A detachment walked along the shore, walked from afar, The regiment commander was walking under the red banner.
Head tied, blood on my sleeve
A bloody trail spreads over the damp grass.
“Lads, whose will you be, who is leading you into battle?
Who is the wounded man walking under the red banner? -
“We are farm laborers' sons, we are for a new world, Shchors goes under the banner - the red commander"
(Song about Shchors. Mikhail Golodny)
“And they all stood under the banner, And they say: “How can we be?
Let's send to the Varangians:
Let them come to reign"
("History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev", A. K. Tolstoy)
Coats of arms and heraldry. There is hardly anything more emotional in comparison with such symbols as a flag, a banner or a banner (standard). Without a banner, banner or flag, we just go nowhere. Not a single important event is complete without them. For example, my old wooden house had a special mount for the state flag of the USSR, and the flag itself was there too. Stood up to the time in the closet. And then a local policeman walked down the street on a holiday and to those who did not have a flag in the morning - he reminded them: hang out. So such signs are as old as history itself. However, heraldry appeared later than flags. We know about the images on the Roman vexillums, and they can also be seen on the tapestry from Bayeux, which shows flags, pennants or flags of the Flemish contingent of the Duke William's army. It also shows the standard-bearer of King Harold with the banner of the "winged dragon" of Wessex. The flags on the spears of the Normans and Flemings at the Battle of Hastings were of cloth, but the standards of Wessex could be carved from wood or made of gilded metal.
"Banners" and "Banners"
Well, when heraldry appeared, the coats of arms immediately moved to the flags. Like the coat of arms, the main purpose of their image at the very beginning was the usual identification, and it turned out that it was the banner that transferred its name to a whole class of medieval military, who now began to be called "banner knights" or simply "banner" - from the word "banner ", Which can be translated into Russian as" denominators ". Who were they? These were the commanders who had the right to "dissolve the banner" and on the battlefield of their vassals under their own banner: either a square or rectangular cloth with the image of the banner's personal coat of arms. Let us clarify that in the XII and XIII centuries the banner should have a width equal to one third of the length, while in later centuries it became square. Such a banner was the most important proof of the commander's presence on the battlefield. Fluttering high above the head of the banner-knight, it followed him everywhere, wherever the banner itself went, or until its banner-bearer died.
Note also that the knight could well become a banner and a reward for bravery on the battlefield. At first he could be, for example, just a young knight. The so-called "bas chevalier", a knight of a lower rank, a "knight of one shield," who carried a long pennant with one or more long triangular tails on a spear as a sign of his rank. The one who commanded the troops that day: the king, prince or duke, simply cut off the tails from the pennant of this brave knight and thus turned it into a banner bestowed right on the battlefield as a reward for bravery or other merits. This did not mean that he immediately had an army that he could command, or that "long-tailed" knights, who had not yet shown such great courage, immediately began to run to him. But he had the right to command them.
In addition, the banner had other privileges. So, in France, he could install a weather vane in the form of his banner over the castle, and also choose his own "crì-de-guerre" - that is, a battle cry. In Holland, he was entitled to a wreath or an image of a crown of "banner rank" over a coat of arms of a special type.
Pennants and standards
In addition to the banner flag, there were two other types of heraldic flags that were also very popular among the knightly class. The first is a pennant, which was a triangular flag that could be worn on the spear shaft as an emblem.
The other is a standard, a long flag tapering to one end, greater in length and size compared to the pennant, and it could have a forked or rounded end. The coat of arms was not depicted on it, but it carried on itself a certain distinctive sign or emblem of its owner. Moreover, this sign could be applied to the fabric several times (for example, lilies could dot the entire panel) and be accompanied by a motto. The national emblem was placed at the top of the standard (in the so-called "canopy"). But the main background of the standard could correspond to the colors of the coat of arms of the owner of the standard. Interestingly, the young knight was only entitled to a standard. But the banner was allowed to have both types of these vexillums.
Banners and standard-bearers
There was also another type of flag popular among the city-states of medieval Europe - the banner. Banners were often simply huge in size with many tails. Usually the banners were attached hanging down from the crossbeam, which made it look like a sail. Before the battle, the banner was consecrated by the clergy, and it was considered a terrible shame to lose it, since people were sure of its supernatural power. It was almost impossible to carry the banner in your hands, so it was installed on a special cart entrusted to the care of a certain family, and this position in the same Italy was then inherited. Perhaps the most famous was the French Oriflamme banner, kept for centuries in the Abbey of Saint-Denis (where members of the French royal family were also buried). In general, no one knows exactly what Oriflamma looked like. It is believed that most likely it was a cloth of red silk with gold trimming along the edges, hanging from a flagpole of gilded wood or metal. The name, translated as "golden flame", indicates the gold trim of its "tails", but this is nothing more than an assumption. She was last seen at the Battle of Agincourt (1415), but the standard-bearer Guillaume Martel, the lord de Becqueville, to whom she was entrusted, was killed in battle, and the banner of Oriflamme disappeared. There are chronicles claiming that it was preserved in the Abbey of Saint-Denis at least until the 18th century.
However, in addition to coats of arms and various coat of arms, there were also emblems. Moreover, they were typical for England and to a lesser extent for Italy. At the same time, the image of these emblems could again be placed on flags, as well as applied to coats of arms, or it was possible to take some detail from the coat of arms and declare it an emblem, or even take something that you liked or something resembles something, and also announce emblem.
Moreover, wearing the emblem of one or another lord gave, to a certain extent, immunity when charged in local courts, since there was a possibility that the judges also paid taxes to the treasury of the same influential lord. That is, it made the situation of “not knowing our own” in England practically impossible. Wearing the emblem of Lord Percy - you are our man, and the attitude towards you is … appropriate. And if you have, say, the sign of Lord Fitzgerald - go to his land, "do not dispose of in your own yard" (by the way, we used to say that as boys).
However, history knows cases when signs, just invented for quick recognition of friends and foes, on the contrary, only misled people, which led to sad consequences.
Battle of Barnet: "I don't know my own"
And there is no better example than the ever-memorable Battle of Barnet. And it so happened that in 1471, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, in the past a great friend and ardent supporter of King Edward VI - the head of the party of the House of York, opposed him, joining the enemy of Henry VI - the head of the party of the House of Lankester. The opposing armies met at Barnet, and the royal troops had an image of the rising sun of York as an emblem on their clothes; but Warwick's warriors were in red tunics, over which they wore something torn and worn in white. Moreover, it was matting and rags, although this is surprising, were precisely the two hallmarks of Lancaster.
At the same time, Warwick was joined by the troops of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, whose identification mark was a silver star taken from the De Vere coat of arms. At the very moment of the battle, which took place in a foggy haze, de Vera's warriors put the Yorkists to flight. It remained only to finish them off, and for this to unite with the main forces of the Lancastrians. They made their way towards them, but Warwick's archers, due to poor visibility, mistook the star for the rising sun, thinking that they were being attacked by King Edward's men, and fired a volley of arrows at them. They decided that they had betrayed them, and what at first seemed like a victory, in the end ended in defeat. The Earl of Warwick was killed, and King Edward reached Tewkesbury and completed the defeat of King Henry's army there.
Personal recognition signs could take different forms: they could be robes painted in the characteristic coat of arms of the lords, although it also happened that these colors did not coincide with those used in his coat of arms. It could have been chains around the neck. For example, a chain of two intertwined letters "Ss" of the House of Lancaster was used by King Henry IV, who, as a sign of his special favor, bestowed this heraldic decoration on his vassals. By the way, these chains are worn in England to this day, they have become a kind of accessory for the uniform of heralds and herald masters.
It is clear that not all monarchs were delighted with the fact that some representatives of the nobility dressed too many of their subjects in the clothes of their flowers. They did not like it, first of all, because it was so convenient to disguise, let's say, the "illegal paramilitary formations" of these seniors. Therefore, by their decrees, they limited the wearing of distinctive signs and the number of their servants. For example, in a decree of King Richard II of 1390, it was explicitly said to be angry with those
"Who wear the insignia of the lords … so swollen with arrogance that no fear stops them from extortion in their counties."
He also issued a decree warning the lords against
"Presenting distinctive corporate marks to someone if that person is not a servant of the family who lives in the house."
Already during the reign of King Henry VII in 1495 and 1504, decrees were issued regarding even his closest and most trusted friends. So, visiting John de Vere at Headingham Castle, Henry saw that he was leading him to the castle between two lines of countless servants, all of them dressed in the heraldic colors of their master. The king scolded de Vera for exceeding all the boundaries established by the king regarding the number of domestic servants and said:
“My lord, I have heard a lot about your hospitality, but I see that it is more talk … I can no longer calmly endure the fact that my laws are being violated in front of my eyes. My attorney will speak to you."
And soon, on the order of the king, a hefty fine was imposed on the too hospitable host. And the superintendent of finance, Fouquet, who met King Louis XIV too zealously at the castle of Vaux Le Viscount, fell into disgrace at all, was arrested and ended his years in prison! And it was not without reason that it was said:
"In caring for your neighbor, the main thing is not to overdo it!"
