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Suffolk (United Kingdom)

located by Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/

Suffolk County Council
St. Edmund flag

See also:

Suffolk County Council

The page at http://www.eadt.co.uk/ shows the flag used by the County Council of Suffolk (the official flag of the County authority, as explained by Michael Faul in the "Have Your Say" section of the article), which is yellow with a red shield charged with a sun rising over waves and surmounted by two crown-and-arrows.
Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006

St. Edmund flag

located by Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/

In "EADT 24" [East Anglia Daily Times on-line], 21 November 2006, Will Graham Clarke reports that "a petition calling for St Edmund's reinstatement as the nation's patron saint was delivered to 10 Downing Street with aplomb" on 20 November 2006 [the Saint's Day]. The petition was delivered by "St. Edmund champion", Marc Murphy, from BBC Radio Suffolk, and MP David Ruffley. The rationale for the proposed change in the national saint is: "He is a uniquely English saint who unlike St George is part of a long and unbroken history and tradition in East Anglia." Moreover, the proposed new national saint already has a flag: "Framlingham trader Bill Bulstrode has created a St Edmund flag which the ardent campaigners could fly. There was even a small version of the flag put into the stack of signatures presented to the Prime Minister and maybe it will adorn his office." Since EADT is an "ardent campaigner" for the flag, I am not able to guess how popular the petition is out of Suffolk and East Anglia. The saint's champion said: "And if nothing else comes of our petition then we will have at least raised the profile of Suffolk and St Edmund."
Source: http://www.eadt.co.uk/

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that St. Edmund the Martyr (840 AD) was crowned King of East Anglia in 855. He was a model ruler who retired for a year to a tower to learn the whole Psalter by heart. In 870, he repelled a first attack by the Danish warlords Hinguar and Hubba. They came back with a lot of soldiers so that Edmund disbanded his troops and retired to Framlingham in order to avert a massacre. The King was captured and martyred on 20 November 870 at Hoxne, Suffolk. His relics were later transferred to the St. Edmundsbury abbey. The saint is represented in Christian art with sword and arrow, alluding to his martyrdom.

The flag designed by Bill Bulstrode is presented on the BBC Suffolk website. It is white with the Saint George cross with a blue shield charged with St. Edmund's crown and arrows. The same page shows the flag used by the County Council of Suffolk (the official flag of the County authority, as explained by Michael Faul in the "Have Your Say" section of the article), which is yellow with a red shield charged with a sun rising over waves and surmonted by two crown-and-arrows. In the "Have Your Say" section of the article, there are several comments on St. Edmund-related flags: "There is already a banner of Saint Edmund which was carried by Roger Bigod at the battle of Fornham in 1173. It is reproduced in John Gage Rokewodes' 1840 Chronica Jocelini de Brakelond : de rebus gestis Samsonis abbatis monasterii Sancti Edmundi." (by "KOSE") "St Edmund already has a flag (three gold crowns on a blue field). Anyone visiting The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham (Norfolk) in August would have seen the Banner of St. Edmund proudly flying as our pilgrimage processed from the Slipper Chapel to the Abbey ruins. (by "David")

"Bill Bulstrode's flag is similar to the design for an East Anglian flag made by the East Anglian Society in 1904 - except that flag simply had the three crowns or on a field azure of the Kingdom of East Anglia. It has recently appeared again on certain local produce being sold in supermarkets." (by Francis Young)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/content/articles/2006/10/26/st_edmunds_flag_feature.shtml.
Ivan Sache, 22 November 2006