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Portugal (1248-1835)

Last modified: 2014-06-29 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: quinas: 5 (16 plates) | quinas: 5 (7 plates) | quina: 7 plates | quina: 16 plates | castille bordure | castle (yellow) | royal standard | afonso 3 (portugal) |
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flag of 1248
image by António Martins, 1997
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Flag of 1248

King Afonso III added a border red charged with castles gold marking his marriage to Queen Beatriz, daughter of King Alfonso IX of Castille, whose arms are a castle gold on red. “Popular” heraldry attributes the castles to the definitive conquest and annexation of Moorish Algarve, after seven battles, but the Castille connection is much more probable, especially for the number of castles was fixed to seven only in 1640.
António Martins, 21 May 1997

The seals of the time show that the designs of the castles were much more crude than in this image, and changed with the time toward a better graphic rendition. The same applies to the flag of 1385.
Mario Fabretto, 22 May 1997

The seals of the time showed especially a lack of standardization. Those depicted in Livro das Horas de Dom Dinis, e.g., I’d certainly won’t call crude. Anyway, I chose to use the same castles as in the modern flag, for that detail is heraldically irrelevant (notice that often towers are used instead of true castles — this is yes a heraldry error).
António Martins, 22 May 1997


Standard of the king D. Alfonso III, duke of Bologna (XIIIth century)


image by António Martins, 1997

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