Why Hemel Hempstead, (Felden), 'Box Lane Chapel' ?

Why Hemel Hempstead, (Felden), 'Box Lane Chapel' ?

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

June 1, 2008
RE: Hemel Hempstead, England, the ancient ‘Box Lane’ runs uphill from Boxmoor to Bovington and passes through the west of Felden (hamlet).





http://www.folger.edu/html/exhibitions/elizabeth_I/images/EXH0074.jpg
http://www.folger.edu/html/exhibitions/elizabeth_I/vandepasse.asp

Van de Passe engraving of Elizabeth
Crispin van de Passe (ca.1565-1637)
Queen Elizabeth I
Engraving, after drawing by Isaac Oliver
1603-04
The drawing which served as model for this late engraving probably dates from ca.1592-95. The queen wears a wide French farthingale, made of silk decorated with a trellis design of a light woven fabric, caught up on rosettes by jeweled buttons. The over-sleeves are lined with an embroidered fabric. A wired veil trimmed with lace rises behind her elaborate ruff. She wears a jeweled girdle or belt, and pearls nestle in her hair and hang in ropes from her neck. The engraving was made after Elizabeth's death, and Roy Strong calls it "the most influential portrait ever produced of her."






Why whimsical buttons, are so important to the 'My Bertha', Story ?

The key to the buttons is within the Queen Elizabeth, section @

Eyes (Ayin) of the Madonna
http://eyesofthemadonna.blogspot.com/



https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVd9vAcsOT7et-Gavo1SwHyW4t6ZHBwKq5LDZwCX1dDi0cdUoy_OfJiapIoTXR65O0ZzFx53KKjLiNMe-VkvNtThJW6IuKXAR8PbOJNBkNwb5DdVhflAP9kv-3hcE8f4cHmcJOGeIMo3iV/s400/JEWELED-BUTTON.jpg


http://biobettyculpepperclark.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-bertha-story-jasper-alabama.html
“ MY BERTHA “, STORY

[excerpt]
None of these goodies, compared to the secret bedroom of `My Bertha`. Due to her seamstress work, she collected thousands upon millions, I thought, of jeweled buttons. Yes, the hidden jewels. She kept them in linen cloth draw string bags. And upon each visit, while bouncing upon her feather mattress, I would open these draw strings bags of buttons and pour out the jewels


Dear Reader:


This research is based on the area in England called : Hertfordshire. The idea for this research called, “Ancient `Box Lane’, Hertfordshire”, started from the 1994 story I wrote about Felden, a hamlet in England.

The background concerning Hemel Hempstead, is connected to the ancient settlement of Henamsted or Hean-Hemstead, i.e. High Hempstead, in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror’s time by the name of Hemel-Amstede. The name Hemel Hempstead is referred to as ‘Hamelamesede’, in the Domesday Book, but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted. The property graveyard area at `Box Lane Chapel` in 1837, rendered Roman funeral remains.

In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I, gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester. Then seven years later the gift including pastures in the Hemel Hempstead area, at Boxmoor, were purchased in secret, in 1581, by three townspeople Rolfe, Pope and Gladman.

I started asking myself, ` Why was it a kept secret to give these pastures as a gift, from the Queen ` ? First, the Queen ruled for forty years and ‘The Boxmoor Trust’, 1594, was a forever protection of the pastures for 67 local inhabitants (Feoffes). The Queen would only live another seven years from these ordained land estate irrevocable, actions.

The discovery of details about the rulership of Queen Elizabeth I, until her death in 1603, of the pressure on the nation under the rule of `The Church of England`, forced Puritan's to worship under secrecy. Although a house of the soul (Brug), the ‘Box Lane Chapel’, was built in early 1600’s, this chapel was associated with the Protestant’s to practice their faith. However, the chapel was not officially founded until 1668. Before the Queen’s death, her guardian spirit (Devons), set these land trust in action for infinity.


The Conventicle Act of 1664, set up by `The Church of England`, opened a hostile environment for non-conformists, dissenters (see Tring) and puritans. Even Oliver Cromwell, may have once worshiped at the `Box Lane Chapel`. King Charles I, was in exile between 1650-1660. So the heated debate of the war about religion was most certainly a continuance after the Queens death, 1603. She had lived to enact provisions to protect Hemel Hempstead and Bovington, in Hertfordshire.

Why protect, the ancient ‘Box Lane’, that runs uphill from Boxmoor to Bovington and passes through the west of Felden (hamlet) ? These sacred grounds were the historical links to the flag of the dragon, Prince of Wales. Queen Elizabeth I, was the heir daughter to the famous, Queen Anne Bolen. Elizabeth was three years old when her father King Henry VIII, forced England to execute Anne.

The Puritans of their day, 1592, Henry Mayne and son James helped play a role of protection and patronage to ‘Box Lane Chapel’. The Mayne’s, leased a nearby estate in Westbrook. These men witnessed the special feature of a hatched doorway, at the back of the pulpit, to allow the preacher to make a swift escape from ‘The Church of England’, authorities. In the early 1600’s, the Mayne’s would have recalled the secretly held religious services, conducted at local cottages and barns. I am researching for the answer to, if the Mayne’s may have been relatives and neighbors to the 67 local inhabitants (Feoffes), who became owners in 1594, of the gifted pastures of Hemel Hempstead from Queen Elizabeth I.

My next research is involved in the comparison of the 67 names to the `Knights of the Bath`. Also I am searching for a General Thadius Johns and his `bard` son named, Sherman A. Thadius. It seems that the bard, Sherman, is a genetic product of a brothel house in Felden. Sherman stated, “Born to speak to the words of the day, to list the tragedy and to embellish the Queen’s heart . . .” Sherman writes as a bard, “the lance of his grief was the brothel house and Felden, his own diversion and right of passage”.

He states, “I subject my heart to pain, to release the groan and sorrow of her tears, and grief for my own soul born to command, but not commanding”. Sherman, is a member of the Bath Knights. He is concerned about Queen Elizabeth I, granting her words of declaration for the ‘Box Lane Chapel’ guards, to wed. These chapel guards are a troup host of guards, who monitor the Hemel Hempstead protections, against the hostile environment toward the non-conformists, dissenters (Tring), and Puritans. Sherman, was a seed from prostitution in the Roman theatre public baths. Bath, England famous for the Roman Baths, sported a public bathhouse, also known as a ‘stew’. The bathhouse, was next to and part of a brothel, as they were usually ‘both’ run by the city. Sherman called his mother, ‘maiden’. He stated, “I too need mercy to forgive the passion and neglect on my father’s toward maidens and few who stand awaiting for space to serve the needs”. Sherman declared he had birthrights of fortune, under his father General Thadius Johns. Sherman was very loyal of Queen Elizabeth I, and her pledge to support the lands of Hemel Hempstead Puritans.

The military gift, to Charles II, who was crowned 1661, of a renaissance portrait titled: ‘The Madonna of the Hay’, was selected for King Charles, due to his support of `The Church of England`. The Prince of Wales, carried the flag of the dragon and was presented with the pastorial landscape portrait by the artist Raphael. Due to Joseph, Mary, Jesus and the lamb being depicted in the portrait with Hemel Hempstead’s resemblance, to the Italian landscape background rendition, of its dairies with pasture lands. In 1854, the portrait was sold at auction from the Princess of Wales estate, the former Lady Diana of Althorp. This portrait is a signature of the by-gone days of Hertfordshire, ancient Box Lane, ‘The Box Lane Chapel’, now a private home, since 1969. And ‘The Madonna of the Hay’, was in the Italian government’s hands in 1994, crossing from the Switzerland Banks, with illegal resale purpose involving nuclear weapons. The portrait is in Switzerland returned to an un-named Italian business man, per the Vicenza, Italian police. Now, on to the `Nazi War Gold Crimes`, which supported the Germans through this stolen renaissance art to promote the persecution toward the Jews.

`The Madonna of the Hay`, portrait, represents the reward to the Prince of Wales, King Charles II, who helped to bring Hertfordshire under the submission of 'The Church of England'. And the portrait is linked to the heirs of Princess of Wales, Lady Diana. The sad thought is, the portrait was stolen and was used for the persecution of the Davidic bloodline, of the nation of Israel. And as of 1996, remains in the hands of the unknown, outside the arms of the Welsh flag, which Queen Elizabeth I, an heir of the Davidic bloodline . . . fought for.



article by : The 'eyes' (Ayin) of the Madonna, alias : Betty C. Clark

Shalvaton Brugthon Devons, Felden, `Box Lane Chapel`

Shalvaton Brugthon Devons, Felden, `Box Lane Chapel`


`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

Shalvaton
Brugthon
Devons

Salvation, the house of the soul, her guardian spirit.

Some language experts, are cross-referencing the above.


Holy Spirit, gave me this story to write :
March 16, 1994 Thursday 11pm approx.






S h a l v a t o n B r u g t h o n D e v o n s = S B D

Friday May 30th, 2008

The S B D, has the following facts to the story :

(a)Felden is a hamlet in England.

(b)The dragon flag.

©The Knights of the Bath.




All three of the items above are within the structure of the story. I did post a lexicon find. The timeframe(century) of the story, can be considered within the time table of the `Bath Knights`. However, they existed before George anointed them as a `order'. At least, it puts a time frame reference.
And when you read about the `Knights of the Bath`, it gives points back to Prince of Wales.

I visited in 1996, the hamlet area of Felden.

Many Spencer's buried there of the Lady Di, (Altrope) heirs. Princess of Wales.
And my birth mother is a Spencer.

I know, you know . . . that all of my mission with the Lord, has a continuance theme. It does not matter what subject surfaces, it always completes a type of 'affinity ' . . .

Thank you for your help.

Are you asking, what ' affinity ' purpose ?

The answer is, that all the bloodline history of coming to America in the 1600's of my dual surnames ( Culpepper and Spencer ) established routes, links from the Davidic
Crown of England, unto the Amerindians of Israel.

The pattern, may be different names, places, seasons/dates . . . however, the Alice
in Wonderland, down the rabbit hole . . . is a childish way to explain the exploration.

Then as a Emory University doctor, assisted me with a manuscript called,
"The Lost Madonna", about me (Betty) being the `eyes of the Madonna` through a portrait I discovered, which had been lost to the Spencer family since the 1850's, then recovered in 1994, by the Italian police. This story is a type of reverse Dorian Gray, theme.

I have the eyes (Ayin) observation, to document these bloodline links, between the Crown of England, the Amerindians unto the Celts . . . back unto the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel.

As a child, before school age, due to my father's job, we lived in several areas of the `mound` areas of native Americans, in the United States. And yes, when the NDE
happened with my drowning (age 9) . . . we had that year 1968, settled in the home place my parents built and my mother still lives at.













http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?showtopic=19447&st=30#entry191363
Need Language Expert, ( Celtic ), S h a l v a t o n B r u g t h o n D e v o n s



S h a l v a t o n
B r u g t h o n
D e v o n s
..............whose to wed the host of chapel guards who
await thine words of declaration ?


The above ^ three separate words were at the end of the following story . . .

Location : Felden is a hamlet in England.


March 16, 1994 Thursday 11pm approx.

............seeing the end of the valley turning and rolling with
ivy and nactrilus growth, I view all the seasons the same my love. I see the brillant corners of the mountains with the flowers and foliage of green and purple-brown.
The flocks roam free to await the return of the
master shepard. I really wait for the night to fall to rest
peaceful and dream of thy arms, of the wonderful chimes of the dairy. The taste of taste, Oh to engulf the winged creature of the
evening and silently exist as one of the darksights.
We be of the 3rd schedule of Knights, toward the
dozens of loathsome soldiers of death , and to fair as a marksman is but to admit the failures of ye kindred wonderings. I see those to who pledge the flag of Dragon's, and use the sword to symbol, not to over Power the weak. I take the night and fall millions of levels of dark falling, into the hands of the cold fortress, whose dreams I encamp in my dreaming sleep and waking hour.
I only mourn for the arms and strength given to a maiden,
of sorts whose belly I exist in as a child not born,
I can only in due time come to season and suck the
life of earth and hear the drums, and
horns while the brass instrument sounds, I wait
my turn to be born. I view many of the hours of
lonely thoughts and kindred
care, as a half-way point to set my sight on
the design and fortune of my birthrights to
Ode-General-so-Lucky Thadius Johns. Whose Jawls
droupe to the ground and bark like a dog of the
court whining and begging for the bone of the lamb.
I brake the bone to hurdle myself into this time, to
visit the life design of wisdom and have escaped
the tunnel of darkness. I too need mercy to forgive
the passion and neglect on my Father's toward
maidens and few who stand awaiting for space
to serve the needs. Brothel House and Felden,
Lance of grief was my own diversion and right of passage.
I subject my heart to pain to release the groan and
sorrow of her tears and grief for my own soul
born to command, but not commanding. Born to
speak to the words of the
day, to list the tragedy and to embelish the Queens
heart, to hear the words of wisdom and to release
my pain, to disable the guilt of disappointment at Birth.
To use the well of waters of life to advance my method
of grief. So we speak, so we die, so we live again,
until again we say goodbye...............
Sherman A. Thadius

Thadius Johns

S h a l v a t o n

B r u g t h o n

D e v o n s

..............whose to wed the host of chapel guards who await thine words of declaration ?




This is some research I discovered :


Encyclopedia : Celtic Wisdom
. . .being guided to carry this book to work to read:
I discovered the following:

1] Brughthon [ is a place in Scotland called ' Newgrange ' ]
And it is said : " Brugh is House of the Soul '
writers in Celtic language = brugh na boyne [ page#109 & 389]

2] of course the Brugh is North of the Boyne area
and celts understood : . . .rivalry and jealousy surrounding
the Brugh page 426

3] The Devon [Deman] = comuidachta [page#427] meaning
" her guardian spirit "

5] Ogams were cut into wood.
called : onuata = sealed + auypa = letter = " sealed letter "
The ogams were cryptic mode of writing ...
only the historian registrar notary called : Seanchaidhe
could read these sealed letters.
The Knights and the druids were the only >interpreters<
of O g a m [ year 600 Scotland] page 40



Subj: Why is the story, "Eyes of the Madonna", a reverse Dorian Gray ?
Date: 6/3/2008 9:37:34 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: Bclarkgemetria
To: k.vancauwenberge@tiscali.be




De Profundis website:

I have posted a research study, which is titled : ' Eyes (Ayin) of the Madonna '
http://eyesofthemadonna.blogspot.com/

I am seeking commentary in reference to the research.

The premise for the work, is based on a factual esoteric experience I recorded from 1994. A recovered portrait, was presented on CNN. With the sound turned down on the television, I saw the portrait and instantly said to my husband, "That is a Raphael".

From this point, I wrote specific information about a `maiden of a public bath`, at a theatre . . . being humiliated by an actor, name Joseph Bratford. ( several paragraphs of details )

Within one month, I wrote another set of information about an area in England, called: Felden
http://eyesofthemadonna.blogspot.com/2008/06/felden-hemel-hempstead-hertfordshire.html

This continuance writing, involved the Bath Knights, Queen Elizabeth I, a brothel house and Felden. The bard/knight, who is the subject matter of the information was named :
Sherman A. Thadius . . . his father was named : General Thadius Johns

I consulted with an Emory University professional named : David Ryback, Ph.D., ABPP

The feedback from this consultation, assisted me to produce a manuscript, called :
`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

I traveled to England, in February 1996, to conclude some research facts.

The summary to the experience has been suggested, as a reverse Dorian Gray, story.
Below I have included your excerpt, about 'The Picture of Dorian Gray, in 1891'. My
resolution has included finding my family surnames linked to the British Crown, the recovery of the portrait, 'Madonna of the Hay', from the Mafia, connected to smuggling of Nuclear materials,
http://eyesofthemadonna.blogspot.com/2008/06/nazi-war-gold-crimes-mafia-string.html ( see excerpt, below ) . . . and this portrait being a former military gift to King Charles II, 1661 . . .
http://eyesofthemadonna.blogspot.com/2008/06/charles-ii-of-england.html


Indeed, the full circle of the life of the portrait, does continue . . . as a type of reverse
Dorian Gray, story. Why ? I am the witness, I am {THE EYES OF THE MADONNA} . . .

The Italian government does `not` want to verify the 1996, return of the portrait , to a validated
party. I have researched the `Nazi War Gold Crimes`, of the Switzerland Banking system. This portrait, ' The Madonna of the Hay ', was used in Germany to fund the war crime against the Jewish people. The portrait was sold under private sales, from Lady Diana Spencer's heir estate, 'Althorp', 1854. ( this is `not` in the news article, I have verification from a book: 'The Treasures of Art, in Great Britain', by DR. WAAGEN )

The news report states, the 'portrait' has not been last heard from, until 1920's :

Italian intelligence agents involved in keeping track of nuclear smuggling in Russia, Eastern Europe, Iran and Libya say the Raphael, entitled The Madonna of the Hay, was offered to them by gangsters as part of a "sting" operation in which the agents posed as buyers of nuclear materials such as plutonium. The painting was last heard of in Germany in the 1920s. Its fate since then is unclear, but according to Aldo Anghessa, one of the Italian secret agents involved in the "sting", it had been in a Geneva bank vault. The painting was brought back to Italy, described as by a "minor artist of the Umbrian school" to avoid import tax.


Thank you,

Betty C. Clark
2036 Bascomb Carmel Road
Woodstock, Georgia 30189
bclarkgemetria@aol.com




http://members.lycos.nl/oscarwilde/index.htm

(excerpt from above link)
The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1891:

Whereas these epigrams proclaim that art and ethics belong to separate spheres, the central image of the novel is paradoxically a moralising work of art (a portrait) that depicts the immoral life of Dorian Gray. Each sin of Dorian Gray mars the beauty of his portrait. As Richard Ellmann, Wilde's main biographer, remarked with respect to the contradictions in this novel:
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a critique of aestheticism, which is shown to bring Dorian to ruin; yet readers have been won by Dorian's beauty and regretful, rather than horrified, at his waste of it, so that he has something of the glamour of a Faust rather than the foulness of a murderer and drug-addict. And Wilde, feeling that the book had too much moral, subverts it with a preface which expounds sympathetically some of that aesthetic creed by which the book shows Dorian corrupted.[4]

note:

The above excerpt posted @ http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray





S h a l v a t o n

B r u g t h o n

D e v o n s

..............whose to wed the host of chapel guards who await thine words of declaration ?


FACT :
The chapel is called " Box Lane Chapel ".
http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/d...lane-chapel.htm


The story states, " Brothel House and Felden, Lance of grief was my own diversion and right of passage ".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felden


FACT :
Felden, is a hamlet in Hemel Hempstead, Herfordshire England




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemel_Hempstead

Felden - Felden is a partly rural area south west of Hemel Hempstead that has many wealthy detached houses.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felden
Felden is a semi-rural neighbourhood of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, situated to the south west of the town, close to the railway station.

It is separated from the main urban area by main roads, the rail line and Boxmoor. Felden is uncharacteristic of Hemel Hempstead in that it almost entirely upmarket privately owned housing.

The ancient Box Lane runs uphill from Boxmoor to Bovingdon and passes through the west of Felden. On this lane stands Box Lane Chapel , a non-conformist chapel dating from the early 1600s. The chapel was officially founded in 1668, was re-built in 1690 and then altered in 1856 and again in 1876. Tradition has it that Oliver Cromwell once worshipped here. It is now a private house after being sold in 1969.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemel_Hempstead

The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted, i.e. High Hempstead, in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede.[1] The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as "Hamelamesede", but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror







http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/d...lane-chapel.htm

Box Lane Chapel
Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead



The story starts with the description of the following pastures . . .

............seeing the end of the valley turning and rolling with
ivy and nactrilus growth, I view all the seasons the same my love. I see the brillant corners of the mountains with the flowers and foliage of green and purple-brown.
The flocks roam free to await the return of the
master shepard. I really wait for the night to fall to rest
peaceful and dream of thy arms, of the wonderful chimes of the dairy.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Moor_Trust

History[1][2]

In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester. The gift included pastures in the Hemel Hempstead area, at Boxmoor, and these were purchased in secret by three Hemel Hempstead townspeople - John Rolfe, Richard Pope and Willian Gladman - in 1581 for £75. They had feared the common land would be enclosed and townspeople would be denied grazing rights: the price had been raised by secret public subscription. In 1594, ownership of the pastures was transferred to 67 local inhabitants (Feoffes), "whereby their heirs and assigns might and should for ever thereafter have, hold and enjoy the said meadows and all the commodities that might or should arise thereof".

The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of certain open lands in the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire.


This post has been edited by crownsevenalphabet: Today, 02:23 PM

Nazi War Gold Crimes - Mafia Sting - Portrait

Click here: The Holy Family with a Lamb Giclee Print by Raphael at Art.com
http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--12963570/SP--A/IGID--2207412/The_Holy_Family_with_a_Lamb.htm?sOrig=CRT&sOrigId=110&ui=7A912D25227D4E7EA71DA06DEC43F746

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

Portrait, connected to smuggling of Nuclear materials.


Italian intelligence agents involved in keeping track of nuclear smuggling in Russia, Eastern Europe, Iran and Libya say the Raphael, entitled The Madonna of the Hay, was offered to them by gangsters as part of a "sting" operation in which the agents posed as buyers of nuclear materials such as plutonium.

http://www.museum-security.org/reports/002399.html#7

Lost Raphael seized during Mafia 'sting'
(Richard Owen reports on how a mission to unmask nuclear merchants yielded a Renaissance masterpiece )

Times of London

THE Italian authorities will shortly decide the fate of a lost masterpiece attributed to Raphael and recovered from the Mafia during an undercover investigation into the smuggling of nuclear materials. Officials said there was growing evidence that organised crime was using stolen art treasures as security in underworld deals or as investments. "This could explain quite a few mysterious losses in the art world," one investigator said, including a Caravaggio masterpiece that disappeared from Palermo 30 years ago and has never been found. Italian intelligence agents involved in keeping track of nuclear smuggling in Russia, Eastern Europe, Iran and Libya say the Raphael, entitled The Madonna of the Hay, was offered to them by gangsters as part of a "sting" operation in which the agents posed as buyers of nuclear materials such as plutonium. The painting was last heard of in Germany in the 1920s. Its fate since then is unclear, but according to Aldo Anghessa, one of the Italian secret agents involved in the "sting", it had been in a Geneva bank vault. The painting was brought back to Italy, described as by a "minor artist of the Umbrian school" to avoid import tax. A trial of those involved in the deal recently ended in the conviction of two art dealers from Rome and a courier who brought the Renaissance painting from Switzerland. Maria Vittoria Marini-Clarelli, a fine-arts expert at the Ministry of Culture, confirmed that the painting had been confiscated. Signor Anghessa, 53, told Oggi magazine that a team of special agents had been tracking consignments of uranium, plutonium, caesium and scandium. "I cannot reveal too many details, but we were particularly interested in a factory outside St Petersburg," he said. The agents approached the smugglers, posing as interested buyers. "My job was to set up a bank account in Milan," Signor Anghessa said. "When the smugglers checked it and found I was solvent, they asked me if I would like to buy a painting by Raphael as well as nuclear materials. "I was astonished. They wanted £30 million - in cash. We set out to unmask the merchants of death and ended up being offered a missing masterpiece." The oil painting on panel, measuring 34in by 26in, is said to have been painted in Florence in 1506, when Raphael was 23. It depicts the Virgin Mary in a low-cut red dress holding the chubby infant Jesus in her arms. The boy holds a lamb under his right arm and feeds it hay with his left hand, while gazing back at his mother. In the 18th century the painting was recorded as the property of Count Monaldo Leopardi, father of the poet Giacomo Leopardi, who hung it in the family chapel at Recanati in the Marches. When Napoleon invaded the papal states in 1796, Count Leopardi, who was loyal to Pope Pius VI (1775-1799), had the Madonna carried in a procession to invoke God's help against the French. The Leopardi family was subsequently forced to sell it to pay its debts. In 1890 it was sold again at auction and went to Germany, where it was seen in 1926 by Oscar Fischel, a noted Raphael expert. It was never heard of again. Federico Zeri, Italy's leading art historian, saw the newly recovered Madonna of the Hay shortly before his death last year, and said he had little doubt that it bore "all the hallmarks" of Raphael's style between 1504 and 1508, when the artist was active in Florence. Born in 1483 in Urbino, Raphael transferred to Rome in 1508, decorating the Vatican apartments of Pope Julius II and the Villa Farnesina. Art experts are making extensive checks to ensure The Madonna of the Hay is not a pastiche or by his workshop pupils. But it bears a striking resemblance to Raphael's Madonna of the Meadow in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Madonna of the Goldfinch in the Uffizi, La Bella Giardiniera (La Belle Jardinière) in the Louvre in Paris, St Catherine of Alexandria in the National Gallery, and the Holy Family with a Lamb in the Prado in Madrid - although in that painting the Virgin (as John Pope-Hennessy observes in his classic study of Raphael) appears to be restraining the infant Jesus from embracing the lamb, a "symbol of His predestined fate". Signor Anghessa said he had been shown the painting in a hotel room - " I was overcome when I saw it" - and agreed to pay £15.5 million provided that the sale took place in Italy. The dealers were prosecuted for declaring the painting's value at £3,000 to avoid VAT, but the bigger fish were never caught.
Links :
http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/welcomeE.html- Website for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
http://www.ocaiw.com/rafael.htm- Raphael images on the Net


http://www.museum-security.org/99/110.html#5
France hands back stolen Nazi loot to heirs . . .


http://www.museum-security.org/99/110.html#5
France hands back stolen Nazi loot to heirs
03:09 p.m Dec 14, 1999 Eastern
By Crispian Balmer
PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - France's Culture Ministry said on Tuesday
it had returned 13 works of art stolen by the Nazis to families of
Jewish gallery owners, in the largest such handover of objects for
almost 50 years. However, nearly 2,000 other items recovered from
Germany at the end of the war remain unclaimed in French museums and
galleries, and officials said they saw little possibility of the
rightful owners, or their heirs, ever being found. ``We're scrapping
the bottom of the barrel now. There is very little chance that we
will be able to hand over the rest of the art, although there might
always be some nice surprises,'' said Francoise Cachin, director of
France's state museum network. Among the 13 art works released in the
past three weeks, were paintings, tapestries, stained glass and a
writing table. The objects were stolen from the Jacques Bacri gallery
in Paris and from three galleries owned by members of the Seligmann
family. Seven of the pieces ended up in the private collection of
Nazi chief Hermann Goering. The Nazis took an estimated 100,000 art
works from France during the war. Of these, 61,257 were found and
repatriated. Some 45,441 were reclaimed by their owners between 1945
and 1949. Most of the rest was sold off, with the state hanging on to
around 2,000 of the most valuable items which were placed in museums
and government buildings. Many of the owners of the unclaimed items
were thought killed by the Nazis and critics have accused France of
not doing enough to track down their heirs.

FRANCE DEFENDS RECOVERY RECORD
Officials on Tuesday said they had held exhibitions displaying the
works and even posted details of the art on the Internet in the hope
that people would recognise stolen family heirlooms or property. ``We
have been very scrupulous. Other countries have been much less
vigorous,'' said Norbert Engel, the Culture Ministry official
responsible for the unclaimed art. ``Austria, for example, sold off
their (stolen) works of art, which might have been returned. We have
a feeling they did not care much about finding the owners,'' he said.
A French commission is drawing up recommendations on what to do with
the remaining unclaimed items and is expected to issue its report at
the start of next year. Cachin said some of the objects might have
been legally sold to the Germans during the war, but the receipts
were missing. ``The art markets carried on. People sold their
possessions, they needed to eat,'' she said. Descriptions of art work
stolen from galleries were also sometimes so vague as to make
identification impossible. ``This is especially true of modern
works,'' Cachin said. Identification of the latest batch of returned
art works was made possible by fresh research of old archives which
had unearthed some previously forgotten documents. Almost 1,000
objects were returned to the Seligmann and Bacri families in the five
years after the war. The Culture Ministry declined to name the heirs
who received the 13 latest objects, saying only that some lived
abroad. It also declined to put a value on the objects, but said a
painting of the arrest of Christ by Cornelis Englelbrechtz and a 15th
century crucifixion scene by an unnamed German artist were especially
precious. Both belonged to the Seligmann family.

Knights of the Bath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (formerly The Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath)[1] is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on May 18, 1725.[2] The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath.[3] George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order".[4] He did not (as is often stated) revive the Order of the Bath, since it had never previously existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred.[5][6]

The Order consists of the Sovereign (currently HM Queen Elizabeth II), the Great Master (currently HRH The Prince of Wales),[7] and three Classes of members:[8]

Knight Grand Cross (GCB) or Dame Grand Cross (GCB)
Knight Commander (KCB) or Dame Commander (DCB)
Companion (CB)
From the coronation of Henry IV in 1399 the full ceremonies were restricted to major royal occasions such as coronations, investitures of the Prince of Wales or royal Dukes, and royal weddings,[18] and the knights so created became known as Knights of the Bath.[15] Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the simpler form of ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661.[19]

Charles II of England

The portrait: `The Madonna of the Hay`, by Raphael ( see `Madonna of the Hay`, section )
Presented to Charles II, as a gift.

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

Book: 'The Treasures of Art, in Great Britain', by DR. WAAGEN, Director of the Royal Gallery of
Pictures, Berlin

In Three Volumnes. - Vol. II, 1854

Page#476
Catalogue of the Pictures

12.
The Virgin and Child, Joseph, and a Lamb (J., No. 716) ; belonging to the Reynst Collection,
which the States General presented to Charles II.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England

Charles II (Charles Stuart; 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

According to royalists (and retrospective English law), Charles II became king when his father Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time, passing a statute making it unlawful, and England entered the period known to history as the English Interregnum. The Parliament of Scotland, on the other hand, proclaimed Charles II King of Scots on 5 February 1649 in Edinburgh. He was crowned King of Scots at Scone on 1 January 1651. Following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Charles fled to the continent and spent the next nine years in exile in France, the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands.

After the Protectorate collapsed under Richard Cromwell in 1659, General George Monck invited Charles to return and assume the thrones in what became known as the Restoration. Charles II arrived on English soil on 25 May 1660 and entered London on his thirtieth birthday, 29 May 1660. Charles was crowned King of England and Ireland at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661.

Charles's English parliament enacted harsh anti-Puritan laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England. Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he himself favoured a policy of religious toleration. The major foreign policy issue of Charles's early reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, Charles entered into the secret treaty of Dover, an alliance with Louis XIV under the terms of which Louis agreed to aid Charles in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay Charles a pension, and Charles promised to convert to Roman Catholicism at an unspecified future date. Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oates's revelations of a supposed "Popish Plot" sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charles's brother and heir (the future James II) was a Roman Catholic. This crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, some Whig leaders were killed or forced into exile. Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1679, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. Charles converted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed.

He was popularly known as the Merrie Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, was barren, but Charles acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses.

Oliver Cromwell, opposition lead to Charles I, execution

Oliver Cromwell, opposition lead to Charles I, execution

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

http://plus.aol.com/aol/reference/CromwellO/Oliver_Cromwell?flv=1&ncid=bSDWgUnvxr0000000295&icid=rbox_ref_center.M

Columbia Encyclopedia

Cromwell, Oliverkrŏm'wĕl, krŭm'–, –wəl, 1599–1658, lord protector of England.Parliamentary General
The son of a gentry family, he entered Cambridge in 1616 but probably left the next year. Cromwell entered Parliament in 1628, standing firmly with the opposition to Charles I, and was active in the Short and Long Parliaments (1640), although not a conspicuous leader. During the first civil war (see English civil war) he rose rapidly to leadership because of his military ability and his genius for organizing and inspiring the parliamentary armies. His own regiment, the Ironsides, distinguished itself at Marston Moor (1644) and in numerous minor engagements.

In 1644 he pressed for a thorough reorganization of the parliamentary forces and was appointed (1645) second in command to Sir Thomas Fairfax (later Baron Fairfax of Cameron) in the resulting New Model Army, which defeated the king at Naseby in 1645. In the quarrel between the army and Parliament following the first civil war, Cromwell supported the sectarians in the army and approved the seizure (1647) of Charles from Parliament. However, he favored a moderate settlement with the king (as opposed to the radical proposals of the Levelers) until Charles's flight to Carisbrooke (1647) and secret dealings with the Scots caused him to lose all hope of further negotiations with the king.

In the second civil war he repelled the Scottish royalist invasion at Preston (1648). His political power was enhanced by the removal of Presbyterian leaders from Parliament in Pride's Purge (see under Pride, Thomas), and at the king's trial (1649) his was the leading voice demanding execution.

Tring : non-conformists, dissenters, puritans : see `Box Lane Chapel`

Tring : non-conformists, dissenters, puritans : see `Box Lane Chapel`


`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tring

Tring is a small market town in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated 30 miles (50km) north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a commuter town in the London commuter belt.
[] History
The Manor of Tring is described in the Domesday survey of 1086. In 1682 the Mansion designed by Christopher Wren was built for the owner Colonel Guy. A later tenant was Lawrence Washington, great-grandfather of George Washington, first President of the USA. In the late 19th century the estate became the home of the Rothschild family, whose influence on the town was considerable.

Nathan Mayer, Rothschild's son Lionel Walter Rothschild (2nd Lord Rothschild) built a private zoological museum in Tring which, as The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, has been part of the Natural History Museum since 1937. In April 2007 the museum changed it's name to the Natural History Museum at Tring in order to make people more aware of the museum's link to London's Natural History Museum.

The 2nd Lord Rothschild also released the edible dormouse (Glis glis) into Tring Park. He is remembered for riding around the town in a zebra-drawn carriage, and the town's symbol has been the head of a zebra ever since.

The Conventicle Act of 1664

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventicle_Act_1664

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

The Conventicle Act of 1664 was an Act of the Parliament of England (16 Charles II c. 4) that forbade religious assemblies of more than five people outside the auspices of the Church of England. This law was part of the programme of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, to discourage nonconformism and to strengthen the position of the Established Church. These prohibitions led many, such as the Covenanters, to vacate their parishes rather than submit to the new Episcopal authorities. Just as the ministers left so too did the congregations, following their old pastors to sermons on the hillside. From small beginnings these field assemblies-or conventicles-were to grow into major problems of public order for the government.

Other statutes that were part of Clarendon's programme include:

the Quaker Act, 1662, which required people to swear an oath of allegiance to the king, which Quakers did not do out of religious conviction.
the Act of Uniformity 1662, 14 Charles II c. 4 (1662), which required the use of all the rites and ceremonies in the Book of Common Prayer in church services;
the Five Mile Act, 17 Charles II c. 2, (1665), which sought to prevent nonconformists from living in incorporated and chartered towns.
The operation of these laws at least as far as Protestants were concerned was mitigated somewhat by Charles II's Royal Declaration of Indulgence in (1672), which suspended the execution of penal laws and allowed a certain number of non-conformist chapels to be staffed and constructed, with the pastors subject to royal approval.

The Conventicle Act and Five Mile Act were repealed in 1689.

(The '16 Charles II c. 2' nomenclature is reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter. This is the method used for Acts of Parliament from before 1962.)

Felden : Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemel_Hempstead

Felden - Felden is a partly rural area south west of Hemel Hempstead that has many wealthy detached houses.

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felden
Felden is a semi-rural neighbourhood of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, situated to the south west of the town, close to the railway station.

It is separated from the main urban area by main roads, the rail line and Boxmoor. Felden is uncharacteristic of Hemel Hempstead in that it almost entirely upmarket privately owned housing.

The ancient Box Lane runs uphill from Boxmoor to Bovingdon and passes through the west of Felden. On this lane stands Box Lane Chapel , a non-conformist chapel dating from the early 1600s. The chapel was officially founded in 1668, was re-built in 1690 and then altered in 1856 and again in 1876. Tradition has it that Oliver Cromwell once worshipped here. It is now a private house after being sold in 1969.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemel_Hempstead

The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted, i.e. High Hempstead, in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede.[1] The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as "Hamelamesede", but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror

Box Lane Chapel

http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/topics/t021-box-lane-chapel.htm

Box Lane Chapel

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead

The Church of England's grip on the faith of the nation, tightened by the Conventicle Act of l664, ushered in a more hostile environment for non-conformists everywhere. The Gade and Bulbourne valleys were an area rich in dissenters (see Tring in particular on page 253), many of whom practised their Baptist faith secretly in local cottages and barns. One of the first local chapels was built in Box Lane in the early 1600s. This boasted the special feature of a hatched doorway, at the back of the pulpit, to enable the preacher to make a quick escape if threatened. Tradition has it that Oliver Cromwell once worshipped at Box Lane Chapel. The chapel, officially founded In 1668, was re-built in 1690 and subsequently altered in 1856 and again in 1876. its survival as an early chapel is owed, at least in part, to the protection and patronage it received from the nearby estate of Westbrook, which was leased by Henry Mayne. Henry and his son James Mayne, who bought the manor in 1592, were both leading Puritans of their day. During the Nineteenth Century, some Roman funeral remains were found in the graveyard of the chapel at Box Lane (see page 14). The doors of Box Lane Chapel closed finally on 29th June 1969, ending well over 300 years of worship on this site. It was subsequently converted into a private house, at which time an upper floor was added.

Extract from A Hertfordshire Valley

The Church of England

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08


The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[3] in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national churches.

The Church of England considers itself to be both Catholic and reformed:

Reformed insofar as many of the principles of the early Protestant reformers as well as the subsequent Protestant Reformation have influenced it via the English Reformation and also insofar as it does not accept Papal supremacy or the Counter-Reformation.
Catholic in that it views itself as being an unbroken continuation of both the early apostolic and later mediæval universal church, rather than as a new formation, and in that it holds and teaches the historic Catholic faith. In its customs and liturgy it has retained more of the Catholic tradition than most other churches touched by the Protestant Reformation.
The English Church was under papal authority for nearly a thousand years, before separating from Rome in 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. A theological separation had been foreshadowed by various movements within the English Church such as the Lollards, but the English Reformation gained political support when Henry VIII wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Under pressure from Catherine's nephew, the Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Pope Clement VII refused the annulment, and, eventually, Henry, although theologically a doctrinal Catholic, took the position of Supreme Head of the Church of England to ensure the annulment of his marriage. He was excommunicated by Pope Paul III[4].

Henry maintained a strong preference for the traditional Catholic practices and, during his reign, Protestant reformers were unable to make many changes to the practices of the Church of England. Indeed, this part of Henry's reign saw the trial for heresy of Protestants as well as Roman Catholics.

Under his son, Edward VI, however, the Church became theologically more radical, before legislatively rejoining the Roman church during the reign of Queen Mary I, in 1555. The settlement under Elizabeth I (from 1558) of a mildly reformed, Catholic, apostolic, and established church (i.e., subject to and part of the state) led to great civil strife in the following century.


For the next century, through the reigns of James I and Charles I, and culminating in the English Civil War and the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, there were significant swings back and forth between two factions: the Puritans (and other radicals) who sought more far-reaching Protestant reforms, and the more conservative churchmen who aimed to keep closer to traditional beliefs and Catholic practices. The failure of political and ecclesiastical authorities to submit to Puritan demands for more extensive reform was one of the causes of open warfare. By Continental standards, the level of violence over religion was not high, but the casualties included a king, Charles I, and an Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Under the Protectorate of the Commonwealth of England from 1649 to 1660, Anglicanism was disestablished and outlawed, and in its place, presbyterian ecclesiology was introduced in place of the episcopate. In addition, the Articles were replaced with the Westminster Confession, and the Book of Common Prayer was replaced by the Directory of Public Worship. Despite this, about one quarter of English clergy refused to conform to this form of State Presbyterianism.

With the Restoration of Charles II, Anglicanism too was restored in a form not far removed from the Elizabethan version. One difference was that the ideal of encompassing all the people of England in one religious organisation, taken for granted by the Tudors, had to be abandoned. The religious landscape of England assumed its present form, with the Anglican Established church occupying the middle ground, and Roman Catholics and those Puritans who dissented from the Anglican Establishment, too strong to be suppressed altogether, having to continue their existence outside the National Church rather than controlling it.

Continuing official suspicion and legal restrictions continued well into the nineteenth century.

Queen Elizabeth I

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I

`The Lost Madonna` : Registration Number / Date: TXu000754417 / 1996-08-08

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the sixth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed three years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Perhaps for that reason, her brother, Edward VI, cut her out of the succession. His will, however, was set aside, as it contravened the Third Succession Act of 1543, in which Elizabeth was named as successor provided that Mary I of England, Elizabeth's half-sister, should die without issue. In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded Mary, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Moor_Trust

History[1][2]

In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester. The gift included pastures in the Hemel Hempstead area, at Boxmoor, and these were purchased in secret by three Hemel Hempstead townspeople - John Rolfe, Richard Pope and Willian Gladman - in 1581 for £75. They had feared the common land would be enclosed and townspeople would be denied grazing rights: the price had been raised by secret public subscription. In 1594, ownership of the pastures was transferred to 67 local inhabitants (Feoffes), "whereby their heirs and assigns might and should for ever thereafter have, hold and enjoy the said meadows and all the commodities that might or should arise thereof".

The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of certain open lands in the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire.