadron
level, For parade purposes, both the Estonian and Lithuanian
cavalry lance pennants were relatively simply adorned - the
national flag either in a triangular format or with short
swallow-tails. Their uniforms, however, have a longer history.
The 1936 Estonian Cavarly uniform traces its colors back to the
early Napoleonic period - the 1812 Narva Regiment battle flag was
light blue
Arvo Vercamer, 1 Febuary 1999
from http://public.kubsu.ru/~usr02898/sl7r.htm
See http://public.kubsu.ru/~usr02898/sl7r.htm
for the picture of misterious "ancient lituanian flag".
Victor Lomantsov, 11 November 2001
Though it is quite evident in that page, there is an English
version here http://public.kubsu.ru/~usr02898/sl7.htm
which says:
The ancient Lithuanian flag (Narbutt 1835) looks like it
represents here....The text on the left reads b-e-r-e-g
r-e-d-a-n. The first word is Slavonic bereg 'bank; the
end of a land; guard'. The word redan is comparable with
Latin Redones 'the name of a tribe lived in Gallia'.
Interestingly, this term compares with Russian Radonezh
'the name of the ancient Russian town', Greek Ouardanes 'a
branch of the river Kuban' (3), Russian radost'
'gladness', Latin ratio 'to shine', German Rat
'counsel', south Russian rada 'counsel'. The three letters
written down at the top of the flag read rmi, otherwise r(o)mi
'Romans', cf. Latin Roma 'Rome'. I suppose that this flag
is a copy of the flag of the ancient Slavs, which as the other
barbarians could serve in the Roman army. The three characters
are in my opinion the Slavonic pagan gods Stribog,Rarog
Ani (Svarog) and Dazh'bog.
Santiago Dotor, 13 November 2001
The deity in the centre with the widened "eh" rune
over his head is Perkúnas, the Baltic (Lithuanian) thunder god.
The characters with the reversed "tyr" rune and
reversed "wynn" rune over their head are most likely
lesser or possibly local divinities. The websites mentioned in Santiago
Dotor's message mention them as Slavic Stribog, Rarog Ani
and Dazhbog. The Baltic gods were shared by the Pagan Slavs under
different names. In the book "A History of Pagan
Europe" by Prudence Jones & Nigel Pennick, the image of
Perkúnas is identical in presentation to that on the flag
(thunderbolt halo, stone/orb raised in left hand, right hand
clutching thunderbolts to chest). Also the runic script is used
in several old woodblock prints of Baltic and Norse deities well
into the 17th century. This seems to be because of the proximity
to Viking Sweden.
Brian Ellis, 20 August 2002
This is not Ancient Lithuanian Flag but old-Prussian flag.
German chronicler Simon Grunau gave a lot of information about
the old-Prussians, their language and traditions in his
Preussische Chronik (Prussian Chronicles, written 1510-1530).
Grunau described king's Vaidevutis flag and coat of arms and
presented their pictures. White cloth, with incomprehensible (!)
writing edging on two sides. The centre is charged with three
main gods (from left to right) - Pykuolis (the god of the
underworld and dead), Perkunas (the god of thunder and all
storms), and Patrimpas (the god of spring and fertility). The
dimensions of the flag are 3 spans width and 5 spans length.
Grunau's picture of Vaidevutis flag placed here <www.lithuanian.net>.
Also you can get more information about the old Prussians and the
Balts from this site. German historians L. David (1503-1583) and
K. Henenberger (1529-1600) published incomprehensible writing
repeatedly later. Lithuanian linguist Jonas Basanavicius
published 10 (ten) variants of writing of Vaidevutis flag in
1926. It is possible there was made a mistake when this writing
was recopied many times. Now it is trouble to deciphering. It is
presented some deciphered version of writing but no one can be
quite acceptable. So, all these "decipherings" are
fiddlestick. Your picture of the flag is just one of many
variants.
Audrius, 27 December 2002