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St. James Regiment, Hamburg Citizens' Sentinels (1619-1810)

Jacobiregiment, Hamburger Bürgerwache

Introduction
St. James company flag of 1720
St. James 11th company flag of 1760 (1st St.George suburban company)
St. James regiment flag of 1771
St. James 2nd company flag of 1796
St. James 9th company flag of 1799

See also:

Hanseatic Legion (1813-1814) (Hanseatische Legion)
Hamburg City Soldiery (1684-1811) (Hamburger Stadtmilitär / Garnison)
Hamburg Citizens' Militia (1814-1868) (Hamburger Bürgermilitär)
Hamburg
Germany

Introduction:

St.James was the parish of the citizens of the extension east of the old city along Steinstraße. The parish was first mentioned in 1255. The attributes of St. James (he is known in Spain as Santiago de Compostela) are a pilgrim's staff, a hat and a conch. The flags of the regiment had been white. The regiment had 12 companies, 10 companies of the parish and two more companies of the eastern suburb of St.Georg.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 11 May 2012

St. James company flag of 1720 (Jacobiregiment)

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 July 2013

The flags ratio is approx. 12:11. It is a white flag. More than half of the sheet is destroyed (depicted in a light lilac shade). In the centre is a woman. Only her face and the greatest part of her cleavage are kept. She is holding a cornucopia in one arm and a branch of palm in her other hand. She is surrounded by military equipment, most of which is also destroyed and topped by a jehova Sun. Around the woman is a golden circumscription, partially kept. It can be reconstructed as: "Freiheit, Fried und Einigkeit erhält die Stadt in Sicherheit" (Engl.: äFreedom, Peace and Unity keep the City in Securityä). In the lower hoist corner is the coat of arms of an unknown civic captain, displaying in a silver (= white) shield two red roses above and a black bull's head below. Both charges are divided by a blue fess. The shield is topped by a helmet, crested by red plumes. In the upper fly corner is a monogram with the initials äJFPä(?), also nearly completely destroyed. Beneath arms and monogram are pairs of branches of palm, crossed per saltire. The date is not visible, at least not for me. According to filing card it should be 1720.
Source: Museum für hamburgische Geschichte, filing card AB III 65
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 July 2013

St. James 11th company flag of 1760 (1st St.George suburban company / Jacobiregiment)

[St. James suburban company flag of 1760]

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 June 2012

According to filing card the ratio is approx 14:17. It is a white flag with golden Rocaille ornaments at the edges. Within the Rocailles in an oval at the middle of the hoist is St.James as a pilgrim with hat and staff. Opposite, i.e. in the middle of the flyend, is the coat of arms of civic captain Michael Jacob Lange, appointed on 31 May 1756, died on 25 October 1768. His arms show the Goddess Justitia with sword and scales in the shield. The shield is topped by a blue helmet crested by red and blue plumes and a warrior. Between the ornaments at the lower edge is a motto in golden capitals: "Mein Sorg und Wachsamkeit hat mir manches Glück bereit" (Engl.: my vigilance and care some happiness for me prepare).
In the centre of the flag stands a column of porphyry (purple marble) with a golden Doric capital and a square base of the same colour. The column is standing on a grey basement, showing the year "1760" in golden letters at its front.
A baroque shield with the arms of Hamburg (red castle in silver field; golden edge) is placed upon the centre of the column. Between shield and column golden military equipment is fixed at both sides. On top of the capital stands a dark grey crane, the symbol of vigilance, holding a ball in one of his claws. The crane is topped by a golden trinity eye. About 1/3 of the sheet along the flyend is nearly completely destroyed (light lilac colour in image). There remained just most of the coat of arms and a little part of the surrounding oval.
Source: Museum für hamburgische Geschichte, filing card AB II 473.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 June 2012

St. James 11th company flag of 1760 (1st St.George suburban company / Jacobiregiment)

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jun 2012

St. James regiment flag of 1771 (Jacobiregiment)

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Dec 2020

According to filing card the ratio is approx. 11:13. It is a white flag. The flag has a broken golden bordure at all edges except the hoist. A piece at the lower fly is destroyed and marked by light lilac colour in image. In the middle of either side there are ovals surrounded by Rocaille ornaments. They are charged as follows:
At top edge in centre there is St. James with dark coat, staff, canteen and hat, charged with a scallop, his most important attribute. He holds a book in his right hand. Beneath the saint is an eye of God in a wreath of golden rays.
In central hoist there is a sitting woman dressed red holding a cross.
In central fly there is a sitting woman dresses white holding a cup.
Finally in central bottom edge there are the arms of Franz Andreas Prale, aka Prahl. He was appointed as Lord Colonel of the St. James Regiment in 1771. The arms display in a silver shield golden skull and bones, issuant from skull three red roses leafed green. The crest consists of a helmet with three red roses issuant leafed green. The shield is flanked by red scarves and a golden inscription "ANNO 1771". All edges are filled with golden wreaths and Rocaille ornaments, filled with many roses in different shades of red and pink as a repetition of the family arms in base. At hoist and fly the wreaths are interrupted by golden lattices, filled with blue and green decorations.
In the centre of the flag is a group of Goddesses on a reddish brown base, known by their attributes. They are from left to right:
1) Aphrodite standing, dressed red and cloaked green, looking to hoist into a mirror.
2) Iris, sitting, looking to Hera, dressed white and cloaked greenish blue, holding a Caduceus by her right hand and supporting an oval Hamburg shield by her left arm.
3) Hestia, standing behind the others, dressed red and cloaked green, holding a fire in her left hand and a bunch of logs by her right arm.
4) Hera sitting, dressed white and cloaked red, wearing a red mural crown with three visible towers, very similar to the Hamburg castle, supporting the Hamburg shield by her right hand.
5)Demeter sitting, dressed white and cloaked blue with a wreath of flowers in her hair, and a green wreath issuant from her right arm.
6) Athene standing, with black armour and red cloak, black helmet with red plumes, holding a spear in pale by her right hand and an Ägis shield by her left hand, as usual addorsed.
All except the vane Aphrodite are looking to Hera, the supreme Goddess.
The Hamburg shield is placed into a golden oval Rocaille, displaying a red castle in a white shield, the shield is topped by a golden fleur-de-lis.
Between the group of Goddesses and St. James there is an embowed golden motto as follows: "SOLL FREYHEIT FRIED UND RUH...DEN BÜRGER GLÜCKLICH MACHEN" (1st line) "MUSZ KLUGHEIT EINTRACHT MACHT…DAS VATERLAND BEWACHEN" (2nd line) (English: "If liberty, peace and ease shall make the citizens happy, then prudence, concord, power have to watch over the fatherland").
Sources: (1)Museum für hamburgische Geschichte, filing card T 61, (2) Lorenz Meyer "Hamburgische Wappenrolle", list p.100 and (3) Lorenz Meyer "Hamburgische Wappenrolle", plate 109, row 1 column 3
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Dec 2020

St. James 2nd company flag of 1796 (Jacobiregiment)

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 12 Mar 2012

The ratio is approx 13:17. It is a white flag. Four sticks (looking a bit like bamboo) are forming a rectangle. They are connected by a creeper ornament of ivy leaves in natural colour. In the centre of the flag is an altar. On the altar is the coat of arms of Hamburg supported by two lions as supporters and topped by a helmet crested by flags (of the other four regiments) and peacock feathers in natural colour. The castle is red in a white, oval shield. This ensemble is a predecessor of the nowadays Greater Coat of Arms of Hamburg. The altar is flanked by a warrior on the hoist side, who is dressed like a Roman soldier. He is leaning his left arm on top of an Ionian column. On the fly side is a woman in Empire garments, holding a shield in her left hand and a lance in her right hand. Right at the hem of her garment is a crane, holding a ball in his claw. On the altar is an incomplete golden inscription: "2. Compagnie"(1.st line) "Jacobi Regiment"(2nd line) "1796" (3rd line, bigger). At the bottom of the altar is some military equipment.
Meaning:
The man probably is Mars(Ares) and the woman Minerva(Athena), symbols of the brutal and the clever way of war. The crane is symbolizing vigilance.
Source: Museum für hamburgische Geschichte, filing card AB II 478 M 478.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 12 Mar 2012

St. James 9th company flag of 1799 (Jacobiregiment)

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 12 Mar 2012

It is a white flag. The main motive is more or less a mirror image of that one of the 2nd company from 1796. But the altar is bigger, has a dark olive front with a golden inscription in capitals "Gott erhalte"(1st line) "Bürger Freiheit" (2nd line) "1799"(3rd line) (Engl.: God may keep the citizens' freedom). In the front of the brownish basement is another golden inscription "J.W.Leuffer Capit.".
The ensemble is surrounded by a bordure of golden wine leaves and grape bunches. In the middle of the hoist side in an oval edged golden is a beehive upon a column, probably the arms of the captain. In another oval of the same kind is a golden inscription "St."(1st line) "Jacobi"(2nd line)"9te"(3rd line)"Compagni"(4th line).
Source: photo on filing card no.AB 85 of Museum für hamburgische Geschichte
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 21 May 2012

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