The French nobles most often took their titles from their fiefs, and these, with the exception of baronies and _marquisats_, were usually of Roman origin. The chief titles below the _noblesse du sang royal_ were _ducs_, _barons_, _marquis_, _comtes_, _vicomtes_, _vidames_, and _chevaliers_ and each had their special armorial distinctions, some exceedingly simple, and some so elaborate with quarterings and blazonings as to be indefinable by any but a heraldic expert.
The coats of arms of feudal France, or _armoiries_, as the French call them (a much better form of expression by the way), are a most interesting subject of study. Some of these _armoiries_ are really beautiful, some quaint and some enigmatic, as for instance those of the King of Navarre.
The Revolutionary Assembly abolished such things in France, but Napoleon restored them all again, and created a new noblesse as well:
"Aussitôt maint esprit fécond en reveries, Inventa le blason avec les armoiries."
Primarily _armoiries_ were royal bequests, but in these days a pork-packer, an iron-founder or a cheese-maker concocts a trade-mark on heraldic lines and the thing has fallen flat. Fancy a pig sitting on a barrel top and flanked by two ears of corn, or a pyramid of cheeses overtopped by the motto "A full stomach maketh good health." Why it's almost as ridiculous as a crossed pick-axe, a shovel and a crow-bar would be for a navvy on a railway line! In the old days it was not often thus, though a similar ridiculous thing, which no one seemed to take the trouble to suppress, was found in the "_Armoiries des gueux_." One of these showed two twists of tobacco _en croix_, with the following motto: "_Dieu vous bénisse_!"
At the head of the list of French _armoiries_ were those of _domain_ or _souveraineté_.
Then followed several other distinct classes. "_Armoiries de Pretention_," where the patronal rights over a city or a province were given the holders, even though the province was under the chief domination of a more powerful noble.
"_Armoiries de Concession_," given for services by a sovereign prince--such as the _armoiries_ belonging to Jeanne d'Arc.
"_Armoiries de Patronage_," in reality quarterings added to an _armoirie_ already existing. These were frequently additions to the blazonings of families or cities. Paris took on the arms of the King of France, the insistent Louis, by this right.