PANALBA

Origins of the Saltire

Dave McNicoll 05/25/2011 11:57 AM

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Following the passing of the Scotland Act 1998 establishing a new Scottish Parliament, apparently one of the most pressing issues concerning the Executive was the colour of the Scottish flag, and whether it was the appropriate symbol to represent the new Scotland. A Parliamentary commission and £300,000 later, the answers were yes it should, and (wait for it) - blue and white. Not any blue and white though; no, no - the blue was standardised to be Pantone 300 (a sort of sky blue), and the white, well . . . white! So, for far less money (none at all in fact), I thought it was time to return to our symbols, and this time put into the spotlight the Crux Decussanta otherwise known as the Saltire or the St Andrew's Cross.
The white X-Shaped cross upon a blue background is instantly recognisable as the flag of Scotland the world over; which is hardly surprising as it's been around longer than any other. Yet, for all that, the origins of our national flag are obscure and not without controversy. It's therefore probably best to start with the venerable saint himself.
Saint Andrew was the first disciple of Jesus, and brother to Saint Peter: on whom Christ laid the burden of building his church. Andrew was a Greek name, and like many Grecian names had been adopted in Judea by many Jews since the 2nd Century BC; there is no record of any Hebrew or Aramaic alternative. And, it was to Greece that Andrew went to evangelise and convert following the Crucifixion. According to the tradition he established the first Christian seat in Constantinople - the See of Byzantium. Eventually, this harmless old man would fall foul of the Roman Empire and the poor fisherman would be hauled to his death and crucified in the city of Patras. His brother would face a similar fate on Vatican Hill in Rome. According to the legend, St Andrew wanted not to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus, and so allowing a last request he was executed on an X-Shaped Cross. Historians doubt this now, and it is more likely that he was killed on a standard Roman cross, as Christ had been.
St Andrew is the Patron Saint of many countries, including Russia, and the story of Scotland's involvement is steeped in lore, but grounded in real-politick. According to the legend, when the Emperor Constantine formally adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire he wanted the remains of St Andrew brought from Patras to his eastern capital at Constantinople. However, the Bishop of Patras, St Rule, was reluctant to have the patriarch's relics moved to the city, and in a dream he was told by God to have Andrew's bones taken to the farthest corner of civilisation - Scotland basically. The Greeks then in the dead of the night smuggled the remains out of Patras under the eyes of the Imperial authorities and sailed them across the sea to the Scottish town of Kilrymont on the Fife coast. The town was then renamed as St Andrews, and ultimately became the seat of the Christian Church in Scotland.
The story is of course fanciful, but it would have an important imprint on the development of the embryonic Scotland. In 664 AD the all important Synod of Whitby saw the Northumbrian king choose the liturgy of the Roman church over that of the Celtic church based on Iona. This would mark the beginning of the end of the church of St Columba, and probably put paid to his chances of becoming our patron saint. Following the example of the Northumbrians, kings across Britain began to side with the Papacy and Rome rather than with Columba and Iona, and as Scotland developed, this cult of St Andrew started to grow legs - Scotland was desperate to sit at the top table of emerging countries in Europe, and by choosing one of the Apostles as saint would help immensely in that end; and hence the story of St Rule and the dead of the night flight with Andrew's remains to Fife. Certainly by the reign of King Constantine III in the 10th Century, St Andrew had been firmly established as the Patron Saint of Scotland. Writings in the 12the century, and within the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 would seal the deal. So that's the saint, but the origins of the symbolism and the colours of the flag are as equally curious.
Two battles can claim to be the reason behind our choice of white on blue for the flag, and both have the same tale. In 685 AD the Northumbrian king - Ecgfrith was on a mission to conquer the Pictish nation (the peoples occupying Scotland north of the River Forth, with the exception of Argyll, which was inhabited by the Gaels or Scotti). In that year a combined Pictish and Gaelic army led by King Bridei MacBili overwhelmed the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dunnichen. On the eve of the battle, according to the story, St Andrew appeared to the king and promised him victory for as long as he remained loyal to the church. As the armies lined up a white cross appeared on the blue sky - seeing this as a sign the Pictish/Gaelic soldiers took heart, while the Northumbrian Angles lost courage and the battle was won.
The same story is told following another Pictish/Gaelic victory over the Northumbrians at a battle in East Lothian, when King Óengus defeated his Anglican counterpart King Athelstan in 832 AD. I was always brought up to believe the Dunnichen option - but I think that it is now more likely to come from the battle at Athelstanford. 665 AD to me is just too soon following Whitby to have the cult of St Andrew reaching the higher echelons of the Picts and the Scots hierarchy (unless the story was conjured up as part of the desire to promote the St Andrew cult). The later battle fits the time line right, in little over 20 years King Kenneth I would unite the Picts and the Scots in one nation, and St Andrew was chosen fairly soon after to represent that new nation. By 1180 St Andrew had appeared on seals, and the flag we all recognise was being used in battles and by the crown.
In 1603 King James VI inherited (through both his mother and his father) the throne of England. He was really keen to unite Scotland and England together - he created the name Great Britain (as opposed to Lesser Britain, which is in northern France), and he joined the flags together. His English advisers looked to design a flag that saw the St George's Cross of England dominate the Saltire of Scotland, and James was having none of it. Thus the new flag chosen would see England's red cross on a white background, placed upon the St Andrew's cross - making one of the most familiar flags on earth (the Irish flag of St Patrick would be added in 1801). This is the Union Jack (really only a jack at sea, so rather it is the Union Flag), but in the British national standard the blue of St Andrew is darker (Pantone 280).
The argument rages on whether the Scottish or Danish flag is the oldest in the world, and the jury is out. Whatever the case, the Saltire, the St Andrew's cross is not only an ancient symbol of an ancient people, but still something that Scots rally behind, regiments wear and we will defend to the end.