MED0015 – Montjoie, Saint Denis!

Montjoie, Saint Denis: the war cry of the kings of France

No medieval army fought in silence. The war cry served to identify friends in the press, where closed visors and dust made recognition difficult, and to mark the moment of the charge. “Montjoie, Saint Denis!” was the cry of the kings of France from the twelfth century to the end of the Middle Ages — a rallying call and a claim at the same time.

What the cry means

The origin of “Montjoie” is disputed: a cairn marking a road, a hill from which the destination comes into view, or a corruption of an old Germanic term. Saint Denis, by contrast, is unambiguous: first bishop of Paris and martyr, patron of the kingdom, whose abbey held the royal tombs and the oriflamme — the red banner the king collected before every campaign, and which, once unfurled, signified that no quarter would be given.

A liturgy of war

Raising the oriflamme at Saint-Denis was a regulated ceremony, as was returning the banner at the end of a campaign. Tying the monarchy to one specific sanctuary served a political purpose: making the king of France the defender of a cause larger than himself, at a time when his actual authority over the great vassals remained limited.

Equipment

Giuseppe Rava depicts the French knight of the high Middle Ages: mail hauberk, great helm, armorial shield, lance and sword. Heraldry itself arose from the same necessity as the war cry — recognising your own when the face is covered.

After the Middle Ages

The cry outlived the oriflamme and was still used during the Italian Wars. “Montjoie” also became the title of the King of Arms of France, the officer responsible for heraldry — an administrative trace of a practice born on the battlefield.