A Trip to Kent

17th November 2012

With the days noticeably shorter, and many places local closing for the winter, it was time to look further afield. Dead kings beckoned once more, so it was off to Kent to visit Faversham and Canterbury. It was a 300 mile trip, so one of our longer day trips. We were also on a tight timeline as kick-off in the Australia v England Rugby game at Twickenham was at 2:20 pm. (In fact, Mark was able to secure a single ticket to the game, but it’s not much fun by yourself).

Faversham

So, Which dead king is at Faversham? For those that follow the Cadfeal medieval whodunnits, you will recall that the novels were set at a time when England was in civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. Like Empress Matilda, King Stephen was a grandchild of William the Conqueror. The lineage of monarchs at that time was somewhat suspect!!

SO, a very brief history lesson:

William II was the heir to the English thrown on William the Conqueror’s death, and was King for 13 years until his death at age 40 on a “hunting accident” in the New Forest (just down the road from Salisbury – he was shot in the eye with a stray arrow). He was childless (OK, so maybe not, but he was unmarried and had no legitimate heir) so Henry I stepped up quickly to the plate and seized the crown. When he died in 1135 Stephen (son of Henry I’s sister) claimed the crown as the usurper king, supported by the powerful English barons (while Matilda, King Henry I’s daughter) was off doing something away from England). The resulting civil war, as they say, is history. It was eventually resolved in 1153 with a treaty that recognised Matilda’s son, Henry II, as the legitimate heir in preference to Stephen’s sons.

OK, so did we all understand that, or do you need a drawing?

So, to the resting place. King Stephen was buried in Faversham Abbey, but this no longer exists – thanks to Cal’s favourite fat king. The Abbey was built by King Stephen and his wife (Matilda) to be a place of pre-eminent worship for their legacy of a line of English Kings. It was not to be so, but Stephen was buried here with his wife Matilda and son Eustace (who pre-deceased Stephen). 

So, is Stephen at St Mary’s of Faversham? Possibly . . . Legend has is that when the Abbey was sacked and dissolved (gotta love that fat king, Henry VIII), the remains of Stephen, Matilda and Eustace were dug up and thrown into the Creek (how rude).  Stephen's bones were rescued and placed in an empty tomb in the Trinity Chapel of the parish church. The tomb is now marked by a Victorian brass plaque, but it cannot be proved that these are Stephen's remains.

St Mary’s is an interesting church that dates back to at least 1070, in a Charter of William the Conqueror, giving the church to the Abbey of St Augustine at Canterbury – just four years after William’s invasion. The church is likely to have existed well before this when the parish boundaries were established around 636 AD!

For those who like cemeteries, and I know there are some who do, there were some fascinating tombstones in the grave yard.

The church has a unique 'crown spire', which was built between 1794 and 1797, but inside the church, the history is much older. One of the greatest treasures in the church is a painted column featuring ten events in the life of Jesus, which dates back to the very early 1300’s.

Mark loved the medieval quire stalls with finely carved misericords (from the 15th century). They were believed to have been removed from the Abbey before it was destroyed.  Each is carved from a single piece of oak and are therefore very heavy. Cal, on the other hand, loved the ceiling with it’s blue and white relief.

On the way back to the car, Mark couldn’t resist taking a couple of (very) late Autumnal shots.

  

Canterbury

17th November 2012

From Faversham it was off to find another dead king – this one is Henry IV, who is buried in Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury has so much history that includes Roman walls, Chaucer’s Canterbury tales, and of course the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in the cathedral. We parked the car near to the pub (well, sports bar) that we would be heading to after visiting the cathedral. This pub was showing the England versus Australia Rugby match that was being played at Twickenham.

On the way to the cathedral we walked along the old town walls that date back to the Roman times (270-290 AD) – well at least the foundations do. The current walls date back to the Post-conquest Norman times. Some of the archaeology is presented visually by paving stones in the current roadway.

The mound (named Dame John) was originally a Roman burial mound, but was also used as the basis for a Normal castle (with a massive keep) in 1120 and then later as a gun emplacement during the English civil war (1643).

Having explored some Roman and Norman "stuff" it was back on the path to the cathedral. We came across a rather nice park – nothing special, just nice, with a Georgian (we think) terrace and a statue with a sundial on it. 

We were again reminded of Christmas with another instance of holly and ivy growing together.

    

So, on to the cathedral. It really is a magnificent building, with a lot of upkeep, which is funded by the £13.50 entry fee! Of course, if you just wanted to come in for prayer then there wouldn’t be any charge. Below are just a sample of the architecture in the church.

Of historical note is the murder of Thomas Becket. According to tradition, King Henry II said: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", although some records indicate that the king did not ac-tually say these words, and indicate that he was distressed at the murder. Henry did visit the tomb after his death. In any event, four knights went down to Canterbury and did the dreadful deed. 

There’s a fascinating account that can be found in Wikipedia that makes for interesting reading:

“ . . . the wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the crown which the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying in a low voice, 'For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death.' But the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more’.”

Downright nasty! There is a marker in the cathedral where the murder took place, and there is also a single candle burning at the site of Becket’s original shrine. The shrine was destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries and abbeys in 1538 on orders of Henry VIII, who also ordered the destruction of the Saint’s bones.

So, on to the burial places of kings. Henry IV and his second wife, Joan of Navarre, Queen of England are buried here. Henry died in 1413, and was interred in Canterbury Cathedral on the north side of Trinity Chapel and directly adjacent to the shrine of St Thomas Becket, rather than Westminster Abbey.

Also in the cathedral is the tomb of the Black Prince, Edward, who died a year before his father and was therefore never a King of England. Nonetheless, given his fame (or notoriety) we’ve in-cluded him in our royal burials. Edward wanted to be buried in the crypt of the cathedral, but this was overruled after his death and instead he was buried opposite Henry IV next to the shrine of Thomas. His tomb consists of a bronze effigy, above which hang his heraldic achievements (well copies – the originals are hanging on the wall nearby.

    

The crypt was also fascinating. Unfortunately no photography was allowed in the crypt. The photo of the crypt entrance was taken whilst I was outside the crypt, so technically I didn’t take it whilst inside the crypt.

Finally, here are some pics of some of the artwork in the Cathedral