Ensign of Holy League of Spain, the Papal States, and Venice at Battle of Lepanto, 1571 (Spain)

Last modified: 2009-01-31 by eugene ipavec
Keywords: cross: saltire (red) | saltire (red) | cross: burgundy | alabama | florida | galleon | eagle (black) | order of the golden fleece | crown: royal |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

See also:

• Size of Ensigns 15th-19th Centuries
• Ensigns 1670s-1785
• Historical Flags (Spain)
• Spain

At http://www.lepanto.org.br/EstLep.html, a Portuguese-language website on the Battle of Lepanto (1571), a very significant historic flag (considering the importance of the battle) is mentioned:

The Pope sent the standard of the League [i.e., the so-called "Holy League" of Spain, the Papal States, and Venice]: it was blue silk damask and showed an image of the Crucifixion, with the arms of the Pope, Spain, Venice, and Don John [of Austria] at the foot. Don John received the standard solemnly from the hands of Cardinal Granvela in the Church of St. Clare, in the presence of many nobles, among whom were the Princes of Parma and Urbino.

(A note on names - for some perverse reason, Don Juan de Austria, who led the expedition, is normally referred to in English as "Don John," a weird combination of an untranslatable Spanish title and an easily translatable name. The website from which I got the information above puts his name into Portuguese, "D. João.")

Joseph McMillan, 20 Mar 2003

This complex and heavily embroidered flag is shown in Calvo and Grávalos 1983 [cag83], pp. 72-73, ill. 151. Nowadays it is kept in the Toledo cathedral.

Santiago Dotor, 24 Mar 2003