Eagle.

The spread eagle. A device of the old Roman or Eastern Empire, brought over by the crusaders.

Eagle of the doctors of France. Pierre d’Ailly, a French cardinal and great astrologer, who calculated the horoscope of our Lord, and maintained that the stars foretold the great deluge. (1350–1425.)

Eagle of Brittany. Bertrand Duguesclin, Constable of France. (1320–1380.)

Eagle of Meaux [mo]. Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, the grandest and most sublime of the pulpit orators of France. (1627–1704.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.