Is the Danish Flag the Oldest in the World?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2023
- The Danish flag or Dannebrog is the oldest continuously used flag in the world. Its origin is shrouded in legend and worth investigating!
Music Used:
Errigal - Kevin MacLeod
Teller of Tales - Kevin MacLeod
Galway - Kevin MacLeod
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
Send me an email if you'd be interested in doing a collaboration! historywithhilbert@gmail.com
#denmark #dansk #flags
![Natti Natasha - Quiéreme Menos [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/R57RrTjRGxk/mqdefault.jpg)
The origin story of Dannebrog is no myth, which can easily be established by pointing out that only the almighty creator himself could have designed such a beautiful flag.
real
Odin is a man of rare talent, for sure.
@@jamescooper-hope6930 All G_ds are great.
True
I bow to your logic.
Fun fact: the Danish cognate of 'borough', 'borg' still means "fortress" to this day.
I believe the English borough/burgh is occasionally used like that as well. I know for a fact burg/burcht in Dutch still carries the meaning of fortress and I think German's cognate does so as well.
And there's me thinking 'borough' was an English word originating from 'burh', a fortified town?
Hmm in German Burg means castle, but a ton of cities are called something-burg (Hamburg, Regensburg, Augsburg, Würzburg, Salzburg, Strassburg, Luxemburg etc.) and citizen in German is called "Bürger" (which is actually where the French bourgeois is from). So there's definitely the second "meaning" of city for Burg.
Don't you mean "castle" instead of fortress? "Borg" refers to castles and castle towns, and "fort" in Danish means fortress.
And in german, it’s Burg
The Norweigen flag is the product of the Norwegian flag being superimposed on the Dannebrog. The two countries share the same royal family and culturally are very closely linked.
@@kf10147 The Norwegian king was the brother of the Danish Christian 10. (26.9.1870-20.4.1947).
@@michaelmayo3127 yep you are right I got mixed up and thought they elected a swedish prince not a danish one. That's on me. Comment deleted
@@kf10147 OK, have a great day!!
they stole our oil, though.......
It's nice to hear people from outside the Nordic and Baltic region covering this story.
It's fairly well known here I think, but it's rare for foreigners to be aware of it.
It is not true. The Scottish flag is older than the Danish one, it is also still in use.
@@thevis5465
it may be the oldest
but not oldest continuously used
@@crazydinosaur8945 ...except it has been continuously used. There has never been a different flag used to represent Scotland in its 1200 years of existence.
Or are you referring to the fact that Scotland stopped being an independent country in 1707, which I guess could remove it from the running, but that doesn't change the fact that the flag still represents the the same area of the same name.
the earliest known use of the Scottish ST Andrews cross is 1285 and it appered as a flag in the 14th hundreds -there is myths before that but nothing have been found to confirm it @@thevis5465
Whether the legend of Dannebrog is true or not (unlikely!) Denmark actually celebrated Dannebrog's 800 year "birthday" on the 15th of June 2019. That date is also known as Valdemar's Day.
Scandinavian flags, like the Finnish..." I have no idea how many times I have to say this, but Finland isn't a Scandinavian country. Denmark, Sweden and Norway are. The rest are Nordic countries, but not Scandinavian.
Still, the myths surrounding the Dannebrog are interesting and certainly shows how much we humans love a good story. The rest of us definitely felt inspired by that flag though, that's for sure. Is it the oldest? Maybe, maybe not, but we'll probably never know for sure which one that is the oldest one. It is at least quite old, for sure. The historical facts of it sounds like it is for most flags. The Swedish flag, for example could be called a really young one, or old one, depending on how you look at it (one could argue for the years 1275, 1442 and 1906 and none of them would be completely wrong). The backgrounds of flags: definitely interesting.
Love a good history lesson on the Baltic States, very unknown is our history pre-Soviet occupation
frankly, just very unknown, period.
Especially with him explaining the underlying meaning of Tallinn being "Danish Fortress" I'm even more confused why they changed the name of the City from Reval to Tallinn, as Reval was the name of the city going back even to those battles he was talking about, no?
Danish Bishop - "Don't worry guys, I got this!
*fails*
God - "Ugh fine I guess I have to step in"
The fact that the flag hasn't changed is really a testament to the relative stability of Denmark thoughout the past 1000 years.
Stability? You're referring to the various confederations between Denmark and Sweden, Norway and Iceland? Not to mention the Schleswig-Holstein question?
He did say relative :)
@@rogink Yup! Check 12:31 for the symbols of Denmark (three lions), Sweden (three crowns) and Norway (lion with axe) together with some German stuff.
i bought the danish flag at a scandinavian store that used to be a swedesh colony
Hi from Estonia
Hi from America. I have a crush on 🥰 Kaja Kallas 🥰.
1:19 This topic deserves a video for itself. The Northern crusades are often overshadowed by its southern counterparts.
It's also funny that Lithuanians referred to Scandinavians as žuvėdai, which roughly translates to "fish eater" due their notorious eating and hygiene habits
Compatriot 852 --- " Scandinavians notorious eating ( BLAND ) habits " AMEN !!!
One point for Denmark, zero points for Norway.
so the danish flag is actually a holy relic
well the one that fell from the sky yes, but not the many thousands of copies we have made since, ther not holy relics just copies
4:03 - "...and just at that moment ...floating down from the sky was a magical banner..."
Danish rock band Shu-Bi-Dua put it this way: _"Der daler et banner. Gud ved hvor det lander?"_
(English: _"A banner is falling. God knows where it lands?")_
Whatever the exact story is, we get that someone important brought the bannner to the baltic crusade, and once the Danes were winning battles there, it came to be associated with them.
Hello Hilbert. This seemed very interesting. I reckon I would be flagging after climbing up that hill. Do not get cross, but the English flag is also a crusader symbol, so is this not also from this time period?
Maybe Frisians took part in the battle, holding up the flag of the archbishop of Utrecht?
Shield white Latin cross on red shield, flag is same tilted 90' to the left. Which is exactly the Danish one. Same conversion as the shield of Amsterdam to its flag. And many other cities. Shield is vertical, flag horizontal with 90' tilted to the left.
The flag floating down from the sky reminds me of Constantine the great.
When he dreamt about the cross and a voice saying "by this sign conquer"
thanks danes, you guys were the some of the best foreign rulers weve had, much better than the germans
Heavenly symbolism is probably as old as Christianity itself, hell, you could even extend it back to the oldest tales of human civilization in some way. The first thing I thought of when you mentioned the subject was Constantin and the story of the origin of the Chi Rho for example. Not necessarily falling from the sky, but a symbol arriving at a dire time to rally the troops. There's a reason why the ancient romans lugged around those sacred chickens after all!
That said, I always thought the specific legend around Dannebrog was somewhat compelling because you can imagine it realistically in a way. Perhaps not an actual banner, but think of looking into the sky on a cloudy day around sunset. The sky turns red and the clouds break the hue of the sun, perhaps forming a cross in the sky. Or at least a figure close enough for the nearest priest to point up and claim it as such I guess.
I also always come to think of the House of Savoy, or even other noble houses, many have had some version of red/white with a cross. How do you display your worship of god? You slap a contrasting cross on a cloth and either blow it in the wind or wear it of course! Similarly the English and the Genoese have had very similar looking flags. I guess we're limited by the colours that we know.
I've always thought of the story being real, to the extent. That It had to have been the banner of a lesser noble taking part in the battle, that had been dropped, and now flew in the wind. Like you said, there are many examples of banners or coat of arms that look the same, or at least extremely similar. Even today, I've seen a fair share of city coat of arms, all over Europe, that look like the Danish flag.
@@soul0360 Indeed. Wouldn't even have to be a noble house one should think, knightly and holy orders were obviously fond of the cross as well, so the likelyhood of one of them using the red/white combo seems likely :D
Hello from Denmark 🇩🇰
Nice video bro.
Going to the trelleborg viking festival tomorrow as a viking .
For the biggest vikinge festival in denmark.
That happens in a old fortress build back in viking times. ( can't remember the date ) but some that's amazing is that the fortress got 4 entries N.E.S.W. but they are with in millimeters of perfect N.E.S.W
really interesting, i knew a bit about this but not the full context
TLDR : Yes it is
what does TLDR mean?
@@jahqovich Be certain that it means "too long didn't read"
in any case there's several flags still in use that are older, but not national flags... the flag of the west flanders province in Belgium for example... goes back to the 7th century
Interesting you denote that other Nordic flags drew inspiration from the Danish flag, is it however also plausible that the Danes drew inspiration from the Teutonic banners?
Didn't you hear? It was given by God!
The Dannebrog fell from the sky under a big battle, where the 3 baltic lands ruled by Denmark. We got newgained power in the war against Estonia in Tallinn. Opponents to the Viking warriors was often scared by the brutal Danish way to fight
Japans flag is older but haven't been used constantly or in many years without any breaks..
Look today in any European countries.
Denmark are the most shown cross in the world.
Even USA says the love to the Dannebrog is second to none
In old pictures of naval conflict, it is impossible to distinguish between Danes and Knights of Malta (except by context).
as a dane, i know... when i was younger i was seeing artwork about the ottomans, i couldn't figure out, why and how we danes became involved in the conflikts down there, then i found out it was because we weren't involved. it was the knights
Didn’t hear it mentioned in the video, but the name of the Danish flag “Dannebrog”, translates to “Cloth of the Danes”.
Honi soit qui mal y pense.
That legend is more plausible than many others: Imagine one crusaders carrying this kind of banner to the holy crusade but then wind tears it loose and if lands next to the king.
I'm disappointed that you completed disregarded to mention the raven banner, a flag used commonly among various viking chieftains in Scandinavia.
Outstanding video
the coin you showed might be a coin minted to celebrate the kalmer union as you see the Norwegian lion on the cross, the Danish royal symbol in the top left, the swedish royal symbol in the top right and then i cant make out the two bottom parts, paired with the fact that the union started in 1397 and the coin is from 1398 makes it very possible that it was due to the formation of the Kalmer union
In Estonian "linn" means city and "linnus" is fortress
I took their cross, sawed off the leftward tip, burnt it (making it hollow, golden on black background or vice versa) and called it felt (as if someone made it fall aside from the vertical stationary position). And that's how I got my personal flag
Great video
Dannebrog undeniably bears a slight resemblance to a crusade banner.
In older pagan times, the danes used a raven banner with a bird depicted on it. The raven is of course an important bird in Norse mythology.
We have no other details preserved about the banner, no remains are preserved. We only know this: It was a banner with a raven on it.
and specifically to the teutonic order state that existed in the Baltics at that period
And of course we have to mention the flag of Skåneland, the Danish provinces now under Swedish rule, which may be one of the oldest provincial flags in the world. It is very similar to the Dannebrog, but with yellow in lieu of white on the cross.
fun fact: the old name of tallinn was kalõvan (kalev's). its named after a king who is pretty important in estonian and finnish mythology. toompea's old name was härjänpää (modern estonian: härjapea) which means oxhead, which is also related to pagan beliefs
Nice video althuogh right out of the gate a mistake. Finland is not part of Scandinavia.
so weird to know that you were in tallinn the same time I was there. Wish ya would have done a meetup there
It is debateble wether Tallinn really means "the Danish Fortress". Some argue it is a version of Talilinn, literally meaning Winter City, inhabited during the winter months when the stronghold of Iru became unteneble.
It's the oldest still in use
No it isn't that's the Scottish flag.
It could have been a banner they used to bundle up rocks with and fired it against the enemy, and during the flight the banner loosened and thereby dropped down on the battlefield.
A trebuchet needs ammunition that weighs the same for the rocks to hit the spot they were trying to hit. It doesn't take much imagination to speculate that they could have been running low on the right size of rocks, so they opted to use one of the many flags in the army. Now keep in mind they were Christian soldiers, so they would have had an abundance of Christian symbols to choose from, but luck would have it to be a red flag with a white cross on it..
I could tell before you said that Tallin comes from -lines, from am Indo-European route-word. Like the Roman Limes and the D=T transition
huh...The picture at 12:06...Kinda looks more like the estonian coat of arms...mostly because the heads are turned....But then again they are wearing crowns like the danish coat of arms ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Estonian flag episode? Yes please :)
Have you done a comparative study of the pre-Christian beliefs to evaluate any syncretism between the eastern and western Baltic cultures?
sending this to my danish friends RIGHT NOW
finland is not scandinavian. It is nordic.
while Finland was a swedish colony, wouldn't it be considered part of scandinavia
@@gawkthimm6030 but was term Scandinavian in wide use at that time? Also wouldn't that imply that Estonia and Latvia would have been deemed Scandinavian since both have been ruled by Denmark or Sweden?
@@P45K141N3N which is why I would argue that they are all "Scandinavian people" living in Nordic countries...
@gawkthimm6030 Scandinavia refers to the peninsula of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Although Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and even Greenland can be considered to have become "Scandinavianized" culturally due to their dominance amongst Nordic nations, there is more of a broad Nordic culture now that all those nations share. Scandinavian and Nordic have almost become synonymous, culturally speaking. But strictly geographically, only Denmark, Norway and Sweden are Scandinavian.
@@gawkthimm6030 and you would be simply wrong. Since Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are Baltic countries not Nordic. Also as a Finn I don't wish to be referred as "Scandinavian" because they are north Germanic peoples and we are Uralic people.
The story about the guy praying and winning. . . that's actually a riff on one from the Bible.
In fact this part is from the story of Moses. The cross in the sky trope is from Roman Emperor Constantine.
@@wawrzynieckorzen78 You nailed it. I just couldn't get the details on the fly since I haven't read Exodus since I was in the 7th grade.
"hey, if it worked in the bible" - archbishop Anders Sunesen probably
As an American who voted for Bernie Sanders, I'm envious of Denmark's current health care system. We Americans would do well to adopt Denmark's model for a social democracy minus the monarch figurehead.
We should adopt Finland's system for public education.
All politicians are corrupt. Giving them a blank check and unlimited power is a bad decision.
the danish health care system is sadly completely broken currently after years of politicians not listening to the warnings of doctors and other health care professionals. we are now ranked close to the bottom in europe. you are right about finland though.
@@reed3249 Your universal healthcare system in Denmark is still a million times better than what we have here in the USA. We have other problems here like it taking too long for Don the Con Trump to be locked up in prison...
@@reed3249 Is that true for all parts of healthcare? Was in the hospital about a year ago with a broken arm and some other minor things. Out of hospital a couple of hours later on a wheelchair. Of course one case is not a statistic.
@@Munchausenification not all parts of the Danish healthcare system no, there is just more pressures, so in some vulnerable areas those with more critical conditions gets pushed forward in the queue otherwise they might die, but too many are on too long waiting lists for minor problems that then can develop into more serious conditions. likewise our public psychiatric mental healthcare system is even more strained with years on the waiting lists. Many more middle-class people are using private-healthcare just to get ahead of the long waits in the public system
6:10 That this is obviously made, well after the Middle Ages ...as that sword guard, would never have been made by anyone from the time when medieval swords were used. It is pretty much unusable. If you removed the two things that go up towards the grip, from the guard, then the "sword" would look roughly like a real sword ...but with them, it's utterly preposterous.
I as danish i think our flag is beautiful, all though i must say the flag of Faroe Islands is beautiful as well.
My knowledge of the danes is from vinland saga thats about it.
very nice
Please visit Micahistory, it would mean a lot!
I have to correct you a little Linna means castle in finnish not fortress that would be Linnoitus or Linnake
I believe we Danes first got to own our flag some time after 1802 and 1807 during Napoleonic war, when Britain hit us very hard. It was considered a symbol for the Danish absolute monarch, and as normal citizen u was not allowed to use it. In desperate times, the absolute kingdom in decline gave the flag as a gift to the Danes so they could put in their gardens, on birthday cakes and on christmaes trees as we still do to day. In most other European countries u mostly see flag representing government building and like. I not say what is good or bad, but the origins of Danes craziness of Dannebrog comes from the national romantic period following Napoleon.
and after the Schleswig Wars. Especially after the Dano-Prussian War of 1864
Sorry but Finland is not part of Scandinavia. ;)
while Finland was a swedish colony, wouldn't it be considered part of scandinavia
@@gawkthimm6030 It is culturally scandinavian as finland (except language) is pretty much a second swedish state. It's a bit like Moldova with Romania where russians cut out a bit of the territory.
Finland is more scandinavian than it is nordic, as nordic refers to north germanic (which finnish speaking people are not). Geographically Finland is more Scandinavian than Denmark, as a small part of the peninsula is in Finland.
@@gawkthimm6030 Finland wasn't a colony, but her current territories were among the traditional lands of Sweden proper. This means, among other things, that conquered territories during Sweden's Great Power time (Stormaktstiden) in the 17th Century, had a different status internally.
American English doesn't usually bother differeating with concepts like Northern Europe or Scandinavia, they are the same in many respects. Of course, in British English, there's a clear distinction between concepts of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, whatever measuring stick we use, culture, language, history and so on.
@@gawkthimm6030 I see your point, but he specifically mentions the Finnish flag as a Scandinavian flag which it is not, especially the modern one. Scandinavia is Sweden Denmark and Norway. He could have said a Nordic (country) flag since the Nordic countries are those three plus Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Åland.
It's a minor gripe but it's just so common to see people conflate Scandinavia with the Nordic countries and it's a bit like saying England when talking about the UK, so just trying to provide a tidbit of education. 🙂
@@bennyklabarpan7002"A second swedish state"? Erm ok...
Nüüd tuleb siia iga eestlane ja taanlane. No tere kõigile!
hm, Switzerland, Savoy…
What actually happened is that Jörpa, an Estonian bog-washer accidentally dropped his wife's skirt linens out of the window and it floated into the midst of the Danes... oops.
Anyone else fascinated by how, erm, "superstitious" and dramatic many of these older stories are? It can't *just* be a righteous victory - it must be an omen from the Gods who are blessing the winning faction - it must be a legendary triumph of the century... I think this is an example of 'history is written by the victor", honestly. I find it oddly amusing how men sticking pikes through each other in bloodthirsty attrition is somehow woven into this angelic, romanticized tale. It reminds me of the United States revolutionary war too, did you know a Patriot beheaded and scalped a British soldier and this was censored by the first congress? honestly, the British did... what? they taxed the colonists. an egregious crime to be sure but to fashion the British [or in this case the opponents of the Livonian Order] as devils is ridiculous.
That it isn't a tradition for Danes to make a pilgrimage to Tallinn is a bit of a shame. Albeit we don't have a good history of being too well behaved on those shores, it seems.
Edit:: Look forward to the Frisian connection
Hardly surprising. I expect Danes are expected to feel guilty about marauding around Europe civilising the natives. Wokeness gone mad :)
@@rogink I suppose we are but at the same time - it's the English and the French mostly so, I mean, it's debatable how seriously we're gonna take it from those Imperial dogs lol. It's a bit of the 'Morality is good but double morality is better' sketch that is easily called out and ignored. In terms of wokeness gone mad - we're kinda guilty of giving the English language the third person plural; the 'they, them, their' - which I'm sure will see us take some share of the blame for the pronouns debacle..
@@roginkwe aren't
The title implies you were gonna challenge the idea that it was...not just agree with the consensus
Congratulations on another win Denmark!
its sound like you are saying dan bro insted of dannebrog
It can be argued that the Austrian flag is older due to it possibly being used as early as 1105. And to people who say that it wasn't used continuously: There was no Denmark during ww2 for example. Or the Kalmar Union. But there were these flags either used regionally or in exile (German occupation) or in other capacities.
Don't know enough about the Austrian flag to comment on that.
Denmark existed during WW2. The flag, "Dannebrog," remaining the officially symbol and flag of Denmark, and was used extensively during that period:
"During World War II, the Danish flag played an ambiguous role. The nation rallied against the occupying power and marked its unity with a sharp increase in the private flag. Never before - or since - did so many flagpoles shoot up all around. At the same time, the Danish Nazis in Frikorps Danmark used Dannebrog when they marched or propagandized with their posters. Dannebrog was taken as income for very different and opposing positions. After the liberation on 5 May 1945, however, Dannebrog again became a more unambiguous symbol, which gathered the nation in excitement and joy over the liberation, and which, in addition to national unity, signaled Danishness and democracy." - Autotranslated snip from 'danmarkshistorien . dk', Århus Univercity.
The Kalmar Union was a _union_. Dannebrog was still used during this period.
So Finland is using the Swiss flag?
Everyone knows it fell from the sky in 1219 in Estonia, duh
A Finnish speaking people with a Danish capital, that's strange😕
History is strange
I'd say the St. Oswald's Stripes flag of North England (AKA Brigantia / Northumbria) is the oldest continuously used flag. Originating from the reign of King Oswald of Northumbria in the first half of the 7th Century, and remaining a lesser known but still symbolic flag for the North to this day.
Yo
Mama
Hear me Odin
Derafsh Kaviani is the oldest flag
Isn't st. Andrews cross for scotland older ?
but its not continuously used. and throughout time tweaks have been made to it, a coat of arms add and removed here and there.
where's the danish, have been a national flag unaltered in that time
though i may be wrong i believe thats why its not considered the oldest
Is the Danish Flag the Oldest in the World? No, there are older flags, albeit they haven't been continuously used like the Danish flag, for example Saint Oswald's Banner, the old flag of Northumberland, and the regional flag of Northumbria is from the 7th century.
Scotland’s saltire is older than most flags as well, first used in 800/900’s by a force of Picts and Scot’s.
@@xConoooR1 It's older than the Danish flag and is still in use. this video is completley wrong.
@@thevis5465 have they been continuously used?
Yay!
#Rääveli
🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
This is also flag of the ukrainian region - Volyn'!)
Andy Austrian German he Austrian government Thomas. He been Scotland and England London Britain like him he welcome to Great Britain England London and Scotland. He born 1992 Andy Austrian German Western European he a friend to you Thomas. He powerful. Wish Britain was Like Austria Vienna Thomas yes.
😍
Crosses appearing in the heavens and guiding armies to victory seem to be a recurring theme. Kind of funny for a pacifist religion.
Christianity is not a pacifist religion. Never was.
The Scottish saltire dates back to 60AD
While I might agree that the Scottish flag is the oldest, it it isn't that old. The earliest record of the flag is from 832 CE.
I know it’s not currently in use as the flag of a sovereign state, but the Cross of St Andrew has been used as the flag of Scotland for longer.
ola
"...because of other archbi..."
Archbickering? Archbitches?
Holy shit dude you're good-looking
😂😂😂😮😂😂😂😂
🫀🌕🫀
I wonder how it will look like in 50, 100 years from now with the half crescent, it went through so many wars, yet the peace is what will end it.
Flame bait.
You should go outside and touch some grass. Get some fresh air. You'll feel better.
calm down, edgelord
If there are no men in Europe willing to defend their land, who are we to care what happens? We have our history written down. Let those who still believe in manhood have the land.
Dan-nə-brog, not Dann-brog.
And Valdemar is with a "hard d": Valdemar was a danification of Vladimir, which got into Danish through a royal marriage with a Slavic princess, who named her son that.
The history was a piece of religious propaganda; the - slaget ved Lyndanise led by Valdemar 2 - had to have its legend: And the Danneborg floating down from haven as a sign from the Lord to the Danish knights that victory was in reach, was deemed tobe a suitable sign for the occasion. In truth the pennon was carried by German Crusaders from 1194 and is the pennon of The Order of St. John the Baptist (Maltese Cross). However it's still the eldest continuous flag known. And the Dannebrog is deeply respected by the Danes: it's a flag that represent many human and democratic values!!
Oldest flag is the Iranian flag
This is false, the Scottish flag is the oldest flag in the world...
Continuously used
Get your history right
Denmark have the oldest flag
Scotlands was created earlier but wasn't used always
@@ludicrous5765 yes exactly
Denmark have always has the same flag since the day in Estonia
@@ludicrous5765 When wasn't it used?