[Illustration: Banner of the Dauphin.]
In France the bearing of the dolphin was exclusively restricted to the
Dauphin or heir to the throne of the kingdom. Brydson mentions that one of
the first of the troubadours was called the Dauphin, or Knight of the
Dolphin, from bearing that figure on his shield, adding that "the name in
his successors became a title of sovereign dignity."
The title "Dauphin," borne by the eldest son and heir-apparent of the
kings of France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties, originated in the
Dauphins of Viennois, sovereigns of the province of Dauphiné. Guy VIII.,
Count of Vienne, was the first so styled. The title descended in the
family till 1349, when Humbert II., _de la Tour de Pisa_, sold his
seigneurie, called the Dauphiné, to Philippe VI. (de Valois), on condition
that the heir of France assumed the title of "Le Dauphin." The first
French prince so called was Jean, who succeeded Philippe; and the last was
the Duc d'Angoulême, son of Charles X., who renounced the title in 1830.
In 1601, when Louis XIII. was born, there had not been a Dauphin since
Francis II. (the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots)--eighty-four years. The
province of Dauphiné sent a deputation to Fontainebleau, headed by the
Archbishop of Vienne, to recognise the infant as their sovereign, and make
him a present of an entire service of richly chased plate with various
figures of dolphins, estimated at 12,000 crowns.
GRAND DAUPHIN.--Louis, duc de Bourgogne, eldest son of Louis XIV., for
whom was published the edition of the Latin classics entitled "Ad usum
Delphini" (1661-1711).
SECOND, OR LITTLE DAUPHIN.--Louis, son of the Grand Dauphin (1682-1712).
Shakespeare, by an anachronism of a hundred years, introduced into King
John
"Lewis, the Dauphin and the heir of France."
Mary Queen of Scots bore the title on her marriage in 1558 to the Dauphin,
afterwards Francis II., and styled by her adherents:
"Mary, Queen, and Dolphiness of Fraunce,
The nobillest lady in earth."