
POLAND NATIONAL ARMS
French Monarchs granted augmentations to Coats of Arms very rarely. They made one notable exception when they had to acknowledge the part played by Joan of Arc in the eventual eviction of the English. In 1429, Charles VII granted to the family of Joan of Arc a simple but very elegant shield displaying a blue field charged with a sword supporting the French crown and two fleur de lis in fess. The Coat of Arms are symbolic of the account by the writer, Holinshed, that Joan of Arc had wielded a sword “with five floure delicees graven on both sides”, and although there is little evidence to suggest Joan of Arc used these Coat of Arms herself, they were used by her brothers descendants upon whom Charles VII conferred the name Du Lys. French Monarchs also made an exception for two notable Italian families granted augmentations to their Arms, the Viscontis of Milan and the Medicis of Florence. Both of these Italian families could be said to have been awarded augmentations “of grace” by French monarchs. In 1395 Charles VI conceded by special diploma to Gian Galeaza Visconti the right to quarter the ancient Coat of Arms of France within a double border the internal silver and the external red. The Medici Arms are thought to include a pun on their name, the red roundels in the shield possibly being pills handed out by doctors (medici). In 1465 Louis XI granted the Medicis the right to replace the top roundel in their Coat of Arms with a blue one charged with three gold fleur de lis.

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