On Vexillology

There’s a thought I need to voice: Mediterranean regional flags are disturbing. In particular Sardinia and Corsica, but also Catalonia and Valencia. Hear me out.

I never cared much about flags. Sure, I felt a bit disappointed when Hannes and Daniel kept beating me at geography board games, which should have been my forte, but as an all-around loser at sports I am also accustomed to defeat. Recently my father introduced me to a geography game app called – quite simply – “World Geography”. I played it mostly for the countries and the capitals, but it also has flags, and I got drawn in.

The interest was initially rather passive, but as I got better at recognizing flags, I found that I all of a sudden had opinions about them. US State flags are, as is well known on /r/vexillology, a bit of a joke. Caribbean islands have awesome flags. I feel that a left most vertical banner is underrated, and that it is sad that only Madagascar, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and the United Arab Emirates have adopted such a flag.

A love for vexillology combined with a passion for history makes for a wicked synthesis. I find myself looking up the history of certain flags, as I just have to know. Like why Hawaii has the Union Jack on its state flag? (Apparently they were given the flag of the British Empire as a gift while they were an independent kingdom, and liked it so much that they decided to incorporate it in their own, possibly making them the only region of the world that has it as part of their design despite not having been a part of the Commonwealth of Nations.) Or, why does Singapore’s flag feature a Crescent when it is not an Islamic nation? (Because it “represents a young nation on the ascendent”)

So, about those mediterranean flags. The Catalonian flag is perhaps one of the most well known regional flags of Europe, known as the “Senyera”. It is the symbol of the historical kingdom of Aragon. It consists of four red stripes on a yellow background. Barcelona was besieged by the Moors in 897, and the Count of Barcelona, died in the battle. According to legend, the flag represents the marks left by the blood drenched fingers of the Holy Roman Emperor (an ally of the County of Barcelona), when he drew his hand across the chest of the Count. The Senyera also appears on Valencias flag, as a former part of the Kingdom of Aragon.

The Aragonese had a disturbing sense of aesthetics, which is seen elsewhere. At some point, they decided to incorporate a black head in their seal, likely representing the head of a Moorish prince defeated during the reconquista of the Iberian peninsula. Corsica and Sardinia were both parts of the kingdom of Aragon, and thus drew their symbolism from there. The flag of Corsica consists solely of this “Moor’s head”. Sardinia takes it a step further and combines it with the red cross of St. George, featuring a black head in each quadrant.

This red cross, as also seen on the flag on England and the flag of Georgia, is a symbol associated with the Crusades against non-christians. Considering the macabre history of the Crusades, it seems to me like its continued usage is in a bit of bad taste in general (although the English may have more pressing things to think about), and more so when combined with the severed heads of Africans. The Moorish invasion of Iberia was of course not a pretty event in itself, but it was 1200 years ago, and it has been more than 500 years since the reconquista was complete. It seems sensible to stop gloating about it. Especially so as Sardinia first decided to adopt it in 1950.

This summer I was in Avesta on some errand, and was surprised to see a bicyclist with a small trailer in tow on the highway. The thing that really caught my eye, was that there was a flag attached to the back of trailer, where I could make out a black head waving in the wind. There were probably fewer North Africans around there to ponder the symbolism than there is in France, so either he had escaped to a place where he can proudly display his regional flag, or – more realistically – am I quite alone in my concerns.