by emad » Mon Sep 05, 2005 12:36 pm
Whittington’s tenuous link to legend of the Holy Grail<br><br><br>One more iconic landmark will be consigned to the graveyard of history if the threatened demolition of the Whittington Cat is given the nod by planners. <br><br>The history of Whittington is rich and varied, enriching the cultural tapestry of our lives from pantomimes to pubs and spawning a whole industry in its wake. <br><br>Its legacy in London may be in terminal decline after contemporary losses of the Whittington statue and almshouse and a reduction in the number of theatrical ventures. <br><br>Further back in the annals of time it suffered a catalogue of reverses, not least the loss of the Libertas statue dedicated to Whittington in Newgate gaol. His ancient church, St Michael's Paternoster was reduced to rubble in the Great Fire in 1666 which started in Pudding Lane a stone's throw away. <br><br>However, a trawl through the archives reveals that the earliest such incident was deliberate and could well be ascribed to Whittington's very tenuous link to the mystical Holy Grail.<br><br>In the reign of Edward VI, his tomb suffered the attention of raiders who had gone to singular lengths to strip his body of its leaden encasement in the search for hidden treasure in spite of Whittington having completely disposed of all his assets in his will with the exception of two priceless artefacts bequeathed to him by Sir Ivo Fitzwarren, his father-in-law. <br><br>One was a silver chalice with cover and the other a pair of rosaries of pure gold enamelled in red with jewels in the form of the head of St John the Baptist, both of which must have been of considerable antiquity and religious significance as he had no need for ordinary gifts. being wealthy to the point of having the capacity to loan huge sums of money to King Richard II and his successors King Henry IV and King Henry V. <br><br>What importance then, if any, is to be attached to these two artefacts, no trace of which remains in anecdotal or documented form?<br><br>Whittington's father-in-law Sir Ivo Fitzwarren was the son of Sir William Fitzwarren, Lord of Wantage and great grandson of Sir Fulk Fitzwarren III, 3rd Lord of Whittington Castle (died 1260) who is believed to have been blinded by the vision of the mystical Holy Grail, according to an ancient manuscript in the British Museum. <br><br>Sir Ivo was the last direct male descendant of the Fitzwarren clan. Was it perhaps this tenuous link of Whittington to the mystical Holy Grail that had led to speculation that this righteous man's tomb contained more than his earthly remains? <br><br>Was also the fact that his church being the only one in London named after St Michael (conqueror of the devil) regarded as synonymous with St Michael's of Glastonbury Tor (the most significant of the Arthurial grail links) by virtue of its nexus with King Arthur's Excalibur which had its location in the vicinity (Sir Thomas Malory's Book of Arthur). <br><br>Could the stipulation in the Whittington ordinances that his 'goddeshouse' or almshouse was to consist of 13 poor folk, one of whom was to be the tutor, who were to celebrate mass and offer prayers every day, appear symbolic of Christ and his disciples at the Last Supper in the celebration of the eucharist. Such belief may have have led to the ancient Whittington Stone Cross and pediment being sawn in half in 1795 with the rationale behind it remaining esoteric. <br><br>In 1824 a correspondent in The Gentlemen's magazine, going by the name of Lapis wrote that the destruction of the ancient Whittington Stone Cross was undertaken under the orders of a certain 'S'. <br><br>What indeed were the motives of the mysterious 'S' whose name could not be divulged. Who was the equally mysterious Lapis?<br><br>In Wolfram von Eschenbach's version of the Holy Grail, lapis is a stone of great purity invested with divine powers.<br><br>The history of the Holy Grail has survived the dark ages although its origins are apocryphal and lacking canonicity with as many versions of the grail legend existing as the etymologies of the word itself.<br><br>But if history has taught us anything it is that anything associated with past history is worth preserving for the sake of posterity.<br><br>And never more so than when it concerns such a great personage as Whittington, a man of great compassion and the world's first human rights campaigner, as evidenced by his endeavours to ensure that the prisoners of the vile and terrible Newgate gaol in the middle ages were justly treated and entitled to human rights. <br><br>For this and many other reasons I hope the Whittington Cat will prevail. <br><br>Walter Roberts<br>Miranda Estate, Archway, N19<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/postbag/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=Postbaghamhigh&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=postbaghamhigh&itemid=WeED05%20Sep%202005%2015%3A13%3A19%3A983">www.hamhigh.co.uk/content...3A19%3A983</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>