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Berry

 

Contents

Flag

Meaning/Origin of the Flag

Coat of Arms

Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

Map of the historical Regions in France

Explanations about the Regions

History

Origin of the Country's Name



Flag

Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Berry
Flag of Berry – Drapeau de Berry,
Source, by: Die Welt der Flaggen




Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Region Centre
1960–2016,
Unofficial flag of the Centre Region
– drapeau officieux de la région Centre,
Source, by: Wikipedia (D)



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Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The flag of Berry is a scutcheon-flag, its design is the image of the coat of arms. In the year 1360 King John II. of France raised the Berry to a duchy and passes it to his son John. The belonging Heraldry showed the blue, with golden lilies topped shield of the Capetians, which was surrounded by a red border with a scale-cut. The from 1960 to 2016 existing Region of "Centre" used an unofficial flag, which combines the features of the flags of Orléanais, Berry and of the Touraine.

Source: Volker Preuß, Wikipedia (D)

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Coat of Arms


Wappen arms crest blason Berry
Coat of arms of Berry
– Blason de Berry,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)

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Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

In the year 1360 King John II. of France raised the Berry to a duchy and passes it to his son John. The belonging Heraldry showed the blue, with golden lilies topped shield of the Capetians, which was surrounded by a red border with a scale-cut. The coat of arms of the Capetians showed three golden lilies on blue, but originally was the coat of arms sprinkled with lilies. From 1365 (by others sources 1376), the number of lilies was reduced to three. The lily-symbol is very old, already the Germanic tribe of the Franks has used it. The House of the Capetians has provided the kings of France between 987 and 1328. It goes back to Hugo Capet, son of Hugo the Great, who was electet to the King of France, in 987, after the death of King Ludwig V. from the House of the Carolingians. The Capetians brought out three branch lines which became the Kings of France: Valois 1328–1589, Bourbon 1589–1792 and 1814–1830, and Orléans 1830–1848.

Source: Wikipedia (D), Volker Preuß

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Map of the historical Regions in France

The historical, French Regions:

in black: governorate and province in 1776,
in red: former county, province oder governorate

Map: Volker Preuß

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Explanations about the Regions

The until the French Revolution existing provinces (or governorates) have been historically grown structures, which had their roots oftenly in former fiefdoms of the French crown, historic counties and duchies. They oftenly existed for hundreds of years and had preserved regionality (e.g. cultural particularities and regional languages). On the occasion of the French Revolution such phenomena were of course not desirable, and as part of their bloody and violent egalitarianism any regional references were eliminated. Shortly after the French Revolution the provinces were dissolved and France became divided into many départements, which should have approximately the same size and the same status. The départements were named after rivers or mountains, to use never and in no circumstances the name of an old province. However, there was no success in cutting the connections of the people of France to their respective regions, so that administrative regions were re-created in 1960, to have a better control in regional administrative processes. In this way became départements, which were placed in a historical province, administratively grouped to an oftenly historically named region. The resulted structures coincide only approximately with the boundaries of the old provinces. In the strictly centralist France any regionality is avoided, so that even the official flags of these regions mostly look like flags of companies, unloving, unhistorical, technocratic and modernistic, and these flags should not be a subject of any lexical considerations here. Only in a few of that regions, exist official flags which remember the historical models. But, even the existence of these today's regions is douptful, because in 2014 was passed a territorial reform valid from the year 2016, that reduces the number of the existing regions by merging to nearly the half. However, there exist unofficial flags in nearly all of these regions, which should remember the old provinces and the old heraldry.

Wikipedia Link to the regions of France: click or tap here
FOTW Link to the regions of France: click or tap here

Source: Flags of the World, Wikipedia (D), Volker Preuß

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History

antiquity · settlement by the Celtic tribe of the Bituriges, from there the other name of the country: "Biturica"

52 B.C. · Roman conquest, to the province of Gallia Lugdunensis

5th century A.D. · today's Berry belongs to the kingdom of the Visigoths, from 480 conquest of Gaul by the Franks, until 507 (under King Clovis) expansion of the empire to the Atlantic, the Pyrenees and the Alps, the area of today's Berry comes to the Frankish Empire, namely as a part of Aquitaine

880 · at the division of the Frankish Empire (Treaty of Verdun and Ribbemont) was created the West Frankish Kingdom – the later France – to which the today's Berry belongs as County of Bourges

917–1100 · Bourges is governed by viscounts of the Dukes of Aquitaine, the last viscount, Eudo Arpie, sells the county to King Philip I. of France

1101–1221 · the County of Bourges gats at first divided into Lower Berry and Upper Berry and then gradually connected to adjacent counties or duchies (Aquitaine, Anjou, Blois and Bourbonnais), in this way Berry becomes a part of the royal domain

1360 · Berry gets revived by King John II. of France (House of Valois) , raised to a duchy, and given as an appanage to his son John

1419–1461 · Charles of France, son of Charles VI . King of France, is Duke of Berry, after the accession to the throne even as King Charles VII. (1422–1461)

1461–1465 · Charles, the youngest son of King Charles VII., is Duke of Berry

1498–1549 · the duchy is handed over by the king in different ways, so to Joan of France, Claude of France and Margaret of Angoulême

16th to 18th century · the Duchy of Berry is no longer given as an appanage, it becomes a province, only the title remains as one out of the many titles of the French monarchy

1776 · the already in the 14th century created governorates of the civil administration of the kingdom of France become committed to a number of 39, and correspond in this way to the number of provinces, in previous years could any provinces be summarized in one governorate

1789 · French Revolution, the governorates (provinces) become abolished, Berry is divided into departments (essentially Cher and Indre and small parts of Creuse, Vienne and Loiret)

1960 · reintroduction of regions in France, formation of the Centre region with Orléans as capital, Berry doesn't play a role, affiliation with the newly created Centre-Val-de-Loire region, of course not within the historic boundaries, just by integrating of the departments of Cher, Eure-et-Loir, Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Loiret, the department of Vienne comes to the region of Poitou-Charentes

Source: Wikipedia (D), Meyers Konversationslexikon

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Origin of the Country's Name

"Berry is a landscape in central France. Its name comes from the Gallic tribe of Bituriges, its inhabitants are called Berrichons. ..."

Quote: Wikipedia (D), status 03-2014

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