Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and CuriositiesAnonymous
History
Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Anonymous
Westminster Abbey
The next is a tomb on which is a lady in a widow's dress, with a barb and
veil, cut in brass, round which is an inscription in old French, importing
that ALIANER DE BOHUN, daughter and heiress of Sir Humphrey de Bohun, Earl
of Hertford, Essex, and Northampton, and wife to the mighty and noble
Prince of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Essex and Buckingham, son
of Edward III., lies interred here. This lady, who was the greatest
heiress in England, was deprived of her husband by the cruelty of his
nephew, Richard II., who, jealous of his popularity, most treacherously
betrayed him by a show of friendship; for coming to visit him at Plashy, a
pleasant seat of his in Essex, and staying supper, in duty he thought to
attend his Majesty to town; but at Stratford was suddenly surrounded by an
ambush of armed men, who privately hurried him on board a ship, and
carried him to Calais, where, by the King's order, he was stifled between
feather beds in 1397. After this melancholy circumstance, his lady spent
the rest of her days in the nunnery at Barking, and died October 3, 1399;
from whence her remains were brought and here interred.
There is also an Archbishop buried here, as appears by a very antique
figure in a mass habit, engraven on a brass plate, and placed on a flat
stone in the pavement, over the remains of ROBERT DE WALDEBY, who, as
appears by the inscription, was first an Augustine monk, and attended
Edward the Black Prince into France, where, being young, he prosecuted his
studies, and made a surprising progress in natural and moral philosophy,
physic, the languages, and in the canon law; and, being likewise an
elegant preacher and sound divine, was made Divinity Professor in the
University of Toulouse, where he continued till called by Richard II. to
the Bishopric of Man; from whence he was removed to the Archbishopric of
Dublin; but not liking that country, upon the first vacancy he was
recalled, and advanced to the see of Chichester, and afterwards to the
Archbishopric of York. Such is the history of this great man, who died May
29, 1397, as gathered from an inscription formerly very legible, but now
almost obliterated.
At the foot of Waldeby is a blue marble slab, which covers the remains of
Dr. HENRY FERNE, inlaid with five shields in brass, surrounded with an
inscription. He was Chaplain Extraordinary to Charles I.; by Charles II.
made Bishop of Chester, which he lived to enjoy about five weeks, dying
March 16, 1661.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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