Flag of Merrifort

The Flag of Merrifort is the national flag of Merrifort. It is one of the official symbols of Merrifort, alongside the coat of arms and "O, mountainous lands", which is Merrifort’s national anthem.

Kingdom’s tricolor
The first flag used by Merrifort was the tricolor flag, which was used by Kingdom of Merrifort from 1598 till 1824. The flag was designed by founding Father Ryan Cooper.

A 1597 law passed by the Royal Merrifortian Assembly stated: "The official flag of the Kingdom shall be a horizontally aligned tricolor of equal proportions with the colors yellow, blue and green with a red triangle on the left side of the flag with the national symbol which will be decided by the King." This flag design was used until the Kingdom was dissolved by King’s Advisor Louis Van Alvarez in 1824 and a empire was established. The flag was replaced with a similar design but the national symbol was moved to the middle of the flag. For the 142 years, the redesign was used as the official flag, although no laws made it official. Few flags of this age survive, with most being burned in battles. The republican flag was the flag to use the same colours but redesigning it so the tricolor is horizontal with a yellow cross, inspired by other flags using similar designs. Even revolution-based flags were similar.

First monarchy flag
In 1477, the government began using another tricolor with a lion rampant in the middle. The colors, however, were switched: the white from the republican flag was removed and another gold stripe was added. Still, no laws made it official, but it was used by the Kingdom for a few centuries, especially by the monarch and his family.

After Karl Van Draak became king and his family became the ruling dynasty, he wanted to replace the lion with a dragon, which is depicted on the Van Draak family's coat of arms. The noble families, however, opposed the idea and the lion flag was used until the mid-18th century.

Current flag
The current flag dates from the mid-17th century. It is a flag of "two halves, with the sinister side having a lion rampant on red and the dexter side having a black saltire cross on white". This was the naval ensign of the Realmarine. This was adopted as Brunant's national flag by law in 1762 by King Pieter I.

The legend of the flag comes from the Franco-Brunanter War period. During the Siege of Grijzestad (1758), the fort used a tricolor flag, but the flag did not fly well in the wind. When the flag was replaced by the naval ensign, it flew well in the wind and gave new courage to the defenders, who had new spirits and pushed back the French.

Symbols
The black saltire is St. Andrew's symbol, who represents the English-speaking Brunanters. The lion represents Brunant as a whole, but also the Dutch-speaking Brunanters. It is inspired by Gisbert "the Lion" Mengblod, Brunant's most significant folk hero.

Standards
Brunant also uses a standard for official reasons. The Royal Standard is the oldest of originally two standards. It was initially Karl Van Draak's battle flag. Following his coronation, the Silver Crown was added to the flag. The standard is used when the monarch is on a visit and to mark when he/she is at one of the royal palaces.

In 1889, the government passed a law authorizing the used of a Presidential Standard, in similar fashion to the royal one. The post of President, however, was abolished in 2014 and the Presidential Standard has not been used since then.

Naval ensign
The historic naval ensign was the flag now used as Brunant's. From 1762 to 1771, the new national flag continued serving as an ensign until it was replaced with a new flag. The current ensign consists of a dark blue cross with a black border, and the lion of Brunant on a red background in the top left section of the flag.