A notice, transferred to _The Times_ of the 5th instant from a recent
number of _The Builder_, on the shrine of Edward the Confessor, after
mentioning that "to this shrine Edward I. offered the Scottish regalia and
the coronation chair, which is still preserved," adds, "Alphonso, about
1280, offered it the golden coronet of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, and other
jewels."
Who was Alphonso? And would the contributor of the notice favour the
readers of "N. & Q." with the authority _in extenso_ for the offering of
this coronet?
The period assigned for the offering is certainly too early; Llewelyn ap
Griffith, "the last sovereign of one of the most ancient ruling families of
Europe" (_Hist. of England_, by Sir James Mackintosh, vol. ii. p. 254.),
having been slain at Builth, Dec. 11, 1282. Warrington (_Hist. of. Wales_,
vol. ii. p. 271.), on the authority of Rymer's _Foedera_, vol. ii. p. 224.,
says: "Upon stripping Llewelyn there were found his Privy Seal; a paper
that was filled with dark expressions, and a list of names written in a
kind of cypher;" omitting, it will be observed, any reference to Llewelyn's
coronet. That monarch's crown was probably obtained and transmitted to
Edward I. on the capture, June 21, 1283, or shortly after, of his brother
David ap Griffith, Lord of Denbigh, who had assumed the Welsh throne on the
demise of Llewelyn; the Princess Catherine, the daughter and heir of the
latter, and _de jure_ sovereign Princess of Wales, being then an infant.
Warrington states (vol. ii. p. 285.) that when David was taken, a relic,
highly venerated by the Princes of Wales, was found upon him, called
_Crosseneych_, supposed to be a part of the real cross brought by St. Neots
into Wales from the Holy Land; and he adds that, besides the above relic,
which was voluntarily delivered up to Edward by a secretary of the late
Prince of Wales, "the crown of the celebrated King Arthur, with many
precious jewels, was about this time presented to Edward," citing as his
authorities _Annales Waverleienses_, p. 238.; Rymer's _Foedera_, vol. ii.
p. 247.
There are some particulars of these relics in the _Archæologia Cambrensis_;
but neither that periodical, nor the authorities referred to by Warrington,
are at the moment accessible to me.