Coat of arms of Saxony
| Coat of arms of Saxony | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Details | |
| Armiger | Freestate of Saxony |
| Adopted | 1990 |
| Escutcheon | Barry sable and Or, a crancelin vert |
| Use | January 1, 700 |
The coat of arms of the present-day German free state of Saxony shows a ninefold partitioned field of black (Sable) and gold/yellow (Or) stripes, charged with a green crancelin (a stylized common rue) in bend - running from viewer's top-left to bottom-right. Although the crancelin is sometimes shown embowed (bent) like a crown, this is due to artistic license. The coat of arms is also displayed on the state flag of Saxony.
The shield Barry sable and Or, a crancelin vert deduce from the Saxon counts of Ballenstedt (in present-day Saxony-Anhalt), ancestors of the ducal House of Ascania. The Ascanian margrave Albert the Bear achieved the Saxon ducal title in 1138; when his Welf successor Henry the Lion was deposed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1180, Albert's son Bernhard, Count of Anhalt received the remaining Saxon territories around Wittenberg and Lauenburg and the ducal title. Legend goes that when he rode in front of the emperor, at the occasion of his investiture, carrying his escutcheon with the Ballenstedt coat of arms (barry sable and Or), Barbarossa took the rue wreath he wore against the heat of the sun from his head, hanging it over Bernhard's shield and thus creating the Saxonian crancelin vert.
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