Arms on the Exterior of the Hotel de Ville, Arras, Part 1

Around the city hall, the Hotel de Ville, in Arras, France there are a row of carved lions supporting shields of arms.

The building is shaped like a squared-off capital U with its base facing the Place des Héros, and the lions encircle most of the building. There are twenty-two lions; six of them bear the arms of the Artois region (formerly a province, before that a county) of France. Four of them bear the older arms of Arras (what I have labeled in this post and the next one as “Arras ancient”), as found in d’Hozier’s Armorial Général de France in 1696 (l’hostel de ville de la Citeé d’Arras), and as described in two other sources dated 1853 and ca. 1910 at Heraldry of the World (https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Arras).

I will post the pictures of the first eleven of the coats of arms and supporting lions by going clockwise around the Hotel de Ville in Arras, beginning in the Place des Héros at about the 7 o’clock position, and ending with the second eleven lions in the next post at about the 4 o’clock position. (You can get an idea of their situation in this general view of the Hotel de Ville; note the lions holding shields along the edge of roof to the left and right of the center section of the building.)

You can click on an image to go to a full-size picture to see the arms in greater detail.

Right to left: Azure two hand axes respectant gules handled argent.

Arras (Gules a lion rampant or an inescutcheon azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers in pale or).

Right to left: Azure seven cow’s legs in orle on an inescutcheon a cow statant and a pig statant in pale.

Gules a griffin segreant (or/argent). (The shield with the griffin does not fill the shield on which it is placed.)

Artois (Azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers or.)

Azure a bishop statant affronty maintaining in his dexter hand a crozier and in his sinister a (baker’s peel?).

Azure three escutcheons.

Arras ancient. (Azure on a fess argent between in chief a bishop’s mitre and in base two croziers in saltire or three rats passant sable.)

Artois (Azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers or.)

Arras ancient. (Azure on a fess argent between in chief a bishop’s mitre and in base two croziers in saltire or three rats passant sable.)

Artois (Azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers or.)

As with my last post, if you can identify any of the arms here which are not identified here, please let us know in the comments.