Parsons on the Rose / A Treatise on the Propagation, Culture and History of the Rose

by Samuel Browne Parsons

When this prince returned into England, after executing his orders, he took for his device the red rose, that Thibaut, Count of Brie and of Champagne, had brought from Syria, on his return from the crusade some years before.—That Count of Egmont was the head of the house of Lancaster, who preserved the red rose on their arms, while the house of York, on the other hand, adopted the white rose as their device.

An anecdote is told of the Prince of Bearne, afterwards Henry IV. of France, who was not 15 years of age when Charles IX. came to Nerac, in 1566, to visit the court of Navarre.

The fifteen days that he spent there were marked by sports and fêtes, of which the young Henry was already the chief ornament. Charles IX. loved to practice archery; in providing for him that amusement, they thought that none of his courtiers, not even the Duke of Guise, who excelled at this sport, would venture to prove himself more adroit than the monarch. The young Henry, however, advanced, and at the first shot, carried off the orange, which served for a mark. According to the rules of the sport, be wished, as victor, to shoot first in the next trial; the King opposed it, and repulsed him with warmth; Henry stepped back a little, drew his bow, and directed the arrow against the breast of his adversary; the monarch quickly took shelter behind the largest of his courtiers, and requested them to take away “that dangerous little cousin.” Peace being made, the same sport was continued on the following day; Charles found an excuse for not coming. This time the Duke of Guise carried away the orange, which he split in two, and no other could be found for a mark.

The young prince perceived a Rose in the bosom of a young girl among the spectators, and seizing it, quickly placed it on the mark. The Duke shot first, and missed; Henry succeeding him, placed his arrow in the middle of the flower, and returned it to the pretty villager with the victorious arrow which had pierced it.

At Salency, a village of France, the Rose is the reward of excellent traits of character; they attribute the origin of the fête of La Rosière, in that country, to Medard, bishop of Noyon, who lived at the end of the fifteenth, and beginning of the sixteenth century, during the reign of Clovis. That bishop, who was also Lord of Salency, had established a fund, giving a sum of twenty-five livres (five dollars), and a crown or hat of roses, to the young girl on his estate who enjoyed the greatest reputation for amiability and excellence of character. Tradition states that the prelate himself gave this desired prize to one of his sisters, whom the public voice had named to be Rosière. Before the revolution of 1789, there could be seen, beneath the altar of the chapel of St. Medard, at Salency, a tablet, where that bishop was represented in pontifical dress, and placing a crown of roses on the head of his sister, who was on her knees, with her hair dressed.

The bishop had set aside, on a part of his domain, since called the “Manor of the Rose,” an annual rent of twenty-five livres, at that time a considerable sum, for paying all the expenses of this ceremony. It is stated that Louis XIII., being at the chateau of Varennes, near Salency, about the time of this ceremony, was desirous of adding to its éclat by his personal presence; but finding himself indisposed, he sent to La Rosière, by a marquis of rank and first captain of his guards, a ring and his blue ribbon. “Go,” said he to the marquis, “and present this riband to her who shall be crowned. It has been long the prize of honor; it shall now become the reward of virtue.” Since that time La Rosière has received a ring, and she and her companions have worn the blue ribbon.

The Lord of Salency at one time enjoyed the right of choosing La Rosière from three of the village girls, who were presented by the inhabitants. But in 1773 a new lord, who purchased the estate of Salency, wished to take away the right enjoyed by the inhabitants, of naming and presenting to him the three candidates for the Rose. He assumed the nomination of La Rosière, without any assembling, election, or presentation, and suppressed entirely the pomp and ceremonies which until that time had always been observed. On the complaint of the inhabitants of Salency, the Court of Chancery at once set aside the pretensions of their lord; but he, not wishing to yield them, instituted a civil process before the Parliament of Paris, which gave a decree in favor of the inhabitants of the place, by which it confirmed to them all the ancient customs of the fête of La Rosière, of which the Lord of Salency was ordered to pay all the expenses.

The ceremony of La Rosière was suppressed during the excesses of the Revolution, but was reëstablished when the times had become more quiet. The celebration takes place in June, and would be well worthy the attendance of foreign travelers.

We have mentioned this custom very much in detail, as it is one of the few ceremonies still existing, in which the Rose occupies a prominent position, and is made alone the reward of merit. Other festivals of the Rose, similar to those of Salency, were established in several other villages of France and the neighboring countries. When Louis XVIII. was staying at Blakenbourg, in Germany, during the years of his exile, he was invited to assist at a festival of La Rosière. When he had placed the crown on the head of the young girl who was designated as the most virtuous, she said to him, ingenuously, “My Prince, may your crown be restored you.”

There exists a touching custom in the valley of Engadine, in Switzerland. If a man accused of a crime is able to justify himself the same day on which he is liberated from prison, a young and beautiful girl offers him a white rose, called the Rose of Innocence.