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Vexillology and Heraldry Series #3: Parts of Flags and Related Terms
Once again, I am starting with the definitions on Wikipedia’s page. Snarky comments in parentheses are mine to indicate what I really think of their definitions. You can find the earlier conversations in this series here and here.
Parts of Flags
Canton—Any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Jack in the Australian Flag.
Charge—A figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag. There are terms for specific types of charges or alternate names for single changes, such as:
- Badge—A coat of arms (really a heraldic achievement) or simple heraldic symbol.
- Emblem—A device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag.
Field—The background of a flag; the color behind the charges.
Finial—A decorative or protective cap atop the flagpole. Often shaped like a sphere, but can also be a shape with heraldic significance, such as a spear or an eagle. Sometimes referred to as a capper. (By whom, Wikipedia? Give me names and addresses of these people. I will kneecap them for this offense. Finial is a good word. It’s what you use to cap the ends of curtain rods. It is what you screw on to hold a lampshade on the lamp. And, it’s that thing on the end of a flagpole, and no, I don’t mean a flagpole sitter.)
Fly—The half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole. This term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag. (No, it isn’t. We use a very special term for that: length.)
Hoist—The half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole. This term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag. (No, it isn’t. We use a very special term for that: width.)
Obverse—The front of a flag. For most flags, this is the illustration you will see.
Reverse—The backside of the flag. It is different in some very “special” jurisdictions, like Oregon, who just had to show off their beaver.
Other Terms
Fimbriation—A narrow edging or border, often in white (silver/argent) or gold, on a flag to separate two other colors. For example the white and gold lines of the South African Flag.
Length—The span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole.
Width or breadth—The span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole.
Basic Contexts of Use
There are six basic contexts of use, and vexillologists have symbols for them that you might encounter:
- Civil flag—Flown by citizens on land.
- State flag—Flown on public buildings.
- War flag—Flown on military buildings.
- Civil ensign—Flown on private vessels (fishing craft, cruise ships, yachts, etc.).
- State ensign—Flown on unarmed government vessels.
- Naval ensign—Flown on warships.
The United States flag, known by many names, such as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “The Stars and Stripes,” or “Old Glory,” currently serves all of these contexts.
Some countries also have flags for other contexts, such as the UK’s having an RAF ensign.
Then there are very special contexts, such as the crazy-person designator context. In the US, here is the flag for that:
If you see this flag, back away slowly and avoid eye contact. If you happen to fly this flag, the men in white coats with the butterfly nets will be visiting you soon.
Thoughts? Additions? Comments? Forgotten parts? Take it away, Ricochet.
Published in History
And to quote:
And then:
So, I don’t know what you’re on about.
Kind of busy.
I skipped down to the second blazon and read it while looking at the first.
My favorite history teacher in grade school did a semester-long project every year where she’d divide us into groups of immigrants from different countries. We’d each get a personal and group bio of our characters then we’d do various related assignments to earn points for our group.
One of the assignments I volunteered for was to make our ship’s flag and it was a top-scoring beauty: a field of white, blue shield in the center, with symbols from our fictional Greek captain’s hometown, encircled with laurels.
I wasn’t the greatest student, so my teacher was pretty impressed with how hard I worked to win this thing. She figured I just liked the creative bent of it — and sure, that was part of it. But I also felt honor-bound to make up for the prior year, when my sister had done the same project. She’d also been tasked with flag-making, which she completely forgot about until the night before it was due. So she grabbed an old yellow bath towel, drew a meandering spiral on it with a sharpie, festooned it with multi-colored felt polka-dots and inscribed it with the legend: “Forward . . . to Freedom!“
Her immigrant group was from Poland. The teacher was not amused.
It wasn’t the country your people came from, I take it.
Nah, but that wouldn’t have stopped her.
In fact, she’d have probably done the exact same thing but thought of it sooner.
Yep. Only the label differenced his escutcheon from his grandfather at that point. The two halves of the first quarter represented that he was King of Great Britain (England and Scotland). The second quarter was for his pretense as King of France, which he had inherited from the three previous dynasties. The third quarter was as King of Ireland. The fourth section represented the Duchy/Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, which was also known as Hannover. The white (argent) horse on red field was for the Electorate and was their flag. The two sections with lions were more generally for the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as a whole, which was divided into two parts with the Electors’ cousins ruling as Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, which was a subdivision of the original duchy. The superimposed escutcheon of gules with golden Crown of Charlemagne signified that he was the Arch-Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire. All of the secular electors had some purely ceremonial position at the HRE Court, and that was his. The real treasurer did the work.
Their House was known in Britain as the House of Hanover, generally, but they were the House of Guelph or Welf, who had been the elder brother of a fellow named Este, who had founded the House of Este, which held a duchy and principality in Italy. You might have heard of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. At the time of that war and political unrest, one of the Guelphs was Holy Roman Emperor.
Nah. This is kind of busy…
George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham commissioned this. It is the quartering of the “Temple, Nugent, Brydges, Chandos and Grenville families, including ten variations of the English Royal arms, the arms of Spencer, De Clare, Valence, Mowbray, Mortimer and De Grey,” according to Wikipedia. 719 quarterings. If you asked your herald “Who is that over there?” he would reply “Europe’s first cousin, milord.”
Kind of busy.
Thin blue line?
Pro police. I’ve even seen it around Portland.
That isn’t what he described, but I’m all for it, of course.