Editing Flag of Denmark (section)

== History ==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2019}}

=== 1219 origin legend ===
[[File:Danmarks flag 1219 Lorentzen.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Dannebrog falling from the sky during the [[Battle of Lyndanisse|Battle of Lindanise]], 15 June 1219. Painted by [[Christian August Lorentzen]] in 1809. Original located at {{lang|da|[[Statens Museum for Kunst]]|italic=no}}, Denmark.]]
[[File:Danish flag info sign.jpg|thumb|left|Information sign at Guinness World Records Copenhagen]]
A tradition recorded in the 16th century traces the origin of the flag to the campaigns of [[Valdemar II of Denmark]] (r. 1202&ndash;1241). The oldest of them is in [[Christiern Pedersen]]'s ''Danske Krønike'', which is a sequel to [[Saxo Grammaticus]]'s {{Lang|la|[[Gesta Danorum]]}}, which was written in 1520 to 1523. Here, the flag falls from the sky during one of Valdemar's military campaigns overseas. Pedersen also states that the very same flag was taken into exile by [[Eric of Pomerania]] in 1440.

The second source is the writing of the [[Franciscan]] friar [[Petrus Olai]] (Peder Olsen) of [[Roskilde]] (died {{Circa|1570}}). This record describes a battle in 1208 near [[Viljandi|Fellin]] during the [[Livonian Crusade|Estonia campaign]] of King [[Valdemar II]]. The Danes were all but defeated when a lamb-skin banner depicting a white cross fell from the sky and miraculously led to a Danish victory. In a third account, also by Petrus Olai,{{dubious|date=July 2016}} in ''Danmarks Tolv Herligheder'' ("Twelve Splendours of Denmark"), in splendour number nine, the same story is retold almost verbatim, with a paragraph inserted correcting the year to 1219.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}<!--the existence of such a work cannot be substantiated except for mentions in passing in exactly this context (Dannebrog). Also, if it exists, it is not clear that "Peder Olsen" is the same Peder as the Petrus Olai of Roskild--> Now, the flag is falling from the sky in the [[Battle of Lyndanisse|Battle of Lindanise]], also known as the Battle of Valdemar (Danish: ''Volmerslaget''), near [[Lindanise]] (Tallinn) in [[Estonia]], of 15 June 1219.

It is this third account that has been the most influential, and some historians{{Who|date=April 2010}} have treated it as the primary account taken from a (lost) source dating to the first half of the 15th century.

In Olai's account, the battle was going badly, and defeat seemed imminent. However the Danish bishop, [[Anders Sunesen]], was on top of a hill overlooking the battle and prayed to God with his arms raised. The Danes moved closer to victory as prayed. When he raised his arms, the Danes surged forward, but when his arms grew tired, and he let them fall, the Estonians turned the Danes back. Attendants rushed forward to raise his arms once again, and the Danes again surged forward, but for a second time he grew so tired that he dropped his arms, and the Danes again lost the advantage and became closer to defeat. He needed two soldiers to keep his hands up (a story almost identical to the battle described in Exodus 17:11-12). When the Danes were about to lose, the ''Dannebrog'' miraculously fell from the sky. The King took it and showed it to the troops, their hearts were filled with courage, and the Danes won the battle.

The possible historical nucleus behind this origin legend was extensively discussed by Danish historians in the 19th to 20th centuries. One such example is [[Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen]], who argued that [[Theoderich, Bishop of Estonia|Bishop Theoderich]] was the original instigator of the 1218 inquiry from Bishop [[Albert of Buxhoeveden]] to King [[Valdemar II of Denmark|Valdemar II]] which led to the Danish participation in the Baltic crusades. Jørgensen speculates that Bishop Theoderich might have carried the Knight Hospitaller's banner in the 1219 battle and that "the enemy thought this was the King's symbol and mistakenly stormed Bishop Theoderich tent. He claims that the origin of the legend of the falling flag comes from this confusion in the battle".<ref name="Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen 1875"/>

The Danish church-historian L. P. Fabricius (1934)<ref>L. P. Fabricius ''Sagnet om Dannebrog og de ældste Forbindelser med Estland'' (1934)</ref> ascribes the origin to the 1208 Battle of Fellin, not the [[Battle of Lyndanisse|Battle of Lindanise]] in 1219, based on the earliest source available about the story. Fabricius speculated that it might have been Archbishop [[Andreas Sunesøn]]'s personal ecclesiastical banner or perhaps even the flag of Archbishop [[Absalon]] under whose initiative and supervision several smaller crusades had already been conducted in Estonia. The banner would then already be known in Estonia. Fabricius repeats Jørgensen's idea about the flag being planted in front of Bishop Theodorik's tent, which the enemy mistakenly attacked believing it to be the tent of the King.

A different theory is briefly discussed by Fabricius and elaborated more by Helge Bruhn (1949). Bruhn interprets the story in the context of the widespread tradition of the miraculous appearance of crosses in the sky in Christian legend, specifically comparing such an event attributed to a battle of 10 September 1217 near [[Alcácer do Sal|Alcazar]] in which it is said that a golden cross on white appeared in the sky and brought victory to the Christians.<ref name="Bruhn1949">{{cite book|author=Helge Bruhn|title=Dannebrog: og danske faner gennem tiderne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIXUAAAAMAAJ|year=1949|publisher=Jespersen og Pio|pages=17–}}</ref>

In Swedish national historiography of the 18th century, there is a tale paralleling the Danish legend, in which 
a golden cross appears in the blue sky during a Swedish battle in Finland in 1157.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flag of Scania - ENG Part 1 |url=https://www.skaneflaggan.nu/04_flaggskriften/flageng/index.html |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=www.skaneflaggan.nu}}</ref>

=== Middle Ages ===
[[File:Gelre Folio 55v.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Gelre Armorial]] (fol. 55v), the entry for the king of Denmark showing the white-on-red cross banner]]
The white-on-red cross emblem originates in the age of the [[Crusade]]s. In the 12th century, it was also used as [[Reichssturmfahne|war flag]] by the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

In the ''[[Gelre Armorial]]'', dated {{circa}} 1340–1370, such a banner is shown alongside the [[coat of arms of Denmark|coat of arms]] of the [[king of Denmark]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flaggenlexikon.de/fdaen.htm |title=National Flagge des Königreich Dänemark|access-date=2005-02-14 |author=Volker Preuß|language=de}}</ref> This is the earliest known undisputed colour rendering of the Dannebrog. About the same time, [[Valdemar IV of Denmark]] displays a cross in his coat of arms on his ''Danælog'' seal (''Rettertingsseglet'', dated 1356). The image from the Armorial Gelre is nearly identical to an image found in a 15th-century coat of arms book now located in the [[National Archives of Sweden]] (''Riksarkivet''). The seal of [[Eric of Pomerania]] (1398) as king of the [[Kalmar Union]] displays the arms of Denmark's chief dexter, three lions. In this version, the lions hold a Dannebrog banner.

<gallery class="center">
File:War flag of the Holy Roman Empire (1200-1350).svg|Reichssturmfahne of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]
File:Royal Banner of Denmark (14th Century).svg|[[File:FIAV historical.svg|23px]]The royal banner of the kings of Denmark based on the royal coat of arms
File:Erikafpommernsdanskeunionssegl.jpg|Seal of [[Eric of Pomerania]] as king of the [[Kalmar union]], 1398. A small Dannebrog banner is depicted as held by the three Danish lions in the top-left corner.
</gallery>

The reason that the kings of Denmark in the 14th century began displaying the cross banner in their coats of arms is unknown. Caspar Paludan-Müller (1873) suggested that it may reflect a banner sent by the pope to support the king during the [[Livonian Crusade]].<ref>

Caspar Paludan-Müller ''Sagnet om den himmelfaldne Danebrogsfane'' (1873)</ref> [[Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen]] (1875) identifies the banner as that of the [[Flag of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta|Knights Hospitaller]], an order that had a presence in Denmark from the later 12th century.<ref name="Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen 1875">Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen, ''Danebroges Oprindelse'' (1875)</ref>

Several coins, seals and images exist, both foreign and domestic, from the 13th to the 15th centuries and even earlier and show similar heraldic designs similar, alongside the [[Coat of Arms of Denmark|royal coat of arms]] (three blue lions on a golden shield.)

[[File:Saxo Chr P front version 002.png|thumb|upright|The Danish flag from the front page of [[Christiern Pedersen]]'s version of [[Saxo Grammaticus]]'s {{Lang|la|[[Gesta Danorum]]}}, 1514 (see [[:File:Saxo Chr P front version 001.jpg|here]] for a larger version)]]

There is a record suggesting that the Danish Army had a "chief banner" (''hoffuitbanner'') in the early 16th century. Such a banner is mentioned in 1570 by Niels Hemmingsøn in the context of a 1520 battle between Danes and Swedes near [[Uppsala]] as nearly captured by the Swedes but saved by the heroic actions of the banner-carrier [[Mogens Gyldenstierne]] and [[Peder Skram]]. The legend attributing the [[#1219 origin legend|miraculous origin]] of the flag to the campaigns of [[Valdemar II of Denmark]] (r. 1202-1241) was recorded by [[Christiern Pedersen]] and [[Petrus Olai]] in the 1520s.

[[Hans Svaning]]'s ''History of King Hans'' from 1558 to 1559 and [[Johan Rantzau]]'s ''History about the Last [[Dithmarschen]] War'', from 1569, record the further fate of the Danish ''hoffuitbanner'': According to the tradition, the original flag from the Battle of Lindanise was used in the small campaign of 1500, when [[John, King of Denmark|King Hans]] tried to conquer [[Dithmarschen]] (in western [[Holstein]] in northern [[Germany]]). The flag was lost in a devastating defeat at the [[Battle of Hemmingstedt]], on 17 February 1500. In 1559, King [[Frederick II of Denmark|Frederik II]] recaptured it during his own [[Dithmarschen]] campaign.

In 1576, the son of Johan Rantzau, [[Henrik Rantzau]], also writes about the war and the fate of the flag, noting that the flag was in a poor condition when returned. He records that the flag after its return to Denmark was placed in the cathedral in [[City of Schleswig|Slesvig]]. Slesvig historian [[Ulrik Petersen]] (1656–1735) confirms the presence of such a banner in the cathedral in the early 17th century and records that it had crumbled away by about 1660.

Contemporary records describing the battle of Hemmingstedt make no reference to the loss of the original Dannebrog, although the capitulation state that all Danish banners lost in 1500 was to be returned. In a letter dated 22 February 1500 to [[Oluf Stigsøn]], King John describes the battle but does not mention the loss of an important flag. In fact, the entire letter gives the impression that the lost battle was of limited importance. In 1598, [[Neocorus]] wrote that the banner captured in 1500 was brought to the church in [[Wöhrden]] and hung there for the next 59 years until it was returned to the Danes as part of the peace settlement in 1559.

===Modern period ===
[[File:Otto Bache - Soldaternes hjemkomst til København i 1849.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Danish soldiers return to Copenhagen after the [[Battle of Fredericia]] (1849), a Danish victory against German insurgents in [[Duchy of Holstein|Holstein]] and [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]] in the [[First Schleswig War]] (1894 painting by [[Otto Bache]])]]
[[File:Danish West Indies, from Flags of All Nations, Series 2 (N10) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands MET DP841370.jpg|thumb|[[Cigarette card]] of 1890, depicting the [[royal standard]] of the [[Danish West Indies]]]]

Used as a maritime flag since the 16th century, the Dannebrog was introduced as a regimental flag in the Danish army in 1785, and for the militia (landeværn) in 1801. From 1842, it was used as the flag of the entire army.<ref name=Achen108>Sven Tito Achen, '' Heraldikkens femten glæder'' (1978), p. 108f.</ref>

During the first half of the 19th century, in parallel to the development of [[Romantic nationalism]] in other European countries, the military flag increasingly came to be seen as representing the nation itself. Poems of the period invoking the ''Dannebrog'' were written by B.S. Ingemann, N.F.S. Grundtvig, Oehlenschläger, Chr. Winther and H.C. Andersen.<ref name=Achen108/> By the 1830s, the military flag had become popular as an unofficial national flag, and its use by private citizens was outlawed in a circular enacted on 7 January 1834.

In the national enthusiasm sparked by the [[First Schleswig War]] from 1848 to 1850, the flag was still very widely displayed, and the prohibition of private use was repealed in a regulation of 7 July 1854 that for the first time allowed Danish citizens to display the Dannebrog (but not the swallow-tailed ''Splitflag'' variant.<ref>''[https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=58409 Cirkulærer om ophævelse af forbuddet mod flagning i kanceli cirkulære af 7. januar 1834]'' (retsinformation.dk)</ref> Special permission to use the ''Splitflag'' was given to individual institutions and private companies, especially after 1870.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} In 1886, the war ministry introduced a regulation indicating that the flag should be flown from military buildings on thirteen specified days, including royal birthdays, the date of the signing of the Constitution of 5 June 1849 and days of remembrance for military battles. In 1913, the naval ministry issued its own list of flag days. On 10 April 1915, the hoisting of any other flag on Danish soil was prohibited.<ref>''International Law Studies'', Naval War College (U.S.), 1918, [https://books.google.com/books?id=trmPvyYVRhgC&pg=PA83 p. 83].</ref> The prohibition was lifted on 24 June 2023, after a Supreme Court ruling.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-23 |title=Fra på lørdag er der fri bane til at flage med andre nationers flag i Danmark (From Saturday it's allowed to hoist other nations' flags in Denmark) |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/seneste/paa-loerdag-er-der-fri-bane-til-flage-med-andre-nationers-flag-i-danmark |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=DR |language=da-DK}}</ref> From 1939 to 2012, the yearbook ''Hvem-Hvad-Hvor'' included a list of flag days. As of 2019, flag days can be viewed at the [https://www.justitsministeriet.dk/temaer/flagning/flagdage/ "Ministry of Justice (Justitsministeriet)"] as well as [http://www.danmarks-samfundet.dk "The Denmark Society (Danmarks-Samfundet)"].