Byzantine flags and insignia

[5] A native Byzantine heraldry began to appear in the middle and lower rungs of aristocratic families in the 14th century, coinciding with the decline of imperial authority and with the fragmentation of political power under the late Palaiologan emperors.

[7] Thus "eagle-bearers" (ὀρνιθόβορας), descendants of the aquilifers of the Roman legions, are still attested in the 6th century military manual known as the Strategikon of Maurice, although it is unknown whether the standards they carried bore any resemblance to the legionary aquilae.

[10] In the last centuries of the Empire it is recorded as being sewn on imperial garments, and shown in illuminated manuscripts as decorating the cushions (suppedia) on which the emperors stood.

[23] The only occasion the double-headed eagle appears on a flag is on the ship that bore Emperor John VIII Palaiologos to the Council of Florence, as mentioned by Sphrantzes and confirmed by its depiction in the Filarete Doors of St. Peter's Basilica.

[26] Likewise, in Western armorials from the 15th century, the golden double-headed eagle on a red shield is given as the arms of the "Empire of the East" or "of Constantinople", or as emblem of members of the imperial family.

[28] Western European rulers in Greek lands, like Esau de' Buondelmonti and Carlo I Tocco, also impaled their arms with the double-headed eagle as a sign of their status when they received the title of despot from the Byzantine emperors.

[29] Within the Byzantine world, the eagle was also used by the semi-autonomous Despots of the Morea, who were younger imperial princes, and by the Gattilusi of Lesbos, who were Palaiologan relatives and vassals.

[35] Modern scholars commonly consider the double-headed eagle to have been adopted by the Grand Komnenos emperors of Trebizond after their recognition of the suzerainty of, and intermarriage with, the Palaiologos dynasty in the 1280s.

[36] Likewise, the small Byzantine Principality of Theodoro in the Crimea, whose rulers conducted marriage alliances with both the Palaiologoi and the Grand Komnenoi, also used the double-headed eagle in the 15th century.

[37] Other Balkan states followed the Byzantine model as well: chiefly the Serbians, but also the Bulgarians and Epirus under George Kastrioti (better known as Skanderbeg), while after 1472 the eagle was adopted by Muscovy and then Russia.

[46] The tetragrammatic cross appears with great frequency in the 14th and 15th centuries: it appears on Byzantine coins during the joint rule of Andronikos II Palaiologos and his son Michael IX Palaiologos, on several Western portolans to designate Constantinople and other Byzantine cities, above one of the windows of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, and is described by pseudo-Kodinos as "the customary imperial banner" (basilikon phlamoulon).

Along with the double-headed eagle, the tetragrammatic cross was also adopted as part of their family coat of arms by the cadet line of the Palaiologos dynasty ruling in Montferrat.

[53] Thus a late 15th-century French source explicitly refers to them as letters, but a mid-14th century Sevillan traveller and pseudo-Kodinos both call them firesteels (πυρέκβολα, pyrekvola, in Greek).

[54] The two traditional readings of the four "B"s, Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων βασιλεύων βασιλεύουσιν Basileùs basiléon basileúon basileúousin and Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων βασιλευόντων βασιλεύει Basileùs basiléon basileuónton basileúei (both meaning "King of Kings ruling over the kings/rulers") were demonstrated by the Greek archaeologist and numismatist Ioannis Svoronos to be later interpretations by Marcus Vulson de la Colombière.

Another very Western design could be found on one of the now-demolished towers of the seaward walls of Constantinople, which had been restored by Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328) and bore that emperor's emblem, a crowned lion rampant holding a sword.

[62] On the other hand, the adaptation of Byzantine forms to Western uses can be seen with the seal of Andreas Palaiologos, which includes the imperial double-headed eagle on an escutcheon, a practice never used in Byzantium.

[72] The historian A. Babuin furthermore notes that the flags shown in the manuscript vary widely in appearance and that no singular pattern can be discerned, apart from a relatively restricted range of colours (red, white, and blue) used either monochromatically or in alternting bands.

[80] Among them were the imperial phlamoula of gold and gold-embroidered silk, and the insignia collectively known as "sceptres" (σκῆπτρα, skēptra), which were usually symbolical objects on top of a staff.

A number of them, the so-called "Roman sceptres" (ῥωμαϊκὰ σκῆπτρα, rhōmaïka skēptra) resembled to old vexilla, featuring a hanging cloth (βῆλον, vēlon, from Latin velum).

They were the laboura (λάβουρα), probably a form of the labarum; the kampēdiktouria (καμπηδικτούρια), descendants of the batons of the late Roman drill-masters or campiductores; the signa (σίγνα, "insignia"); the drakontia (δρακόντια) and the banda.

[84][86] Pseudo-Kodinos also enumerates various banners and insignia used in imperial processions: one named archistratēgos (ἀρχιστράτηγος, "chief general"); another with images of renowned prelates and eight streamers known as oktapodion (ὀκταπόδιον, "octopus"); another in the form of a cross with the images of St. Demetrius, St. Procopius, St. Theodore Tiro and St. Theodore Stratelates; another depicting St. George on horseback; another in the shape of a dragon (δρακόνειον, drakoneion); and another with the emperor on horseback.

[88] The dibellion's nature has been debated, but its name – most likely a mixed Greek-Latin compound meaning "double velum" – apparently describes a forked pennon, evidently of Western European origin.