This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Kingdom of France: Regiment flags - Historical index

Last modified: 2007-01-29 by ivan sache
Keywords: regiment | infantry |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



See also:

Other sites of interest:


Infantry regiments in 1771

The chart entitled Tableau Militaire des Drapeaux, Etendarts et Guidons des Troupes au Service de la France, les Années de leur Création et les Noms de Mrs les Commandants, les Colonels d'Infanterie et les Mestres de Camp de Cavalerie et de Dragons pour l'Année 1771 was designed avec privilège du Roy in Paris chez le Sieur Chaligny, Cour des grandes écuries du Roy. Aux Thuileries.
A fac-simile of the chart was published in 1874 by Desjardins (Recherche sur les drapeaux français, plates XIII-XLII) [djg74]. Desjardins explains that the Cabinet des Estampes of the National Library keeps a black-and-white copy of the chart, whereas a coloured copy is kept in the Archives Départementales de Seine-et-Oise (A.1544). The coloured version corrected the black-and-white version and was made for the Dauphin, later King Louis XVI. The chart shows the arms of the Dauphin on top and has two vertical blue mergins charged with dolphins and fleurs-de-lis. On the back of the chart, the District Commissioners of Versailles wrote that it was found in 1790 during the inventory of the castle of Versailles, hanging on the wall of the small staircase of the Queen's apartments.
A high-definition image of the coloured chart is available on the website of the Archives Départementales des Yvelines.

Chaligny's chart lists 93 infantry regiments, with one vacant (40.) and the seven artillery regiments with the same number (47.).

1. Picardie
2. Champagne
3. Navarre
4. Piémont
5. Normandie
6. Marine
7. Bourbonnais
8. Béarn
9. Auvergne
10. Flandre
11. Guyenne
12. Le Roi
13. Royal
14. Poitou
15. Lyonnais
16. Le Dauphin
17. Aunis
18. Touraine
19. Aquitaine
20. Eu
21. Dauphiné
22. Ile de France
23. Soissonnais
24. La Reine
25. Limousin
26. Royal Vessels
27. Orléans
28. La Couronne
29. Bretagne
30. Lorraine
31. Artois
32. Berry
33. Hainaut
34. La Sarre
35. La Fère
36. Alsace (German)
37. Royal Roussillon
38. Condé
39. Bourbon
40. (vacant)
41. Beauvaisis
42. Rouergue
43. Bourgogne
44. Royal Marine
45. Vermandois
46. Anhalt (German)
47. Royal Artillerie
47. Besançon
47. Strasbourg
47. Metz
47. Toul
47. Auxonne
47. Grenoble
48. Royal Italien
49. Erlach (Swiss)
50. Boccard (Swiss)
51. Sonnenberg (Swiss)
52. Castellas (Swiss)
53. Languedoc
54. Beauce
55. Waldner (Swiss)
56. Médoc
57. Vivarais
58. Vexin
59. Royal Comtois
60. Beaujolais
61. Provence
62. Jenner (Swiss)
63. La Marck (German)
64. Penthièvre
65. Boulonnais
66. Angoumois
67. Périgord
68. Saintonge
69. Forez
70. Cambrésis
71. Tournaisis
72. Foix
73. Quercy
74. Marche
75. Diesbach (Swiss)
76. Courten (Swiss)
77. Bulkeley (Irish)
78. Clare (Irish)
79. Dillon (Irish)
80. Royal Suédois (German)
81. Chartres
82. Conti
83. Enghien
84. Walsh (Irish)
85. Berwick (Irish)
86. Royal Bavière (German)
87. Salis (Grisons)
88. Royal Corse
89. Nassau (German)
90. Lochmann (Swiss)
91. Bouillon
92. Royal Deux-Ponts (German)
93. Eptingen (Swiss)

The pages linked in this table are not available yet.

In 1882, L. Mouillard published Armée française. Les régiments sous Louis XV. Constitution de tous les corps de troupe à la solde de France pendant les guerres de succession à l'Empire et de Sept Ans (Dumaine, Paris). The book contains 47 plates of uniforms and flags.
The plates are shown on the Praetiriti Fides, Exemplumque Futuri website.
There are minor differences with the table given above for the French regiments: Béarn and Bourbonnais are swapped (7. and 8. respectively); 40. is given as Grenadiers de France; 47. is listed as Royal Artillerie only; and Enghien is listed as 85.
There are also a few discrepancies concerning the foreign regiments. Mouillard calls 51. Pfeiffer; 66. La Marck; 77. Diesbach on one plate and Bulkeley on another one; 78. Curten on one plate and Clare on another one; 83. Booth; 84. Fitz James; and 91. Ardennes.

Ivan Sache, 4 March 2006


Infantry regiments in 1789

Arnaud Bunel (Vexillologie militaire européenne) lists 107 line infantry regiments in 1789, five of them being vacant.
The list of these regiments, the names of their officers and the places where they stationed can be found in Etat Militaire de la France pour 1789 (31th edition, by M. de Roussel, published by Onfroy, Paris). According to the preface of the book, the Etat Militaire was released every year on 1 May; corrections had to be sent to Roussel or Onfroy before the 15 February. Most of the chapters of the Etat Militaire 1789 are available online on the Napoleon Series website.

1. Colonel Général
2. Picardie
3. Piémont
4. Provence
5. Navarre
6. Armagnac
7. Champagne
8. Austrasie
9. Normandie
10. Neustrie
11. Marine
12. Auxerrois
13. Bourbonnais
14. Forez
15. Béarn
16. Agénois
17. Auvergne
18. Royal Auvergne
19. Flandre
20. Cambrésis
21. Guyenne
22. Viennois
23. Le Roi
24. Royal
25. Brie
26. Poitou
27. Bresse
28. Lyonnais
29. Maine
30. Le Dauphin
31. Perche
32. Aunis
33. Bassigny
34. Touraine
35. Angoulême
36. Aquitaine
37. Anjou
38. Turenne
39. Dauphiné
40. Ile de France
41. Soissonnais
42. La Reine
43. Limousin
44. Royal Vaisseaux
45. Orléans
46. La Couronne
47. Bretagne
48. Lorraine
49. Artois
50. Vintimille
51. Hainaut
52. La Sarre
53. La Fère
54. Alsace (German)
55. Royal Roussillon
56. Condé
57. Bourbon
58. Beauvaisis
59. Rouergue
60. Bourgogne
61. Royal Marine
62. Vermandois
63. Salm-Salm (German)
64. (vacant)
65. Ernest (Swiss)
66. Salis (Swiss)
67. (vacant)
68. Sonnenberg (Swiss)
69. Castellas (Swiss)
70. Languedoc
71. Beauce
72. Vigier (Swiss)
73. Médoc
74. Vivarais
75. Vexin
76. Royal Comtois
77. Beaujolais
78. Monsieur
79. Châteauvieux (Swiss)
80. La Marck (German)
81. Penthièvre
82. Boulonnais
83. Angoumois
84. Conti
85. Saintonge
86. Foix
87. Rohan
88. Diesbach (Swiss)
89. Courten (Swiss)
90. Dillon (Irish)
91. Berwick (Irish)
92. Royal Suédois (German)
93. Chartres
94. Barrois
95. Walsh (Irish)
96. Enghien
97. Royal Hesse-Darmstadt (German)
98. (vacant)
99. Salis (Grisons)
100. (vacant)
101. Nassau (German)
102. Steiner (Swiss)
103. Bouillon (German)
104. Royal Deux-Ponts (German)
105. Reinach (Swiss)
106. (vacant)
107. Royal Liégeois (Liège)

The pages linked in this table are not available yet.

Ivan Sache, 3 March 2006