Another instance of the use of these national Jacks as a sign of national union is to be noted.
During the feudal period of European history, when armed forces were called into the field, each of the nobles and leaders, as in duty bound, furnished to the cause his quota of men equipped with complete armament. These troops bore upon their arms and banners the heraldic device or coat-of-arms of their own liege lord, as a sign of "the company to which they belonged"; and in such way the particular locality from which they came, and the leadership under which they were marshalled could at once be recognized.
The Sovereigns also in their turn displayed the banner of the kingdom over which each reigned, such as the fleur-de-lis for France, the cross of St. George for England, the cross of St. Andrew for Scotland; and this banner of the king formed the ensign under which the combined forces of the royal adherents and their supporters served.
As the forces collected together came to be more the national army of the nation and less the personal adherents of their chief, it was provided in England that the liege lord of each local force should bear on his banner the cross of St. George, as well as his own coat-of-arms, the ordinance being:
"Every Standard, or Guydhome, is to hang in the chiefe the crosse of St. George and to conteyne the crest or supporter and devise of the owner."[16]
An excellent example of this is given in the standard or ensign of the forces of the Earls of Percy in the sixteenth century (Pl. [III.] , fig. 1). In the chief is the red cross of St. George, as the sign of allegiance to King and nation; in the fly is the crest of the Percys, a blue lion with other insignia, and their motto, "Esperance en Dieu," the signs of their liege lord and local country.
This flag declared its bearers to be the men of the Percy contingent, Englishmen, and soldiers of the King.
