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107996 Infopjece Dannebrog UK
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therefore, contemporary drawings and objects display numerous examples of a red
flag
with a white
cross
without this having anything to do with denmark or the dannebrog. the two great orders of knights that arose in connection with the crusa- des, the knights templar and the knights of st john, carried, respectively, a white
flag
with a red
cross
, and a red
flag
with a white
cross
. these
cross
flag
s are today recognisable in a variety of contexts. the
flag
of the knights templar was later
used
as the
flag
of england, and today forms one element of the
flag
of the united kingdom. the knights of st john established them- selves in malta, and therefore up until 1789 malta
used
a
flag
that resemb- led the dannebrog. until 1945 a red emblem with a white
cross
was part of the italian national coat of arms, and it is still
used
today in savoy as the emblem of the region. the swiss
flag
was first
used
in 1339, but was not
used
as the national
flag
until much later. the austrian
flag
? which is not a
cross
flag
? dates from 1230, but it was not
used
in the period 1700-1945. the dannebrog was thus one of the many
cross
flag
s that were in use in europe in the middle ages. but it is remarkable that it is the only one to have survived a straight 700- 800 years as a national
flag
in constant use. this makes the dannebrog the oldest national
flag
in the world. 6 the history of the dannebrog is the history of denmark
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