Saint Patrick's Flag: a red saltire on a field of white

The badge of the The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick.

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Saint Patrick's Flag is a flag of Ireland that features in the flag of the United Kingdom. In heraldic language, it may be blazoned Argent, a saltire gules, meaning that it is drawn as a red saltire (a crux decussata or X-shaped cross) on a white field. more...

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It is said to represent Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is also known as the Saint Patrick's Cross or Saint Patrick's Saltire.

The origin of the flag is disputed, with two opposing theories. Some argue that the flag is an ancient flag associated with Ireland. Evidence for this is that a red saltire appears on the seal of Trinity College Dublin dating from 1612, as well as the arms of the cities of Cork and Enniskillen. Dutch guides from the turn of the eighteenth century guides also ascribe a red saltire as the Irish flag. Opposing this view is that the flag is relatively new, dating from 1783, with the foundation of the Order of Saint Patrick, when a red saltire was chosen for the badge of the order. Proponents of this view point out that the choice of a saltire as a symbol of Ireland was to the bewilderment of contemporary Irish commentators. They also point out that evidence for the use of the symbol as a flag of Ireland prior to then are scarce or oblique.

In any event, with the 1800 Act of Union that merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, a red saltire was incorporated into the Flag of the United Kingdom as representing Ireland. Throughout the 19th century until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, it served as an unofficial Irish flag. Today, it is of growing significance to unionists in Northern Ireland, to whom it represents a neutral flag of Ireland, in contrast to the Irish tricolour, which they object to as a nationalist symbol.

Origins

The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, the British order of chivalry associated with Ireland, was created in 1783 to mark the grant of substantial autonomy to Ireland, as a means of rewarding (or obtaining) political support in the Irish Parliament. In creating the order, a badge for those accepted into it was also created. This is the official description of the badge that the lord lieutenant, Lord Temple, forwarded to his superiors in London in January 1783:

The origin of the cross used in the badge is unclear and was condemned by contemporary Irish opinion. A press report published in February 1783 complained that "the breasts of Irishmen were to be decorated by the bloody Cross of St Andrew, and not that of the tutelar Saint of their natural isle". Another article claimed that "the Cross of St Andrew the Scotch saint is to honour the Irish order of St Patrick, by being inserted within the star of the order" and described this as "a manifest insult to common sense and to national propriety." Despite this, the red saltire was incorporated into the Union Flag in 1801 following the union of Great Britain and Ireland, representing Ireland within the Union alongside the St George's Cross for England and Saint Andrew's Flag for Scotland. The use of the cross for this purpose is often suspected to have been based on a desire to create a new Union Flag that complimented the already existent one, rather than as a genuine symbol of Ireland. Earlier union flags, such as the Commonwealth Flag (England and Ireland) or the Protectorate Jack (England, Ireland and Scotland), represented Ireland with its coat of arms of Ireland.