891 



BANKER. 



BANNER. 



with flowers of green silk and gold ; and in the midst of the said banner- 

 cloth was the -said holy relique and corporax cloth [this was the 

 corporax cloth with which St. Cuthbert in his lifetime had been used 

 to cover the chalice when he said mass] inclosed and placed therein : 

 which corporax cloth was covered over with white velvet, half a yard 

 square every way, having a red cross of red velvet on both sides over 

 the same holy relique, most artificially and cunningly compiled and 

 framed, being finely fringed about the skirts and edges with fringe of 

 red silk and gold, and three little fine silver bells fastened to the 

 skirts of the said banner-cloth, like unto sacring bells ; and being so 

 sumptuously finished and absolutely perfected was dedicated to holy 

 St. Cuthbert, to the intent and purpose that the same should be 

 presented and carried always after to any battle, as occasion should 

 serve ; and which was never carried or showed at any battle, but, by 

 the especial grace of God Almighty, and the mediation of holy St. 

 ( 'uthbert, it brought home the victory." pp. 42-44. This banner was 

 made in the year 1346, but there had been a banner of St. Cuthbert 

 before ; for in the wardrobe accompts of Edward I. (1299-1300) there is 

 an entry of 51., paid to William de Gretham, a monk of Durham, for 

 his expenses in carrying it from the 3rd of July to the 24th of August, 

 and for replacing it in the church of Durham. The fame of the 

 banner of St. Cuthbert in securing the victory was so great, that when 

 Wilfrid Holme, an early English writer of verse, who has left a 

 metrical account of the insurrection in the reign of Henry VIII., 

 called the ' Pilgrimage of Grace,' speaks of various religious works or 

 relies to which particular virtues were ascribed, he says of St. Cuth- 

 bert's banner that it " caused the foes to flee." When the Earl of 

 Surrey commanded an expedition into Scotland early in the reign of 

 Henry VIII., he stopped at Durham, and when he had attended mass 

 he agreed with the prior for St. Cuthbert's banner. This is mentioned 

 by Hall the chronicler ; Skelton the poet also alludes to the fact, and 

 names also the banner of St. William, another northern saint, as being 

 carried in the same army. 



This banner of St. Cuthbert, after the Reformation, fell into the 

 hands of Whittinghain, who was made dean of Durham, one of the 

 zealots of the Reformation. His wife, who was a French woman, is 

 reported to have burnt it. (' Rites and Monuments,' &c. p. 44.) 



It ia not our intention to introduce in this article much respecting 

 the use of banners in other countries ; but we must remark that the 

 ariflamme, of which there is frequent notice in the romances of 

 chivalry and the authentic chronicles of the middle ages, was no other 

 than the banner of St. Denis, which, like this of St. Cuthbert, was 

 borrowed from the abbey of St. Denis near Paris, and carried in the 

 French armies for the encouragement of the soldiery. The oriflamme 

 was flame-coloured, without any embroidery; below, it was divided 

 into three parts, and it was fastened to the lance by loops of green 

 silk. When Louis le Gros hail to defend France against the Emperor 

 Henry V., he received this banner at the altar of St. Denis with much 

 ceremony. It was carried in the armies of St. Louis and Philip le 

 Bel. Charles VII. had it not, the abbey of St. Denis being then in 

 possession of the English. 



Among the Saxon kings of England there were two who were 

 reputed saints, Edmund the Martyr and Edward the Confessor. The 

 banners of these saints accompanied the English army, and waved over 

 the fields where our Edwards and Henries gained their victories. The 

 device on the banner of St. Edmund was two-fold : it had a represent- 

 ation of Eve in the garden, and the serpent tempting her ; it had also 

 the three crowns, which were interpreted of Royalty, of Continence, and 

 of Martyrdom. This we learn from Lydgate, a monk of Bury, where 

 was the monastery especially founded in honour of Edmund, king and 

 saint. The device upon the banner of St. Edward the Confessor was, 

 no doubt, the cross and martlets as they appear carved in stone in the 

 abbey of Westminster, where he is buried. Henry V. had also with 

 him a banner of the Trinity, and another of the Virgin. 



We probably should not err widely if we were to assert of the 

 banners in the Middle Ages, that they formed a link between the 

 military and the ecclesiastics, between the affairs of war and the senti- 

 ments and feelings of religion. Then- influence would be felt on m,-iny 

 occasions, but more particularly when Christians were engaged in war 

 with the Saracens and other enemies of the faith : it was then the 

 cross or the crescent. We may trace, even to these times, a con- 

 nection between military affairs and the religious sentiment, through 

 the medium of the banners carried in the army. Even in Protestant 

 countries they are frequently blessed by a minister of religion. The 

 Pope still sends consecrated banners where he wishes success. The 

 banners of Knighte of the Garter are suspended in the Chapel of 

 St. George at Windsor, and those of Knights of the Bath in Henry VII. 's 

 Chapel at Westminster. The churches are still the depositories of 

 banners taken from the enemy, and ' banners hang over the tombs of 

 military or naval men of distinction. 



That which is peculiarly the national banner of England is a religious 

 onet It was the practice of Christian nations, as well as of private 

 persons, to place themselves under the peculiar tutelage of some one 

 saint. England's patron saint was St. George, for what reason the 

 antiquaries are puzzled to determine. But ' St. George for England ' 

 was a usual war-cry, and his banner was, above all, the banner of 

 Englishmen. The device was a plain red cross on a white ground. 

 Whatever other banners were carried, this was always foremost in 



ARTS ASD SCI. DIV. VOL. T. 



the field ; and to this day the red cross forms the most conspicuous 

 feature in the figure which the banner of England presents. 



The other parts of the figure on the national banner are composed 

 out of the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, the patrons of Scot- 

 land and of Ireland. Both these are what the heralds call saltier- 

 crosses, that is, crosses with the limbs extended towards the corners 

 instead of the sides of the shield. St. Andrew's cross was white upon 

 a blue ground. Soon after King James VI. became king of England, 

 he directed that this cross should be united with the cross of Saint 

 George in the national ensign. This formed what was called the 

 Union-Flag. To this, on the union with Ireland in 1800, the cross of 

 Saint Patrick was added. This was red upon a white ground. This 

 did not unite with the other two so well as the cross of Saint Andrew 

 had united with that of St. George. 



The Lions of England are the personal achievement of our kings. 

 There is reason to believe that from the time of Richard I., beyond 

 whose reign they can hardly be traced, there was a banner, bearing the 

 lions, always carried near the person of the king when he was engaged 

 in war. It seems, also, that other devices which were favourite cogni- 

 sances of kings of England were depicted in banners as well as carved 

 upon the buildings erected by them, or placed in the windows. Thus, 

 Edward IV. had a banner with the white rose of the House of York. 

 Henry VII., after the battle of Bosworth, offered in the church of 

 Saint Paul, at London, three banners, one of Saint George, one which 

 had a dun cow for its device, and the third exhibiting a red fiery 

 dragon, an ensign which had reference to his descent from the princes 

 of Wales. , 



In thus carrying their own personal banners into the field, the king 

 was imitated by the earls and other persons of distinction who were in 

 the English armies. In the feudal times, the armies were composed 

 for the most part of bodies of men brought up by the great tenants-in- 

 chief of the crown, and led by that chief himself, who was bound to 

 personal service, as well as to furnish a certain quota of men. [ARMY.] 

 These persons brought banners of their own, on which were depicted 

 the heraldic insignia of their houses. This was no doubt an affair 

 gratifying to the passion for distinction ; but it was a matter of 

 prudence, if not of necessity, also. Heraldry was in those days, far 

 more than at present, a necessary art, a dumb language. When the 

 figure was so completely cased in steel, and the face covered by the 

 face-plate, there was scarcely the possibility of distinguishing one 

 knight from another of the same height and general appearance. But 

 the escallop-shells showed who were Dacres ; the water-budgets, 

 Rooses; the chevrons, Clares; and the white lion on the red field, 

 Mowbrays, with as much certainty as if the very names themselves 

 were painted on the shields, embroidered on the surcoats, or dis- 

 played upon the banners. The young Earl of Gloucester, grandson of 

 King Edward I., was slain in Scotland by persons who would gladly 

 have saved his life had they known who he was ; but, as the chronicler 

 who relates the fact observes, he had not his armorial insignia with 

 him. 



The consequence of all this was, that besides the national banner, 

 the banner of the king, and the banners brought by men of religion, 

 there were in the English army, in the times of chivalry, a great 

 number of lesser banners, by which particular portions of the army 

 were distinguished, and which served to show, as we should now say, 

 the position in the field of the company to which each soldier 

 belonged. This must have added greatly to the picturesque appear- 

 ance of an army, which has not escaped painters and poets. Refer- 

 ences to this custom are numerous in the writers who in any way 

 touch upon the military transactions of the Middle Ages. When, in 

 the reign of King Richard II., there was a question in the court of 

 chivalry, contested very tenaciously and at an immense expense, between 

 Sir Richard Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor, respecting the right to 

 the heraldic figure of a golden bend upon an azure field, the depo- 

 sitions in which suit have been published from the original roll in 

 the Tower, the evidence on both sides consisted very much of the 

 testimony of persons who said that they had seen the ancestors of 

 one or other of the claimants exhibiting in fields of war on their 

 shields or banners the figure in question, or had heard of it from their 

 fathers. In the present day there is reference to the practice, when a 

 family asserts a right to coat-armour, independently of any grant from 

 any Earl Marshal of England. The plea is, that an ancestor bore it in 

 a field of war, which is held to be a good and sufficient plea ; and it 

 only remains to prove a male descent from such ancestor. But the 

 most complete exhibition of this interesting custom of our ancestors is 

 presented in a French poem of the reign of King Edward I., relating 

 to the siege of the castle of C'arlaverock in the wars of that prince. 

 Besides the particulars of the siege, there is given a catalogue of the 

 chiefs who were present, which may rival in extent and minuteness the 

 catalogue of the chiefs who went to the siege of Troy. The author 

 touches slightly on the character of each ; but he gives in good 

 technical terms a description of the heraldic device which each dis- 

 played on his banner. A short extract will show the way in which he 

 proceeds : 



" He had for a companion a jollie and smart bachelor, well versed in 

 love and arms, named John Paignel, who bore on a green banner a 

 maunch painted, of fine gold. 



" The good Edmund Deincourt not being able to attend himself, 



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