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FLAGS:
SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR HISTORY
AND USES.
_Of this large-paper Edition only 100 Copies have
been printed for sale._
_This Copy is No. 80_
[Illustration: PLATE I
STANDARD PRESENTED BY NAPOLEON I TO HIS GUARDS AT ELBA
A SHORT TIME BEFORE HE INVADED FRANCE IN 1815]
Flags:
SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR HISTORY
AND USES.
BY
A. MACGEORGE,
AUTHOR OF
"OLD GLASGOW," "THE ARMORIAL INSIGNIA OF GLASGOW,"
ETC.
BLACKIE & SON:
LONDON, GLASGOW, AND EDINBURGH.
1881.
PREFATORY NOTE.
In a nation like ours, with a dominion so extended, and with
communication by sea and land with all parts of the world, the flags
under which ships sail and armies and navies fight, cannot be without
interest. Yet there are few subjects in regard to which the means of
information are less accessible. The object of the present volume is to
give, in a popular form, some account of our own flags, and of those of
other nations, ancient and modern, with some notices regarding the use
of flags, in naval warfare and otherwise.
I have taken occasion to point out certain heraldic inaccuracies in the
construction of our national flag, and also in the design on our bronze
coinage. I shall be glad if what I have written be the means, by
directing public attention to the subject, of effecting the correction
of these errors.
A. M.
_Glenarn, December, 1880._
CONTENTS.
Page
INTRODUCTORY, 11
ANCIENT STANDARDS, 13
DIFFERENT KINDS OF FLAGS--GONFANON, PENNON, PENONCEL, 28
BANNERS, 29
STANDARDS--THE ROYAL STANDARD, 36
STANDARDS BORNE BY NOBLES, 44
FLAGS OF THE COVENANTERS, 51
NATIONAL FLAGS, 54
THE UNION FLAG, 55
THE UNION JACK, 64
THE ENSIGN, 67
SPECIAL FLAGS, 71
THE PENDANT, 72
SIGNALS AND OTHER FLAGS, 73
USE OF FLAGS IN NAVAL WARFARE, 75
INTERNATIONAL USAGE AS TO FLAGS, 88
FLAGS OF THE BRITISH ARMY, 96
USE OF FLAGS BY PRIVATE PERSONS, 102
FOREIGN FLAGS--FRANCE, 103
THE AMERICAN FLAG, 110
OTHER FOREIGN FLAGS, 113
CONCLUSION, 117
INDEX, 119
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
COLOURED PLATES.
Plate Page
I. Standard presented by Napoleon I. to his Guards at Elba,
a short time before he invaded France in 1815, _Frontispiece_
II. The "Bluidy Banner" carried at Bothwell Brig, A.D. 1670, 54
III. Union Flags and Pendant, 62
IV. National Flags and Standards, 108
V. Do. do. 112
VI. Do. do. 116
WOODCUTS.
Fig.
1. Ancient Egyptian Standards, 14
2. Other forms of Egyptian Standards, 15
3. Do. do. 15
4. Assyrian Standard, 17
5. Another form of Assyrian Standard, 17
6. Assyrian Standards and Standard-bearers, 18
7. Other varieties of Assyrian Standards, 19
8. Persian Standard, 20
9. Turkish Horse-tail Standard, 20
10. Standard of Turkish Pacha, 21
11. Roman Eagle, 21
12. The Roman Wolf on Standard, 21
13. Group of Roman Standards, 22
14. Roman Standard--Various Devices on same Staff, 23
15. Another form with different Devices, 23
16. Other Roman Standards, 24
17. Roman Labarum, 24
18. Standard of Constantine, 25
19. Dragon used as Roman Standard, 25
20. Standard of Earl of Warwick, 1437, 45
21. Flag of the Earl Marshall, 46
22. Standard of Earl Douglas, 1388, 48
23. Later Banner of the Douglas's, 49
24. The "Blue Blanket," 1482, 51
25. Flag of the Covenanters, 1679, 52
26. The Union Flag as now borne, 59
27. The Union on the Bronze Penny, 64
28. Regimental Colours of 24th Regiment, 97
29. Queen's Colours of 24th Regiment as presented to the Queen, 98
30. The Oriflamme, circa A.D. 1248, 104
31. The French Eagle, during the Empire, 108
32. United States Flag, as used in 1777, 111
FLAGS.
On that morning when the news arrived from South Africa of the disaster
at Isandlana, there was general mourning for the loss of so many brave
men; but there was mourning also of a different kind,--with some perhaps
even deeper--for the loss of the colours of the 24th Regiment. And yet,
after all, it was only a bit of silk which had been lost, having on it
certain devices and inscriptions--a thing of no intrinsic value, and
which could be replaced at a cost merely nominal. But it possessed
extrinsic qualities which could be measured by no money value, and every
one felt that the loss was one to redeem which, or rather to redeem what
that loss represented, demanded, if necessary, the putting forth of the
strength of a great nation. And so, when it was found that the colours
never had been really lost--that they had been saved by brave men who
had laid down their lives in defending them--there was throughout the
nation a feeling of intense relief that national honour had been saved;
a feeling of rejoicing far beyond what was evoked by the news of the
capture of the Zulu king and the termination of the war. So at sea. In
our great wars in which the navy of Great Britain played so prominent a
part, we became so accustomed to see the flag of the enemy bent on under
our own ensign, that if an exceptional case occurred where the position
of the two flags was reversed, it went home to the heart of every loyal
subject with a pang which the loss of many ships by storm and tempest
would not have produced.
Yet how few of us know what the national colours are, what the Union is,
what the Royal Standard is. Not to speak of civilians, are there many
officers, in either the army or the navy, who, without a copy before
them, could accurately construct or describe the flag of the nation
under which they fight, or tell what its component parts represent? I
doubt it. And, after all, they would not be so much without excuse, for
even at the Horse Guards and the Admiralty, there is some confusion of
ideas on the subject. I have before me "The Queen's Regulations and
Orders for the Army," issued by the Commander-in-chief, in which flags
which can be flown only on shore are confounded with flags which can be
flown nowhere but on board ship. Yet the subject is really an
interesting one, and, connected as it is with national history, it is
deserving of a little study.
Flags are of many kinds, and they are put to many uses. They are the
representatives of nations; they distinguish armies and fleets, and to
insult a flag is to insult the nation whose ensign it is. We see in
flags, says Carlyle, "the divine idea of duty, of heroic daring--in some
instances of freedom and right." There are national flags, flags of
departments, and personal flags; and as signals they are of the greatest
value as a means of communication at sea.
ANCIENT STANDARDS.
It is chiefly of our own flags that I intend to speak, but it may be
interesting to say something of those which were in use among the
peoples of ancient history.
From the earliest times of which we have authentic records, standards or
banners were borne by nations, and carried in battle. It was so in Old
Testament times, as we know from the mention of banners as early as the
time of Moses. They are repeatedly referred to by David and Solomon. The
lifting up of ensigns is frequently mentioned in the Psalms and by the
Prophets, while the expression, "Terrible as an army with banners,"
shows the importance and the awe with which they were regarded.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Egyptian Standards.]
We find representations of standards on the oldest bas-reliefs of Egypt.
Indeed, the invention of standards is, by ancient writers, attributed to
the Egyptians. According to Diodorus, the Egyptian standards consisted
generally of the figures of their sacred animals borne on the end of a
staff or spear, and in the paintings at Thebes we find on them such
objects as a king's name and a sacred boat. One prominent and much used
form was a figure resembling an expanded semicircular fan, and another
example shows this form reversed and surmounted by the head of the
goddess Athor, crowned with her symbolic disk and cow's horns. Another
figure also used as a standard resembles a round-headed table-knife.
Examples of these, and of the sacred ibis and dog, are shown in Fig.
1.[1] But on the Egyptian standards--those which were no doubt used in
Pharaoh's army--there were various other figures, including reptiles
such as lizards and beetles, with birds crowned with the fan-like
ornament already referred to. A group of these is given in Fig. 2; but
they had many other forms. Those represented in Fig. 3, and which show
some curious symbolic forms, are taken from the works of Champollion,
Wilkinson, and Rosellini.
[1] For this, and figures 6, 14, and 15, I am indebted to the
courtesy of Messrs. A. and C. Black. They appear in the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, vol. ix. p. 276.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Egyptian Standards.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Egyptian Standards.]
That the Hebrews carried standards after the exodus is, as I have
already said, certain, and the probability is that they derived the
practice from the Egyptian nation, from whose bondage they had just
escaped, for they bore as devices figures of birds and animals, and
also human figures, just as the Egyptians did. One of the earliest of
the divine commands given to Moses was that "every man of the children
of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the ensign of their
father's house."[2] The _ensign_ probably meant the particular device
borne upon the standard by each tribe; and tradition has assigned as
these the symbolic cherubim seen in the visions of Ezekiel and
John--Judah bearing a lion, Reuben a man, Ephraim an ox, and Dan an
eagle. This is the opinion of the later Jews. The Targumists believe
that, besides these representations, the banners were distinguished by
particular colours--the colour for each tribe being analogous to that of
the precious stone in the breastplate of the high-priest. They consider
also that each standard bore the name of the tribe with a particular
sentence from the Law. The modern opinion, however, is that the Hebrew
standards were distinguished only by their colours, and by the name of
the tribe to which each belonged.
[2] Numbers ii. 2.
Apart from the direct Scripture evidence on the subject, this bearing of
distinguishing standards is what might be expected in a military
organization such as that of the Israelites, just as we find them using
warlike music. It is interesting to note that even the particular
trumpet signals to be used for the assembling and advance of the troops,
and in cases of alarm in time of war, are carefully prescribed,[3] while
the association of their military standards with the trumpet is
indicated in the exclamation of Jeremiah: "How long shall I see the
standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?"[4]
[3] Numbers x. 3.
[4] Jer. iv. 21.
[Illustration:
Fig. 4.--An Assyrian Standard. Fig. 5.--Another Assyrian Standard.]
As the standard was among all nations regarded with reverence, so the
standard-bearer was selected for his strength and courage. So important
was this considered that Isaiah, in describing the ruin and discomfiture
that was about to fall on the King of Assyria, could find no stronger
expression than to say that his overthrow would be "as when a
standard-bearer fainteth."[5]
[5] Isa. x. 18.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Assyrian Standards and Standard-bearers.]
The standards of the Assyrians, like those of the Egyptians, consisted
of figures fastened on the end of spears or staffs; but of these very
few varieties have been yet discovered. Layard says[6] that "standards
were carried by the Assyrian charioteers. In the sculptures they have
only two devices [Figs. 4, 5, 6]: one a figure, probably that of a
divinity, standing on a bull and drawing a bow; in the other, two bulls
running in opposite directions. These figures are inclosed in a circle
and fixed to a long staff ornamented with streamers and tassels. The
standards appear to have been partly supported by a rest in front of the
chariot, and a long rope connecting them with the extremity of the pole.
In a bas-relief of Khorsabad this rod is attached to the top of a
standard." The interesting illustration given in Fig. 6 is from a
sculpture in which these standards are represented with the figures of
the standard-bearers, and in which also the ropes or supports of the
staff are indicated.
[6] _Nineveh and its Remains._
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Assyrian Standards.]
There were, however, varieties in the forms of the Assyrian standards
other than those mentioned by Layard. In the annexed cut (Fig. 7) the
one to the left is from a sculpture in the British Museum. The others
are given on the authority of Botta.
[Illustration:
Fig. 8.--Persian Standard. Fig. 9.--Turkish Horse-tail Standard.]
The Persians, like the Assyrians, carried their standards, in battle, on
staffs or spears attached to chariots. Their royal standard was a golden
eagle with wings expanded carried on the end of a spear. They had also a
figure of the sun which they used on great occasions when the king was
present with the army. Quintus Curtius describes one of these figures of
the sun, inclosed in a crystal, as making a very splendid appearance
above the royal tent. But the proper royal standard of the Persians for
many centuries, until the Mahommedan conquest, was a blacksmith's
leather apron, around which the people had been at one time rallied to a
successful opposition against an invader (Fig. 8). Many other national
standards have had their origin in similar causes. Something which was
at hand was seized in an emergency, and lifted up as a rallying point
for the people, and afterwards adopted from the attachment which clung
to it as an object identified with patriotic deeds. In this way
originated the horse-tails borne as a standard by the modern Turks (Fig.
9). Under the old system, among that people, the distinction of rank
between the two classes of pachas was indicated by the number of these
horse-tails, the standards of the second class having only two tails,
while those of the higher had three. Hence the term a pacha of two tails
or three. A further mark of distinction appears to have been the
elevation of one of the tails above the others, and the surmounting of
each with the crescent, as shown in Fig. 10.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Standard of Pacha.]
The Romans had various forms of standards, some composed entirely of
fixed figures of different devices, including figures of animals. The
eagle, according to Pliny, was the first and chief military ensign. In
the second consulship of Caius Marius (B.C. 104) the eagle (Fig. 11)
alone was used, but at a subsequent period some of the old emblems were
resumed. These were the minotaur, the horse, and the wild boar; and on
the Trajan Column we find as one of their standards the historic wolf
(Fig. 12).
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Roman Standards.]
One of the most ancient of the Roman standards had an origin similar to
that of the apron of the Persians and the horse-tails of the Turks. It
was derived from a popular rising which took place in the time of
Romulus, and was composed of a wisp of hay attached to the end of a pole
(as seen in Fig. 13), and carried into battle. From its name,
_manipulus_, the companies of foot soldiers, of which the _hastati_,
_principes_, and _triarii_ of each legion were composed, came to be
called maniples--_manipuli_. Another standard borne by the Romans was a
spear with a piece of cross wood at the top with the figure of a hand
above, and having below a small round shield of gold or silver, as shown
in Fig. 13. On this circle were at first represented the warlike deities
Mars and Minerva, but after the extinction of the commonwealth it bore
the effigies of the emperors and their favourites. From these
coin-shaped devices the standards were called _numina legionum_. The
eagle was sometimes represented with a thunderbolt in its claws, of
which an example will be seen in Fig. 13. Under the later emperors it
was carried with the legion, which was on that account sometimes termed
_aquila_. The place for this standard was near the general, almost in
the centre.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.]
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
Another common form of the Roman standard consisted in a variety of
figures and devices exhibited on the same staff, one over the other. On
the top of one of these will be seen a human hand (Fig. 14). This by
itself, or inclosed, as here, within a wreath, was, as I have mentioned,
a frequent device, and was probably of oriental origin. It is also found
as a symbol in ancient Mexico; and at the present day the flagstaffs of
the Persians terminate in a silver hand. Among the pieces composing this
form of standard are also found the eagle, and figures of the emperors
inclosed in circles, with other devices (Fig. 15). A common form is that
numbered 5 in Fig. 16. This example is taken from the Arch of Titus. The
eagle surmounting the thunderbolt with the letters S P Q R (No. 3) was
also a common form. The letters indicate _Senatus Populusque Romanus_.
The examples Nos. 1 and 2 in Fig. 16 are from Montfaucon. No. 4 is given
by Mr. Hope.
The _vexillum_ of the Romans was a standard composed of a square piece
of cloth fastened to a cross bar at the top of a spear, sometimes with a
fringe all round as shown in Fig. 13, and sometimes fringed only below
(No. 4, Fig. 16), or without a fringe, but draped at the sides (Fig.
17). When placed over the general's tent it was a sign for marching, or
for battle.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Roman Standards.]
[Illustration: Fig. 17.]
The _labarum_ of the emperors was similar in form, and frequently bore
upon it a representation of the emperor, sometimes by himself and
sometimes accompanied by the heads of members of his family. It has been
said that the Emperor Constantine bore on the top of his standard the
sign of the cross, but this was not so. The cross at that time was known
only as a heathen emblem, and was not adopted by the Christians till
afterwards. That which Constantine bore was what in his time was the
only recognized Christian emblem--the first two letters of our Lord's
name (Fig. 18)--the Greek X (English CH) and P (in English R). The
_labarum_ was made of silk. The term is sometimes used for other
standards, and its form may still be recognized in the banners carried
in ecclesiastical processions. The _labarum_, like the _vexillum_, had
sometimes fringes with tassels or ribbons.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.]
[Illustration: Fig. 19.]
The dragon, an ensign of the Parthians, was adopted by the Romans as the
standard of their cohorts. It appears as such on the Arch of Severus. It
was also the device of the Dacians, and indeed seems to have been a
general ensign among barbarians. Besides being carried as a separate
figure in metal--as shown in Fig. 19--it was frequently embroidered in
cotton or silk on a square piece of cloth borne on a cross bar elevated
on a gilt staff; the bearer being called _draconarius_. From the Romans
the dragon came to the Western Empire. It was borne by the German
Emperors. In England also it was for some time the chief standard of the
kings, and of the Dukes of Normandy, and according to Sir Richard Bacon
it was the standard of Utor Pendragon, king of the Britons.[7] The
golden dragon was in the eighth century the standard of Wessex, and it
was displayed in a great battle in 742 when Ethelbald, the king of
Mercia, was defeated. It was also borne on a pole by King Harold as a
standard. It was borne by Henry VII. at Bosworth Field, and at a later
date it was carried as a supporter by Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and
also by Elizabeth. In many of the illuminations of MSS. in the fifteenth
century we also find a gold dragon on a red pennon, as one of the
ensigns in the French armies.
[7] Nisbet's _Heraldry_, vol. i. p. 343.
The infantry flag of the Romans was red, that of the cavalry blue, and
that of a consul white.
The banners of the Parthians resembled those of the Romans, but they
were more richly decorated with gold and silk.
In early times the Greeks carried as a standard a piece of armour on a
spear, but although they had an ensign, the elevation of which served as
a signal for giving battle either by land or by sea, they were not
regularly marshalled by banners. In their later history their different
cities bore different sacred emblems. Thus the Athenians were
distinguished by the olive and the owl, and the Corinthians by a
Pegasus.
At what time the form of standard which we call a flag was first used is
not known. It was certainly not the earliest but the ultimate form which
the standard assumed. The original form was some fixed object such as we
have seen on the Egyptian and Roman examples, and the vexillum and
labarum were transitional forms. The waving flag is said to have been
first used by the Saracens. Another account is that the flag first
acquired its present form in the sixth century, in Spain. The banners
which Bede mentions as being carried by St. Augustine and his monks,
when they entered Canterbury in procession, in the latter part of the
sixth century, were probably in the form of the Roman labarum. He calls
them little banners on which were depicted crosses.
Of our own national flags the earliest forms were those which bore the
cognizance of the ruler for the time being. The well-known ensign of the
Danes at the time of their dominion in Britain was the raven. The
dragon, as we have seen, was in the eighth century the cognizance of
Wessex, and the Saxons had also on their standards a white horse. Of our
later royal standards and those of other nations I shall speak
afterwards.
The forms of flags in our own country have varied very much. It was not
till the time of the Crusades, when heraldry began to assume a definite
form, that they became subject to established rules. Up to that period
flags were, as a rule, small in size, and they usually terminated in
points, like the more modern pennon. Such were the standards of the
Normans. At the Battle of the Standard in 1138 the staff of the English
standard was in the form of the mast of a ship, having a silver pyx at
the top, containing the host, and bearing three sacred banners dedicated
respectively to St. Peter, St. John of Beverley, and St. Wilfrid of
Ripon, the whole being fastened--like the standards of the Persians and
Assyrians--to a wheeled vehicle.
From an early period the practice has prevailed of blessing standards,
and this has continued to our own day in the British army when new
colours are presented to a regiment--there being a special form of
service at the consecration. The banner of William the Conqueror was one
blessed and sent to him by the pope. Indeed, it has been the practice of
the popes in every age to give consecrated banners where they wished
success to an enterprise.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF FLAGS--GONFANON--PENNON--PENONCEL.
In the middle ages almost every flag was a military one. A very early
form, borne near the person of the commander-in-chief, was the Gonfanon.
It was fixed in a frame made to turn like a modern ship's vane. That of
the Conqueror, as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, had three tails, and
was charged with a golden cross on a white ground within a blue border.
Of other forms of flags the principal varieties were the penoncel, the
pennon or guidon, the banner, and the standard.
The Pennon was a purely personal flag, pointed, borne below the
lance-head by a knight-bachelor, and charged with the arms, or crest,
and motto of the bearer. But in early times no knight displayed a pennon
who had not followers to defend it--the mounting of this ensign being a
matter of privilege, not of obligation. The order of knight-bachelor was
the most ancient and originally the sole order, being the degree
conferred by one knight on another without the intervention of prince,
noble, or churchman, and its privileges and duties approached nearly to
those of the knight-errant.[8]
[8] Sir Walter Scott, _Essay on Chivalry_, p. 79.
The Penoncel, which was carried by the esquire, was the diminutive of
the pennon, being one-half its breadth. It was borne at the end of a
lance, and usually bore the cognizance or "avowrye" of the bearer. This
flag was not carried by the esquire after the fight began, but was then
either held by an inferior attendant, or put up by the owner's tent.
BANNERS.
The Banner was the flag of a troop, and was borne by knights, called
after it bannerets, an order which held a middle rank between
knights-bachelors and the barons or great feudatories of the crown. The
flag of a knight-banneret was square at the end, but not an exact square
on all the sides. The perfectly square banner was the flag of a baron,
and of those of higher rank.
It was only on the field of battle, and in presence of the royal
standard, that a knight-banneret could be created. It was the custom for
the commander of the host thus to reward the distinguished services of a
knight-bachelor bearing a pennon, and he did so by tearing off the
"fly," or outer part of that flag, and by so doing giving it a square
form, thus making it a banner, and its bearer a knight-banneret. The
ceremony is thus described by Blome.[9] "The king (or his general), at
the head of the army, drawn up into battalia after a victory, under the
royal standard displayed, attended with all the field-officers and
nobles of the court, receives the knight led between two renowned
knights or valiant men-at-arms, having his pennon or guydon of arms in
his hand; and before them the heralds, who proclaim his valiant
achievements, for which he deserves to be made a knight-banneret, and to
display his banner in the field. Then the king (or general) says unto
him _Advances toy, Bannaret_, and causes the point of his pennon to be
rent off; and the new knight, having the trumpets before him sounding,
the nobles and officers accompanying him, is remitted to his tent, where
they are nobly entertained."
[9] _Analogia Honoria_. London, 1637; p. 84.
But knights were thus promoted before a battle as well as after it.
Froissart relates the manner in which the celebrated Sir John Chandos
was made banneret by the Black Prince before the battle of Navarete. The
whole scene forms a striking picture of an army of the middle ages
moving to battle. Upon the pennons of the knights, penoncels of the
squires, and banners of the barons and bannerets, the army formed, or,
in modern phrase, dressed its line. The usual word of the attack was,
"Advance banners in the name of God and Saint George." "When the sun was
risen," writes Froissart, "it was a beautiful sight to view these
battalions, with their brilliant armour glittering with its beams. In
this manner they nearly approached to each other. The prince, with a few
attendants, mounted a small hill, and saw very clearly the enemy
marching straight towards them. Upon descending this hill he extended
his line of battle on the plain, and then halted. The Spaniards, seeing
the English halted, did the same, in order of battle; then each man
tightened his armour and made ready as for instant combat. Sir John
Chandos then advanced in front of the battalions, with his banner
[pennon] uncased in his hand. He presented it to the prince, saying 'My
lord, here is my banner; I present it to you that I may display it in
whatever manner shall be most agreeable to you, for, thanks to God, I
have now sufficient lands that will enable me so to do, and maintain the
rank which it ought to hold.' The prince, Don Pedro being present, took
the banner in his hands, which was blazoned with a sharp stake gules, on
a field argent; and after having cut off the tail to make it square, he
displayed it, and, returning it to him by the handle, said, 'Sir John, I
return you your banner: God give you strength and honour to preserve
it.' Upon this Sir John left the prince, and went back to his men with
the banner in his hand."[10]
[10] Johnes' _Froissart_, vol. i. p. 731.
A banneret was expected to bring into the field at least thirty
men-at-arms--that is, knights or squires mounted--at his own expense;
and each of these, again, besides his attendants on foot, ought to have
had a mounted crossbow-man, and a horseman armed with a bow and
axe--forming altogether a large troop. The same force might be arrayed
by a knight under a pennon, but his accepting a banner bound him to
bring out that number at least. After the reign of Charles IV. this
obligation fell into disuse in France, and in England, soon after that
time, it also ceased to be observed.[11] Judging, however, from the
contemporary heraldic poem of the "Siege of Carlaverock" (June, 1300),
it would appear that early in the fourteenth century there was a banner
to every twenty-five or thirty men-at-arms. At that period the English
forces comprised the tenants _in capite_ of the crown, who were entitled
to lead their contingent under a banner of their arms--either by
themselves or under a deputy of equal rank. Thus at Carlaverock the
Bishop of Durham sent 160 of his men-at-arms, with his banner intrusted
to John de Hastings. But his banner on this occasion bore, not the
cognisance of the see, but simply his paternal arms. Having mentioned
this old poem--in which the arms of every banneret in the English army
are accurately blazoned--it may be interesting to give one of the
opening verses, as an example of the Norman French of the period--
"La ont meinte riche garnement
Brode sur cendeaus et samis,
Meint beau penon en lance mis,
Meint baniere desploie."
In English--There were many rich caparisons, embroidered on silks and
satins, many a beautiful penon fixed to a lance, and many a banner
displayed.
[11] Sir Walter Scott, _Essay on Chivalry_.
In the Scottish wars, the banner of St. Cuthbert was, in the English
army, carried by a monk. This continued to be done so late as the reign
of Henry VIII. In the same way the banner of St. John of Beverley was
carried by one of the vicars of Beverley College--who, by the way,
received eight pence halfpenny per diem as his wages, to carry it after
the king--a large sum in those days--and a penny a day to carry it
back.[12] The bearer of a banner, or bannerer as he was called, was in
these early times a very important personage. In the old paintings in
MSS. the persons holding the national or royal banners are generally
represented in the same kind of armour as the chief leaders. And they
were liberally rewarded for their services. In 1361 Edward III. granted
Sir Guy de Bryon 200 marks a year for life for having discreetly borne
the king's banner at the siege of Calais in 1347.[13]
[12] Prynne's _Antiquae Constitutiones Angliae_, vol. iii. p. 118.
[13] _Calend. Rot. Patent._ p. 173.
We learn from the "Siege of Carlaverock" that a pennon hung out by the
besieged was the signal for a parley. When the castle surrendered there
were placed on its battlements, we are told, the banners of the king, of
St. George, of St. Edmund, and St. Edward, together with those of the
marshall and constable of the army. To these were added the banner of
the individual to whose custody the castle was committed. But it is
doubtful whether in the fifteenth century any others but those of the
king and St. George were affixed to captured fortresses.
In France the office of custodier of national banners--such as the
Oriflamme--was hereditary. It was the same in Ireland, which claims a
higher antiquity in the use of banners than any other European nation;
and in Scotland the representative of the great house of Scrymgeour
enjoys the honour of being banner-bearer to the sovereign.[14]
[14] _Vicissitudes of Families and other Essays_, by Sir Bernard
Burke, 1st series, p. 387.
It was the custom in early times to have banners suspended from
trumpets. At the battle of Agincourt the Duke of Brabant, who arrived on
the field towards the close of the conflict, is said, by St. Remy, to
have taken one of the banners from his trumpeters, and, cutting a hole
in the middle, made a surcoat of arms of it. To this circumstance
Shakespeare thus alludes--
"I will a banner from my trumpet take
And use it for my haste."
Chaucer, too, notices banners being suspended from
trumpets--
"On every trump hanging a brod banere,
Of fine tartarium full richly bete,
Every trumpet his lorde's armes bere."[15]
[15] _Flour and the Leafe_, 1 211.
At coronations banners were also used; and in the fifteenth century
heralds, when despatched on missions, appear to have carried a banner
bearing their sovereign's arms. Banners were also for a long time used
at funerals. It was not till about the period of the Revolution that the
practice fell into comparative desuetude.
STANDARDS--THE ROYAL STANDARD.
The Standard was a large long flag, gradually tapering towards the fly.
According to the representation of a standard, in a heraldic MS. at
least as early as the reign of Henry VII., in the British Museum, it was
not quite so deep but very much longer than a banner,[16] and it varied
in size according to the rank of the owner. In England that of a duke
was seven yards in length, of a banneret four and a half, and of a
knight-bachelor four yards.
[16] _Harleian MSS._ 2259, f. 186.
The Royal Standard of England, when the sovereign in person commanded
the army, appears to have been of two sizes. According to the MS.
referred to, one of these standards is to be "sett before the Kynges
pavillion or tente, and not to be borne in battayle, and to be in length
eleven yards." The other--"the Kynges standard _to be borne_"--is to be
"in lengthe eight or nine yards."
The Royal Standard is a flag personal to the sovereign. It was not
always exclusively so, for in the seventeenth century the Lord High
Admiral, when personally in command of the fleet, and sometimes also
other commanders-in-chief, flew as their flag of command, not the Union,
but the Standard. It was so flown at the main by the Duke of Buckingham
as Lord High Admiral, on the occasion when he disgraced the English flag
in the unfortunate expedition against the Isle of Rhe in 1627. But now
the Royal Standard is used only by the sovereign in person, or as a
decoration on royal fete days. There are depicted on it the royal arms,
which have had various forms in different periods of our history. The
standard of Edward the Confessor was azure a cross flore between five
martlets, or. The arms of William Duke of Normandy, emblazoned on his
standard, were two lions, and they were borne by him and his successors,
as the royal arms of England, till the reign of Henry II. That monarch
married Eleanor, daughter and co-heiress of the Duke of Aquitaine, whose
arms--one lion--Henry added to his own. Hence the three lions _passant
gardant in pale_, borne ever since as the ensigns of England. These now
occupy the first and fourth quarters of the standard, but they did not
always do so. The fleurs-de-lis of France were, till a comparatively
recent period, quartered with the English arms, having been first borne
by Edward III. when he assumed the title of King of France. Many noble
families, both in this country and on the Continent, have quartered the
French lilies to show their origin, or in acknowledgment of the tenure
of important fiefs there. Among the last may be mentioned the arms of
Sir John Stewart of Darnley, who obtained from Charles VII. the lands
and title of Aubigny, and the right to quarter the arms of France with
his own. But in all these instances the fleurs-de-lis occupied a
secondary place. So if Henry II. had desired merely to show his French
connection, by maternal descent, he would have placed them in the second
and third quarters. But he placed them in the first quarter, as arms of
dominion, to indicate that he claimed the kingdom by right, and our
sovereigns continued this idle pretence till so late as the reign of
George III. It was not till the union with Ireland that it was
discontinued.
Some of the English kings bore personal standards besides the flag of
their own arms. Edward IV., besides his royal standard, generally bore a
banner with a white rose. Henry VII. at the battle of Bosworth Field had
three personal standards, in addition to the standard of his own arms.
The blazon of these three, and how the king disposed of them after the
battle, are thus described in a contemporary manuscript:--"With great
pompe and triumphe he roade through the Cytie to the Cathedral Church of
St. Paul where he offered his iij standards. In the one was the image of
St. George; in the second was a red firye dragon beaten upon white and
green sarcenet; the third was of yellow tarterne [a kind of fine cloth
of silk] in the which was painted a donne Kowe."[17]
[17] _Lansdowne MSS._ 255, f. 433.
The Royal Standard of Scotland was a red lion rampant on a gold field
within a red double tressure, flore counterflore, of which the origin is
veiled in the mists of antiquity. Our great heraldic authority, Nisbet,
in common with earlier writers, adopts the tradition which assigns the
assumption of the rampant lion to Fergus I., who is alleged to have
flourished as King of Scotland about 330 years before Christ. He also
refers to the celebrated league which Charlemagne is said to have
entered into in the beginning of the ninth century with Achaius, King of
Scotland, on account of his assistance in war, "for which special
service performed by the Scots the French king encompassed the Scots
lion, which was famous all over Europe, with a double tressure, flowered
and counterflowered with flower de luces, the armorial figures of
France, of the colour of the lion, to show that it had formerly defended
the French lilies, and that these thereafter shall continue a defence
for the Scots lion and as a badge of friendship."[18] On the other hand
Chalmers observes that these two monarchs were probably not even aware
of each other's existence, and he suggests that the lion--which first
appears on the seal of Alexander II.--may have been derived from the
arms of the old Earls of Northumberland and Huntingdon, from whom some
of the Scottish kings were descended. He adds, however, that the lion
was the cognisance of Galloway, and perhaps also of all the Celtic
nations. Chalmers also mentions an "ould roll of armes," preserved by
Leland, said to be of the age of Henry III. (1216), and which the
context shows to be at least as old as the reign of Edward I. (1272), in
which the arms of Scotland are thus described: "Le roy de Scosce dor a
un lion de goules a un bordure dor flurette de goules."[19] In 1471 the
parliament of James III. "ordanit that in tyme to cum thar suld be na
double tresor about his armys, but that he suld ber hale armys of the
lyoun without ony mar." If this alteration of the blazon was ever
actually made, it did not long continue.[20]
[18] _System of Heraldry_, vol. ii. part iii. p. 98.
[19] _Caledonia_, i. 762, note (i.).
[20] Seton's _Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland_, p. 425.
With one noted exception Scotland never quartered the arms of any
kingdom with her own. The exception was when Mary Stuart claimed the
arms and style of England, and quartered these arms on her standard.
This was perhaps the first, and, as it proved, an inexpiable provocation
to Elizabeth.[21] Mary's mode of blazoning was peculiar. She bore
Scotland and England quarterly--the former being placed first, and, over
all, _the dexter half_ of an escutcheon of pretence, charged with the
arms of England, the sinister half being obscured in order to intimate
that she was kept out of her right.[22]
[21] Hallam's _Constitutional History_, 4th edit. i. 127.
[22] Strype's _Annals_, quoted by Mr. Seton, p. 427.
On the accession of James I. the Royal Standard of England was altered.
The arms of France and England quarterly appeared in the first and
fourth quarters, those of Scotland in the second, and in the third the
golden harp of Ireland, which had taken the place of the three crowns.
But an exception occurred in the case of William III., who, on his
landing in England, had a standard bearing the motto, "The Protestant
Religion and Liberties of England," and, under the royal arms of
England, instead of "Dieu et mon Droit," the words "And I will maintain
it." Afterwards he impaled on his standard the arms of Mary with his
own. They are represented in this form in a MS. of the Harleian Library,
on a banner per pale orange and yellow. After his elevation to the
throne William placed over the arms of the queen, which were those of
her father James II., his own paternal coat of Nassau.[23]
[23] Willement's _Regal Heraldry_, p. 95.
George III. when he left out the ensigns of France marshalled on his
standard those of his Germanic states in an escutcheon of pretence--a
small shield in the centre point. This was omitted on the accession of
Queen Victoria, who bears on her standard the arms of England in the
first and fourth quarters, Scotland in the second, and Ireland in the
third. (See Plate IV. No. 1, p. 108.)
But while the Royal Standard was, on the accession of James I., altered
for England in the way I have described, it was displayed according to a
different blazon in Scotland. For a long period, whenever the standard
was used to the north of the Tweed, the Scottish arms had precedence by
being placed in the first and fourth quarters. On the great seal of
Scotland this precedence is still continued, and the Scottish unicorn
also occupies the dexter side of the shield as a supporter. But on the
standard the arms of Scotland have now lost their precedence, those of
England being placed in the first quarter, and although there has been
much controversy on the subject, I agree with Mr. Seton[24] that it is
better that the arrangement should be so. The standard is the personal
flag of the sovereign of one united kingdom, and heraldic propriety
appears to require that only one unvarying armorial achievement should
be used on it--that of the larger and more important kingdom taking
precedence, although Nisbet[25] claims precedence for the Scottish arms
on the achievement of Great Britain as those of "the ancientest
sovereignty."[26] I certainly do not agree with Mr. Seton, however, that
either in the arms or supporters precedence ought to be granted to
England "in accordance with the sentiment of certain well-known
classical lines:--
"'The Lion and the Unicorn
Were fighting for the Crown,
The Lion beat the Unicorn
All round the town.'"[27]
[24] _Scottish Heraldry_, p. 445.
[25] Vol ii. part iii. p. 90.
[26] Sir George Mackenzie says: "The King of Scotland being
equal in dignity with the Kings of England, France, and
Spain, attained to that dignity before any of these." He
therefore claims precedence for Scotland over all
these kingdoms. _Treatise on Precedency_, p. 4.
[27] _Scottish Heraldry_, p. 446.
I do not know where Mr. Seton got that version, inconsistent as it is
alike with patriotism and with historical accuracy. It is certainly not
the correct one. The true version, familiar to every boy in Scotland, is
more impartial, and it has more fun in it. It runs thus:--
"The Lion and the Unicorn,
Fighting for the Crown:
Up came a little dog
And knocked them both down."
--the "little dog" being the small lion which stands defiantly on the
crown, and constitutes the royal crest at the top of the achievement.
The supporters of the Scottish arms were two unicorns. In England,
previous to the accession of the Stuarts, the supporters of the royal
arms were changed at the caprice of the sovereign, and almost every king
or queen adopted new ones. From these, and from the royal badges, came
many of the curious names which may be found in old lists of ships. Such
as the "Antelope," which refers to one of the supporters of Henry VI.;
the "Bull" of Edward IV.; the "Dragon" of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth.
So also the badges: the "Sun," "Rose in the Sun," and "Falcon in the
Fetterlock," were all worn by Edward IV. The "Double Rose" speaks for
itself, and the "Hawthorn" belonged to Henry VIII.[28] The supporters
assumed by King James, and continued to all his successors, were a lion
on the dexter side, and on the sinister one of the Scottish
unicorns--the latter displacing the red dragon of the Tudor family.
[28] _Heraldry of the Sea_, by J. K. Laughton, M.A.R.N., 1879.
In ships the Royal Standard is never hoisted now except when her Majesty
is on board, or a member of the royal family other than the Prince of
Wales. When the latter is on board his own standard is hoisted. It is
the same as that of the Queen, except that it bears a label argent of
three points, with the arms of Saxony on an escutcheon of pretence. The
standard of the Duke of Edinburgh is the same as that of the Prince of
Wales, except that the points of the label are charged, the first and
third with a blue anchor, and the second with the St. George's cross.
Wherever the sovereign is residing the Royal Standard is hoisted; and on
royal anniversaries and state occasions it is hoisted at certain
fortresses or stations--home and foreign--specified in the Queen's
Regulations.
STANDARDS BORNE BY NOBLES.
Standards borne by subjects were, in early times, according to the Tudor
MS. to be "slitt at the end," but they appear to have been also borne
square. This is the form in an old standard of Richard, Earl of
Warwick--circa 1437--bearing his badge of the bear and ragged staff
(Fig. 20). Shakespeare[29] alludes to this device when he puts into the
mouth of Warwick the words--
"Now by my father's badge, old Neville's crest,
The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff."
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Standard of the Earl of
Warwick, A.D. 1437.]
But Shakespeare was out in his heraldry here, first in confounding the
badge with a crest, and secondly in calling it Neville's, for the bear
and the ragged staff had been the badge not of the Nevilles but of the
Beauchamps, who preceded Warwick in the earldom.[30] This old Earl of
Warwick had a similar device on the flag which he flew in his ship. It
was a long flag, having the cross of St. George on the upper part--then
the bear and ragged staff, and the remainder covered with ragged staffs.
It is interesting to note that the account for this and other flags made
for the earl in 1437, is preserved. The one just referred to is
described as "a great Stremour for the ship of xi yerdis length and viij
yerdis in brede," and the price for making it was "j^{li} vi^s
viii^d."[31]
[29] _King Henry VI._ part ii. act v. sc. 1.
[30] Seton's _Scottish Heraldry_, p. 252.
[31] _Antiquities of Warwickshire._
In the Advocates' Library there is preserved an interesting flag, which
is said to have been the standard borne by the Earl Marshall at the
battle of Flodden (Fig. 21). It is thus described in the paper which
accompanies it: "The standard of the Earl Marshall of Scotland, carried
at the battle of Flodden, 1513, by _black_ John Skirving of Plewland
Hill, his standard-bearer. Skirving was taken prisoner, having
previously, however, concealed the banner about his person. The relic
was handed down in the Skirving family, and presented to the Faculty of
Advocates by William Skirving of Edinburgh, in the beginning of the
present century. The arms and motto are those of the Keith family."
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Flag of the Earl Marshall.]
The flag may have been borne by the earl at Flodden, but the devices on
it are certainly not his _arms_. The arms of the Earl Marshall were,
argent, on a chief gules three pallets or; or, as it is otherwise given
by Nisbet, palle of six, or and gules. The _crest_ of the earl, however,
was a hart's head, and he had for supporters two harts. His motto also
was that which appears on the banner, "Veritas vincit." That the full
arms should not appear on the standard I can understand, for it was not
common to place them there, and in England the Tudor MS. prescribes
that, besides the cross of St. George, standards and guidons are to have
on them not the arms, but only the bearers "_beast_ or crest, with his
devyce and word." It is possible, therefore, that the earl may have
placed on his flag his well-known crest with the heads of the two harts
forming his supporters, though such an arrangement would be unusual.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Standard of Earl Douglas, A.D. 1388.]