The office of Fitz-James Pursuivant of Arms
L'association canadienne de la maison de Stuart
Lytton accepted the appoitment of Fitz-James Pursuivant in the Autumn of 2008 by the Count Brian de Stuart de Fitz-James. The office of Pursuivant answers all questions regarding heraldry and genealogy on behalf of the association. L'association canadienne de la maison de Stuart, was founded to strenghten ties between all Canadian citizens who decend from the royal house of Stuart.
The Badge of Office of the Pursuivant of Arms is an escutcheon Or charged with a maple leaf Gules and a chief chequey of twelve squares Argent and Azure, ensigned by a coronet of four fleurs-de-lis Or.
The Arms of King James II of England & VII of Scots
King James Stuart, quartered the Arms of England (France & England quarterly), of Scotland and of Ireland; in Scotland the first and forth quarters were those of the Kingdom of Scots; and in England, those of his English realm. In 1685 the royal Arms, as used in England, were granted, with appropriate differences, to the sovereign's son James FitzJames, born in 1670. The mother of FitzJames was Arabella Churchill, sister of the first Duke of Marlborough.
The Arms of the first Duke of Berwick
James FitzJames differenced the Arms of his
father by placing them within a bordure compony of sixteen pieces Azure and Gules, alternately charged with a fleur-de-lis Or and a lion passant guardant Or.
In 1687 James FitzJames was created Duke of Berwick upon Tweed, Earl of Tinmouth and Baron of Bosworth, all in the Peerage of England. In 1688
James was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter.
The Duke of Berwick married Lady Honora Bourke in 1695. They had only one child, James FitzJames Stuart, who was born in 1696. Lady Honora died in 1697. He married for a second time in 1700 to Anna Bulkeley. This marriage produced ten children, in addition to James. In 1706 the duke was made Marshal of France, having been a Major-General in the Imperial army since 1687 and Lieutenant-General in the French army since 1693. James of Berwick was naturalized as a citizen of France in 1703.
The Marshal was created Duke of Liria and Jérica in Spain and made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1707. In this same year, his English peerages were made titles in the Nobility of Spain; James had already been Captain general and a Grandee of Spain since 1794.
In 1704 the Duke of Berwick purchased the village of Warty in France and the surrounding lands, renamed it Fitz-James. King Louis XIV of France erected the lands into the Duchy-Peerage of Fitz-James in 1710, with a special limitation of succession to only the decendants of the duke's second marriage.
The Arms of the Duchy of Fitz-James
Present Arms of the town of Fitz-James,
a suburb of Clermont, France, north of Paris.
Marshal Berwick resigned the Spanish Duchy of Liria and Jérica to his eldest son in 1717. In 1724 King Louis XV of France made the Duke of Berwick a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit and a Knight of the Order of St. Michael.
Arms of the Fitz-James Stuart family in Spain
Upon the death of the Duke of Berwick, his English and Spanish titles were inherited by the son of his first marriage and have since passed to that son's decendants; since 1802, these male decendants have also inherited the Spanish Duchy of Alba. The Fitz-James Stuart family of Spain now places the Arms of the House of Alba in the fourth quarter of their Arms. The family's chief is Doña Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, 11th Duchess of Berwick and 11th Duchess of Liria and Jérica; all in the Kingdon of Spain. The English peerages are now held by Don Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 16th Duke of Peñaranda de Duero in Spain and 12th Duke of Berwick in the Peerage of England.
The Arms of the Fitz-James family in
France & Canada
The special limitation of the French Duchy-Peerage of Fitz-James makes it inheritable only by males who are patrilineally and legitimately decended from the first duke's second marriage. Since the death of the 9th Duke of Fitz-James in 1967, the title has been abeyant. Lord Edouard de Fitz-James was the Marshal Duke of Berwick's eighth child by his second marriage. Edouard's son Jacques, Chevalier de Fitz-James, came to Canada as a soldier in 1758. His Canadian decendants differenced the Arms of the duchy with an inescutcheon Or charged with a fesse chequey Azure and Argent, the plain coat of Stuart. The recent chiefs of the Fitz-James family of Canada have further differenced the inescutcheon with a maple leaf Gules in chief.
Heraldic articles by Count Brian de Fitz-James
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