Last modified: 2005-03-19 by rob raeside
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Anthony Anthony, a clerk in the Ordnance Office, compiled an illustrated
survey of Henry VIII's Navy. Paintings of fifty-eight ships on three rolls of
vellum were presented to the King in 1546. Later, Charles II gave two of the
rolls to Samuel Pepys, who had them cut, and made into a book, which is now in
Magdalene College, Cambridge. The third roll remained in its original form and was
sold to the British Museum by Lady Mary Fox, a daughter of William IV. In 2000,
photographs of the paintings, and transcriptions of the associated text, from
both book and roll were combined and published as 'The Anthony Roll' (Knighton
& Loades, 2000). There are six pages of commentary about the flags on the
ships; 'Function and Heraldry' by Timothy Wilson (Flags at Sea), and 'Fabric' by
Maria Hayward.
Wilson wrote;
"The flags on the Anthony Roll are an amazing display. They are the most
elaborate source we have for the flags flown on the ships of King Henry VIII,
being richer in visual detail than all other sources put together."
All the ships are seen from a few degrees abaft the starboard beam, with sails
furled. The ships are, with two exceptions, arranged in descending order of
size/importance. The flags are blowing from bow to stern, showing their reverse
sides. Square flags are flat, but oblong flags have been drawn with a vertical
fold and some shading. It is difficult to distinguish the details of some flags,
which are quite small. Some parts of the paintings have faded, and the fold and
shading on the oblong flags tends to obscure or confuse any detail. Many of the
white areas on St George flags, striped flags, and streamers have dark blotches
and streaks, which are thought to represent silver (oxidized to black)
decoration that was sometimes woven into the fabric of flags, or to be silver
added to paintings of flags, to enhance their appearance. Some of the St George
flags also have yellow streaks along the arms of the cross, which are probably
similar gold decoration. Altogether there are twelve different square flags,
seventeen different oblong flags, two similar triangular pennants, and one style
of streamer.
by Rob Raeside
Every ship has one or more streamers; a St George hoist, and green over white tail. A line from each end of a rod at their hoist attaches them to a single point on a fighting top, or directly to a point on the masts of those ships without fighting tops. They are very long and it is supposed that they were only for show and decoration, and not used at sea. Perhaps the equivalent of the modern practice of rigging signal flags as decoration when dressing ship.
The hoist of every flag painted on the Roll (Knighton
& Loades, 2000) is on the right, and thus all the
flags show their reverse sides. Despite this, the quarters of the Royal Arms on
the Royal Standards are arranged as though the obverse side is being displayed.
This casts doubt upon the correct appearance of the obverse side of some other
flags. Where it is possible that the obverse of the flag might not have been a
mirror image of the reverse side, the image has been made as a reverse image.
This is noted beside each flag with a reverse symbol, and in the name of each
flag, and indicated in the file-name by a final ' r '.
David Prothero, 17 July 2004
A square flag of St George is the most common flag and appears
221 times.
In another 21 instances it occurs with a yellow circle at the intersection of
the arms of
the cross. The circle is placed quite precisely, and does not
appear to be
one of the gold marks which decorate some flags. There is no detail to show what
the
circle represents; perhaps a rose or sun. A similar yellow circle appears in the
centre
of a green square impaled with St George on The Mary Rose, the second most
important ship.
by
Martin Grieve
The Royal Standard, on its own as a square flag, appears 37 times. In every case it has been painted with the English lions in the 1st and 4th quarters, and the French fleur-de-lis in the 2nd and 3rd, in what seems to have been a convention of the time that the quarters should be shown only in the same arrangement as on the royal arms.
Horizontally striped flags of green and white, the Tudor livery colours, appear in five versions:
Square flag with three green and two white horizontal stripes, 22 examples.
Oblong flag with three green and two white horizontal stripes, on only the first three ships and the one galley.
Square flag with four horizontal stripes, green over white, 61 examples.
Square flag with four horizontal stripes, white over green, 104 examples.
Oblong flag with four horizontal stripes, white over green, appears only
once.
David Prothero, 18 July 2004
The horizontally striped flags of yellow and white are not as numerous as the green and white striped flags, and are carried in only the nineteen largest ships. Thirteen are square with 3 yellow and 2 white stripes, eight have 2 yellow over 2 white, and four have 2 white over 2 yellow. The oblong version has three yellow and two white stripes and like the green and white version appears on the first three ships, but in this case, not on the galley.
Square flag with three yellow and two white horizontal stripes.
Square flag with four horizontal stripes, white over yellow.
Square flag with four horizontal stripes, yellow over white.
Oblong flag with three yellow and two white stripes.
David Prothero, 19 July 2004
Anthony Roll series (after Knighton & Loades, 2000) continued on this page