heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

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ROYAL HERALDRY. 383.
which would commemorate this r And what more appropriate than the
covered cup or jar in which the ointment had been contained ? And therefore,
in the old Latin distich of the badges of the Plantagenets,* we cannot
be mistaken in recognising this under the familiar Horatian expression,
" Pistica nardus."
" Est aper Edwardus, flos regum, pistica nardus,
Sol solus lucens, rosa mundi, Stella
reducens."
Surely there is not only an interesting memory of the past, but a
living meaning for the present and all ages, in this simple badge, singularly
appropriate to the house of God, for it
speaks not of the strife of war, but of
love which no dangers of war can daunt, of the noblest trait of a truly
brave heart, grateful, tender affection, of "the beauty and strength of a
" woman's devotion," of the married life of those who were " lovely and
" pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths were not divided," who enjoyed
that chiefest of Divine blessings, which kings and peasants may alike
participate
in, pure wedded life, which interrupted, not extinguished, by death,
finds its perfect and eternal consummation in the paradise of God_
It is interesting to notice that some of the borders on plates 7 and 9
have only the Castle and pot of ointment ; while one in plate 7 has the
fleur-de-lis also ;
evidencing that the former were put up during the King's
first married life, the latter during
the second.
There is
JOANNA QUEEN OF NAVARRE.
yet another Spanish shield to be accounted for, viz. Navarre
(plate and 8), I think we may safely attribute that to Jane, or Joanna, Queen
of Navarre, wife of Philip the Fair, brother of Queen Margaret second wife
of Edward I., and mother of Isabella, the wife of the Prince of Wales,
afterwards Edward II. She was the only daughter of Henry I., King of
Navarre, by Blanche, daughter of the Earl of Artois,
brother of Louis IX.
(St. Louis,), who afterwards married Edmond Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster
(see page 392) she was, therefore, by birth second cousin to her husband.
;
Her only brother, Thibault, was killed when quite a child by an accident,
1273. His governor and nurse were amusing him by tossing him backwards
and forwards, when he slipped through the hands of the former,
and falling over the balcony was killed on the spot. The horrified governor
at once stabbed himself, and fell dead upon his body. His bereaved father
immediately proclaimed Joanna hereditary queen, in order to avoid any
contention about the Salique law, and dying soon after, urged his widow
to marry her as soon as possible to one of the French princes. This she
proceeded to carry out without delay, and as soon as possible removed
Cussan's HtraLiry.