Britannia and Hibernia is an island called Mona." Colonised by the ancient British tribes, it remained long, like the isle of Anglesey, a chief seat of the Druids. Then it fell in succession under various yokes, the ScotoIrish, the Welsh, the Anglo-Saxons, who in their turn were overcome by the Danes and Norwegians; and for near four hundred years the Vikings, those terrible pirates of the North, ruled with a troubled sway over Mona. At length, in the year 1266, the island was ceded to the King of Scotland, after which event its history ceases to have any bearing on the subject of this paper. To the antiquary a thousand points of interest present themselves. Commencing with the prehistoric stone circles, barrows, and cromlechs of the primitive Celtic inhabitants, here are also to be found many remains of early British churches, founded in the fifth and following centuries by the followers of St. Patrick, whilst the Runic monuments, inscriptions, and crosses attest the long sway of the Northmen, their amalgamation with the natives, and their adoption of the Christian faith. Here, also, alone in Europe, is to be witnessed a perfect living example of the primitive folk-moot, or open-air assembly of the Notables, held yearly on the Tynwald Hill, when the laws of the island are publicly recited and proclaimed in Manx and in English-a wonderful survival, which Mr. Gomme perfectly gloats over; for, lastly, the Manx have Home Rule, and yet are very loyal, as indeed they have good reason to be.

And now we come to the special subject of this paper, the armorial bearings of the island. Here, as in Liverpool, this strange, quaint device, the Three Legs of Mann, meets one at every turn; and there is nothing, perhaps, in connection with the island that gives rise to more curiosity or wonder. What was the origin of a sign so remarkable ?-what its hidden meaning?-for a significance it must have had, and a momentous one. We naturally turn to the volumes published by the Manx Society for a solution of the enigma, and the fifth, published in 1860, is especially devoted to the subject. Here then, surely, our curiosity will be satisfied! It is entitled Vestigia Insula Manniæ Antiquiora; or, a dissertation on the Armorial Bearings

of the Isle of Man, etc., by H. R. Oswald, Esq., F.A.S., &c. In this volume Mr. Oswald points out that no armorial emblem in connection with the island is known to have existed before the time of the Norwegian domination; the earliest traceable is that on the flag of the Norse Vikings, which was emblazoned with a ship in full sail, apt symbol of these sea-rovers. The ship has one mast, is clinker built, and resembles closely the Manx herring boats. Amongst the Cottonian MSS. there exist two charters of Harald, King of Mann, with the dates 1245-46. Their seals bear the ship on one side, and a lion rampant on the other. But after the cession of the island to Alexander III. of Scotland, twenty years later, this emblem of the Norwegian kings disappears entirely, and the three legs symbol takes its place, continuing to the present day. The form we usually see is thus described in heraldry:Gules, three legs armed, conjoined in fesse at the upper part of the thighs, flexed in triangle, garnished and spurred, or. Motto: Quocunque Jeceris Stabit, that is "whichever way you throw it, it will stand." But this is a later modification, as the armour does not correspond to the thirteenth century, and in the earliest examples, which are of the time of Edward I. of England, the legs are covered with chain armour, and are without spurs. There is also no motto, which, indeed, is evidently the invention of a later age. The earliest example of the arms of Mann, as now emblazoned, given by Mr. Oswald, is not earlier than A.D. 1480, and this is without the motto. It appears

then, almost certain, though we possess no literary document recording the fact, that to Alexander III. of Scotland is due the introduction of the "tre cassyn' as the distinguishing arms of the Isle of Mann. But whence did he get it? He did not originate it, as Mr. Oswald points out; for every antiquary knows that this striking emblem was figured in various forms on Greek coins and Etruscan vases four or five hundred years before the Christian era. These, however, would be utterly unknown to a Scottish king in the thirteenth century, and neither Mr. Oswald nor any other writer, so far as I know, helps us to a reasonable solution of the difficulty. At first I thought it probable that

Alexander might have derived it from the bracteates or gold medals, which he must have often seen worn on the breasts of Norwegian kings and cheftains. As amongst other nations, so it was the custom with the Northmen, to wear for amulets ornaments containing the sacred signs. With the Anglo-Saxons the signs were often formed of pieces of coloured glass or garnets set in gold. In the North they were formed of plain gold within a circle. The "fylfot" of the Northmen, or the "suastika," as the figure is called in India (see fig. 8), was used as the emblem of their god Thor, the cross (fig. 9) as that of Odin, and the "triskele" (fig. 7) was the emblem of the sun-god Frey.

This latter is identical with the armorial bearing of the Isle of Mann, as will be demonstrated further on. But, as will be seen, the emblem on those medals is invariably of a ruder, more primitive, and rudimentary type. It never appears on the Danish and Norwegian bracteates as three well-developed male legs; and it is not likely that the Scotch of that age would at once make the transition to a more advanced and artistic form. We must, therefore, look elsewhere. Is there any nation that has employed this symbol-the three legs of man-on its coins, buildings, and banners, from before the Christian era down to our own day? There is, and only one-Sicily. Appearing first on the lovely Sicilian Greek coins about 300 B.C. it was so frequently repeated that the Romans gave the name of "triquetrum" or three-cornered to the symbol itself. whilst the island of Sicily was called "Triquetra," the three-cornered or triangular island. Through all the reverses of the Sicilians under the Romans, Goths, Saracens, and Normans, it was still used as part of their national arms, was embroidered on their banners, and carved on their buildings. Surely, then, from the Sicilians it must have been borrowed by the Scottish king. But how would the knowledge of it reach? In several ways, perhaps. To the Crusaders we owe the introduction of Heraldry, and the era of the Crusades had not yet passed by. In the first enthusiastic longings to free the Holy Land from the Infidel even Scotland was moved. As William of Malmesbury writes: "The most distant island and savage countries

were inspired with this ardent passion. The Welshman left his hunting, the Scotchman his fellowship with vermin, the Dane his drinking party, the Norwegian his raw fish." The Crusades had a most salutary influence in diffusing a knowledge of other countries. and Sicily, which shared so largely in the fortunes of the Crusaders, was the common resting-place on their way to the Holy Land. We must also not forget that Alexander's mother, a Norman-French princess, married for her second husband the son of the crusading king of Jerusalem. In this way then a Scottish king in the thirteenth century might have become acquainted with the arms of Sicily. But a far more potent influence than even the Crusades was the Norman conquests from the ninth to the fourteenth century, which placed the descendants of the Northmen on the thrones and in the high places of Church and State in nearly every country of Europe. Those hardy sea-rovers who swarmed forth from the shores of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, went forth conquering and to conquer. Their very religion was fitted for a nation of warriors, since a place in the Walhalla of Odin could only be won by those who had overcome and slain in battle. The Swedish Norsemen directed their expeditions chiefly against the eastern coasts of the Baltic; they overran and subdued a large part of what is now called Russia; in the tenth century they became dangerous enemies of the Byzantine empire, the coasts of which they reached by way of the Black Sea, and its capital, Constantinople, they attacked with upwards of one thousand ships, or boats, in the year 941. The Danish Norsemen ravaged and conquered nearly the whole of Germany and France, especially planting themselves in that part of the latter which was thenceforth called Normandy. These, the Normans of history, a most warlike, vigorous, and brilliant race, rapidly adopted the highly civilized form of life that prevailed in the Frankish kingdom, its religion, language, and manners, but inspired everything they borrowed with their own splendid vitality. In the year 1066 they finally overthrew the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, and William the Conqueror, the descendant of a Norse Viking, established the Norman rule in England. About the same

time they obtained a footing in Southern Italy, and before the end of the eleventh century, Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger, both sons of a Norman knight, Tancred de Hauteville, were acknowledged by Pope Nicholas II. as Lord of all lower Italy, and Count of Sicily. The latter and his descendants filled the Sicilian sees with Norman bishops, and many proofs might be given of the close intimacy that existed between the Normans of Sicily and those of England. Thus William II, or "the good" (died 1187), married Joan of England, sister of our Henry II, and had for his tutor, and afterwards prime minister, Walton-of-theMill, an Englishman, whom he appointed Archbishop of Palermo, and who built in 1169 part of the present cathedral. Frederick II (1197-1250), the most illustrious of the Norman kings of Sicily, married for his third wife Isabella, daughter of Henry III. of England, by whom he had a son, Henry, who died young. After his death, Manfred, a natural son of Frederick, who inherited many of the great qualities of his father, was appointed regent in 1254. Pope Innocent IV. excommunicated him, and then claimed his kingdom as forfeited to the Holy See; but Manfred maintained his rights with an army and as he was supported by the Neapolitan and Sicilian people the Pope had no chance of succeeding unless he invited some foreign host into the heart of Italy. His successor Alexander IV. looked round among the princes of Europe for help, and at length, in the year 1255, he offered the crown of Sicily to Henry III. of England for his younger son Edmund, and the priest-ridden king joyfully closed with the shameful proposal, agreeing to raise an army and march into Italy, accepting first a considerable advance of money from the Pope to commence the enterprise, and proposing to raise what more might be necessary by borrowing on his own and the Pope's security. Considerable preparations were made, and the king conferred upon his son beforehand the title of "King of Sicily." In the circle of the English court this arrangement gave the highest satisfaction. The young Prince was paraded in public in the Italian costume, and with the state of royalty. He set his ring, though but a boy, to a deed by which the Bishop of Hereford, John d'Aigue-Blanche, received the crown