Oberschaeffolsheim (Municipality, Bas-Rhin, France)

Last modified: 2017-05-31 by ivan sache
Keywords: bas-rhin | oberschaeffolsheim | foxes: 2 (white) | eagle (black) | trunk: elephant |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

Flag of Oberschaeffolsheim - Image by Ivan Sache, 28 February 2010 - coat of arms from the Heraldry of the World website

• Presentation of Oberschaeffolsheim
• Municipal flag of Oberschaeffolsheim

See also:

• France
• Bas-Rhin (Department, France)

Presentation of Oberschaeffolsheim

The municipality of Oberschaeffolsheim (2,170 inhabitants in 2006; 768 ha) is located 10 km west of Strasbourg.
The oldest mention of the village, indeed of the village's church, dates back to 805

Ivan Sache, 28 February 2010

Municipal flag of Oberschaeffolsheim

The flag of Oberschaeffolsheim, as observed in October 2009 near the village's War Memorial, is white with the municipal arms in the middle.

The arms of Oberschaeffolsheim are Écartelé : au premier et au quatrième parti de sable et d'or à deux proboscides adossés de l'un en l'autre, au deuxième et au troisième de gueules au renard rampant d'argent ; sur le tout en abîme un écusson d'or à l'aigle de sable ("Quarterly, 1. and 4. Per pale sable and or two proboscis countercoloured, 2. and 3. A fox rampant argent, overall an escutcheon or an eagle sable").

These arms were used in the 17th century by the Barons of Elsenheim, lords of Achenheim and Oberschaeffolsheim, as shown on the seal of Jean Henri of Elsenheim, 1664.
According to the Rietstap Armorial, the Elsenheim family, of Bavarian origin, was granted in 1437 "Per pale or and sable, buffalo's horns countercoloured". These arms are used today by the municipality of Achenheim.
In 1645, the Elsenheim, erected Barons of the German Empire, increased their arms to "Quarterly, 1. and 4. Per pale or and sable, buffalo's horns countercoloured, 2. and 3. Gules a wolf seated argent, the wolf in 3. countourned, overall an escutcheon or an eagle sable." The engraver of the original seal seems to have misrepresented the buffalo' horns as elephant trunks (proboscides in French heraldry) and the wolves as foxes; the erroneous model has been reproduced since then, including in the modern arms of Oberschaeffolsheim and Achenheim.

Ivan Sache & Pascal Vagnat, 28 February 2010