Digging Up The Body Of The Rotting Queen Of England

welcome to her remarkable history remember to support our Channel please subscribe digging up the body of the rotting Queen of England Catherine of vawa in 1437 a queen of England died French through birth and the daughter of the French King Catherine married into the English Monarchy and became one of England's most beloved queens of the time she married King Henry V but it's through her second marriage to Owen Tudor that she became known in history and her reputation dwindled a little her son King Henry VI Crown hung in the balance but this is not the saddest part about this story Catherine died in the year 1437 but it took nearly 400 years for her to find peace the treatment in which she received after death was nothing short of a disgrace the grandmother of the Tudor dynasty as she became known had been plagued by an illness for some time it's believed three days before she died she wrote her will and it was clear the once Queen of England knew that death was coming for her through her second marriage to Owen Tudor Catherine gave birth to a boy Edmund and Edmund was the father of King Henry VII Henry beat Richard III at the Battle of boss with field ending the walls of the roses and it was Catherine who then being Henry's grandmother ultimately set the ball rolling for the next 118 years and the Tudor era begun now when Catherine died her body was embalmed and filled with herbs and spices and was then wrapped in thick layers of sear cloth before her body was encased in lead and was placed in a wooden coffin it's believed that Catherine's organs were buried elsewhere but on top of her coffin was a funeral Effigy carved from wood and dressed in her clothes the coffin was covered in cloth of gold and she was then laid to rest to begin with in a tomb in Westminster Abbey close to Henry V her first husband there had been rumors that she was buried in the old lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey sadly this was not the case now you see Catherine's son from her first marriage Henry VI wanted his mother's tomb to be magnificent he wanted her Memorial to be bigger to be better but Henry didn't get around to do this as he died and then the lady Chapel was dug up and demolished to make way for a new Chapel during the reign of Henry VII in this process Catherine's tomb was destroyed and her body was dug up her wooden coffin was found to be falling apart and decaying she was removed from this rotting coffin and placed into a wooden chest with a new flat lead and Sheet placed on top this chest was then placed in front of the tomb of Henry V a place in which it stayed for the better part of 300 years sadly however the duration in which the coffin remained out in the open isn't the worst part as her body was not buried and remained above ground within the walls of Westminster Abbey her coffin or the chests she was left in was made into a visitor attraction and as the Curious visitors filled the Halls the coffin was opened for a small fee but it gets worse not only did the visitors look at the remains of the now rotting Queen they touched her one witness when he pulled back the circloth said the bones being firmly United and thinly clothed like flesh like scrapings of tanned leather another said that her remains had no clothing and that she was buried naked in her shroud tour guides were making money from exhibiting the remains of the queen and then people were even allowed to touch the body of Queen Catherine of valois Samuel peeps wrote that he kissed the corpse of the queen which had been dead for around 200 years at the time and then the mistreatment continued you see many people flocked to Westminster Abbey and would go further than just viewing the remains of the 15th century Queen they would touch her and mistreat her body as said the London diarist Samuel peeps wrote once how he saw Catherine's body following watching Shakespeare's play of Henry VI he said on shrove Tuesday 1669 I to The Abbey went and by favor did see the body of Queen Catherine of valois and had the upper part of the body in my hands and I did kiss her mouth reflecting upon it I did kiss a queen and this my birthday I 36 years old and I did kiss a queen so people would flock to The Abbey to kiss the corpse of the queen and this became a tradition however further mistreatment of her remains took place as during the 18th century it was written that it had been Torn to Pieces by a group of young scholars who amused themselves when this writer witnessed the body he said it was a shapeless mass of whitish color and had been desecrated see people would come to The Abbey over the centuries and pull back the sea cloth showing her face and chest all the way down to her body some tour guides inside the Abbey made money from this charging visitors a shilling to see her remains and her body was a very popular tourist attraction many believed that she was a scorned lady who was being punished by being unburied for going against the wishes of her husband the king to give birth to their Heir at Windsor you see Henry V allegedly heard a prophecy that stated a prince born in Windsor would lose all rights to the kingdom and Henry VI the lost all rights to the kingdom during the wars of the Roses because of this it was said that Catherine's body was left out as one witness stated sensibly of her fault in disobeying her husband it was her own desire and pleasure that her body should never be buried if so it is pity but that woman especially a queen should her will therein whose dust doth preach a sermon of Duty and morality to all Catherine's body was inspected and it was noted that quite a few pieces of her skeleton and remains were missing it was thought that they were covered in lime and several parts had been eaten away the entire front part of her skull had gone and one on the back was found lying on her pelvis many of her backbones were missing as well as were all of her ribs except one and two of her right arm bones had disappeared clavia had been taken and replaced with a bone from her pelvis so it seemed that souvenir Hunters had raided her body and had taken the remains of the former Queen and her legs were found in perfect condition these remained protected by 12 layers of sea cloth and were preserved well the skin still remaining it wasn't until 1788 where Catherine was laid to rest for around 100 years but during the reign of Queen Victoria The Vault that she had been placed in was opened and people broke through to see if Catherine's body was really inside of villia's Vault they found her remains on top of a pile of coffins and the wooden coffin she was in had yet again rotted he had stuck to another coffin they did manage to free it but when it came into the atmosphere once more it fell to Pieces it was a striking and impressive scene which I shall ever remember and which at the time it was impossible to view without some feeling of emotion the daylight had quite faded and we were alone in the darkened Abbey two workmen took up the box containing the Queen's remains and followed Mr Paul and the clerk of the works the latter carrying his hand one small Lantern to lightest led the way out of Saint Nicholas's Chapel to the north side of the Chantry Chapel Mr George scarf and myself followed no one else was present and we seemed unconsciously and silently to fall into a sort of processional order I remarked to him we are attending the Queen's third funeral not a word was said as we pass slowly around the ambulatory in the darkness these are the words spoken by a witness who saw Catherine of valois coffin then being carried into Henry V's Chapel it is the latest Royal tomb in the Abbey and though Long delayed it has been thought that the singular and romantic history of a French princess and an English Queen should at length be brought to an honorable end request in Pache these are the words placed onto the alabaster Tomb of the French princess turned English Queen grandmother to the Tudor dynasty her story is horrific Catherine of valois was the queen who married Henry V in an attempt to unite the French and English Thrones she produced an heir in Henry VI who despite ruling a while was deposed during the wars of the roses and was murdered whilst he prayed inside the Tower of London her remains throughout the years after her death were treated in a very disrespectful manner with some people even kissing the lips of the queen who had died centuries before this is shocking as many of her remains had also been stolen by Relic Hunters who wanted to possess the bones of the Queen the story of Catherine of Val was remains after her death is a disgusting and morbid one and she was not given the respect she truly deserved it took 400 years for Catherine to finally be able to rest in true uninterrupted peace thank you for watching and to support please subscribe to her remarkable history thank you

Channel: Her Remarkable History

Views: 7,498

Keywords: Henry VIII, Henry VII, Henry vi, Henry v, Catherine de Valois, Catherine of valois, Westminster Abbey, tudor, tudor dyansty, medievil, medieval ear, tudor era, one tudor, Edmund tudor, grave desecration, grave disturbance, westminster scholar, queen victoria, the war of the roses, 1400's, 15th century, king Henry v, king Henry vi, king Henry VII, king Henry VIII, Henry 8, Henry 7, Henry 6, Henry 8 6 wives, Catherine, Owen and Catherine, Catherine of valois death

Id: LnbT7S0iC3c

Length: 11min 20sec (680 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 01 2023