Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the BishopsKendrick, A. F. (Albert Frank)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the Bishops
Kendrick, A. F. (Albert Frank)
Lincoln Cathedral
On the other side of
the monument are four panels of Gothic tracery with shields of arms. The
legend runs that at Tinghurst, in Buckinghamshire, Bishop Henry Burghersh,
"by mere might against all right and reason," enclosed the land of many
poor people, without recompense, in order to complete his park. The ghost
of the bishop could not rest after his death, but appeared to the canons
of Lincoln in hunting dress, telling them he was appointed keeper of
the park, and beseeching them to throw it open. The canons, thus warned,
restored the land to its rightful possessors.
Next to this is another Burghersh monument, which authorities do not seem
to be quite agreed about. Leland, after speaking of the bishop's tomb,
says: "there is also buried at his Fete, Robart, _his Brothar_, a Knighte
of great Fame in the Warrs." But the general opinion seems to be that
Robert was not the brother, but the father, of Henry and Bartholomew. This
tomb is of similar style to the former, having figures beneath arches
on one side, and shields of arms on the other. The effigy is gone from
the top. The elaborate Gothic canopies which originally surmounted both
tombs were much injured by boys clambering upon them, and, becoming unsafe
at last, were removed in the early part of the present century. Against
the opposite wall, within a recessed arch under the easternmost window,
is the monument of Henry's elder brother, Bartholomew, Lord Burghersh
(d. 1355)--a soldier of much renown, who had a share in the victory of
Creçy. He held the important office of constable of Dover Castle and
warden of the Cinque Ports. In the year 1329, he was sent on a mission
to the Pope to plead for pecuniary aid from the revenues of the English
church; a tenth of them was granted to the king for four years. The
base of the monument has an arcade of six arches, each having two small
pedestals, for figures which are now gone. The armorial shields of the
persons originally represented beneath the arches still remain in the
spandrels. The effigy shows him clad in plate armour, and reclining
on his helmet; two angels at the head uphold the shield of his family,
and two others at the foot bear away in a cloth the deceased warrior's
soul. The canopy over the tomb bears the arms of Edward III. and his four
sons (the same as on the tomb of his brother the bishop), together with
the shield of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and Lincoln. A detailed account
of the shields of arms on the Burghersh tombs may be found in the Lincoln
volume (1848) of the Archæological Institute.
[Illustration: TOMB OF SIR BARTHOLOMEW BURGERSH.
_H. C. Oakden, Photo._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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