Question #149880. Asked by
pehinhota.
Last updated Sep 29 2023.
Originally posted Sep 29 2023 9:00 AM.
The "Chronica Majora" is the seminal work of Matthew Paris, a member of the English Benedictine community of St Albans and long-celebrated historian.
The elephant given by Louis IX of France to Henry III of England, for his menagerie in the Tower of London in 1255. Drawn from life by the historian Matthew Paris for his Chronica Majora, it was the first elephant to be seen in England since Claudius' war elephant. Matthew Paris' original drawing appears in his bestiary, on display in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The bestiary explains that while in residence at the Tower of London, the elephant enjoyed a diet of prime cuts of beef and expensive red wine, and is claimed to have died in 1257 from drinking too much wine.
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