British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea
by William Gordon Perrin · English · Gutenberg #46370 · 616,023 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea
Author: William Gordon Perrin
Illustrator: Herbert S. Vaughan
Release date: July 22, 2014 [eBook #46370]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46370
Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, John Campbell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH FLAGS: THEIR EARLY HISTORY, AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT AT SEA ***
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
Superscripts are denoted by ^ and have not been expanded;
for example 'I am informed y^t the Ma^{rs} of'.
Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected
after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and
consultation of external sources.
More detail can be found at the end of the book.
CAMBRIDGE NAVAL AND MILITARY SERIES
GENERAL EDITORS
SIR JULIAN S. CORBETT, LL.M., F.S.A.
H. J. EDWARDS, C.B., C.B.E., M.A.
BRITISH FLAGS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY }
CALCUTTA } MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
MADRAS }
TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. OF
CANADA, LTD.
TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
[Illustration: _A Ship of Henry VIII, circa 1545_]
BRITISH FLAGS
THEIR EARLY HISTORY, AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT
AT SEA; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF
THE FLAG AS A NATIONAL DEVICE
BY
W. G. PERRIN
ADMIRALTY LIBRARIAN
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY RECORDS SOCIETY
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR
BY
HERBERT S. VAUGHAN
CHEVALIER OF THE LEGION
OF HONOUR
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1922
PREFACE
It might have been expected that the attempt to trace to their origin
in the past the institutions and customs in common use upon the sea
would from an early date occupy the attention of a seafaring people,
but for some obscure reason the British nation has always been
indifferent to the history of its activities upon that element on which
its greatness was founded, and to which it has become more and more
dependent for its daily bread and its very existence. To those who
are alive to this fact it will hardly come as a surprise, therefore,
to learn that the first sustained attempt at a detailed investigation
into the history of the flag at sea was made under the patronage
of the German Admiralty by a German Admiral. Vice-Admiral Siegel's
_Die Flagge_, published in 1912, was the first book to deal with the
development of the flag at sea in a scientific spirit, and although
the earlier chapters contain some mistakes due to his employment of
translations of early works instead of original texts, and the accounts
of the British flags in the later chapters suffer because he had no
access to original records, it is a worthy piece of work.
The present book is an attempt to remove the reproach to the British
nation which this implies. Its plan is somewhat different from that
of the work referred to above. Instead of dealing with the flags of
all maritime nations of the world--a task that (if it was to be more
than a mere copying or compilation) would entail much work in foreign
archives--it seemed more profitable to concentrate upon the history
of British Naval Flags, for researches made so far back as 1908 had
taught me how much that is inaccurate about their history had received
acceptance. But first it seemed necessary to devote some time and
space to the inquiry into the origin of the flag and how it became the
honoured symbol of nationality that it now is, and for this a general
view had to be taken in order that a firm foundation might be laid for
the early history of our own flags.
In the first chapter the ground worked over by Admiral Siegel has been
solidified by examination of the original authorities, with the result
that a few errors have been detected and some new facts brought to
light, and the investigation has also been extended further; the most
important of the additions being those relating to the standards in
the Phoenician and Greek ships of war, forms of the early "standard"
and "gonfanon," and the Genoese Standard of St George and the Dragon.
For the deduction that the use of a national flag arose in the Italian
city states I take the entire responsibility, well aware that further
investigations may possibly bring to light fresh facts which will
overthrow it.
The chapter on early English, Scottish and Irish flags serves as an
introduction to the history of our national flag, which was invented
for the use of the mercantile marine, though it was very soon
appropriated by the Royal Navy for its sole use. It is very improbable
that further research will enable the gap left by the unfortunate
destruction of the early 17th century records to be filled, so that the
story of the Union Flag may be taken as being substantially complete,
but there is still room for further work upon the history of its
component crosses. It will be seen that I have been unable to find any
solid ground for the common belief that the cross of St George was
introduced as the national emblem of England by Richard I, and am of
opinion that it did not begin to attain that position until the first
years of the reign of Edward I.
The chapters on the flags used to indicate distinctions of command and
service at sea give an account of the use (now obsolete) of the Royal
Standard at sea by naval commanders-in-chief; of the history of the
Admiralty anchor-flag; and of the steps by which the present Admirals'
flags were evolved. The history of the ensigns from their first
adoption at sea about the end of Elizabeth's reign has been set out in
some detail, but further research may bring to light more details of
interest in the years between 1574 and 1653. The causes which led to
the adoption of a red ensign as the most important British ensign and
the steps which led to its appropriation to the Mercantile Marine, and
not the Royal Navy, are stated as far as the records availed, though
here again further research is needed in the late Elizabethan and
early Stuart periods among records that may still survive in private
ownership. These chapters may, perhaps, appeal rather to the seaman
and the student of naval history than to the general reader, but it is
hoped that they may also prove of service to artists who wish to avoid
the anachronisms into which some of their brethren have been betrayed.
In order that the development of flag signals may be properly
appreciated it has been necessary, when dealing with the earlier years,
to take into account what had happened outside the narrow circuit of
British waters. The earlier matter, though here examined solely from
the point of view of the flags used, offers considerable interest to
the student of naval tactics, with which indeed the art of signalling
is inseparably connected.
The last chapter, on Ceremonial and other usages, is, from the author's
point of view, the least satisfactory. From the nature of the subject,
the official records contain very little information about it. It
is only by the slow and laborious process of examining contemporary
journals, diaries, accounts of voyages, and similar material that facts
can be found for any exhaustive treatment of these matters. Something
of this has been done, but more remains to do.
In concluding the work which has occupied a large portion of the
leisure hours of many years, it is my pleasant duty to express my
gratitude to the numerous friends whose encouragement and assistance
have enabled me to persevere in what has proved a somewhat arduous
task; especially to Sir Julian Corbett, who has read the proofs and
given me the benefit of his criticisms; to the officials of the
Pepysian Library, Public Record Office, British Museum and London
Library for the facilities afforded me; and not least to my friend Mr
Vaughan who has spared no pains in the preparation of the coloured
plates.
W. G. PERRIN.
_January 1922_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE FLAG AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
UP TO THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY 1
II. EARLY ENGLISH, SCOTTISH AND IRISH FLAGS
(i) ENGLAND 30
(ii) SCOTLAND 46
(iii) IRELAND 50
III. THE UNION FLAGS AND JACKS 54
IV. FLAGS OF COMMAND
(i) THE ROYAL STANDARD 74
(ii) THE ADMIRALTY FLAG 81
(iii) ADMIRALS' FLAGS 85
(iv) PENDANTS OF COMMAND 102
V. COLOURS OF DISTINCTION
(i) PUBLIC SHIPS OF WAR 110
(ii) PRIVATE MEN-OF-WAR 124
(iii) PUBLIC SHIPS FOR USES OTHER THAN WAR 126
(iv) MERCHANT SHIPS 129
(v) PLEASURE CRAFT 136
VI. FLAG SIGNALS
(i) EARLY SIGNALS 140
(ii) THE FIRST ENGLISH CODES 161
(iii) THE INVENTION OF NUMERARY SIGNALS 166
(iv) THE VOCABULARY SIGNAL BOOK 175
(v) COMMERCIAL CODES 183
VII. CEREMONIAL AND OTHER USAGES 189
INDEX 205
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A SHIP OF HENRY VIII FRONTISPIECE
(From a MS. plan of Calais in the British Museum, _c._ 1545)
PLATE PAGE
I. EARLY FLAGS FACING 2
1. Vexillum
2. Harold's Dragon
3. William's Gonfanon
4. Knights Templars' Bauçan
5. Knights Hospitallers
6. St Edward
7. St Edmund
8. St George
9. St Andrew
10. Irish Saltire
11. Baucan
12. Holy Trinity
13. Cinque Ports
14. Yarmouth
II. COINS FACING 6
1. Sidon, _c._ 370 B.C.
2. " _c._ 380 B.C.
3. " _c._ 360 B.C.
4. " _c._ 90 B.C.
5. " _c._ 400 B.C.
6. Aradus, _c._ 350 B.C.
7 and 8. Histiaea, _c._ 300 B.C.
9. Rome (Hadrian)
10. Northumbria, _c._ 925 A.D.
11. Northumbria, _c._ 940 A.D.
III. SEALS FACING 46
1. Lyme Regis, 13th cent.
2. Yarmouth, 15th cent.
3. Dover, 1305
4. Sandwich, 13th cent.
5. Faversham, 13th cent.
6. Hastings, 13th cent.
7. Tenterden, 15th cent.
8. King's Lynn, late 16th cent.
IV. UNION FLAG FACING 54
1. Union of 1606 and 1707
2. Union of 1801
V. UNION FLAGS AND JACKS FACING 58
1. Quartered Union
2. Union Pendant
3. Commonwealth Jack
4. Protectorate Jack
5. Budgee Jack
6. Privateer Jack
7. Public Office Jack
8. Admiralty Pattern (modern)
VI. ROYAL STANDARDS FACING 74
1. Royal Standard, early
2. " " 1340
3. " " 1411
4. " " Stuart
5. Commonwealth Standard
6. Cromwell's Standard
7. Royal Standard, 1689
8. " " 1707
VII. ROYAL STANDARDS FACING 76
1. Royal Standard, 1714
2. " " 1801
3. " " 1837
VIII. ADMIRALS' FLAGS FACING 84
1. Admiralty Flag
2. Distinction Pendant
3. Commonwealth Admiral
4. Rear Admiral of Blue, 1702
5. Rear Admiral of White, 1702
6. Budgee Pendant
7. Rear Admiral of White, 1824
8. Vice Admiral, 1889
9. Rear Admiral, 1889
10. Broad Pendant (modern)
IX. EARLY ENSIGNS, ETC. FACING 92
1. Levant Co., 1581
2. Streamer of Royal Arms
3, 4, and 5. Elizabethan Ensigns
6. Jacobean Ensign
7. Green and White Pendant
8. Jacobean Ensign, 1615
9. Jacobean Ensign, 1618
10. Red Ensign, early 17th cent.
11. White Ensign, early 17th cent.
12. Blue Ensign, early 17th cent.
X. ENSIGNS, ETC. FACING 98
1. Scots Ensign, 1686
2. White Pendant
3. Irish Ensign, 1686
4. Scottish East India Co.
5. Guinea Jack
6. White Ensign, 1702
7. Red Ensign, 1707
8. White Ensign, 1707
9. Blue Ensign, 1707
10. White (St George) Ensign, 1707
11. East India Co., 1822
XI. MODERN ENSIGNS, ETC. FACING 118
1. White Ensign, 1801
2. Blue Ensign, 1801
3. Red Ensign, 1801
4. Admiralty, Blue Ensign
5. Naval Ordnance, Blue Ensign
6. Blue Pendant
7. War Office Badge
8. Military Auth. Afloat
9. Post Office
10. Royal Mail
11. North Sea Fishery
XII. MODERN ENSIGNS, ETC. FACING 134
1. New Zealand Ensign, 1831
2. New Zealand Blue Ensign
3. Australian Blue Ensign
4. Trinity House
5. Cinque Ports
6. Red Pendant
7. Canada Badge
8. South Africa Badge
9. Indian Marine Badge
10. Lloyds Badge
XIII. NUMERARY SIGNAL FLAGS (1790-1810) FACING 170
Chapter I
_The Origin of the Flag and its Development up to the end of the
Thirteenth Century_
A flag may be defined as a piece of pliable material, attached at
one end so as to move freely in the wind, serving as a sign or a
decoration. This word is now common to the nations of north-western
Europe[1], but it does not appear to have come into use in this
particular meaning until the sixteenth century, and the etymology of it
is obscure. Perhaps the most satisfactory of the derivations hitherto
put forward is that of Professor Skeat, who derives it from the Middle
English "flakken" to fly, one of a number of similar onomatopoeic
words suggestive of the sound of something flapping in the wind. Its
first appearance with a meaning coming within the above definition is
as a specific term denoting a rectangular piece of material attached
by one vertical edge, flown at the masthead of a ship, as a symbol of
nationality or leadership. It was not until towards the end of the
seventeenth century that the word began to take on the more general
meaning it now has, and indeed the restricted meaning still partially
survives in the German language, in which the word "Flagge" is properly
applicable only to flags flown at sea, those on land being called
"Fahnen." Before the seventeenth century there was no generic term in
the English language that covered the various forms--banners, ensigns,
streamers, pendants, etc.--that are now generally included under the
term "flag."
A somewhat similar change in meaning has, during the course of
centuries, affected nearly every flag name, and constitutes one of
the great difficulties in the way of a clear exposition of the early
history of flags. Moreover, the early writers are neither consistent
in their use of terms nor accurate in their application. This renders
the correct interpretation of many passages a matter requiring
caution and discrimination and, it may be added, experience. As a
guide to the reader we shall set down the principal terms to be met
with, and indicate the extent to which their meaning has changed, but
before doing so it is desirable to explain one or two technical or
semi-technical terms employed in connection with the parts of a flag.
The part next the staff or line to which it is attached is called the
"hoist" by seamen, or heraldically the head or "chief"; the remainder
of the flag is the "fly." The fly may be forked or swallow-tailed.
If the end of the fly is divided by a simple incision which does not
remove material, it is said to be "slit." The fly may be produced into
a number of pointed or round-ended tails, to which the Crusaders gave
the name of tongues (_linguae_, _lingulae_). The British and many other
ensigns have in the upper part next the staff a rectangular compartment
containing a national device. In modern flags this usually occupies
one-fourth of the flag, but in early flags it was much smaller. This is
called a "canton." The other terms that need explanation at this stage
are as follows:
Σημεῖον [Greek: Sêmeion] (Semeion). This word appears to have been
first used in the abstract meaning of "sign" or "signal"; to have been
then applied to the object by which the signal was made, or which
signalised the presence of the commanding officer. In the early period
of Greece this was not a flag, but a staff-like object.
=Insigne=, pl. =Insignia=. The Latin equivalent of the above, denoting
a sign, signal, or staff of office.
=Signum.= A token or sign, especially the distinctive sign of a
division of the Roman army. Also used to denote "signal" in the
abstract.
=Vexillum.= A square flag hung from a transverse bar at the head of a
staff; the principal form of flag in use in the classical period. In
late writers this word is used to cover any form of flag, and from the
eighth century onwards will be found applied as well to objects that
were not flags, for which the word _insigne_ should have been used.
=Banner= (late Latin _bandum_, _bannum_). A rectangular flag attached
laterally to its staff. Originally of much greater depth than length,
a "band" of coloured material attached to a lance by one of its
longer sides, it gradually became square. The banner was primarily
the personal flag of an emperor, king, lord or knight, and served to
mark his presence in the army or fleet, and as a rallying point for
his retainers. On the introduction of heraldic devices these were
inserted upon it. It was also employed by religious or civic bodies for
a similar purpose. In modern language this term is usually applied to
flags hung from transverse bars, displayed in religious or political
processions, but we shall not employ it in this meaning.
[Illustration: PLATE I Early Flags]
=Gonfanon=, =Gonfalon=. This word appears in the _Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle_ as _guðfana_, and in the _Chanson de Roland_ as _gunfanun_.
It is apparently derived from the Norse _gunn-fane_ (war-flag) and in
its earlier forms was probably of the shape shown on the Northumbrian
coins about 925 A.D.[2] Among the Normans two centuries later it had a
square body and ended in three or more long tails, a form handed on
to the Italian Communes. Some writers apply this name (inaccurately) to
flags of vexillum form, with or without tails at the base.
=Standard.= This word presents great difficulty, and it has undergone a
radical change in meaning which (so far as I am aware) has never been
explained. As no historical survey of the development of the flag can
fairly ignore the need for such an explanation it will be necessary
to treat it at some length. At different periods in history since the
eleventh century the word under one or more of its many forms (e.g.
estandart, standart, standardum, standarz, standarum, standalem), has
had the following meanings:
(i) A tall pole or staff supporting some object that was not a flag.
(ii) A tall pole or mast set in a four-wheeled chariot, supporting
various objects, including one or more flags.
(iii) An elongated tapering flag containing the arms or badges of a
king or noble.
(iv) A rectangular banner containing the royal arms.
One of the earliest appearances of the word is in the _Chanson de
Roland_. The oldest existing MS. of this poem was, it is true, not
written before the latter part of the twelfth century, but it is well
known that the poem itself is much older. In this long poem of some
4000 lines the word occurs thrice only, and is confined to the episode
which relates to Baligant, Emir of Babylon, which M. Gaston Paris
considers to be the work of another author. The passages in question
are:
3265. Li amiralz mult par est riches hum
Dedavant lui fait porter sun dragun
E l'estandart Tervagan e Mahum.
[The Emir is a very great man
Before him he has carried his dragon
And the standard of Tervagan and Mahomet.]
3329. Carles li magnes, cum il vit l'amiraill
E le dragun, l'enseigne, e l'estandart,
[Charlemagne, when he saw the emir
And the dragon, the flag and the standard,]
3551. Baliganz veit sun gunfanun cadeir
E l'estandart Mahumet remaneir.
[Baligant sees his gonfanon fall
And the standard of Mahomet remain (defenceless).]
In speaking of the flags the poet (or perhaps poets) uses either the
words "enseigne" or "gunfanun" or, in one instance, "orie flambe." What
then was the "Standard of Mahomet" which the author of this section
has in mind? The story he is telling is, of course, purely mythical,
so that he, or the original inventor of the myth, must have met the
word and the object which it connoted in some other connection. The
most likely source of this knowledge is the First Crusade. During the
struggle for the possession of Jerusalem in the summer of 1099, Robert
of Normandy, in personal combat, seized from one of the Saracen Emirs
an object which is described as a very long pole covered over with
silver, having at its top a golden ball or apple (_pomum aureum_).
This was called a standard, a word which was evidently at that time
of recent introduction, for the contemporary historians, some of whom
had been eye-witnesses of the events they relate, have various ways
of spelling it, and usually refer to it in such a way as to indicate
that the word was not in familiar use[3]. According to Albert of Aix[4]
this standard was borne in front of the army of the "King of Babylon"
and was the centre around which the flower of the army gathered and to
which stragglers returned. A few years later Fulcher of Chartres notes
the capture of three more "standards," but does not describe them.
The second form of standard (which was apparently imitated from the
Italian _carrocio_ presently to be described) makes its appearance
nearly a hundred years later. In an engagement with the Saracens near
Acre at the end of August, 1191, the banner of Richard I was borne
aloft on a machine of which the unknown but contemporary author of the
_Itinerarium Regis Ricardi_ gives the following description:
The Normans formed a rampart around the Standard, which in order
that it may be better known we have not thought it out of the way
to describe. It consists, then, of a very long beam, like the
mast of a ship, placed upon four wheels in a frame very solidly
fastened together and bound with iron, so that it seems incapable
of yielding either to sword, axe or fire. Affixed to the very top
of this, the royal flag, commonly called banner, flies in the wind.
For the protection of this machine, especially in battle in the
open, a selected band of soldiers is appointed, so that it may not
be broken down by onrush of the enemy or overthrown by any injury,
for if by any chance it should be overthrown the army would be
dispersed and confounded, because it would not know in what part of
the field to rally. Moreover, the hearts of the soldiers would be
filled with the fear that their leader had been overcome if they
did not see his banner borne aloft. Nor would they in the rear
readily come forward to resist the enemy if, from the withdrawal of
his banner, they feared that some ill fortune had happened to their
king. But while that standard remained erect the people had a sure
place of refuge. Hither the sick were brought to be cured, hither
were brought the wounded, and even famous or illustrious men tired
out in the fighting. Whence, because it stands fast as a sign to
all the people, it is called the "Standard."[5] It is placed upon
four wheels, not without reason, in order that, according to the
state of the battle, it may be either brought forward as the enemy
yield or drawn back as they press on.
It is to a machine similar to this, and bearing aloft a pyx and three
banners, that the battle near Northallerton in 1138 owes its name of
Battle of the Standard.
The use of this form of standard was not confined to the English;
indeed it seems to have been in general use in the armies of western
Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the transference
of the name from the support to the royal, ducal, or state flag that
it bore was a natural consequence. This transference evidently began
to take place about the end of the thirteenth century, for in 1282 the
State gonfanon of Genoa, hitherto called the "vexillum" of St George,
in the _Annales Genoenses_, becomes the "Stantarium B. Georgii." In
England the change seems to have taken place a little later. I have not
met with it before the year 1323, when the Exchequer Accounts contain
references to Standards (Estandartz, estandardes) bearing the royal
arms and made of worsted of Aylesham.
But the name was not given in England to every form of flag bearing
the royal arms or cross of St George. It was confined to a particular
type intermediate in length between the streamer and the banner[6].
This type was evidently the direct descendant of the "gonfanon," which
is the only form of flag represented on such of the great seals of our
early kings as show flags at all[7]. From the fact that it is this
form which is depicted at the masthead of the ships in early seals,
as for instance those of Hastings and Lyme Regis (thirteenth century)
and of Dover (1305) reproduced in Plate III, we may infer that it was
the type most convenient for use at the head of the "standard," and
therefore the type to which the name gradually became applied. During
the fourteenth century the tails were reduced in number to two and
the flag made to taper gradually throughout its length. Finally, the
heralds established a form in which the tails were short, blunt and
rounded off at the end, which they decided should contain the cross of
St George in chief with the motto and badges of the owner, but not his
arms, in the fly. This change seems to have taken place about the end
of the fifteenth century. By the restriction of the royal arms to flags
of banner form the name "standard," when qualified by the adjective
"royal" (but only in this connection), became transferred to the royal
banner of arms, not only in popular speech which makes no account of
such technical niceties, but also in official usage from Tudor times to
this day.
=Streamer.= A long and relatively narrow flag flown at sea from the
masthead, top or yardarm, often reaching down to the water. The
earlier name of the modern "pendant." The term is also applied to any
ribbon-like flag or decoration.
=Pennon.= Originally a small pointed flag worn at the lance-head by
knights; but the word was used at sea in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries to denote a short streamer.
=Pennoncel.= A small pennon.
=Pennant= (in modern official language written "pendant," but
pronounced "pennant"). A synonym for "streamer," a name which it has
gradually replaced.
=Geton=, =gytton=, =guidon=. A small swallow-tailed flag.
=Ensign= (corruptly written "ancient" during the sixteenth to
eighteenth centuries). This word was borrowed from the land service
in the sixteenth century to denote the striped flag then introduced
on the poop of ships. In explaining the meaning of this word in the
Army, Barret[8] remarks: "We Englishmen do call them (Ensigns) of late
Colours, by reason of the variety of colours they be made of, whereby
they be the better noted and known to the companie."
=Colours.= Originally applied to an ensign; afterwards extended to
mean the flags commonly flown by a ship. At the end of the seventeenth
century a "suit of colours" included ensign, jack and pendant.
=Jack.= A small flag flown on the bowsprit.
Upon the water, as upon the land, the Standard (taking the word in its
earliest meaning) seems to have preceded the Flag by many centuries.
The earliest knowledge we have of its existence is derived from the
pottery of the pre-dynastic Egyptians, to whom, on the most moderate
estimate of Egyptologists, a date not later than 4000 B.C. has been
assigned. Among the primitive decorations of the earthenware vases
and boxes of that period the representation of a boat[9] frequently
appears. In these boats, which seem to have been in use only on the
Nile, the two cabins amidships are a prominent feature. At the end
of the aftermost cabin rises a tall pole with an emblem at the top,
which is believed to represent the district or town to which the owner
of the boat belonged. There are at least eighteen different forms
of this emblem[10], but these standards all agree in having in their
upper part two pendent objects which appear to be long ribbons or
streamers attached to the pole. These standards were developed into
the nome-standards of the Egyptian armies, but they never again appear
in Egypt in connection with boats, which from the time of the First
Dynasty onwards are invariably represented without standard or flag of
any kind, although in rare instances the top of the steering oar is
decorated with two long ribbons.
[Illustration: PLATE II Coins]
Standards appear to have been in use at a later date among all the
Semitic nations, but evidence of their use upon the sea before the
fifth century B.C. is not forthcoming. From about the end of that
century onwards Sidon and Aradus (Arvad), the two great seaports of
Phoenicia, referred to by the prophet Ezekiel in his lamentation for
Tyre[11] as supplying the mariners for that city, placed upon their
coinage[12] a representation of a war galley. At the stern of this
galley, supported against a curved ornament similar to that to which
the Greeks gave the name "Aphlaston," is placed a tall staff having at
its top a globe within the arms of a crescent, representing the sun and
moon. In the earlier examples this is too indistinct for successful
photographic representation but it is clearly visible in the coins of
the fourth century shown in Plate II[13].
After the submission of those cities to Alexander the Great in 333 B.C.
the globe and crescent seems to have been exchanged for a cruciform
standard similar to that shown in the left hand of the goddess Astarte
in the coin of 87 B.C. depicted in Plate II, fig. 4. This cruciform
standard was probably adopted by Alexander from the Athenians, the
most prominent naval power of Greece, among whom it seems to have been
an object of great significance[14]. On two great amphorae awarded
to the victors in the Panathenaic games of 336-5 B.C., now in the
British Museum, it is represented in a manner which can leave no doubt
as to its symbolic importance. On one of them Athene holds in her
hand a long cruciform staff, the head of which is expanded in ovoid
form. On the other amphora the goddess has by her side a short column
which is surmounted by a winged Victory (Nike) holding in her left
hand a similar standard, and in her right the aphlaston of a galley.
Unfortunately for our purpose, the Athenians did not represent ships
upon their coinage, but similar standards are seen in the hand of the
nymph Histiaea upon the coins of the Euboean town of that name, dated
circa 313-265 B.C., two of which are represented in Plate II, figs.
7 and 8. Many other instances, too numerous to detail, will be found
upon later Greek coins. In these the crosses are not all of the same
design, and Prof. Babelon has collected examples of thirty-six forms,
all more or less different, from the plain cross to a more elaborate
form in which the head terminates in a ball and two small winged
figures of Victory kneel at the ends of the arms. Some of these forms
are decorated with narrow streamers; in many of them the cross-piece is
not at right angles to the staff, but it is possible that this may be
due to an attempt at perspective. One other instance deserves mention:
the excavations on the site of the important city of Pergamum in Asia
Minor, once the capital of the kingdom of Pergamus, and afterwards that
of the Roman province of Asia, have brought to light the bas-reliefs
which decorated the balustrade of the Portico of Athene Polias. On
this bas-relief, which, in the opinion of M. Collignon[15], alludes to
naval victories under Attalus (241-197 B.C.) or Eumenes II (197-159),
the cruciform standard is twice represented in highly ornate forms
terminating in pine cones at the head; in each case it is accompanied
with the aphlasta and beaks of galleys.
A careful study of all the examples leads to the conclusion that this
globe and crescent, or cruciform, standard was the symbol of naval
authority, the prototype in fact of the Admiral's flag. The name of
this standard is not specifically stated, but there can be no doubt
that it is the _semeion_ (σημεῖον [Greek: sêmeion]) frequently referred
to by Greek authors in describing naval actions. That the _semeion_
was a solid object we know from the fact that it was raised aloft in
giving signals[16]. There is evidence that _semeia_ were of various
forms and that these forms were distinctive of the nationality of the
ship. Of Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, who accompanied Xerxes in
his expedition against Greece and fought on the Persian side at the
Battle of Salamis (480 B.C.), Polyaenus, in his _Strategemata_, relates
that she had two _semeia_, one of "barbarian" form, the other Greek.
When she was pursuing a Greek ship she raised aloft the barbarian
standard[17], but when fleeing before a Greek ship she raised the
Greek standard, so that her pursuer took her ship for Greek and kept
off from it. The "barbarian" standard used by Artemisia was probably
the globe and crescent above referred to, for Sidon supplied Xerxes
with the best of his ships, and it was in Sidonian ships that Xerxes
himself was wont to embark[18]. It seems, on the other hand, probable
that a cruciform standard was in common use by all the Greek states
at an early period, for Polyaenus relates that Chabrias, the Athenian
general, just before his action off Naxos in 376 with the Lacedaemonian
fleet under Pollis, ordered his subordinate commanders to remove the
_semeia_ from their ships and to keep in mind, in the ensuing conflict,
that all ships bearing such signs were enemies[19].
The flag was evidently unknown to the early Greeks; it is never
mentioned by Homer, and indeed there is no equivalent word in the
language of the classical period, yet at the time when we first meet
with the standard on the Phoenician coins flags were in common use
by the Chinese. The Chinese classics on the art of war known as the
Sun Tzu and Wu Tzu, written in the fifth century B.C., make frequent
reference to them. They played a very important part in marshalling the
army and inspiriting the soldiers, and the correct moment to strike the
enemy was judged by the disorder of their flags. According to Wu, the
Chinese flags contained various animal emblems.
The origin of the flag in European waters may however be dated from
the end of the fifth century B.C., when a primitive form was, if later
writers[20] are a safe guide, in use in the Athenian navy. This was
the "purple garment" or "Phoinikis[21]," used as a signal for combat
or as the sign of the Admiral's ship. Possibly the use of this emblem
may have been imitated from the Phoenicians. It may, on the other
hand, have originated independently, from a necessity of rendering
the cruciform standard more conspicuous in action. There is not
sufficient evidence to decide this point, but it is significant that
the _vexillum_ in use among the Romans at a somewhat later date shows
traces of a similar origin.
The military standard or _signum_ of the Romans consisted of a lance
with silver-plated shaft with a cross-piece at the top, from which
in some instances a small vexillum was suspended. From the ends of
this cross-piece, whether it held a vexillum or not, hung ribbons with
silver ivy leaves at the ends. Below were a number of discs, which
are believed to represent the honours conferred upon the Legion to
which the _signum_ belonged[22]. Below these again was a crescent, as
a charm against ill-fortune. In the _signa_ of the Praetorian guard
the discs were replaced by crowns alternating with medallion portraits
of the imperial house. These _signa_ were used as company ensigns to
facilitate the tactical movements of the Legion. The principal standard
of the Legion, answering to the Regimental Colours, was the _aquila_ or
eagle. Pliny the Elder[23] informs us that
Caius Marius in his second consulship (B.C. 103) assigned the eagle
exclusively to the Roman Legions. Before that period it had only
held the first rank, there being four others as well, the wolf, the
minotaur, the horse and the wild boar, each of which preceded a
single division. Some few years before his time it had begun to be
the custom to carry the eagle only into battle, the other standards
being left behind in camp. Marius however abolished the rest of
them entirely.
The _vexillum_ consisted of a square piece of material, usually red or
purple but sometimes white or blue, hung by the top edge (or sometimes
its two top corners only) from a cross-piece at the head of a lance
and heavily fringed along its bottom edge. The peculiar method of
attachment at the corners, which caused it to hang in heavy folds
instead of straight down, would seem to indicate an origin similar
to that of the Greek "Phoinikis." This was the standard appropriated
to the cavalry and to the special detachments of infantry, and it is
said to be the oldest of the Roman military standards. It hung before
the General's tent and was used in giving the signal to prepare for
battle[24]. From its use in this connection it naturally became the
sign of a commander of a fleet of ships[25] and was used in giving the
signal for fleet actions.
Flavius Vegetius[26], writing at the close of the fourth century A.D.,
distinguishes six kinds of military insignia, viz.: aquila, draco,
vexillum, flammula, tufa and pinna. The _Draco_ or dragon had been
borrowed from the Parthians after the death of Trajan. It took the
form of a dragon fixed upon a lance with gaping jaws of silver. The
body was of coloured silk, and when the wind blew down the open jaws
the body was inflated. The _Flammula_ (little flame) was an elongated
flag attached to the staff at the side, split throughout its length so
as to form two narrow streamers. The _Tufa_ seems, from the name, to
have been some form of tuft[27] or helmet-crest, but the exact form is
not known. It is of interest as having been adopted in Britain under
the name _Tuuf_[28]. _Pinnae_ was the name given to the side wings
of the soldiers' helmets, apparently formed of feathers. The precise
form of the _pinna_ standard is not known, but it is probable that the
fan-shaped feather standards which are displayed at the coronation of
the pope are a survival of this, or the preceding form.
Until the end of the Roman Empire the standard was used at sea only
for signalling purposes or to mark the ship in which the leader was
embarked. Thus in the action off Marseilles in B.C. 49, in which
Caesar's fleet under the command of Brutus engaged the Massilian fleet
which was fighting on the side of Pompey, the ship in which Brutus was
embarked was quickly recognised by the leader's standard, and narrowly
escaped being rammed by two triremes from opposite sides[29].
There are frequent references to this standard in classical writers and
it is often depicted in reliefs or on coins. From these it is clear
that its position was on the starboard quarter of the ship, at the
leader's right hand; it was raised there in going into action, and its
removal was a sign of disaster or retreat. It would seem that it was
also removed if the fleet was about to be engaged by superior forces,
presumably in order that the enemy might not concentrate against the
leader's ship. Thus in B.C. 36 Octavian, when expecting an attack at
sea by Pompey, embarked in a liburnian and sailed round the fleet
exhorting his men to have courage. When he had done this he lowered his
standard "as is the custom in times of very great danger[30]."
Pompey, whose success at sea had already induced him to exchange the
customary purple cloak of the Roman commander for a dark blue one, "as
the adopted son of Neptune," inflicted on Octavian the defeat that the
latter had anticipated, but was shortly afterwards himself defeated
at Naulochus by Agrippa, whom Octavian, a few years later, after the
battle of Actium, honoured with a special dark blue flag[31] as a
symbol of his naval superiority. From the account given by Appian of
the action off Naulochus it is clear that there was no distinguishing
flag in the private ships, as he expressly states that the only
difference in the ships of Octavian and Pompey lay in the colours of
the towers erected on them. From another passage in Appian[32] it
appears that it was the rule for the inferior commander to lower his
standard on approaching a superior. It is evident that these standards
were not "national" in the sense that our modern flags are national.
It is difficult to understand why an invention so apparently simple
as the laterally-attached flag should have been so late in making
its appearance in Europe (except in the form of small ribbon-like
streamers), but the fact remains that it is not until the close of the
eighth century A.D. that we meet with evidence of its existence. About
the year 800 Pope Leo III caused a mosaic to be placed on the apse of
the Triclinium of the Lateran Palace, in which on the right Christ was
represented as handing the keys of the Church to Pope Sylvester and a
flag to Constantine, while on the left St Peter was handing a pallium
to Leo and a similar flag to Charlemagne. Except for some fragments
in the Vatican this mosaic has disappeared, but engravings showing
it before and after restoration are to be found in a description of
the Lateran published at Rome in 1625[33]. In these the flags are
depicted as attached by one side to a staff, whilst the fly is cut
into three pointed tails. The field in both flags is charged with six
roses, but the reproduction made from early drawings by Benedict XIV in
1743, which is still in existence at Rome in the Tribune against the
Santa Scala, shows the flag on the right, which is of a green colour,
sprinkled with golden stars, not roses. In the year 800 Charlemagne was
crowned emperor at Rome, and received from the Patriarch of Jerusalem
the keys of that city together with a flag the form of which is not
stated. Evidently these flags were symbols of authority, as we have
seen the vexillum to have been centuries before.
There are several instances during the succeeding centuries of this
ceremonial presentation of a flag by high ecclesiastical authorities
to the leaders of expeditions whose aims received the approval of
the Church, the most important, from our point of view, being the
presentation made to William the Conqueror before his expedition to
England. Beside these there appear to have been other flags in use
which symbolised the patronage and protection of some especial saint,
as for instance the vexillum of St Maurice borne in the Spanish
campaigns of Charlemagne.
It seems probable that the laterally-attached form of flag had its
origin in the East, for Ximenes de Rada, Archbishop of Toledo, who died
in 1247, mentions this form as one of the special characteristics of
the Arabs who overcame Roderic in 711 A.D. and conquered Spain[34].
It is true that, as will be seen in the next chapter, the Danes were
using this form in the ninth century, but it is more probable that
they had adopted it from the Franks than that they had invented it;
certainly the only standards of the Germanic tribes known to the
Romans were animal emblems, which were kept in the sacred groves until
required in battle[35].
The form of flag that first comes into evidence in the Lateran mosaic,
that in which the flag is attached laterally to the staff while the fly
is cut into three pointed tails, appears again upon two Carlovingian
book-covers of carved ivory, one of the ninth and one of the tenth
century, now preserved in South Kensington Museum. Neither of these
bears any device upon it, but in another book-cover of the twelfth
century in the same collection a small cross saltire appears in the
body of the flag, and the tails are proportionately of much greater
length. This form, to which the term "gonfanon" became applied, was the
principal form in use until the twelfth century, when it began to be
replaced by the rectangular banner, which offered a more suitable field
for the display of the personal devices that afterwards developed into
heraldic charges.
The most important historical monument that has survived to illustrate
the use of the gonfanon is the celebrated piece of embroidery known as
the Bayeux Tapestry. We need not here enter into the controversy that
has so long raged over the question of the exact date to be assigned
to this unique work. The weight of evidence inclines strongly toward
a date within the last two decades of the eleventh century, but if
we admit a date as late as 1150 A.D. it will not materially affect
the conclusions we shall draw. In addition to five rather rudimentary
forms at the mastheads of the ships, twenty-five gonfanons in all are
depicted, two with five tails, one with four, and the remainder with
three. Only a small proportion of the hundreds of armed men who appear
in the various scenes of military activity portrayed bear gonfanons on
their spears. These are the greater leaders--the barons, as the Normans
called them. The variation in the number of tails is probably merely
an incidental caprice of the designer or embroiderers, but there is
one gonfanon which greatly exceeds the rest in size and in the length
of its tails, which in this case alone are shown of such length as to
curl in the wind[36]. It appears in the representation of that crucial
moment in the battle at which the Normans, taken with a sudden panic,
and believing that their Duke had fallen, were about to quit the fight,
when William, lifting his helmet from his face, turned towards them
and called out that he was still alive and by God's help would yet
conquer. At the same time, a companion figure, which from the mutilated
superscription in the tapestry appears to be Eustace of Boulogne, lifts
this gonfanon high in the air with his left hand while with the right
he points to the Duke's face; a significant action, calling attention
in a twofold manner to William's presence. This gonfanon is probably
the one consecrated and sent by Pope Alexander; the principal flag of
the Norman army on the day of battle[37]. It cannot be supposed that
the most elaborate flag in the whole tapestry is merely the personal
gonfanon of Eustace, and indeed the assertion of M. Marignan that the
device shown in this gonfanon represents the arms of the Counts of
Boulogne has been sufficiently refuted by Dr Round[38]. As a matter
of fact this device (which may be described as a cross formy between
four roundels) was not an uncommon one at that period. It will be found
upon the reverse of many of the coins of the Holy Roman Emperors from
Charlemagne onwards and upon those of some of the English monarchs
before the Conquest. On the other hand, the gonfanons which appear in
earlier scenes in the tapestry either in William's hand or in the hand
of the gonfanoner in attendance on him, display only a plain Greek
cross. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that this particular
device was associated with sovereign power and would consequently be
suitable for a banner that was intended to be an outward sign of the
Pope's claim to transfer the sovereignty of England from Harold to
William. Moreover, according to Wace, William formally adopted the
consecrated gonfanon as his own before the battle:
Li Dus apela un servant
Son gonfanon fist traire avant
Ke li Pape li enveia,
E cil le trait, cil le despleia:
Li Dus le prist, suz le dreça
Raol de Conches apela
Portez dist-il mon gonfanon
The Duke called a servant
Caused his gonfanon to be brought forward
Which the Pope sent him
And the man brought it, he unfolded it
The Duke took it, raised it erect
Called to him Raol de Conches
Bear, said he, my gonfanon.
_Roman de Rou_, V, 12713-9.
Thus it appears that William's original gonfanon was not borne in the
battle, but was replaced by the consecrated flag, which would thereby
become the rallying point for the army and the special sign of the
Duke's location in the field.
Raol, who was the hereditary gonfanoner of the Duke of Normandy, asked
permission to decline the honour of bearing the consecrated flag on
the ground that he wished to take part in the fighting, as did Gautier
Giffard, to whom it was subsequently offered, and it was finally handed
to Toustain.
Before we deal with the remaining flags we must first examine the
square object shown at the masthead of William's ship the 'Mora.' This
has been commonly supposed to be the "consecrated banner" in question,
but, as pointed out by Freeman[39], it is really a great lantern. The
Norman army embarked at St Valery in the estuary of the Somme late in
the afternoon of the 27th Sept., and before William had got on board
the 'Mora' the sun had set. As he did not wish the fleet to make the
English coast before daybreak, he gave orders that on reaching the
open sea the ships were to anchor near him until he gave a signal by
lighting the lantern at the masthead and sounding the trumpet, when
they were to follow him across[40]. The object above the lantern, which
resembles a cross, may be intended to represent the weather-vane spoken
of by Wace:
Une lanterne fist le Dus
Metre en sa nef el mast de sus
Ke les altres nès le veissent
Et empres li lor cors tenissent
Une wire-wire dorée
Out de cuivre en somet levée.
The Duke caused a lantern
To be placed in his ship at the masthead
So that the other ships might see it
And hold their course near him.
A gilded weather-vane
Of copper it had raised on top.
_Roman de Rou_, V, 11592-7.
The remaining flag of the Norman army is an enigma. In form, the
segment of a circle fringed along the circumference, it contains a
representation of a bird with closed wings and outstretched claws,
placed with its back to the staff, so that when the spear is held
inclined forward, as in the Tapestry, it appears to be standing on the
ground. The suggestion of Meyrick that this represents an ancestral
flag of the men of the Cotentin, the descendants of the Danes of Harold
Blaatand, is more ingenious than satisfying, for the Danish raven was
never depicted in this tame position. Its attitude resembles that of
the hawks seen perched on Guy's hand in the two early scenes in which
he leads Harold to William, and indeed in the lower border, which
throughout the tapestry contains frequent allusions to the events
depicted above it, there appears immediately below this flag a hawk
chasing a rabbit. From its unusual--not to say unique--form it would
seem to belong to a people of different race from that of the bulk of
the army, and the only body of men present in William's army fulfilling
this condition were the Celts of Brittany, whose leader Alan had
command of the third division of the army, and whose flag therefore
must have been one of the most important of those in the field.
On the English side, the most important object is the Dragon Standard
(Plate I, fig. 2) which is symbolically shown in two positions: upright
in the hand of the standard-bearer, and fallen to the ground with
its bearer lying dead across its staff. Immediately behind it Harold
himself is likewise represented twice, first upright and drawing the
arrow from his eye, and then prone, receiving his final wound. A little
before this, in the scene which portrays the death of Harold's brothers
Gyrth and Leofwine, there lies on the ground a triangular flag, with
fringed tails hanging from the lower edge, a form similar to that
found on the tenth century Northumbrian coins[41]. This is the only
flag which, like the standard, is lying on the ground; its overthrow
must therefore have had a great symbolic importance in the mind of
the designer of the tapestry, and the only flag that we know of which
would fulfil this condition is that one against which the brothers took
their stand (see p. 32). This was the flag upon which the figure of a
fighting man was worked in gold, and although the tapestry does not
show this figure (probably because there is not room for it), there can
be little doubt that the representation of that flag is intended.
L'estendart unt à terre mis
E li Reis Heraut unt occis
E li meillor de ses amis;
Li gonfanon à or unt pris.
They have overthrown the standard
And slain King Harold
And the best of his friends;
They have taken the gold-worked
gonfanon.
_Roman de Rou_, V, 13956-9.
We have, in the preceding pages, traced the development of the flag
up to the closing years of the eleventh century without finding any
evidence of the existence of a national flag, that is, of a flag flown,
not to denote the presence of some particular leader at sea or on the
field of battle, or that some especial religious sanction or blessing
had been conferred or expected, but to indicate that the ship, town or
other strong place upon which it was placed owned allegiance to some
particular state or sovereign authority: a flag that might, on suitable
occasion, be flown by any subjects of that state, not as their personal
ensign but as a symbol of the collective body of which they were
members.
While the Roman Empire stood at the height of its power, with the whole
civilised world under its dominion, there was no need of any such
device; and long after it had in fact passed away the theory of its
nominal existence survived and hindered the development of any national
consciousness. It is clear that this feeling must have been strong
since we find it shared by such a man as Theodoric the Ostrogoth,
who, although _de facto_ ruler of Italy from 493 to his death in 526,
professed his allegiance to the Eastern Empire and showed anxiety
to get his position recognised by the Emperor at Constantinople.
The history of the next five hundred years is that of a continuous
succession of struggles for power and possession of territory between
kings, nobles and ecclesiastics, and although the crowning of
Charlemagne by the Pope in 800 was a formal repudiation by Rome of the
authority of the Eastern Emperor there is no indication that the idea
of nationality had yet arisen in the minds of men. The flag which Leo
III presented to him was not in any way a national emblem; it was the
symbol of his supreme authority and no more. In the ninth and tenth
centuries there existed a certain number of religious flags of greater
or less reputation for their wonder-working powers, of which the
Oriflamme of Saint Denis may be taken as the type, but these were never
national in the sense in which we have defined this word above.
The great movement known as the Crusades, which commenced at the end of
the eleventh century, and after two hundred years of failure, relieved
by a few transient successes, finally exhausted the enthusiasm of
western Europe at the end of the thirteenth century, has been claimed
as one of the main causes of the growth of national sentiment. In a
sense this is no doubt correct, though it is equally true that its
failure was primarily due to the national antagonisms of the peoples
who took part in the expeditions to the Holy Land, and the partisan
jealousies and individual self-seeking of their leaders. But there is
no doubt as to the effect it had in widening the mental horizon of
all the peoples of western Europe, and it is therefore not surprising
to find indications of a development of flag design during the course
of the struggle. Nevertheless, if we expect to find traces of any
national or popular flags among the early crusaders we shall be
disappointed. The kings, nobles, and military orders of the Temple
and Hospital had each their own special banner, but the common people
had none, and it was not until the year 1188, one hundred years after
the first crusaders had entered Syria, that a means was provided
for distinguishing the rank and file of different nationalities by
a variation in the colour of the crosses upon their shoulders. From
the beginning, the cross set upon the clothing of rich and poor alike
had been the outward symbol of a common religion and, in theory,
of a common aim among all who took part in the conflicts with the
followers of Mahomet, but the flags which led the armies into action
and crowned the towers of captured castles or the gates of towns were
those of the individual leaders. Squabbles over the precedence of such
flags were not infrequent. The well-known instance of Richard I and
Philip of France at Messina in 1190 was perhaps the most important
in its after effects, but it was by no means the first or last of
such occurrences. In 1098 the Emir in command of one of the castles
in the neighbourhood of Antioch, seeing that the Saracens had been
dispersed, and fearful for the result if the Christians assaulted the
castle, offered to surrender, and asked for a Christian flag, which
he placed on the highest point of the walls. He took that nearest to
hand, which happened to be that of Raymond of Toulouse. The followers
of Bohemond were very angry at this, and in the end the Emir gave back
Raymond's banner and erected that of Bohemond in its place. In August
of the following year the Emir of Ascalon, frightened by the fall of
Jerusalem, made a similar offer of surrender to Raymond and hoisted his
flag over the gate of the city. Godfrey of Bouillon, who had just been
elected ruler of Jerusalem, claimed possession for himself, whereupon
the Emir sent back Raymond's flag and refused to surrender to either of
them.
The placing of the flag of one of the crusading leaders upon castle or
town was usually sufficient to protect that place from further assault,
but it was not always respected. On the capture of Jerusalem in July,
1099, a remnant of the wretched inhabitants who had escaped torture and
massacre at the hands of the Christians, had taken refuge on the roof
of the mosque which occupied the site of Solomon's Temple. Tancred,
moved by pity, wished to spare them, and he and Gaston de Bearn gave
them their gonfanons as a protection. This served them for a few hours,
but the Crusaders had not tasted enough blood, and early next morning,
ignoring the protection thus formally granted, they shot them down
with arrows or put them to the sword--men and women alike. Raymond and
Tancred had in a like manner given protection to the defenders of the
Tower of David, who received their flags "as a sign of protection and
life." Raymond was more successful, perhaps because the Tower of David
was not so easily entered, and he succeeded in getting the prisoners
away safely, thereby giving rise to the scandalous imputation that he
had neglected his duty and sold his protection for gold.
Our last instance of the use of the flag during this (the first)
Crusade will concern its employment at sea. In May, 1102, Jaffa was
being threatened by the Saracens, and Baldwin, then King of Jerusalem,
was anxious to encourage the inhabitants to hold out. The Saracen
forces prevented him from getting there by land; he therefore embarked
at Arsuf in a buss, together with one Goderic, who is described by
Albert of Aix as an English pirate. On approaching Jaffa the flag of
Baldwin was fastened to a spear and raised high in the sun, so that the
Christians in Jaffa, on seeing it, might be sure that Baldwin was still
living. The Saracens also recognised it, and hastily collecting a force
of twenty galleys and thirteen other craft, attempted to sink the buss.
The king, however, got through in safety.
We have, unfortunately, no exact description of the various flags
mentioned, for the contemporary writers do not condescend to give
such details, though they occasionally allude to some characteristic
feature. Thus the flag of Bohemond is stated to have been of a red
colour (_rubicundum, sanguineum_) while that of Robert of Normandy was
yellow (_aureum_). That of Baldwin is referred to several times as
being white. On one occasion it was torn from his lance through being
driven into the body of an Arab whom he slew. The flags[42] borne on
lances in battle were evidently of gonfanon form, as there are several
references to the tails flying in the faces or over the heads of the
enemy, but it seems that there were also a number of larger flags,
for several of the greater leaders, including Bishop Adhemar the
Papal Legate, had a special flag-bearer (_vexillifer_). These were
probably also of gonfanon form during the First Crusade, for the deep
rectangular banner does not appear to have been introduced until the
Second Crusade.
It seems that crosses were borne in some of the flags, but there is
no mention of any personal device, though some flags are stated to
have been resplendent with purple and precious stones. It is commonly
supposed that the introduction to western Europe of the cross of St
George (the red cross on white ground) dates from this first crusade,
yet it does not appear at that time to have been associated with him.
On the 28th June, 1098, the crusaders besieged in Antioch by Corbogha,
finding themselves within measurable distance of destruction by famine,
determined to risk all upon a pitched battle. In this forlorn hope they
were completely successful. Unable to account for this by any earthly
cause, they imagined that they had seen a great army on white horses,
clothed in white and bearing white banners in their hands, issue from
the neighbouring mountains and come to their assistance. The leaders of
this ghostly army, recognised by their names written on their banners,
were St George, St Demetrius, and St Mercurius[43]. If at this time the
red cross had become the distinctive sign of St George one or other of
these writers would surely have mentioned it, but all agree that the
banners were white.
We may gather a few more details regarding the flags of the crusading
period from some of the earlier _chansons de geste_. The gonfanon, the
use of which was confined to the nobility, was fastened to the shaft of
the spear before going into action by three or five nails[44], and it
must have needed a strong fastening if it was to remain on the spear
throughout the battle. Indeed, the poets give a realistic touch to
their descriptions of the various combats by narrating how their heroes
drove the cloth of the gonfanon into the body of the foe. As they sat
upright upon their horses the tails of the gonfanon reached down to
their hands or even to their feet.
Dunc met sa main en sa vermeille chalce
Si traist tut fors une enseigne de palie
A treis clous d'or en sa lance la lacet
Ot le braz destre brandist l'espié en haste
Des i qu'as poinz les lengues d'or li'n batent.
Then thrust his hand into his scarlet hose
And drew forth an ensign of rich silk
With three golden nails fastened it to his lance
In his right hand brandished the spear with vigor
Down to his fist the golden tongues beat down.
_Guillaume d'Orange_, _v._ 317.
The designs are simple in colour--red, white, yellow--and there is no
mention of any charge upon them, though in one instance a red gonfanon
is marked by a golden cross:
L'espié trait en sa main au vermel gonfanon
Une Crois i ot d'or.
_Conquête de Jerusalem_, _v._ 425.
The pennons were carried by knights; they appear to have been of
similar colours to the gonfanons, but were much smaller.
Tos chevaliers, n'i a cel n'ait penon.
(All knights, there was not one but had a pennon.)
_Ogier l'Ardenois_, _v._ 4440.
We have already noticed that the name "Standard" appears first applied
to a Saracen ensign. Further corroboration of this is supplied by the
_Chanson d'Antioche_ and _Le Conquête de Jerusalem_. In the latter poem
the author (Richard the Pilgrim) has imagined a wonderful standard
carried on an iron chariot and made of ivory and various precious
woods, and of an enormous height:
L. toises longes i puet on brachoier
Onques nus homs de char ne vit si haut clochier.
The custom of marking the flag with some distinctive heraldic device
appears to have been introduced about the middle of the twelfth
century, for the seal of Philip of Flanders (A.D. 1161) shows the
Flemish lion on his banner. During the Third Crusade, which followed
upon the re-capture of Jerusalem by Saladin (October, 1187), the
banner[45] of Richard I of England, which flew from the top of the
"Standard" already described, contained a single lion, while that of
his great rival, Philip Augustus of France, was blue powdered with gold
fleurs-de-lis. The Knights of the Temple, who first come into view in
1128, adopted a banner half black and half white (drear and black to
their foes but fair and favourable to their friends) to which they gave
the name _bauçan_[46]. Their rivals, the Knights of the Hospital of
St John in Jerusalem, who first enter into military activity in 1136,
had a red banner with a white cross upon it. The representation in
Plate I (fig. 5) is taken from an early manuscript of Matthew Paris and
shows a Latin cross; the eight-pointed cross[47], associated with this
order, was rarely used except on the vestments of the order, though it
occasionally appears on the banner of the commander-in-chief.
Mention has already been made of the consecrated flags which it was
customary for the Pope to present to the leaders of expeditions which
had the approbation of the Church. The flag entrusted to the Bishop
of Puy, the Papal Legate present at the First Crusade, was of this
nature. It is referred to in 1098 as the _signum magni papae_. In
1104 when Paschal sent Bohemond into France to gather support for him
against the Emperor, he entrusted him with another of these flags, to
which the name _vexillum Sancti Petri_ is applied. This change of name
would appear to indicate a difference in the device on the flag. That
difference was probably the introduction of the two Keys of St Peter
beside the cross, a point of some interest to us as it might affect the
question of the identity of the gonfanon on the Bayeux Tapestry already
discussed, and incidentally the date of that work. We have, however, no
certain knowledge of the presence of these keys before the year 1203.
In March of that year Innocent III sent to Calojohannes, King of the
Bulgars and Wends, one of these flags, together with a letter in which
he explained its symbolism at some length. This flag contained a cross
and the two keys symbolic of the powers entrusted to Peter according
to the tradition of the Church[48]. From the tenor of this letter it
may be inferred that the device was not a new one in 1203, so that this
was no doubt the device upon the _vexillum S. Petri_ met with during
the Third Crusade in 1199 and 1201. An interesting instance of the use
of a flag to convey authority occurs in 1216, when Rupen, nephew of
Leo of Armenia, was formally seised of the lordship of Antioch by the
patriarch of that city handing him a flag in the church of St Peter.
Thus far we are still without evidence of the existence of any flag
that could be described as "national," and we shall therefore turn
our attention to the birthplace of so much that was great in art and
literature, the Italian city-states, and since we are primarily seeking
evidence as to the early use of the flag at sea (though hitherto
without much success) we shall turn first to the maritime states of
Genoa and Pisa.
Of these two, Pisa was the first to rise as an important maritime
city, and in 980 she was supplying vessels to transport the troops of
the Emperor Otho II. By the end of the eleventh century a system of
government by Consuls had been firmly established, and the city can be
looked upon as an independent state. Shortly after this (in 1114) the
Pisans proceeded to capture the Balearic Isles from the Saracens. A
contemporary metrical account[49] of this struggle gives an indication
of the flags then in use in the following words:
Tunc vexilla gerens Pisanae signifer urbis
Valandus cuneos in campum ducit apertum.
Hinc Ildebrandus sanctae vexilla Mariae
Consul habens dextra saevos incurrit in hostes,
Sedis Apostolicae vexillum detulit Atho.
Here we have evidence of at least three different flags in the Pisan
host: the Standard-bearer of the city carries the communal flag, the
nature of which is not indicated (in 1242 and 1350 it was a plain red
flag); Hildebrand the Consul carries a flag[50] of the B. V. Mary; and
Atho carries the papal flag[51], which had no doubt been presented
by the Pope when sending his benediction to the expedition through
the Archbishop of Pisa. These flags were fastened to spears (_hastis
vexilla micabant_) which were used in the conflict without regard to
the sanctity of the emblems borne on them:
Tunc Ildebrandus consul dirum Niceronta
Transfodiens ferro per pectus dirigit hastam
Vexillumque trahit madefactum sanguine Mauri.
This matter-of-fact method of utilising the flag of the B. V. Mary by
thrusting its staff through the breast of an enemy and withdrawing
it stained with his blood does not accord with modern notions of the
sanctity of the flag.
The first important step in the rise of Genoa occurred in 958, when
Berengarius and Adalbert guaranteed its communal rights. Some thirty
years after this the Cathedral was founded, and as it was dedicated to
St Lawrence it is evident that at this early date St George had not yet
become the patron saint of the city.
The original manuscript of the _Annales Genuenses_, which narrate (not
without partisan bias) the principal events affecting the state and its
relations with Pisa and other rivals during the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, was at one time in the Archives of Genoa, but it is now in
the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. Commenced by Caffaro in 1154 on
the basis of a diary of events, which he had kept since early youth,
and continued from time to time by later writers under the instructions
of the municipal authorities, it presents a contemporary record from
the year 1099 to 1293, and, what is even more important for our
purpose, it contains in its margin a number of illustrations in which
flags appear both ashore and afloat.
Evidently, at some date after 958 the Genoese transferred their
spiritual allegiance from St Lawrence to St George in much the same way
that the Venetians had transferred their allegiance from St Theodore
to St Mark when the supposed relics of that saint were translated from
Alexandria to Venice, or as the English, in the fourteenth century,
replaced Edward the Confessor by St George, but it is not until the
year 1198 that we meet with a distinct reference by name to the flag
of St George as being that of the State. From that year onward it is
frequently referred to in terms which leave no doubt that it had been
the outward symbol of Genoese power from a much earlier period. Indeed,
in an illustration, against the year 1113, of the castle of Porto
Venere, then newly built by the Genoese, there flies above the castle a
large three-tailed gonfanon bearing a cross that extends to the three
sides and to the commencement of the tails. This is a pen-and-ink
sketch, so that the colour of the cross is not shown, but there can be
little doubt that this was a flag of St George. I say _a_ flag of St
George because, although the red cross on white was ultimately adopted
as the State ensign, _the_ State flag of St George in the thirteenth
century was not a cross at all; it was an actual representation of St
George himself on horseback in the familiar attitude of slaying the
dragon with a spear. This is shown clearly in a coloured miniature
which accompanies the events of 1227. In that year, at the commencement
of the struggle between the papacy and the Emperor, the Genoese laid
siege to Savona and the neighbouring town of Albizzola, which were
attempting to withdraw from their allegiance to their great neighbour
and to take sides with the Emperor Frederick. The artist depicts the
siege operations against these two towns, and shows the principal
citizens of Savona on their knees before the Podesta of Genoa in his
tent, humbly offering their submission[52]. Before the tent floats a
large red gonfanon, rectangular in form, and with four square-ended
tails, having the above-mentioned device in a light yellow colour, and
the word "vexillum" written under it to call attention to the fact that
it was the State flag.
The record of the events in 1242 provides a typical example of the use
of this flag of St George by the Genoese. Having heard on the 10th July
that the Emperor Frederick had sent sixty galleys and two great ships
under the command of Ansaldus de Mari to Pisa, and that the Pisans were
themselves fitting out fifty-eight galleys and other vessels under
Buscarius Pisanus, the Genoese immediately fitted out eighty-three
galleys, with thirteen tarids[53] and four great ships, at Genoa. These
were all painted white with red crosses in lieu of the sea-green colour
in which they had hitherto been accustomed to paint their vessels[54].
Instructions were then sent throughout all the districts owning
allegiance to the city that all men should prepare to embark, armed and
supplied with victuals. The Podesta[55] then collected the people in
the Square of St Lawrence, and after delivering an oration encouraging
them for the coming conflict, he, amid general rejoicing, solemnly took
possession of the state flag of St George, "to the honour of God and
of Holy Church and the confusion of their enemies," and constituted
himself Admiral of the fleet. His next step was to superintend the
election of eight Protentini and ninety-six Comiti according to
districts[56]. He then handed to each Protentinus, who became the
Squadron Commander of one of the eight squadrons into which the fleet
was divided, a splendidly worked flag embodying the device of his
district (_vexillum unum juxta formam cuiuslibet compagnae mirabiliter
designatum_) and to each Comitus two flags; one of the State device
(_vexillum ad signum communis_), evidently the red cross of St George,
which he was to place on the starboard quarter of his ship, and the
other containing the lion of St Mark (_vexillum ad signum Venetorum
Sancti Marchi_), which was to be placed on the port quarter. This is an
extraordinary instance of the use of dual national flags in a fleet,
and was the consequence of a treaty made between Genoa and Venice in
1238 whereby the two great rival sea powers agreed that their war
vessels should bear the flags of both States as a token of amity and
alliance between them. The Admiral's flag was then erected in one of
the best galleys, and the Protentini (Squadron Commanders) and Comiti
(Captains) proceeded to hoist theirs in the galleys and tarids assigned
to them, which were then apportioned off to the various squadrons. No
officers were appointed to the four great ships (_naves magnae_), which
were evidently victualling and store ships, relying almost entirely
upon sail power for propulsion and therefore of little use in fighting
at that period. As there were 96 comiti and 96 fighting ships, it is
clear that the galleys of the Admiral and of the eight Protentini had
each three flags, the State flag and the district flags being probably
placed in the bows. This appears to be the first recorded instance of
the division of a fleet into squadrons by means of flags. The most
striking detail of the interesting events in 1227 and 1242--one that
has hitherto escaped attention--is the fact that in the Republic of
Genoa, one of the earliest States to adopt a national flag, two forms
of that flag existed side by side; one containing a representation
of the patron saint (_vexillum Beati Georgii_) flown only in the
presence of the chief of the State or the Commander-in-chief, the other
containing merely the red cross emblematic of that saint, the general
device of the community (_signum communis_), in other words the flag of
the common people. Thus the supreme power and the common source of that
power are represented distinctly, and in such a way as to indicate that
fundamentally they were one and the same thing.
There are other instances in these Annals from which it is clear that
the flag of St George was erected only in the galley of the Admiral.
Indeed in 1282 it was expressly ordained by the _Sapientes Credentiae_
(Council of XV) that no leader should have the title of Admiral, but
only of Captain, unless he had at least ten galleys under his command,
and that the flag of St George should not be borne at sea unless the
fleet comprised ten or more galleys.
On the farther side of Italy another great maritime power had sprung
into existence at Venice. Owing to its remoteness from the lines of
military communication and the protection of its surrounding lagoons,
Venice enjoyed a comparative immunity from outside interference that
enabled her to form a settled government at a much earlier date
than had been possible at Genoa or Pisa, although the city was of
much later origin. In such circumstances one might suppose that the
Venetians would choose a national symbol at an early period, and that
the famous Lion of St Mark was adopted for this purpose shortly after
the translation of the relics of that saint to Venice in 828 A.D.[57]
I have, however, not met with any reference to this celebrated flag
earlier than the passage in which Villehardouin describes the attack of
the Crusaders on Constantinople in July, 1203. As the fleet approached
the walls of the city the aged and blind Doge Dandolo stood at the prow
of his galley with the Gonfanon of St Mark displayed before him. When
he landed the Gonfanon was carried before him,
And when the Venetians saw the Gonfanon of St Mark on land and the
galley of their leader which had been beached in front of them,
then each man felt himself shamed, and all approached the land, and
those in the huissiers (horse transports) leapt out and went on
shore, and those in the great ships got into barges and got to the
shore as quickly as each one could.
It will be noted that there was but one gonfanon of St Mark, that borne
before the leader, although there were evidently many other flags, for
in describing the preparation of the fleet for action a little earlier
Villehardouin states that banners and gonfanons were erected on the
castles of the ships, and that shields were placed along the sides[58].
Here we have evidently an arrangement of flags somewhat similar to that
already described as prevailing in the Genoese fleet. The State flag
is confided to the commander-in-chief, while other ships display the
banners of the subordinate leaders.
But it is doubtful whether the idea of a national ensign originated
in the maritime states. The first of the Italian cities to adopt a
democratic form of government was Milan, where the people, under the
leadership of their Archbishop, Aribert, successfully resisted the
Emperor Conrad himself. In the course of the struggle, about the year
1038, Aribert introduced as a rallying point for his people in battle
a movable standard, which is described by Arnulf as a lofty beam, like
the mast of a ship, fixed on a strong wagon and bearing a golden apple
at the summit, from which hung two white streamers (_pendentibus duobus
candissimi veli limbis_). Midway on this pole was placed a crucifix,
to which the eyes of the citizens might turn for comfort whatever the
fortunes of the fight might be. This device was afterwards adopted by
most of the city-states of Italy, and under the name of _carroccio_
(chariot) will be met with frequently in their annals. In its later
development an altar was placed at the base of the mast, while the
wagon, drawn by white oxen, was hung with scarlet cloth and the city
flag floated at the masthead.
Among the cities that adopted this form of standard were Cremona,
where it was named "Berta," Brescia, Bologna, Florence and Parma.
In the case of Parma, where the standard was called "Blancardo," an
interesting instance of its symbolic importance other than in battle is
recorded. In 1303, when Ghiberto of Correggio obtained possession of
that city, he got himself confirmed as "lord, defender, and protector
of that city, and was invested by the resignation into his hands of the
standard of the Virgin and the flag of the Carroccio[59]."
This investiture by flag, already illustrated in the case of
Charlemagne and Rupen, is worthy of two further illustrations. In 1329
Padua recognised Alberto della Scala as its lord by presenting him with
the flag of the people (_vexillum populi_) in public assembly, and in
1406 acknowledged its overthrow by Venice by presenting the same symbol
to the Doge Steno. In this year also Verona acknowledged its defeat by
surrendering to the Venetians its communal flag (a white cross on red
ground) and its _vexillum populi_ (a golden cross on azure field).
As a final example of the use of flags in the mediaeval Italian
republics we may take the case of Florence. In October, 1250, in the
course of a sanguinary struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines,
the popular party (then Guelph)
marched in military array to San Lorenzo, and there elected thirty
leaders, annulled a portion of the functions of the Podestà, and
appointed as guardian of the new government a captain of the
people, Messer Uberto da Lucca, with whom were to be associated
twelve elders (two for each division of the town) as councillors
for him and advisers of the people.
The captain was to be a foreigner; but the elders were to be
Florentines.
The fighting population was divided into twenty companies each with
a standard of its own, and the force thus created was intended,
under the leadership of the captain, to defend the liberties of the
people within the town. Outside Florence the army was still to be
commanded by the Podestà. The captain's standard showed a red cross
on a white field: to this day the ensign of the town of Florence.
The nobles and the powerful burghers (popolani) formed a separate
force--that of the knights. Each sesto or division of the town had
a separate ensign for its troop of cavalry, and these banners, with
many others, were given solemnly by the Podestà on every Whitsunday.
The contado was also divided into companies under respective
standards, and when called into the town, fell naturally into line
with the city bands.
All these changes were intended to check the power of the
Ghibellines, who soon came to be so hated by the majority of
Florentines that a common banner even was felt as an intolerable
evil, and the Guelph party adopted a red lily on a white field,
leaving the white lily on a red field (the old arms of the commune)
to the opposite faction[60].
Here again we have two national flags as at Genoa, but with a marked
difference in the underlying meaning. One, the red flag with white
lily, the ensign of the aristocratic classes: the other, the red cross,
that of the common people.
From the facts set forth in the preceding pages (and they are supported
by a number of less important details with which we shall not weary
the readers' attention) it may be inferred that national flags came
into being during the course of the twelfth century and had a twofold
origin. In the case of the smaller states organised on a popular basis
under continually changing Consuls or magistrates, they arose from the
necessity of having some clearly recognisable rallying point in action
that was not personal and therefore subject to frequent change. This
was supplied either by a common devotion to a particular saint, as at
Genoa and Venice, or by the adoption of one particular colour, as at
Pisa, or in the solitary case of Rome, the greatest of all in wealth
of historic memories, by the re-adoption of an ancient classic device,
the S.P.Q.R. of the Senatus Populusque Romanus. In the larger states,
which from their very size were at that period necessarily organised on
a feudal basis, the banner of the sovereign lord became the national
flag. This was what happened in France and (as will appear in the next
chapter) also happened in England.
In this, the most memorable advance in the use of flags, it was the
city-states of Italy that led the way; and it was the great development
during the Crusades of the activity of the maritime states of Genoa,
Venice and Pisa that spread the example throughout Europe.
By the end of the thirteenth century the maritime city-states of
northern Europe, which had arisen to prominence in consequence of the
development of their shipping under the influence of the Crusades, had
begun to make regulations governing the use of their flags at sea. Thus
the maritime laws of Hamburg, to which Pardessus[61] assigns a date
prior to 1270, contained a provision to the effect that every burgher
of that town should fly at sea a red flag[62], under penalty of three
silver marks, unless the flag had been lowered in time of danger,
and a like penalty was to be inflicted on any stranger who flew this
flag, on plaint being made against him. A similar provision appears in
the Maritime Law of Riga of the same date, with the difference that
the flag is to bear a white cross, the colour of the field not being
stated, though at a later date it is given as black. The Laws of Lubeck
contain a like provision in 1299, the "Lubeschen Vloghel[63]" being
presumably the flag, white and red in two horizontal bands, flown by
that town until its absorption into the German Empire.
Two years earlier, in 1297, appeared the first recorded provision for
the bearing of an English flag at sea, and we may therefore, with the
close of the thirteenth century, quit the wide field of research that
we have been attempting to survey for a more detailed investigation of
the history of British national flags.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I.e. Flag (Danish and Norse), Flagg (Swedish), Flagge (German),
Vlag (Dutch).
[2] See Plate II, fig. 10.
[3] E.g. Albert of Aix: longissima hasta quod vocant standart. Baldric
of Dol: admiravisi stantarum. Peter Tudebode: Quod stantarum apud nos
dicitur vexillum. Robert the Monk: vexillum admiravissi quod standarum
vocant.
[4] _Historia_, lib. VI: this with the other authorities quoted will be
found in the _Recueil des Historiens des Croisades_.
[5] Unde quia stat fortissime compaginatum in signum populorum a stando
standardum vocitatur.
[6] In 1337 streamers were from 14 to 32 ells long and 3 to 5 cloths
wide; standards were 9 ells long and 3 cloths wide; while banners were
1¾ ells long and 2 cloths wide.
[7] E.g. those of William II, Henry I, Stephen and Alexander I of
Scotland.
[8] _The Theorike and Practike of moderne warres_, 1598.
[9] The fact that the object represented is really a boat has been
disputed, but there seem to be no good grounds for the objections made.
The question is discussed by Dr Wallis Budge in his _Egypt in the
Neolithic and Archaic Periods_ (Books on Egypt and Chaldea, vol. IX),
pp. 71 et seq.
[10] They are represented in de Morgan's _Recherches sur les Origines
de l'Egypte_, in Dr Wallis Budge's work just cited, p. 78, and in
Capart's _Primitive Art in Egypt_, p. 210.
[11] Ezekiel, chap. xxvii.
[12] See the British Museum _Catalogue of Greek coins (Phoenicia)_,
edited by Mr G. F. Hill, and Mr Hill's remarks in his introduction, p.
xxii.
[13] In Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5.
[14] For a more detailed discussion of these standards see papers by
Dr Assmann and Mr Hill in the _Zeitschrift für Numismatik_, vol. xxv,
and by Prof. E. Babelon in the _Revue Numismatique_ for 1907. Prof.
Babelon holds that this cruciform staff is the object which the Greeks
called στυλις [Greek: stylis], a word whose meaning has never been
satisfactorily determined, and that its primary object was to support
the "aphlaston." The other writers do not concur. His theory that the
boards which formed the aphlaston were movable and, supported by the
"stylis," served to aid the navigation of the ship will not, I think,
command many adherents.
[15] Pontremoli et Collignon: _Pergame, Restauration et description des
Monuments de l'Acropole_, Paris, 1900.
[16] See the instances quoted in the chapter on signals, p. 140.
[17] τὸ βαρβαρικὸν ἀνέτεινε σημεῖον [Greek: to barbarikon aneteine
sêmeion]. _Strategemata_, VIII, 53 (iii). Polyaenus flourished circa
150 A.D. and was therefore writing long after the event he relates, but
he appears to have had access to earlier authors whose works have now
perished.
[18] Herodotus, VII, 100, 128.
[19] _Strategemata_, III, 11 (xi).
[20] E.g. Diodorus Siculi, XIII, 46, 77; Polyaenus, I, 48 (ii);
Polybius, II, 66 (ii).
[21] Φοινικις [Greek: Phoinikis] said to be derived from Φοίνιξ [Greek:
Phoinix] dark red or purple. Φοίνιξ [Greek: Phoinix] which also
denotes a Phoenician is of doubtful etymology and may have been derived
from the name of the date palm.
[22] _Vide_ Stuart Jones, _Companion to Roman History_.
[23] _Natural History_, Book X, 5 (4).
[24] Caesar, _B.G._ II, 20: vexillum proponendum, quod erat insigne,
quum ad arma concurri oporteret.
[25] Tacitus, _Hist._ V, 22: Namque praetoriam navem vexillo insignem,
illic ducem rati, abripiunt.
[26] _De Re Militari_, III, 5: "Muta signa sunt aquilae, dracones,
vexilla, flammulae, tufae, pinnae. Quocunque enim haec ferri iusserit
ductor, eo necesse est signum suum comitantes milites pergant." He is
here using the word _signum_ in the sense of signal, and divides these
signals into _vocalia_ or orders given by word of mouth, _semi-vocalia_
or those given by trumpet, and _muta_ or those denoted by the movement
of the standards.
[27] Du Cange, _Glossarium_: Tufa genus vexilli apud Romanos ex
confertis plumarum globis.
[28] See p. 30.
[29] _De Bello Civili_, II, 6: Conspirataeque naves triremes duae navem
D. Brut quae ex insigni facile agnosci poterant, duabus ex partibus
sese in eam incitaverant.
[30] Appian, V, 111: ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ παρακλήσει τὰ στρατηγικὰ σημεῖα, ὡς ἐν
κινδύνῳ μάλιστα ὤν, ἀπέθετο. [Greek: epi de tê paraklêsei ta stratêgika
sêmeia, hôs en kindynô malista ôn, apetheto.]
[31] Dio, LI, 21: σημείῳ κυανοειδεῖ ναυκρατητικῷ [Greek: sêmeiô
kyanoeidei naukratêtikô]. Suetonius II: caeruleo vexillo donavit.
[32] _Civil Wars_, V, 55.
[33] Alemannus, _De Lateranensibus parietinis_.
[34] _De Rebus Hispaniae_, III, 18: Arabum ... qui sua capita tegunt
vittis, ... habentes vestis diversis coloribus variegatas, tenentes
gladios et ballistas, et vexilla in altum tensa.
[35] _Germania_, VII: effigiesque et signa quaedam detracta lucis in
praelium ferunt.
[36] See Plate I, fig. 3.
[37] "There in the midst of all, the guiding star of the whole army,
floated the consecrated banner, the gift of Rome and of Hildebrand....
There rode the chief of all, the immediate leader of that choicest and
central division, the mighty Duke himself." Freeman, _Norman Conquest_,
2nd edition, III, 463. It is true that (p. 465) Freeman says "I cannot
see the banner in the tapestry," but if he was looking for a "banner"
he certainly would not find one at this early date, and Wace (v, 11451)
expressly says that it was a "gonfanon": "L'Apostoile...un gonfanon
li enveia." Freeman supposes (p. 768) that at this point Eustace is
giving advice to which William will not listen, but surely this is
a misconception of a striking incident spiritedly portrayed by the
designer.
[38] "The Bayeux Tapestry" in _Monthly Review_, Dec. 1904.
[39] _Op. cit._ p. 400: "the lantern on the Duke's mast is shown
plainly in the Tapestry."
[40] William of Poitiers (his chaplain) says: "Verum ne prius luce
littus, quo intendunt, attingentes, iniqua et minus nota statione
periclitentur; dat praeconis voce edictum, ut cum in altum sint
deductae, paululum noctis conquiescant non longe a sua rates cunctae
in anchoris fluitantes, donec in ejus mali summo lampade conspecta,
extemplo buccinae clangorem cursus accipiant signum."
[41] See Plate II, fig. 10 and p. 31.
[42] The chroniclers adopt no technical terms for the flags, but use
_vexillum_ or _signum_ indiscriminately, the former word being no
longer restricted to hanging flags, and being occasionally used for a
standard or even for a cross.
[43] Thus Albert of Aix; Tudebode substitutes Theodore for Mercurius,
and Robert the Monk, Maurice.
[44] _Ogier l'Ardenois_, _v._ 1744: A trois claus d'or son gonfanon
lacié. _Ibid._ _v._ 9910: A cinq claus d'or.
[45] _Itin. Regis Ricardi_: regium cum leone vexillum.
[46] Plate I, fig. 4. Vexillum balzanum, so named from "balzan," a
piebald horse; the word was subsequently corrupted to "beauseant."
[47] Known as the Maltese Cross--Malta having been handed over to the
Knights after their ejection from Rhodes by the Turks in 1522.
[48] Baluzius, _Epistolarum Innocentii III Pontificis lib. undecim._
1682: Praetendit autem non sine mysterio crucem et claves; quia beatus
Petrus Apostolus et crucem in Christo sustinuit et claves a Christo
suscepit. Repraesentat itaque signum crucis, etc.
[49] Laurentius Veronensis, _De Bello majoricano_.
[50] The plural form _vexilla_ seems to have been necessitated by the
scansion of the verse.
[51] Michael de Vico in his _Breviarium Pisanae Historiae_, written in
1371, says this was red (_vexillum vermileum_) and that thereafter the
Pisans always flew a red flag.
[52] Reproduced in colour in the _Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
Scriptores_, vol. 18. The MS. itself has also been reproduced in
photographic facsimile.
[53] The tarid at this date was shorter and broader than the galley,
and therefore able to carry a heavier burden, but it was on this
account less mobile, and therefore defensive rather than offensive
in action. These tarids were fitted out with fighting castles
(_hediffitia_ (aedificia) _mirabilia ad proelium_) to increase their
defensive qualities.
[54] Depictae colore albo cum crucibus per totum, dimisso tunc glauco
colore quo depingi solebant.
[55] Chief Magistrate or "President" of the Republic.
[56] The term "Protentinus" was adopted from the Normans then ruling
in Sicily, who had acquired it from the Byzantines. As in Sicily, the
Protentinus appears to have been primarily the chief magistrate of one
of the districts (compagnae) into which the state territory was divided
for administrative purposes, the "comitus" being one of his subordinate
officers. Thus the fleet was organised on a territorial basis. The term
"comitus" was afterwards applied to the officer occupying the position
of boatswain in a galley, but it has not that meaning at this date.
[57] A medal of Doge Pietro Candiano, 887 A.D., has on the reverse a
war vessel with a flag at the mast, too small to show any distinctive
marks.
[58] LXVI: furent drecies les banieres et li gonfanon es chastiaus des
nés, et les houces ostées des escuz et portendu li bort des nés.
[59] Sismondi, _History of the Italian Republics in the Middle Ages_,
ed. by Wm. Boulting, p. 252.
[60] Bella Duffy, _The Tuscan Republics_, pp. 78-80.
[61] _Collection de Lois Maritimes_, II, 337.
[62] In the seventeenth century this red flag was charged with a white
castle.
[63] Pardessus, II, 411.
Chapter II
_Early English, Scottish, and Irish Flags_
(i) ENGLAND
So far as may be judged from the scanty records that remain, the
ancient inhabitants of these islands do not seem to have known the use
of flags until the Romans made them acquainted with their military
_signa_. Adopted by the Saxons either directly from the Romans before
they left their homes on the continent or from the Britons whom they
subdued, flags formed, from the seventh century onwards, an important
part of the regalia. Speaking of Eadwin King of Northumbria, under date
628 A.D., the Venerable Bede says:
his dignity was so great throughout his dominions that banners
(vexilla) were not only borne before him in battle, but even in
time of peace when he rode about his cities and towns or provinces
the standard bearer was wont to go before him. And when he walked
about the streets that sort of standard which the Romans call Tufa,
and the English Tuuf, was borne before him[64].
A few years later, on the translation of the bones of King Oswald,
the royal vexillum of purple and gold (_auro et purpura compositum_)
was placed above the tomb, a practice that was followed through many
centuries.
The Saxons of Wessex adopted as their principal war standard the
dragon, which in various forms was destined to appear at many crucial
moments in English history. At the battle of Burford in 752, according
to Henry of Huntingdon, the Wessex standard was a golden dragon, while
the Mercians used the vexillum[65].
The Danish vikings, who commenced their descents upon the southern
coasts of England in the middle of the ninth century, had as their
ensign a raven embroidered in a flag, which appears to have been used
for divination. In the year 878 Hubba
the brother of Hingwar and Halfdene, with 23 ships ... sailed to
Devon, where with 1200 others he met with a miserable death, being
slain before the castle of Cynuit[66]. There (the Christians[67])
gained a very large booty, and amongst other things the flag
called Raven[68], for they say that the three sisters of Hingwar
and 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 were to gain the victory a live
raven would appear flying in the middle of the flag, but if they
were doomed to be defeated it would hang down motionless, and this
often proved to be so[69].
From this description it is clear that the raven flag was attached by
one side to a staff, instead of by the top to a crosspiece like the
Roman vexillum. We meet with it next at the beginning of the eleventh
century, when the Danish hordes again invaded England under Sweyn and
Cnut and conquered it. The anonymous author of the _Encomium_ of Queen
Emma, the wife of Cnut, gives a description of the flag and attributes
to it magical properties, in which he is good enough not to expect his
readers to believe. He says:
For they had a flag of wondrous portent, which, though I may well
believe this to be incredible to the reader, yet because it is true
I will mention it in this truthful account. Of a truth, although it
was woven of quite plain white silk and there was no image of any
kind in it, yet in time of war there always appeared in it a raven,
as though it were woven thereon, which when its own party was
victorious appeared with open beak, shaking its wings and moving
its legs, but when that party was defeated, very quiet and with its
whole body hanging down (_toto corpore demissus_)[70].
Possibly this flag was triangular, for in the early years of the tenth
century the viking kings of Northumbria introduced into the reverse
of their coins a triangular flag affixed laterally to a staff[71].
The top edge of this was horizontal and the lower, which was inclined
upward from the staff, was heavily fringed. In the field was a
small cross, which had--possibly under the influence of a nominal
christianity--replaced the raven, although that bird is found on the
obverse of some of the later coins[72]. These coins are of especial
interest to us as they contain the earliest representation of a flag
of any of the northern nations. This triangular flag appears first in
a coin of Sihtric, who, after being driven from Dublin by the Irish in
920, reigned at York and died about 927, and later in a coin of Regnald
(King of Northumbria in 943) and upon coins of Anlaf (949-952)[73].
It is about this period that flags first become associated with
particular saints. Among the treasures sent by Hugh the Great, Duke
of the Franks, to King Æthelstan in 927 was a banner of St Maurice,
which is said to have been of especial assistance to Charlemagne in
his Spanish wars[74]. We do not know what form this banner took,
presumably it was a representation of the saint, but it is of
especial significance to us that this saint had been a soldier, for
it enables us in some measure to understand why St George had such an
extraordinary vogue a few centuries later.
At the battle of Assandune (1016) in which the English under Eadmund
Ironside were defeated by the Danes under Sweyn and Cnut, the Raven was
opposed to the Dragon and to another ensign described as a "Standard."
This is the first occasion on which an English king appears in the
field with two different "standards," and it is of interest to note
that his place in battle was between them[75].
It is to be regretted that Henry of Huntingdon did not explain what
this royal "Standard," for which he has no exact Latin equivalent, was
like. He tells us that Harold also had a "Standard" (_signum regium
quod vocatur Standard_) at the Battle of Hastings, and that a band
of Norman knights bound themselves by oath to seize it: an effort in
which they were successful, although many were slain. This Standard was
apparently the "Dragon" seen in the Bayeux Tapestry in the hands of
Harold's standard-bearer[76]. According to William of Malmesbury[77],
Harold, who was fighting on foot, placed himself with his brothers
near his _vexillum_, which was in the likeness of a man fighting,
and was sumptuously adorned with gold and precious stones. After the
battle William presented it to the Pope. Probably this fighting man
was the emblem of the South-Saxons, for on the Sussex Downs above
Wilmington--once the home of Earl Godwin, Harold's father--may be seen
the outline of a gigantic figure armed with a staff or lance in either
hand[78]. Evidently Harold's position was between the Dragon standard,
and his personal ensign, a position similar to that occupied "according
to custom" by Eadmund fifty years before.
Of these two the "signum regium," or principal "standard" appears to
have been fixed in a central position or rallying point, while the
other, the Dragon, was carried in the hands of a standard-bearer chosen
for his personal strength and prowess. In September of the year 1191
when Richard was fighting in the Holy Land in company with the French
under the Duke of Burgundy, and the crusading army was drawn up for
battle, Richard fixed his standard in the midst of the forces and
handed the Dragon to Peter des Preaux to carry, despite the claim of
Robert Trussebut to bear it by hereditary right[79]. By this time the
royal "standard" supported an heraldic banner that displayed the lion
which Richard placed upon his first great seal and which on his return
to England he multiplied by three; but why did a symbol so obviously
pagan as the Dragon survive the Conquest and that greater attention to
religion--or at any rate to its outward observance--that the Conquest
had brought in its train? William of Normandy had conquered England
beneath the aegis of the gonfanon with golden cross that the Pope had
blessed for him, yet we hear no more of it. The battle of the Standard
in 1138 was fought around a ship's mast bearing aloft the banners of St
Peter, St John of Beverley and St Wilfred of Ripon. The very crusade
in which Richard was engaged had been inaugurated with the solemn
assumption of coloured crosses by the combatants at the hands of the
Archbishop of Tyre, white for the English, red for the French, and
green for the men of Flanders[80]. Yet the standard under which the
English crusaders were led to the attack was none of these, but the
same Dragon under which the Parthians had fought the Romans and the men
of Wessex had beaten the men of Mercia. And the chronicler who records
this fact was an eye-witness.
When, in the twenty-eighth year of his reign, Henry III was about to
visit the Abbey at Westminster, which he was rebuilding,
he commanded Edward FitzOdo to make a Dragon in the manner of a
Standard or Ensign of red Samit, to be embroidered with gold, and
his tongue to appear as though continually moving and his eyes of
Saphires or other stones agreeable to him[81]
which was to be placed in the Abbey Church against the King's coming
thither. What then was its religious significance?
But we must leave this question to the student of folklore[82].
Suffice it to say that the Dragon was borne in the English army at
Lewes in 1216, at Creçy in 1346, and finally at Bosworth Field in 1485,
whence, in company with two banners, one containing the image of St
George and the other a Dun Cow, it was carried in state to St Paul's
Cathedral. Under all the Tudor sovereigns the Dragon formed one of
the supporters of the Royal Arms, it appeared on the streamers of the
_Henri Grace à Dieu_, and to this day it supports the Arms of the City
of London and gives a name to one of the Officers of Arms--Rouge Dragon.
Before we turn aside to retrace the steps by which St George became the
patron saint of England and the red cross on white ground England's
national flag, we must first briefly notice the other saintly banners
with which, for a time, it contested the pre-eminence. Mention has
already been made of the "Standard" from which the battle of 1138 took
its name. This standard consisted of the mast of a ship fixed on a
four-wheeled frame. At the top was placed a silver pyx containing a
consecrated wafer, and beneath this were suspended the banners of St
Peter (of York), St John (of Beverley), and St Wilfred (of Ripon).
The entirely religious nature of this standard is no doubt due to the
fact that the English levies had been gathered under the direction of
Thurstan, the aged Archbishop of York[83].
The banner of St John of Beverley was again in evidence during the
Scottish wars of Edward I, and during these same wars there appears
for the first time the banner of another north of England saint, St
Cuthbert of Durham. Both these banners were carried by ecclesiastics,
who were paid by the king for their services. In addition to these,
which seem to have been carried only in the Northern wars, there were
in use, as appears from the Wardrobe Accounts for 1299-1300[84], five
other banners: two of the Arms of England, one of the arms of St
George, one of the arms of St Edmund, and one of the arms of St Edward.
A description of the banner of St Cuthbert has been preserved for us in
a MS. of the sixteenth century[85]:
There was also a Baner ... called Sanct Cuthbertes Baner which was
five yards in length. All the pippes of it were of sylver to be
sleaven on a long speire staffe, and on the overmost pype on the
hight of yt was a ffyne lytle silver crosse, and a goodly Banner
cloth perteyned to yt. And in the mydes of the banner cloth was
all of white velvett, halfe a yerd squayre every way, and a faire
crose of Read velvett over yt, and within ye said white velvett was
ye holy Relique, ye Corporax that ye holy man Sancte Cuthbert did
cover the chalyce withall when he sayd mess. And the Resydewe of ye
Banner clothe was all of Read velvett, imbrodered all with grene
sylke and goulde most sumtuousle.
The arms of England were at this period the three leopards (or lions):
those of St George the well-known red cross. St Edmund's arms are
believed to have been three golden crowns on a blue field[86], those of
St Edward (Edward the Confessor) were, also on a blue field, a cross
flory between five martlets, gold[87]. Some of Edward's coins show on
the reverse a cross between four small birds that may be taken to be
martlets, the heraldic swallow without feet or beak. These alone of all
the saintly "arms" appear to have had any direct connection with the
man with whose name they are associated.
Under Henry V there was added to these a banner emblematic of the Holy
Trinity[88], which was carried at Agincourt. In addition to these we
hear of a banner of St William, carried in the Earl of Surrey's army in
the north in 1513.
It will have been noticed that, with the exception of the two apostles,
only one of these saints, St George, is of foreign extraction. How did
it come to pass that this foreign saint completely eclipsed those who,
in the literal sense of the word, were strictly national?
Few saints have been so universally honoured as St George, and yet
there is not a saint in the calendar about whose life so little
that is authentic is known. He was a soldier who attained the crown
of martyrdom during the reign of Diocletian. That is the extent of
our knowledge, and on this meagre foundation the wildest, the most
incredible legends have been embroidered. Even the date of his death is
not certain[89], yet from an early age he was one of the most popular
of saints, especially in the East, where he was revered by Mahometan
and Christian alike. And here it is to be noted that he is not the
George of Cappadocia, the Arian Bishop of Alexandria who met with the
death his acts had amply merited at the hands of the populace in the
year 361, although so eminent an authority as Gibbon[90] has declared
them one and the same.
The cult of St George spread from East to West. In the fifth century he
was honoured in Gaul. The monastery at Thetford, founded in the reign
of Canute, was dedicated to him[91], and the churches of St George
at Fordington (now a part of Dorchester) and Southwark were founded
before the Norman Conquest. But although his feast day (23rd April) had
been included by the Venerable Bede in his _Martyrologium_ it does not
appear to have been generally observed in England till a later date.
One of the payments in the Misae roll of 14 John (1213)[92] is dated
as the day before the feast of St George, and this feast was included
among the minor festivals by the Council at Oxford in 1222[93], yet it
is not mentioned in the Constitutions of the Bishop of Worcester in
1240[94]. It is included in the list of saints' days drawn up by the
Synod of Exeter in 1287, but it is not included in lists drawn up by
Archbishops of Canterbury in 1332 and 1400, nor in one drawn up by the
Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1342[95].
The explanation of this lies in the fact that St George was not a
churchman's but a soldier's saint. It is to our crusading kings,
Richard and Edward I, and to their followers that he owes a popularity
that extends to numbers that do not reverence saints and would be hard
put to it to name offhand half a dozen others.
St George became especially popular among the crusaders, and his
miraculous intervention was believed to have decided victory in their
favour on several occasions. The early sculptured tympanum over the
south door of St George's Church at Fordington is supposed to represent
the saint intervening in behalf of the Christians at the battle of
Antioch in 1098. The same subject occurs in a mural painting in the
church at Hardham in Sussex[96]. Both painting and sculpture are
assigned to the twelfth century. In both instances the saint is on
horseback and carries a lance; with the butt end he strikes down the
foe. Near the head of the lance is a gonfanon the fly of which is split
into long tails. No sign of the cross now remains in the painting, but
in the sculpture it is plainly visible at the head of this gonfanon.
As the earliest representation in England of St George's flag, this
sculpture is of especial interest.
As already remarked in the previous chapter, the date at which the
red cross on a white field first became associated with St George is
not known. Jacobus de Voragine, the thirteenth century author of the
_Legenda Aurea_, quotes an earlier history of Antioch as his authority
for the statement that at the Siege of Jerusalem (1099) the Christians
hesitated to ascend the scaling ladders until St George, clad in white
armour marked with the red cross, appeared and beckoned them on.
The date at which St George's cross became accepted as the English
national flag has also yet to be ascertained. It does not appear to
have been used as such at the time of the Third Crusade. In January,
1188, when Henry II and his followers enrolled themselves in response
to the preaching of William of Tyre, they received white crosses, while
the French took red and the Flemings green ones[97]. At first sight it
may seem that there is some error in this statement. We know that at
a later period the English had adopted the red cross on white ground
while the French made use of a white one on a blue ground. Cleirac[98],
writing in 1661 and knowing of no other authority for the statement
than Matthew Paris, attempted to solve this difficulty by "restoring"
the text and interchanging "red" and "white," but this simple expedient
is not allowed to the modern student. The statement occurs not only
in Matthew Paris, who had probably taken it from the Abbot Benedict's
_Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi_, but also in the works of John de
Oxenedes, Bartholomew de Cotton, Roger de Wendover and Ralph de Diceto.
It is not probable that so many contemporary, or nearly contemporary,
writers would make or repeat such a statement if it were erroneous.
Time and circumstances have not permitted of an absolutely exhaustive
examination of the public records, but after a lengthy search in all
likely places the author has not been able to find any mention of the
"arms" or flag of St George in English earlier than the year 1277.
In the roll of accounts[99] relating to the Welsh War of that year
(the fifth of Edward I) occur payments to Admetus, the king's tailor,
for the purchase of white and coloured cloth, buckram, etc., for the
manufacture of pennoncels and bracers "of the arms of St George." In
the original these entries have all been struck through, probably
because they were accounted for elsewhere in some roll now perished.
While this account only mentions three streamers of the king's arms,
it includes the comparatively large number of 340 pennoncels of St
George's arms. It is probable that banners of the king's arms and of
the arms of St Edward and St Edmund were also in use, together with
banners of the feudal lords taking the field, just as we find them in
use twenty-three years later at the siege of Carlaverock[100], but
it is evident from the entries above referred to that the arms of St
George were in great, if not exclusive, demand for the smaller flags,
which in some cases are expressly stated to be for the king's foot
soldiers (_pro peditibus regis_).
We have, therefore, in determining the probable date of the
introduction of St George's cross as an English national flag to take
into account the following facts.
In the year 1188 the red cross was not a mark of English nationality,
although it was certainly in use in the East and by the Genoese as a
religious emblem associated with St George.
In 1213 the feast of St George was recognised by the Court officials
and used in dating payments, but was not yet generally observed by the
people.
In 1222 this feast was included among the minor festivals to be
observed in the English Church, but its omission in later lists shows
that it was not universally observed and that no special importance was
attached to it.
The cross of St George is definitely referred to in 1277 in
circumstances that leave no doubt that it was then in use in England as
a national emblem.
We must now briefly recall the state of affairs in England during those
ninety years. After Henry II assumed the cross in 1188 his quarrel with
Philip of France and with his own son prevented him from proceeding
to the Holy Land. Richard, who succeeded him in 1189, spent only six
months of his ten years' reign in England. On his return in 1194 after
his long absence at the Crusades and in captivity, he spent only two
months in this country and then went to France, where the remainder of
his life was spent. The whole of John's reign was spent in quarrels
with his subjects. Henry III, throughout his long reign of fifty-six
years, took up an attitude which was decidedly un-English. On the other
hand, Edward I is generally recognised by historians as the first king
of "English" nationality. At the date of his succession to the throne
he was absent at the Crusades, and as the country was enjoying peace at
the hands of those entrusted with the administration of the government
he did not return to England until 1274. This peace was not broken
until the attempt of Llewellyn to secure the absolute independence of
Wales brought on the Welsh War of 1277.
Having all these circumstances in view, it seems on the whole probable
that the cross of St George, although more or less familiar to the
English, was first erected by Edward I into a national symbol for a
people that, by the incorporation of the foreign elements introduced
at the Norman Conquest (assisted by the loss of the greater part of
the continental possessions of its kings) had at length become a
homogeneous nation. From the entries in the roll above referred to and
from similar entries in later rolls of Edward I it appears that the
cross of St George was almost entirely confined to the pennoncels on
the spears of the foot-soldiers and to the "bracers" which the archers
bore on their left forearms. Why the bracer should be singled out for
this distinction is not clear, but it will be remembered that little
over a hundred years later the bracer of Chaucer's "Yeoman" was a
conspicuous part of his dress.
And in his hond he bar a mighty bowe
* * * * *
Upon his arme he bar a gay bracer
And by his side a swerd and a bokeler[101].
We may suppose that the cross of St George, the simplest and most
conspicuous of all the saintly devices, was chosen as the distinctive
badge of all those not entitled to armorial bearings and not clothed in
the livery of the feudal lords. Indeed, from the expression "for the
King's footsoldiers" (_pro peditibus regis_), which occurs in more than
one of the rolls, it would seem that the St George's cross was used
instead of the royal arms for the soldiery raised directly by the king
and not brought into the field under the banner of any of the nobles.
It is not until the reign of Richard II that we meet with an order for
the whole of the army to be ensigned with the St George's cross.
Among the greater banners that of St George was not as yet supreme; it
was indeed only one of four, for when the Castle of Carlaverock was
taken in the year 1300:
Puis fist le roy porter amont
Sa baniere et la Seint Eymont
La Seint George et la Seint Edwart
Et o celes par droit eswart
La Segrave et la Herefort
Et cele au Seignour de Clifford
A ki li chasteaus fut donnes[102].
Then the king caused his banner
and that of St Edmund, St George,
and St Edward to be displayed on
high, and with them, by established
right, those of Segrave and Hereford
and that of the Lord of Clifford
to whom the castle was entrusted.
The first step towards the promotion of St George to a position of
predominance seems to be due to Edward III, who in gratitude for his
supposed help at the Battle of Creçy founded the Chapel of St George
at Windsor in 1348. It is from this time that we may date the actual
dethronement of Edward the Confessor from the position of "patron
saint" of England and the definite substitution of St George in his
place. This process was completed under Henry V after the Battle of
Agincourt. A Convocation of the province of Canterbury held at St
Paul's towards the end of 1415 raised the festival of St George to
the position of a "double major feast" and ordered it to be observed
throughout the province (which includes England and Wales south of
Cheshire and Yorkshire) with as much solemnity as Christmas Day. The
Archbishop[103], in his formal communication to the Bishop of London of
the decision arrived at, refers to St George as being "as it were the
patron and special protector" of the nation, "For by his intervention,
as we unhesitatingly believe, not only is the armed force of the
English people directed in time of war against hostile incursions, but
by the help of such a patron the struggles of the unarmed clergy[104]
in time of peace are frequently strengthened[105]."
When the Prayer Book was revised under Edward VI, the festival of St
George was abolished, with many others. Under the influence of the
Reformation the banners of his former rivals, St Edward and St Edmund,
together with all other religious flags in public use, except that of
St George, entirely disappeared, and their place was taken by banners
containing the royal badges.
We have seen that the appearance of the red cross on the clothing of
the soldiery can be traced back to the "bracer" of the archers of 1277.
The Ordinances of War made by Richard II at Durham in 1385, when on his
way to repel a threatened invasion from Scotland, required every man
in the king's army to bear a large cross of St George on his clothing
before and behind. Richard appears to have adopted this expedient from
the Scots, though they were of course not the first people to make
use of it. On the 1st of July in that year orders had been issued
for the soldiers of the Scottish army to be marked with a white St
Andrew's cross (see p. 47). At that date Richard was at Westminster;
he left there about the 4th of July, was at Leicester on the 7th, and
at York from the 17th to 22nd. On the 26th he had reached Durham; he
remained there till the 28th, and arrived at Morpeth by the 31st. The
ordinances which he issued at Durham must therefore be dated at the
end of July[106], and as there is no evidence that the English were
at this time in the habit of marking their coats with the red cross
before and behind, we may reasonably infer that it was then done for
the first time in direct imitation of the Scots. This provision is also
found in the similar ordinances made by Henry V at Mantes in 1419, the
only difference between them being that while under the older orders no
prisoner was allowed to wear this cross, under the later ones prisoners
in the custody of their captors might do so.
Ordinances of War made by King
Richard II at Durham A^o 1385.
_Cott. MS. Nero_ D. vi, f. 89.
Item que chescun, de quel estat
condicion on nacion qil soit, issint
qil soit de nostre partie, porte un
signe des armes de Seint George
large devant et autre aderer, sur
peril qe sil soit naufre ou mort en
defaute dycel, cely qe le naufra ou
tue, ne portera nul juesse pur li, et
que nul enemy ne porte le dit signe
de Seint George, coment qil soit
prisoner ou autrement sur peyne
destre mort[107].
Ordinances of War made by
Henry V at Mawnt (Mantes,
prob. July, 1419). _Lansdowne
MS._ 285.
Also, that every man of what estate,
condicion or nacion that he be, of
oure partie, bere a band of Seint
George suffisant large, upon the
perile, if he be wounded or dede
in the fawte thereof, he that hym
wounded or sleeth shall bere no
peyn for hym: and that none enemy
bere the said signe of Seint George,
but if he be prisoner & in the warde
of his maister, upon peyn of deth
therefore[108].
There is no record of the flags flown on English ships earlier than the
thirteenth century, but there can be little doubt that in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries they were of the rudimentary form (little more
than wind vanes) depicted on the ships of the Bayeux Tapestry. The
invention of the banner of arms about the middle of the thirteenth
century provided a ready means of distinguishing the nationality, port
of origin, or ownership of a ship at sea, and its use for that purpose
is indicated in a number of seals of seaport towns which may be dated
from the latter half of that century. Thus the seal of Lyme Regis
(Plate III, fig. 1), incorporated in the reign of Edward I, shows in
addition to the early type of gonfanon simply charged with a cross,
displayed from the masthead, banners of arms on spears amidships,
the arms being those of England and of Castile and Leon, the latter
in compliment to Eleanor of Castile, Queen of Edward I. The seal of
Sandwich (Plate III, fig. 4), somewhat earlier in design if not in
actual date, shows in addition to a small pendant at the masthead,
a banner on the forecastle and two banners on the aftercastle. The
ship in the seal of Faversham (Plate III, fig. 5) displays a pendant
at the masthead, the banner of St George on the forecastle, and a
banner charged with three chevronels on the aftercastle, while the
ship of Hastings (Plate III, fig. 6) displays the banner of the
Cinque Ports (Plate I, fig. 13) at the bow and the banner of England
on the aftercastle, in addition to a gonfanon at the masthead. From
the closing years of this century onwards a number of documents have
survived in the Public Records which give indications of the nature of
the flags displayed at sea. Thus the accounts[109] of the ship sent
from Yarmouth to fetch the "Maid of Norway" in 1290 show that this ship
was provided with banners of the Royal Arms and silken streamers, and
in the year 1294 sum of 5_s._ 6_d._ was expended in the purchase of a
streamer, and 20_d._ for a banner containing the figure of St George,
for a galley building at York, while for one building at Southampton in
the same year no less than 40_s_. (relatively a large sum) was expended
in purchasing two streamers and twenty-five banners of the Royal Arms.
The most interesting documents of that period are, however, first an
ordinance made at Bruges on 8th March, 1297, between Edward I and
the Count of Flanders[110] which provided that all ships of England,
Bayonne and other places under the English crown going to Flanders
should display a banner of the Royal Arms (_le signal des armes du Roy
d'Engleterre_) and that the ships of Flanders should display the arms
of the Count and be provided with letters patent sealed with the seal
of their port of origin confirming their right to do so--probably the
earliest instance of the existence of "ships' papers" upon record. The
second document[111] is a long recital of disputes at sea between the
mariners of England and Bayonne on the one side and the Normans on the
other, during the years from 1292 to 1298. From this it appears that in
a pitched battle which took place off the coast of Brittany the Normans
had flown at the mastheads streamers of red sendal 30 yards long and 2
yards broad called "baucans," and "signifying death without quarter and
mortal war in all parts where mariners are to be found."
When we enter upon the fourteenth century the sources of information
become more ample and the flags show greater diversity of device. The
ship in the seal of Dover of 1305 (Plate III, fig. 3) displays the
banner of the Cinque Ports on the stern castle and a gonfanon at the
masthead. The accounts of the king's armourer in 1322 contain entries
of eighty penoncels for galleys with the royal arms in chief, a large
number of banners of the arms of St Edmund (Plate I, fig. 7) and of
the arms of St Edward (Plate I, fig. 6), standards of the royal arms,
penoncels of St George for lances, and three banners of St George, but
it is not clear whether any of the above, except the 80 penoncels, were
for the king's ships. The material used, in addition to sendal, was
worsted, sindon and cloth of Aylsham.
A roll of the expenses of John de Bukyngham, clerk of the great
wardrobe, shows the following flags to have been manufactured under his
directions for the king's ships in 1350:
2 penoncels of sindon, 7¼ yards long and 2 cloths wide, red with
a white pale charged with 3 blue garters,
2 penoncels 3¼ yards long and 3 cloths wide, charged with a
shield of the royal arms surrounded by a blue garter,
2 streamers for the "Jerusalem," one 32 yards long and 5 cloths
wide with the royal arms in chief and striped red and white fly;
the other 30 yards long, of red worsted, charged with white
dragons, green lozenges and leopards' heads,
2 standards for the same ship, 8 yards square,
A streamer for the "Marye," 32 yards long with figure of St Mary in
chief, and the royal arms quarterly in the fly,
A streamer for the "Edward" 33 yards long with an "E" in chief and
the royal arms in the fly,
Streamers for the "John," "Edmund" and several other ships with
figures of the saint appropriate to the name painted upon linen
cloth in chief,
3 streamers 5, 10, and 30 yards long with the royal arms in chief
and fly chequered green and white powdered with green and red roses,
A streamer 24 yards long and 4 cloths wide for the ship assigned to
the King's Wardrobe, charged with the royal arms, with a black key
in chief, and 6 standards for the same ship with a leopard at the
head followed by a black key and the royal arms.
A few years later we have an indenture dated in the forty-third year of
Edward III whereby John de Haytfeld, clerk of the armour and artillery
of the king's ships, acknowledges the receipt from Thomas de Carleton,
the king's armourer[112], of a number of flags of the following types:
Streamers with the royal arms in chief varying in length from 8 to
38 yards
Standards with the royal arms in chief varying in length from 7 to
12 yards
Banners of the royal arms
Banners of St George
A Gonfanon of council of red tartaryn worked with nine golden
angels supporting a shield of the royal arms, each angel having
on his head a chaplet of the Order of the Garter (_Un gonfanon de
conseil de tartaryn rouge batuz od ix angelis dor tenantz un escu
des armes du Roy eiant suz les testes chapeles de garetters des
conflarie de saint George_)
A gonfanon blue and white with a shield of the royal arms
surrounded by a garter powdered with a golden fleurs de lis.
A similar indenture made with John of Sleaford, Clerk of the Privy
Wardrobe, mentions 18 standards of worsted of the royal arms, and 234
standards of linen of the arms of St George with leopards of worsted in
chief.
The flags of the fifteenth century were of similar type. A roll of the
tenth year of Henry V[113], containing a long list of articles supplied
for the royal ships, mentions the following flags:
For the "Trinity Royal"
A banner of council of the royal arms and St George,
Gittons of the Holy Trinity, St Mary, St Edward, royal arms,
St George, the ostrich feather, and swan,
Standards of St Mary, St George, the ostrich feather and royal
arms.
For the "Holy Ghost"
A streamer of the "Holy Ghost,"
Gittons of the Holy Ghost, antelope, royal arms, swan and
St Edward,
Standards of the Holy Ghost, St George, antelope and swan.
For the "Gabriel"
A streamer of St Katherine,
A gitton of St Edward.
For the "Nicholas"
A streamer of St Nicholas,
Gittons of St Edward, royal arms and ostrich feather,
Standards of St Edward and St George.
For the "Grace Dieu"
A streamer of St Nicholas,
A gitton of St Edward.
This exuberance of design persisted until the Reformation in England
put the saints out of favour. While in the early years of Henry VIII
the 'Henri Grace à Dieu' was provided with banners of England, England
and Spain, Castile, Guienne, Wales, Cornwall, the pomegranate and
rose, the rose of white and green, and St Edward streamers "with a
dragon" 45 and 42 yards long, one with a lion 36 yards long, one with
a greyhound 18 yards long and two "litell streamers with crosse of
saint George" 15 and 12 yards in length respectively, and other ships
had banners of St Peter, St Katherine, St Edward, St Anne, the dragon,
greyhound, portcullis and red lion, towards the end of his reign the
saintly flags had disappeared for ever, except for the red cross of St
George, and the royal arms and royal badges alone remain. Thus the ship
reproduced in the frontispiece from a plan of Calais harbour[114] made
about the year 1545 displays, in addition to the huge streamer of St
George, only the royal arms and the royal badges of the fleur-de-lis
and crown, ostrich feather, portcullis and crown, and rose and crown.
The rolls of Anthony Anthony, prepared in the last year of Henry VIII,
show streamers party green and white (the Tudor colours) with St
George's cross in chief; banners of St George and of the Tudor colours
in horizontal stripes, and a few banners of the royal arms, and of the
fleur-de-lis badge.
The accounts for the year 1574, when ensigns appear for the first time
among sea stores, give the following details as to their construction.
There were twenty-four of them made "for her Ma^{ts} newe shippes,"
the material being "bolonia sarcenett of diverse coulors." Staves were
provided, one with a gilt and the others with steel heads, with a pair
of tassels to each. The flags were provided with canvas sockets. For
the banners red and blue say was provided, with buckram for the socket,
and "mockadoe fringe." Streamers and banners were primed, painted and
coloured in oil colours by Wm Herne, the queen's serjeant painter, and
the streamers were of the following lengths:
84 feet long and 9 feet broad at the head
60 " " 7 " " "
54 " " 8 " " "
45 " " 6 " " "
36 " " 6 " " "
There were besides four banners of fine linen cloth, fringed, and
quartered with the royal arms, each being 15 feet long and 13 feet 6
inches deep. "And more twoe banners of damask thone of crymson with a
lyon of gold, thother of purple with affaulcon of silver fringed with
silke."
When Drake and Hawkins set out for their last voyage in 1594 they were
provided with
4 flags gilt with her Majesty's arms costing 60_s._ each
30 flags of St George costing 16_s._ and 8_d._ a piece
3 streamers with the Queen's badges in silver and gold that cost £8 each.
80 other streamers costing 25_s_. each, and
26 ensigns;
the total cost of these flags reaching the large amount (for those
days) of £221.
Very little record remains of the flags flown by British merchant ships
during this period. It has been already remarked that those going to
Flanders at the end of the thirteenth century were ordered to fly
the royal arms, and banners of these arms appear on the ships in the
early seals of Lyme Regis, Hastings and Bristol. The fifteenth century
seal of Yarmouth (Plate III, fig. 2) shows the banner of St George
on the forecastle, a pendant with cross of St George in chief at the
masthead, and a banner of the arms of Yarmouth[115] (closely resembling
the Cinque Ports flag but with herrings' tails substituted for the
dimidiated hulks) upon the stern castle. In the seal of Tenterden
(Plate III, fig. 7) and of Rye, also of the fifteenth century, the
banner of St George is prominent. It seems probable that from the
fourteenth century onwards ships not belonging to the king or the
nobility flew the flag of St George when they flew any flag at all. In
ships belonging to the greater nobles the custom appears to have been
to display a streamer of the owner's badges; thus the ships in the
"Warwick Pageant[116]," drawn circa 1490, display streamers containing
the badges of the bear and ragged staff with St George's cross in
chief. Ships of lesser owners, belonging to an important seaport such
as the Cinque Ports or Yarmouth, appear to have flown the recognised
flag of that port in addition to a flag or streamer of St George.
By the end of the sixteenth century the use of the royal arms had
become confined to the Admiral of the Fleet; the royal badges had
nearly disappeared from the sea, though they are occasionally to be
met with during the next century, and the flag of St George had taken
the lead as the distinguishing characteristic of English ships, both
men-of-war and merchantmen.
[Illustration: PLATE III Seals]
(ii) SCOTLAND
The history of the national flags of Scotland is much less complicated
than that of the flags of England, for the northern nation had decided
upon their patron saint at a much earlier date than their neighbours
south of the Tweed. There was a similar struggle for supremacy among
competing saints, but the issue was decided in the eighth century
and appears to have remained unchallenged ever since. In the words of
Wm Forbes Skene, the Scottish historian,
With the departure of the Columban Clergy, the veneration of
St Columba as the apostle of the northern Picts seems to have
been given up, at least by the southern portion of that people,
and St Peter now became the patron saint of the kingdom and
continued to be so till the year 736, when Angus the son of Fergus
established his power by the defeat of Nectan himself, and the
other competitors for the throne. As the king rapidly brought the
territories of the other Pictish families under his sway, and even
added Dalriada to his kingdom, he seemed desirous to connect a new
ecclesiastical influence with his reign, for in the same year that
he completed the conquest of Dalriada he founded a church at St
Andrews, in which he placed a new body of clergy, who had brought
the relics of St Andrew with them, and this apostle soon became
the more popular patron saint of the kingdom, while the previous
patronage of St Peter disappeared from the annals[117].
It is probable that the cross-saltire was adopted by the Scots as a
national ensign at a very early period, but there seems no direct
evidence of this before the fourteenth century. The earliest Scottish
records were unfortunately lost at sea in the ship that was sent to
return them to that country, whence they had been carried off, with the
Stone of Destiny, by Edward I.
In the summer of the year 1385 the Scots planned a raid into England,
in which they were assisted by a considerable contingent of French.
The Ordinances for the allied army drawn up by the Council for this
occasion and promulgated on the 1st July contained the following
proviso:
Item every man French and Scots shall have a sign before and
behind, namely a white St Andrew's Cross, and if his jack is white
or his coat white he shall bear the said white cross in a piece of
black cloth round or square[118].
It will be noted that the field on which the cross-saltire was to be
placed was immaterial, but if the coat happened to be white the field
was to be black. There is other evidence that the ground colour was
not an essential part of the design, although the prevailing colour
at a later date seems to have been blue. In the Accounts of the Lord
High Treasurer of Scotland[119] for the year 1512 there is recorded a
payment for a roll of blue say for the banner of a ship "with Sanct
Androis cors in the myddis." In 1513 the ground colour was also blue.
In 1523, however, when orders were again issued for each man to bear
the white saltire before and behind, no ground was mentioned, while in
1540 and 1542 the ground colour of the ensigns was yellow and red (the
Stuart livery colours) or red, as the following entries show:
1540
Item, the x day of Junii deliverit to Thomas Arthur to be iii
anseƷeis[120] to the schippis xvj elnis reid and Ʒallow taffites of
cord, price of the elne xviij s. Summa xiiij li. viij s.
Item, deliverit to him to be the croces thairof iiij elnes half
elne quhyte taffites of Janis[121] price the elne xv s. Summa iij
li. vij s. vj d.[122]
1542
Item, the vij day of August, deliverit to Charles Murray to be and
ansenƷe, x elnis raid and Ʒallow taffitis of cord, price of the
elne xviij s. and twa elnis quhite taffites of Janis to be croces
thairto, price of the elne xiiij s. Summa x li. viij s.[123]
There is a similar entry on the 12th for 8 ells red, and 2½ ells
white for the cross.
Cleirac, in his _Explication des Termes de Marine, etc._[124], gives
for the Scotch flag a ground of red or blue, and also a ground of red,
yellow and green, with the saltire in a canton or overall[125]. It is
probable, however, that he was relying on obsolete information, for
there seems no other evidence of a parti-coloured field so late as
1670[126], though a red ensign for ships, with white saltire in a blue
canton[127], was in use until the Legislative Union of 1707.
It remains to say a few words about the royal banner, which may be
considered in a sense national although it is the personal heraldic
flag of the sovereign and ought not to be used by any subject. The
rampant lion with a tressure fleur-de-lisé first appears in a seal
of Alexander II appended to a Charter dated 1222[128]. Except for
the period during which Mary Queen of Scots, after her marriage with
the Dauphin, impaled the French Arms with her own it has remained
unaltered, in the form in which we now see it quartered in the Royal
Standard, since the thirteenth century.
The Raven and the Dragon Standards found their way into Scotland, but
are not met with after the twelfth century. In the early years of
the eleventh century Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, who afterwards carried
the Raven standard against the Irish at Clontarf, was challenged by
Finleic, Earl of the Scots, to battle at Skedmire.
Sigrod sought his mother that she might divine unto him upon the
matter, for she was a wise woman. The earl told her that the odds
in number between his foeman and his own men would not be less than
seven to one. She answered, "I would have brought thee up all thy
life in my wool-basket, if I had known that thou wert bent upon
living for ever; but 'tis Fate that settles a man's days whatever
he is. It is better to die with honour than to live with shame.
Now take this banner, which I have wrought for thee with all my
skill! And I say, by my knowledge, that the victory shall be to
them before whom it is borne, but deadly shall it be to them that
bear it." The banner was made with much fine needle-work, and with
exceeding art. It was wrought in the likeness of a raven, and when
the wind blew upon the banner it was as if the raven flapped his
wings in flight. Earl Sigrod was very angry at his mother's words;
and gave the Orkneymen their ethel-holdings free to raise a levy
for him; and went to Skedmire to meet Earl Finleic, and each of
them set his host in array. And as soon as the battle was joined,
Earl Sigrod's standard-bearer was shot to death. The Earl called
upon another man to carry the standard, and he bore it for a short
while and then fell also. Three of the Earl's standard-bearers fell
indeed, but he won the victory[129].
The Dragon appeared as the Scottish Royal Standard at the Battle
of the Standard (1138). According to the contemporary "Relatio de
Standardo[130]," written by St Aelred, Abbot of Rielvaulx Abbey in
Yorkshire, when the Scots broke and fled those in flight saw from
the position of the royal standard, which was in the likeness of a
dragon[131], that their king was not slain, and gathering themselves
to him they renewed the fight. On this occasion the Scottish king's
son made use of the following ruse. Finding himself cut off with a few
companions, he told them to throw away the banners by which they were
to be recognised from the English and then, mixing with the latter as
though fighting on their side, they reached his father in safety.
Except for a short period during the reign of James IV (1473-1513) a
Scots navy was either non-existent or of little importance, and it is
therefore not to be expected that any great development took place in
its flags; nevertheless, from the Lord High Treasurer's accounts it
appears that no less a sum than £72. 7_s._ 6_d._ was expended upon the
"mayn standert" of the "Great Michael" in 1513. This flag appears to
have had a St Andrew's cross on a blue ground at the head, and a fly
of red and yellow on which the royal badges of the red lion and white
unicorn appeared. Other flags of this period were the banners of St
Andrew and St Margaret, and a banner and standards with the red lion
upon a yellow field.
(iii) IRELAND
In St Patrick the Irish possess a patron saint who is in the truest
sense national. Although a native of Scotland, the best of his life and
work was devoted to the people among whom in early youth the fortune
of war placed him. He seems, moreover, never to have had a serious
competitor for their favour[132], and they have been unwavering in
their allegiance to him. Nevertheless, there is no ancient flag, and no
symbol except the shamrock, associated with his name.
Flags do not seem to have been in use at a very early period among the
celtic nations, and when we meet with them in Irish literature in the
eleventh century the terms used for them are not native Irish words
but had apparently been borrowed from the Danish invaders who wrought
such havoc to the ancient Irish civilisation from the ninth to the
eleventh centuries. The word used by the author of the _Cogadh Gaedhel
re Gallaibh_ is "mergi[133]," which is believed to be borrowed from the
Scandinavian "merke" (mark), while the other word met with, "confingi,"
seems to be derived from the Norse "gunfana."
At the great battle of Clontarf fought in the year 1014 between the
Irish under their king Brian Borumha and the Danish invaders of Ireland
under the Earl Sigurd, assisted by the revolted king of Leinster, the
Irish under Brian had many banners, but these banners were known by
their colours rather than by any particular device in them.
Brian looked out behind him and beheld the battle phalanx ... and
three score and ten banners over them, of red, and of yellow,
and of green, and of all kinds of colours; together with the
everlasting, variegated, lucky, fortunate banner that had gained
the victory in every battle and in every conflict, and in every
combat ... namely the gold-spangled banner of Fergal Ua Ruairc[134].
These banners appear to have been personal to the chiefs and to have
been taken down when they were slain, even if their forces still
remained undefeated. During the conflict Brian, who on account of his
age took no part in the battle and was engaged in prayer at a little
distance, enquired repeatedly of his attendant whether the banner
of his eldest son, Murchadh, still remained aloft. Towards the end
he asked once more, and the attendant reported that it was far from
Murchadh but still standing. Brian said "The men of Erinn shall be
well while that banner remains standing because their courage and
valour shall remain in them all, as long as they can see that banner."
At length Murchadh was mortally wounded, and although the enemy were
defeated his banner was taken down. When his father asked again, the
attendant answered, "... the foreigners are now defeated and Murchadh's
banner has fallen." "That is sad news," said Brian, "... the honour and
valour of Erinn fell when that banner fell and Erinn has fallen now
indeed."
It may be concluded from this narrative that the Irish of the eleventh
century had no national flag common to the whole people. This, together
with the fact that after the death of Brian no Irish king arose great
enough to secure the allegiance of the whole nation, may explain why
the Irish never developed a national flag as did the English and Scots.
The red saltire on white ground which represents Ireland in the Union
flag had only an ephemeral existence as a separate flag. Originating
as the arms of the powerful Geraldines, who from the time of Henry II
held the predominant position among those whose presence in Ireland was
due to the efforts of the English sovereigns to subjugate that country,
it is not to be expected that the native Irish should ever have taken
kindly to a badge that could only remind them of their servitude to a
race with whom they had little in common, and the attempt to father
this emblem upon St Patrick (who, it may be remarked, is not entitled
to a cross--since he was not a martyr) has evoked no response from the
Irish themselves.
The earliest evidence of the existence of the red saltire flag[135]
known to the author occurs in a map of "Hirlandia" by John Goghe dated
1567 and now exhibited in the museum of the Public Record Office.
The arms at the head of this map are the St George's cross impaled
with the crowned harp, but the red saltire is prominent in the arms
of the Earl of Kildare and the other Geraldine families placed over
their respective spheres of influence. The red saltire flag is flown
at the masthead of a ship, possibly an Irish pirate, which is engaged
in action in the St George's Channel with another ship flying the St
George's cross. The St George's flag flies upon Cornwall, Wales and
Man, but the red saltire flag does not appear upon Ireland itself,
though it is placed upon the adjacent Mulls of Galloway and Kintyre in
Scotland. It is, however, to be found in the arms of Trinity College,
Dublin (1591), in which the banners of St George and of this saltire
surmount the turrets that flank the castle gateway.
The Graydon MS. Flag Book of 1686 which belonged to Pepys does not
contain this flag, but gives as the flag of Ireland (which, it may be
noted, appears as an afterthought right at the end of the book) the
green flag with St George's cross and the harp, illustrated in Plate X,
fig. 3. The saltire flag is nevertheless given as "Pavillon d'Ierne" in
the flag plates at the commencement of the _Neptune François_ of 1693,
whence it was copied into later flag collections.
Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate, when England and Scotland were
represented in the Great and other Seals by their crosses, Ireland was
invariably represented by the harp, and in the Union flag of 1658, as
will be seen later, it was the harp that was added to the English and
Scottish crosses to form a flag representative of the three kingdoms.
At the funeral of Cromwell the Great Standards of England and Scotland
had the St George's and St Andrew's crosses in chief respectively, but
the Great Standard of Ireland had in chief a red cross (not saltire) on
a yellow field[136].
When the Order of St Patrick was instituted in 1783 the red saltire
was taken for the badge of the Order, and since this emblem was of
convenient form for introduction into the Union flag of England and
Scotland it was chosen in forming the combined flag of England,
Scotland and Ireland in 1801.
Ireland has been represented in the royal standard since 1603 by the
golden harp on a blue field, but it would seem that this is not the
original arms of that country, for the augmentation of arms granted by
Richard II to his favourite Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, whom he
created Duke of Ireland in 1386, was _azure_, three crowns, _or_, and
these are said to have been confirmed as the true arms of Ireland by a
commission of enquiry under Edward IV. The harp, which appears to have
been an ancient badge of Ireland, was formally adopted as the arms of
that country by Henry VIII in the year when he changed the royal style
from "Dominus Hiberniae" to "Rex Hiberniae." The change in the colour
of the field from blue to green, as is commonly seen in the flags
of Irishmen in rebellion against English rule, is believed to have
originated with Owen Roe O'Neill in 1642.
There is very little information as to the flags flown in Irish ships.
From a date at least as early as the thirteenth century certain
of the Irish ports were accustomed to supply ships for the king's
service[137]. Such ships would have flown the English or Cinque Ports
flag. There is indeed a mention in the State Papers of 1586[138] of
an Irish ship attacking an English merchantman under the Scots flag,
"showing forth a Skottish ensigne," and a passage in Dudley's voyage in
1594[139] from which it may be inferred that there was no recognised
Irish flag at that date. In Feb. 1785, a brig from Dublin hoisted at
Antigua a green ensign with the harp and crown in the centre, which was
seized by Collingwood's orders, and later in the same year another ship
from Belfast, flying a similar ensign, was detained until the master
had gone ashore and bought proper colours for the vessel[140].
FOOTNOTES:
[64] Beda, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, II, 137. For _Tufa_, see _ante_,
p. 11.
[65] _Historia Anglorum_: "Aciebus igitur dispositis, cum in directum
tendentes appropinquarent, Edelhun praecedens West sexenses, regis
insigne draconem scilicet aureum gerens, transforavit vexilliferum
hostem."
[66] Probably Combwich, _vide_ Major, _Early Wars of Wessex_, 1913.
[67] Under the Devon earldorman Odda, Alfred being then in hiding at
Athelney.
[68] "Vexillum quod Reafun nominant." Cf. the _A. S. Chronicle_, "þær
wæs se guðfana genumen þe hie Hraefn."
[69] Asser, _Life of King Alfred_.
[70] _Emmae Reginae Anglorum Encomium_, lib. II.
[71] Plate II, fig. 10.
[72] Plate II, fig. 11.
[73] Anlaf seems to have lived alternately in Ireland, Scotland, and
Northumbria, and to have been King of Dublin in 945. On his final
expulsion from Northumbria in 952 he returned to Ireland, and after
the battle of Tara in 980 became a monk at Iona. See Todd, _War of the
Gaedhil with the Gaill_ (Rolls Series).
[74] William of Malmesbury, _De Gestis Regum Anglorum_: "Vexillum
Mauricii beatissimi martyris Thebae legionis principis, quo idem rex
in bello Hispano quamlibet infestos et confertos inimicorum cuneos
derumpere et in fugam solitus erat cogere."
[75] Henry of Huntingdon, _Historia Anglorum_: "Cum enim Dacos solito
acrius pugnare videret (Edmund) loco regio relicto, quod erat ex more
inter draconem et insigne quod vocatur 'Standard,' cucurrit terribilis
in aciem primam."
[76] Plate I, fig. 2; see p. 16.
[77] _Gesta Regum Anglorum_: "Rex ipse pedes juxta vexillum stabat cum
fratribus ... vexillum illud post victoriam papae misit Willelmus, quod
erat in hominis pugnantis figura, auro et lapidibus arte sumptuosa
intextum."
[78] There is a smaller figure of a man in the act of striking with
a club on the downs near Cerne Abbas in Dorset. Possibly both these
figures are pre-Saxon. The horse, a favourite subject for treatment in
this manner, is almost certainly pre-Saxon; yet it was adopted by the
Saxons of Kent.
[79] Roger de Hoveden, _Chronica_ "cum ... rex Angliae fixisset
signum suum in medio, et tradisset draconem suum Petro de Pratellis
ad portandum contra calumniam Roberti Trussebut, qui illum portare
calumniatus fuit de jure praedecessorem suorum."
[80] See p. 37.
[81] Dart, _Westmonasterium_, 1742.
[82] See especially Elliot Smith, _The Evolution of the Dragon_, 1919.
[83] In this same battle the Scots were led under the Dragon standard.
See p. 49.
[84] _Liber quotidianus Contrarotulationis Garderobae_ 29 Edward I.
This was printed by the Society of Antiquaries in 1787.
[85] _Rites of Durham_ (Surtees Society), 1903.
[86] Plate I, fig. 7.
[87] Plate I, fig. 6.
[88] Plate I, fig. 12.
[89] It is usually taken as 303 but the Rev. Baring Gould in his _Lives
of the Saints_ shows good reason for believing the actual date to be
285.
[90] _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, chap. XXIII.
[91] Baring Gould, _Curious Myths_, 1872.
[92] _Exchequer Accounts_, 349/2.
[93] Bail, _Summa Conciliorum_.
[94] Wilkins, _Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae_.
[95] _Ibid._
[96] Keyser, _Norman Tympana and Lintels_, 1904; _Sussex Archeological
Collections_, xliv.
[97] Benedict Abbas, _Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi_: "Praedicti vero
reges in susceptione crucis ad distinguendam gentem suam signum evidens
providerunt. Nam rex Franciae et gens sua cruces rubeas susceperunt, et
rex Angliae et gens sua cruces albas susceperunt, et comes Flandriae
cum gente sua cruces virides suscepit."
[98] _Les Us et Coutumes de la Mer._
[99] _Exchequer Accounts_, 3/15. Rotulus forinsecus de guerra Walliae
anno regni regis Edwardi quinto.
"Flind. Die martis in Festo Sancti Laurentii [pro tribus peciis de
Buckeram et tribus peciis telae de Aylesham emptis per manus Admeti
cissoris ad faciendum C Braceria et xx*xj penuncella de Armis
sancti Georgii et pro emendendum et sudendum eorundem Bracerium et
penuncellorum. ci s vi d. Item pro sex peciis telae de Aylesham emptis
ad faciendum Braceria et penuncella pro peditibus Regis per manus
eiusdem A. xx s. Item pro cl ulnis telae tinctae emptis pro eodem c s.
Item pro custura cxx penuncellorum de Armis sancti Georgii per manus
eiusdem A. xxiij s] (_other similar entries for material for Bracers_)
... pro tribus Stemeris emptis ad fracandum intus arma Regis vij s. vj
d."
[100] _Vide_ Nicolas, _Siege of Carlaverock_.
[101] _Prologue to the Canterbury Tales_, II. 108 et seq.
[102] Nicolas, _Roll of Carlaverock_.
[103] Henry Chicheley.
[104] I.e. fighting against ghostly enemies.
[105] Wilkins, _Concilia_, III, 375: "Hujus itaque dispositionis ex
clementissima et benignissima Dei Salvatoris nostri misericordia
procedentis consideratione, nationis Anglicanae plebs fidelis, etsi
Deum in sanctis suis omnibus laudare ex debito teneatur, ipsum tamen,
ut orbis affatus, ipsaque gratiae desuper concessae experientia, rerum
cunctarum interpres optima, attestantur, in suo martyre gloriosissimo,
beato Georgio, tanquam patrone et protectore dictae nationis speciali,
summis tenentur attollere vocibus, laudibus personare praecipuis et
specialibus honoribus venerari. Hujus namque, ut indubitanter credimus,
interventu, nedum gentis Angligenae armata militia contra incursus
hostiles bellorum tempore regitur, sed et pugna cleri militaris inermis
in sacrae pacis otio sub tanti patroni suffragio celebriter roboratur."
[106] In the MS. they are dated xvii July, but this is apparently an
error for xxvii.
[107] Twiss, _The Black Book of the Admiralty_, I, 456.
[108] _Ibid._ I, 464.
[109] _Exchequer Accounts_, 4/26.
[110] Rymer, _Foedera_, II, 759 and Marsden, _Law and Custom of the
Sea_ (N.R.S.), I, 46.
[111] Printed in _Lettres des Rois, etc._ (Documents inédits sur
l'histoire de France) I, 392, and in part by Mr Marsden (_op. cit._ I,
50). See also p. 160.
[112] _Exchequer Accounts_, 30/16.
[113] _Exchequer Accounts_, 49/29.
[114] B. M. _Cott. Aug._ I, ii, 57^{b.}
[115] Plate I, fig. 14.
[116] _Cott. Julius_ E. IV.
[117] _Chronicles of the Picts, Chronicles of the Scots and other early
Memorials of Scottish History_ (Rolls Series), Preface, clix.
[118] _The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, I, 191: "Item que tout
homme francois et escot ait un signe devant et derrere cest assauoir
une croiz blanche saint andrieu et se son Jacque soit blanc ou sa cote
blanche il portera la dicte croiz blanche en une piece de drap noir
ronde ou quarree."
[119] _Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland_ (Rolls Series),
edited by Sir Jas. B. Paul, III, 90.
[120] Ensigns.
[121] White taffety of Genoa (jean).
[122] _Op. cit._ VII, 189.
[123] _Ibid._ IX, iii.
[124] Rouen 1670, bound with his Les Us et Coutumes de la Mer.
[125] Escosse le Sauteur d'argent qui est la Croix des Chevaliers Saint
Andre, au drap de gueles ou d'azur: portent aussi face de gueles d'or
et de Synope qui est verd, le Sauteur au quanton ou sur le tout.
[126] The work appears, however, to have been written in 1634.
[127] Plate X, fig. 1.
[128] Dunbar, _Scottish Kings_, p. 89.
[129] _Orkney Saga_, XI.
[130] _Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, etc._ (Rolls Series), III,
181.
[131] Regale vexillum, quod ad similitudinem draconis figuratam facile
agnoscebatur.
[132] Except possibly in St Brigit and St Columcille.
[133] Elsewhere "meirge."
[134] _War of the Gaedhill with the Gaill (Cogadh Gaedhel re
Gallaibh_). Ed. with translation by J. H. Todd (Rolls Series), p. 156.
[135] Plate I, fig. 10.
[136] Prestwich, _Respublica_.
[137] E.g. Nicholas quotes an example in 1233, when the inhabitants of
Dublin were directed to prepare their new great galley for the king's
service, and ships from Waterford, Dublin, Youghal, Ross and Drogheda
were supplied for the Flanders expedition in 1304. Some, perhaps all,
of these ports were affiliated to the Cinque Ports, as, for instance,
Youghal, which became "one of the Petylymmes of the Cinque Ports in
Ireland" in 1462. (_Cal. Pat. Rolls._)
[138] _S. P. D. Eliz._ CLXXXVII, 13.
[139] See p. 198.
[140] It may be pointed out, however, that under the present Merchant
Shipping Act the flying of such a flag, if it did not imitate the
British or other national colours, would not be illegal, but the ship
must show the red ensign when required under Art. 74 of that Act.
Chapter III
_The Union Flags and Jacks_
In the preceding sketch of the early history of the British flags we
have, so far as evidence is available, followed the steps by which the
red cross on a white ground came to represent the people of England,
and we have seen, though less clearly, how the white saltire on a blue
ground became the chosen flag of the Scottish nation. It now remains
to trace the process by which these two flags became united in one,
and finally, by the addition of a red saltire to represent Ireland,
developed into the present Union flag.
On the death of Queen Elizabeth in March, 1603, the succession to the
crown lay open.
There had been no repeal of the stipulation made by Henry VIII,
both in Act of Parliament and in his will, that after the death
without heirs of his three children, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth,
the crown should descend to the heirs of his younger sister,
Mary.... Consequently, the rightful heir when Elizabeth lay dying
was no scion of the Scottish House, but the eldest representative
of the Suffolk line--Princess Mary's great-grandson, Edward
Seymour, Lord Beauchamp. But Elizabeth's ministers were not the
slaves of legal niceties. The Queen's neutrality left their choice
unfettered; and though expectation of personal profit largely
moved them, their action proved politic. Lord Beauchamp was a
man of insignificant position and character; James VI, however
contemptible in many respects, had experience as a ruler, and
a contiguous kingdom to add to the endowments of the English
Crown[141].
[Illustration: PLATE IV Union Flag]
But the union of crowns brought about by Elizabeth's ministers with
the tacit approval of the two nations did not directly lead to
the union of peoples. The Parliaments remained separate; national
jealousies ran high, especially in England, and James was foiled in
his efforts to bring about the closer union he sought. Nevertheless,
he was determined[142] that the union of the two nations should have
some other outward expression than the change in the royal standard,
and in the beginning of the fourth year of his reign he issued a
proclamation in the following words:
A Proclamation declaring what Flags South and North Britains shall
bear at Sea.
Whereas some difference has arisen between our Subjects of South
and North Britain, Travelling by Sea, about the bearing of their
flags, for the avoiding of all such contentions hereafter, We have
with the advice of our Council ordered That from henceforth all
our subjects of this Isle and Kingdom of Great Britain and the
Members thereof shall bear in their maintop the Red Cross, commonly
called St George's Cross, and the White Cross, commonly called St
Andrew's Cross, joined together, according to a form made by our
Heralds and sent by Us to our Admiral to be published to our said
Subjects[143]. And in their foretop Our Subjects of South Britain
shall wear the Red Cross only as they were wont, and our Subjects
of North Britain in their Foretop the White Cross only as they
were accustomed. Wherefore We will and command all our Subjects
to be conformable and obedient to this Our Order, and that from
henceforth they do not use to bear their flags in any other Sort,
as they will answer the contrary at their Peril.
Given at our Palace of Westminster the 12th.
day of April in the 4th. year of our Reign of
Great Britain France and Ireland Annoq.
Domini 1606.
Unfortunately the naval records of the early years of the seventeenth
century have almost entirely disappeared from the State archives; the
"State Papers" themselves are but fragmentary remains; and the English
Privy Council Registers from 1602 to 1613 were destroyed by the fire at
Whitehall in 1618, so that it is impossible to say what were the points
of contention referred to in the Proclamation.
The birth of the flag that is now the pride of so many millions was
indeed obscure. Intended at first for use only at sea, it appears to
have excited no attention except from those directly concerned with
shipping. The royal and merchant navies were alike dwindling away, and
the sea did not fill that place in the minds of James' subjects that it
had filled in the greater days of Elizabeth.
The only strictly contemporary evidence of the actual design chosen in
1606 is to be found in the following appeal from the shipmasters of
Scotland, whom it did not by any means please.
Edinburgh
7 Aug. 1606
Most sacred Soverayne. A greate nomber of the maisteris and awnaris
of the schippis of this your Majesteis kingdome hes verie havelie
compleint to your Majesteis Counsell that the form and patrone
of the flaggis of schippis, send doun heir and commandit to be
ressavit and used be the subjectis of boith kingdomes, is very
prejudiciall to the fredome and dignitie of this Estate and will
gif occasioun of reprotche to this natioun quhairevir the said
flage sal happin to be worne beyond sea becaus, as your sacred
Majestie may persave, the Scottis Croce, callit Sanctandrois
Croce is twyse divydit, and the Inglishe Croce, callit Sanct
George, haldin haill and drawne through the Scottis Croce,
whiche is thairby obscurit and no takin nor merk to be seene of
the Scottis Armes. This will breid some heit and miscontentment
betwix your Majesteis subjectis, and it is to be feirit that some
inconvenientis sall fall oute betwix thame, for oure seyfairing men
cannot be induceit to ressave that flag as it is set doun. They
haif drawne two new drauchtis and patronis as most indifferent for
boith kingdomes which they presented to the Counsell, and craved
our approbatioun of the same; bot we haif reserved that to your
Majesteis princelie determination,--as moir particularlie the Erll
of Mar, who wes present and hard thair complaynt, and to whome
we haif remittit the discourse and delyverie of that mater, will
inform your Majestie, and latt Your Heynes see the errour of the
first patrone and the indifferencie of the two new drauchtis. And
sua, most humelie beseiking your Majestie, as your Heynes has evir
had a speciall regaird of the honnour, fredome and libertie of
this your Heynes antient and native kingdome that it wuld pleis
your sacres Majestie in this particulair to gif unto your Heynes
subjectis some satisfactioun and contentment, we pray God to
blisse your sacred Majestie with a lang and prosperous reignne and
eternall felicitie[144].
There is nothing to show that this appeal met with any response, but
the Scots never took kindly to the new flag and rarely used it until
after the Legislative Union of 1707. Sir Edward Nicholas in 1634 was
doubtful "whether the Scots have used to carry that Flag of the Union."
It is unfortunate that these "drafts and patterns" have disappeared,
perhaps in the same fire that consumed the "form" made by the
heralds. There is no doubt about the main outline, but the absence
of precise detail has led several writers--purists in heraldic
matters--to contend that the white border of the red cross was simply
a narrow fimbriation[145]. I think, however, that examination of the
available evidence will show that this border did not originate as
a mere "fimbriation," that it was in fact part of the field of the
English flag, and that the new flag was, as described by Sir James
Balfour[146], "the flagis of St Andrew and St George interlaced," not
merely the red cross surmounting the Scots flag. Material proof that
it was so regarded sixty years later is in existence in Amsterdam in
the shape of actual flags captured during the Second and Third Dutch
Wars, and belonging therefore to the second half of the seventeenth
century. These show a very wide border to the red cross, and in two
instances[147] the red cross, the white border and the white saltire
are each of the same width.
The heralds had been faced by a dilemma. It was impossible to combine
the two flags so as to form a new one without giving precedence to one
of them. If quartered, the upper canton next the staff was the place
of honour, and both could not occupy it at the same time. In the reign
of James II this difficulty was solved, in the case of the Royal Arms,
by placing the Scots' Lion in the first quarter in the Great Seal of
Scotland. Possibly a similar solution was suggested by the Scottish
shipmasters. But there was a precedent for a closer union than this
quartered form, which no doubt the heralds had in mind. Elizabeth had
granted the Levant Company, by her charters of 1581 and 1592, the
right to wear as a flag "the Armes of England with the redde crosse in
white over the same[148]." We may be quite sure that in consenting to
such an arrangement Elizabeth had no thought of giving the national
flag precedence over the royal standard, but merely wished to signify
their intimate union and the extension of the royal protection to the
company. The method adopted in 1606 was exactly the same, the "red
cross in white" being placed over the Scots flag.
The quarterly arrangement of the crosses appears to have been used on
one occasion; the dispatch of a fleet in 1623 to bring back Prince
Charles and the Duke of Buckingham from Spain. Mr Serjeant Knight, in
a "discourse" on the St George's flag written in 1678 at the request
of Pepys[149], stated that he had in his possession the Order from the
Great Wardrobe directed to his father, Mr Thomas Knight, Arms Painter,
who was to paint the banners and streamers required for the Prince. The
principal flag was to be that shown in Plate V, fig. 1: "Imprimis in
ye Prince's ship wherein he goes, on ye top ye Crosses of St. Andrew
and St. George." Mr Knight assured Pepys that he could not be mistaken
about this "cobled Banner," as he scornfully called it, "ye severall
arms being trickt in ye margin of ye Order," and he proceeded to give
a sketch of it. Indeed, he was disposed to believe this to be the
original form of the Union flag:
having seen severall Flaggs with St. George and St. Andrew
quarterly and may every Lord Mayor's Day be seen born by some of ye
Companies Barges, these flags being made much about that time, all
men being willing to flatter their new king.
The evidence of the Privy Council Register of Scotland is, however,
sufficient to prove that this inference was incorrect.
The documents of 1606 do not give any name to the flag they describe.
It appears first to have been called the "Britain" or "British"
flag[150], and I have not found the name "Union" earlier than 1625,
when it appears in the list of the flags and banners used at the
funeral of James I[151]. Three years later it appears in the Sailing
Instructions of the Earl of Lindsey[152], but the older name still
persisted at sea and is found in inventories of stores and in sailing
and fighting instructions until 1639[153].
Hitherto this "British" or "Union" flag had, like the old English
flag of St George, been flown equally by merchantman and man-of-war,
strangers being expected to distinguish the latter by their more
warlike appearance.
[Illustration: PLATE V Union Flags and Jacks]
Towards the year 1633, however, the old question of the salute in the
Narrow Seas was becoming more and more acute, "because," in the words
of Sir Wm Monson, "both the French and Hollanders seek to usurp upon
his Majesties right[154]." Sir John Pennington, the "Admiral of the
Narrow Seas," seized on this as an excuse to advocate a difference in
the flags of the king's and the merchants' ships. In a letter dated
7th April, 1634, asking for instructions on various points relative to
his duties as Admiral of the Narrow Seas he writes:
For alteringe of the Coulers whereby his Ma^{ts} owne Shippes may
be knowne from his Subiects I leave to yo^r Lo^{pps} more deepe
consideration. But under correction I conceive it to bee very
materyall and much for his Ma^{ts} Hono^r, and besides will free
disputes with Strangers, for when they omitt doinge their Respectes
to his Ma^{ts} Shippes till they bee shott at they alleadge they
did not know it to be the kinges Shippe[155].
The plea that the existing arrangement caused confusion in the minds
of foreigners was quite justified, but it is probable that there was
a deeper underlying cause, jealousy of the mercantile marine. Be
this as it may, Pennington's suggestion was favourably received, and
the approval of the king was obtained to the issue of the following
Proclamation:
A Proclamation appointing the Flags, as well for our Navie Royall
as for the Ships of our Subjects of South and North Britaine.
Wee taking into Our Royall consideration that it is meete for the
Honour of Our owne Ships in Our Navie Royall and of such other
Ships as are or shall be employed in Our immediate Service, that
the same bee by their Flags distinguished from the ships of any
other of Our Subjects, doe hereby straitly prohibite and forbid
that none of Our Subjects, of any of Our Nations and Kingdomes,
shall from hencefoorth presume to carry the Union Flagge in the
Maine toppe, or other part of any of their Ships (that is) S.
Georges Crosse and S. Andrews Crosse joyned together upon paine
of Our high displeasure, but that the same Union Flagge bee still
reserved as an ornament proper for Our owne Ships and Ships in Our
immediate Service and Pay, and none other.
And likewise Our further will and pleasure is, that all the other
Ships of Our Subjects of England or South Britaine bearing flags
shall from hencefoorth carry the Red-Crosse, commonly called S.
George his Crosse, as of olde time hath beene used; And also that
all the other ships of Our Subjects of Scotland or North Britaine
shall from hencefoorth carry the White Crosse commonly called S.
Andrews Crosse, Whereby the severall Shipping may thereby bee
distinguished and We thereby the better discerne the number and
goodnesse of the same. Wherefore Wee will and straitly command all
Our Subjects foorthwith to bee conformable and obedient to this Our
Order, as they will answer the contrary at their perills.
Given at Our Court at Greenwich this fifth
day of May in the tenth yeere of Our Reigne
of England Scotland France and Ireland, Defender
of the Faith &c.
The ostensible reason for this distinction in flags--to enable the
"number and goodnesse" of the ships of the two nations to be more
readily discerned--is obviously an afterthought[156]; a sugar coating
to the pill. The customs officers of the various ports could, of
course, have provided any information desired relative to the shipping,
and were not dependent on the flags for their knowledge of the ships'
nationalities. The point is of some interest as it marks a distinct
step in the exaltation of the Navy Royal and its officers into a
position of superiority over the mercantile marine.
It will also be observed that the proclamation of 1634 does not require
the flags to be hoisted at the masthead as did that of 1606. Probably
this was no accidental omission but was the outcome of the general
introduction of the "Jack" on the bowsprit a year or two before.
Flags had no doubt been occasionally carried on the bowsprit from the
time when that spar was first invented, but the practice had been
exceptional, at any rate in the English navy. An early instance was
depicted in a contemporary picture in Cowdray Castle, since destroyed
by fire, which represented "the encampment of the English forces near
Portsmouth, together with a view of the English and French fleets at
the commencement of the action between them on the 19th of July, 1545."
In this picture, which fortunately was reproduced in an engraving by
the Society of Antiquaries in 1780, the Lord Admiral's ship, the 'Henri
Grace à Dieu,' was seen flying a royal standard on the bowsprit. Drake,
also, had flown a striped flag in this position in that last voyage
which ended for him in his death at sea in January, 1596[157]. Yet when
Captain Young submitted his "Noates for Sea Service" to the Earl of
Essex[158] he wrote as though the idea were unusual:
and that the cullers maye bee the better knowne from those of
the enemies and yf they chance to have the like it shalbe then
convenient that upon o^r misson flagge-staves or th ende of o^r
bowlesprits and that theare bee but a smawle litle flagge with a
red Crosse yt being but a litle bigger than a vaine of a great
Catche[159].
As remarked by Admiral Sir Massie Blomfield[160], this "jack" is not
shown in the "illustrations of the flagships of the Expedition of 1596
reproduced in the 'Naval Miscellany,'[161]" so that the suggestion was
probably not received with favour.
There is no mention of, or provision for, "jacks" in the inventories
which accompanied the report of the committee that inquired into the
state of the navy in 1618. Sir Julian Corbett has pointed out[162]
that the earliest instance of the use of the word "jack" to denote a
flag occurs in the orders issued by Sir John Pennington to one of his
captains on 3rd July, 1633. The original has not survived, but the
copy[163] is in a contemporary hand and is corroborated by Pennington's
Journal, now among the MSS. of Lord Muncaster.
In the summers of the years 1631, 1633 and 1634 Pennington was in
command of a small squadron as Admiral of the Narrow Seas, charged
especially with the duty of freeing the coast from pirates. He tells us
in his journal[164], under the above date (3rd July, 1633):
In the morninge it blew very hard at SW by W. Aboute noone we
weyed--leavinge the 8th Whelpe in Catt Water and stoode of to sea
with the rest of our Fleete, knowinge it to bee a very hard matter
for any small vessels to keepe the sea in such fowle weather, and
the likelyest place for them to shelter in with these winds was
Torbaye, for which place we stoode, causinge the 10th Whelpe to
goe a head of us and close aboard the shore, with her coullers and
ordynance in, that shee might not bee suspected to bee one of our
Fleete, the better to intrap any Pyrates.
The order, which is dated the same day on board the 'Vanguard,'
Pennington's flagship, is evidently the one given to the 10th
Whelp[165]. It contains instructions as to rendezvous in case the ships
lost company, and continues as follows:
you are to looke out carefully for these pirates night and day;
that if it be possible wee maie intrapp them. You are alsoe for
this present service to keepe in yo^r Jack at yo^r Boultsprit end
and yo^r Pendant and yo^r Ordinance[166].
The fact that the position of the "Jack" is defined in this order tends
to show that the term had not yet become common, and this is fully
confirmed by a passage added by Sir Nathaniel Boteler to one[167]
of the manuscript copies of his well-known _Six Dialogues about Sea
Services_, written about the year 1634.
Boteler, who last served at sea in the Ile de Ré Expedition of 1627,
says:
but of late ther hathe bin invented an order that none of our
Englishe shypps should be allowed to carry the king's flagge (that
is the English Crosse quartered[168] w^h the Scottish, and called
the Brittish flagge or Colours) save only such shyps as are either
of his Ma^{ties} owne or serve under his paye, and every such
vessel, though but a Catche, is permitted and enjoined to weare one
of thes in a smale volume in her Boltsprites Topp. And the flaggs
thus worne are tearmed Jacks.
The "Order" referred to is evidently the Proclamation of 1634,
which, as already remarked, was the outcome of Pennington's request
for instructions. It seems highly probable that it is to the same
outstanding personality[169] that we owe the institution of the "Jack"
on the bowsprit.
From 1634 until the death of Charles I the royal ships continued to
be distinguished from the merchant ships by this difference in their
flags, although, as a distinct favour, merchant ships were, in a few
special cases, granted permission to carry the Union flag.
The execution of Charles I on 30th January, 1649, dissolved the
dynastic union between England and Scotland. The two nations, which
only a few years before had been united in a "Solemn League and
Covenant" against Charles, had been gradually drifting apart, and
on the proclamation by the Scots of Charles' son as king the two
governments fell into open enmity. In these circumstances the Union
flag had become meaningless. On the 22nd of February the Parliament
decreed that the "Admiralty" should be settled in the Council of
State[170], and the "Navy Committee," that is, the Committee of the
Council, who were managing those affairs of the navy that had formerly
been within the jurisdiction of the "Principal Officers of the Navy,"
immediately applied to the Council to know what they were to do about
flags.
This Committee taking notice of the arms y^t are engraven upon ye
sternes of ye shipps belonging to ye Comonwealth & intended for
this Summers fleet doe think fit to inform the Com^{tee} of State
therewith that so directions may be given what arms shalbe placed
in their steed & likewise what characters shalbe given to the
flaggs that are to be worne in this service[171].
The Council of State promptly decided "That the Ships at Sea in service
of the State shall onely beare the red Crosse in a white flag[172],"
thus bringing the navy back to the old English flag and once more
into line with the merchant shipping. The royal arms were ordered to
be removed from the sterns and replaced by "the Armes of England and
Ireland in two Scutcheons[173]."
Two days later the Generals at Sea were informed, in answer to a
further inquiry, that if Scots ships were found "bearing either the red
cross or the Armes heretofore called the King's Armes" they were to
admonish them to "forbeare the carrying of them for the future[174]."
It is probable that the order of 22nd Feb. was not altogether welcome
to the navy officers, for on 5th March, only a few days after the above
order had been issued, the Council of State decided upon a new union
flag for naval use. The union now to be symbolised was that of England
and Ireland. Although Ireland had been more or less under the rule of
the kings of England from the time of Henry II, it was not until the
accession of James I in 1603 that she had found recognition in the
royal standard, and it remained for the Commonwealth to give her due
recognition in the national flag. The entry in the Council Minute Book
runs: "That the fflagg that is to be borne by the Admirall be that
now presented, viz: the Armes of England and Ireland in two severall
Escotchons in a red flagg w^{th} in a Compartiment (or)[175]."
At the same time two other variants of this design were introduced, a
standard and a jack. The order for these cannot be found, but they are
referred to in the following letter to the Committee of the Navy signed
by Deane and Blake (two of the Generals at Sea[176]) and dated 21st
April, 1649:
Gentlemen
Touching the flaggs &c. It seems strange you referre the
proportions to bee ascertained by us, yo^rselves knowing best the
former allowaunces, which wee suppose are alike in number in every
expedition, but since the Issue depends on o^r resolution wee
think needfull that you make up what you have allready sent, for
o^rselves three Standards, o^r viceadm^{ll} and Rereadm^{ll} with
the Adm^{ll} Viceadm^{ll} & Rereadm^{ll} of Ireland three flaggs
apiece, with two Jackes for every Shipp in the ffleet. ffor the
Ensignes and pendants you best know how many are wanting, which
(whatsoever they are) with the flaggs &c. we desire may bee noe
longer delayed[177].
In the standard, intended to replace the royal standard, and to be used
by the Generals at Sea, the yellow "compartment" was omitted and the
two escutcheons were surrounded by green branches of laurel and bay.
Fortunately, an actual specimen[178] has survived of this interesting
flag, which was destined to wave over Blake's ship at the heroic battle
of Santa Cruz and to see the rise of the English navy to an eminence
unequalled even in the days of Elizabeth.
The jack contained only the cross and harp on their white and blue
fields, corresponding with the centre part of the Admirals' flags.
It is to be seen in several pictures of battles of the First Dutch
War[179]. Apparently this jack was also used by ships having letters of
marque; "privateers" as we should now call them. In December, 1652, the
captain of a small frigate, called the 'Helena,' fought with two armed
ships from Brest, "putting out the Parliament Jack on the bowsprit
end and the English ensign on the poop, the enemy having hung out the
disunion flag or late King's colours[180]."
Early in 1653 the junior Admiral's flag with the red border and yellow
compartment seems to have been abandoned, and a flag like the jack,
with the harp and cross only, substituted for it[181], probably because
the red border would cause confusion when flown in the white and blue
squadrons.
Scotland was formally re-united to England by an Ordinance of the
Commonwealth Parliament dated 12th April, 1654, and the cross of St
Andrew was ordered to be brought once more into conjunction with that
of St George:
And that this Union may take its more full effect and intent Be
it further ordained by the Authority aforesaid That the Arms
of Scotland viz: a Cross commonly called Saint Andrews Cross
be received into and borne from henceforth in the Arms of this
Commonwealth as a Badge of this Union.
In the new great seal which was prepared in 1655 the St Andrew's cross
was quartered with St George's cross and the Irish harp, but it was not
at once introduced into the naval flags, although placed on the obverse
of naval medals struck in 1654.
The cross of St Andrew was re-introduced into the naval flags by the
following order of the Council of State dated 18th May, 1658[182]:
That the Standard for the Generall of his Highness ffleete be
altered, and doe beare the Armes of England, Scotland, and Ireland,
with his Highness Escutcheon of pretence, according to the
impression of the Great Seale of England; and that the Jack fflaggs
for the fflagg officers of the ffleete and for the severall Shipps
of Warre of his Highness be the Armes of England and Scotland
united, according to the auncient forme, With the addition of the
Harpe, according to a Modell now showd; and that the Com^{rs} of
the Adm^{ty} and Navy to take order That the standard and Jacke
fflaggs be prepared accordingly.
In the standard the two crosses and the harp were borne "quarterly"
surmounted by an inescutcheon (sable, a lion rampant argent), the
personal arms of Cromwell[183], but in the other Admirals' flags and
the jack the crosses were superposed, as in the Union flag of 1606,
with the addition of a harp in the centre. The "model" has disappeared,
like all its predecessors, and nothing remains to show for certain
whether this harp was placed in a blue escutcheon as in the earlier
Commonwealth flags or not, but since a request was received from
Chatham in the following November for 200 yards of blue bewper "for
ye altering of all y^e fflaggs and Jacks here y^t are of y^e former
fashion into y^e new forme[184]" it seems on the whole probable that
the harp was in an escutcheon with a blue field.
This return towards the flag of 1606, prophetic of the coming
restoration, lasted for a few months only. In September Cromwell died,
and his son, the shadow of a great name, after being tolerated as a
mere figurehead for a few months, was in the following May forced
to abdicate. The remnant of the Long Parliament, which had just
re-assembled, passed an "Act for the Great Seal of England" which
restored the seal of 1651 with its map of England and Ireland and
shields with the St George's cross and the Irish harp. The cross of
Scotland vanished and the Commonwealth "Cross and Harp" jack supplanted
Cromwell's Union Jack.
In March, 1660, the Navy Commissioners were told to furnish General
Mountagu, then in command of the Fleet[185], "with Standards for the
Naseby suitable to the Jacks now worne in the ffleete[186]." This was
the standard which Mountagu was flying when ordered to cross to the
Hague and bring back the king.
On 1st May, 1660, the newly assembled Houses of Parliament passed a
joint vote for the restoration of the ancient government, and a few
days later, before Charles was publicly proclaimed, the Commissioners
of the Admiralty and Navy, at the instance of the Council of State,
issued the following order to their subordinate Board:
In pursuance of an order of the Councell of State of the 5th of
this instant May It is ordered that it be referred to the Com^{rs}
for the Navy forthwith to take care that such Standards, fflags
and Jacke Colours for the ffleete be forthwith prepared as were
in use before 1648 and that they be sent downe with all speed to
Generall Mountagu as alsoe that Carvers and Painters be appointed
to goe down for the altering of the Carved workes according to such
directions as they shall receive from Com^r Pett, who is ordered
by ye Councell forthw^{th} to goe to ye Generall. And the said
Com^{rs} are to give order for the sending downe to the Generall
One silke Standard and one silke Ensigne and Jacke and such other
silke fflags as may compleate a suite for the Naseby[187].
Instructions to this effect must have reached the fleet before it left
England, but the flag-makers had evidently not had sufficient time to
prepare the new royal standard, for on the 13th May, on the way over,
(so Pepys, then secretary to Mountagu, tells us[188])
the tailors and painters were at work cutting out some pieces of
yellow cloth into the fashion of a crown and C.R. and put it upon a
fine sheet and that into the flag instead of the State's arms[189]
which after dinner was finished and set up.... In the afternoon a
Council of War only to acquaint them that the Harp must be taken
out of all their flags, it being very offensive to the King.
The Union flag, like the Government, now reverted to its original form,
but the right to fly it remained the special prerogative of the State's
ships, a prerogative much sought after by merchant ships, and often
assumed by them without warrant. For the next half century a long-drawn
struggle was waged by the merchant shipping for the possession of this
right. It begins with a special instruction sent by the Lord High
Admiral, James Duke of York, to the Corporation of Trinity House on 9th
March, 1661:
I desire you will give notice unto all Commanders and Masters of
Shipping belonging to the Subjects of the King, my Sovereign Lord
and Brother, that from henceforward they forbear to wear the Flag
of Union; and also acquaint them, that such as presume to wear the
said Flag contrary hereunto, the King's Ships will have orders to
take it from them[190].
The Trinity House issued orders to this effect, but although the
prohibition had been stiffened with a threat that the flag would be
taken by force from those displaying it, the notices seem to have had
so little effect that, on 19th Nov., when a royal proclamation was
issued "For prohibiting the Imbezlement of His Majesties Stores," the
opportunity was taken to make the further threat that the Commander of
the ship would be seized also:
And for preventing the abuse which hath been of late practised
concerning Flags, Pendents and other Ornaments His Majesty doth
hereby strictly prohibit & forbid the use of His Majesties Colours
in Merchant Ships, and doth Authorize and Command all Commanders
and Officers of any His Majesties Ships of War not only to take
from Merchants Ships all such Colours but likewise to seize the
Commander of such Merchant Ships, wherein after the first day
of April next they shall be used, and to bring them to condign
punishment[191].
It is interesting to find here, as in 1634, an excuse made for the
order which is not the main reason for it. No doubt a certain number of
colours were embezzled and sold by the boatswains of the king's ships,
just as the gunners embezzled and sold the powder, but the desire of
the merchant shipping to fly the Union flag was not due to the fact
that they might occasionally pick that flag up cheap, it was due rather
to the privileges, especially freedom from pilotage and port dues in
foreign ports, which the flag assured them.
Probably the further threat of imprisonment checked the practice for
a time, but not entirely, for the Lord High Admiral was again taking
action in 1666.
Warrant for taking into custody such Ma^{rs} of Merch^t Ships as
shall presume to Wear the Kings Jack.
Whereas I am informed y^t the Ma^{rs} of severall Merchant Shipps
outward bound from the River of Thames have presumed to Wear the
Kings Jack without having leave from myself or the Prin^{le}
Officers & Comm^{rs} of His Mat^{ys} Navy or any other just
pretence for so doing These are therefore to will and require you
forthwith to goe down the River of Thames and examine and enquire
what Merchant Ships either do or have lately Wore the Kings Jack
not being hired nor carrying goods for His Ma^{tys} Service and
yt you apprehend the Ma^{rs} of them ... (except the Ship Tryall
whereof Hope for Bendall is Ma^r, which is bound for New England &
is to carry some Goods for me) and keep them in safe custody that
they may be punished for their presumption.
And all May^{rs} Sheriffs &c.
Dated 11th May 1666.
James[192].
Deterred by these measures from a direct attempt to make use of the
Union flag, the merchant shipping hit upon the device of flying a flag
which was a sufficiently close imitation of the forbidden colours to
deceive foreign powers[193] without falling within the strict letter of
the law. In 1674 this practice had evidently become common, for Pepys
acquainted the Trinity House, in June, of the King's intention to put
a stop to it[194]. Three months later the following proclamation was
issued:
Whereas by ancient usage no merchant's ship ought to bear the
Jack, which is for distinction appointed for his Majesty's ships;
nevertheless his Majesty is informed that divers of his Majesty's
subjects have of late presumed to wear his Majesty's Jack on board
their ships employed in merchants' affairs, and thinking to evade
the Punishment due for the same, bear Jacks in shape and mixture of
colours so little different from those of his Majesty as not to be
without difficulty distinguisht therefrom, which practice is found
attended with manifold Inconveniences; for prevention whereof for
the future his Majesty hath thought fit, with the advice of his
Privy Council, by this his Royal Proclamation, strictly to charge
and command all his subjects whatsoever, that from henceforth they
do not presume to wear his Majesty's Jack (commonly called The
Union Jack) in any of their ships or vessels, without particular
warrant for their so doing from his Majesty, or the Lord High
Admiral of England, or the Commissioners for executing the office
of Lord High Admiral for the time being; and his Majesty doth
hereby further command all his loving subjects, that without such
warrant as aforesaid, they presume not to wear on board their
ships or vessels, any Jacks made in imitation of his Majesty's, or
any other flags, Jacks, or Ensigns whatsoever, than those usually
heretofore worn on merchants' ships, viz., the Flag and Jack White,
with a Red Cross (commonly called Saint George's Cross) passing
right through the same; and the Ensign Red, with a like Cross in a
Canton White, at the upper corner thereof next to the staff.
And his Majesty doth hereby require the principal officers and
Commissioners of his navy, Governors of his Forts and Castles, the
Officers of his Customs, and Commanders or officers of any of his
Majesty's ships, upon their meeting with, or otherwise observing
any merchants' ships or vessels of his Majesty's subjects wearing
such a flag, jack, or ensign, contrary hereunto, whether at Sea
or in Port, not only to cause such flag, jack or ensign to be
forthwith seized, but to return the names of the said ships and
vessels, together with the names of their respective masters, unto
the Lord High Admiral, Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or the
Judge of the High Court of Admiralty for the time being, to the end
the Persons offending may be duly punished for the same.
And his Majesty doth hereby command and enjoyn the Judge and Judges
of the High Court of Admiralty for the time being, that at the
several Sessions to be hereafter held by his Majesty's Commission
of Oyer and Terminer for the Admiralty, they give in charge, that
strict enquiry be made of all offences in the premises, and that
they cause all offenders therein to be duly punished. And all Vice
Admirals and Judges of Vice Admiralties, are also to do the same,
and to attend the due observation hereof, within the several Ports
and Places of their respective Precincts.
Given at our Court at Whitehall the Eighteenth
Day of September 1674, in the Six and Twentieth
Year of our Reign.
By his Majesty's Command.
A new competitor for the privilege now appeared in the yacht--a type
of pleasure-boat introduced from the Netherlands at the Restoration.
In 1676 the request of the Governor of Dover "to have the liberty of
wearing his Maj^{ts} Jack upon his private yacht" was refused by the
king in Council[195], but the practice of hoisting the Union Jack upon
yachts without warrant had become sufficiently widespread by 1686 to
attract the notice of the navy authorities, as shown by the following
memorandum of Pepys:
Notes about the Jack taken by S. P. at the Navy Board the 20th of
Sept^r 1686 upon occasion of the liberty taken by Private
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/46370