Mercenary flags (Switzerland)

Last modified: 1997-10-28 by alexandre voscorian
Keywords: mercenary flag | switzerland | flamed flag | vatican guard | bern | schaffhausen |
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• Description of the mercenary flags
• History of the mercenary flags
• Swiss Guard
• Books

Flamed flags have a long tradition in Switzerland. For those who never saw such a flag: the flames a kind of wavy rays from the center to the edge of the flag. They usually come in two or three colors.

These flags were mainly used by Swiss mercenary troops. Here the colors of the commander of a regiment (usually a Swiss noble) were arranged in such flames. The last (and only) mercenary regiment still in service is the Swiss Guard in Vatican. The Swi

The cantonal flags do not have any official standing, nevertheless they are seen quite often because of their attractive design. Here the cantonal arms are placed on a two-color flamed background. The colors are usually the ones of the arms (but e.g. S

In Bern a particular flamed flag is extremely popular. The flames are black-red with a white cross reaching to the edge. This is the old war flag of the canton of Bern from the time before the founding of the Swiss Confederation.

Harald Müller, 1996-MAY-14

The wavy flames radiating from the center originated in the 16th century. In Switzerland proper cantonal flags predominated over the confederate white cross, but in mercenary service the units were mixed and of little cantonal significance. Mercenary

The Swiss Guards Regiment in France (which was massacred in the August 1792 assault on the Tuilleries, an event commemorated by the Lion monument in Lucerne) had a rainbow design of black, blue, yellow and red rays.

The de Meuron Regiment, which served the British in India and America from 1795 to 1816 had similar rays in all cantons but the first which was the UJ (altered in 1801 to include the St. Patrick saltire).

French regiments of the 18th century borrowed the Swiss cross and put their own regional devices in the cantons.

Tom F. Mills, 1996-MAY-14

The Swiss Guard does not have a regimental flag any more, but I think the colors of the uniforms go back to such a flag.

Harald Müller, 1996-MAY-14

If the Guard no longer has a flag, that is relatively recent. I think each pope presented a new one. There is one hanging in the Musée des Suisses au Service Etranger near Geneva. It consist of the Swiss white cross extended to the edges, the arms of Colonel Pfyffer d'Altishofen in the 1st quarter, the arms of Pius XII (1939-1958) in the 4th, and horizontal rays in the colors of the Guard uniform

Tom F. Mills, 1996-MAY-14

A beautiful book illustrating cantonal banners in the flame style is Flottez Drapeaux! (Fly flags!) by E.A. Gessler, (Zurich: Editions Fraumunster, 1943). [ges43]

Tom F. Mills, 1996-MAY-14