THE IRIS. 397 



the middle of the twelfth century, though generally 

 thought to be much later. 



There is a well known figure in the Cathedral of 

 St. Julien (now transferred to the museum) at Mans, 

 said to represent Geoffrey Plantagenet (the father of 

 our Henry II.), who died in 1150, bearing devices 

 on its shield which are supposed to be heraldic ; in 

 the mosaics of S. Lorenzo, at Rome, of the time of 

 Pope Honorius III., about 1220, real arms on shields, 

 banners, and housings, having a bend separating two 

 lions passant, are borne by two men on horseback ; 

 and the kings of England adopted the three lions 

 in the time of Richard I., or, perhaps, of Henry II. 

 And we have already seen that the present arms 

 of the Chateaubriand family were granted in 1250. 

 There are, therefore, instances of heraldic bearings 

 before the time of our Edward I. (1272-1303), when 

 the first instance of quartering is supposed to have 

 occurred ; and though those devices said to have 

 been borne by Hugues Capet, and other early per- 

 sonages, were not really heraldic, coats of arms ap- 

 pear to have been hereditary earlier than 1150 in 

 France, and 1170 in England, which are the periods 

 assigned by some authorities for their institution. 



It has been supposed that the original device from 

 which the fleur de lys was borrowed was the head 

 of a javelin, halberd, or lance, formed by a centre- 

 piece, or point of iron strengthened by two cross- 

 pieces, which were tied or bound by a ligature, or 

 key-piece, of the same metal ;* and it was evidently 



* This has been more particularly insisted upon in cases 

 where it is employed, in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 



