Medieval Silk Seal Bag Links Westminster Abbey to Charlemagne’s Shrine
A medieval silk seal bag, dating from the reign of King Henry III, has gone on public display for the first time in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey. Scholars have discovered that this rare artifact is a perfect match to the silk cloth used to wrap the remains of Emperor Charlemagne, who is buried in Aachen Cathedral in Germany.
Agincourt 600 Celebrated with Pomp and Pageantry at Westminster Abbey
600 years ago, the bells of Westminster Abbey rang out as word arrived in London that Henry V had defeated the French in Agincourt. 600 years later to the very day, the bells pealed out again to commemorate a medieval battle where the English were vastly outnumbered but still came home victorious.
Bejewelled backdrop to coronations did not cost a king’s ransom
Research into England’s oldest medieval altarpiece – which for centuries provided the backdrop to Westminster Abbey coronations – has revealed that it cost no more than the rather unprincely equivalent of eight cows.
Like Father Like Son? Henry III’s Tomb at Westminster Abbey as a Case Study in Late Thirteenth-Century English Kingship
Who was this king, and who made this grand monument to him? An inscription around the edge of the upper tomb chest identifies its occupant as Henry III, the English king who died in 1272 after a reign of fifty-six years.
