Stratégies héraldiques et changements d'armoiries chez les magnats florentins du XIVe siècle

Heraldic Strategies and Changes in Coats of Arms Among 14th Century Florentine Magnates. For medieval aristocratic society, changing coats of arms was a very serious symbolic act. By the same token, examples of such changes are rare; still rarer are the documents which attest to them. This explains the exceptional importance of the set of 110 cases of coats-of-arms changes, involving Florence's aristocratie lineages, which took place between the middle of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15 th. This changes were linked to kinship denouncements imposed upon magnates who became candidates for the popularitas. The study of the cases' heraldic aspect demonstrates the importance of visual signs of identity in Florentine public life during the 1300's, as well as the extent to which individuals and groups were attached to their emblems and, above all, to their heraldic colors. Moreso than the figures appearing in coats-of-arms, these colors—far from being simple social markings—seemed to be the firmly rooted in the very heart in kinship.Pastoureau Michel. Stratégies héraldiques et changements d'armoiries chez les magnats florentins du XIVe siècle. In: Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations. 43ᵉ année, N. 5, 1988. pp. 1241-1256