my banner of arms

Heraldic flags such as banners, badge banners, standards, pennons, pincels ... Feel free to discuss and compare the flying heraldy used in any country here.
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Leonardo Almeida
Posts: 12
Joined: 08 Mar 2013, 03:24
Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Re: my banner of arms

Postby Leonardo Almeida » 22 Sep 2013, 05:16

I like my banner of arms as 4:5 (i.e. 4 of height to 5 of width), instead of 1:1, 5:4 or similars. I thing that, if it's supposed to fly, it should be as long as possible, but not as long as if it becomes malformed.

See image:
Image

But, obviously, there are people that prefer 5:4 or 6:5, more similar to escutcheons. As hobbyist vexillographer, I like to think on more ambivalent designs.

By the way, I'm interested in the photograph showed. Maybe I'll order a banner of arms (and some additional flags) for myself.

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JMcMillan
Posts: 613
Joined: 13 Jul 2012, 22:33
Location: United States

Re: my banner of arms

Postby JMcMillan » 22 Sep 2013, 16:37

It has always seemed to me that the proportions of any flag should depend on its intended use.

Flags hoisted on a pole generally look better and are easier to identify if they are at least 2:3. Flags carried on poles are generally closer to square--it keeps the fly from trailing on the ground, for one thing.

Thus, the U.S. flag when hoisted on a ship or a fixed flagpole is (for official use) 10 units hoist by 19 units fly. But the national color for indoor display or when carried by troops is either 36 x 48 or 52 x 66 inches. Up to the late 19th century, American infantry colors were 60 x 66 inches. The same is true elsewhere. The British national flag for hoisting is either 1:2 or 3:5 (Army use); carried by troops as the basis for a Queen's Colour, it is 36 x 45 inches. The French and Italian national flags for hoisting are 2:3, the German 3:5. As military colors to be carried by troops, all are square.

Heraldic flags should be in proportions suited not only to the use but to the design. For example, a field divided per pale is going to work better if the fly is a bit more than the hoist, and vice versa for one divided per fess.

In any case, the specification of fixed sizes and ratios, other than for the display of a number of banners together as at the Garter or Thistle chapels, evinces a spirit of bureaucratization that is at odds with the nature of heraldry properly understood.
Joseph McMillan
Alexandra, Virginia, USA

Ryan Shuflin
Posts: 582
Joined: 26 Jul 2012, 13:00
Location: Germany

Re: my banner of arms

Postby Ryan Shuflin » 22 Sep 2013, 21:45

Chris Green wrote:The puir wee laddie was clearly in need of assistance.

Call me a pedant (and many do!) but it strikes me as odd that a son should bear a banner at all in the presence of his father, attached to a curtain-pole or not. "In days of old when knights were bold" a son would have fought under his father's banner if both were present. If the son commanded the vanguard and his father the rearguard it would be different.


You raise a good point, but I think there are several things to consider. First, of course is the function of the banner. If father and son are both members of the same group, where all members bear banners, I don't see why the son should not have his own banner born. This is the case with the members of knightly orders, who banners hang in chapels, if the son is a member in his own right, he has a banner in his own right. Second to consider is the status and position of the son, especially in relation to his father, and his father's household. If the son is sufficiently important, or could be said to have established his own household, then bearing his own flag could be justified for certain occasions. What are the rules for parades?


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