The fleur-de-lis , also spelled fleur-de-lys plural fleurs-de-lis or fleurs-de-lys , [ pron 1 ] is a common heraldic charge in the stylized shape of a lily in French, fleur and lis mean ' flower ' and ' lily ' respectively. This design still represents France and the House of Bourbon in the form of marshalling in the arms of Spain , Quebec , and Canada β for example. Other European nations have also employed the symbol. The fleur-de-lis became "at one and the same time, religious, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in French heraldry.
Some modern usage of the fleur-de-lis reflects "the continuing presence of heraldry in everyday life", often intentionally, but also when users are not aware that they are "prolonging the life of centuries-old insignia and emblems". Fleur-de-lis is the stylized depiction of the lily flower.
The lily has always been the symbol of fertility and purity, and in Christianity it symbolizes the Immaculate Conception. According to Pierre-Augustin Boissier de Sauvages , an 18th-century French naturalist and lexicographer : [ 6 ]. The old fleurs-de-lis, especially the ones found in our first kings' sceptres, have a lot less in common with ordinary lilies than the flowers called flambas [in Occitan ], or irises, from which the name of our own fleur-de-lis may derive.
What gives some colour of truth to this hypothesis that we already put forth, is the fact that the French or Franks, before entering Gaul itself, lived for a long time around the river named Lys in the Flanders. Nowadays, this river is still bordered with an exceptional number of irises βas many plants grow for centuries in the same placesβ: these irises have yellow flowers, which is not a typical feature of lilies but fleurs-de-lis.
It was thus understandable that our kings, having to choose a symbolic image for what later became a coat of arms, set their minds on the iris, a flower that was common around their homes, and is also as beautiful as it was remarkable. They called it, in short, the fleur-de-lis, instead of the flower of the river of lis. This flower, or iris, looks like our fleur-de-lis not just because of its yellow colour but also because of its shape: of the six petals, or leaves, that it has, three of them are alternatively straight and meet at their tops.
