Oriflamme

oriflamme

From the time of Louis VI (1108-37) the banner of St. Martin was replaced as ensign of war by the oriflamme of the Abbey of St. Denis, which floated about the tomb of St. Denis and was said to have been given to the abbey by Dagobert. It is supposed without any certainty that this was a piece of fiery red silk of sendal the field of which was covered with flames and stars of gold. The standard-bearer carried it either at the end of a staff or suspended from his neck. Until the twelfth century the standard-bearer was the Comte de Vexin, who, as "vowed" to St. Denis, was the temporal defender of the abbey. ... The descriptions of the oriflamme which have reached us in Guillaume le Breton (thirteenth century), in the "Chronicle of Flanders" (fourteenth century), in the "Registra Delphinalia" (1456), and in the inventory of the treasury of St. Denis (1536), show that to the primitive oriflamme there succeeded in the course of centuries newer oriflammes which little resembled one another. At the battle of Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415) the oriflamme fell into the hands of the English; it would seem that after the Hundred Years' War it was no longer borne on the battlefield. (Catholic Encyclopedia)