DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14721#0014
antiquities of england.
3
Ten of the following plates are taken from a curious MS.1 written in
the time of Edward the First, and illuminated with great care. The author
has written a short account in old French of each illumination, under it,
alternately in blue and gold letters. He has placed this short prelude over the
first illumination :
Icy sunt les Roys de Engletere, del tens seynt Edwarde le Confessor, jeske al tens le Roy Edwarde
filz al Roy Henry le Tyerz.
" Here are [portrayed] the kings of England, from the time of Saint Edward the Confessor, to the
time of king Edward, the son of King Henry the Third."
PLATE II.
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
The character of Edward the Confessor is sufficiently known, and the title
of saint, which was given to him, rather for the protection of the clergy, and
his austere conduct in the outward forms of religion, than his actual holiness ; for
his behaviour as a king, as a husband, and as a man, is often very exceptionable ;
and the causeless ill-treatment of his virtuous queen, Edgitha, who is here repre-
sented sitting at his right hand, is a constant blot upon his character. His only
excuse is, that she was the daughter of Goodwin, earl of Kent, a man who had
rendered himself odious to the king. Yet surely the innocent ought not to
suffer for the guilty ; but such was Edward's disposition, that what he did not
dare to revenge upon the father, he repayed to the daughter.
The story here represented, is an event of a most extraordinary nature.—
Edward, with his queen and Goodwin, are at a banquet which the king gave
on Easter day. Whilst they were at meat, the king accused Goodwin of being
accessory to the murder of his brother, which he positively denied, solemnly
wishing that the morsel of meat which he then put into his mouth might suddenly
strangle him, if he was not perfectly innocent. This egregious untruth drew down
upon him the just judgment of God ; for in attempting to swallow the meat, he
was really choked, and fell down dead that very instant.
1 Vitellius, A. XIII. [It is a most interesting MS. but has unfortunately suffered much from
the calamitous fire of 1731. One of the great curiosities of the volume is a sort of fine tissue paper,
which has been placed as a guard to the illuminations Its tint is a light pink, and it has a flowered
pattern woven in it, of the most elegant description.—Ed.]
3
Ten of the following plates are taken from a curious MS.1 written in
the time of Edward the First, and illuminated with great care. The author
has written a short account in old French of each illumination, under it,
alternately in blue and gold letters. He has placed this short prelude over the
first illumination :
Icy sunt les Roys de Engletere, del tens seynt Edwarde le Confessor, jeske al tens le Roy Edwarde
filz al Roy Henry le Tyerz.
" Here are [portrayed] the kings of England, from the time of Saint Edward the Confessor, to the
time of king Edward, the son of King Henry the Third."
PLATE II.
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
The character of Edward the Confessor is sufficiently known, and the title
of saint, which was given to him, rather for the protection of the clergy, and
his austere conduct in the outward forms of religion, than his actual holiness ; for
his behaviour as a king, as a husband, and as a man, is often very exceptionable ;
and the causeless ill-treatment of his virtuous queen, Edgitha, who is here repre-
sented sitting at his right hand, is a constant blot upon his character. His only
excuse is, that she was the daughter of Goodwin, earl of Kent, a man who had
rendered himself odious to the king. Yet surely the innocent ought not to
suffer for the guilty ; but such was Edward's disposition, that what he did not
dare to revenge upon the father, he repayed to the daughter.
The story here represented, is an event of a most extraordinary nature.—
Edward, with his queen and Goodwin, are at a banquet which the king gave
on Easter day. Whilst they were at meat, the king accused Goodwin of being
accessory to the murder of his brother, which he positively denied, solemnly
wishing that the morsel of meat which he then put into his mouth might suddenly
strangle him, if he was not perfectly innocent. This egregious untruth drew down
upon him the just judgment of God ; for in attempting to swallow the meat, he
was really choked, and fell down dead that very instant.
1 Vitellius, A. XIII. [It is a most interesting MS. but has unfortunately suffered much from
the calamitous fire of 1731. One of the great curiosities of the volume is a sort of fine tissue paper,
which has been placed as a guard to the illuminations Its tint is a light pink, and it has a flowered
pattern woven in it, of the most elegant description.—Ed.]