The Wendish Crown (German: Wendische Krone or Wendenkrone) is a heraldic symbol in form of a crown, from the region of Mecklenburg in Germany.[1] It is an example of invented tradition. The myth is based on three archaeological finds which in reality were neither Wendish nor crowns, but Germanic bronze and copper circlets from around 300 BC. The first circlet was found in 1823 in Langen Trechow, the second in 1843 near Admannshagen, and the third in 1849 near Lübtheen. The circlets were attributed to the Wends because of the omnipresent Wendish/Slavic past of Mecklenburg and the House of Mecklenburg, a dynasty of Slavic origin.
One of the original Wendish Crowns, a bronze ring from c. 300 BC, found in 1823 in Bernitt-Langen Trechow southwest of Rostock.
The allegorical representation of Mecklenburg, the Megalopolis on the victory column in the Alter Garten in Schwerin, is crowned with the Wendish Crown.
^ abcJörg Nimmergut: Deutsche Orden und Ehrenzeichen bis 1945. vol. 2, Munich: Zentralstelle für wissenschaftliche Ordenskunde, 1997, ISBN 3-00-00-1396-2.
^Peter Ohm-Hieronymussen: Die Mecklenburg-Strelitzer Orden und Ehrenzeichen. Kopenhagen 2000, p. 21–65.