Text from: The Heraldry of Queens’ College, CambridgeBy David Broomfield BA (Hons)[1]

The curious agglomeration of quarterings in Margaret’s arms can be traced back to the first House ofAnjou. Charles Count of Anjou and Maine (d.1285) was the youngest son of Louis VIII King of France.He conquered the Hohenstaufens and made himself King of Naples and Sicily, he also purchased aclaim to the, by then fictional, Kingdom of Jerusalem. King Charles’s arms were those of Anjou(Ancient), France differenced by a red label, and Jerusalem. Charles’s son, Charles II King of Naplesmarried Mary daughter of Stephen V and sister of Ladislaus IV Kings of Hungary. Their eldest son,Charles “Martel”, founded his own line of Kings of Hungary that died out in 1382. Charles and Mary’sdaughter Margaret married Charles Count of Valois the son of Philip III King of France. Charles ofNaples granted to Charles of Valois the Counties of Anjou and Maine. When Joanna Queen of Naplesdied she bequeathed the kingdom of Naples to Louis Duke of Anjou. Louis was the great grandson ofMargaret of Anjou and Charles of Valois. This the second House of Anjou used the arms of Francedifferenced by a red border, giving us Anjou (Modern). Rene, grandson of Louis I, was Duke of Anjouand Titular King of Naples and Jerusalem and by virtue of his marriage to Isabel of Lorraine he wasalso Duke of Lorraine and Bar. Queen Margaret was Rene’s daughter. Her arms can be delineatedthus:HUNGARY: Barry of eight gules and argent. Though contrary to English heraldry this is how the armsof Hungary were and are shown, the four white bars symbolising the rivers of Hungary. Margaretwas descended from Mary sister and heiress of Ladislaus the last King of Hungary of the House ofArpad. Margaret’s father Rene of Anjou, Kings of Naples, always used Barry of eight argent and gulesas can be seen from many sources. However, I doubt he ever visited Hungary and his connectionwith that country was remote but his daughter no doubt took her lead from him when it came to thedisplay of her personal heraldry and passed this on to her College.ANJOU (ANCIENT): Azure semy of fleur de lis or a label of three points gules. These were the arms ofthe first House of Anjou and borne by Charles d.1285, Count of Anjou, conqueror of Naples andclaimant to the throne of Jerusalem. Unfortunately in the painting of the arms in the grant the labelis wrongly shown as silver a mistake much repeated about the College. These arms becamesynonymous with the kingdom of Naples.JERUSALEM: Argent a cross potent between four crosses humetty or. The unique nature ofJerusalem was signified by breaking the cardinal rule of heraldry by placing one metal (gold) onanother metal (silver). The cross potent (having flat bars at the ends of the arms) was said tosymbolise the letters H and I from “Hierusalem”. Again Cooke’s grant depicts the small crossesbetween the arms as “potent” while not technically wrong and indeed depicted this way in someMedieval books of arms small plain crosses fit the space better.ANJOU (MODERN): Azure semy of fleur de lis or a border gules. The arms as borne by the secondHouse of Anjou begun by Charles of Valois, Count of Anjou the progenitor of the House of Valois andNaples.BAR: Azure semy of cross crosslets fitchy two barbels hauriant and addorsed. The barbels are clearlypunning (or canting) references to Bar. The fish have their heads pointing upwards (as opposed tourinant when their heads are at the bottom of the shield) and addorsed means back to back. Thecrosses should have a point for the lower arms, some versions at Queens’ have it the same as theother arms. The other usual error is to have a specific number of crosses. “Semy” means that thefield is spread with charges and they overlap the edges. Cooke also blazons them as “luces”. In thequarterings used by Rene of Anjou the barbels always grip a cross crosslet fitchy in their mouths.This is well attested in contemporary versions of his arms. In Queens’ they appear thus only once, inthe stained glass shield of Queen Margaret’s arms in the Old Senior Combination Room making itlikely that these date from the 15th Century.LORRAINE: Or on a bend gules three alerions displayed argent. Alerions are eagles that have neitherbeaks nor claws. They are best shown with a hole in the middle of the head. It was said that Godfreyof Bouillon (or another) fired an arrow that brought down three birds simultaneously. It is also saidthat “Alerion” is an anagram of “Lor(r)aine”. In mythology it was said that only two birds existed atany time, they laid a pair of eggs every sixty years and they drowned themselves after hatching. Toadd to the confusion Cooke describes them as “eagles” and they appear as eagles many times in the