Tea at Trianon: Medieval Monastery in Gloucester Rediscovered

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Medieval Monastery in Gloucester Rediscovered

From the BBC:

The remains of the 13th Century Carmelite friary have been found beneath a demolished multi-storey car park. Historians knew roughly where Whitefriars had stood, but its exact location was a mystery. The dig, ahead of redevelopment work as part of the regeneration of the city's King's Quarter, took place in July. City archaeologist Andrew Armstrong said it was "very exciting" finally to reveal the exact location of "this long-lost friary".
"For around 300 years, Whitefriars played an active part in Gloucester and produced some notable friars, including Nicholas Cantelow (or Cantilupe) in the 15th Century.
"Seeing and documenting this site will serve to underline, and recognise, the place of the friary in the city's history."
Archaeologists from Gloucester City Council and Cotswold Archaeology carried out the dig on the site of a recently demolished multi-storey car park on Bruton Way. (Read more.)