[65]. The monument of Walter de Langton, Dean of York, who died in 1279, was the first in that Cathedral that had an inscription upon it. It was destroyed by the Puritans during the Cromwell Usurpation.
[66]. Coffins formed of a single stone, hollowed with a chissel, are an improvement which has been attributed to the Romans. Sometimes they were of marble. Some contained two or more bodies, others only one, in which case, it was not unusual for them to be made to fit the body, with cavities for the reception of the head and arms, and other protuberances.
The solid stone or marble coffin, often curiously wrought, was in use among the first christians in England, who, in all probability, copied the customs of the Romans, after those conquerors had quitted our island.—Stone coffins were disused in the fifteenth century. None but opulent persons were interred in coffins of this description; the body was wrapped in fine linen, attired in the most honourable vestments, and laid in spices. The coffin was placed no deeper in the ground, than the thickness of a marble slab, or stone to be laid over it, even with the surface of the pavement. The coffin shaped stones which are frequently seen in churches at the present day, have, in general, been the covers of stone coffins.
The leaden coffin was also in use among the Romans, not only for the reception of the body, but in many instances, for the ashes and bones. It was adopted by the christians, and continues in frequent use to the present time, among the more opulent.
Alexander was buried in a golden coffin, by his successor Ptolemy; and glass coffins have been found in England.
The oldest instance, on record, among us, of a coffin made of wood, is that of king Arthur, who was buried in an entire trunk of oak.
It was not till the latter end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, that coffins became in general use in England. Before that time, there was, in every parish church, a common coffin, in which the corpse was placed and conveyed on a bier, from the residence of the deceased, to the grave; it was then taken out of the coffin and interred. Some of these common coffins yet remain in country churches.
[67]. The gold noble, or half mark, struck by king Edward the third, in the seventeenth year of his reign, is the first money on which the arms of England appear, namely, three lions passant guardant.
[68]. The three fleurs de lys were used, on some occasions, much earlier than this, both in France and England. There is an angel of Philip de Valois, coined in 1340, with the three fleurs de lys, which was probably done for the sake of variation, king Edward having then lately taken the arms semée de lys. Le Blanc mentions a charter of Philip, in 1355, with a seal of the arms in like manner. There is also a groat of king John of France, with only three fleurs de lys, though he used them likewise semée. But Charles the sixth, who began his reign in 1380, constantly bore the three lys for the arms of France, as they have been continued ever since. As the English kings altered the arms of France, in imitation of the French king, it is most likely that our Henry the fourth who was contemporary with Charles the sixth, began this practice. He did indeed bear the fleurs de lys semée, upon his great seal, because it was his predecessor’s, but that he bore the three lys upon other occasions is most likely, for so they are seen at the head of his monument, at Canterbury, and his son Henry, afterwards Henry the fifth, in like manner, bore the three fleurs de lys upon his seal, annexed to an indenture, so early as the sixth year of his father’s reign.
[69]. The coins of king Henry the sixth, both gold and silver, are supposed to be distinguished from his father’s, by the arched crown, surmounted with the orb and cross, being the first of our kings who appears with an arched crown upon his coins; but upon his great seal he has an open crown, fleuri, with small pearls, upon points, between. This is likewise the first time we see the orb with the cross upon the money, though it had been used upon other occasions, by almost all our kings, down from Edward the Confessor. The arched, or close crown, is not of ancient use, except in the empire, and thence, perhaps, called imperial. Some think Edward the third first used it, because he was vicar-general of the empire, and it is said that Henry the fifth had an imperial crown made, but Henry the sixth had certainly the best pretence to it, of any prince in Europe, of his time, being crowned king both of France and England. But why he did not bear it upon his great seal, as well as upon his coin, is not easily resolved any more than that his successor should bear it upon his great seal, and not upon his coins.