the two-headed eagle
Preserved but no longer current.
The German eagle has its head turned to our left hand, and the Roman eagle to our right hand. When Charlemagne was made "Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire," he joined the two heads to- gether, one looking east and the other west; consequently, the late Austrian Empire, as the direct successor of the Holy Roman Empire, included the Double-headed Eagle in its coat of arms.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “the two-headed eagle” mean?
The German eagle has its head turned to our left hand, and the Roman eagle to our right hand. When Charlemagne was made "Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire," he joined the two heads to- gether, one looking east and the other west; consequently, the late Austrian Empire, as the direct successor of the Holy Roman Empire, included the Double-headed Eagle in its coat of arms.
Is “the two-headed eagle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.