The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a symbol that permeates modern culture. You will find it in the details of countless designs. One of the earliest examples is on a gold helmet from the Scythians, a European nomadic people from the 7th to 3rd centuries BC. It was also found on a statue of the Indian emperor Kanishka (AD 127 to 150). The fleur-de-lis has many different meanings depending on who used it and when. Ancient Egyptians used it to represent the snake that bit and killed Cleopatra. In Christianity, lilies symbolize purity and chastity, which may be why the fleur-de-lis historically represents the Virgin Mary. While Mary has the strongest connection with the flower, it has also been used to represent Christ or the Holy Trinity. The three petals established a clear connection with the three persons of the Trinity.
In French history, the fleur-de-lis’ origins may stem from the baptismal lily used in the crowning of the French King Clovis in the 13th century. The French monarchy adopted the fleur-de-lis for its royal coat of arms as a symbol of purity to commemorate the conversion of Clovis to Catholicism. The fleur-de-lis shaped ampulla that held the oil used to anoint him solidified it as a symbol of the king's divinely approved right to rule. The thus "anointed" kings of France later maintained that their authority was directly from God. The fleur-de-lis has since appeared on many French royalty coats of arms and also became a symbol of Île-de-France, the core of the French kingdom. French historian Georges Duby, stated that the three petals represented the three medieval social estates: the commoners, the nobility, and the clergy.
In Italy, the fleur-de-lis called giglio bottonato, is known from the crest of the city of Florence often called the Flornce Lilly. As an emblem of the city, it is found in icons of Zenobius and associated with Florence's patron Saint John the Baptist in the Florentine fiorino. Several towns subjugated by Florence or founded within the territory of the Florentine Republic adopted a variation of the Florentine lily in their crests. The fleurs-de-lis’ have also been used for papal crowns and coats of arms. In the 14th century Pedro Reiner, a Portuguese cartographer, began the tradition of using the fleur-de-lis as a symbol on a compass rose to mark the north direction.
In the United Kingdom, a fleur-de-lis has appeared in the official arms of the Norroy King of Arms for hundreds of years. A silver fleur-de-lis on a blue background is the arms of the Barons Digby. It can also be found on the arms of many Scottish clan Chiefs. The tressure flory–counterflory (flowered border) has been a prominent part of the design of the Scottish royal arms and Royal Standard since James I of Scotland.
The fleur-de-lis was the symbol of the House of Kotromanić, a ruling house in medieval Bosnia allegedly in recognition of the Capetian House of Anjou, where the flower is thought of as a Lilium bosniacum. Today, fleur-de-lis is a national symbol of Bosniaks. Coins minted in 14th-century Romania, from the region that was the Principality of Moldova, carry the fleur-de-lis symbol. The symbol was also used as a dynastic emblem by the German banking family the Fuggers who took over from the infamous Medici family of bankers in the 15th century.
In the new world, the Code Noir was an arrangement of controls received in Louisiana in 1724 from other French settlements around the globe, intended to represent the state's slave populace. Those guidelines included marking slaves with the fleur-de-lis as discipline for fleeing. “The runaway slave, who shall continue to be so for one month from the day of his being denounced to the officers of justice, shall have his ears cut off, and shall be branded with the flower de luce on the shoulder: and on a second offence of the same nature, persisted in during one month from the day of his being denounced, he shall be hamstrung, and be marked with the flower de luce on the other shoulder. On the third offence, he shall suffer death".
During the 20th century the fleur-de-lis symbol was adopted by various Scouting organisations for their badges. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, explained that the Scouts adopted the fleur-de-lis symbol from its use in the compass rose because it "points in the right direction (and upwards) turning neither to the right nor left, since these lead backward again." The three petals or leaves represent the threefold Scout Promise (Duty to God and Country, Duty to Self, Duty to Others). The two small five-point stars stand for truth and knowledge. Together their ten points represent the ten original Scout laws. The reef knot or square knot represents the strength of World Scouting. The rope is for the unity of Scouts throughout the world. The ring holding the petals together represents the bond of brotherhood.
The fleur-de-lis design has become a popular motif for architects and designers in recent years. Samples can be seen in iron, glass and wood work and most popularly as repeated patterns in wallpaper and upholstery fabric. The photo here shows a fleur-de-lis carved into a set of dining room doors in US home built in the 1920’s. We see many influences of European symbols in houses of this era, as after WWI many designers were influenced in their designs by what they had seen as soldiers in the homes of Europe.
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