No. 414.— Seal of Earl John Holland, Admiral of England, &c., A.D. 1436.
3. The Standard, the third variety of early heraldic Flags, which first appears about the middle of the fourteenth century, and was in general use by personages of high rank in the two following centuries, appears to have been adopted for the special purpose of displaying the Badge. The Badge was worn on his livery by a servant as retainer, and consequently the Standard by which he mustered in camp was of the livery colours, and bore the Badge, with both of which the retainer was familiar.
This Flag is of ample proportions, and great length; but its size varies with the owner’s rank. Next to the Staff was usually to be found the red cross on a silver field of St. George. The rest of the field is generally divided per fesse into two tinctures, in most cases the livery colours of the owner, or the prevailing tinctures of his Coat of Arms, which in such cases may almost be assumed to have been his livery. With some principal figure or device occupying a prominent position, various Badges are displayed over the whole field, a Motto, which is placed bend-wise, having divided the Standard into compartments. The edges are fringed throughout, and the extremity is sometimes swallow-tailed, and sometimes rounded.
No. 415.— Standard of Sir Henry de Stafford, K.G.: about A.D. 1475.
The Standard of Sir Henry de Stafford, K.G., second son of Henry, second Duke of Buckingham (executed in 1483), is represented in No. 415, from a drawing in the Heralds’ College. It is charged, first, with a cross of St. George: then, on a field per fesse sable and gules (the colours of the Duke’s livery), the White Swan of the De Bohuns, with the silver Stafford-knot ([No. 304]), differenced with a Crescent gules for Cadency; the Motto is HVMBLE: ET: LOYAL; and the fringe, of the same colours as the field, is componée sa. and gu. In other examples a greater variety of Badges is introduced. The student will not fail to take notice of the systematic display of the ensign of St. George in these Standards, as the national armorial device of England. The use and heraldic display of these standards had practically lapsed, but the College of Arms has now reverted to its ancient practice of recording them in cases of the grant or confirmation of a Badge.
