The Builders of the Queen’s Monuments.
Edward was well aware that he had both the men and the materials for the accomplishment of this great design. Although the King was unable to devote much of his time to artistic matters, he could not have been the son of his father without having a cultivated taste and a competent knowledge of the arts and crafts of the time. His father, Henry III, however much he failed as a ruler in an age when the power of the King was the main factor of good government, was an enthusiastic lover of art and a patron of artists. It was during the reign of Henry, and largely owing to his influence, that perhaps the most remarkable development of Early English architecture took place. His principal work, to which he gave himself with the utmost devotion, and, indeed, with little consideration of other and more important duties, was the rebuilding and decorating of the Abbey Church at Westminster. For the carrying out of his designs he had gradually fostered a school of architects, sculptors, painters, and other artists in Westminster unrivalled in England. This Westminster School of Art not only produced a great part of the magnificent edifice of the Abbey Church, but was directly engaged in the construction of many other great churches and buildings. Its influence, however, was still wider. From it trained and skilled men travelled throughout Britain, imparting the knowledge of structure and artistic design, while artists and students came to learn the Westminster methods from the ends of the land.
There is, however, a good deal of evidence to show that Edward inherited the collecting proclivities of his father, and was encouraged in this amiable failing by Eleanor. He spent very large sums of money in buying gold and silver plate, jewellery, carvings and embroideries. Records remain not only of his own possessions, but of the lavish way in which he and the Queen presented such works of art to religious houses which they visited from time to time, and in which they took special interest. An example may be found in the accounts of the Queen’s executors, where we find that a certain Brother Nicholas received the sum of £10 for bringing jewels, and, apparently, other works of art, from Acre to England for the Queen’s service.[[39]]
[39]. Cf. “Liberationes factae per Executores,” &c., Item, fratri Nicholao de Acon, pro cariagio diversarum rerum et jocalium, ad opus Reginae de Acon usque in Angliam, x li.
In the year 1290 and for some time before, the King’s master mason at Westminster was a certain Master Richard Crundale, or, as he was usually called in the Rolls containing the accounts of Queen Eleanor’s executors, “Magister Ricardus de Crundale, Cimentarius.” Richard Crundale was the direct successor of such great architects and builders as Master Henry of Westminster, Master John of Gloucester, and Master Robert of Beverley, who had been successively the King’s architects, and to whom we owe the beautiful designs and the excellent workmanship of Westminster Abbey. Crundale succeeded Robert of Beverley, and had apparently been in charge of the work at the Abbey for about ten years at this date. To him the King entrusted the building of the cross at Charing, and also the construction of the beautiful tomb in the Abbey Church, but it can hardly be doubted that it is to him we owe the suggestion of designs for many of the other crosses, and it is at any rate clear that the influence of the Westminster School is shown both in their planning and in the selection of the architects and builders who carried out the work.
The accounts of the executors show that, in addition to the work for the cross at Charing and the tomb in the Abbey, the statues of the Queen which found places in all the crosses, and much of the decorative stone carving, were made at Westminster under the eye of Richard Crundale.
In association with Crundale, there were at work in Westminster two sculptors (“Imaginatores”) of renown, namely—Alexander of Abingdon, and William of Ireland; these were the men who carved the statues. Ralph of Chichester carved much of the decorative stone work. The painter who decorated the tombs had also a high reputation in his time—Master Walter of Durham. Master William Torel, a citizen of London and goldsmith, had the good fortune to be chosen to mould and cast the metal effigies of the Queen, which found their places on the tombs at Westminster and Lincoln. His work was carried out in material of more durable character, and his reputation as an accomplished craftsman in metal rests firmly on the evidence of one of the most perfect remaining examples of mediæval art. Another worker in metal, Master Thomas de Leighton, has left evidence of his skill in the fine iron grille over the Queen’s tomb. The executry accounts tell us also of the men employed by Crundale to bring the stone and Purbeck marble from Corfe, Caen, and other places, and the names of others associated with the works at Westminster are still preserved.
The actual cost of the erection of the Cross at Charing is difficult to tell. The accounts show that large sums were received by Richard Crundale, amounting to some £700, but this sum no doubt represents work for other memorials to the Queen, and not alone for those at Westminster. It is also evident that the executry accounts were not complete, so that an exact calculation of the cost is no longer possible.[[40]] Unfortunately Richard Crundale died before the completion of the Queen’s memorials, and was succeeded in 1293 by Roger Crundale, under whose care the work was completed.
[40]. To obtain some idea of the cost of the memorials, money at the end of the thirteenth century may be considered to have possessed thirteen times its present purchasing value.
The cross in the City of London at the west end of Chepe was entrusted to Michael of Canterbury, a member of the Westminster School, and subsequently the successor of the Crundales as the King’s master mason in Westminster. This distinguished architect was engaged in rebuilding the Chapel of St. Stephen’s at Westminster while working on the cross at Chepe. Of the exact plan of the “Cheapside” Cross little or nothing is known, but there can be little doubt that it conformed in essential details to the plan determined on by Richard Crundale. We know, however, that Michael of Canterbury undertook the construction of Chepe Cross for the sum of £300, and the executry accounts show payments to the extent of £226 13s. 4d. This gives us the closest indication we can now obtain of the actual money spent in building the crosses. It is generally recognized that the cross at Charing was the finest and most elaborate of the series, but Chepe Cross, situated as it was in the City of London, must have also been a noble example of artistic work; probably the crosses in country places were on less magnificent a scale.
The cross at Waltham was constructed by Roger Crundale and a certain Dyminge de Legeri, sometimes called de Reyns. Roger Crundale was obviously a member of the Westminster School, and there is little doubt that he was Richard Crundale’s brother. Dyminge de Legeri may have been a foreigner, but his work was held in high appreciation, for he not only helped in the construction of Waltham Cross, but was employed in making the sculptured tomb at Lincoln.
The building of the five Midland Eleanor Crosses—namely, at St. Albans, Dunstable, Woburn, Stony Stratford and Northampton—is of special interest, inasmuch as the work was entrusted to what seems to have been the mediæval representative of a firm of architects and builders in Northampton. The most prominent member of the firm was a certain Johannes de Bello, or de la Bataille, in whose name most of the payments are made out, but with him was one scarcely less important, namely, Simon de Pabeham (Pabenham). These two builders were also of the Westminster School, and appear later in connection with works at Westminster itself. At this time, however, they were working at Northampton as their centre. Nearly £400 was noted as being paid to John Battle, but we can form little opinion as to how the money was distributed. The cross at Northampton, a beautiful example of Battle’s handiwork, still exists.
Fig. 13.
The Cross at Geddington in the eighteenth century. Published by the
Society of Antiquaries: drawn by Schnebbelie, engraved by Basire:
Vetusta Monumenta, iii, plate xiv, 1791.
We know nothing of the architects or builders of the crosses at Geddington, Stamford, or Grantham. The cross at Geddington remains the most perfectly preserved example of the whole series. This cross is remarkable, as it shows a completely different plan from those already mentioned. Indeed its scheme of construction differs to such an extent from the others that it is not probable that Crundale had any part in its design. It is also noteworthy that no mention is made of these three crosses in the executry accounts. If arrangements for building them had been made at Westminster, we should have had evidence of it in the executry rolls. It is probable, therefore, that in the Geddington Cross, the only one of the three remaining, we see the work of some other master. The influence of the builders of Lincoln Cathedral may have made itself felt so far as Geddington, on the border of John Battle’s territory. It is, however, very tempting to make the suggestion that the cross at Geddington—possibly also those, long since destroyed, at Stamford and Grantham—owe their origin to foreign artists. Those places we may regard as having been in the Queen’s own country. On her marriage it is specially mentioned that she received in dowry important possessions in Grantham, Stamford, Tickhill, and the Peak. At the time of her death we know that there were Spaniards in her household, and it may be that the very unusual and striking design of Geddington Cross owes its origin to a Spanish rather than to an English artist.
At Lincoln, the rebuilding of the Cathedral had given rise to a local school of art, influenced no doubt by, but independent of, the greater school at Westminster. The master builder of this school at the time was Richard de Stowe, sometimes called “de Gaynisburgh,” evidently a man of local birth and training, whose tombstone is still to be seen in the cloisters of Lincoln Minster. To him was entrusted the erection of the cross at Lincoln, but some finer decorative work was done by the Westminster artists. William of Ireland furnished the statues and the ornaments so frequently mentioned in the accounts as the “virgæ, capita et annuli,” and special mention is made of payments to him for their carriage to Lincoln.
The construction of the tomb over the remains of Eleanor in the Cathedral was entrusted to Dyminge de Legeri, with whom was especially associated Alexander of Abingdon. This tomb for long supported a replica of Torel’s effigy of the Queen at Westminster made by that artist’s own hands.
The monument constructed to contain the heart of the Queen in the Church of the Black Friars in London, must have been elaborately beautiful. Walter of Durham expended his utmost art in its decoration, and in addition special effigies of the Queen were placed on this monument, which were made by Alexander of Abingdon, Dyminge de Legeri, and William of Suffolk.
Richard Crundale’s design for the Memorial Cross consisted of a solid pillar, surmounted by a cross, following in principle the more ancient crosses existing throughout the land; but with his greater skill in construction and more developed artistic feeling the simple column was surrounded with new architectural features.
The area on which the cross stood was covered with stone pavement, on this pavement a smaller platform, attained by a varying number of steps, was built, from this platform arose the cross proper. The architectural decorations surrounding the column were arranged in three stages. The first stage presented three, six, or eight faces, arranged in panels; in these panels were carved shields, emblazoned with the Queen’s heraldic bearings, giving the coats of England, Castile and Leon, and Ponthieu.[[41]] The second stage consisted of a platform for displaying the statues of the Queen, the number of statues corresponding to the faces of the cross—three, four, or more, as the case might be. Protecting the statues was arranged an elaborate system of “tabernacles,” giving to the passer-by the impression of a shrine. The third stage showed the continuation of the solid column, probably in most cases surmounted by a cross. The whole of the monument was ornamented with the decorations characteristic of Early English decorated architecture. The work was done at the best period of this school, and shows how beautifully the artistic ideas of the time could be utilised for monumental purposes.
[41]. For England, three lions passant, guardant; Castile and Leon, quarterly; for Ponthieu, three bendlets within a bordure.