The Flag of England is the St George's Cross (heraldic blazon: Argent, a cross gules). The red cross appeared as an emblem of England during the Middle Ages and the Crusades and is one of the earliest known emblems representing England. It also represents the official arms of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and it achieved status as the national flag of England during the sixteenth century.
Saint George became the patron saint of England in the thirteenth century, and the legend of Saint George slaying a dragon dates from the twelfth century.
At the beginning of the Crusades, a red cross on white was already associated with England because this was St George's cross, the emblem associated with England's patron saint [citation needed]. Although the Pope decided English crusaders would be distinguished by wearing a white cross on red, and French crusaders a red cross on white (Italian knights were allocated a yellow cross on a white background), English knights soon decided to claim "their" cross of red on white, like the French. In January 1188, in a meeting between Henry II of England and Philip II of France, the two rivals agreed to exchange flags (France later changed its new white cross on red for a white cross on a dark blue flag). Some French knights carried on using the red cross however, and as English knights wore this pattern as well, the red cross on white became the typical crusader symbol regardless of nationality.
The flag appeared during the Middle Ages. The St George's Cross was used as an emblem (but not as a flag) of England was in a roll of account relating to the Welsh War of 1275. The English royalist forces at the Battle of Evesham in 1265 used a red cross on their uniforms, to distinguish themselves from the white crosses used by the rebel barons at the Battle of Lewes a year earlier.
The use of a red cross on a white background was a symbol of St. George in the Middle Ages. This is seen, for example, in the flag of Georgia, another country with Saint George as their patron saint. St George's cross may not have achieved the full status of national flag until the sixteenth century, when all other saints' banners were abandoned during the Reformation. Thereafter it became recognised as the flag of England and Wales. The earliest record of St George's Cross at sea, as an English flag in conjunction with royal banners but no other saintly flags, was 1545.
Despite the fact that the King of France in 1188 had recognised the St George's Cross as an English symbol, some historians believe that the St George's Cross was adopted from the flag of Genoa, where origins date certainly back to 1096, and was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean and in part on the Black sea, to benefit from the protection of the Genoese fleet. The English Monarch paid an annual tribute to the Doge of Genoa for this privilege. |
