Nature anti Art, March 1, 18G7.1 
AN HERALDIC PUZZLE AND ITS SOLUTION. 
85 
AN HERALDIC PUZZLE AND ITS SOLUTION. 
By G. Chapman, F.S.A. 
W HEN we visit the collections of a large 
• National Museum we usually come away 
with a general idea of the whole, but rarely with a 
clear notice of any one individual object. Each 
specimen has probably, however, its special interest 
if properly studied ; and, as an example, the 
reader is invited to bestow his attention for a time 
upon one single article, among the almost countless 
treasures now exhibited at the South Kensington 
Museum. 
The object we select is a small metal box, covered 
with enamels, of which the accompanying coloured 
drawing affords a most faithful representation. 
Placed as it is in the crowded cases of the Museum, 
the eye of the visitor rests upon it for a moment, 
and passes on to others, little knowing the 
interest that it would yield if its history were 
worked out, — a threefold interest — Heraldic, 
Historical, and Artistic. 
And here we digress for a while to remark 
how little justice is commonly done to the study 
of heraldry ; its real importance in history, 
genealogy, and other kindred subjects, being gene- 
rally overlooked, and its follower being accounted 
a mere trifler in a pretty, amusing, but very useless 
study. A most instructive essay might be written 
in refutation of this popular error. Perhaps the 
present article may be regarded to some extent in 
that light ; an apology for the study of heraldry ! 
It may first be mentioned that reliquaries, or 
ecclesiastical caskets of Limoges enamelled work, of 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, are of 
frequent occurrence ; but that domestic caskets 
(jewel or money-cases), of which the present is one 
of the most beautiful and valuable of the period in 
existence, are much more rare. 
The dimensions of the casket are as follows : — 
7 inches wide, 5 inches from front to back, and 2f 
inches deep, on legs f of an inch long ; so that it 
stands in all 31, inches high. It is of copper gilt, 
entirely covered, as is seen, on the top, front, back, 
and sides with coats of arms in enamel, arranged 
in the manner that was anciently termed diapree, 
or lozenge-wise. 
The number of different coats of arms is six, with 
a portion of a seventh, probably a mistake of 
the enameller. They ai'e repeated all over the 
casket, each occurring thirteen or fourteen times, 
in all 79 coats. 
The arms are now considered to be as follows ; 
the chief doubt having been as to the sixth 
1. Valence .— Barry of twelve argent and azure, 
an orle of martlets, gules. 
2. Engolesme or Angouleme . — Lozengy or and 
gules. 
3. England. — Gules, three lions passant gardant 
in pale or. 
4. Brabant. — Sable, a lion rampant or. 
5. Breux, Brittany . — Chequy or and azure, 
a bordure, gules, over all a cantar ermine. 
G. Lacy , Earl of Lincoln. — Or, a lion rampant 
purpure. * 
7. . — Azure, a lion rampant or. This 
occurs once. No such coat is known, and 
it is, doubtless, a mistake of the artist for 
No. 4, Brabant. 
Having determined to whom the coats of arms 
belong, we pass on to the most interesting con- 
sideration of all, — the historical associations of 
the casket. The reader will not fail to see that, 
in order to identify the person lor whom this 
casket was made, it is necessary to find some one 
who, if not actually entitled to quarter all these 
coats of arms, was connected, by marriage or 
otherwise, with all these noble families, and would, 
therefore, not hesitate to place them together on a 
monument, casket, or the like. This has been the 
puzzle, and many have been the unsuccessful 
guesses at its solution. Various members of the 
different families have been thought of ; but, on 
closely examining their pretensions, some flaw was 
discovered in their title to the original owner- 
ship of the casket, — till at length the riddle was 
read, and a claimant uniting all the requirements 
was found in the person of William de Valence, 
Earl of Pembroke, son of Isabella of Angouleme 
(widow of John Plantagenet, king of England), by 
her second husband, Hugh X., Count de la Marche. 
To show this, it becomes necessary to sketch her 
biography and connexions. 
Isabella of Angouleme was the only child and 
heiress of Aymer, Count of Angouleme, surnamed 
Taillefer, the vassal of John, King of England and 
Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine. She was, 
when a child, betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, 
surnamed Le Brun, the eldest son of Hugh IX., 
the reigning Count de la Marche, fellow crusader 
with Cceur de Lion ; and she was, agreeably with 
the custom of the times, consigned to his family for 
her education. 
Chancing to meet her liege lord, John King of 
England, on one of his occasions of visiting his 
French dominions, he was much struck with her 
great beauty ; and she, seeing him captivated, and 
being carried away by the flattering prospect of so 
grand an alliance, refused to acknowledge her 
marriage contract with Count Hugh, and was 
married to the king at Bordeaux, on the 24th 
August, 1200. She bore him five children prior 
to his death in 1216 ; and the following year she 
returned to Angouleme; and in 1220, or therea- 
bouts, was after all married to her first and constant 
lover, Hugh, then tenth Count de la Marche. To 
