October 30, 2005
Anglospheric Vexillology
The British roots of American society have been explored at length by historians such as David Hackett Fischer. But we can see them also in symbols such as the American flag. Herewith a brief excursion into Anglospheric vexillology...
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St. George's Cross -- this has been the national flag of England since 1277, though it seems to have been in use less officially as early as 1190 |
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St. Andrew's Cross -- this is the national flag of Scotland, in use as early as 832 (also known as "the Saltire") |
 | First Union Flag -- with the union of England and Scotland, their national flags were combined to form the Union Flag or Union Jack (the red St. George's Cross with its white background and the Saltire with its blue background); this is the original version before the addition of St. Patrick's cross as a result of the union with Ireland in 1801 |
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Red Ensign -- this flag was flown by the Royal Navy from the early 1600s until 1864 (since then still by British merchantmen); it has the Union Flag in the first quarter while the remainder is a red field (there also existed white ensigns and blue ensigns, the latter leading to the modern flags of Australia and New Zealand, while the Canadian flag until adoption of the Maple Leaf was a modified Red Ensign) |
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Grand Union Flag -- the unofficial American flag until June 14, 1777, this flag modifies the Red Ensign by breaking up the red field into 13 stripes signifying the original 13 American colonies |
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Stars and Stripes -- the "Stars and Stripes" was adopted as the American flag by the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress at Philadelphia on June 14, 1777; however, the arrangement of the stars was not originally specified, and early versions of the Stars and Stripes showed the stars in a circle (the "Betsy Ross" flag) or in alternating rows of 2 and 3 or 4 and 5 stars |
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Star Spangled Banner -- the 15-star flag used from 1794 to 1818, where the fifteen stars signified the 13 colonies plus Vermont and Kentucky; from 1818 until 1960 the number of stars expanded from 20 to 50 with the accession of new states to the American Union |
(Thanks to Jim Bennett and James McCormick for the suggestion.)
Posted by Peter Saint-Andre at October 30, 2005 03:23 PMOo-err! What happened to the Cross of St Patrick?
Posted by: Helen at October 30, 2005 05:35 PMWasn't added until 1801, so it's out of the line of evolution for the Stars and Stripes. In fact the Red Ensign flown by American ships between 1707 and 1774 had the first Union Flag in the canton, without the Patrick's Cross. Between 1607 and 1707 American ships flew a red ensign with the St. George's Cross only in the canton, except during the Commonwealth period when New Englanders flew a red ensign with a plain white canton. The Puritans disliked the St. George's Cross because they considered it a symbol of England's previous status as a Papal fief, even though Cromwell's fleet used it. The Cromwellians sometimes used a naval flag with a Union flag in the left half and an Irish harp in the right, an interesting design.
Posted by: Jim Bennett at October 30, 2005 07:08 PMThe Scots also had an interesting version of the flag which had the white St. Andrew's cross on top of the St. George's cross.
Also, this page has some examples of the Commonwealth flags Jim was referring to.
Posted by: Captain Mojo at October 31, 2005 01:09 PMA great trivia question is, "Which American state flag incorporates the Union Jack?" Very few people, American or British, know the answer.
Posted by: Captain Curt at November 1, 2005 11:47 PMThe Kingdom of Hawaii.
Posted by: ElamBend at November 16, 2005 10:18 PM