Charles I raised his royal standard at Nottingham on 22 August 1642, formally calling supporters to arms. Initial attendance was limited, and poor weather reportedly blew the standard down. Nevertheless, the ceremony traditionally marks the beginning of the First English Civil War.

The raised and fallen standard furnished writers with an immediate emblem of loyalty, providence and uncertain royal fortune. Cavaliers and Parliamentarians used heraldic imagery to cast their cause as the true defence of England.