In this installment I will deal with some guard units and provincial infantry regiments. As I said in the previous part I will only depict a few of the colours.

In the beginning of our period every company within a regiment had its own colour. This meant in most cases eight colours to the regiment and four per battalion. One company in each regiment had a "Livfana" (Life or Kings colour) while the other had a "Kompanifana" (ordinary or regimental colour).

In 1731 it was ruled that when a regiment should receive new colours it would only get two per battalion with one life colour and one ordinary in the first battalion and two ordinary colours in the second. Regiments with more than eight companies could get more colours. In 1741 it was decreed that even if a regiment still had more then two colours per battalion it shouldn't use more when on campaign. Finally, in 1818 slightly outside our period, each regiment should in the future only recieve one colour per battalion. At the same time the life colours were discontinued.

According to the 1686 regulations the colours should be painted on the cloth. But even if that method is cheap it wasn't satisfactory since the colours weren't very durable. So around 1730 there was introduced a method where the motifes and devices were made of pieces of cloth sewn on the colours; i.e. the colours were made by applique. From about 1750 the colours were embroidered. Embroidered colours were much more expensive but also much more durable. This is shown by the fact that colours lasted about 10 or 15 years while colours 30 or 40 years old weren't uncommon during the Napoleonic Wars. Colours of recruited regiments doing garrison service had usually a shorter lifetime since they were used nearly every day.

Throughout the period the life colours had the same pattern. But the regulations were rather brief and gave much space for changes and different interpretations. The regulations decreed that the life colours should have the ' coat-of-arms of Sweden on both sides and that provincial regiments should have the device from the ordinary colours in the upper inner corner (ie in the canton). In 1686 this ment the arms of Sweden below a crown and supported by two lions and the king's initials (CRS) above (see picture 1).

During the reign of Karl XII there might have been added the number XII in the C of the initials; under Fredrik I there were some greater changes. The first few life colours delivered were of similar design but with the letters FRS. But already in the late 1720s there was a postament added, on which the arms and lions stood. The look of this varied sligthly initially but from 1740 it was standardized. In the beginning of the 1730s the heads of the lions were turned so now they looked away from the shield. About the same time the initials above the arms disappeared. In 1748 was the chain of the order of the Seraphim added. The initials reappeared in the beginning of the reign of Adolf Fredrik only to finally disappear in 1759.

Several regiments had a crown in each corner except the corner with the provincial device. These crowns seems to have been seen as honorific but at the same time it seems that it wasn't established which regiments were allowed to have them. This can be deduced from a note on a type-picture where the painter "humbly reminds that the old colours had crowns in the corners". Finally it seems as from the mid or late reign of Gustav III all regiments had four corner- crowns and the provincial device wasn't used any longer. (See picture 2)

The arms of Sweden during the 18th century was the same as is used today. It is quartered and has a central shield with the arms of the reigning dynasty. During this period the monarchs were of PfalzZweibrucken (1654-1720), Hessen (1720-1751) and Holstein-Gottorp (1751-1818). Holstein-Gottorp had two different variants of arms so all together there are four different heart-shields. The main shield had in field 1 and 4 three yellow coronets on a blue field; on field 2 and 3 a yellow lion on a blue field with three white streams (see picture 4).

The arms of Pfalz-Zweibrucken were also quartered with a central shield (see picture 3). Field 1: chequered medium blue and white (Bavaria). Field 2: a black lion on yellow (Julich). Field 3: a white shield with yellow lilies on red (Kieve). Field 4: a red lion on white (Berg) and the heart-shield: a yellow lion on black (Pfalz or Palatinate).

The arms of Hessen were divided into six fields and a central shield (picture 5). Field 1: a red double-armed cross on white (Hersfeld). Field 2: horizontally divided black and yellow with a white star (Ziegenhain). Field 3: a red lion on yellow (Katzeneinbogen). Field 4: two yellow lions on red (Dietz). Field 5: horizontally divided black and yellow with two white stars (Nidda). Field 6: a white and red shield with white devices on red (Schaumburg) and the heart-shield: a white and red lion on blue (Hessen).

The arms of Holstein-Gottorp in its rmain variant (used 1751-1796 and again 1809-1818) were divided into five fields and a central shield (picture 6). Field 1: a yellow lion with an axe on red (Norway). Field 2: two blue lions on yellow (Schleswig). Field 3: a white and red shield with white devices on red (Holstein). Field 4: a white swan with a yellow coronet around its neck on red (Stormarn). Field 5: a yellow knight on a white horse on red (Ditmarsken). The heart-shield was quartered with two red stripes on yellow in field 1 and 4 (Oldenburg) and a yellow cross on blue in field 2 and 3 (Delmenhorst).

The second variant of Holstein-Gottorp (used 1796-1818) was divided into six fields with the same heart-shield as above. Field 1 had three blue lions and nine red hearts on yellow (Denmark) and fields 2-6 as fields 1-5 as above (picture 7).

The ordinary colours of the provincial regiments had the arms of the province in which the regiment was raised. Two provinces raised more than one regiment (three in both cases) and then there were some variations of the theme. The device on the colours were in most cases surrounded by a wreath of laurels. The colours should be about 2.25 metres square but in reality it seems as most were 2.25 x 1.80 in. Initially the motif was large and the diameter of the wreath was 3/4 of the height of the colour or more. The new methods introduced after the Great Northern War in making the colours led to smaller motifs so about 1750 it was about 1/3 of the height of the colour. The motif on the reverse was mirror- imaged so if the obverse had a lion looking towards the pole the lion on the reverse also looked towards the pole. This type of colour, introduced by the regulations in 1686, is usually refered to as Pfalzisk type. (Picture 10)

In 1756 came a new regulation. It was more or less a repetition of the 1686 regulations but incorporating the changes that had been made in period after the Great Northern War. This type is known as HolsteinGottorp 1. (Picture 11).Since this new regulation was only a confirmation of changes done it is safe to assume that the regiments particiapting in the Seven Years War had colours according to Holstein-Gottorp 1. Just a few years later, in 1759, were the size of the colours reduced to 1.80 x 1.50 m.

In 1761 came a new regulation. It decreed that in the future the device should be surrounded by a shield-frame instead of a wreath. The frame should be in "the clam-ornamentation of the time" and be surmounted by a coronet. This was known as Holstein-Gottorp II (picture 12). At least from Holstein-Gottorp 11 but perhaps from Holstein-Gottorp I or even earlier the arms on the reverse weren't mirror-imaged any longer. This gave a slightly odd look to the reverse of the colours of Skaraborgs regemente (i.e. the one depicted).

When new colours were designed for four regiments in 1764 according to Holstein-Gottorp II one of the colonels annopriced his displeasure with the design. An investigation was made and it agreed with the colonel so a new design was introduced in 1766. It is known as Holstein-Gottorp III and had instead of "the slightly woody" shield-frame of Holstein-Gottorp II one that was formed by stylized palm leaves (picture 13). Skaraborgs regemente is the only regiment, as far as I have been able to establish, that ever recieved colours according to Holstein Gottorp II. Most regiments seem to have recieved colours according to Holstein-Gottorp III before the war of 1788-1790. However Sodermanlands regemente claims that they kept their Holstein-Gottorp I colours until 1812.

There is also a fifth design introduced before the end of our period, known as Holstein-Gottorp IV. That design had a heart-shaped shield and two branches of laurel below. The type was introduced in 1813 and colours according to this design were only given to a few regiments and in all cases it seems to have been after the peace. There are also a few colours from the beginning of the 19th century that don't conform to any of the above designs.

18th C. Swedish Military Flags: Introduction
18th C. Swedish Military Flags: Regiments
18th C. Swedish Military Flags: Illustrations (very slow: 282K)

More 18th C. Swedish Military Flags

Part I
Introduction
Standards and Guidons
Illustrations (slow: 154K)

Part II

Introduction
Regiments
Illustrations (very slow: 282K)

Part III

Introduction
Regiments