France: Commanding officer's pennants (part 1)

Fanions de commandement

Last modified: 2003-05-17 by ivan sache
Keywords: commanding officer's pennant | fanion | general |
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• Overview
• General commander-in-chief of an army group
• Major-general of an army group
• General commander-in-chief of an army
• General commanding the Artillery or the Engineers of an army
• General commanding an army corps

See also:

• France
• France: Military flags
• France: Commanding officer's pennants (part 2)
• France: Army service pennants
• Commanding officer's pennants in Algeria, 1837
• Commanding officer's pennants in Kabylia (Algeria), 1857
• Pennants of African French army
• Pennants of the Algerian Tirailleurs

Overview

The commanding officer's and service pennants which were used by the French Army are described and illustrated in Grand Larousse Illustré du XXe siècle (6 vol.,1928), under the heading "FANION", as follows:

FANION (from fanon, itself from Old High German fano, piece of fabric).
Small flag used in several purposes, but without the characteristic of national symbol given to the (national) flag.

The oldest attested form of fanion (1469) is found in an edict of the King of France Louis XI (1461-1483). The edict organized a corps of 16,000 franc-archers, who constituted the core of the national infantry. Each of the 4 Captain-Generals was preceded by a soldier bearing a white commanding pennant.

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