CanterburyShore, W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth)
History
Canterbury
Shore, W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth)
Canterbury (England) -- Description and travel
Prince, who, in his will, laid it down that he should be buried in the
crypt, but here in the brighter light he lies. A splendid figure of
romance he was--a great fighter, and, as such, beloved of his race; the
boy victor of Cressy; the conqueror at Poitiers, where the French King
became his captive; in his life the glory of his country, by his
untimely death leaving it to anarchy and civil war. A great figure of a
man, a name resonant in history, yet on the whole one of the least
effective of our princes in that his work lasted not. We stand by his
tomb, looking upon his effigy which is life-like in its strength. “There
he lies: no other memorial of him exists in the world so authentic.
There he lies, as he had directed, in full armour, his head resting on
his helmet, his feet with the likeness of ‘the spurs he won’ at Cressy,
his hands joined as in that last prayer which he had offered up on his
death-bed.” That prayer which he uttered when the evil spirit, the lust
of revenge, departed from him: “I give Thee thanks, O God, for all Thy
benefits, and with all the pains of my soul I humbly beseech Thy mercy
to give me remission of those sins I have wickedly committed against
Thee; and of all mortal men whom, willingly or ignorantly, I have
offended, with all my heart I desire forgiveness.” He died on Trinity
Sunday in the forty-sixth year of his age. Above the canopy hang his
gauntlets, his helm, his velvet coat that once blazed with the arms of
England and of France, and the empty scabbard of his sword. We stand by
this tomb, and all the horror, brutalities, cruelties of those cruel
days are forgotten, and the air resounds with echoes of the trumpets of
chivalry.
Close by lie Henry IV. and his second queen, Joan of Navarre; in 1832
the tomb was opened, and the body of the King found in strangely perfect
preservation: “the nose elevated; the beard thick and matted, and of a
deep russet colour; and the jaws perfect, with all the teeth in them
except one fore-tooth.” Hard by is the small chapel founded by the King,
“a chauntre perpetuall with twey prestis for to sing and prey for my
soul”; but their voices are hushed.
Here also are the monuments of Odo Coligny, brother of the famous
admiral, and of Archbishop Courtenay (1381-96); he gave munificently to
the building and its adornment; he was the judge before whom Wiclif was
arraigned, and found no pity in his heart for the reformer’s disciples.
Fortune has spared for us three of the interesting thirteenth-century
windows in this chapel, and they well repay study. The rest were smashed
amid the ruinous havoc decreed by Henry VIII., which is described
elsewhere. The pictures are of scenes connected with the miracles
wrought by the dead saint, with representations of his first tomb in the
crypt below and of his later shrine in this very chapel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account