Flag of Munster

Origin of the Flag

For over four hundred years now the historic Province of Munster in Ireland has been heraldically symbolized by three golden antique crowns on an azure blue shield. While these arms are on record as appertaining to Munster as early as the sixteenth century, the motif, namely the antique Irish crown which inspired them, is without question considerably older.

Significantly, from the point of view of finding an explanation for the origin of the arms of Munster, a crown of the type now known as antique Irish, delicately crafted in burnished metal and resting on a blue enamel surface, forms an integral element of a thirteenth century crozier head found near Cormac's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary. This unique artifact of Gaelic Ireland can be viewed in the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin.

Cashel, was from early Christian times through to the fifteenth century the seat of the Kings of Munster, many of whom exercised spiritual as well as temporal power over the southern province. In the case of the "king-bishops" of Cashel, the placing of the antique crown on their crozier, as instanced above, can only be interpreted as a symbolic assertion of their right to the political sovereignty of Munster.

When therefore, the sovereignty of Munster came to be expressed in heraldic format, small wonder that the antique crown (in triplicate) came to be used as the arms of the province. The three crowns represent Thomond (North Munster), Desmond (South Munster), and Ormond (East Munster). As to the tincture of the Munster shield, it should be noted that in Gaelic mythology and literature the sovereignty of Munster was personified in Mór Muman – a beautiful lady invariably dressed in deep blue robes, that is, so long as she was wedded to the lawful king of that Province.

Notes

The National Library of Ireland [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:2JqXw_ksOxsJ:www.nli.ie/h_eire.htm+ulster+flag+burke&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=ie]