St George's Cross (or the Cross of St George) is a red cross on a white background used as a symbolic reference to Saint George. The red cross on white was associated with St George from medieval times.
St George's Cross has been adopted on the coat of arms and flags of several countries and cities which have, or had, St George as a patron saint, notably Georgia, England, Aragon, Genoa and Barcelona.
The cross is also found, for various reasons, on the provincial flag of Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel (the 3 provinces of Aragón) as well as the municipal flag for numerous cities, including Montreal, Almería, Milan, Genoa, Padua, Zadar and Freiburg im Breisgau. It is also the basis for the Four Moors flag of Sardinia. Guernsey was permitted to use it as its state flag between 1936 and 1985.
Historically, the cross appeared on many now extinct flags, emblems and coats of arms, such as that of the Swabian League in late Medieval Germany.
Read more about St George's Cross: St George's Cross in Other European Countries, St George's Cross in The United States, St George's Cross in Canada, St George's Cross in Georgia, St George's Cross in New South Wales, St George's Cross in Sardinia, Nordic Countries, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the word cross:
“Passion is here a soilure of the wits,
We’re told, and Love a cross for them to bear;
Joy shivers in the corner where she knits
And Conscience always has the rocking-chair,
Cheerful as when she tortured into fits
The first cat that was ever killed by Care.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)