One of the forgotten Queens of England from the Medieval period was Catherine of Valois.
She reigned as the consort to her husband Henry V for just over 2 years before her husband
died.
During her time on the throne, she gave birth to Henry VI the heir and successor, but after
her own death her remains were treated terribly and were left out in the open in Westminster
Abbey for centuries.
Today she was been interred inside of the abbey in an elaborate tomb, but for so long
her remains were messed with by people who came to the Abbey to see the body of the Queen.
Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist even wrote how, ‘“On Shrove Tuesday 1669, I to the
Abbey went, and by favor did see the body of Queen Catherine of Valois, and had the
upper part of the body in my hands, and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it I did
kiss a Queen: and this my birthday and I thirty-six years old and I did kiss a Queen.”
But what is the shocking story of the desecration of the unburied queen of England?
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Catherine of Valois was the youngest daughter of King Charles VI of France.
Negotiations for her to marry the future King Henry V of England began early on, and Henry
V later would become a thorn in the side of the French.
He led a spectacular victory at the Battle of Agincort, and the plans for him to marry
the French princess then continued.
Catherine it’s believed was a beautiful young lady, and a peace agreement was signed
along with the acknowledgement from Catherine’s father than Henry V of England was his heir.
Catherine came to England following their marriage, and she was crowned Queen at Westminster
Abbey on the 23rd February 1421.
Her husband continued to fight in France, and whilst he was away Catherine gave birth
to a son named Henry who later became the heir and the future King Henry VI.
But Henry V her husband would never see his son, as he would die in France after becoming
sick, and before her 21st birthday Catherine was then made a widow and she became a queen
dowager.
But following the King’s death, she was then seen as a catch and many important English
noblemen wanted to marry her, and they would then ultimately be the stepfather of the King.
She later married Owen Tudor, the grandfather of the future Henry VII, and the pair had
a number of children.
But on the 3rd January 1437, shortly after childbirth Catherine of Valois died.
It’s believed she may have been ill for some time as she went to Bermondsey Abbey
to pray for her health but this had little effect.
She made a will three days before her death, and she was given a huge funeral.
Despite her marriage to Owen Tudor causing scandal, she was given a Queen’s funeral,
but her remains were embalmed shortly after her death, and her internal organs were removed
to keep decay away.
Her cavity was then stuffed with herbs and spices and her body was wrapped in a cerecloth,
a heavy wax coated cloth and it was encased in lead, before it was placed into a wooden
coffin.
Her organs were removed and it’s presumed have been buried in other locations.
At the time there was a tradition that organs would be buried in churches where the funeral
procession stopped by, and were buried away from the body.
She was given a first funeral at St Katherine’;s church, before she had a second one at Westminster
Abbey.
On top of the coffin was an effigy of her, which was carved from wood and looked realistic,
and it was dressed in Catherine’s closthes.
The coffin was covered in cloth of gold, and she was then laid to rest in an alabaster
tomb inside Westminster Abbey near to her first husband Henry V.
But this would not be the end of her story.
This tomb was temporary, as her son Henry VI wanted a larger memorial to be made from
her, but he died and then Henry VII following the Wars of the Roses demolished the old lady
chapel where she was buried.
In this her tomb was destroyed and her body was then unearthed.
The outer wood coffin was found in the decades following to have been decayed, and her remains
were then taken out of this, and out of the inner lead lined coffin.
It was then placed into a wooden chest with flat sheets of led placed on top from the
chapel’s roof.
The chest was placed at the foot of Henry V’s tomb, and she was left there unburied
for over 300 years.
It’s believed Henry VII may have destroyed her tomb to distance himself from his grandfather.
But he did state in his will that he wanted to be laid to rest alongside Queen Catherine
of Valois.
But Henry VII died before the Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey was finished, and his
son Henry VIII never reburied Catherine of Valois, his great grandmother.
Her body remained above ground in the abbey, and the chest in which she was placed had
two lids, and visitors to the abbey would be shown her remains regularly and on a daily
basis when they asked.
One witness pulled back the cerecloth from her face and said that, ‘the bones being
firmly united, and thinly clothed like flesh, like scrapings of tanned leather.’
Many said her skin had no clothing over it, and Catherine was buried naked in her shroud
and she was then displayed.
Abbey tour guides would make money showing them the remains of Catherine of Valois, and
as mentioned people would pick up her body, embrace it and Samuel Pepys stated that he
even kissed the 200 year old corpse of the former Queen.
The mistreatment of her body continued into the 18th century, and it was said that a group
of young scholars had amused themselves by tearing her body into pieces, and it was described
as a shapeless mass of whitish colour.
But she was then to make this less likely to happen interred briefly inside a vault
at the abbey.
It was left here for around a century inside the Villiers Vault, and then Queen Victoria
during her reign gave permission to try to find the remains of Catherine of Valois.
Her remains were found on top of a pile of coffins beneath an eggy.
Her coffin had fallen against a damp wall, and the wood coffin had rotten slightly.
When people tried to pick it up, it stuck to the coffin below and it was difficult to
remove it.
Within a few hours in the atmosphere, the coffin fell to pieces.
But on this inspection, it was shockingly found that the Queen;’s remains had been
tampered with further and shockingly parts of it were missing.
Some claimed the remains had been doused with lime, and that parts of her body had been
consumed by the lime.
But the entire front part of her skull was missing, and there was one piece from the
back of it found on her pelvis.
Most of her vertebrae were also missing, and there was only one of her ribs left, and two
of her right arm bones.
Not one of her teeth could be found, and they had been taken as souvenirs.
Her legs were encased in 12 layers of cerecloth and were in perfect condition, and it was
said some of the skin on her right arm was supple.
Under her head also were the remains of a wooden pillow, and then it was reinterred.
One witness stated, ‘“It was a striking and impressive scene, which I shall ever remember,
and which at the time it was impossible to view without some feeling of emotion.
The daylight had quite faded, and we were alone in the darkened Abbey.
Two workmen took up the box containing the Queen's remains, and followed Mr. Poole and
the clerk of the works; the latter, carrying in his hand one small lantern to light us,
led the way out of St. Nicholas' chapel to the north side of the chantry chapel.
Mr. George Scharf and myself followed, no one else was present, and we seemed unconsciously
and silently to fall into a sort of processional order.
I remarked to him 'We are attending the Queen's third funeral.'
Not a word was said as we passed slowly round the ambulatory in the darkness.”
Her remains were then placed into another thick English oak coffin, and parts of the
old chest were placed in the new one.
But 400 years after her death, Catheirne of Valois finally had the tomb of a Queen amongst
the Kings and Queens.
Throughout the years her remains were treated terribly and were desecrated, and were subjected
to many horrors.
Her remains were taken, and it’s possible today that still today there are elements
of her body and remains inside of family collections across the nation, being passed down through
different generations.
But Catherine of Valois was the French medieval princess who married the King of England uniting
the two warring nations, and she was the mother of King Henry VI.
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