Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/165

 12 8. VI. APRIL 17, 1920.1 NOTES AND QUERIES.

133

But in an earlier MS. I find what is wanted the bestiary of an Anglo-Norman poet, Philip de Thaun, written in the first half of the twelfth century about 1121. This was edited and printed for the Historical Society of Science, in 1841, by Thomas Wright, who considered the poems of De Thaun " ex- tremely valuable to the philologist as being the earliest specimens of the Anglo-Norman language remaining." In this bestiary we find not only a description of the elephant, as might be expected, but, happily for our present purpose, a direct allusion to the " castle." Philip de Thaun quoting an earlier writer, Isidorus, descants upon the size and appearance of an elephant " with teeth all of ivory," his understanding and memory ; and by way of indicating his immense strength states : " He could carry a castle if it were on his back." The exact words of the original are : " Un castel porterait si sur sun dos estait." Then follows the legend of the animal's inability to lie down when he sleeps : " 11 ne pot pas gesir quant il se volt dormir," because he has only one joint in his legs. " Es jambes par nature nen ad que une jointure," and so forth.

But what, it may be asked, is the con- nexion between this old legend and the familiar public-house sign of the Elephant and Castle ? It is perhaps only emblema- tical of strength and endurance. But there is another possible explanation. Larwood and Hotten in their ' History of Signboards ' (1866) state :

" Cutlers in the last (eighteenth) century frequently usecl the ' Elephant and Castle ' as their sign, on account of it being the crest of the Cutlers' Company, who adopted it in reference to the ivory used in the trade." Further inquiry might perhaps lead to the discovery that the tavern at Newington Butts was originally built upon land belonging to the Cutlers' Company. If so, the adoption of their crest as a signboard for the new building would be natural enough. But a different explanation again has been given on the testimony of one who was living at the time this tavern was built. John Bagford, an esteemed and learned friend of the anti- quary Thomas Hearne, in a letter prefixed to Leland's ' Collectanea ' (ed. Hearne, 1770), states that the name of this tavern was bestowed in consequence of the discovery in the neighbourhood " some time about 1714 " of the fossil remains of an elephant, and that that incident gave its name to the building " soon after erected in that locality." j_ K HARTING.

CISTERCIAN ORDER (12 S. v. 320 ; vi. 45)... I could enumerate a good deal of the MS- and printed literature relative to this Order,.- but it would take up too much space here. If, however, MR. HART would state whether 1 he is wanting references on some special aspect of the Order, such as its rule, archi- tecture, costume, or its English houses, I could refer him to useful works on the- specific points upon which he desires sources- of information unless it is that he wishes- to know of all the general works relating to this Order in which case he will find a- very good bibliography of the subject in Leopold Janauschek's ' Originum Cister- ciensium,' Vienna, 1877, at pp. xii-xlvii.

In addition to the valuable articles by Mr. J. T. Fowler, Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite- and the late Sir W. H. St. John Hope in. The York.'? Arch. Journal, MR. HART should' find the following of use :

W. A. Parker Mason, ' The Beginnings of the Cistercian Order,' Royal Hist. Soc., N.8. , vol. six.^ pp. 169-207.

sv'W. de Gray Birch, ' On the Date of Foundation ascribed to the Cistercian Abbeys in Great Britain (from early MSS.),' Brit. Arch. Assoc. Journal, xxvi. 281-299, 352-369.

A. M. Cooke, ' The Settlement of the Cistercians- in England,' English Hist. Review (1893), vol. viii., pp. 625-676.

Angel Manriquc, ' Annales Cistercienses,' 4 vols, folio, Lyons, 1642-59.

Julianus Paris, ' Nomasticon Cisterciense, seu Antiquiores Ordinis Cisterciensis Constitutiones,* ed. Nova par Hugo Sejalon, Solesmes, 1892.

E. Twells, ' The Cistercians,' Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc., vol. vi., pp. 80-87

Edmund Sharpe, ' Architecture of the Cister- cians,' London, 1874.

Ph. Guignard, ' Les Monuments primitifs de la- Regie Cistercienne,' Dijon, 1878.

H. G. HARRISON.

Aysgarth,*Sevenoaks.

CROSS-BEARER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF~ CAMBRIDGE (12 S. vi. 67). Hugh Latimer was chaplain of the University, and amongst his duties were the following : cross-keeper of the University, librarian, keeper of the chapel and the schools, and executor of various University trusts. He carried the silver cross of the University at the general processions, and had the care of the sacred vessels, vestments, and service-books. There is no such office now ; it seems to have come - to an end with the death of John Stokes, 1568. The cross was sold under Edward VI., replaced by a new one by Mary, and that disposed of by Elizabeth. ' The Chaplains and the Chapel of the University of Cam- bridge, 1256-1568,' No. XLL, Cambridge- Antiquarian Society, should be consulted.