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was conveyed by three of the duke's vessels of war, freighted with men-at-arms and cross-bows. This royal adventurer, the banished Lancaster, was the first person who gave to the myosotis arvensis, or 'forget-me-not,' its emblematic and poetic meaning, by uniting it, at the period of his exile, on his collar of SS, with the initial letter of his mot, or watchword, Souveignevous de moy;"1 thus rendering it the symbol of remembrance, and, like the subsequent fatal roses of York, Lancaster, and Stuart, the lily of Bourbon, and the violet of Napoleon, an historical flower. Poets and lovers have adopted the sentiment which makes the blue myosotis plead the cause of the absent by the eloquence of its popular name, 'forget-me-not;' but few indeed of those who, at parting, exchange this simple touching appeal to memory are aware of the fact, that it was first used as such by a royal Plantagenet prince, who was, perhaps, indebted to the agency of this mystic blossom for the crown of England. We know not if Henry of Lancaster presented a myosotis to the duchess of Bretagne at his departure from the court of Vannes, but he afforded a convincing proof that his fair hostess was not forgotten by him, when a proper season arrived for claiming her remembrance.

The assistance rendered by the duke of Bretagne to the future husband of his consort, was not the last important action of his life. He was at that time in declining health, and had once more involved himself in disputes with Clisson and his party. Clisson's daughter Margaret, countess de Penthièvres, being a woman of an ambitious and daring spirit, was perpetually urging her husband and father to set up the rival title of the house of Blois to the duchy of Bretagne, and is accused by Alain Bouchard, and other of the Breton chroniclers, of having hastened the death of John the Valiant by poison or sorcery. The duke was carefully attended by Joanna in his dying illness. By a codicil to his last will and testa

1 Willement's Regal Heraldry, p. 42. Anstis' Order of the Garter, vol. ii. p. 117.

2 There is the following entry in the wardrobe Computus of Henry earl of Derby: "Pro pondere unius collarii facti cum esses SS de floribus de Soviegne-rous de moy, pendere et amoill," weighing eight ounces. Computus Gardrobi Hen. de Lancaster, Com. Derby, de a° 20, Ric. II.—Retrospective Review, p. 507.

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ment, which he had made during his late visit to England, he confirms "her dower and all his former gifts to his beloved companion, the duchess Joanna," whom, with his eldest son, John count de Montfort, the bishop of Nantes, and his cousin the lord Montauban, he nominates his executors. The document concludes with these words

"In the absence of others, and in the presence of our said companion the duchess, this codicil is signed 26th day of October, 1399. Dictated by our said lord the duke from his sick bed, and given under his seal in the castle tower, near Nantes, about the hour of vespers, in the presence of the duchess, Giles, a knight, master Robert Brocherol, and Joanna Chesnel, wife of Guidones de Rupeforte. Written by J. de Ripa, notary, at the castle of Nantes."2

On the 1st of November, 1399, the duke breathed his last; and Joanna, having been appointed by him as regent for their eldest son, the young duke, with the entire care of his person, assumed the reins of government in his name.3 Her first public act, after the funeral of her deceased lord had been solemnized in the cathedral-church of Nantes, was a public reconciliation with sir Oliver Clisson, with his son-in-law, count de Penthièvres, and the rest of the disaffected nobles who had been at open variance with her deceased lord. She employed the prelates, and some of the most prudent of the nobles of Bretagne, to mediate this pacification; and after many journeys and much negotiation, concessions were made on both sides, and Clisson, with the rest of the malcontents, swore to obey the widowed duchess during the minority of their young duke, her son. This treaty was signed and sealed at the castle of Blein, January 1, 1400. Clisson's power in the duchy was so great, owing to his vast possessions there, his great popularity, and his influence as constable of France, at he might have been a most formidable enemy to the yung duke, if the duchess-regent had not succeeded in conating him.

In the year 1395, a very rich addition to the dower of Joanna was assigned the duke, her husband.-Chron. de Bretagne, Dom Morice.

* Preuves Historiques.
Chron. de Bretagne. Preuves Hist.

3 Actes de Bretagne.

5 Actes de Bretagne.

Alain Bouchard gives a very interesting account of Clisson's conduct, when ted by his daughter Marguerite, the wife of the rival claimant of the duchy, estry the infant family of the late duke, when the death of that prince had their destinies in a great measure in his hands. Marguerite, having heard

When Joanna had exercised the sovereign authority as regent for her son a year and a half, the young duke, accompanied by her, made his solemn entrance into Rennes, Mar. 22, 1401, and took the oaths in the presence of his prelates and nobles, having entered his twelfth year. He then proceeded to the cathedral, and, according to the custom of the dukes his predecessors, passed the night in prayer before the great altar of St. Peter. On the morrow, having heard mass, he was knighted by Clisson, and then conferred knighthood on his younger brothers, Arthur and Jules; after which he was invested with the ducal habit, circlet, and sword by his prelates and nobles, and carried in procession through the city. After his inauguration, the young duke mounted his horse, and, attended by his nobles, returned to the castle of Rennes, where a royal banquet had been prepared under the auspices of the duchess-regent.'

Joanna put her son in possession of the duchy at so tender an age, as a preliminary to her union with the new king of England, Henry of Lancaster. The visit of that prince to the court of Vannes in the year 1399, had made an indelible impression on the heart of Joanna, and on the death of her husband, John the Valiant, she determined to become his wife. Although the learned historian of France, M. Michelet, affirms that very soon after the death of the duke of Bretagne, the fair widow declared she would marry Henry, it is certain that she not only acted with punctilious respect to the memory of her defunct lord, by allowing the discreet period of upwards that the duke of Burgundy, the uncle of the duchess Joanna and of the king of France, was likely to have the guardianship of the duchy and of the persons of the princely minors, flew to the apartment of her father, exclaiming in great agitation," My lord, my father! it now depends on you if ever my husband recover his inheritance! We have such beautiful children, I beseech you to assist us for their sakes."-" What is it you would have me do ?" said Clisson. "Can you not slay the children of the false duke, before the duke of Burgundy can come to Bretagne ?" replied she. Ah, cruel and perverse woman!" exclaimed her father, with a burst of virtuous indignation; "if thou livest longer, thou wilt be the cause of involving thy children in infamy and ruin." And drawing his sword, in the first transports of his wrath he would have slain her on the spot, if she had not fled precipitately from his presence. "She did not wholly escape punishment," adds the chronicler, "for in her fright she fell, and broke her thigh-bone, of which she was lame for the rest of her life."

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1 Alain Bouchard. Dom Morice.

of two years to elapse before she took any steps for exchanging her widow's veil for the queenly diadem of England, but she kept her intentions in favour of Henry a profound secret till she could cajole the pope of Avignon, to whose communion she belonged, into giving her a general dispensation to marry any one she pleased within the fourth degree of consanguinity, without naming the person;' for besides the great political obstacles which opposed themselves to her union with Henry, they were members of rival churches,-Henry, who had been educated in Wickliffite principles, having now attached himself to the party of Boniface, the pope of Rome, who was called the anti-pope by those who denied his authority. Joanna's agents negotiated this difficult arrangement so adroitly, that the bull was executed according to her desire, March 20, 1402, without the slightest suspicion being entertained by the orthodox court of Avignon that the schismatic king of England was the mysterious person within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, whom Benedict had so obligingly granted the duchess-dowager of Bretagne liberty to espouse.*

When Joanna had thus outwitted her pope, she despatched a trusty squire of her household, named Antoine Riczi, to conclude her treaty of marriage with king Henry. After the articles of this matrimonial alliance were signed, Joanna and her royal bridegroom were espoused, by procuration, at the palace of Eltham, on the third day of April, 1402, Antoine Riczi acting as the proxy of the bride. What motive could have induced the lovely widow of John the Valiant of Bretagne to choose a male representative on this interesting occasion, it is difficult to surmise; but it is certain that Henry plighted his nuptial troth' to the said Antoine Riczi, and placed the bridal ring on his finger as the representative of his absent bride. This act was performed with great solemnity in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury, the king's halfbrothers the Beaufort princes, the earl of Worcester, lord chamberlain of England, and other officers of state." Riczi

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had previously produced a letter from the duchess Joanna, empowering him to contract matrimony with the king of England in her name, on which the trusty squire, having received king Henry's plight, pronounced that of Joanna in these words :-"I, Antoine Riczi, in the name of my worshipful lady, dame Joanna, the daughter of Charles lately king of Navarre, duchess of Bretagne, and countess of Richmond, take you, Henry of Lancaster, king of England and lord of Ireland, to my husband, and thereto I, Antoine, in the spirit of my said lady, plight you my troth." No sooner was this ceremony concluded, than the rigid canonists represented to Joanna that she would commit a deadly sin by completing her marriage with a prince attached to the communion of pope Boniface. The case, however, not being without precedent, the court of Avignon quieted the conscience of the duchess, under the idea that great advantages might be derived from her forming an alliance with the king of England, whose religious principles had hitherto been any thing but stable. She obtained permission, therefore, to live with the schismatic Catholics, and even outwardly to conform to them by receiving the sacraments from their hands, provided that she remained firmly attached to the party of Benedict XIII.3

The prospect of a marriage between Joanna and the new king of England, Henry of Lancaster, was contemplated with great uneasiness by the court of France. Henry was the brother of the queens of Castile and Portugal, and, in addition to these powerful family connexions, he would become no less closely allied with the sovereigns of Navarre and Bretagne, and thus enjoy every facility of invading France, if he felt disposed to renew the pretensions of his renowned grandsire, Edward III., to the sovereignty of that realm. The royal dukes, Joanna's uncles, endeavoured, by every means in their power, to dissuade her from a marriage so full of peril to France, but in vain. At length, her intention of taking the young duke, her son, and the rest of her children with her to England, and placing them under the tutelage of her second husband transpiring, the duke of Burgundy considered it 2 Dom Morice.

MS. Chron. of Nantes.

3 MS. Chron. of Nantes.

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