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Vetusta Monumenta: Ancient Monuments, a Digital Edition

Plate 1.16: Engraving of the Shrine of Edward the Confessor

Plate 1.16 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the thirteenth-century shrine base and feretory canopy of St Edward at Westminster Abbey. It is the first two-page image in Vetusta Monumenta. The larger format reflects the elaborate artistry of the monument itself and the importance of Edward the Confessor in the historiographical imagination of eighteenth-century English antiquaries. Engraving by George Vertue after John Talman. 445 x 336 mm (bifolium). Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1724. Current location: Westminster Abbey, London, UK.

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2. Plate 1.1: Engraving of a Bronze Lamp found at St. Leonard's Hill, Windsor Plate 1.1 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts a medieval bronze lamp, likely dating from the thirteenth or fourteenth century, with circular base added in the eighteenth century. The lamp was originally thought to be Roman when it was discovered c. 1705. Engraving by George Vertue after John Talman. 236 x 184 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1718. Current location: Society of Antiquaries of London (LDSAL 59), London, UK.
3. Plate 1.2: Engraving of The Horn of Ulf Plate 1.2 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts an early eleventh-century Viking charter horn made from elephant tusk (possibly by Islamic craftsmen) in Salerno, Italy, with new silver mounts added in 1675. The horn was given to York Minster c. 1036 to symbolize a gift of land from Ulphus or Ulf Toraldsson. Engraving by George Vertue after B. M. 281 x 389 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1718. Current location: York Minster, York, UK.
4. Plate 1.3: Engraving of the Baptismal Font at St. James's, Piccadilly
5. Plate 1.4: Engraving of a Portrait of Richard II in Westminster Abbey Plate 1.4 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduces a portrait (c. 1395) of Richard II in Westminster Abbey, the earliest known portrait of an English monarch. The engraving preserves design elements lost when the painting was restored in 1866, but also gives a more idealized representation of the monarch’s features than does the portrait itself. Engraving by George Vertue after Giuseppe Grisoni. 537 x 265 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1718. Current location: Westminster Abbey, London, UK.
6. Plate 1.5: Engravings of Three Medieval Seals Plate 1.5 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts three medieval seals: the Seal of Clare College, Cambridge (1359), the seal of the Cathedral Priory of St. Etheldreda, Ely (c. 1280), and seal of the Priory of Cottingham (1322). Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. 173 x 233 mm [upper portion] and 172 x 228 mm [lower portion]. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1720. Current locations: The top seal is in Clare College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; an impression of the center seal is in Westminster Abbey (WAM 7933), London, UK; the bottom seal is in the British Museum (1913,1105.2), London, UK.
7. Plate 1.6: Engraving of the Ruins of Walsingham Abbey Plate 1.6 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the ruins of Walsingham Abbey in Norfolk, including some remains which are no longer standing. This topographical print is the earliest example of a more popular approach in Vetusta Monumenta, reflecting a taste for landscapes with ruins. Engraving by Gerard Vandergucht after J. Badslade. 135 x 257 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1720. Current location: Little Walsingham, Norfolk, UK.
8. Plate 1.7: Engraving of Waltham Cross Plate 1.7 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the Waltham Cross, one of the twelve monuments that Edward I ordered to be built between 1291 and 1294 to commemorate the funeral procession of Queen Eleanor. The print documents the early preservation efforts of the Society of Antiquaries of London. The cross was re-engraved by James Basire Sr. after Jacob Schnebbelie for the third volume of Vetusta Monumenta (Plate 3.16), where it appears with two more of the Eleanor Crosses. Engraving by George Vertue after William Stukeley. 490 x 301 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1721. Current location: Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK.
9. Plate 1.8: Engraving of a Plan of Ancient Verulamium Plate 1.8 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduces an extensively labeled map of the Roman remains of Verulamium with inset images of two ancient British coins and a section of Roman wall. Engraving by George Vertue after William Stukeley. 297 x 484 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1721. Current location: Stukeley’s original map is preserved at the Bodleian Library (Gough Maps 11, fol. 20B); the Roman ruins today are encompassed by the modern city of St. Alban’s, Hertfordshire, UK.
10. Plate 1.9: Engravings of the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (1 of 4) Plates 1.9-1.12 of Vetusta Monumenta depict the ruins of the twelfth-century abbey church of Fountains, Yorkshire, with extant monastic structures. The images offer significant visual evidence of the site as it stood in 1722, recording subsequently lost fabric, including the late twelfth-century cloister arcades, the tracery of the main windows of the abbey, the presbytery arcades and high altar enclosure. Engravings by George Vertue after Samuel Buck. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1723. 190 x 367 mm, 189 x 364 mm, 192 x 370 mm, and 194 x 371 mm. Current location: Fountains, Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK.
11. Plate 1.10: Engravings of the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (2 of 4) Plates 1.9-1.12 of Vetusta Monumenta depict the ruins of the twelfth-century abbey church of Fountains, Yorkshire, with extant monastic structures. The images offer significant visual evidence of the site as it stood in 1722, recording subsequently lost fabric, including the late twelfth-century cloister arcades, the tracery of the main windows of the abbey, the presbytery arcades and high altar enclosure. Engravings by George Vertue after Samuel Buck. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1723. 190 x 367 mm, 189 x 364 mm, 192 x 370 mm, and 194 x 371 mm. Current location: Fountains, Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK.
12. Plate 1.11: Engravings of the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (3 of 4) Plates 1.9-1.12 of Vetusta Monumenta depict the ruins of the twelfth-century abbey church of Fountains, Yorkshire, with extant monastic structures. The images offer significant visual evidence of the site as it stood in 1722, recording subsequently lost fabric, including the late twelfth-century cloister arcades, the tracery of the main windows of the abbey, the presbytery arcades and high altar enclosure. Engravings by George Vertue after Samuel Buck. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1723. 190 x 367 mm, 189 x 364 mm, 192 x 370 mm, and 194 x 371 mm. Current location: Fountains, Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK.
13. Plate 1.12: Engravings of the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (4 of 4) Plates 1.9-1.12 of Vetusta Monumenta depict the ruins of the twelfth-century abbey church of Fountains, Yorkshire, with extant monastic structures. The images offer significant visual evidence of the site as it stood in 1722, recording subsequently lost fabric, including the late twelfth-century cloister arcades, the tracery of the main windows of the abbey, the presbytery arcades and high altar enclosure. Engravings by George Vertue after Samuel Buck. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1723. 190 x 367 mm, 189 x 364 mm, 192 x 370 mm, and 194 x 371 mm. Current location: Fountains, Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK.
14. Plate 1.13: Engravings of St. Benet’s Abbey Gatehouse (1 of 2) Plates 1.13-1.14 of Vetusta Monumenta depict the fourteenth-century monastic gatehouse of St Benet’s at Holme, cumulatively creating a panoramic survey of the gatehouse as it stood in the early 1720s. The gatehouse was already ruinous when these plates were published and was substantially dismantled by about 1730. Engravings by George Vertue after John Kirkpatrick and Edmund Prideaux. 205 x 389 mm and 206 x 318 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1724. Current location: Horning, Norfolk, UK.
15. Plate 1.14: Engravings of St. Benet’s Abbey Gatehouse (2 of 2) Plates 1.13-1.14 of Vetusta Monumenta depict the fourteenth-century monastic gatehouse of St Benet’s at Holme, cumulatively creating a panoramic survey of the gatehouse as it stood in the early 1720s. The gatehouse was already ruinous when these plates were published and was substantially dismantled by about 1730. Engravings by George Vertue after John Kirkpatrick and Edmund Prideaux. 205 x 389 mm and 206 x 318 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1724. Current location: Horning, Norfolk, UK.
16. Plate 1.15: Engraving of the Tomb of Robart Colles Plate 1.15 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century chest tomb of Robart Colles with paneled sides around which runs the inscription “Robart Colles Cecili his vif.” The drawing imaginatively transposes the crowned letters of the inscription into an enlarged framework that surrounds the image of the tomb. Engraving by George Vertue after Edmund Prideaux. 204 x 328 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1724. Current location: Holy Innocents Church, Foulsham, Norfolk, UK.
17. Plate 1.16: Engraving of the Shrine of Edward the Confessor Plate 1.16 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the thirteenth-century shrine base and feretory canopy of St Edward at Westminster Abbey. It is the first two-page image in Vetusta Monumenta. The larger format reflects the elaborate artistry of the monument itself and the importance of Edward the Confessor in the historiographical imagination of eighteenth-century English antiquaries. Engraving by George Vertue after John Talman. 445 x 336 mm (bifolium). Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1724. Current location: Westminster Abbey, London, UK.
18. Plate 1.17: Engravings of Whitehall and King Street Gates (1 of 3) Plates 1.17-1.19 of Vetusta Monumenta depict two gatehouses built for Henry VIII along the road through Whitehall Palace: the so-called “Holbein Gate” (completed in 1532), and the King Street Gate (completed c. 1548). Engravings by George Vertue after his own drawings. 421 x 268 mm, 387 x 260 mm, and 373 x 192 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1725. Current location: Both gatehouses were demolished, the Whitehall or “Holbein” Gate in 1723 and the King Street Gate in 1759.
19. Plate 1.18: Engravings of Whitehall and King Street Gates (2 of 3) Plates 1.17-1.19 of Vetusta Monumenta depict two gatehouses built for Henry VIII along the road through Whitehall Palace: the so-called “Holbein Gate” (completed in 1532), and the King Street Gate (completed c. 1548). Engravings by George Vertue after his own drawings. 421 x 268 mm, 387 x 260 mm, and 373 x 192 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1725. Current location: Both gatehouses were demolished, the Whitehall or “Holbein” Gate in 1723 and the King Street Gate in 1759.
20. Plate 1.19: Engravings of Whitehall and King Street Gates (3 of 3) Plates 1.17-1.19 of Vetusta Monumenta depict two gatehouses built for Henry VIII along the road through Whitehall Palace: the so-called “Holbein Gate” (completed in 1532), and the King Street Gate (completed c. 1548). Engravings by George Vertue after his own drawings. 421 x 268 mm, 387 x 260 mm, and 373 x 192 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1725. Current location: Both gatehouses were demolished, the Whitehall or “Holbein” Gate in 1723 and the King Street Gate in 1759.
21. Plate 1.20: Engravings of the Medals of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, and James I Plate 1.20 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts one coin, four medals, and the inscription from a fifth medal: a silver crown of Henry VIII (c. 1545), a Coronation Medal of Edward VI (1547), a unique copy of an "Armada Medal" of Elizabeth I (c. 1588), the Phoenix Jewel (c. 1574) of Elizabeth I, a struck gold medal of James I commemorating the Peace with Spain (1604), and the inscription from the Phoenix Badge produced for Elizabeth I (c. 1574). Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1725. Current locations: The coin of Henry VIII here engraved is currently in the collections of the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. The Phoenix Jewel (SLMisc.1778) is in the British Museum, London, UK. Examples of the Coronation Medal (G3,EM.1), the Phoenix Badge (M.6902), and the medal of James I (1844,0425.24) are also in the British Museum, London, UK. The location of the unique Armada Medal here engraved is now unknown.
22. Plate 1.21: Engravings of the Westminster Tournament Roll (1 of 6) Plates 1.21-1.26 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce the Westminster Tournament Roll, a nearly sixty-foot vellum roll that illustrates the jousting tournament held by Henry VIII on 12 and 13 February 1510/11, along with the “articles of the tilt”: a document that appears to be either an emended or grossly imperfect copy of the “Westminster Tournament Challenge” (Harley 83 H 1, now in the British Library), or a copy of a different document altogether, the location of which today remains untraced. Engravings by George Vertue after the original manuscript. 245 x 492 mm, 242 x 488 mm, 243 x 490 mm, 245 x494 mm, 253 x 503 mm, and 251 x 501mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1726. Current location: The Westminster Tournament Roll remains in the College of Arms, London, UK.
23. Plate 1.22: Engravings of the Westminster Tournament Roll (2 of 6) Plates 1.21-1.26 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce the Westminster Tournament Roll, a nearly sixty-foot vellum roll that illustrates the jousting tournament held by Henry VIII on 12 and 13 February 1510/11, along with the “articles of the tilt”: a document that appears to be either an emended or grossly imperfect copy of the “Westminster Tournament Challenge” (Harley 83 H 1, now in the British Library), or a copy of a different document altogether, the location of which today remains untraced. Engravings by George Vertue after the original manuscript. 245 x 492 mm, 242 x 488 mm, 243 x 490 mm, 245 x494 mm, 253 x 503 mm, and 251 x 501mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1726. Current location: The Westminster Tournament Roll remains in the College of Arms, London, UK.
24. Plate 1.23: Engravings of the Westminster Tournament Roll (3 of 6) Plates 1.21-1.26 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce the Westminster Tournament Roll, a nearly sixty-foot vellum roll that illustrates the jousting tournament held by Henry VIII on 12 and 13 February 1510/11, along with the “articles of the tilt”: a document that appears to be either an emended or grossly imperfect copy of the “Westminster Tournament Challenge” (Harley 83 H 1, now in the British Library), or a copy of a different document altogether, the location of which today remains untraced. Engravings by George Vertue after the original manuscript. 245 x 492 mm, 242 x 488 mm, 243 x 490 mm, 245 x494 mm, 253 x 503 mm, and 251 x 501mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1726. Current location: The Westminster Tournament Roll remains in the College of Arms, London, UK.
25. Plate 1.24: Engravings of the Westminster Tournament Roll (4 of 6) Plates 1.21-1.26 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce the Westminster Tournament Roll, a nearly sixty-foot vellum roll that illustrates the jousting tournament held by Henry VIII on 12 and 13 February 1510/11, along with the “articles of the tilt”: a document that appears to be either an emended or grossly imperfect copy of the “Westminster Tournament Challenge” (Harley 83 H 1, now in the British Library), or a copy of a different document altogether, the location of which today remains untraced. Engravings by George Vertue after the original manuscript. 245 x 492 mm, 242 x 488 mm, 243 x 490 mm, 245 x494 mm, 253 x 503 mm, and 251 x 501mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1726. Current location: The Westminster Tournament Roll remains in the College of Arms, London, UK.
26. Plate 1.25: Engravings of the Westminster Tournament Roll (5 of 6) Plates 1.21-1.26 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce the Westminster Tournament Roll, a nearly sixty-foot vellum roll that illustrates the jousting tournament held by Henry VIII on 12 and 13 February 1510/11, along with the “articles of the tilt”: a document that appears to be either an emended or grossly imperfect copy of the “Westminster Tournament Challenge” (Harley 83 H 1, now in the British Library), or a copy of a different document altogether, the location of which today remains untraced. Engravings by George Vertue after the original manuscript. 245 x 492 mm, 242 x 488 mm, 243 x 490 mm, 245 x494 mm, 253 x 503 mm, and 251 x 501mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1726. Current location: The Westminster Tournament Roll remains in the College of Arms, London, UK.
27. Plate 1.26: Engravings of the Westminster Tournament Roll (6 of 6) Plates 1.21-1.26 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce the Westminster Tournament Roll, a nearly sixty-foot vellum roll that illustrates the jousting tournament held by Henry VIII on 12 and 13 February 1510/11, along with the “articles of the tilt”: a document that appears to be either an emended or grossly imperfect copy of the “Westminster Tournament Challenge” (Harley 83 H 1, now in the British Library), or a copy of a different document altogether, the location of which today remains untraced. Engravings by George Vertue after the original manuscript. 245 x 492 mm, 242 x 488 mm, 243 x 490 mm, 245 x494 mm, 253 x 503 mm, and 251 x 501mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1726. Current location: The Westminster Tournament Roll remains in the College of Arms, London, UK.

This page is referenced by:

Plate 1.16: Shrine of Edward the Confessor Plate: Engraved by George Vertue (1684-1756) after John Talman (1677-1726) for the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1724. Talman's drawing was originally made in 1713.

Object: Shrine base and feretory canpoy of St. Edward at Westminster Abbey, complete by 1279-80. Forming part of a broader collection of monuments at Westminster created under the leadership of the Cosmati family of marblers from Italy, the shrine may be attributed to Petrus civis Romanus (thus identified in the related sanctuary pavement inscription), who may be the same craftsman as Petrus Odoricus (or Pietro di Oderisio). The shrine is composed of marble, stone and inlaid cosmatesque ornament, and remains in its original location in Westminster Abbey, London.

Transcription:

Bottom: MAUSOLEUM Sive FERETRUM S.^ti EDVARDI CONFESSORIS REGIS ANGLIӔ. / Marmore Porphyritico & Serpentino. Opereque insuper musivo elegantissime ornatum uti hodie in Ecclesia Westmonasteriensi conspicitur. / I Talman designavit. Sumptibus Societatis Antiquariӕ Londinensis MDCCXXIV. G. Vertue Sculp:

On the Image: IFA OMNIBVS INSIGNIS: VIRTVTVM: LAVDIBUS: HEROS: SANCTVS: EDWARDVS. IFA

Translation:

Bottom: The Tomb, or Feretory, of St. Edward the Confessor, King of England. / [Made] of porphyritic (red-purple) and serpentine (green) marble and most elegantly adorned and covered with opus musivum just as it is seen today in the Chapel of Westminster Abbey. Designed by J[ohn] Talman. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1724. Engraved by G[eorge] Vertue.

On the Image: “IFA Edward, hero and saint, pre-eminent in all the praises of his virtues, Confessor, King, venerable, dying on the 5th day of January 1065, he ascends above the heavens. Lift up your hearts. IFA

Preparatory Drawings: Click here to see the Preparatory Drawings for Plate 1.16.

Commentary by Matthew M. Reeve (assisted by Bradley J. Fuller): The engraving of the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey is the first two-page image in Vetusta Monumenta. Located across two pages, the illustration demanded that the reader turn the book upwards to fully appreciate the depiction fully, thus marking a decisive break in representation within the series, and indicating a special status for St. Edward’s shrine within the volume as a whole. The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) minutes record that in November 1721 the Fellows decided to commission this engraving after a drawing by John Talman of 1713 (SAL Minutes I.131). Talman’s original dimensioned sketches are in the Westminster Abbey Muniments (Rodwell and Neal 2019, figs. 301 and 302). The engraving was complete by 1725, when George Vertue brought the prints and gave three copies to each Fellow. Vertue went on to write an essay on the monument in 1741, and it was published in the first volume of Archaeologia (Vertue 1770). The decision to publish the engraving in a larger format surely reflects the elaborate artistry of the monument itself, which is executed in cosmatesque mosaic with inlaid marble, stone, and glass, as much as it does the cultural significance of England’s royal shrine. A detailed archaeological record and analysis of the shrine was made in 2016-18, as part of a comprehensive study of the Westminster cosmatesque assemblage (Rodwell and Neal 2019).

King Edward, who reigned 1042-1066 and was canonized St. Edward in 1161, bridged the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman periods in England (a role celebrated in the Bayeux Tapestry), and his canonization endowed the Plantagenet house with a significant royal saint and ancestor (Porter 1710). Edward was the main commemorative focus of Westminster Abbey, and his special spiritual and dynastic relationship with Henry III has been broadly understood to have inspired Henry’s campaign to rebuild the abbey, beginning with the Lady Chapel in 1220 and the body of the church from 1245. The present shrine in fact represents the last of a sequence of monuments to Edward the Confessor, beginning with his initial eleventh-century burial represented in the Bayeux Tapestry. Following canonization, Edward the Confessor’s body was formally translated from a tomb to a shrine in 1163 at Westminster in the presence of Henry II. The appearance of the original shrine and feretory, or perhaps a later version of it, may be recorded in a number of illuminations in the c. 1255 Estoire of St. Edward (Cambridge UL MS Ee.3.59), which show pilgrims being healed at the shrine. The representations of the monument are, however, “bewilderingly inconsistent” (Crook 2011, 189), and the representation of the shrine base with foramina (similar to that to St. Thomas at Canterbury) may represent a generic type of monument rather than the monument itself.

The current shrine was set upon a platform and originally bore a metalwork feretory. The base is composed of Purbeck marble from Dorset, with stone, metal and glass inlays. The base is punctuated on the north and south sides by three trefoiled arches that served as foramina or “squeezing spaces” into which worshippers could insert sick or wounded body parts in the hope of a miraculous cure by St. Edward. Within these squeezing spaces are hybrid French Gothic tracery forms based upon Reims Cathedral with an underlying matrix of inlaid Italianate work. Italian in style and manufacture, the shrine drew typologically from the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury and other English monuments. It was located in the center of St. Edward’s chapel, adjoining the sanctuary on the east at Westminster Abbey, aptly called “an elect and introspective chapel” (Binski 1995, 91), and formed the core of the royal necropolis that would develop around it in the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Immediately to the north of the shrine is the tomb of Henry III that was built between the sanctuary piers, forming a pair of monuments that manifested the spiritual and familial kinship between royal saint and royal patron.

The shrine base of St. Edward and the tomb of Henry III form part of a celebrated sequence of monuments made by Cosmati marblers at Westminster during the reigns of Henry III and Edward I, which also included the great sanctuary pavement and the shrine chapel pavement. The “Cosmati episode” at Westminster now represents a celebrated moment in English art historiography, and the dating, sequence and meaning of these commissions is still debated (Grant 2002; Rodwell and Neal 2019). These monuments form part of what appears to be a new taste for opus sectile in English medieval art, beginning with the shrine pavement at Canterbury (before 1220), and the recently published fragment from Wimborne Minster, Dorset (Rees and Lewis 2014). Modern scholarship on the shrine begins with George Vertue’s aforementioned essay in the first issue of Archaeologia. Vertue, via Giorgio Vasari, attributes the shrine to Pietro Cavallini (1259-1330). Vertue’s influential essay would be followed closely in Horace Walpole’s (1717-1797) Anecdotes on Painting, which likewise ascribes the authorship to Cavallini (Walpole 1826, 31-35). The shrine of St. Edward would inspire a number of potential imitations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including at Walpole’s Strawberry Hill. In 1768 Walpole wished to model a chimneypiece after it but found the commission too expensive and in the end the architect Robert Adam offered a cheaper version of an opus sectile fireplace for the Strawberry Hill Round Room. Walpole did, however, acquire a related Cosmati monument from Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for Strawberry Hill via William Hamilton in 1768 for his Chapel in the Woods (Walpole 1973, 406-7). A fragment from what may have been the shrine of St Cuthburga at Wimborne Minster entered the collection of Pierre Romilly (1712-84) in the later eighteenth century (Rees and Lewis 2014).

The shrine of St. Edward was dismantled and partially destroyed in 1540 and then reassembled in 1557 during the reign of Mary I. The present two-stage, painted timber canopy (cooperculum), that once covered Henry III’s “golden feretory" dates from 1516, not from the Marian era as commonly supposed (Rodwell and Neal 2019), There is no metal feretory within it, that having been destroyed in 1540 during the dissolution of the monasteries. At the same time, the marble base of the shrine was likely dismantled and the golden feretory removed, while the remaining gold and jewels were placed in the Royal Treasury. The body of St. Edward was removed and kept in an undisclosed location by the monks of Westminster Abbey until the restoration of the monastery by Mary I in 1556. In this same year, John de Feckenham was appointed Abbot of the monastery and placed in charge of reconstructing the shrine (completed 1557). J. G. O’Neilly and L. E. Tanner note that the current state of the shrine suggests an incorrect assembly by Feckenham, pointing out several architectural incongruities in the base, including the absence of Cosmati flooring around the shrine step and an improper placement of the upper slabs that disrupts the mosaic patterns (1966, 134-139). The vast majority of the original mosaic inlay had been lost by the time of the reconstruction, and the empty matrices were filled with plaster and skillfully painted as faux mosaic. Where possible, the original designs were recreated. Talman’s drawing of 1713 essentially shows the painted decoration of 1557, not original mosaic work. The shrine canopy was heavily restored to its present condition by the architect Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958-60.

The origin of St. Edward’s shrine base is almost completely undocumented, although work on it began in 1241. As a result, aspects of the constructional sequence for the shrine and its components are debated, as indeed are aspects of the Cosmati work at Westminster in general. Fortunately, Richard Sporley, a monk at Westminster, recorded the inscription—in lettering with inlaid blue glass which ran around the top of the shrine base—prior to its destruction in 1540. It read:
+ANNO: MILENNO: DOMINI: CVM: SEPTVAGENO: ET: BIS:

/CENTENO CVM: COMPLETO: QVASI: DENO: HOC: OPVS: EST: FACTVM: QVOD: PETRUS:/ DVXIT: IN: ACTUM: ROMANVS: CIVIS: HOMO:/ CAVSAM: NOSCERE: SI: VIS: REX: FVIT: HENRICUS: SANCTI: PRESENTIS: AMICVS

[In the thousandth year of the Lord, with the seventieth and twice the hundredth with the tenth more or less complete this work was made which Peter the Roman citizen brought to completion. O Man, if you wish to know the cause, the king was Henry, the friend of the present saint (trans. Binski 1995, 99).]
The inscription records the date of the completion of the monument (1000 + 70 + 200 + c. 10) as 1279/80 and also records its authorship by Peter the Roman. Other aspects of the shrine, namely the metalwork feretory, were recorded as being incomplete in 1269 for the translation of Edward’s remains, and a series of payments were recorded up to 1272. The inscription on the shrine in the engraving appearing in Vetusta Monumenta is a substitution, painted in 1557 on a skim of plaster over the site of the original text. Only the first half of the text, from the south side of the shrine, is visible on the engraving. The ligatured letters IFA that open and close the inscription are Feckenham’s initials: Iohannes Feckenham, Abbas. This epitaph is in three Latin hexameters:

IFA Omnibus insignis virtutum laudibus heros,
Sanctus Edwardus Confessor Rex venerandus
Quinto die Januarii moriens super aethera scandit.
Sursum corda IFA

Confessor, king, and saint, he sought the skies.
Friends, lift to heaven your hearts as well as eyes.
Died 5 January 1065/66 (Cheales 1877, 40)]

Works Cited:

Binski, Paul. 1990. “The Cosmati at Westminster and the English Court Style.” Art Bulletin 72, no. 1: 6-34.

------. 1995. Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets: Kingship and the Representation of Power 1200-1400. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Cheales, Alan Benjamin. 1877. Epigrams & Epigraphs by the Author of Proverbial Folk-Lore. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.

Crook, John. 2011. English Medieval Shrines. Woodbridge: Boydell Press.

Grant, Lindy, and Richard Mortimer, eds. 2002. Westminster Abbey: The Cosmati Pavements. Aldershot: Ashgate.

O’Neilly, J.G., and L.E. Tanner. 1966. “The Shrine of Edward the Confessor.” Archaeologia 100: 129-54.

Porter, Jerome. 1710. The Life of St. Edward, King and Confessor. London.

Rees, Lawrence and Michael J.T. Lewis. 2014. “A Fragment of Cosmatesque Mosaic from Wimborne Minster, Dorset.” The Antiquaries Journal 94: 135-51.

Rodwell, Warwick and David S. Neal. 2019. The Cosmatesque Mosaics of Westminster Abbey. Vol. 1 The Pavements; Vol. 2 The Royal Tombs. Oxbow Books.

Society of Antiquaries of London. 1718-. Minutes of the Society’s Proceedings.

Vertue, George. (1736/41) 1770. “A Dissertation on the Monument of Edward the Confessor.” Archaeologia 1: 32-39.

Walpole, Horace. 1826. Anecdotes on Painting. Edited by Rev. James Dalloway. London: Shakespeare Press.

------. 1973. Horace Walpole’s Correspondence. Vol. 35. Edited by W.S.Lewis. New Haven: Yale University Press.