Changes
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>
===Pennons===
These are triangular flags or streamers.<br>
<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">
File:Banner BL Harley 603 1000-1025AD.jpg | 1000-1025AD English <br> BL Harley 603
File:Banner BL Harley 603 1025-1050AD.jpg | 1025-1050AD English <br> BL Harley 603
These are rectangular flags ending in ‘swallowtails’.<br>
====Before 1066AD====
<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:Banner Leiden I Maccabees f.15v.jpg | 850-950AD Carolingian <br> Leiden I Maccabees f.15v& f.22rFile:Banner Leiden I Maccabees f.22rBrussels ms 10066-77.jpg | 850900-950AD 1000AD Carolingian <br> Leiden I Maccabees f.22rBrussels ms 10066-77File:Banner Aachen Liuthar Gospels a.jpg | 990AD Ottonian <br> Aachen Liuthar GospelsFile:Banner Aachen Liuthar Gospels bBL Egerton 3763.jpg | 990AD 998-1018AD Ottonian <br> Aachen Liuthar GospelsBL 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 f.8v.jpg | 1050AD English <br> BL Cotton Tiberius C VI f.8vFile:Banner BL Cotton Tiberius C VI f.9r.jpg | 1050AD English <br> BL Cotton Tiberius C VI & f.9r
</gallery>
====After 1066AD====
<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">File:Banner Dijon MS14 f.13v aWilliam Seal.jpg| 11091066-1111AD French 1087 <br> Dijon MS14 fSeal of William I (The conqueror)File:Seal William Rufus.13vjpg| 1087-1100 <br> Seal of William II (Rufus) File:Banner Dijon MS14 f.13v b.jpg| 1109-1111AD French <br> Dijon MS14 f.13v
File: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>
<br>
===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>
<br>
==From Literature==
For a full list of banners mentioned in primary sources see [[Banners from Literature]].<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --br><br>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><br>====Bede – Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 731AD===*:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"His [King Edwin] dignity was so great throughout his dominions, that not only were his banners borne before him in battle, but even in time of peace, when he rode about his cities, townships, or provinces, with his thegns, the standard-bearer was always wont to go before him. Also, when he walked anywhere along the streets, that sort of banner which the Romans call Tufa, and the English, Thuuf, was in like manner borne before him." [SELLAR 1907]
* 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-115ADSaxon 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>===William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England (Gesta Regum Anglorum) c.1125AD=King Harold’s ‘Fighting Man’ banner==*“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>===Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla (The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway), c.1225AD=Papal Banner==* Saga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of Sigurd:<span style="font!-- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------style: italic; color: green">"The sharp bow-shooter on the sea:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Spread wide his fleet, for well loved he:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">The battle storm: well loved the earl:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">His battle-banner to unfurl,:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">O'er the well-trampled battle-field:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">He raised the red-moon of his shield;:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">And often dared King Eirik's son:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green"br>To try the fray with the Earl Hakon." [LAING 1844]* Harald Harfager==Charlemagne's Saga:<span style'Oriflame' ="font-style: italic; color: green">The forecastle men were picked men, for they had the king's banner." [LAING 1844]* Saga of Harald Hardrade: Part I**OF ULF AND HALDOR.::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"When Harald came to the castle gate his standard-bearer fell, and Harald said to Haldor, "Do thou take up the banner now." Haldor took up the banner, and said foolishly, "Who will carry the banner before thee, if thou followest it so timidly as thou hast done for a while?" But these were words more of anger than of truth; for Harald was one of the boldest of men under arms."**BATTLE AT A FOURTH CASTLE.::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"=== The coffin was borne high in the air, and over it was a tent song of costly linen and before it were carriedmany banners."Roland ====**TREATY BETWEEN HARALD AND SVEIN BROKEN.Verse 226::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"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 And onwards Geoffrey of all his property he esteemed Anjou bore the most.great '''Oriflame''' — <br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">He answered, Because it was his banner Land-waster.<br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Svein asked what was there remarkable about itSaint Peter's, that he valued it so highlybore the Roman name.<br>" [BACON 1914] ::<span style="font!-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --style: italic; color: green">Harald replied, it was a common saying that he must gain the victory before whom that banner is borne, and it had turned out so ever since he had owned it.<br>::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Svein replies, "I will begin to believe there is such virtue in the banner when thou hast held three battles with thy relation Magnus, and hast gained them all.""**THE FALL OF EINAR AND EINDRIDE.::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"After Einar's murder the king was so much disliked for that deed that there was nothing that prevented the lendermen and bondes from attacking the king, and giving him battle, but the want of some leader to raise the banner in the bonde army."The Caroccium ==
<!-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<br>
==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 />