The Painted Chamber at Westminster, Edward I, and the Crusade

This article proposes a rereading of the Old Testament imagery in the Painted Chamber in Westminster Palace, London, patronized by Edward I between 1292–1297. It is argued here that the paintings—which represent the battles for the Holy Land—must be understood within the context of the crusading efforts of the English court, and in particular that they were intended to be a reflection of Edward’s own zeal to return on crusade in the aftermath of the fall of Acre in 1291. In seeking to understand the Old Testament imagery within its broader cultural contexts, its themes and meanings are explored within the contexts of contemporary crusading propaganda. Like the Capetians, the Plantagenets also embraced the typological conceit of being successors to the kings of Judah, and manipulated this connection in their own propaganda. Edward’s use of Old Testament imagery in his crusading propaganda—and particularly the image of Judas Maccabeus—provides a crucial context in which to understand the otherwise unprecedented display of Old Testament iconography in one of England’s greatest rooms of state.