The Castle of Coucy, near Laon. 477 Alberic was succeeded by his son Enguerrand, Sieur de Coucy, Count of Amiens, and Lord of Eoves. He married Ada, heiress of Letard de Roucy, Lord of Marie, second son of Gilbert, Count of Reims, with whom he acquired Marie and La Fere. He — or more probably his son — first assumed the well-known armorial bearings, " Barry of 6, vaire and gules." He died 1116, leaving Thomas. Thomas de Marie, de Coucy, his son and successor, long in rebellion against his father, bore a bad name for violence. He lost Amiens ; but, again by marriage, acquired Crecy-sur-Serre and Nogent. He died 1 1 30. Enguerrand 11., known as Le Sire de Coucy — this title, it is said, denoting the lord of an allodial fief — held also Marie, Crecy, Vervins, Pinon, and La Fere, in which latter castle he defended himself with success against Louis le Gros and Raoul, Count of Vermandois, in 1132. His reign was one of peace and justice. This Enguerrand is said to have slain in personal combat a fero- cious beast called a lion that infested the neighbourhood ; and this tale is no doubt the origin of the lions which were used by the family as crest and supporters. Such tales were common in the twelfth century, only the scene of the exploit was usually more safely laid in Palestine. This combat was commemorated in a bas-relief over the door of the keep at Coucy, and was probably the foundation of a singular ceremony which only ceased at the Revolution. Thrice annually, at Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, the Abbot of Nogent, or his attorney, entered Coucy by the lower gate, a whip in his hand and mounted upon a crop-eared and docktailed bay. On his poitrel was suspended a seed-bag of white linen filled with wheat, and in a basket certain crescent-shaped cakes stuffed with minced veal, cooked in oil, and called rissoles, probably the earliest mention of a dish which has descended to our own times. Behind the abbot came a red dog, also with cropped ears and tail, and having a rissole suspended from his neck. This singular procession then entered the castle, and at the base of the keep the abbot made the circuit of a central and three lesser couchant lions there carved in stone, and afterwards embraced the larger beast. This done, he offered the cakes in homage to the lord, who distri- buted them to the people, and then witnessed the record of the homage by affixing to it a special seal, representing a mitred and crosiered abbot, having for feet the hoofs of a buck. A representa- tion of this ceremony in tapestry long adorned the walls of the castle, and is thought to have been taken into Lorraine after the marriage of a later Coucy with a daughter of that house. Enguerrand H. died while on a crusade in Palestine about 1148 ; but his body was laid in his abbey of Premontre, near the castle, where his effigy remained in 1682. Raoul de Coucy, son and successor, was under age at his father's death. He married, about 11 69, Agnes of Hainault; and secondly, Alix, niece of Louis-le-Jeune, and sister of Robert de Dreux. By this match he connected himself with the blood royal.
