Page:The Queens of England.djvu/39

 ADELAIS OF LOUVAlNE. 27 with her own hand, and added 100 shillings annually, to provide a lamp to burn forever before his tomb. Adelais spent part of her widowhood near Wilton, in a house which bears her name, and at the end of a year, repaired to Arundel Castle, where she dwelt in regal state. In 1138, three years after the death of the king, being then in her thirty-scond year, she married William di Albini, Lord of Buckenham, in Norfolk, a nobleman of high renown, whose father had accompanied the Conqueror into England, as hered- itary cup-bearer of the Norman dukes, which office was con- firmed to him and his descendants. William di Albini obtained the surname of "Strongimanus," or "Strong Hand," from an incident no less marvelous than interesting, and which, being connected with his love for Ade- lais, to whom he was at that time affianced, is worthy of being related. It appears that at a tournament held at Bruges, on occasion of the marriage of Louis VII. with Eleanor of Aqui- taine, William di Albini, having entered the lists, and excelled all his competitors in skill and prowess, the Queen Dowager of France, a very beautiful woman, whose name also was Ade- lais, fell in love with him. After the tournament, therefore, she invited him to a costly banquet, presented him with some rich jewels as a reward of his merit, and then proffered him her hand, which he declined in respectful terms, assigning as a reason that his troth was plighted to Adelais, Queen of Eng- land. The queen, little expecting such a reply, resolved to be revenged ; and inviting him into a garden, in which was a lion contained in a secret cave, she led him thither, conversing as they went on the fierceness of the animal, to which Albini replied, with animation, that "fear was not a manly quality, but womanish." Arrived at the lion's den, the queen pushed him in, but he, perceiving his danger, wrapped his mantle around his arm, and thrusting his hand into the lion's mouth, pulled out his tongue, or, as the old chroniclers say, his heart, which on returning to the palace, he sent by one of her maids as a present, to' the queen. On arriving in England, rich with the fame not only of this exploit, but of many noble deeds, William di Albini married the beautiful Adelais, and was thus advanced to the Earldom of Arundel. The arms of the lion were given to him, and the white tongueless lion rampant on a red shield is a bearing of the Howards, his descendants, to this day.