on the flag used in the Vaudois insurrection against Bernese rule in the 1790s, which was green and inscribed with Liberté, Egalité in white lettering. From this, the white and green became the "revolutionary" colours of cantons newly created from former subject territories of the confederacy, also used in the flags of the cantons of St. Gallen and Thurgau, and a green flag was also briefly used by Aargau. The lettering in the Vaudois flag was in black or in green during 1803–1819, the gold was introduced with the military flag as Vaud organised its army in 1819. As such, it violates the heraldic rule of tincture which states that gold (or yellow) may not be placed upon silver (or white). Valais The Bishop of Sion used a vertically divided red-and-white war flag from ca. 1220. The coat of arms of Valais originates in 1613, as the subject territories of the bishop were united into a republic, the stars representing the individual Dixains. There were six stars in 1613, augmented to seven in 1628. In the 1803 Act of Mediation, Napoleon separated the Valais from the restored Swiss Confederacy, and in 1810 he annexed it into the Department of Simplon. At this point the number of Dixains and the number of stars in the flag was increased to twelve. The thirteenth star was added as the Valais joined the restored Swiss Confederacy in 1815, with the creation of Conthey as the thirteenth Dixain. Neuchâtel The flag is unrelated to the historical flag of the town of Neuchâtel, which had been in use from 1350, and as cantonal flag from 1815 until 1848, and which remains part of the town's coat of arms. The canton of Neuchâtel was admitted to the restored Swiss Confederacy in 1815, but with the peculiar reservation that it owed nominal fealty to the king of Prussia. This lingering monarchism led to a republican coup in 1848, under the flag that would later become the cantonal flag. The conflict between monarchists by 1856 threatened to devolve into full civil war, but in 1857, Frederick William IV of Prussia renounced all claims to Neuchâtel, and the 1848 revolutionary banner was made the official cantonal flag. Use of the flag remained disputed, and during the 20th century there were three unsuccessful attempts to reintroduce the historical flag of 1350 by popular vote. Geneva The flag of Geneva is the