Friday, February 18, 2011

My Oxford Ancestry: You may call me 'Your Ladyship'


Lady Elizabeth de Montfort is my paternal great grandmother, back 26 generations.  She married Sir William de Montagu 2nd Baron Montacute, son of Simon de Montagu Baron Montacute and Hawise de St Amand.  Her sarcophagus and effigy are in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford next to that of St. Frideswide.  She warranted that honor through her donation of land to the Priory of St. Frideswide in the 14th c. 
Christ Church Meadow is the land that she donated and one of my favorite places on the planet for a stroll with the shades of the past -- my past.  





I don't know if you believe in the spirits of the deceased having access to the living - not in a creepy or scary poltergeist kind of way -- but in a pleasantly disturbing awareness kind of way.  If you do, then you will know what I mean when I say that I have never been more keenly confident of her presence than when I visit her final resting place or walk the meadow path. Don't worry, I always use my best manners, execute perfect posture and try to comport myself as a true and proper Lady.
It seems Lady Elizabeth is as interested in me as I am in her!  And, that is not unsettling to me at all, slightly overwhelming perhaps, but not unsettling.  








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