Coat of arms of Valais

The coat of arms of the Swiss canton of Valais is in red and white, divided vertically with thirteen five-pointed stars in opposite colours (Per pale argent and gules 13 mullets counterchanged).

The coat of arms directly continues that of the République des Sept-Dizains, the early modern union of seven dizains which declared independence from the prince-bishops of Sion.

The earliest maps of the Valais, printed in 1545 and in 1548, show coats of arms with ten six-pointed stars.

Prints of the 17th century tend to indicate the left (dexter) side of the shield as red and the right (sinister) part as white, i.e. the inverse of the modern coat of arms.

The seventh tithing was Sion itself, which joined the Republic in 1628 after the bishop was forced to relinquish his de facto rule, retaining his feudal position of prince-bishop only in name.

The 1815 coat of arms with 13 five-pointed stars
The flag of Valais
The seal of 1582 with seven six-pointed stars, inscribed S(igillum) REIP(ublice) PATRIE VALLESY
Political caricature dated 1803: Napoleon occupies the Valais while "balancing" the revolutionary and conservative factions in Switzerland. The coat of arms of Valais (now effectively the Rhodanic Republic ) is shown with seven white eight-pointed stars.