During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, three main patterns of flags were used by the army of the Habsburg monarchy. From 1768 until 1805, each infantry regiment carried two flags per battalion: the 1st or Leib Battalion carried the white Leibfahne and one yellow Ordinarfahne, while the others used two Ordinarfahnen. As the new organisation was implemented under Karl Mack von Leiberich, an Imperial Decree of 22 June 1805 reduced the flags to one per battalion, the Grenadier (or Leib Battalion) carrying the white Leibfahne as it was the senior battalion and the others carrying one Ordinarfahne each. When the army reverted to its former organisation on 6 December 1806, so did the flags, i.e.: Leibfahne plus one Ordinarfahne for 1st (Leib) Battalion, two Ordinarfahnen for the others. A further change in 1808 reduced the numbers of flags to one per battalion again. Grenadier battalions (which only formed up in wartime) carried one Ordinarfahne except in 1805, usually but not necessarily from the senior parent regiment depot. The post-1808 Jäger battalions never carried flags. The Grenzers used the usual system, except that after 1807, all battalions appear to have carried one Ordinarfahne. It is not clear whether they carried the flag in war, although one was captured from 9. Peterwardein Grenzer at the Battle of Eckmühl in April 1809.
Flag sizes
The infantry flags measured 161 x 142 cm with the "flames" each 16 cm wide at the base in red, black, yellow and white, the last two replaced by gold and silver on the Leibfahne throughout the period.
Ehrenbände
The multi-coloured Ehrenbände ribbons, usually presented by the Inhaber, were nailed to the top of the staff and covered by the roundel on the centre of the bow, but were only worn on the flag on ceremonial occasions. However, one captured example at the Musée de l’Empéri in France has an Ehrenbände attached. On a plate in the 'Heer & Tradition' series, the Leibfahne of IR 39 Duka is shown as having white Ehrenbände, edged and fringed in red, on an 1806 pattern flag. On the same plate, IR14 Klebek is shown as having white Ehrenbände, edged and fringed in gold on a 1792 pattern standard.Heer & Tradition Plate No. 88 A red Ehrenbände, embroidered in silver, from an 1809 Vienna Volunteer flag, presented by Empress Maria Ludovika, is displayed at the Vienna City Museum.
1792 pattern
The pattern in service at the start of the wars was the 1780 pattern introduced by Joseph II to reflect his policy of moving away from reliance on the Holy Roman Empire to focusing on Habsburg Lands.For the provincial arms of the components of the Empire, see http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Austro-Hungarian_Empire The black Doppeladler eagle carried a large shield, which displayed the full Habsburg coat of arms and really expressed his policy of relying on the Austrian resources and no longer those of the Holy Roman Empire. To the sides on the wings were the Imperial Buchstaben (cipher initials), starting with 'JII' for Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1765–1790). Due to the end of the Turkish War and the ongoing Belgian rebellion, the new Emperor Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, issued a proclamation on 17 March 1790 ordering the Hofkriegsrat that for reasons of economy, all flags were to remain unchanged. His brief reign only lasted until April 1792, so, the flags only changed in 1792 when the Buchstaben (initials) received a bar through the ‘J’, so it became an ‘F’ to display the cipher of the new Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor: ‘FII’, either side of the complicated central shield (this addition of a bar through the J for existing flags distinguishes flags initially issued under Joseph from post-1792 issued flags). With its many quarterings, the shield carried all the coats of arms of the territories held or claimed by the Habsburgs: On the top line are: the arms of Old & New Hungary, Spain (made up of Castille, Leon, Aragon, Navarre), Bohemia; on the second line: Burgundy, Austria/Lorraine under the Archduke's coronet, Tuscany; on the third line: Transylvania (or Siebenbürgen) Lombardy, Mantua; on the bottom line: Habsburg, Flanders, Tyrol. Around the shield are the chains and emblems of the Orders of St. Stephen of Hungary and of Maria Theresa. Above is the red and gold crown of Austria. On the obverse of the white Leibfahne was the Madonna and Child on a cloud with rays of light streaming to the right and left. and
Some of the Walloon (Belgian) infantry regiments’ Ordinarfahnen added local symbols: IR55 Murray carried an Ordinärfahne with the red diagonal Cross of Burgundy behind the Doppeladler and the arms of St. Omer below the eagle."A propos du drapeau du régiment d'infanterie Murray n° 55" in: 'Carnet de la Fourragère' Sept. 1962, pp. 369–376 and Archivum Heraldicum (a Swiss magazine) However, IR58 Vierset (until 1794)/Beaulieu (1794–98) had a regulation 1780/92 Ordinärfahne with the bar through 'J' to create 'F'.Laid up in Würzburg, this flag was destroyed during WW2, but a photograph survives in the Bildarchiv of the Austrian National Library in Vienna
1804 pattern
An Imperial Patent (order) of 11 August 1804 issued a new pattern to reflect the creation of the creation of the Austrian Empire, but the production order was not given until 28 March 1805. There is only one surviving 1804 Ordinarfahne in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Museum of Military History, Vienna), which seems to differ from the illustrated Ordinarfahne from the New York Public Library Collection, so two appear to have been made. Two new flags were presented to IR4 Deutschmeister, the ceremonial guard line regiment based in Vienna, in June 1806 before the 1806 pattern was decreed, although one of these was a new Leibfahne to replace the one lost in 1805.
Surprisingly, the flag displays the Holy Roman Empire crown above the Doppeladler eagle, whose heads had halos. The Austrian crown now sat on top of the central shield, which was surrounded by the chain of the order of the Golden Fleece. The shield displayed a simple black Doppeladler with the red-white-red barred Bindenshield of Austria on its chest and below it hung a shortened version of the chain and ribbon of the Order of Maria Theresa. The shields on the wings are : (left) Hungary, Galicia-Lodermaria, Venice, Transylvania (or Siebenbürgen), Moravia-Silesia (right) Bohemia, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Styria-Carithia, Tyrol.
1806 pattern
The 1806 pattern, introduced under an Imperial Decree of 6 December 1806, reflected the Emperor's new primary Austrian title and was used until the 1816 pattern was introduced. The provincial shields were moved individually to the outer edge of the eagles’ wings and the Buchstaben were abandoned. The Madonna on the Leibfahne gained a halo of starsImage napitalia.org.uk and the style of the eagle changed: The heads lost the halos, but were crowned with the new Imperial crown in between. The ribbon running between the heads was now red, rather the previous blue. The central shield only displayed three sections, comprising the arms of Habsburg, Austria and Lorraine respectively. The shield lay over a Deutschmeister cross and was surrounded by the chains of the Orders of the Golden Fleece and Maria Theresa. The arms on the eagle wings were (left side, top to bottom) Hungary, Galicia, Styria, Transylvania (or Siebenbürgen), Moravia-Silesia, (right side, top to bottom) Bohemia, Lower Austria, Tyrol, Würzburg, Upper Austria, Carinthia.
One surviving Ordinärfahne of IR16 Lusignan unusually shows only yellow flames from the outside edge with red, black and white flames facing outwards.Illustrated in 'Heraldry of the World' Retrieved 21 September 2016
1812 campaign
A plate by the French artist, Rigo, (No.33) shows Austrian 1792 and 1806 patterns with a commentary by the renowned French vexillogist Pierre Charrie, who suggested a probable distribution of these flags among the Austrian infantry units, which were part of the Auxiliary Korps attached to Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812:
1780 Muster (1792 for Franz II)
IR2 Hiller (Hungarian)
IR9 Czartoryski (German)
IR19 Alvinczy (vakat) (Hungarian)
IR30 de Ligne (German)
IR58 Beaulieu (German)
IR33 Colloredo-Mansfeld (Hungarian)
IR34 Davidovich (Hungarian)
IR48 Simbchen (Hungarian)
IR32 Esterhazy (Hungarian)
1806 Muster:
IR39 Duka (Hungarian)
IR41 Kottulinsky (German)
IR12 Liechtenstein (German)
GR 5 (Kreuz) or 6 (St. Georg) Warasdin Grenz district
This does seem to be arbitrary guesswork by Rigo. It would seem unlikely that the former Walloon units – IRs 9, 30 & 58 – which were then recruiting in Galicia, would have retained 1792 pattern flags. Rigo then appears to assume that the Hungarian regiments also retained the 1792 pattern, aside from IR39 Duka, whose 1806 pattern flag is shown on the Heer & Tradition plate under 'Ehrenbände'. He then assumes the remaining German regiments, all recruited in the western part of the empire, and the Grenz Regiments were given 1806 pattern flags.
Cavalry standards
Cavalry regiments always carried one standard per division of two squadrons, the 1st division carrying the Leibstandarte. They measured 71 x 63 cm with the "flames" 6.5 cm wide at the base. It is however thought that Hussar regiments only carried standards on ceremonial occasions.
Cavalry flags seem to have been retained for longer than their infantry counterparts.This information about flags captured in 1812 seems to originate from 'Capture of Austrian Flags during 1812' by Jean Lochet in 'Empires, Eagles & Lions' No.86 p.51 and would require further investigation Three standards from 3. Dragoons, which were captured at Neswiecz on 20 September 1812 by the Russian Alexandria Hussars,Edler von Gebler, W.: Das k.k. österreichische Auxiliarcorps im russischen Feldzug (1863) p.27 appear to date from the reign of Emperor Charles VI (1711–40), although the brass finial is stamped with the post-1806 'FI' cypher of Emperor Franz I. Four cavalry standards captured by the French in the 1805 campaign were of the 1769–1780 pattern as the cypher 'MT' (Empress Maria Theresa 1740–1780) is embroidered either side of the central shield on the eagle.One of this pattern has recently been returned to the Army Museum in Vienna from the USA https://www.flagheritagefoundation.org/news/ (at the bottom)
It is not clear whether any 1804 pattern standards were issued. At the 1909 HGM Exhibition, three standards were displayed.'Katalog der Erzherzog Carl Ausstellung zur Jahrhundertfeier der Schlacht bei Aspern' Items 223/72-4 The section states that all three were from the 1804-06 period, which would suggest the 1804 pattern, but the details seem to be for earlier patterns: The first, described as 'German', presumably meaning a regular pattern standard, is attributed to 7. Liechtenstein Husaren (raised 1798, but only from 1801 did it have an Inhaber, namely Prinz Johannes Liechtenstein) and there are no details for the second standard. The third, described as 'Hungarian' appears to be a standard of the Szeckler Husaren. This regiment was raised from the Military Border districts of Siebenbürgen (Transylvania), which was regularised in 1798 as 11. Husaren. The surviving example of this regiment's flag is a green swallow-tailed pennant of the 1765 pattern, but it has been embroidered in silver thread with 'HR' and 'N 11'.Image