Word: iii
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...when the basement undercroft where they lay was flooded during an air raid. Until 1949 they rotted quietly in this man-made bog. When the undercroft was finally drained, the effigies were a jumble of decomposing rubbish. Henry VII had lost his nose. A hole in Edward III's skull showed grey underplaster. The abbey custodians had half a mind to burn the whole mess...
They may be the monarch's own hair; their colors agree with historical records. The single exception: the eyebrows of Edward III, which are dog hair...
Royal Stroke. When the painted faces were properly cleaned, they proved to be meticulously accurate. Anne of Denmark (queen of James I) has blue veins and a pimple on her cheek. Edward III (d. 1377) is an original death mask and possibly the oldest European example, since the well-known death mask of Dante (d. 1321) may be a fake. When Edward III was in his last illness, his mistress, Alice Ferrers, ran off with the rings from his fingers. The shock of this betrayal brought on the stroke that finished him off. Neurologists consulted by Howgrave-Graham agreed that...
Some of the effigies, including the solemn James I (of the King James Version), are too far gone for restoration. The rest are now in presentable, even beautiful shape. Lying side by side in a double glass case are Edward III and Catherine of Valois. She was not his queen, but Howgrave-Graham rather approves their effigied intimacy. Nearby is Elizabeth of York, who has recently acquired a red-gold wig and a bodice trimmed with imitation ermine. One of the canons of Westminster Abbey says that he has fallen in love with...
With Christendom embroiled in the Fifth Crusade, A.D. 1221, heartening dis patches reached Pope Honorius III : "A new and mighty protector of Christianity has arisen. King David of India. . . has taken the field against the unbelievers." But the Vatican's information proved faulty; "King David" turned out to be Genghis Khan, and his Mongol empire was to spread terror on the flank of Eu rope for the next two centuries...