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Transylvania (Romania)

Last modified: 2007-11-17 by rob raeside
Keywords: transylvania | romania |
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Principality of Transylvania between 1765 and 1918

image by Alexandru Dan Mândru, 29 August 2007

The flag used in the Principality of Transylvania between 1765 and 1918. It resembles the Coat of Arms of the principality i.e. its tinctures. It is a horizontal tricolour, blue-red-yellow, with a possible ratio of 3:5. It was definitely not 1:2, but one cannot find out its exact details because all we know today is due to historic reconstructions.
Alexandru Dan Mândru, 29 August 2007


Reports in Hungarian sources

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 November 2005

The flag of Transylvania was red-yellow-blue, horizontally divided - the yellow was smaller than red (and the blue). Source: Book: "A székelyek nyomában; Budapest 1981"
István Molnár, 9 January 2002

A web page at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/2190/erdely.htm [no longer available] showed the Coat of Arms; you can find in the Romanian Coat of Arms 1920-194? and 1990-now and in the middle Coat of Arms of Hungary before 1918.

The gold Sun and Moon in the blue field relates to the Szekely's (Hungarian peoples in Harghita-Covasna-Mures counties today (formerly Székely Land). The Black Eagle relates to the Hungarians (of course the noble Hungarians). The seven castle in the yellow field relate to the Saxon settlers who lived in Transylvania from the Middle Ages to the Ceausescu era.

Transylvania became grand-duchy on 2nd of November 1765 by Queen Maria Theresa Queen of Hungary. Transylvania was grand-duchy 1765-1848 and 1849-1867.
István Molnár, 26 November 2000

The Coat of Arms of the Transylvanian princes: http://www.medibit.hu/Historia/fejedelmekbody.html
István Molnár, 11 January 2001


1918 flag

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 9 November 2005

The Transylvanian national flag, the flag adopted in 1918, is a horizontal tricolor of red, green, and white. This is from Minahan (1996) "Nations Without States, Greenwood Press, 1996. pg 579. I know this text is infamous for not showing the flags in color or for listing separate flag sources, but this is one of the very few times in the book where he mentions a date of a flag adoption (during its brief period of independence 28 Oct 1918 - 1 Dec 1918).
Ben Cahoon, 9 November 2005


Transylvanians of Romanian ethnicity within the Revolution of 1848

image by Alexandru Dan Mândru, 29 August 2007

A flag used by Transylvanians of Romanian ethnicity within the Revolution of 1848. The golden inscription on white says "Virtutea Romana Reinviata" (in Romanian), or "Virtus Romana Rediviva" (in Latin), meaning "Revived Roman Virtue". Some Romanian historians say that the role of the golden inscription was to express the affiliation between Transylvanians of Romanian ethnicity and Romanians from the Danubian Principalities (that is Moldavia and Wallachia), but this is a highly argued subject among historians.
Alexandru Dan Mândru, 29 August 2007


Other reports of flags

Another flag is reported at http://www.flaggenparadies.de/europa/flagge-siebenbuergen-rumaenien-transsilvanien.html - blue-red-yellow with a coat of arms centred.
Dennis Goller, 8 April 2007

This looks to me like a modern variant bringing together the Transylvanian colours (b-r-y) with the arms. I doubt that this was in widespread use in pre-1918 times.
Marcus E.V. Schmöger, 14 April 2007