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Many Christian denominations have their own denominational flag and display it alongside the ecumenical Christian Flag or independent from it. [5]Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See often display the Vatican flag along with their respective national flag, typically on opposite sides of the sanctuary, near the front door, or hoisted on flagstaffs outside.
The banners were painted with tempera or oil paints, sometimes on both sides. Images on the gonfalons included the patron saints of cities, villages, confraternities or guilds , the Virgin and Child , Jesus Christ , God the Father , Plague Saints , and the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven , Mediatrix , Theotokos , or Madonna of Mercy .
The origin of flags is unknown. Some of the earliest known banners come from ancient China to identify different parts of the army. [3] For example, it is recorded that the armies of the Zhou dynasty in the 11th century BC carried a white banner before them, although no extant depictions exist of these banners.
The Oriflamme was mentioned in the 11th-century ballad the Chanson de Roland (vv. 3093–5) as a royal banner, first called Romaine and then Montjoie. [3] According to legend, Charlemagne carried it to the Holy Land in response to a prophecy regarding a knight possessing a golden lance from which flames would burn and drive out the Saracens. [4]
In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification. Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, and pinsels. Specifications governing heraldic flags vary from country to country, and have varied over time.
The Royal Standard changed its composition frequently from reign to reign, but retained the motto Dieu et mon droit, meaning God and my right; which was divided into two bands: Dieu et mon and Droyt. [1] The standard was equivalent to the modern headquarters flag and played a significant role in the medieval army.
Several national flags are based on late medieval war flags, including the white-on-red crosses of the flag of Denmark and the flag of Switzerland. The elongated Nordic cross originates in the 18th century due to the rectangular shape of maritime flags. The Red Cross flag originates in 1906 as a colour-switched version of the flag of Switzerland.
The early medieval history of Ireland, often referred to as Early Christian Ireland, spans the 5th to 8th centuries, from the gradual emergence out of the protohistoric period (Ogham inscriptions in Primitive Irish, mentions in Greco-Roman ethnography) to the beginning of the Viking Age.