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Ecclesiastical: Henry

The princely splendour of Thomas a Becket, in the reign of Henry II., the profusion of jewels worn by himself and his attendants on his progress to Paris, caused the rustics to exclaim, "What a wonderful personage the King of England must be, if his chancellor can travel in such state!" The accounts of his magnificence in that city are so extraordinary, that Lord Lyttelton, in his "History of King Henry II.," declares them to be incredible." Henry III. was prodigal in his gifts to the Church. Rich ornaments were made by his own goldsmith for the use of Westminster Abbey. In the twenty-third years of his reign he directed Fitz Odo to make "a dragon in manner of a standard or ensign, of red samit, to be embroidered with gold, and his tongue to appear as if continually moving, and his eyes of sapphires, or other stones agreeable to him, to be placed on the church against the king's coming thither." In the twenty-fourth year of his reign he gave the Bishop of Hereford a mitre, splendidly enriched with precious stones, costing pound 82--a sum equal, at the present rate of money, to pound 1,230; and in the following year he ordered the Keeper of the Exchequer "to buy as precious a mitre as could be found in the city of London, for the Abbot of Westminster." The richly-embroidered garments of the clergy--which were nearly covered with gold and precious stones--during the reign of this monarch, occasioned Pope Innocent III. to exclaim, "Oh, England, thou garden of delights; thou art truly an inexhaustible fount of riches! From thy abundance much may be exacted!" And he forthwith proceeded to get as much as he could by forwarding bulls to several English prelates, enjoining them to send a certain quantity of such embroidered vestments to Rome, for the use of the clergy there. The high prelates were buried with their jewels, as appears from what William of Malmesbury relates of Richard Grant, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1231, that he was laid, in full canonicals, in the grave. In the night the coffin was opened by certain persons, who laboured under the impression that the magnificent ornaments with which the corpse was adorned, might be more profitably employed by the living. They endeavoured to extract the jewels, but the archbishop, by a miracle, proved too strong for them, and resisted successfully the efforts made to rob him of his buried treasures. In the succeeding reigns of our English sovereigns, the same extravagance of ecclesiastical dress and ornament prevailed. It excited, in the reign of Edward III., the rebuke of Chaucer. "Many of the clergy," remarks the Ploughman to the Canterbury Pilgrims, "have more than a couple of mitres, ornamented with jewels like the head of a queen, and pastoral staffs of gold set with jewels as if made of lead:-- "They be so rooted in riches That Christ's poverty is forgot. * * * * * * * * * * * Some wear a mitre and a ring With double worsted well dressed, With royall mete and riche drinke, And ride on courses as a knight, With hawkes and with hounds eke, With brooch or ouches on his hood." In the will of William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1396, he leaves to his metropolitan church his cope braided with pearls, and a green vestment adorned with gold, etc. Another archbishop, Thomas Arundel, in 1414 bequeathed to the same cathedral, amongst other rich gifts, a mitre enriched with divers gems and precious stones, a large pastoral staff of silver, besides various jewels. The inventory of his goods shows the luxury and magnificence of the prelates of those times. At New College are preserved the curious jewelled ornaments and remains of a precious mitre, comprising nearly the whole of the rich decorations of the mitra pretiosa of the founder, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester (died 1404). The groundwork was of silken tissue, closely set with seed-pearls, and upon this were attached, at intervals, plates of silver gilt, set with gems and pearls, as likewise bands formed of jewelled ornaments, alternated with small enamelled plates of silver, beautifully coloured, representing animals and grotesques. There are also considerable remains of the beautiful crocketed crest, chased in silver gilt, and the jewelled extremities of the pendants are likewise preserved. The most curious part of these fragments is an M crowned, the monogram of the Blessed Virgin, set with gems, and partly enamelled with the subject of the Annunciation introduced in the open parts of the letter. The effigy of John de Shepey, Bishop of Rochester, who died in 1360, represents him wearing a mitre elaborately wrought and set with jewels. His gloves are jewelled on the back.