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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>
===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.jpg | 850-950AD Carolingian <br> Leiden I Maccabees f.15v & f.22r
File:Banner Brussels ms 10066-77.jpg| 900-1000AD Carolingian <br> Brussels ms 10066-77
====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)
===Triangular Banners===
A type of banner supported by the banner pole and a horizontal beam and similar in shape to the Viking weather vanes.
<galleryheights=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
{{evidence
|Art =
<galleryheights=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
File:Banner Bayeux Tapestry 71a.jpg | c.1076AD English <br> Bayeux Tapestry
*About Witikind, an adversary of Charlemagne
:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">"Hic arripiens signum quod apud eo habebatur sacrum, 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">“Ethelhun who led the West-Saxons, 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">“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,....” [BOHN 1853:p.194]
|Archaeology
|Discussion =
}}
The idea of a 'Dragon of Wessex' is an invention of E. A. Freeman in the C19th. [CHANEY 1970:p.128]<br>Oakeshott refers to "... 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." [OAKESHOTT 1960:p.180]but we are unable to find anything that this reference to a dragon standard could be based on.
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==The Viking 'Raven Banner'==
{{evidence
|Art =
<galleryheights=150px mode="Packed" style="text-align:left">
File:Banner Bayeux Tapestry 53b.jpg | c.1076AD English <br> Bayeux Tapestry
</gallery>
====The Annals of St Neots (1120-1140AD)====
:<span style="font-style: italic; color: green">""<br>
Although written in the C12th, The Annals of St Neots was based in part on a now missing early version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. [SWANTON2000]
====Saga of Olaf, Tryggvi's Son. (c.1260AD)====
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==Harald Hardrade's 'Land-waster' Banner==
Also known as Land-ravager. 'Landøyðan' and '' in Icelandic. <br>
{{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}}
