Presentation

The north of Romania (the Romanic-speaking world) saw the emergence of numerous Gallo-Roman dialects and medieval languages, including Francien, Champenois, Picard, and Norman. Francia, carved out of the declining Roman Empire, was the domain of a Germanic nation — the Franks. The French were originally the subjects of the Kingdom of France, politically established under the Capetian dynasty (987) and gradually expanded. Today, the French inhabit mainly the northern half of the state that bears their name. The use of the term French is not without imprecision, even contradiction — a consequence of its generalization, since the French state does not distinguish between “citizenship” and “nationality.”

The flags used in the Kingdom of France had long displayed, alongside white, a combination of the three colors white, blue, and red. The Revolution codified their use, forbidding under penalty of death the sale of cockades other than blue-white-red (September 17, 1792), and established the modern French flag (February 15, 1794). These colors have been interpreted as the white of royalty accompanying the blue and red of the city of Paris. Indeed, blue, red, and white had long been perceived—whether in heraldry or costume—as complementary colors. In this regard, one often recalls the historical traditions of the blue of Saint Martin’s cloak, the red of Charlemagne’s oriflamme (“Montjoie,” the war banner), and the white cross of military standards.
The assignment of colors for the Crusade on January 13, 1188, gave the English a white cross on a red field, and the French a red cross on a white field. The inversion occurred later, the white cross on a red, then blue, field becoming characteristic of the French. It appears on most regimental flags of both the Ancien Régime and the Republic. The flags of the National Guard were quartered in blue and red and charged with a white cross.

The French emblem is the fleur-de-lis. The national colors are blue, white, and red.