The coat of arms of Duchy of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia (Lauenburg) as used between 1435 and 1507 and again between 1671 and 1689. It shows in the upper left quarter the Ascanian barry of ten, in or and sable (starting with the wrong colour in this copy), covered by a crancelin of rhombs (they are not shown in this undetailed copy) bendwise in vert. (The House of Wettin also adopted the barry of ten with the crancelin as its coat-of-arms, when it gained Saxe-Wittenberg, which is why the barry reappears in the arms of many (formerly) Wettin-ruled states.) The crancelin symbolises the Saxon ducal crown. The second quarter shows in azure an eagle crowned in or (crown missing in this copy), representing the imperial County Palatine of Saxony. The third quarter displays in argent three water-lily leaves in gules, standing for the County of Brehna. The lower right fourth quarter shows in sable and argent the electoral swords (Kurschwerter) in gules, indicating the Saxon office as Imperial Arch-Marshal (German: Erzmarschall, Latin: Archimarescallus), pertaining to the Saxon privilege as prince-elector, besides the right to elect a new emperor after the decease of the former. The Lauenburg branch duchy adopted this coat-of-arms, used before by the other brach duchy Saxe-Wittenberg until its extinction in 1422, in order to enforce its failed claim to succession in Saxe-Wittenberg. Thus the different quarters of the coat of arms, from then on representing the Duchy of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia (Lauenburg), were later often misinterpreted as symbolising Angria (Brehna's water-lily leaves) and Westphalia (the comital palatine Saxon eagle).
Sachsen-Lauenburg.PNG
COA_family_de_Sachsen-Lauenburg.svg
Wappen_Schild_Blank.svg
Sachsen-Lauenburg.PNG: Kooij
COA_family_de_Sachsen-Lauenburg.svg: Christer Sundin
Wappen_Schild_Blank.svg: UnreifeKirsche
derivative work: OwenBlacker