EXPLANATION OF THE CUTS. THE subject of the Vignette to Book I. is the Elevation of one of the old German kings upon a shield or target: the design is taken from a plate in Cluverius's Germania Antiqua. Another curious illustration of this custom may be found in Montfaucon's Monumens, tome i., where the king is represented standing upon the shield. Book II. The figures represented in this engraving are those of EDWARD the Confessor, HENRY I. and RICHARD II. copied from the most correct representations of their Great Seals the former was also compared with an impression of the seal itself in a private collection. They are given as authentic delineations of the dress and various regal ornaments of our antient monarchs. At page 58 is a view of the Coronation Chair preserved in Westminster Abbey, from an original drawing. The author has ventured to supply in his sketch that part of the ornamental work which has been broken off in the original. BOOK III. The first subject of this cut is THOMAS de BROTHERTON, earl of Norfolk, receiving the patent of his creation as Marshal of England from his brother, King EdWARD II. The Marshal is represented with his staff of office, and in a surcoat of arms bearing a lion rampant within a bordure charged with roundlets. From the original grant in the Cotton Library, as engraved in Strutt's Reg. and Eccl. Antiq. pl. xiv. The second subject is JOHN de GAUNT duke of Lancaster sitting, as High Steward of England, to receive the claims of the nobility and others at the coronation of his nephew King RICHARD II. Engraved in the same work, pl. xvi. BOOK IV. This Vignette contains the Coronation of RICHARD II. by archbishop Sudbury, who is attended by his cross-bearer, as the other prelate is by his crozier. The figure at the side is the earl of Derby, afterward King Henry IV., bearing the sword Curtana as deputy to his father the duke of Lancaster. Taken from an illumination in the Liber Regalis, as engraved in Reg. and Eccles. Antiq. pl. xvii. At p. 179 is a sketch of the arrangements in Westminster Abbey from Sandford's Coronation of James II. Book V. Vignette represents the Coronation of King HENRY IV. by archbishop Fitz-Alan assisted by another prelate. The figure kneeling in front is most likely the abbot of Westminster. From an illuminated Froissart in the British Museum, also engraved in Reg. and Eccles. Antiq. pl. xxxviii. |