FLAG OF SARDINIA

The Flag of the four Moors, or simply the four Moors is the official flag of the autonomous region of Sardinia, and the historical flag and coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Described as a "white field with a red cross and a bandaged Moor's head facing away from the left (the edge close to the mast) in each quarter"

The flag is composed of the St. George Cross and four heads of Moors which in the past were not blindfolded but forehead bandaged and turned towards the left. The most accepted hypothesis is that the heads represented the heads of Moors princes defeated by the Aragonese, as for the first time they appeared in the 13th century seals of the Crown of Aragon, although with a beard and no bandage, contrary to the Moors of the Sardinian flag, that appeared for the first time in a manuscript of the second half of the 14th century.

The oldest certified emblem of the four Moors dates back to 1281: it was the seal of the Royal Chancellery of Peter of Aragon, but the four heads had no bandages and were bearded; the coat of arms of Sardinia never appeared in such a way. After that the kingdom of Sardinia was founded in 1326, it became part of the Crown of Aragon; these seals will come to closing documents of King James II (1326), Alfonso Benigno (1327-1336) and Peter I (1336-1387). Some specimens are preserved in the Historical Archive of the city of Cagliari. The late 14th century Gelre Armorial attributes the Four Moors to the Kingdom of Sardinia in the states of the Crown of Aragon. It is found in another Armorial perhaps from Lorraine area (preserved in the National Library of France) and of uncertain date but certainly in the 15th century.

The Four Moors begin to be used consistently as a symbol of the Kingdom of Sardinia during the time of the Catholic Monarchs, and especially from the time of the Emperor Charles V.

In Sardinia the first safe attestation of the coat of arms is on the cover of the Acts of the military arm of the Sardinian Parliament, the Capitols de Cort del Stament Militar de Serdenya printed in Cagliari in 1591.

Over the centuries the flag or coat of arms of the four Moors were depicted in various ways: without bandage, with blindfold or forehead, facing to luff or to fly end, or crowned, with no Moors, in reverse, and this according to the mode of the charged artist, such as that under the leadership of Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbaran represented in the Palacio del Buen Retiro in Madrid. Throughout the period of the Iberian monarchies the original design of the bandages on his forehead is respected.

Ever since the House of Savoy ruled Sardinia in the mid-18th century, the iconography of putting the blindfold over the eyes of the Moors settled and continued to persist until 1999, within the flag of St. George, in every quarter and in the direction of the luff. The Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Sardinia clearly leads the four Moors with the bandage on their foreheads. The blindfold appears in 1800: a probable mistake of a copyist or a deliberate "error" to protest against the Piedmont-rulers.

In 1952, the shield of the blindfolded eyes Four Moors became the official flag of the Autonomous Region and also adorned his banner (Decree of the President of the Republic of July 5, 1952). In 1999, a special regional law changed the flag of the Four Moors from the Kingdom of Sardinia-Savoy version to that original one as described in the introduction.

There are separate Spanish and Sardinian traditions to explain the origin of the flag and there is no consensus among scholars as to which is correct. According to the Spanish tradition, it was a creation of King Peter I of Aragon, celebrating his victory at the Battle of Alcoraz in 1096. It was said that St. George miraculously appeared on the field of battle and that there were four severed heads of Saracen kings at the end; thus the red cross and white background of the St George's Cross and the heads of four Moors. The Sardinian-Pisan tradition attributes the arms to a banner given by Pope Benedict VIII to the Pisans in aid of the Sardinians in a conflict with the Saracens of Musetto who were trying to conquer the Italian peninsula and Sardinia. This flag however has inverted colours and no heads on it.

According to some, the flag derives from Alcoraz victory of 1096, is linked to the Crown of Aragon, and represents the Spanish Reconquista against the Moors who occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula. It is composed of the cross of St. George, also a symbol of the Crusaders fighting in the same time in the Holy Land, and the four severed heads, representing four major victories in Spain by the Aragonese: the reconquest of Zaragoza, Valencia, Murcia, and the Balearic Islands.

However, the four Moors became the symbol of the Kingdom of Sardinia at its foundation, with the Corsican flag dating back to the same era, and became in time the flag of the island and its people. In any case, the meaning of the symbols, either two holy warriors or Moor heads cut off, makes it an emblem of warring Christianity, crusader in the broad sense of the term, originated in a historical period of bitter conflict between Islam and Christianity, in which Sardinia was fully involved.

Out of the many separatist parties active on the island, two of them (IRS and ProgReS) do not even recognize the flag as being representative of Sardinia and its people, due to its origin dating back to Aragonese rule. These parties prefer to use the eradicated tree flag, the coat of arms of the judge of Arborea,

considered the last autochthonous Sardinian state, as the national flag of the Sardinians. However, the eradicated tree is also the Aragonese emblem of Sobrarbe and, despite no in-depth studies, could also originate as part of the Aragonese conquest.

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SARDINIA

SARDINIA

ABOUT SARDINIA:

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus) and an autonomous region of Italy. It is located in the Western Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica.

The region's official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna (Autonomous Region of Sardinia), and its capital and largest city is Cagliari. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city. Its indigenous language and the other minority languages (Sassarese, Corsican Gallurese, Catalan Algherese and Ligurian Tabarchino) spoken by the Sardinians enjoy "equal dignity" with Italian under regional law.

CAPITAL OF SARDINIA:

Cagliari