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XV. Effigy of King Richard, Cœur de Lion, in the Cathedral at Rouen. Communicated to the Society by Albert Way, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. in a Letter addressed to John Gage Rokewode, Esq., F.R.S., Director

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

Albert Way Esq.
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Extract

The announcement in the French journals of the month of August 1838, that by the researches of the distinguished antiquary of Normandy, M. Deville, the lost effigy of King Richard had been brought to light from beneath the pavement of the choir in Rouen Cathedral, induced me to take the earliest opportunity of visiting that city, with the special purpose of examining so interesting a memorial. During the last summer I had the occasion of correcting the observations previously made, and which I had reserved in the hope that no long interval would elapse, before a second similar investigation, conducted with the same enthusiasm, and rewarded by a like success, might enable me to add to this notice of the relics of the Lion-hearted Richard, some account of the Tomb of Henry his elder brother, whose remains were deposited near to the spot where the effigy of Richard has been discovered, and whose memorial shared the same fate, by which both tombs were barbarously condemned to be destroyed. Owing to unexpected circumstances no further researches have hitherto been permitted, and as I am not aware, that during the interval any accurate report of the discovery made in 1838, has been made public, I am induced to hope that a short notice on a subject so interesting both in relation to early art, and to monumental antiquities, may not be unacceptable to the Society.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 1842 , pp. 202 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1842

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References

page 206 note a It is now preserved in the Musée d'Antiquités at Rouen, and has been represented in the Memoirs of the Antiquaries of Normandy, 1836.

page 207 note b We learn from the Annales Ecclesiae Wintoniensis an interesting fact in relation to the interment at Fontevrault: “Scitu quidem dignum est, quod dictus Rex sepultus est cum eâdem coronâ et cæteris insignibus Regalibus, quibus præcedente quinto anno coronatus et infulatus fuerat apud Wintoniam.” Anglia Sacra, torn. i. 304.

page 210 note c At the end of the “Itinerarium Regis Richardi in terram sanctam,” written by Geoffrey Vinisauf, who appears to have accompanied him in his expedition, are some Latin verses, which in Gale's edition are attributed to the author of the chronicle. (Hist. Angl. Script. vol. ii. 433.) In a MS. of this Itinerary, preserved in the British Museum, a distich, which occurs among the verses printed by Gale, is thus given,

“Epitaphium ejusdem (Regis Ricardi) ubi viscera ejus requiescunt.

Viscera Kareolum, corpus Fons servat Ebraldi,

Set cor Rothomagus, magne Ricarde, tuum.”

Cott. MS. Faust. A. VII.

This inscription is, with some variations, given by Brompton, Decem Scriptores, col. 1280, and Otterbourne, Chron. Regum Angl. vol. i. 73, ed. Hearne.

page 210 note d Decem Scriptores, col. 1628.

page 211 note e “Cor suum misit Rotomagum ubi nobilis ejus sepultura constructa est.” Bouquet, Historiens des Gaules, tom, xviii. p. 762.

page 212 note f Roy. MS. 15 E. VI. f. 446 v°, and the numerous editions of the “Croniques de Normandie,” printed at Rouen, and Paris.

page 214 note g Gale, Hist. Angl. Script, vol. ii. 550. Hemingford's tale has been adopted by a subsequent chronicler, Thomas Otterbourne, who lived early in the 15th century. Chron. Regum Angl. vol. i. 73, ed. Hearne. An allusion to it is made by Peter Langtoft in his Metrical Chronicle, printed by Hearne, where he speaks of the fatal event in the Limosin,

“I wene it hate Chahalouns, or it hate Galiard,

Outher the castelle or the toun, ther smyten was Richard.”

Rastell relates the death of King Richard as having occurred at “Castell Gayllarde.” See the interesting account of the Château Gaillard, published by M. Deville, Rouen, 1829.

page 215 note h Description des Monumens observes dans le Departement de la Haute Vienne, par C. N. Allou, p. 356.

page 215 note i Royal MS. 15 E. VI. f. 446 v°. This inscription is given with some variations in the printed editions of the Chronicle of Normandy, and the six first lines will be found in Matthew Paris, A. D. 1199. According to the former, the first line commences thus, “Achalus cecidit Rex,” but the reading, which doubtless is correct, is given by M. Paris, “Ad Chalus.” The tenth line differs in the printed copy solely in the epithet “inestimable,” but the repetition of the word “Regis” is evidently a corrupt reading, which, where it occurs first, should be altered to “tegis.” The previous line is equally incorrect, but the true reading is not so readily to be suggested; in the printed Chronicle it runs as follows:

“Pictavis exta ducis sepelis rea terra caduci.”

page 216 note k The feast of St. Ambrose was observed on the day before the nones, April 4th; but the decease of Richard occurred, as has been above stated, on April 6th, It must be remarked that the first six lines only of this inscription are given by Matthew Paris, and that the subsequent portion differs from the former in being written in Leonine verse; it seems therefore possible that the two portions were composed at different times, or by different versifiers, the later of whom followed the authority of some chronicle, which incorrectly recorded the 4th of April as the date of King Richard's demise.