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Welsh separatists and independentists flags

Cymru

Welsh Tricolour
- variant
White Eagle of Wales flag
Other separatist flags

Welsh Tricolour

located by Dafydd Young

This webpage records "the Welsh Tricolour ("Cymru Rhydd") Diolch yn Fawr to Rhys Gethin II. The Black Star represents unity and remembrance for all who have died fighting for Cymru (Wales). I have often seen the tricolour, but never as an actual flying flag, only as pictures.

Dafydd Young, 29 July 2002

Variant tricolour flag

Leighton Smart

A horizontal tricolour has apparently been used by various groups over the years as a Welsh republican tricolour.

Leighton Smart, 11 February 2003

I believe that the flag always bears a black star in the white stripe and I only know of the vertical version. The horizontal version could be confused with the Bulgarian flag (only changing the order of red and green) and I assume it is less used, at least without a star.

Jaume Ollé, 17 February 2003

I have never seen the 'Welsh tricolour' flag used on your website. The original Welsh tricolour which is occasionally used consists of a blue top, a white middle and a green bottom with the word Cyfiawnder (justice) on the white.

Muiris Mag Ualghairg, 18 April 2003

I have never seen these red, green, white flags with or without a black star - perhaps they are common in the north?

David Barry Lawrence,7 March 2004

White Eagle of Wales flag

located by Dafydd Young

This rune-like white-on-black flag apparently is described as the "white eagle of Wales". It is also referred to as Eryr Gwyn. I have never seen this symbol in use, not even alongside the Nationalist slogans that grace walls in Wales. Maybe it had something to do with the Free Wales Army? It appears on the image at this site as well as on the uniform of the 'soldier'.

Dafydd Young, 29 July 2002

The white runic symbol on the black background, is indeed a representation of the Snowdonian Eagle, and was I believe worn on the uniforms of volunteers in the Free Wales Army.

Philip R. Williams, 19 September 2002

The White Eagle of Snowdonia flag was used by units of the Free Wales Army in the 1960's in Wales, as well as other republican groups into the 1990's.
Throughout the '60's and '70's it was widespread across Wales in the form of slogans painted on walls etc, and can still be seen in places.

Leighton Smart, 6 February 2003

The white eagle flag was indeed used by the Free Wales Army (in Welsh Byddin Rhyddin Cymru) however its background was red not black (when the background was used). The symbol is a heraldic symbol for an eagle and represents the eagles of Snowdonia which legend says will defend Wales.

Muiris Mag Ualghairg, 18 April 2003

The white eagle flag is still paraded around by groups like MRC and others hanging on the coattails of the defunct Free Wales Army who also scrawl the badge on walls occasionally, sometimes in its older and more elaborate form which has "feet" and a "tail" and looks like the x commonly used in maths struck through by an archaic s - the one like a long f . One site that I browsed earlier has pictures of one of these neo-fascist rallies displaying all the flags that they can think of, the colour party are dressed in red shirts with black berries with the white eagle symbol on a circular red badge. to search for such material, try entering "Cilmeri" into a search
engine, they have annual rallies there.

David Barry Lawrence, 7 March 2004

Other separatist flags

located by Dafydd Young

Other flags of unknown significance (and poorer quality) are shown on this website. These include a quartered red on gold/gold on red rampant lion (Owen Glyndwr's flag?) and a red dragon on black with illegible text below it.

Dafydd Young, 29 July 2002

The Lion on Gold and Red, is the Banner of Owain Glyndwr, as born on his shield.

Philip R. Williams, 19 September 2002

The flag which is referred to as the 'Owen Glyndwr flag' is actually the the Prince of Wales flag and was used by Glyndwr as he claimed to be the true prince of Wales. This armorial bearing is now used by the modern 'prince of Wales' as his emblem in Wales.

Muiris Mag Ualghairg, 18 April 2003

The black flag with the red dragon is the banner of Cymru 1400 (The Welsh Republican Movement).

"Moz", 17 November 2003

The quartered and counterchanged flag was not Glyndwr's personal blazon (Glyndwr had been Arundel's squire in the Scottish campaigns and refused to pay the money demanded of him to furnish his knighthood - so I presume him to not be possessed of a personal coat of arms). These arms are the badge of office of the "twysog cymru" - the elective office of "chief judge of Wales", usually selected from somebody descended from noble parentage who must be qualified to interpret the complex legal system created by Hwyel Dda in the 9th century whose system of inheritance prevented the accumulation of undue wealth and influence and which essentially condemned the rule of the English feudal lords and rejected the idea that noblemen stood outside of the law - the issue with Lord Grey that triggered the war, when Glyndwr found that the king chose to back wealth and privilege instead of upholding Glyndwr's legal rights. It deeply annoys a fair number of people to see Prince Charles being styled "Twysog" as if the office could be bestowed by the crown (or inherited - people claiming to be the "true" twysog cymru are equally annoying). It offended 13th century Welshmen when the Llewelyns tried to "modernise" Wales by feudalising the office to keep it in their family. Prior to Glyndwr, the previous elective twysog was Owain Llawgoch who was assassinated in France as he tried to assemble an invasion to attack England on the British mainland as an ally of the French king, and he was bearing this coat of arms in the wars there whilst Glyndwr fought in Scotland.

The banner that Glyndwr is reported to have carried into battle was the Golden Dragon (on a white field I think) i.e. Glyndwr was filling both the role of twysog and "dwg"(war-leader) - the dragons were battle flags in Wales, being derived from the Roman Cavalry's standards (not the infantry cohorts) which had originally been foreign mercenaries from somewhere in what is now Turkic Asia, peoples who lived in the saddle and are reputed to have worshipped swords that they stuck point first into the ground and prayed before, as Christians later prayed on the hilts of their swords. Their banners were as described by another contributor, a sort of windsock attached to a mask on a pole that depicted a dragon's head (see pictures of Ishtar Gate from Babylon to see what their dragons looked like). Emrys is the dwg who reputedly made this the emblem of the Brythonic armies in the 5th century - long before "king" Arthur / Arddhir?="long-bear", pendragon / penddraig = "head of the dragon". In the absence of any monolithic Welsh states due to the triple-codex legal system, it is unlikely that anybody conceived of there being any kind of national flag or emblem involving the golden dragon - it was only unfurled in a time of war, and was probably regarded with deep apprehension as a magical talisman - possessed of the power to start wars if openly displayed, and closely guarded for everyone's safety. It may well have been feared as demonic by Christianised Brythons. There is mention in early sources of the Brythons' use of crosses in battles, but nobody is sure what the sources mean. As the last remnant of Christian civilisation in the north west of Europe, attacked by pagan Gaels, Saxons and Picts, the most probable unifying symbol that could create a sense of national identity on a flag would be a cross - but they might have carried holy relics into battle in reliquaries, i.e. bits of martyrs' crosses.

David Barry Lawrence, 7 March 2004

This flag (4 lions rampant on red and gold) has become extremely popular in Wales recently, particularly in North Wales. Last summer it was widely flown in Harlech and in Pwllheli, both towns in the Gwynedd heartland of Welsh-speaking Wales. Currently a number are being flown together with Red Dragon flags in Mold in Flintshire to celebrate the forthcoming town carnival. This is interesting since Mold is only 10 miles from the English border and is predominantly English- speaking. Last year the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff tried to ban football supporters from displaying this flag and the St. David's Cross at Wales' international matches on the grounds they were political. They relented after a angry deluge of letters to the Western Mail.
David Griffiths, 16 July 2004