“We have tended to assume that the tomb and effigy were made shortly after the Black Prince died, on the instructions in his will. Fortunately we were provided with solid scaffolding: /7QpAS8doAu By using the latest scientific technology and closely examining the effigy, we have discovered so much more about how it was cast, assembled and finished.Ĭonducting research in was an absolute delight-and posed some acrobatic challenges to reach the XRF spectrometer past the 15th century railings to the tomb. “Until now though, a lack of documents about the Black Prince’s tomb and effigy has limited our understanding of their construction, chronology and patronage so our scientific study of them offers a long-overdue opportunity to reassess the effigy as one of the country’s most precious medieval sculptures. “This isn’t just any armour - it is his armour, the same armour that hangs empty above the tomb, replicated with complete fidelity even down to tiny details like the position of rivets. “There is something deeply affecting about the way his armour is depicted on the tomb,” Dr Barker commented. The research was carried out in collaboration with Canterbury Cathedral and has been published in the latest edition of The Burlington Magazine. Photo courtesy Waygate Technologiesĭr Jessica Barker, a senior lecturer in Medieval Art at The Courtauld, led the study with co-researcher Emily Pegues, a PhD student at The Courtauld and assistant curator of sculpture at Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art, and Graeme McArthur, a conservator at University College London. Endoscopic view of the interior of the effigy from the bascinet toward the chest cavity and legs. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Nicknamed the Black Prince for the armour he wore, Edward was involved in many of the military campaigns and major battles of the early stages of the Hundred Years’ War. The team believe the Black Prince’s son, Richard II, commissioned both the effigies of his father and grandfather at the same time.Įdward of Woodstock (1330 – 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. The new research reveals that the figure is one of a pair because of the striking similarities with the effigy of Edward III, the Black Prince’s father, at Westminster Abbey. The team’s analysis also reveals that the effigy is one of the most sophisticated castings from the Middle Ages, cleverly constructed with the collaboration of an armourer, who both ensured the armour’s accurate detail, and helped to disguise the ways the effigy’s pieces were assembled. He demanded that his tomb was placed where everyone could see so that they would be moved to pray for “his rotting corpse.” Overall view of the tomb. On his deathbed, the day before he died aged 45, he set down extraordinarily detailed directions for his tomb, asking to be shown ‘fully armed’ as if for war. It was previously thought the tomb and effigy, which can be seen in the Trinity Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral, had been made shortly after the death of the Black Prince because the design of the tomb closely follows the instructions in his will.
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