Evening star., 1929-06-09
The original Star Spnngled Bonner"

heraldic import, having q personal relation to
some leader or his house
In the dawn Of the age of chivalry, long be-
fore william Of Normandy, In 1866 sailed across
the British Channel, smote the SaxOns hip
and thigh, and conquered England, was the
custom of both knights and their retaineTs to
wear IN the field extending from neck to knee,
over their armor, a garment called q sarcOat,
or jacque. Upon this jacque, both ON breast
and back were emblazoned the knights armOr-
ial bearings q conventionalized design desCrip-
tive of his lineage. Thus the knight,
otherwise fully masked by his poundage Of
steel. identified; and thus were his followers
distinguished, as soldiers of the present day
by their uniform.
During the Crusades the warriors of many
nations were banded together in a common
cause, and the need therefore arose for a dis
tinetive badge of broader significance than
fealty to some one leader. badge that should
show allegiance to a whole nation. What more
natural than chat each nation should select,
as its token, some particular form and
color of the cross upon which the Savior suf-
fered, or the Christian martyr expired since
they were engaged in the enterprise Of Tescu-
ing the Holy Sepulcher from the infidel? As
wearers Of the sign of the cross inscribed
surcoat and shield. and exempfhed in the Ililts
Of their swords, the warriors bscame known as
Crusaders" or cross-bearers. and the mission
in which they were enlisted became known
the Crusade
The English crusader showed as his distinc-
tive emblem the red cross of st. George, a cross
of Greek design. The cross chosen by the
French crusader was also red that of the men
of Flanders was green; the German was
black, and that of Italy was yellow.
A S far back as the end of the fifteenth
century the seamen of the Cinque Ports
Give seaportsl Hastings, Sandwich, Hythe.
Romney, Dover; also later, Winchelsea and
Rye-on the east coast Of England from among
which seamen the English marine forces were
up to that time largely recruited. wore white
SurcOat bearing the red cross of ST. George and
in transferring troops across the Channel in
the incessant wars between Britain and the
continent, it is said that it grew to be custom
to display above the ships bulwarks one of
these sureoats or jacques, upon a spear or
staff, as a token to proclaim the nationality of
the vOyagers.
In time the jacque gave way, possibly in
spirit OF ecopomy or as being more easily
handled to a. piece of cloth flag carrying the
flaming cross, and the name Of "Jacque" or
Jack" was transferred to the flag The staff
on which it was raised was then called Jack
staff This white flag bearing the emblem Of
the cross of. St.. George composed of two bars,
the one perpendicular. the other crossing 1t
transversally. became in time the English ma
tiOnal flag or jack.
MS Is Ofe version OF LnS genesis Oh the
union jack. According to another. the term
jack was derived from the name of James I,
King of both England and Scotland, who
dered, by proclamation the union of the flags,
and who always signed his name Jacques
The red cross of St. George flew at John
Cabot's masthead he discovered the Amer
ican continent in 1897; it also the flag flown
by Capt. John Smith at jamestown, Va, in
1907; and was. carried in the Mayfower to
Plymouth, Mass. IN 1920.
When the jack of Scotland, blue flag bear
ing the white Saltir stirrup-shaped, diagonal
barred cross of St Andrew and the Irish jack,
a white flag with the red saltir cross known
the cross, of St Patrick (although St Patrick
never had crossl, were combined with the
English jack, as they are in the British flag to-
day, and have been since 1901, the coalition be-
came known as the union jack Of Great Britain
and Ireland and the part of ths national col
OFs occupied by. it is called the union. There
are two points sT-et this flag that are of spe-