| Flag Type: | National Flag |
|---|---|
| Flag Date: | 1286 |
| Flag Designer: | Unknown |
| Adoption Route: | Traditional* (See below) |
| UK Design Code: | UNKG0101 |
| Aspect Ratio: | 3:5 |
| Pantone® Colours: | Blue 300, White |
| Certification: | Chief Vexillologist, Graham Bartram |
| Notes: | The Scotland Flag, or St Andrew’s Cross, or ‘Saltire’, is the national flag of this constituent nation of the United Kingdom. The earliest known use of the saltire as a national emblem representing Scotland dates from 1286, when it appeared on the seal of the Guardians of Scotland. A century later, in 1385, came an order instructing every Scottish soldier to wear a saltire on his clothing. The first certain illustration of a flag bearing a white St Andrew’s Cross on a blue field appears in the armorial of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount (c.1542). Although its exact origins are lost in myth and legend, the flag of Scotland has a legal basis for existence under Scottish law (as does the flag of England). In 1672 the Lord Lyon recorded them in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, volume 1, folio 20: ‘Armes or badges proper and peculiar to the Kingdomes of Scotland and England represented on the Banners in the Royall Aichievement and which his Majestie advances in his standarts both by land and sea VIZ 1. Azur a cross of St Andrew Argent, for Scotland and St Andrew being the Patron thereof’.
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