Coat of arms of Lorraine
Coat of arms of Lorraine
The blazon of the arms of Lorraine is: gold, with a bend gules, charged with three alerions argent.
This coat of arms is in fact originally that of the house of Alsace from which the Dukes of Lorraine come. The first to wear it and transmit it would be Ferry de Bitche (1143-1207).
Legend has it that the three alerions which make up the coat of arms of the Dukes of Lorraine are due to the formidable skill of Godfrey de Bouillon who, at the capture of Jerusalem, achieved the feat of skewering these three unlucky birds in flight with a single arrow! More prosaically, the origin of the figures represented seems rather to be located in the logic of speaking weapons according to a second-degree process: the term 'ALERION' happens to be an anagram of 'LOREINA', a spelling formerly used to designate this province (but then why three alerions?).
The blazon of the arms of Lorraine is: gold, with a bend gules, charged with three alerions argent.
This coat of arms is in fact originally that of the house of Alsace from which the Dukes of Lorraine come. The first to wear it and transmit it would be Ferry de Bitche (1143-1207).
Legend has it that the three alerions which make up the coat of arms of the Dukes of Lorraine are due to the formidable skill of Godfrey de Bouillon who, at the capture of Jerusalem, achieved the feat of skewering these three unlucky birds in flight with a single arrow! More prosaically, the origin of the figures represented seems rather to be located in the logic of speaking weapons according to a second-degree process: the term 'ALERION' happens to be an anagram of 'LOREINA', a spelling formerly used to designate this province (but then why three alerions?).