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Feudal nobility and ruling dynasties are social categories which we would expect to use heraldry in order to claim their power and to communicate their ideas. But the patricians of Metz (a free imperial city) and the recently ennobled men of the princes of Bar and Lorraine were among the more frequent users of such images: the former to stand up to the local princes and neighbouring feudal nobility, and the latter make a display of their new condition. To explore the use of heraldry in Metz we will draw on the armorial of André de Rineck and the testimony of the well-known chronicle writer Philippe de Vigneulles. The books of hours could also serve our purpose in the context of Metz, but those manuscripts, with other works of art, will be the basis of our study of the ways recently ennobled families advertised their new condition through their names and coats of arms, attempting to guarantee a visibility of their new lineage.Date:  1 July 2013Place: International Medieval Congress, Leeds,Session 207 (Medieval HeraldryRevisited II: Between city and nobility. Heraldry and the question of status)[cite]