being "Sigillum Gualerani Comitis Mellenti, the title of his earldom in Normandy. Without multiplying authorities, sufficient has perhaps been said to establish the fact, that armorial bearings were used in England in the reign of Henry the Second; and that as the pennon was charged with them, it is obvious that they were borne as banners in the field. That the pennon of the sovereign was similarly marked can scarcely be doubted, but we have no account of any thing like a national standard; nor indeed does it appear that the square banner was then used. It was however in all probability introduced in the reign of Henry the Third; for, though no evidence on the point has been discovered with respect to this country, we find that Otho Count of Gueldres is depicted on his seal, in 1247, holding a square banner charged with his arms, a lion rampant'; and in the window of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres is a representation of Simon de Montfort, who was Earl of Leicester from 1236 to 1265, on horseback, in which his shield appears, Gules a lion rampant double queued Argent, and he holds in his right hand a banner, per pale dancette Gules and Argent. From the seals engraved in De Wree's Sceaux de Comptes de Flandres," it appears that William Count of Flanders, in 1127, bore a split pennon on his lance, and Philip, his successor, a square one; whilst the Count Baldwin, in 1193, carried one with three tails. All these were however very different from the pennon used by Philip Marquis of Namur in 1244, an idea of which can only be conveyed by the pencils, About the same period, the pennon of Ferdinand the Third, King of Castile, from 1216 to 1252, as painted in the windows of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres, contained a castle; but its form resembled the pennon of the Duke of Normandy. A modern writer asserts, though without referring to his authority in a sufficiently accurate manner, that Henry the Third, in the 28th year of his reign, commanded Edward Fitz Odo to make a dragon in manner of a standard or ensign, of red samite, and embroidered with gold, his eyes of sapphire, and his tongue to appear continually moving; and to place it in the abbey church of Westminster. A few words are consequently neces Sceaux des Comptes de Flandres, p. 78. 2 Engraved in Willemin's Monumens Français inedits; a work which, whilst it is an honour to his country, is a disgrace to our own; that, with a Society of Antiquaries possessing a revenue of nearly 3000l. per annum, we have produced nothing which can even be compared to it in utility. 3 See Plate No. 20. + Dart's Westminster Abbey, vol. i. p. 26. 5 Sandford also says, that a dragon was borne before Henry the Third at the battle of Lewes. sary on the subject of a dragon having been borne as an ensign by early English monarchs. Matthew of Westminster asserts, that in the battle between Edmund Ironside and Canute, "Regius locus fuit inter draconum et standardum :" thus the dragon, if used on that occasion, was clearly not the standard. If the Bayeux Tapestry can be relied on, the statement of Matthew of Westminster is powerfully corroborated; for we there repeatedly find a dragon on a pole occur near the person of Harold; and in the instance which has been copied on the plate1, the words "Hic Harold" are placed over it. Amongst the ensigns displayed by Edward the Third at Cressy, according to Barnes, in his" History of Edward the Third," but whose statement is not supported by contemporary writers, was a burning dragon, to show that the French were to receive little mercy. "It was," he says, "of red silk, adorned and beaten with very broad and fair lilies of gold, and bordered about with gold and vermilion." In many of the illuminations of MSS. in the fifteenth century, which will be more fully noticed, a gold dragon on a red pennon is often introduced as one of the ensigns in the French armies ; but until the reign of Henry the Sixth, upon one of whose coins a banner occurs charged with a demi-dragon, no other evidence is to be found of that imaginary animal having ever been used as one of the national or royal ensigns, than the authorities which have been cited. Of the Banners borne in armies in the reign of Edward the First we have valuable and minute information. At that era, at least, Heraldry was reduced to a science; and two contemporary MSS. on the subject still exist. The one is an heraldic poem describing the siege of Carlaverock Castle in June 1300, in which the arms of every banneret of the English army are accurately blazoned; and many curious passages illustrative of the object of this inquiry will be copied from it. At the same time that they show what banners were then used, we may infer that the like practice prevailed at an earlier period; for in one instance it is expressly said, that a certain thing was done agreeably to the accustomed usage. At the commencement, the Poet observes, There were many rich caparisons embroidered on silks and satins; many a beautiful pennon fixed to a lance; and many a banner displayed. It is thus manifest, that besides the pennon on the lance, 1 See Plate No. 1. 2 Barnes cites Villani and Gaguin. banners were then borne by every banneret; and under which the men at arms furnished by him were drawn up. From the description of William de Leybourne, we learn that both the banners and pennons were charged with the arms of their owners: "Guillemes de Leybourne ausi Also William de Leybourne, a valiant man without but and without if, had there a banner and a large pennon of blue, with six white lions rampant. But it is here necessary to inquire who possessed the right of bearing a banner in the field, a point upon which that valuable poem throws much light. When the English army was composed of the tenants in capite of the crown, with their followers, it appears that such tenants were entitled to lead them under a banner of their arms; but the precise number of men so furnished, which conferred this privilege, has not been ascertained. Judging, however, from the "Siege of Carlaverock," it would seem that early in the fourteenth century there was a banner to every twenty-five or thirty men at arms; for we are told, "Lors se arengierunt baneour Then were the banners arranged, when one might observe many a warrior there exercising his horse; and there appeared three thousand brave men at arms. whilst the number of banners mentioned in the poem do not exceed one hundred and five. It was intended to have submitted some observations in this place with the view of illustrating the precise meaning of the word "Banneret," about which nothing conclusive has yet been said; but the space which they would occupy render it necessary that they should form a distinct article in a future number. When the tenant in capite was unable to attend in person from sickness or from being otherwise engaged in the king's service, he nevertheless sent the quota of men at arms and archers, for which, by the tenure of his lands, he was engaged; and his banner was committed to the charge of a deputy of equal rank to his own. Thus at Carlaverock, the Bishop of Durham being prevented from attending by some public duty which detained him in England, he sent one hundred and sixty of his men at arms with his banner, which, it is worthy of remark, was simply that of his paternal arms, "Vermeille o un fer de molin Dermine, i envoia se enseigne." He sent there his ensign, which was gules with a fer de molin of ermine. without any reference to those of his See; and which tends also to prove that in the field he was considered merely as a temporal baron. It was entrusted to John de Hastings, who was to con duct it in the prelate's name, because he was his most intimate friend: "Celuy ki tot honnour enseigne Li plus prives li plus ames He who all honour displays, John de Hastings, was to conduct · it in his name; for it was entrusted to him as being the most intimate and the best-beloved of any one he had there. A similar instance occurs in the case of Lord Deincourt: "Et kant li bons a Eymons Dain court Ne pout mie venir a court And, as the good Edmond Deincourt could not attend himself, he sent his two brave sons in his Ses deus bons filz en son lieu mist stead; and with them his banner O sa baniere o eus tramist of a blue colour billetté of gold, with a dancette over all. De inde coulour de or biletee The most curious fact on the subject which is established by the poem is, with respect to the banner of an earl; for it is. evident that it was considered to belong to the dignity rather than to the individual. Ralph de Monthermer, though Earl of Gloucester in right of his wife, Joan, daughter of King Edward the First, and widow of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, by which title he was repeatedly summoned to parliament, led his followers on that occasion under the banner of Clare, the earls of Gloucester, whilst he was himself vested in a surcoat of his own paternal arms, which he also bore on his shield. After noticing his marriage, the Poet says, "De or fin o trois chiovrons ver maus I ot baniere seulement He had only a banner of fine gold with three red chevrons. He made no bad appearance when attired in his own arms, which were yellow with a green eagle. His name was Ralph de Monthermer. This fact is the more worthy of attention, because it corroborates the opinion that he possessed the dignities of Earl of Gloucester and Hertford solely in right of his wife; for on her death in 1307 he ceased to enjoy them, and they were assumed by Gilbert 1 That Monthermer continued to use his paternal coat only, is further proved by his seal attached to the Baron's letter to the Pope in February, 1301. His shield, helmet, and the caparisons of his horse are charged with an eagle, though it is inscribed-S: RADULFI : -DE: MONTE: HERMERII: COM: Glovcernie: ET: HERTFORD, de Clare, her son by her first husband; Monthermer being summoned to the very next parliament as a baron only. Banners were carried wherever those to whom they belonged and their followers were engaged. At Carlaverock, that of John Fitz Marmaduke, whose intrepidity is highly eulogized, is said: to have I ot meinte tache received many stains, and Et meint percuis mal a reconstre.' many a rent difficult to mend. And it may be perhaps inferred from the following lines in Lydgate's description of the battle of Agincourt, that such was also the practice in the fifteenth century. The Duke of York is made to say, 1 P Be myn baner sleyn will y be, Or y will turne my backe, or me yelde.” However valuable may be the information respecting the banners of bannerets which the "Siege of Carlaverock" affords, it yields in importance to that which it presents of what may almost be termed National Ensigns. The sovereign of course had a banner of his arms, the charges on which have been noticed by two writers of the period as exhibiting a metaphorical allusion to Edward's merits: "En sa baniere trois luparte Ke ausi est vers ses enemis In his banner were three leopards courant of fine gold set on, red, fierce, haughty, and cruel ; thus placed to signify that, like them, the king is dreadful, fierce, and proud to his enemies; for his bite is slight to none who inflame his anger. Vocatus Edwardus - "Rex Anglor' nobilis Ferox est et stabilis Fortis et non debilis Senciet id flebilis But three other banners were carried in the English army, and which were undoubtedly connected with sentiments of religion, though one of them subsequently became the national banner of this country. They were the banners of St. George, the tutelar saint of England; St. Edmund, king of the West Saxons; St. Edward the Confessor; and, at a subsequent period, the banner of the Trinity. Siege of Carlaverock. Rismus factus de perdicione Vasconia, et de ejusdem conquestu per regem Edwardum filium regis Henrici. Printed among the Illustrations of the "Chronicle of London,” p. 194. VOL. I.-PART I. H |