from the south-east, and the interior is
regarded as more remarkable than the exterior. The nave is of singular
grandeur, its round Norman columns being exceptionally lofty. The
triforium is stunted, and consists merely of two pairs of small arches,
above which the ribs of a noble fretted roof expand, so that it appears
as if the roof were immediately supported by the columns of the nave.
The choir is short and hexagonal, being only sixty-six feet from the
reredos, and is surrounded by a number of polygonal chapels, as at
Westminster Abbey, with which it appears quite similar in plan. The Lady
Chapel, originally at the east end, has been entirely destroyed. There
are several monuments of great interest in these chapels, some of them
in the form of chantries--being exquisite cages in stone-work--within
which are the tombs of the founders. Here lie some of the chief nobility
of England who in the days of the Plantagenets were the lords of
Tewkesbury--the Beauchamps, Nevilles, De Clares, and Despensers.
Fitz-Hamon's tomb was not erected until the fourteenth century. Here lie
Clarence and his wife, Isabel, the daughter of Warwick the "King-maker,"
and also the murdered son of Henry VI., who was "stabbed in the field by
Tewkesbury," with other victims of that fatal battle. The remains of the
cloisters lie to the south of the abbey, and beyond is the ancient
gateway, of rather unusual plan.

[Illustration: THE CHOIR OF TEWKESBURY ABBEY.]

The battle of Tewkesbury, which sealed the fate of the Lancastrian party
in England, was fought in 1471 upon the Bloody Meadow, then called the
Vineyard, just outside the town and to the southward of the abbey. The
Lancastrian line was soon broken, and the fight became practically a
slaughter, as the defeated party were forced back upon the town and into
the very abbey itself. Many of the fugitives sought refuge in the
church, and the Yorkists followed them, striking down their victims in
the graveyard, and even within the church-doors. The abbot, taking in
his hand the sacred Host, confronted King Edward himself in the porch
and forbade him to pollute the house of God with blood, and would not
allow him to enter until he had promised mercy to those who had sought
refuge inside. This clemency, however, was short-lived, for in the
afternoon the young Prince of Wales, Henry VI.'s son, was brought before
Edward and murdered by his attendants. Shakespeare represents Edward as
dealing the first