The Flag of
Croix de St Michel du Valle
(Cross of St Michael of the Vale)
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The Croix de St Michel du Valle is an alternative flag to represent the Vale Parish of Guernsey
The island parish of Vale was formerly known as Saint Michel du Valle (St Michael of the Vale), but now shortened to just Vale.
History
Around A.D. 968, monks from the Benedictine monastery of Mont Saint-Michel, came to Guernsey to establish the Abbey of St Michael, a community in the north of the island and the Priory of Mont Saint-Michel was a dependency of the famous Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel.
Le Fief St Michel (Fief Saint-Michel) became a massive ecclesiastical seigneury in Guernsey, established around 1061 when Duke William of Normandy granted a substantial portion of the island (roughly one-quarter of its land area) to the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel.
Thus the parish acquired its connection to St Michael. The Parish church is still called St Michel du Valle.
(The cross of St Michael of the Vale) consists of 2 components:
The Croix de Saint Michel (a cross argent on a field azure)
The Croix de Saint Michel (Cross of Saint Michael) is a historic French symbol featuring a plain white cross centered on a blue field.
Historically, this emblem served as the military standard of France during the Middle Ages, most notably during the Hundred Years' War, where it stood in direct opposition to England’s red cross on a white field (the Cross of Saint George).
History
In early medieval battles, French soldiers often used red crosses. However, after English forces adopted a red cross, French factions under Charles VII officially claimed the white cross as their primary national and military mark.
The Hundred Years' War was an opportunity to exalt the symbol of the white cross, as opposed to the red cross of England. In 1355, Jean I d'Armagnac required his soldiers to wear a white cross on the border of Guyenne[. During the summer of 1417, faced with the threat of Henry V's English troops fighting with the emblem of the red cross, the inhabitants of Orléans who were able to take up arms were ordered to wear a blue heucus marked on the chest with a white cross].
In 1425, Saint Michael appeared to Saint Joan of Arc in her birthplace in Domrémy-la-Pucelle]in the Vosges. Joan claims to have seen and heard the heavenly voices of the Archangel Michael and of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Antioch, asking her to be pious, to bring peace to the kingdom of France by freeing it from its invaders and to lead the Dauphin of France (Charles VII) to the throne by having him crowned King of France by the Catholic church in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims. On August 6, 1451, as the English capitulated at the end of the siege of Bayonne, a huge white cross, symbol of the archangel, appeared in the sky].
Saint Michael the Archangel was chosen as the patron saint of the French military and the royal family. His name symbolized heavenly protection on the battlefield. The cross became the symbol of the French military and the blue and white sections of the modern French flag evolved from these old royal and military colors.
It is still in use today in modern flag designs (usually a result of a French connection):
Flag of St Malo
2. Red Cross Pommy (Argent, a cross pommy gules)
Vale Parish flag is a silver shield with a red cross pommy, (a red cross with rounded ends representing apples, or pommee)
A red cross pommy represents the traditional coat of arms attributed to Saint Michael the Archangel in medieval heraldry.
The Archangel's Shield: In Christian art, Saint Michael is the warrior angel who leads God's armies against evil. He is often pictured holding a shield featuring this exact red cross.
Symbol of Christian Warfare: The red cross represents Christ's sacrifice, while the round knobs can symbolize spiritual fruit, completeness, or the ends of the earth.
English Heraldry History: In early medieval England, the plain red cross on a white background was given to Saint Michael first. Only later did it become famous as the Cross of Saint George (the flag of England). To differentiate Saint Michael's personal shield, heralds often used the pommy version with the rounded tips.
Combining the two you get a design aesthetic similar to the Guernsey flag. If the St Michael's Cross is the counterpart to the St George's Cross, then the Croix de St Michel du Valle is the counterpart to the Guernsey flag to honour its shared Anglo-Franco dual heritage.
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