by a rich pall, the gift of William
the Conqueror. When at last our founder's name was added to the roll of
saints, the body was transferred (October 13, 1163) to an elaborate
shrine, in the presence of Henry II. and his then friend the Archbishop,
Thomas a Becket. When this part of the old church was destroyed to make
way for Henry the Third's new building, the old shrine was removed to a
temporary chapel, while a new and more magnificent one, which we shall
examine more {58} closely presently, was prepared by the same Italian
workmen who were employed on the pavement, and afterwards to decorate the
tombs of Henry III. and Queen Eleanor of Castile. The materials--the
mosaic, the coloured marbles, and the porphyry--used for this beautiful
pavement, which was put down in 1268, as well as for the royal tombs,
were, like the designers and craftsmen themselves, brought from Rome by
Abbot Ware, who, with his successor, Abbot Wenlock, lies beneath the
mosaic work which Ware had supervised. The whole design, now partly
covered by an ancient Persian carpet, represents the probable duration of
the world according to the Ptolemaic system. To our left are three
artistic tombs, which belong to a later date, the early fourteenth
century, and are no doubt by the same unknown artist. In shape they
resemble the hearses which used to stand in the church before and for a
time after the burial of all distinguished persons. The recumbent
figures take the place of the effigies of the deceased, which were
usually made of wood, in the likeness of the dead person. These were
first carried at the funeral, and afterwards laid upon the hearse. The
little statuettes all round the sides are intended for the mourners, and
above are represented the lighted {59} torches and wax tapers, which
covered the hearse. In the small tomb nearest to us lies Aveline, wife
of Edmund Crouchback, Henry the Third's second son, whose own far more
elaborate sepulchre is nearest the altar. Edmund and Aveline were the
first couple ever married in the present church. Their wedding, in fact,
took place only a few months--in the spring of 1270--after the choir and
transepts had been opened for service. But the north aisle of the choir
was certainly completed before this marriage took place, for upon the
wall are the arms of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester and King of the
Barons, in close juxtaposition with the fleurs-de-lis of France. In 1263
a grand tempo