1706. SPAIN THE DRAGONES AMARILLOS (aka CALYUS) - STANDARDS

The reconstruction shown here represents the white guidon of the first squadron, corresponding to the senior or colonel’s squadron of a Spanish dragoon regiment in the early eighteenth century. Its design follows the principles traditionally associated with the Reglamento de 1638 (Regulations of 1638), - still valid for Cavalry until 1728 - which prescribed that each escuadrón (“squadron”) should carry an estandarte (“standard”) of damask. According to the formula preserved in Spanish cavalry historiography, the anverso (“obverse”) was to display the armas reales bordadas sobre el aspa de Borgoña (“Royal Arms embroidered over the Cross of Burgundy”), while the reverso (“reverse”) carried the armas propias del cuerpo (“the regiment’s own arms”). The guidon of the primer escuadrón (“first squadron”) was white, whereas those of the remaining squadrons could be blue or crimson.

Regimiento Dragones Amarillos . Alferez Guion del Primer Escuadròn. (Verso)
(Copyright Michele L. SAVASTA FIORE)

In the present reconstruction, the white damask field is dominated by the red Aspa de Borgoña (“Cross of Burgundy”). At its centre is placed the full Royal Arms of Philip V, crowned and incorporating the Bourbon-Anjou escutcheon, thereby identifying this side as the royal face, or anverso (“obverse”), of the first squadron’s guidon. The Royal Arms are superimposed directly upon the crossing of the Burgundian saltire, in accordance with the wording traditionally attributed to the 1638 regulations.

Additional royal devices—crowns at the extremities of the saltire, castles and smaller cross-shaped ornaments—complete the composition and reflect the broader heraldic vocabulary used in Spanish military colours of the period. The whole is surrounded by a broad gold edging and fringe and is attached to a staff surmounted by a gilt spearhead. Beneath the finial is a red corbata (“cravat” or “ribbon”), an identifying feature commonly associated with Spanish colours.

Because the unit represented is one of dragones (“dragoons”), the colour takes the form of a guión farpado (“swallow-tailed guidon”), rather than the more nearly square estandarte (“standard”) normally associated with cavalry proper. For this reason, in strictly contemporary terminology it is more accurate to describe it as the guión del primer escuadrón (“guidon of the first squadron”) rather than as a bandera coronela (“colonel’s colour”), a designation more characteristic of infantry usage.

Guion del Primer Escuadròn (Coat of Arms Calyus)
(Copyright Michele L. SAVASTA FIORE)

The reverse would according to the same regulatory tradition have borne the armas propias del cuerpo (“the regiment’s own arms”), that is, the distinctive heraldic device or emblem of the regiment, rather than the Royal Arms. The later Real Orden de 1728 (“Royal Order of 1728”) introduced a much greater degree of standardisation and prescribed encarnado (“red/crimson”) fields for cavalry standards.