Circa: 1492 A.D. Red and Grey with gold castles and lions. The earliest Spanish flag was an ornate combination of emblems of Spain's two provinces in 1492 - Castile and Leon. The red section represents the color of Castile and the grey represents Leon.

This flag is the "Cross of Burgundy," one of the standards of Spain used by the Spanish military from the fifteenth century to 1843. The basic pattern is of a red saltire ("cross") resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned branches on a usually white field.

It may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meaning "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean; Roman coins struck in the region from the reign of Hadrian show a female figure with a rabbit at her feet, and Strabo called it the "land of the ...

This, the Eagle of Saint John, was an old symbol of those loyal to the Catholic Monarchs and symbolized Franco's commitment to religion. This flag lasted until 1977, after Francisco Franco died. A transitory flag was used, retaining the symbols of Franco's Spain, until the current flag was adopted in 1981.