Dear Friends,

Can someone tell me how many flags an Infantry unit has carried in the field in the 17th Century?

I can find all kind of flags for my future Saxons, Infantry and Cavalry, but nothing that tells me if they carried only one flag in each Regiment/Batallion or 2 like a white and a colored flag or even more flags??

Any help or hint would be appreciated

Thanks

Günter

Usually 1 per company.

For the Thirty Years War and English Civil War, each company or infantry had a different flag. Some had a standardized system of devices to indicate which company it belonged to. By the end of the century (and well into the 18th century) this persisted. However, some of the flags were "standardized" into the usual white/colored versions.

If I had to guess, I would say they carried AT LEAST one white and one colored flag. Most likely, one white flag for the 1st Company and a colored flag for each remaining company in the regiment.

I wouldn't do more than 4 standard bearers in an 18 figure unit, though.

Many armies had one flag per company well into the 18th century. This was the case with the Prussian army in Frederick the Great's time. Cavalry in the Civil War had a standard per standard. Each infantry company had a color. According to Summerfield the Saxon cavalry had one standard per company in the mid-1700s. It is safe to assume this was the case earlier. In 1753 each infantry battalion carried two flags. Not sure when this practice started. Schorr states that in the GNW period the leibcompanie carried a white standard or flag and the other companies carried colored ones, so this indicates that each company had a colour.

Thanks for sharing this knowledge

It seems that 18th Century Guy had almost the same question in mind

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3709

So I like to believe that they carried at least 2 Flags.
One Colonnels-, Kings- or Leibkompanie-Flag and one colored Flag in the color of their Regiments facings.

Only half a question remains:
How have the Leibkompanie-Flags looked like?
I think I saw somewhere a picture of an embroided flag with the same look as the Colored Flag only that it had been made of white cloth.

Yesterday Rick aka Flagdude sent me his knowledge base of the Saxon flags in the GNW and that were quite a lot but there were only colored flags and no picture of a Leibkompanie-Flag.

So, back to square one

Thanks again Friends

Günter

Information in one of Dan Schorr's works?

I'll bet I now know why Rick (The Flag Dude) contacted me about the number of flags that Saxon units carried in the GNW!

...and?

Dear Friends,

I got all answers I was looking for. The last part has fallen into its place when the master himself, Dan Schorr, told me all I needed to know.

I will do 3 flags, one white Leib- and 2 Colored, for each infantry unit and one standart for the Cavalry.
Rick, the Flagdude, will get an order soon.

Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge with me.

Günter