BANNER (OF. batten-, baniere, Fr. ba n Were, bandiere. Low Lat. be eerie, banderia, from bandinn, standard; ef. Goth. ?Hindle°, sign, token. OHO. bunt, band). Strictly, a kind of flag painted or embroidered with arms, and of a size proportioned to the rank of its bearer; often fringed with the principal metal and color of the arms. The chief distinction between banners and other flags, such as standards, pennons, etc., is that it is square, or nearly so, while the others. are, as a rule, elongated. See FLAG; STANDARD; ENSIGN.
(OF. baneret, banneret, from bailor, banner). A knight entitled to display a banner, as distinguished from a pennon. The honor was originally gained in feudal times by bringing a certain number of soldiers into the field, but later became the reward of heroic acts performed in the face of the enemy. The first banneret in England is said by Froissart to have been made by King Edward 1., and the last be stowal of the honor was by Charles 1.. after the battle of Edgehill, the recipient being John Smith, who had recovered the royal standard from the insurgents, although there are three' doubtful instances in the Eighteenth Century. The ceremony of the creation of a knight-ban neret must have been very impressive to persons filled with the ideas which were prevalent in the ages of chivalry. The King, or his general, at
the head of his army, drawn up in order of bat tle, after a victory, under the royal banner dis played, attended by all the officers and nobility of the Court, received the banneret-eleet, who was not necessarily a knight previously, led be tween two knights of note or other men famous in arms, carrying his pennon in his hand. the heralds walking before him and proclaiming his valiant achievements, for which he deserved to be made a knight-banneret, and to display his ban ner in the field. The King, or general, then said to him: "Advance, banneret4" and cut off the point of his pennon, thus altering its shape to that of a banner (q.v.). The new knight. with the trumpeters sounding before him and the no bility and officers bearing him company, was sent back to his tent, where a noble entertainment was provided by the King. The word has also been applied to certain inferior magistrates in Switzerland and Italy.