Region of France
Bourgogne bears the arms of the dukes of the House of Valois: a quarterly combining their own arms, the lilies of France within a border compony of silver and red, with the bendy of blue and gold of the Capetian dukes who held Burgundy before them. The region had no official flag, and since 2017 these arms form part of the arms of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Coat of Arms
Not available
| Region | Bourgogne, French administrative region until 2015, merged into Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in 2016 |
|---|---|
| Capital | Dijon |
| Departments | Côte-d’Or, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne |
| Arms | Quarterly: 1 and 4, new Burgundy (the Valois dukes); 2 and 3, ancient Burgundy (the Capetian dukes) |
| Flag | No official flag; an unofficial banner of the arms |
| Since 2017 | Arms of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, by Rémi Mathis |
The coat of arms of Bourgogne: new Burgundy in the first and fourth quarters, ancient Burgundy in the second and third.
Écartelé : au premier et au quatrième, d’azur semé de fleurs de lys d’or à la bordure componée d’argent et de gueules ; au deuxième et troisième, bandé de six pièces d’azur et d’or à la bordure de gueules.
That is: quarterly, 1 and 4, Azure semy of fleurs-de-lis Or, a bordure compony Argent and Gules; 2 and 3, bendy of six Azure and Or, a bordure Gules. This is the blazon given by French Wikipedia’s article on Bourgogne; its armorial of the regions blazons the first quarter “France ancien à la bordure componée de gueules et d’argent”, and its article on the arms of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté gives the bendy as “d’or et d’azur”, Or and Azure.
The arms combine those of the Valois dukes, in the first and fourth quarters, with those of the Capetian dukes, in the second and third. The bendy of blue and gold within a red border was the shield of the Capetian dukes of Burgundy, who held the duchy until 1361. When the last of them, Philippe de Rouvres, died without an heir in 1361, King Jean II le Bon took back the duchy, and in 1363 he granted it to his son Philippe, who took possession on 2 June 1364 as Philippe II, “le Hardi”, founding the House of Valois-Burgundy. He was followed by Jean sans Peur, Philippe le Bon and Charles le Téméraire, under whom the dukes’ possessions, the “Burgundian State”, extended as far as the Low Countries.
On the death of Charles le Téméraire in January 1477, Louis XI’s army occupied the duchy. The treaty of Senlis of 1493 confirmed the possession of Burgundy by the King of France, and although the treaty of Madrid of 1526 provided for its return to the heir of Charles le Téméraire, the treaty of Cambrai left it to France. Burgundy remained one of the great provinces of the kingdom until 1789. French Wikipedia’s armorial of the regions notes that the gendarmerie uses the same arms, but with three fleurs-de-lis, “France moderne”, instead of the semy, “France ancien”, in the first and fourth quarters.
According to French Wikipedia, the Bourgogne region did not have a flag as such, but a logo, some elements of which were taken from the arms of the Valois dukes of Burgundy; it was sometimes turned into a flag, but unofficially. In 2010 a silver 10-euro coin engraved by Joaquin Jimenez, showing the map and the armorial flag of the region, was put into circulation in Bourgogne.
The cross of Burgundy is a red saltire on white in the form of two roughly pruned branches, blazoned “Argent, a saltire raguly Gules”. According to English Wikipedia it dates from the early 15th century, when the supporters of the Duke of Burgundy adopted the badge during the Armagnac–Burgundian civil war, probably because Saint Andrew was the patron saint of the dukes; French Wikipedia says that banners with a red Saint Andrew’s cross were used in the armies of the dukes from the time of Jean sans Peur. After 1477 the Habsburgs, heirs of the Burgundian Low Countries, adopted it, and from 1506 it spread through the Spanish Empire. French Wikipedia notes that the Bourgogne region did not use it.
Bourgogne merged with Franche-Comté in 2016 to form the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. At the request of the regional president Marie-Guite Dufay, a group of historians proposed new arms composed by the heraldist Rémi Mathis: quarterly, 1, Azure semy of lilies Or, a bordure compony Argent and Gules; 2 and 3, Azure semy of billets Or, a lion crowned Or, armed and langued Gules; 4, bendy of six Or and Azure, a bordure Gules. The first and fourth quarters come from the arms of the duchy of Burgundy, the second and third from those of Franche-Comté, the former county of Burgundy. The Commission nationale d’héraldique approved the proposal, the regional council adopted it on 29 June 2017, and the arms were presented at Saint-Jean-de-Losne on 12 July 2017. In December 2017 a regional flag, the arms turned into a heraldic banner, was made public; it flies on the region’s buildings in Dijon and Besançon.
It combines the arms of the Valois dukes of Burgundy, the lilies of France within a border compony of silver and red, in the first and fourth quarters, with those of the Capetian dukes, bendy of blue and gold within a red border, in the second and third.
Philippe le Hardi, who received the duchy from his father Jean II le Bon in 1363, then Jean sans Peur, Philippe le Bon and Charles le Téméraire, who died in January 1477. His heiress, Marie de Bourgogne, married Maximilian of Austria in August 1477.
The region had no official flag, only a logo using elements of the ducal arms, sometimes turned into a flag unofficially. Since December 2017 the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté has a flag, the banner of its arms.
A red saltire made of two roughly pruned branches on white, first used by the supporters of the Valois dukes of Burgundy in the early 15th century; it later passed to the Habsburgs and to the Spanish Empire. The Bourgogne region did not use it.
Composed by Rémi Mathis and adopted by the regional council on 29 June 2017, they combine the arms of the Valois dukes and of the Capetian dukes of Burgundy with the lion and billets of Franche-Comté.
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 25 October 2026.