Merzhausen (Schwarzwald)
MERZHAUSEN
State : Baden-Württemberg
District (Kreis) : Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald (until 1973 Freiburg)
| German | In Silber ein aufgerichteter, silberner, rotbewehrter (St. Galler) Bär, in den Vorderpranken den von Gold und Grün geteilten (Snewelinschen) Wappenschild haltend. |
| English | blazon wanted |
Origin/meaning
The arms were officially granted on January 16, 1964.
The arms show a bear holding a divided shield. The bear is taken from the arms of the St. Gallen monastery and is the symbol of St. Gallen (Gallus). The bear is also the symbol on the arms of the city of St. Gallen. The bear holds the arms of the Von Schnewlin (von Bollschweil) family.
The village was first mentioned as a possession of the St. Gallen monastery in 786. Later the village was a possession of the Counts of Freiburg and from 1368 of the Dukes of Austria. They appointed vassals who received the village in loan. In 1522 the knight Gabriel Schnewlin Bernlapp von Bollschweil was mentioned as vassal. His family ruled the village as vassals until 1805, except for 1635-1775 when it was ruled by the Jesuit monnastery in Freiburg.
In 1803 all the Austrian possessions became part of Baden. The family thus were the longest rules of the village and thus their ancient arms are held by the bear.
The old seals of the village showed a rather different composition, see below. The seal showed a small chapel with the symbol of the Roman god Mars and an animal, most likely a horse. The composition may be canting, Mars-house, there is also a chapel named after Mars mentioned in the village until the 18th century.
The horse could be a canting element (Mähre or mare), but has also been described as a dog. Until 1945 the seals showed this composition, after 1945 the seals showed the whole in a shield, making it unofficial arms. As it is a rather non heraldic composition, the State Archives proposed the above arms in 1963.
 The seal of 1660 |
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© since 1995, Heraldry of the World, Ralf Hartemink 
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Literature: John and Heine, 1989