FLAG OF FRANCE

The 'national flag of France' (known in French as ''drapeau tricolore'', ''drapeau bleu-blanc-rouge'', ''drapeau français'', rarely, ''le tricolore'' and, in military parlance, ''les couleurs'') is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red.
It is known to English speakers as the 'French tricolour' or the '''tricolore'''.

Contents

Design

History

See also

External links

Design

The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, which replaced a darker version of the flag, are

Scheme	Blue	White	Red
Pantone	Reflex Blue	Safe	Red 032
CMYK	100.70.0.50	0.0.0.0	0.90.86.0

Currently the flag is 55% longer than its width (i.e. in the proportion 2:3) and, except in the navy, has stripes of equal width. Initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30 (blue), 33 (white) and 37 (red). The theory behind this was that if they were equal then the white stripe, being brighter, would appear disproportionately wider to the human eye. Under Napoleon I, the proportions were changed to make the stripes' width equal, but by a regulation dated 17 May 1853, the navy went back to using the 30:33:37 proportions, which it continues to use.

History

The French national flag, the tricolore, consists of three vertical bands of equal width, displaying the national colours of France: blue, white and red. The blue band is nearest the flag-staff, the white in the middle, and the red on the outside. The flag-staff is surmounted by a fer-de-lance (lancehead) and on all military flags appears the motto: République Française: Honneur et Patrie (French Republic: Honour and Country).
During the early Middle Ages, the oriflamme, the flag of Saint-Denis, was used - red, with two, three or five spikes. Originally, it was the personal flag of Charlemagne, given to him by the Pope in the ninth century. Over the time, it became the royal banner under the Carolingians and the Capetians. It was stored in Saint-Denis abbey, where it was taken when war broke out. French kings went forth into battle preceded either by Saint Martin’s red cape, which was supposed to protect the monarch, or by the red banner of Saint Denis.
The three colours first appeared together tied as ribbons, on the pontifical banner that Pope Leo III offered to Emperor Charlemagne in 796, the blue being the colour of the Church, the white that of virgins, and the red homage paid to Christian martyrs.
Later during the Middle Ages, these colours came to be associated with the reigning house of France. In 1328, the coat-of-arms of the House of Valois was blue with gold fleurs-de-lis bordered in red. From this time on, the kings of France were represented in vignettes and manuscripts wearing a red gown under a blue coat decorated with gold fleurs-de-lis. It should be noted that, in liturgical symbolism, gold is the equivalent of white. Many other examples could be given of the association of the three colours - blue, white and red - with the French kings and their households.
After the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the flag - with its revolutionary connotations - was replaced by the royal white standard with fleur-de-lis which had been in use before the Revolution. However, following the July Revolution of 1830, the new "Citizen-King," Louis-Philippe, restored the tricolour.
The tricolour remained the national flag under the Second Republic and Second Empire. Following the overthrow of Napoleon III, voters elected a royalist majority to the National Assembly of the new Third Republic. This parliament then offered the throne to the Bourbon pretender, Henri, comte de Chambord. However, he insisted that he would accept the throne on the condition that the tricolour be replaced by the white fleur-de-lis flag. As the tricolour had become a cherished national symbol, this proved impossible to accommodate. Plans to restore the monarchy were ultimately dropped, and France has remained a republic, with the tricolour flag, ever since.

See also

★ French ensigns

★ French colonial flags

★ Marianne

External links

★

★ Cyber-flag (french site)


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