There are some slabs with crosses near here and some shells before the daïs, which once contained matrices of the brasses, with figures about half full size to William Wilcock (1502) and Richard Ragader[76] (1530), prebendaries of St. Nicholas and masters of St. Mary’s College Chapel, which will probably account for several unidentifiable slabs in the choir and elsewhere.
The monument occupying the most important position in the presbytery is that (No. 6)[77] to Edmond Tudor, Earl of Richmond, son of Owen Tudor and Queen Catherine of Valois (widow of Henry V.) and father of Henry VII., who died in 1456, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars at Caermarthen.[78] But at the dissolution the remains and the tomb were together brought to St. David’s. The position is close to the shrine of St. David, and, as it was unusual to permit any interment in the immediate vicinity of a great shrine, it may be well to note that this tomb was not placed here till after the probable shrine of St. David had been removed. The altar-tomb is in Purbeck marble, and is ornamented with shallow Perpendicular quatrefoils reticulated. Each panel has a shield in the centre, and a brass occupied the leger-stone. These inscriptions were restored by Jones and Freeman[79] from some drawings bound up with a MS. in the possession of the Earl of Cawdor. On the verge:
“Under this Marble Stone here enclos’d, resteth the Bones of that noble Lord Edmond, Earl of Richmond, Father and Brother to Kings, the which departed out of this World in the Year of our Lord God, a thousand four hundred fifty and six, the first Day of the Month of November; on whose Soul, Almighty Jesu have Mercy. Amen.”
On the tomb (at its foot probably) was:
“Heu! Regum Genitor, & Frater splendidus Heros,
Omnis quo micuit Regia Virtus, obit.
Herculeus Comes Ille tuus, Richmondia Duxque
Conditur Edmundus his modo Marmoribus.
Qui Regni Clypeus, Comitum Flos, Malleus Hostis,
Vitæ Dexteritas, Pacis Amator erat.
Hic meditare Vians Te semper vivere posse!
Non morieris Homo? Nonne miselle vides
Cæsar quem Tremeret Armis, nec vinceret Hector
Ipsa devictum Morte ruisse Virum?
Cede Metrum Precibus: Dat Regum Conditor Almus
Ejus Spiritui Lucida Regna Poli.”[80]
The length and sentiments of the inscription, however, hardly atone for the fact that this is a mean ornament to so important a person, and one cannot help contrasting it with that of his illustrious son—King Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
With St. David’s shrine we have already dealt (see ante, p. 50).
Turning to the corresponding arch on the south side of the presbytery, we find two tombs (Nos. 17 and 18). One (18) in Purbeck marble supports the figure of a bishop eucharistically vested and mitred, with a veiled pastoral staff in his left hand. The right hand is raised in benediction. Browne Willis conjectures[81] that this was the tomb of Bishop Gervase or Jorwerth (1215-1229), but later[82] he definitely states that it was unknown, but “was unanimously assur’d to me to be the Monument of Bishop Jerworth.” It is possible that the figure (which is later than 1229) was placed over the remains of Gervase, during whose episcopate the present presbytery was largely erected. A pastoral staff (copper gilt) and part of its wooden stave, of a rich design, were found near here in 1844, and, Freeman notes[83] “is at present in the possession of the Bishop of S. David’s.”
The other (No. 17) is to Bishop Anselm le Gras (1231-47), according to the inscription on the trefoiled canopy supported by angels and adorned with foliage:
Petra Precor Dic Sic Anselmus Episcopus Est Hic.