Standards aren't slipping

Being St. George's Day I found myself thinking all things armorial, as would be expected of a heraldry addict, and my thoughts turned to heraldic standards, those traditional English ones which featured the Cross of St. George in the hoist. According to that well known Smart Aleck Wikipedia, a traditional English Standard is:

A traditional English armiger's standard is a long, tapering heraldic flag used for identification in battle, tournaments, or on ceremonial occasions, particularly popular during the Tudor period. Unlike a banner, which displays the armiger's full coat of arms, the standard displays their badges, livery colours, and crest. 

Key Features and Structure

Shape and Size: It is a long, narrow flag that tapers towards the end, which can be rounded or swallow-tailed. Size varies by rank; a knight's standard was traditionally around 12 feet long.

The Hoist (Closest to the staff): The standard typically begins with the Cross of St. George (white field with a red cross). This signifies the armiger's nationality.

The Fly (The tapering part): The rest of the flag is divided horizontally (per fess) into two colours—the owner's livery colours—and decorated with the armiger's personal badges, crest, and a motto.

Motto: The motto is typically written across the flag on one or two diagonal stripes (bends).

Fringe: The edges of the standard are usually fringed. 

Rules and Usage

Entitlement: Any armiger who also has a personal badge may fly a standard.

Function: While banners identified the individual, standards were designed to rally followers, showcasing the livery colours and badges that soldiers wore on their uniforms.

Design Specifics: The standard does not display the full coat of arms shield, but rather, it is a display of livery, badges, and crest.

Now, I can't say that I have many followers but having been recently playing with PhotoShop I thought that I would make my own. I will say here and now that the crest and badge on this, my effort, were created digitally for me by Ljubodrag Grujic but the digital manipulations to create the finished article are my own. 

The Armorial Standard of Martin Goldstraw

Table Banner

I'm over moon with my heraldic table banner, received yesterday, made by the very talented heraldic artist Kevin Greig  heraldry.scot . Superb Kevin, many thanks. 

Cheshire Heraldry Badge Banner

Here is a version of the Cheshire Heraldry badge Banner produced for me by Ljubodrag Grujic.

Saint Edward the Confessor

Until about 1350, Edmund the Martyr, Gregory the Great and Edward the Confessor had all been regarded as English national saints, but Edward III preferred the more war-like figure of St George, and in 1348 he established the Order of the Garter with St George as its patron. It seems however, that Edward the Confessor remained the Patron Saint of the English Royal Family.

The 13th of October is set down by the Church as the feast day for St. Edward the Confessor and, as we approach the appointed day, I have been giving some thought to adding this feast day to my list of “flag flying days” (I was Christened in St. Edward’s Church, Leek, so it seems appropriate to add it). However, I have never been too fond of the attributed arms of Edward the Confessor (1003 – 1066); they have always ever so slightly troubled me.

Though never actually used by Edward (heraldry did not exist at that time), they were created several centuries after his death, probably by, or for, Richard II, in the late 1300’s, when he used the coat as part of his own achievement. It is thought that the design supposedly was inspired by the reverse of one of Edward the Confessor’s coins which had a cross with a martlet in each quadrant. If that is the case, and I have no reason to doubt that it, why on earth did the designer add that extra martlet which, in my humble opinion, completely unbalances the shield and is completely unnecessary.

A new armorial standard from South Africa (part 2)

Back in June I wrote a small piece about a new armorial standard from South Africa and I'm please to report that one of my readers, who wishes to remain anonymous, has provided me with a generous response. I can do no better than quote it in full:

"Residing in South Africa as I do, I have a keen interest in local heraldry and of course the work of the Bureau of Heraldry. An invaluable resource in this regard that you may not be aware of is the National Archives of South Africa’s† database of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations. This database is available and searchable online using the National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAIRS).‡ NAIRS’ web interface is archaic and cumbersome by today’s standards, the database itself does not seem to be entirely complete and there seem occasionally to be some transcription errors, but it is a valuable resource nonetheless and certainly better than nothing at all.

In pursuit of your query I decided to search for ‘quast’ as it seemed to me, in the South African context at least, a rather rare name. As I had hoped, this turned up results belonging to but one person, a Mr Rudolph Andries Ulrich Juchter van Bergen Quast. However, there were only two records: the badge and standard with the references 3371 and 3372, respectively, presumably corresponding with the certificate numbers you mentioned. Both were registered in 2003, the record for the arms themselves unfortunately does not appear to be in the database. In any event the blazon for the badge in question is given in the record as:

‘Upon a [sic] oval, fesswise pean, an Indian elephant statant Or, armed Argent, strapped over the belly, hump and rump Sable, cottised Or, charged on the left flank with a rose Gules, barbed Vert, seeded Or; seated on his neck a mahout, in his sinister hand a stick in bend sinister Argent.’

The blazon for the standard is given as (all sic):

‘In the hoist the arms of Rudolph Andries Ulrich Juchter van Bergen Quast and in the fly pean, Gules and Gules, between two transverse bands Or, fimbriated Argent, bearing the motto NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT in letters Sable, cottised Or, charged on his left flank with a rose Gules, barbed Vert, seeded Or; seated on his neck a mahout, in his sinister hand a stick in bend sinister Argent; in the second compartment two leopard faces snarling in pale Or; in the third compartment a leopard face snarling Or; the sleeve Or and fringed compony Gules and Or.’

I can only surmise that there has been an error in transcribing the blazon of the standard into the database and that the blazon of the standard should in fact read:

In the hoist the arms of Rudolph Andries Ulrich Juchter van Bergen Quast and in the fly pean, Gules and Gules, between two transverse bands Or, fimbriated Argent, bearing the motto NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT in letters Sable, in the first compartment an Indian elephant statant Or, armed Argent, strapped over the belly, hump and rump Sable, cottised Or, charged on his left flank with a rose Gules, barbed Vert, seeded Or; seated on his neck a mahout, in his sinister hand a stick in bend sinister Argent; in the second compartment two leopard faces snarling in pale Or; in the third compartment a leopard face snarling Or; the sleeve Or and fringed compony Gules and Or.

Although there is some ambiguity as to whether the tincture of the letters really is sable, as the record could have been cut off after either the word ‘letters’ or the word ‘Sable’. Sable could refer the tincture of the elephant’s straps or the lettering.

This would be the most serious error that I have thus far encountered in the database, the others being minor typos, perhaps I should write to the relevant database administrator (I can keep you apprised of any updated if I do).

* http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/weblog/2015/06/19/a-new-armorial-standard-from-south-africa/
† http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/
‡ Available at http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300dl
select ‘HER’ for the heraldic database.
Submit = Submit"

I am most grateful to my reader.

Here's to "Nationhood"

As my reader will know, I'm spending as much time as I can nowadays at the seaside in Tywyn (Merioneth) and one of the things I notice when visiting Wales (it's the same in Scotland) is the preponderance of the national flag when compared with those flown in England, where we only tend to see the appearance of the English flag when there is the usual run of International football matches on the goggle box (and the odd one appearing on or around St.George's Day) and even then, for some inexplicable reason, it appears to be necessary that the actual word "England" is emblazoned upon the flag; possibly as a safeguard to ensure that it is identifiable as our national flag because we see so little of it.

When we drove down (or should that be across?) to Tywyn last weekend our route was noticeably strewn with Y Ddraig Goch, the national flag of Wales; it was the week of the National Eisteddfod which is the largest cultural event of its kind in Europe and takes place annually during the first week of August. This year it's being held in Meifod, Montgomeryshire, between 1-8 August.

The Welsh are not shy when it comes to flying their national flag and seeing all of those flags on our journey reminded me of the row over the replacement of the Welsh flag with one designed to represent the town of Tywyn by the Tywyn Tourist Organisation. I remember thinking at the time that at least they were flying a flag which is more than can be said for the majority of English towns.

While on the subject of flags, of which Tywyn should be commended, the Parish Church of Saint Cadfan, Tywyn, which contains the oldest known example of written Welsh, often flies the flag of Merioneth at the same time as the National flag of Wales.

https://britishcountyflags.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/merioneth-flag/



Whether it's a "weird concoction" or a national flag is, perhaps, somewhat irrelevant, the important thing is that at least there is a flag and it's being flown. Others could learn a lesson from such proud displays.