THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 177 



valor. It was not, however, always taken for such em- 

 blems, nor did it always bring to mind pleasant and agree- 

 able images, but was often the signal for bloodshed in a 

 desolating civil war which raged in England for more than 

 thirty years. 



The rival factions of the White and the Bed Rose arose 

 in 1452, during the reign of Henry VI., between the 

 houses of Lancaster and of York. The Duke of York, a 

 descendant of Edward III., claimed that his house pos- 

 sessed a nearer title to the crown than the reigning branch. 

 He adopted a white rose on his shield, for his device, and 

 the reigning monarch, Henry VL, of the house of Lan- 

 caster, carried the red rose. After several furious civil 

 wars, after having flooded the whole kingdom with blood, 

 and after the tragical death of three kings, Henry VH., 

 of the house of Lancaster, re-united, in 1486, the two fam- 

 ilies by marrying Elizabeth, the heiress of the house of 

 York. 



The adoption of the red rose, by the house of Lancaster, 

 was at a period fir prior to these civil wars. About 1277, 

 the Count of Egmont, son of the King of England, and 

 who had taken the title of Count of Champagne, was sent 

 by the King of France to Provence, with some troops, to 

 avenge the murder of William Pentecote, mayor of the 

 city, who had been killed in an insurrection. 



When this prince returned into England, after execu- 

 ting his orders, he took for his device the red rose, that 

 Thibaut, Count of Brie and of Champagne, had brouglit 

 from Syria, on liis return from the crusade some years 

 before. — That Count of Egmont was the head of the 

 house of Lancaster, who preserved the red rose on their 

 arms, while the house of York, on the other hand, adopted 

 the white rose as their device. 



An anecdote is told of the Prince of Bearne, afterwards 

 Henry IV. of France, who was not 15 years of age when 

 8* 



