Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/205

 2 d S. NO 10., MAK. 8. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

197

East. It is well known that the Romans, under the consuls and under the emperors, bore the eagle as their chief military standard. The old Persians had used it in the same manner ; and the first Emperor Napoleon, in modern times, adopted it for the great French empire which his conquests had established.

The double-headed figure probably originated at Constantinople, from which it may have become known to Western Europe at the period of the Crusades. At least we do not find it used by the German emperor before the close of the twelfth century, when it was used by Henry VI. From the Germanic empire, it passed to the Austrian, which is in some sort its successor. The first of the Moscovite Czars who assumed it, was Ivan Basilovitz in the sixteenth century, to indicate at once his descent from a princess of the imperial family of the Palseologi ("N. & Q.," 1 st S. xi. 312.), and his pretensions to be successor of the eastern emperor. Subsequent Moscovite dynas- ties continued to bear the same ensign, and by alternate force and intrigue have made consider- able progress towards realising this claim to the throne of Byzantium.

PBESTONIENSIS would have been spared a por- tion of his reflections, had he observed that the eagle displayed was also the ensign of Poland, on whose shield it was borne quartered with the bearings of Lithuania ; the paternal arms of the king occupying an inescutcheon at the intersec- tion of the lines of quartering.

Much of the history of Europe is expressed in its heraldry, of which an accurate and compen- dious explanation is still a desideratum to students.

ARTEBUS.

Dublin, January 29, 185G.

This subject has for some time interested me. Will your correspondent CEYBEP supply the au- thority for his statement, that such an eagle " was the ensign of the ancient kings of Persia and of Babylon?" W. S. W.

OBDEB OF ST. JOHN OF JEBUSALEM.

(1 st S. xii. 455.)

CEYBEP has stated that " the Order of St. John of Jerusalem does not now exist in this country." Whether this assertion be correct or not, some of your correspondents can decide. I have seen a small pamphlet in which Sir H. Dymoke is re- presented to be the Lieutenant Turcopolier of the Langue of England. In the list of knight com- manders appears the name of the Right lion. Sir L. Shadwell, Vice-Chancellor of England. It is also stated in the pamphlet that,

" In 1660, at the assembly for the election of a Grand Master, the Knights of the Langue of England had a

fourth voice. Field-Marshal the Duke of Berwick, in 1682, received at Malta the cross from the hands of the Grand Master, with the title of Grand Prior of England ; and in 1703 the Grand Prior of England went to Rome iu quality of Ambassador Extraordinary."

And at p. 10. is the following information :

" Various steps have been taken for resuscitating the Order in its several original branches ; and in the reign of William IV., who was himself a knight, the Langue of England was formally revived under commissionary powers derived from General Chapters of the Order, law- fully constituted under the bulls of the Sovereign Council. The proceedings in this matter, which commenced in 1826, were finally consummated on the 24th of March, 18eft, by the Grand Prior, the late Sir Robert Peat, having openly qualified himself for office, in the Court of King's Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice Denman, under the royal letters patent incorporating the Langue of England, which are for ever binding upon the crown, its heirs, and successors."

There is given a copy of the letters patent of the 4th and 5th Phil, et Mar., incorporating the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and at the end of the pamphlet are these words :

"The above roj'al' letters patent bear date at Green- wich, on. the 2nd day of April, 1557, being the fourth and fifth years of the reign of King Philip and Queen Mary ; since which time the Corporation, having had in the Order an unfailing succession, has never become extinct."

I have also seen a document purporting to ap- point an English gentleman a knight of justice of the Order. It is affirmed therein that he was elected by the members of the Order representing the English nation, having had the necessary powers conferred by the Baillies, &c., comprising the Languages of Provence, Auvergne, France, and Spain, being a majority of the eight lan- guages of the Order constituted, &c., and pur- suant to the authority of the lieutenant of the Grand Master, and the sovereign decision of the Grand and Sacred Council residing at the Chef Lieu of Catania, in the Island of Sicily, bearing date the 10th day of August, 1814. What were " the necessary powers " alluded to in the docu- ment, constituting the English gentleman a knight of the Order, and where the official record issued by the authorities at Catania in 1814 is to be found, are questions of some interest. Perhaps some of your readers will enlighten us as to whether the Order really has been re-established by the authority of the foreign branches. Z.

GALILEE. (2 nd S. i. 131.)

With great deference I venture to put forth a conjecture of my own, in addition, and in oppo- sition, to those which CEYBEP has brought for- ward in his very interesting note on this vexed question. From the authorities quoted by CEYBEP