The elephant of Henry III ( 1245 – 14 February 1257) was an animal of the king's
Royal Menagerie at the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
. The elephant is thought to be one given by Egypt to
Louis IX of France
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
as a diplomatic gift during the
Seventh Crusade. The animal was given to
Henry III as he was travelling through France in late 1254. It was kept for a while at
Wissant
Wissant (; from nl, Witzand, lang, “white sand”) is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
Wissant is a fishing port and farming village located approximately north of Boulog ...
on the northern French coast, whilst transport was arranged to England.
The elephant arrived in England in early 1255 and a special house for it was constructed at the Lion's Tower of the Tower of London. It was the first elephant to be seen in the country since the
Roman invasion of 43 AD. The animal attracted crowds of onlookers including the chronicler
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...
who produced two drawings of it. The elephant survived in the Tower until 14 February 1257. It was buried in the Tower's
bailey, but exhumed for unknown reasons by Henry in 1258.
Background and gifting
Although earlier monarchs had kept exotic animals at the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
it was
Henry III that established the
Royal Menagerie on a permanent footing, with animals being kept continuously from 1235 until 1834. Henry had received three leopards from
Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire in 1235, upon his marriage to Henry's sister
Isabella of England
Isabella of England (1214 – 1 December 1241) was an English princess of the House of Plantagenet. She became Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Sicily, Italy and Germany from 1235 until her death as the third wife of Emperor Frederick II.
Life B ...
. He later received a "white bear", presumed to be a polar bear, from
Haakon IV
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 y ...
of Norway.
[
The elephant seems to have arrived in Europe as a result of ]Louis IX of France
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
's Seventh Crusade, which began in 1248 with an expedition to Egypt. This failed and Louis was captured and ransomed. He chose to remain in the region to continue the crusade, attempting to defend the crusader states
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...
in the Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
. Egypt proposed an alliance with Louis against Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and gave him an elephant to this end in 1252–1253.[ The elephant was brought from ]Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
to Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
, along with many freed prisoners, by John of Valenciennes John of Valenciennes ( 1243–1267) was a baron and diplomat of the kingdom of Jerusalem. He began in the service of the Latin emperor Baldwin II, Latin Emperor, Baldwin II, before joining Louis IX of France on the Seventh Crusade. He was the lord o ...
. Louis sent the animal back to France and returned there himself in July 1254.[
In November and December 1254 Henry III, travelling through France on his return from ]Gascony
Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...
to England, met Louis at Orleans and Paris. During their meetings Henry demanded the return of the French provinces lost by his father, John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, though the meetings were generally amicable and the men were brothers-in-law, Henry's wife Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introd ...
being a sister of Louis' wife Margaret
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
. Louis is thought to have given the elephant to Henry around the time of these meetings.[
The elephant first appears in English records of 13 December 1254 when Henry, who was then travelling from Paris to England, appointed his clerk, Peter of Gannoc, as the animal's keeper. Peter was dispatched to meet with the keeper of the Royal Menagerie, John Gouche, to arrange the transport of the elephant to England.]
In February 1255 Henry, by then at the Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
, ordered the Sheriff of Kent
The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (prior to 1974 the office previously known as sheriff)."Sheriffs appointed for a county or Greater London shall be known as high sheriffs, and any reference in any enactment or instrum ...
to assist the keepers. The sheriff went to Dover with Gouche and arranged transport for the elephant, which was then being kept at Wissant
Wissant (; from nl, Witzand, lang, “white sand”) is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
Wissant is a fishing port and farming village located approximately north of Boulog ...
, near Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
. The Exchequer
In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reven ...
reimbursed the sheriff £6 17s 5d for the transport of the elephant, with additional funds for the transport of Henry's treasure and messengers from Louis, coming to £9 6d total.[
]
Arrival at the Tower
The elephant was brought to London and handed to the sheriffs of that city. They were ordered to construct a house for the animal within the Lion's Tower of the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
, home to the Royal Menagerie.[ A wooden structure was built, which was adaptable for other uses.] The sheriffs claimed £22 20d in expenses for the project.[
The animal was the first elephant in England since those brought by ]Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
in 43 AD for the Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain refers to the conquest of the island of Britain by occupying Roman forces. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by 87 when the Staneg ...
and its arrival caused a sensation.[ Chronicler ]Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...
recorded the event in his ''Chronica Majora
The ''Chronica Majora'' is the seminal work of Matthew Paris, a member of the English Benedictine community of St Albans and long-celebrated historian. The work begins with Creation and contains annals down to the year of Paris' death of 1259. ...
'' and noted that "people flocked together to see the novel sight". Paris travelled from St Albans Abbey
St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be ...
to view the elephant for himself. He noted that it was "a beast most strange and wonderful to the English people". He states its age as ten years, noted that it was "ponderous and robust" and measured in height.[
Paris is known to have drawn the animal from life, an unusual practice at a time when depictions of animals were based primarily on convention or by copying from ]bestiaries
A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history a ...
.[ It is believed that his first drawing was the one contained in his ''Liber Additamentorum'' (Book of Additional Things). It depicts the animal in colour and with a separate study of a different positioning of the trunk.][ The second drawing appears in ''Chronica Majora'' and is less detailed. It may have been based on the first drawing or from sketches, no longer extant, made during Paris' visit.][ The second drawing shows a more realistic trunk and depicts the animal's keeper, Henry de Flor, to provide an indication of scale.] Paris' drawings show prominent knee joints. This is contrary to the prevailing belief, introduced by the 4th-century AD ''Hexameron
The term Hexameron (Greek: Ἡ Ἑξαήμερος Δημιουργία ''Hē Hexaēmeros Dēmiourgia'') refers either to the genre of theological treatise that describes God's work on the six days of creation or to the six days of creation thems ...
'' of Ambrose
Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promo ...
, that the animals had no knees and could not rise from the ground if they fell.[
]
Exhibition and death
De Flor had apparently succeeded Gouche to the role of keeper of the king's elephant when the latter left Henry's service in May 1255, apparently on good terms.[ In late 1255 the new sheriffs of London (it was an annual office) were ordered by the king to provide for the maintenance of the elephant and its keeper. From December 1255 to September 1256 the costs were £24 14s 3.5d. At this time a labourer made around 2d a day and £15 was considered sufficient to support a knight for a year][ The order was renewed for the following term and the sheriffs claimed £16 13s 1d from September 1256 to 14 February 1257, when the elephant died.][ The animal had been a source of great pride for Henry.][
In August 1258 Henry ordered the ]Constable of the Tower
The Constable of the Tower is the most senior appointment at the Tower of London. In the Middle Ages a constable was the person in charge of a castle when the owner—the king or a nobleman—was not in residence. The Constable of the Tower had a ...
to exhume the elephant's bones from the bailey of the Tower of London and provide them to the sacristan of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
to do what the king had instructed with them (this order has not been found). It is not known if the king was intent on recovering the valuable ivory from the animal, planned to exhibit the bones as a curiosity or intended to reinter them.[ It is possible Henry's order was intended to provide a respectable resting place for the animal at the Abbey, which he had established as the burial place of future kings. Mediaeval bestiaries attributed faithful and gentle virtues to elephants and associated them with the Biblical paradise and the redemption of Christ.][ Later monarchs kept other elephants at the tower. The elephant house survived until its abandonment and demolition in the mid 19th century.][
]
References
{{reflist
1240s births
1257 deaths
13th-century animal births
13th-century animal deaths
13th century in London
Medieval individual animals
Individual elephants
Animals as diplomatic gifts
Henry III of England
Tower of London
Louis IX of France
Seventh Crusade