The national flag of France (known in French as drapeau tricolore, drapeau français,and in military parlance, les couleurs) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red.

It is known to English speakers as the French tricolour or simply, the tricolour. The traditional emblem of France was the fleur-de-lis, or lily, which first appeared on the arms in the 12th century. The Tricolore was used during the Revolution and has since become a symbol of liberty around the world. Other nations have also adopted the design. Because France has no arms, the Tricolore is also the national emblem. The colors are probably derived from those of Paris (blue and red), combined with those of the Bourbon Dynasty (white), though they are usually associated with liberty, equality, and fraternity, the ideals of the French Revolution.

Design

The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, which replaced a darker version of the flag,

Symbolism

Meanings have subsequently been ascribed to the colours. It is sometimes said - and taught in French schools - that the colours of the French flag represent the three main estates of the Ancien Régime (the clergy: white, the nobility: red and the bourgeoisie: blue). Blue, as the symbol of the bourgeois class, comes first within the colour enumeration and red, representing the nobility, comes last. Both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order. If it is true that blue was the colour of the bourgeoisie during medieval times, the white colour may be linked to Joan of Arc (a first use, with a lamb) and later, along with the fleur de lys, to the monarchy.

French armies had such a flag, the Navy only using a plain white flag. Officers, and generals, wore white scarves in order to be recognizable; letting the flag drop and shouting Mercy was a sign one was surrendering. The red colour, often associated with St Denis, was used as the royal standard(Oriflamme) during the Middle Ages; though red and blue were the colours used in opposition to the monarchy by the followers of Etienne Marcel.

Middle ages

Later during the Middle Ages, these colours came to be associated with the reigning house of France. In 1328, the coat-of-arms of the House of Valois was blue with gold fleurs-de-lis bordered in red. From this time on, the kings of France were represented in vignettes and manuscripts wearing a red gown under a blue coat decorated with gold fleurs-de-lis. It should be noted that, in liturgical symbolism, gold is the equivalent of white. Many other examples could be given of the association of the three colours—blue, white and red—with the French kings and their households.