Banner of Poland

Throughout most of the history of Poland, the banner of Poland was 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 on a red field (Gules an eagle Argent crowned Or). The banner should not be confused with the flag of Poland, a white and red horizontal bicolor, officially adopted in 1919.

Derived from early flag-like objects, the Polish royal banner of arms dates as far back as the 11th century. A symbol of royal authority, it was used at coronations and in battles. In the interwar period, it was replaced with the Banner of the Republic of Poland, which was part of the presidential insignia. A national banner is not mentioned in the current (2007) regulations on Polish national symbols, although today's presidential jack is based directly on the pre-war design for the Banner of the Republic.

The banner of Poland traces its origins to the ancient vexilloids known as stanice (pronounced [staˈɲit͡sɛ]; singular: stanica), probably used at least as early as the 10th century. Although no specimens or images are preserved, a stanica was probably a cloth draped vertically from a horizontal crosspiece attached to a wooden pole or spear, resembling the Roman vexillum. It was both a religious and military symbol; the stanice were kept either inside or outside pagan temples in peacetime and were 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, or a Chi-Rho or dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit. In the year 1000, during his pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Adalbert in Gniezno, the capital of Poland until about 1040, Emperor Otto III officially recognized Duke Boleslaus the Brave as King of Poland (see Congress of Gniezno), crowning him and presenting him with a replica of the Holy Lance, also known as Saint Maurice's Spear. This relic, together with the vexillum attached to it, was probably the first insignia of the nascent Kingdom of Poland, a symbol of King Boleslaus's rule, and of 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 the reign of Boleslaus the Generous (r. 1076-1079). The earliest mention of a banner (Polish: chorągiew, pronounced [xɔˈrɔŋɡʲɛf]) bearing the sign of an eagle is found in 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 his crowned white eagle became the royal coat of arms of Poland. During the reign of King Ladislaus the Elbow-High (r. 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 orientation of the eagle on the banner varied; its head could point either upwards or towards the hoist. The actual rendering of the eagle changed with time according to new artistic styles.

The national banner was identical with that of Lesser Poland, the territory where Kraków, the capital of Poland until 1596, is located. It was therefore carried by the Standard-bearer of Kraków until that office was replaced by the Grand Standard-Bearer of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: chorąży wielki koronny, Latin: vexillifer regni).

One of the most famous standard-bearers of Kraków was Marcin of Wrocimowice (d. 1442) who carried the national banner in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410. The military unit (chorągiew) that went to the battle under that banner comprised the elite of Polish knights, including such chivalrous celebrities as Zawisza the Black, which is a clear sign that the banner, described by the chronicler Jan Długosz as "the great banner of Kraków Territory", was also the insignia of the entire kingdom. During the course of the battle, according to Długosz, the national banner slipped out of Marcin's hand and fell to the ground, but it was quickly picked up and saved from destruction by the Polish army's most valiant knights, which further motivated the Poles to strive for victory over the Teutonic Knights.

With the establishment of a dynastic union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1386, it became customary to use two banners—Polish and Lithuanian—as equally important insignia of royal authority. In the mid-16th century, before the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (real union) in 1569, a single banner for the entire entity also came into use. The Commonwealth banner was initially plain white emblazoned with the arms of the Commonwealth which combined the heraldic charges of Poland (White Eagle) and Lithuania (Pursuer). During the 17th century, the banner was often divided into three or four horizontal stripes of white and red, ending with swallowtails. Elective kings' dynastic arms were often placed in an inescutcheon. Variants with the White Eagle and the Pursuer placed side by side without an escutcheon directly in the field or with the Eagle on the obverse and the Pogonia on the reverse side of the banner were also used.