(Key to Holy Scripture), 1567, 

 formed the basis of biblical her- 

 meneutics, a term defining the 

 principles of biblical interpretation 

 as distinguished from exegesis or 

 interpretation. Other works of 

 Flacius replied to the Roman 

 objection to the Reformation as 

 a mere innovation, and traced 

 Church history from an evange- 

 lical standpoint. 



Flag (Iris). Large genus of 

 perennial herbs. Of the natural 

 order Iridaceae, they are natives 

 of the N. temperate regions. The 

 species form two groups : one in 

 which the rush-like foliage dies 

 down each autumn, and the life of 

 the plant is continued by a long 

 bulb-like tuber ; the other in which 

 the thick, sword -shaped leaves 

 arise from stout, slightly creeping 

 rhizomes. The term flag is gener- 

 ally applied to members of the 

 second group, the others being 

 spoken of by the name Iris. The 

 leaves enfold each other at the 

 base, and from their midst rises 

 the flower stem, bearing the large 

 brightly coloured flowers. There 

 are three sepals and three petals, 

 the sepals much larger than the 

 petals, and the stigmas expanded 

 to look like petals. The yellow 

 flag (/. pseudacorus) is common in 

 ditches and marshes. The blue 

 flag (/. germanica), so common in 

 gardens, is wild in S. and Central 

 Europe. The seed vessel is a large, 

 leathery capsule, splitting when 

 ripe into three pod-like divisions, 

 packed with large flattened seeds. 

 See Iris. 



Flag. Pieces of s^uff, parti- 

 coloured, or of a single colour, 

 plain or bearing symbols, and 

 flown from a staff or halyard. 

 They may be national or personal. 

 Flags were known to the ancients, 

 though the standard or symbol 

 placed on the top of a staff, like 

 the Roman eagles, were more 

 common. This was followed by 

 the gonfalon type, and then by the 

 guidon, a small piece of stuff at- 

 tached to a lance. In medieval 

 days the shapes and sizes of flags 

 were diverse, but were soon strictly 

 regulated. The standard was a 

 large and long flag, often with one, 

 two, or more points, parti-coloured 

 and decorated with crests, badges, 

 and devices. The banner was large 

 and square, or rectangular, em- 

 blazoned with armorial ensigns, 

 and denoted that the bearer was 

 entitled to levy and lead troops. 



The standard with one point was 

 known as the guidehomme (abbre- 

 viated into guidon) ; the ancient 

 was a small guidon j the pennon 

 (bearing badges and motto only) 

 was half the size of the guidon, and 

 had one tail ; the pendant was 



3185 



the ship's guidon ; the pennoncelle, 

 or pencil, a small pennon, at- 

 tached to a lance and usually 

 bearing a single heraldic symbol ; 

 the pavon was a triangle, with 

 horizontal base ; the banderolle 

 a long narrow flag or streamer, 

 such as the modern pennant. 



National flags only evolved 

 slowly. The English white flag 

 with the red cross of S. George 

 appears to have been introduced 

 by Richard I on his return from 

 the East, but it long appeared 

 side by side with many others, in- 

 cluding the Royal armorial banner. 

 The British national flag is the 

 Union Jack (q.v.). The white en- 

 sign, with the red cross of S. 

 George and the Union Jack in the 

 upper quarter, is a naval flag, re- 

 served for the Royal Navy and 

 certain privileged yacht clubs. 

 The blue en- 

 sign, with a 

 plain blue field 

 and the Jack 

 in the upper 

 corner, belongs 

 to the Royal 



Navm Reserve. 

 certain nation- 

 al service ships 

 and privileged 

 yacht clubs. 

 The red ensign, 

 similar to the 

 above in de- 

 sign's the mer- 

 chant flag. 

 Regimental 

 flags are simi- 

 lar to the 

 above, the field 

 being of the 

 colour of the 

 regimental fac- 

 ings (see Col- 

 ours). The 

 British colonial 



Flag. Yellow Flag, 

 Iris pseudaeorus, 

 showing the tall 

 flags are the sword-like leaves ; 

 above, flower o! 



Iris foetidissima 



blue and red 

 ensigns, with 

 Union Jack supplemented by na- 

 tional emblems or armorial shields 

 placed in the fly. 



As the result of the Great War, 

 several new national flags came 

 into existence. The flag of Latvia 

 (Lettland or Letonia), one of the 

 new Baltic States, is red, white, 

 red, horizontally, the two red 

 stripes being each double the 

 width of the central white. 

 Esthonia has blue, black, and 

 white in horizontal stripes. The 

 present emblem of Austria is 

 similar to that of Latvia, the 

 colours being red, white, red, hori- 



FLAGELLANTS 



zontal, but in this case of equal 

 width. This design only differs 

 from the old flag of Austria-Hun- 

 gary in not having the lowest 

 stripe half red, half green, the 

 latter colour representative of 

 Hungary. The new flag of Yugo- 

 slavia has included the colours of 

 blue, white, red, horizontally. 

 These are the old colours of Serbia 

 and Montenegro rearranged. The 

 kingdom of Hejaz has black, 

 green, and white hi horizontal 

 stripes. See Colour Plate. 



Flag Day. Day set apart for the 

 raising of money for charitable 

 purposes by selling small emblems, 

 usually flags, in the streets. The 

 origin of the scheme was due to 

 the success attending the sale of 

 the artificial roses on Alexandra 

 Day. During the Great War mil- 

 lions of pounds were raised for 

 various war funds by means of 

 flag days. The method was to 

 make millions of little flags, each 

 showing in colour scheme or device 

 the nature of the particular fund. 

 These were sold in the streets by 

 ladies, and were provided with 

 pins so that they could be worn. 



In London it was necessary to 

 obtain permission for flag days. 

 Applications were submitted to the 

 commissioner of police. A check 

 on abuses was the stipulation that 

 after the collection, accounts show- 

 ing the total money received 

 and spent had to be submitted. 

 Statistics compiled from accounts 

 in the metropolitan area between 

 May 13, 1916, and April 9, 1918, 

 .howed that a total sum of 286,830 

 was collected at a cost of 51,432, 

 leaving a net amount of 235,398. 



Flagellants (Lat. flagellum, little 

 whip). Name given to various 

 ascetic bodies in the Roman 

 .Catholic Church, that practised 

 flogging themselves or one another 

 as a means of disciplining the 

 flesh and promoting spiritual 

 growth. They arose in Italy in the 

 13th century, and continued to 

 break out sporadically for about 

 150 years. One of their chief 

 leaders was Cardinal Peter Da- 

 miani, who taught that a vigorous 

 scourging was worth many years 

 of ordinary self-denial and mor- 

 tification. In 1260 there was a 

 great outbreak of this form of 

 fanaticism at Perugia, and in the 

 following century it caused trouble 

 in Germany and Hungary. 



When the Black Death swept 

 over Europe in 1348, the Flagel- 

 lants had a great revival, and held 

 processions through the streets 

 stripped to the waist and singing 

 penitential psalms. A halt was 

 called at intervals, and all scourged 

 one another in turn. About 120 of 

 these enthusiasts reached London, 



II 4 



