Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 8, DIA-England

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Eagle, bishops of that see, St Anselm and his successor Ralph.
Xo the former of these he was appointed spiritual director
by the pope ; and that prelate did nothing without his ap¬
probation. In the year 1120 he was sent for by King
Alexander I. of Scotland, to be raised to the primacy of
that kingdom ; and having obtained leave of King Henry
and the Archbishop of Canterbury, he departed for Scot¬
land, where he was kindly received by the king, and on
the third day after his arrival elected bishop of St An¬
drews ; but on the day after his election a dispute unfor¬
tunately arose between the king and him, in a private con¬
ference about his consecration. Eadmerus having been a
constant companion of two archbishops of Canterbury, was
a violent stickler for the prerogatives of that see ; and
therefore told the king that he was determined to be con¬
secrated by none but the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom
he believed to be the primate of all Britain. Alexander, who
was naturally a fierce prince, and supported the indepen¬
dence of his crown and kingdom with great spirit, was so
much offended that he broke off the conference in a vio¬
lent passion, declaring that the see of Canterbury had no
pre-eminency over that of St Andrews. This breach be¬
tween the king and the bishop-elect became daily wider,
until at length Eadmerus, despairing of recovering the royal
favour, sent his pastoral ring to the king ; laid his pastoral
staff upon the high altar, whence he had taken it; and
abandoning his bishopric, returned to England. He was
kindly received by the Archbishop and clergy of Canter¬
bury, though they disapproved of his stiffness, and thought
him too hasty in forsaking the honourable station to which
he had been called. Nor was it long before Eadmerus be¬
came sensible of his error, and desirous of correcting it.
With this view he wrote a long submissive letter to the king
of Scotland, entreating his leave to return to the bishopric,
and promising compliance with his royal pleasure in every
thing respecting his consecration ; which letter was accom¬
panied by an epistle to the same purpose from the arch¬
bishop. These overtures, however, which were made in
the year 1122, did not produce the desired effect. But
Eadmerus is most worthy of the grateful remembrance of
posterity for his historical works, particularly for his his¬
tory of the affairs of England in his own time, from the
year 1066 to the year 1122; a work in which he has in¬
serted many original papers, and preserved many impor¬
tant facts which are nowhere else to be found. This
work has been highly commended for its authenticity, as
well as for regularity of composition and purity of style.
It is indeed more free from legendary tales than any other
work of this period ; and it is impossible to peruse it with
attention, without conceiving a favourable opinion of the
learning, good sense, sincerity, and candour of its author.
EAGLE. See Ornithology.
Eagle, in Heraldry, is accounted one of the most noble
bearings in armory, and, according to the learned in this
science, ought to be given to none but such as greatly ex¬
cel in the virtues of generosity and courage, or have ren¬
dered singular service to their sovereigns ; in which case
they may be allowed a whole eagle, or an eagle naissant,
or only the head or such other parts as may be judged
most agreeable to their exploits.
The eagle has been borne as an ensign or standard by
several nations. The first who seem to have assumed the
eagle were the Persians, according to the testimony of
Xenophon ; but subsequentlyitwas adopted by the Romans,
who, after a great variety of standards, at length fixed on
the eagle, in the second year of the consulate of C. Ma¬
rius, having till that period used indifferently wolves, leo¬
pards, and eagles, according to the humour of the com¬
mander. The Roman eagles, it must be observed, were
not painted on a cloth or flag, but were figures in relief,
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formed of silver or gold, and borne on the tops of pikes; Eg
the wings being displayed, with frequently a thunderbolt Isl;
in the talons. Under the eagle on the pike were piled II
bucklers, and sometimes crowns. fag
Constantine is said to have been the first who introduced ^
the eagle with two heads, to intimate, that though the
empire seemed divided, it had yet only one body. Others
say that it was Charlemagne who resumed the eagle as the
Roman ensign, and added to it a second head; but that
opinion is destroyed by an eagle with two heads, observed by
Lipsius on the column of Antoninus, as also by the eagle’s
having only one head on the seal of the golden bull of the
Emperor Charles 1Y. The conjecture, therefore, of Me-
nestrier appears more probable ; namely, that the em¬
perors of the East, when there were two "on the throne at
the same time, struck their coins with the impression of a
cross with a double traverse, which each of them held in
his hand, as being the symbols of the Christians; and that
they did the like with the eagle in their ensigns, and in¬
stead of doubling, joined them together, representing
them with two heads ; a practice in which they were fol¬
lowed by the emperors of the West. But this conjecture
of Menestrier is not confirmed by ancient coins, without
which Papebroche inclines to think the use of the eagle
with two heads to have been merely arbitrary, though he
admits it to be probable that it was first introduced on
occasion of there being two emperors on the same throne.
The eagle on medals is, according to Spanheim, a sym¬
bol of divinity and providence, and, according to all other
antiquaries, of empire. The princes on whose medals it is
most usually found are the Ptolemies, and the Seleucidse of
Syria. An eagle with the word consecratio expresses the
apotheosis of an emperor.
Eagle, in Astronomy, is a constellation of the northern
hemisphere, having its right wing contiguous to the equi¬
noctial. See A«uila.
White Eagle, is -a Polish order of knighthood, insti¬
tuted in 1325 by Vladislaus V. on marrying his son Casi-
mir to a daughter of the grand duke of Lithuania. The
knights of this order were distinguished by a gold chain
which they wore on the stomach, and to which was sus¬
pended a silver eagle crowned.
Black Eagle, a similar order instituted in 1701 by the
elector of Brandenburg, on his being crowned king of
Prussia. The knights of this order wore an orange-co¬
loured ribbon, to which was suspended a black eagle.
Eagle Island, an island in the South Pacific Ocean,
near the north-east coast of New Holland, between Lizard
Island and Cape Flattery. Lat. 14. 32. S.
Eagles, a name frequently found in the ancient his¬
tories of Ireland, and used to express a sort of base money
which was current in that kingdom in the early part of
the reign of Edward I. that is, about the year 1272. There
were, besides the eagles, lionines, rosades, and many other
coins of the same sort, named according to the figures
they were impressed with.
The current coin of the kingdom at that time was a
composition of copper and silver, in determinate propor¬
tions ; but these were so much inferior to the standard
proportion of that time, that they were not intrinsically
worth half so much as the others. They were imported
from France and other foreign countries. When Edward
had been a few years established on the throne, he set
up mints in Ireland for coining good money, and then
decried the use of eagles, and other kinds of base coin,
making it death, with confiscation of effects, to import any
more of them into the kingdom.
EAGLET, a diminutive of eagle, properly signifying a
young eagle. In heraldry, when there are several eagles
on the same escutcheon, they are termed eaglets.