This little world

In Act II, Scene I of his history play Richard II, Shakespeare put immortal words in the mouth of a dying John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. These words England took to heart, perhaps like no other:

"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;
This fortress built by nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England...."

A memorable tribute to one's homeland, if ever there was one.

John of Gaunt (the name refers to his birthplace in Ghent in present-day Belgium) led an illustrious life as the third surviving son of King Edward III. By the time of his death in 1399, he had become the largest private landowner in northern England, and had distinguished himself as a general in the Hundred Years War, fighting in France.

Agecroft Hall once stood in Lancashire, before being dismantled and brought across the Atlantic to the banks of the James in Richmond in 1926. Among the finest of Agecroft Hall's artifacts is the John of Gaunt window, a work in stained glass created after Gaunt's death by the Langley family, owners of Agecroft in the early 15th century. Gaunt had been a benefactor of the Langleys while he lived, and the window was created with Gaunt's coat of arms as a tribute to the man, who evidently cut a figure larger than life. His son, Henry Bolingbroke, would become England's King Henry IV, usurping the throne from Gaunt's nephew, Richard II.

Pictured here (top) is John of Gaunt's coat of arms, along with a detail shot. The fleur-de-lis is indicative of the English monarchy's long-time claims to the French throne. The stained glass window had not originally been sold with the Agecroft manor house, but was reacquired for the building in 1979. It did not fare well in the trans-Atlantic trip to Richmond, and considerable restorative conservation work was completed in 2009.

A generous grant from the Garland and Agnes Taylor Gray Foundation, a supporting organization of the Community Foundation, serving Richmond and Central Virginia, went toward conservation and installation of the glass.