Dress and flags

There was certainly no general uniform, and it is likely that companies rather than regiments wore coats of uniform colour, though a probable exception to this is the Guards Regiment, which, at least in the later 17th Century, wore blue. By that period the line infantry were in light grey, and as the original rebels against Spain, the ’Geux’ or ‘Beggars’ also wore grey, this was probably a common colour. The national sign was an orange sash, though by the 1640s officers had taken to white sashes with coloured knots.

Flags were, of course, carried by each company and ensign. They would probably include the national tricolour, which was then orange, white and blue, and could appear in various forms. In the 16th Century, infantry flags seem usually to have been striped, sometimes with national or personal devices superimposed; the lion of Orange and Holland seems to have been much used, by infantry at least, from 1599 on.

In the early days of the revolt, William of Orange had flags showing a Pelican feeding her young, and some with the motto 'Pro Lege, Rege, Grege’. At Heiligerlee, Louis of Nassau's standards were inscribed ‘Nunc aut Nunquam Recuperare aut Mori’.

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