Flags - historians

[Cap'n of tha Rubber Gypsy]

Could ye believe this is me first postin' ?

Gots me plenty o other reasons for being

here an talkin that...

But for the time being,would someone be so kind

as to please point me in the die-rection of an

authority of pyrate flags...?

I can find no such reference for one Jean-David Neu.

AKA.... L'Olonnais or L'Olonois.......

BestBKind,

RG

[Mission]

The authority around here would have to be Foxe, but he's up to ears in his doctoral thesis these days and hasn't been around as much as he has in the past. (He used to have a website devoted to debunking the myths surrounding things such as pirate flags, but it seems to have gone the way of all things.) I know he would tell you most of the pirate flags we identify today are probably not their actual flags, they are modern representations based on some vague period descriptions or tradition or sometimes nothing at all. If you can't find a flag for l'Olonnais, it's probably because no one made one up.

If you want to get a whole story on flags, you really should spend some time digging around in the Captain Twill forum. For example, some threads of interest to you might include:

• The Jolly Roger
• Flags and the Death's Head "Memento mori"
• FLAGS FOR POTC
• Flags: Black vs. RED

There are more in there, but that exercise is left to the reader.

[Swashbuckler 1700]

Well Ollonois was a French buccaneer privateer so he would have most likely used French ensign of the time.... Or was he an actual pirate? correct me if needed.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Swashbuckler 1700

[Mission]

He was a French buccaneer and pirate. The Franco-Spanish War ended in 1659 but l'Olonnais was still taking Spanish possessions after that. He was at times particularly nasty - Spanish heart for dinner, anyone?

[Swashbuckler 1700]

He was a French buccaneer and pirate - at times a particularly nasty one. Spanish heart for dinner, anyone?

Yes he was a buccaneer but was't he equipped with a French letters of marque from Tortuga?

Going off topic but: I have actually heard two versions of that heart story the most common, and apparently the original which is described there, is that Ollonois made another prisoner to eat the heart. But I have also heard a story where he ate it himself nibbling it lustfully.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Swashbuckler 1700

[Dread Pyrate Greyhound]

There is also a chance L'Ollonias flew a red flag, as one of the theorized origins of 'jolly Roger' is jolli rouge or pretty red, because the buccaneers/ french privateers flew a no quarter flag. I have also heard it referenced that a blue flag was flown in reference to the old " Who are ye and From whence come ye?" pirate response which was 'From the Sea'. I believe Laurrens De Graaf was the one referenced as doing the latter.

[Fox]

I don't know of any flag connected with L'Ollonais I'm afraid. Both the French flag and a plain red flag are possibilities, and he may have flown something completely different either in addition to or instead of either of the above.

The 'joli rouge' theory is quaint but let down by the fact that nowhere in any contemporary document is the red flag referred to as 'joli rouge'. However, the red flag was indeed a universal sign of 'no quarter' flown by just about everybody, including pirates, buccaneers, privateers, the navy...

I've not come across any reference to the blue flag representing the sea, but there were certainly one or two blue pirate flags in later years.