Saturday, 31 August 2013

Minden French Flags Project - Grenadiers Royaux

In April 1745 all militia grenadier companies were ordered to be detached from their parent battalions and grouped into 11 regiments of Grenadiers Royaux. Each regiment consisted of a single battalion. In January 1746 a decree stipulated that there would be a new company of grenadiers in each militia battalion, called Grenadiers Postiches. At the beginning of the Seven Years War the Grenadiers Postiches were detached from their parent militia battalions and incorporated into the 11 existing Grenadiers Royaux regiments, increasing them from 1 to 2 battalions each.

Grenadiers Royaux regiments wore the same uniform, distinguished only by different coloured collars and epaulettes on the right shoulder. All wore the tricorne laced silver.

Information summarised from Kronoskaf and the histories of the different regiments can be found at Kronoskaf here: http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=French_Army#Militias

Each regiment carried only ordonnance flags as shown below:



And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

 

Posted by David Morfitt at Saturday, August 31, 2013

18 comments:

  1. Ray Rousell1 September 2013 at 06:46

    A lovely looking flag!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scheck1 September 2013 at 17:28

    Fantastic work! Thank you so much, I will use this flag for a new unit. I will show you it, when finished.
    Best wishes
    _Peter

    ReplyDelete
  3. Adam from Lancashire2 September 2013 at 17:47

    Another wonderful flag, mate. Very nicely done.

    And that painting at the top of the blog is a cracker. Really evocative (as was the previous one, with the hussar). Could you tell me who it's by and what it depicts?

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  4. David Morfitt2 September 2013 at 18:02

    Thanks, Ray. :-)

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  5. David Morfitt2 September 2013 at 18:03

    Thanks, Peter. Glad you like it and I look forward to seeing it in use with your troops! :-)

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  6. David Morfitt2 September 2013 at 18:12

    Thanks, Adam. Good to hear from you again.

    It's by Carl Spitzweg: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Carl_Spitzweg and is called Friede im Land or "Quiet in the countryside". He often depicted humorous scenes and this one shows a nicely decayed fortification colonised by wild plants (and note the bird on the cannon's muzzle and the bits of straw falling out of it!) with a bored sentry in tricorne yawning his head off in a country that probably hasn't seen war for decades. A lucky land!

    Cheers,

    David.

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  7. David Morfitt2 September 2013 at 18:19

    P.S. The details are clearer on the larger version on Wikimedia.

    P.P.S. The previous picture of the hussar is by Wilhelm Velten and is called Wachposten an der Stadtmauer - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilhelm_Velten_Wachposten_an_der_Stadtmauer.jpg?uselang=en-gb or Guard on the City Walls. Mine is a slight crop of the original.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Adam from Lancashire2 September 2013 at 21:27

    Cheers for the info, David. I'm stuck to mobile phone internet at the mo (partly why my blog's died a death) so couldn't even make out most of the detail you mentioned. I'm eagerly looking forward to checking out the work of these artists on a decent screen.

    ReplyDelete
  9. David Morfitt2 September 2013 at 22:09

    Hi Adam,

    My pleasure. Frustrating to be stuck with such tiny screens; when will you have chance to see the pictures in decent detail? I'm sure you'll enjoy them when you can, anyway!

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  10. David Morfitt2 September 2013 at 22:10

    P.S. And good to see your blog revivified when you have chance, too!

    cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Capt Bill3 September 2013 at 01:48

    Sir David, Love the new flag and very pleased to see your still kicking, Best regards, Bill

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  12. Adam from Lancashire4 September 2013 at 15:12

    Got chance to have a nose on a big screen today. Lovely stuff, there's a couple more of bored 18th century sentries that I liked, but also loved the one of the portly hunter slipping. It's been a while since I've scoured wiki commons for stuff and it's certainly took off since the last time. There are lots of useful categories such as 'portaits of swiss in dutch service' and '18th century russians in uniform'.

    I should be getting a computer sometime this month, and will hopefully start being a lot more productive with it before. I've got an 18th century skirmish project on the go at the mo, so I'll actually have some stuff to post up. It's time-consuming (every miniature will be converted to some degree), but I've finally learnt not to bite off more than I can chew - even if it has taken a cupboard full of tin to get to that stage.

    I've also got a half-finished French FIW force on the go so I'll hopefully be making use of some of your lovely flags soon.

    ReplyDelete
  13. David Morfitt4 September 2013 at 17:58

    Thanks, Bill. I'm ticking over these days at least! Hope all's well with you.

    All the best,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  14. David Morfitt4 September 2013 at 18:03

    Hi Adam,

    Yes, wikimedia really has been adding vast amounts of stuff of late. I sent them a donation recently as I've been using them so much it seemed mean and churlish not to do so as they do provide a brilliant free service! Spitzweg was new to me but I do really like his style. It's not easy to find much historical painting of 18th century military life that's not about battles and I do like the more peacable stuff...

    Good to hear you'll be getting a new computer and that you'll be back in the land of the bloggers again soon. And I'd certainly be pleased to see my Franch flags in use too - it is always very good to see pictures of them in action. :-) Do let me know when things are up and running.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Carausius7 October 2013 at 15:53

    That's definitely one of my favourite uniform images from the sight. Very talented flag designing by the way.
    Carausius

    ReplyDelete
  16. David Morfitt7 October 2013 at 16:59

    Thanks, Carausius. Glad you like it and the flags. :-)

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Foss106615 October 2013 at 07:12

    By far one of the handsomest flags I've seen. Clean,and brilliant.
    Cheers
    Ths

    ReplyDelete
  18. David Morfitt16 October 2013 at 17:11

    Thanks, Thomas. :-)

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete

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