The fleur-de-lys has long been the distinctive bearing of the royal family of France. In a bearing as to the origin of which there is much dispute, some authorities maintain that it represents the lily, others that it represents the head of a lance or some such warlike weapon. Taken from an sample found in an old book of ornaments, the pistils of a flower clearly make this fireback a lily fleur-de-lys.
Fleur-de-Lys are also associated with the end of a compass which points to the north.