In "l'armee Francaise en 1690" by Belhomme it is stated, that each regiment had only 2 enseignes. This would mean that there were only two flags for each regiment.
Does this means that if a regiment had 2 battalions there was ony one flag per battalion, or even if there were more battalions some had none?
greetings
jan

Jan,

Check Jim's thread out...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1993&start=135
The French Guard have two battalions each and have two ensigns per battalion.
One regimental flag for both battalions, a colonel's flag with the 1st battalion and a major's flag with the 2nd battalion.

Hope that helps,

Ray.

Sorry,
have to say I was wrong (have to read more carefully I think but my french is a little-understatement- rusty). Every batallion de campagne had 3 flags. Although in some regiments (les vieux, du Roi and du Dauphin) each company (except the grenadiers) had a flag only 3 were carried by each battalion.
And thanks Ray for the information

greetings
Jan

You're technically right, Jan, but as was often the case during Louis XIV's reign, regulations were not always strictly enforced. The royal ordinance of June 22 1671 specified that only three flags would be carried per battalion : one white drapeau colonel and two coloured drapeaux d'ordonnance. In the case of multi-battalion regiments, the second, third or fourth battalions would carry three drapeaux d'ordonnance in the field, the drapeau colonel being the first battalion's prerogative.

Prior to this however, it had been customary for each company of foot to have its own flag. With the promulgation of the 1671 ordinance, the surplus flags should have been retired and placed in storage. Period accounts show that this does not always seem to have been the case and that regimental commanders did pretty much as they pleased regardless of what regulations instructed them to do. Thus in 1712, the one-battalion Béarn regiment surrended one white flag and three drapeaux d'ordonnance at Le Quesnoy while in 1709 the Boufflers regiment lost three drapeaux d'ordonnance at Malplaquet when it should have had only two.