The Flag of Our Fathers
Posted by a Contributor in January's MagazineEither through carelessness or oversight, the unique and historic emblem of Leith disappeared from use after the merger of Leith with the City of Edinburgh in 1920. Perhaps in the excitement of the moment no one sought to ensure that the emblem was saved for posterity. With all things of this nature, the ownership falls to the Crown, the current custodian of the flag. So why is it important to rescue this flag above all others and secure its rightful place flying proudly throughout Leith, and elsewhere in the city?
Well, put simply, it is a very old emblem indeed. The practice of flying flags signifying family crests or regional identity predated the crusades and was common practice in Flanders and Northern France. As early as 1058 Leith sought to adopt this insignia as its own. The flag they chose has an interesting depiction – there is a seated figure with child, thought to be a representation of Mary of the Sea, the cloud hovering above their heads is the Leader of the Pilgrims, Joseph of Arimathea. So Leith adopted a French flag, heavy with religious symbolism as its own, but it didn’t just stop there. Look around Leith and you will see carved scallop shells decorating various buildings. The scallop shell, was symbolic of Mary Helena-Salome – a companion of Mary’s and frequently depicted in her Aphrodite guise, most famously in Botticelli’s painting, The Birth of Venus.
Throughout the centuries, Leith was a busy trading port, but it wasn’t until the reign of David I (1125-1143) that it moved up the scale a couple of notches. When the King gifted large tracts of land in lowland Scotland to peoples of Flemish descent, they brought with them their love of wine. What had been a trickle became a flood. Why is this important? Well, most of us know about the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland – a militaristic alliance between the two countries which we won’t dwell on here. Culturally, though, the bond between the two countries was also strong, as were the trading links through Leith. French influence extended into our art and architecture, indeed for a long time the official language of the Court at Holyrood was French.
French monks, French troops, French wife of the King (Mary of Guise) – Leith had become a veritable outpost of France. All was going well until the siege of Leith by the English in 1560. The destruction of the chancel, transepts and central tower of the church culminated in the departure of the French garrison signifying the end of the Alliance and Leith then experienced the Reformation.
Devasting plagues
Throughout this time the emblem of Leith remained unchanged, however with the arrival back into the country of Mary Queen of Scots in 1561, the French influence once again took hold and the emblem undertook a bit of a re-model. The cloud was replaced with a castellated structure and a bit of extra filigree work – typical of the time – and the date 1563 appeared.
This version of the emblem was adopted by Leith police in the 19th century for their uniform badges. In 1920, when Leith merged with Edinburgh, these emblems were lost as Leith police became ‘D’ division within Edinburgh city police. Sometime later the legend ‘Persevere’ was adopted, perhaps in recognition of the stoic nature of the Leith populace in surviving two devastating plagues, which largely wiped out the population.
In recent decades, the modernisation of Leith has seen all of the beautifully decorated lamp standards displaying the emblem removed and replaced by non-descript ugly contemporary versions. So much of Leith’s history has gone over the years that all we are really left with is our flag – our emblem, our civic identity, and we sorely need it back. As older generations leave us a strong sense of identity will pass with them if we don’t do something to stem the tide.
Whilst it’s good that local school kids now display the emblem on their uniform, it’s not enough. Any flagpole in Leith should proudly show the flag, so that visitors to this historic place know when they have arrived. We need to make representations to our community councillors to petition the Court of the Lord Lyon to have this wonderful emblem restored to our town and we need to encourage the City of Edinburgh to recognise the importance of this by persuading them to fly the flag above the City Chambers – there’s a place for it.