This Princess was the queen of Richard I., and daughter of Sancho, king of Navarre. It does not appear that she was ever in England, a circumstance not surprising, when those events of her life known are considered, and that Richard himself did not, altogether, pass more than eight months in his English possessions. Berengaria is first spoken of as being brought to king Richard by his mother Eleanor de Guienne, at Messina, when on his way to the Holy Land. She was afterwards married to him, and crowned by the bishop of Evreux in the island of Cyprus. From thence in company with Joan, the sister of Richard, she proceeded to share with her husband the fatigues and perils of the Crusade: on her return to Europe, sailing a few days before the king, she avoided the captivity into which he subsequently fell, and retired to Poitiers. No more of her is known till after the death of Richard Coeur de Lion, when on claiming her dower of King John at Chinon in 1201, it appears she was so little recognized as the queen of Richard, that it was not till after the testimony of the validity of her marriage, by those that were present at its celebration, that John would satisfy her demand. Henry III., in the 4th of his reign, 1219, compounded with her in lieu of her dower. The time of her death is uncertain; she was buried in the abbey of L'Espan, which she had founded. Berengaria was celebrated as well for her eloquence as her beauty; but Richard has been charged by some historians with having neglected her.

Considering that amidst the havoc of monumental sculpture in France, the Royal Effigies at Fontevraud have escaped destruction, it becomes still more remarkable, that the same good fortune should have also attended this effigy, the last erection in France commemorative of Royalty which belonged to the English monarchy. Although the tomb was overlooked in the heat of Revolutionary Vandalism, yet has it ultimately suffered from the suppression of religious houses. On visiting the abbey of L'Espan in 1816, near Mans, which contains this tomb, the church was found in a ruinous state, and had been applied to the purposes of a barn. The architectural parts of Queen Berengaria's tomb were discovered lying about the place, but the effigy was concealed beneath a considerable quantity of wheat. After many difficulties, and the delay of a twelvemonth, it was uncovered, and found placed upright in a niche, in excellent preservation, with the exception that the whole of the left arm was wanting. By the effigy were lying the bones of the Queen, the silent witnesses of the sacrilegious, as well as recent demolition of the tomb. After some search, a great portion of the arm belonging to the statue was recovered, but the remainder could no where be found. As the destruction of this tomb had been the work of no very distant period, it was deemed interesting to seek the testimony of those engaged in it, relative to what besides the bones had been discovered within the tomb. Three men, who had assisted in this work of destruction, stated, that the monument with the figure upon it, stood in the centre of the aisle at the east end of the church; that there was no cothn found within it, but a small square box, containing bones, pieces of linen, some stuff embroidered with gold, and a slate, on which was an inscription. The slate alluded to in this statement, was found in the possession of a canon of the church of St. Julien, at Mans; upon it was engraven the inscription following, which accounts for the interior state of the tomb.

Mausoleum Istud Serenissime Berengariae Anglorum Reginae liujus Coenobii Fundatricis Inclitae restauratuni et in augustiorem locum hunc translatum fuit in eoq: recondita sunt Ossa haee quae reperta fuerunt in Antiquo tumulo die 27 Maii Anno Domini 1672.

[This Tomb of the most serene Berengaria,, Queen of the Angies, the noble Founder of this Monastery, was restored and removed to this more sacred place. In it were again deposited the bones which yere found in the ancient sepulchre, on the 27th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1672]

Of the original situation of the tomb we must remain ignorant, but there can be no doubt whatever, from the style of the architecture and sculpture, that it is of the same date as the effigy, which may be placed towards the commencement of the thirteenth century. As St. Julien, the principal church at Mans, is about to be restored as nearly as possible to the same state it was in before the Revolution, it has been suggested to those superintending so praiseworthy a work, to remove and place the monument of Berengaria in that church; and it appears probable that this will be done.

The sides of the tomb are ornamented with deep quatrefoils. The effigy which was upon it is in high relief It represents the Queen with her hair unconfined, but partly concealed by the coverchief over which is placed an elegant crown. Her mantle is fastened by a narrow band crossing her breast; a large fermail or broach, richly set with stones, confines her tunic at the neck. To an ornamented girdle which encircles her waist, is attached a small aulmoniere, or purse, to contain alms. The Queen holds in her hands a book, singular from the circumstance of having embossed on the cover a second representation of herself as lying on a bier, with waxen torches burning in candlesticks by her side. This effigy, among many others, is an instance of the incorrectness of the prints in Montfaucon's work on the Monuments of the French Monarchy. There is a representation, professed to have been from this effigy, in which the book is entirely left out, and the position of the arms altered; that such unwarrantable liberties were taken, is now the more to be lamented, as the greater part of the originals in Montfaucon's collection no longer exist.

Details—Fig. 1. Part of the Crown: 2. The fermail: 3. The aulmoniere, as attached to the girdle,