Banner

A square flag (also oblong placed perpendicularly), generally embroidered with the owner's arms. No one below the rank of knight banneret is entitled to a banner.

The banner was also used for funerals. The funeral banner is described by Berry as of a square form, fringed and affixed to a small staff or pike. The manner the arms were embroidered on the banner conformed with rules to indicate the rank and marital state of the deceased

The Great Banner contained all the quarterings of the deceased and was also borne at the funerals of women.

The rank of the deceased was indicated by the size of the banner as follows:

An emperor: six feet square.

A king: five feet square.

A prince or duke: four feet square.

All titles below marquis: three feet square.

Banner-Rolls (French, banderole) were used likewise at funerals. They were three feet square, painted on silk and generally depicted the paternal and maternal matches of the deceased, as well as those of his lineal ancestors.

When the defunct was a peer who had several baronies, each banner-roll would have been painted with the match that brought in a barony; and if the deceased was a bishop, then each banner-roll would contain the arms severally of the different sees to which he had been elected or translated. Banner-rolls could likewise be borne at the funerals of women.

See also Flag