page_title: Flags of the Imperial Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars
section_title: 1806 pattern
hierarchical_section_title: Flags of the Imperial Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars / 1806 pattern
caption_attribution_description: English: 1806 pattern Leibfahne
context_page_description: During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, three main patterns of flags were used by the army of the Habsburg Monarchy. From 1768 until 1805, each infantry regiment carried two flags per battalion: the 1st or Leib Battalion carried the white Leibfahne and one yellow Ordinarfahne, while the others used two Ordinarfahnen. As the new organisation was implemented under Karl Mack von Leiberich, an Imperial Decree of 22 June 1805 reduced the flags to one per battalion, the Grenadier carrying the white Leibfahne as it was the senior battalion and the others carrying one Ordinarfahne each. When the army reverted to its former organisation on 6 December 1806, so did the flags, i.e.: Leibfahne plus one Ordinarfahne for 1st Battalion, two Ordinarfahnen for the others. A further change in 1808 reduced the numbers of flags to one per battalion again. Grenadier battalions carried one Ordinarfahne except in 1805, usually but not necessarily from the senior parent regiment depot. The post-1808 Jäger battalions never carried flags. The Grenzers used the usual system, except that after 1807, all battalions appear to have carried one Ordinarfahne.
context_section_description: The 1806 pattern, introduced under an Imperial Decree of 6 December 1806, reflected the Emperor’s new primary Austrian title and was used until the 1816 pattern was introduced. The provincial shields were moved individually to the outer edge of the eagles’ wings and the Buchstaben were abandoned. The Madonna on the Leibfahne gained a halo of stars  and the style of the eagle changed: The heads lost the halos, but were crowned with the new Imperial crown in between. The ribbon running between the heads was now red, rather the previous blue. The central shield only displayed three sections, comprising the arms of Habsburg, Austria and Lorraine respectively. The shield lay over a Deutschmeister cross and was surrounded by the chains of the Orders of the Golden Fleece and Maria Theresa. The arms on the eagle wings were (left side, top to bottom) Hungary, Galicia, Styria, Transylvania (or Siebenbürgen), Moravia-Silesia, (right side, top to bottom) Bohemia, Lower Austria, Tyrol, Würzburg, Upper Austria, Carinthia.
  One surviving Ordinärfahne of IR16 Lusignan unusually shows only yellow flames from the outside edge with red, black and white flames facing outwards.
  The smaller cavalry standard did not display the provincial shields on its wings.
caption: 1806 pattern Leibfahne from the New York Public Library Collection
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