The Children's Story of Westminster AbbeyTroutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
History
The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey
Troutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
Westminster Abbey
The Confessor’s shrine was always held to be a most important and sacred
place, and many precious and beautiful things were placed near it, as if
to do it honour. Among these the Stone of Scone was chief. We have
already heard how and when it came to Westminster, and why it was so
greatly prized. But the Stone of Scone was not alone. The coronet of
Llewellyn, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, was taken by Edward I, and
hung up in the Confessor’s Chapel by Edward’s little son Alfonso. Every
one will remember that Edward II—Edward of Carnarvon, as he was
called—was the first Prince of Wales who was the son of an English King.
If we could have visited the Abbey in those old days we should have seen
yet another very interesting thing in the Confessor’s Chapel. This was a
golden cup containing the heart of Prince Henry d’Almayne, son of
Richard Earl of Cornwall, and nephew of Henry III. The story of this
heart takes us back both to the Barons’ War and to the Crusades. It also
takes us back to the great Italian poet Dante, who writes of Prince
Henry’s heart in his famous poem, the _Divine Comedy_.
The story is as follows. At the Battle of Evesham, in 1265, when Simon
de Montfort and the other Barons were fighting against Henry III, Simon
de Montfort was slain. It must be remembered that Simon de Montfort had
married Eleanor, daughter of King John, and that he was therefore
brother-in-law of King Henry III, and of Richard Earl of Cornwall. That
is rather an important part of the story.
Some years afterwards, in 1271, there was a great council held at the
town of Viterbo, in Italy, for the purpose of electing a new Pope. The
King of France, Prince Edward and Prince Edmund of England, and Prince
Henry d’Almayne, came there also, on their way home from the Crusade.
Guy and Simon, sons of the great Simon de Montfort, were also in Italy,
and they, too, went to Viterbo. One day they were all at service in the
Church of San Silvestro, when suddenly, just at the most solemn part of
the Mass, Guy de Montfort rushed forward and stabbed his cousin, Prince
Henry, even while the prince clung to the altar for protection. Not
content with killing Prince Henry, Guy de Montfort dragged him out by
the hair of the head into the square in front of the church. This was
all done in revenge for the death of Simon de Montfort at Evesham. Guy
de Montfort escaped, but was afterwards excommunicated. Prince Henry’s
body was brought home, and buried in the monastery-church of Hayles in
Gloucestershire, where his father also was buried, as being the founder
of the monastery. Prince Henry’s heart was put into a golden cup, and
brought to the Abbey, where it was placed close to the Confessor’s
shrine,—some say, in the hand of a statue.
The shield of Richard Earl of Cornwall is carved on the Abbey walls, in
the spandrels of the beautiful arcade which runs round the interior of
the whole Church. It will be found in the South Aisle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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