"french flags pre revolution? ??" Topic

I was wondering in the WSS there seems to be two flags per unit, the provincial flag, colourful with a cross and the other flag (colonel's) for most units seems to be a white cross borders in black with white background, no colour.

Why the white flag with white background? New to the period.

It's a white cross on a white background.

Will need a French period expert to say why.

Some info here:

link

That is the King's Color.
That regimental colors had all kinds of wonderful colors in the quadrants separated by the white cross.
It is of course more complicated than that.
The Drapeau du Roi can have more … stuff in its color if it is a "Royal" regiment, and sometimes just because.
Google "Regiment de la Reine flag" for a perfect example.

So is the Kings colour then our white to start then items are added to it based on the Colonel's whim?

White is the Bourbon color, adorned with fleur-de-lis. The white cross on both flags is also a French dynastic device.

Definitely NOT at the whim of the Colonel. A Colonel even thinking to change the colors of a proud ancient "vieux" regiment, like Picardie or Normandie would have faced a mutiny.
Regimental distinctions would only have been added at the whim of a benign sovereign.

The white cross on a white background is picked out with white thread.
So it's easy to confuse it with a plain white flag.
The gold fleur de lis are usually only on "Royal" regiments, but this being the 17th Century there are of course exceptions.

Warflag has a good selection of print your own French flags from thw WSS.
link

The pages for French flags give examples.
link
The Typical Colonel's Colors (It's easy to get confused, but these were the King's colors equivalents) are for the vast majority. A white fireld with a white cross picked out with white thread.
The regiments are listed separately.
Note that Royal regiments, like la Reinc (the Queen'sP) and Royal, have arrays of fleurs de lis in the cross in both versions.
And others have strange devices.
Swiss and Irish are technically foreign regiments in French serv9ice and so follow the "rules" from whence they came. And of course the German regiments are different.
link

Have fum trying to figure it out!

Gentlemen;

One of the absolute best sites on the subject of French flags, pre- and post-1789, is here:

drapeaux.org/Accueil.htm

This is Arnaud Bunel's "Vexilollogie Militaire" site. My link takes you to the title page (all in French) where you scroll down and click "France", then click "Ancien Regime" if you are looking for pre-1789, then click "Infanterie" for the various infantry regiments, then "Infanterie de Ligne". The first list it brings up is regiments AS OF 1789 and their flags at that time; although it also shows their lineage and previous known flags as well.

Note: The sections on the Maison du Roi are very incomplete, only the Infantry has much.

A good example is the Irish regiment Dillon, the lineage is shown dating back to the pre-1690 English regiment Shrewsbury, then Regiment de Dillon and so on. All of the known variations of the flags are given with the dates for each. You can use these illustrations as a painting guide, or right-click and copy, then past into Paint or similar to get digital artwork. You will have to do some clean-up on the art in Paint, but can get very respectable flags.

Next up; Tom Gregg's "War Flags" site. It is not as complete as Arnaud's site, but it is in English, and offers a good overview of the "rules" of French policy governing flags, who carried what, why, etc.

tmg110.tripod.com/royfr4.htm

If you want to view Tom's complete collection of Ancient France, use this link, then select the specific category you want to see (i.e.: Irish Regiments, Swiss Regiments, etc.)

tmg110.tripod.com/france1.htm

Hope this helps. BTW, John is right, you should have "fum" with this project; I think it is one of those Yankee beers ;-)

Bill

Great information guys. Thank you very much. Bill that French site is a bounty of information. Thanks again.

I may have gotten my nomenclature wrong, but the general idea was fine.

Thank you Winston, John and Bill. You are all fine gentlemen.