The International Association of Amateur Heralds

I have always been interested in the Crancelin in Saxon arms. According to legend when Albert the Bear was made Duke of Saxony, Frederick Barbossa was wearing a crown or wreath of rue, and when due to the heat took it off and placed it on Albert's shield. The Prince of Lichtenstein also has similar arms of quarter, but does not claim them from the Duke of Saxony, but from Kruenringer, which I can not find much about, except that one time they, like the Ascanier also had arms of Barry Or and Sable, sans Crancelin. Does anyone know if the Barbossa legend holds water, or if the Kruenringer claim any relation to the Dukes of Saxony?

You mean Barbarossa. Wasn't Barbosa a pirate captain in "Pirates of the Caribbean"?

Was his name also Frederick? Anyway, I mean the Kaiser with the red beard.

Frederick (Friedrich) I "Barbarossa".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

There are difficulties with the legend you mention. Albert (Albrecht) "der Bär" was only Duke of Saxony from 1139-42, His seal as Margrave of Brandenburg shows a completely different CoA:



According to Thomas Carlyle, the 19th century historian,: "Albert's personal qualities won for him the cognomen of the Bear, not from his looks or qualities, for he was a tall handsome man, but from the cognisance on his shield ..."

The Carlyle quote seems suspicious. I can find no evidence (yet) of a bear on a CoA connected to Albert's family. The seal however seems pretty conclusive unless the shield depicted is not intended to be heraldic and the cross simply depicts strengthening bands (this was the period when heraldry was first taking hold).

Some claim that the origins of the Barry of ten Sable and Or in bend a Crancelin Vert lie in the period when Henry "the Lion" (Heinrich der Löwe) was Duke (1142-1180). But it is more generally held that the change from the white Sachsenross to the Ascanian barry shield came subsequent to Albert the Bear's son Bernhard, Count of Anhalt, being created Duke of Saxony following Henry the Lion's deposition by the Emperor in 1180. This seems more likely as the Anhalt Counts were of the Ascanian family (as of course was Albert, so the legend is - just possibly - correct).