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calumny, traceable probably to an old notion, derived from
his name, that Judas Tscariot had a red beard, I am fortu-
nately able to refer to a sermon* on that Arch-Traitor, full
of wit, humor, pathos, and imagination, by the celebrated
Abraham St. Clara, where red beards are nobly vindicated,
and the following noted instances cited :—
Several illustrious Romans,
The Emperor Barbarossa;
Hanquinus Rufus, King of the Goths ;
Bishops Gaudentius and Gandulfius;
The Martyrs Dominicus, Maurinus, and Savinianus.
During the distractions to which Charlemagne's empire
was subject after his decease, the Northmen appeared, and
a band, under Eollo, having been converted and settled in
what is now Normandy, became known in English His-
tory as the Normans; with whom an increasing intimacy
having sprung up in the reign of Edward the Confessor,
(whose head was shewn from the Bayeux tapestry,) a
Norman party was gradually formed at court and Norman
customs, one of which was shaving, partially adopted.
Harold, as representative of the real old English party, wore
his Beard as shown by a cotemporary MSS. illuminator;
but William the Conqueror, and most of his followers, are
figured only with a moustache and their back hair close
cropped or shaven. It was this barbarous fashion that
induced Harold's spies to report to their master that the
invaders were an army of Priests.
* Judas der Ertz. Schelm.
