The Sealed Knot Society | The English Civil War

Each company of foot carried a flag or Colour, which served as a recognised rallying point in action and was carried by the Ensign.

The colours of the sealed knot are as varied and diverse as the companies who carry them. Owens colour has been a source of many debates since the company was formed. Unlike some in the know that can quote reputable 17th Century eyewitnesses to validate their colour authenticity, we can never be sure. Although King Charles both saw and commented upon Sir John Owens regiment and colours, everyone was too short-sighted to make a note of the colours and patterns used in case some people wanted to dress up in breeches and run around muddy fields three hundred and fifty years time.

Although today the Regiment forms up with pride under the red and white gyronnic colour, we may actually be saluting the wrong one! There are at least three viable suggestions as to what Sir John's actual colour could have resembled.

We certainly know from contemporary accounts that fine quality colours could be ordered for the a price around £2 5s, and that they were generally constructed from 6sq. ft of painted taffeta, fixed to a 7ft staff with an iron or brass spear point with two tassels. However this is where certainty ends and speculation begins.

The Gyronny System
Left to right: 1st Captain, 2nd Captain, 3rd Captain (Owens Colour)

The 'gyronney' system is principally Royalist, and again was known to have been very popular among the Oxford Army. The colour Owens carries today is a gyronney 3rd Captains colour, but many texts claim that after the war the gyronney system died out.

However, documentary evidence (in the form of a colour belonging to the Carmarthenshire Militia at Abergwili, drawn by Thomas Dinely in 1684) seems to contradict this.

The Venn System
Left to Right: Majors Colour, Unidentified Royalist Colour, Colour found at Nasby

Captain Thomas Venn wrote about heraldry in the seventeenth century and developed two contemporary methods; later imaginatively named 'Venn A' and 'Venn B', for identifying and categorising colours.

The Venn B system was the preferred design of the conservatively minded Oxford Army, and the Majors colour in this system would have had a plain background with a single spot or emblem such as a star/bell/moon etc... The simple difference between the two methods is that the Venn A system the Major colour would have shown a single 'pile wavy', as illustrated.

During the war it was recorded that Parliament collected many Royalist colours which were then displayed at Westminster Abbey as trophies. Among this huge collection were examples from both the Venn systems. To add to the confusion, it is known that among those as yet unidentified Royalist colours taken by the New Model Army after Naseby there were a collection of similar colours. These were in grey/green and white horizontal stripes and were in a very poor condition, obviously having seen heavy fighting and belonging to a well-seasoned regiment. Possibly the fading caused by repeated weather-exposure on a prolonged campaign could easily fade green into grey, and we know that green and white were colours often favoured by the Welsh as they still symbolised the old Tudor favours, and hence their loyalty to the Crown. What is most curious about these colours is that fact that they are missing one essential ingredient, evident on other colours - the St Georges canton in the top left corner. The absence of this is significant. Perhaps the men of the mountains were obstinate enough to object to the addition of this most English of symbols

Along with the colours taken from Naseby by the new model army is one belonging to an unidentified Royalist regiment, but with the canton of St George. Once again, this shows a single, light greeny-grey stripe on a white field.

We know that Sir John Owens Companye of Foote suffered a heavy defeat at Naseby, but the question remains; did Sir John Owen lose the colours of his field army regiment?