Filed under: Know Your Flags | Tags: asturias, covadonga, flag, pelayo, reconquest, spain, victory cross
Flickr user picqero
The historical significance of the Asturian flag belies its simplicity. The gold Cruz de la Victoria (Victory Cross) represents the primitive oak cross that Pelayo carried during the pivotal Battle of Covadonga in 722. This victory, coupled with the earlier Moorish defeat in the Battle of Toulouse, gave impetus to the Christian reconquest (Reconquista) of Muslim Spain that would eventually be completed in 1492. The Muslim caliphate never seriously threatened this small northern Christian enclave after the battle, allowing the formation of the Kingdom of Asturias that was instrumental in the Reconquista. Perhaps Spain is never reconquered by Christians without Pelayo’s victory. The New World is “discovered” first by another European power, forever changing the landscape of the Western Hemisphere. However, these are overstatements as the Christians and Muslims were unaware of any significance the battle would come to have; Muslim historians looked at the Asturian resistance with scorn and ridicule even after Covadonga.
Flickr user DanUneken
However, the Victory Cross and the Asturian flag itself are prideful reminders to the province’s residents of the historical importance of their patria. This is underlined by the Greek letters, Alpha and omega, that adorn the Victory Cross, representing Book of Revelation 1:8.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
The actual Victory Cross is housed in Oviedo‘s Cathedral of San Salvador. The original oak cross is the supposed core of an ostentatious gold- and jewel-encrusted processional cross. The cross has been restored several times after damage during the Spanish Civil War and a theft in the 1970s.
Flickr user Vetto
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