"Representing Heraldic Banners (15mm)" Topic

I'm getting ready to add banners to my troops, and one of the issues I'm facing is how to represent the heraldic banners for my various contingents.

The larger banners appear to have been mounted with a baton along the top so that the banner was always visible without the banner bearer (who was also presumably fighting a bit) having to wave it around.

Most commercial banners seem intended to be mounted along the hoist, and most photos of figures show them in a manner that mimics other flags.

I suppose I could just keep the upper edge straight and do a bit of "fluttering" in the bottom far corner. But I'd like to actually show the top baton, because it seems so iconic.

I have a few ideas, but I'd like to know what others have done.

Cheers!
Dave

I have read recently that we don't know how flags were made to be visible – sewn-in battens are a possibility but I don't think the few surviving banners show any. Ian Heath suggests battens or buckram – these wouldn't have to be visible.
The horizontal pole often shown in modern recreations is apparently not shown in any medieval source. Certainly they seem to be missing from those on manuscriptminiatures.com
Some even have fringes along the top, so it is not down to the lack of artistic skill. The fringes wouldn't fit with the horizontal tabs anyway.

If you do want to do the horizontal bit, it can be easier to paint the tabs rather than cutting them out – might be more noticeable in 28mm than 15mm though.

I did a couple with the horizontal pole but after reading whatever it was, I went back to the invisible support. When I glue the flags around a pole, I clamp the top edge with some smooth flat nose pliers while I bend the banner to shape.

I also doubt that the horizontal baton was common, though I'm not saying it was never used. In the 14th century, banners issued from the Tower of London armoury "were provided with banner staves, which appear to have been almost indistinguishable from lances, the difference seemingly in that their shafts were bound with iron. This would have made the banner staves heavier than ordinary lances, but much more resistant to cuts" (from Thom Richardson's thesis on the Tower Armoury inventories) – no mention of any additional baton.

The author of link cites a work of 1959 (Gayre's Heraldic Standards and Other Ensigns) to the effect that: "It is significant that banners were formerly, in France, stiffened along one edge… This stiffening, no doubt, like the cross bar of the gonfannon, was to enable the charges on the ensign to be seen more easily", but goes on to note that Gayre cites no real evidence for the idea. I suspect it's a bit of a factoid – often repeated, little real basis.

Religious banners were mostly hung vertically from either a fixed crosspiece or a loose one, fixed by cord to the pole. There are illustrations showing heraldic banners displayed the same way, mostly from 12C – 14C in England but later in other parts of Europe.

It is certainly said by a number of older authorities that a banneret's banner was stiffened with leather but, as you say, from where that comes they don't say. As a practical solution to the problem of clear visibility it is better than an edge 'stiffened' with a crosspiece – as that joint is likely to be somewhat fragile.

Swampster is very likely correct in saying that we don't know much for certain but, in my opinion, I doubt that only one solution was employed. It may be a matter of 'all or any of the above' rather than just the one 'right' answer.

Thanks for the link, Swampster. A brief look at English manusripts shows one interesting illumination, which shows a standard that born on foot and furling in the wind, and a non-descript banner behind it that is stiff and flat.

link

I will probably do mine stiff at the top and hoist, with some minor furling in the bottom on the fly.

Cheers!
Dave