56 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the secular use of roses was unbecoming a Christian. " Kings should 

 not be crowned with roses, since Christ had worn a crown of thorns." 

 But the love of flowers was too strong for ecclesiastical denunciation, 

 even when that was at high- water mark, and Christian and Pagan alike 

 continued to use them in worship, at feasts, and in private life. 



In the village of Salency, not many miles from Paris, a curious 

 fete was inaugurated in the year 480, which has survived until the pre- 

 sent century. Medard, Bishop of Noyon, instituted the ceremony of 

 publicly crowning with roses the most modest and virtuous maiden in 

 the village. The young girl was to be named for this honor by public 

 acclaim. To support the necessary expenses of the festival, the bishop 

 set apart a portion of his domain, which part was called the Manor of 

 the Bose,s. The first young girl selected by the community was the 

 Bishop's own sister. During the reign of Louis XIII, the king was in 

 the vicinity at the time of the yearly ceremony, and desired to grace it 

 with his presence. Being ill, he could not himself attend, but he sent 

 his blue ribbon and a ring, saying: "This has long been the prize of 

 honor, it shall now become the reward of virtue." Since that time each 

 year La Rosiere has received the ring. 



In 1773 this festival was the occasion of a very serious legal pro- 

 cess. A new lord having purchased Salency attempted to take away 

 the time-honored right of the inhabitants, by himself naming three 

 candidates for the rose. He assumed this right with the estates, and 

 attempted to suppress the ceremonies and reduce the expense. The 

 inhabitants made complaint to the Court of Chancery, which at once 

 decided in favor of the people and set aside the pretensions of the 

 new-comer. But, tenacious of his supposed rights, the owner insti- 

 tuted a civil suit before the parliament of Paris. This august assembly 

 gave a decree confirming the people in all their rights and ancient cus- 

 toms. The contumacious lord, for his pains, only received an order to 

 pay all the expenses incident upon the festival out of his own pocket. 



The oldest rosebush in the world is at Hildersheim. It was planted 

 more than a thousand years ago by Charlemagne, in commemoration 

 of a visit made him by the ambassador of the Caliph Harounal-Ras- 

 chid, of "Arabian Nights" fame. A few years afterward, when Louis 

 the Pious, the son of Charlemagne, was hunting in the neighborhood, 

 mass was said in the open air. On returning to his home the officiat- 

 ing priest found that the holy image was missing. Returning to the 

 spot where mass had been said, he discovered the missing image in 

 the branches of a wild-rose tree. As it miraculously evaded his grasp, 

 he went back to Louis and his suite and told them of the wonder. 

 They all rushed to the spot and fell on their knees before the miracu- 



