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Royal Standard, Henry VII

by Dave Martucci

Explanation of the royal standard

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Explanation of the royal standard

I have always been fascinated by the elaborate standards of the middle ages and later. I came across a line drawing of the Standard of King Henry VII (Tudor) as sketched about 150 years later. The colors were indicated by abbreviations. The border is "murry" and blue. Murry is supposed to be between red and purple but I'm not sure of it exactly. Also the color of the motto was not indicated, so I am using gold, but who knows? Corrections, comments appreciated.
Source: the Special Flag Bulletin, "British Flags", where it is referenced as a 16th century drawing.

Dave Martucci, 13 July 1998

This looks like a standard for Wales: the normal standard of the Tudors was quarterly 1&4 France modern 2&3 England.
Murrey is the colour of (dried?) blood as I recall.

Andrew Yong, 14 July 1998

No, it was a Tudor standard, at least before they got the throne. Standards of such patterns, often richly endowed with heraldic badges, were quite common among noble families in the period. What we call the "Royal Standard" is really an armorial banner. Originally banners and standards were separate classes of flag. I believe the modern Welsh flag is directly derived from the Tudor standard though.

Roy Stilling, 14 July 1998

The TV programme "War Walks" traces the history of warfare in Britain and Ireland. It is presented from the battlefield by a history professor and each episode looks at a particular battle in detail. He explains the political and strategic situation leading to the battle, shows the use of some of the principal weapons, and the course of the battle is explained with a re-enactment by a society of enthusiasts dedicated to such re-enactments. I can't vouch for the programme's absolute accuracy except to say that these people are fanatics for accuracy.

One programme was about the 1485 Battle of Bosworth, when Henry Tudor won the crown. Henry's banner was shown much as shown here except that it had a large St George cross in the hoist. Unfortunately I can't recall the field, but I do have my doubts about the scattering of red and white roses. Both the roses as emblems and the name "Wars of the Roses" where later inventions, and the idea that the Tudors united the red and white roses, as suggested by the banner, was Tudor propaganda intended to strengthen their position after they came to the throne.

Interestingly, Richard's banner was not the royal England/France quarterly (to which he would have been entitled), but one very similar to Henry's with the red dragon replaced by Richard's white boar.

Paul Adams, 15 July 1998

At the time, a Standard was a long tapering flag bearing the crest and/or badge(s) and motto of the owner. The "normal standard" described above was then properly a "Banner." Of course, today it is called a "Standard" and the medieval "Standard" is no longer used.

The dragon was u