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Kempten City (Germany)

Stadt Kempten, Bayern

5:2 image by Stefan Schwoon, 8 Mar 2001
5:2 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Dec 2021

Kempten City

Kempten Banners
Kempten Banners with bannerhed
Kempten Flags
Kempten previous Banners
Kempten Coat of Arms

See also:

Ostallgäu County (Landkreis Ostallgäu, Bavaria, Germany)
County and Municipal Flags (Bavaria / Bayern, Germany)
Swabia (Schwaben)
Bavaria (Bayern, Germany)
Germany

Kempten City

Kempten Banners

It is a black-white vertical bicolour without arms (see left image above) or with centred arms on a Renaissance shield (see right image above).
Source: this photo
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Sep 2020

Kempten Banners with Bannerhead

5:2 image by Stefan Schwoon, 8 Mar 2001
5:2 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Dec 2021

It is a black-white vertical bicolour. The coats of arms are in a white bannerhead either with a Renaissance shield (see left image above) or a Spanish shield (see right image above).
Sources: this photo and this photo
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Dec 2021

Kempten Flags

3:5 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Dec 2021
3:5 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Dec 2021

It is a black-white horizontal bicolour with centred arms either on a shield acc. to Klemens Stadler, probably older (see left image above), or a Spanish shield, probably newer (see right image above).
Source: this online catalogue
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 Dec 2021

Kempten previous Banners

5:2

image by Stefan Schwoon, 8 Mar 2001

In the 15th century the banner showed the double-headed eagle [the imperial eagle since Kempten was an imperial city]; in the 19th century the flag was black and gold, since 1887 it is black and white
Stefan Schwoon, 8 Mar 2001

Kempten Coat of Arms

Shield parted per pale, at dexter Sable a demi-eagle Or couped per pale, at sinister Argent an embattled tower Gules masoned Sable with port and windows Argent and portcullis Gules or Sable.
Meaning:
King Rudolf of Habsburg granted the privilege of being under direct imperial rule in 1289. King Karl IV confirmed the status of a Free Imperial City in 1391. Its oldest city seal from 1379 displayed St. Gordian, the patron saint of the city. He holds a sword pointing downwards by his left hand and a shield parted per pale. This shield is said having been the first coat of arms. The tinctures had been blue and white, belonging to the city servants. The secret seals of the parallel city, belonging to the Benedictine Kempten Abbey, displayed the head of St. Hildegard with a circumscription between 1402 and 1433, since 1434 connected with the blue-white shield mentioned before. In 1488 Emperor Friedrich III granted new arms parted per pale of golden and black charged with a double headed eagle in counterchanged tinctures and an imperial crown on central chief point. In 1518 the eagle was single headed on a shield parted per pale with an initial "K" at sinister. This pattern became predominant since 1565. Mixed patterns showed the double headed eagle and the partition per pale on two oval shields under an imperial crown in centre, sometimes both ovals upon the breast of a double headed nimbed eagle. The current arms were approved in 1819. Before both cities were unified by the King of Bayern in 1811. The new arms ought to represent both former cities. The demi-eagle was a representation of the former Free Imperial City, the sinister half of the draft was parted by a fess Or of Gules and Azure, superimposed by a half length portrait of St. Hildegard. This draft was however refused and the sinister half was replaced by the tower on a triplemount, symbolising the local motte, which had been seat of a reeve of the Kempten Abbey.
Sources: Stadler 1965, p.84 and German WIKIPEDIA
Santiago Dotor, 1 Feb 2002 and Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Sep 2020

The current plain banner is in use since 1887. The arms were granted on 5 January 1819.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Sep 2020

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