History of the Canadian Flag

St. George's Cross

I am probably safe in assuming that 99.9% of Canadians know that our neighbour to the south celebrates its Independence Day on July 4th. But sadly most Americans are unaware that Canada also celebrates its national day in the same month-July 1st to be precise.

Like Americans, Canadians are proud of their flag. But the distinctive Maple Leaf Flag wasn't always our flag. Here's a brief history.

The first flag known to have flown in Canada was the St George's Cross carried by the explorer, John Cabot when he reached Newfoundland in 1497.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in Gaspé bearing the French royal coat of arms with the fleurs-de-lis. His ship flew a red flag with a white cross, the national flag of France at the time.

The Royal Union Flag has been used in Canada since the 1621 British settlement in Nova Scotia. Since the surrender of New France to the United Kingdom in the early 1760s, the Royal Union Flag, called the Union Jack, was used as the national flag, as in the United Kingdom, until the adoption of the current flag in 1965.

Union Jack

Shortly after Canadian Confederation in 1867, the need for distinctive Canadian flags emerged. The first Canadian flag was that then used as the Flag of the Governor General of Canada, a Royal Union Flag with a shield in the centre bearing the quartered arms of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves. In 1870 the Red Ensign, with the addition of the Canadian composite shield in the fly, began to be used unofficially on land and sea and was known as the Canadian Red Ensign.

Canadian Red Ensign

As new provinces joined the Confederation, their arms were added to the shield. In 1892, the British admiralty approved the use of the Red Ensign for Canadian use at sea. The composite shield was replaced with the coat of arms of Canada upon its grant in 1921 and, in 1924, an Order in Council approved its use for Canadian government buildings abroad.

In 1925, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (the PM on our $50 bill)  established a committee to design a flag to be used at home, but it was dissolved before the final report could be delivered. Despite the failure of the committee to solve the issue, public sentiment in the 1920s was in favour of fixing the flag problem for Canada.

During the Second World War, the Red Ensign was the national flag Canadian troops carried into battle. A joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons was appointed on November 8, 1945, to recommend a national flag to officially adopt. By May 9 the following year, 2,695 designs were submitted and the committee reported back with a recommendation "that the national flag of Canada should be the Canadian red ensign with a maple leaf in autumn golden colours in a bordered background of white". The Legislative Assembly of Quebec, however, had urged the committee to not include any of what it deemed as "foreign symbols", including the Royal Union Flag, and Mackenzie King, then still prime minister, declined to act on the report, leaving the order to fly the Canadian Red Ensign in place.

Suggested 1945 flag

By the 1960s, however, debate for an official Canadian flag intensified and became a subject of controversy, culminating in the Great Flag Debate of 1964. In 1963, the minority Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson gained power and decided to adopt an official Canadian flag through parliamentary debate. 

Lester B. Pearson

The principal political proponent of the change was Prime Minister Lester Pearson. (Yes, Toronto Airport is named in his honour).

He had been a significant broker during the Suez Crisis of 1956, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. During the crisis, Pearson was disturbed when the Egyptian government objected to Canadian peacekeeping forces on the grounds that the Canadian flag (the Red Ensign) contained the same symbol (the Royal Union Flag) also used as a flag by the United Kingdom, one of the belligerents.

Pearson's goal was for the Canadian flag to be distinctive and unmistakably Canadian. The main opponent to changing the flag was the leader of the opposition and former prime minister, John Diefenbaker, who eventually made the subject a personal crusade.

Diefenbaker

Pearson was leader of a minority government and risked losing power over the issue; however, he knew the Red Ensign with the Union Jack was unpopular in Quebec, a base of support for his Liberal Party, but the Red Ensign was strongly favoured by English Canada. On May 27, 1964, Pearson's minority government introduced a motion to parliament for adoption of his favourite design of a "sea to sea" (Canada's motto) flag with blue borders and three conjoined red maple leaves on a white field. This motion led to weeks of acrimonious debate in the House of Commons and the design came to be known as the "Pearson Pennant". 

"Pearson Pennant)

Diefenbaker demanded a referendum be held on the flag issue, but Pearson instead formed a 15-member multi-party parliamentary committee to select a new design.

Through a period of study with political manoeuvring, the committee chose the current design, which was created by George F.G. Stanley and inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. The design was approved unanimously by the committee on October 29, 1964, and later passed by a majority vote in the House of Commons on December 15, 1964. The Senate added its approval two days later.

Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, proclaimed the new flag on January 28, 1965. It was inaugurated on February 15 of the same year at an official ceremony held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in the presence of Governor General Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the Prime Minister, the members of the Cabinet, and Canadian parliamentarians. The Canadian Red Ensign was lowered at the stroke of noon, and the new Maple Leaf flag was raised. The crowd sang "O Canada" followed by "God Save the Queen". Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate, said, "The flag is the symbol of the nation's unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief, or opinion."

Happy Birthday to both our great nations!

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Forgive My Grasshopper Mentality

I have something of a grasshopper mentality when it comes to inspiration for my characters and their stories. If you prefer to read sagas in chronological order, here’s a handy list. Links to all my books are in the Amazon widget to the right.

1065—Conquering Passion—Montbryce Legacy I
1066—If Love Dares Enough—Montbryce Legacy III
1066—Defiant Passion—Sons of Rhodri I *
1087—A Man of Value—Montbryce Legacy II
1100—Passion in the Blood—Montbryce Legacy IV
1106—Dark and Bright—Sons of Rhodri II
1107—The Winds of the Heavens—Sons of Rhodri III
1107—Dance of Love (Dec 2012)—Montbryce-The Next Generation III
1113—Carried Away—FitzRam Family I
1120—Sweet Taste of Love—FitzRam Family II
1124—Wild Viking Princess—FitzRam Family III

 *The complete Sons of Rhodri Trilogy is available in paperback from Amazon.

If you like stories with medieval breeds of dogs, you’ll enjoy If Love Dares Enough, Carried Away, and Wild Viking Princess. If you have a soft spot for cats, read Passion in the Blood.

If you are looking for historical fiction centred on a certain geographic region:
English History—all books
Norman French History—all books
Crusades—A Man of Value
Welsh History—Conquering Passion, Defiant Passion, Dark and Bright, The Winds of the Heavens
Scottish History—Conquering Passion, A Man of Value, Sweet Taste of Love
European History (Holy Roman Empire)—Carried Away
Danish History—Wild Viking Princess
Spanish History—Dance of Love (Dec. 2012)

If you like to read about historical characters:
William the Conqueror—Conquering Passion, If Love Dares Enough, Defiant Passion
William Rufus—A Man of Value
Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy—Passion in the Blood
Henry I of England—Passion in the Blood, Sweet Taste of Love
Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor—Carried Away
Vikings—Wild Viking Princess
Kings of Aragon (Spain)—Dance of Love (Dec. 2012)

A Brief History of Schleswig-Holstein

Map of Denmark 1570

The setting for my latest release, Wild Viking Princess is the island of Strand, which in medieval times was located off the west coast of Denmark. As I described in a previous post, the island was torn apart by a vicious storm in 1634, and became three islands.

The history of the region is a long and complex one. Those lands now belong to Germany. Below is an attempt to simplify that history by means of a timeline.

450 - 500 Angles, Saxons (the Anglo-Saxons) and Danes from the area that would much later be known as Schleswig-Holstein raided England after the Romans had left. They found the fertile land good for farming, and settled, bringing their families over

798 Charlemagne defeated the north-Elbian Saxons, supported by his Slavonic allies who had settled in eastern Holstein 400 years before.

804 Charlemagne began to have fortified settlements built north of the Elbe-River, beginning with Hamburg - which was never part of Schleswig-Holstein. He drove several thousand Saxon families out of their homeland, and made them settle in southern Germany (Bavaria, Suabia, Rhine-area).

from 804 Beginning of Christianisation of the pagan North, churches were built.

900 Haithabu, a thriving town that would later be rebuilt as Heddeby, was a trading-post of European importance. The population was mainly Danes and Vikings from Sweden.

800- 1100 The land north of the Elbe-River and Hamburg was raided and dominated by Danes. The Franks, whose dominance in Germany was taken over by Saxon rulers, tried to keep up their influence. My latest release, Wild Viking Princess, is set in 1124 AD.

Reconstructed Viking village

1111 Adolf I. of Schauenburg was installed as Count of Holstein. He and his heirs brought peace and Christianity back to Holstein. Many towns and churches were founded and built during the rule of the Schauenburgers. Dutchmen, Frisians and Westfalians were called into his county, of whom especially the Dutchmen and the Frisians were experts in dyking, and in turning marshes and moors into fertile land and safe ground. They came as colonists, stayed and settled, mixing with the native population. The Slavonic people in eastern Holstein were gradually integrated into Holstein, with the help of the Bible, patient colonisation, and mainly the sword. Schleswig remained under Danish rule, with a mixed population of Danes and Germans.

1200 - 1203 Holstein, Hamburg, Luebeck and Ratzeburg fell into the hands of the expansive Danish Kings, Knud (- 1202) and Waldemar II., who ruled from 1202 to 1241.

1227 Battle of Bornhoeved. A decisive battle amongst several that had been fought before. Holstein was reconquered, and the Danish policies of expansion were ended.

1227 - 1460 This period may be called "struggle for dominance in Schleswig", Danes and Germans claiming and negotiating their rights.

abt. 1350 The "Black Death", the bubonic plague, haunted Denmark and the duchies. Especially the west coast and the islands were afflicted. Of an estimated population of 420 000 souls in both duchies in 1340, there were only 230 000 left in 1353.

1440 Holstein and Schleswig united under Adolf VIII. of Schauenburg, the last of his line.

1460 Treaty of Ripen: the Danish King Christian I. was installed as Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein. He had to grant privileges to the knighthood of the two lands and to their people. Apart from that and before all, he vowed that Schleswig and Holstein would remain forever undivided.

1474 Holstein became a duchy.

1500 The Battle of Hemmingstedt. The Duke of Holstein, King Hans of Denmark, attempted once again (after his predecessors had failed in 1319 and in 1404) to bring the renitent Dithmarscher population under his yoke, to make them pay their dues. He had hired 4000 fierce mercenaries, the Black Guard, who were followed by 2000 knights of all noble houses of Schleswig, Holstein and Denmark, and another 5000 armed subjects. The Dithmarschers, highly outnumbered, battled for their independence once more, and did so successfully, for the last time.

1569 Dithmarschen's last feud. The King of Denmark came with an army of 18 000 well armed followers and took the country. The Dithmarschers had to acknowledge his reign, and to give up their old parliamentary system of self-administration.

1618 - 1648 The Thirty Years' War brought devastation over Schleswig, Holstein and vast parts of Europe. The German Emperor sought to reinstall the Catholic Belief in all of Germany, after Protestantism according to Martin Luther's doctrines had spread over most parts of northern Germany during the bygone century. What had started off as a religiously motivated crusade turned into a European war, with shifts of power and territorial changes in the end. Schleswig and Holstein were afflicted by heavy looting, and also by diseases the passing troops were the carriers of, especially the bubonic plague once again. Those who survived fled from their farms. It took a long time until Schleswig and Holstein had recovered from that cruel war.

16th century map of Denmark

1634 The North Sea coast and islands were destroyed by a tremendous flood that tore apart everything that hard-working Frisians and Dithmarschers had built to protect their land from the sea's destructive force. The large island Nordstrand was washed into the sea, leaving only two small fractions to exist after the deluge. Of the 8 600 inhabitants, only a quarter survived.

1700 - 1721 The Nordic War between Sweden on one side and Denmark, Poland and Russia on the other, saw Schleswig and Holstein as a battlefield again. Marauding troops devastated large parts of the duchies.

1760 - 1800 Peaceful times, for a change. Reformation of the archaic structures in farming: fields that had been used by all villagers were split up into individual property, and the whole territory belonging to a village was restructured, into larger units and with new roads. Moors and bogs were colonized by settlers from southern Germany, who also introduced the potatoe as a staple food into Schleswig-Holstein, where people had been used to live of buckwheat, oats, and cabbage mainly.

1800 - 1805 Serfdom was abolished in both duchies. One of the points of conflict in my novel is the Danish tradition of thralldom, or slavery.

1813 King Friedrich (Frederic) VI. of Denmark had opted to join arms with Napoleon, the expansive-minded French ruler. The war had brought the economy to the ground, and the Kingdom was bankrupt. Whose riches were counted in bankdrafts or cash money, he became a poor man in 1813. And Prussian, Swedish, and Russian troops invaded Schleswig-Holstein, bringing destruction over the duchies. The Russians did not leave until December 1814.

1814/15 The Duchy Lauenburg came under Danish rule (the Danish King became Duke of Lauenburg).

1815 The "German League" (der Deutsche Bund) was established, Holstein part of it, but remaining under Danish rule (the King of Denmark was the Duke of Holstein. He represented Holstein in the German National Assemblies. He was also the Duke of Schleswig, but Schleswig was not part of the "German League").

1815 - 1848 Nationalistic and patriotic activities on both sides of the Eider-River, mainly about the status of Schleswig, which was the focus of interest of Germans and Danes likewise.

1848 The Danish King granted the Duchy Holstein the right of a constitution of its own, and, under strong patriotic and nationalist influence, decided that the Duchy Schleswig should have a constitution that was valid for the whole Danish Kingdom, with Schleswig part of it. That would have eased the long-standing union of the two duchies apart, by way of political and administrative means. The duchies installed a provisional government of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, under the German flag and under the colors of hope for a united German Schleswig-Holstein: the new flag in blue, white, and red.

1848 - 1851 Uprise and war against Denmark. Schleswig-Holsteiners fought along with many volunteers of all Germany, and a very strong Prussian contingent. Denmark came out victorious at the end. Many casualties on both sides.

1852 - 1864 Denmark forced the Danish language upon large parts of Schleswig, to be spoken in schools, at court, and in church (in turns with services in German). Dismissal of pro-German officers from the army, of pastors and teachers, of functionaries in public office. Many Schleswig-Holsteiners opted for emigration under those oppressive circumstances, hoping to find in America or Australia what they could not find here.

1863 Prussian and Austrian troops marched into Holstein to secure German interests.

1864 Denmark imposed the all-Danish constitution upon the Duchy Schleswig. Conflicting views about the rightful succession for the office of the Duke of Schleswig. Prussian and Austrian troops fought the war with the duchies, driving the Danish army out of Schleswig-Holstein. With the Treaty of Peace of Vienna, the Danish Kingdom renounced all claims and rights in the duchies Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg. The people of Schleswig were given the option of choosing Danish citizenship within the following six years. Many made use of that offer to avoid military service under Prussian conditions. They became Danish subjects living in Prussia, without political rights.

1864 - 1866 Holstein under Austrian administration, Schleswig and Lauenburg under Prussian.

1866 Prussian - Austrian War about dominance in the German League. Austria defeated. All three duchies under Prussian administration. Universal conscription was introduced, a three years term of service became compulsory for everyone.

1867 Schleswig-Holstein-Lauenburg (the latter officially in 1876) were integrated into the Kingdom Prussia. The duchies were ruled from Berlin. The Schleswig-Holsteiners became "Must-be-Prussians". The dream of a state of their own was over. A rise in the number of emigrations ensued.

1870 - 1871 Germany (Prussia, rather) at war with France.

1871 Establishment, foundation of the "German Reich" (das Deutsche Reich). The duchies, now called "Regierungsbezirk Schleswig", as a Prussian province, being part of it.

1914 - 1918 World War One, Germany defeated. Denmark remained neutral.

1919 Treaty of Peace of Versailles. It was decided that the northern German border in Schleswig should be redrawn, taking into account the will of the people, to be expressed in a referendum, with the choice of Danish or German citizenship.

Denmark today

1920 The new border between Germany and Denmark was drawn as it still exists today. There remained, however, Danish minorities living this side of the line, as well as German minorities in Denmark, each with the privilege of the use of their language and the cultivation of their national heritage.