Senyera | |
Use | Civil and state flag |
---|---|
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | 25 May 1933 |
Design | Nine alternating horizontal stripes of yellow and red. |
The Senyera [a] is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a yellow field. This coat of arms, often called bars of Aragon, [1] or simply "the four bars", historically represented the King of the Crown of Aragon.
The senyera pattern is currently in the flag of four Spanish autonomous communities (Aragon, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community), and is the flag of the historically Catalan-speaking city of Alghero (Catalan: L'Alguer) in Sardinia, Italy. It is also used on the coat of arms of Spain, the coat of arms of the Pyrénées-Orientales department and of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the flag of Roussillon, Capcir, Vallespir, and Provence in France, on the coat of arms of Andorra, and on the local flags of many municipalities belonging to these territories. The Senyera (sometimes together with the flag of Andorra) [ citation needed ] is also used informally in Catalonia to represent the Catalan language.
It is also a synonym (in Catalan Senyal Reial or Senyera and old Spanish Señal Real or Señera) for Royal Flag, although the word normally refers to the Aragonese and Catalan flags. Also in Aragonese, it is usually referred to as O Sinyal d'Aragón, i.e. "The Sign of Aragón".
The Senyera is one of the oldest flags in Europe still used in the present. There are several theories advocating either a purely Aragonese or a purely Catalan origin for the symbol.
The Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa states that its first material undisputed evidence dates back to a royal seal of Alfonso II of Aragon (1159), and that all evidence about a "Catalan" origin is debatable since historically nothing can be accepted other than the concept of "Barcelonès", and understanding that as allusive to the House of Barcelona (Counts of Barcelona), and then, nothing referring to the ancient geographical area known as Cathalania, Catalonie (Catalonia) [2] where the County of Barcelona was found.
The Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana (1968) claims that the first appearance of the flag is in the arms of the tomb of Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona, died in 1082 as well as later in the seals of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona of Barcelona and III of Provence in Provençal (1150) and then in Catalan (1157) documents.
Besides, amongst the ancient manuscripts preserved today in Poblet Monastery is found a carte plegada on son tots los Reys d'Arago e Comtes de Barchinona figurats, a genealogical roll of the Kings of Aragon and Counts of Barcelona commissioned between 1396 and 1400 by King Martin I of Aragon. In the document, the four red stripes on a golden background appears only in the royal images painted of Wilfred the Hairy Count of Barcelona (878–897), Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (1131–1162), King Martin I of Aragon (1356–1410) and King Martin I of Sicily (1390–1409). So it may suggest the Four Red Bars on Golden Background emblem was believed to belong to the House of Barcelona and the Counts of Barcelona in times of the initial dynasty (1164–1410) who ruled the Crown of Aragon.
Furthermore, the Pennon of the Conquest of Valencia is documented as the world's oldest extant flag, dating from 1238, even though the yellow part was originally white, but the red stripes design was the same.
The Government of Catalonia states about its official symbols that it may derive from 11th century or 12th century pre-heraldic symbols and the County of Barcelona's coat of arms, in which the yellow and red bars were vertical, while horizontal in the flag. [3] The dynastic coat of arms became also the one for the lands ruled by the counts. It is thus present in the flags and shields of the territories that once were part of the Crown of Aragon and also in the arms of Andorra, Provence-Côte d'Azur and Sicily among others.
Another version is that the Kings of Aragon used and adopted the colours of the Papal States in their own coat of arms as a public and notorious submission to the Pope, something which the County of Barcelona would have followed shortly after according to this version. The colours for the city of Rome, which in those times was controlled by the Pope, were the same. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the flag of the Holy See's Navy from the 12th century on consisted of two vertical red and yellow bands, sometimes bearing the tiara and the keys. According to the Vatican official website, the yellow and red of the flag of the Holy See were two colours traditional of the Roman Senate and People. [4] This ancient flag can still be seen on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, near the Roman Forum. The Papal States changed its colours in 1808 to the present yellow and white, [4] while the City of Rome sticks to the old colours to this day. We can reject this theory based on the works of Geronimo de Blancas, chronicler of the Kingdom of Aragon, 1585. This author reports that Pope Innocent III after crowning the King Pedro II (the Catholic) accepted that Aragon was a tributary kingdom of the Apostolic See. To compensate for this gesture the Pope appointed King Peter II Gonfalonier of the Church and that the Church's banner had the colours of the crown of Aragon.
The Almogavars of the Catalan Company used a royal pennon with the arms of the Kings of Aragon when campaigning in the Byzantine Empire. [5] It was used as ensign of the Aragonese Navy from 1263 to 1516. [6]
The plain version of this was used as official flag of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia during the Second Spanish Republic and since the Spanish transition to democracy. In its plain version, it is also used in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales (Northern Catalonia), part of the former Principality of Catalonia until 1659. It is also used as the flag of Provence, a distinct region with historic ties to the Counts of Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon.
The blazon of this standard version is Or, four bars Gules.
The senyera pattern is nowadays in the flag of four Spanish autonomous communities: without any change for Catalonia, and, with variations, for the territories of the former kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon: Aragon proper, the Balearic Islands and Valencia (while the latter two are modern interpretations, the Valencian Senyera Coronada does originate back to medieval times). It also forms the basis of various unofficial versions, such as the blue or red estelada used by Catalan independence supporters.
The senyera is also the basis for the coat of arms of Pyrénées-Orientales, the flag of the pays of Roussillon in France, and one quarter of the Coat of arms of Andorra. Dozens of municipalities belonging to these territories base their local flags on the Senyera as well.
According to a 14th-century legend, the flag dates back from the 9th century, when the four red bars were drawn, as an act of gratitude, on Wilfred I the Hairy's (Count of Barcelona) golden shield by king Charles the Bald's fingers drenched with blood from the Count's war wounds prior to Wilfred's death in 897 during the siege of Barcelona by Lobo ibn Mohammed, the Moorish governor of Lleida. This legend would relate the emblem unambiguously to the Counts of Barcelona title. [2] However, Charles the Bald had died 20 years earlier, in 877. Romantic-driven Catalan nationalists were particularly keen on this legend during the Renaixença, in the 19th century, albeit it has always been recognized and divulged as such even in patriotic circles.
Another version of this legend cites Louis the Pious as the king drawing the bars during the conquest of Barcelona, in this version drawing them in a golden shield, but Louis died before Guifré was born. [7] Also, Barcelona was conquered long before the events described on the legend. [7] Another medieval variant of the legend features Ramon Berenguer painting the bars with his own blood on a yellow shield, with the yellow field of the shield being the arms of Aragon before his marriage. [8]
There are a few variations in the official flags of other territories. For instance, in Aragon an extra coat-of-arms, in Balearic Islands a castle in the canton, and in València a blue crowned fringe on the hoist.
Peter IV, called the Ceremonious, was from 1336 until his death the king of Aragon, Sardinia-Corsica, and Valencia, and count of Barcelona. In 1344, he deposed James III of Majorca and made himself King of Majorca.
The national flag of Andorra features a vertical tricolour of blue, yellow, and red with the coat of arms of Andorra in the center. Although the three vertical bars may at first appear to be of equal width, the centre yellow bar is slightly wider than the other two so that the ratio of bar widths is 8:9:8 with an overall flag ratio of 7:10.
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It should not be confused with the larger Crown of Aragon, which also included other territories—the Principality of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Valencia, the Kingdom of Majorca, and other possessions that are now part of France, Italy, and Greece—that were also under the rule of the King of Aragon, but were administered separately from the Kingdom of Aragon.
The Crown of Aragon was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona and ended as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession. At the height of its power in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of present-day eastern Spain, parts of what is now southern France, and a Mediterranean empire which included the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Southern Italy, and parts of Greece.
The Estelada is a flag flown by Catalan independence supporters to express their support for an independent Catalonia or independent Països Catalans. The design of the Estelada comprises the red-and-yellow bars of the Senyera, with the addition of a five-pointed star in a triangle at the hoist.
The 1412 Compromise of Caspe was an act and resolution of parliamentary representatives of the constituent realms of the Crown of Aragon, meeting in Caspe, to resolve the interregnum following the death of King Martin of Aragon in 1410 without a legitimate heir.
The Principality of Catalonia was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The term Principality of Catalonia was official until the 1830s, when the Spanish government implemented the centralized provincial division, but remained in popular and informal contexts. Today, the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and usually including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France.
The flag of Barcelona is the municipal flag of Barcelona, which combines the cross of Saint George, the patron saint of Catalonia, with the traditional red and yellow bars of the Senyera, the ancient symbol of the Crown of Aragon.
The Xarxa Vives d'Universitats, formerly known as Institut Joan Lluís Vives, is the network of Catalan language universities. XVU was founded in 1994 and it is headquartered in the Valencian Community, in the city of Castelló de la Plana. On 21 May 2008, it was integrated into the Ramon Llull Institute.
The flag of the Valencian Community and of the city of Valencia, known as Reial Senyera, is the traditional Senyera, composed of four red bars on a yellow background, crowned with a blue strip party per pale next to the hoist. It was adopted on 1 July 1982.
The coat of arms of the Valencian Community is the official emblem of the self-government institutions of the Valencian Community. It is based on the armorial achievement used from the reign of King Peter IV to John II, called the Great. In 1978 the former Council of the Valencian Country approved it “...for being the oldest known representative emblem of the former Kingdom of Valencia, that had located on the Xerea Gate of the city of Valencia”.
The coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon bears four red pallets on a gold background, and it depicts the familiar coat of the Kings of Aragon. It differs from the flag because this latter instead uses bars. It is one of the oldest coats of arms in Europe dating back to a seal of Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon, from 1150.
The flag of Menorca was adopted on 14 November 1983. The flag depicts nine alternating horizontal bands of yellow and red emblazoned with the coat of arms of the Universitat General offset towards the hoist in the centre.
The Union of Valencia was an anti-royalist movement in the Kingdom of Valencia begun in 1283 and lasting into the fifteenth century. The Union was formed in the aftermath of the formation of the Union of Aragon in October 1283. Its essential purpose was as a tool of the Valencian nobility to be used against the influence of Catalans and foreigners on the actions of the Crown. By 1285 the Unions had severely curtailed the powers of the king and were hindering his efforts in the War of the Sicilian Vespers and against the Aragonese Crusade that invaded Catalonia that year.
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with more than five million inhabitants. Its homonymous capital Valencia is the third largest city and metropolitan area in Spain. It is located along the Mediterranean coast on the east side of the Iberian Peninsula. It borders Catalonia to the north, Aragon and Castilla–La Mancha to the west, and Murcia to the south, and the Balearic Islands are to its east. The Valencian Community is divided into three provinces: Castellón, Valencia and Alicante.
The national symbols of Catalonia are flags, icons or cultural expressions that are emblematic, representative or otherwise characteristic of Catalonia or Catalan culture.
The Battle of Valencia was an identity conflict held in the Valencian society during the Spanish transition to democracy. It involved the progressive valencianism known as Fusterianism and the conservative anticatalanist regionalism known as blaverism.
The Legend of the Four Blood Bars is an heraldic legend about the origins of the Senyera Reial that appeared for the first time in 1551 at Segunda parte de la crónica general de España, a chronicle edited by Pere Antoni Beuter in Spanish in Valencia. This legend places the Senyera Reial origins on Wilfred the Hairy. Specifically, it narrates that the sign of the four bars was created after a battle against the Normans, when the King of the Franks doused his hands in the blood of Wilfred the Hairy's injuries. After swiping his fingers over the golden shield of the Earl of Barcelona he said: "These will be your arms, Earl".
The coat of arms of Barcelona is the official emblem of the City Council of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, has its origin in the Middle Ages, these arms were first documented in 1329. The Government of Catalonia conferred the coat of arms and the flag as official symbols of the municipality in 2004. It has an escutcheon in lozenge which is commonly used in municipal coats of arms of cities in Catalonia. Currently the City Council of Barcelona also uses an isotype based on the heraldry of the city.
Anticamente la bandiera dello Stato pontificio era giallorossa (o per meglio dire amaranto e rossa, colori derivati dai colori dello stemma della Santa Sede), i due colori tradizionali del Senato e del Popolo romano, che vennero tuttavia sostituiti con il bianco e il giallo nel 1808, allorché Pio VII