A FEW NOTES ON FRENCH HERALDRY.
Although the nomenclature and fundamental rules of heraldry in France
are somewhat similar to those in use in Great Britain, yet in many
important details the two systems differ materially.
To show, first of all, the close family resemblance in nomenclature, an
amusing copy of verses may be given from an old work (carefully
preserving the quaint orthography of the original), of which the title
was: “La Sience de la Noblesse ou la Nouvelle Metode du Blason,” par le
P. C. F. Menestrier. A Paris, chez Etiene Michallet, premier Imprimeur
du Roi, rue S. Jaque, a l’Image S. Paul, MDCXCI.
ABRÉGÉ
DU BLASON EN VERS.
“Le Blason composé de diferens emaux,
N’a que 4 couleurs, 2 panes, 2 metaux.
Et les marques d’honeur qui suivent la naissance,
Distinguent la Noblesse, & font sa recompense.
Or, argent, sable, azur, gueules, sinople, vair,
Hermine, au naturel & la couleur de chair,
Chef, pal, bande, sautoir, face, barre, bordure,
Chevron, pairle, orle, & croix de diverse figure.
Et plusieurs autres corps nous peignent la valeur,
Sans metal sur metal, ni couleur sur couleur.
Suports, cimier, bourlet, cri de guerre, devise,
Colliers, manteaux, honeurs, & marques de l’Eglise,
Sont de l’art du Blason les pompeux ornemens,
Dont les corps sont tirés de tous les Elemens,
Les astres, les rochers, fruits, fleurs, arbres & plantes,
Et tous les animaux de formes differentes,
Servent à distinguer, les fiefs & les maisons,
Et des Communautés composent les Blasons.
De leurs termes precis enoncez les figures,
Selon qu’elles auront de diverses postures.
Le Blason plein echoit en partage à l’ainé,
Tout autre doit briser comme il est ordonné.”
The _deux panes_ in the second line refers to furs (_pannes_ in modern
heraldry). This book is illustrated, and in it the tinctures are
correctly represented by lines and dots, and the remark is made
“Autrefois on marquoit les Emaux par des lettres,” but the author does
not allude to the invention of the system of dots and lines attributed
to Father Silvestre Petra Sancta.
The introduction states that the author, the Reverend Father Claude
François Menestrier, was born in Lyons in 1631, and had been for many
years a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He wrote many other
learned treatises on heraldry.
For the tinctures the French use the same terms as ourselves, except
that for green they employ _sinople_, because _vert_, properly
pronounced, is not easily to be distinguished from the fur _vair_. This
is a sensible distinction, as is also their expression, _contre
hermine_, to describe what British heralds call ermines, in
contradistinction to ermine, a difference so little marked in our case
as easily to pass unnoticed and give rise to errors.
The conventional system above mentioned of engraving the tinctures is
also the same in France as in Great Britain, and these devices may be
easily fixed on the mind of the merest novice by a short study of Mr. J.
Ashby-Sterry’s entertaining (proposed) work on “Heraldry made Easy:”
“If _Argent_, my friend, you would wish to attain,
You’ll do it by leaving your paper quite plain.
If metal more tempting you wish to seek for,
Deck paper with dots, it will represent _Or_.
Perpendicular lines, by armorial rules,
Convey to the herald the notion of _Gules_.
But lines horizontal and perfectly true
Mean _Azure_, best known to the vulgar as blue.
For _Vert_ take your pencil,--I beg you’ll attend,--
Draw parallel lines to the course of the bend.
The sinister bend you must follow, I’m sure,
To give to the eye the idea of _Purpure_.
Lines crossing each other and forming a plaid
Will simulate _Sable_, so sombre and sad.
For _Tenne_ your pencil should cunningly blend
The lines of the fess and the sinister bend.
Lines crossing each other and forming a net,
Will signify _Sanguine_, you must not forget!”
As most of the principal heraldic devices used on British arms were
adopted when Norman French was our courtly language, and are described
in that tongue, it does not require much study to enable anyone who can
decipher a British coat-of-arms to do the same with an ordinary French
shield, or even to understand the written description of one.
Yet coming to more advanced heraldry, dealing with such questions as
descents, marriages, arms of assumption, of succession, of concession,
and the proper marshalling of arms, the difficulties increase, and many
apparent contradictions arise.
Until the downfall of Louis XVI., the aristocracy of France was not only
the most ancient and the proudest in Europe, but, speaking generally,
possessed higher hereditary privileges and greater power than the
nobility of any other civilized nation in the world.
One of their most cherished rights was that of bearing coat armour, but
little by little a rich middle class sprung up (the despised
_bourgeoisie_), which misappropriated coronets and coats-of-arms, and
shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution, heraldry in France was in
a most confused and chaotic condition.
As to the origin of French heraldry, little is known with any certainty.
That tournaments were first held in Germany about 938 is generally
admitted. At these the fundamental rules of all heraldry must, no doubt,
have been formulated, whence they gradually passed into France, through
the north-eastern provinces. Then followed the Crusades, which gave a
great impetus to the science of heraldry, as is shown by the vast number
of crosses in early arms; the crescents and stars, which were copied
from the captured standards of the Saracens; and the fabulous monsters
of the East, which became the heraldic devices of many noble families
descended from ancient warriors who fought in Palestine. Louis VII.
(Louis le Jeune), who superintended all the arrangements for the
coronation of his son, Philip Augustus, was the first to employ the
_Fleur-de-Lys_ as the royal badge of France, which he caused to be
emblazoned on all the ornaments and utensils employed in the coronation
ceremony. He was also the first king who employed that badge on his
seal.[1] This was before 1180.
Henceforward heraldry became generally popular, and many works were
written to define the rules of chivalry, each one more elaborate than
the preceding. King John of France devoted much attention to heraldry,
as did several of his successors, and then the historians Froissart,
Monstrelet, and Olivier de la Marche introduced it into their
chronicles. Indeed, there is scarcely one early French romance which
does not contain the full blazon of the imaginary arms conferred upon
its fabulous personages.
When at length heraldry became fully recognized, its signs and emblems
were chosen as the badges of hereditary nobility. In the course of time
this attracted the envy of vain and unscrupulous people, who usurped
the insignia of nobility which they were not by law entitled to wear.
These malpractices gave rise to great confusion, and were not only
severely reprehended by all true lovers of heraldry, but were the
subject of many royal edicts, commanding that all offenders should be
heavily fined.
Before the year 1555 it had been a recognized custom that a member of
any one of the great families of France might change his name and his
arms without royal authority, a practice which was particularly useful
in certain marriages.
Thus, supposing the last inheritor of a famous family name to have been
a female, on marriage her husband could assume her name and armorial
bearings, and thus perpetuate a line which otherwise (as in Great
Britain) would have become extinct.
But, as may be easily imagined, this voluntary substitution of name and
arms gave rise to many abuses and disputes. Accordingly, by an ordinance
of King Henry II., dated at Amboise, March 26, 1555, it was forbidden to
assume the name, or the arms, of any family other than one’s own,
without having first obtained letters patent, and a fine of 1,000 livres
was to be paid by any person usurping the arms and insignia of nobility.
These regulations were renewed and made even more stringent in
subsequent reigns, notably by Charles IX. in 1560, by Henry III. in
1579, by Henry IV. in 1600, by Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. at various
dates; whilst in 1696 there was a general visitation, when a tax of 20
livres was levied for the registration of every coat-of-arms.
Henceforward, and almost up to the outbreak of the Revolution, edicts
were issued with the object of preventing the French people from
usurping arms and titles of nobility which had not been duly sealed and
confirmed by the authorities.
But all these regulations were to very little purpose, and towards the
close of the eighteenth century the confusion in heraldry became
extreme, especially in the matter of coronets and supporters, which, as
the book-plates of the period show, were assumed in a reckless manner by
many who had no right to carry them.
Then came the great upheaval of society, and during the first period of
the Revolution, when even to be suspected of nobility was a crime, haste
was made to erase, or omit, all the signs of noble descent which had
hitherto been so readily assumed, and in their places to insert caps of
liberty and Republican mottoes, such as _Liberté_, _Egalité_,
_Fraternité_, or _La Liberté ou la Mort_.
But in truth the revolutionary period was not productive of much in the
way of books or book-plates. Society was too excited to devote its time
to such frivolities, and _le rasoir national_ was more busy than the
printing press or the graver’s tool. Most of the literature of the
period consisted of polemical tracts or political pamphlets, and
comparatively few libraries were formed.
As soon, however, as Napoleon reached the summit of power, he set
vigorously to work to restore something like order in all branches of
the public services, which had been reduced to chaos during the
troubles. One of the topics to which he early directed his attention,
and his brilliant talent for organization, was heraldry. Yet, although
he readily discarded republican simplicity _and equality_, he dared not
entirely revert to the ancien régime, nor indeed could he have done so
had he desired.
Of the old nobility many had perished on the scaffold, or on the
battle-fields, others had fled to foreign countries, and their castles
and estates had been confiscated by the State. Under the comparatively
mild rule of Napoleon a few members of the _ancienne noblesse_ ventured
to return to France--indeed, several distinguished Royalists were
specially invited to do so,--yet the court of the First Empire was
composed, not of these, but for the most part of the soldiers,
statesmen, and men of letters who had assisted to place him on the
throne, and on whom he, in return, conferred titles as brilliant as any
that had been formerly held under the old Bourbon kings.
Marshal of France, prince, duke, marquis, count, baron, all flourished
once again. Very new and very grand, but of origin most doubtful.
Coats-of-arms were granted, and Louis David, Napoleon’s favourite
artist, was called upon to design a new style of head-dress to denote
the ranks which had, in former days, been indicated by various forms of
coronets and helmets, as in British heraldry.
The blazonry under the Empire, being military in its origin, was
conceived in the true spirit of military uniformity, each grade being as
distinctively marked as the colonel, officers, and rank and file would
be in a regiment of infantry drawn up for a general inspection.
The result of blending these three distinct systems--the old style, the
Napoleonic, and that of the Restoration period--is somewhat confusing. A
few families adhere to the old style, some to the Napoleonic, and the
student of French heraldry must make himself acquainted with all.
But reverting to the pre-Revolution period, it appears that about 1700,
helmets, wreaths, and mantling began to go out of use on ex-libris, and
were replaced by coronets, which at first indicated with some certainty
the rank of the owner. But after a time individuals assumed coronets to
which they were not entitled, whilst members of the lower ranks of
nobility promoted themselves, without ceremony, to the higher grades;
the baron became a marquis, and the count assumed the coronet of a duke.
An ordinance of 1663, which forbade the usurpation of the insignia of
nobility under the penalty of a fine of 1,500 livres, stopped these
abuses for a time. But the law soon became a dead letter, and one might
suppose, at the present time, that no such regulation had ever existed,
so systematically was it evaded.
As, however, in early unnamed ex-libris the coronets have a certain
small value in assisting in their identification, a brief description of
the distinctive features of the principal coronets may be useful to
collectors.
The royal crown of France was a circle, surrounded by eight
_fleurs-de-lis_, of which only three and two halves are visible in
engravings; these were surmounted by the arches of a diadem, on the
summit of which was a double _fleur-de-lis_.
The Dauphin of France (eldest son of the king) carried the same number
of _fleurs-de-lis_, but the arches over them were formed of dolphins.
The eldest son of the King of France took his title from the old
province of Dauphiné, in the south-east of France, and was usually
spoken of as Monsieur Le Dauphin. The first Dauphin was created in 1349,
and the last, Louis Antoine, Duc d’Angoulême, son of King Charles X.,
assumed the title on his father’s accession to the throne of France on
September 16th, 1824, but owing to the Revolution of 1830, which
dethroned Charles X., he did not succeed to the throne. The Duc
d’Angoulême died on June 3rd, 1844, when in all probability this ancient
title became extinct. The Dauphin bore quarterly the arms of France and
Dauphiné.
The other princes of the blood royal carried a coronet surmounted by the
same number of _fleurs-de-lis_, three and two halves, without any
diadem.
Dukes carried a golden crown having eight ornamented strawberry leaves
(fleurons), of which, in engravings, only three leaves and two halves
are visible.
Marquis: Four strawberry leaves, between each of which is a trefoil
formed of pearls. One and two half leaves are visible, separated by two
trefoils.
Counts: A coronet surmounted by sixteen large pearls, held upon
projecting points. Only nine pearls are shown in engravings.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF BENOÎT MARSOLLIER, SQUIRE, SECRETARY TO THE
KING (WITH THE CORONET OF COUNT).]
Viscounts: Four large pearls (three only showing), with smaller pearls
between.
Baron: A golden crown surrounded by strings of pearls.
Chevalier-bannerets: They carried a ring of gold ornamented with pearls.
Wreath: A roll of ribbons of the tinctures of the shield, or of the
favourite colours of the knight’s betrothed. This was placed over the
helmet simply as an ornament, and not as any indication of the rank of
the bearer.
The rank of Marshal of France was indicated by two batons in saltire
behind the shield. These batons were azure, semée of _fleurs-de-lis_,
or. Under the Bourbons, Marshals of France were numerous, and this badge
is frequently met with on book-plates.
Officers of artillery usually decorated their plates with cannons and
cannon balls below the arms; cavalry officers placed trophies of flags
behind their shields. The Admiral of France (answering to our old title
Lord High Admiral) bore two anchors in saltire behind his shield, whilst
admirals carried an anchor in pale behind their shields. The Chancellor
of France bore two maces in saltire behind his shield.
In a similar manner, all the great Officers of State, and the Court
dignitaries, bore the badges of their offices in addition to their
family arms, and numerous as were these functionaries, there could be no
confusion between their achievements, so appropriate were their devices
to their offices.
Such were the Court regulations, and so long as Louis XIV. reigned they
were, no doubt, strictly enforced; but later on, under the Régence and
Louis XV., a general laxity prevailed, indicative of the coming storm.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF L. J. M. DE BOURBON, ADMIRAL OF FRANCE.]
Mention is frequently found on old book-plates of various offices held
under _Parlement_. In France, before the Revolution, there were twelve
_Parlements_, namely, those of Paris, Toulouse, Grenoble, Bordeaux,
Dijon, Rouen, Aix, Rennes, Pau, Metz, Douay, and Besançon, besides some
local councils for the colonies.
These _Parlements_ were simply local Courts of Justice, entitled to
deal both with civil and criminal cases, and their functions in no way
resembled those of the British Houses of Parliament.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF M. HURSON.]
The officers connected with these Courts were very numerous, and those
of the higher grades were entitled to carry certain distinctive badges
with their arms, and head-dresses denoting their rank.
In ex-libris printed before the Revolution it is not unusual to find the
collars and insignia of the several orders of French knighthood, the
principal of which were the order of Saint Denis, instituted in 1267; of
Saint Michel, instituted by Louis XI. at the Château d’Amboise, August
1, 1469; of the Saint Esprit (Holy Ghost), instituted in 1578; of Notre
Dame du Mont Carmel, instituted in 1607; and of Saint Louis, instituted
in 1693. The chevaliers de Saint Michel wore a collar from which was
pendent a medal, representing the archangel overthrowing the dragon; the
collar of the Saint Esprit was formed of alternate _fleurs-de-lis_ and
the letter H interlaced, from which depended either a dove or a cross,
according to the rank of the bearer.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COMTE DE MONDESIR.]
The Knights of the Royal and Military order of Saint Louis carried a
star with eight points, on which was the motto of the order: _Bellicae
virtutis praemium_.
There was also a very ancient order, that of St. Lazare de Jerusalem,
which was united by Henri IV. with that of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel.
Although the order of the Toison d’Or (Golden Fleece) was founded by a
French prince, Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, in 1429, it passed into the
hands of the House of Austria, and thence again into the possession of
the kings of Spain, who became the sovereigns of the order.
Owing, no doubt, to the close family relations existing between the
royal houses of France and Spain, the order of the Golden Fleece was
conferred upon many of the French nobles (by permission of their king),
and the collar, with the well-known badge of the pendent lamb, is to be
found on many French achievements. The motto of the order is _Pretium
non vile laborum_.
Of all these orders the most important were the Saint Michel, the Saint
Esprit, and the Saint Louis, which were specially distinguished as “les
Ordres du Roi” (the Orders of the King), he being their Chief and Grand
Master. Chevaliers of the order of the Saint Esprit were always first
admitted into the order of Saint Michel, so that the collars of these
two orders are generally found together. The order of Saint Louis having
been founded by Louis XIV. exclusively for the reward of military and
naval services, is occasionally met with apart from the two other orders
of the king. There was also an order, that of the Bee, intended for
ladies only, which was founded in 1703.
Most of the above orders ceased to exist during the Revolution. That of
the Saint Esprit was revived at the Restoration, but the last
installation took place under Charles X., at the Tuileries, on May 31,
1830, and the latest surviving owner of the Order was the late Duc de
Nemours; whilst that of Saint Louis, a distinctly Bourbon decoration, is
probably still kept alive by the few remaining adherents of that
luckless family.
In 1802 Napoleon, then First Consul, instituted the famous order of the
Legion of Honour, for the reward of merit either in the army, navy, or
in civil life. The order was confirmed by Louis XVIII. in 1815, and its
rules and constitution were modified in 1816 and in 1851. M. Ambroise
Thomas, on whom the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour was recently
bestowed, is one of six civilians who at present hold that order.
Meissioner is the only artist who has ever held this distinction. The
number of Grand Crosses is limited to eighty, but for a long time past
the number actually holding the decoration has varied between forty and
fifty. When the Legion of Honour was created in 1802 by General
Bonaparte, the holders of the Grand Cordon (now Grand Cross) were
entitled to draw £800 a year; at the Restoration this amount was reduced
by one-half. Nowadays the members of the Legion of Honour receive the
following annuities: Knights, £10; Officers, £20; Commanders, £40; Grand
Officers, £80; and Grand Crosses, £120. Decorations conferred on
civilians do not carry with them any pension. Practically this is now
the only order of knighthood existing in France, yet the number of men
who are _décoré_ is remarkable. They can scarcely be all chevaliers de
la Légion d’Honneur, but the French have a passion for titles and
orders, a craving for _le galon_, which, though somewhat incompatible
with the republican form of government they have adopted, must be
gratified.
This desire to raise oneself a rung or two on the social ladder, to
which even sensible bibliophiles appear to have succumbed, is no new
thing. It exists to-day, and has existed for centuries. Penalties,
however severe, seem to have been unavailing, and even ridicule was
found powerless to check this silly vanity.
A lawyer of Dijon, named Bernard, was ordered to erase from the tomb of
his wife the girdle of nobility he had had carved around her epitaph.
Others who carried the full-faced open helmets, proper only for
emperors, kings, and sovereign princes, on their fantastic achievements,
were compelled to adopt the closed helmet in profile proper for a simple
gentleman.
Owners of assumed titles and of manufactured coats-of-arms were greatly
alarmed a few years ago by the terribly sarcastic writings of an
individual who styled himself the ghost of an ancient herald, _Le Toison
d’Or_.[2]
In a series of letters published in “Le Voltaire” he exposed the faulty
and ignorant system of heraldry in vogue, and the deceptive assumptions
of titles, coronets, and armorial bearings in modern French Society.
Indeed, he remarked, to judge by appearances, one might imagine that the
Revolution had destroyed nothing, but that, on the contrary, it had
endeavoured to foster and encourage titles and aristocracy, so rapidly
had they increased of late years.
Toison d’Or wished to alter all this, and the salons were greatly
disturbed as he went to work chipping off titles and prefixes of
nobility right and left. But all to no purpose, except indeed to cast
doubts upon all French heraldry since the downfall of the Bourbons.
A title in France costs nothing, and deceives no one who has the
slightest knowledge of family history and genealogy.
The following letter appeared in “Notes and Queries,” London, August 25,
1894:
“As there always appears to be a doubt in the public mind as to whether
there is any office in France at all corresponding to our heralds’
offices in this country, I ventured to put out this query to a
well-known authority in Paris, together with the queries as to whether
there is any ground for the statement that the archives of the French
Heralds’ College were destroyed by fire by the Commune, and also if
there is any Heraldic or Genealogical Society at all corresponding to
the Government Office; and I received the following reply:
“‘The old Government had the “Généalogistes du Roi,” for proofs of
nobility, and the “Juges d’Armes,” such as d’Hozier and Cherieu.
The Monarchical Governments of this century had the “Conseil du
Sceau des Titres,” now suppressed. The archives of these officers
are now dispersed, part to the Bibliothèque Nationale (Cabinet des
Titres), part to the Hôtel de Soubise (in the series M. and MM.),
part to the Ministère de la Justice (for the period after 1789). In
short, the equivalent of the Heralds’ College of England never
existed in France. However, the Conseil du Sceau had some
similarity to that body. There is no Heraldic Society, yet some
persons, without legal authority, occupy themselves with questions
of nobility, but they necessarily cannot be regarded as altogether
trustworthy. Not knowing of a Heralds’ College in France, I cannot
accuse the Commune of having burnt the archives. The fires of 1871
destroyed the parochial registers (entries of birth, marriage, and
death) preserved at the Hôtel de Ville, and in the Library of the
Louvre, which included some precious MSS. containing some
correspondence of the last two centuries.’”
“ARTHUR VICARS, _Ulster_.”
It will be seen that reference is made in the above letter to a certain
un-official Heraldic Society, but shortly after the above correspondence
was published, even that body was dissolved.
In May, 1895, there was sold by auction in the Hôtel des Ventes, in
Paris, the whole of the archives accumulated by the French Heraldic
College. Although it is true the institution was never anything but a
private enterprise, it had had an uninterrupted existence of more than
half a century, during which period a great store of genealogical
documents had been amassed relating to the titled families of France. It
was founded in 1841 by the Marquis de Magny, the compiler of the
well-known “Livre d’Or de la Noblesse de France,” but the present
generation of Frenchmen did not care sufficiently for rules of
precedence and genealogical trees to support the institution. Hence the
sale, consisting, it is computed, of 40,000 genealogical trees, and
about 400,000 original family documents.
As to Frenchmen generally, they seem now to attach little importance to
heraldry, and few literary men place arms on their book-plates. In fact,
as M. Henri Bouchot observes: “Le blason à fait son temps, il ne se
rencontre plus guère que dans les travaux des héraldistes et détonne un
peu en ce moment.”
As a simple guide to French heraldic terms may be mentioned: “Traité
Complet de la Science du Blason,” par Jouffroy D’Eschavannes. Edouard
Rouveyre, rue des Saints Pères, Paris, 1880. This contains an excellent
“Dictionnaire des Termes de Blason.”
Heraldically interesting is the ex-libris of the library of the Château
du Verdier de Vauprivas, French King of Arms, with the old war-cry of
the Bourbons, _Mont-Joye St. Denis_! and the owner’s motto, “Fear no
Evil.”
“Clisson assura sa Majesté du gain de la bataille, le roi lui repondit:
Connestable, Dieu le veeulle, nous irons donc avant au nom de Dieu et de
Sainct Denis.”--_Vulson de la Colombière_.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF DU VERDIER, FRENCH KING OF ARMS.]
[Illustration]