British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National DevicePerrin, William Gordon
History
British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device
Perrin, William Gordon
Flags -- Great Britain
The second form of standard (which was apparently imitated from the
Italian _carrocio_ presently to be described) makes its appearance
nearly a hundred years later. In an engagement with the Saracens near
Acre at the end of August, 1191, the banner of Richard I was borne
aloft on a machine of which the unknown but contemporary author of the
_Itinerarium Regis Ricardi_ gives the following description:
The Normans formed a rampart around the Standard, which in order
that it may be better known we have not thought it out of the way
to describe. It consists, then, of a very long beam, like the
mast of a ship, placed upon four wheels in a frame very solidly
fastened together and bound with iron, so that it seems incapable
of yielding either to sword, axe or fire. Affixed to the very top
of this, the royal flag, commonly called banner, flies in the wind.
For the protection of this machine, especially in battle in the
open, a selected band of soldiers is appointed, so that it may not
be broken down by onrush of the enemy or overthrown by any injury,
for if by any chance it should be overthrown the army would be
dispersed and confounded, because it would not know in what part of
the field to rally. Moreover, the hearts of the soldiers would be
filled with the fear that their leader had been overcome if they
did not see his banner borne aloft. Nor would they in the rear
readily come forward to resist the enemy if, from the withdrawal of
his banner, they feared that some ill fortune had happened to their
king. But while that standard remained erect the people had a sure
place of refuge. Hither the sick were brought to be cured, hither
were brought the wounded, and even famous or illustrious men tired
out in the fighting. Whence, because it stands fast as a sign to
all the people, it is called the "Standard."[5] It is placed upon
four wheels, not without reason, in order that, according to the
state of the battle, it may be either brought forward as the enemy
yield or drawn back as they press on.
It is to a machine similar to this, and bearing aloft a pyx and three
banners, that the battle near Northallerton in 1138 owes its name of
Battle of the Standard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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