17 Nov 1422. Il. The Tomb or Monument of King Henry V.

The place of King Henry’s burial is indicated in general terms by Thomas of Walsingham’s description of it as:

Among the Kings of England there, between the shrine of Saint Edward and the Chapel of the Holy Virgin, in the place where the relics had been stored there.

inter Reges Angliae ibidem, inter feretrum sancti Edwardi et Capellam sanctae Virginis, loco quo reliquiae ibidem fuerant reconditae.

These are almost the words of the king himself, for in the will that he made in 1415 he says [ See Rymer's Foedera Volume 9 289]:

We bequeath that our body be buried in the church of Saint Peter of Westminster, Prince of the Apostles, among the tombs of the Kings, in the place where the relics of the Saints are now kept.

legamus corpus nostrum sepeliendum In ecclesia beati Petri Westmonasterii, apostolorum Principis, inter sepulturas Regum, in loco in quo modo continentur Reliquiae Sanctorum.

Now in 1415 the chapel of St. Edward behind the high altar contained six principal tombs: those of Queen Eleanor, King Henry III, and King Edward I, on the north; and those of Queen Philippa, King Edward III, and of King Richard II and Queen Anne, on the south. These stood as now between the pillars of the arcade about the chapel, while in the midst was the shrine containing the body of St. Edward himself. The easternmost arch, that at the foot of the shrine, did not contain any tomb, but under it stood the altar of the Holy Trinity, and the almery or almeries in which were kept the relics belonging to the church.

The king’s directions, as will be shown presently, provide for the moving of the relics into another place, but they say nothing about the altar, which continued to stand much upon the same spot that it had occupied since this eastern part of the church was hallowed in 1269.

As there is no reason for supposing that the altar platform extended further eastwards than those carrying the royal tombs, there could not have been any room behind the altar for King Henry’s grave. But whatever difficulty existed on this head was probably met, first by moving the altar a little further westwards, and then building out behind it into the ambulatory a platform to enclose the grave and carry the king's tomb.

This platform projects 4 ft. 9 in. into the ambulatory, with a broad front towards the east of 17 ft., cased throughout with large slabs of Purbeck marble. The front is 5 ft. 9 in. high, and consists first of a single plinth 1 ft. 11 in. deep, then a broad band of panelling, and finally a moulded cornice 15 in. deep. The broad band has a row of seven sunk panels, each 2 ft. 71n. square, ornamented with a large doubly cusped quatrefoil with smaller quatrefoils in the corners (fig. 1). The ends of the platform are treated in the same way, but have only one panel. In the middle of each panel is a hole, now filled up, for fixing shields or other devices in metal; but such shields could not have been wider than 6;1n., unless they overlapped the cusping, like those on King Edward III's tomb. The cornice has traces of red colouring along the upper edge, and in the uppermost hollow is painted in Roman capitals this inscription:

Henry V. Henry, the Scourge of the French, lies in this tomb. 1422. Beautiful Catherine is finally united with her husband. 1437. Shun idleness.

HENRICVS QVINTVS (scroll) GALLORVM MASTIX IACET HAC HENRICVS IN VRNA 1422 DOMAT OMNIA VIRTVS (scroll) PVLCHRA VIRVMQZ SVVM SOCIAT TANDEM CATHARINA 1437 OTIVM FVGE¹!

Note 1. These last two words are painted over an earlier set of letters which seem to be OMOBVSA.

The top of the platform extends westwards for 12 ft. 2; in., to a step which raises it above the floor of St. Edward's chapel. Its surface is somewhat patched, but originally was floored throughout with Purbeck marble slabs 172 In. Square.

In the middle of the platform stands the king’s tomb.

Before describing this it will be convenient to refer to several documents that bear upon it.

The question now arises, to what do these entries refer?‘The Caen stone had been supplied and the work carried out, and the date in September shows that it was while King Henry’s body was yet in France. For my own part I have little doubt that the work done was the building out of the platform beyond the Trinity altar; that it was done in Caen stone, which was afterwards cased with Purbeck marble; and that because the platform enclosed above ground the vault for the dead king’s body the whole construction is spoken of as his tumba or tomb, and not as his grave.

For confirmation of all this let us turn once more to the account roll of Roger Cretton the sacrist.

Among the ‘expenses done about the interment of the lord King’ is a payment of 18s.

For bread and beer and cheese bought for the carpenters, masons, daubers, tilers, and those serving them, working about the tomb and about the new building of the almonry house for seven weeks¹.

Note 1. "For bread, beer, and cheese bought for the carpenters, masons, plasterers, roofers, and their servants working on the tomb and on the almonry house, which is to be newly built, for seven weeks: 18 shillings."

"In pane et cervisia et caseo emptis pro carpentariis cementariis daubatoribus tegulatoribus et eorum servientibus operantibus circa tumbam et circa domum elemosinari: de novo edificandam per vij septimanas xviiis."

This entry, and that relating to the sand, straw, and hay laid down in the church for the funeral procession, are both crossed out and a note made in the margin that the charges are to be paid by the king’s ministers and executors, but that does not minish the force of the entries nor the story they tell.

All these entries relate to the preparations for the funeral, and it will be noticed that the references are to the king’s tomb, as in the entries relating to John Arderne. We also learn that an iron railing of some kind was fixed about the edge of the platform, probably for the protection of those actually concerned with the king’s burial.

In order to test the question of the tomb-platform Bishop Ryle most obligingly allowed Mr. Lethaby and myself, so lately as Candlemas Day just past, to make an examination of the site by taking up a damaged strip of flooring which needed repair on the south side of the king’s tomb. We found beneath what we expected, an apparently solid mass of concrete formed of pieces of chalk, Caen stone, and Kentish rag, with traces of coursed layers of Caen stone behind the marble casing. No attempt of course was made in the direction of the king’s grave, but in working westwards other interesting discoveries were made, One was the continuation of the marble pavement of St. Edward’s chapel as far east as a bedding of thin tiles for the original step of the Trinity altar, on a line 3 ft. g in. beyond the present step of the tomb-platform. Another discovery was that a length of the marble step, 5 in. thick, of the Trinity altar itself had apparently been used as the support for King Henry’s tomb. And a third matter of interest was the bringing to light, after being covered up by the tombplatform since about 1430, of the end of little Margaret of Valence’s slab, with the remains of its brass cross and inscription in inlaid letters. We also proved that the adjoining slab of her brother John, that with the remains of white and gold mosaic, had lost its eastern extremity, probably through its having been broken off in the making of King Henry’s grave.

The tomb or monument eventually set up over the grave, and still in its place, is 7 ft. 3 in. long, 3 ft. 5½ in. broad, and 3 ft. 6¼ in. high, and all of Purbeck marble (see fig.1). It consists of a plinth ornamented with a row of small square panels like those about the platform, with a series of arched recesses above, anda moulded cornice. Each end has angle buttresses, and contains instead of a recess one broad and shallow panel with flattened head and rounded upper corners, each with two cusps, with three quatrefoiled panels below. The sides are divided by buttresses into three bays, each containing a recess with two panels under. These recesses are 20 in. wide and 8 in. deep, and oblong in plan, with panelled roofs and sides, and plain slabs at the back, all of Purbeck marble. The recesses have the same flat heads and cusped rounded corners as the end panels. They are also all in their original state, and show no traces of fixings or attachments of any kind, and the bottoms have no signs of mortar or cement. It is difficult, therefore, to see what could have been placed in them, other than groups of imagery that simply stood unfixed of their own weight.

The whole tomb has at some time been limewashed or distempered all over.