Difference between revisions of "Banners"

Revision as of 15:02, 31 January 2015

This article's completion rating is 2 out of 5. Article structure and content is subject to change as data is still being collected.

This article's completion rating is 2 out of 5. Article structure and content is subject to change as data is still being collected.

Banners, standards, flags, gonfanon (guntfano) and pennons (pennants) were commonly adopted by the warriors of the 9th – 12th centuries. This article attempts to briefly outline what the authors currently know about the subject.
The style of banner stays surprisingly consistent from the 9th to the 12th centuries and across Western Europe. For this reason we’ve decided to look at all the evidence together rather than, as we usually do, break the evidence into English, Carolingian, etc.

From Art

Pennons

These are triangular flags or streamers.

• Banner BL Cotton Caligula A XV f123r

  c.1073AD English
  BL Cotton Caligula A XV f123r

Banners

These are rectangular flags ending in ‘swallowtails’.

Before 1066AD

• 

  1025-10505AD English
  BL Vatican lat.12 f.37v

The Bayeux Tapestry

After 1066AD

• 

  1100-1135AD English
  Great Seal of Henry I

From Literature

Bede – Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 731AD

Capitulary of Charles the Bald, 843-877AD

Beowulf, c.1000AD

The Song of Roland, 1040-115AD [BACON 1914] LEONABD BACON 1914

• Verse 4

"And Geoffrey of Anjou, the bearer of the King's gonfalon" [BACON 1914]

• Verse 33

"Through Cerdagne, and through the valleys and the mountains they marched on,

Until of the French army they saw the gonfalon.

Where aU the twelve companions with the French rear-guard

King Marsile will not tarry till he have joined the fray" [BACON 1914]

• Verse 39

"They held Valentian lances, and shield on shoulder wore.

White and blue and vermilion were the gonfalons they bore." [BACON 1914]

• Verse 59

"Then an embroidered banner he gave unto Grandoign

To lead his men against the Franks that battle they might join.

And therewithal was given to Grandoign the whole command." [BACON 1914]

• Verse 125

"And onwards Geoffrey of Anjou bore the great Oriflame —

Because it was Saint Peter's, it bore the Roman name." [BACON 1914]

Note: Oriflame was the name of Charlemagne's banner

• Verse 137

"Right through the Prince's body his golden banner bore.

He smote him dead seven hundred of his servitors before." [BACON 1914]

• Verse 142

"Ogier the Dane and Charlemagne well the great strokes laid on,

And Neimes and Geoffrey of Anjou that bore the gonfalon.

Ogier the Dane in all things a hero good was he.

He spurred the steed beneath him, and let him gallop free.

On him who bore the Dragon he let drive a buffet dread.

Down to the earth before him he hurled Lord Amboire dead.

And the banner of King Baligant in that hour came to ground.

And Baligant beheld it fall, and the ensign of Mahound

Without a man to guard it. In his heart he saw it plain

How wickedness was on his side and the right with Charlemagne" [BACON 1914]

Master Wace, The Chronicle of the Norman Conquest (Roman de Rou), c.1174

• Line 11,450

“When Harold had made all ready, and given his orders, he came into the midst of the English, and dismounted by the side of the standard, Leofwin and Gurth, his brothers, were with him; and around him he had barons enough, as he stood by his gonfanon, which was in truth a noble one, sparkling with gold and precious stones. After the victory William sent it to the apostle, to prove and commemorate his great conquest and glory.” [PICKERING 1837]

“L’apostoile li otreia, un gonfanon li enveia, un gonfanon et un anel, mult precios e riche e bel; si come it dit, desoz la pierre, aveit un des cheveuls Saint Pierre”[MICHEL 1836: p.147] Charlemagne: An Anglo-Norman Poem of the Twelfth Century edited by Francisque Michel 1836

Late Roman Draco Standards

Art

• 

  c.883-900AD Carolingian
  St. Gallen Cod.22 140

• 

  c.1076AD English
  Bayeux Tapestry

Literature

Archaeology
--
Discussion

"... be the end would have been different. But Harold was struck, and cut down by a Norman sword when William's knights burst through the Huscarles to trample down the Dragon standard and Harold's banner of the Fighting Man." [Oakshott 1963:p.180]