Knight banneret

A knight banneret, sometimes known simply as banneret, was a medieval knight ("a commoner of rank")[1] who led a company of troops during time of war under his own banner (which was square-shaped, in contrast to the tapering standard or the pennon flown by the lower-ranking knights) and was eligible to bear supporters in English heraldry.

"Banneret" redirects here. For other uses, see Banneret (disambiguation).

Sir Rhys ap Thomas (1449–1525), knight banneret and Knight of the Garter.

The military rank of a knight banneret was higher than a knight bachelor (who fought under another's banner), but lower than an earl or duke; the word derives from the French banneret, from bannire, banner, elliptical for seigneur banneret or chevalier banneret, Medieval Latin banneretus.

Under English custom the rank of knight banneret could only be conferred by the sovereign on the field of battle. There were some technical exceptions to this; when his standard was on the field of battle he could be regarded as physically present though he was not. His proxy could be regarded as a sufficient substitution for his presence.

History

As there were no standing armies (except the military orders), military service was rendered ad hoc as an obligation of a vassal, either in person and/or with a contingent raised by one's own means. This social role was crucial: a suzerain, or feudal overlord, was dependent upon his vassals to mobilise on his behalf in case of war. The only alternative was to replace knighthood as the core of military forces with mercenaries, as under a condottiere, but those often proved highly unreliable and expensive, as well as being known for changing sides for greater profit, or simply deserting and looting for themselves.

In feudalism, the rank was given to those nobles who had the right to lead their vassals into battle under their own banner. Ultimately bannerets obtained a place in the feudal hierarchy between barons and knights bachelor, which has given rise to the idea that they are the origin of King James I's order of the baronet. John Selden, indeed, points out that the "old stories" often have baronetti for bannereti, and he points out that in France the title had become hereditary; but Selden is careful to say that "banneret hath no relation to this later title [of baronet]".[2] The title of knight banneret, with the right to display the private banner, came to be granted for distinguished service in the field. No knight banneret, says Selden, of the English custom:[3]

can be created but in the field, and that, when either the king is present, or at least his royal standard is displayed. But the creation is almost the self-same with that in the old French ceremonies by the solemn delivery of a banner charged with the arms of him that is to be created, and the cutting of the end of the pennon or streamer to make it a square or into the shape of a banner in case that he which is to be created had in the field his arms on a streamer before the creation.[3][4]

The creation of bannerets is traceable, according to Selden, to the time of Edward I. "Under these bannerets, diverse knights bachelor and esquires usually served; and according to the number of them, the bannerets received wages".[5] During the fourteenth century, men who had received an individual summon to parliament, but did not possess the estate of a baron or higher peers, were styled as bannerets of parliament, and were considered to be a distinct from and socially inferior to other peers. By the early fifteenth century, this distinction between baron and banneret had disappeared.[6] The last authentic instance of the creation of knights banneret was by King Charles I to several men at the Battle of Edgehill (1642) including Thomas Strickland of Sizergh for gallantry, and John Smith for rescuing the royal standard from the enemy.[3]

Whether any further bannerets were granted is debated by historians. George Cokayne notes in The Complete Peerage (1913) that King George II revived the order when he created sixteen knights bannerets on the field of the Battle of Dettingen in 1743,[lower-alpha 1] and although his source for this, a diary entry by Gertrude Savile, states "This honour had been laid aside since James I, when Baronets were instituted", which contradicts other sources,[3] a news magazine published in the same year as the battle recorded the honours.[8] Several sources, including Edward Brenton (1828) and William James (1827),[9][10] record that captains Trollope and Fairfax and were honoured with bannerets by King George III for their actions during the Battle of Camperdown (1797). However, these awards were never recorded in The London Gazette and is much more likely that these knighthoods, which first appear in formal records in December 1797 without their nature being specified,[11] were as knights bachelor.[lower-alpha 2]

Though the title had long fallen into disuse, bannerets and their sons continued to be listed in the table of precedence until at least as late as 1870; those created by the sovereign under the Royal Standard in wartime rank above baronets, whereas those knights banneret not so created by the sovereign in person rank directly below baronets.[13]

On page 364 of the 1990 edition of Dod's Parliamentary Companion, its table of precedence, which includes various long-vacant dignities, has in position 99 "Knights Banneret, created under the royal standard in open war, the Sovereign or the Prince of Wales being present" and in position 104 "Knights Banneret, provided they be not made in the manner described at No. 99. This position was allotted to such as were created by the commanders of armies in the king's name on the open field of battle." The former class of Knights Banneret thus rank below Judges of the High Court of Justice and above younger sons of viscounts and the latter class below baronets and above "Knights of the Thistle, when below the degree of a baron".

Royal Air Force

Following the creation of the Royal Air Force in 1918, most of its ranks were given unique names, to distinguish RAF personnel from their counterparts in the British Army and Royal Navy. It was initially suggested that the rank equivalent to an army colonel or a navy captain should be known in the RAF as "banneret".[14] However, this proposal was rejected and the name group captain was instead chosen for the rank in question.

See also

• List of knights banneret of England

Notes

1. King George II's 16 bannerets were: the Dukes of Cumberland and Marlborough; the Earls of Stair, Dunmore, Crawford, Rothes and Albemarle; and Generals Honywood, Hawley, Cope, Ligonier, Campbell, Bland, Onslow, Pulteney and Huske.[7]
2. "When the fleet returned to the Nore [George III] signified his intention of visiting it there, and Trollope, as the senior captain, was appointed to the Royal Charlotte yacht to bring him from Greenwich. The king accordingly embarked on 30 Oct.; but the wind came dead foul, and after two days the yacht had got no further than Gravesend. He therefore gave up the idea and returned to Greenwich, knighting Trollope on the quarterdeck of the Royal Charlotte before he landed. The accolade conferred 'under the royal standard' was spoken of as making Trollope a knight banneret, and was apparently so intended by the king; but it is said to have been afterwards decided [by the Privy Council], as a question of precedence, that a knight banneret could only be made on the field where a battle had actually been fought; or presumably, in the case of a naval officer, on the quarterdeck of one of the ships actually engaged".[12]

1. Neave & Turner 1930, p. 182
2. Selden 1672, p. 680.
3. Chisholm 1911, pp. 353–354.
4. Selden 1672, pp. 655,656.
5. Selden 1672, p. 656.
6. Given-Wilson, Chris (1996). The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages : The Fourteenth-Century Political Community, pp. 60-62. Routledge, London.
7. Cokayne 1913, pp. 572–573.
8. Shaw 1743, p. 356.
9. Brenton 1823, p. 356.
10. James 1827, p. 78.
11. "No. 14075". The London Gazette. 19 December 1797. p. 1210.
12. Laughton 1899, p. 248, Marshall 1823, p. 153
13. The Royal Kalendar ... for the year 1870, p. 10
14. Woodward, p. 364.

References

• Brenton, Edward Pelham (1823), The Naval History of Great Britain, I, London: Henry Colburn, pp. 356
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913), Gibbs, Gibbs; Doubleday, H. Arthur (eds.), The Complete Peerage, III, London, pp. 572–573
• James, William (1827), The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 2, 1797–1799, archived from the original on 27 May 2013, retrieved 26 March 2013
• Laughton, John Knox (1899). "Trollope, Henry" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 57. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 246–248.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Marshall, John (1823), Royal Naval Biography, 1, p. 153
• Neave, F.G.; Turner, Grange (1930), Mozley and Whiteley's Law Dictionary, London: Butterworth & Co, p. 182
• Selden, John (1672), Titles of honor, London: Printed by E. Tyler, and R. Holt, for Thomas Dring
• Shaw, Edward, ed. (1743), "July 1743", The London Magazine, and Monthly Chronologer, p. 356
• Woodward, Sir Llewellyn, Great Britain and War of 1914–1918, Taylor & Francis, p. 364

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Banneret". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 353–354. Endnotes:
  • John Selden, Titles of Honor (3rd ed., London, 1672), p. 656
  • Du Cange, Glossarium (Niort, 1883), s.v. Bannereti.

Further reading

•  Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Banneret". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1 (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 80.
• Metcalfe, Walter Charles (1885), A Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath, and Knights Bachelor made between the fourth year of King Henry VI and the restoration of King Charles II ..., London: Mitchell and Hughes
• Shaw, William Arthur (1906), The Knights of England: A complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors, incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland, 2, London: Sherratt and Hughes