Eger (Hungary) (original) (raw)

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Eger megyei jogú város

image by Zoltan Horvath, 1 February 2010

Overview
Historical Flag
1974 - 1989 Flag
Coat of Arms

See also:

Overview

The image is based on the Res. No. 13/1999 (IV.21.) EMJV Kgy. about the Constitution of Eger City with County Rank. In the 2nd paragraph: The flag of the city is red and blue and on the center there is the Coat of Arms of the city.
Description of the settlement: Eger is a city in Heves County in Hungary on the southern hills of the Bükk Mountains. The city has got 61.437 inhabitants (1990 census), nearly all of them are Hungarians. Three of the Official Ethnic Minorities of Hungary has got ethnic council in the city. Gipsy, Greek and Polish. Neighbouring settlements are: Bélapátfalva, Mónosbél, Egerbocs, Bátor, Egerbakta, Egerszalók, Demjén, Andornaktálya, Ostoros, Szomolya, Noszvaj and Felsőtárkány villages. One part of the city is a part-community: Szarvaskő village.
from <www.agria.hu>: "The origin of its name is still unknown. One suggestion is that the place was named after the elder ("égerfa" in Hungarian) which grew so abundantly along the banks of the Eger Stream. (...) The basin of Eger and the hilly region around it have always been very suitable for human settlements, and there are many archaeological findings from the early ages of history, which support this fact. According to these findings the first generation of the conquering Hungarians occupied the area of Eger at the beginning of the 10th century. Graves at the city limits (Almagyar, Répásteto) of armed men with Arabian coins serve a good proof of this. At the end of the last century more findings dating from the time of the Hungarian conquest rose to the surface near the "Szépasszony-völgy (The Beautiful Woman's Valley). Actually Eger's establishment coincides with the church - founding activity of our first king, Saint Stephen. He established here one of the ten bishoprics that were organised before 1009. (...) This settlement, as a cathedral town, took up an important place among the Hungarian towns even in the early Middle Ages. (...) This development was blocked for a short time by the Mongol invasion in 1241, when the town was ransacked and burned down during the episcopacy of Kilit the Second. (...) After the withdrawal of the Mongols Eger began to flourish all over again. Lambert, the bishop of Eger, received a permit from Béla the Fourth for the building a stone fortress. So the nearly destroyed town revived and reached the peak of its medieval development in the l4th and 15th centuries. (...) After the Mohács Disaster (1526) a sorrowful period began in the history of Eger. During the dual kingship the town changed hands almost every year and the Turkish army came closer as well. This circumstance provided the reason for reinforcing the fortress. In the autumn of 1552, Captain István Dobó and his handful of soldiers were successful in defending the fortress and northern Hungary from the expanding Turkish Empire. (...) While Dobó and his soldiers managed to defend the fortress in 1552, in 1596 the captain at that time and the foreign mercenaries under his rule handed it over. This was the beginning of the 91 year long Turkish rule in Eger. The graceful minaret which was built at the end of the 17th century preserves the memory of this period. Among all the buildings of this type, the minaret of Eger is found in the northern-most point of the former Ottoman Empire. During the Turkish occupation Eger became the seat of a vilayet which is a Turkish domain including several sanjaks. Eger was relieved from Turkish rule in December, 1687. Although the reoccupation was effected by a siege (which starved out the defenders) and not by a bombardment, the town fell into a very poor state. According to the ... records there were only 413 houses in the area within the town walls which were habitable and most of these were occupied by left over Turkish families. Leopold the First established Eger as a free royal borough in 1688, which meant that it was relieved from the ecclesiastic manorial burdens. This state lasted until 1695, when György Finesse, the returning bishop, had the former legal status of a bishopric town restored by the monarch. During the era of Rákóczi's insurrection (1703-1711) the town was the centre of the liberated part of Hungary. Prince Ferenc Rákóczi the Second stayed several times within the walls of the settlement and his general headquarters was here, too. (...) While in 1688 it was only 1200, in 1787 more than 17 000 people lived here. At this time Eger was the 6th town of Hungary (based on the number of its inhabitants). "
In 1910 Eger was a town in the Heves County of the Kingdom of Hungary. Number of its inhabitants in 1910: 28.052; 27.572 (98,3%) Hungarian and 480 (1,7%) other by mother tongue, 24.173 (86,2%) Roman Catholic, 2.674 (9,5%) Jew, 810 (2,9%) Calvinist and 395 (1,4%) other by religion. Jews were deported in 1944 after the German occupation.
HomePage of the City: <www.eger.hu>.
István Molnár, 13 March 2001

On 20 October, 2002, a part of the city, Szarvaskő, left Eger and became an independent village again.
Zoltán Turay, 5 January 2005

Eger is county seat of Heves county
Regulations on the Coat of Arms and flag of town (in Hungarian) at <www.eger.hu>.
Description of Coat of Arms and some basic information (in English) at <www.nemzetijelkepek.hu>.
Zoltan Horvath, 1 February 2010

Historical Flag

image by Antonio Martins, 28 Febuary 2001

This flag appears at Dr. Széll Sándor: Városaink neve, címere és lobogója (1941) as "Eger, Heves Co. ".
István Molnár, 20 October 2000

Five white, blue, yellow, blue and white unequal horizontal stripes (2+1+1+1+2).
Antonio Martins, 28 Febuary 2001

1974 - 1989 Flag

image by István Molnár

Source: A magyar városok címerei (Coat of Arms of the Hungarian cities and towns); 1975.
István Molnár

Coat of Arms

eger.gif)
image from <www.agria.hu>

The Shield of Eger developed from the shield of Bishop Gyorgy Fenesy (1686-1689) after an agreement which was made with him in 1694. The bastion with the three gates on it refers to the existence of the fortress. The rampant unicorn between the two bastions on the side of the shield came from the bishop's shield. The sword in the fore-feet of the unicorn symbolises the manorial power of life and death. The snake twisting on the sword stands for the defect of treachery and hatred by faith. The star and the sun symbolise the alternation of days a d nights. And finally, the eagle with a gospel in its clutches refers to apostle and evangelist Saint John who is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Eger.
Jarig Bakker, 25 July 1999