No. 188 Winter 1999

On the Origin of the Emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece [ continued from here ]

In another story, a woman who had committed adultery was given a ram's shoulder-blade by her husband. The ram was one from the man's own herd and his wife, being adept at the art of divining the hidden meanings of the bone, laughed and appeared much amused. When her husband asked her what was wrong, she told him that the man who had owned the ram had a wife who had been unfaithful to him, thus admitting her own guilt very effectively.

"Many people foretold from the shoulder-blades the devastation of their homeland which was to follow the death of Henry I, and this a year and a half or more before it happened. They sold everything they possessed, both portable property and land, and abandoned their homes and so by their prescience escaped disaster."

The homeland that was to be devastated was not Flanders, but the Flemings' new one in Wales, for the Welsh, upon the death of King Henry, rose up in revolt and attacked the Flemish colonists who, together with the Normans and the English settlers, were greatly resented by the native Welsh.

Could it be that Philip the Good was influenced by the perceived mystical nature of a ram's shoulder-blade? The fleece on the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece is definitely that of a horned ram, not a sheep. Also, the Greek myth makes it clear that the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts was that of a ram. It is quite possible that the Flemish belief in the potency of a ram's bone derived ultimately from the Golden Fleece in the Greek legend.

Gerald of Wales reported that the shoulder-blade of a ram could foretell matters concerning the welfare of the king, "especially his life and death". In Greek mythology the Golden Fleece subsequently sought by Jason and his friends belonged to a divine ram supplied by Hermes and upon which Phrixus rode in order to avoid being killed. Is there here a connection with the belief that a ram's bone could prophesy matters of life and death?

It seems to me very likely that the Duke of Burgundy, who was also Count of Flanders, was aware of the mystical significance that the Flemings attached to the ram. This may well have played a part in his decision to adopt it as the emblem of his new Order. At the very least, it seems quite possible. It would be interesting to see whether historians are able to find further evidence in support of this idea.

Dr Zakaria Erzinçlioglu