Rouen Cathedral on Fire: Tomb Effigies of Henry the Young King and Richard I in Danger?

Another alarming news on Henry the Young King front. In my previous post I have written about Durendal, its disappearance from Rocamadour and its connection with the Young King, today the Internet carrried the news of the fire at Rouen Cathedral. Fortunately the history, which likes to repeat itself, this time will not. Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief when the local firefighters made sure their cathedral would not share the fate of Notre-Dame du Paris.The flames were officially put out at 4:30 p.m. (1430GMT). My major concern was for the tomb effiegies of Henry the Young King and his younger brother, Richard I the Lionheart. Both Henry and Richard had been buried in the cathedral, according to their wishes, Henry in 1183, Richard in 1199 (Richard's heart alone had been buried at Rouen, his body at Fontevraud). The local officials are assessing if any parts of the cathedral or its art works have been damaged by the jets of water used to fight the fire. So the good news is the fire itself was put out in time before it spread to the lower parts of the cathedral.

Henry's body was put to rest here on 22 July 1183. Its burial almost led to war between the two rival cities of Le Mans and Rouen. The citizens of Le Mans seized the opportunity and had the royal body buried at St Julien, when it was transported north from Martel to Rouen. Upon receiving the news, the citizens of Rouen threatened to declare a war on Le Mans and fight tooth and nail to recover the royal body. It did not come to this only thanks to Henry II's intervention. 

Henry's original tomb effigy in Rouen Cathedral was destroyed in 1736, alongside with those of Richard's and their uncle William, the youngest brother of Henry II, for "some comparatively trivial purpose", namely the then chapter's great desire to "erect more magnificent altar, and to elevate it considerably above the level of the choir. To effect this it was necessary to take up the old pavement, to remove the monuments, and to disturb the soil underneath to the depth of 15 feet. It must be menioned, however, to their credit, that they had great respect to the mortal remains of these illustrious persons, which they replaced in their original positions; and when the new pavement was put down, squares of white marble were inserted over the graves of each, bearing simple and appropriate inscriptions...' (from French Cathedrals). Upon that of Henry one could read:

HIC JACET HENRICUS JUNIOR, RICHARDI REGIS ANGLE, COR LEONIS DICTI FRATER, OBIIT ANNO MCLXXXIII

       The tomb of Henry the Young King today, Rouen Cathedral (courtesy of Rebecca Bugge)

Still, we should consider ourselves lucky, for before the tombs were destroyed, Bernard de Montfaucon, a French monk, one of the founders of  modern archeology, had copied them and preserved as engravings. The below drawing comes from Livre du Millénaire de la Normandie (1911, probably after Montfaucon).

Let me note that Richard's tomb was later discovered almost intact (one can only marvel at his proverbial luck which seems to have run out only once, at Chalus). You can read about it here. To archeologists delight the casket in which his heart had been buried was preserved as well. The discovery enabled to carry on research on its contents and shed a new light on the circumstances of Richard's death. 

The author of the letter has won my heart by showing deep concern about the lost tomb of Henry the Young King.

Written by Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcik