The flag and coat of arms of Transylvania were granted by Maria Theresa in 1765, when she established a Grand Principality within the Habsburg monarchy. While neither symbol has official status in present-day Romania, the coat of arms is marshalled within the national Romanian arms; it was also for decades a component of the Hungarian arms. In its upper half, it prominently includes the eagle, which may have been one of the oldest regional symbols, or is otherwise a localized version of the Polish eagle (with one invented tradition from the 19th century identifying it as a version of the Turul bird). Early versions of the Transylvanian charges were first designed in Habsburg Hungary at some point before 1550, and were therefore symbols of pretence.
The arms were only attested as in use by the Transylvanian Principality in or after 1580. The first Prince to recognize and use them was Sigismund Báthory, who also simplified the charges. They entered the heraldic patrimony over the next few decades, and, during Ákos Barcsay's reign, were codified as representing three separate jurisdictions: the eagle stood for Transylvania-proper, the sun-and-crescent is for Székely Land (as in the coat of arms of the Székelys), while the seven towers are canting arms of the Saxon-populated cities. They are also widely understood as ethnic symbols of the three privileged nations (therefore excluding Romanians), but this interpretation is criticized as inaccurate by various historians.
Before Maria Theresa, Transylvania's rulers used a variety of flags, which more often than not included family or factional symbols, such as the Báthory "wolf teeth"; Prince Sigismund also used a prototype of the Hungarian tricolor, but the practice died out long before the Habsburg conquest. Transylvania's Habsburg tricolor and the flag of Romania resemble each other superficially: Transylvania has blue-red-yellow displayed horizontally, while Romania has blue-yellow-red, vertically. The Transylvanian colors were codified from the heraldic tinctures, but Romanian scholars such as Iosif Sterca-Șuluțiu ascribe them a Dacian origin and links to the Romanian ethnogenesis. They became popular among the Romanian community of Transylvania in the later stages of the 1848 Revolution, after replacing combinations of blue, red and white.
On such grounds, Transylvanian flags were often used in Austria-Hungary to camouflage celebrations of Romanian nationalism, and as such contributed to a simmering Hungarian–Romanian conflict before and during World War I. In this context, references to the "Transylvanian tricolor" often referred to a blue-yellow-red horizontal variation. Saxon organizations have traditionally reduced the tricolor to a blue-over-red or red-over-blue arrangement, which was also disliked by Hungarian authorities. Both sets of flags were flown by communities supporting the 1918 union with Romania; in its aftermath, Transylvanian or Tranylvanian-derived symbols were sometimes used by Hungarians seeking autonomy for the region as a whole. In parallel, pro-autonomy activists in Székely Land have adopted a blue-gold-silver pattern.
History Origins
Some of the earliest heraldic traditions in Transylvania relate to the 12th and 13th centuries—which is after the age of Hungarian conquest. They refer to the conquest's chronicling in the manuscript known as Gesta Hungarorum, which claims that Transylvania was settled by five Hungarian clans. Subsequent tradition codified their family crests, all of which had totem-like animal figures—Agmánd had a wolf's head; Borsa, a fish, Gyerő, a fish; Kalocsa, a bird; and Zsombor, a lion.László Makkai, "Transylvania in the Medieval Hungarian Kingdom (896–1526)", in László Makkai, András Mócsy (eds.), History of Transylvania. Volume I: From the Beginnings to 1606 (East European Monographs 581. Atlantic Studies on Society Change 106), pp. 371–372, 375–375, 380. Boulder & Highland Lakes: Social Science Monographs & Atlantic Research and Publications, 2001. The region had a distinct jurisdiction under a Voivode of Transylvania, the first of whom were attested in the 12th century. Whether it used a heraldic symbol at this stage is a matter of dispute among modern heraldists. Dan Cernovodeanu dismisses the notion, arguing that there was a general uninterest in regional heraldry, manifested throughout high-medieval Hungary;Cernovodeanu, p. 129 similarly, Károly Kisteleki argues that: "Transylvania did not have an independent coat of arms in the pre-1526 medieval Hungarian Kingdom."Kisteleki, p. 1056 Historian Zsigmond Jakó argues that, since "the voivode received his commission directly from the king, [he] probably received a flag from the ruler, as proof of his appointment before an illiterate society."Zsigmond Jakó, "Az erdélyi vajdák kinevezéséről", in Levéltári Közlemények, Vol. 63, Issues 1–2, 1992, p. 74
The Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms claims a "green flag with a red scimitar" as standing for the "Kingdom of Siluana" or "Septem Castra".Byron McCandless, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, Flags of the World, pp. 370, 399. Washington, D. C.: National Geographic Society, 1917; Constantin Marinescu, "Le Danube et le littoral occidental et septentrional de la Mer Noire dans le Libro del Conosçimiento", in Revue Historique du Sud-Est Européen, Vol. III, Issues 1–3, January–March 1926, pp. 6–7 The latter is a reference to Transylvania as the country of "seven cities". According to historian Iulian Marțian, this name may predate Hungarian conquest, and is traceable to Roman Dacia. He argues that seven towers may have already been a Transylvanian symbol at that stage, noting that the "Dacian" metropolis of Sirmium was represented by a tower on a field of gules.Marțian, pp. 443–445 Hungarian sources, analyzed in the 19th century by Josef Bedeus von ScharbergCernovodeanu, p. 131 and Nicolae Densușianu,Marțian, p. 442 suggest that Transylvanian troops fought under an eagle banner, but the accuracy of such reporting is altogether doubtful.Tiron (2011), pp. 312–313 Several 15th-century armorials also feature a "Duke of Weydn" or "Weiden", which may refer to the Transylvanian Voivodes or Dukes, using an eagle on a field of argent and azure.Tiron (2011), pp. 312–313, 315–318, 336 Among the modern experts, Tudor-Radu Tiron argues for the existence of a Transylvanian eagle shield, taking as evidence a Black Church relief and the attested seal of Fehér County. Both, he argues, may be "heraldizations" of the Roman aquila, and as such folk symbols of "Dacia".Tiron (2011), pp. 313–314, 335–337 At this earliest stage, individual Voivodes also had their own attested arms. Thomas Szécsényi, who governed in the 1350s, used a lion combined with the Árpád stripes.Tiron (2006), p. 218 One theory proposes that Bartholomew Drágffy, rising to the position in the 1490s, used the aurochs head, which was also a staple of Moldavian heraldry.Cernovodeanu, p. 93
The right to use individual coat of arms was severely limited by the codes of István Werbőczy, introduced in 1514. These effectively excluded many Vlachs (Romanians) from the ranks of Hungarian nobility.Tiron (2006), pp. 221–223 In tandem, some alternative collective symbols were being introduced within two distinct ethnic communities: the Transylvanian Saxons (German-speaking) and the Székely (Hungarian-speaking). The former group had its "one single seal" as early as 1224, though it is not recorded what that symbol was. According to Marțian, its design was the same as a 1302 seal, which depicts three kneeling men and a standing one holding up a crown.Marțian, p. 443 It was replaced in 1370 by a variant combining the Hungarian and Capetian arms of Louis I. Also included was a third shield, which is as either an eagle-and-rose composition or the first appearance of "three leaves", joined in triquetra, as the leading symbol of the Saxons at large. According to historian Jean-Paul Van der Elst, they are possibly water-lily leaves, establishing a connection with the heraldic traditions of the Low Countries.Van der Elst, passim A tradition reported in 1896 by lawyer Vilmos Bruckner held that a Saxon flag and seal from 1222 carried the slogan AD RETINENDAM CORONAM ("To protect the Crown", in Medieval Latin).Vilmos Bruckner, "Szeben vármegye díszközgyűlése. — Dr. Bruckner Vilmos beszéde", in Kolozsvár, May 11, 1896, p. 1 The latter's earliest documented usage is on the 1302 seal.Van der Elst, p. 37
The original Székely symbol featured an arm holding a sword, often piercing through a crown, a bear's severed head, and a heart, sometimes alongside a star-and-crescent; the field, though often interpreted as azure, was most likely gules.Szekeres (2017), pp. 12–25. See also Borsos, p. 52; Marțian, p. 445; Pál-Antal, pp. 9–13 Threatened by the peasant revolt of 1437, the estates of the realm established a regime of feudal privileges known as Unio Trium Nationum. This event is traditionally held as the source of a new Székely coat of arms, which only shows the sun and waxing moon (see Count of the Székelys).Borsos, p. 52; Marțian, pp. 441, 445; Pál-Antal, pp. 9–13; Szekeres (2017), pp. 13–14, 16–17 Marțian notes that these two devices were also used in medieval armorials as visual representations of Cumania and of the Vlachs.Marțian, pp. 445–446
The Ottoman Empire eventually took hold of central Hungary in 1541, leaving Transylvania to reestablish itself as a rump Hungarian Kingdom. During the first decades of reorganization under John Sigismund Zápolya, the region effectively used Hungary's arms,Cernovodeanu, p. 129; Moisil, pp. 72–73 although one popular legend attributes the creation of Transylvania's arms to the same Zápolya.Marțian, p. 441; Pál-Antal, pp. 13–15; Tiron (2011), p. 318 Zápolya's military ordinances imposed recruitment rules on the counties of Transylvania, specifying that each county would have its own banner.Ardelean, pp. 195, 197, 203 Meanwhile, a rival claim to Transylvania had been placed by Habsburg Hungary, which was part of the larger Habsburg monarchy and thus dynastically attached to the Holy Roman Empire. A Transylvanian symbol was probably designed at the court of Ferdinand I, and was based on Saxon heraldry, showing crossed swords and a triquetra. This is the version published by Georg Reicherstorffer (1550) and Martin Schrot (1581).Cernovodeanu, pp. 73, 130. See also Tiron (2011), pp. 312, 322–323
A manuscript at the Bavarian State Library (Cod. icon. 391) preserves what is perhaps the first version of the modern Transylvanian arms—designed under Habsburg influence, and probably dating back to Zápolya's reign.Tiron (2011), pp. 318–323 It has a crowned eagle's head in chief, and seven towers, gules, on seven hills, vert, over a argent field. Its design may join the earlier eagle flag with canting arms for Siebenbürgen ("Seven Cities", the German name of Transylvania); the color scheme seems to be purposefully based on the Hungarian arms.Tiron (2011), pp. 311, 319, 322–323. See also Cernovodeanu, p. 131; Iftimi, p. 192; Marțian, pp. 443–444 In the 1560s, the seven towers were featured on coinage issued by Habsburg client Iacob Heraclid, who became Prince of Moldavia. These artifacts also feature the Moldavian aurochs and the Wallachian bird, showing Heraclid's ambition of unifying the three realms under one crown.Cătălin Pungă, "'Planul dacic' al lui Ioan Iacob Heraclid Despot (1561–1563)", in Ioan Neculce. Buletinul Muzeului de Istorie a Moldovei, Vol. XIX, 2013, pp. 94–95 In 1596, Levinus Hulsius of Nuremberg published another recognizable version of Transylvania's arms, showing a crowned eagle over seven hills, with each hill topped by a tower; tinctures cannot be reconstructed.Cernovodeanu, pp. 130–131; Tiron (2011), pp. 310, 337–338
Báthorys and Michael the Brave