Post
by Arthur » Thu Jun 20, 2013 8:52 pm
Sorry, chiming in a bit late.
Earlier in the C17th, each infantry company carried its own standard. However, a royal ordinance dated June 22 1671 reduced the number of flags to three per battalion. An infantry battalion carried one white (colonel's) and two coloured (known as ordonnance) flags. In the case of multi-battalion regiments, the white colonel's colour was carried by the first battalion while the second, third or fourth battalions had coloured drapeaux d'ordonnance only.
In practice, the royal ordinance of 1671 doesn't seem to have been fully implemented as lists of French colours captured during the WSS suggest that some units still carried four colours per battalion : at Blenheim for instance, the two-battalion Artois regiment lost six drapeaux d'ordonnance when it should have had only five, and Pierre Charrié cites many other instances of French regiments surrendering more drapeaux d'ordonnance than they should have possessed.
Re the shoulder ribbons, yes, their tinctures varied from regiment to regiment (some were in the colonel proprietor's livery colours, but this was not systematic) and are not always recorded. Check out René Chartrand's MAA on Louis XIV's army and Robert Hall's magnum opus for descriptions of those that are known to us (they were originally bunches of ribbons by the way, not tassles). They seem to have gradually fallen out of favour during the 1690's (not all period engravings show them, especially those by Guérard) and they were mostly gone by 1700, except in the cavalry where they survived as aiguillettes well into the C18th.
Hope this helps
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
