Legend of the French Gold Fleur de Lis Holiday Card

Painted by 'The Bedford Master' in France ... the probable teacher / master of our direct ancestor Jean Fouquet ... Fouquet became court painter to French King Charles VII in the 1450s. This scene shows God and Heavenly angels delivering the French banner of a field of gold fleurs de lis upon a dark blue background to the Salian Frank Merovingian King Clovis I circa AD 500 (give or take 3 years) after Clovis vowed to God that if God would help Clovis win the next battle that Clovis would be baptised into the Roman Catholic Christian faith of his wife. Thus, the banner and the symbol of French kings became the gold fleur de lis upon the dark blue background. The gold fleur de lis was inspired by the golden yellow iris flowers which naturally grew on the green banks of the Dutch river Ijssel in the region called Salland which circa AD 200 was the earliest known home of the Salian Franks who in later generations eventually migrated westward in what would be called Netherlands then southward into what region would later be called Flanders then Belgium. Clovis I is considered the first French king.