Элеонора кресттары: Англиядағы Елеонора Кастилияның ескерткіштері

Any one of a series of monuments to Eleanor of Castile in England

The Eleanor crosses were a series of twelve tall and lavishly decorated stone monuments topped with crosses erected in a line down part of the east of England. King Edward I had them built between 1291 and about 1295 in memory of his beloved wife Eleanor of Castile. The King and Queen had been married for 36 years and she stayed by the King's side through his many travels. While on a royal progress, she died in the East Midlands in November 1290. The crosses, erected in her memory, marked the nightly resting places along the route taken when her body was transported to Westminster Abbey near London. The crosses stood at Lincoln, Grantham and Stamford, all in Lincolnshire; Geddington and Hardingstone in Northamptonshire; Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire; Woburn and Dunstable in Bedfordshire; St Albans and Waltham (now Waltham Cross) in Hertfordshire; Cheapside in London; and Charing (now Charing Cross) in Westminster. Three of the medieval monuments – those at Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham Cross – survive more or less intact; but the other nine, other than a few fragments, are lost. The largest and most ornate of the twelve was the Charing Cross. Several memorials and elaborated reproductions of the crosses have been erected, including the Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross at Charing Cross Station (built 1865).

Eleanor of Castile died on 28 November 1290 at Harby, Nottinghamshire. Edward and Eleanor loved each other and much like his father, Edward was very devoted to his wife and remained faithful to her throughout their married lives. He was deeply affected by her death and displayed his grief by erecting twelve so called Eleanor crosses, one at each place where her funeral cortège stopped for the night. Following her death the body of Queen Eleanor was carried to Lincoln, about 7 mile (11 km) away, where she was embalmed – probably either at the Gilbertine priory of St Catherine in the south of the city, or at the priory of the Dominicans. Her viscera, less her heart, were buried in the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral on 3 December.

Both the burial of Eleanor's body at Westminster and her visceral burial at Lincoln were subsequently marked by ornate effigial monuments, both with similar life sized gilt bronze effigies cast by the goldsmith William Torell. Her heart burial at the Blackfriars was marked by another elaborate monument, but probably not with a life sized effigy. The Blackfriars monument was lost following the priory's dissolution in 1538. The Westminster Abbey monument survives.

[[File:Hennequin und Herman von) Brüder (Pol Limburg 002. jpg|thumb|upright|Illumination from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c. 1412–1416) depicting a cross possibly representing one of the montjoies of Louis IX By the end of that period, the crosses at Lincoln, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans and Waltham were complete or nearly so, and those at Cheapside and Charing in progress; but those at Grantham, Stamford and Geddington apparently not yet begun. It is assumed that these last three were erected in 1294 or 1295, and that they were certainly finished before the financial crisis of 1297 which brought a halt to royal building works. A number of artists worked on the crosses, as the account rolls show, with a distinction generally drawn between the main structures, made locally under the direction of master masons appointed by the King, and the statues of Eleanor, made of Caen stone, and other sculptural details, brought from London. Master masons included Richard of Crundale, Roger of Crundale (probably Richard's brother), Michael of Canterbury, Richard of Stow, John of Battle and Nicholas Dymenge.

thumb|upright=0.6|right|Drawing of the Shrine of Little St Hugh, Lincoln Cathedral, William Dugdale, 1641
The tomb of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln was rebuilt around the same time, likely by the same crafstmen and designers as the Eleanor crosses, featuring the Royal crest of arms, and decoration commemorating Eleanor. Stocker believes that the shrine "displays such close acquaintance with the Eleanor crosses that it has to be considered alongside them." The cult of Little St Hugh venerated a false ritual murder allegation against the Jewish community of Lincoln, and was revived after the Expulsion of the Jews in 1290. Eleanor had been widely disliked for large scale buying and selling of Jewish bonds, with the aim of requisitioning the lands and properties of those indebted. It has been suggested that the proximity of the shrine's design to the Eleanor crosses was deliberate, in order to position Edward and Eleanor as protectors of Christians against supposed Jewish criminality.

Eleanor's crosses appear to have been intended in part as expressions of royal power; and in part as cenotaphs to encourage prayers for her soul from travellers. On the pedestal of each was inscribed the phrase Orate pro anima ("Pray for [her] soul"). It was not unknown for memorial crosses to be constructed in the middle ages, although they were normally isolated instances and relatively simple in design. A cross in the Strand, near London, was said to have been erected by William II in memory of his mother, Queen Matilda (d. 1083). Henry III erected one at Merton, Surrey, for his cousin the Earl of Surrey (d. 1240). Another was erected at Reading for Edward I's sister Beatrice (d. 1275). Yet another, almost contemporary with the Eleanor crosses, was erected near Windsor for Edward's mother, Eleanor of Provence (d.1291). The closest precedent for the Eleanor crosses, and almost certainly their model, was the series of nine crosses known as montjoies erected along the funeral route of King Louis IX of France in 1271. These were elaborate structures incorporating sculptural representations of the King, and were erected in part to promote his canonisation (a campaign that in 1297 succeeded). Eleanor's crosses never aspired to this last purpose, but in design were even larger and more ornate than the montjoies, being of at least three rather than two tiers.

Eleanor's bier spent the night of 5 December 1290, and possibly also that of 6 December, in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The cross was in decay by the early 17th century, and in 1621 the town council ordered some restoration work, although it is unknown whether this was carried out. Richard Symonds reported in 1645: "In the hill before ye come into the towne, stands a lofty large crosse built by Edward III, in memory of Elianor his queene, whose corps rested there coming from the North." In 1646 Richard Butcher, the Town Clerk, described it as "so defaced, that only the Ruins appeare to my eye". In 1745, William Stukeley attempted to excavate the remains of the cross, and succeeded in finding its hexagonal base and recovering several fragments of the superstructure. His sketch of the top portion, which seems to have stylistically resembled the Geddington Cross, is found in his diaries in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. and still stands in the centre of the village, the best preserved of the three survivors. It is unique among the three in having a triangular plan, and a taller and more slender profile with a lower tier entirely covered with rosette diapering, instead of the arch and gable motif with tracery which appears on both the others; and canopied statues surmounted by a slender hexagonal pinnacle. It is possible that the other northern crosses (Lincoln, Grantham and Stamford) were in a similar relatively simple style; and that this reflects either the need to cut back expenditure in the latter stages of the project for financial reasons, or a decision taken at the planning stage to make the crosses progressively larger and more ornate as the sequence proceeded south. It was "discreetly" restored in 1892. A causeway leading from the town to the cross was constructed by Robert son of Henry. The cross is still standing, close to Delapré Abbey, on the side of the A508 leading out of Northampton, and just north of the junction with the A45. The King stayed nearby at Northampton Castle. The monument is octagonal in shape and set on steps; the present steps are replacements. It is built in three tiers, and originally had a crowning terminal, presumably a cross. The terminal appears to have gone by 1460: there is mention of a "headless cross" at the site from which Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, watched Margaret of Anjou's flight following the Battle of Northampton. The monument was restored in 1713, to mark the Peace of Utrecht and the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, and this work included the fitting of a new terminal in the form of a Maltese cross. Further repairs were undertaken in 1762. At a later restoration in 1840, under the direction of Edward Blore, the Maltese cross was replaced by the picturesque broken shaft which is seen today. Later, less intrusive restorations were undertaken in 1877 and 1986. Further restoration work was completed in 2019. The bottom tier of the monument has carvings of open books. These probably included painted inscriptions of Eleanor's biography and of prayers for her soul to be said by viewers, now lost. John Leland, in the early 1540s, recorded it as "a right goodly crosse, caullid, as I remembre, the Quenes Crosse", although he seems to have associated it with the 1460 Battle of Northampton. It is also referred to by Daniel Defoe in his Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, in reporting the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675: " a townsman being at Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles (2 mile (3 km)) off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it." Celia Fiennes in 1697 describes it as "a Cross, a mile off the town call'd High Cross – it stands just in the middle of England – its all stone 12 stepps which runs round it, above that is the stone carv'd finely and there are 4 large Nitches about the middle, in each is the statue of some queen at length which encompasses it with other carvings as garnish, and so it rises less and less to the top like a tower or Piramidy." An engraving of the Hardingstone cross (drawn by Jacob Schnebbelie and engraved by James Basire) was published by the Society of Antiquaries in its Vetusta Monumenta series in 1791. It is said to have been demolished in about 1643. In 1735, William Hartley, a man of nearly 80, could remember only the base still standing. Any trace has now vanished. The cross is commemorated by a brass plaque on the wall of 157 High Street.

Eleanor's bier spent the night of 11 December 1290 at Dunstable, Bedfordshire. The cross was built between 1291 and 1293 by John of Battle at a total recorded cost of over £100. It is said to have been demolished in 1643 by troops under the Earl of Essex. No part survives, although some of the foundations are reported to have been discovered during roadworks at the beginning of the 20th century. The Eleanor's Cross Shopping Precinct in High Street North contains a modern statue of Eleanor, erected in 1985.

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries several replica Eleanor crosses, or monuments more loosely inspired by them, were erected. The cross at Ilam, Staffordshire, was built in 1840 by Jesse Watts Russell of Ilam Hall to commemorate his wife, Mary. The Martyrs' Memorial in Oxford, commemorating the 16th century Oxford Martyrs, was erected in 1841–1843 to the designs of George Gilbert Scott. The Glastonbury Market Cross, Somerset, was erected in 1846 to the designs of Benjamin Ferrey. Banbury Cross, Oxfordshire, was erected in 1859 to commemorate the marriage of Victoria, Princess Royal to Prince Frederick of Prussia: it was designed by John Gibbs. The Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross at Charing Cross in London was erected in 1865 outside Charing Cross railway station on the Strand, a few hundred yards to the east of the site of the medieval cross. It does not pretend to be a faithful copy of the original, being larger and more ornate. It stands 70 feet (21 m) high and was commissioned by the South Eastern Railway Company for their newly opened Charing Cross Hotel. The cross was designed by the hotel architect, E. M. Barry, who is also known for his work on Covent Garden. It was constructed by Thomas Earp of Lambeth from Portland stone, Mansfield stone (a fine sandstone) and Aberdeen granite. It was restored to a substantial extent in 2009–10. The Ellesmere Memorial at Walkden, Lancashire, was erected in 1868 to the designs of T. G. Jackson to commemorate Harriet (d. 1866), wife of the 1st Earl of Ellesmere. It originally stood at a road junction, but was moved into the churchyard in 1968. The Albert Memorial, in Kensington Gardens, London, commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her husband Prince Albert, and opened in 1872, was a far larger structure than any of the Eleanor crosses, but took inspiration from them. Its architect, Sir Gilbert Scott, claimed to have "adopt[ed] in my design the style at once most congenial with my own feelings, and that of the most touching monuments ever erected in this country to a Royal Consort – the exquisite 'Eleanor Crosses'". The Loudoun Monument, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and erected in 1879 to commemorate Edith Rawdon Hastings, 10th Countess of Loudoun (d. 1874), wife of Charles Frederick Abney Hastings. The Sledmere Cross was erected in Sledmere, East Riding of Yorkshire, in 1896–8, commissioned by Sir Tatton Sykes and designed by Temple Lushington Moore. Sir Tatton's son, Sir Mark Sykes, later added engraved brasses to turn it into a war memorial. The Queen Victoria Monument, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, designed by Edmund Kirby, was unveiled in 1905. A modern monument inspired by (but not directly modelled on) the lost medieval cross was erected in Stamford in 2009. It was designed by Wolfgang Buttress and sponsored by the Smith of Derby Group; and it stands in Sheepmarket, rather than at the original location. It takes the form of a tall stone and bronze spike: the carved detail is based on the single surviving fragment of the medieval cross.