Kingdom of Portugal ~ Grunge Flag (1185 - 1248)

The Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves (Portuguese: Reino de Portugal e dos Algarves) was an Iberian state which existed from 1139 to 1910. It played an important role in the Christian effort to reclaim the Iberian peninsula from the Muslims (Portuguese: Reconquista) and the emergence of European exploration and colonisation across the globe during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The Portuguese monarchy was replaced by a republic following a coup d’état by the Portuguese Republican Party in October 1910.

The earliest banners of Portugal displayed only a blue cross on a white shield. When the Portuguese kingdom gained the recognition of neighbouring León in 1139, king Afonso I allegedly adorned the blue cross with five sets of eleven silver bezants to symbolise the kingdom’s newly gained right to issue coins. The final design stemmed from a worn off shield inherited by Afonso’s son Sancho in 1185: the blue-stained leather that made the cross had been torn off except around the bezants. This subsequently became the new banner of Sancho and his successors.

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