Quote:
Originally Posted by Hali87
I'll admit I don't know the exact history of the Quebec flag, but I always just interpreted it as being "divided into four equal parts"
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No, the flag is based on the Cross of St Michael, which was the most venerated French saint (think Mont Saint Michel in Normandy). The Cross of St Michael was used by French merchant ships as a French standard, and was a sort of unofficial flag of France.
Duplessis then added 4 fleurs de lis to the old flag of St Michael (the one that was basically used in French Canada when it was under French sovereignty), and voilà, there you have your Québec flag.
Let's also note that the blue color is a reference to the Virgin Mary (whose dress was supposed to be blue). The white color is a reference to the French monarchy (white was the color of the French kings). That also explains the blue and white in the flag of France (the red color in the French flag is a reference both to the coat of arms of Paris and to the standard of St Denis, which the French kings hoisted when they went to war during the early Middle Ages).
In this painting from the 18th century, we can see to the right the flag of St Michael flown by a French merchant ship (the ship to the left belongs to the French Royal Navy and displays the white flag of the king; merchant ships didn't have the right to display the white flag of the king, theirs was the cross of St Michael).
The Ecole Navale in Brest still possess in their museum a standard of the French merchant fleet from before the French Revolution:
Since France, in the days of French Canada, didn't have an official flag (like most countries), and only had naval standards, Duplessis basically decided to use the standard of the French merchant ships (he didn't use the standard of the French Royal Navy because the white flag has now found another use since the 19th century, for surrenders, truces, and parleys).
In parenthesis, I find the flag of Québec to be one of the most beautiful in the world. Better than the current French flag even (in fact if France had remained a monarchy, the flag of Québec could totally have been the flag of France).