ROMANTIC ROOM

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 87, 6 January 1933, Page 2

ROMANTIC ROOM

Westminster Abbey History VALUABLE DOCUMENTS The muniment room at Westminster Abbey, which is to benefit by the generosity of the Pilgrim Trust, is one of the most romantic and beautiful corners of the' church, states a writer in the London "Observer.” It was built between 1245 and 1254, and was probably one of the first parts of the rebuilding, by Henry 111., to be undertaken. It is clear that the room was intended for a special purpose; for it was adorned with an uncommon wealth of sculpture. The details of the window recesses in the south wall are particularly Hue. The arch labels have carved heads at their terminations, and some of the shafts have foliated capitals. The little vaults of the recesses have finely sculptured bosses. The room is open to the church on the north and east, and commands clear views of the crossing and sanctuary. In the Middle Ages, when English kings were crowned upon a high platform erected in the centre of the church, the apartment must have been an excellent place from which to view the ceremony. A passage below the rose window and the south-east turret stnir connect the muniment room with the door in the corner of the south transept, which was the private entrance from the Palace. There can be little doubt that the late IV. R. Lethaby was correct in suggesting that the muniment room was originally the royal “pew." Those who sit here to watch modern ceremonies are indeed occupying the seats of kings —kings whose noble monuments lie below, around the shrine of their ancestor. St. Edward.

In the time of King Richard 11. the plastered partition which cuts off the south bay of the room was erected. It is decorated with a large painting of a white hart, Richard’s badge; another j

indication of the royal association with the chamber. The valuable and interesting documents which the muniment room contains are not all of the “dry-as-dust” type. In a little notebook that once belonged to Abbot Islip, who died in 1532, there is a story which is no less than a “thriller.” Islip heard it over dinner, on Sunday, March 3. 1493. A travelling priest had sought lodgings at a wayside inn. and his servants, searching for straw for the horses, found beneath it the bodies of two men. The priest decided to leave the place at once; but the landlady, on hearing what he had discovered, explained thnt the dead men were the servants of two travellers who had stayed the previous night. A free tight had occurred, ami these two had been killed. Unwillingly, the priest ngreed to remain; but in the middle of the night the landlord, accompanied by a number of other men, broke into his room. He informed the priest that both he and his followers were to die. Happily, however, the priest’s servants were stout men. and they fought with such determination that they drove off their would-be murderers with heavy losses. The rest of the little book is devoted to a record of notable events in Islip’s life, and to a few accounts.