THE IRIS. 401 



2. That it was commonly employed in that country 

 as an ornament more than two centuries before the 

 reign of Louis IX. ; 3. That already in the year 

 1125 the banner of France was " semee defleurs de 

 lys" and that various objects had on them the same 

 emblems of indefinite number ; and that these were 

 reduced to three in the reign of Philippe III., or 

 even later. 



In confirmation of the two former it will be suffi- 

 cient to direct attention to the fact of their appear- 

 ing on the crown of Edward the Confessor, and of 

 their being one of the devices throughout the border 

 of the Bayeux tapestry. The triple leaf also occurs 

 on the crown of Charlemagne, in a Latin MS. of the 

 ninth century ; and this was commonly attached to 

 royal crowns at those periods. 



It is scarcely necessary to observe that devices 

 were represented on shields ages before they were 

 used heraldically ; and this custom is sufficiently 

 shewn to have been universal also among the ancient 

 Greeks, by the authority of classical writers, and 

 more particularly by the subjects of their painted 

 vases. Certain districts of Greece had also their 

 peculiar emblems. Even the round shields of the 

 Mexicans bore similar devices. 



The fleur de lys was first used on the mariner's 



heraldry ; and at that period women began to bear arms in 

 an heraldic point of view, which had previously been confined 

 to the suit of armour worn by their husbands. They now 

 wore robes embroidered on the right side with the arms of 

 their husbands, and on the left with those of their fathers. 



