I was walking through Westminster Abbey having visited the tombs of great kings and queens; Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Henry V, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and of course Edward the Confessor. We had almost finished our visit when my daughter tapped me on the arm and drew my attention to a small plaque I'd missed, set in the wall behind another tomb. It was dedicated to Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII.
Anne of Cleves is famous as the wife Henry 'divorced' in the well-known rhyme; of whom Holbein painted a 'flattering' portrait, supplanted by one of her young ladies in waiting and tactfully agreed to be known as the King's Sister just months after their marriage at Greenwich Palace on 6 January 1540.
It's well-known that Anne became incredibly wealthy after her divorce, the Elizabethan historian Ralph Holinshed crediting her for being "a ladie of right commendable regard, courteous, gentle, a good housekeeper, and verie bountifull to her servants." She outlived Henry by ten years, dying at her home in Chelsea, London on 16 July 1557 at three o clock in the morning, during the final months of the reign of Queen Mary and her consort Philip.
Her memorial plaque at Westminster is an echo of the events of the summer of that year, when her body was taken from Chelsea to Westminster Abbey. Embalmed in sweet oils and spices, she was wrapped in linen cloth before making her final journey. On 3 August 1557 her hearse was accompanied by 'all the children of Westminster', along with priests and clerks who bore torches and wore black gowns. The Lord Bishop of London Dr Edmund Bonner and Dr Fecknam, Abbott of Westminster and 30 monks of Westminster joined them along with members of her household, wearing hoods up over their heads. Her carriage was hung with banners of her arms and depictions of the saints, along with 'four banners of images of white taffeta wrought with fine gold'. On arrival at the abbey, Anne's coffin was lifted and carried on foot into the building. A shout from the door rang out, asking those present 'of your charity pray for the soul of the Right High and Excellent Princess the Lady Anne, daughter to the big and mighty prince John late Duke of Cleve'.
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| Anne of Cleves' memorial plaque, Westminster Abbey (c) Jo Romero |
That night, her body lay in the abbey, the coffin draped in black velvet while tapers in 'great high candlesticks of wood gilt' remained lit through the evening and into the next morning. On the coffin a large gold cross was positioned, the tapers flickering around it. The poor of the parish were asked to stay at home on account of the very hot weather, and were told that any money Anne had requested to be dispersed at her funeral would be distributed to their homes. One observer made the careful note that Anne's body was, 'from the day of her death till her burial... continually watched day and night, by gentlemen, gentlewomen and yeomen'. One interesting note adds that during the night four gentlemen and eight yeomen watched the corpse, but not any gentlewomen, 'for that they were not well at ease'. Whether they were somehow spooked, ill or too grief-stricken to attend is not recorded. They were ordered though to be back at the abbey by 7am the next morning.
After solemn watch over Anne's body, her funeral took place on 4 August. Mourners arrived at the abbey's west door and took their places inside according to strict protocol and rank, while heralds and gentlemen held up their banners with reverence. The chief mourner, the Marchioness of Winchester Elizabeth Capell offered a piece of gold, and other ladies followed after her to pay reverence to the body. It was important that they acknowledge the altar first, and the body second. Dr Fecknam then preached a sermon, 'whereupon he advised us to amend our lives while we had time, remembering the glutton and poor Lazarus, who called for grace in hell but it was too late'. With the end of the sermon, mass was sung and then the song Libera Me, at which time the mourners left the abbey, again in strict protocol, in the order they had arrived.
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| Anne of Cleves, Leiden University Libraries, Public Domain. |
The officers of Anne's household stayed behind to break their staves and rods and cast them into her tomb to mark the traditional and ceremonial end of their service to the woman who was once, although for a short time, queen. Her body was presented with incense by the Bishop and Abbot, and lowered into its grave. A table was erected nearby covered with cloth of gold, and a cross placed on top which stood for two weeks before being taken down again.
After the funeral ceremony, those present who had performed a service attended the abbey, 'where was prepared for them a sumptuous dinner at the cost of the executors, and after dinner at their pleasure they departed, every man being considered for their pains'.
You might also like The Lost Palaces of the Tudors and A New Look at Henry VIII's Wives.
Source: Excerpta Historica, Samuel Bentley, London, 1831
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