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{{Spears}} Banners, standards, flags, gonfanon (gonfalon, 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.<br>

<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:Banner BL Cotton Caligula A XV f123r Harley 603 1000-1025AD.jpg‎ | 1000-1025AD English <br> BL Harley 603File:Banner BL Harley 603 1025-1050AD.jpg‎ | 1025-1050AD English <br> BL Harley 603File:Banner BL Harley 603 1050-1075AD.jpg‎ | 1050-1075AD English <br> BL Harley 603File:Banner_BL_Cotton_Caligula_A_XV_f123r.jpg‎ | c.1073AD English <br> BL Cotton Caligula A XV f123rFile:Banner BL Harley 603 1125-1150AD.jpg‎ | 1125-1150AD English <br> BL Harley 603

<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:Banner Leiden I Maccabees.jpg | 850-950AD Carolingian <br> Leiden I Maccabees f.15v & f.22rFile:Banner Brussels ms 10066-77.jpg| 900-1000AD Carolingian <br> Brussels ms 10066-77File:Banner Aachen Liuthar Gospels.jpg | 990AD Ottonian <br> Aachen Liuthar GospelsFile:Banner BL Egerton 3763.jpg| 998-1018AD Ottonian <br> BL Egerton 3763 f.112v & f.116vFile:Banner BL Add. 24199.jpg| 1000AD English <br> BL Add. 24199

<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:William Seal.jpg| 1066-1087 <br> Seal of William I (The conqueror)File:Seal William Rufus.jpg| 1087-1100 <br> Seal of William II (Rufus) File:Banner Dijon MS14 f.13v.jpg| 1109-1111AD French <br> Dijon MS14 f.13vFile:Banner Dijon MS173 f133v.jpg| 1101-1133 French <br> Dijon MS173 f133v 'Moralia in Job'File:Seal Henry I.jpg| 1100-1135AD English <br> Great Seal of Henry IFile:Banner Heildesheim St Albans Psalter 49.JPG| 1120-1145 <br> Heildesheim, St Albans PsalterFile:Seal King Alexander of Scotland.jpg| 1107-1124 <br> Seal of Alexander I of Scotland

<!-- ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><br>==Late Roman Draco Standards=Capitulary of Charles the Bald, 843-877AD===*:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“Let our envoys (missi nostril) see that the troops of every bishop, abbot, and abbess, march forth properly equipped, and with their Gonfalonier (cum Guntfannonario).” [HEWITT 1885: p.166]

{{evidence|Art =<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- gallery heights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:Banner St. Gallen Cod.22 140.jpg | c.883-900AD Carolingian <br>St. Gallen Cod.22 140===Beowulf, File:Banner Bayeux Tapestry 71a.jpg | c.1000AD==1076AD English <br> Bayeux Tapestry</gallery>|Literature =*About Witikind, an adversary of Charlemagne:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"High o'er his head they hoist the standardHic arripiens signum quod apud eo habebatur sacrum,<br>leonis atque draconis desuper aquilae volantis insignitum effigie ..." [OAKESHOTT 1960:p178]* Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum c.1129-c.1154.:AD 752 Battle of Burford:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">a gold“Ethelhun who led the West-wove banner; let billows take himSaxons,<br>bearing the royal standard, a golden dragon, transfixed the standard-bearer of the enemy.” [BOHN 1853:p.130]:AD 1016 Battle of Assandun:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">gave him to ocean“King Edmund distinguished himself for his valour." For perceiving that the Danes were fighting with more than ordinary vigour, he quitted his royal station which, as was wont, he had taken between the dragon and the ensign called the Standard,....” [GUMMERE 1910BOHN 1853:p.194]|Archaeology

*|Discussion =}}The idea of a 'Dragon of Wessex' is an invention of E. A. Freeman in the C19th. [CHANEY 1970:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"To Beowulf gave the bairn of Healfdenep.128]<br>:<span style=Oakeshott refers to "font-style: italic; color: green">... be the end would have been different. But Harold was struck, and cut down by a gold-wove Norman sword when William's knights burst through the Huscarles to trample down the Dragon standard and Harold's banner, guerdon of triumph,<br>:<span style=the Fighting Man."font-style[OAKESHOTT 1960: italic; color: green">broidered battle-flag" [GUMMERE 1910p.180]but we are unable to find anything that this reference to a dragon standard could be based on.

*:<span style="font!-- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------style: italic; color: green">"His glance too fell on a gold-wove banner<br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">high o'er the hoard, of handiwork noblest,<br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green"br>brilliantly broidered; so bright its gleam," [GUMMERE 1910]

==The Viking 'Raven Banner'=={{evidence|Art =<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -gallery heights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:Banner Bayeux Tapestry 53b.jpg | c.1076AD English <br> Bayeux Tapestry</gallery>|Literature =====The Song of Roland, 1040Anglo-115AD [BACON 1914] LEONABD BACON 1914Saxon Chronicle (890-1116AD)====*Verse 4 AD 878 :<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"And Geoffrey “And in the winter of Anjouthis same year the brother of Ingwar and Healfden landed in Wessex, in Devonshire, with three and twenty ships, and there was he slain, and eight hundred men with him, and forty of his army. There also was taken the bearer war-flag, which they called the RAVEN.” [INGRAM 1912]<br>Swanton’s translation [SWANTON 2000:p.77] of Anglo-Saxon Chronicle E <span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“.. and there the Kingbanner which they called ‘Raven', was taken.” </span> It's gonfalon" [BACON 1914]also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's B, C and D (B was written in the second half of the C10th, probably in the 970's) but it is not mentioned in the oldest surviving copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A (written from c.890AD to 1070AD).

*Verse 33 ====Asser's The Life of Alfred (1000AD)====:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"Through Cerdagne...and there they gained a very large booty, and through amongst other things the valleys standard called '''Raven'''; for they say that the three sisters of Hingwar and the mountains Hubba, daughters of Lodobroch, wove that flag and got it ready in one day. They say, moreover, that in every battle, wherever that flag went before them, if they marched were to gain the victory a '''live crow would appear flying on, <br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Until the middle of the French army flag''' ; but if they saw the gonfalonwere doomed to be defeated it would hang down motionless, and this was often proved to be so. <br>:<span style="font-style[GILES 1848: italic; color: green">Where aU the twelve companions with the French rear-guard <br>p62]:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">King Marsile will not tarry till he have joined A major doubt exists regarding the fray" authenticity of this chapter in Asser's Life of Alfred. It has been fairly well proved that Bishop Parker added this chapter directly from The Annals of St Neots in his 1574AD published version of Asser's Life of Alfred. [BACON 1914STEVENSON 1904]The original sole surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscript, Cotton MS Otho A xii, was lost in the Cotton Library fire of 1731AD. The two remaining transcripts have both been affected to varying degrees by Bishop Parkers interpolations.

*Verse 39====The Annals of St Neots (1120-1140AD)====:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"They held Valentian lances, and shield on shoulder wore. "<br>:<span style="fontAlthough written in the C12th, The Annals of St Neots was based in part on a now missing early version of the Anglo-style: italic; color: green">White and blue and vermilion were the gonfalons they boreSaxon Chronicle." [BACON 1914SWANTON 2000]

*Verse 59====Saga of Olaf, Tryggvi's Son. (c.1260AD)====:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"Then an embroidered ...Take thou here this banner he gave unto Grandoign <br>:<span style=which I have made with all my skill, and I ween that it will bring victory to him before whom it is borne, but death to its bearer."font-style: italic; color: green">To lead his men against The banner was wrought with cunningly executed handiwork and elaborate art. It was made in the Franks that battle they might joinshape of a raven, and when floating in the wind it resembled the raven flying. " <br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">And therewithal was given This saga is part of the Flateyjarbók written between 1387AD to Grandoign 1394AD and contains expanded version of some of the whole commandsagas from the Heimskringla." [BACON 1914]

*Verse 125:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"And onwards Geoffrey of Anjou bore the great Oriflame — <br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Because it was Saint Peter's, it bore the Roman name." [BACON 1914]|Archaeology|Discussion:Note: Oriflame was the name of Charlemagne's banner}}

*Verse 137:<span style="font!-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --style: italic; color: green">"Right through the Prince's body his golden banner bore. <br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green"br>He smote him dead seven hundred of his servitors before." [BACON 1914]

*Verse 142:<span style="font=Harald Hardrade's 'Land-style: italic; color: green">"Ogier the Dane waster' Banner==Also known as Land-ravager. 'Landøyðan' and Charlemagne well the great strokes laid on, '' in Icelandic. <br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">And Neimes and Geoffrey of Anjou that bore the gonfalonThe Heimskringla was written around c.1230AD by Snorri Sturluson. <br>* '''Saga of Harald Hardrade.''' From the Heimskringla :* Treaty between Harald and Svein broken::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Ogier the Dane in "A little after this it happened that Harald and Svein one evening were sitting at table drinking and talking together, and Svein asked Harald what valuable piece of all things a hero good was his property heesteemed the most. <br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">He spurred the steed beneath himanswered, and let him gallop freeit was his '''banner Land-waster'''. <br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">On him who bore the Dragon Svein asked what was there remarkable about it, that he let drive a buffet dreadvalued it so highly. <br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Down to Harald replied, it was a common saying that he must gain the earth victory before him whom that banner is borne, and it had turned out so ever since he hurled Lord Amboire deadhad owned it. <br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">And Svein replies, "I will begin to believe there is such virtue in the banner of King Baligant in that hour came to groundwhen thou hast held three battles with thy relation Magnus, and hast gained them all. <br>"" [LAING 1907]:* The Battle at the Humber::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">And Baligant beheld it fall"He ordered the '''banner''' which was called the '''Land-ravager''' to be carried before him, and the ensign made so severe an assault that all had to give way before it;" [LAING 1907]:* Skirmish of Mahound <br>Orre::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Without a man to guard it"Eystein Orre came up at this moment from the ships with the men who followed him, and all were clad in armour. In his heart he saw it plain <br>:<span style="font Then Eystein got '''King Harald's banner Land-style: italicravager'''; color: green">How wickedness and now was on his side , for the third time, one of the sharpest of conflicts, in which many Englishmen fell, and the right with Charlemagnethey were near to taking flight." [BACON 1914LAING 1907]

<!-- ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><br>==Viking Weather Vanes =William of Poitiers, The Deeds of William, Duke of Normandy =7 'weather vanes' have been found and King a depiction of England (Gesta Willelmi ducis Normannorum et regis Anglorum) cthem can be found on a carving from Bergen.1071AD

<!-- ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><br>==King Harold’s ‘Fighting Man’ banner==William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England (Gesta Regum Anglorum) c.1125AD*“The king himself on foot, stood with his brother, near the standard; in order that, while all shared equal danger, none might think King Harold’s personal banner is described by three sources although only two of retreating. This standard William sent, after them mention the victory, to the pope; it was sumptuously embroidered, with gold and precious stones, in the form of a man fighting.” [GILES 1847:p‘Fighting Man’.276]

<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->===Master Wace* '''William of Poitiers, Gesta Willelmi ducis Normannorum et regis Anglorum''' (The Chronicle Deeds of the Norman Conquest (Roman de Rou), c.1174===*Line 11,450:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“When Harold had made all ready, and given his ordersWilliam, he came into the midst Duke of the English, Normandy and dismounted by the side King 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 stonesEngland) c. After the victory William sent it to the apostle, to prove and commemorate his great conquest and glory.” [TAYLOR 1837]</span>1071AD<br>

* '''William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England''' (Gesta Regum Anglorum) c.1125AD:*::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“L’apostoile li otreia"The king himself on foot, un gonfanon li enveiastood with his brother, un gonfanon et un anelnear the standard; in order that, mult precios e riche e belwhile all shared equal danger, none might think of retreating. This standard William sent, after the victory, to the pope; si come it ditwas sumptuously embroidered, desoz la pierrewith gold and precious stones, aveit un des cheveuls Saint Pierre”in the form of a '''man fighting'''." [MICHEL 1836GILES 1847: p.147276]</span> Charlemagne: An Anglo-Norman Poem of the Twelfth Century edited by Francisque Michel 1836

* '''Master Wace, The Chronicle of the Norman Conquest''' (Roman de Rou), c.1174:* Line 11,450::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“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.” [TAYLOR 1837]</span><br> <!-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- --><br>==The Papal Banner==  <!-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><br>==Charlemagne's 'Oriflame' == ==== The song of Roland ====*Verse 226:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"And onwards Geoffrey of Anjou bore the great '''Oriflame''' — <br>:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Because it was Saint Peter's, it bore the Roman name." [BACON 1914] <!-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><br>== The Caroccium ==