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The Cross of Burgundy (Template:Lang-es) was a symbol used by King and Armed Forces of Spain. It was a naval ensign and a land battle symbol, and still appears on regimental colours, badges, shoulder patches and company guidons with many colors of the flag. The year 1506 should be considered its theoretical earliest use in Spain (that is, it made appearance on the standards carried by Philip the Handsome's Burgundian life guards), although the Spanish Armada on 1588 used the kingdom's flags in their vessels. The banner, strictly speaking, dates back to the early fifteenth century (allegedly 1408 at the earliest), when the Duke of Burgundy, claimant to the French throne, backed up the English in the Hundred Years' War. The design is a red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned (knotted) branches, on a white field. In heraldic language, it may be blazoned argent a saltire ragulée gules. It was generalized very late in the Americas, after that the Bourbon dynasty wants regularized their use over year 1700 in Europe.

History

It represents the cross on which Saint Andrew was crucified. It was chosen by Philip the Handsome of Burgundy after his marriage to Joanna of Castile, as it was the symbol of the house of his mother, Mary of Burgundy. Since Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain), the different armies used the flag with the Cross of Burgundy over different fields. Nevertheless, the official field was still white. Under the new Bourbon king Philip V (1700–1746) and up to Charles III's 1785 new red-yellow-red naval ensign, it seems that the Spaniard naval ensign was white and bore a royal coat of arms in the center. Allegedly, the Burgundian flag was still flown as a jack ensign, that is, as a secondary flag.

It was re-taken by the Carlists, a traditionalist-legitimist movement which fought three wars of succession against Isabella II of Spain, claiming the throne of Spain for Carlos (who would have been the legal heir under the Salic Law, which had been controversially abolished by Ferdinand VII). In the First Carlist War (1833–1840) the Burgundian banner, however, was a banner of the Regent Queen's standing Army rather than Carlist. After 1843, the red Burgundian saltire kept on appearing on the new brand red-yellow army flag under a four-quartered Castilian and Leonese coat of arms on the central yellow fess. Eventually, under the leadership of Manuel Fal Conde, the Cross of Burgundy became the Carlist badge in 1934.

Armed forces of Spanish Empire

Late, over 1700, after the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Cross of Burgundy served, similar to Europe, as a symbol in the flag of the military forces of the Viceroyalties of the New World. Nations that were once part of the Spanish Empire consider "las aspas de Borgoña" to be a historical military symbol, particularly appropriate for museum exhibits and the remains of the massive harbor-defense fortifications built in the 17th-18th centuries. At both San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico, and at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, Florida, the Cross of Burgundy is daily flown over the historic forts, built by Spain to defend their lines of communication between the territories of their New World empire. The flying of this symbol reminds people today of the impact Spain and its military had on world history for over 400 years.

Historical and modern uses

The Cross of Burgundy has appeared throughout its history, and continues to appear at present, on numerous flags and coats of arms of bodies having no connection to each other—in various colours and in combination with other symbols. Users mostly have some direct or indirect relation to the historical Burgundy, though such connection can be very vague and lost in the mists of time.

In Spain

• A Biscayan merchant ensign (inclusive of the so-called Consulate of Bilbao) (c. 1511-1830)
• A pre-1785 general Spanish merchant and privateering flag
• The Spanish Carlist Flag, from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) up to the present
• The third co-official Flag of Spain during the Francoist régime (1939–1975)
• In Spain some local flags and coats of arms flaunt the cross of Burgundy in Guipúzcoa (Anzuola,etc.), Navarre (Tafalla, etc.), Aragón (Huesca and Lidón), Andalusia (Bujalance), Castile-La Mancha (Las Labores) and Catalonia (Creixell).
• A Basque Nationalist flag (for instance that of the Basque Alpinists in 1921-1978: Green Cross of Burgundy on white edged with red border)
• Nowadays, the Cross of Burgundy is still a symbol of the Spanish monarchy
• A symbol painted on Spanish Air Force planes

According to some scholars and aviation buffs, however, the Spanish rudder marking (a black saltire on white) derives from the National Air Force deletion of the Republican Air Force red yellow and purple flag, as a result of having lost some warplanes to friendly fire in the summer of 1936.

In France

• A French army colour
  • Of the two line infantry regiments raised in the Franche-Comté of Burgundy: "Bourgogne" and "Royal-Comtois", both units raised in the late 17th-century, together with the Household cavalry companies "Gendarmes Bourguignons" and "Chevaux Légers Bourguignons" and the Dijon, Autun, Vesoul and Salins provincial militia regiments
  • In the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, the militian "gardes mobiles" from Dijon wore a red Burgundian saltire on their left cuff or shoulder)
• Continuing Burgundian and "Comtois" regionalism in France is keen on the Cross of Burgundy
• The coat of arms of Villers-Buzon (France) bears a sort of yellow or white Burgundian saltire on a wider red saltire

In Belgium and the Austrian Netherlands

• The Austrian Netherlands' ensign in 1781-86 was a black double-headed eagle on a red Burgundian saltire over a background of red over white over yellow
• As a Rexist Walloon Belgian Ultra-Right-wing flag and badge since 1940, including the Walloon Legion in German service on the Russian front, a unit eventually transferred to the Waffen-SS in 1943 (a red Cross of Burgundy, either on white or black)
• As the merchant ensign and badge of the Ostend Company (Austrian Netherlands) in 1717-1731
• The local flag and coat of arms of Philippeville (Belgium) bears a yellow Burgundian saltire on blue.
• The current Belgian naval ensign, which dates from 1950, may well be an homage to the cross of Burgundy

In the Netherlands

• The Military William Order, the foremost Dutch military decoration since 1815, bears a white Maltese cross and a green Burgundian saltire
• A similar style flag was used by the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries, which had been part of Burgundy as well
• The flag of the Dutch municipality of Eijsden bears a red Burgundian saltire since 1966 (same for the municipal coat of arms or crest).

In the United States

• The Flag of Alabama uses a modified representation of the Spanish Cross of Burgundy. An unmodified version of the Cross was used in most of Alabama until the 19th century.
• The Flag of Florida has adopted the Cross of Burgundy for historical reasons, as it was the Flag of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, to which Florida belonged, from the 16th to the 19th century.

In South America

• In present-day Bolivia the Cross of Burgundy (which is represented with a golden crown in the center) is the official flag of the department of Chuquisaca.
• The Flag of Valdivia, which is composed of a red saltire on a white field is thought to have originated from the Spanish Cross of Burgundy, as the city of Valdivia in southern Chile was a very important stronghold of the Spanish Empire.

See also

• Saint Patrick's Flag
• Flag of Alabama
• Flag of Florida
• Flag of New Mexico
• Flag of Valdivia
• Saltire
• Heraldry
• Vexillology
• Burgundy (disambiguation)

External links

• Flags of the World
• GeorgiaInfo

References

1. Flags of the World (ed.):The Burgundy cross,... used by Spain, especially at sea, for many years. In much more recent times, it was used by the Carlists (Requetés) during the Spanish Civil War and afterwards, and by the Traditionalist Party (Partido Tradicionalista) during the post-Franco years
2. Extremismos de derecha y movimientos neonazis.
3. Royal Spanish Household website
4. Spanish Air Force Website

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