i6o FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



d'or. They were given at the same time 

 (December 1429) the surname of du lis. 



The sword has the blade ornamented with 

 five fleurs-de-lys and is apparently the famous 

 one unearthed in the Church of St Catharine at 

 Fierbois, ' decked with five flower-de-luces on 

 each side/ ' But in the least doubtful of the 

 many contemporary portraits of the Maid (those 

 in the collection of M. George Spetz) the fleurs- 

 de-lys do not appear. When questioned at her 

 trial as to any supernatural power held by her 

 sword, she declared: * It was a rusty sword in 

 the earth, with five crosses on it, and I knew it 

 through my voices.^ 



The clergy of the Church of St Catharine, 

 however, after finding the sword by Jeanne's 

 directions, had had a scabbard made for it of 

 crimson velvet, embroidered with fleurs-de-lys 

 in gold, and legend supported by heraldry seems 

 to have substituted the fleurs-de-lys of the 

 scabbard for the five crosses of the blade. 



The device upon the banner was dictated to 

 her by her patron saints, Margaret and Catharine. 



1 First paxt of King Henry VI, Act I. sc, ii 

 ^ Trial of Jeanne d'Arc, 143 1. 



