de La Court de la Berthonnière

This was the ancient coat of arms of de La Court de la Berthonnière as borne by Guillaume de La Court (1371-1428). The Abbé M. de Vertot mistook the blazon of de La Court de la Grize, another Poitevan family, for that of La Berthonnière and this error was replicated by a number of heraldic authors who followed, including no less than J.B. Rietstap.

The de la Grize blazon reads Arg three mullets gu arranged 2 and 1, and on a chief three mullets counterchanged. The researches made by Beauchet-Filleau in the second half of the 19th century in the Poitou region of France where Guillaume de La Court resided indicate however that the arms consist of a gold bend charged with a porcupine, all on a green field. Most contemporary records are vague, describing the porcupine in various positions and coloured sable or gules. However the Armorial de Gâtine, a 16th century document consulted by Beauchet-Filleau, clearly gives the blazon as de sinople à la bande d'or chargée d'un porc-épic posé en haut de la bande.

The point is perhaps academic since the de la Grize family became extinct in the male line by the end of the 17th century, followed by the La Berthonnière at the end of the 18th.

Sources:

Arnaud, Etienne: RÉPERTOIRE DE GÉNÉALOGIES FRANÇAISES IMPRIMÈES,  éd. Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1979, Tome II, p.269

Beauchet-Filleau, H; de Chargè, Ch: DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE ET GÉNÉALOGIQUE DES FAMILLES DU POITOU, 2me Èd. [Imprime Paul Oudin, Poitiers 1895], Tome II, p.671

Ledain, Bélisaire: LA GÂTINE HISTORIQUE ET MONUMENTALE (Édition de Parthenay 1887; Lafitte Reprints, Marseille 1978) p.165

Rietstap, J.B.: ARMORIAL GÉNÉRAL (2éme ed., G.B van Goor Zonen, Gouda 1884),  Tome I, p. 474