Talk:House of Dampierre

Note regarding the arms with two lions: This coat of arms was most likely (if not certainly!) used by the line from Jean I of Dampierre, 3rd son of William of Dampierre and his successors...William being the progenitor of the Flanders-Namur and 2nd Dampierre-Saint-Dizier line and jure uxoris (in name of his wife) Count of Flanders. Heraldry was introduced somewhere in mid-late 12th century, which means there were no coat of arms in previous period. This means that Guy II, Lord of Dampierre who married the heiress of Bourbon(nais) was the first member of the family who actually adopted a coat of arms and we know that he most certainly adopted the arms that we today know as "Bourbon-Dampierre" arms or something similar. After he died the inheritance went in this fashion: Archambaud, his eldest son inherited Bourbon from his mother while younger son William II inherited Dampierre and Saint-Dizier...William II was husband of Margaret, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut so he was jure uxoris Count which means he most certainly used the arms of Flanders...which BTW is one of the oldest coat of arms....so again no room for the arms with two lions...we now go to his sons...the eldest William inherited County of Flanders, but since he had no children, after his death the County went to his younger brother Guy who also bought Namur from Courtenay family, his third son Jean recieved the lordships of Dampierre and Saint-Dizier, which was the Dampierre paternal inheritance...and here it is where we finally come to the arms with two lions...the arms was used by the so-called Saint-Dizier branch i.e. the branch starting with 3rd son of William II of Dampierre and jure uxors Count of Flanders and from this son we have a branch that held Dampierre and Saint-Dizier (both in historical province/county of Champagne). The arms is always described as "Dampierre (Champagne)" i.e. the arms used by the Dampierre's from Champagne...and we are obviously talking about the above mentioned branch stemming from Jean I, son of William II. Finellach (talk)