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Banners
,{{Stars2|Category=Weapons}}
{{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>
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===Pennons===
These are triangular flags or streamers.<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
</gallery>
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===Banners===
These are rectangular flags ending in ‘swallowtails’.<br>
====Before 1066AD====
<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
File:Banner BL Vatican lat.12 f.37v.jpg | 1025-10505AD English <br> BL Vatican lat.12 f.37v
File:Banner BL Paris Lat. 8824 f.1v.jpg | 1025-10505AD English <br> Paris Lat. 8824 f.1v
File:Banner BL Cotton Tiberius C VI.jpg | 1050AD English <br> BL Cotton Tiberius C VI f.8v & f.9r
</gallery>
====The Bayeux Tapestry====
[[File:Bayeux Tapestry Banners.jpg|thumb|280x250px|left]]
====After 1066AD====
<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
</gallery>
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===Triangular Banners===
A type of banner supported by the banner pole and a horizontal beam and similar in shape to the Viking weather vanes.
<gallery heights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">
File:Banner Girona, Beatus Of Girona f.242r.jpg| 976AD <br> Girona, Beatus Of Girona f.242r
File:Banner Boulogne MS20 f.29v.jpg| 1000AD Ottonian <br> Boulogne MS20 f.29v
File:Banner Bayeux Tapestry 65a.jpg| c.1076AD <br> Bayeux Tapestry
File:Coin BM 1915,0507.767 Anlaf Guthfrithsson 939-941AD.jpg| 939-941AD <br> Anlaf Guthfrithsson, King of York
File:Coin Cnut.jpg| 1016-1035<br> Cnut, King of England
</gallery>
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==From Literature==
For a full list of banners mentioned in primary sources see [[Banners from Literature]].<br>
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Included here are only those quotes that describe the appearance of banners. I have omitted those quotes that just describe the banner as golden. <br>
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====Bede – Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 731AD====
* Osthryth, queen of the Mercians
:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"...that there might be a perpetual memorial of the royal character of this holy man [King Oswald], they hung up over the monument his banner of gold and purple." [SELLAR 1907]
====The Song of Roland, 1040-115AD====
*Verse 39
:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"They held Valentian lances, and shield on shoulder wore. <br>
:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">White and blue and vermilion were the gonfalons they bore." [BACON 1914]
<!-- ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><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
==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).
<!-- ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --><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]
* '''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 ==
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==References==
{{Ref|Book=Anderson, Hjjaltalin & Goudie 1873}}
{{Ref|Book=Bacon 1914}}
{{Ref|Book=Bohn 1853}}
{{Ref|Book=Chaney 1970}}
{{Ref|Book=Giles 1847}}
{{Ref|Book=Giles 1848}}
{{Ref|Book=Gummere 1910}}
{{Ref|Book=Hewitt 1855}}
{{Ref|Book=Laing 1907}}
{{Ref|Book=Oakeshott 1960}}
{{Ref|Book=Sellar 1907}}
{{Ref|Book=Stevenson 1904}}
{{Ref|Book=Swanton 2000}}
{{Ref|Book=Taylor 1837}}
<HarvardReferences />