Leaving
Lyon the Sunday stage first heads due East, passing swiftly through
Charvieu-Chavagneux, possessor of one of the most awful civic coats of arms in France, if not in Western Europe.
Blazon: La poignée de mains, signifie le rattachement des deux communes le 1er mai 1961, pour le reste, la terre et l'industrie, le tout sous un beau soleil.
Had I not known that these arms are French and created in 1961, I would have guessed that they originated somewhere in the Soviet Union, perhaps in the 1930s. The perpetrators of these arms may well be related to the thieves referred to in this article which I found on Facebook.
On the night of August 6 to 7, 2020, a group of criminals exploded the ticket distributor of La Poste de Charvieu-Chavagneux, then entered the premises by forcing the service door. This mischief - caused by poorly intelligent criminals because they should know that the banknotes thus vandalized are automatically maculated with ink and therefore made unusable - penalized the population of Charvieu-Chavagneux.
The FB entry revealed that the commune seems to have abandoned the 1961 arms in favour of this logo.
Why a dolphin? Because the area was once part of Dauphiné.
Passing rapidly on to the next commune,
Saint-Romain-de-Jalionas, I was in hope of an heraldic improvement, and I suppose these arms must be considered better than the previous disaster area, but only just.
Blazon: D’azur à la barre rocheuse d’or en fasce mouvant des flancs, sur une terrasse de sable, à la tour crénelée de quatre pièces d’argent, ajourée de sable, à dextre, et au clocher aussi d’argent, essoré de gueules, ajouré et croiseté aussi de sable, à senestre, les soubassements des deux édifices sommés d’une double corniche ouverte du même, à la filière de gueules brochant sur ces soubassements, à l’amphore romaine du même, sa base mouvant de la pointe de l’écu et brochant entre les deux monuments sur la filière, chargée en chef sous le col de l’inscription « VILLA LVCINIVS » en lettres.
The
Fess rocky (which is what "rocheuse" means) must surely be unique.
The peloton pedals frenetically eastwards, searching desperately for a commune with genuine heraldry. It arrives at
Morestel. Nom d'un griffon! Real heraldry but an egregious tincture error!
Blazon: D'azur au griffon rampant de sable.
Heraldry of the World (All hail to Heraldry of the World!) does give the arms as
D'argent au griffon de sable, but gives no source for this sensible alternative. The commune's website is silent on matters heraldic.
Turning northwards, the race passes
Belley, whose arms are - yippee - heraldic (we hasten to forgive the poor emblazonment!).
Blazon: D’argent au loup ravissant de sinople.
Even here there is mystery. Heraldry of the World (All hail to Heraldry of the World!) gives the blazon as:
D'argent à la louve ravissante de sinople. - i.e. a she-wolf, which the emaciated animal above clearly isn't. H of the W also shows examples of the arms with the wolf passant as well as rampant.
I couldn't allow the riders to reach the finishing line without revealing that they have been cycling up and down the moutainside of
Grand Colombier in the Département of Ain. The arms of the Département are a refreshing change from the poor heraldry which we have endured up to now.
Blazon: Écartelé : au premier d’azur au lion contourné d’hermine (Bresse), au deuxième d’azur aux trois morailles d’or rangées en pal et au chef d’argent chargé d’un lion issuant de gueules (Pays de Gex), au troisième d’azur aux trois fleurs de lys d’or et au bâton péri en bande de gueules (Dombes), au quatrième de gueules au lion d’hermine (Bugey); sur l’écartelé la croix tréflée d’argent (Bourg-en-Bresse).
Q3 are actually the arms of the Princes de Condé and Ducs d'Enghien, but
not of the Ducs du Maine (who held the title "Prince Souverain de Dombes").
Zut!