Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 102, October 11, 1851 / A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

When found, make a note of. —CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
VOL. IV.—No. 102.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11. 1851.
Price Threepence. Stamped Edition, 4 d.
NOTES:—
QUERIES:—
REPLIES:—
MISCELLANEOUS:—
In the year 1816, Mr. Charles Stothard discovered in a cellar (as it is described) of one of the buildings adjoining the ruined abbey at Fontevraud, which was then used as a prison, the monumental effigies of King Henry II., Eleanor of Aquitaine his queen, King Richard I., and Queen Isabella of Angoulême. It had been feared that these monuments shared the destruction of the royal tombs from which they were torn, in the fearful outrages of the Revolution; but they were found to have escaped the general havoc, although they had suffered some mutilation. They are described to be sculptures almost coeval with the decease of the sovereigns represented, and to possess such a chaste grandeur and simplicity of character as to add great artistic value to their historical importance. Mr. Stothard represented to the English government of that day the propriety of rescuing such venerable monuments from further injury, and of bringing them to Westminster Abbey; and an application appears to have been made, through some official channel, to the French authorities; but it was not successful, though it had the effect, as it is said, of inducing the latter to direct measures to be taken for the better preservation of these effigies. About the same time, Mr. Stothard discovered the monumental effigy of Queen Berengaria in the ruins of her once-stately abbey-church of L'Espan, near Mans, which he found converted into a barn; but it was then in contemplation to place this effigy in the church of St. Julien there, when the restoration of that edifice should be completed. A memoir (which I cannot here obtain) on the sepulchral statues of English sovereigns at Fontevraud was read in 1841 in the congress of the Society for Preserving the Historical Monuments of France; and by the researches of M. Deville, a distinguished antiquary of Normandy, another effigy of King Richard of the Lion Heart was brought to light in 1838, from beneath the modern pavement of the choir of Rouen Cathedral, and was shortly afterwards made known in England by the very interesting communication made by Mr. Albert Way to the Society of Antiquaries of London, and published in vol. xxix. of the Archæologia .