Charter to Westminster Monestary

English, 1556. Detail of an illuminated document. Unfortunately, the original is just a detail and quite small. This scan has been blown up more than 200%. The initial contains a dual portrait of Phillip and Mary, and the border decoration consists primarily of floral filler and heraldic references--in this case, among other things, the fleur-de-lys, the arms of England, a lion and a dragon, each supporting some sort of unidentifiable banner, and a badge that may be the cross of St. George. The calligraphy is very difficult to make out in the original; the main text seems to be written in a documentary/bastarda hand and is probably in Latin, based on the opening line, "Philippus et Maria dei gracia Rex...."


Reference

Appears in Mary I by Rosilind Marshall, HMSO, London, 1993.


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