In the 18th century, a simpler form with black and gold bars started to appear in the lands ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor.

During the Bosnian Crisis, prince Nicholas I of Montenegro issued a statement on 6 October 1908 condemning the Habsburg annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (lands which he, along with the Kingdom of Serbia and his own Principality of Montenegro, identified as "Serbian"), rhetorically portraying the black–yellow flag as "a visible sign of injustice": "Montenegrins!

Your two sad sisters, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which thirty years ago were momentarily illuminated by the rays of freedom, today were completely torn from the Serbian embrace.

(...) The marks of black and yellow colour down the Serbian land will not be a border, which will separate you in spirit and thought from your brothers.

On the contrary, these features will be a visible sign of injustice; it will make the bonds even stronger and the pledge of permanent trust in the victory of Justice.