Dauphin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Dauphin (disambiguation).

Coat of Arms of the Dauphins of France.

The Dauphin was the heir apparent to the throne of France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties.

Guy VIII, Count of Vienne, had a dolphin on his coat of arms and had been nicknamed le Dauphin (French for dolphin). In heraldry, a dolphin device displayed on a shield denotes the oldest son of a family; a crest device displayed denotes the second oldest. The title of Dauphin de Viennois descended in his family until 1349, when Humbert II sold his signeurie, called the Dauphiné, to King Philippe VI on condition that the heir of France assumed the title of le Dauphin. The wife of the Dauphin was known as la Dauphine.

The first French prince called le Dauphin was Charles V.

[edit] List of Dauphins, 1349-1830

Louis XI, the 8th holder of the title of Dauphin.

1. Charles (future Charles V of France) 1349–
2. Charles (future Charles VI of France) 1368-1380
3. Charles 1389
4. Charles 1392–1401
5. Louis, Duc de Guyenne 1401–1415
6. Jean de Touraine, Duc de Touraine 1415–1417
7. Charles (future Charles VII of France) 1417–1422
8. Louis (future Louis XI of France) 1423–1461
9. Charles (future Charles VIII of France) 1470–1483
10. Charles-Orland 1492–1495
11. Charles 1496
12. François 1497–1498
13. François, Duc de Bretagne 1518–1536
14. Henri, formerly Duc d'Orléans (future Henry II of France) 1536–1547
15. François (future Francis II of France) 1547–1559
16. Louis (future Louis XIII of France) 1601–1610
17. Louis (future Louis XIV of France) 1638–1643
18. Louis, le Grand Dauphin 1661–1711
19. Louis, Duke of Burgundy 1711–1712
20. Louis, Duke of Brittany 1712
21. Louis (future Louis XV of France) 1712–1715
22. Louis, dauphin de France 1729–1765
23. Louis-Auguste, Duc de Berry (future Louis XVI of France) 1765–1774
24. Louis-Joseph, Duc de Bretagne 1781–1789
25. Louis-Charles, Duc de Normandie (future titular Louis XVII of France) 1789–1791 (in 1791 his title was changed to "Prince Royal")
26. Louis-Antoine, duc d’Angoulême (future titular Louis XIX of France) 1824–1830

[edit] In Literature

A lineographic representation of the arms of the Dauphin of France. The arms were created by Jean de Beaugrand in 1604.

In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck encounters two odd characters who turn out to be professional con men. One of them claims that he should be treated with deference, since he is really an impoverished English duke, and the other, not to be outdone, reveals that he is "really" the Dauphin, presumably Louis XVII.

[edit] Modern Uses of the Term

Today, the term Dauphin is used as the name for the yearbook of St. Louis University High in St. Louis, MO, U.S.A. The high school, the oldest west of the Mississippi River, has carried down through its almost 200 year history some symbols of the French influence on the beginnings of the city of St. Louis, named for the French king, Louis IX, a former dauphin. Its theatre players are known as the Dauphin Players.

[edit] See also

• Prince of Wales

There is also a Helicopter made with the name [[Dauphin]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dauphin_%28helicopter%29] made by the French company Eurocopter.