174 Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



Aboute this king ther ran on every part 

 Ful many a tame leoun and lepart/ 



^ Henry had brought with him a leopard ('ounce or chetah', Wyhe 

 4. 108, note) from the East, perhaps from Cyprus {D. A., p. Ixv.). 



His arms were (Beltz, p. 242) : 'France and England quarterly, over 

 all a label of five points Azure, each point charged with three fleurs-de- 

 lis'; otherwise described (Harris Nicolas, Scrope and Grosvenor Con- 

 troversy 2. 166) as being, in 1386, 'Gules, three lions passant gardant 

 in pale Or, a label Azure, charged with fleurs de lis Or' (cf. Armitage- 

 Smith, p. 458; Archwol. 31. 365; Doyle, Peerage 2. 317; Wylie 4. 170). 

 Richard the Lion-hearted had borne three leopards in his shield {Encyc. 

 Brit., nth ed., 13. 312; Palliser, Hist. Devices, p. 358), which afterwards 

 took their place in the arms of England, the lions passant gardant of 

 England being blazoned as leopards (through confusion) tmtil far into the 

 fifteenth century (Standard Diet. s. v. Leopard; cf. Eneye. Brit., nth ed., 



13- 325). 



The leopard, if we may judge from the poem Wynnere and Wastoure 

 (ca. 1347-8), which refers to the Order of the Garter, was peculiarly 

 associated with Edward HI, for not only does he bear (76-80) leopards 

 in the arms of England on his gorget (?), but also a golden leopard 

 on his helmet (70-75) : 



Upon heghe one the holt ane hathell up stondes, 



Wroghte als a wodwyse alle in wrethyn lokkes. 



With ane helme one his hede — ane hatte appon lofte; 



And one heghe one the hatte ane hattfull beste — 



A lighte lebarde and a longe, lokande full kene, 



Yarked alle of yalowe golde in full yape wyse. 



It may be significant that Edward HI had a present of a lion and a 



leopard from the Black Prince, who sent them from Gascony in 1365 



(Devon, Issues of the Exchequer, p. 184), the leopard perhaps a tame 



one, such as were employed in southern Europe in the chase of bears, 



wolves, and wild boars (Kervyn i.^ 326). The Black Prince speaks in 



his will of his leopard-helm (heanme du leopard; cf. Stanley, Hist. Mem. of 



Canterbury, loth ed., pp. 154, 169) ; and gilt leopards' heads, on a blue 



enameled ground, occur on the girdle of his effigy, while another adorns 



the pommel of his sword (Stothard, Mon. Effigies). 



It is not surprising, in the light of these traditions of the royal line 

 to which he belonged, that Henry was eager to bring home from the 

 hither Orient a specimen of the royal beast. He may also, as Miss Smith 

 suggests (D. A., p. Ixv), have wished to add a leopard to the collection 

 of wild beasts already kept in the Tower since the days of Henry I 

 (cf. Kirk, p. xiv; Loftie, Hist, of London, 1853, 2. 146), besides thinking 

 of the leopard's symbolical significance. 



Henry's leopard had to have a special keeper {D. A. 246. 20, 25, 31 ; 

 even leopard-j«^n are spoken of, 247. 15), and horses to draw them both 

 (251. 22; 252. 20; 253. I ; 255. 34; 256. 14). A cabin had to be made for 



