Region of France
The arms of Lorraine, a red bend on gold charged with three silver alerions, were those of the dukes of Lorraine from the 12th century; the flag of Lorraine is the banner of these arms. The double cross, the cross of Anjou, came with René d’Anjou according to French Wikipedia’s article on the cross, and was named the “cross of Lorraine” after René II’s victory over Charles le Téméraire at Nancy in 1477.
Flag
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Coat of Arms
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| Region | Lorraine, created in 1956, merged into Grand Est on 1 January 2016; capital Metz from 1974 to 2015 |
|---|---|
| Departments | Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, Vosges |
| Arms | Or, a bend Gules charged with three alerions Argent |
| Flag | The banner of the arms, with the three alerions |
| Cross of Lorraine | The cross of Anjou, symbol of Lorraine after the battle of Nancy in 1477 |
| Ducal motto | “Une pour toutes” |
The coat of arms of Lorraine.
D’or, à la bande de gueules, chargée de trois alérions d’argent.
That is: Or, a bend Gules charged with three alerions Argent, the alerions being winged charges. French Wikipedia’s armorial of the regions gives these arms as those of the duchy of Lorraine, also used by the gendarmerie.
According to French Wikipedia’s article on the arms, they first appear on the seals of Duke Simon II and of his younger brother Ferry de Bitche; since the two rival brothers used the same arms, they can only have been those of their father, Mathieu I, so that they date at least from his time. French Wikipedia’s article on the flag instead says the banner of the alerions was probably introduced under Ferry I (Ferry de Bitche), whose seal shows him on horseback holding a small flag and a shield, both crossed by a bend charged with three alerions. The alerions are canting arms: “alérion” is an anagram of “Loreina”, an old spelling of Lorraine. They recall the links of the House of Lorraine with the Hohenstaufen and the Holy Roman Empire, symbolised by the eagle; the dukes are said to have borne this imperial symbol by a privilege of Frederick Barbarossa, but the article considers this privilege more a later claim than historical reality. The crowned eagles that support the shield, with the double cross at their necks, appear on the seal of René I d’Anjou in 1437.
At the Renaissance the physician Symphorien Champier reported a court legend that the three alerions were birds that Godefroy de Bouillon, from whom the dukes liked to claim descent, had pierced in flight with a single arrow at the taking of Jerusalem. Before the campaign of 5 January 1477 against Charles le Téméraire, René II had a banner made bearing the duke’s motto, “Une pour toutes”, later taken up by his successors according to the article on the arms, while René II’s own account, quoted in the article on the flag, calls it the motto of his predecessors; it is often forgotten in favour of the civic motto of Nancy, Non inultus premor, linked to the Lorraine thistle, another symbol adopted by René II. The war cry of the dukes was “Preny! Preny!”, after the castle of Prény.
The arms of the dukes remained unchanged from Mathieu I to Charles II, who married his daughter Isabelle in 1420 to René d’Anjou, heir to the duchy of Bar, and began to combine the arms of Lorraine and Bar. René d’Anjou and his successors then combined Lorraine with quarters for their titles and claims (Hungary, Sicily, Jerusalem, Anjou, Bar, later Aragon), Lorraine being placed over the whole from about 1500 under René II; after 1480 the duchies of Lorraine and Bar were never again separated. The last duke, François III, added a quarter for Tuscany after leaving Lorraine in 1737, and these arms passed with him to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
The flag of Lorraine, the banner of the arms with the three alerions.
According to French Wikipedia, the flag of Lorraine and the arms of the duchy share the same origin and were probably used at the same time; because it transposes the arms, the flag with the three alerions should properly be called a banner. It represented the duchy of Lorraine (about 1205 to 1766), the Grand-gouvernement of Lorraine-et-Barrois (1766 to 1790), then the Lorraine region (1956 to 2015), and still represents the historic region of Lorraine. From 1972, with the creation of the regional council, it was used beside the arms as the official civil representation of the Lorraine region and flew in front of the regional headquarters; Nancy and Metz also fly it on their town halls. Lorraine also had many other flags, among them the “Great Standard of the Duchies” of René II and the standard of the Lorraine union under Charles IV.
The double cross, called the cross of Anjou, the cross of Lorraine or the archiepiscopal cross, represents the True Cross with the inscription board. René I d’Anjou, who ruled the duchy of Bar and, by his marriage, the duchy of Lorraine from 1431, used it: hence the cross of Lorraine in the achievement, though not in the shield, of the dukes of Lorraine. French Wikipedia’s article on the flag instead has the cross appear under René II, adopted during the Burgundian war. In 1477 at the battle of Nancy, the soldiers of René II wore it to distinguish themselves from the enemy and defeated Charles le Téméraire; the victory established the cross as a symbol of Lorraine, and the name “cross of Lorraine” replaced “cross of Anjou”. After the victory of 1477 it became a patriotic symbol for the people of Lorraine, put forward from the 19th century and especially after the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871; on 1 July 1940 Vice-Admiral Émile Muselier proposed it to de Gaulle as the emblem of Free France.
The Lorraine region, created in 1956 and a territorial collectivity from 1982, grouped the departments of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges; its capital was Metz from 1974 to 2015. On 1 January 2016 it merged with Alsace and Champagne-Ardenne to form the Grand Est region. In 1993 the arms inspired Charlélie Couture to design the logo of the regional council of Lorraine. Outside Lorraine, the arms appear today in the arms of the German Land of Saarland and of two of its districts, Merzig-Wadern and Saarlouis, and they are still borne by Queens’ College, Cambridge, founded by Marguerite d’Anjou.
Winged charges, which in the arms of Lorraine are canting arms, “alérion” being an anagram of “Loreina”, an old spelling of Lorraine, and they recall the links of the House of Lorraine with the Holy Roman Empire, symbolised by the eagle.
According to French Wikipedia’s article on the arms, they first appear on the seals of Duke Simon II and of his brother Ferry de Bitche, and so date at least from their father Mathieu I; its article on the flag places the banner of the alerions probably under Ferry I (Ferry de Bitche).
According to French Wikipedia’s article on the cross, it came to Lorraine with René I d’Anjou, as the cross of Anjou; its article on the flag instead has it appear under René II. After the soldiers of René II wore it to defeat Charles le Téméraire at the battle of Nancy in 1477, the name “cross of Lorraine” replaced “cross of Anjou”.
The banner of the arms: gold, with the red bend and the three silver alerions. It represented the duchy, then the Lorraine region, which used it from 1972 beside the arms as its official civil representation.
The ducal motto was “Une pour toutes”, which René II had written on a banner before the campaign of 1477; the article on the arms says his successors took it up, while René II’s own account, quoted in the article on the flag, calls it the motto of his predecessors; the civic motto of Nancy, Non inultus premor, refers to the Lorraine thistle.
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 27 October 2026.