From: verdy_p (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Thu Mar 04 2010 - 07:14:45 CST
The approximate date where the inscription was made the later failed attempt to clean it, brings us to the ruling of
Henry VIII.
In a nearby location it's interesting to look at the history of Romsey midway between Salisbury and the harbour of
Southampton: this was a location of several catholic Benedictine abbeys that Henry VIII closed.
This was also in a location that had been severely hit by leper and Black Death, that killed a lot of the local
population with Saxon origin, and of plague that also hit the region around 1526.
The proximity with the harbour of Southampton, could easily explain the presence of merchants or mercenaries, or
marine men coming from various regions of Europe, and protected by the local abbeys. There's not necessarily a link
with the local rulers.
May be this is just a monument in memory to those that died from the various illnesses that plagued this region in
Southern England, a sort of thank you for their service. At that time the powers of these abbeys had considerably
declined, so it would seem natural that they requested help from foreign servants (and pilgrims attracted by this
magnificent and famous gothic cathedral).
Clearly there's no relation between this inscription and the monument erected later for the aristocrat in front of
the cleaned inscription.
And it is certainly not Old English, if this is effectively English, but Medial English, just before its
standardization which occured only after the Reformation during Charles I rule. If this was a religious sacred text,
it would still be in Latin and not in a vernacular language.
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