Military Flags 1701-1843 (Spain)

Last modified: 2003-01-11 by santiago dotor
Keywords: nideröst | swiss regiment nideröst | galicia | reding | swiss regiment reding | artillery | flamed | cross: saltire (red) | cross: saltire (yellow) | cross: burgundy |
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• Introduction
• Colours of the Royal Walloon Guards c.1734-1815
• Regimental Colour of Swiss Regiment Nideröst 1719-1735
• Regimental Colour of Regiment Sicilia 1728
• Regimental Colour of Regiment Galicia 1734
• Regimental Colours of Swiss Regiment Reding 1742-c.1749
• Louisiana Infantry 1779-1781 (Regimiento de Infanteria de Luisiana)
• Regimental Colour of the 5th Regiment of Foot Artillery 1810-1867
• King's Colour of the Regiment of Peninsular Light Infantry of Tarragona 1833-1845
• Regimental Colour of the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of Foot Artillery 1881

See also:

• Historical Flags 1701-1785 (Spain)
• Historical Flags 1785-1931 (Spain)
• Spain

Other sites:

• Banderas Militares (Military Flags, Spanish text only) by Sergio Camero:
  • Período Borbones hasta Guerra de la Independencia (The Bourbons until the War of Independence i.e. 1701-1812)

The overwhelming majority of Spanish 18th and early 19th century military flags, followed this pattern: a Burgundy Cross —usually but not always on a white field— and a coat-of-arms upon the end of every branch of the cross. These arms would identify the particular unit; Irish units, for example, would bear coats-of-arms with the Celtic harp.

Juan Morales, 23 January 1999

The Regimental flags (...) were to made out of taffeta, and with the main colours used by the respective province's Arms or of the City where the regiment was quartered. Following the precepts of the House of Bourbon, by an official notice of 1734, it was ordered that every regiment had three flags, all on white taffeta: the Coronela [Editor's note: Colonel's Colour, equivalent to King's Colour], with the Royal Coat of Arms centered on it, and the other two [Capitanas or Captain's Colours, equivalent to Regimental Colours] with the Burgundy Cross; on their four corners, the Coat of Arms of the Province and the Crown, and on the two top quarters the name of the regiment itself. Source: Vargas 1981, pp. 28-29.

Guillermo T. Aveledo, 16 January 2000

The regulations for Line Infantry established that sencilla flags (Regimental Colours) would not bear the royal arms (cf. the Louisiana Infantry 1779-1781 colour). Source: Antonio Manzano Lahoz, Las Banderas Históricas del Ejército Español.

Sergio Camero, 15 September 2001

2.26 m × 2.36 m
by Sergio Camero

The first Swiss mercenaries in the service of Spain were hired in 1483 by the Catholic Kings, according to Fernando del Pulgar to fight in the war against the Muslim Kingdom of Granada. These units were recruited by means of treaties called capitulations between the interested princes and the cantonal governments. Spain only hired troops from Catholic cantons.

This flag belonged to the Swiss Regiment commanded by Col. Karl Ignaz Nideröst (between 1719 and 1735) and is kept at the Bundesbriefmuseum in Schwyz (Switzerland). The size of the flag is 2.26 m × 2.36 m. This Swiss Regiment fought in the service of the Spanish King. Source: Antonio Manzano Lahoz, Las Banderas Históricas del Ejército Español.

Sergio Camero, 7 September 2001

1:1
by Sergio Camero

This is the sencilla flag (Regimental Colour) belonging to a Battalion of the Regiment Sicilia the Brave (1728). This regiment was founded during the reign of Charles I (German Emperor Charles V) in 1534, with the name of Gran Tercio Viejo de Sicilia. In 1728 the flags were modified by the Royal Ordinance of 1728, which establishes that each battalion shall have three flags:

• the coronela flag (King's Colour) shall be white with the escutcheon of the royal arms;
• the other two shall be white flags with the Burgundy Cross [and on its ends the arms of the kingdom or province which gives name to the unit].

Sergio Camero, 18 October 2001

Editor's note: the arms of Sicily can be seen in the chief sinister (i.e. top right) quarter of the royal banner.

1:1
by Sergio Camero

This is the sencilla flag (Regimental Colour) belonging to a Battalion of the Regiment Galicia (1734). This flag follows Philip V's Royal Ordinance of 31st January 1734, which regulated the use and design of Army flags. Source: Luis Esquiroz Medina, ¿Banderines o Guiones?.

Sergio Camero, 17 September 2001

The coat of arms on the cross' tips is almost identical to the current arms of Galicia, the main difference being the field colour: now blue, then red. The official Galician website says that "The background colour of the coat of arms has been blue since the 15th Century", not referring the previous colour. This flag is much later, though.

António Martins, 19 September 2001

I believe this may be a mistake in the source image. All my sources show that the field of the Galician arms has always been azure / blue.

Santiago Dotor, 20 September 2001

    
both by Sergio Camero

Two flags belonging to the Swiss Regiment commanded by Col. Joseph Reding (between 1742 and 1749?). These Swiss Regiments fought in the service of the Spanish King. Further information in my Banderas Militares website. Source: Antonio Manzano Lahoz, Las Banderas Históricas del Ejército Español.

Sergio Camero, 23-24 August 2001

Until 1770, each Swiss Regiment had from 2,000 to 4,000 men. In Spain there was a total of approximately 100,000 Swiss soldiers. Almost the entirety of these regiments were used in foreign campaigns: Flanders, the Duchy of Milan (Milanesado), Naples, Sicily, Portugal and Algiers. Regarding the flames in the flags of the Swiss Regiments, there are three models. Their flags also had the Burgundy cross, as was common in the Spanish Army. Source: a collection of sheets on the army of Ferdinand VII, Brown Library, USA.

Sergio Camero, 27 October 2001

by António Martins

Michael Bunn, of the Old Capitol Museum of Mississippi History, asked about the flags used by Spanish military forces in America, specifically De Soto ca. 1540 and Gálvez ca. 1780. I received the following information from Spanish vexillologist Eduardo Panizo:

An image of this flag exists in the Spanish Archivo General de Indias, in the city of Seville. It is a batallion flag of the Regimiento de Infanteria de Luisiana 1779-1781. This was the flag used by this regiment, commanded by Bernardo de Gálvez, at the battle of Pensacola on May 8th 1781, where the Spanish Army defeated the British one.

José Carlos Alegría, 16 July 2000

I suppose this may shed some additional light on the origin of the state flags of Florida and Alabama. This white square flag features the traditional red burgundy cross used by the Spanish army, cornered by four identical coats-of-arms, and over all the latin writing Honor et Fidélitas, meaning Honour and Loyalty.

José Carlos Alegría, 6 September 2000

by Sergio Camero

This is the sencilla flag [regimental colour] of the 5th Regiment of Foot Artillery 1810-1867. Blue was the colour of the first Artillery colours granted to the Royal Artillery Regiment, created on May 2nd 1710 by Philip V. The coronela flag [king's colour] was white, similarly to Infantry ones. Source: Luis Sorando Muzás, Banderas, Estandartes y Trofeos del Museo del Ejército 1700-1842.

Sergio Camero, 30 August 2001

135 cm × 153 cm
by Sergio Camero

This is the Coronela flag [king's colour] of the Regiment of Peninsular Light Infantry of Tarragona, garrisoned at Cuba 1833-1845. The two top corners show the Sevillian anagram 'NO8DO', the two bottom ones the arms of Aragon. The flag is 135 cm high and 153 cm wide. Source: Luis Sorando Muzás, Banderas, Estandartes y Trofeos del Museo del Ejército 1700-1842.

Sergio Camero, 8 September 2001

by Sergio Camero

This is the flag of the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of Foot Artillery 1881. Along the 19th century the initially blue colour of Artillery flags gradually varied to purple. Source: Luis Sorando Muzás, Banderas, Estandartes y Trofeos del Museo del Ejército 1700-1842.

Sergio Camero, 31 August 2001