medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> So . . . I know this is an elementary question, but what is the
> current consensus (if any) on what the Oriflamme actually looked
> like? Was there just one, or were there many, and if many, were they
> all alike? I seem to remember seeing a remarkable diversity of
> descriptions of its possible color, shape, decoration and so forth.
The best study of this is Philippe Contamine, "L'Oriflamme de
Saint-Denis aux XIVe et XVe siecles: Etude de symbolique religieuse
et royale," Annales de l'Est, 5e ser., vol. XXV, no. 3 (Nancy, 1973),
179-244, esp. pp. 218-23. Contamine collects the references to the
several divergent descriptions of the Oriflamme surviving from the
13th and 14th centuries. It is generally described as a plain red
banner with tails, made of silk ('samit' or 'cendal') mounted on a
lance. The representation of the Oriflamme being passed from St
Denis to Jean Clement in the stained glass of Chartres Cathedral is
the most elaborate known. It has five tails outlined in white tufts
and with green tassels attaching it to the lance. These subsidiary
colours are not always mentioned, however, and the number of tails
vary and can be as few as two. The lance is sometimes described as
gold in colour. Some modern descriptions also state that the banner
itself was gold, presumably through an etymological analysis
comparable to those of Isidore of Seville (flame of gold), but I
know of no medieval confirmation of this.
Your course sounds fascinating. I hope this helps. You wouldn't
happen to know of any descriptions of the Banner of St Peter?
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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