NOTAS CONCLUSIVAS

Fig. 15.2 The Silver Hand and sword of Nuada on the escutcheon of early members of the Dál gCais; image by Rí Lughaid, used here under Creative Commons licence BY-SA/3.0.²²⁶

“Nuada of the Silver Hand” (Fig. 15.2).

When the Tuatha Dé first came to Ireland from the north, Nuada had already been their king for seven years. During the first battle with the island’s inhabitants, Nuada lost an arm in combat, and – being physically imperfect – was no longer eligible to rule.

However, the physician Dian Cecht replaced his lost arm with a working silver one that had been fashioned by the wright, Creidhne. This allowed Nuada to reclaim the kingship, and he ruled for another 20 years. At some point the silver prosthesis was replaced with a new arm of flesh and blood by Miach, the son of Dian Cecht.

In an interesting historical parallel to Creidhne’s creation, a prosthetic iron hand was made to replace the lost right hand of the German Imperial knight Gottfried von

Berlichingen (1480–1562), thereafter known as “Götz of the Iron Hand.” Just as Nuada’s silver appendage enabled him to resume his role as ruler, the iron prosthesis enabled Götz to continue his military career (or campaigns of banditry, depending on your perspective).

The iron hand made in Nuremburg for Götz (Fig. 15.3) was capable of gripping and holding objects, including reins and a quill pen; its complex clock-like mechanism contained 152 pieces, with digit segments independently settable and fingers spring-loaded for button-activated quick release.

This iron hand survives today at Jagsthausen Castle in Germany, where it is still in working condition. In contrast, the fate of Nuada’s Silver Hand remains unknown

Perhaps it is the mission of House Graham to search for the missing Silver Hand, just as

(a)

(b)

Fig. 15.3 The “Eiserne Hand” (Iron Hand) of the knight Götz von Berlichingen, ca. 1530. (a) Glass negative by Wilhelm Kratt (1887-1968) of the hand in the Museum of Jagsthausen Castle. Digital image by Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, used here under Creative Commons licence BY-SA/3.0.²³⁰ (b) Diagram illustrating some of the workings of Götz von Berlichingen’s Iron Hand, from a steel engraving ca. 1815.²³¹

mention that the ca. 1285 Le Mans manuscript of the Grail legend commences with the de Giresme coat-of-arms,

suggesting that the French faux-Grahams have may have picked up where Lancelot left off. But let us forgo the golden chalice in favour of the silver gauntlet. When I discovered that Nuada Airgetlám is known in Welsh mythology as Lludd Llaw Eraint, I had an ominous feeling that my own first name – Lloyd – might have its Welsh roots in Lludd, making me the Graham of the Silver Hand. However, I am relieved to report that Lloyd is in fact derived from the unrelated Welsh word llwyd, meaning “grey,” and that I am therefore excused from any messianic duty to reclaim the missing hand/land of the Grahams. On the other hand, it doesn’t preclude me from starting to look for Nuada’s sterling appendage. Can anyone rise to the extended loan of a metal detector?

Text (excluding quotations) © Lloyd D. Graham, 2016; 27.10.17_v04 Unless otherwise noted, online citations were all accessible on 4 Dec, 2016.

1 The first excerpt, titled “The Grahams of the 16-17^th Century Anglo-Scottish Border and their Descendants in Rossadown, Co. Laois, Ireland,” contains Sections VIII & IX of the book. It was released in 2015. It is hosted by the Clan Graham Society genealogy page at

http://www.clangrahamsociety.org/files/BorderGrahams&Rossadown.pdf, with a mirror at https://www.academia.edu/16106166/The_Grahams_of_the_16-17th_century_Anglo-Scottish_Border_and_their_descendants_in_Rossadown_Co._Laois_Ireland.

2 Including indigenous variants and foreign transliterations.

3 Also known as the Knights Hospitaller, they were the most important of all the religious military orders.

They were subsequently called the Knights of Rhodes, and are now commonly known as the Knights of Malta (e.g., New Advent – Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, online at

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07477a.htm and Order of Malta – Names of the Order, online at https://www.orderofmalta.int/history/names-of-the-order/ ). As a personal aside – since this book is about family history – my maternal grandfather, Walter C. McCamley (d. 1985), was a District Officer in the St. John Ambulance Brigade (Ireland) who celebrated 50 years service to the organisation in 1971. His father Henry had also been a District Officer. This Order of St. John traces its origins back 900 years to the Knights Hospitaller, and is one of the four Orders of St. John of Jerusalem recognised by the Sovereign Order of Malta as sharing the same mission and historic tradition.

4 Another knight of his Order had previously written to Nicolas praising Joan, which may have helped recruit him to her side: “Let… your mind exult in the gift of so heavenly a girl, which the Almighty has consented to present in our times. A heavenly Pucelle has come… Joan, I say, the Pucelle, clothed in the dress of a shepherdess, and yet manlike, has come by the command of Almighty God to the King through diverse and formidable routes, without violence, unwounded, unharmed…’ Craig Taylor (2006) Joan of Arc: La Pucelle, Manchester Univ. Press, Manchester, p.76.

5 From Ronald S. Gower (1893) Joan of Arc, John C. Nimmo, London, Ch. 2, online at

http://archive.org/stream/joanofarc16933gut/16933-8.txt: “The struggle [for the Tourelles/Tournelles of Orleans] that ensued was fierce and decisive. Inspired by the valour of Joan, the French, who appeared as fresh as before her wound, stormed the bastions and towers of the Tournelles with tremendous energy. Reinforcements had meanwhile arrived from the town, and these attacked the Tournelles in the rear. Passing over the broken arches of the bridge by means of ladders thrown across the masonry, the first man to reach the other bank was a knight of Rhodes, Nicolas de Giresme.”

6 Jean Brittain (2012) Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar: Joan of Arc's Scottish Captain, Brodie Books. Kindle Edition, Kindle locations 797-798.

7 Jean-Marc Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince. Le Lignage des Giresme, Chevaliers du Prieuré de France, XIV^e –XVI^e Siècle,” In: Hommes, Cultures et Sociétés à la Fin du Moyen Âge – Liber Discipulorum en l’Honneur de Philippe Contamine, eds. Patrick Gilli & Jacques Paviot, Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, p.315-340, at p.328, incl. fn 99. The full details are provided at Jeanne d’Arc – Journal du siège d’Orléans, online at

http://www.stejeannedarc.net/chroniques/jso_mai29.php#notes: “Because when the valiant leaders and armed men remaining in Orleans saw that we wanted to give a new assault, some rushed from the city to the bridge; and because several of its arches were broken, they brought a carpenter and carried gutters and ladders with which they made planks. Seeing that they were not long enough to cover the two ends of a broken arch, they joined a small piece of wood to one of the longer gutters, and did it so well that it held. A very valiant knight called Nicolas de Giresme, of the Order of Rhodes (Order of St.

John of Jerusalem), was the first to cross, fully armed, and following his example several more also crossed over. Afterwards we said that it was a miracle of Our Lord more than anything else, because the gutter was incredibly long and narrow, and high in the air without any support. Once passed, they began with their companions, to push the assault which lasted for a short time; as soon as it had begun, the English lost all strength to continue resisting…” Similar details are provided by the Scottish historian Andrew Lang, who calls the perilous gutter traversed by Nicolas the “Brig of Dread.”

Andrew Lang (1909) The Maid of France; Being the Story of the Life and Death of Jeanne d’Arc, Longmans, Green & Co., London, p.139.

8 William Forbes-Leith (1882) The Scots Men-at-Arms and Life-Guards in France: From their Formation until their Final Dissolution A.D. MCCCCXVIII-MDCCCXXX, vol. 1, William Paterson, Edinburgh, p.41.

9 Nicolas de Giresme’s first name also appears as Nicole, Nicolle, etc. In modern French he is usually called Nicole, but since to English speakers that implies a woman, I have here chosen to use Nicolas.

10 Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.320-322 & 326-338.

11 Jean-Claude Colrat (n.d.) Les Compagnons d’Armes de Jeanne d’Arc – Nicolas de Giresme, online at orange.fr/1giresme.htm and http://jean-claude.colrat.pagesperso-orange.fr/2giresme.htm.

12 Brittain (2012) Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar, Kindle location 1619.

13 This number appears to be a combined total for Nicole de Giresme and Roberton de Croix, who between them commanded 12 men-at-arms, 12 archers/cross-bow men, and 40 infantry; Jean-Claude Colrat (2012) “Les Compagnons d’Armes de Jeanne la Pucelle,” Le Briquet, Hors Série No. 13-B (nouvelle édition), p.40. An individual estimate for Nicolas prior to Joan’s arrival put him in charge of a mixed company of 16 in November, 1428 (Colrat, p.16); another, of 16 or 17 men-at-arms and 6 or 7 archers/cross-bow men at the end of March, 1429 (Colrat, p.19).

14 “In the Roll of the Scots Guards in France the name [Graham] appears as Giresme.” George Fraser Black (1946) The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History, New York Public Library, NY, p.323, reproduced at Forebears – Graham Surname Meaning, online at

http://forebears.co.uk/surnames/graham. The Scots Guard was formed in 1418, and thus encompasses the period of interest. One can readily accept Giresme, with its silent “s,” as a Francophone rendering of the distinctively Scots pronunciation of Graham. The idiosyncratic spelling of Scottish names in medieval French manuscripts is addressed by William Forbes-Leith (1882) The Scots Men-at-Arms and Life-Guards in France: From their Formation until their Final Dissolution A.D. MCCCCXVIII-MDCCCXXX, vol. 2, William Paterson, Edinburgh, p.43 & 209. Variant spellings of Giresme include Geresme, Géresme, Giraisme, Giroisme, Giresmes, Gisreme, Girème, Girême, Giraime (e.g., Geneanet – Giresme, online at http://www.geneanet.org/genealogie/fr/giresme.htm; l; Etienne Pattou (2012) Famille Quiéret, online at http://racineshistoire.free.fr/LGN/PDF/Quieret.pdf; and Le Tourisme au Pays de l’Ourcq – Sous les Valois, online at http://www.tourisme-paysdelourcq.fr/sous-les-valois.html.

Since “Gi” in an indigenous French word would normally be pronounced “Ji,” the G would soon have become articulated as the soft consonant. Occasionally, therefore, one also encounters spellings such as Jeroesme [e.g. Ministère de l’Instruction Publique et des Beaux Arts (1911) Catalogue Général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques de France: Departements — Tome XLIV: Caen (Collection Mancel) & Avignon (2^e Supplément), Paris, Plon-Nourrit et Cie., p.76 & 610; online at

http://archive.org/stream/cataloguegnr44fran/cataloguegnr44fran_djvu.txt].

15 Francisque Michel (1862) Les Ecossais en France, les Français en Écosse, vol. 1, Trübner & Company, London, p.173 fn. 3; Forbes-Leith (1882) The Scots Men-at-Arms and Life-Guards in France, vol. 2, p.41 fn 2. Such an event would have been quite plausible under the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France, which dates from the end of the 13^th century, and the grant of land in Valois would have been especially likely after 1328, from which time the monarchy belonged to the House of Valois. The problem is that there have actually been de Giresmes in the Valois region of France since at least the middle of the 13^th century (see below for details).

16 Hugh Kennedy s. Agnes Maxwell d. Isobel Lindsay d. Giles Stewart s. Isobel Graham.

17 Kennedy’s achievements at Baugé (1421) and Verneuil (1424) had caused Charles VII to grant him the right to quarter the arms of France with his family’s coat of arms. For this and alternate possibilities, see Brittain (2012) Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar, Chs. 16 & 17.

18 It is expected that Hugh Kennedy and Nicolas de Giresme were friends; Brittain (2012) Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar, Kindle locations 4484-4485.

19 Maid of Heaven – St. Joan of Arc And The Scots Connection, online at http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_scots_guards.asp.

20 John Edwards (1908) “The Hospitallers in Scotland in the Fifteenth Century,” The Scottish Historical Review 5, p.13-25; online at http://www.electricscotland.com/hiStory/articles/review/review11.htm. It maintains a Scottish arm to the present day; see West Lothian Archaeology – Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, online at http://www.armadale.org.uk/preceptory.htm.

21 [Cassell] (1865) Cassell’s Illustrated History of England, vol. 1, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, p.577.

Public domain, online at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P577-Joan_of_Arc_at_the_Assult_of_the_Tournelles.jpg.

22 The Giresme arms consisted of a gold shield bearing a black cross Ancrée [Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.324; de la Chenaye-Desbois et Badier (1866) Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, Contenant les Généalogies, l’Histoire et la Chronologie des Familles Nobles de France, 3^rd edn., vol.

9, Schlesinger Frères, Paris, p.166; Samuel Guichenon (1650) Histoire de Bresse et de Bugey, Pt. 3, J-A. Huguetan & M-J-A. Ravaud, Lyon, n.p. (Indice Armorial – Geresme); Le Mans, Médiathèque Louis Aragon, Ms. 354 (MM 354), frontispiece].

23 Nicolas’ personal seal can be seen in BnF Clairambault ref. 53.4035.133. Here the outline of the cross Ancree is by Madboy74, online at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Madboy74, and is reproduced under the Creative Commons licence BY-SA-3.0. The shield and charges in the figure are from Inkwell Coat of Arms Design Studio Pro (v.1.10.3), downloadable online from

http://inkwellideas.com/coat_of_arms/free-version/.

24 Philippe de Giresme was Nicolas’ father [Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.320-322

& 340]. In 1399 Philippe was installed by Charles VI as Premier Ecuyer du Corps du Roi et Maître/Grand-Maître de son Ecurie (Grand Écuyer de France), holding the post until at least 1404/1407 [Anselme de Sainte-Marie (1733) Histoire de la Maison Royale de France, et des Grands Officiers de la Couronne, 3^rd edn., vol. 8, p.470; Louis Pierre d’Hozier, Antoine Marie d’Hozier de Sérigny (1752) Armorial Général de la France, Register 3, Part 1, Pierre Prault, Paris, p.21 of entry DE

CHAMBORANT; Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.316-317]. Philippe’s position meant that he was a Great Officer of the Crown, member of the King’s Household, Master of the Horse, and superintendent of ceremonies.

25 In 1409, Nicolas was received into the Order of St. John of Jerusalem by his uncle Regnault de Giresme, Prior of France for the Order (incumbent 1388-1416), and was granted for life the use of his uncle’s facilities at Collac in Rhodes, headquarters of the Order [Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.321]. Nicolas did in fact reside at Rhodes for some years [Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.326].

26 Brittain (2012) Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar, Kindle locations 1095-1104. It is not clear if Philippe de Giresme’s duties as “Chief Esquire of the Body” extended to overseeing the personal safety of the monarch. It is well known that, from 1418 onward, this role was fulfilled by the Garde Écossaise, the Scots Guard who served as personal bodyguards to the French kings.

27 Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.318.

28 A priory with the name Geresme existed at Crépy-en-Valois, and was dependant on the nearby Abbaye

Appolline,” is not apparent (see Revue Mabillon – Archives de la France Monastique Jan-Dec 1989 (Nos. 315-318), p.115, online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5652095x/f117.image).

29 It is from Crépy-en-Valois that Joan of Arc departed, on 22 May, 1430, on her fateful journey to Compiègne. Brittain (2012) Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar, Kindle locations 2661-2664.

30Interestingly, the heraldic colours of de Giresme were originally Or and Sable, identical to that of the Grahams; the Giresme arms consisted of a gold shield bearing a black cross Ancrée (see footnotes to Fig. 4.1 legend). Nicole de Giresme’s coat-of-arms, differenced by the use of silver in place of gold, is published by Colrat (2012)“Les Compagnons d’Armes de Jeanne la Pucelle,” p.72 & 81 (entry 111);

also viewable at Jean-Claude Colrat (n.d.) Les Compagnons d’Armes de Jeanne d’Arc – Nicolas de Giresme, online at claude.colrat.pagesperso-orange.fr/1giresme.htm and http://jean-claude.colrat.pagesperso-orange.fr/2giresme.htm. Curiously, the change in the colour of the field made Nicolas’ escutcheon almost indistinguishable from that of Bernard de Bourguignan, a squire from Hainaut [Colrat (2012) p.67 & 82, entry 51] who was present among the French at Orléans.

31 Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.324 fn 79; also, see Le Tourisme au Pays de l’Ourcq – Sous les Valois, online at http://www.tourisme-paysdelourcq.fr/sous-les-valois.html. One other detail is consistent with a link to Multien: as chief of the Priory of France for the Hospitallers, Regnault de Giresme was supposed to reside in the Temple of Paris, but he preferred to live in Meaux, which is just 17 km from May-en-Multien [Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.323].

32 Le Tourisme au Pays de l’Ourcq – Sous les Valois, online at http://www.tourisme-paysdelourcq.fr/sous-les-valois.html; Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.316.

33 In December 1263, two serfs were released by Jean de Méricourt, Abott of Saint-Corneille, and became burghers of Crépy-en-Valois. One was named as Pierre, son of Houdomme Vilain de Geresme (“Petrum, filium Houdommi dicti Vilain de Giresme”) [Société Historique de Compiègne (1977) Cartulaire de l’Abbaye de Saint-Corneille de Compiègne, [texte établi] par le Chanoine Morel, vol. 3 (1261-1383), Nouvelles Éditions Latines, Paris, p.47]. This dating is echoed by modern tourist literature on the region: “Family Girême (Girème or Giresme) is from Valois, in the north of France, and was established in Crépy from the thirteenth century under the surname Geresme,” Le Tourisme au Pays de l’Ourcq – Sous les Valois, online at http://www.tourisme-paysdelourcq.fr/sous-les-valois.html.

Another early member of the family is a “Jehans de Giresme, bourgois de Crespy,” who is named on a charter of 1329 as the keeper (on behalf of the king) of the Grand Seal of Crépy-en-Valois.

[Vicomte de Caix de Saint-Aymour (1898) Mémoires et Documents pour Servir à l’Histoire des Pays qui Forment Aujourd’hui le Département de l’Oise (Picardie Méridionale, Nord de l’Ile de France), H. Champion, Paris, p.133]. On the basis of a tool figured on the version of the Seal in his charge, this Jean de Giresme is believed to have been a wood-worker such as a carpenter, and most likely a turner (de Caix de Saint-Aymour, p.134).

The first recorded knight of the family is Jean de Giresme, attested in 1369 [Roger (2012) “Service de Dieu, Service du Prince,” p.315]. By the end of the 14^th / start of the 15^th centuries, there were Giresmes in the Seine-et-Marne region adjacent to Valois (e.g., at Multien, and also at Saint Germain-sur-Morin, “the stronghold of de Giresme,” where L’Hôtel de Giresme now functions as the town hall) (Roger, p.315-316). Around this time, many de Giresmes of uncertain parentage appeared at the court of Charles VI (Roger, p.315 fn 3). For example, Charles de Giresme, another bachelor knight, served as the king’s chamberlain (Roger, p.316), and Nicolas’ father, Philippe, served as a squire to the king from 1380 onwards.

34 In the words of the medieval French proverb: “Rats, lice and Scotsmen; you find them the whole world over.” The ancestors of people of Scottish descent “could have left Scotland at any point since the thirteenth century, and they fetched up on every imaginable shore” [David Armitage (2005) “The Scottish Diaspora,” In: Scotland: A History, ed. Jenny Wormald, Oxford University Press, p. 272-303, at p.272].

35 Political cooperation between Scotland and France dates back to 1173 [Elizabeth Bonner (2002)

“Scotland’s ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, 1295-1560,” History 84 (273), 5-30; J. D. Mackie (1947)

“Henry VIII and Scotland,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 29, 93–114], the era of John de Grame (whose line formed the Earldom and Dukedom of Montrose) [Louisa G. Graeme (1903) Or and Sable – A Book of the Graemes and Grahams, William Brown, Edinburgh, p.xx], and thus accommodates the need for any such migration to have occurred before the middle of the 13^th century.

36 Several sources mention a surprising lack of knowledge about the origin of the Giresme name in France,

36 Several sources mention a surprising lack of knowledge about the origin of the Giresme name in France,