A FLAG FOR WARWICKSHIRE

A Flag For Warwickshire

The bear and ragged staff have long been associated with Warwickshire. Their

origins are lost in the distant past, but they have been associated with the Earls of

Warwick since at least the 14th century. The seventeenth century scholar William

Dugdale wrote of the legendary Arthgallus, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table

and apparent early “Earl of Warwick“ believing that his name derived from the

Welsh "artos" or bear. Dugdale also suggested that the ragged staff appeared

because one Morvidus, another “Earl of Warwick”, killed a giant with the broken

branch of a tree. Such legendary origins cannot be confirmed but unequivocally the

bear and the ragged staff were used by the Beauchamp family, who became Earls of

Warwick in 1268, as badges or marks of identity in addition to their own coat of

arms.

The bear alone appears on the tomb of the 11th Earl, Thomas Beauchamp I (died

1369),

in the chancel of St Mary’s Church in Warwick. The bed of his son Thomas

Beauchamp II, 12th Earl of Warwick from 1369 to 1402, is said to have been covered

by black material embroidered with a golden bear and silver staff, dating from 1387,

this is the earliest known occurrence of the two badges depicted together. His great

seal of 1397

depicts the Beauchamp coat of arms between two bears, while a privy (private) seal

of the same date is said to have shown a bear on all fours with a ragged staff behind.

His son Richard Beauchamp the 13th Earl of Warwick from 1402 to 1439 used a crest

supported by two bears each holding a ragged staff and his tomb (in the centre of the

Beauchamp Chapel on the south side of St Mary’s Church. includes an inscription in

which the words are separated alternatively by bears and ragged staffs! Richard is

known to have used banners embroidered with bears or ragged staffs, although

these were apparently not combined.

Although he also employed separate bear and ragged staff badges, Richard Neville,

16th Earl of Warwick ( "Warwick the Kingmaker" ) (22 November 1428 – 14 April

1471) who married Richard Beauchamp’s daughter and heir Anne, made use of a

seal bearing a combined bear and ragged staff, to authenticate deeds and letters. His

retainers are recorded in 1458 as wearing red coats with separate silver staffs,

embroidered front and rear and this colour scheme was similarly used on his battle

standard which featured a combined bear and staff emblem

in what may perhaps, be the first instance of the emblem obtaining a coloured

realisation. This has been depicted in paintings of Neville's famous battles;

left, “ The First Battle of St Albans” by Graham Turner and right “The Battle of

Barnet” by Geoffrey Wheeler .

The white bear and ragged staff on red is also seen “carried” by these miniature

figures of Neville's soldiers

In his Henry VI, Part Two, Act 5, scene 1, where there is much talk of bear baiting,

William Shakespeare has Warwick say ‘Now, by my father’s badge, old Nevil’s crest

the rampant bear chain’d to the ragged staff, this day I’ll aloft my burgonet. The

“burgonet” being his helmet.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and great-great-

great-great-grandson of Richard Beauchamp, is known to have used the combined

device of the bear and ragged staff frequently. It can be seen in many places on the

walls of the Leicester Hospital in Warwick

, which he founded in 1571 and on a chimney piece in his castle of Kenilworth.

Inventories of the furnishings of the castle mention cushions, bedcovers, and

bookbindings decorated with the design, and his suit of armour (now in the Royal

Armoury) is heavily decorated with ragged staffs.

In 1759 Francis Greville, Earl Brooke of Warwick Castle, was created Earl of

Warwick. The Greville family were distantly related to the Beauchamps, and had

acquired Warwick Castle in 1604. The following year Francis obtained a grant for

himself and his heirs of "the crest anciently used by the Earls of Warwick” that is "a

bear erect argent, muzzled gules, supporting a ragged staff of the first"i.e. a white

bear.

Subsequent Earls of Warwick have continued to use the Bear and Ragged Staff

emblem and they form the crest of the arms of the present earl.

Over the centuries use of the emblem by the Earls of Warwick has led to its

association generally with the county of Warwickshire. The 1st Warwickshire Militia

regiment (originally raised in 1759, but reorganised under the Earl of Warwick as

Lord Lieutenant in 1803) bore the bear and ragged staff as its collar badge

until attached to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1881. The Warwickshire

Constabulary (founded in 1857) also adopted the bear and ragged staff as its badge

, using a red background with a silver bear and staff.

Created in 1889, Warwickshire County Council obtained permission to use the bear

and ragged staff as a seal in 1907 before receiving a formal award of arms on July 7th

1931 which included a full depiction of the bear and ragged staff in the white on red

colours found on Richard Neville’s battle standard

Many other organisations have since followed this lead such as;

Warwickshire Scouts , former and

current

Warwickshire County Bowling Association ;

Warwickshire Federation of Womens' Institutes ;

Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service ;

Warwickshire Golf Captains ;

Warwickshire Gaelic Athletic Association

North Warwickshire Borough Council

In light of the extensive deployment across the county by many and various groups,

across the ages, the white bear and ragged staff on a red field

is the obvious county emblem for deployment as the county flag of Warwickshire.

WHAT ABOUT THE COUNCIL’S BANNER?

This design

is the county council’s arms rendered in flag form; a banner of the arms. It actually only represents the county council not the wider county as an entity in its own right and there is no general right to fly it. The three crosses at the top of the arms were included in the award to the council by the College of Arms, in 1931, for specific use by the council.

WHAT ABOUT THE CHAIN AND MUZZLE?

As described, the emblem of a white bear and ragged staff on a red field has been

long associated with the county of Warwickshire and is the obvious traditional

pattern for deployment as the county flag of Warwickshire; however in the modern

world a depiction of an animal muzzled and chained reflects the worst of mediaeval

practice

and implicitly condones the horrors that continue to be committed worldwide

against the poor creature.

Would the people of modern day Warwickshire be universally happy to see their

county flag depicting such misery in the 21st century? Is it not time to set the bear

free?! This concern seems to have prevailed in several modern realisations of the

bear and ragged staff emblem such as;

The University of Warwick

Warwickshire County Council’s logo

Warwickshire Police in various guises

Warwickshire Scouts

Warwickshire Law Society

and a local pub!

All of these bodies have recognised the local association of “the bear and ragged

staff” as the quintessential emblem of the county but have seen no need to retain the

vicious aspect of the original emblem - they have basically all toned it down for the

modern enlightened era. And there is a precedent for such a “toned down” modern

realisation on a flag. The traditional flag of Sardinia depicted the heads of four

Moorish enemies blindfolded

This being seen as culturally insensitive in the modern era, the current depiction of

the flag has changed the blindfolds to headbands

Moreover, why should Warwickshire want to depict its bear cowed, beaten, and

submissive! Compare such a depiction with the rampant stallion of Kent

, the dragon of Somerset

or various lion flags used in Wales

and it’s a strikingly counter-productive image – what does it convey, that we are a

beaten and enslaved people? Unlike the horse and lions it is hardly an inspiring or

enthusing symbol.

Such an image on the county flag will be an intrinsically negative one – imagine the

opportunities that will arise for comments about the people of Warwickshire being

trussed up and shackled?! It simply lends itself to endless ridicule. Compare the bear

flag of the Russian city of Yaroslavl for instance

, no one would want to tackle him! It’s a defiant, proud and fierce image – the same

can hardly be said about the muzzled bear above.

So whilst the bear and ragged staff in white, on a red background, is clearly the

obvious flag for Warwickshire, let’s lose the shackles on the county flag, as plenty of

county bodies have done, and proudly wave the traditional flag, for a modern

world!

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