One of the great love stories of medieval England is that of Eleanor of Castile and King Edward I (known as the hammer of the Scots). Though their's was an arranged marriage they grew to love each other dearly, had 12 children together, and she followed him on his crusade to the Holy Land. A story states that she saved his life by sucking the poison from a wound he received on the Crusade.
In 1290 she was stricken ill in Harby, near Lincoln and died before her husband could reach her from Scotland. He was inconsolable and ordered her body to be embalmed and her entrails buried at Lincoln Cathedral. He then began the sad trip to bring her home to London for her final rest at Westminster Abbey.
At every place where her body rested along the route he built a cross in her honor, thus there were originally 12 crosses built. The most famous was Charing Cross in London. The original no longer exists, but 3 originals do. The one in Geddington, Northamptonshire was on our route between Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire and I was delighted to be able to stop and see it.
As it turns out this is the finest of the crosses still in existence. It is a beautiful stone monument decorated with carving and statues and it sits right down the hill from the Church of St Mary Magdalene where her body spent the night. This cross is a tribute to the love between a husband and a wife and a national treasure. That it ever existed is amazing enough but that it still exists is truly astounding.
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