Note 68 — HISTORY OF SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.

The three fleurs de lys were used, on some occasions, much earlier than this, both in France and England. There is an angel of Philip de Valois, coined in 1340, with the three fleurs de lys, which was probably done for the sake of variation, king Edward having then lately taken the arms semée de lys. Le Blanc mentions a charter of Philip, in 1355, with a seal of the arms in like manner. There is also a groat of king John of France, with only three fleurs de lys, though he used them likewise semée. But Charles the sixth, who began his reign in 1380, constantly bore the three lys for the arms of France, as they have been continued ever since. As the English kings altered the arms of France, in imitation of the French king, it is most likely that our Henry the fourth who was contemporary with Charles the sixth, began this practice. He did indeed bear the fleurs de lys semée, upon his great seal, because it was his predecessor’s, but that he bore the three lys upon other occasions is most likely, for so they are seen at the head of his monument, at Canterbury, and his son Henry, afterwards Henry the fifth, in like manner, bore the three fleurs de lys upon his seal, annexed to an indenture, so early as the sixth year of his father’s reign.