Edward the Fourth generally bore a banner with a white rose, for such is the only charge on the banners, whether on staffs, or affixed to trumpets, in the illuminations of the account of his second invasion of England in 1471, lately printed from a MS. in the public library of Ghent'; but there can be little doubt that the banner of the royal arms was also used. The standards borne by Henry the Seventh at Bosworth Field are thus described in a contemporary manuscript, and by Hall. "With great pompe and triumphe he roade through the cytie to the cathedrale churche of St. Paul, wher he offred his iij standardes. In the one was the image of S. George; in the second was a red firye dragon beaten upon white and grene sarcenet; the third was of yelowe tarterne, in the which was peinted a donne kowe. These however were, it is almost certain, merely Henry's personal standards, and were borne at Bosworth in addition to the banners of St. George and of his own arms. The red dragon was the ensign of his putative paternal ancestor Cadwallader; and in a former part of this article the statements of some writers, that it was also borne at a very early period, has been alluded to. " The "Rolls of Parliament" contain a few notices of banners which are worthy of observation. In the 11th of Richard the Second, 1388, Robert Earl of Oxford was charged, among other crimes, with having assumed the royal power, by displaying the king's banner; but the most curious is the value of the different banners which belonged to King Henry the Fifth, in the list of his effects. "Item, iiij Baners ovec j penon de Seint George, les Baners frapez d'or, pris le pece, vjs viijd xxxiijs iiija Item, iij Baners de Tarterin petitez, frapez des arm' du Roy et de Seint Edward, pris le pece iijs iiija Item, iiij Cxl Pensell des plum' bages du Roy frapez sur boker' noier, pris le pec❜ ja ob Those pensells were clearly the same kind as those represented in the illumination of Creton's MS. of the deposition of Richard the Second, which have been already mentioned; whilst the account of the banner of St. Edward tends to confirm the statement of St. Remy and Lydgate, that that banner was borne at Agin court. Archæologia, vol. xxi. 2 Lansdowne MSS. 255. f. 433. 9 Tartaron, a kind of fine cloth of silk.-Blount's Glossary. * See Willement's Regal Heraldry, for information relative to these standards, p. 58, et seq. 5 Vol. iii. p. 236'. 6 Rot. Parl. vol. iv. pp. 238, 239. An interesting account of the price of banners, &c. and their sizes and description, is afforded by a bill of William Seburgh, citizen and painter, of London, dated July, 1437, for the Earl of Warwick1. "Ferst, cccc Pencels bete with the Raggide staffe of silver, pris the pece vd viij" vj Item, iij Baners for Trumpetis bete with dying gold, pris the pece xiij. iiijd ijli Item, for a great Stremour for the Ship of xl yerdis lenghth and viij yerdis in brede, with a grete Bere and Gryfon holding a raggide staffe, poudrid full of raggid staves; and for a grete crosse of S. George, for the lymmying and portraying j" vj. viiij"—jäi vja viija Item, a Gyton for the Shippe of viij yerdis long, poudrid full of Raggid staves, for the lymmying and workmanship ij' Item, for xviij grete Standards entretailled with the Raggid staffe, pris the pece viijd xij Item, for xviij Standardis of worsted, entretailled with the Bere and a Cheyne, pris the pece xijd xviijs Item, xvj other Standardis of worsted, entertailled with the Raggid staffe, pris the pece xijd v iiiju Item, iij Penons of Satin, entreteylled with Ragged staves, for the lymmyng full of raggid staves, price the pece ij' vjs" It has been before observed, that the bear and ragged staff was the cognizance of the Earls of Warwick, but the principal fact proved by this bill is, that a standard was of less importance than the banner; a remark which becomes necessary, from the circumstance that the ensign, now termed the standard, and which is only used to describe the flag containing the royal arms, is properly speaking a banner; for anciently the latter alone contained the armorial ensigns, whilst the standard was charged with the badges of an individual. According to a representation of a Standard in an heraldic MS. at least, as early as the reign of Henry the Seventh, in the British Museum, it was not quite so deep but very much longer than a banner; and in a similar MS. of the time of Henry the Sixth 3, a gyton has a swallow tail, whilst a pennon is represented as being triangular: that a pennon was occasionally of that form is shown by a drawing of a seal of Ralph Lord Neville in 1386, on which, to the left of his shield, a triangular pennon occurs, affixed to a lance, and charged with his arms, a Saltire; and other examples might be adduced. The office of Banner-Bearer, or as it was called Bannerer", 1 Antiquities of Warwickshire. 2 Harleian MSS. 2259, f. 186. 3 Harleian MSS. 2259, f. 186. ✦ Cotton MSS. Julius, C. vii. f. 184.—See Plate No. 19. 5 Rot. Parl, vol. v. p. 2951. was, it will be at once supposed, always one of great honour. In the paintings of armies in MSS. the persons holding the royal or national banners are generally represented in the same kind of armour as the chief leaders. In 1361, Edward the Third granted Sir Guy de Bryan two hundred marks a year for life, for having discreetly borne the king's banner at the siege of Calais, in 13471; and, at the battle of Agincourt, Thomas Strickland, the esquire who bore the banner of St. George, subsequently urged the fact of his having done so as grounds for remuneration from Henry the Sixth 2. Moreover, Titus Livius, speaking of the disembarkation of the army before Harfleur, in August, 1415, says, that the king intrusted the "standards and banners, and other ensigns, to such men as he knew to be of great strength and prowess". Lord Butler of Sudley, in the reign of Henry the Sixth, obtained a grant of one hundred pounds for the fee of the office of Bannerer, to be taken yearly, during his life, out of the commote of Turkelby, in the county of Anglesea, in North Wales. In France the office of bearer of the Oriflamme was hereditary; and in some other countries the right of carrying the royal standard was conferred only upon persons of distinguished valour and eminent. merit. Henry the Eighth, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, appointed Sir Anthony Browne, Knight of the Garter and Master of the Horse, Standard-Bearer of England; and the office of Hereditary Standard-Bearer of Scotland is at this moment vested in Henry Scrymgeour Wedderbourne, Esquire, as heir of the individual upon whom that office was conferred. We may infer from the poem on the battle of Otterbourne, which is supposed to have been written about the reign of Henry the Sixth, that the banner of an earl was carried by a knight; and there are many causes for believing that the ensigns of eminent chieftains were intrusted to the most favoured, as well as the bravest of their followers. "The gentyll Lovelle ther was slayne In the same poem it is said, "The blodye Harte in the Dowglas armes That every man myght full well knowe: Calend. Rot. Patent. p. 173. The entry on the Calendar is "Rex concessit Guidoni de Bryan ducentas marcas pro vita eo quod prudenter deferebat vexillum Reg' in quodam conflictu apud Cales." 2 Fœdera, tome ix. p. 319. 3 Ed. Hearne, p. 8. 4 Rot. Parl. vol. v. p. 295. In these passages, and also by Lydgate, the word standard is used synonymously with banner, but which was not, it is presumed, strictly correct the allusion to the crescents was better founded; for on the seal of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in 1397, he is represented with his shield placed before him, and holding in his left hand a lance with a pennon affixed to it, charged with a crescent. A white lion statant is said, by Bishop Percy, to have been one of the ancient cognizances of the house of Percy; and the "Lucies" were quartered with the arms of Percy in consequence of the settlement of the lands of Maud, heiress of the family of Lucy, on her husband, the Earl of Northumberland, in the 8th Ric. II., a few years before the battle of Otterbourne occurred. Of the size of banners and pennons, perhaps the following extracts from two MSS. in the British Museum afford the most authentic information which can be found. But these directions referred to, comparatively speaking, a modern period; as neither of the manuscripts is older than the reign of Henry the Eighth. THE SIZE OF BANNERS, STANDARDS, PENNONS, GUYDHOMES, An Emperor's Banner shulde be five foote longe, and of the same breadth. A Kinges Banner of five foote. A Princes and a Dukes Banner four foot. A Marquess, an Erles, a Viscounts, a Barons, and a Bannerets Banner shulde be but three foote square, and so is the old forme. Some hold that the Banner of a Banneret shulde be but two feet square, and so was the old forme. But nowe because their worshipp and power is increased, they have it of three foote. The usual Banner for the estates last above-named is elle longe and yard broade. A Banner serveth for a Knight of the Garter, a Bannerett, a Baron, a Viscount, an Earle, a Marquisse, a Duke, a Prince. Place under a Banner an hundred men. STANDARDS.--The great standard to be sette before the Kings pavilion or tent, not to be borne in battel, to be of the length of two yards. A drawing of this seal occurs in the Cottonian MS. Julius, C. vii. VOL. I.-PART I. I The Kings Standard to be borne, to be of the length of eight or nine yardes. The Dukes Standard to be borne, to be slitte at the ende and seven yardes longe. The Erles Standard six yards longe. The Barons Standard five yards longe. The Bannerets Standard four yards and a halfe longe. The Knightes Standarde four yardes longe. And every Standard and Guydhome to have in the chiefe the Crosse of St. George, to be slitte at the ende, and to conteyne the crest or supporter, with the poesy, worde, and devise of the owner. Place under the Standard an hundred men. PENNON.-A pennon must be two and a halfe yardes longe, made rounde at the ende, and conteyneth the armes of the owner, and serveth for the conduct of an hundred men. Every knight may have his pennon, if he be chiefe captaine, and in itt sett his armes; and if he be made a Banneret by the King or the Lieutenant, shall make a slitte in the end of the pennon, and the heraldes shall raze it owte; and when a Knight is made a Bannerett, the heraldes shall bringe him to his tente, and receive for their fees three pounds, eleven shillings, and fourpence, for every bachelor knight, and the trumpettes twenty shillings. Note that an Esquire shall not have his arms displayed in the field, but hee may weare his cote. GUY DON.-A Guydhome must be two yards and a halfe, or three yardes longe, and therin shall no armes be putt, but only the mans crest cognizance and devyce, and from that, from his standard and streamer a man may flee, but not from his banner or pennon bearinge his armes. Place under the Guydhome fifty men, by the conduct of an esquire or a gentleman. 2 PENCELLS.-Pencills or Flagges for horsemen must be a yarde and a halfe longe with the crosse of St. George, the creast, or worde. This assertion is probably erroneous, at least in reference to the early periods of English history. The pennon then evidently contained the arms of the banneret instead of the knight. See page 95, ante. 2 Dr. Meyrick, whose researches and intelligence entitle his remarks to the utmost respect, observes, "The Pensell or Pennoncelle was the diminutive of the pennon, being a long narrow flag, on which was the cognizance or avowrye' of the warrior on the end of a lance. Such a one may be seen in the sixth illumination of Rous's MS. The superstition of the age directed that the figure of Saynt George, or of our Lady,' should be depicted towards its point to blisse him with as he goth towards the felde, and in the felde.' In the illumination referred to, the order is reversed, the cross of St. George being next the staff, while the cognizance is repeated towards the point." "This flag was not continued in the hand of the combatant when the fight began, but was then generally held by an attendant, or put up by the |