by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula; Credit – Von Samuel Taylor Geer – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36712795

The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula, which this writer has visited, is in the Inner Ward of the Tower of London in London, England. St. Peter ad Vincula is Latin for St. Peter in chains and refers to St. Peter being chained and imprisoned in Jerusalem by King Herod Agrippa. St. Peter ad Vincula is a royal peculiar which means it is under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch. It is also a chapel royal, an establishment in the royal household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign.

The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula was in existence before the 12th-century and has been demolished and rebuilt a few times. The original chapel was built outside the walls of the Tower of London so that the king could be seen worshiping in public. The king also had a private chapel, the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist within the White Tower in the Tower of London. Eventually, the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula was rebuilt within the walls of the Tower of London and became the place of worship for the inhabitants of the Tower. In 1286, King Edward I, demolished the entire chapel and rebuilt it. Edward I’s chapel was severely damaged by a fire in 1512. The current chapel, built from 1519 – 1520, during the reign of King Henry VIII, replaced the fire-damaged chapel, and it remains a place of worship for the approximately 150 residents who live at the Tower of London.

Credit – https://www.thechapelsroyalhmtoweroflondon.org.uk/welcome/the-chapel-of-st-peter-ad-vincula/

During the 19th-century, there were extensive renovations of the interior of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. In particular, the floor was badly damaged and had started to collapse because of the number of burials during the 16th-century. Many of the remains that were found were moved to the newly-built crypt. The remains of Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, and others were identified and markers on the new floor were installed indicating their burial places. In 2014, there were further renovations. New furniture and lighting were installed, the crypt was improved, and office space and facilities were provided for the choir of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula.

Buried in the Chapel; Credit – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1965/anne-boleyn#view-photo=80722

19th-century marker in the floor identifying the burial place of Anne Boleyn; Credit – Von AloeVera95 – Fotografia scattata personalmente, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48304717

Although there are other burials at the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, it is most associated with the burials of executed people, and visitors cannot help but be reminded of those burials walking over the 19th-century burial markers on the floor and seeing the brass plate listing those “buried in this chapel between” 1534 and 1747 on a chapel wall. Historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in his 1848 History of England:

“In truth there is no sadder spot on the earth than that little cemetery. Death is there associated, not, as in Westminster Abbey and Saint Paul’s, with genius and virtue, with public veneration and with imperishable renown; not, as in our humblest churches and churchyards, with everything that is most endearing in social and domestic charities; but with whatever is darkest in human nature and in human destiny, with the savage triumph of implacable enemies, with the inconstancy, the ingratitude, the cowardice of friends, with all the miseries of fallen greatness and of blighted fame.”

Site of the scaffold at Tower Hill; Credit – By Bryan MacKinnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11456738

The Tower of London had two sites for executions. Tower Hill is outside the walls of the Tower of London, on high ground just north of the Tower of London moat, where public executions of high-profile traitors and criminals were often carried out. Today there is a memorial at the site of the scaffold which can be seen in the photo below.

Credit – By Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10687427

Site of the scaffold on Tower Green; Credit – Wikipedia

Tower Green is an open space located near the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and several other British nobles were executed as a privilege, to maintain their privacy. In 2006, a new permanent memorial was unveiled on Tower Green to remember all those executed at the Tower of London. Designed by British artist Brian Catling. The memorial has a glass-sculpted pillow at its center. The larger circle of dark stone is engraved with a poem written by the artist and the glass circle is engraved with the names of those executed in front of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula on Tower Green.

Execution block and axe at an exhibit in the Tower of London; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Those executed either at Tower Hill or Tower Green and buried at the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula:

• Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle (circa 1502  -February 26, 1552), beheaded on Tower Hill for conspiring to overthrow the government and murder John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Lord Protector
• Christopher Blount (1556 – March 18, 1601), beheaded on Tower Hill for high treason for participating in the rebellion of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I
• Anne Boleyn (circa 1501- May 19, 1536), second wife of King Henry VIII, beheaded on Tower Green within the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest, and high treason, some historians think her fall and execution were engineered by Thomas Cromwell
• George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (1504 – May 17, 1536), brother of Anne Boleyn, beheaded on Tower Hill on charges of incest with his sister and high treason with four other men who were charged with adultery with Anne Boleyn and treason
• Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (circa 1505 – February 13, 1542), wife of George Boleyn, lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine Howard, fifth wife of King Henry VIII, beheaded for treason on Tower Green within the Tower of London on charges of treason for arranging meetings between Queen Catherine Howard and her lover Thomas Culpeper
• William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (1705 – August 18, 1746), Scottish peer who joined the 1745 Jacobite Rising, was captured at the Battle of Culloden, beheaded at Tower Hill for treason
• Thomas Cromwell (circa 1485 – July 28, 1540), chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534-1540, beheaded on Tower Hill on charges of treason and heresy
• Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565 – February 25, 1601), a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, beheaded on Tower Green on charges of high treason for an unsuccessful rebellion to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I
• Lord Guildford Dudley (circa 1535 – February 12, 1554), son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and husband of Lady Jane Grey, beheaded at Tower Hill on charges of high treason for his probably unwilling participation in his father’s scheme to put his wife Lady Jane Grey on the English throne
• John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504 – August 22, 1553), father of Lord Guildford Dudley and father-in-law of Lady Jane Grey, beheaded on Tower Hill on charges of high treason for his scheme to put his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey on the English throne
• Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord Balmerino (1688 – 18 August 1746), Scottish peer who joined the 1745 Jacobite Rising, was captured at the Battle of Culloden, beheaded at Tower Hill for treason
• Cardinal John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (1469 – June 22, 1535), beheaded at Tower Hill by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as the supreme head of the Church of England, honored as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church
• Scottish Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (circa 1667 – April 9, 1747), Scottish peer who joined the 1745 Jacobite Rising, was captured at the Battle of Culloden, beheaded at Tower Hill for treason
• Sir John Gates (1504 – August 22, 1553), beheaded on Tower Hill on charges of high treason for his participation in the scheme to put Lady Jane Grey on the English throne
• Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (1517 – February 23, 1554), father of Lady Jane Grey, beheaded at Tower Hill for his participation in the scheme to put his daughter Lady Jane Grey on the English throne
• Lady Jane Grey (circa 1537 – February 12, 1554), the “Nine Days’ Queen”, great-granddaughter of King Henry VII, wife of Lord Guildford Dudley, and daughter-in-law of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, beheaded at Tower Green for her probably unwilling participation in her father-in-law’s scheme to put her on the English throne
• Catherine Howard (circa 1523 – February 13, 1542), fifth wife of King Henry VIII, beheaded for treason at Tower Green on charges of high treason for committing adultery with her distant cousin Thomas Culpeper
• Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1536 – June 2, 1572), beheaded at Tower Hill for treason for his participation in the Ridolfi plot with King Philip II of Spain to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne and restore Catholicism in England
• William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford (1614 – December 29, 1680), beheaded at Tower Hill for his participation in the Popish plot which was later discredited, beatified as a Catholic martyr and is known as Blessed William Howard
• Sir Thomas More (1478 – July 6, 1535), lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist, served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from 1529 – 1532, beheaded at Tower Hill by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as the supreme head of the Church of England, honored as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church
• Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1473 – May 27, 1541), daughter of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (brother of King Edward IV and King Richard III), one of the few surviving members of the Plantagenet dynasty after the Wars of the Roses
• James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch (1649 – July 15, 1685), illegitimate son of King Charles II and his mistress Lucy Walter, beheaded for treason at Tower Hill for the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion, an attempt to depose his uncle King James II
• Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1500 – January 22, 1552), brother King Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour and Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, uncle of King Edward VI and Lord of Protector England from 1547 to 1549, beheaded at Tower Hill on charges of felony after scheming to overthrow the government of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Lord Protector of England
• Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (circa 1508 – 20 March 1549) ), brother King Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour and Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, uncle of King Edward VI, second husband of King Henry VIII’s sixth wife and widow Catherine Parr, beheaded on Tower Hill on charges of treason for a failed plot against his brother Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
• Sir Ralph Vane (? – February 26, 1552), hanged at Tower Hill for conspiring to overthrow the government and murder John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Lord Protector of England

Works Cited

• Borman, Tracy, 2015. The Story of The Tower of London. London: Merrell Publishers Limited and Historical Royal Palaces.
• Chapels Royal, H., 2021. Chapels Royal, H M Tower of London | The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. [online] Thechapelsroyalhmtoweroflondon.org.uk. Available at: <https://www.thechapelsroyalhmtoweroflondon.org.uk/welcome/the-chapel-of-st-peter-ad-vincula/> [Accessed 10 March 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Church of St Peter ad Vincula. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Peter_ad_Vincula> [Accessed 10 March 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Tower Hill. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Hill#Executions> [Accessed 10 March 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Tower of London. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• Findagrave.com. 2021. Memorials in Chapel of Saint Peter-ad-Vincula – Find A Grave. [online] Available at: <https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/658439/memorial-search?page=4#sr-173777848> [Accessed 10 March 2021].
• Thurley, Simon, Impey, Edward and Hammond, Peter, 2005. The Tower of London – The Official Guidebook. London: Historical Royal Palaces.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Chapel of St. John the Evangelist; Credit – Par Bernard Gagnon — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3675338

View the short video linked below to see a brief tour of the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist.

• YouTube: The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist (from “Live At The Tower”)

The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, which this writer has visited, is located in the White Tower at the Tower of London in London, England. Originally a Roman Catholic chapel, it is a Church of England chapel (also known as Anglican and in the United States, Episcopal). The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist is a royal peculiar which means it is under the direct jurisdiction of the British monarch. It is also a chapel royal, an establishment in the royal household serving the spiritual needs of the British monarch. However, members of the royal family rarely attend services there but services continue to be held periodically. King Charles III received communion at the chapel on his twenty-first birthday.

The White Tower; Credit – By Bernard Gagnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3675330

The building of the White Tower (1077 – 1097) began in the reign of King William I (the Conqueror), the first monarch of the House of Normandy, and continued into the reign of his son King William II Rufus. The White Tower is the central tower of the Tower of London. It was the Tower of London’s strongest point militarily and also provided residential and ceremonial apartments for the king and his family. The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, constructed with Caen stone imported from Normandy, was built in the Norman architecture style, Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the lands under their rule during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

A 15th-century depiction of the Tower of London and its keep, the White Tower; Credit – Wikipedia

The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist dates from 1080 and was used by the royal family while in residence at the Tower of London. By the reign of King Charles II (1660 – 1685), the Tower of London was barely used as a royal residence and the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist became a storeroom for state documents. In 1857, the documents were removed to the new Public Records Office, and the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist was restored to its original splendor.

Tower of London with the White Tower in the middle; Credit – By [Duncan] from Nottingham, UK – Tower of London from the Shard, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32007084

• During the Peasants Revolt of 1381, early in the reign of King Richard II, Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England took refuge in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist from an angry mob who had broken into the Tower of London along with Sir Robert Hales, Lord High Treasurer, William Appleton, the physician of John of Gaunt (a son of King Edward III), and John Legge, a royal sergeant. All four men were dragged from the chapel and taken to nearby Tower Hill where they were beheaded by the rebels.
• Starting with the coronation of King Henry IV in 1399, the Knights of the Bath held all-night vigils in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, on the eves of coronations. This ceremony continued to be held in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist until the coronation of Elizabeth I in 1559, when it was moved to the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, also at the Tower of London.
• In 1503, Elizabeth of York, wife of King Henry VII, died from childbirth complications at the Tower of London, most likely in the White Tower, after the birth of her last child who also died. After her death, the remains of Elizabeth of York temporarily rested in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist.
• In 1674, during the reign of King Charles II, workers doing some remodeling in the White Tower dug up a wooden box containing two small human skeletons. The bones were found buried ten feet under the staircase leading to the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist. Presuming the remains were those of King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, the young sons of King Edward IV, known as the Princes in the Tower, who went missing in 1483, King Charles II ordered the remains placed in an urn in Westminster Abbey. In 1933, the remains were removed from the urn and examined. The conclusion was that the bones belonged to two children around the correct ages for the princes. This examination has been criticized with one of the issues being no attempt was made to determine if the remains were male or female. There has been no further examination and the remains are still in the urn in Westminster Abbey.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Borman, Tracy, 2015. The Story of The Tower of London. London: Merrell Publishers Limited and Historical Royal Palaces.
• Camelotintl.com. 2021. Camelot International: Tower of London. [online] Available at: <http://www.camelotintl.com/tower_site/tower/white_frame.html> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• Chapels Royal, H., 2021. Chapels Royal, H M Tower of London | The Chapel of St John the Evangelist. [online] Thechapelsroyalhmtoweroflondon.org.uk. Available at: <https://www.thechapelsroyalhmtoweroflondon.org.uk/welcome/the-chapel-of-st-john-the-evangelist/> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. St John’s Chapel, London. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John%27s_Chapel,_London> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Tower of London. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. White Tower (Tower of London). [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Tower_(Tower_of_London)> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• Englishmonarchs.co.uk. 2021. The Chapel of St. John, White Tower .. [online] Available at: <http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/tower_london_17.html> [Accessed 26 February 2021].
• Thurley, Simon, Impey, Edward and Hammond, Peter, 2005. The Tower of London – The Official Guidebook. London: Historical Royal Palaces.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Canterbury Cathedral; Credit – By Hans Musil – Picture taken and postprocessed by Hans Musil., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=362071

• Official Website: Canterbury Cathedral
• Oprah Book Clubs: Cathedral Floor Plan and Cathedral Building Terms

Originally a Roman Catholic church, Canterbury Cathedral, which this writer has visited, is a Church of England church (also known as Anglican and in the United States, Episcopal) located in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, and the symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Together with the Church of St. Martin, the oldest church in England, and the ruins of the Abbey of St. Augustine, both also in Canterbury, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine, the prior of a monastery in Rome, to convert King Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent to Christianity. After the conversion, Canterbury, originally a Roman town, was chosen by Augustine as the center for his diocese in Kent, and an abbey and cathedral were built. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and is known as St. Augustine of Canterbury.

The nave of Canterbury Cathedral, looking towards the choir area from the western entrance; Credit – By Diliff  Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34509495

Augustine’s original building was extensively rebuilt and enlarged but it was destroyed by fire in 1067 and was completely rebuilt from 1070-1077 by Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc had been the abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne in Caen, Normandy, now in France, and the design of the new cathedral was based upon the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, using the same material, Caen stone, a light creamy-yellow limestone quarried near the city of Caen.

Embed from Getty Images 

Over the years, there has been new construction and repairs including:

• 1098-1130: A longer quire was built over a crypt (present Western Crypt) doubling the length of the cathedral.
• 1175-1184: In September 1174 the quire was severely damaged by fire, necessitating a major reconstruction. The Eastern Crypt, Trinity Chapel, and Corona Chapel were added.
• 1377-1405: The nave and transepts were rebuilt.
• 1498: The original Norman northwest tower was replaced.
• 1660-1704: In 1642-1643, during the English Civil War, Puritans caused significant damage during their “cleansing” of the cathedral, necessitating repair and refurbishing.
• 1834: The original Norman northwest tower was demolished and rebuilt due to structural issues.
• 1986: A new Martyrdom Altar was installed in the northwest transept, on the site where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170.

Early 14th-century representation of Henry and Thomas Becket; Credit – Wikipedia

The most famous event that occurred at Canterbury Cathedral was the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. In 1162, King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-1189, also Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine, and Duke of Aquitaine) had named his Lord Chancellor Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury following the death of the previous Archbishop, Theobold of Bec. Henry hoped that by appointing Becket there would be a return to royal supremacy over the English Church as it had been in the days of Henry’s grandfather King Henry I. However, Becket wanted to prove that he was no mouthpiece for Henry. An argument developed between the two men over the issue of whether clergy who had committed secular crimes should be tried in secular courts or church courts. Attempts at negotiations failed and in 1164, Becket fled to France to seek sanctuary.

On June 14, 1170, Henry II’s eldest surviving son, Henry the Young King, was crowned junior King of England while Henry II was still alive, adopting the practice of the French monarchy. Roger de Pont L’Évêque, Archbishop of York, Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and Josceline de Bohon, Bishop of Salisbury all participated in the crowning. This infringed on the right of Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury to crown English monarchs and drove Pope Alexander III to allow Becket to lay an interdict on England as punishment, which would forbid the public celebration of sacred rites. This threat forced Henry back to negotiations and terms were agreed to finally in July 1170.

Martyrdom Altar at the site of Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral. The sculpture by Giles Blomfeld represents the four knights’ swords (two metal swords with reddened tips and their two shadows); Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Becket returned to England in early December 1170. Just when the dispute with Henry II seemed resolved, Becket excommunicated the three bishops who had participated in the crowning of Henry the Young King. Henry II’s anger at the timing of the excommunications led him to supposedly ask the question: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” This inspired four knights to set off from Henry’s court in Normandy to Canterbury. They interviewed Becket at the Archbishop’s Palace and then Becket, fearing violence, sought refuge in Canterbury Cathedral. The murder took place while the monks were singing vespers, the evening prayer, on December 29, 1170, in what is now known as The Martyrdom in the northwest transept of the cathedral. As Becket was praying, he was hit by a violent sword stroke that sliced off the crown of his head.

The original burial site of Thomas Becket in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral; Credit – By Adam Bishop Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20480430

The monks were afraid that Becket’s body might be stolen and so his remains were placed beneath the floor of the eastern crypt of the cathedral. A stone cover was placed over the burial place with two holes where pilgrims could insert their heads and kiss the tomb. Canterbury Cathedral had always been popular with religious pilgrims and after the death of Thomas Becket, the number of pilgrims visiting the cathedral rose rapidly and continued until the Protestant Reformation. The income from pilgrims who visited Becket’s shrine, such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer‘s famous Canterbury Tales (written 1387-1400), helped to pay for the subsequent rebuilding of the cathedral. This revenue included the profits from the sale of pilgrim badges depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his shrine.

On February 21, 1173, a little more than two years after his death, Thomas Becket was canonized as a saint by Pope Alexander III. King Henry II performed a public act of penance on July 12, 1174, at Canterbury Cathedral, when he publicly confessed his sins, then allowed each bishop present to give him five hits with a rod, and then each of the 80 monks of Canterbury Cathedral gave him three hits with a rod. Finally, Henry offered gifts to Becket’s shrine and spent a night-long vigil at Becket’s tomb.

Becket Shrine Reconstruction Credit – https://www.smithsonianmag.com/

In 1220, fifty years after his death, Becket’s remains were moved to a new gold-plated and bejeweled shrine behind the high altar in the Trinity Chapel. The shrine was supported by three pairs of pillars, placed on a raised platform with three steps. The shrine and Becket’s remains were destroyed in 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, on orders from King Henry VIII. In 2020, researchers at the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture at the University of York in England used computer-generated imagery to reconstruct how the shrine would have looked in 1408. Today, an empty space with a single candle represents the site of Becket’s destroyed shrine.

The site of Becket’s destroyed shrine; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

• Smithsonian Magazine: Researchers Digitally Reconstruct Thomas Becket’s Razed Canterbury Cathedral Shrine

Canterbury Cathedral has three royal burials: Edward, Prince of Wales known as The Black Prince, King Henry IV, and his second wife Joan of Navarre.

Tomb of Edward the Black Prince at Canterbury Cathedral; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Edward, Prince of Wales (1330-1376) was the eldest son and heir of King Edward III. Best known for his military career in the Hundred Years War, he is commonly referred to as “The Black Prince” although he was not called that in his lifetime. The first appearance of the reference occurred more than 150 years after his death. It is thought it may refer to Edward’s black shield, and/or his black armor or from his brutal reputation, particularly towards the French in the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Around 1367, Edward, Prince of Wales contracted an illness that ailed him until his death in 1376. It was believed that he contracted dysentery, which killed more medieval soldiers than battle, but it is unlikely that he could survive a nine-year battle with dysentery. Other possible diagnoses include edema, nephritis, or cirrhosis. On June 8, 1376, a week before his forty-sixth birthday, Edward died at the Palace of Westminster. Edward had requested to be buried in the crypt at Canterbury Cathedral. His request was denied because of the popular feeling that Edward should be buried in a grand tomb close to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. Edward, Prince of Wales was buried in a tomb with a bronze effigy on the south side of the Trinity Chapel, the site of Becket’s shrine. Edward’s heraldic helmet and gauntlets were placed above his tomb. Today, replicas hang above his tomb and the originals are in a glass case nearby.

Replicas of Edward’s heraldic helmet, gauntlets, etc. above his tomb; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

King Henry IV of England (1367-1413), who usurped the throne from his first cousin King Richard II (the son of Edward, Prince of Wales above) and became the first Lancaster king, was the eldest surviving son of John of Gaunt (third surviving son of King Edward III) and his first wife Blanche of Lancaster. In his last years, Henry suffered from a disfiguring disease (possibly leprosy, syphilis, or psoriasis) and had severe attacks (possibly from epilepsy or cardiovascular disease). On March 20, 1413, while in prayer at the shrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, Henry IV suffered a fatal attack, possibly a stroke. He was carried to the Jerusalem Chamber, a room in the house of the abbot, where he died at age 45.

Tomb of Henry IV and his second wife Joan of Navarre at Canterbury Cathedral; Photo Credit: © Susan Flantzer

Henry IV was not buried at Westminster Abbey but instead, he had requested to be buried at Canterbury Cathedral, presumably because of an affinity towards St. Thomas Becket. His tomb is on the north side of Trinity Chapel and was directly adjacent to the shrine of  St. Thomas Becket. You can see how close Henry’s tomb was to Becket’s shrine in his tomb’s photo above. The single candle on the floor on the site of Becket’s destroyed shrine can be seen in the tomb photo. When Henry IV’s second wife Joan of Navarre died in 1437, she was buried with her husband.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Canterbury-cathedral.org. 2021. Welcome to Canterbury Cathedral. [online] Available at: <https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/> [Accessed 21 February 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Canterbury Cathedral. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_Cathedral> [Accessed 21 February 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2017. Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales (The Black Prince). [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edward-of-woodstock-prince-of-wales-the-black-prince/> [Accessed 21 February 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Henry II of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-ii-of-england/> [Accessed 21 February 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2013. King Henry IV of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/march-20-daily-featured-royal-date/> [Accessed 21 February 2021].
• Keates, Jonathan, 2001. Canterbury Cathedral: Official Cathedral Guide. Canterbury: Cathedral Enterprises Ltd.