French flags of the Seven Years War
Quite some time ago, someone pointed out a French web site which was full of French horse and musket flags. The 18th century section was fantastic but I've lost the link.
Anyone know which site I'm on about and maybe have a link to it?
If you find it, you can have my first born. Failing that, I get you some frogspawn.
Thats the one!
Well done, the frogspawn is in the post.
You might also want to have a look at :
http://vial.jean.free.fr/new_npi/archives/archiv.htm
... as well as :
http://pfef.free.fr/Page_Principale.htm
The best and most comprehensive book on the subject would be Pierre Charrié's Drapeaux et Etendards du Roy, but it's all in French and I believe long out of print. Don't hesitate to ask if you have a query regarding a specific unit.
Didn't they have the cheek to claim that the reason they stitched a white cross onto the Colonel's drapeaux was to distinguish them from the flags usually flown by their enemies?
I made a few for 28mm that I posted on one of my blogs. These are regiments from the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.
Without knowing what particular regiments you are looking for, I'm not sure how useful they are to you. But if there are any here you could use, help yourself.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/8/12/1342564/French_Flags_28mm.pdf
Oh I'm just chewing my way through Rossbach at the minute. Feel a Swiss regiment coming on soon.
God to say that the Dauphin colours are my favourite.
Thanks for all the links guys.
Didn't they have the cheek to claim that the reason they stitched a white cross onto the Colonel's drapeaux was to distinguish them from the flags usually flown by their enemies?
I'll spoil everybody's fun and tell you it wasn't the case, then :devil:
Until 1661, the white flag was only carried by the senior permanent units in the army (the vieux and the petits-vieux mostly, plus a few others), and was considered a major honorary distinction. The white flags were provided and paid for by the Colonel General of the infantry, not by the colonel-proprietor - or mestre de camp in the parlance of the day.
When the office of the Colonel-General of the Infantry was abolished in 1661, the white flag reverted to the mestre de camp's own company, the compagnie colonelle being until then the property of the Colonel General in each regiment being awarded a white flag by the King. From then on, each mestre de camp became the titular colonel of his regiment and paid for the drapeau colonel out of his own pocket.The white latin cross of France was sewn on the white field of the drapeau colonel of most infantry regiments to identify them as French units. There were exceptions, though : Bourgogne and Royal Comtois used the ragged Burgundy cross instead, and Bretagne featured the arms of Britanny topped with a blue scroll.
And bear also in mind the fact that many so-called white flags sported coloured devices and inscriptions, sometimes quite profusely : mottos, fleurs-de-lys, and provincial coat-of arms were extremely common.