Magyar News, 1996. szeptember-1997. augusztus (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1997-03-01 / 7. szám

The Hungarian Plag and Coat of Arms

by Martin B. Majtenyi

he Hungarian flag consists of three colors, red, white and green in a horizontal arrangement, with the Hungarian Coat of Arms in the middle. These colors were proclaimed by law the official Hungarian “tricolor” during the 1848-49 Uprising.

Although the origin of the three colors is unknown, it is said to symbolize three national characteristics of Hungarians: red is for bravery, willingness even to shed blood for the country, white is for honesty, and green is for loyalty

While the three colors remained the same through the ages, the coat of arms in the middle has changed several times.

The first form of the coat of arms was simple. Four red bars in a white field which symbolizes the four great rivers of Hungary: the Danube, Tisza, Drava, and Szava, it should be noted that today the Szava is in Croatian territory. This was the family arms of the Arpad dynasty (896- 1301). It seems it was first used in 1202.

On the right side of the coat of arms the dominatng symbol is a double cross, which is the symbol of royal ■öwer and of the apostolic character of kingship. Initially the double cross and the four red stripes were used separately. The “Kepes Krónika” (Chronicle with Pictures) contains a painting of King Charles Robert of the Anjou dynasty with two flags. One flag has the stripes on the left side and two lilies on the right side, and the other flag has the double cross. The lily also appears on other flags and on the first Hungarian gold coins minted in 1324, under Charles Robert. It appears that by this time the stripes gained a more general meaning than the arms of the Arpad dynasty, it seems it came to mean the country with the four rivers.

King Sigismund (1398-1437) is depicted in a fresco on the walls of the Nürnberg City Hall with several coats of arms around his head, including the stripes and the double cross.

The two-faced seal of King Matthias (1458-1490) had the stripes on one side, the double cross on the other side.

One of the first uses of the two symbols together is found, strangely enough, on an altar painting in the church of Szepes, toward the end of the 15th century. The new coat of arms has the royal crown on top. The cross seems to be standing on triple hills that symbolizes the three major mountains of Hungary, the Tatra, Matra, and Fatra. Today two of the three, the Tatra and the Fatra belong to Slovakia.

By the 15th century the stripes were used more frequently even in the context of local government.

In the course of the evolution of the Hungarian Coat of Arms the next stage appears during the reign of

Gabor Bethlen (1608-1613), the prince of Transylvania (most of Hungary was under Turkish occupation). On his seal and coins the double cross occupies the top of the left side, while the stripes are on the bottom. But for the first time we find Saint Stephen’s crown on top. Until then the crown, if any, of the current ruler was used.

A map of Hungary from the 17th century has the coat of arms surrounded by two angels. They become a major feature of the coat of arms later on.

Maria Theresa, the Habsburg ruler and queen of Hungary introduced still another variation. She created a larger coat of arms, including the arms of the countries of the Austro-Hungarian empire, with the fully developed Hungarian arms in the center, and Saint Stephen’s crown on the top.

Another development occurred during the 1848- 49 Freedom Fight. The coat of arms was used on the Hungarian flag without the crown. This was called Louis Kossuth’s coat of arms.

After the Great Compromise (1867), the official arms was that of the empire, with the Hungarian arms in the center and Saint Stephen’s crown on top, and sometimes flanked by two angels, sometimes by one olive branch and one oak branch.

This was used until the end of World War I. When the peace treaty forbade the Habsburg’s return to the Hungarian throne, Hungaiy became a kingdom without a king. Nicholas Horthy under the title of Governor, was the official head of state. The official coat of arms by this time became traditional, with the two branches on its side.

This was changed following the Second World War. Hungaiy became a republic, and they changed to the Kossuth coat of arms. This turned out to be a short-lived solution, since as the Communists turned Hungary into a Soviet satellite, they changed to a Soviet style coat of arms: hammer and sickle, and the all-important symbol, the red star.

During the 1956 Revolution an unprecedented thing happened: the students in Budapest cut out with scissors the Soviet coat of arms, and the flag with a hole in the middle became the symbol of the revolution and even today many patriotic groups use the flag with an irregular hole in the center to show their support for the ideas of 1956!

Still, with the defeat of the revolution, the old Soviet flag came back, until the change of the regime in 1990. The new government put the issue up for referendum: the people were asked to choose between the Kossuth coat of arms, and the traditional coat of arms with Saint Stephen’s crown. By overwhelming majority the people voted for the one with Saint Stephen’s crown which symbolizes Christianity, patriotism and a traditional value system.

Page 5