Flag of the Netherlands the 15th century, when the majority of the Netherlands provinces were united under the Duke of Burgundy, the Cross of Burgundy Flag of the Duke of Burgundy was used for joint expeditions, which consisted of a red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned (knotted) branches, on a white field. Under the later House of Habsburg this flag remained in use. In 1572 provinces of the Low Countries rose in revolt against King Philip II of Spain, and William Prince of Orange (1533–1584) placed himself at the head of the rebels. The colour "orange" is a reference to the name of the
Flag of Switzerland The Swiss cross is defined as Swiss Standard German consistently uses (cognate with "vane") rather than the term used for national flags in Germany. The name of the flag of the Swiss Confederation is a nominal compound, . While the proportions of the cross have been fixed since 1889, the size of the cross relative to the flag (the width of the margin separating the "cross couped" from the edge of the flag) had not been officially fixed prior to 2017. The annex to SR 232.21 provides an image specifying that the margin is to be of the same width