Tales of English Minsters: HerefordGrierson, Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Wilson)
History
Tales of English Minsters: Hereford
Grierson, Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Wilson)
Hereford Cathedral
It was taken from the ice which had held it so long and so
mysteriously, and laid in Chamonix churchyard, and one of Arkwright’s
old schoolfellows, who by this time had become Dean of this Cathedral,
had the second, or lower, tablet erected as a memorial of the strange
event.
Now let us cross the church, and go into the south transept to look
at a curious raised tomb which stands there, which I am sure all the
little boys and girls, at least, would like to look at.
As you see, three figures rest upon it. A father, a mother, and a
tiny little baby, who lies half-hidden among the draperies of her
mother’s gown.
If you look at the baby’s forehead you can trace the letters of
her name, ‘Anne’; and this tells you that the tomb is what is known
as a ‘chrysome’--that is, it is the burial-place of a little child
who died within a month of its baptism, and who was buried in its
baptismal robe. As a rule in such a case, a cross is marked on the
baby’s brow, but this child is marked with its name instead.
The girl-mother, for she was only eighteen, who died when her baby
was born, and was buried along with her, was the wife of a knight
named Sir Alexander Denton, who was so broken-hearted at his loss
that he made up his mind that he would never marry again, and that
when he died he also would be buried here.
But in later years he married another lady, and, after all, was
buried in a church in Buckinghamshire, though, as you see, his effigy
has been placed here to make the family group complete.
There are three very ancient things belonging to this Cathedral at
which we must look before we leave it--a very old map, which hangs
in that wooden case on the wall, quite close to the ‘chrysome’ tomb;
a very old chair which stands on the north side of the altar; and a
very old manuscript, which we can see in the library.
Let us look at the map first. At one time it was believed to be
the oldest map in the world, and although an older one has been
discovered in Germany, the two must have been made about the same
time, for they closely resemble each other.
As you may think, it is very precious, so precious that during the
time of the Civil War it was hidden under the floor of a little
chantry on the other side of the church, and was only discovered
some hundred and fifty years ago.
If we examine it we shall see what the people who lived in the year
1300 or thereabouts imagined the world to be like. To begin with,
they made the top of the map east, and the bottom west, so their
ideas of direction were different from ours.
The world is round, surrounded by the sea, and at the top of it
lies the garden of Eden, with rivers running out of it. In the centre
is Jerusalem, and all round that city are representations of Old
Testament events: the Flood, and the Ark; the Red Sea, and the
journey of the Children of Israel; Lot’s wife, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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