Fig. 139. Standard of Sir Henry Stafford, K.G. c. 1475.
The series illustrated in the volume in the De Walden Library on "Banners, Standards, and Badges from a Tudor Manuscript in the College of Arms" will supply ample evidence of the playful composition of ancient standards, and hints as to the way in which they may be invented nowadays.
Pennons were small and narrow flags of varying length, sometimes pointed, sometimes swallow-tailed at the end, fixed below the point of a lance or spear and carried by the owner as his personal ensign (fig. [140]). That held by Sir John d'Abernoun in his well-known brass (c. 1277) at Stoke d'Abernoun is short and pointed and fringed, and bears his arms (azure a cheveron gold). A contemporary illustration of a large and more fluttering form of pennon is to be seen in fig. [141]. An example of a pennon charged with a badge, in the shape of the Percy crescent, occurs on the seal of Henry Percy earl of Northumberland, who is shown with it in his hand (pl. [XXIX] A).
Fig. 140. Knights with pennons, from an illumination in Royal MS. 19 B XV in the British Museum.
