When James I. (1567–1625) – since 1567 King of Scotland and after the death of Queen Elisabeth I. in 1603 – united the crowns of Scotland and England into a personal union, a new flag was created for this kingdom, which united the flags of England and Scotland. The flag of England is white with an uninterrupted red bar cross in the middle (cross of the Holy George → St. George's Cross), and the flag of Scotland is dark blue with an uninterrupted white diagonal cross in the middle (cross of the Holy Andrew → St. Andrew's Cross). Both symbols were effectively combined with each other.
+
=
This flag was named the "Union Jack" at least since 1633 . This designation goes probably back directly to the short form of the name of King James I. (→ Jack). With the execution of King Charles I. in 1649 the dynastic connection with Scotland was broken. A change in the design of the flag was also necessary after the capture of Ireland in the same year. In this way the flag of England was combined with the coat of arms of Ireland. Originally Ireland had no flag and possibly no coat of arms. When the English King Henry VIII. also became King of Ireland in 1541 he introduced the golden harp on a blue ground as the Irish coat of arms. With the re-establishment of the monarchy in the year 1654 the "Union Jack" was also re-established. The combination with the Irish coat of arms was, however, maintained. In 1707 follows, in addition to the dynastic unification, the constitutional unification of England and Scotland into United Kingdom. Then in 1801 follows the unification with Ireland. The Patrick's Cross, a red uninterrupted diagonal cross was added to the "Union Jack" and superimposed onto the Scottish St. Andrew's Cross effective on the 1st of January, 1801. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland (cross of the Holy Patricius → St. Patrick's Cross). With these many changes the "Union Jack" came to its present form.
+
+
=
The Irish Patrick's Cross dates back to to the year 1783 and King George III. who created this symbol for Ireland. In Ireland in particular, parts of the population reject it as an English creation. If the Scottish flag is used alone, i.e. outside of the Union Jack, the blue must appear much lighter. United Kingdom introduced a flag system in 1864 in which:
• war ships fly the "White Ensign" (naval flag), a white flag often with an uninterrupted red St. George's-Cross and with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag,
• merchant ships fly a "Red Ensign" (also named "Civil Ensign" → civil flag, the real merchant flag), a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag, and
• governmental ships fly the "Blue Ensign" (flag for the use by the gouvernment → the actual state flag), a blue flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag.
Since 1865 ships of colonial governments were permitted to fly the Blue Ensign with a badge in the flying end of the flag. The respective governments were asked to design appropriate badges. Merchant ships and seafaring persons from colonies were only permitted to use the Red Ensign with a badge, then also named Civil Ensign, if permission has been given to the respective colony by the British admiralty. In British colonies and dependent territories, the representation of the badge (respectively of the coat of arms) was often placed on a white disc in the flying end of the ensigns. That regulation – with the white disc – was officially abolished in 1999, and the arms of the colony is then represented enlarged. However, there are still many flags in the old design in use, especially on land. The colors of the flags of the United Kingdom are specified as blue pt 280c and red pt 186c.
The coat of arms of the British King and the United Kingdom consists of a quartered shield and shows in the first (upper left) field three golden leopards on a red background (England), in the second field a red lion on a golden background (Scotland), in the third field a golden harp on a blue background (Ireland), and in the fourth field three golden leopards on a red background again (England). The blazon is surrounded by the Order of the Garter with the French inscription: "Honi soit qui mal y pense" → "shame on anyone who thinks evil of it". The shield holders are an English lion and a Scottish unicorn. Above the shield sits a golden helmet with the crown of the Holy Edward, on which the British lion stands. The coat of arms rests on a pedestal which depicts a meadow with Tudor roses. At the foot of the coat of arms on a banner the motto reads in French: "Dieu et mon droit" → "God and my right". The coat of arms of the British King and the United Kingdom received their present format in 1837 on the occasion of the accession to the Throne by Queen Victoria. Since 1910 a slightly changed coat of arms and a slightly changed flag of the queen in use in Scotland. The flag of the queen is developed from the blazon of the scutcheon flag.
ca. 600 B.C. · immigration of Celtic tribes to the British Isles
55/54 B.C. · first Roman attacks
43 · Roman legions conquer the region of the today's England
85 · Britain becomes a province of the Roman Empire
120–128 · construction of Hadrian's Wall against the Scots
195 · Hadrian's Wall is overrun
200–400 · frequent riotings of the British Celts against the Roman
from ca. 400 · withdrawal of the Roman legions, in the following years immigration of the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, which were later summarized under the term Anglo-Saxons
450–500 · battles of the British Celts and Saxon against the Pikts and Scots, ousting of the British Celts by the Saxons,
formation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Kent, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria
825 · unification of Wessex, Sussex, Kent and Mercia under King Egbert of Wessex
865 · Danish invasion: Essex, East Anglia and parts of Mercia become Danish possession until 954 → Danelaw
1016 · the Dane Knut the Great forces his election as King of England
1050 · ultimate end of the Danish rule
1066 · the Saxon Harald II. becomes king of England
1066 · the invading Normans defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Hastings and establish their power in England
1169 · beginning of the conquest of Ireland by the Kingdom of England
In the entire English-speaking world, the country is known only as "United Kingdom", which means the kingdom as the union of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the German-speaking world, the translation of the country's name as "Vereinigtes Königreich" (United Kingdom) is hardly used at all. Here they say "Großbritannien → Great Britain". "Great Britain" actually only refers to the union of England and Scotland.
In 1707, when United Kingdom was created, by the union of England and Scotland and when it was named "Great Britain", then, and even in the centuries before, a "Britannia" was always present. Firstly the country was called "Britannia" as a Roman province, and secondly ther was the Brittany, the home of the Bretons, the Celtic brothers of the indigenous people of the British Isles. The now emerging new Britain, was of course bigger and more significant. It was therefore a good idea to choose on the one hand a name, which disadvantaged neither England nor Scotland, and on the other hand gives a possibility for distinction from Brittany.
+ 
= 
= 
