As a not uninteresting introduction to our research, we will glance at
the history of standards, from their inception to the present time. We
shall find that man's faculty of imitation has here, as elsewhere,
found employment, modified in its operation by some cause peculiar to
the nation whose standard chances to be under consideration.
Fosbroke, in his _Dictionary of Antiquities_, has furnished us with
most of the information on this subject which is pertinent to our
design. We shall add such comments as will tend to illustrate our
conclusions. Under the head of standards, he writes:--
"The invention began among the Egyptians, who bore an animal at the
end of a spear; but among the Graeco-Egyptians, the standards either
resemble, at top, a round-headed knife, or an expanded semicircular
fan. Among the earlier Greeks, it was a piece of armor at the end of a
spear; though Agamemnon, in Homer, uses a purple veil to rally his men,
&c. Afterwards, the Athenians bore the olive and owl; the other nations
the effigies of their tutelary gods, or their particular symbols, at
the end of a spear. The Corinthians carried a _pegasus_, the Messenians
their initial [Mu], and the Lacedaemonians, [Lambda]; the Persians, a
golden eagle at the end of a spear, fixed upon a carriage; the ancient
Gauls, an animal, chiefly a bull, lion, and bear. Sir S. R. Meyrick
gives the following account of the Roman standards. 'Each _century_, or
at least each _maniple_ of troops, had its proper standard, and
standard-bearer. This was originally merely a bundle of hay on the top
of a pole; afterwards, a spear with a crosspiece of wood on the top;
sometimes the figure of a hand above, probably in allusion to the word
_manipulus_; and below, a small round or oval shield, generally of
silver or of gold. On this metal plate were anciently represented the
warlike deities Mars or Minerva; but after the extinction of the
commonwealth, the effigies of the emperors or their favorites. It was
on this account that the standards were called _numina legionum_, and
held in religious veneration. The standards of different divisions had
certain letters inscribed on them, to distinguish the one from the
other. The standard of a legion, according to Dio, was a silver eagle,
with expanded wings, on the top of a spear, sometimes holding a
thunderbolt in its claws; hence the word _aquila_ was used to signify a
legion. The place for this standard was near the general, almost in the
centre. Before the time of Marius, figures of other animals were used,
and it was then carried in front of the first maniple of the _triarii_.
The _vexillum_, or flag of the cavalry (that of the infantry being
called _signum_; an eagle on a thunderbolt, within a wreath, in
Meyrick, pl. 6, fig. 15), was, according to Livy, a square piece of
cloth, fixed to a crossbar on the end of a spear. The _labarum_,
borrowed by the Greek emperors from the Celtic tribes, by whom it was
called _llab_, was similar to this, but with the monogram of Christ
worked upon it. Thus Sir S. R. Meyrick. The dragon, which served for an
ensign to barbarous nations, was adopted by the Romans, probably from
the mixture of auxiliaries with the legions. At first, the dragon, as
the general ensign of the barbarians, was used as a trophy by the
Romans, after Trajan's conquest of the Dacians. The dragons were
embroidered in cotton, or silk and purple. The head was of metal, and
they were fastened on the tops of spears, gilt and tasselled, opening
the mouth wide, which made their long tails, painted with different
colors, float in the wind. They are seen on the Trajan column and the
arch of Titus, and are engraved. The _draconarii_, or ensigns, who
carried them, were distinguished by a gold collar. From the Romans,
says Du Cange, it came to the Western Empire, and was long, in England,
the chief standard of our kings, and of the dukes of Normandy. Matthew
Paris notes its being borne in wars which portended destruction to the
enemy. It was pitched near the royal tent, on the right of the other
standards, where the guard was kept. Stowe adds, that the
dragon-standard was never used but when it was an absolute intention to
fight; and a golden dragon was fixed, that the weary and wounded might
repair thither, as to a castle, or place of the greatest security. Thus
far for the dragon-standard. To return, Vigetius mentions _pinnae_,
perhaps _aigrettes_ of feathers, of different colors, intended for
signals, rallying-points, &c. Animals, fixed upon plinths, with holes
through them, are often found. They were ensigns intended to be placed
upon the ends of spears.
"Count Caylus has published several; among others two leopards, male
and female. Ensigns upon colonial coins, if accompanied with the name
of the legion, _but not otherwise_, show that the colony was founded by
the veterans of that legion. There were also standards called _pila_,
or _tufa_, consisting of bucklers heaped one above the other.
"The ancient Franks bore the tiger, wolf, &c., but soon adopted the
eagle from the Romans. In the second race, they used the cross, images
of saints, &c. The _fleur-de-lis_ was the distinctive attribute of
the king.
"Ossian mentions the standard of the kings and chiefs of clans, and
says that it (the king's) was blue studded with gold. This is not
improbable, for the Anglo-Saxon ensign was very grand. It had on it
_the white horse_, as the Danish was distinguished by the _raven_.
They were, however, differently formed from the modern, being
parallelograms, fringed, and borne, sometimes at least, upon a stand
with four wheels. A standard upon a car was, we have already seen,
usual with the ancient Persians. Sir S. R. Meyrick admits that it was
of Asiatic origin, first adopted by the Italians, and introduced here
in the reign of Stephen. That of Stephen is fixed by the middle upon a
staff, topped by a cross _pattee_ (wider at the ends than in the
middle), has a cross _pattee_ itself on one wing, and three small
branches shooting out from each flag. It appears from Drayton, that the
main standard of Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt was borne upon a
car; and the reason which he assigns is, that it was too heavy to be
carried otherwise. Sir S. R. Meyrick adds, that it preceded the royal
presence. Edward I. had the arms of England, St. George, St. Edmond,
and St. Edward, on his standards. The flag or banner in the hands of
princes, upon seals, denotes sovereign power, and was assumed by many
lords in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries."
We observe that the invention of standards is ascribed to the
Egyptians. Layard, in "Nineveh, and its Remains," says of the standards
of the Assyrians:--
"Standards were carried by the charioteers. In the sculptures, they
have only two devices: one, a figure (probably that of the divinity)
standing on a bull, and drawing a bow; the other, two bulls running in
opposite directions," probably, as is stated in a note, the symbols of
war and peace.
"These figures are inclosed in a circle, and fixed to the end of a long
staff ornamented with streamers and tassels." Here we see the early
use of pendants as emblems of supreme authority. In our own day, we
frequently hear, Commodore ----'s broad pendant was hoisted on the
ship ----. In Queen Anne's time, on the union of England and Scotland,
we find the use of pendants by the ships of her subjects, expressly
prohibited in the following words: "_Nor any kind of pendants
whatsoever_, or any other ensign than the ensign described in the side
or margent hereof, which shall be worn instead of the ensign before
this time [1707] usually worn in merchant vessels." In reference to the
flags of the national vessels, the following language is used: "Our
flags, jacks, and pendants, which, _according to ancient usage_, have
been appointed to a distinction for our ships." Every one will observe
the distinction made in the case of the pendants, which were absolutely
prohibited to the subjects. We return now to the consideration of the
standards of the Assyrians. "The standards seem to have been partly
supported by a rest in front of the chariot, and a long rod or rope
connected them with the extremity of the pole. In a bas-relief of
Khorsabad, this rod is attached to the top of the standard."[1]
[1] "Standards, somewhat similar to those represented on the
Assyrian bas-reliefs, were in use in Egypt. Some sacred
animal or emblem was also generally placed upon them."
The reader will have observed what Fosbroke says of the introduction
into England of a standard borne on a car, that it was in imitation of
the eastern nations. In the case of the Romans, the force of this habit
was even more strikingly illustrated. They at first used a bundle of
bay or straw; as they extended their conquests over the neighboring
colonists from Greece, and doubtless from Egypt, they assumed the wolf
and other animals. The wolf, perhaps, referred to the foster-mother of
Romulus. As they extended their conquests further, they borrowed the
custom of the Greeks, of placing a shield with the image of a warlike
deity upon it on a spear, still, however, retaining the reference to
the _manipulus_ in the hand, above it.
In the time of Marius, they adopted the eagle with the thunderbolt in
its claws, the emblem of Jove. We are also told that different
divisions had certain letters, frequently the name of the commander,
inscribed on their standards. This practice was also introduced among
the Romans from Greece. It was introduced among the Grecians by
Alexander the Great, who observed it among the Persians and other
eastern nations. Intoxicated with his triumphs, when he began to claim
for himself a divine origin, he caused a standard to be prepared,
inscribed with the title of "Son of Ammon," and planted it near the
image of Hercules, which, as that of his tutelary deity, was the ensign
of the Grecian host. In the same way, the Franks borrowed the eagle
from the Romans.
The same holds good of the dragon-standard, which, borrowed from the
Dacians and other barbarians, was for a long time the standard of the
Western Empire, of England, and of Normandy.
After the Crusades, however, the cross seems to have taken a prominent
place on the standards and banners of European nations.
The double-headed eagle of Russia and Austria originated among the
Romans, to indicate the sovereignty of the world. When the empire of
the Caesars was divided into the Western and Eastern Empires, this
standard continued to be used in both those divisions. From the Eastern
Empire it passed into the standard of Russia, on the marriage of Ivan
I. with a Grecian princess. From the Western, with the title of Roman
Emperor, it passed to Austria.
From the above, we cannot fail to perceive, in the past as well as in
the present, the tendency, throughout the world, to imitation, in the
adoption of national ensigns; also, that the adoption of a particular
ensign marked some epoch in the history of the particular nation which
adopted it.
Thus the various changes in the Roman standard marked the epochs of
their conquest, first of the Greeks, then of the Barbarians. The
adoption of the eagle by the Franks, their conquest of the Romans. The
cross, the era of the Crusades. The double-headed eagle of Russia, the
marriage of the Czar to the heiress of the Eastern Empire. That of
Austria, the investiture of the emperors of Germany with the title of
Roman Emperor. The present union of the crosses of St. George, St.
Andrew, and St. Patrick, in the British ensign, reverting to the
Crusades, in the members composing it, more directly refers to the
union, first, of England and Scotland into the united kingdom of Great
Britain, and more recently, to the union of the kingdoms of Great
Britain and Ireland, and hence is called _The Great Union_.
The eagle of France, marked her republican era.
Having thus observed, in the adoption of ensigns by the principal
nations of the world, the prevalence of certain general rules, viz.: A
reference to their deity; the habit of imitating the ensigns of nations
from which they sprung, or which they conquered; the custom of marking,
by their standards, some epoch in their history; or these customs in
combination, may we not expect to find, in the adoption of our National
Ensign, that it is not wholly an exception to these general rules?