Senyera

For the town in the province of Valencia, see Senyera, Valencia.

Different flags of territories of the former Crown of Aragon are based upon the Senyera. Proportions 2:3

The Senyera (roughly meaning "signal flag" in Catalan) is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a golden background. This coat of arms, often called bars of Aragon, historically represented the king of the Crown of Aragon; today it has been adopted as flag by 4 spanish autonomous communities: without any change for Catalonia, and, with some variations, for Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Valencia.

Three former Crown of Aragon kingdoms, i.e., and now Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Valencia have adopted as their flag different variations from the Senyera which, in the Valencian Senyera Coronada case, originated back in medieval times; also the now French Rousillon uses a flag nowadays based on the Senyera. Dozens of municipalities belonging to these territories base their local flags on the Senyera as well.

It is also a synonym (in Catalan Senyal Reial or Senyera and old Spanish Senyal Real or Señera) for Royal Flag , although the word normally refers to the Catalan and Aragonese flags. Also in Aragonese, it is usually referred to as O Siñal d'Aragón, i.e. "The Sign of Aragón".

Origin and History

King Alfons the Chaste riding a horse caparisoned in his familiar arms. From a 13th-century chansonnier. Document 854, folio 108r at Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The Senyera is one of the oldest flags in Europe to be used in present day, but not in continuous use since its creation. The Aragonese Encyclopedia states that its first material undisputed evidence dates back to a royal seal of Alfonso II of Aragon, from 1159.

The Aragonese Encyclopedia also states that there are claims of older appereances on seals of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, from 1150, but that there are so many doubts about it that it's universally considered as proof of nothing.

Furthermore, the Pennon of the Conquest of Valencia, Spain 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.

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 moor governor of Lleida. Romantic-driven Catalan nationalists were particularly keen on this legend during the Renaixença, in the 19th century; nowadays nationalists acknowledge the apocryphal character of this story (if only because Charles the Bald had died 20 years earlier, in 877). This legend would relate the emblem unambiguosly to the Counts of Barcelona title.

There are several theories advocating either a purely catalan or a purely aragonese origin for the symbol, but none has been proved.

The Enciclopedia Aragonesa states that all elucubrations about a "catalan" origin must be discarded, since, in terms of historical and historiografic correction, nothing can be accepted other than the concept of "barcelonés", and understanding that as alusive to the Contal House of Barcelona.

The Government of Catalonia states about its oficial 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 in the flag, horizontal. The dynastyc coat of arms became also the one for the lands ruled by the counts. So, it is 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 and Sicily among others.

Papal States flag prior to 1808

Other version is that the Kingdom 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. This ancient flag can still be located on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, near the Roman Forum. While the Papal States changed its colours in 1808 to present yellow and white, the City of Rome sticks to them to this day.

The plain version of this flag was mainly used in early XX century by Catalan nationalists. Later, it 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, part of the former Crown of Aragon. It is also used as the flag of Provence, a distinct region with historic ties to Aragon.

The blazon of this standard version is Or, four bars Gules.

Variations

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 Valencia a blue crowned fringe on the hoist.

Territorial Flags

• 
  Aragon
• 
  Balearic Islands
• 
  Barcelona
• 
  Catalonia
• 
  Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur
• 
  Rousillon
• 
  Senyera Coronada from Valencia city and Valencian Community

Historical Flags

• 
  Crown of Aragon flag
• 
  The Pennon of the Conquest of Valencia.
• 
  interim Valencian Community (1979-1980)

Political Flags

• 
  Estrelada aragonesa (Aragonese nationalism flag)
• 
  Catalan Independentist blue estelada.
• 
  Catalan Socialist Independentist red estelada.
• 
  Valencian nationalism estrelada.
• 
  Sicilian Independentist Movement flag

See also

• Coat of arms of Catalonia
• Estelada
• Flag of Spain
• Flag of Valencia
• Pennon of the Conquest

External links

• Origins of the Aragonese-Catalan Flag at Flags of the World
• Senyera History