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Icy gist Dame Katerine Duchesse de Lancastre, jadys feme de la tres noble et tres gracious Prince John, Duke de Lancastre, fitz a tres noble Roy Edward le tierce, La quelle Katerine morust le x jour de May l'an du grace M. cccc. tierz, de quelle alme Dieu yet merci et pité. Amen.
I only recently looked closely enough at the Dugdale drawings to notice what seem to be a few errors. You can find Dugdale's drawing of Joan Beaufort's and Katherine Swynford's Lincoln Cathedral tombs above. You can view a larger version of this drawing at my Katherine Swynford Facebook group page. Katherine's tomb is at the top and Joan's at the bottom, reflecting the fact that the two tombs were originally side-by-side rather than end-to-end as they are now (seemingly chopping of a portion of the head of Joan's tomb).
The tombs were constructed of Purbeck marble (although photos make it look as if only the top of Joan's tomb was made of the same marble as her mother's) and both originally sported memorial brass effigies, despoiled during by Cromwell's men during the English Civil War in 1644. Joan was instrumental in finally establishing the chantry altar chapel envisioned by her father before his own 1399 death for that of his third wife, who died in 1403 but whose tomb and architectural surroundings date its construction to a good 20 years later if my memory serves me (q.v. the Harvey pamphlet, referenced below, which I've seen available online for about £14 -- I'll warn you: it's a pamphlet, not a book, but I'm glad I bought it at the cathedral when it could still be had cheaply!).
What's interesting about the Dugdale drawing is that it purports to show Joan's tomb as being the one with the circular enameled insets along the side. However, an 1809 drawing by John Buckler, below, and reproduced in the Lincoln Cathedral publication "Catherine Swynford's Chantry" by John Hooper Harvey, shows that it was the larger of the two tombs, that of Katherine, whose tomb had such side circular enameled insets:
The above drawing does not seem to show The Irons which can be clearly seen in the photo below, taken by Christy Robinson and which can be seen in a larger size here at The Beauforts Facebook group page:
Photo (c) Alistair Ross and found here.
Photo (c) "Palimzest" and found here
So, too, does this shot, taken from a family history website:
As does this top-shot of Katherine's tomb and part of Joan's taken by Roger Joy and (c) him, found at the website of The Katherine Swynford Society:
(see larger version at link above)
Joan's tomb seems to have heraldic shields marching at the bottom of her feet, but not Katherine's. This recreation, however, shows the arms of Swynford, St. Edward the Confessor and those of Roet. The arms of Roet show a somewhat controversial pierced mullet, described in only two places: a purported forgery of a grant of arms by Katherine's father to the Brothers Andrewe, and in a physical examination of her seal when it was still extant in the 19th century. Dr. Joy has also included a small pet dog at Katherine's feet -- a charming and historically authentic touch.
Not to feel too sorry for poor Joan, however, inasmuch as while Katherine's tomb inscription was the conventional request for a passers-by's prayer and basic information on Katherine's identity (see quotation at the top of this post, below Dugdale's image), Joan's originally recorded something to the effect that the entire nation mourned her passing (Below is Joan and some of her daughters).
All of this makes me wonder, however, what exactly happened with the Dugdale drawing? It would seem that a very hurried sketch was made with notes that were perhaps later misinterpreted.
I wonder what the five insets originally were. My guess would include an emblem of the Order of the Garter, a Lancastrian collar of SS's, her own arms encircled by either, her arms impaled by those of John of Gaunt (and encircled)... and just maybe her encircled arms impaled by those of Swynford? And the photos above, taken from both sides of the tomb, show that those circular insets were on both sides of Katherine's tomb.
Any alternative ideas?
