The Tudor dynasty were the most famous royal ruling family to ever reign over England.
Some of the Kings and Queens are remembered for their brutality including Henry VIII who
condemned two of his own wives to death, executing them inside the walls of the Tower of London.
But his children would then come onto the throne, with his eldest daughter being known
as Bloody Mary for her burnings of people at the stake.
But the greatest Tudor Monarch was Elizabeth I, who would defeat the Spanish Armada and
would also see off a number of threats to her throne.
However when the Tudor monarch’s died, after their deaths their bodies were prepared in
a way which today would be considered rather brutal and shocking.
But what is the story of the embalming of the Tudor Kings and Queens.
In early April 1502, Arthur Tudor, or Prince Arthur the eldest son of King Henry VII died
inside his rooms and quarters at Ludlow Castle.
He was the heir to Henry VII’s shaky throne that he had just decades before secured following
defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Arthur it was hoped would have many children and heirs that would secure the Tudor dynasty
for centuries, but inside the walls of the castle this hope was sadly diminished.
He had been ill from sweating sickness following his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and as
he was taken ill, the wind and rain smashed down on the cold castle, and the servants
gathered inside of the chapel to pray for his recovery.
But this would not happen, and 5 months after his marriage on the 2nd April 1502, Arthur
died.
Messenger’s were dispatched to London to inform the King of his son’s death, and
they took 2 days to get to Greenwich Palace where they told Henry VII.
The King and his Queen took this news very badly, and they were distraught at the death
of their heir and their eldest child.
However following Arthur’s death, preparations were then made for his funeral, and this took
time to organise.
But the royal corpse of the Prince needed embalming.
At the time, body preservation and embalming the dead was practiced across Europe, and
there were many techniques used that were influenced from different civilisations and
cultures.
However it was mostly reserved for royalty, as the embalming process was costly, and it
was the most important people who would be embalmed.
This process was usually performed on Kings, Queens and members of royalty, and it was
performed by barber surgeons, doctors, physicians and other specific healers.
It was meant to delay the process of decay with the body between the death and then the
burial, and it also allowed for dead bodies to be transported across large distances if
they were needed.
Embalming also allowed the remains to be placed on display and shown for some time in front
of their subjects before they were buried too.
The process during the Tudor period involved washing and eviscerating the body, and the
body would be cut a number of times.
It would then be sluiced out and cleaned with a number of disinfecting fluids, and then
the cavities were stuffed with aromatic herbs and spices, including thyme and lavender.
The body was then prepared following this, with the bowels and entrails being cut and
removed.
These were often buried in other places, sometimes where the person died.
But another element of the embalming process was often the removal of the heart.
Henry VIII’s wife Jane Seymour would have her heart buried inside Hampton Court Palace
under the altar there where she died, and it’s believed by some that Anne Boleyn’s
heart was removed after her execution.
I’ve also read that Henry VIII’s heart was removed as was Edward VI’s, however
following this, the body was then wrapped in thick layers of cerecloth, a waxed cloth.
The seams of this were sealed with beeswax and then the body was covered in lead and
was encased in a wooden coffin with a number of dry sweet smelling herbs.
Also balms and ointments were used to help dry out the corpse, but Arthur’s corpse
was allegedly disembowelled and was then well embalmed.
This would have taken place inside the walls of Ludlow Castle where he died, and it was
said that he was then, ‘dressed with spices and other sweet stuff such as those as bare
the charge thereof could provide.’
It was said that his body was so well embalmed that there was no need for his remains to
be encased in lead, and that it was then just placed in a wooden chest, and it lay in state
for 3 weeks then, with the decomposition stage being fended off before his burial.
In 1503, shortly after Arthur’s death his mother Elizabeth of York died following childbirth
inside of the Tower of London.
It was said that her corpse was washed with wine and rosewater before it was embalmed
and encased in lead, with the King’s plumber doing this job, and then also making an ‘epitaph
in lead,’ before her remains were encased in a wooden coffin which was then covered
in black velvet.
But Henry VIII, the notorious Tudor Monarch even when he died he had his remains embalmed.
There were and are rumours that he had his heart removed following his death in 1547.
It was the surgeons and apothecaries who carried out his embalming, and it was said Henry VIII’s
body was prepared by, ‘spurging, cleansing, bowling, searing, embalming, furnishing and
dressing with spices.’
The Lord Steward of the household had ordered the royal apothecary to supply ‘unguents,’
including cloves, oil of balm, tow, myrrh and sweet smelling nigella and musk, either
powdered and divided into seven lots for the surgeons to use in embalming, and contained
in ten bags to be put into the coffin.’
These resources cost thousands to be used in Henry VIII’s embalming.
So his entrails were removed and Henry VIII’s insides and heart it’s believed are buried
in a lead box inside the chapel of the Palace of Westminster.
His remains were then transported to St George’s Chapel in Windsor where he was interred in
a vault beneath the floor.
Henry VIII’s successor and son Edward VI also died at a young age in a similar manner
to Arthur Tudor.
He succumbed to illness on the 6th July 1553 after a short reign, but he was not buried
until the 8th August.
His body was embalmed and it’s believed his heart was also removed, but in England
at the time the warm weather caused a delay to the burial.
This also may have made his remains fester with the embalming process more important
in this sense.
His successor Mary I following her death was’ opened by her physicians and surgeons, who
took out her bowels which were encoffin’d and buried solemnly in the chapel, the heart
being separately enclosed in a coffer with velvet bound in silver.’
But the embalming of the Tudors would continue, as following the death of Elizabeth I, the
greatest Tudor queen was embalmed against her wishes.
It was said Elizabeth had a great fear and horror of embalming, and she specifically
requested that her body should not be cut open and embalmed after her death.
However this was not listened to and the royal physicians despite this cut open her remains
and embalmed her, stuffing her remains filled with herbs and spices before her funeral.
It’s believed that Elizabeth’s remains actually exploded en route to the funeral,
and that the build up of gases may have even splintered the wood.
It was said that embalming Elizabeth limited further destruction of her coffin.
The embalming process during the Tudor period was one which was not for the fainthearted.
The body would be cut open, and the entrails and heart would often be removed and then
buried elsewhere.
Following this the insides and body would be washed and cleansed, with herbs being stuffed
inside the cavities to make sure it smelt nice and was preserved.
They hoped to keep off decay for some time, but it was a process that was greatly feared
with Elizabeth I actually forcing her ministers to promise that this would not happen to her,
but they following her death did not abide to the dying queen’s wishes.
It was a process which was shocking, and was an interesting thing to see how the Tudors
dealt with the afterlife of their Kings and Queens.
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