And here at last is the first of the Minden French Flags Project's flags; the colours of Regiment Picardie, one of the oldest and most prestigious regiments in the French army. First raised 1558, it ranked first after the
Gardes Françaises and
Gardes Suisses and was one of the six French regiments known as the
Vieux Corps. It fought at Hastenbeck and Krefeld as well as Minden. The very simple colours remained the same from 1569 to 1791.
At Minden Picardie was 4 battalions strong and in the first line of the main army, brigaded with La Marche infantry. (The brigade was named Picardie; it was the French tradition to name brigades after the senior regiment in them.)
The print below shows the uniform and flags of Picardie infantry in 1757:
