In the heat of battle, a flag made of lambskin descended from the heavens and led the Danish army to victory over their heathen enemies. So goes the 13th century legend of the “Dannebrog,” Denmark’s national banner depicting a white cross with a red background.

In recent days, the banner that once stood as a symbol of Christian warfare has taken a precipitous fall from grace.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has declared himself “sad and incredulous” over the burnings – a widespread reaction to the lampooning of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspaper cartoons. But sympathy for the flag is relatively muted across Europe, where the Dannebrog’s sacred past is largely regarded as a historical footnote.

“These days (the flag) has nothing to do with spirituality,” said Michael Frijs, whose company Kobenhavns Fanefabrik supplies Dannebrogs to the Danish military. “The question is whether we can go abroad and show that we are Danes as we always have.”

Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, however, the Dannebrog served a much higher cause. On the battlefield the Danish army considered it an unfailing barometer of God’s favor for their king.

 

Historic battles

In one of the earliest records of the Dannebrog’s exploits, the Franciscan monk Peder Olsen recounts how the flag aided the Danes in their campaign against “heathen” Estonian tribes in the 13th century Baltic Crusades.

Led by King Valdemar “the Victorious,” the Danish army was heading for defeat in the 1219 Battle of Lyndanisse when the lambskin banner depicting a white cross appeared in the sky and led them to victory.

Other accounts describe a Danish bishop on the scene who kept his arms raised to God, praying for the flag to remain miraculously suspended above the fray.

According to Denmark’s official Web site, the design of the Dannebrog – a white cross that extends to the edges of a crimson banner – dates back to the reign of Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.

 

Different emphasis

Denmark’s monarchy, believed to be one of the world’s oldest, influenced neighboring Scandinavian countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland and far-flung Iceland – whose flags also bear a prominent cross.

In more recent centuries, however, Danes have tended to emphasize the festive function of their flag over its bellicose past. Miniature Dannebrogs typically decorate birthday cakes, Christmas trees and local pubs.

The swell of anti-Dannebrog sentiment in the Muslim world has not led to patriotic flag-waving in Denmark, said Birthe Gregresen, who runs the Danish flag supplier Flagstangsfabrikken.

Although Gregresen considers the burnings “very, very sad,” she does not expect to see her sales improve from a surge of Danish pride for the Dannebrog.

“Almost everyone I know keeps a flagpole in their garden,” she said, “but you raise it to mark an occasion. Like a wedding.”