The flag of Carillon was flown by the troops of General

Louis-Joseph de Montcalm Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Veran (28 February 1712 – 14 September 1759) was a French soldier best known as the commander of the forces in North America during the Seven Years' War (whose North American th ...

during the

Battle of Carillon The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, Chartrand (2000), p. 57 was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War (which was part of the global Seven Years' War). It was fought near Fort Carillon (now ...

, which was fought by the French and Canadian forces against those of the British in July 1758 at

Fort Carillon Fort Carillon, presently known as Fort Ticonderoga, was constructed by Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Governor of French Canada, to protect Lake Champlain from a British invasion. Situated on the lake some south of Fort Saint Frédéric, it ...

. In 2009, it was displayed at the Musée de l'Amérique française in Quebec City.

Discovery

In March 1882, Ernest Gagnon wrote that Louis de Gonzague Baillargé (1808–1896), lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist in Quebec, "having read in an old chronicle that a flag from Carillon and suspended in the church of the Recollets in Quebec City had been saved during the fire of the church in 1796," began researching in order to find the flag. In November or December 1847, he met the last of the

Récollet The Recollects (french: Récollets) were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects took vows of poverty and devoted their lives to prayer, penance, and spiri ...

priests, Father Louis Marinet dit Bonami (1764–1848), in his residence on Saint-Vallier Street near the Quebec General Hospital. Towards mid-1848, Baillargé returned to Bonami, who related the history of the flag of Carillon. Baillargé died April 7 of that year from a stroke which occurred in January. Father Berey (1720–1800), superior of the Récollets, was chaplain to Montcalm's troops. When he returned to the monastery after the campaign of 1758, he brought back with him a flag which was torn and ripped. He mentioned at the convent that it had seen the battle of Carillon. This flag had been suspended from the vault of the Récollet church. On September 6, 1796, a fire which had burnt a house on Saint-Louis Street had also set fire to the convent and church of the Récollets. The conflagration having taken hold in the steeple of the church, the roof burnt before the rest of the church. While one of the brothers was saving a chest filled with objects thrown into it, he crossed the nave of the church, and the old flag fell in front of him. Father Louis took it with him and placed it in the chest with the other objects.Ernest Gagnon, « Le drapeau de Carillon », ''la Revue canadienne'', mars 1882, p. 129–139; cited below as Gagnon Ia. Reprinted with some variations in H.-J.-J.-B. Chouinard, ''Fête nationale des Canadiens-Français célébrée à Québec 1881–1889'', Québec, Belleau & Cie, 1890, p. 59–67, cited below as Gagnon Ib.

Description

The banner dates back to the 18th century, confirmed by textile expert Jean-Michel Tuchscherer: "The flag is without doubt an exceptional piece from the 18th century" obitaille As for the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

under the Madonna now missing, it was most probably that of

Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois ( 12 October 1671 – 12 July 1749) was a French Naval officer who served as Governor of New France from 1726 to 1746. Biography Son of François IV de Beauharnais, Charles had two brothers wh ...

(1671–1749), Governor of New France from 1726 to 1747: ''

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 ...

, a

fess In heraldry, a fess or fesse (from Middle English ''fesse'', from Old French ''faisse'', from Latin ''fascia'', "band") is a charge on a coat of arms (or flag) that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shi ...

and in chief three

martlet A martlet in English heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall; martlets are proposed to be continuously on the wing. It is a compelling allegory for continuous effort, expre ...

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...

''. Only the governor had the right to inscribe his personal arms on a banner with the arms of France, and only Beauharnois had

eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...

supporter In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. However, unlike the coro ...

s. The flag was probably fabricated around 1726, date of the arrival of Beauharnois, and it was known to have been flown on May 29, 1732, for the order of Saint Louis, with its motto . In 2008, the Canadian Register of Arms, Flags and Badges confirmed the flag's appearance:

Notes

References

* ANQ.
An Act respecting the Flag and emblems of Québec
, in ''CanLII''. Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Updated to 1 May 2008 * MRIQ.
Québec flag protocol
, in the site of the ''Ministère des Relations internationales'', 2006 * Fraser, Alistair B.
Chapter XV: Quebec
, i
''The Flags of Canada''
January 30, 1998

In French

* BnQ (1973). ''Bibliographie sur le drapeau du Québec : le fleurdelysé'', Bibliothèque nationale du Québec (Centre bibliographique) * Magnan, Charles-Joseph (1939).
Le Carillon-Sacré-Coeur, drapeau national des Canadiens français
', Québec : l'Action catholique, 44 pages (edition digitized by the

BAnQ In the English language, banq and banc are coined words pronounced identically to the word "bank". Both terms have been adopted by financial services companies and others to satisfy legal restrictions on the usage of the word ''bank''. The comp ...

)

External links

Flag History of Quebec

Various versions of the ''Carillon'' flag {{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Carillon

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

National symbols of Canada

Carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoni ...

Provincial symbols of Quebec Flags of Quebec New France History of Quebec