Francisco Antonio Zea
Encyclopedia
Francisco Antonio Zea was a Neogranadine
journalist, botanist, diplomat and statesman that served as the 1st Vice President
of Colombia
under then-President Simón Bolívar
. He was also Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Colombia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
where he tried in vain to gain recognition for the nascent nation of Colombia.
from Marchena, Seville
, and María Rosalia Ignacia Díaz Peláez whose paternal family hailed from Asturias
while her maternal side was a well established Criollo
Paisa
family. He was baptized
on 23 November 1766 with the name Juan Francisco Antonio Hilarión Zea Díaz.
Zea married in Madrid in 1805 to Felipa Meilhon y Montemayor, a gaditana
born in 1788, daughter of Juan Antonio Meilhon, a native of Béarn
, France
, and Antonia Montemayor, native of Ronda
, Málaga
. Out of this marriage was born only one daughter, Felipa Antonia Zea Meilhon, who would later become Viscountess of Rigny
after marrying Alexander Gaulthier, Viscount of Rigny, son of Henri, Count of Rigny
. His widow died in Madrid in 1833, and his daughter then-window of Rigny, died on 4 September 1887 at the Château de Fougères
.
, Camilo Torres Tenorio
, Francisco Antonio Ulloa, and José María Cabal. He finished his studies in 1785, and although his father wanted him to continue his ecclesiastical studies
, Zea moved the next year to Bogotá
in hopes of studying jurisprudence
, goal which he attained by applying and receiving a scholarship from the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé. He had to endure poverty and sickness, to the point that he was expelled for not being able to pay his pension
. He was able to continue his studies with the help of fellow Medellinense Gabriel Muñoz, and in 1788 he became an adjunct professor of grammar
and in 1789 adjunct professor of philosophy
, positions which allowed him to improve his living situation. Maybe it was his love of teaching, or his need and desire for a stable income, but he decided to postpone his degree to teach full-time, degree which he never did achieve. He became renowned as a tutor to the extent that Viceroy José Manuel de Ezpeleta
hired him as a private tutor for his children.
, he was implicated in the circulation of the “Droits de l'homme,” sent to Spain, and for two years kept prisoner in the fortress of Cadiz
. Although absolved in 1799, he was sent to France on a scientific mission, as the government desired to keep him away from New Granada
. On his return, in 1803, he was still prohibited from returning to his country. He was elected member of several Spanish scientific societies, and was editor of the Mercurio de España and Semanario de Agricultura.
, Zea was one of the 85 deputies from Spain convened by order of Napoleon I of France
at Bayonne
, to select a new king of Spain. The new king selected was Joseph Bonaparte
, Napoleon’s elder brother, under whose authority Zea entered Spain and who shortly afterwards named him prefect at Málaga
. Zea’s insubordination to Spain, his allegiance to France and his love of French culture
and French language
which he spoke fluently made him one of the few Neogranadine afrancesado
s of his time. Zea’s time as prefect did not last long however, as with the defeat of the French in 1814, Zea had to return to seek refuge in France.
In 1819 Zea took part in what would be known as the Congress of Angostura
, a legislative body gathered in the city of Angostura
in Venezuela
, where delegates from the New Granada planned to charter the course for the new liberated nation of the Republic of Colombia
. When the congress first convened on 15 February 1819, Zea, as delegate for Caracas
was elected President of the Congress of Venezuela and Diego de Vallenilla Arana its Deputy Secretary. This meant that while congress deliberated on the future political composition of the nation and elected its leaders, Zea was both the chief executive officer and the chief legislative officer.
The first signs of internal division began showing soon after as Venezuelans did not want to be ruled by a Neogranadine for they thought of themselves as independent of the new nation, in the end it proved too much as Zea was confronted with a lot of opposition from the Venezuelan armed forces who did not want to be commanded by a civilian, let alone a Neogranadine forcing Zea to step down on 7 September 1819, however he remained a member of congress.
On 17 December 1819, the Congress of Angostura passed the Constitution of 1819 which officially created the First Republic of Colombia
, a country made of 3 departments: Venezuela, Cundinamarca, and Quito. Congress also elected Simón Bolívar
the First President of Colombia, and as the First Vice President of Colombia, it also elected individual Vice Presidents for the departments, Juan Germán Roscio
as Vice President of Venezuela
, and Francisco de Paula Santander
as Vice President of Cundinamarca, the office of Vice President of Quito was left vacant as the Royal Audience of Quito
was still under Spanish rule.
He returned to England in June 1822 with the objective of acquiring a loan of five million pounds sterling
. Zea was able to get support for the independentist cause from many of sympathetic Englishmen who called themselves Friends of South American Independence, among them some notable figures like Edward Adolphus St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset
; Sir James Mackintosh
; Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne
; William Wilberforce
; Sir Benjamin Hobhouse; John Diston Powles
, and various other members of the British Parliament
, who on 10 July 1822 at the City of London Tavern had given him a dinner party in his honour and that of Colombia's as a way to show support and raise that much needed credit for Colombia. Zea however never saw the conclusion of his mission for he died shortly after.
, England
, where he had gone to take refuge in the famous hot spring
s. His remains were later interred at Bath Abbey
on 4 December 1822.
Viceroyalty of New Granada
The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739...
journalist, botanist, diplomat and statesman that served as the 1st Vice President
Vice President of Colombia
The Vice President of Colombia is the first in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of Colombia upon leaves of absence or death, resignation, or removal of the President, as designated by the Colombian Constitution of 1991 which also reinstated the vice president figure...
of Colombia
Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...
under then-President Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
. He was also Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Colombia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom
The Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Colombia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, accredited as Concurrent Non-Resident Ambassador to Ireland....
where he tried in vain to gain recognition for the nascent nation of Colombia.
Family
Francisco Antonio Zea was born to Pedro Rodríguez de Zea Casafus, a SpaniardSpanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
from Marchena, Seville
Seville (province)
Seville is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz, Huelva, Badajoz, and Córdoba.Its area is 14,042 km²...
, and María Rosalia Ignacia Díaz Peláez whose paternal family hailed from Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
while her maternal side was a well established Criollo
Criollo people
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
Paisa
Paisa Region
The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...
family. He was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
on 23 November 1766 with the name Juan Francisco Antonio Hilarión Zea Díaz.
Zea married in Madrid in 1805 to Felipa Meilhon y Montemayor, a gaditana
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
born in 1788, daughter of Juan Antonio Meilhon, a native of Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Antonia Montemayor, native of Ronda
Ronda
Ronda is a city in Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about West from the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is approximately 35,000 inhabitants.-History:...
, Málaga
Málaga (province)
The Province of Málaga is located on the southern coast of Spain, in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the South, and by the provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada.Its area is 7,308 km²...
. Out of this marriage was born only one daughter, Felipa Antonia Zea Meilhon, who would later become Viscountess of Rigny
Rigny
Rigny is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Franche-Comté in eastern France.-References:*...
after marrying Alexander Gaulthier, Viscount of Rigny, son of Henri, Count of Rigny
Henri de Rigny
Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier, comte de Rigny was the commander of the French squadron at the Battle of Navarino in the Greek War of Independence.-Biography:...
. His widow died in Madrid in 1833, and his daughter then-window of Rigny, died on 4 September 1887 at the Château de Fougères
Fougères
Fougères is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany, in north-western France.-Sights:Fougères' major monument is a medieval stronghold built atop a granite ledge, which was part of the ultimately unsuccessful defence system of the Duchy of Brittany against...
.
Early career
Zea began his education in Medellín, afterwards he travelled to the Real Colegio y Seminario de Popayán, where his distant relative José Félix de Restrepo was a professor. In the Seminary he became acquainted with other young Neogranadines who would go on to become precursors and martyrs of the independence such as Francisco José de CaldasFrancisco José de Caldas
Francisco José de Caldas was a Colombian lawyer, naturalist, and geographer who died a martyr by orders of Pablo Morillo during the Reconquista for being a precursor of the Independence of New Granada ....
, Camilo Torres Tenorio
Camilo Torres Tenorio
Camilo Torres Tenorio was a Colombian politician. He is credited as being an early founder of the nation due to his role in early struggles for independence from Spain.-Biography:...
, Francisco Antonio Ulloa, and José María Cabal. He finished his studies in 1785, and although his father wanted him to continue his ecclesiastical studies
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
, Zea moved the next year to Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
in hopes of studying jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, goal which he attained by applying and receiving a scholarship from the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé. He had to endure poverty and sickness, to the point that he was expelled for not being able to pay his pension
Pension (lodging)
A pensione is a family-owned guest house or boarding house. This term is typically used in Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, other Continental European countries, in areas of North Africa and the Middle East that formerly had large European expatriate populations, and in some parts of South America...
. He was able to continue his studies with the help of fellow Medellinense Gabriel Muñoz, and in 1788 he became an adjunct professor of grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
and in 1789 adjunct professor of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, positions which allowed him to improve his living situation. Maybe it was his love of teaching, or his need and desire for a stable income, but he decided to postpone his degree to teach full-time, degree which he never did achieve. He became renowned as a tutor to the extent that Viceroy José Manuel de Ezpeleta
José Manuel de Ezpeleta
José Manuel de Ezpeleta y Galdeano, 1st Count of Ezpeleta de Beire was a Spanish military officer and politician, governor of Cuba from 1785 to 1789, and viceroy of New Granada from 1789 to 1797.A knight of the Order of Charles III and of the Royal and...
hired him as a private tutor for his children.
Spanish exile
In 1794, with Antonio NariñoAntonio Nariño
Antonio de la Santísima Concepción Nariño y Álvarez was an ideological Colombian precursor and one of the early political and military leaders of the independence movement in the New Granada - Early political activity :Nariño was born to an aristocratic family...
, he was implicated in the circulation of the “Droits de l'homme,” sent to Spain, and for two years kept prisoner in the fortress of Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. Although absolved in 1799, he was sent to France on a scientific mission, as the government desired to keep him away from New Granada
New Granada
New Granada may refer to various former national denominations for the present-day country of Colombia.*New Kingdom of Granada, from 1538 to 1717*Viceroyalty of New Granada, from 1717 to 1810, re-established from 1816 to 1819...
. On his return, in 1803, he was still prohibited from returning to his country. He was elected member of several Spanish scientific societies, and was editor of the Mercurio de España and Semanario de Agricultura.
Botanist
In the Real Colegio y Seminario de Popayán, he wrote his “Hebephilo,” for the Papel Periodico inviting young men to the study of nature, and in 1789, when José Celestino retired from the academy known as the Expedición botanica, Zea was appointed his successor. In 1803, on his return to Spain from the scientific mission in France, he was appointed director of the botanical cabinet of Madrid.Exile in France
In 1808 during the Peninsular WarPeninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, Zea was one of the 85 deputies from Spain convened by order of Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
at Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
, to select a new king of Spain. The new king selected was Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
, Napoleon’s elder brother, under whose authority Zea entered Spain and who shortly afterwards named him prefect at Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
. Zea’s insubordination to Spain, his allegiance to France and his love of French culture
Culture of France
The culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the seventeenth...
and French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
which he spoke fluently made him one of the few Neogranadine afrancesado
Afrancesado
Afrancesado was the term used to denote Spanish and Portuguese partisans of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism, or the French Revolution, who were supporters of the French occupation of Iberia and of the First French Empire.-Origins:...
s of his time. Zea’s time as prefect did not last long however, as with the defeat of the French in 1814, Zea had to return to seek refuge in France.
President of Congress
Congress of Angostura
The Congress of Angostura was summoned by Simón Bolívar and took place in Angostura during the wars of Independence of Colombia and Venezuela. It met from February 15, 1819, to July 31, 1821, when the Congress of Cúcuta began its sessions.It consisted of twenty-six delegates, representing...
, a legislative body gathered in the city of Angostura
Ciudad Bolívar
Ciudad Bolívar is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolivar State. It was founded with the name Angostura in 1764, renamed in 1846, and, as of 2010, had an estimated population of 350,691....
in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, where delegates from the New Granada planned to charter the course for the new liberated nation of the Republic of Colombia
Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...
. When the congress first convened on 15 February 1819, Zea, as delegate for Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
was elected President of the Congress of Venezuela and Diego de Vallenilla Arana its Deputy Secretary. This meant that while congress deliberated on the future political composition of the nation and elected its leaders, Zea was both the chief executive officer and the chief legislative officer.
The first signs of internal division began showing soon after as Venezuelans did not want to be ruled by a Neogranadine for they thought of themselves as independent of the new nation, in the end it proved too much as Zea was confronted with a lot of opposition from the Venezuelan armed forces who did not want to be commanded by a civilian, let alone a Neogranadine forcing Zea to step down on 7 September 1819, however he remained a member of congress.
Vice President
Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...
, a country made of 3 departments: Venezuela, Cundinamarca, and Quito. Congress also elected Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
the First President of Colombia, and as the First Vice President of Colombia, it also elected individual Vice Presidents for the departments, Juan Germán Roscio
Juan Germán Roscio
Juan Germán Roscio , was a Venezuelan lawyer and politician of Italian background, served as the secretary of foreign affairs for the Junta of Caracas, and the main editor of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence,. Roscio was also the chief architect of the Venezuelan Constitution of 1811.-...
as Vice President of Venezuela
Vice President of Venezuela
Executive Vice President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the second highest political position in the government of Venezuela. Vice President is the most direct collaborator of the President of the Republic according to the Constitution. Position of Vice President appeared in the...
, and Francisco de Paula Santander
Francisco de Paula Santander
Francisco José de Paula Santander y Omaña , was a Colombian military and political leader during the 1810–1819 independence war of the United Provinces of New Granada...
as Vice President of Cundinamarca, the office of Vice President of Quito was left vacant as the Royal Audience of Quito
Royal Audience of Quito
The Royal Audience of Quito was an administrative unit in the Spanish Empire which had political, military, and religious jurisdiction over territories that today include Ecuador, parts of northern Peru, parts of southern Colombia and parts of northern Brazil...
was still under Spanish rule.
Diplomat
-
- "Whoever will approach Columbia with pacific benevolent intentions, may draw in full security from the common source of our riches. Such is the single basis which we are desirous to have with all the people of the earth cordiality, liberty, reciprocity. The jealousies and distrusts which were formally such fruitful sources of mischief are banished from the legislation as well as from the spirit of our fellow citizens. We will never falsify the philanthropic principles for which blood has flowed in such abundance on the field of battle & on the scaffold... Columbia derives her rights for no one. The author of her own strength, she relies upon her own means alone to maintain herself independent, powerful, free and unvulnerable." - Extract from Mr. Zea's note to the Ambassadors of the different European Powers at Paris. 8 April 1822.
He returned to England in June 1822 with the objective of acquiring a loan of five million pounds sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
. Zea was able to get support for the independentist cause from many of sympathetic Englishmen who called themselves Friends of South American Independence, among them some notable figures like Edward Adolphus St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset
Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset
Edward Adolphus St. Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset KG FRS was the son of Webb Seymour, 10th Duke of Somerset and Mary Bonnell. He was also a baronet....
; Sir James Mackintosh
James Mackintosh
Sir James Mackintosh was a Scottish jurist, politician and historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a journalist, judge, administrator, professor, philosopher and politician.-Early life:Mackintosh was born at...
; Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne
Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne KG, PC, FRS , known as Lord Henry Petty from 1784 to 1809 and then as The Earl of Kerry to 1818, was a British statesman...
; William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
; Sir Benjamin Hobhouse; John Diston Powles
John Diston Powles
John Diston Powles was an English businessman. In the mid-1820s he was heavily involved in the promotion of South American mining companies, and enlisted a young Benjamin Disraeli to write pamphlets promoting these mines, particularly those in Chile. Powles was involved in the creation of the St...
, and various other members of the British Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, who on 10 July 1822 at the City of London Tavern had given him a dinner party in his honour and that of Colombia's as a way to show support and raise that much needed credit for Colombia. Zea however never saw the conclusion of his mission for he died shortly after.
Death
Death found Francisco Antonio Zea at the age of 56 on 28 November 1822, at the Royal York House Hotel, in Bath, SomersetSomerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he had gone to take refuge in the famous hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
s. His remains were later interred at Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
on 4 December 1822.