CHARGES (NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FIGURES)

Some people may assert that, in this chapter, we depart from the strict science of heraldry and divert into a study that is purely archaeological, thus less pinned down by the rules of heraldic art.

Early coats of arms displayed a few simple emblems: fleurdelys (we adopt the ancient spelling, as found in numerous armorial bearings), bezants (small gold circles), stars, crescents, etc - or a few animals, very broadly depicted: eagles, lions or leopards. But the huge increase in the number of shields obliged the heralds-of-arms to accept further elements: human figures, other animals, heavenly bodies, weapons, even some very unusual and highly complex objects.

The 18th and 19th centuries were particularly creative in this field.

If you go through the provincial coats of arms we depict for you, their great variety will rapidly be apparent.

In principle, the simple blazons should be the oldest, but that is not always the case - certain individuals having assumed arms again through marriage or having insisted on searching for the pureness of the most ancient shields. It should also be noted that, in 1696, when Hozier’s Armorial General was established, so-called mechanical blazons were given as a matter of course. They are pretty concise.

Fairly rarely, designs testify to some deed of valour. For instance, 16 allerions (eaglets) were added to the Montmorency family’s shield because one of their forebears laid 16 captured standards at the feet of Philippe-Auguste - France’s King Philippe II (1165-1223). The standards, in fact, were taken from the Holy Roman Emperor’s troops at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. On the other hand, the blazons displaying bezants - derived from the gold coin possibly brought back by the first Crusaders - do not necessarily confirm that a member of the family concerned was present at one of the Crusades