Banner of Poland

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The banner of Poland was, for most of Poland's history, one of the main symbols of the Polish State, normally reserved for use by the head of state. Although its design changed with time, it was generally a heraldic banner, i.e. one based directly on the national coat of arms: a crowned White Eagle in a red field (Gules and eagle Argent crowned Or). The banner should not be confused with the flag of Poland, a white and red horizontal bicolor, oficially adopted only in 1919. A banner of Poland is not mentioned in the current regulations on Polish national symbols.

[edit] History

The banner of Poland traces its origins to the early Slavic vexilloids known as stanice (pronounced: [sta'ɲit͡sɛ]; singular: stanica), probably used at least as early 10th century CE. Although no specimens or images are preserved, a stanica was probably a cloth draped vertically from a horizontal edge attached to a wooden pole or spear and resembled the Roman vexillum. It was a religious as well as military symbol; during peace, the stanice were kept either inside or outside pagan temples and taken to war as military insignia.

With Poland's conversion to Christianity in the late 10th century, the pagan stanice were probably Christianized by replacing pagan symbols with Christian ones, such as images of patron saints, the labarum or a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit. In 1000, during his pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Adalbert in Gniezno, the then capital of Poland (Congress of Gniezno), Emperor Otto III officially recognized Duke Boleslaus the Brave as King of Poland, crowning him and presenting with a copy of the Holy Lance, also known as Saint Maurice's Spear. The relic, together with the vexillum attached to it, was probably the first insignia of the young Kingdom of Poland, a symbol of King Boleslaus's rule as well as his allegiance to the Emperor. It remains unknown what images, if any, were painted or embroidered on the vexillum.

A royal banner was used as early as during the reign of Boleslaus the Generous (1076-1079). The earliest mention of the banner bearing the sing of an eagle is found Wincenty Kadłubek's Chronicle which says that Duke Casimir the Just fought the Ruthenians in 1182 "under the sign of the victorious eagle". A seal of Duke Premislaus II from 1290 shows the ruler holding a banner emblazoned with a crowned eagle. Five years later, Premislaus was crowned King of Poland and made the crowned White Eagle a national coat of arms. During the reign of King Ladislaus the Elbow-High (1320-1333), the red cloth with the White Eagle was finally established as the Banner of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: chorągiew Królestwa Polskiego).

The state banner was identical with that of Lesser Poland, the territory where Kraków, the then Polish capital, is located. It was therefore carried by the Standard-bearer of Kraków until the office was replaced by the Great Standard-Bearer of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: chorąży wielki koronny, Latin: vexillifer regni).