Like a broken king...

As I continue sharing what I have learned as I studied about the place Little Gidding, I wanted to pause on the part of TS Eliot's Fourth Quartet when he says "Like a broken king." This broken king was King Charles I who was the ruler of England and Scotland at the time that Nicholas Ferrar and his family (re)founded Little Gidding. Through the course of his reign, King Charles I visited the area a total of three times.



His visits to the church are remembered by a stained glass window. In the design is Charles I's coat of arms that includes the arms of four areas: England, Scotland, Ireland, and France (English still claimed the throne there). Unusually, this coat of arms is not supported by beasts, but the size of the window is the reason for that.

At the base it says, "Caroli I qui latitabat apud I manos 2 Mai AS 1646" which commemorates Charles I visit to Little Gidding. Over the window arch it is written 'Ut si quis perdicem in montibus' I Samuel Ch26.v.20(Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord; for the King of Israel is come to seek out a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge on the mountains.) This is a reference to when Charles I was being hunted down after the Battle of Namesy. There are also two flowers: An English Tudor rose and a Scottish thistle.



The king came by night while on the run, and John Ferrar, the son of Nicholas Ferrar, took Charles in and hid him in Coppingford, which was somewhat near to Little Gidding. There he stayed for two days, and then he travelled on to Stamford. A few days later he surrendered, was put on trial (just for show), and then was executed in Whitehall January 30, 1649


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