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The Tomb Monument of Katherine, Daughter of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence (1253–7)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2012

Sally Badham  and
Sophie Oosterwijk
Sally Badham
Affiliation:
Sally Badham, Dawn Cottage, Purrants Lane, Leafield, Witney OX29 9PN, UK. E-mail: sallybadham@uwclub.net
Sophie Oosterwijk
Affiliation:
Sophie Oosterwijk, MeMO Project, Utrecht University, c/o Zijde 63, 2771 EK Boskoop, The Netherlands. E-mail: so4oosterwijk@gmail.com
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Abstract

An English princess of the mid-thirteenth century, dead by the age of three and a half, Katherine occupies only a footnote in the history of England. Yet the costly tomb monument at Westminster Abbey provided by her grieving father, Henry iii, was probably the earliest recorded memorial to a child known to have been set up in England. It may also have been part of Henry's response to the commemoration programme that his brother-in-law, Louis ix of France, had instigated. Nothing now apparently remains of Katherine's tomb to remind posterity of her brief existence, but its commissioning marked a step up in Henry's growing ambition to be seen as an innovator at the forefront of the artistic developments of his age, and the story surrounding its provision affords insights into the role of display and material culture in Henrician politics.

Résumé

Princesse anglaise du milieu du XIIIe siècle, morte à l’âge de trois ans et demi, Katherine occupe seulement une note de bas de page dans l'histoire de l'Angleterre. Pourtant, la tombe monumentale et onéreuse qu'Henry III, son père endeuillé, lui a fait construire à l'abbaye de Westminster, est probablement le mémorial à un enfant le plus ancien que l'on ait retrouvé en Angleterre. Il fait peut-être aussi partie de la réponse d'Henry III au programme de commémorations que son beau-frère, Saint-Louis, avait promu. Apparemment, rien ne reste maintenant de la tombe de Katherine pour rappeler à la postérité sa brève existence, mais le fait de l'avoir commandé marque une étape dans l'ambition croissante d'Henry III d’être considéré comme un innovateur, à l'avant-garde des évolutions artistiques de son époque. L'histoire de ce monument permet de comprendre le rôle des apparences et de la culture matérialiste dans la politique d'Henry III.

Zusammenfassung

Katherine, eine englische Prinzessin aus der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts, die bereits im Alter von dreieinhalb Jahren verstarb, nimmt nur eine Fußnote in der englischen Geschichte ein. Dabei ist jedoch das aufwendige Grabmal in der Westminster Abbey, das ihr trauernder Vater, Heinrich III., für sie errichten ließ, wahrscheinlich eines der frühesten nachgewiesenen Denkmäler, das in England für ein Kind gestaltet wurde. Vielleicht gehörte das Grabmal aber auch zu Heinrichs Reaktion auf das Gedenkprogramm, das sein Schwager, Ludwig IX. von Frankreich, in die Wege geleitet hatte. Heute ist von Katherines Grabmal scheinbar nichts mehr übrig, das die Nachwelt an ihr kurzes Leben erinnern könnte, doch seine ursprüngliche Errichtung ist Beleg für einen weiteren Schritt in Heinrichs zunehmendem Ehrgeiz, als Innovator und Vorläufer künstlerischer Entwicklungen seiner Zeit zu gelten. Die Geschichte der Entstehung des Grabmals vermittelt einen Einblick in die Rolle, die Darstellung und Sachkultur in der Politik Heinrichs III. hatten.

Type
Research papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 92 , September 2012 , pp. 169 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2012

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