Civil and War Ensign c.1520-c.1701 (Spain)

Possibly ensign of vessels operating in Spanish waters

Last modified: 2005-02-26 by santiago dotor
Keywords: ensign: civil | ensign: war |
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by José Carlos Alegría

• Description
• Ensign for the Spanish Netherlands c.1520-c.1701 (possibly ensign of vessels operating in Flemish waters)
• Galleons' Ensign c.1520-c.1701 (possibly ensign of vessels operating in American waters)

See also:

• Size of Ensigns 15th-19th Centuries
• Ensigns 1670s-1785
• Historical Flags 1506-1700 (Spain)

Description

A plain horizontal tricolour of red-white-yellow appears to have been used in many instances as an ensign. Siegel 1912 has it as 'special ensign' (table 46, besondere Flagge), as 'civil ensign' (table 46, Handelsflagge 1737, 1769) and as 'costumary flag' (table 33, Spanien, gewöhnl[iche] Fl[agge]). (...) Calvo and Grávalos 1983 mentions an article in The Flag Bulletin XI.3 about the origins of this flag.

Santiago Dotor, 26 October 2000

Hugo O'Donnell states in Símbolos de España 1999 that this ensign is documented as far back as 1588, when "84 banderas de lienzo de colores blanco, amarillo y colorado" (84 flags of linen in colors white, yellow and red), in several sizes, were given to the galleon San Martín for further distribution amon