A war ensign , also known as a military flag , battle flag , or standard , is a variant of a national flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign . Under the strictest sense of the term, few countries today currently have distinct war flags, most using a flag design that is also the state flag or general national flag for this purpose.
8-602: Baucent ( bauceant, baussant , etc.) was the name of the war flag ( vexillum belli ) used by the Knights Templar in the 12th and 13th centuries. 13th-century sources show it as a white gonfanon with a black chief ( argent a chief sable ). Jacques de Vitry , writing in the 1220s, mentions the gonfanon baucent and explains that the black and white colours symbolise the Templar's ferocity towards their enemies and their kindness towards their friends. It appears that later in
16-633: A field sign (not necessarily a flag). The use of flags as field signs apparently emerges in Asia, during the Iron Age, possibly in either China or India. in Achaemenid Persia , each army division had its own standard, and "all officers had banners over their tents". Early field signs that include, but are not limited to a flag, are also called vexilloid or "flag-like", for example the Roman Eagle standard or
24-573: Is the Old French term for a piebald horse. The name was later approximated to the French bien-séant , meaning "decorous, becoming". The name was also used as a battle cry by the Templars, À moi, beau sire ! Beauséant à la rescousse ! (French for "To me, good sire ! Beauséant to the rescue"). According to the statutes of the order as edited by Münter (1794), each squadron ( eschielle ) of
32-456: The dragon standard of the Sarmatians . The Roman Vexillum itself is also "flag-like" in the sense that it was suspended from a horizontal crossbar as opposed to a simple flagpole. Use of simple flags as military ensigns becomes common during the medieval period, developing in parallel with heraldry as a complement to the heraldic device shown on shields. The maritime flag also develops in
40-498: The 13th century, the red cross of the Templar could be added to the banner. In a damaged fresco of the late 13th century in the Templar church of San Bevignate , Perugia , a Templar banner is depicted with the upper half in white and the lower half in black, with the red cross patty attached to the white field. The same fresco also shows a shield and horse-covers in the same design. The name baucent (also spelled bausent, bauceant, baussant, beausseant, beauséant etc.) in origin
48-500: The banner. It has also been noted that, according to a medieval legend, Alexander the Great was said to have had a similar banner with miraculous powers. War flag Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colours wave! And either victory, or else a grave. Field signs were used in early warfare at least since the Bronze Age . The word standard itself is from an Old Frankish term for
56-525: The field of battle as long as at least one banner of the order was still flying. If all of the Templars' banners had been lost, the men were expected to flock to the nearest banner of the Hospitallers, or any other Christian banner still flying. Only after the last Christian banner had fallen were they permitted to think about saving their own lives. After the dissolution of the order, the Freemasons adopted
64-405: The order had its own banner. In battle, the banner-bearer was obliged to avoid direct contact with the enemy, and between five and ten brothers were specifically charged with guarding the banner. If any brother were to find himself separated from his banner, he was obliged to try to reach the nearest Christian banner in the field. No brother was permitted, on pain of expulsion from the order, to leave
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