Bishop Lacy’s Tomb
Before the Reformation changed English religion in the 16th century, churches and cathedrals contained holy relics, believed to bring cures or lead to salvation. Many larger churches contained the tombs of native saints, such as St Swithun in Winchester Cathedral, St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey and St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Although Exeter had a large collection of holy relics which were displayed on special days, it has never housed the tomb of a saint.
However, the tombs of two bishops buried near the high altar attracted pilgrims who came to pray for healing miracles. On the south side is the tomb of Bishop James Berkeley who died in 1327, having held office for only a few months. His cult was short-lived.
Opposite him on the north side is the tomb of Edmund Lacy who was also Bishop of Exeter, for 35 years until his death in 1455. Lacy had been a Canon of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, Dean of the Chapel Royal and Bishop of Hereford before his appointment in Exeter. He was closely associated with King Henry V and accompanied the king at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. It has been suggested that Lacy was the author of the English eyewitness account of the battle. The king attended Lacy’s consecration as bishop and appointed him an executor of his will.
Whilst Bishop of Exeter, Lacy spent most of his time in his diocese and concerned himself with the administration of its parishes. Lacy also had a reputation for holiness. In his later years, he suffered a very painful disease in his legs, which enhanced his appeal to the afflicted. He died at his residence in the Devon village of Chudleigh when he was probably 85 years of age.
Following Bishop Lacy’s burial in Exeter Cathedral, healing miracles were reported at his tomb. Pilgrims came to pray for themselves and others, including their animals. They rested their hands on the tomb, rubbing the top smooth. Many pilgrims left beeswax votives, mostly in the form of models of body parts, tied to railings around the tomb. These may represent the diseased or injured limb for which healing was being sought or they may have been left in gratitude for healing which had taken place.
After King Henry VIII’s first minister, Thomas Cromwell, ensured ‘superstitious’ and ‘idolatrous’ pilgrimages were banned by Act of Parliament in 1538, pilgrimage sites were dismantled. Simon Heynes, the Dean of Exeter appointed by Henry VIII in 1537, ensured that the brasses identifying the tombs of Bishop Lacy and Bishop Berkeley were stripped away. When the antiquary John Leland saw the tomb in 1542, he noted that it had been defaced by Dean Heynes.
If the English church had remained Roman Catholic, perhaps Bishop Edmund Lacy may have been considered a candidate for sainthood.
This pilgrimage site retained a secret which laid undiscovered until one day in September 1943. Whilst working on the bomb-damaged screens around the quire, workmen found over a thousand beeswax objects ‘hidden behind the cresting in a wide open joint of the masonry’ above Bishop Lacy’s tomb. These pieces of votive offerings left by pilgrims more than 400 years earlier are a unique survival in England. When they were hidden and by whom isn’t known. One of the beeswax votives discovered in 1943 is on permanent display in the cathedral’s Treasures Exhibition.
These details supplement information provided in the cathedral on the stand Who left beeswax models on this tomb?