pennons,banner and flags

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Pennons, Banners, and Flags (Oh My!)

One of the main purposes of having heraldry is to SHOW it. The heavy fighters have that pretty-well handled with their shields, HOWEVER, what about those that are NOT into firsthand Clinky sado-masochism? You ladies are probably thinking, with rights, "That feast-hall banner is just too good to haul around at a Tourney", and besides, it really isn't appropriate for that setting. What IS needed are pennons, banners, and flags! Yes, before you ask, there are differences in each of these. A pennon is elongated and pointed or swallow-tailed, meant to fly from a lance-tip, a Banner is square, and meant to be supported both by a staff and a horizontal support, where a flag can be either square OR rectangular, (usually the latter) and is meant to be flown from a flagpole.

A pennon, initially the property and right of a knight, will have as it's field the field of your device arranged top-to-bottom from hoist to tip ("hoist" refers to the portion that is against the pole, "Tip" should be self-explanatory) with any charges rotated so as to be upright when viewed with the pennon "At-fly", that is, streaming horizontally from the pole. A Banner is simply your arms transferred to a square format, (No shield-shape) and a Flag is the same, except that it's hoist-to-fly ratio is usually at least 1:2., that is to say, rectangular. To help imagine your Banner or Flag, hold up your device in front of you, and imagine the pole as being to the left side as viewed looking at your device. For a pennon, take your device, turn it 90 degrees, so that the top of your device is to your left as viewed, and then mentally rotate any charges so that they are upright, remembering that the pole will be to the left as viewed.

The best material for these items is, obviously, flag satin, altho you can make-do by painting on fabric. Another thing to remember, unlike with feast-hall banners, is that these items are designed to be viewed from BOTH SIDES, so, you in fact need to make TWO copies of what you wish to have, mirror-imaged, and sew them back-to-back. Since these are going to be subject to winds and rain, make sure your construction is VERY sound, (LOTS of tight stitching). I would love to see a field and site festively festooned with flags and pennons, and, in the Kingdom of the West, there have been crown tourneys where having a Pennon was REQUIRED for admission to the lists. For assistance in the fine details of construction, (the cutting and sewing) the artisans of the costumers guild might be better-able to assist you.

H.L. Ian MacKynnes

Addendum:
A reader asks: What I would like to find out about is cloak designs. We have such lovely cloaks for the Baron and Baroness to wear with the heraldry prominent on the back. What have you (the barony members) seen utilized on a personal basis for a cloak? Going from the large designs to something that has a device in it but not covering the entire cloak.

Richard Dragun
Greetings Richard, and all;

To answer your question, the STATE cloaks of nobility had, and have, the arms OF STATE covering the back of the cloak, since, in their role AS State Nobility, they ARE the state, and not themselves. For PERSONAL displays on cloaks, the appropriate place and means is to the left side of the cloak as worn, (Heart-side) with the arms scaled to fit the stature (Physical size) of the wearer. Also, note that I said ARMS, not BADGE, you NEVER wear your own badge, but that is a topic for a coming paper.

H.L. Ian MacKynnes

(Readers note: This is a user-friendly guide to what the items are and how they are comprised, NOT a precise vexillogical treatise dealing with who may fly what when and where, as that is not covered under S.C.A. guidelines)

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