France Flag

The French flag is composed of three vertical stripes of equal width: blue - white - red. It takes its origins in the Convention, following the French Revolution. Designed by Jacques-Louis David in 1794, it uses the colours of royalty. Blue, first of all, is strongly attached to the royal arms since the Capetian dynasty. When the King of France (or the King of France and Navarre) is sacred, he always wears a blue coat. Also, when someone comes from a royal family, it I said that he’s got “blue blood”. White is it attached to the monarchy. This is Henry the 4th who will first adopt this colour to distinguish it from other neighboring monarchy. On the Crusades of the Middle Ages, the white cross is often present on the soldiers' uniforms, as opposed to the British Red Cross. Finally, the red refers to the martyrdom of Saint Denis. This is the colour that dominates the banner (l’oriflamme) of the Abbey since the beginning of the fourteenth century. We can refer to more recent crusades to justify this colour because it is originally brought by the French, a cross on a white background, which will be given to England to complete his flag. The French crusaders then recover the white cross on a red background. The French flag will not change over time, except for the period of the first and the second restoration, over which a white flag will replace the tricolour one.