34 THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



young and beautiful girl offers him a white rose, called the Rose 

 of Innocence. 



It is somewhat singular that, although the Rose was in these 

 instances employed as the emblem of virtue and innocence, it 

 has been considered, at other times and places, as a sign of dis- 

 grace and dishonor. 



The synod held at Nismes, about the year 1284, ordered the 

 Jews to w^ear on their breast a rose to distinguish them from 

 Christians, in order that they might not receive the same atten- 

 tions. At one time, in certain German provinces, a crown of 

 red roses was the punishment of immorality. 



It appears that, in the middle ages, roses were much more 

 abundantly cultivated in certain provinces than they have been 

 since ; for the following passage is found in Marchangy's History 

 of France in the 14th century : " For the ornament of certain 

 festivals, they cultivate, in the vicinity of Rouen, fields of flowers 

 of several roods ; and the annual sale of bouquets and wreaths 

 of roses is valued at 50,000 frants. The business of maker of 

 wreaths, and that of rose merchant, is in France very common 

 and very profitable. The above sum will not seem surprising, 

 when we think of the enormous consumption uf rose-water at 

 that time. In all family parties, companies and associations, 

 many bouquets ^vere presented ; at table, during festivals, they 

 crowned themselves with flowers, and scattered them on the 

 table-cloth and the floor." 



The Marquis de Chesnel, in his History of the Rose, mentions 

 that, among the old customs of Auvergne, Anjou, Tours, Lodu- 

 nois, and Maine, there was one in the noble families, that a father 

 who had sons, frequently gave to his daughters, on their mar- 

 riage, only a wreath of roses. In Normandy, also, the daughters 

 received, for their legitimate portion, a hat adorned with the 

 same flowers. Among the ancient seignorial rights in France, 

 in the 14th century, was one by which each tenant was obliged 

 to furnish a bushel of roses for the manufacture of rose-water for 

 the lord of the soil. Madame de Genlis mentions, however, that 

 about the same period, every one was not allowed to cultivate 



