French Canada before 1763 (Nouvelle France)

Last modified: 2002-03-02 by phil nelson
Keywords: canada | nouvelle france |
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• The Royal Banner of France
• French Regiments in Nouvelle France

See also:

• Canada
• Canada - History
• France

External Links to an illustrated history of Quebec's flag:

• In English
• In French
• In Spanish

External link to a book on the history of Quebec's flag (Government of Quebec):

• "Le fleurdelisé" by Claude Paulette

The Royal Banner of France

From 1534 to 1763 the royal banner of France was the the most commonly used flag in New France (east and Central Canada) during the French regime. This flag displayed three gold fleur-de-lis on a dark blue field ("Azure, three fleurs-de-lis or, arranged two and one"). French military flags, including the white flag of la marine royale, were also flown in New France.
Peter Cawley - 25 May 1995

French Regiments in Nouvelle France

First, I would like to thank Dominic and Al for the information they have helped me gather and the corrections they brought to my original info. Also, Zeljko, for the technical help with Paintshop.

My source for these gifs is *Le drapeau quebecois* by Jacques Archambault, Editeur officiel du Québec, 1974.
This is a book on the history of Quebec's flags that is not available anymore, unfortunately.

I will now give the description of the colours of the ordonnance flags of the regiments. I will give those that Dominic sent me ; they correspond to Al's, just a little more precise. They are from Pierre Charrie, *Drapeaux et etendars du Roi*, and Al's source is Historex, a French flag manufacturer.

(I would like to point out that the descriptions are very important, because the colours from the illustrations of the XVIIth-XVIIIth centuries have faded - which leaves a certain uncertainty).

Also, it was not specified by anyone, but in my book, the flags are all 1:1, with a centered white 1/5 cross.
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

Carignan-Salieres Regiment

I have sent already the presumed flag of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment, which was the only one that came complete to Canada (New France).
The Carignan-Salieres regiment was first known as Balthazar (1656), then Carignan-Balthazar (1659), then Carignan-Salieres (1665), then Perche (1691).

According to Quebec historians Sulte and Laverdiere, the regiment only had a white flag when it was known as Carrignan-Salieres, but according to Chartrand, it already had the colors that were to be those of Perche (and which are the ones I sent as *the presumed flag of C-S*).

There were 7 other Regiments that sent 1 battalion each :

Bearn

by Luc Baronian

Each quarter isabelle, with 2 red stripes.

Isabelle is said to be a brownish yellow in the Larousse dictionary, yellow-horse-colour in Le Robert ; it is coloured brown in my books; in Al's book it is orange for Guyenne and yellow for Berry.
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

Berry

by Luc Baronian

Each quarter violet (purple) with an isabelle band.

Isabelle is said to be a brownish yellow in the Larousse dictionary, yellow-horse-colour in Le Robert ; it is coloured brown in my books; in Al's book it is orange for Guyenne and yellow for Berry.

The only tough problem remaining is that in my book the stripe on the Berry flag is red, when it's yellow for Al and... isabelle for Dominic!
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

Guyenne

by Luc Baronian

1, 4 isabelle ; 2, 3 vert-gris (green-grey)
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

Languedoc

1, 4 violet ; 2, 3 feuille morte (dead leaf)

The *dead leaf* colour can be interpreted in many ways, I guess. Iit is depicted as yellow in my book, and as yellow in Al's also (though a different shade).
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

La Sarre

1, 4 : cramoisi (dark red) ; 2, 3 black
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

La Reine

by Luc Baronian

1, 4 vert clair (clear green) ; 2, 3 black with 5 gold lys and a gold crown on each branch and 3 gold lys in the center.

The number of lys in my book on La Reine and R Roussillon doesn't correspond to Dominic's. I used my books' rendition, do you think it was really specified?

I would think that they would just say : with a seme of fleur de lys...
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

Royal Roussillon

1 clear blue 2 red 3 feuille morte 4 clear green with 65 gold lys on the cross.

The number of lys in my book on La Reine and Royal Roussillon doesn't correspond to Dominic's. I used my books' rendition, do you think it was really specified?

I would think that they would just say : with a seme of fleur de lys...
Luc Baronian - 27 May 1997

In the "Historical Arms series No.18" (author Réné Chartrand)the illustration of the colors is a "copy from the official pattern book" from the archives Raoul et Jean Brunon, Chateau de l'Empéri, France. Having counted the Lys, my total is 45.
Sébastien Boult, 27 April 2001