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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]
*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]
{{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 140File:Banner Bayeux Tapestry 71a.jpg | c.1076AD English <br> Bayeux Tapestry</gallery>|Literature =*Verse 125About Witikind, an adversary of Charlemagne:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"And onwards Geoffrey Hic arripiens signum quod apud eo habebatur sacrum, leonis atque draconis desuper aquilae volantis insignitum effigie ..." [OAKESHOTT 1960:p178]* Henry of Anjou bore the great Oriflame — <br>Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum c.1129-c.1154.:AD 752 Battle of Burford:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Because it was Saint Peter's“Ethelhun who led the West-Saxons, it bore bearing the Roman nameroyal standard, a golden dragon, transfixed the standard-bearer of the enemy." ” [BACON 1914BOHN 1853:p.130]:NoteAD 1016 Battle of Assandun: Oriflame <span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“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 name of Charlemagne's bannerdragon and the ensign called the Standard,....” [BOHN 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 ===William ==The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (890-1116AD)====*AD 878 :<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“And in the winter of this same year the brother of PoitiersIngwar and Healfden landed in Wessex, The Deeds in Devonshire, with three and twenty ships, and there was he slain, and eight hundred men with him, and forty of Williamhis army. There also was taken the war-flag, Duke which they called the RAVEN.” [INGRAM 1912]<br>Swanton’s translation [SWANTON 2000:p.77] of Normandy Anglo-Saxon Chronicle E <span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“.. and King there the banner which they called ‘Raven', was taken.” </span> It's also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's B, C and D (B was written in the second half of England (Gesta Willelmi ducis Normannorum et regis Anglorumthe 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.1071AD ===890AD to 1070AD).
====Saga of Olaf, Tryggvi's Son. (c.1260AD)====:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">“L’apostoile li otreia"...Take thou here this banner which I have made with all my skill, un gonfanon li enveia, un gonfanon et un anel, mult precios e riche e bel; si come and I ween that it ditwill bring victory to him before whom it is borne, desoz la pierrebut death to its bearer." The banner was wrought with cunningly executed handiwork and elaborate art. It was made in the shape of a raven, aveit un des cheveuls Saint Pierre”[MICHEL 1836: pand when floating in the wind it resembled the raven flying.147]" </spanbr> Charlemagne: An Anglo-Norman Poem This saga is part of the Twelfth Century edited by Francisque Michel 1836Flateyjarbók written between 1387AD to 1394AD and contains expanded version of some of the sagas from the Heimskringla.
<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --br>===Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla (The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway), c.1225AD===|Archaeology* Saga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of Sigurd|Discussion:<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">To try the fray with the Earl Hakon." [LAING 1844]}}
::<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 of all his property he esteemed the most.<br>
::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">He answered, it was his '''banner Land-waster'''.<br>
::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">Svein asked what was there remarkable about it, that he valued it so highly.<br>
::<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."" [LAING 18441907]:* The Battle at the Humber::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"He ordered the '''banner''' which was called the '''Land-ravager''' to be carried before him, and made so severe an assault that all had to give way before it;" [LAING 1907]:* Skirmish of Orre::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"Eystein Orre came up at this moment from the ships with the men who followed him, and all were clad in armour. Then Eystein got '''King Harald's banner Land-ravager'''; and now was, for the third time, one of the sharpest of conflicts, in which many Englishmen fell, and they were near to taking flight." [LAING 1907]
* '''William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of the Kings of England''' (Gesta Regum Anglorum) c.1125AD:*::<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"When the war-cry was raised the earl let his '''banner '''advance; but when they came under the hill the The king's army rushed down upon themhimself on foot, and killed some of the earl's peoplestood with his brother, and near the rest fled. The Northmen did not pursue the fugitives longstandard; in order that, for it was the fall of day; but they took Earl Hakon's '''banner '''and while all the arms and clothes they could get hold shared equal danger, none might think ofretreating. King Harald had both This standard William sent, after the '''banners '''carried before him as they marched away. They spoke among themselves that the earl had probably fallen. As they were riding through the forest they could only ride singlyvictory, one following to the other. Suddenly a man came full gallop across the path, struck his spear through him who pope; it was carrying the earl's '''bannersumptuously embroidered, ''' seized the '''banner-staff'''with gold and precious stones, and rode into the forest on the other side with in the form of a '''banner.man fighting''' When this was told the king he said, "Bring me my armour, for the earl is alive." Then the king rode to his ships in the night; and many said that the earl had now taken his revenge[GILES 1847:p." [LAING 1844276]
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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 />
