The Eleanor Crosses

The death in 1290 of Eleanor of Castile, beloved Queen of King Edward I, sparked one of the grandest gestures of royal mourning in English history. Her body was carried on a 200-mile journey from Lincoln to London, commemorated at each of its 12 overnight stops by a monumental cross. Dr. Eleanor Janega visits two of the surviving Eleanor Crosses with Alice Loxton and tells the extraordinary love story between Edward and Eleanor that inspired these monuments. MORE King Edward I: Hammer of the Scots Listen on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/king-edward-i-hammer-of-the-scots/id1564113746?i=1000723575073 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XQhcy5RkBiN2KRl7bKHoG How To Be A Medieval Teenager with Alice Loxton Listen on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-to-be-a-medieval-teenager/id1564113746?i=1000678283108 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/2a1EXTsCIgRMgjP4jXPVLJ Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff. All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds. Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Matt Lewis?

  From long-lost Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places, to tales of murder, power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr. Eleanor Yarnagger, and some of the world's leading historians as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life, only on History Hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand new release every week, exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com/subscribe.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the Headline Hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.O.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's go.O.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 1:15Speaker 02

  Hey, it's Adam Grant from TED's Rethinking Podcast. As businesses scale, success depends on how well knowledge is captured, shared, and kept up to date. Camtasia Pro turns teams' expertise into engaging training, onboarding, and documentation. No professional editing experience required. With the industry's best screen recording, video editing, and AI-powered workflows, you can train faster and boost operational efficiency. Get over $100 off your first year at camtasiapro.com and start building a smarter way to educate customers, onboard employees, and ensure valuable expertise is shared across teams.

• 1:49Speaker 03

  I always appreciate when thoughtful and luxurious design can help change the way a space feels. That's why I love how the 48-inch panoramic display stretches across the entire dashboard in my Lincoln Navigator SUV. It helps make it easy to stay connected while giving the cabin an open, expansive feel. Whether I'm juggling errands or just enjoying some quiet time, this feature brings a fresh perspective and helps elevate even the everyday moments. Visit lincoln.com to learn more.

• 2:27Eleanor Janega?

  Hello, I'm Dr. Eleanor Yanaga, and welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves into the greatest millennium in human history. We uncover the greatest mysteries, the gobsmacking details, and the latest groundbreaking research, from the Vikings to the Normans, from kings to popes, to the Crusades. We delve into the rebellions, plots, and murders that tell us who we really were, and how we got here.

• 3:05Eleanor Janega?

  I am standing in front of Charing Cross Station in the technical official centre of London. I'm trying to dodge commuters that are pouring off of the trains. And the reason that I'm here risking my life is to take a closer look at a remarkable structure that rises majestically just in front of the station. And this towering, 70-foot-tall monument marks the climax of a story that began on a November night in 1290, when a broken-hearted king resolved to make sure his beloved and newly-departed queen would never be forgotten. This is the Eleanor Cross.

• 3:48Eleanor Janega?

  It's made of honey-colored Portland stone and rich-red Manfield stone, as well as granite from Scotland. And it's carved in intricate medieval detail, commemorating a queen who died more than 700 years ago. I kind of have to crane my neck to look up at these serene figures gazing down from their Gothic canopies. As I do so, I'm bearing witness to the final chapter of one of history's most extraordinary love stories. Each of these eight crowned figures depicts Eleanor of Castile. She's standing in regally flowing robes with her distinctive circlet and her hands positioned

• 4:33Eleanor Janega?

  in gestures of prayer or of blessing.

• 4:38Eleanor Janega?

  Four of them depict her as a queen, holding an orb and sceptre. And the other four give her religious imagery to work with. In one, she's holding Westminster Abbey. In another, a bible. And here's what makes this monument incredibly fascinating, and very slightly mysterious as well, is actually a 19th-century replica. It was designed by Edward Middletonbury in 1865. This is the same architect who built the elegant Charing Cross Hotel, which is behind me, as well as the new Opera House in Covent Garden. And this monument is what Victorian scholars called "a work of reproduction rather than restoration."

• 5:20Eleanor Janega?

  The original Eleanor Cross that once stood here was, by all accounts, the grandest and most elaborate of 12 Eleanor Crosses that unfurled like a chain of wreaths across medieval England. This was the final stop in a funeral procession that began in Lincolnshire and ended at Westminster Abbey. A journey that would transform how we remember one of England's most remarkable queens. Because to commemorate his beloved Queen Eleanor, King Edward I had her body carried on a 200-mile journey from Lincoln to London.

• 6:00Eleanor Janega?

  And to mark the places where her funeral cortège rested, the grieving king commissioned 12 magnificent monuments. More than seven centuries later, the historian Alice Lockston set herself in epic challenge to follow in history's footsteps by walking the entire 200-mile funeral route on the corresponding dates. Alice recounts her journey in her new book Eleanor, which uncovers the extraordinary life and formidable character of this lesser-known royal, revealing her inspiring legacy and the hidden history of Britain. So I'm just gonna pop into the underground now, up to St Pancras International to meet

• 6:45Eleanor Janega?

  up with Alice. We're gonna take the train up to Northamptonshire, where we are going to visit two of the three Eleanor Crosses that survive in their recognizable, original form today.

• 7:11Eleanor Janega?

  Queen Eleanor of Castile was just 49 years old when she took her final breath on the evening of the 28th of November 1290, in the modest manor house of Richard de Weston, near Lincoln. Just months earlier, she and her husband, King Edward I, had been celebrating two joyous occasions: the marriage of their daughter Joan of Accra to the Earl of Gloucester, and the betrothal of their young son Edward to Margaret, Queen of Scotland. But by November, while touring the north of England, Eleanor complained of a slow fever, which may have been malaria or a heart condition that had been plaguing her.

• 7:52Eleanor Janega?

  When it became clear that Eleanor was gravely ill, the royal tour was abandoned, and the king and queen and their entourage sought refuge at Harby. With local priest William de Kelm and Oliver Sutton, the bishop of Lincoln, at her bedside, Eleanor succumbed to her illness on the evening of the 28th of November 1290, at the age of 49. Edward, who had been devoted to his Spanish bride for 36 years, was utterly devastated to lose her.

• 8:46Eleanor Janega?

  All right, we are here at the platform in St Pancras International. Look, Alice, hello, good morning! Good morning! I'm so excited to be here, how are you? Wonderful, thank you, I'm excited too. Well, we are here waiting for our train to Wellingborough, and I suppose a good place to start as any is to talk about what made you undertake this walk. I mean, this is a pretty intense thing to be doing. It took days upon days upon days to do this with people who had horses. What made you decide you wanted to do the same thing?

• 9:20Speaker 05

  Well, I think it's just one of those extraordinary stories from history, which I was fascinated by. I'm fascinated by it in a way that so many people seem to not know what it is. And I suppose it's a forgotten, overlooked story that I wanted to shine a light on.

• 9:35Eleanor Janega?

  I am so happy that you did because I think that this is one of our real, true medieval love stories. There's so few royal love matches that we actually get to see. And here we do get to see it and you can actually walk in the footsteps of the people who took this journey, which is incredible. So when you decided to do this, did you think it was going to be a challenge? Or was this more like, oh, this is going to be a nice historical thing to think about?

• 10:03Speaker 05

  I think I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I was excited, you know? It was quite a lot of walking at some points, 70 miles in the first three days. So big distances, but you know, it was just so thrilling for me to kind of, not just see these medieval monuments, but to be tracing all kinds of history as you walk through the country, you know, from all eras. And I just found that that was enough to keep me going, I think.

• 10:25Eleanor Janega?

  I think in the process of doing this, do you think that there's anything that helped you kind of shed a new light on this idea? Or did you kind of come in and say, oh, been here, done that, gonna learn a lot about Eleanor?

• 10:35Speaker 05

  Well, I think that there is something to be said for walking. You can do only so much when you're in the archives or when you're in a library or reading some other academics' work. But by walking and travelling, I suppose at the natural human pace, it really does slow you down and it makes you think about all these things you perhaps never would, which is, for me, it was when you're walking through loads and loads of mud, how on earth did medieval people do it? Or how did they stay dry in wet weather? How did they navigate without, you know, the OS Maps app, which I had, which I don't think was invented then. So I think it really does force you to consider things. When you're doing it for hour upon hour, that does really kind of sharpen your focus, I think.

• 11:14Eleanor Janega?

  That's interesting because, I mean, to a certain extent, you are undertaking a little bit of experiential archaeology, right? It's about inaction and not so much about a tool.

• 11:23Speaker 05

  Sure, it's probably when people who are kind of academics become reenactors, right? I think the practical experience combined with reading about it can be very helpful.

• 11:33Eleanor Janega?

  Well, okay, our train is here, shall we get on board then?

• 11:36Speaker 05

  Let's jump on board.

• 11:53Eleanor Janega?

  The death of a medieval queen, far from her intended burial place, presented enormous logistical and spiritual challenges. In an age without modern preservation techniques, transporting a royal corpse across hundreds of miles in winter required sophisticated planning and considerable expense. Queen Eleanor's body first had to be moved seven miles to Lincoln, where the crucial process of embalming took place. Compared to the 21st century, medieval embalming practices were crude, but they were increasingly sophisticated by the late 13th century. The process began with evisceration. That's the removal of internal organs,

• 12:36Eleanor Janega?

  which were the primary source of petrified bacteria. Eleanor's viscera were ceremonially buried in the chapel of St. Mary at Lincoln Cathedral on the 3rd of December 1290. This practice of what we call "partable burial" allowed the nobility to honor multiple religious institutions and to secure prayers from different communities. The embalming process involved slashing the body and treating it with salt, aromatic oils, and spices. For royalty, the face may be left exposed while it lay in state, requiring especially careful preservation. Eleanor's body was then wrapped in linen soaked in beeswax or lead strips, before being placed in a coffin for the arduous journey south.

• 13:46Eleanor Janega?

  Well, this is one of those typical fairy tale chocolate box English villages. All of the buildings are this gorgeous mix of honey, limestone, and beautiful aged brick. There are multiple thatched cottages, which I'm obsessed with. They kind of seem to hug the middle of the square here. And even better, I see the Star Inn. It's a 17th century public house. I love places like this because I just think about how many people must have used it as a centre over the years. And obviously, we've got a gorgeous medieval church, the Church of St Mary Magdalene, which dates back to the 9th century, the 10th century? But really, in

• 14:30Eleanor Janega?

  the middle of the square here, this is the main event and what we've come to see. This Eleanor Cross is gorgeous. It's just like a medieval prayer in stone. Okay, Alice, this is enough of me being an excited immigrant about a cute English village. Can you describe what we can see here at the Gettysburg Cross?

• 14:49Speaker 05

  So it's a very elegant monument, I would say. So there's seven steps at the bottom, and then it's this quite narrow triangular stone monument, quite ornately decorated with all kinds of floral designs, actually. We have the coat of arms of Eleanor. They're quite small on this one. And then three beautiful statues of Eleanor herself, showing her full body. And we've got this quite beautiful drapery on each of them. And I love this because she's looking out over the village from these three different points of view. And then it tapers to a narrow top. And what is actually missing is that would have been a cross at the very top, which would have given it even more height. And a big question about these crosses, why would they

• 15:31Speaker 05

  call crosses? Because actually, they're not in a cross shape. But it perhaps is because of the cross that would have been at the very top. But also, it might have been because of the setting. This is, as you can probably hear, it's got a buzz going past. A place where people are passing through, it is a crossroad. So they're actually quite significant places in terms of their location.

• 15:51Eleanor Janega?

  On the cross, I can see that we have the arms of Pontio and Céline as well. How did a woman with this particular lineage come to marry Edward the First?

• 16:03Speaker 05

  So Eleanor, who is born in 1241, the Castile, there is an arrangement that she will marry Prince Edward of England. This is completely politically arranged. And when she's about 12 or 13 years old, she marries this complete stranger. And luckily for Edward and Eleanor, they actually turn out to be a pretty good team. They're married for 36 years and they seem to be very much in love, in a way that other medieval monarchs were not with those kind of arranged marriages. And so when I think about the Eleanor crosses, I think it's interesting because in 1290, this is the first point for Edward the First as an adult to be without Eleanor.

• 16:41Speaker 05

  And so it's quite a jarring thing, I think, for him. If you think about anyone who's gone through that, even today, suddenly it's a big change in his life.

• 16:49Eleanor Janega?

  I love this story because it is one of the very, very few love matches that we actually have of royals. And Eleanor becomes pregnant incredibly young and they're actually separated because they're like, guys, come on now. You're not supposed to be doing that. That's dangerous. And so like she kind of gets taken away from Edward for a while. And I find that just so amusing because it's just exactly the opposite of what we tend to think about royals. You know, there's a none of that, you know, lie back and think of England happening here.

• 17:16Speaker 05

  Sure. Yeah, I know. And I think this has been really exciting for me, the story for that very reason, that we have these insights into a very human side of people in the medieval spirit. And as you said, it's so difficult medieval with so few sources, so few kind of personal diaries that survive. But here we are actually just looking at a man who was grieving his wife. If you really strip it back from who Edward was as king and who Eleanor was, but actually these are just two figures over 700 years ago, who are feeling this very raw human emotion. You know, it's a story of loss, Edward's loss, of course, of Eleanor. But equally, what I noticed about Eleanor's story is there are so many times that she's giving birth and then these children aren't surviving. She gives birth, we think 16 times and only six of those survive to adulthood. That is incredibly traumatic thing to go through.

• 17:59Speaker 05

  And that in some ways for her was probably the defining kind of experience of her life, the loss of all these children.

• 18:05Eleanor Janega?

  It's hard for us to kind of come to terms with what loss like this must have meant for medieval people. You know, there's that old myth that they don't care, you know, they're so surrounded by death that it means nothing to them. But you see monuments like this and it just shows exactly the opposite. These are real people who are grieving. You know, these crosses, they're also part of this incredible funeral procession, right? Can you tell us a little bit about what that would have looked like? How long does it take to get a body from Lincoln to London in the 13th century?

• 18:34Speaker 05

  It's a good question and it's something that I kind of tried to find answers to by doing it myself. Eleanor dies on the 28th of November, 1290, in this quite random place in a village not far from Lincoln. And it's kind of indicative of how ill she must have been that she couldn't travel those last seven miles. So her life ends in this place, which, you know, you can go and see, it's just this open field. It's just amazing to think about the events that would have happened there. And then they take her body to Lincoln and there it's embalmed and it's kind of there for a few days. And they set off on the 4th of December. So they start walking down to Grantham and then Stamford and they make their way to London. And that is the best part of 200 miles. And we know the days that they were there.

• 19:16Speaker 05

  And so that's how we can track how long it took and how, you know, how far they were travelling and everything. When I did the walk, it was about 70 miles in the first three days. So it was a huge distance. But for the royal household, this would have been a very usual thing to do, you know? They would be travelling all around the country all the time. Eleanor collected a lot of land and a lot of manors, so she was very used to travelling around the country. We think about 20 miles a day. And actually, you know, when I was walking, the more I did it, actually that seemed more feasible. That, you know, you can kind of get into a routine of those things. We don't really have much record of what the actual kind of procession that moment looked like. But we know that at some of those places, they were welcomed with great ceremony.

• 19:55Speaker 05

  So at St Albans, the people of the Abbey of St Albans went out to the edge of the town to greet the cortege. And so you can imagine the scene of all these robed figures standing solemnly. And Edward and the royal households being welcomed with great reverence. And then every night, her body was kept with great vigil in the kind of holy places that were there. And so, you know, it's a tricky story because in lots of ways, there is not much evidence of what actually happened. But we can piece a lot together by knowing the kind of habits and the ways they tended to do things.

• 20:27Eleanor Janega?

  So do you think that this is a particular journey, these stops? Is this something that is planned? Do these places have any meaning for Eleanor? Or is this just necessity? It's like, that's the 20 miles. Yep, so we're going to stop there.

• 20:39Speaker 05

  Well, they tended to stop in important towns. So Stamford and Grantham and Northampton were important towns. And they were on the roads down to London. So these are old Roman roads often, which actually is very interesting because I actually couldn't quite follow the route. Because these are still in used today, they tend to be A roads or major roads which you just couldn't walk on. So in some cases, I actually ended up walking a bit further. But Gettings such is enormous compared to the houses around it. And it's striking to visitors today, perhaps, you know, why was this a location? But actually, in the medieval period, in the 13th century, this was quite a major place. There was a big hunting lodge here that the royals would have used. So Eleanor would have been here. And weirdly, after the 13th century, it kind of dropped out of use.

• 21:24Speaker 05

  You could suppose that perhaps Edward found it too painful to come back here. But it certainly dropped out of use. And we know that because they were given permission to have market and then that was kind of retracted. So it hasn't really grown much since that period, which is a strange thing. But, you know, of course, that often means that these places are really beautiful to live in. You know, it's a really lovely place and full of history. I mean, just think, if you can possibly imagine for a moment that Eleanor's body was brought through here. It was actually here and the royal household were here. And all of the people of Gettings would have greeted it and seen it out of their windows and seen them pass over that bridge that you can still pass over today. You know, I just think that's pretty amazing.

• 22:03Eleanor Janega?

  I think it's interesting in the in the case of Gettings, because, you know, yeah, Gettings is this important royal locale because of the hunting lodge and everything. And then you have this big, important royal event. You have the cortege come through and you're like, ah, the Gettings will be on the map forever. And it's sort of the opposite. It's kind of like the Eleanor Cross, this is like the last royal thing.

• 22:21Speaker 05

  Definitely. But to add to that, this is the finest surviving of all of them. And they say that in terms of the fact that it's got the most kind of original structure, I think, even though there are three that survive today. I mean, it's just extraordinary. I mean, what do you think? This is the first time you've ever seen it?

• 22:35Eleanor Janega?

  This is the first time I've ever seen it. And this has been a kind of bucket list thing for me to see. And it's really exciting because I am surprised by how good the carving still is. Like, it's in really good nick. You can still see the floral designs on it. Eleanor still has all of her trapeze is looking incredibly fine. I'm kind of trying to use all of my medievalist powers to put paint on it and think about what it would have looked like in all of its colors. But I'm really interested in this one in particular because it's got its own water supply, which is a weird thing about all of the Eleanor Crosses. So it's got a kind of conduit house, I suppose you would call it, in the corner there. So this is an interesting thing because it goes from just being something beautiful

• 23:19Eleanor Janega?

  to having a practical use for the town. And I think that's lovely.

• 23:22Speaker 05

  Well, and when you're here, you know, this is still very much the heart of the village. When I was here and doing the walk, we were sitting on the steps and I sat there for quite a long time just to watch what was unfolding. And this is really a spot which is used by people all the time. So, you know, it was about 3pm on one day and all of these children come rushing out from primary school and playing on the steps. People would sit here, it's just opposite the pub and have a drink on the steps. We've had tractors going through, we've had buses, we've had a walking group. It's very much used, I think, by people today. And just extraordinary to think, again, of all the people that would have seen this and sat on those steps over the years.

• 24:02Eleanor Janega?

  You know, you mentioned this already, but this is one of only three surviving crosses. Like, what happened to the other ones? Like, you know, what's going on with everyone else?

• 24:12Speaker 05

  Yes, well, this is what's so interesting, you know, these are not monuments which have been forgotten and ignored. These have been potent symbols of Catholicism or Royalism over the centuries. So much so that many of them were pulled down and destroyed in the Civil War in quite a violent way. Charing Cross, which is the final of the Eleanor Crosses, was destroyed by the parliamentarians in the Civil War and actually caused all sorts of navigational problems. There was a rhyme that went around. Undone, undone, the lawyers cry, they ramble up and down. They know not the way to Westminster, now Charing Cross is down. These were important symbols, but also major navigational points. You know, if you were approaching London at that point,

• 24:56Speaker 05

  Charing Cross would have been a massive monument. It was outside the city walls. And if you think, well, all the people who've travelled to London for hundreds of years, that would have been the first thing they say. So if you were talking to a medieval traveller, you'd be like, well, you know you'll get there because you're going to see the Westminster and then you'll see this big monument, that's the Eleanor Cross, and then you're basically there. So it would have been very familiar to lots of people.

• 25:17Eleanor Janega?

  All right, well, I don't want to leave this gorgeous village. I want to settle into the star for the rest of the afternoon. But we are going to go about 22 miles from here. A little bit faster than you did last time, Alice. So but we'll check out the other Eleanor Cross in Hardingston. And that's just kind of like on the outskirts of Northampton, right? All right, into the car with us, it's going to get dark.

• 26:11Speaker 02

  Hey, it's Adam Grant from TED's Rethinking Podcast. As businesses scale, success depends on how well knowledge is captured, shared and kept up to date. Camtasia Pro turns teams' expertise into engaging training, onboarding and documentation. No professional editing experience required. With the industry's best screen recording, video editing and AI-powered workflows, you can train faster and boost operational efficiency. Get over $100 off your first year at camtasia pro.com and start building a smarter way to educate customers, onboard employees and ensure valuable expertise is shared across teams.

• 26:45Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 27:19Speaker 06

  After civil war, regicide, and Cromwell's Republic, the monarchy returned. But Britain would never be the same. I'm Professor Suzanne Ellipsum, and this month on Not Just the Tudors, we're transported back to the age of Restoration royalty, from Charles II to Queen Anne and the birth of the Empire. Join me on Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 27:58Speaker 05

  Okay, so we're in Northampton now. A lot of quite big roads. We've just passed the Queen Eleanor interchange, which is the enormous roundabout. And we've also got on the side of the road, this enormous wooded area. And this is the remains of what was Delapre Abbey. So it's known as Delapre Park today. And this would have been around during the 13th century. And Eleanor's body was actually kept here overnight at Delapre Abbey. When the cortege passed through, and you can see on the side of the road here is the very next Eleanor Cross.

• 28:34Speaker 01

  Oh, this one's big. Maybe I just think it's bigger because it's around trees, but that is something. That's imposing.

• 28:42Speaker 05

  It's quite chunky.

• 28:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:44Speaker 05

  I think all these crosses have a different personality. The one in Gettings is quite kind of balletic almost. It would be a ballerina if it was a person. It's quite elegant and tall and slim and slender. But this one's much more chunky.

• 28:56Eleanor Janega?

  Yeah. I feel like the stone is a little bit brighter. Um, on the other hand too, but then again, maybe I'm just reading it against some kind of sopping trees. Is that like when you saw originally?

• 29:07Speaker 05

  Well, it's quite a bleak backdrop here in some ways, this kind of very bare trees. And when I was here last year, it was really pouring with rain. But we were all full of joy because um you've kind of arrived and the day has been completed. So it's a, it's a nice thing to, to end up saying.

• 29:34Eleanor Janega?

  So here we are now at Hardingstone on the outskirts of Northampton. And this really feels like a spot where the medieval and contemporary worlds are colliding. The Eleanor Cross here rises from a small island of grass beside the A508 London Road. It's one of the main routes leading south from Northampton.

• 29:56Eleanor Janega?

  Traffic is rushing past in both directions. There's lorries, cars and vans. It's, you know, creating a really incongruous soundtrack to this 700 year old monument. Across the road, I can see modern brick homes that form part of the village of Hardingstone. Their windows are looking out onto this ancient cross. And not far behind me, accessible via paths through the parkland, lies Delapre Abbey. This is the former Clunyac Nunnery where Queen Eleanor's body rested overnight on the 7th or 8th of December 1290. The abbey sits within about 550 acres of parkland and garden.

• 30:39Eleanor Janega?

  It's now a public park with its lakes, wood and even a golf course. Standing here, it's almost impossible to picture what the area must have been like more than 700 years ago.

• 30:52Eleanor Janega?

  Then, this would have been a prominent roadside location on the main route south to London, at the edge of Delapre Abbey's grounds.

• 31:02Eleanor Janega?

  The funeral procession would have arrived here in solemn grandeur, with Eleanor's coffin carried to rest in the abbey while Edward I retreated to nearby Northampton Castle, which is now buried beneath the modern railway station. A causeway was specifically constructed by Robert, the son of Henry, to connect the town to this cross.

• 31:26Eleanor Janega?

  Today, leafless trees frame the monument and a paved footpath has allowed us to approach and contemplate the survivor of England's great medieval past.

• 31:38Eleanor Janega?

  This is a lovely side of the road you've taken me to. Why is it that Eleanor's body is resting at Delapre?

• 31:47Speaker 05

  So where we're standing is on the edge of this enormous woodland area, which was originally the site of the abbey of Saint Mary de la Prey. So that means "in the meadow", and this was established in the 12th century in 1145. And they had a huge amount of land, and it's thought that this is probably the most likely place that Eleanor's body was brought, especially because, of course, the cross was built here. We've got the second of the great Eleanor crosses, which survived from medieval periods.

• 32:20Eleanor Janega?

  You know, as you say, it's definitely chunkier than the last one that we saw, but it's also, you know, it's not a triangular one like last time. We've got a lot more Eleanors on display, it looks like.

• 32:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, so this one is hexagonal in form, which is the main difference, probably, which means it's much wider. We're probably looking at two or three meters wide, the actual cross structure, and then expanding quite far out for the steps below, of which we have nine steps. So it's quite elevated from its surroundings. And indeed, the actual situation of it is quite elevated from the road beside it. So we're quite high up compared to the surroundings. On one side, we've got this long wall with the forest and the woodland behind it. On the other side, this large road. And some houses, so it's quite residential, this area, in many ways. And there's a bus stop nearby. But yes, as you say, it's this hexagonal shape, more elaborate than the previous one, more substantial.

• 33:12Speaker 05

  But again, we have these common features which you see on all the crosses, which are the coat of arms of Eleanor and these statues of Eleanor looking out. But another interesting detail on this one is that it's covered in graffiti, which is quite fun. But also that we've got these books on the sides. Now, why were they there? Perhaps it was because Eleanor was a great collector of books and was a fan of romantacy in terms of King Arthur and all of those stories. But also, maybe this is where prayers were painted on, perhaps? And that leaves us the question of why were these crosses built? I mean, were they built in Eleanor's memory to encourage people to say prayers for her? But again, you know, the very top of it hasn't survived. It's been knocked off at some point.

• 33:56Speaker 05

  And so we don't have the cross shape. But this memorial actually, in very recent years, faced all kinds of structural problems and it was almost at risk of falling down in many ways. And so there's just been a big campaign to restore it to its former glory. So it's actually in pretty good condition. And as part of the book, I actually did a course with Alan Nicholquayt, who was one of the stonemasons who actually worked on this exact cross. So I had a go at kind of recreating some parts of this, which is quite tricky.

• 34:25Eleanor Janega?

  Oh, I bet. I'm really struck by this one as being a bit more architectural than the last one that we saw. You know, it's really got a lot of gabeling going on in the spire and things. It looks like a series of mini churches, almost. Now, this cross, granted, we're here to think about Eleanor, maybe pray for Eleanor, all these wonderful things. But this particular cross also sees some pretty interesting historical action involving other English queens, doesn't it?

• 34:54Speaker 05

  People might be surprised that this amazing medieval cross is here. And that's probably because we are in what seems to be quite a modern location. You know, this enormous roundabout just beside us, the Queen Eleanor interchange. But also, in most people's minds, I think Northampton is not perceived as a great medieval city. But actually, it was a hugely important location in the medieval period. And a lot of quite dramatic events happened here over the years. There have been two battles of Northampton, one of which was in 1460. And it's often said that people use this Eleanor cross as a viewing platform to kind of see what was going on. It's also been said that executions have happened on this site, which is less inspiring. But of course, when this cross was originally built, it was in somewhere called Hardingstone, which is essentially a separate part to what was originally Northampton.

• 35:38Speaker 05

  Of course, it's all kind of blurred together today. But this would have actually been on the outside of the city. But we do have some records of what the cross was like over the years. So in the 1540s, a man called John Leyland recorded that he passed a right goodly cross called, as I remember, the Queen's Cross. So obviously not really that aware of the history. Another record is Daniel Defoe, and he wrote about it in 1675. And he described the Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off. So of course, that really locates it again, that it's quite far outside of what was originally Northampton. And in 1697, Celia Fines, who was this great travel writer, she wrote a book called Through England on a Side Saddle,

• 36:21Speaker 05

  described that it was about a mile off the town and was known as the High Cross. She described it as having the statue of some queen.

• 36:29Eleanor Janega?

  Some queen.

• 36:30Speaker 05

  So she doesn't know really who the queen is. You know, Eleanor isn't a figure that's massively well-known today.

• 36:35Eleanor Janega?

  True.

• 36:36Speaker 05

  But equally, that's been the case for hundreds of years.

• 36:38Eleanor Janega?

  Well, see, this is what happens when you forget your heraldry. Because she would still have all of her symbols on the side. And it should be patently obvious if you're a medieval person. But when you're modern, it's sort of like, I don't know. Well, OK, well, can we talk a little bit about what this would have cost? Because these are pretty substantial monuments even now. Like, what do we think in terms of the outlay that Edward was putting into these?

• 37:03Speaker 05

  What's interesting about the crosses, and I think this is really interesting to think about when we consider modern memorials, like that of Elizabeth II, who died three years ago, and we still haven't really got anything there. But, you know, the medieval enliven crosses went up very quickly. Within five years, they were all built, which I think is pretty impressive and shows that they had good kind of organizational skills. And they were pretty substantial monuments and quite expensive. So we have a number for this one that's over £100, which is an extraordinary sum. And they get more elaborate and more expensive as they get further along the route. So the ones in London, Cheapside and Charing Cross, would have been far more expensive than this one. Can you equate that for us? £100 in the 13th century?

• 37:42Eleanor Janega?

  £100 in the 13th century? So that is, you know, a skilled craftsman in the 13th century. You're making maybe in a month, like, £3. So let's just keep that in mind. Yeah, so it's not nothing, you know? That is a real substantial sum, and it's something that would actually be a big contribution to the local economy. That's another thing, if you're paying masons that much, you know, it's gonna go a long way. Now, you mentioned this before, that this is a new kind of idea and fashion in England. We're not used to seeing memorials like this. Where did Edward get the idea? Like, is he that artsy that he's like, "Guys, I'm pioneering a new way of memorializing my wife"?

• 38:26Speaker 05

  Well, it's not strictly the first time that something like this has happened. There was an example in France, they called them the Montchois, and it marked the route of Louis IX of France. And that was about 20 years earlier, 1270 to 71. Having said that, they were not as elaborate and kind of excessive. I mean, they're really excessive, these monuments. We're so used to monuments today. You know, we see monuments all the time, we see statues, and we see incredible buildings. But this would be the most extraordinary thing for a medieval person to see being built in their local town, and it not serving the purpose of being, say, a cathedral, or a grand castle, or grand palace. You know, what's following an example? And I suppose it's quite interesting to think about Edward's being what we think probably a competitive man,

• 39:08Speaker 05

  you know, giving the instruction, you know, build what the French did, but make it much bigger and better.

• 39:13Eleanor Janega?

  Well, I think it's a really interesting point, too, because... You know, when they're doing it for Louis, that's like, make this man a saint. This is a specific kind of form of propaganda to encourage his canonization. And Edward's doing something really different here. You know, I think he loved his wife very much, but I don't think he was going around saying she was saint material. So even if it's kind of like the same vernacular, it's towards a really different end. It's a lot more personal, I guess.

• 39:40Speaker 05

  And it's interesting that it never really picked up. It's not an example that anyone else seemed to follow to the same extent. I mean, the normal thing to do would be to build a sanctuary chapel or build a beautiful effigy or, you know, a beautiful tomb, that sort of thing. But to do this, I don't think we really have any other examples similar in English history at least. But what is interesting is that there are 12 of them. And it reminded me, as I was walking, of the monuments to Princess Diana, one of which is a walk around the parks in London. They call it the Diana Memorial Walk. And this is a series of plaques on the floor, which have a kind of beautiful rose symbol. And obviously, these circular plaques are not impressive in their own right, but you have to kind of complete the journey to complete the memorial.

• 40:25Speaker 05

  So you, as a mourner, are part of the monument itself, and it doesn't exist without you. And I do wonder with this, I mean, we look at these as individual monuments, but was this a route that Edward was intending to create? A kind of, let's call it a pilgrimage route, if you like? Because it starts at Lincoln, which had a great cathedral and many shrines. And it takes you through St Albans, and then it ends at Westminster Abbey, where Eleanor is buried next to the shrine of Edward the Confessor and other kings at that point. So would this have been something where they had imagined or hoped that people would go on this journey down this major road towards London and end up near Eleanor's tomb or at Eleanor's tomb?

• 41:09Speaker 05

  And all of it to be paying respects to her and moving her soul through purgatory, that sort of thing? And so that's something that I wondered as I walked, because I started the walk thinking I was just retracing this journey that Edward had made to take Eleanor's body down to London in a very kind of practical way. But actually, what if I was doing a walk that he had intended many, many people to do following him? You know, everyone's guess is as good as mine, really.

• 41:33Eleanor Janega?

  Can you tell me a little bit about the last part of the journey? You know, so Eleanor's remains go from St Albans, then they go to Waltham Abbey, and then finally they end up in London and her funeral takes place on the 17th of December. What does that bit look like? Because surely we're kind of like building to kind of a crescendo or something.

• 41:54Speaker 05

  They don't go directly on the route down to London. They actually take a kind of left turn and go across to Waltham Cross. Was that perhaps to pay their respects at the abbey there? That seems a likely reason. But Edward departs from the cortege, goes ahead to London, maybe is sorting out, organising affairs of state or sorting out the funeral. And then they come through to London and eventually on the 17th of December, she is buried at Westminster Abbey. But what's quite interesting is this gives us an insight into the embalming process. And I found that such an interesting thing. How in art could you even do embalming? Would it even work? But it indicates that they didn't make a direct route to London.

• 42:32Eleanor Janega?

  Right.

• 42:32Speaker 05

  So her body must have been in quite a good condition at that point. I talked to a funeral director today and I just asked him, I was like, would this work to put herbs inside a body? You know, would that keep it fresh for that time? Which is quite a long time, you know, she dies on the 28th of November. We're talking about the 17th of December. So I think that's on the edge. But he said that you have to remember that it was December. It was very, very cold. So that actually probably would have preserved her. And the indication that they spent a few days in London and didn't rush to bury her suggests that it must have worked. The medieval barons knew what they're doing. So well done there. So they would have taken her body to Westminster Abbey and it would have been an incredibly ornate ceremony, I suppose. Vigils were held. Of course, the effigy that we now see today was not in place.

• 43:17Speaker 05

  It would have taken a bit of time to put that together. And so that was a common thing in medieval period. Of course, that they would have a temporary tomb until they were put into their final elaborate effigy that would last for centuries. Another thing to think about is Eleanor probably was aware that she wouldn't have been buried in London. So this journey, this cortege, might have been something she was totally expecting. You know, she was someone who travelled around all the time, she was on crusades, and the idea that she wouldn't be buried in London was very, very likely. So it's very reasonable that they might have even discussed the journey, or discussed what would have happened if Edward had died abroad or afar, and how that would all be managed. So although it's quite an extraordinary journey that we think these people made from Lincoln to London, it was very much part of the plan, I think.

• 44:00Speaker 05

  Of course, today, there isn't much evidence of the Eleanor Crosses, because both the London ones, in Cheapside, so that's just next to St Paul's Cathedral, and Charing Cross, so today's Trafalgar Square, were pulled down. But there are kind of glimpses of it, and outside Trafalgar Square, there is a plaque on the ground which marks the site of the original Charing Cross. Now, this was the location where, after it was pulled down, to kind of overcome the destruction of this royal symbol, they actually executed the regicides of Charles I. And to hammer who in the point, they erected a statue of Charles I himself, an equestrian statue which stands there today. But the plaque of the Eleanor Crosses is still there,

• 44:43Speaker 05

  and on this very spot, where this kind of symbol of royalism that has evolved in all sorts of different ways over the ages, all measurements to London are still measured. So if you put into Google Maps, "take me to London", it will take you to the site of the Eleanor Cross. So that really gives you a sense of quite how central it was, and still is today, even though it doesn't stand in its original form. And of course, nearby, you can see a Victorian interpretation of the original cross, which stands in the forecourt of the railway station. And that gives you a pretty good idea. You know, it's not dissimilar from the monument we're looking at now. And the Victorians gave these crosses a new lease of life, because Gilbert Scott, who was based near Northampton, he was responsible for the Oxford Martyrs Memorial,

• 45:27Speaker 05

  which is quite similar again in style, and again, it's remembering these figures from centuries before. And there was this phase of people building crosses for their loved ones, for lost wives. Well, the Albert Memorial, opposite the Royal Albert's Hall, they actually said that they were inspired by the Eleanor Crosses. Because of course, these are great monuments to a Queen Consort, Albert was another Consort, and so it's all in the same vein.

• 46:01Speaker 02

  Hey, it's Adam Grant from TED's Rethinking Podcast. As businesses scale, success depends on how well knowledge is captured, shared, and kept up to date. Camtasia Pro turns teams' expertise into engaging training, onboarding, and documentation. No professional editing experience required. With the industry's best screen recording, video editing, and AI-powered workflows, you can train faster and boost operational efficiency. Get over $100 off your first year at camtasia pro.com and start building a smarter way to educate customers, onboard employees, and ensure valuable expertise is shared across teams.

• 46:34Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 47:18Eleanor Janega?

  Well, I'll tell you what. You know, you're standing in the presence of a monument to love, and that's what we get with the Albert Memorials as well. You know, it's an extravagant memorial, even now, to Edward's Queen. It's absolutely a real architectural jewel. I mean, yeah, OK, I'm standing next to a modern motorway, for sure. But if passing motorists look up, you can kind of think about it. Is this about guilt? Or is this the last part of a medieval love story? But either way, I mean, we're standing on the side of a road in Northamptonshire, and Edward's got his way. You know, he's succeeded in his purpose. Eleanor is not going to be unknown or forgotten.

• 48:00Eleanor Janega?

  Traffic can pass by all it wants, but I'm still hanging out on the side of the road, drooling over it.

• 48:05Speaker 05

  And that was a big lesson that I took away from doing this walk, was that you can walk through 200 miles of England, a random cross-section, and the amount of history you can find, even in the most surprising locations, really shines through. And this is an example, you know, here we are on this enormous road, and this exquisite, exceptional, and totally wonderful medieval monument that has stood on this site for over 700 years. It's just extraordinary.

• 48:34Eleanor Janega?

  I guess I'm gonna probably head back to London at this point, but thank you so much for joining me today. But I guess a big question, I know that authors love to get asked this right after they've finished with the book. What are you doing next? Have you got another big historic journey coming up?

• 48:49Speaker 05

  Well, I have actually really loved writing about history by going on a long walk, you know, and I think it really kind of brings it to life for people, because of course, anybody can do that. It's basically playing the part of a visitor, and that's been really fun for me. So the next book I'm working on will be a kind of journey through Britain, really just trying to get people out there, looking at these sites themselves, and discovering what could be found on their doorstep.

• 49:11Eleanor Janega?

  I absolutely love that. But of course, History Hit subscribers can also check out your film, The Eleanor Crosses: England's Greatest Love Story, on History Hit, which I'm really excited about myself.

• 49:39Eleanor Janega?

  So, my day is ending as it began, back here in front of Charing Cross Station. And the Eleanor Cross here was by far the most elaborate and expansive of all 12 monuments, as benefited its location as the final stop before Westminster Abbey. It stood in what was then the small village of Charing, positioned near the entrance to the Royal Muse, attached to Westminster Palace. This magnificent structure survived for over three and a half centuries, until 1647, when...

• 50:13Eleanor Janega?

  An act of parliament ordered its destruction as part of the Puritan campaign against royal and religious imagery. Thanks a lot, Puritans. The site was later occupied in 1675 by the Equestrian statue of Charles I by Hubert Lassour, which still stands today and marks the traditional centre of London. So next time you're passing by Charing Cross Station, just spare a moment to recall the king's grief and the extraordinary nature of his marriage to Eleanor of Castile. From Lincoln Cathedral, where her visceral lies buried, to Westminster Abbey, where her magnificent tomb stands beside Edward's, Eleanor's memory was preserved in stone and

• 50:57Eleanor Janega?

  story. The Eleanor Crosses represent more than mere monuments. They embody medieval concepts of love, loss, memory, and the relationship between both earthly power and spiritual devotion. They remind us that behind the grand narratives of medieval politics, there's human relationships of profound depth and genuine emotion. Sometimes it's the greatest expressions of royal power, where we also see the most personal declarations of human love.

• 51:49Eleanor Janega?

  My thanks to Alice Lockston and to you for listening to Gone Medieval from History Hit. Remember, you can enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original TV documentaries, including Alice's film on the Eleanor Crosses, by signing up at historyhit.com/subscription. You can follow Gone Medieval on Spotify, where you can leave us comments and suggestions, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell all your friends and family that you've gone medieval. Until next time.

• 52:40Speaker 02

  Hey, it's Adam Grant from TED's Rethinking Podcast. As businesses scale, success depends on how well knowledge is captured, shared, and kept up to date. Camtasia Pro turns teams' expertise into engaging training, onboarding, and documentation. No professional editing experience required. With the industry's best screen recording, video editing, and AI-powered workflows, you can train faster and boost operational efficiency. Get over $100 off your first year at camtasia pro.com and start building a smarter way to educate customers, onboard employees, and ensure valuable expertise is shared across teams.

• 53:14Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.