The cross of Saint James may have its origins in the crusades when Knights would wear small crosses with pointed bottoms so that they could be driven into the ground for devotions. The cross is said to represent the chivalrous character of Saint James.
A red Cross of Saint James with flourished arms, surmounted with an escallop was the emblem of the 12th century Spanish military Order of Santiago.
There are also two stories about the scallop shell which both involve the story that James did some preaching in Spain after Jesus had died and why the shell became so important:1.After James was killed his disciples took him to be buried at the place that we now call Santiago.
But not far from Spain’s coast a heavy storm hit the ship and his body was lost in the ocean.
Some time later his body was washed ashore undamaged but it was covered in scallop shells.
2. After James died his body was mysteriously taken by a ship (sometimes this is said to be a ship made of stone) that had no crew back to Spain so that he could be buried there in the area we now call Santiago.
As his ship came close to the shore a wedding was happening and the groom was riding a horse which, when it saw the ship coming in, was scared and ran over the cliffs and into the sea.
Through a miracle they both came out of the water alive but were covered in scallops.
The modern shell is a schematic yellow scallop shell on a blue background (these are the colours of the European Union but I don't know if the two are related - the yellow comes probably from the colour of the arrows which was used as that is the colour of roadside paint).
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