The historic flag of Picardy was a scutcheon-flag. It showed the image of the historic coat of arms. The between the years 1960 and 2016 existing Region of "Picardy" used that model as an unofficial flag.
The coat of arms of Picardy should have its roots in the year 1670, when that coat of arms had beed fixed in the university of Paris as coat of arms of the "Picardy Nation".
The provinces (or governorates) that existed until the French Revolution were historically grown entities that had often developed from former fiefdoms of the French crown, historical counties and duchies, often existed for hundreds of years and had preserved regional characteristics (cultural peculiarities and regional languages). Such phenomena were naturally undesirable to the French Revolution, and in the context of its bloody and violent egalitarianism, all regional references were eradicated. Shortly after the Revolution, the provinces were dissolved and France was divided into many small départements, which were to be approximately the same size and have the same status, controlled by prefects of the central administration in Paris. The departments were named after rivers or mountains so as not to use the names of any of the old provinces. However, it was not possible to sever the ties between the inhabitants of France and their respective historically grown regions, so that in 1960 regions were created again. There can hardly be said to be any real autonomy. The regions are only supposed to promote the economic, social, health, cultural and scientific development of the region, keep an eye on housing and living conditions, and provide support in some areas, e.g. urban development policy, urban regeneration, regional planning, preservation of regional identity and promotion of regional languages. When the regions were formed, departments located in a particular historical province were administratively grouped together into a region that often had the same historical name. The resulting entities only roughly corresponded to the boundaries of historical provinces. In strictly centralised France, however, any form of responsible regionalism is avoided. The regions do not even have their own seals with which to mark their own legally binding decisions, because there are no plans to introduce such a thing. Therefore, anything to do with coats of arms or flags is completely irrelevant. The logos of the regions are used generally, sometimes with the colours reversed and placed arbitrarily on flags or banners. There are no rules, as they are not official symbols. The logos and flags of the regions therefore often look like company logos: Unloving, unhistorical, technocratic and modernistic. That is why most of these regions have a kind of unofficial heraldic flag, which is intended to recall historical heraldic models. However, these are merely decorative in nature and are not a symbol of sovereign functions. The regions created in 1960 were even called into question in 2014, and a territorial reform was decided – centrally from Paris – which reduced the number of regions by almost half through mergers. The regions and their institutions were not even consulted on this matter.
antiquity · settlement by the Celtic tribes of the Ambians and the Viromanduans
55 B.C. · Roman conquest
5th century A.D. · conquest and settlement by the Franks
481–863 · to the Frankish Empire, Amiens is temporarily capital of the Frankish Empire, establish of the County of Ponthieu
880 · Treaty of Verdun and Ribbemont, at the division of the Frankish Empire comes the Picardy (incl. Ponthieu) to the West Frankish Kingdom (France)
1167 · Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders, acquires by marriage the County of Picardy, it comes after the extinction of his successors back to France
1419/1435 · Hundred Years' War, France against England and Burgundy, the Picardy comes to Burgundy
1477 · death of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, in the following years succession disputes
1493 · Peace of Senlis, Picardy (and Burgundy) come to France, the Picardy later became a governorate (province) of the Kingdom of France
1776 · the already in the 14th century created governorates of the civil administration of the kingdom of France become committed to a number of 39, and correspond in this way to the number of provinces, in previous years could any provinces be summarized in one governorate
1789 · French Revolution, the governorates become abolished, the Picardy is broken down into some départements
1960 · reintroduction of regions in France, formation of the Picardy Region, but not within the historic boundaries, just by integrating of the Departements of Oise, Somme and Aisne
2016 · the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions merge in the new, larger region of Hauts-de-France ('Heights of France', capital: Lille)
The name of the Country "Picardy" goes back to a weapon of the Middle Ages, the "Pike". In this area, especially pikemen were recruited as mercenaries at that time.
