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Portugal in the "Book of all Kingdoms"

image by António Martins-Tuválkin and Eugene Ipavec, 15 Dec 2009

Portugal ca. 1350

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Portugal ca. 1350

The Book of all Kingdoms, of 1350, tells the voyages of an anonymous Castilian friar and is illustrated with 113 flag images, referred to (though seldom described) in the text.
Make that the flag of Portugal (a particularly nasty mistake for the 1380ies). Nominally the same flag as the 1248-1385 Portuguese royal flag, but with some interesting differences:
Apart from the exact flag shape (which is absent in the usual Portuguese sources), the placement of the lateral quinas (blue inescutcheons with five plates), pointing outwards, is interesting as historically they got to their current upright position from the original design Portugal (1185-1248) with lateral quinas pointing inwards.
Likewise, the number of castles and of plates seems anachronistical when comparaed with the classical chronology of Portuguese flags, for eight/nine castles and five plates per quina become the standard design much later than the late 1300ies . However, it is known that varying versions were in use long before this settlement, and this depiction might be a further proof.
The text does not mention the colours: "for sign a pendon with castles on the edges and fivers in the middle, as these here below".
Source: Book of all Kingdoms 1350
António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 Nov 2007, 15 Dec 2009