Last modified: 2023-06-03 by 
zachary harden
Keywords: eger | heves | unicorn | fortress | snake | sword | star | sun | eagle | saint john |
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image by Zoltan Horvath, 1 February 2010
See also:
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
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
image by István Molnár
Source: A magyar városok címerei (Coat of Arms of
the Hungarian cities and towns); 1975.
István Molnár
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