The next update is pretty much good to go, just needs a bit of editing and review, so it should be up either tonight or tomorrow. In the mean time I figured I'd give a quick flag update!
Flag Interlude #2
"Upon his rocky ascension to the position of Statthalter of the Dutch Republic, the man who would become Friedrich the Great of Prussia had not yet realized that at the time his position was a token title while Mary Stuart was the true ruler of the Low Countries. He believed her to be a powerful woman who had nowhere else to go, and assumed she would be a useful pawn and regent while he dealt with matters in his homeland. Even in this period, however, marked as the Early Marian Period by the Dutch, Friedrich knew that the region would likely be resistant to his rule and hunger for a return of the House of Orange. As one means of enforcing the image of his rule and the primacy of his inheritance, the introduction of the
Pruisischvlag began. While most would not see the matter as something of import, the flag of the Dutch Republic was the
Statenvlag, a red-white-blue flag of three equal horizontal stripes. It had become the more prominent replacement to the
Prinsenvlag, which had orange at the top band rather than red, and had been the banner of Prince William I of Orange. The
Pruisischvlag was not intended to replace the
Statenvlag, in fact was mostly displayed with it, and was only used exclusively at sea by Prussian-captained vessels of the navy. However, its design sent a clear message, especially given its presence alongside the the
Statenvlag: the orange of the
Prinsenvlag, taken from the House of Orange, was replaced by black, symbolizing the control of the Low Countries by the House of Hohenzollern."
- The Little Book of Flags, 1983