Bored with the everyday look of your English Civil War sash - Royalist red, Roundhead tawny? Then take a look at these chaps . . .
Both the officers in the above portraits fought at the battle of Nantwich in January 1644, commanding formations on the Parliamentarian right wing. The website "historicalportraits.com" suggests that the battle scene in the background of William Fairfax's portrait probably depicts the fighting there (http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=926&Desc=Sir-William-Fairfax-%7C-Edward-Bower)
Was the black sash, then, the colour favoured by Parliamentarians at the battle of Nantwich?
Was the black sash, then, the colour favoured by Parliamentarians at the battle of Nantwich?
Another Parliamentarian sporting the black sash, but one who served in the south of England rather than the north - the Kentish colonel and Regicide, Sir Michael Livesay.
Parliamentarian Sir Thomas Fairfax has here gone for the green sash, in a portrait which post-dates the battle of Marston Moor (judging from the scar on his jaw). On the right, royalist George Digby wears and washed-out blue-green, rather than the traditionally royalist red sash. However, this portrait would appear to date from after 1653 (when Digby was awarded the Order of the Garter, the blue ribbon of which he also wears), at which time Digby was a commander of French forces. We must therefore conclude that the blue-green sash is a French distinction.
Despite fighting on opposing sides, both Lord Conyers and Darcy (royalist commander of the Yorkshire trained bands) and an unknown Commonwealth officer are distinguished by a sash of blue.
Twin portraits of two royalist Byron brothers, both attired in what might be described as 'dress' sashes with delicate embroidering. However, don't let the tawny orange of Sir Nicholas Byron mislead you into thinking he was a closet Roundhead - these portraits date from the 1630s.
Denzil Holles's sash is just the sort of tawny-orange expected oon an officer who served under Essex on the Edgehill campaign, but the allegiance of the unknown officer on the right is not at all clear. Has his royalist-red sash faded to 'carnation', or was it always that colour?
Another problem the well-dressed officer might encounter - how to wear the sash, on the shoulder or around the waist? Whether carnation, red or red and white, the three Cromwellian officers above prefer theirs round the upper arm.
If you have your own opinion, please feel free to comment below.
Robert Hodkinson
January 2018
Images sourced, unless otherwise stated, from Art UK [online] available: https://artuk.org
If you have your own opinion, please feel free to comment below.
Robert Hodkinson
January 2018
Images sourced, unless otherwise stated, from Art UK [online] available: https://artuk.org