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Britain - Photo and History Pages Paradoxplace BRITISH ABBEYS AND CATHEDRALS
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Eleanor of Castile (c1240 - 1290 (50)) was the Queen Consort of the Plantagenet King Edward 1 of England ("Longshanks") (1239 - 1272 - 1307 (68)). They were married in October 1254 at the Cistercian Royal Abbey & Nunnery of Santa Maria la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos in northern Spain and she had at least 15 children, most of whom died in childhood. She was crowned with Edward in Westminater Abbey on Sunday 19 August 1274, not long after they had returned from one of the tail end crusades in 1270-72.
Eleanor of Castile was not your historically important figure, and indeed not that popular because of her insatiable desire to buy land without actually paying for it (though as a balance it was she, or rather her estate, which paid for her three tombs and 12 crosses).
However, she left more visible and long lasting marks on England than other Queen Eleanors - her mother in-law Queen Eleanor of Provence (1217 - 1291 (73)) wife of Henry III (1207-1216-1272 (65)), and great grandmother (and also great grandmother in-law), the amazing Queen Eleanor (Duchess of Aquitaine) (1122 - 1204 (82)) wife of King Henry II (1133-1154-1189 (56)), because Queen Eleanor of Castile is the Eleanor of "Eleanor Crosses" fame.
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Eleanor Crosses were stone crosses on large sculptured plinths (all with different designs) erected, by command of her grieving King Edward I (but paid for out of her estate) at each of the overnight stops of her 1290 funeral procession from Harby (near Lincoln) where she died to Westminster.
The stopping places were Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, GEDDINGTON, HARDINGSTONE (Northampton), Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, WALTHAM, West Cheap (= Cheapside), and Charing - much restored crosses are still to be found at the places written in capital letters, with the one at Geddington, the only one that had a triangular cross section, being by far the best preserved and most accessibly and attractively situated.
Hardingstone is not that far away from Geddington (a day's medieval funeral cortege away to be precise) but the cross is difficult to find being as how it is on the bank above a busy two lane road with no obvious parking access, and not in the village of Hardingstone itself. Informed pub intelligence in the village revealed to the Dom that the cross lost its top during a low flying incident in WW II.
The Waltham Cross stands in the middle of an ultra drab English 1960s (?) shopping centre in the middle of the town of the same name.
The remaining crosses were disappeared by O.Cromwell and others (including English Weather) over the centuries. Some bits and pieces are in museums, including the British Museum (London), the Museum of London (Barbican) and the Waltham Cross Library / Museum.
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Eleanor's tomb (effigy below) can be found in Westminster Abbey. The original tombs for her entrails (in Lincoln Cathedral) and heart (Blackfriars) no longer exist, though there is a replacement visceral tomb in Lincoln, which is a close copy of the original.
This photo comes from "Edward I - A Great and Terrible King" by Marc Morris - see right
Link to Westminster Abbey website - tombs of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile
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Opportunity for a pub lunch at The Star Inn in the shadow of the Middle Ages. This is far and away the best preserved, most accessible and attractively located of the three remaining Eleanor Crosses. It was the only Eleanor Cross based on a triangular cross section.
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Beautiful detailing, including on this side the arms of Ponthieu and Leon-Castile. Eleanor's father was the first King of both Leon and Castile, and her mother was Countess of Ponthieu (in France) - a title that Eleanor inherited. She shared a great grandmother with husband Edward - Eleanor of Aquitaine.
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Links to other Paradoxplace pages
All original material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be hotlinked, or reproduced without permission
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