Valenciennes

VALENCIENNES Country : France Département : Nord Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"250px","height":"250px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":7,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":50.35770000000000123918653116561472415924072265625,"lon":3.522699999999999942446038403431884944438934326171875,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Official blazon

French	De gueules au lion d'or.
English	Gules, a lion rampant Or.

Origin/meaning

The arms show a lion, but the origin is not clear. It has been stated that it is the lion of Hainaut in inversed colours, but that is unlikely as Hainaut never used a single lion, but a quartered shield of Vlaanderen (Flandre) and Holland since the 13th century. In the 19th century also swan supporters have been used (see also below for the swan arms).

Sometimes other arms are shown for the town, showing a swan. These are canting arms; Val-de-Cygnes (valley of swans). I have, however, only seen those on Dutch maps, or sources based on maps, from the 16th and 17th century. Sometimes alone, sometimes both arms (lion and swan) are shown on the map.

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  The seal from 1374

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  The arms in a 16th century manuscript

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  The arms in a 16th century manuscript

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  The arms in Hozier (1696)

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  The arms on a map (1698)

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  The arms in a 17th century manuscript

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  The arms in the Wapen- en Vlaggenboek van Gerrit Hesman (1708)

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  The arms in Traversier (1842)

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  The arms on a medal (1864, image from auction site)

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  The arms in a publication from 1895

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  The arms in the Café Sanka album +/- 1932

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  The arms on a tobacco card by Laurens

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  The arms on a postcard by Barré Dayez

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  The arms in the Abadie albums

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  The arms on a postcard by Kroma

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  Postal cancellation 1976

Literature: Image from http://www.armorialdefrance.fr