‘Forget not Willige,
What thine origin is!’
“‘Forget it,’ cried the worthy prelate, ‘No, I don’t wish to forget it, and what’s more no one else shall;’ and he ordered a white wheel on a black ground to be adopted for his arms; and this wheel has been borne in the arms of the Archbishops of Mentz ever since.”
At this moment Mr. and Mrs. Merton approached, and thanked the gentleman for his kindness to their little daughter.
“But I have not explained all the coat of arms to her yet,” said he; “and when I have done I will give her one of the engravings to keep that she may remember what I have told her.”
Agnes thanked him, and he continued. “The arms of the Archbishop of Treves exhibit a red cross on a white field, in remembrance of the fiery cross which is said to have fallen from Heaven into the middle of the city of Treves, a representation of which, in stone, still adorns the market-place; and the arms of Cologne are a black cross on a white field, in commemoration of the first Archbishop of Cologne having come from the East, a black cross being borne by the Eastern priesthood. This finishes the arms of the spiritual lords.”
“That is, the archbishops,” said Agnes.
“Right; but I am sorry I cannot explain the others so fully: the arms of Brandenburg have a red eagle on a white field; those of Saxony two crossed swords on a black and white ground; those of the Palatinate a red lion on a golden field; and those of Bavaria chequers of blue and white.”
“What do the two flags mean?”
“They are the banners of Germany, and they are black, red, and golden yellow. The red was first adopted by the immediate successors of Charlemagne, whose body-guards were clad in that colour; the black was added by the House of Saxony, when it attained imperial honours, the family colours of Saxony being black and white; and the golden yellow alludes to the Swabian emperors, whose dynasty has been called the golden age of the German empire.”