Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall
The Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall (Chronicon Anglicanum) is an indispensable medieval history that brings to life centuries of English and European affairs through the eyes of a learned Cistercian monk. Ralph of Coggeshall, abbot of the Abbey of Coggeshall in Essex in the early 13th century, continued and expanded his community’s chronicle, documenting events from the Norman Conquest of 1066 into the tumultuous reign of King Henry III. Blending eyewitness testimony, careful compilation, and the monastic commitment to record-keeping, this chronicle offers a rare narrative of political intrigue, royal power struggles, and social upheaval in England and beyond. Ralph’s work captures the reigns of pivotal figures such as Richard I and King John, providing invaluable insights into their characters, decisions, and the forces that shaped medieval rule. More than a simple annal, Chronicon Anglicanum conveys the texture of medieval life and governance, making it a rich source for scholars and readers fascinated by English history, monastic authorship, and the shaping of the medieval world.
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Effigy of Joam Burwaschs, Lady Mohun is in Monumental Effigies of Great Britain.
JOAN BURWASCHs, or de Burghersh, was the daughter of Bartholomew de Burghersh, and wife of John de Mohun, Lord of Dunster, in Somersetshire, who had during his nonage been in the wardship of her father. She founded a chantry in 1395, by indenture between herself and the Prior and Monks of Christchurch, Canterbury. In consideration of the payment of 350 marks, and the gift of certain appendages necessary for her chantry, and of the manor of Selgrave being amortized to them by royal licence, they covenanted that when she died her body should be laid in the tomb which she had already, at her own cost, erected in the Lady Chapel of the undercroft of Canterbury cathedral [Map], and that her remains should never be removed from the monument, which was to be honourably kept up. Hasted says, that the Dean and Chapter possess the manor, but that the tomb was in his day sadly neglected. The effigy of Lady Mohun lies on an altar-tomb under a gothic canopy, adorned with pinnacles and arches terminating in corbelled points. The inscription on the verge of the tomb is here copied from Dart:
"Pour Dieu priez por l'ame Johane Burwaschs, qe feut Dame de Mohun [For God pray for the soul Johane Burwaschs, who was Lady of Mohun]."
The attire of the Lady Mohun presents us with an example of the fret or reticulated coiffure adopted by court ladies of the fourteenth century; and of the cote hardie, which appears to have been a vestment fitting close to the body, leaving the neck bare, and became much in vogue with the ladies towards the latter end of the fourteenth century. The wimpled attire of Aveline Countess of Lancaster will shew how chary they were of their charms in the preceding age. The wimpled costume seems, indeed, to have been borrowed from the females of the East. Mr. Charles Stothard relates a humorous anecdote of a damsel who wore the cote hardie in one of his original letters inserted in the Memoir of his Lifea.
Details. Plate 1. Jewelled lace on the hips of the cote hardie. Plate II. 1. Top of the coiffure. 5. Portion of the circlet enlarged. 3. Reticulation of the coiffure. 4. Pattern on the cote hardie.
Note a. Memoirs including Original Letters, &c. of C. A. Stothard, F. S. A. by Mrs. Charles Stothard. London, 3823, p. 331.
