Dauphin
For other uses, see Dauphin (disambiguation).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.
 |
Louis XI, the 8th holder of the title of Dauphin |
# Charles (future
Charles V of France) 1349–1364# Charles (future
Charles VI of France) 1368-1380# Charles 1389# Charles 1392–1401# Louis,
Duc de Guyenne 1401–1415#
Jean de Touraine,
Duc de Touraine 1415–1417# Charles (future
Charles VII of France) 1417–1422# Louis (future
Louis XI of France) 1423–1461# Charles (future
Charles VIII of France) 1470–1483# Charles-Orland 1492–1495# Charles 1496# François 1497–1498#
François, Duc de Bretagne 1518–1536# Henri, formerly
Duc d'Orléans (future
Henry II of France) 1536–1547# François (future
Francis II of France) 1547–1559# Louis (future
Louis XIII of France) 1601–1610# Louis (future
Louis XIV of France) 1638–1643#
Louis, le Grand Dauphin 1661–1711#
Louis, Duke of Burgundy 1711–1712#
Louis, Duke of Brittany 1712# Louis (future
Louis XV of France) 1712–1715#
Louis, dauphin de France 1729–1765# Louis-Auguste,
Duc de Berry (future
Louis XVI of France) 1765–1774#
Louis-Joseph 1781–1789# Louis-Charles,
Duc de Normandie (future titular
Louis XVII of France) 1789–1791 (in 1791 his title was changed to "
Prince Royal")# Louis-Antoine,
Duc d'Angoulême (future titular
Louis XIX of France) 1824–1830
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.
Prince of Wales
