Standard of the Conquest of Seville, 1248 (Spain)

Last modified: 2015-07-29 by ivan sache
Keywords: castile and leon | castles: 2 (yellow) | lions: 2 (purple) |
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• Description

See also:

• Historical Flags of Castile and Leon
• Historical Flags (Spain)
• Spain

When King Fernando III the Saint conquered the city of Sevilla from the Moors, he hoisted his standard on 23 November 1248 upon the minaret of the Isbiliya mosque as a sign of their surrender. The flag every year is part of the celebration of the days of San Clemente (23 November) and San Fernando (30 May). This flag is kept in the cathedral of Sevilla in a glass showcase in poor illumination. Therefore I am forced to present four variants:

1

2

3

4

images by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Mar 2010

#1 is a squarish flag quarterly divided. The 2nd quarter shows in a silvery (white) field the lion of Fernando III, a purple, sinister facing, rampant guardant lion, armed golden and tongued red. The other quarters show a golden (yellow) castle, embattled, having three turrets and blue windows and door. According to source the flag is seriously deteriorated and has loads of patches upon its surface. Source: [cag83], p.32-33, flag no.26

#2 is a squarish flag quarterly divided. But lions are in the 2nd and 3rd field, castles in the other quarters. The lions have only three visible legs. The description given in the cathedral matches the image, saying explicitly that lions and castles are ordered diagonally two and two. In fact, however, there are three castles and one lion, as described in Calvo and Grávalos 1983 [cag83]. Source: Image within explanation given in the cathedral of Sevilla, seen on 9 November 2009.

#3 is a squarish flag quarterly divided. The 2nd quarter shows in a silvery (white) field the lion of Fernando III, a purple, sinister facing rampant guardant lion, armed golden and tongued red. The other quarters show a golden (yellow) castle, embattled, having three turrets and red windows. Source: own reconstruction, the shape of castle based upon the one which could be seen best of all; flag spotted on 9 November 2009.

#4 shows the visible parts of flag. It’s really tricky, the flag seems having been folded a few times that way that the lion is fully visible. The patches are marked by different colours. The grey lines mark the positions of folds. Source: own photo taken in cathedral.

Unfortunately flash was useless because the glass of the showcase was reflecting, and the illumination was really poor. The result was a dark photo, but the details could be recognized. It seems that all castles in fact had been different shapes, but the lion clearly had but three visible legs. According to this point, the image in Calvo and Grávalos is clearly erroneous. And the Sevillians probably would not take that important flag out of its showcase for an unimportant flagspotter from Germany.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Mar 2010