BANNER, a piece of cloth attached to a pole and usually bearing some warlike or heraldic device or national emblem. In this sense B. is a generic term, incuding many species, such as standard, ensign, pennon, flag, etc. Banners have been used from the earliest times and in all countries for the purpose of directing the movements of troops. We read of thein constantly in the Old Testament, as in Numbers ii. 2: "Every- man of the children of Israel shall camp by his standard, and under the ensign of his father's house." The earliest Roman standard was a bundle of straw fixed to the top of a spear. This was succeeded by figures of animals—the horse, the hoar. etc., all of which soon gave plaice to the eagle,alongich continued all along to be the chief Roman ensign, and was afterwards assumed by the German and latterly by the French emperors of the Napoleon dynasty. In addition to the eagle each Roman cohort had a 13., generally a serpent or dragon woven on a square piece of cloth. The standard of the cavalry was a square piece of cloth expanded on a cross, and it was to this that the term medium properly applied. Examples of these standards arc sculptured on the arch of Constantine at Rome. The top of the staff was also frequently adorned with a figure of Mars or of Victory, and in later times with the head of the reigning emperor. After Constantine embraced Christianity, the cross was substituted for the head of the emperor on the purple B. of Byzantium. Standards were less in use amongst the Greeks than has been usual with warlike nations; but a standard, and sometimes a scarlet flag, was employed as a signal for giving battle. On the rise of chivalry in the middle ages, the ordering of banners, like every other branch of military organization, attained to something like scientific exactitude. From the B.•royal, which bore the national emblems, to the small streamer attached to the lance, with its cross or stripes, there was a regular subor dination, each emblem having its place and its meaning. The pennon of the simple knight differed from the square B. of the banneret (q.v.), it being pointed at the ends. In addition to their varieties in size, shape. and color. these banners were distinguished
by the emblems which they bore. One of the earliest is the Danish raven, depicted on the standard taken by Alfred, of which Asser mentions the tradition, that "in every battle. wherever that tiag, went before them, if they (the Danes) were to gain a victory, a live crow would appear flying on the middle of the flag; but if they were doomed to be defeated. it would down motionless." Nor did the privilege of carrying banners belong to princes and knights alone; bishops and abbots displayed similar ensigns, which were carried before them in religious processions and under which their retainers' fought in their defense. It was to these that •the term " Gonfalon," a word as to the origin of which much diversity of opinion exists, was more commonly applied. In place of the heraldic emblems of the knight, the 13. of the church and of towns and communes usually bore the effigies of saints. Some banners, however, displayed no ensigns whatever and were known simply by their color. Of this the or/flan/ate, or plain nithly flag of St. Denis, was a famous example. The celebrated Bayeux tapestry (q.v.) throws considerable light on banners, as well as on other 'natters connected with the warlike arrangements of the middle ages. Much curious information on this and kindred subjects will be found in Hewitt's Aneient Armor and 1Veapons in Europe. By every warlike people the B. has been regarded as the emblem of national honor, as a palladium for the defense of which the individual 'warrior was at an times ready to sacrifice his life. From the converse of this feeling banners and flags taken froin the enemy have always been regarded as special trophies of victory, and places of honor in churches and public buildings have consequently been assigned them. As to the flags 'borne by the ships of different nations and the arrangements concerning them in peace and war, see FLAG; as to colors of regiments, see CoLutts.
The relation which banners bear to other kinds of flap in their forms and uses will be explained under CoLoas, MitxrAni; ENSIGN; FLAG; PENDANT, etc.
Banner displayed is the term used by heralds to describe a 13, open and flying.