Ensign for Expeditions to the Indies since 1593 (Spain)

Last modified: 2015-07-29 by ivan sache
Keywords: stripes: 14 (yellow-white) | coat of arms: quartered (castle: yellow) | coat of arms: quartered (lion: red) | crown: antique (yellow) |
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image by Sergio Camero, 17 May 2002

• Description
• Alternate Depiction

See also:

• Historical Flags 1506-1700 (Spain)

Description

Flag used by the Spanish Navy for the expeditions to the Indies from the year 1593.

Source: Fernández Gaytan 1985

Sergio Camero, 17 May 2002

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Mar 2010

The naval ensign for expeditions to India (1501-1507; this model used in 1503) is a 14-stripes flag, horizontally divided in alternating orange and white stripes, not in the Spanish standard ratio of 2:3. In its centre is a coat of arms topped by a coronet of unknown type. The shield is quarterly divided and shows twice the arms of Castile and Leon. The fimbriation of the shield is white. The image is according to my primary source ([cag83]) based upon an image in a flag chart dedicated to naval ensigns in Madrid’s Naval Museum.

Sources: “Proceso de Formación de la bandera de España” flag chart, observed in the Military Museum of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 22 Apr 2008; Calvo and Grávalos 1983 [cag83], p.48-49, flag no.75

I cannot guarantee the details of the flag's subtitle, because it is very small in my photo. The similar flag illustrated by Sergio Camero as "Ensign for Expeditions to the Indies since 1593" is slightly different, with yellow stripes and a different coronet.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 05 Jul 2009 and 30 Mar 2010