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These thre crownys kyng Edmund bar certeyn
Whan he was sent be grace off Goddis hond
At Geynesburuh for to slen kyng Sweyn
By which myracle men may undirstond
Delyvered was fro trybut all thys lond
Mawgre Danys in full notable wyse

For the hooly martyr dissolvyd hath that bond
Set this Region ageyn in his franchise

These thre crownys historyaly t' aplye. Applicacio.
By pronostyk notably sovereyne

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
For his merits above the sterrys sevene.

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

£v."

? P. 64.

P. 67.

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. 2

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."

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.

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 Scotia 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,
As an hoost royall,

After the auncient manner,
With sainct Culberdes banner,
And sainct William's also 2."

From what has been stated, it may be concluded that the Banners borne in the English army, in the latter part of the thirteenth 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.

I P. 557.

2 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.

When a castle surrendered, it was usual to place on its battlements the banners of the King, of St. George, of St. Edmund, and St. Edward, together with those of the marshal and constable of the army; as well as of the individual to whose custody it was committed.

"Puis fist le roy porter amont Sa baniere et la Seint Eymont La Seint George et la Šeint Ed

wart

Et o celes par droit eswart
La Segrave et la Herefort

Et cele au Seignour de Clifford
A ki li chasteaus fut donnes."

Then the king caused his banner and that of St. Edmond, 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.

"Siege of Carlaverock."

. It is to be observed, that the banners of St. Edmund or St. Edward do not occur in any of the illuminations of the chronicles or other MSS. in the British Museum; and the only proof of their being used so late as the reign of Henry the Fifth, besides the allusion to the former by Lydgate, are the statements of contemporary chroniclers. Le Fevre, Seigneur de St. Remy, in his account of the battle of Agincourt informs us, that another religious banner, that of the Trinity, was also borne in the English army on that occasion; and his testimony is particularly deserving of credit, from his repeatedly asserting that he was present and saw what he relates. He says, "Henry had five banners: that is to say, the banner of the Trinity, the banner of St. George, the banner of St. Edward, and the banner of his own arms.' This list, however, enumerates but four; but the fifth was in all probability that of St. Edmund, (though which of the two banners ascribed to that saint by Lydgate cannot be determined), for a pair of basins of gold chased in the fashion of roses, pounced with great bosselets, and pawned by Henry the Fifth as security for money lent to him for his expedition into France, are said to have been marked in the middle with the arms of St. George, and round them those of St. Edward and St. Edmund, with some others. The banner of the Trinity, we may infer from a painting of the arms of the Trinity in Canterbury cathedral, and which have been thus blazoned, were, "Gules an orle and pall, Argent inscribed with the Trinity in Unity 5."

Lord Segrave performed the duties of Earl Marshal on the

occasion.

The Earl of Hereford was then the Constable.

It is almost superfluous to remark that Lydgate wrote in the reigns of Henry the Fifth and Sixth.

* Fœdera, tome ix. p. 286.

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› Willement's Heraldic Notices of Canterbury Cathedral. Plate No. 18.

See

Alluding to the siege of Harfleur by Henry the Fifth in September, 1415, Lydgate says,

"And to the town of Harfleur there he tok the

And mustred his meyne faire before the town,
And many other lordes, I dar well say,
With baners brighte and many penoun.”

way,

And when describing the battle of Agincourt, he thus notices the banners borne in the English army

"Avaunt baner, withoute lettyng:
Seynt George before avowe we hyme,
The baner of the Trynyte forth ye bryng,
And Seynte Edward baner at this tyme;

Over he [the king] seyde, Lady Hevene Quene

Myn own baner, with hire shall be."

Thus, if Lydgate is to be relied upon, the fifth banner alluded to by St. Remy, instead of being that of St. Edmund, was the banner of the Virgin Mary.

Though upon the surrender of Carlaverock Castle in 1300, we are told that several banners were placed upon its battlements, it is doubtful whether any others were affixed to captured fortresses in the fifteenth century than those of the King and of St. George. An anonymous chronicler who states, that he was present at the surrender of Harfleur in September, 1415, says, "The banners of St. George and the King were fixed upon the gates of the town1; but no notice occurs of any other banner being displayed on them.

Perhaps the most satisfactory evidence relative to banners is that which is to be gleaned from the illuminations of contemporary manuscripts. It must be borne in mind that those paintings uniformly present specimens of the costume and manners of the times when they were executed, instead of the periods to which they refer; and as part of the manuscripts in question are not much older than the middle of the reign of Henry the Sixth, the illuminations, although sometimes representing events which occurred as early as the reign of Edward the Third, are to be considered merely as examples of banners and pennons in the middle of the fifteenth century. In all likelihood, however, no great change had taken place, between 1377, when Edward died, and 1461, the last year of the reign of Henry the Sixth, a period of only eighty-four years.

In the illuminations of the MS. of Creton's account of the deposition of Richard the Second, published in the twentieth volume of the "Archæologia" where Richard is represented as conferring the honour of knighthood on several individuals, a banner and a

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