I recently learned of a medieval illustrated book commissioned by Guy Le Bouteillier, an ancestor of Catherine de Baillon, a seventeenth century immigrant to New France.  I need some help understanding a motto that appears repeatedly in this book.

The moto is “Nulle que vous.”  It is obviously in French, but my efforts to translate it leads to “nothing that you” which makes little sense.  What would this moto mean?  I suspect it is a heraldic motto which are occasionally truncated (I suspect to fit better on a seal).  Any idea of a proper translation for this motto.

To understand the context of the motto and to learn more about the illustrated book, point your browser to http://www.mesqui.net/Articles_fortif/pdf/Guy-le-Bouteillier-et-La-Roche-Guyon.pdf.

The story of this book, Chastel de labour, with an English introduction and some black and white facsimiles of the illustrations can be downloaded at https://archive.org/details/lelivreduchastel00bruy.

The authors of these works are not really heraldists and I think to understand all the illustrations in this book it is necessary to think like a heraldist.  For example, I suspect the repeated symbol of a drawbridge surrounded by towers might be Guy Le Bouteillier’s crest.  I suspect there are other heraldry clues in this work other than the Le Bouteillier arms found on several of the pages.  Those arms are: “d’hermines à une fleur de lys de gueules.”

Any insights on the motto and other symbols in this book I would welcome.

Thank you.

I finding various French constructions suggesting that "que" in such a context sometimes means "but" or "except"—"nothing but you."  Just speculation, but is that a possible reading?

A separate matter:  the link you provide shows this motto on a "devise," a non-heraldic emblem.  Was it also used with a coat of arms?

I have not seen the motto with the display of arms in this illustrated book (and keep in mind I have not seen the whole book, just the pages made available online).  The motto is not on Guy Le Bouteillier’s seal either.

It is shown in the book several times with the image of a long box with a sliding top that look like an old-fashioned pencil box.

"Nothing but you" would make sense if we could possible interpret it as "No one but you".

Guy Le Bouteillier was in search of a wife to accompany his new found wealth and prestige.  He collaborated with the English and Henry V gave him the castle of Le Roche-Guyon as a reward.  The lady of the castle refused to wed Guy so he was on the lookout for a wife.  It is very likely that he commissioned this illustrated book to demonstrate his wealth and to attract a mate.  The poem emphasizes the value of hard work.

He had some success.  Around 1425 he wed Catherine Gavre d’Escornaix, a younger daughter of a large and prosperous Flemish family tied to the interest of the Duke of Burgundy.

Perhaps the motto is meant to imply that he would be loyal to a wife.

John,

I think the box emitting ribbons is what the Italians would call an impresa and the French a devise, a non-heraldic emblem similar to a badge but more personal and (unlike most medieval arms) consciously allegorical.  There’s an excellent article on this genre in the autumn 2010 issue of The Coat of Arms, "Some Aspects of the ‘Crisis of Heraldry,’" by Clive Cheesman (Richmond Herald).

Joseph thanks for the reply and the suggestion about the box being a devise.  On rec.heraldry it was suggested that the motto might be "None but you."  I think this makes sense given the context.