Bouillon Synonyms

Bouillon remained French till 1814, and Vauban called it "the key of the Ardennes."

In 1814-1815, before the decrees of the Vienna Congress were known, an extraordinary attempt was made by Philippe d'Auvergne of the British navy, the cousin and adopted son of the last duke, to revive the ancient duchy of Bouillon.

The French legend of the knight of the swan is attached to the house of Bouillon, and although William of Tyre refers to it about 1170 as fable, it was incorporated without question by later annalists.

The house of Bouillon was not alone in claiming the knight of the swan as an ancestor, and the tradition probably originally belonged to the house of Cleves.

Baron de Reiffenberg, Le Chevalier au cygne et Godfrey de Bouillon (Brussels, 2 vols., 1846-1848), in Mon.