Saint Alban's Cross

Last updated
Cross of St Alban Saint Alban's cross.svg
Cross of St Alban
Flag of Mercia (Flag Institute) Flag of Mercia (2014).svg
Flag of Mercia (Flag Institute)
First cultural flag of Cape Breton Island, Canada (1940's) Cape Breton Island Flag (Original Blue Flag).svg
First cultural flag of Cape Breton Island, Canada (1940's)

The Saint Alban's Cross is a yellow saltire on a blue field (azure a saltire or). It is found in several flags, notably that of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, previously a Benedictine monastery, and the city of St Albans, Hertfordshire.

It is the heraldic emblem that is commonly attributed to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. A saltire is attributed to Mercia in College of Arms Ms. L.14, dating from the reign of Henry III (d. 1272). The arms were subsequently[ year needed ] used by the Abbey of St Albans. With the dissolution of the Abbey and the incorporation of the borough of St Albans the device was used on the town's corporate seal and was officially recorded as the arms of the town at an heraldic visitation in 1634. [1] The cross has also been incorporated into a number of coats of arms, such as Hertfordshire county council and those of Mercian towns, including Tamworth, Leek and Blaby. Display of the Saint Alban's Cross in flags is modern. Such flags are flown[ year needed ] from Tamworth Castle. The flag was flown outside Birmingham Council House during 2009 while the Staffordshire Hoard was on display in the city, and is shown in street signs in Tamworth, the "ancient capital of Mercia".

It is possible that the colours of the cross and connection with Saint Alban is partly through a link with Saint Andrew; a chapel of Saint Andrew was from an early period attached to the Abbey of Saint Alban, and this may be part of the origin of the design. [2]

The darker variant of the Cross of St Alban was officially registered by the Flag Institute as the Flag of Mercia in 2014. The Flag Institute's own rules do not allow an identical flag being recognised for two different polities, and since the Cross of St Alban had already been registered for the City of St Albans, it could not be used for Mercia. Eventually the Institute decided to adopt the darker variant, as this tends to better match actual flags flown to represent Mercia, such as the one on Tamworth Castle. [3]

St Alban's Cross also appears on the original cultural flag of Cape Breton Island, an island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercia</span> One of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy (527–918)

Mercia was one of the three main Anglic kingdoms founded after Sub-Roman Britain was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlands of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Jack</span> Flag of the United Kingdom

The Union Jack or Union Flag is the de facto national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Flag was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. The flag continues to have official status in Canada, by parliamentary resolution, where it is known as the Royal Union Flag.

Flag terminology is the nomenclature, or system of terms, used in vexillology, the study of flags, to describe precisely the parts, patterns, and other attributes of flags and their display.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of England</span> National flag

The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross. The association of the red cross as an emblem of England can be traced back to the Late Middle Ages when it was gradually, increasingly, used alongside the Royal Banner. It became the only saint's flag permitted to be flown in public as part of the English Reformation and at a similar time became the pre-eminent maritime flag referred to as a white ensign. It was used as a component in the design of the Union Jack in 1606.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Scotland</span> National flag

The flag of Scotland is the national flag of Scotland, which consists of a white saltire defacing a blue field. The Saltire, rather than the Royal Standard of Scotland, is the correct flag for all private individuals and corporate bodies to fly. It is also, where possible, flown from Scottish Government buildings every day from 8:00 am until sunset, with certain exceptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midlands</span> Place in England

The Midlands is the central part of England, bordered by Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the North Sea. The Midlands correspond broadly to the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia, and later became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are now split into two official regions, the West Midlands and East Midlands. The Midlands' biggest city, Birmingham, is the second-largest in the United Kingdom. Other important cities include Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, and Worcester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saltire</span> Heraldic and vexillogical symbol in the form of a diagonal cross

A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French sautoir, Medieval Latin saltatoria ("stirrup").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of the United Kingdom</span>

The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Piran's Flag</span> Flag of Cornwall

Saint Piran's Flag is the flag of Cornwall. The earliest known description of the flag, referred to as the Standard of Cornwall, was written in 1838. It is used by all Cornish people as a symbol of their identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Jersey</span> National flag

The flag of Jersey is composed of a red saltire on a white field. In the upper quadrant the badge of Jersey surmounted by a yellow "Plantagenet crown". The flag was adopted by the States of Jersey on 12 June 1979, proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II on 10 December 1980 and first officially hoisted on 7 April 1981.

In heraldry, an ordinary is one of the two main types of charges, beside the mobile charges. An ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canting arms</span> Heraldric symbols representing the name of their owner, either literally or as a visual pun

Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Ireland</span>

The coat of arms of Ireland is blazoned as Azure a harp Or, stringed Argent. These arms have long been Ireland's heraldic emblem. References to them as being the arms of the king of Ireland can be found as early as the 13th century. These arms were adopted by Henry VIII of England when he ended the period of Lordship of Ireland and declared Ireland to be a kingdom again in 1541. When the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in 1603, they were integrated into the unified royal coat of arms of kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The harp was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Free State when it separated from the United Kingdom in 1922. They were registered as the arms of Ireland with the Chief Herald of Ireland on 9 November 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lozenge (heraldry)</span> Heraldic charge

The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped rhombus charge, usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. A lozenge throughout has "four corners touching the border of the escutcheon". A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily. In civic heraldry, a lozenge sable is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump of coal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Banner of Scotland</span> Royal Banner of Scotland

The Royal Banner of the Royal Arms of Scotland, also known as the Royal Banner of Scotland, or more commonly the Lion Rampant of Scotland, and historically as the Royal Standard of Scotland, or Banner of the King of Scots, is the royal banner of Scotland, and historically, the royal standard of the Kingdom of Scotland. Used historically by the Scottish monarchs, the banner differs from Scotland's national flag, the Saltire, in that its official use is restricted by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland to only a few Great Officers of State who officially represent the Monarchy in Scotland. It is also used in an official capacity at royal residences in Scotland when the Head of State is not present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese heraldry</span>

Portuguese heraldry encompasses the modern and historic traditions of heraldry in Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. Portuguese heraldry is part of the larger Iberian tradition of heraldry, one of the major schools of heraldic tradition, and grants coats of arms to individuals, cities, Portuguese colonies, and other institutions. Heraldry has been practiced in Portugal at least since the 12th century, however it only became standardized and popularized in the 16th century, during the reign of King Manuel I of Portugal, who created the first heraldic ordinances in the country. Like in other Iberian heraldic traditions, the use of quartering and augmentations of honor is highly representative of Portuguese heraldry, but unlike in any other Iberian traditions, the use of heraldic crests is highly popular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross of Burgundy</span> Historical banner and battle flag

The Cross of Burgundy is a saw-toothed form of the Cross of Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Burgundy, and a historical banner and battle flag used by holders of the title of Duke of Burgundy and their subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Patrick's Saltire</span> Red saltire on a white field

Saint Patrick's Saltire or Saint Patrick's Cross is a red saltire on a white field. In heraldic language, it may be blazoned argent, a saltire gules. Saint Patrick's Flag is a flag composed of Saint Patrick's Saltire. The origin of the saltire is disputed. Its association with Saint Patrick dates from the 1780s, when the Anglo-Irish Order of Saint Patrick adopted it as an emblem. This was a British chivalric order established in 1783 by George III. It has been suggested that it derives from the arms of the powerful Geraldine or FitzGerald dynasty. Some Irish nationalists and others reject its use to represent Ireland as a "British invention" "for a people who had never used it".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosses in heraldry</span> Cross symbols used in heraldry

A number of cross symbols were developed for the purpose of the emerging system of heraldry, which appeared in Western Europe in about 1200. This tradition is partly in the use of the Christian cross an emblem from the 11th century, and increasingly during the age of the Crusades. Many cross variants were developed in the classical tradition of heraldry during the late medieval and early modern periods. Heraldic crosses are inherited in modern iconographic traditions and are used in numerous national flags.

References

  1. "CIVIC HERALDRY OF ENGLAND AND WALES - HERTFORDSHIRE". www.civicheraldry.co.uk.
  2. Middlesex & Hertfordshire Notes and Queries, v. 3 (1897), p. 96.
  3. Flag Institute: Mercia, St Alban's Cross.