Fragmenta Regalia | Page 7

of Apollo, which was thrown down by an
earthquake in the time of Antoninus Pius; from the ruins of which
Sebert, King of the East Saxons, erected another to St. Peter: this was
subverted by the Danes, and again renewed by Bishop Dunstan, who
gave it to a few monks. Afterwards, King Edward the Confessor built it
entirely new, with the tenth of his whole revenue, to be the place of his
own burial, and a convent of Benedictine monks; and enriched it with
estates dispersed all over England.
In this church the following things are worthy of notice:
In the first choir, the tomb of Anne of Cleves, wife of Henry VIII.,
without any inscription.
On the opposite side are two stone sepulchres:
(1) Edward, Earl of Lancaster, brother of Edward I.; (2) Ademar of
Valence, Earl of Pembroke, son of Ademar of Valence. Joining to these
is (3) that of Aveline, Countess of Lancaster.
In the second choir is the chair on which the kings are seated when they
are crowned; in it is enclosed a stone, said to be that on which the
patriarch Jacob slept when he dreamed he saw a ladder reaching quite
up into heaven. Some Latin verses are written upon a tablet hanging
near it; the sense of which is:
That if any faith is to be given to ancient chronicles, a stone of great
note is enclosed in this chair, being the same on which the patriarch
Jacob reposed when he beheld the miraculous descent of angels.
Edward I., the Mars and Hector of England, having conquered Scotland,
brought it from thence.
The tomb of Richard II. and his wife, of brass, gilt, and these verses
written round it:
Perfect and prudent, Richard, by right the Second, Vanquished by
Fortune, lies here now graven in stone, True of his word, and thereto

well renound: Seemly in person, and like to Homer as one In worldly
prudence, and ever the Church in one Upheld and favoured, casting the
proud to ground, And all that would his royal state confound.
Without the tomb is this inscription:
Here lies King Richard, who perished by a cruel death, in the year 1369.
To have been happy is additional misery.
Near him is the monument of his queen, daughter of the Emperor
Wenceslaus.
On the left hand is the tomb of Edward I., with this inscription:
Here lies Edward I., who humbled the Scots. A.D. 1308. Be true to
your engagements.
He reigned forty-six years.
The tomb of Edward III., of copper, gilt, with this epitaph:
Of English kings here lieth the beauteous flower Of all before past, and
myrror to them shall sue: A merciful king, of peace conservator, The
third Edward, &c.
Besides the tomb are these words:
Edward III., whose fame has reached to heaven. A.D. 1377, Fight for
your country.
Here is shown his sword, eight feet in length, which they say he used in
the conquest of France.
His queen's epitaph:
Here lies Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III. Learn to live. A.D. 1369.
At a little distance, the tomb of Henry V., with this legend:

Henry, the scourge of France, lies in this tomb. Virtue subdues all
things. A.D. 1422.
Near this lies the coffin of Catherine, unburied, and to be opened by
anyone that pleases. On the outside is this inscription:
Fair Catherine is at length united to her lord. A.D. 1437. Shun idleness.
The tomb of Henry III., of brass, gilt, with this epitaph:
Henry III., the founder of this cathedral. A.D. 1273. War is delightful to
the unexperienced.
It was this Henry who, one hundred and sixty years after Edward the
Confessor had built this church, took it down, and raised an entire new
one of beautiful architecture, supported by rows of marble columns,
and its roof covered with sheets of lead, a work of fifty years before its
completion. It has been much enlarged at the west end by the abbots.
After the expulsion of the monks, it experienced many changes; first it
had a dean and prebendaries; then a bishop, who, having squandered
the revenues, resigned it again to a dean. In a little time, the monks
with their abbot were reinstated by Queen Mary; but, they being soon
ejected again by authority of parliament, it was converted into a
cathedral church--nay, into a seminary for the Church--by Queen
Elizabeth, who instituted there twelve prebendaries, an equal number of
invalid soldiers, and forty scholars; who at a proper time are elected
into the universities, and are thence transplanted into the Church and
State.
Next to be seen is the tomb of Eleanor, daughter of Alphonso King of
Spain, and wife of Edward I., with this inscription:
This Eleanor was consort of Edward I. A.D. 1298. Learn to die.