The Car with its Dragon and Eagle, forming the standard of the Emperor Otho at Bovines, has already been noticed, (page 164). The Oriflamme of the French monarchs maintains its illustrious position. Captured by the Mahometans, with Saint Louis and his equipage, it still miraculously subsists; and when destroyed by the Flemings at the battle of Mons-en-Puelle, it is discovered that the banner which has been torn to pieces is, after all, only a counterfeit oriflamme, the real one being still intact under the guardianship of the Abbot of St. Denis. Thus Guillaume Guiart:--
"Aussi li Sire de Chevreuse Porta l'Oriflamme vermeille, Par droite semblance _pareille_ _A cele_ s'élevoit esgarde Que l'Abbé de Saint Denis garde.
Et l'Oriflamme _contrefaite_ Chaï à terre, et la saisirent Flamans, qui après s'enfuirent." _Chron. Mét._, ann. 1304.
The "Royal Standard" of the French monarchs is described as of blue, adorned with fleurs-de-lis of gold. That of Philip Augustus at Bovines is thus noticed by Guiart:--
"Galon de Montigni porta, Ou la Chronique faux m'enseigne, De fin azur luisant Enseigne A fleurs de lys d'or aornée, Près du roi fut cette journée A l'endroit du riche Estendart."
An ordinance of Philip IV. in 1306, quoted by Père Daniel (Mil. Fran. j. 520), under the heading, "L'ordonnance du Roy quant il va en Armez," directs: That the chief Ecuyer Tranchant shall have charge of the Royal Standard: that the chief Chamberlain shall carry the Banner of the king: and that the chief Varlet Tranchant shall follow close behind the king, bearing his Pennon; and his duty is to accompany the king wherever he may go, in order that all may know where the monarch is stationed.
The knightly Banner of this time may be seen in Roy. MS. 20, D. i.; in the Lives of the Offas (Cott. MS., Nero, D. i.); and in many of the plates of the Painted Chamber. In all these examples it is quadrangular, but _not square_: its height is double its breadth. The effigy at Minster, Isle of Sheppey, (Stothard, Pl. XLI.) gives us in sculpture a large specimen of the banner, and shews very distinctly how it was fastened to the staff by tasselled cords.
The office of Bannerer of the City of London was filled in the thirteenth century by the family of Fitz Walter, who held the castlery of Baynard's Castle in fee for the performance of this duty. The services and privileges attached to the office are laid down in a curious document printed in Blount's "Antient Tenures," from a MS. preserved by Dugdale. They are recorded under two heads: the rights in time of war, and the rights in time of peace. We give the first in full: a mere note will suffice for the other, which are privileges rather of a civil than a military character:--