BROOM. 
10 !) 
BROOM. 
HUMILITY. 
In the year 1234, St. Louis of France, after 
the coronation of his queen, chose the flower of 
this plant as the insignia of a new order of 
knighthood. The members of this order wore 
a chain composed of flowers of the Broom en¬ 
twined with white enamelled lilies, from which 
was suspended a gold cross with the inscription : 
Exaltat humiles —“ He exalteth the humble.” 
With this order he associated a body-guard 
consisting of one hundred nobles, on the back 
and front of whose coat was likewise embroi¬ 
dered a Broom flower, over which a hand issuing 
frorrwthe clouds held a crown, with the inscrip¬ 
tion : Deus exaltat humiles —“ God exalteth the 
humble.” 
This plant called in Latin Genista , and in 
French Genet , gave the name of Plantagenet to 
the sovereigns of England for several centuries. 
Lemon, in his “ English Etymology,” says: 
