page_title: Wolfsangel
section_title: As boundary marker and "forestry symbol"
hierarchical_section_title: Wolfsangel / As boundary marker and "forestry symbol"
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Wolfsangel an einem Grenzstein im Deister
context_page_description: The Wolfsangel is a German heraldic charge inspired by historic wolf traps, consisting of two metal parts and a connecting chain. The top part of the trap, which resembled a crescent moon with a ring inside, used to be fastened between branches of a tree in the forest while the bottom part, on which meat scraps used to be hung, was a hook meant to be swallowed by a wolf. The simplified design based on the iron "wolf-hook" was often heavily stylized to no longer resemble a baited hook hung from a tree or an entire wolf trap. Other names included Wolfsanker or Wolfsjagd as well as hameçon or hameçon de loup, a half-moon shape with a ring, or as cramp or crampon in English with a ring at the center, sometimes also called Doppelhaken, or a crampon with a transversal stroke. All of these symbols are still found in a number of municipal coats of arms in Germany. The crampon is also found as a mason's mark in medieval stonework.
  In early times, believed to possess magical powers, it became a symbol of liberty and independence after its adoption as an emblem of a peasant revolt in the 15th century against the oppression of the German princes and their mercenaries.
context_section_description: In a 1616 boundary treaty concluded between Hesse and Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Brunswick boundary marker was called Wulffsangel. It was used not only on landmarks, but there is also evidence of its use in correspondence from the Forest Services in 1674.
  Later the Wolfsangel was also used as a symbol on forest uniforms. In a document of 1792 regarding new uniforms, chief forester Adolf Friedrich von Stralenheim suggested a design for uniform buttons including the letters "GR" and a symbol similar to the Wolfsangel, which he called Forstzeichen. Later the Wolfsangel was also worn as a single badge in brass caps on the service and on the buttons of the Hanoverian forest supervisor. In Brunswick it was prescribed for private forest and gamekeepers also as badge on the bonnet.
  The Wolfsangel is still used the various forest districts in Lower Saxony as a boundary marker, and it is part of the emblem of the state of Lower Saxony and the hunters' association Hirschmann, dedicated to the breeding and training of Hanover Hounds.
caption: The Wolfsangel on an old field boundary stone in the Deister in Lower Saxony.
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