The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the WestRogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
History
The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West
Rogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
The structure on which the effigy reclines is composed probably of no
portion of the original tomb. It partly consists of traceried panels
of Purbeck marble, having shields in their centres, on which were
formerly brasses.
As has been observed, Lord Cheney was interred in the beautiful
Chantry of his friend, Bishop Richard Beauchamp, which was situate on
the north side of the Lady Chapel, opposite Lady Hungerford's. The
Bishop, who died in 1481, was also buried within it, and according to
Leland, with his father and mother on either side of him "in marble
tumbes." Wyatt demolished the Chantry, and removed both Bishop and
Knight to the nave, and during the confusion of the desecration, the
Bishop's tomb appears to have been lost or mislaid, his bones now rest
in some one else's, taken from one of the transepts, wherein no
remains at all were found. The Knight's tomb, probably formed of
Purbeck marble, was too far gone with decay to bear 'translation.'
"In the last repairs," says Dodsworth, "the effigy (Sir J. Cheney's)
was removed, and as the original tomb was totally decayed, the present
base was formed from part of the ornaments that belonged to the
Beauchamp Chapel. His skeleton was found entire, and justified the
fame of his extraordinary stature and strength. The thigh bone
measured above twenty-one inches, or near four inches longer than the
natural size. These bones were enclosed in a box, and entrusted to the
care of the writer, until the tomb was replaced, when they were
deposited within, and the name of the deceased, with the date of the
removal, inscribed on the cover." The act of a true and reverential
man.
The substituted tomb of Sir John Cheney's friend the Bishop, is on the
other side of the nave.
The arms of Cheney (of Shurland) are recorded as, _Argent, on a bend
sable, three martlets or_, quartering, _Azure, five lioncels argent, a
canton ermine_,--or according to another authority, _Azure, six
lioncels, three, two, one, argent_ (SHURLAND). No arms are visible at
Salisbury.
At the death of Lord Cheney, his property devolved to his nephew and
heir, Sir Thomas Cheney, son of his brother Sir William Cheney.
The scene of our little history now shifts from the broad chalk downs
of south Wilts, to the kindred chalk measures of south-west
Bedfordshire, and for a short time intermediately to northern Kent,
the original seat of the family of Cheney.
Sir Thomas Cheney, nephew and heir of John, Lord Cheney, K.G., married
first Frideswide, daughter and coheiress of Sir Thomas Frowyke, knt.,
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. By her he had three
daughters: Catherine married to Thomas Kemp, Esq., of Glendich, Kent;
Frances, to Nicholas Crips, Esq., son and heir of Sir Henry Crips,
knt.; Anne, to Sir John Perrot, knt.; and Margaret, to George Nevill,
Lord Abergavenny. (Burke.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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