English Civil War flag notes..

Regimental flag of Sir John Gell - more on it here [clicky]

... “ought to have all the Colours of his Regiment alike, both in colour and fashion to avoide confusion so that the souldiers may discerne their owne Regiment from the other Troopes; likewise, every particular Captaine of his Regiment may have some small distinction in their Colours; as their Armes, or some Embleme, or the like, so that one Company may be discerned from another”... Ward's "Animadversions of Warre" (1639)

More notes on what was to me a fairly complicated old system until I started doing my research...  

Infantry first...

So as we know from the previous post on tactics and drill, infantry regiments of the Civil War period were organised with six to twelve companies, usually ten, each of these had it's own standard or colour..

They tended to be about 6 foot/6 foot 6 inches square..  usually made of silk or taffeta -  very delicate - they would have had a short shelf life in the field and on campaign..

There was little or no conformity over what colour the standard, or standards, were, as uniformity of facing and regimental colour were still a far off in terms of a standard military system/regulation... so a regiment referred to as the "red regiment" in the history of the time might confusingly be referring to either the flag or the coat colour of the regiment ..

The colours could, or more likely would not, then have a relation to the uniform of the regiment... as the regiments would get new clothing on a yearly basis (if they were lucky), and if they were really lucky the uniforms might be all the same colour, and if they were even luckier they might be the same colour as the one's they were exchanging - there was no guarantee it would be the same uniform colour as before, so the same is also true of standards

There were some basics, though, that seem to have applied across the board....  I think the following is known as the Venn System (named after and described by Captain Thomas Venn in his book "Military Observations or The Tacticke put into Practice", published in 1672).

• The colour of the Colonel's Company was usually plain, but could be charged with his heraldic badge or a motto (we already have one exception to that, as Gerard's was not plain but quartered diagonally, and I've only painted 3 foot regiments in the project so far!)). 
• The Cross of St. George seems to have been common on all the other regimental colours - but not the colonels - whatever the system used.
• The colour of the Lieutenant-Colonel's Company (2nd in seniority) displayed the Cross of St. George only
• The colour of the Major's Company  (3rd in seniority) was the same but with the addition of a "stream blazant", also known in heraldic terms as a "wavy pile", think a wavy lightning bolt - issuing from the lower corner of the canton - this is an example:
  
• The colours of the captains' companies (4th in seniority onward) were made unique by adding additional symbols, in varying numbers (as there was no set way of doing this) Typically, or perhaps ideally, the first captain would have one symbol on his flag, and for each additional company another symbol was added. These could be simple shapes such as balls, stars, circles, lozenges or crescents (more popular in Parliamentarian regiments). In some cases heraldic devices might be used (lions,etc) but these were rarer - presumably because they were more difficult to make, and would be more likely in a Royalist regiment.

Venn system illustrated - from the awesome Warflag.com website

There were alternatives.... in the main one, some regiments ignored the lightning bolt/wavy pile and had one symbol for the majors company and then increased by one for each one device for the Major's Company, two for the First Captain's Company and so on (apparently this system was common for the regiments of the London Trained Bands).

Some regiments used differing numbers of 'stream blazant'/'wavy pile': one for the Major's Company, two for the First Captain's Company, etc.

A few Royalist regiments differentiated by diagonal divisions of the field of the colour - this is an example:

Picture courtesy http://tmg110.tripod.com/british9.htm

It was also not unusual for regiments to have entirely different flags per company, that is with no common differentiation at all.. towards the end of the First Civil War this was fairly common amongst Royalist regiments. There are accounts of regiments being furnished with colours captured from the other side so it is extremely unlikely they would have any resemblance to existing flags in the regiment, or even each other.

This is why the trooping of the colour would have been so important in those days - with regular change, due to officers dying, standards being replaced through damage and general wear and tear, etc., it was important that a soldier got to recognise his own companies flag, but also the flags for the other companies in his regiment - in a battle it could be critical..  the context of the trooping of the colour was not something I'd thought about before...  it's not just ceremonial, there is an underlying purpose that isn't quite so obvious in more modern times..

The other thing I read, is that it is entirely conceivable that the regiments on either side might very well have very similar flags - in the smoke and noise of battle that is going to cause an issue at some point in time or another - troops could conceivably rally to the standard of one of their opponents, or even another regiment on the same side - one of the reasons that some regiments used the diagonal divisions system apparently as it was less likely to be copied or similar to anyone else..  interesting possibilities...

Those of the cavalry are far less standardised (ha... see what I did there..!)...  they would tend to have one per squadron of horse..  usually about 2 foot square and they varied widely in design, many displaying the heraldic devices of their commanders, religious motto's, or political (and other!) slogans. The following is going to have to appear at some time...  

Attributed to Sir Horatio Cary’s (Royalist) Regiment of Horse - picture courtesy BCW wiki site [clicky]

Dragoon standards would have been the same size but usually had a swallow tail and would more likely follow the same style as infantry standards..

Further reading:

• http://wiki.bcw-project.org/_media/notes/articles/ecw_flags_article.pdf
• http://tmg110.tripod.com/british6.htmhttp://seventeenthcentury.info/index.php?title=Flags_in_the_Civil_War_Period#MILITARY_COLOURS