Distinguishing and marking one's difference is not only a modern need. In the modern era, battle-marks not only made it possible to identify troops, but were also the most valuable trophies of war. Flags and banners, symbols of honour and belonging, were acquired, kept and displayed as testimony to military victories. One of the largest collections of such veils is that of the Stockholm Armémuseum, which documents Sweden's military successes, also at the expense of the Republic.

Flags and banners - sacred signs of the army
"Vexillum" is a term meaning flag in medieval Latin. Over time, the name entered the Polish language to denote the science that studies military insignia (vexillology) and to refer collectively to flags and other military insignia (vexillum). Vexillia were the most valuable objects won in battle (trophies), as they served to emphasise the importance of the army, enabled the identification of particular units, such as troops, and were associated with a particular ruler or country.

Flags and banners were held in special reverence - they were often consecrated in churches and soldiers took the oath of office to mark their unit. They were secured on the march, and their unfurling signified for modern soldiers a confirmation of group readiness to carry out the commander's orders, e.g. to start fighting. Also the besiegers of fortresses sometimes allowed the soldiers who had been defending so far to come out with their flags unfurled and to the snare of drums - this was a surrender of the place, but without losing the honour of the defenders.

Due to their symbolic value, battle signs were often displayed during organised parades and then placed in churches as votive offerings, or in palaces to highlight the ruler's past military successes. The promissory notes were also visually attractive - they were decorated with the coats of arms of the rulers or those fielding the troops, the Virgin Mary (protector of the Republic), or other insignia intended to distinguish the troop, emphasise its protector or commander.

Collecting and cataloguing flags - from Oxenstierna to Statens trofésamling
An extensive collection of modern banners and flags is held at Stockholm's Armémuseum. The beginning of the building up of the collection dates back to the reign of Gustav II Adolf and one of his closest associates Axel Oxenstierna; in 1611, the Swedish monarch captured the Danish fortress of Kristianopel during the ongoing Kalmar War (1611-1613), and the signs captured at the time were transported to Stockholm and displayed in one of the churches there. Other wars waged by the Lion of the North, but also by subsequent rulers, notably Charles X Gustav, Charles XI or Charles XII, enriched the collection. The collection of vexillas was kept at Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) Castle, but grew steadily. Charles XI commissioned the architect, Nicodemus Tessin, to draw up a project for the construction of an arsenal to store them. However, the king's death put plans for a separate building on hold. They resurfaced with the successes of Charles XII during the Great Northern War, when the monarch wished to erect a representative edifice to emphasise the power of the state. Tessin, who had designed in 1707, was again commissioned to prepare the design. Palace of Glory, but this project too was not realised. In parallel, the collection began to be secured and the painter Olof Hoffman was commissioned to make drawings of the flags in order to catalogue them.

From 1817 onwards, the collection was stored in the church on the island of Riddarholmem (Riddarholmskyrkan), but inadequate conditions for their display and storage deteriorated the condition of the objects. A fire in the church in 1835 forced another change in where the collection was stored. In the first decade of the 20th century, the collection was re-inventoried by the draughtsman Jonas Jonsson; at that time the collection numbered 4,390 objects. Subsequently, the State Trophy Collection (Statens trofésamling), as the collection of trophies acquired by the Swedish military during the modern wars was named, was established and is now part of the Armémuseum's collection.

Polish-Lithuanian banners in the Swedish collection
The collection now includes approximately 300 Polish-Lithuanian banners and flags from the 16th-18th centuries, of which approximately 70 are from the Great Northern War. For example, at the Battle of Kliszów (19 July 1702), the Swedish army is supposed to have acquired 31 banners, but only 13 are identified in the Stockholm Army Museum's inventory, and another 18 have no confirmed provenance, but appear to belong to the same subset. All identified objects "from below Kliszów" bear the White Eagle with the royal insignia and the Wettin coat of arms on the breast (obverse) and with the Pogo (reverse).

The collection also includes signs from other skirmishes. For example, after the seizure of Toruń (1703), eight flags found their way into the Swedish collection. These included Saxon infantry flags, but also two interesting, albeit dilapidated, objects. The first one is described in the Stockholm museum's inventory as "Polsk ryttarfana", but according to the research of vexillologists, especially Waldemar Grabowski, it is a flag of the Toruń militia with the coat of arms of Toruń on a tattered lobe (inv. no. AM.084087, width 190 cm, height 190 cm, length of spar 267 cm). Also on the second object (inv. no. AM.084086) the city's coat of arms is depicted; there is an inscription below, but it is not legible. The third object from Toruń (inv. no. AM.084481, dimensions: 181 cm - width, lobe x 189 cm - height x 221 cm - length of spar) has survived in better condition than the previous two, and was described in the inventory as a Polish or Saxon ensign. The lobe of the flag bore an olive wreath and palm branches joined at the bottom. Between the plants are placed the insignia: sceptre (left), sword (right), royal apple (middle) and crown (top). Above the crown is the inscription: DEUS DAT CIVITATI. A similar motif with the insignia of royal power was found on a thaler minted during the interregnum of 1632. It seems likely, as Jarosław Godlewski points out, that the flag was commissioned after the death of Jan III Sobieski (1696) and was used by the municipal troop maintaining order during the next interregnum.