Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/392

 and James White. ‘The New House’ was in fact a development of the Christian Israelite Church, founded in 1822 by John Wroe, ‘the apostolic successor to the Blessed Joanna.’ Jezreel gave himself out to be the messenger of God, and claimed to have received direct revelations, contained in ‘The Flying Scroll,’ which he wrote at the inspiration of the Immortal Spirit. His followers believed themselves to constitute the first portion of the 144,000 twice told who will receive Christ when he comes to reign on the earth for one thousand years. In 1879 he married Clarissa, daughter of Edward Rogers, sawyer, of 11 Copenhagen Road, New Brompton, Kent, who at the age of eighteen had already made a preaching tour in America, and now assumed the name of Esther, queen of Israel. With her, in the following year, Jezreel visited America and other countries, making numerous converts. Returning, he settled down at the Woodlands, Gillingham, two miles from Chatham, which became the headquarters of the sect. The members gave all their property on entering the sect to a common fund, and large sums of money were contributed from all parts of the world. Upon a plot of ground twenty acres in extent buildings were erected at a cost of 100,000l. A college for boys and girls and houses and shops were built, for the community was not only religious, but also traded on a large scale. A temple on Chatham Hill, New Brompton, was commenced. It was planned to be 120 feet high and 120 feet square, and to hold twenty thousand people. Many persons came from a distance and settled at Gillingham to be among the elect, and, following the fashion of the sect, allowed their hair to grow long, tucked it up at the back, and wore purple velvet caps. Jezreel published ‘Extracts from the Flying Roll, being a series of Sermons compiled for the Gentile Churches of all Sects and Denominations, and addressed to the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel by James J. Jezreel,’ vol. i. in three parts, issued respectively in January 1879, September 1879, January 1881. The ‘Extracts,’ full of confused scripture phraseology, brought fresh subscriptions from America and other countries. Between 1883 and 1885 the sect reached its zenith of prosperity. Jezreel died at the Woodlands, Gillingham, on 1 March 1885, and was buried in Gillingham cemetery on 5 March, aged 45. His widow succeeded to the leadership of the sect, but in 1887 a division under the leadership of Noah Drew, a farmer from America, who ultimately died in great poverty, took place, and many of the members were excommunicated by Queen Esther. She called herself the servant of the house of Israel, but nevertheless rode on horseback or drove in a handsome carriage attended by servants in livery. From her printing-press in 1887 she commenced issuing a monthly publication called ‘The Messenger of Wisdom and Israel's Guide.’ She died at the Woodlands on 30 June 1888, aged 28, and was buried in Gillingham cemetery on 3 July. After her death the succession to the leadership was disputed, and ultimately the chief power fell into the hands of Edward Rogers, but the members of the community began to decrease, and the work of building the temple was suspended. 

JOAN, JOANNA, JONE, or JANE (1165–1199), queen of Sicily and countess of Toulouse, was third daughter and seventh child of Henry II, king of England, and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine [q. v.] Born at Angers in October 1165, she was brought up in the abbey of Fontevraud. In 1168 Henry offered her hand, without result, to the king of Aragon or the king of Navarre. Next year he betrothed her to William II, or the Good, king of Sicily (, Materials for Hist. of Becket, vi. 457, vii. 26). The betrothal seems to have been broken off, for in 1172 William, who was ten years older than Joanna, proposed to marry a daughter of the eastern emperor, Manuel Comnenos. This scheme, however, came to nothing, and in May 1176, by the advice of Pope Alexander III, he sent an embassy to England with a formal demand for Joanna's hand. The girl had gone to England with her father in July 1174, and was now at Winchester, whither Henry sent the ambassadors to see her. Her beauty ‘pleased them exceedingly.’ They afterwards urged their suit at a council in London, and it was granted by Henry on 20 May. Two of them stayed in England to share in the duty of escorting the bride home. The party sailed from Southampton in seven ships (, Princesses, i. 316) at the end of August (, Itin. Hen. II, p. 206). The younger King Henry saw them safely through Normandy and Anjou to the frontier of Aquitaine; thence Joanna's brother Richard insured them a safe passage to St. Gilles (9 Nov.), where they joined a Sicilian fleet of twenty-five ships. Joanna was so ill on the sea that she was put ashore at Naples, spent Christmas there, and proceeding thence