The coat of arms of Quebec (french: armoiries du Québec) was adopted by order-in-council of the Government of Quebec on 9 December 1939,Justice Québec. Les armoiries du Québec
replacing the arms assigned by royal warrant of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

on 26 May 1868.

Symbolism

The shield is divided into three horizontal fields: * ''Top'' — three

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

fleurs-de-lis on a blue background, symbolizing royal France; * ''Middle'' — a gold lion

passant guardant In heraldry, the term attitude describes the ''position'' in which a figure (animal or human) is emblazoned as a charge, a supporter, or as a crest. The attitude of an heraldic figure always precedes any reference to the tincture of the figure ...

on a red background, symbolizing the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, ...

; * ''Bottom'' — three green

maple leaves The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...

on a gold background, symbolizing

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The shield is surmounted by the

Tudor Crown The Tudor Crown, also known as Henry VIII's Crown, was the imperial crown, imperial and state crown of Kingdom of England, English monarchs from around the time of Henry VIII until it was destroyed during the English Civil War, Civil War in 16 ...

and accompanied by a

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

scroll bearing the province's motto, ().

Blazon

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

is: : :Tierced (divided in three parts, horizontally) in fess, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or, Gules a lion passant guardant, and Or a sprig of three maple leaves Vert; Motto: JE ME SOUVIENS.

History

Arms were first granted to the province in 1868 by Queen Victoria. They were

ed as follows: :''Or on a Fess Gules between two Fleurs de Lis in chief Azure, and a sprig of three Leaves of Maple slipped Vert in base, a Lion passant guardant Or.'' However, in 1939, the Quebec government adopted arms by

order-in-council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...

, replacing the two blue fleurs-de-lis on the golden field with the royal arms of France Modern in chief. Quebec is the only Canadian province to have adopted arms by its own authority. The federal government is inconsistent in the use of the two variants: it often uses the 1939 variant, but in some cases, such as on the Centennial Flame on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

and the badge of the Royal 22^e Régiment, it uses the 1868 variant.

Notes

References

* Gouvernement du Québec.
Les armoiries du Québec
, in the site ''Drapeau et symboles nationaux'' of the Government of Quebec, updated on 14 January 2008 * Luc Bouvier.
Les armoiries du Québec d’hier à aujourd’hui
, in ''L'Action nationale'', February 1999. * Gaston Deschênes (1990). ''Les symboles d'identité québécoise'', Québec: Publications du Québec, 39 pages

External links

*
Ministère de la Justice – Armoiries du Québec
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coat Of Arms Of Quebec

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Provincial symbols of Quebec Coats of arms with fleurs de lis Coats of arms with lions Coats of arms with crowns