The Burial, Exhumation, Reburial and Tomb of King Henry VI

[@nadiabrook7871]

Another VERY INTERESTING video!! I never knew that Henry vi was considered a saint by some!! I wonder what was so saintly about him?! XXXX 💚👍💖

[@carlahmed5737]

Every video expands my vocabulary level significantly!

[@kimma508]

I know right!

[@carmenfoster6912]

Amazing professor everything down to the minutes details..satisfaction guaranteed for us Tudor followers

[@stepps511]

And now we know the rest (of what is known) of the story. Thank you so very much for this!

[@sweptashore]

You can be a king, wield incredible power, and commission plans for an elaborate memorial to yourself. Then death, the great equalizer, takes you and your power. And that elaborate memorial falls by the wayside because life goes on. As it does.

[@amymahers2957]

Enjoyed these two videos very much. Thank you for your hard work.

[@annettewillis2797]

Really interesting Allan! Antiquarians have a long history of fascination, and so it continues today. And, as others have said, despite the pomp and ceremony of Kings and Queens, a pile of bones, grave wax and liquefaction results, regardless. Perhaps this explains Prince Phillip's interest in better conditions for preservation that have gone into the King George VI Memorial Chapel.

[@dees3179]

I enjoy the suggestion of keeping an arm back in case it can be turned into a relic. Are there other examples where this is suspected?

[@cathystillman-lowe972]

I wondered what your view was of opening vaults and coffins, to examine the contents? Do antiquarians still clamour for such opportunities, or would these investigations be deemed unethical or simply distasteful today? * Separately, I do find the theme of establishing one's status in death fascinating. The degrees of prestige inherent in different positions in the church, under the church and outside the church; and the moving about of memorials after death. * I find your videos continually engaging and am glad that the Coronation is a fair way off, so plenty of time is available to discuss every aspect of it!

[@trussell9899]

Hi there! From Teresa in the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee, USA 😊

[@garycannon1247]

Great video once again👍

[@pete2347]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and research in these two videos. Very interesting!

[@allanbarton]

My pleasure!

[@hughcapetien]

Would be interested in opening some of these coffins and subject the contents to a thorough autopsy to determine whether the monarch died naturally or something more sinister.

[@juanelorriaga2840]

Agreed get a sample and see all the interesting stuff see if they were predisposed of certain illnesses and cause of death etc

[@michaelbedinger4121]

Another interesting video, thank you.

[@allanbarton]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

[@michaelbedinger4121]

@@allanbarton You are welcome, I most definitely did!

[@EllenCFarmGirl]

Excellent as always❤

[@carmenfoster6912]

Unbelievable information

[@jilltagmorris]

Hi Allan! South Carolina USA here!

[@allanbarton]

Hi Jill, I hope you are well.

[@rsc9520]

Hi Allan! Greetings from New Jersey USA. Congratulations on your GREAT channel. I really like the level of detail in your videos. You are a wonderful narrator.

[@marthavanbeek-putters]

Thank you again for this very good video. Martha

[@blorac9869]

Enjoyed, TYVM!

[@stephenburns3678]

Thank you , sir.

[@dixiefallas7799]

Thanks great research.

[@allanbarton]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.

[@kimma508]

Greetings from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA!

[@allanbarton]

Greetings! Thanks for watching!

[@liztaylor5714]

Good afternoon from Malta 😀

[@allanbarton]

Hello Liz, I hope you are having a good day.

[@ruthannemackinnon588]

Enjoying your channel so much, would enjoy a video about the tomb of Edward the confessor, wasn't it opened by Henry II? Also the tombs of HenryII & his wife & son Richard.

[@4sstg]

Fascinating.

[@jojohughes1081]

Fascinating stuff, as always. I was reading about the c19 discovery of a bishop beneath a cathedral floor, contemporary with Henry VI, who, as well as being dressed in episcopal robes, gloves etc, and holding his crozier, was found to have his feet resting on what subsequent analysis proved to be sprigs of heather. Have you ever heard of this before? It's not known for its aromatic qualities so I wondered if it was symbolic in some way.

[@orlando1a1]

Hi Allan, thank you for another excellent and fascinating video. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wanted to add, that I was told that Henry VII petitioned several popes in the hope of having Henry VI canonized, and apparently, Henry let it drop when too much money was asked for the request?

[@fairislecat6413]

Hello from London, UK.

[@allanbarton]

Hello, I hope you are well.

[@logansportmyers]

I believe the photo of his present day tomb is mine. You may use it. I enjoy your work.

[@Mattipedersen]

4:25 - Of course Richard didn't intend to be interred in Windsor, as he clearly had a thing for priory parking lot burials ;)

[@happycommuter3523]

Well, give him credit for originality. 😀 Also he now has Leicester Cathedral all to himself, am I right?

[@JamesWylde]

If you think we should watch part I first, please put a link in the description

[@tomsherwood4650]

Digging up and putting back Kings and Queens is a strange thing to do. Did they not do it right the first time?

[@peteroconnell1161]

He was a good a Saint as a King

[@Miniver765]

Allan, were burial vaults constructed underneath these churches at the time they were built, or were floor tiles pulled up and vaults excavated as needs arose? I've always been curious about that. Thanks.

[@etysumiati1401]

What I know is that Henry VI was killed because the ruler at that time felt threatened that Henry VI would come to power again because his health was starting to recover... His body was displayed and was indeed full of wounds... Is the old palace when Henry V was in power still there today? If so, where is it located? Did Henry VI have a relationship with someone before marrying the French Princess? I am interested in the history of Henry VI... I hope you can review it more. Thank you very much in advance...

[@JohnDoe-px4ko]

👍👍👍👍

[@dolldoll2914]

👩‍💻I would like to know~~ 1. Who was Henry VI wife? 2. Who was Henry VI son? 3. What happened to them after Edward IV siezed power? I know Henry VI had a wife and child. I just don't know much about them. You have so much more detail than others, which is so interesting. Thank you.🙋‍♀️🇺🇲🇬🇧

[@celiaparker6166]

Henry married Margaret of Anjou, niece of the French king in 1445. They had one son Edward who escaped abroad with his mother in 1461 and returned in 1471 only to be killed at the battle of Tewkesbury that year. That sealed the fate of his father who had been in the Tower for some years and kept alive because there was no point killing him while his heir was alive. Margaret remained in England for some years in honorable captivity before returning to France where she died in 1482.

[@dolldoll2914]

👩🏻‍💻Thank you. I just didn't know what happened to the boy and or why he never came to claim the throne. Thanks again.🙋‍♀️🇺🇲🇬🇧

[@martinkirby3100]

Henryv1 is buried in Chertsey Abbey not Windsor I've seen his grave myself

[@allanbarton]

Err, no - that’s his former grave site - the video, is all about moving his body from Chertsey to Windsor in the 15th century.

[@laurabrowning7973]

It could also be seen as a sign of respect that Richard lll had Henry Vl reburied in a more suitable place befitting his status as a former king.

[@annm.7176]

The bad things about these lead line coffins you just rot inside because there's nowhere that can get in.

[@allanbarton]

It is horrible, same with those steel caskets and concrete vaults, you swim around in your own juices. Nasty.

[@terrencemunro]

Wouldn’t you agree that a discussion regarding the DNA testing of all the known monarch’s tombs/remains should be done due to the break through in, face recognition, DNA matches through Y chromosome checks or even any futuristic realisations?

[@FidesAla]

Historians; "We will never know the true circumstances of Henry's death" Requiem of the Rose King: "Well, first, they were *finally* kissing, but then both their mental issues took over and--"

[@johnwhitehead4446]

Surely the figures kneeling around Henry VI in the Bodleian woodcut have been identified as those who had benefited from his intercession - often the poor and despairing such as the Hammersmith man saved from strangulation on the gallows - and not other saints who would not be praying to a fellow saint?

[@allanbarton]

I think in hindsight you are probably right - I don't think anyone has done any serious work on this woodcut (except Hodnett in his book on English woodcuts) nor the cult in general. It is worth exploring further.

[@johnwhitehead4446]

Thank you for this reply. I have seen a discussion of this woodcut identifying the votaries. I am not sure where that was but I will try to hunt it out. I like your videos which are excellent and have signed up to The Antiquary.

[@johnwhitehead4446]

There is an article about his cult by Leigh Ann Craig in Albion from 2003

[@allanbarton]

@@johnwhitehead4446 thanks John, I would be most interested to read that if you can find it. It is most fascinating image.

[@johnwhitehead4446]

@@allanbarton It is on JSTOR

[@finlayfraser9952]

Fascinating, but labyrinthine!

[@monicacall7532]

Another fascinating video. I have some questions for you, Allan, if you don’t mind my asking them. 1. Were there any other kings (from 1066 onward) besides Henry VI and Richard III buried somewhere else besides Westminster Abbey and St. George’s Chapel at Windsor? If so, where were they buried? I know that John of Gaunt and his first wife Blanche of Lancaster were buried in the old St. Paul’s that burned down in the Great Fire of 1666. Were other princes or princesses and their spouses and family members buried there? How did King Charles II and Christopher Wren handle that situation when St. Paul’s was rebuilt? Did they do anything at all? Are there memorial plaques at the church commemorating those who’d been buried there previous to the fire? 2. I know that Henry V reinterred Richard II’s body in Westminster to show contrition for what his father had done in usurping an anointed king. Besides his own son Henry VI and Richard III were there any other kings or queens who were disinterred from their original burial places and brought to rest elsewhere at Westminster or St. George’s or another place? Were any royal burials in English Cathedrals or abbeys/monasteries destroyed during either Henry VIII (from 1533 until his death in 1547) or Edward VI’s reigns? 3. Were you a vicar when Richard III’s body was exhumed from the parking lot in Leicester in 2012? Did you participate in any way in the various activities leading up to the reburial service at Leicester Cathedral in 2015? I watched it and found it incredibly moving. English history has always fascinated me as has Medieval history. Your videos fill in or add to my knowledge of this remarkable place and time. 😊Many thanks.

[@neilbuckley1613]

William I [Conqueror]- Abbey aux Hommes, Caen, Normandy William II {Rufus}- Winchester Cathedral Henry I- Reading Abbey, Berkshire Stephen- Faversham Abbey, Kent Henry II and Richard I [Lionheart]- Fontrevault Abbey, Anjou John= Worcester Catheedral Edward II- Gloucester Cathedral Henry IV-Canterbury Cathedral James II -English Benedictines, Paris George I ,- Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover Victoria -Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore The other royals buried in Old St Pauls were Ethelred [thr Unready] King of the English and Sebba King of the East Saxons aka Essex.

[@monicacall7532]

Neil, I can’t thank you enough for this info. I totally forgot about Victoria, Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard I but didn’t know about the others. It’s lovely to find someone else who enjoys English history as much as I do. BTW Are you a Brit? I’m an American who has roughly 50% English ancestry. Cheers.

[@neilbuckley1613]

@@monicacall7532 Hello Monica, I am English, though my maternal grandmother was a Welsh lady who spoke Welsh as her first language. I think it was visits to North Wales to meet relatives that aroused my interest in history as there were lots of medieval castles and pre - historic monuments there. The part of England I was brought up in is very good for those interested in the Industrial Revolution but very thin on older remains as it was sparsely populated before the 17th century. Pleasure to be of help.

[@vanillasuncherries]

Richard iii did not “usurp” the throne. His nephew was illegitimate because. When his brother married that woman who’s already married to somebody else thank you very much.

[@allanbarton]

🥱🙄

[@jamellfoster6029]

Well Henry VI was the great uncle of Henry VIII so its only fair he petition for canonization.

[@allanbarton]

Indeed, it’s also a good way of controlling the narrative.

[@peterkrauss6962]

CERTAINLY his arm was kept as a relic. It's a totally Catholic practice.

[@1stAmbientGrl]

His foot appears to have a stigmata. If he did have a miraculous stigmata, that would explain the bleeding from the corpse.

[@chrisoc1959]

More likely stab wounds that caused the bleeding

[@andreamassari9099]

I don't think that was a photo of the actual foot of King Henry VI.

[@elaineswanson3678]

Corpses don’t bleed. . .normally.

[@nicoleroth3127]

​@@andreamassari9099 It definitely wasn't, considering that in 1910, when the exhumation took place, there wasn't coloured photograpy available yet and the picture doesn't fit the description of what was found in Henry VI' ossuary at all either.

[@nicoleroth3127]

​@@elaineswanson3678 Well, gravity can cause blood to drip through a wound even though there's no active bleeding, since the heart doesn't beat anymore. In this case, it would have had to have been a wound at the back, which gives some credit to the theory that Henry VI was murdered. But, there could be other explanations. For example: He's said to have been physically ill by that point, and in a weakened state, so there's a possibility that he had been cupped shortly before his death, which means, he would've had several small incisions all over his back, again making it possible for blood to seep out as it collected at his back, forming the typical death spots. Since he would have been washed in preparation for his burial, the healing incisions might have opened up again, at first going unnoticed, but eventually, as said, seeping through. That said, I don't know what to believe, and since none of us was there, it's all just speculation what Henry VI's cause of death really was. Murder seems the most likely, seeing the convenient timing of his death (though, personally I don't think that if so, it was done by Richard), but some doubt remains.

[@laurelshelhamer8958]

Not Henry VII.

[@martinkirby3100]

Richard 111 did not kill his nephews he was framed by Henry 7 who had spies in Richards inner circle and Henry got them to do it

[@allanbarton]

It is interesting to speculate on these things, but there is of course absolutely no evidence either way.

[@johnkeane1419]

A 15 quid burial, lol

[@allanbarton]

😂

[@b-a4798]

It gets confusing !