The banner of St. George Argent, a cross Gules, is still borne as part of the English flag, though, from the disgraceful manner in which it has been amalgamated with the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, it has not only lost all its purity, but presents a melancholy example of the ignorance of heraldry, and total want of patriotism and taste, which must have characterised those to whom we unfortunately owe its arrangement 2. St. Edmund's banner is generally considered to have been Azure three crowns Or, 2 and 13; but it is certain, from the annexed singular description, by Lydgate, that two banners were appropriated to that saint; and of which there are drawings in the contemporary copy of that writer's works from which it has been extracted. One of them was that which is just mentioned; but the other must be described in his own words. Blyssyd Edmund kyng martir and vyrgyne Hadde in thre vertues by grace a sovereyn prys Eva also be cause she was nat wys Eet off an appyl of flesshly fals plesance Above alle vertues pleseth most J'hu 'See Plate No. 14. In the Golden Legend, written in the reign of Edward the First by Jacobus de Voraigne, it is said, on the authority of some history of Antioch," St. George had whyte armes with a reed crosse," and is cited by Mr. Douce in his communication to the Society of Antiquaries of a drawing of an illumination in a missal, representing two figures, the one of St. George, and the other of a knight. St George is vested in a surcoat of his arms, and holds a banner and shield charged with them. The other knight supports a banner with the arms of England, with a label of five points, each point charged with a fleur-de-lis; and which also appear on his sword and shield. Archeologia, vol. xii. p. 210. The illumination in question is at least as early as the reign of Edward the Second. See some remarks on the subject in the first number of the Naval and Military Magazine. 3 See Plate No. 15. + Harl. MSS. 2278, f. 2—4. Off Adamys synne was wasshe a way the rust The feeld of Gowlys was tokne off his suffrance The feeld powdryd with many hevenly sterre This vertuous baner shal kepen and conserve It shall be born in werrys be his syde T'encresse his vertues Edmund shal been his guyde By processe t'enhance his royal lyne This martir shal by grace for hym provyde To be registred among the worthy nyne" This extraordinary combination has been copied on the Plate1, from the illumination in the manuscript. Lydgate's description of the banner, which is usually attributed to St. Edmund, is as follows: This other Standard, feeld stable off colour ynde In which off gold been notable crownys thre For martirdam the thrydde in his suffryng 1 See No. 16. These thre crownys kyng Edmund bar certeyn For the hooly martyr dissolvyd hath that bond These thre crownys historyaly t' aplye. Applicacio. To sixte Herry in fygur signefye How he is born to worthy crownys tweyne Off France and Ingland, lynealy t' atteyne In this lyff heer, afterward in hevene The thrydde crowne to receyve in certeyne The banner of St. Edward the Confessor was Azure, a cross flory between five martlets Or1. The Liber Quotidianus Contrarotulatoris Garderobe," of the 29th Edward 1299-1300, contains the annexed entries on the subject: "Lancee empte pro vexillis Regis. Domino Willielmo de Felton, pro quinque lanceis emptis pro quinque vexillis Regis portandis in guerra Scocie anno presenti, videl' duobus vexillis de armis Anglie, tercio vexillo de armis Sancti Jeorgij, quarto de armis Sancti Edmundi, et quinque de armis Sancti Edwardi, pro quolibet lancea ijs-per manus Willielmi de Etchewiche valleti sui apud Tynewold, octavo die Julij Xs." From another entry in these accounts, we have proof that the banner of St. Cuthbert was carried in the English army in the Scottish wars, by a Monk: "Domino Willielmo de Gretham, Monacho Dunolm', sequenti Regem cum vexillo Sancti Cuthberti in guerra Scocie anno presenti, pro expensis suis a iij die Julij usque xxiv diem Augusti, utroque computato, per liij dies morando in exercitu Regis, ac eciam pro expensis suis per iiij dies sequentes redeundo versus Dunolm' licencia Regis1 Lv." 2 P. 64. P. 67. r 1 See Plate No. 17. Of that banner the following particulars occur among the " Observations" prefixed to the volume, p. liii.: "The banner was fastened to a staff five yards in length. All the pipes of it were of silver to be sliven (slipt) on along the banner-staff, and on the uppermost pipe on the height of it was a little silver cross, and a goodly bannercloth pertaining to it, and in the midst of the banner-cloth was a It appears also that the banner of St. John of Beverley was borne in a similar manner by one of the vicars of Beverley College, in the 24th Edw. I. 1, who received eightpence halfpenny per diem as his wages, to carry it after the king; and one penny a day to carry it back; and again in the 29th Edw. I. Besides the banners which have been described, there is cause to believe that a white banner was borne in the English army in the wars of Scotland, for Sir Arnold Savage, Knt. who died in the 12th Henry IV. 1411, held the manor of Shorne, in Kent, in capite, by the service of carrying a white banner, or standard, in the king's wars against the Scots: "Sir Arnaldus Savage, Miles. Schorne maner' extent' tent' de domino Rege in capite per servicium portandi cum aliis tenentibus domini Regis vexillum album versus Scotiam in guerra Regis. Et sunt ibidem divers' reddit' servic' & custum', &c."s The usage of ecclesiastical banners was very common at public white velvet, half a yard square every way, and a cross of silver velvet over it, and within the said white velvet was the holy relique wherewith St. Cuthbert covered the chalice when he said mass, and the residue of the banner-cloth was of crimson velvet, embroidered all over with gold and green silk most sumptuously. It was not carried out but on his anniversary, and some other principal festivals, in procession. It was the clerk's office to wait on it in his surplice with a fair red painted staff, having a fork or cleft at the upper end, which cleft was lined with soft silk, having a down under the silk to prevent hurting or bruising the pipes of the banner, which were of silver, to take it down and raise it up again by reason of the weightiness thereof. There were always four men to wait on it, besides the clerk and divers who carried it. This last wore a strong girdle of white leather, to which the banner was fastened by two pieces of the same, having at each of them a socket of horn to put the end of the banner-staff into." -History and Antiquities of Durham Abbey, pp. 118-20. 1 Prynne's Antique Constitutiones Angliæ, vol. iii. p. 667. 2 Ibid. p. 910. The following is a copy of one of the records on the subject: "Rex dilecto et fideli suo Johanni de Warenna Comiti Surr', Custodi suo regni et terræ Scotiæ salutem-Cum nos ob reverentiam Sancti Johannis de Beverlaco gloriosi Confessoris Christi, concesserimus dilecto clerico nostro Gilberto de Grymmesby, qui vexillum ejusdem Sancti ad nos usque partes Scotia detulit, et ibidem de præcepto nostro cum vexillo illo durante guerra nostræ Scotiæ moram fecit, quandam Ecclesiam viginti marcarum vel librarum valorem annuum attingentem, ad nostram donationem spectantem, et in regno Scotia prox. vacaturam, vobis mandamus, quod præfato Gileberto de hujus modi Ecclesia in prædicto regno Scocie provideri faciatis quamprimum ad id optulerit se facultas. Teste Rege apud Kirkham, xiij. die Octobris." 24 Edw. I. • Calendarium Inquisitionum Post Mortem. Vol. iii. p. 334. ceremonies, though instances of those of any other saints than St. George, St. Edmund, and St. Edward are comparatively rare and generally, it may be presumed, arose from local customs. Even so late as the reign of Henry the Eighth the banner of St. Cuthbert was, it seems, borne in the field by armies in the north; for, in speaking of the means adopted by the Earl of Surrey, for the defence of the northern parts of the realm, in 1513, Hall says, "The erle harde masse and appoynted with! the Prior for saincte Culberd's banner 1.” Skelton, likewise, in his poem, "How the douty Duke of Albany, lyke a coward knight, ran away shamefully," speaks of that banner; and also of the banner of St. William, being carried in the Lord Admiral's army: "Of my lorde Cardinall, After the auncient manner, And sainct William's also." From what has been stated, it may be concluded that the Banners borne in the English army, in the latter part of the thirteenth i and early in the fourteenth century, besides those of the knights and bannerets, were those of the Royal arms, of St. George, of St. Edmund, and of St. Edward; and it will be shown that they continued to be used until the reign of Henry the Sixth, if not to a much more recent period. But it is first necessary to notice two or three other facts on this subject, which are established by the "Siege of Carlaverock." We learn that a pennon hung out by the besieged was the signal for a parley, "E qant virent ke plus durer Ne porent ne plus endurer Pes requiterent li compaignon Et bouteront hors une penon" Mes celui ki hors le bouta Ne, scai quels sergaus sagitta Parmi la mein iuq en la face." And when they saw that they could not hold out any longer, or endure more, the companions requested a parley, and put out a pennon; but he that displayed it was shot with an arrow by I know not what archer, through the hand into the face. 1 P. 557. * Ed. 1736, p. 78-79. According to the engraving of arms in Drake's History of York, copied from stone over the arches in the west end of that church, St. William's arms were seven lozenges conjoined 3, 3, 1. From the same authority we learn that those attributed to St. Paul were two swords in saltire within a bordure engrailed; to St. Peter, two keys in saltire, within a similar border; to St. Wilfrid three estoils; or, three estoils within a border. The banner of St. Wilfrid, of Rippon, as represented on some ancient seals, was, however, a sort of pennon of three tails, with a saltire in the upper part. |