A Directory of Arms

[Wilgut Spleens]

I have quite a collection of freehand painted standards now in my WotR retinues so I decided to create my own Directory of Arms

https://wilgut.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-directory-of-arms.html

[David H]

Magnificent!
Thanks for sharing.

[commissarmoody]

They look great

[Wilgut Spleens]

Thanks folks!

[Marine0846]

WoW, well done.
They look great.

[Captain Blood]

Excellent Mike. Your bravery in undertaking hand painted standards has paid off. They look great 

Ironically I started my WOTR collection (about 10 years ago) using only my own hand painted standards, and local quasi-fictitious retinues. But I’ve gradually switched more and more to historic magnates and printed standards - mainly because Pete’s Flags are blinking marvellous, and I can’t resist some of them 

[Wiegraf]

Great work. I always dread doing freehand stuff on shields and surcoats and even dread so even more on larger objects so I just stick to printed flags. Your freehand banners turned out excellent.

[GulKelan]

wow, also your flags on you blog are amazing!

one question about history:
I never understand the difference between these kind of banners and the free floating ones.
also the free floating ones are sometimes redicously huge and sometimes more ont the smaller side.

can someone explain the differences or know where i can get the information from?

[Wilgut Spleens]

Excellent Mike. Your bravery in undertaking hand painted standards has paid off. They look great 

Ironically I started my WOTR collection (about 10 years ago) using only my own hand painted standards, and local quasi-fictitious retinues. But I’ve gradually switched more and more to historic magnates and printed standards - mainly because Pete’s Flags are blinking marvellous, and I can’t resist some of them 

Thanks Richard, that is fine praise indeed

[Wilgut Spleens]

wow, also your flags on you blog are amazing!

one question about history:
I never understand the difference between these kind of banners and the free floating ones.
also the free floating ones are sometimes redicously huge and sometimes more ont the smaller side.

can someone explain the differences or know where i can get the information from?

Thank you for your kind words!

The majority of flags in this era were about six foot (two meters) square and made of stiff linen which was reinforced with strips of Buckram, a much coarser stiffer linen and supported by a short pole fixed at right angles to the main staff. Of these flags there were generally two types-the Heraldic Standard  bearing the Lord Coat of Arms and the Battle Standard which bore an image usually the Lords badge on a background of his livery colours-some lords had many badges and often as many Battle Standards

Another kind of flag was the Guidon or Pennant which would have been carried by cavalry squadrons and by individual companies. These were 6-8 feet long and 2-3 feet deep displaying a symbol, often the badge and having a border (bordure)in the lords livery colours.

The long ribbon like banner to which you refer were eighteen foot (5.5 meters) long.They were used to decorate a Lord's Hall or hung on the castle walls or hung up at tournaments .Unlike the other standards , there is no evidence to show they were ever used in battle and it would seem unlikely that they would have been used this way as they would quickly become entangled in the many curved and hooked weapons being hefted about!

The best source of information is from the Lance and Longbow society publications Freezywater Books

[rampantlion]

Beautiful work!

[bluewillow]

Beautiful brushwork Mike, really splendid idea

Cheers
Matt

[Captain Harlock]

What I like the most about these is that they capture the spirit of the originals, far better than most commercially available options. Many offerings in the market are basically modern clip-art that would fit more the logo of a car or beer brand. By looking old armorial books and manuscripts one can see that they had a particular way of drawing heraldic animals for example that for sure was not that realistic but had a distinctive almost anthropomorphic style, I guess mostly because very few in Northern Europe had seen an actual lion 

I’m just speculating here, and I would like to know if I’m anywhere near the truth. I imagine that the coats of arms of the various lords were not exactly as we imagine them today, more or less like a logo of a brand with exact replication of the most minute details and set colors, but more or less “guidelines”. A standard painter would have to include certain heraldic elements in a certain color approximation but unless they were produced all together, or been very specific in copying a master image, then I guess that in an army of a lord who had several feudal subordinates you would see standards with the same theme, but different artistic interpretations of it.

[Wilgut Spleens]

What I like the most about these is that they capture the spirit of the originals, far better than most commercially available options. Many offerings in the market are basically modern clip-art that would fit more the logo of a car or beer brand. By looking old armorial books and manuscripts one can see that they had a particular way of drawing heraldic animals for example that for sure was not that realistic but had a distinctive almost anthropomorphic style, I guess mostly because very few in Northern Europe had seen an actual lion 

I’m just speculating here, and I would like to know if I’m anywhere near the truth. I imagine that the coats of arms of the various lords were not exactly as we imagine them today, more or less like a logo of a brand with exact replication of the most minute details and set colors, but more or less “guidelines”. A standard painter would have to include certain heraldic elements in a certain color approximation but unless they were produced all together, or been very specific in copying a master image, then I guess that in an army of a lord who had several feudal subordinates you would see standards with the same theme, but different artistic interpretations of it.

I couldn't agree more! Their view of the world was very different to our own.They recognized five realms, alternative universes if you will, including the land of faerie and seemingly ordinary creatures such as the hare could visit them and had extraordinary powers. What then would they make of a Manticore? One things for sure , they believed in it wholeheartedly. It's unlikely there were any Atheists!

As far as heraldry is concerned they had many various colours some of which we don't really know what they were.Were Murrey and Bloody the same? I suspect it varied according to regional differences in technology and availability of dyes. Was one mans gules another mans mujrrey?

I decided to free hand my flags because its fun to do and because I couldn't find some of the standards I wanted for my Local Lords project and because I don't always agree with other people's interpretation of them and because it's actually a lot easier than painting similar devices on shields or surcoats. I enjoy researching them and have traveled to various homes and churches in search of evidence for Arms.

The evidence base that we all go to Covenay, is not always correct and it's not shown where he found his evidence for a lot of his banners, sometimes I have found a little field work provides the answer as it did for de Barre.