COATS OF ARMS OF THE

POPES OF ROME

Return 2

â

Nrs  230-257

b

 

PAPAL STATE

The Beginning

Return 1

Return 2

Modern Times

 

 

Papal residence in Rome 1376 -

 

230 Pius IV

1559-1565

 

Foto H.d.V. 5.V. 2005

The arms of Pius IV on the ceiling of St. John Lateran, Rome

 

Giovan-Angelo Medici was the son of Bernardino Medici, a Milanese tax-contractor, and of Cecilia Serbeoni; his suster was the mother of St Charles Borromeo and his brother was the famous Gian-Giacomo, known as the Medichino and as the Castellan of Musso, who ultimately bacame marquess of Marignano. His family which had no connection with the Medici of Florence, though both had a similar if quite independent origin, appears in Milan in the 13th century.

The arms of the Milanese Medici appear in the Trivulzio book of arms [1]) (15th century) as, Gules a roundel Or, and these same arms can be seen under a chief of the Empire on coins struck in 1523 by Gian-Giacomo as marchio mussi, comes leuci (Lecco).

            After 1549 however, when Paul III made one of the brothers a cardinal, and married the other one to Marzia Orsini, Gian-Giacomo began to use the arms of the Florentine Medici and the seals of his letters now at the Milan State Archives show a shield with the six palle but with the chief of the Empire from his original coat. Similar arms appear on the seal of Giovan-Angelo in 1551, and on that of Agosto Medici in 1554.

            Whether Giovan-Angelo dropped the chief of the Empire while still a cardinal is not certain, but as Pope he used nothing but the Florentine Medici coat including even the augmentation of the three French lilies. His arms appear in this form on the Palazzo dei Giuriconsulti at Milan, on the Porta Pia in Rome and in St John Lateran, as well as on his coins, though on his monument in Santa Maria degli Angeli we find the Florentine coat with the six red palle but without the fleur-the-lis augmentation. The genuine Milanese coat with the single golden ball had thus been entirely dispensed with, and the later Medici of Marignano continued to bear the Florentine coat with the French augmentation. The Medici of Florence can be said to have tacitly agreed to, if not connived at, this substitution by acknowledging the Milanese family as cousins after their rise in the world.

 

Coin of Gian-Giacomo Medici, “Marquess  of Musso, Count of Lecco”  (Æ 16 mm ca)

 

(Foto H.d.V. I.2000)

Coat of arms of the Milanese Medici family between the coats of arms of some Visconti family members in the Museo Sforzesco, Milan.

 

231 Pius V     

1566-1572

 

Antonio Ghislieri, son of Paolo Ghislieri, and of Domenica Algeri, was born at Bosco, near Allessandria, of a humble family originally from Pinewrolo in Piedmont, but settled  at Bosco since 1366. He took the name Michele upoon entering the Dominican Order.

The arms botne by Pius V, Bendy gold and gules, are those of  a totally different Ghislieri family of Bologna. They may be seen on the ceiling of St Johm Lateran, on the façade of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and on the Pope’s tomb at Santa Maria Maggiore.

 

Foto H.d.V. 11.94

The arms of Pius V on the ceiling of St. John Lateran, Rome

 

Arms: Bendy of six Or and Gules

Crown and crest: A Tiara and keys in saltire

 

232 Gregorius XIII

1572-1585

 

Ugo Buoncompagni was the son of Cristoforo Buoncompagni and of Angela Maresclchi.

The Buoncompagni family descend from Pirreno, son of Giovanni, who belonged to the council of Bologna at the end of the 14th century, but the owe their rise to Gregory XIII. Their arms, Gules a demi-dragon gold, appear on the Pope’s monument in St Peters’s and on his coins, medals and portraits.

 

Achievement of Gregorius XIII

 

Arms: Gules, a dragon issuant dimidiated Or

Crown and crest

Supporters: D.: A man armed with a sword  and a lion; S.: A lady with a staff and a serpent.

 

The arms of Gregorius XIII on the ceiling of St. John Lateran, Rome

 

233 Sixtus V

1585-1590

 

Felice di Peretto Ricci, son of Pietro detto Peretto of Maontalto and of Marianna N……, belonged to a family which appeared in the public affairs  of Montalto in the 15th century. Felice when Procurator-General of the Franciscan Order had already dropped the name of Ricci for that of Peretti, and his sister Camilla also preferred to call herself “de Peretti.”

            Sixtus V’s arms, Azure a lion holding a branch of a pear-tree Or, and a bend  Gules over all, charged with a molet Or in chief, and a triple mount Argent in base, can be seen in any part of Rome, for the amount of building done by him during his five years’Pontificate is prodigious. The story that Sixtus when cardinal added the star, pear-tree and mlunts to his original arms, is most improbable

Arms of Cardinal Felice Peretti

(the later Pope Sixtus V)[2]

.

The achievement of Pope Sixtus V depicted in the Vatican Library

 

Arms: Azure a lion holding a branch of a pear-tree Or, and a bend  Gules over all, charged with a molet Or in chief, and a triple mount Argent in base

Crown and crest: A Tiara and keys in saltire supported by two putti

Supporters: D.: Pietas with a chalice with wafer and a cross S.: Justice with sword and balance

 

234 Urban VII

1590

 

Giovanni-Batista Castagna was the son of Cosimo Castagna of Genoa and of Costanza Ricci, and came  from an old and important patrician family.

His arms, Bendy silver and gules, a chief gules upheld by a fillet gold and charged with a chestnut bur slipped and leaved gold, may be seen on his monumant in Santa Maria sopra Minerva

 

 

Arms: Argent, three bends Gules, a chief Argent charged with a rose Gules and sustained by a fillet Or, charged  with an eel Azure (Orsini); (Per fess, a fess Vert, a fess wavy Argent; in chief Gules a branch of rose flowering proper; in base bendy Argent and Gules of seven),

Crown and crest: A Tiara and keys in saltire

 

235 Gregorius XIV

1590-1591

 

Niccolo Sfondrati was the son of Francesco Sfondrati and of Anna Viscont. The Sfondrati were one  of the principal families of Cremona to which city they have given no less than twenty-six decuriones between 1152 and 1668 the year of their extinction.

Gregory’s arms Quarterly, first and fourth, gold a bend battled on both sides azure, charged with a bendlet silver, between two molets of eight points azure, second and third, silver a tree uprooted vert, appear on his coins and medals, and in the Casino of Pius IV in the Vatican. The bends are sometimes drawn continuously across the shield. Not infrequently they are ragged instead of battled

 

Arms: Quarterly: 1&4: Or, a bend embattled counter-embattled Azure charged with a bendlet Argent; 2&3: Argent, a tree on a ground Vert.

Crown and crest: A tiara and two keys in saltire supported by two putti

Supporters: Justitia and Victoria

 

236 Innocentius IX

1591-1591

 

Gian-Antonio Facchinetti was born at Bologna but his family originall came from te village of Cravegna in the Val dÁntigorio near Domodossola. His grandfather, Navarino della Noce or di Nocetti, lived at Cravegna, but the Pope’s father, Antonio, marries Francesca Cini of Croveo, in a nearby village, and cam to Bologna in 1514 where he worked as a facchino (whence the name Facchinetti borne by his descendants).

Innocent IX’s arms, Silver a nut three uprooted vert, seem to appear only on his medals and on his coins.

 

Arms: Argent a Nut-tree proper

Crown and crest: A tiara and two keys in saltire supported by two putti

Supporters: Justitia and Victoria

 

237 Clemens VIII

1592-1605

 

Ippolito Aldobrandini was the son of a consistorial advocate, Salvestro Aldobrandini, and of Lisa Dato. He belonged to a family which appeared in Florence in the 13th century.

The Aldobrandini arms, Azure, a bend battled on both sides Or between six molets of eight points Or, are frequently to be seen in Rome. Fine examples of them exist on the ceiling of St. John Lateran and of the Sala del Consistorio of the Vatican as well as on the Pope’s monument in Santa Maria Maggiore.

 

Arms of Hippolyt Aldobrandini of Florence, Cardinal, 1585; Pope Clement VIII., 1605, engraved by Agostino Carraci, born at Bologna 1558, died at Parma 1601. The coat of arms is: Azure, a bend embattled and counter-embattled between six six-pointed stars in bend, three and three or.[3])

 

Foto H.d.V. 05.05.2005

Arms of Pope Clement VIII on the ceiling of St. John Lateran, Rome.

 

Arms: Azure, a bend embattled counter embattled between six eight-pointed stars 3 and 3. Or

 

238 Leo XI

1605-1605

 

Alessandro de’ Medici, son of Ottaviano de’ Medici and of Francesca Salviati niece of Leo X, beloged to a branchof de Medici family which ultimately bore the title of Princes of Ottaiano.

Leo IX’s arms are the same as those of Leo X and of Clement VII, and can be seen on his monument in St Peter’s and on the base of his statue in te cathedral of Pistoja.

 

Arms of Pope Leo XI

Archbishop’s palace Florence

(www. picturesfromitaly.com)

 

239 Paulus V

1605-1621

 

Camillo Borghese was a son of Antonio Borghese of Siena and of Flaminia Astalli of Rome.

The arms of Meo di Toto Bordighesi, one of the asghuitori of the Gabella in 1479, Azure a dragon with raised wings gold, appear on the painted cover of that years’s tax-book in the Siena State Archives. About 1530 some of the family, including the Pope’s branch, added a chief of the Empire (gold an eagle sable) to teir coat, of which the eagle is in some cases depicted risng with silver feet and sable beak. (teh mosaic of Paul V’s arms in the Confession of St Peter’s).

 

 

Arms: Azure, a dragon Or and a chief Or, an crowned eagle Sable

Crown and crest: A Tiara and keys in saltire

Supporters: Two angels

 

240 Gregorius XV

1621-1623

 

Alessandro Ludovisi was the son of Pompeo Count Ludovisi and of Camilla Bianchini.

The Ludovisi, and old and noble family of Bologna to which belonged Gionanni Ludovisi senator of Rome in the 14th century, became extinct in th 15th, and the name and arms were assumed by the descendants of Ludovico di Monterenzi whom the last representative of the Ludovisi had adopted in 1470. These arms, generally blazoned, Gules three bends silver reytaist in chief, were doubtless originally Gules a chief bedy silver and gules. The second Ludovisi family became extinct in 1701 and the name and arms were then assumed by the Boncompagni. Gregory XV’s arms can be seen on his coins and official publications , on his tomb in Sant’Ignazio. and on the façade of the modern Palazzo Margerita, originall Boncompagni-Ludovisi, where the three Ludivis bends ans the Boncompagni dragon alernte below the windows.

 

Arms of Gregory XV on his tomb in the Sant’Ignazio

By Pierre Le  Gros the Younger (1666-1719)

 

Arms: Gules, a chief bendy of seven Gules and Argent

Crown and crest: A Tiara and keys in saltire

Supporters: Three putti.

 

241 Urban VIII

1623-1644

 

Maffeo Barberini, son of Antonio Barberini of Florence and of Camilla Barbadoro, belonged to a family whose name had originally been Tafani da Barberino.

            The Tafano only came into prominence in 1490 when one of them was elected Prior, and Urban VIII thought it worth while to have the second edition of Verino’s De Illustratione Urbis Florentiæ doctored by skilfully shifting some lines, so as to apply to his own family the greater part of the panegyric of the Neri da Barberini.

            The Tafani da Barberino bore, Gules, three horse-flies (tafani) Or. Later the horse-flies became bees, and, apparently in the middle of the 16th century, the tinctures were changed to azure and Or. Still the original tinctures occasionally appear as for example on the monument of the Pope in St Peter’s.

 

Santa Maria in Aracoeli, arms of Urbanus VIII

 

Arms: Azure three bees proper (Or) 2 & 1.

 

242 Innocentius X

1644-1655

 

Giovanni-Battista Pamphili was the son of Camillo Pamphili and of Flaminia di Bubalo-Cancellaria, and belonged to a family which appears in Gubbio in the 14th century. The branch of the Pope, which in 1760 became extinct in the Doria family, descends from Antonio Pamphili who went to Rome and became fiscal to Pope Innocent VIII.

            To the herald, the Pamphili arms with their curious chief present a problem in blazoning. The best reading is probably, Gules, a dove Argent holding an olive-branch Vert, and a chief azure charged with three fleurs-de-lis Or divided by two pallets retraits in base Gules. Originally this chief was doubtless nothing but the chief of Anjou, capo d’Angiò, so frequently to be seen on the coats of Guelph families; such a shield of the Pamphili arms dating from the 15th century may be seen in the museum at Perugia.

            A tombstone of 1600 in San Pietro in Montorio seems to indicate that an alternative and certainly older version showed the chief Azure sustained by an inverted label of four points and charged with three fleurs-de-lis Or. Several curious examples of Innocent X’s arms are to be found in the Raccolta di varie targhe di Roma of Fil. Juvarra, Rome, 1711.

 

Foto H.d.V. 4.V.2005

Arms of Innocent X at the fountain on the Piazza Navona, Rome

 

Arms of Innocent X.

Museum of the Vatican

 

Arms: Gules, a dove Argent with an olive branch Vert and a label of three Azure charged with three fleurs de lys Or.

Crown and crest: A Tiara and keys in saltire

 

243 Alexander VII

1655-1667

 

Fabio Chigi, son of Flavio Chigi and of Laura Marsete, belonged to a Sienese family descended from Alemanno (ca. 1277) whose grandson Chigio gave his name to his house.

            Alexander VII bore at times only the Chigi arms, Gules, a molet of eight points Or, on a sextuple mount Or, and  at others a quartered coat with the Rovere arms in the first and the fourth quarters. The Rovere augmentation had been granted in 1507 by Julius II to his banker and confidant Agostino Chigi il Magnifico, whose branch, after losing its fortune and leaving Rome, became extinct in 1580; Alexander VII was descended from Agostino’s younger brother Sigismondo. Both types of his arms are to be seen on the colonnade of St Peter’s. At Santa Maria del Popolo Alexander has also placed the tiara and keys in chief of his quartered shield, probably in order to imitate some of the achievements of the Rovere Popes.

 

Foto H.d.V. 1.V.2005

Achievement of Alexander VII in the S. Maria del Popolo in Rome



 

244 Clemens IX

1667-1669

 

Giulio Rospigliosi was the son of Girolamo an Caterina Rospigliosi of Pistola.

The Rospigliosi appear in Pistoja in the 13th century and produced several famous condottieri in the 15th and 16th. Their arms, quartely gold and azure, four lozenzes counterchanged, appear on Clemts IX’s coins and medals and on his monuments in Santa Maria Maggiore.

 

 

Quarterly Or and Azure four diamonds counterchanged

 

245 Clemens X

1669-1676

 

Emilio Altieri, son of Lorenzo Altieri and of Vittoria Delfini of Venice, was tha last amel descendant of a Roman family which had been of some importance since the 15th century. Their name and arms, Azure six molets of eight points siover, and a border indented silver and azure were taken over by the Albertoni-Paluzzi, one of whom married the Pope’s niece.

Fine examples of Clement X’s arms  are to be seen on the mosaic pavement of the atrium of St Peter’s, on the Pope’s monuments wihin the church, and on the Altieri palace in Rome. The indented border is not infrequently forgotten.

 

Coat of arms of Pope Clement X (r. 1670-76), Palazzo Altieri

 

Arms: Azure six eight-pointed stars Argent 3.2 and 1 and a bordure per pale indented Azure and Argent

 

Fresco in Spoleto Castle

 

246 Innocentius XI

1676-1689

 

Benedetto Odescalchi was the son of Livio Odescalchi and of Paola Castelli of Como. The Odescalchi, who had appeared in Como in the 13th cedntury, became extinct in the persons of Livio Odescalchi  Duke of Syrmia and Bracciano (†1713) and of his sister Lucrezia wife of Allessandro Erba, whose second son took the name and arms of his mother’s family.

 

 

The Odescalchi arms, Argent, three bars gules accompanied by a lion passant in chief and six (3,2,1) cups all Gules, with a chief of the Empire, probably consisted originally of a coat of vair papelonné with a lion in chief, but the cups appear as early as 1485 in the book of Comasque arms, formerly the property of Count Cavargna di San Giuliano and now in the Museo Civico of Como.

(Galbreath, 99)

Arms of Odescalchi family

 

247 Alexander VIII

1689-1691

 

Pietro Ottoboni was the son of Marco Ottoboni and of Vittoria Tornielle of Venice. In the 16th and 17th centuries three members of the Ottoboni, including the Pope’s father, rose to the position of Grand Chancellor of the Republic, the highest position open to a non-noble, and in 1648 Alexander’s father was admitted to the nobility on payment of 100,000 ducats. The family became extinct in 1725 when the name and arms passed by marriage to a branch of the Boncompagni-Ludovisi, now also extinct, whose heiress carried the name and arms in 1921 to a branch of the Rasponi family.

Alexander VIII’s arms, Part bendwise azure and vert, a ben gold and a chief gold with a double-headed eagle sable, may be see on his coins and on his tomb in St Peter’s.

 

Coat of arms of Pope Alexander VIII (r. 1689-91), Fontana dell' Acqua Paola

 

Arms: Parted per bend Azure, and Vert , a bed Or, and a chief Or, a crowned two-headed eagle Sable

Crown and Crest: A tiara and two keys in saltire.

 

248 Innocentius XII

1691-1700

 

Antonio Pignatelli, born at Spinazzola in the Basilicata, was the son of Fabrizio Pignatelli Prince of Minervino and Marquess of Spinazzola and Porzia Carafa daughter of the  duke of Andria.

The Pignatelli, one of the oldest baronial families of the kingdom of Naples, are still in existence although the Pope’s branch became extict at his death.

A very fine example of Innnocent XIIs’arms, Gold three jugs (pignate) sable, is to be seen in he Baptistery Chapel in St Peter’s. The two upper jugs are set facing each other

 

Arms of Innocentius XII

 

Arms: Or, three jugs Sable 2 & 1.

Crown and Crest: A tiara and two keys in saltire

 

249 Clemens XI

1700-1721

 

Gianfrancesco Albani, son of Carlo Albani senator of Rome and of elena Mosca of Pesaro, was born at Urbino in 1649. There is no cause to connect with the older Bergamo house of the same name this Urbino family whichowes its rise to the Pope’s uncle Orazio Albani, made senator of Romein 1633 as a reward for his success in arranging the transfer of the duchy of Urbino to the Holy See.

The Albani arms, frequently to be seen in Rome, are, Azure, a fess between a molet of eight points in chief, and a triple mount in base, all gold; the mounts are not infrequently drawn as rocks, as for instance in the ceiling of San Clemente in Rome.

 

Coat of arms of Pope Clement XI (r. 1700-21),

 

Arms: Azure, a fess, an eight-pointed star in chief and a triple mountain in base Or.

Crown and Crest: A tiara and two keys in saltire

 

250 Innocentius XIII

1721-1724

 

Michelangelo Conti, the eldest son of Carlo Conti Duke of Poli and of Isabella Muti, was born in Rome in 1655 and belonged tot he same Roman house as Innocent III, Gregorry IX, and Alexander IV.

Innocentt XIII’s arms, Gules an eagle checky gold an sable, crowned and armed gold can be seen in the court of the hospital of San Spirito in Rome, and on a fine mosaic pavement in the castle of Sant’ Angelo. The Pope’s tomb in the Grotte Vaticane shows only the Conti eagle engraved on the tombstone.

 

Achievement of Innocentius XIII

Palazzo nel Commendatore, Rome

 

Arms:  Gules a crowned eagle chequy Sable and Or.

Crown and crest: A Tiara and two  keys in saltire,

Supporters: Two putti and allegories of Love and Justice

 

251 Benedictus XIII

1724-1730

 

Pier-Francesco Orsini was born in 1649 and was the eldest son of Ferrante Orsini Duke of Gravina, a branch of the great Roman house to which had belonged Coelestine III and Nicholas III, are descended from Francesco Orsini Count of Trani and Conversano, first Duke of Gravina, and prefect of Rome in 1495.

The futrure Pope succeeded as Duke of Gravina in 1660, but in 1668 he resigned his fiefs and titles in favour of his younger brother, and entered the Domincan Order under the name of Vincenzo-Maria.

Benedict XIII’s arms are: Parted per pale, dexter Argent, three bends Gules, a chief Argent charged with a rose Gules and sustained by a fillet Or, charged  with an eel Azure (Orsini); sinister, Azure, a tower Argent (Gravina); a chief of the Dominican Order, chapé Sable and Argent, in base a dog spotted Argent and Sable couched holding a lighted torch in his mouth and his paws lying on a bool, surmounted by a palm branch and a branch of lilies crossed in saltire all proper and passed through a crown Or, in chief a molet of eight rays Argent. The eel in the Orsinis coat is supposed to represent the county of Anguillara, which however never belonged to the Gravina branch, but it seems to have been originally merely a decorativeline similar to the one in the Savelli shield.

Benedict XIII’s arms may be seen on his coins and on his engraved portraits.

 

252 Clemens XII

1730-1740

 

Foto H.d.V. 03.05.2005

Arms of Clement XII on the Trevi-fountain in Rome

 

Lorenzo Corsini, son of Bartolomeo Corsini and of Isabella Strozzi, was born in Florence in 1652. His family, which had given seven gonfaloniers and forty-nine priors to Florence, had been one of the most prominent in the city since the 13th century and is still flourishing.

            Fine examples of the Pope’s arms, Bendy Argent and Gules, a fess Azure, are to be seen on the façade of the Consulta and in te pavement of the atrium of St. John Lateran.

 

Foto H.d.V. 08.05.2005

Arms of  Clemens XII on the façade of St. John Lateran

 

254 Benedictus XIV

1740-1758

 

Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-58), Triclinium of Pope Leo III

 

Prospero Lambertini was born at Bologna in 1675 and was the son of Marcello Lambertini, a senator of the city, and of Lucrezia Bulgarini. His family appears in Bologna in the 13th century.

Benedict XIV’s arms are Or, four pales Gules, but frequently only three pales are shown, as is the case on the Fontana di Trevi and in the frescoes of the vatican Library. On some of his coins the family coat is said to be impaled with the complete arms of Benedict XIII, to whom he owed his elevation to the cardinalate, thus showing the most elaborate coat borne by any Pope, as illustrated in a German armorial of 1746.

His larger arms

On the dexter the arms of his predecessor Benedict XIII

 

255 Clemens XIII

1758-1769

 

Carlo Rezzonico, son of Giambattista Rezzonico Count della Torre and of Vittoria Barbarigo, was born in Venice in 1693. He beonge  to an old and noble family of Como of which a branch, sttled in Venice in the 16th century, was recieved into the Venetian patriciate  in 1687.

In the 15th-century book of Comasque arms, now in teh Como Museum, the original arms of the family, with the name “de Reconico,” appear as, Silver, a tower azure within a border gobony azure and silver, and a chief gold with an eagle sable. The arms granted in 1665 to a Como branch with a patent of braon of the Empire, which the Pope also bore, were, Quarterly, first gules, a cross silver, second and third, azure a tower slver, fourth, gules three bends sinister silver; over all a scutcheon gold with a two-headed crowned eagle sable, the scutcheon surmounted by a coronet.

Clement XIII’s arms appear not infrequently in Rome, for instance above the gate of the Palazzzo dell’Annona.

 

Arms of Clemens XIII

Palace of the Quirinale, Rome

 

Arms of Clemens XIII

embroidery on his chasuble

 

Arms: Quarterly: 1. Gules, a cross Argent; 2&3: Azure, a tower Argent; 4. Bendy Argent and Gules of eight pieces. And an escutcheon crowned with an antique crown in nombril point Or, a two-headed eagle Sable.

 

256 Clemens XIV

1769-1774

 

Giovanni-Vincenzo-Antonio Genganell (in religion Lorenzo-Francesc) was bron at SantÁrcangelo near Rimini in 1705 and was the son of a doctor of medicine, Lorenzo Ganganelli, and of Angela-Serafina Mazza, also of a medical family. The Ganganelli apear in Borgo Pace at the end of the16th century, but LorenzoGanganelli became a burgess of Sant’Arcangelo in 1710, and, when a cardinal, his son the future Pope, was enrolled among the nobility of Rimini.

To his paternal coat, Azure, a fess gules between three molets of six points gold in chief, and a triple mount gold in base, Ckement XIV added a chief of the Order of St Francis, silver, a long cross proper, over all two arms crossed in saltire, one nude, the other clad as that of a Franciscan friar both hands with the stigmata, all proper.

When the field of the chief is azure, as is not infrequently the case, the chief is sometimes delineated by  fillet gold.

 


Arms of Clemens XIV

 

Arms:Azure, a fess Gules, in chief three eight-pointed stars and in base a triple mound Or; And in a chief Azure issuant from te clouds a dressed arm, a latin cross per pale and a naked arm with their stigmata in saltire proper,

Crown and crest: A Tiara and two  keys in saltire; and  two putti for supporters

 

Arms of Pope Clemens XIV

On his portrait / Austrian School, 18th Century / Oil on parchment

https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Papst-Clemens-XIV---1769-1774--mit-Wappe/DF4AB265F528F8EF

 

257 Pius VI

1775-1799

Foto H.d.V. 05.05.2005

Arms of Pius VI in the S. Giovanni in Laterano, Rome

 

Gian-Angelo Braschi, son of Marcello-Aurelio Braschi and of Anna-Teresa Countess Bandi, was born at Cesena in 1717. A bishop of Sarsina, born in 1664, had belonged to this family, and the future Pope’s father was made a count by the Emperor in 1721. The arms granted at this time were, Quarterly, first and fourth, Or, a two-headed eagle Sable surmounted by an imperial crown, second and third, Azure a fess Argent, charged with three molets of six points Or and accompanied by two fleurs-de-lis Argent, one in chief and one in base; over all a scutcheon Gules, three roses Argent and a chief Argent with three molets of eight points Or. The Pope however placed in the scutcheon, Gules a head of Boreas in the dexter chief blowing on a natural lily proper on a terrace vert a chief Argent with three molets of eight points Or. This latter shield is more frequently borne alone.

 

Larger arms of Pope Pius VI.

 

Picture: http://www.minoritenkirche-wien.info/daten/piusvibesuch.htm

 

 

To: Modern Times

 

 

Back to Main Page

 

 

 

 © Hubert de Vries  2020-08-29

 

 

 



[1]  In the library of prince Trivulzio at Milan

[2]  Stich von Agostino Carracci repr. in Deutschen Herold, 1901, N°4.

[3]  Fox Davies, A.: The Art of Heraldry. Plate CXIII & p. 441.