_Arms of Joan d'Arc_ (Vol. vii., p. 210.).--I believe I can answer the
inquiry of BEND. The family of Joan d'Arc was ennobled by Charles VII. in
December, 1429, with a grant of the following magnificent armorial coat,
viz. Azure, between two fleurs-de-lys, or, a sword in pale, point upwards
(the hilt or the blade argent), in chief, on the sword's point, an open
crown, _fleur-de-lysé_, or.
In consequence of the proud distinction thus granted, of bearing for their
arms the fleur-de-lys of France, the family assumed the name of _Du Lys_
d'Arc, which their descendants continued to bear, until (as was supposed)
the line became extinct in the last century, in the person of Coulombe du
Lys, Prior of Coutras, who died in 1760; but the fact is, that the family
still exists in this country in the descendants of a Count Du Lys, who
settled in Hampshire as a refugee at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
(he having embraced the Protestant religion). His eldest male descendant,
and (as I believe) the representative of the ancient and noble family of Du
Lys d'Arc, derived from a brother of the Maid of Orleans, is a most worthy
friend and neighbour of mine, the Rev. J. T. Lys, Fellow of Exeter College,
whose ancestors, since the period of their settlement in England, thought
proper to drop the foreign title, and to curtail their name to its present
form.