Flags: Some Account Of Their History And Uses Part 2

STANDARDS--THE ROYAL STANDARD.

The Standard was a large long flag, gradually tapering towards the fly.

According to the representation of a standard, in a heraldic MS. at least as early as the reign of Henry VII., in the British Museum, it was not quite so deep but very much longer than a banner,[16] and it varied in size according to the rank of the owner. In England that of a duke was seven yards in length, of a banneret four and a half, and of a knight-bachelor four yards.

[16] _Harleian MSS._ 2259, f. 186.

The Royal Standard of England, when the sovereign in person commanded the army, appears to have been of two sizes. According to the MS.

referred to, one of these standards is to be "sett before the Kynges pavillion or tente, and not to be borne in battayle, and to be in length eleven yards." The other--"the Kynges standard _to be borne_"--is to be "in lengthe eight or nine yards."

The Royal Standard is a flag personal to the sovereign. It was not always exclusively so, for in the seventeenth century the Lord High Admiral, when personally in command of the fleet, and sometimes also other commanders-in-chief, flew as their flag of command, not the Union, but the Standard. It was so flown at the main by the Duke of Buckingham as Lord High Admiral, on the occasion when he disgraced the English flag in the unfortunate expedition against the Isle of Rhe in 1627. But now the Royal Standard is used only by the sovereign in person, or as a decoration on royal fete days. There are depicted on it the royal arms, which have had various forms in different periods of our history. The standard of Edward the Confessor was azure a cross flore between five martlets, or. The arms of William Duke of Normandy, emblazoned on his standard, were two lions, and they were borne by him and his successors, as the royal arms of England, till the reign of Henry II. That monarch married Eleanor, daughter and co-heiress of the Duke of Aquitaine, whose arms--one lion--Henry added to his own. Hence the three lions _pa.s.sant gardant in pale_, borne ever since as the ensigns of England. These now occupy the first and fourth quarters of the standard, but they did not always do so. The fleurs-de-lis of France were, till a comparatively recent period, quartered with the English arms, having been first borne by Edward III. when he a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of King of France. Many n.o.ble families, both in this country and on the Continent, have quartered the French lilies to show their origin, or in acknowledgment of the tenure of important fiefs there. Among the last may be mentioned the arms of Sir John Stewart of Darnley, who obtained from Charles VII. the lands and t.i.tle of Aubigny, and the right to quarter the arms of France with his own. But in all these instances the fleurs-de-lis occupied a secondary place. So if Henry II. had desired merely to show his French connection, by maternal descent, he would have placed them in the second and third quarters. But he placed them in the first quarter, as arms of dominion, to indicate that he claimed the kingdom by right, and our sovereigns continued this idle pretence till so late as the reign of George III. It was not till the union with Ireland that it was discontinued.

Some of the English kings bore personal standards besides the flag of their own arms. Edward IV., besides his royal standard, generally bore a banner with a white rose. Henry VII. at the battle of Bosworth Field had three personal standards, in addition to the standard of his own arms.

The blazon of these three, and how the king disposed of them after the battle, are thus described in a contemporary ma.n.u.script:--"With great pompe and triumphe he roade through the Cytie to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul where he offered his iij standards. In the one was the image of St. George; in the second was a red firye dragon beaten upon white and green sarcenet; the third was of yellow tarterne [a kind of fine cloth of silk] in the which was painted a donne Kowe."[17]

[17] _Lansdowne MSS._ 255, f. 433.

The Royal Standard of Scotland was a red lion rampant on a gold field within a red double tressure, flore counterflore, of which the origin is veiled in the mists of antiquity. Our great heraldic authority, Nisbet, in common with earlier writers, adopts the tradition which a.s.signs the a.s.sumption of the rampant lion to Fergus I., who is alleged to have flourished as King of Scotland about 330 years before Christ. He also refers to the celebrated league which Charlemagne is said to have entered into in the beginning of the ninth century with Achaius, King of Scotland, on account of his a.s.sistance in war, "for which special service performed by the Scots the French king encompa.s.sed the Scots lion, which was famous all over Europe, with a double tressure, flowered and counterflowered with flower de luces, the armorial figures of France, of the colour of the lion, to show that it had formerly defended the French lilies, and that these thereafter shall continue a defence for the Scots lion and as a badge of friendship."[18] On the other hand Chalmers observes that these two monarchs were probably not even aware of each other's existence, and he suggests that the lion--which first appears on the seal of Alexander II.--may have been derived from the arms of the old Earls of Northumberland and Huntingdon, from whom some of the Scottish kings were descended. He adds, however, that the lion was the cognisance of Galloway, and perhaps also of all the Celtic nations. Chalmers also mentions an "ould roll of armes," preserved by Leland, said to be of the age of Henry III. (1216), and which the context shows to be at least as old as the reign of Edward I. (1272), in which the arms of Scotland are thus described: "Le roy de Scosce dor a un lion de goules a un bordure dor flurette de goules."[19] In 1471 the parliament of James III. "ordanit that in tyme to c.u.m thar suld be na double tresor about his armys, but that he suld ber hale armys of the lyoun without ony mar." If this alteration of the blazon was ever actually made, it did not long continue.[20]

[18] _System of Heraldry_, vol. ii. part iii. p. 98.

[19] _Caledonia_, i. 762, note (i.).

[20] Seton's _Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland_, p. 425.

With one noted exception Scotland never quartered the arms of any kingdom with her own. The exception was when Mary Stuart claimed the arms and style of England, and quartered these arms on her standard.

This was perhaps the first, and, as it proved, an inexpiable provocation to Elizabeth.[21] Mary's mode of blazoning was peculiar. She bore Scotland and England quarterly--the former being placed first, and, over all, _the dexter half_ of an escutcheon of pretence, charged with the arms of England, the sinister half being obscured in order to intimate that she was kept out of her right.[22]

[21] Hallam's _Const.i.tutional History_, 4th edit. i. 127.

[22] Strype's _Annals_, quoted by Mr. Seton, p. 427.

On the accession of James I. the Royal Standard of England was altered.

The arms of France and England quarterly appeared in the first and fourth quarters, those of Scotland in the second, and in the third the golden harp of Ireland, which had taken the place of the three crowns.

But an exception occurred in the case of William III., who, on his landing in England, had a standard bearing the motto, "The Protestant Religion and Liberties of England," and, under the royal arms of England, instead of "Dieu et mon Droit," the words "And I will maintain it." Afterwards he impaled on his standard the arms of Mary with his own. They are represented in this form in a MS. of the Harleian Library, on a banner per pale orange and yellow. After his elevation to the throne William placed over the arms of the queen, which were those of her father James II., his own paternal coat of Na.s.sau.[23]

[23] Willement's _Regal Heraldry_, p. 95.

George III. when he left out the ensigns of France marshalled on his standard those of his Germanic states in an escutcheon of pretence--a small shield in the centre point. This was omitted on the accession of Queen Victoria, who bears on her standard the arms of England in the first and fourth quarters, Scotland in the second, and Ireland in the third. (See Plate IV. No. 1, p. 108.)

But while the Royal Standard was, on the accession of James I., altered for England in the way I have described, it was displayed according to a different blazon in Scotland. For a long period, whenever the standard was used to the north of the Tweed, the Scottish arms had precedence by being placed in the first and fourth quarters. On the great seal of Scotland this precedence is still continued, and the Scottish unicorn also occupies the dexter side of the shield as a supporter. But on the standard the arms of Scotland have now lost their precedence, those of England being placed in the first quarter, and although there has been much controversy on the subject, I agree with Mr. Seton[24] that it is better that the arrangement should be so. The standard is the personal flag of the sovereign of one united kingdom, and heraldic propriety appears to require that only one unvarying armorial achievement should be used on it--that of the larger and more important kingdom taking precedence, although Nisbet[25] claims precedence for the Scottish arms on the achievement of Great Britain as those of "the ancientest sovereignty."[26] I certainly do not agree with Mr. Seton, however, that either in the arms or supporters precedence ought to be granted to England "in accordance with the sentiment of certain well-known cla.s.sical lines:--

"'The Lion and the Unicorn Were fighting for the Crown, The Lion beat the Unicorn All round the town.'"[27]

[24] _Scottish Heraldry_, p. 445.

[25] Vol ii. part iii. p. 90.

[26] Sir George Mackenzie says: "The King of Scotland being equal in dignity with the Kings of England, France, and Spain, attained to that dignity before any of these." He therefore claims precedence for Scotland over all these kingdoms. _Treatise on Precedency_, p. 4.

[27] _Scottish Heraldry_, p. 446.

I do not know where Mr. Seton got that version, inconsistent as it is alike with patriotism and with historical accuracy. It is certainly not the correct one. The true version, familiar to every boy in Scotland, is more impartial, and it has more fun in it. It runs thus:--

"The Lion and the Unicorn, Fighting for the Crown: Up came a little dog And knocked them both down."

--the "little dog" being the small lion which stands defiantly on the crown, and const.i.tutes the royal crest at the top of the achievement.

The supporters of the Scottish arms were two unicorns. In England, previous to the accession of the Stuarts, the supporters of the royal arms were changed at the caprice of the sovereign, and almost every king or queen adopted new ones. From these, and from the royal badges, came many of the curious names which may be found in old lists of ships. Such as the "Antelope," which refers to one of the supporters of Henry VI.; the "Bull" of Edward IV.; the "Dragon" of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth.

So also the badges: the "Sun," "Rose in the Sun," and "Falcon in the Fetterlock," were all worn by Edward IV. The "Double Rose" speaks for itself, and the "Hawthorn" belonged to Henry VIII.[28] The supporters a.s.sumed by King James, and continued to all his successors, were a lion on the dexter side, and on the sinister one of the Scottish unicorns--the latter displacing the red dragon of the Tudor family.

[28] _Heraldry of the Sea_, by J. K. Laughton, M.A.R.N., 1879.

In ships the Royal Standard is never hoisted now except when her Majesty is on board, or a member of the royal family other than the Prince of Wales. When the latter is on board his own standard is hoisted. It is the same as that of the Queen, except that it bears a label argent of three points, with the arms of Saxony on an escutcheon of pretence. The standard of the Duke of Edinburgh is the same as that of the Prince of Wales, except that the points of the label are charged, the first and third with a blue anchor, and the second with the St. George's cross.

Wherever the sovereign is residing the Royal Standard is hoisted; and on royal anniversaries and state occasions it is hoisted at certain fortresses or stations--home and foreign--specified in the Queen's Regulations.

STANDARDS BORNE BY n.o.bLES.

Standards borne by subjects were, in early times, according to the Tudor MS. to be "slitt at the end," but they appear to have been also borne square. This is the form in an old standard of Richard, Earl of Warwick--circa 1437--bearing his badge of the bear and ragged staff (Fig. 20). Shakespeare[29] alludes to this device when he puts into the mouth of Warwick the words--

"Now by my father's badge, old Neville's crest, The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20.--Standard of the Earl of Warwick, A.D. 1437.]

But Shakespeare was out in his heraldry here, first in confounding the badge with a crest, and secondly in calling it Neville's, for the bear and the ragged staff had been the badge not of the Nevilles but of the Beauchamps, who preceded Warwick in the earldom.[30] This old Earl of Warwick had a similar device on the flag which he flew in his ship. It was a long flag, having the cross of St. George on the upper part--then the bear and ragged staff, and the remainder covered with ragged staffs.

It is interesting to note that the account for this and other flags made for the earl in 1437, is preserved. The one just referred to is described as "a great Stremour for the ship of xi yerdis length and viij yerdis in brede," and the price for making it was "j^{li} vi^s viii^d."[31]

[29] _King Henry VI._ part ii. act v. sc. 1.

[30] Seton's _Scottish Heraldry_, p. 252.

[31] _Antiquities of Warwickshire._

In the Advocates' Library there is preserved an interesting flag, which is said to have been the standard borne by the Earl Marshall at the battle of Flodden (Fig. 21). It is thus described in the paper which accompanies it: "The standard of the Earl Marshall of Scotland, carried at the battle of Flodden, 1513, by _black_ John Skirving of Plewland Hill, his standard-bearer. Skirving was taken prisoner, having previously, however, concealed the banner about his person. The relic was handed down in the Skirving family, and presented to the Faculty of Advocates by William Skirving of Edinburgh, in the beginning of the present century. The arms and motto are those of the Keith family."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 21.--Flag of the Earl Marshall.]

The flag may have been borne by the earl at Flodden, but the devices on it are certainly not his _arms_. The arms of the Earl Marshall were, argent, on a chief gules three pallets or; or, as it is otherwise given by Nisbet, palle of six, or and gules. The _crest_ of the earl, however, was a hart's head, and he had for supporters two harts. His motto also was that which appears on the banner, "Veritas vincit." That the full arms should not appear on the standard I can understand, for it was not common to place them there, and in England the Tudor MS. prescribes that, besides the cross of St. George, standards and guidons are to have on them not the arms, but only the bearers "_beast_ or crest, with his devyce and word." It is possible, therefore, that the earl may have placed on his flag his well-known crest with the heads of the two harts forming his supporters, though such an arrangement would be unusual.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 22.--Standard of Earl Douglas, A.D. 1388.]

The relic of a still older fight than that of Flodden is still preserved in Scotland in the standard borne by Earl Douglas at Otterburn--one of the most chivalrous battles, according to Froissart, that was ever fought. The story, as told in all the histories,[32] is that shortly before the battle, in a skirmish before Newcastle, Douglas, in a personal encounter with Percy, won the pennon of the English leader, and boasted that he would carry it to Scotland and plant it on his castle of Dalkeith; and till lately this standard was supposed to be the flag so captured. But recent investigation has shown that the flag--which, by the way, is not a pennon but a standard thirteen feet long--is that of Douglas himself, which of course his son would be careful to preserve and bring back. The flag is now much faded, and the second word of the motto was, when I saw it lately, not legible, but the motto is undoubtedly that of Earl Douglas, "Jamais arriere" (Fig. 22). The devices are not the arms as borne by his descendants the Dukes of Douglas;--indeed they are not arranged as a coat of arms at all. But the lion rampant for Galloway, the saltire for the lordship of Annandale, and the heart and the star, are all Douglas bearings. Curiously enough, there are two hearts, while the later earls bore only one, and there is only one star, while on their shields they carried three. The real trophies, the capture of which, in all probability, precipitated the battle, are to be found in two other relics which are preserved along with the flag. They consist of two lady's gauntlets, fringed with filigree work in silver, on each of which is embroidered the white lion of the Percys. The gloves are of different sizes, and were perhaps love pledges, carried by Percy suspended from his spear or helmet, as was the fashion of the time; and the loss of such tokens was quite as likely as the loss of a personal flag, to cause the Northumbrian knight to pursue Douglas and force him to battle.[33] These relics are in the possession of the family of Douglas of Cavers in Roxburghshire, descended from the earl who was slain at Otterburn.

[32] Tytler's _History of Scotland_, ii. 365, &c.