![Battle of Poitiers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Battle_of_Poitiers.jpg)
The Oriflamme (from Latin ''aurea flamma'', "golden flame"), a pointed, blood-red banner flown from a gilded lance, was the
battle standard
A war flag, 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 countr ...
of the
King of France in the Middle Ages. The oriflamme originated as the sacred banner of the
Abbey of St. Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...
, a monastery near Paris. When the oriflamme was raised in battle by the French royalty during the Middle Ages, most notably during the
Hundred Years War,
no prisoners were to be taken until it was lowered. Through this tactic they hoped to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, especially the nobles, who could usually expect to be taken alive for ransom during such military encounters.
In French, the term "''oriflamme''" has come to mean any banner with pointed ends, by association with the form of the original.
Legendary origin
The Oriflamme was mentioned in the eleventh-century ballad the ''
Chanson de Roland
''The Song of Roland'' (french: La Chanson de Roland) is an 11th-century ''chanson de geste'' based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne. It is ...
'' (vv. 3093–5) as a royal banner, first called ''Romaine'' and then ''Montjoie''.
[ According to legend, ]Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
carried it to the Holy Land in response to a prophecy regarding a knight possessing a golden lance, from which flames would burn and drive out the Saracens. This suggests that the ''lance'' was originally the important object, with the banner simply a decoration, but this changed over time.
History
The Oriflamme was first used by Louis VI in 1124 and was last flown in battle at Agincourt in 1415, though a version of it remained in the Abbey of St. Denis until the 18th century.
Louis VI replaced the earlier banner of Saint Martin with the oriflamme of the Abbey of St. Denis, which floated about the tomb of St. Denis and was said to have been given to the abbey by King Dagobert.
Until the 12th century the standard-bearer was the Comte de Vexin, who, as vowed to St. Denis, was the temporal defender of the abbey. Louis VI, having acquired Vexin, became standard-bearer; as soon as war began, Louis VI received Communion at St. Denis and took the standard from the tomb of the saint to carry it into combat.
Although the azure ground (from the blue cope of St. Martin of Tours) strewn with gold fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
remained the symbol of royalty until the 15th century, the Oriflamme became the royal battle standard of the King of France, and it was carried at the head of the king's forces when they met another army in battle. It is recorded as having been carried at the following battles/campaigns:
*Bouvines 1214
Bouvines (; nl, Bovingen) is a commune and village in the Nord department in northern France. It is on the French-Belgian border between Lille and Tournai.
History
On 27 July 1214, the Battle of Bouvines was fought here between the forces of ...
* Seventh Crusade 1248
* Mons-en-Pévèle 1304
* Crécy 1346
* Poitiers 1356
* Roosebeke 1382
* Agincourt 1415 (disputed; see below)
The Oriflamme was lost at least four times during its medieval history: Mons-en-Pévèle, Crécy, Poitiers, and during the campaigns of the Seventh Crusade under King Louis IX
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...
.
Although the ''Oriflamme'' has often been depicted as present at the battle of Agincourt, modern historians have disputed this. The banner was given to Guillaume de Martel by Charles VI on September 10, 1415, and carried by Martel from Paris to Rouen. This was likely an attempt to raise French morale and rally troops, however there is no evidence that the ''Oriflamme'' was then taken on campaign and unfurled at Agincourt. Modern historians agree that the Oriflamme was not carried by Guillaume de Martel at Agincourt, as the king was not present at the battle in person.
In the fifteenth century, the fleur-de-lis on the white flag of Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronat ...
became the new royal standard replacing both the symbol of royalty and the Oriflamme on the battle field.[
]
Appearance
The banner was red or orange-red silk and flown from a gilded lance. According to legend, its colour stems from it being dipped in the blood of the recently beheaded St. Denis.
The surviving descriptions of the Oriflamme are in Guillaume le Breton (thirteenth century), in the "Chronicle of Flanders" (fourteenth century), in the "Registra Delphinalia" (1456) and in the inventory of the treasury of Saint-Denis
The Treasury of Saint-Denis, kept at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris until the French Revolution, was the main repository of the ''regalia'' of the Kingdom of France, including the ''ancien régime'' portion of what are now known as the Fren ...
(1536). They show that the primitive Oriflamme was succeeded in the course of the centuries by newer Oriflammes which bore little resemblance to one another except for their colour.
On the battlefield
According to Maurice Keen
Maurice Hugh Keen (30 October 1933 – 11 September 2012) was a British historian specializing in the Middle Ages. His father had been the Oxford University head of finance ('Keeper of the University Chest') and a fellow of Balliol College, Ox ...
, the Oriflamme, when displayed on the battlefield, indicated that no quarter
The phrase no quarter was generally used during military conflict to imply combatants would not be taken prisoner, but killed.
According to some modern American dictionaries, a person who is given no quarter is "not treated kindly" or "treated ...
was to be given: its red colour being symbolic of cruelty and ferocity.
The bearer of the standard, the ''porte-oriflamme'', became an office
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...
(like that of Marshal or Constable) and a great honour, as it was an important and very dangerous job to take charge of such a visible symbol in battle. If things went badly, the bearer was expected to die, rather than relinquish his charge.
Froissart vividly describes ''porte-oriflamme'' Geoffroi de Charny
Geoffroi de Charny ({{circa, 1306 – 19 September 1356) was the third son of Jean de Charny, the lord of Charny (then a major Burgundian fortress), and Marguerite de Joinville, daughter of Jean de Joinville, the biographer and close friend of Fra ...
's fall at the side of his king at the Battle of Poitiers
The Battle of Poitiers was fought on 19September 1356 between a French army commanded by King JohnII and an Anglo- Gascon force under Edward, the Black Prince, during the Hundred Years' War. It took place in western France, south of Poit ...
in this passage:
There Sir Geoffroi de Charny fought gallantly near the king (note: and his fourteen-year-old son). The whole press and cry of battle were upon him because he was carrying the king’s sovereign banner he Oriflamme
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
He also had before him his own banner, gules, three escutcheons argent
In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to ...
. So many English and Gascons came around him from all sides that they cracked open the king’s battle formation and smashed it; there were so many English and Gascons that at least five of these men at arms attacked one rench
The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of the ...
gentleman. Sir Geoffroi de Charny was killed with the banner of France in his hand, as other French banners fell to earth.[Jean Froissart; trans Geoffrey Brereton, ''Chronicles'' ( Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK, 1978), p. 247.]
Notable Bearers of the ''Oriflamme''
*Geoffroi de Charny
Geoffroi de Charny ({{circa, 1306 – 19 September 1356) was the third son of Jean de Charny, the lord of Charny (then a major Burgundian fortress), and Marguerite de Joinville, daughter of Jean de Joinville, the biographer and close friend of Fra ...
– 14th-century 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 ...
and author of several works on chivalry. He first bore the Oriflamme during the failed attempt to relieve Calais in 1347.[
* Arnoul d'Audrehem – 14th-century former ]Marshal of France
Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...
. He held the office from 1368 to his death in 1370 but never carried the banner in action.
*Guillaume de Martel Guillaume may refer to:
People
* Guillaume (given name), the French equivalent of William
* Guillaume (surname)
Other uses
* Guillaume (crater)
See also
* '' Chanson de Guillaume'', an 11th or 12th century poem
* Guillaume affair, a Cold War espi ...
– Seigneur de Bacqueville. He carried the Oriflamme at Agincourt and died there.
*Sir Pierre de Villiers carried the Oriflamme at the Battle of Roosebeke
The Battle of Roosebeke (sometimes referred by its contemporary name as Battle of Westrozebeke) took place on 27 November 1382 on the Goudberg between a Flemish army under Philip van Artevelde and a French army under Louis II of Flanders who ha ...
against the Flemish rebels of Ghent led by Philip van Artvelde in 1382.
The Oriflamme in literature
In canto XXXI of ''Paradiso'', Dante describes the Virgin Mary in the Empyrean as ''pacifica oriafiamma'' (Musa's translation, "oriflame of peace"):
The 19th-century poet Robert Southey
Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...
refers to the Oriflamme and its reputation in his poem ''Joan of Arc'':
The 20th-century Martiniquais poet and politician, Aimé Césaire
Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the Par ...
(1913–2008) invokes the Oriflamme in his poem "Your Hair" ("Chevelure"). By invoking the Oriflamme, Césaire also invokes the French Colonial Empire, war, and oppression. The poem is included in ''The Collected Poetry of Aimé Césaire.'' An excerpt reads:
The Oriflamme is depicted in season 2 episode 6 of the History Channel series ''Knightfall
"Knightfall" is a 1993–1994 Batman story arc published by DC Comics. It consists of a trilogy of storylines that ran from 1993 to 1994, consisting of "Knightfall", "Knightquest", and "KnightsEnd".On the comic book covers, only the third part ...
''.
In the Discworld
''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...
novel ''Small Gods
''Small Gods'' is the thirteenth of Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' novels, published in 1992. It tells the origin of the god Om, and his relations with his prophet, the reformer Brutha. In the process, it satirises religious institutions, peop ...
'' by Terry Pratchett, the flag of the theocracy of Omnia is referred to as an Oriflamme.
References
{{FranceFlags
Flags of France
Military history of France
Personal flags