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Sunday, 6 September 2009

The Lauranian Eagle

Every since Laurania formed part of the Roman Empire, the Lauranian Eagle has been the national symbol.

It was carried into battle against the Visigoths by the troops of Flavius Maximus Molarius and was emblazoned on the banners of the Lauranians who took part in the Crusades.

It was during the period of the Crusades that St George was adopted as the patron saint of Laurania, and to commemorate this a red cross against a white background was added to the Eagle. In this form it was incorporated into the battle flags carried by Roberto Molara's army in its many battles against the Ottoman invaders.

Under the Ottomans the wearing of the Lauranian Eagle was punishable by death, but it was featured in the canton of every battle flag carried by the émigré Lauranian regiments serving in the Austrian and Russian armies during the eighteenth century. When the French recruited the Lauranian Legion during the Napoleonic Wars, the Lauranian Eagle was carried with pride on the flag of each of the Legionary units.

After the fall of Napoleon and the creation of the Principality of Laurania, a crown was added to the Eagle to signify the change in the country's status.

This design remained unchanged until the 1848 Revolution, after which the crown was removed and replaced by a scroll with the letters PQL on it. This was the motto of the Republican movement and stands for Populus Que Lauranus (For the people of Laurania).

This alludes to the scroll that formed part of every Roman Eagle. These carried the letters SPQR (standing for Senatus Populus Que Romanus [For the Senate and people of Rome]), and it is in keeping with their 'Roman' tradition that such a scroll be incorporated into the current design of the Lauranian Eagle.

8 comments:

  1. Bob,

    May I use your Eagles images? They will work great for my flags.

    I am starting to rewrite my "sort of Morchauser" medieval rules to use a square grid. It is amazing how many fiddly movement rules melt away when a grid is introduced. I am very encouraged.

    The thought of rebuilding my sold off 25mm army into two 15mm armies is daunting, but I just keep reminding myself it is for the best. Space, cost, etc.

    Like everyone else I have another project. It seems one is never enough. The second project is a redo of my 1700-ish rules using squares and rebuilding those forces in 15mm too.

    A word of advice to all your readers: think twice, and twice again, then go off for a while, and come back and think again, before selling off your collection of figures.

    Thanks again for all the good ideas, book and web site references.

    Ever forward.

    Jim

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  2. Very nice "historical" background on the heraldry of your national symbol.


    -- Jeff

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  3. Jim,

    Of course you can use the Eagles. I will send JPEGs and BMPs of them to you ASAP.

    Grids can be very liberating, and I remember that Phil Barker once said to me - after taking part in a wargame that used one of my earlier attempts at producing a set of rules that used a gridded battlefield - that if he was designing DBA from scratch, he would have used a grid.

    25/28mm figures are nice, but they are getting very costly and take up so much space, both for storage and on the tabletop. That is one reason why I have stuck with 15mm, although I also stray into 20mm territory as well at times.

    More than one project on the go at the same time seems to be the norm for most wargamers. It does stop one from getting bored, but can lead to one having just too many things on the go at once!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  4. Jeff,

    I find that if I get the background history to my imagi-nations right, the rest follows so much easier.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. Great Stuff Bob,

    Don't let Sue know about this, or she will realise what we all have the evidence of in front of us:

    You are a man with too much time on his hands!

    Male Anon

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  6. Male Anon (or can I call you robertpeel999?),

    As you will note from today's blog entry, I obviously don't have enough time to check my Latin well enough!

    (Breaths sigh of relief)

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. Did you mean to write "Pro populus of Laurania" ?

    Male anon

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  8. robertpeel999,

    After the sort of day I have had today at work, I should have used Excretum Taurii Omnia Vincit (or whatever the correct Latin is for 'Bullshit Conquers All') for the motto!

    All the best,

    Bob

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