Middle Ages
The use of the crescent symbol on Muslim flags is first seen by Europe during the Crusades. Flags showing crescents appear in depictions of flags from the 14th century, in the Libro de Conoscimiento and the Catalan Atlas.
In these early examples, the crescent mostly pointed upward. 14th-century Muslim flags with an upward-pointing crescent in a monocolour field included the flags of Gabes, Tlemcen (Tilimsi), Damas and Lucania, Cairo, Mahdia, Tunis and Buda. Evidence of crescent use is also found in the 14th century blue ensign of Nubia/Dongola and yellow ensign of Mamluks of Egypt. Flags with crescents facing the fly are attested from the 17th century.
Before the 14th century, the star next to the crescent does not seem to have been associated with Islam, and appears in Christian iconography.
Read more about this topic: Star And Crescent
Famous quotes containing the words middle and/or ages:
“I wanted him to fly, burst like a missile from your throat,
burst from the spidery-mother-web,
burst from Woman herself
where too many had laid out lights
that stuck to you and left a burn
that smarted into your middle age.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“For if we take the ages into our account, may there not be a civilization going on among brutes as well as men?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)