In the South Quire Aisle of St George’s Chapel, there are two recesses opposite one another. Below the one on the north side of the aisle is carved an inscription, with the letters delineated in black. It reads as follows:

Who leyde this booke here The Reverend Fader in god Richard Beauchamp Bisschop of this Diocyse of Sarysbury and wherfor to this entent that Preestis and ministers of goddis chirche may here haue the occupacion therof seyyng therin theyr divine servyse and for alle othir that lystyn to sey therby ther devocyon  askyth he any sp’uall mede  yee asmoche as oure lord lyst to reward hym for his good entent praying euery man w’os dute or devocion is eased by thys booke they woll sey for hym this commune Oryson Dne Ihu xpe: knelyng in the presence of this holy Crosse for the wyche the Reverend Fadir in god above seyd hathe grauntid of the treasure of the Chirche to eu’y man xl days of pardun

Who laid this book here? – The Reverend Father in God Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of this Diocese of Salisbury.
And for what? – For this purpose: that priests and ministers of God’s church may use it, saying by it their divine service, and for everyone else who wishes to use it to say their prayers.
Does he ask for any spiritual gift? – Yes, as much as Our Lord wishes to reward him for his good intention, beseeching every man whose duty or prayers are eased by this book to say for him this common prayer: Domine Jesu Christe, kneeling in the presence of this holy cross, for which the Reverend Father in God named above has granted from the treasure of the Church to every man 40 days’ pardon.

The book which would once have lain in the recess was probably a copy of the Sarum Porthos, or Breviary – a liturgical book containing prayers, hymns, psalms and readings according to the Sarum Rite (or Use of Salisbury), the variant of the Catholic liturgy most widely used in medieval England. A case containing a modern day prayer book now stands in the recess.

Richard Beauchamp was Bishop of Salisbury (written with the medieval spelling ‘Sarisbury ‘in the inscription) from 1450 to his death 1481, and it was he whom Edward IV chose to oversee the construction of the present St George’s Chapel. A boss on the roof just above depicts Bishop Beauchamp and Edward IV kneeling to the Cross Gneth or Croes Naid, a relic believed to be a piece of the True Cross which was kept here until 1552. This is the ‘Holy Cross’ referred to in the inscription.

The ‘treasure of the church’ is the merit accumulated by Christ and the good works of Catholics, by means of which indulgences may be granted to individuals to reduce the punishment they will experience in Purgatory. In this case, praying before the Cross Gneth would earn you the amount of pardon equivalent to that gained by forty days of penance.

Nathanael Hodge (Work experience student)

King Henry VI was born at Windsor on 6 December 1421 and succeeded to the throne at the age of nine months as King of England.   Henry was crowned 6 November 1429 at Westminster Abbey a month before his eighth birthday.  He was imprisoned and died in the Tower of London on 21 May 1471.   His body was taken to Chertsey Abbey for burial.

In the Treasurers’ accounts of the College of St George for 1483-84 an entry refers to the payment of £5 10s 2d ‘for expenses about the removal of King Henry VI from Chertsey’.   According to the contemporary account of John Rous, ‘the King’s body was taken out of his grave in the abbey church of Chertsey in August 1484, and honourably received in the new collegiate church of the Castle at Windsor where it was again buried with the greatest solemnity to the south of the high alter’.

The tomb of Henry VI became the object of veneration and the scene of miracles of healing attracted many pilgrims.  Miracles attributed to the King included those connected with one of his treasured relics – an old hat – the King’s Medicine against Headache.   Relics were kept at Windsor until the Reformation.  The metal collecting box for alms still stands beside the tomb.

On 4th November 1910 a formal investigation was made to establish exactly where King Henry’s body had been placed.   Within the second arch on the south side of the Quire, the marble step was removed and space opened.  The shrine appears to have been in the same area as the present slab which had been placed in the centre of the South Quire Aisle in 1790 and was moved to its present position in 1927.

Henry VI was not considered a successful king but rather a good and holy man widely regarded as a saint.   His one lasting achievement was in education, founding Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge.  At Windsor we commemorate his birthday with the ceremony of the Lilies and Roses.  Boys from Eton College attend an obit service together with representatives from Eton and King’s to lay lilies and roses on the tomb of Henry VI while special prayers are said.

“Let Thy blessing O Lord, be upon the Colleges of Thy servant King Henry VI and as Thou has appointed unto them diversities of gifts, grant then also the same spirit, so that they may together serve Thee to the welfare of Thy realm, the benefit of all men, and Thy Honour and Glory; through Jesus Christ Our Lord”.

Enid Davies (Assistant Archivist)

Hanging in the Ambulatory is a tapestry depicting Christ and 2 disciples at Emmaus.

According to an article in The Times, 20 August 1888, this tapestry had been recently found in the Chapter Library, cleaned and hung in the choir opposite Katherine of Aragon’s oriel window. It was repaired and framed in 1933 and hung in the nave, before being moved to the Ambulatory where it is now displayed. But where had it originally come from?

The tapestry shows Christ and his disciples at supper and was woven at Mortlake during the reign of Charles I. The Mortlake Tapestry Works were establised on the Thames in west London in 1619 by Sir Francis Crane, making use of the skills of immigrant Flemish workers. The Mortlake Tapestry Works were one of the most famous of their day, celebrated across Europe for the quality of their work. Their mark was the shield of St George, and it is partly from the success of the tapestry works that Sir Francis Crane was able to establish the Crane Foundation, set up to support the Military Knights of Windsor.

The tapestry was presented to the Dean and Canons by Lady Mordaunt, wife of John Mordaunt, Constable of the Castle and Royalist rebel, shortly after the Restoration of the monarchy and the return of Chapter to St George’s Chapel. It was intended to hang before the Altar, described as being after an original by Titian and was given at the instance of Dr Brown. [Inventory made 20 July 1667]. An entry in the Chapter Acts shows that Lady Mordaunt was given leave to lodge in Dr Brown’s house for the time of her lying in [SGC VI.B.3; 2 October 1665] and perhaps the tapestry was given in gratitude for this. It hung in the south quire aisle until the reign of George III when it appears to have disappeared until its rediscovery in 1887.

According to tradition the original painting depicts Emperor Charles V, Katherine’s uncle, as Christ, and the faces of the disciples being those of Philip II of Spain and Cardinal Ximenes, Prime Minister of Charles V.

Eleanor (Assistant Archivist)

Illustration of a scholar from The arte or crafte to lyve well and to dye well, printed 1505, now on display in the South Quire Aisle

A selection of rare books and archival documents from the St George’s Chapel Archives and Chapter Library is now on display in St George’s Chapel.  This small exhibition can be viewed in the South Quire Aisle, the stonework of which has recently been cleaned as part of the ongoing restoration of the Chapel.

The rare books on display include William Caxton’s The Mirrour of the World, printed in 1481 – one of the earliest printed books. Also on display is the Schorn Book of Hours, a late medieval illuminated manuscript which was discussed in a previous article on this website .

As 2009 is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession, we have reserved a section of the exhibition for documents from the Archives and Chapter Library which relate to the Tudor King. These include a book owned by Katherine of Aragon and a 19th century plan of Henry VIII’s conjectured tomb, which the great Tudor monarch intended to have constructed at St George’s Chapel.

Additional documents from the Chapel Archives which relate to Henry VIII, including the Black Book of the Order of the Garter, are on display at ‘Henry VIII: A 500th Anniversary Exhibition’, which is currently being held at Windsor Castle and runs until April 2010.

For further information on Henry VIII and St George’s Chapel, click here

John (Archives Assistant)

The sword of King Edward III

The two-handed sword of Edward III which can be seen in the Chapel hanging in the South Quire Aisle is an impressive reminder of the founder of the College and the Order of the Garter. 6 foot 8 inches long and made to be carried in battle, it formed part of the knightly achievements which would have been offered to the Dean and Canons on his death.

The earliest record of the sword appears in an Inventory of all the Vestments, Ornaments etc of the Chapel, taken in the 8th year of King Richard II [1384], and held in the Bodleian Library. The entry reads:

Gladii cum Galeis

249. Item [iij gladij quorum] vnus Edwardi Regis…

(Translated, Swords with helmets; Item [3 swords of which] one is King Edward’s …)

The sword hangs by a portrait of the King, carrying it piercing the crowns of Scotland and France. The accounts of 1615 [SGC XV.59.32] read “2s 6d – To Noke, for making cleane the Twoe hande Sworde whiche hangith by K: Edward the 3: picture”.

The sword and portrait have clearly been displayed together in the Chapel for almost 400 years.

Eleanor (Assistant Archivist)

Visitors to St George’s Chapel towards the end of 2008 would have noticed a considerable amount of scaffolding present in the South Quire Aisle. As part of the ongoing restoration of the Lower Ward, the stone in the aisle was scheduled to be cleaned. However, when stone-conservation experts began their work, they made a fascinating discovery.

Fragments of late-medieval wall paintings were found in the bay adjacent to the Oliver King Chapel. Further investigation by a medieval-wall-paintings specialist has demonstrated startling similarities with the designs inside King’s chapel. The discovery added a further complexity to the task of restoring the aisle as the decoration was found underneath a layer of later paint.

In the Archives, we have been kept busy looking for documentary evidence of the paintings and when they might have been covered. Unfortunately no contemporary description has yet been found although a bill dated 1789 does provide evidence that painting work in the aisle was undertaken by Sarah Crook (a painter and glazier):

Arms cleaned, painted and gilded in the north and south aisles [of quire] … Cleaning, oiling, painting, gilding and mending the figures of princes to Oliver Kings tomb and painting carv’d work … Painting in oil the whole arch over King Henry the 6th and Oliver Kings tomb, Hastings Chapel inside and out, Oxenbridge Chapel inside, east end of church and sundry other places. 3 times over. 427 yards. [SGC XIV/1789/3]

The scaffolding has now been removed but it will be a little while longer before the discovery is fully understood and can be interpreted. In the meantime those of us working on the restoration project have been reminded once again that the building we think we know is still capable of the occasional surprise.

Richard (Assistant Archivist)