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Well, it’s finally time to talk about the next flag in my breakdown of the Union Jack! Last time, we delved into the murky origins behind the St. George’s Cross, the famous red-and-white banner that has long been associated with England. For this month’s article, we’ll be moving up to Scotland and taking a peek at the equally famous St. Andrew’s Cross. The origins of this flag are likewise befogged by legends. As for the St. Andrew connection, a fourth-century cleric named Regulus is said to have been shipwrecked on the coast of Scotland while carrying the venerated remains of the Apostle Andrew, whereupon he set up a church to house the relics, forever linking Scotland with the name of the saint. Another story claims that St. Wilfrid brought the venerable bones to Scotland in the 7th century. Ancient Christian tradition holds that St. Andrew was martyred on an X-shaped cross; just such a cross is said to have appeared in the form of two white arms of cloud crossing in the blue sky over a battlefield in 9th century Scotland. Angus, King of the Scottish Picts, was badly outmatched by the Anglo-Saxon armies arrayed against him at Athelstanford in 832, but St. Andrew appeared to him in a dream the night before, promising victory. That morning, Angus saw the cross of St. Andrew unfold in the sky, and took heart. As one would expect, the battle was won. Angus would go on to adopt the white cross on blue as his standard. In the language of blazonry, a diagonal cross is called a saltire. The term possibly stems from the Medieval Latin saltatorium, meaning “stirrups.” (This is thought to refer to the idea that the two deltoid shapes made by each half of the cross resemble stirrups). Aside from Angus and his cloud-banner, the use of the white saltire on blue as a military symbol for Scotland dates to 1385, when, the Scottish Parliament decreed that the Scottish and French soldiers fighting in the war against the English should “have a sign before and behind, namely a white St. Andrew’s Cross.” The phrase “before and behind” likely refers to a tabard or surcoat, the popular heraldic overgarments worn on top of armor as an identifying mark with the sigil displayed on the back and front (as seen above). One hundred years prior to this, the Guardians of Scotland, a group of noblemen supporting Scottish independence and headed by none other than William Wallace, used the figure of St. Andrew being crucified on the saltire cross on their official seal (above). In 1388, James, Earl of Douglas raised a pennon with the St. Andrew’s Cross at the hoist (similar to the way in which English pennons displayed the St. George’s flag, as seen in the previous article in this series). Other Scottish nobles would follow suit, adding the saltire to their personal battle flags in a show of Scottish unity. By the end of the 15th century, the craft guilds of Edinburgh would be using the saltire in their own banners. Finally, in, 1507, the massive carrack Great Michael, constructed as a flagship for Scottish king James IV, hoisted three blue-and-white saltire flags at its masts, linking the flag not only with the kingdom of Scotland, but the King himself. These flags would increase in popularity over the next century, being flown by Scottish merchant ships as well. This last development would in turn spark the controversy from which came the first Union Jack. Union In 1603, King James VI of Scotland found himself in an interesting predicament; his cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, had died, leaving him as the next in line for the English throne. As a result of this, he now became James I of England, and the two kingdoms were merged into the kingdom of Britain. This union would soon cause some disagreement among sailors as to how they should display their flags. In many cases, both flags would be flown on a single masthead or halyard. Many Scottish ships chose to hoist the St. Andrew’s cross on top, which drew some criticism from their English counterparts, who argued that they were primarily subjects of the English crown, and should therefore fly the English cross in the place of honor. When the argument was brought before King James, he temporarily settled it by decreeing that each nationality should hoist their own flag above the other's. This temporary solution was later improved upon with the development of the Union Flag in 1606. On April 12th of that year, King James decreed that a new flag would be flown to represent the union of the two kingdoms - a combination of the two crosses, a red cross overlaid on the white saltire with a blue field. Though a variety of designs incorporating both crosses were proposed (including one that simply had both placed vertically side-by-side), the final design was chosen for its easy recognizability. While originally known as the Union Flag, the term Union Jack came into use when referring to the flag being flown as a ship's jack, or ensign. In 1634 James' son, King Charles I, would decree that only government ships could fly this flag, perhaps to the frustration of the merchant sailors whose earlier controversy contributed to its creation in the first place. Around this time, the red ensign came into use, depicting St. George's cross set in the canton of a solid red flag; this was flown by various private entities, including the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts colony. Flags with the St. George's Cross in the canton appeared in military units throughout the 17th century, albeit with different color fields. By the 18th century, royal infantry regiments carried two flags - the Union Flag, called the King's Colors, and the regimental flag, which consisted of the Union Flag in the canton with a background typically matching the color of the facings on the soldier's uniforms, often white, red, green, blue, yellow, or pink, along with a regimental insignia. The practice of putting the Jack in the canton of a flag would become the norm for many British provinces (and later members of the commonwealth), as seen in the historic flags of countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. In the early phases of the American Revolution, the colonists used flags such as the Grand Union Flag (below, top) or the Taunton Flag (below, bottom) to display their sense of identity as Englishmen, despite their recent falling-out with the King. Interestingly, a flag identical to the Grand Union Flag would also be used across the globe by the East India Company. The Union Flag itself would fly unchanged over royal armies, forts, ships and territories across the world.
Until 1801. Stay tuned for Part 3 - St. Patrick's Cross!
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AuthorThe Mad Poet Himself: History Lover, Medieval Enthusiast, Amateur Poet and Filmmaker, Folk Musician, and Madman Extraordinaire Archives
December 2023
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