Early Heraldy

In Roman times Mainz was the capital of the Province of Germania Superior (Upper Germania) and was ruled by a Governor.

It comprised an area of today’s western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and Southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon (Vesontio), Strasbourg (Argentoratum), Wiesbaden (Aquae Mattiacae), and Germania Superior's capital, Mainz (Mogontiacum). It comprised the Middle Rhine, bordering on the Limes Germanicus, and on the Alpine province of Raetia to the south-east. Although it had been occupied militarily since the reign of Augustus, Germania Superior (along with Germania Inferior) was not made into an official province until c. 85 AD

After AD 400, as Rome slowly was losing control over its northernmost provinces over a period of 50 years, the southern (Swiss) parts of Germania Superior were incorporated into the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum before they became part of Burgundy in the early 5th century. The northern parts became part of Alemannia.

In the time when Germania Superior was ruled by Governors, the Roman Presence there was symbolized by the eagle of the Roman Legions. This can be seen on the so-called Mainzer Säule (Pillar of Mainz) of which parts of the original can be seen in the Landesmuseum Mainz.  A replica was ercted in Saalburg castle and a gilded statue of Jupiter, armed with a thunderbolt and with the eagle at his feet, was placed on top.

Æ

Statue of Jupiter with thunderbolt and eagle.

Replica on top of the Jupitersäule in Saalburg (Bad Homburg)

Parts of the Pillar of Mainz , 1st century AD

Landesmuseum Mainz, inv. nr. CC BY NC-SA

The man-and-his-arms statue came to be revived in the later Middle ages, in Germany at least, by the so-called Roland, an armed man bearing the arms of state.

“Roland” on a gold gulden from Holland, 1378

On the shields the arms of Holland and Wittelsbach

Other (cavalry-) unites were symbolized by a sculpture of a rider on horseback trampling his enemy. Of these several have been preserved, for example in Alsace, Baden Württemberg and Lorraine.  We may suppose that these sculptures symbolized the alae or auxiliaries stationed in Germania Superior as the legions of the roman army were symbolized by the eagle with the thunderbolt. For that reason maybe the rider has sometimes a thunderbolt, symbol of the armed forces in general, in his hand.

So-called Column of Merten. 3rd cent. AD

(Musées de la Cour d’Or, Metz)

The column was discovered in Merten, in 1878, Iiscribed IOM:  Iovi Optimus Maximus (ie: "To Jupiter very good and very great"),

Jupiter Taranis

From Seltz (Alsace)

Coll.Musée Historique Strasbourg

From Mont  Donon (Vosges, Fr.)

Coll.Musée Historique Strasbourg

Kurpfälzisches Mueum, Heidelberg

Grave-stone, from Zahlbach (Near Mainz

2nd half 1st cent AD

(Coll. Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum Mainz

The inscription reads:

C(aius) Romanius/eq(ues) alae Norico(rum)/ Claud(io tribu) Capito / Celeiai an (norum) XL stip(endiorum) XIX / h(ic) s(itus) e(st) h(eres) ex t(testamento) f(aciendum) c(uravit)

Grave-stone of Comnisca, knight of the ala indiana.

Limestone. Beginning of the 1st cent. A.D. Strasbourg-Königshoffen (Excavations F. Jodry, Inrap)

(Coll Musée Historique Strasbourg)

It proves the presence of auxiliary cavalry in the Legionary camp in Strasbourg/Argentorate.

[Caius Romanius Capito, knight or the Ala Noricum, from the recruiting region Claudia, the City of Celeia (Celje/Cilli in Slovenai). 40 year old, 19 years of service, is buries here. The heir has, confrom the will, ordered this grave.]

The ‘rider trampling his enemy’  group has a long history reacing back to antiquity. Also, the group was not restricted to Germania Superior as some other examples are known from Germania Inferior and Britannia too. The idea was revived in the Middle ages in the form of the statues of Saint George, patron saint of the Church of Rome, the man under the hooves of the horse replaced by a dragon, symbol of paganism (and the Old Testament).

Insignia of the Dux Mogonciacensis

Frontpiece from the Bodleian manuscript (O) of the Notitia Dignitatum, fol 220v

The stations depicted are:

Salectio, Taberna, Vico Iulio, Nemetis (near Speyer), Alta ripa, Vangionis, Mogontiaco (Mainz), Bingio (Bingen), Bodobrica (Boppard), Confluentibus (Koblenz), Antonaco.

Insignia of the Dux Mogontiacensis

A Book of Mandated inscribed FL intall comord P.R. (Floreas Inter allectos comites ordinis primi) that is That you may flower between the elected plenipotentiaries of the first rank.

A codicil in the form of a scroll.

Among the shields of the auxiliaries depicted on the leaf of the Master of the Infantry (fol’s 202r-204v) of the Notitia Dignitatum two shields in particilar attract the attention.: the shields of the Armigeri Seniores and of the Armigeri Juniores (literally: the old- and the young gendarmes).

Armigeri Seniores

This unit may well have derived from a detachment of Legio I Minervia, long stationed at Bonna (modern Bonn in Germany), and which was overrun by the Franks in the early 350s. [1]

Armigeri Juniores

This unit may well have derived from a detachment of Legio I Minervia, long stationed at Bonna (modern Bonn in Germany), and which was overrun by the Franks in the early 350s[2]

Given the similarity in names, it is likely that the Armigeri defensores seniores is the same unit as the men formerly commanded by the Praefectus militum armigerorum at Mogontio under the Dux Mogontiacensis (unless they represent a later destroyed iuniores unit).

Be it on purpose (the Notitia is based on a lost Carolingian manuscript, the Codex Spirensis, until the 16th century in the private library of Otto Heinrich (†1559) in Heidelberg) or just of mere coincidence, such disks, divided in eight- and in six sections, reappeared more than 700 years later in connection with the archdiocese of Mainz and developed into the Wheel of Mainz. in the 12th century, when the Notitia could have been known to its creators. It is not likely I think, that the exact relation between the Notitia-shields and the Wheel of Mainz, if there is any, will ever be established.

Bishops and Archbishop-Electors of Mainz

Documented Bishops  350–745

The next persons were Bishops of Mainz (the same dates do not mean that they ruled at the same time. It is only impossible to establish who was a bishop at what time exactly)

Archbishops of Mayence (745–1803)

The Archbishop of Mainz was one of the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire

Heraldry

Archbishop-Electors of Mainz

Konrad I von Wittelsbach

1162-1165

Political context

Archbishop Heinrich I (1142-’53) intended to fill his political offices fully and to expand his influence. This not only led to conflicts with the Archbishop of Cologne, but also with the House of  Staufen. When Frederick I Barbarossa was elected king in 1152 against the resistance of Archbishop Heinrich I the new king proceeded at once against the unwelcome archbishop, and reached his deposition  in 1153. Frederick I was succeeded by his confidant Arnold von Selenhofen († 1160). Arnold had to follow him in costly warlike companies, for which he wanted to prove the Mainz citizens with new taxes. However, they refused and killed the Archbishop on June 24, 1160.

The subsequent election of a successor led to a double election. The clergy and laity of the upper classes, who had escaped to the city in Frankfurt, chose the dean of the Mariagredenstiftes Christian I of Buch, who had joined the cathedral, as new archbishop, while the insurgents forced the clerics, who had remained in Mainz, to elect Rudolf von Zähringen. King Frederick Barbarossa rejected both elections, citing a 1157 high ecclesiastical and ministerial oath, providing only to elect a new Archbishop in his presence  or in the presence of his  representative. He therefore ordered Pope Viktor IV (1159-1164) to dismiss both bishops and instead to appoint the Wittelsbacher Konrad I (1161-1165) as new archbishop on 20 June 1161.

Schism of Mainz of 1165

Frederick Barbarossa's policy was soon criticized by Konrad I. Frederick was determined to strengthen his power in Italy against the Papacy. When he even had appointed a counterpope - Paschalis III. (1164-1168), the Archbishop of Mainz turned away from him, and served, faithful to the law,  pope Alexander III, who had been fighting against Frederick. (1159-1181). After this open break, Frederick appointed Christian I of Buch (1165-1183) as new archbishop, while the Pope continued to regard Konrad I of Wittelsbach, who was also a cardinal bishop, as the legal  Archbishop  of  Mainz. Since 1165 an official schism existed.

Archbishop Christian von Buch was, above all, an Imperial politician. In the 18 years of his pontificate, he spent only two short periods in his archbishopric, spending the rest of his time in Italy, where he stood alongside the Cologne archbishop Rainald von Dassel on the side of Barbarossa. This negligence led to a political and economic crisis in the archbishopric, which could only be remedied when Konrad I of Wittelsbach (1183-1200), after the death of Christian I von Buch, was able to return to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1183, as his legal archbishop for which he had looked at all these years anyway. He was the first cardinal as head of the Mainz church.

Mint Saalfeld. 188.50 Emperor Frederick I 1152-90

Crowned rider with banner and shield charged with an eagle. Above the rear of his horse the 6-spoked wheel of Mayence.

Gotha 347 0,87 g SMM acc. 29093

The same  188.53 0,89 g. SMM acc 68855.

A symbol, consisting of the greek letters I and X is for example on the mantle of a Proedros Megas Primikerios, that is a bishop senior court official. The symbol can be found on a portait of Michael VII in the Homilies of John Chrysostomos (Paris Bibl. Nat., Ms Coislin 79, fol. 2r ,11th cent.), but also in some other places. It matches with the position of Konrad of Wittelsbach. It means that he was ranked within the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This is contrary to for example to the archbishops of Cologne and Trier who were ranking within the imperial hierarchy and for that reason had a griffin for badge of rank. These were abandoned in the first half of the 13th century and replaced by latin cross.

Circular brooch in gold and precious stones.

Rhineland, 13^th century. Altertumsmuseum, Mainz.

The brooch, in the form of a wheel, is worked in a light but rich openwork design which enhances the opulence of the precious stones in their settings.

Christian I von Buch

1165-1183

Konrad I von Wittelsbach

1183-1200

Second term of  office of Konrad I of Wittelsbach

Konrad I. succeeded in balancing his duties as an imperial official and archbishop and developed a good relationship with Emperor Barbarossa. The latter therefore held several Diets in Mainz, of which the most splendid was the Mainzer Court on Whitsunday, in 1184, in which more than 40,000 knights and the spiritual elite of the entire empire participated in Mainz on the occasion of the accolade of the sons of Barbarossa. Four years later, on the 27th of March, 1188, the emperor in Mainz stopped the so-called Diet of Jesus Christ from which he and the chancery broke up to the Third Crusade. On the way there the Emperor died. His son Henry VI. (1190-1197) succeeded him on the throne.

Archbishop Konrad I decided to go on crusade in 1195. With the other imperial princes, he elected the two-year-old son of  Henry VI. (1190-1197), Barbarossa's successor, Friedrich, (II)  to be Roman king before he went to Palestine in April 1197. Thus the archbishop of Mainz and the most important prince of the empire were abroad, when, a few months later, the decisive turn of the Middle Ages had begun, which also, and especially, the princely archbishop's role as a prince. In September 1197,  Emperor Henry VI had died in Messina. Because of the anti-staufen opposition in the empire led by the Archbishop of Cologne, it came to a double election in 1198. In Thuringia, Duke Philipp of Swabia, who was subsequently crowned in Mainz Cathedral, was elected, while the opposition elected the Welf Otto von Braunschweig who was crowned  in Aachen by the Archbishop of Cologne  This double election split the empire for decades and led to the downfall of the universal imperial power. In addition, it suppressed the right to freedom of the electorate. Since the Archbishop of Mainz remained an Elector until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, this was also an important event for the Archbishopric.

Siegfried II von Eppstein

1200-1230

Mint Mühlhausen. 188.33 LGF Hermann I. as a mortgage holder of the Imperial Mint of Mühlhausen 1199-1204 (?) Crowned rider with banner and shield charged with a carbuncle (thunderbolt). Above the rear of his horse the 8-spoked wheel of Mayence. Legend . L.: hermannvs tvringie langravius. (Seega 70. 0,85 mg smb st.m. viii 287 Nr. 15.)

The emblem on the disc is composed of a greek X and a square cross Ç, that is to say a double cross. Such a cross is for example also on a 6th century plate inscribed X ΕΥΤΙΧΙΑΝΟC ΕΛΑΧΙCTOC EΠΙCKOΠΟC Tw  MEΓAΛw Θw YNEP AΦECEwC AMAPTIwN that is: Eutychianos, unworthy bishop, to the Almighty Lord for the remission of his sins. [3]

This implies that such a double cross is the symbol or badge of rank of a bishop with secular authority and, probably, armed authority. This is unlike the double cross composed of a square cross and a latin cross which means a combination of secular and religious authority.

Æ From this time on, the Wheel of Mainz counted six or eight spokes, however both being the badge of rank of an (arch-) bishop.

Siegfried III von Eppstein

1230-1249

Grave-stone of Archbishop Siegfried III von Eppstein,

with the counter-kings Heinrich Raspe and Wilhelm von Holland.ca. 1250

The archbishop is standing on a lion and a dragon, the symbols of the New and the Old Testament.

The stone of archbishop Siegfried III von Eppstein who died in Bingen in 1249 and was interred in the chorus ferreus of Mainz Cathedral, stood until 1782 in the eastern choir in the back of a pillar. Since 1864 it was in the ship before the first pillar. [4]

Original: H.: 214 cm, B. 102 cm. Sandstone. The stone was restored in 1834 and painted new in the original colours. According to the inventory of Kautzsch and Neeb both hands of the archbishop and the crowns of both kings are renewed. A horizontal joint is visible and for that reason the stone may have once been broken.

Christian II von Bolanden

1249-1251

Gerhard I. Wild- u. Rheingraf

1251-1259

1260 ca  Arms: Gules an 8-spoked wheel Argent. Legend: larchevesque de maience. Wijnbergen n° 598.

Werner von Eppstein

1259-1286

Mint of Heiligenstadt 188.17-18. 2nd Half 13th cent.

Archbishop on horseback with the arms of Mayence, Above the rear of his horse the 8-spoked wheel of Mayence

Posern-Klett Tf. X, 7. 0,85 g sam 178, 1/3

Heinrich von Isny

1286-1288

Gerhard II von Eppstein

1288-1305

Peter von Aspelt

1306-1320

Grave-stone of Peter von Aspelt in Mainz Cathedral.

Under his hands the thee kings he crowned: John the Blind, King of Bohemia  (1310), Henry of Luxemburg, King of Germany (1308) en Louis IV  Wittelsbach, Emperor (1327).

Matthias von Buchegg 

1321-1328

The archbishop of Mainz

1330 ca Mainzer Kurfürstenzyklus. Originals: Mainz, Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum. Casts: München, Haus der Bayrische Geschichte. Mainz, Rheinufer (Photo H.d.V. 2013).

Arms: Gules, an 8-spoked wheel Argent.

Crest:: A crowned lion’s head crested of  the wheel of Mainz

Balduin von Luxemburg

Archbishop Elector of Trier 1307-1354

Administrator of Mainz 1331-1337

His family-arms were:

Arms: Barry Argent and Azure, a double-queued lion rampant Gules, langued, unguled and crowned Or.

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Heinrich III von Virneburg

1338-1346

Arms: Or, seven lozenges Gules, 4&3.

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Gerlach von Nassau

1346-1371

Arms.: Azure, billety a lion rampant Or

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

.

The arms of  the archbishop of maentz and 14 of his vassals in the Armorial Belllenville.

The arms of the biscop vā mens and 10 of his vassals in Armorial Gelre, fol 27

Arms: Gules, an 8-spoked wheel Argent

Crest: On a ducal hat, on a tasseled cushion  the wheel of the arms.

The Archdiocese Electorate of Mainz

From about the council of Konstanz the arms of Mainz were marshalled with the personal  arms of the archbishop-elector in a quarterly. At the same time the ancient electoral arms became the arms of the archdiocese-electorate itself. 

Æ Continued on Archbishop-Electors of Mainz below

From the Council of Konstanz chronicle, 1414—18, fol 2

Mannequin of the Archbishop of Mainz in full coat of arms

Armorial de l’Europe et de la Toison d’Or

The arms of the bishops of Cologna, Trier and Mainz in Armorial Bergshammer, ca 1440

The arms all crowned with a mitre, the arms of Cologne and Tries charged with the personal arms of the ruling bishop.

From Conrad Grüneberg’s Wappenbuch. 1483

From Virgil Solis, 1555

1586

Kurmainzische Wappentafel, 1750 ca

The French Era

1793-1814

During the French Revolution, the French Revolutionary army occupied Mainz in 1792; the Archbishop of Mainz, Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal, had already fled to Aschaffenburg by the time the French marched in. On 18 March 1793, the Jacobins of Mainz, with other German democrats from about 130 towns in the Rhenish Palatinate, proclaimed the 'Republic of Mainz'. Led by Georg Forster, representatives of the Mainz Republic in Paris requested political affiliation of the Mainz Republic with France, but too late: Prussia was not entirely happy with the idea of a democratic free state on German soil (actually the French dominated Mainz was neither free nor democratic). Prussian troops had already occupied the area and besieged Mainz by the end of March, 1793.

After a siege of 18 weeks, the French troops in Mainz surrendered on 23 July 1793; Prussians occupied the city and ended the Republic of Mainz. It came to the Battle of Mainz in 1795 between Austria and France. Members of the Mainz Jacobin Club were mistreated or imprisoned and punished for treason.

In 1797, the French returned. The army of Napoléon Bonaparte occupied the German territory to the west of the Rhine river, and the Treaty of Campo Formio awarded France this entire area. On 17 February 1800, the French Département du Mont-Tonnerre was founded here, with Mainz as its capital, the Rhine river being the new eastern frontier of la Grande Nation.

Austria and Prussia could not but approve this new border with France in 1801. However, after several defeats in Europe during the next years, the weakened Napoléon and his troops had to leave Mainz in May 1814

Provinz Rheinhessen

1816-1946

In 1816, the former French Département Mont Tonnerre which is known today as Rheinhessen, was awarded to the Grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Mainz being the capital of the new Hessian province.

Arms of the Province of Rheinhessen

Landkreis Mainz

1938-1969

The Landkreis Mainz, until 1938 the Kreis Mainz was a district in the Provice of Rheinhessen in the Grand Duchy of Hessen, in the Volkststaat (People’s Republic) of Hessen  and from 1946 of Rheinland Pfalz. In 1969 it merged into the Landkreis Mainz-Bingen

Landkreis Mainz-Bingen

1969-present

The district of Mainz-Bingen is composed of the former districts of Mainz, and Bingen and of parts of the former districts of Keuznach and St Goar.

The diocese of Mainz

From:  Ströhl Heraldischer Atlas, 1899

A modern rendering of Wikimedia .

Archbishop-Electors of Mainz

Johann I von Ligny

1371-1373

A.: Argent, a lion rampant guardant Gules, crowned Or.

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Ludwig von Meißen

1374-1381

A.: Or, a lion rampant Sable.

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Adolf I von Nassau

1381-1390

A.: Azure, billety a lion rampant Or.

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Conrad II von Weinsberg

1390-1396

Arms: Gules, three escutcheons Argent, 2& 1.

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Johann II von Nassau

1397-1419

Arms: Azure, billety, a lion rampant Or, crowned Gules

But no contemporary marshalling of these arms with the arms of Mainz are known

Conrad III Rheingraf

1419-1434

A.: ¼ 1&4 Sable, a lion rampant guardant Argent and 2&3 Or, a lion rampant Gules.

Dietrich von Erbach

1434-1459

Arms of Dietrich von Erbach in Wildenburg

Arms of Dietrich von Erbach in Mainz Cathedral

Arms: Per fess Gules and Argent, three six-pointed stars, two in chief and one in base, counterchanged

Dieter von Isenburg

1459-1461

Arms of Dieter von Isenburg in Mainz Cathedral

Arms: Argent, two fesses Sable

Adolf II von Nassau

1461-1475

Arms of Adolf II von Nassau in Mainz Cathedral

A.: Azure, billety a lion rampant Or cxrowned Gules.

Dieter von Isenburg

1475-1481

A.: Argent, two fesses Sable

Adalbert III von Sachsen

1482

A.: Barry of ten Sable and Or, a crown of rue per bend Vert.

Berthold von Henneberg

1484-1504

A.: ¼ 1&4: Gules a pillar Argent, crowned Or (Römhild) and 2&3: Or, a hen sable, combed, wattled and jelloped Gules standing on three hills Vert (Henneberg).

Jacob von Liebenstein

1504-1508

A.: Barry of four, Argent and Sable.

Uriel von Gemmingen

1508-1514

A.: Azure, two fesses Or.

Albrecht von Brandenburg

1514-1545

A.: Argent, an eagle Gules, billed and clawed and on his wings a trefoiled crescent Or.

A.: Tierced per pale and tierced per fess: 1. Vicount Nürnberg. 2. Brandeburg; 3. Pommern; 4. Stettin; 6. Wenden; 7. Barth; 8. Hohenzollern; 9 Kassuben. In fess point (5) three escutheons: 1. Mainz; 2. Magdenburg; 3. Halberstadt.

Crown: A purple hat with twenty fiocchi.

Supporters: A sword, a cros and a crozier in saltire.

On the well of the Market in Mainz. (Foto H.d.V.)

Sebastian von Heusenstamm

1545-1555

A.: Parted per fess piled Argent and Gules

Daniel Brendel von Homburg

1555-1582

Arms: Or, a fess dancetty Gules.

Arms of Daniel Brendel von Homburg by Jost Amman1579 

Arms: ¼ of Mainz and Homburg.

Crests: a mitre, the wheel of Mainz and two wings of the arms of Homburg.

Behind the shield a crozier, a cross and a sword in saltire.

Legend.: Der Churfürst zu Mentz. Je grösser ist die Herrlichkeit / Je mehr sich ziempt Demütigkeyt: Daß man erkenn wie unser leben / Gleych einem Radt umbher thu schweben. Der edle Bischoff Wiligiß / Ein Radt dem Hochmuth zu verdrieß / Mit andacht führet in seim Schildt / Dem Churfürstn auch gestellt solch Bildt. ().

Wolfgang von Dalberg

1582-1601

Arms: Azure, six fleurs de lys Argent, 3, 2 & 1, and a chief dancetty Or.

Johann Adam von Bicken

1601-1604

Arms: Sable, two fesses Argent.

Johann Schweikard von Kronberg

1604-1626

A.: ¼ Gules and Vair, in the first a crown Or. Crests: A mitre, a wheel and a fir-cone (Kronberg). Behind the shield a sword, a cross and a crozier in saltire. (Siebmacher).

Arms Johann Schweikard von Kronberg on the Alte Universität, Mainz

Georg Friedrich von Greifenklau

1626-1629

Arms: ¼ 1&4: Per fes Argent and Azure, a carbuncle Or and 2&3: Sable, a bend sinister Argent.

Photo H.d.V.

Arms of Georg Friedrich von Greifenklau in Ladenburg

Arms: ¼: 1&4 Mainz; 2&3 Worms (Sable, a key per bend Argent between six crosses Or). In nombril point an escutcheon with Greifenklau.

Crests: A mitre, A six-pointed screen of Worms, with peacocks feathers at the points; a wheel and a birds-claw sabel and Or (Greifenklau). Behind the shield a sword, a cross and a crozier in saltire. (Ladenburg. Foto H.d.V.).

A.: ¼: 1&4 Mainz; 2&3 Worms). In nombril point an escutcheon with Greifenklau. Crown: An electorscap. Behind the shield a sword, a cross and a crozier in saltire. Palace of the Prince-Elector in Mainz.(Foto H.d.V)

.

Anselm Wambold von Umstadt

1629-1647

Arms: ¼: 1&4 Mainz; 2&3: Sable, five  piles reversed 3 & 2 Argent.(Umstadt)

Crests: A mitre between the crests of the quarters.

Supporters: A sword and a crozier in saltire

Johann Philip von Schönborn

1647-1673

Arms: Gules, a crowned lion passant Or, on three hills Argent

Arms.: ¼, 1 & 4 Mainz; 2. Parted per fess dancetty Gules and Argent (Würzburg); 3 Azure, a spear per bend sinister proper with a flag quarterly Gules and Argent (City of Würzburg). And an escutcheon Gules, a crowned lion passant Or, on three hills Argent (Schönborn). On the shield five helmets of the quarters and   a sword and a crozier in saltire. (Siebmacher).

Arms of Johann Philip von Schönborn, Stift Haug

Arms: Tierced per pale and parted per fess: 1. Würzburg; 2 & 5: Mainz; 3 & 4: Worms; 6 City of Würzburg. And an inescutcheon of Schönborn.

An electorscap and a sword and a crozier in saltire.

Johann Friedrich von Metternich

1673-1675

Arms: Tierced per pale and parted per fess: 1 & 6 Worms; 2 & 5 Mainz; 3. Azure, a cross Argent (Speyer); 4. Gules, a gate and two towers Argentand a crozier per bend Or. And an escutcheon Argent, three shells Sable 2 & 1 (Metternich).

Damian Harthard von der Leyen

1675-1678

Arms: ¼ of Mainz and Worms and an inescutcheon Argent, a pale Azure (Von der Leyen).

Karl Heinrich von Metternich-Winneburg

1679

Arms: ¼ Mainz and Worms and an escutcheon ¼ 1 & 4 Gules a bend dancetty Azure between six crosslets patée Or; 2 & 3 Gules three horns banded Sable; and an escutcheon Metternich.

Anselm Franz von Ingelheim

1679-1695

Photo H.d.V

Arms: ¼ of Mainz and Sable, a cross chequy Or and Gules (Von Ingelheim).

Crests: Three helmets with the crests of the quarters,

Supporters:  a crozier, a procession cross and an sword in saltire.

Date: 1686.

Lothar Franz von Schönborn

1695-1729

Photo H.d.V

Arms of  Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Königstein (Hess.)

Arms: Tierced per pale and parted per fess; 1 & 6 Or, a lion rampant Sable, over all a bend Argent (Diocese of Bamberg) 2 & 5 Mainz; 3. Gules, three escutcheons Argent 2 & 1; 4. Azure, a fess between three lozenges 2 & 1 Argent. And an escutcheon for Schönborn. An electorscap and a sword, a cross and a crozier in saltire. D.: 1727

Franz Ludwig von der Pfalz-Neuburg

1729-1732

Arms: Backshield ¼: 1 1|3 of the palatinate, Wittelsbach and Jülich; 2. 1|2 of Kleve and Berg; 1|2 of Mörs and Veldenz; 4. 1|2 of Mark and Ravensberg.

Mainshield ¼ 1&4 Worms; 2. Argent, a mitre Or; 3. ½ Or and eagle Sable, billed and clawed Gules, on his breast a crescent Argent and Azure, six fleurs-de-lys Or.

Over all the cross of the Grand-Master of the Teutonic Order, charged with an escutcheon Or, an eagle Sable, billed and clawed of the field, on his breast Mainz.

An electorscap, and a sword and a crozier in saltire.

Philipp Karl zu Eltz

1732-1743

Arms: ¼ of Mainz and Eltz.  An electorscap and a sword and a crozier in saltire and two lions as supporters

Arms of Philipp Karl zu Eltz, 

in the church of Saint Michael at the Michaelsberg near Cleebronn (Baden-Württemberg).

Achievement of  Philipp Karl von Eltz-Kempenich,

Bernard Picart (workshop of), after Bernard Picart, 1733 (Coll Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

Photo H.d.V

Achievement of  Philipp Karl zu Eltz on the tympan of the elector’s palace in Mainz.

Arms: ¼ of Mainz and Eltz.  An electorscap and a sword and a crozier in saltire and two lions for supporters.

Johann Friedrich Carl von Ostein

1743-1763

A.: ¼ of Mainz and Azure, a greyhound saliant Or (Ostein).

A.: ¼ of Mainz and Worms and an escutcheon Ostein.

Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach Bürresheim

1763-1774

A.: ¼ of Mainz and Worms and an escutcheon Argent, a basilisk Gules (Bürresheim).

Friedrich Carl Joseph von Erthal

1774-1802

The troops of the french General Custine occupied Mainz on 21 October 1792; Mainz capitulated without a fight. Erthal fled to Aschaffenburg for the time of the republican government in Mainz.

By the treaty of Campo Formio in 1797 Erthal was deprived of his possessions west of the Rhine and by the Concordat of 1801 he lost also spiritual jurisdiction over that part of his diocese. The negotiations concerning the reimbursement of Erthal for the loss of his territory west of the Rhine were not yet completed when he died on 25 July 1802, and was succeeded as archbishop by Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg.

A.: ¼ of Mainz and Worms, over all the ctross of a Grand-Master of the Teutonic Order charged with an escutcheon Or, an eagle sable, billed and clawed of the field on his breast ¼ 1&4barry of five Gules and Argent and 2&3 Azure (Erthal).

Jeanbon Saint-André

Prefect 1801-1813

JEANBON-SAINT-ANDRÉ (*1749-†1813 subsequently became préfet of the départment of Mont-Tonnerre (1801) and commissary-general of the three départments on the left bank of the Rhine. Napoleon made him a member of the Légion d'honneur in 1804 and a Baron of the Empire in 1809 by letters Patent of 9 January 1810

His arms were granted in the  Règlement d'armoiries:

Per fess: the first per pale of Azure and anchor ready with twist rope Argent and Gules the badge of a baron prefect and a wall embattled in base Argent; and the base Sable, a cock statant and a sun radiant in dexter chief Or.  [5]

Karl Theodor von Dalberg

1802-1804

In 1802, Mainz lost its archiepiscopal character. In the secularizations that accompanied the Reichsde-putationshauptschluss (German mediatization) of 1803, the seat of the elector, Karl Theodor von Dalberg, was moved to Regensburg, and the electorate lost its left bank territories to France, its right bank areas along the Main below Frankfurt to Hesse-Darmstadt and the Nassau princes, and Eichsfeld and Erfurt to the Kingdom of Prussia.

Arms: ¼ 1& 4 Mainz; 2 Regensburg 3. Frankfurt. Over all the cross of the Grand master of the Teutonic Order charged with an inescutcheon Or, an eagle Sable: ¼ Azure, six fleurs-de-lys Argent 3, 2 & 1 and a chief dancetty Or and Or, a cross patée Sable (Dalberg)