Where is ELIZABETH I BURIED? Grave of Elizabeth I and Mary I | Dead body of a queen. History Calling

did you know that the griev of Elizabeth the first hasn't always been in its current location and that she isn't buried alone instead the body of the last tutor Monarch was disinterred from her original resting place and moved to her present tomb in Westminster Abbey on the orders of her successor James the first who also had an elaborate Monument full of symbolism constructed over the top of her but which makes almost no mention of the other person in the vault in this week's video from history calling I'll tell you where Elizabeth was originally buried why she was moved who she's buried with and why both would most likely hit the arrangement I'll also explain the layers of meaning within the inscriptions and symbols on the monument reveal which bits of her Effigy have been stolen and replaced and tell you what was found when the Vault was opened in the 19th century before we get to that though I'm thrilled to be able to thank history hit for sponsoring this video history hit is like Netflix but all history it brings you the stories that have shaped our world through an award-winning podcast Network and an online History Channel you can watch hundreds of hours of original history documentaries featuring expert historians such as Dan snow Professor Susanna Lipscomb and Dan Jones and you can access them anywhere anytime and on any device as well as its hundreds of expert-led programs history hit adds two more every week it also launches 19 new episodes weekly across it podcasts including on the world's leading History Podcast dance news history hit I've recently been watching their documentary and Berlin and Catherine of Aragon brilliant Rivals hosted by Susanna Lipscomb the central question posed by this program is did Catherine and Anne similarities outnumber their differences and to answer it Professor Lipscomb travels to Anne's family home heaver Castle there she looks at the two women's childhoods educations and the near identical prayer books they both owned complete with customized illuminations as well as the fascinating story of how these books have survived the centuries along the way she discusses how Henry and Catherine's marriage fell apart as his relationship with Anne grew there was even a fun trip to a very pink 1970s bathroom in the castle which has an unlikely connection to Anne to gain access to this show as well as history Hits Huge array of other programs click the link in the description box below which will take you to their subscribe page you can also get a fantastic 50 off your first three months when you select the monthly option and use the code history calling at checkout once again thank you to history hit for sponsoring this video and now let's uncover all the secrets of Elizabeth tutor's tomb thank you [Music] the story of Elizabeth the first griev actually starts when she was just 25 with the death of her half-sister Mary the first in November 1558. Mary was duly buried in a vault in Westminster Abbey but Elizabeth never bothered to have a monument erected to remember the Troublesome sister who'd been known to lock her up in the Tower of London on occasion and she certainly didn't fulfill Mary's Wish expressed in her last will and testament to have the remains of her mother Catherine of Aragon disinterred from Peterborough Cathedral and lay to rest next to her nope Elizabeth was very much a look to the Future and kind of girl and she made no efforts to memorialize Mary or indeed any of her dead family though to be fair none of Henry VIII's children were any good at putting up memorials to their dead parents or siblings so this wasn't just an Elizabeth thing one interesting detail about the way in which she had her sister buried though was that when all the altars in Westminster Abbey meaning the Catholic altars because Mary had restored England at least normally to Catholicism were taken down in April 1561 the stones were carried over to Mary's grave and placed on top of it that seems to have been it though for memorializing the first shooter Queen regnant Flash Forward to March 1603 and the nice 69 year old Elizabeth was dying on the 24th of that month she breathed her last at Richmond palace in London and the throne passed to her distant cousin James VI of Scotland who became James the first of England Elizabeth left no will and to the best of our knowledge no instructions about where she should be buried but the decision was taken to enter her in Westminster Abbey the most popular burial place for English monarchs at that time her funeral was held on the 28th of April and she was Julian turd in the very impressive tomb of her grandparents Henry VII and Elizabeth of York this fact was recorded by one Thomas Millington in a tract about the arrival of James the first in England published that same year and which said of the deceased queen that Thursday the 24th of March some two hours after midnight Departed the spirit of that great princess meaning Elizabeth from the prison of her weak body which now sleeps in the Sepulcher of her grandfather in the normal course of things that would have been that but in time James the first would have other ideas the king didn't immediately decide to provide a grand tomb for Elizabeth it was only with some prodding from advisors that he came around to the idea and even then it was partly because he was creating a new Tomb in the Abbey for his disgraced mother Mary Queen of Scots at the same time both terms can be seen as a way to emphasize his tutor roots and claim to the throne which was slightly shaky as he wasn't the preceding Monarch's direct descendant he wasn't English and he wasn't the designated Heir this last issue was because Elizabeth stared fastly refused to name such an heir and her father's will had actually left the throne to the descendants of his sister Mary not his sister Margaret who had been James's great grandmother as we'll see the inscriptions and decorations on Elizabeth's Monument would therefore help to connect these two monarchs despite their distant familial relationship and the fact that they had never met Peter Sherlock whose article on the tomb will leave details of in the description box provides a summary of the construction of Elizabeth's Monument noting that the main Workman was called Maximilian putran also known as Maximilian cult originally from Aras in France and that he built the monument between 1605 and 1607. it was then gilded and the herald redecorations on it added by one John de critz the original fencing around it was erected by Richard Patrick the entire thing cost 965 pounds according to Sherlock though Westminster Abbey's website says it was 1485 which is a huge difference Sherlock though cited several primary sources to support his claim of 965 pounds which I was able to go check and so his is the figure which I would believe by the time this was all done Elizabeth had actually already been moved into her new resting place no point in adding fencing after all if you're going to need to open up the Vault to put a body in it as the removal of her corpse from her grandparents tomb took place in 1606. we know this because we have a record of a payment of 46 Shillings 4 pence in the Abbey's account books that year for the quote removing of Queen Elizabeth her body from under Henry VII his tomb to the place where her Monument Nai standeth to help you understand the geography of this move let's look at this floor plan of the Abbey published in 1909 that just happens to be the free floor plan that I came across in my research by the way there is not anything special to our story about the year 1909. Henry VII and Elizabeth the First's tombs are actually both in an area of the Abbey referred to as the Henry VII Chapel however certain parts of that Chapel have been sectioned off with wooden partitions so that when you're in them it feels like you're in a different room Elizabeth is in what is called the north Isle of the chapel her grandparents are in its large Central section so when you look at this picture taken in front of Elizabeth's tomb please note the blue and white flags you can see here now I compare that image to this one taken in front of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York's tomb and you can see the same flags from the other side I hope this helps to get across to you just how close these family members are Elizabeth has only traveled maybe 40 or 50 feet from the vault in which she was originally interred I don't know the extent to which this sectioning which also includes some pretty old looking pews was in place in 1606 or how easily some or all of it might have been taken down to a facilitate the move so I'm not sure if repositioning Elizabeth was a case of just carrying her straight across the floor to the Vault she's now in or if her coffin had to be logged out the main door of the current Chapel then in through the smaller entrance which leads into the partitioned North aisle my gut instinct is that given the work being done to build the large Monument to Elizabeth there must have been an easier way to get materials into the north aisle than the modern entrance we see today despite the hassle it must have caused this removal was evidently forgotten about for centuries for when you look at all guidebooks for Westminster Abbey or histories of Elizabeth's life you'll find them confidently asserting that she was always buried with Mary and even that this is what she had wanted this is untrue why would Elizabeth want to be buried with his sister who had come close to having her killed held her under house arrest for many months and who had tried to force her conversion to Catholicism a burial with her illustrious grandparents however founders of the Tudor dynasty and whose remains were under an ostentatious tomb made much more sense the fact that she was originally pleased there was only rediscovered in the 1990s by the historian Julia Walker again I'll leave details of the article she wrote which describes this process below for you and so I think she deserves a shout out for taking the time to go back to the primary sources and sift fact from fiction now let's look at the physical details of the monument and the symbolism in its inscriptions and decoration it is comprised of a life-size Effigy of Elizabeth and in some sources I have seen this referred to as marble and in others I've seen it referred to as Stone I can only tell you that when I was standing right in front of it and taking the pictures of it that I have I thought that it looked like marble but just be aware that some people say it's Stone Elizabeth is lying flat on her back her head supported by two cushions and is bedacked in the robes and regalia of queenship she wears a crown and holds an orb and scepter in her hands she is shown in a realistic manner for someone who had died in her 70th year and not as the ever youthful Gloriana we see in her later portraits not all of the details on the Statue date from the 17th century though the Abbey's website tells us that the Gilded collar with a representation of the burgundy or three brothers pendant was added in 1975 and made by Mrs H Hughes the crown designed by Janet Arnold the cross on the orb and the scepter the queen holds are also modern Replacements The Originals having been stolen centuries ago these were the gift of Mr Brian Court mappin the railing around the tomb designed by J Peter Foster in 1983 is another modern replacement for a lost original The Abbey website is quite right that some of the regalia had been lost or stolen as it says as we can see from this picture from the early 20th century that Elizabeth had no crown or caller at that point and only a damaged orb and scepter this drawing from 1850 also proves that the railings had been lost as does this Photograph published in 1914 fortunately we do have this image of the tomb which was published in 1620 just 13 years after it was completed and 14 years after Elizabeth's remains had been moved there which shows the original items and indicates that The Replacements are very good dupes of those Originals this older image also indicates that Elizabeth was initially dressed in urban robes which have now disappeared as well this reclining statue of the last Jitter Monarch rests on a base supported by four lions with black and gold pillars holding up an italian-style triumphal Arch above the Queen's head there are a series of shields around what Sherlock calls the entablatures of the two Pavilions below the central Arch he then gives a good summary of what these shields represent which I'm going to quote for you here he says that on the West End began with the shield of Edward the Confessor then traced Elizabeth's descent through the English monarchs ending with the arms of Henry VIII and Anne Berlin the genealogy on the Eastern canopy was broken into four parts two provided further descents from Edward III want to show the link from John of gone to Margaret Beaufort and the other to bring in the remaining line from Lionel Duke of Clarence to Anne Mortimer if you're curious as to who all these people are by the way I recommend you check out my videos on lady Margaret Beaufort who was Elizabeth's great grandmother as I go into detail on the genealogy there the third set discreetly located on the interior freeze of the canopy showed five Shields accounting for the Queen's otherwise unmentioned Berlin and Howard ancestors the remaining three shields on the southern freeze of the western canopy depict three generations of descent from Henry VII through the impeeled arms of Margaret shooter and Archibald Douglas Margaret Douglas and Matthew Stewart and finally Henry Stewart and Mary Queen of Scots these have no legitimate place on Elizabeth's tomb for they illustrate not her lineage but that of her successor James used them to demonstrate that just as he had an undoubted claim on the Scottish Throne through his mother so too he could claim the English Throne through his english-born father if we look at the corners of the canopy we can see Shields displaying a portcullis a harp a fleur-de-lis and a ruse all used as symbols of royalty in England and if we look at the center of the top of the canopy which I couldn't get decent images of because the walkway around the tomb is so narrow the two largest Shields of all show Elizabeth's own arms and model on one side and Scotland's arms impaling those of France and England on the other what Sherlock says is presumably representing the marriage of James IV of Scotland and Margaret shooter he continues that this Shield is accompanied by James's motto blessed are the peacemakers again therefore we can see that Elizabeth's tomb was as much about James as it was about her the railings around the tomb are also decorated with arms and crests relevant to Elizabeth's family and Dynasty though these are not the originals as I said before they are good dupes for them and we can tell from older images of the Tomb that their decorations have been copied from the railings installed by Richard Patrick they are topped by alternating golden fleur-de-lis and Roses which I assume are meant to represent sugar roses though the style of them doesn't look quite right for that running around the black band of the railings are golden crowns portcullises what looks like ambulance Falcon badge definite sugar roses and the initials ER standing for Elizabeth Regina if you think I've misinterpreted any of this though let me know in the comments despite how young these railings are I actually didn't come across any official description of them there were three Latin inscriptions on the Tomb at the top picked out in Gold lettering on a black background is the following text which is in Latin but I'm going to give you a translation of it to the Eternal memory of Elizabeth Queen of England France and Ireland daughter of King Henry VIII granddaughter of King Henry VII great granddaughter to King Edward IV mother of her country a nursing mother to religion and all liberal Sciences skilled in many languages adorned with excellent indictments both of body and mind and excellent for princely virtues Beyond her sex James King of Great Britain France and Ireland hath devotely and justly erected this Monument to her whose virtues and kingdoms he inherits this is interesting as much for what it doesn't say as what it does much is made of Elizabeth's tutor and plantagenet Bloodlines both of which were of course shared by James but there is no mention of her mother though as we heard a few minutes ago Anne Berlin came from the very powerful Howard family James has also made sure that his own name is prominently displayed so that everyone knows what a good boy he was in putting up this monument and also that he was the lawful inheritor of Elizabeth's Kingdom as well as her virtues which were so wonderful that they went beyond what could be expected of a woman sexism at its finest here the wording here insinuates he is as good as her child he was in fact her God child and therefore reinforces his lawful inheritance of her crime still at the front end of the tomb which you see when you walk through the door into the room but now at the bottom of the monument behind Elizabeth's head is the only original reference to Mary the first presence and it is very brief translated once again it says Partners in throne and griev here we sleep Elizabeth and Mary sisters in the hope of the Resurrection Mary was of little to no use to gyms in dynastic terms and there was therefore no incentive to make more of her grieve she had been dead for nearly 50 years at this point and James had not inherited the English crime directly from her she was also not a popular figure in recent English History given her efforts to quash the Protestant faith in what was now a predominantly Protestant country it didn't help that she had also been the queen of Spain which was one of England's avoid enemies at this stage or that her one-time husband King Philip had sent the Spanish Armada in 1588 less than 20 years before this Monument was completed a much later Stone laid into the floor in front of the Tomb in 1977 makes one other reference to her and to the miseries caused by the English reformation and counter-reformation saying near the tomb of Mary and Elizabeth remember before God all those who divided at the Reformation by different convictions laid down their lives for Christ and conscience sake another inscription is placed at what I would call the far end of the Tomb above Elizabeth's feet it gives a summary of her achievements and reads sacred to memory religion to its primitive Purity restored peace settled money restored to its just value domestic Rebellion quailed France relieved when involved with intestine divisions the Netherlands supported the Spanish Armada vanquished Ireland almost lost by rebels eased by writing the Spaniard the revenues of both universities much enlarged by a law of provisions and lastly all England enriched Elizabeth a most prudent Governor 45 years a Victorious and triumphant Queen most strictly religious most happy by a calm and resigned death at her 70th year left her mortal remains Till by Christ's word they shall rise to immortality to be deposited in the church by her established and lastly find it she died the 24th of March Anno 1602 which is 1603 in the calendar nine years of hurriyan the 45th year of her age the 70th the final lines of the inscription are actually given on two stones at the bottom left and right of the Tomb beneath Elizabeth's feet but they are obscured by the railings this inscription also insinuates that Elizabeth wished to at least be buried in Westminster Abbey and perhaps she did but there is no surviving documentary evidence to support this conclusion the reference to her finding the church relates to her restyling the building as the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter Westminster in the early 1560s the structure is obviously much older than that but it had gone through quite a few identity changes thanks to the religious upheavals during the Reigns of Henry VII Edward VI and Mary the first by the by I think Mary would have been horrified that she's ended up buried in a Protestant church I cannot imagine that that was her intention Elizabeth and Mary's tomb is not the only thing in the north Isle and though they are the only bodies in the vault beneath it very close to them are the remains of two of King James's baby daughters by his wife Anne of Denmark these are princesses Mary and Sophia Stewart who died in 1606 and 1607. much more famous than these two unfortunate little girls though are the bones which lie in a white urn between their monuments for these are supposed to be the remains of the princes in the tar Elizabeth and Mary Tudor's great uncles the bones were discovered in 1674 in a wall in the Tower of London and though there is no actual proof that they are the remains of Edward V and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury Duke of York Charles II had them interred here under those names we're now going to move forward to the 1860s when the search was on for the remains of James the first whose exact burial police had been lost to history in the course of looking for him the Tomb of the Tudor sisters was opened up and peered into and a description of what was seen was published in 1869 it tells us of a low narrow Vault immediately beneath her tomb it was instantly evident that it includes two coffins and two only and it could not be dotted that these contained Elizabeth and her sister Mary the upper one larger and more distinctly shaped in the form of the body rested on the other there was no disorder or Decay except that the centering wood had fallen over the head of Elizabeth's coffin and that the wood case had crumbled away at the sides and had drawn away part of the Decay and lid no coffin plate could be discovered but fortunately the dim light fell on a fragment of the lid slightly carved you're seeing a drawing of said fragment here this led to a further search on the original inscription was discovered there was the tutor badge a full double rose deeply but simply incised in outline on the middle of the cover on each side the August initials ER and below the memorable date 1603 the coffin lid had been further decorated with narrow molded paneling the Coffin Case was of inch Elm but the ornamental lid containing the inscription and paneling was a fine Oak half an inch thick laid on the inch Elm cover the hole was covered with red silk velvet of which much remained attached to the wood and it had covered not only the sides and ends but also the ornamented oak cover as though the bare wood had not been felt Rich enough without the Velvet the main point I'd like to highlight here is that Elizabeth's coffin was and most likely still is sitting on top of Mary's a situation which the elder sister would no doubt have hit it with a passion I doubt either of them would have opted to be buried together Mary wanted to be with Catherine of Aragon remember but given their fractious relationship and the fact that Elizabeth's mere existence wrought so much damage in Mary's life to have her little sister literally come out on top even in the grieve would be the final slap in the face to Queen Mary and not the way she would have wanted to spend eternity or at least the last 400 plus years and counting the Victorian intrusion is to the best of my knowledge the last time the Vault was opened and if you've seen my playlist on deaths and corpses which covers the afterlife Adventures of many a royal body you'll appreciate just how lucky Elizabeth and Mary are to have apparently been left alone in their coffins since they were placed in them many others have been horribly mutilated and their remains dispersed I hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour of the Tomb of the two most famous Tudor sisters yes I think they're more famous than their aunts Mary and Margaret before anyone asks thank you to those of you who support me over on patreon for your instinct in kindness which helps me to keep creating these videos for you and to those of you who donate to the channel using the thanks button underneath videos as this is also incredibly generous of you let me know in the comments below how you think Mary and Elizabeth would react to their burial arrangements and until next time keep learning

Channel: History Calling

Views: 584,720

Keywords: Where is Mary I buried, Where is Elizabeth I buried, Who is Elizabeth I buried with, burying queen Elizabeth, grave of elizabeth I, burial of queen Elizabeth, tomb of elizabeth I, grave of mary I, digging up elizabeth I, tomb monument of elizabeth I, GRAVE OF ELIZABETH I AND MARY I, History Calling

Id: EgLchn8Xs7I

Length: 25min 8sec (1508 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 14 2023