ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
23 
until a.d. 1801 when, on the union of Ireland, it gave place to the 
harp, and to our neighbours was restored the full possession of 
their ancient heraldic flower. 
There are some floral badges adopted by prominent characters in 
history that is a pleasure to recall. One of these is the Broom, 
which, under its early Latin name, planta genista, has given its 
name to the Royal house of Plantagenet amongst our early kings. 
With this plant historical facts seem to be established, although 
it is to be feared a picturesque setting has crept into the history 
of it. This much, however, seems to be worthy of credence, that, 
some years before the first Crusade of a.d. 1096, an Karl of Anjou 
undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to expiate his 
cruelties in France, and he assumed the broom as his badge. It 
is thought he chose this plant because it was considered to be, 
amongst the religious Orders, an emblem of humility on account 
of its lowly stature, and from its love of barren and rocky slopes. 
On the Earl's return, as a sign of his penitence, he bequeathed a 
sprig of the golden blossom as a cognizance to his family, and as 
the Crusades did much to encourage the art of fighting in combined 
forces the Counts of Anjou chose to continue to rally their 
followers on the field of battle under the banner of their country's 
beauteous wild flower. 
Nearly a hundred years later when Geoffrey of Anjou became 
the second husband of the Empress Matilda, the only daughter of 
our King Henry I., he used it as a crest, and adopted the surname 
of Plantagenet — a broom plant. Their son came to the throne of 
England as Henry II., and was the first of the long race of 
Plantagenet kings, who continued to rule till the death of Richard 
III. in a.d. 1485. 
The plant has thus a strong claim on our interests, and that the 
dynasty was proud of the emblem of the broom is shown by 
Richard II. having the blossoms engraved on the Great Seal of 
England ; and further, you may know the copper effigy on his tomb 
in Westminster Abbey, which represents him in a mantle 
embroidered all over with the open seed pods of his ancestral badge. 
As we find the broom associated with the House of Plantagenet, 
so the hawthorn or May blossom is connected with the succeeding 
House of Tudor. Henry VII., besides his badge of the red and 
white roses, adopted the device of a hawthorn bush enclosed in a 
crown to commemorate his victory at Bosworth, where he was 
proclaimed king on the battlefield, and crowned forthwith with 
the battered coronet of his predecessor, Richard III., which was 
found near by hanging in a hawthorn tree. 
This is one of the many instances in which the choice of a badge 
may spring from a simple incident, and for centuries afterwards 
retain a hold upon the popular imagination, as is recalled in this 
case by the proverb— ( ' Cleave to the crown though it hangs on 
a bush." 
The familiar name of May Blossom has reference, of course, to 
the use of the flower in the decoration of the May-poles of England 
in the great festival of that month. 
