Flag of Cornwall

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Cornwall: St. Piran's Flag
Flag of Cornwall.svg
Vexillological symbol : Civic flag?
Aspect ratio: 5: 3
Officially accepted:

The flag of Cornwall ( England , United Kingdom ) is considered to be a flag attributed to Saint Piran . He died around the 5th century AD and is considered the patron saint of tin miners and Cornwall in general. The flag is a white cross on a black background. In Cornish it is called Baner Peran , in English Saint Piran's Flag . The first written mention of the flag as the banner of Cornwall was in 1838. The flag is considered the banner of the Cornwall peninsula and its inhabitants as people with Celtic roots . It does not symbolize the Duchy of Cornwall .

Use from the 20th century

The flag of St. Piran raised in front of some buildings.

It is hoisted at Cornish gatherings such as B. at Gorsedh Kernow , St. Piran's Day (March 5th), Trevithick's Day in Camborne (April), the 'Obby' Oss Festival in Padstow (May), the Furry Dance in Helston (May) and Cornish rugby - Play.

As a vehicle sticker, the flag often appears together with the word Kernow (Cornish for Cornwall).

It is used worldwide as a symbol of the Cornish diaspora and by Cornish associations outside the UK. Various organizations use the flag in Cornwall.

During the maritime parade on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne in June 2012 on a section of the Thames , the flag of St. Piran on the royal barge Gloriana raised. It was one of the first official occasions when it appeared alongside those flags representing other parts of the United Kingdom ( England , Scotland , Northern Ireland , Wales and the City of London ).

  • Souvenir flags in front of a cafe

  • Celebrate Saint Piran's Day in Penzance

  • Raising the flag in Portloe

  • Flag of St. Piran to the royal. Launch (in the middle; largely covered)

Origin and early use

The actual origin and early use of the flag is unclear, although numerous theories exist.

It is generally believed that St. Piran was born in Ireland or Wales and came to Cornwall from there. It has not been proven whether and how he used the motif of this flag.

One claim is that the flag was used in the Crusades before 1188 . The Encyclopædia Britannica also describes the use of the flag by the Cornish department at the Battle of Azincourt in 1415. The Cornish author, technician and politician Davies Gilbert mentions in his four-volume work The Parochial History of Cornwall (1838)

a white cross on a black ground that was formerly the banner of St Perran and the banner of Cornwall; probably with an allusion to the black ore and the white metal tin

However, he left no record of his research and only referred to his "memory".

A first depiction of the flag as a Cornish symbol is in a window of Westminster Abbey , London . It was unveiled in 1888 in memory of the Cornish inventor and engineer Richard Trevithick . The window shows the Archangel Michael at the top and nine Cornish saints in rows below: Piran, Petroc, Pinnock, Germanus, Julian, Cyriacus, Constantine, Nonna and Geraint. Piran's head appears to represent Trevithick and the figure carries the flag of St. Piran.

Some sources suspect links between St. Flag attributed to Piran and the old flag of Brittany . It is the color reversal of the flag of St. Piran. Both are also similar to the flag of the Welsh patron saint David , which features a yellow cross on a black background. Close historical links between Brittany , Wales and Cornwall are widely believed due to the Celtic populations.

  • Coat of arms of the army of the Breton Duchy (see Kroaz Du )

  • The Welsh flag of St. David

Some family coats of arms from Brittany and other regions of today's France also have a white cross on a black background as a basic motif. Any concrete connections between St. Piran, the flag ascribed to him and the coat of arms of mainland Europe that are similar to this flag are uncertain. Some Cornish family coats of arms could have reached what is now France with high- ranking Cornish migrants in the 1st or 2nd millennium AD. The family name Saint Peran from Brittany, whose coat of arms in the 15th century was a white cross on a black background, can be used to identify actual or supposed references to St. Making Piran, who lived in Cornwall about 1000 years ago.

Similar family coats of arms from Brittany and other regions of present-day France

In the 15th century AD, the coat of arms of the Breton family Saint-Peran shows a white cross on a black background.

Some other family crests from Brittany and other regions of present-day France also closely resemble the flag of St. Piran:

  • Geoffroy le Borgne from Brittany ; Description: " de sable à croix d'argent "
  • Brunet de la Besse from the Périgord (today south-west France); Description: " D'azur, à la croix d'argent ".
  • Coat of arms of the Arnèke family from what is now northeastern France near Dunkerque
  • Rouvroy de Saint-Simon from Picardy (present-day northeastern France); Description: " De sable à la croix d'argent chargée de cinq coquilles ".

  • Coat of arms of the Saint-Pezran family (Brittany)

  • Coat of arms of Geoffroy le Borgne (Brittany)

  • Coat of arms of the Arnèke family (today northeastern France)

  • Coat of arms of Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (Picardy)

Boundary to the flag of the Duchy of Cornwall

The flag of St. Piran does not symbolize the Duchy of Cornwall , which is considered a property of the British Monarchy and is not identical to the peninsula and county of Cornwall. The Duchy of Cornwall has the following flag:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b 'The Parochial History of Cornwall', by Davies Gilbert. (1838) Vol III, p. 332
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ^ Cornish flag
  4. ↑ [2]
  5. ^ A b Phil Rendle, Cornwall - The Mysteries of St Piran, The Flag Institute
  6. ↑ Westminster Abbey
  7. ↑ P. POTIER de COURCY, Nobiliaire et armorial de Bretagne, A. Aubry, 1862, P390
  8. ↑ visu_armes_p
  9. ↑ [3]
  10. ↑ Guide des drapeaux bretons et celtes (German: Leader of the Breton and Celtic flags) by Divi Kervella and Mikael Bodlore-Penlaez, edited by Yoran Embanner (), (2008) ISBN 978-2-916579-12-2