“La Senyera Catalana” – The oldest national flag in the world

Dating from 1238, and kept in L’Arxiu Històric Municipal de València, this is the oldest national flag in the world, among those still in use. And it is the flag of my little homeland: Catalunya.

The Pennon of the Conquest (Catalan: Penó de la Conquesta) is the flag raised by the Moors of Valencia, Spain, on September 28, 1238 on the tower of Alī-Bufāt, later called Torre del Temple, to indicate their surrender to the troops of king James I of Aragon. We know about this episode from the quote entered by the king himself in his Chronicle: “We were in the riverbed, between the gardens and the tower; and when we saw our flag upon the tower, we dismounted from our horse, and heading eastwards we cried from our eyes and kissed the earth for the great mercy God had made to us“.

[Source: Wikipedia.org]

The post comes from an article published today on VilaWeb.cat (by the way, the oldest surviving digital journal in the world, as well 🙂

“El Penó de la Conquesta, les quatre barres, és la bandera nacional més antiga del món, segons un expert italià”

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The Pennon of the Conquest (Catalan: Penó de la Conquesta) is the flag raised by the Moors of Valencia, Spain, on September 28, 1238 on the tower of Alī-Bufāt, later called Torre del Temple, to indicate their surrender to the troops of king Jaume I of Aragon