Throughout the Medieval period, there were a number of Queen’s who served their King’s
and Husbands well with good counsel and advice.
However there were some that were treated poorly in their death, and one example was
Catherine of Valois.
Following her death, she was left unburied for 400 years inside of Westminster Abbey,
and people would flock to see and touch her remains, and some would even kiss the rotting
remains of the former Queen.
But there was another Medieval Queen who’s remains inside of Westminster Abbey were defaced
and even stolen, but her story is not the most well known.
Anne of Bohemia was a Queen who was married to King Richard II, and she was a princess
who came to England to marry the King.
However at the age of 28 she tragically died from plague, but what happened to her remains
were disturbing and shocking.
Anne of Bohemia was born on the 11th May 1366, and she had four brothers including Sigismund
who would go on to become the Holy Roman Emperor.
She had a number of other half siblings, and she was brought up at Prague Castle.
She was left in the care of her brother King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, but then when she
was around 16 she married Richard II of England.
An agreement had been drawn up between the two nations, and the marriage went ahead.
Anne’s father was the most powerful European monarch at the time, and he ruled over half
of Europe’s population and lands.
The marriage of Richard and Anne was contracted against the wishes of many of the nobility
and members of Parliament, and Richard had been offered a number of other brides who
would have brought in larger dowry’s.
But Anne was chosen, and she brought with her no dowry, just a huge amount of European
power through her father and family.
Richard gave 20,000 florins which would be around 4 million pounds today to her brother
for the marriage, and together he and King Wenceslaus agreed an alliance to try and reunite
Christendom.
English merchants because of the marriage were allowed to now trade in Bohemian land
and the lands of the Holy Roman Empire which was also a small positive.
However Richard’s negotiating team with the marriage had been held ransom during their
journey home, and the marriage treaty was signed in May 1381.
But when Anne of Bohemia arrived in England, her arrival had been delayed due to storms,
and many at the time critisized her.
The Westminster Chronicler said Anne was ‘a tiny scrap of humanity,’ and many predicted
that things would go bad following the marriage.
But Anne and King Richard II were married on the 20th January 1382 inside of Westminster
Abbey.
Londoner’s were not happy, but despite this there were a number of tournaments held in
their honour.
The King and Queen then toured England, and Anne would visit Norwich where great gifts
were given to her, including a huge ceiling painting depicting 252 black eagles in her
honour.
The King and Queen were just 15 when they met and married, but these teenagers fell
head over heels in love with each other and it was said ‘over the years the King proved
truly devoted to his new wife.’
She was a key advisor to her husband throughout their 12 years of marriage, and she was a
very king person who was popular with the people over time.
She became known for procuring pardons for those who participated in the Peasant’s
Revolt one of the most dangerous threats to Richard II’s reign and throne.
She also managed to get a pardon for a man who had been indicted for murder for 14 years.
She also intervened in saving the life of John Northampton, the former mayor of London.
Richard II had sentenced him to death, but Anne’s words switched his death sentence
to life imprisonment.
She was even involved in getting the city of London to reconcile with their King following
the Peasant’s Revolt.
However despite her growing popularity, Anne of Bohemia did not complete many of the expected
duties of a Queen during the Medieval period.
Despite 12 years of marriage, she would not produce an heir for Richard II.
She was said to have been kind to pregnant women, however never had children herself.
A chronicler wrote, ‘this queen although she did not bear children, was still held
to have contributed to the glory and wealth of the realm, as far as she was able.
Noble and common people suffered greatly after her death.’
She was known as ‘Good Queen Anne,’ but as mentioned she would die shockingly and
early.
On the 7th June 1394 at Sheen Manor, at the age of 28 Anne of Bohemia died from the plague.
This had caused chaos across London and large parts of England, and the Queen despite trying
to avoid the deadly disease caught it, and she succumbed to it.
This was a huge blow to her husband Richard, who was so upset and distraught that he demolished
Sheen Manor where she had died.
Anne had managed throughout her time as Queen of England to calm her husband and offer him
good council, however after her death Richard would go off the rails, and would later lose
the throne.
He would even marry a 6 year old girl later after her death.
But this was not the end of Anne of Bohemia’s story, and shockingly in death she was treated
terribly.
Anne was buried in Westminster Abbey, and following the death of her husband Richard
II later, he would be buried with her.
In 1395, Richard sealed contracts for a monument for himself and Anne to be buried together.
This was a first in England, as it was the first double tomb commissioned and ordered
for the burial of an English King and Queen.
The base of the monument was made from Purbeck Marble, and Wass sealed with two London masons
doing the work, and then on top of the tomb was two life size effigies of Richard and
Anne.
The effigies were to be made from gilded copper, and were to lie under a canopy.
They were to be crowned, and their right hands were to be joined and they were to be holding
sceptres in their hands.
When their tomb was finished, it would have been amazing, but over the years a significant
amount of vandalism took place on their tomb.
Their effigies were decorated with patterns and platagenet badges, and the initials R
and A were entwined in knots.
Richard was depicted in his parliament robes.
Anne’s inscription says, ‘Beneath a broad stone now Anna lies entombed; when she lived
in the world she was the bride of Richard the Second.
She was devoted to Christ and well known for her deeds; she was ever inclined to give her
gifts to the poor; she calmed quarrels and relieve the pregnant.
She was beauteous in body and her face was gentle and pretty.
She provided solace to widows, and medicine to the sick.
In 1394 on a pleasant seventh day of the month of June, she passed over.
Amen’
However shockingly Anne of Bohemia’s tomb was broken into and her tomb was desecrated.
Over the centuries, the tomb was damaged by relic hunters and souvenir hunters, who would
chip away the parts of the hands of the King and Queen, and also would chip away parts
of their tombs, including the crowns.
This left to the tomb being badly damaged today, and there was also a significant amount
of wear on the tombs, as they haven’t been looked after as well as they could have been.
However the horrific part of Anne’s story is that in 1871, her tomb was opened by a
curious Dean of the Abbey, who had been given permission by Queen Victoria to carry out
a survey of the royal burials inside the Abbey.
Dean Stanley would try to locate the remains of as many Kings and Queens as he could, and
he would open up the vault and tomb containing the remains of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.
When the tomb was opened, it was found that most of Anne’s skeleton was missing, as
throughout the years visitors to the abbey had stolen them.
There was found to have been a hole in the side of the tomb’s base where enamelled
shields had once been attached, and with this they had been stealing the bones and remains
of a Queen.
Visitors had literally been reaching in to Anne’s tomb, and rustling around and then
stealing her bones and remains.
This was incredibly shocking, and it means that still today there may be bones of the
14th century Queen inside of people’s collections in their houses.
The Dean of Westminster would also then arrange the bones which had been disturbed to a much
neater and better arranged pile, and with this he would also put some items back inside
the tomb which had been added there also after the burials took place.
But this was a very sad end to Anne of Bohemia, as many of her bones and remains were taken
and stolen from her tomb by people who visited Westminster Abbey.
She was a Queen who died tragically at a young age, and despite being Queen of England for
12 years, she had a lasting impact on the people.
She turned public opinion, but in the centuries that came after her tomb was vandalised and
chipped away at, and someone even made a hole in the side of it, and exploited this to steal
her remains.
She should have been laid to rest in relative peace and quiet inside the heart of English
Christian religion, Westminster Abbey, however her bones were taken out of the abbey, and
today they still are missing.
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