rank next to St. Andrew himself. Hence we see his presentment on the Standard of the Czar, and hence Catherine II., in 1762, instituted an order of knighthood in his honour. The badge is a cross of gold, having in its centre a medallion with a figure of the saint slaying the dragon; the ribbon being yellow and black. St. George, we need scarcely remind our readers, is the great warrior-Saint of England too, but while we place his scarlet cross, Fig. [91], on the field of white, the Russians reverse the arrangement and place his white cross on scarlet.[[65]]
Fig. [215] is the Russian Union Jack that combines the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George. Fig. [73] is the British Union Jack that deals with precisely the same combination.
The flag of the Russian merchant service is represented in Fig. [218]. This was originally instead of being white, blue, red, a flag of blue, white, red. Peter the Great borrowed this from the Dutch, amongst whom he learnt ship-building. The Dutch flag, Fig. [237], it will be seen is a tricolor of red, white, blue. Peter simply turned this upside down, and afterwards, for greater distinction, charged the central white space with a small blue St. Andrew's Cross, as we see in Fig. [219], which represents this early form of flag. Later on, for still greater clearness of distinction, the blue and the white strips changed places, and so we get the modern Russian mercantile flag, as shown in Fig. [218]. It was evidently undesirable that the flag of the great Empire of Russia should be the same as that of a reversed Dutch ensign—a signal of distress and disaster.
Based upon these two simple forms, the government Cross of St. Andrew, Fig. [217], and the commercial tricolor, Fig. [218], we get a great variety of official flags. Thus Fig. [220] is a very happy blending of the two forms in the flag of a Consul-General, since he is an official of the State, and at the same time his duties deal largely with commercial interests; and much the same ground may be taken as regards the blending of the two flags in Fig. [221], the flag of a Russian Chargé d'Affaires. Fig. [223] is the ensign of a Russian transport; if of the second division the field of the flag is blue, and if of the third it is red, in each of these cases the crossed anchors being white. The Russian signal for a pilot is the Jack shown in Fig. [215], but with a broad white border to it.
A Russian Ambassador or Minister Plenipotentiary flies the flag shown in Fig. [222]. In the Imperial Navy we find a considerable variety of flag types. While the full Admiral flies the Imperial Naval Flag, Fig. [217], that of the Vice-Admiral has along its bottom edge a horizontal strip of blue, and that of the Rear-Admiral in the same position a strip of red. The flag of the Minister of Marine is the official flag, Fig. [217], except that instead of the four plain white spaces there seen these triangles hold each of them a golden anchor, the fluke end outwards. There are many other modifications that we need not here particularise.
Fig. [216] is the official flag of Poland; the device in the canton in the upper corner, the white eagle on the scarlet field, is the ancient Polish flag, when Poland was yet a nation.
The early history of the French flag is lost in obscurity, and it is not always easy to trace the various modifications that it has undergone. At the earliest date of which we have record we find the kings of the Franks marshalling their forces under the plain blue flag known as the Chape de St. Martin. Later on the red flag of St. Denis, known as the oriflamme, came into use, and was held in great popular esteem, until by the tenth century we find it accepted as the national flag, though the blue flag still held its ground as a recognised flag. We may, in fact, assume that as the Russians placed themselves beneath the protection both of St. George and also of St. Andrew, so the French felt that a double claim on saintly assistance would be by no means amiss.
The Chape de St. Martin was originally in the keeping of the monks of the Abbey of Marmoutiers, and popular belief held it to be a portion of the actual blue cloak that the legend affirms the Saint divided with the beggar suppliant. The Counts of Anjou claimed the right to take this blue flag to battle with them. We find it borne by Clovis in the year 507 against Alaric, and again by Charlemagne at the battle of Narbonne; and time after time it led the hosts of France to victory. When the kings of France transferred the seat of government to Paris, the great local Saint, St. Denis, was held in high honour, and the scarlet flag of the Abbey Church of St. Denis gradually ousted the blue flag of St. Martin, and "St. Denis" became the war-cry of France.[[66]] Fig. [179] is a representation of the oriflamme from some ancient stained glass, but the authorities differ somewhat; thus the "Chronique de Flandre" describes it as having three points and tassels of green
silk attached thereto, while an English authority says, "The celestial auriflamb, so by the French admired, was but of one colour, a square redde banner." Du Cange gives no hint of its shape, but affirms that it was simple, "sans portraiture d'autre affaire." All therefore that seems quite definite is that it was a plain scarlet flag. The last time that the sacred ensign was borne to battle was at Agincourt on October 25th, 1415, when it certainly failed to justify the confidence of its votaries.