Dictionary of Vexillology: Additional Notes (original) (raw)
The cross of Lorraine is so named as René de Vaudemont duke of Lorraine used it during his victory on Charles Le Temeraire duke of Burgundy who died in front of Nancy in 1477.
Before this, this cross was used by the family of his grandfather, René le Bon, count of Anjou, Provence and Lorraine.
The house of Anjou carries this cross on them war banners since 1360 and it is this family which carried it in Hungary.
At this time, this cross was known as cross of Anjou.
Dominique Cureau, 10 March 2007
"Vane. A piece of bunting extended on a wooden stock, which turns upon a spindle at the masthead; it shows the direction of the wind. A distinguishing vane denotes the division of a fleet to which a ship of the line belongs, according to the mast on which it is borne."
A Sailor's Word-Book by Admiral W.H. Smyth, 1867.
"In addition to the pennant, warships often flew vanes at empty mastheads. These were short, blunt pennants, sometimes on a rigid framework, which were used by merchant ships as well as warships. The vanes of warships were generally of the squadronal colour, though some late-18th-century fleets were equipped with sets of different vanes in more than one colour which were used to distinguish individual ships."
p.27 Flags at Sea [wil99] by Timothy Wilson.
"Eighteenth-century merchantmen were forbidden to fly pennants, but instead often flew short vanes at the masthead. Paintings of the period usually show them as being plain red."
p.34 ibid.
"... at the battle of Lowestoft in 1655 there were seven squadrons in the Dutch fleet, three distinguished by the masthead at which their pennants flew, the other four by the use of special variously coloured small masthead flags or vanes."
p.57 ibid
Memorandum Respecting Colours to be Worn, by Robert Calder, Victory, 3 January 1796. "The Van Squadron to carry their Vanes at their Main topmast heads, the Rear at their Fore topmast heads, and the Centre and all other Ships, Frigates, Sloops etc. etc. at their Mizzen topmast heads. The Vanes are to be three breadths or about thirty inches broad and six feet long (76cm x 1.8m), the upper part of the frame to run nearly the whole length of the Vane, the under part to be one quarter shorter. The colours to be of equal proportions whether vertically or horizontally divided. The Vanes of frigates to be proportionally less."
Quoted by Hilary Mead in the October 1937 _Journal of the Society for Nautical Research_from an MS in the Duckworth Papers, National Maritime Museum. Mead commented that, "The memorandum appears to throw some fresh light on the composition of vanes; instead of being ribbons or wisps of bunting as may have been supposed, they were evidently of substantial size and visibility, as was of course their function. Perhaps they are not more conspicuous in contemporary pictures because the artists were not sure of the colours, which at times were extremely complicated."
David Prothero, 30 March 2007