![Portrait of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, Knight Banneret & K-G (4672073)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Portrait_of_Sir_Rhys_ab_Thomas%2C_Knight_Banneret_%26_K-G_%284672073%29.jpg)
A knight banneret, sometimes known simply as banneret, was a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
("a commoner of rank") who led a company of troops during time of war under his own
banner
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
(which was square-shaped, in contrast to the tapering
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
or the
pennon flown by the lower-ranking knights) and was eligible to bear
supporters
In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the Escutcheon (heraldry), shield and depicted holding it up.
Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. H ...
in
English heraldry
English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the so-called Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the English kings ...
.
The military rank of a knight banneret was higher than a
knight bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...
(who fought under another's banner), but lower than an earl or duke. For the derivation of the word see below under Origins.
Under English custom the rank of knight banneret could only be conferred by the sovereign on the field of battle. There were some technical exceptions to this; when his
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
was on the field of battle he could be regarded as physically present though he was not. His proxy could be regarded as a sufficient substitution for his presence.
The wife of a banneret was styled as banneress.
Origins
There were no standing armies in the middle ages (except the
military orders). Though modern scholarship has had a lot to say about the varied means by which medieval princes raised their forces, the obligation of a
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...
to serve on horseback either in person and (for some) with a contingent raised by his own means is still seen as providing the core of any army of the time. The 'feudal' nature of even this part of the medieval army has been qualified by some, in that many 11th and 12th-century lords gathered under their banners extra knights available for hire for a campaign, men who were disparaged at the time as 'mercenaries'. Even so the 'mesnie' (retained military household) was the elite core of any great lord's following in war and in tournament, and a sign also of his power and dignity. By the early 12th century lords in the field distinguished their personal retinue by a square banner which came to feature the heraldic device associated with their noble lineage. The Old French word for it is 'baniere', derived from the lord's power of command, called in French his 'ban'. It literally meant 'token of authority'.
The idea of the banneret as a distinct and superior category of knight is seen as a consequence of the fact that the great lord who did not possess a hereditary title (like count or duke) found himself on the same social level as the subordinate and dependent knights of his retinue. This became a particular issue in the 12th century, with the growth of the aristocratic
tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
culture in north east France and the western Empire. One uncomfortable consequence of this for the untitled lord was the rise in standing of the common knight towards noble status. A solution was to exalt magnate knighthood to a level above that of common knights, and identify it with the banner that a lord could carry, but not a common knight. The first indication of the rank was in the tournament roll compiled after the great royal festival at
Lagny-sur-Marne
Lagny-sur-Marne (, literally ''Lagny on Marne'') is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France from the centre of Paris.
The commune of Lagny-sur-Marne is part of th ...
in 1179 where the knights 'carrying a banner' were distinguished from the rest. The title 'banneret' (Latin ''banneretus'', ''vexillifer''; Middle French: ''banerez'') was fully established as a military and social rank by the mid 13th century. Initially the term could be applied collectively to all noblemen qualified to raise a banner (including counts and dukes), but before the end of the 13th century it came to be used exclusively as a senior rank of knight or lesser magnate. The term originated in Francophone aristocratic culture in the later 12th century, but was adopted into other cultures. It was adopted into Flemish by 1300 as 'baenrots', a word explained as from ''baan'' (command) and ''rot'' (troop). The word was taken into Middle High German as ''baenritz'' or ''bannerheer'' and was current in the principalities of the Western Empire in the 14th century.
There was in the 14th century a tension between the evolving title of 'baron' as a hereditary dignity and 'banneret' which could be applied to the same lord. It was resolved in part by employing 'baron' for him in a civil context and 'banneret' in a military context, where bannerets could claim a higher rate of pay on campaign than common knights. In the work of the great English antiquaries of the 17th century the banneret is understood as a medieval curiosity though they gave rise to the idea that bannerets were the origin of King James I's order of the
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
.
John Selden
John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned ...
, however, points out that the "old stories" often have ''baronetti'' as synonyms for ''bannereti'' and is careful to say that "banneret hath no relation to this later title
f baronet
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
. The last authentic instance of the creation of knights banneret was by King
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
to several men at the
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642.
All attempts at constitutional compromise between ...
(1642) including
Thomas Strickland of Sizergh for gallantry, and
John Smith for rescuing the
royal standard
In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification.
Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, an ...
from the enemy.
Later history
Whether any further bannerets were granted is debated by historians.
George Cokayne
George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standa ...
notes in '' The Complete Peerage'' (1913) that
King George II revived the order when he created sixteen knights bannerets on the field of the
Battle of Dettingen
The Battle of Dettingen (german: Schlacht bei Dettingen) took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession at Dettingen in the Electorate of Mainz, Holy Roman Empire (now Karlstein am Main in Bavaria). It was fought between a ...
in 1743, and although his source for this, a diary entry by Gertrude Savile, states "This honour had been laid aside since James I, when Baronets were instituted", which contradicts other sources, a news magazine published in the same year as the battle recorded the honours. Several sources, including
Edward Brenton (1828) and
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
(1827), record that captains
Trollope and
Fairfax and were honoured with bannerets by King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
for their actions during the
Battle of Camperdown
The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch as the ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral ...
(1797). However, these awards were never recorded in ''
The London Gazette
''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...
'' and is much more likely that these knighthoods, which first appear in formal records in December 1797 without their nature being specified, were as
knights bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...
.
Though the title had long fallen into disuse, bannerets and their sons continued to be listed in the
table of precedence until at least as late as 1870; those created by the sovereign under the Royal Standard in wartime rank above baronets, whereas those knights banneret not so created by the sovereign in person rank directly below baronets.
On page 364 of the 1990 edition of ''
Dod's Parliamentary Companion
''Dods Parliamentary Companion'' (formerly "Dod's Parliamentary Companion") is an annual politics reference book published in the United Kingdom.
It provides biographies and contact information on members of the Houses of Parliament and the ...
'', its table of precedence, which includes various long-vacant dignities, has in position 99 "Knights Banneret, created under the royal standard in open war, the Sovereign or the Prince of Wales being present" and in position 104 "Knights Banneret, provided they be not made in the manner described at No. 99. This position was allotted to such as were created by the commanders of armies in the king's name on the open field of battle." The former class of Knights Banneret thus rank below Judges of the High Court of Justice and above younger sons of viscounts and the latter class below baronets and above "Knights of the Thistle, when below the degree of a baron".
Royal Air Force
Following the creation of the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF) in 1918, unique names were devised for most of its
commissioned officer ranks. This was reputedly a result of an objection by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
to other services adopting any name for a commissioned rank that was already used by the RN. In addition, the RAF ranks also served to distinguish the new service from the British Army and Royal Navy, and to identify individual officers as belonging to the RAF.
"Banneret" was among the names proposed for the RAF equivalent to a
naval captain or an
army colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
. However, this proposal was rejected and the name
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
was instead adopted.
See also
*
List of knights banneret of England
Listed here are those dubbed " knight banneret" in England.
Under English custom the rank of knight banneret could only be conferred by the sovereign on the field of battle. There were some technical exceptions to this; when his standard was on ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
;Attribution
* Endnotes:
** John Selden, ''Titles of Honor'' (3rd ed., London, 1672), p. 656
**
Du Cange
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium.
Life
Educate ...
, ''Glossarium'' (Niort, 1883), s.v. Bannereti.
Further reading
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight Banneret
British honours system
Medieval English knights
Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom