English: Flag of the Levant Company's ships (1593–1603) and those of its predecessor corporation led by Sir Edward Osborne (1581–1588). Distinct from the Levant Company's arms and rendered obsolete by the death of Elizabeth I: permission to use this flag was not renewed when James VI & I re-chartered the Company in late 1605 and the new Union Flag replaced existing flags in early 1606. This flag has been cited as one of those which may have influenced the design of the Union Flag – the conception of which was under discussion at least since 1604 – with the old royal arms substituted for the national banner of Scotland beneath the fimbriated cross from the national banner of England. As seen here: illustration No. 1 in "PLATE IX — Early Ensigns, etc." on page 93 of William Gordon Perrin's 1922 British Flags, Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device illustrated from the 16th-century description as "the Arms of England with the red crosse over the same" or "the Armes of England with the redde crosse in white" by Herbert S. Vaughan. See pages 57 & 134–135 for the discussion.