English: 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).