Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/615

 io* s.i. JUNE 25, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

507

circles. Among the novelties appears the word amban, apparently a plenipotentiary or resident minister from China, as overlord to Tibet. It is very suggestive of the form ambac, preserved to us by Csesar, and claimed alike for Gaulish and for Gothic, dating back to that far-off epoch when both races figured as Celts, migrating from Central Asia, within touch of this very Tibet-land. It has been supposititiously explained from Sanskrit, as a sort of equivalent to Brahman, the primi- tive cook, and later minister or priest.

A. H.

"THE BALANCE OF POWER." The ' H.E.D.,' as its earliest illustration of this phrase, gives one of 1679, referring to " the Ballance of Europe"; but in 2 nd S. ix. 503 is a descrip- tion of a folio of 1653, the title of which commences with the words, ' A German Diet, or the Ballance of Europe.' I note this in connexion with the fact that on 16 June the Alexander Prize Essay (1903) was read before the Royal Historical Society by Miss E. M. G. Routh, formerly of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, on ' The History of the Attempts to establish a Balance of Power in Europe, 1648 to 1702.' POLITICIAN.

<ium.es,

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

DAUGHTERS OF JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND. I wish to ascertain, if possible, the correct details concerning the daughters of James I. of Scotland and Joan Beaufort. There seem to have been six : Margaret, married the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XL, died s.p. Isabel, the Duke of Brittany ; Eleanor, the Archduke Sigismund of Austria; Joan; Mary; Annabel. The difficulty is about the last three. Miss Yonge, whose historical dictum is almost invariably accurate, says, in her romance 'Two Penniless Princesses,' " that Joan married George Douglas, Master after- wards Earl of Angus," and adds in a note that he was an historical personage. In 6 th S. xi. 52 HERMENTRUDE says Joan was dumb, was contracted, but never married, to James, third Earl of Angus, and died 1445-6, aged about eighteen ; but she adds that some say the princess married about 1456 James, Earl of Morton, and died about 1487-8. In Burke's 'Royal Descents 'she is said, in his married first James, third Earl of Angus ;
 * Ancestry of the House of Stewart,' to have

secondly, George, second Earl of Huntly. She is mentioned in twenty-seven of the pedigrees of descendants of royalty in his book. In eight she is described as having married James Douglas, Earl of Morton ; in five as having married first James Douglas, Earl of Angus, secondly, James Douglas, Earl of Morton ; in two, as marrying first James Douglas, Earl of Angus, then George Gordon, second Earl of Huntly ; in nine as marrying George, Earl of Huntly ; in three as marry- ing first James, Earl of Morton, then George, Earl of Huntly. The Earl of Angus is variously described as the first and third earl ; the Earl of Morton as the first and second.

Burke states that Mary married John, Lord of Campvere, in Zealand, and makes Annabel marry first " Earl of Angus ; secondly, James, first Earl of Morton." HER- MBNTRUDE says she married at Stirling, 14 December, 1444, Luigi of Savoy, Count of Geneva, from whom she was divorced on 23 March, 1456, for political reasons ; married again, about 1457, George, Earl of Huntly, who divorced her, apparently with- out any fault on her part, 24 July, 1476. She died soon after, leaving eleven children, one of whom was Katharine Gordon, wife of Perkin Warbeck. I should imagine this to be the correct version, as in the Peerage the Huntly family claim her for their ances- tress ; but the variations regarding Joan are bewildering. Did she die unmarried ? Did she marry both Angus and Morton ? And was she dumb ?

I shall be very grateful to any one who can throw any light on these points. I also see that HERMENTRUDE describes her as the third daughter. I thought the order of their birth was Margaret, Isabel, Eleanor, Joan. If it can be proved that she died unmarried, a good many people who count their royal descent through her will have to relinquish their claims to royal ancestry. HELGA.

ELENE. I wish to know who Elene was. She is the subject of a modern picture in the Parma Gallery. Two men have been playing for her with dice. The three figures are semi-nude ; the men are equipped with swords ; the lucky man has his arm round Elene. The man who has lost her is seated on the ground, looking regretfully after her.

C. P.

ANAHUAC. What is the correct pronuncia- tion of this ancient and poetical name for Mexico? On which syllable should it be stressed ] I have consulted several gazet- teers, but they differ. Some have Anahuac ;