In the cold, late November of 1135 Henry I King of England dismounted from his horse and strode through the doors of his hunting lodge in the forest of Lyons-la-Forête in Normandy. The historian Orderic Vitalis maintains that he then ordered those accompanying him to be ready to hunt with their king the following day. That night, he feasted, said Henry of Huntingdon, on lampreys, a type of eel that Henry particularly loved to eat. He had been previously warned not to overindulge in the dish by doctors, and Huntingdon noted that they always made the king ill, but he couldn't resist them.
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| Eighteenth-century depiction of Henry I, Rijksmuseum, Public Domain |
Later that evening the 68-year old Henry came down with convulsions, shivers and a fever, thought now to be symptoms of an especially violent case of food poisoning. As his health declined, he turned to business and made (tragically dubious and contrasting) plans for the succession, stating to those that had gathered around his bedside that he wanted his body to be buried in Reading Abbey, which he founded in 1121. He died just days later, on 1 December.
After a long trip home to England (his brain, eyes and heart were buried in Rouen), Henry's salted body was brought to the abbey church at Reading in Berkshire and buried there in a ceremony on 5 January 1136. Sources agree that he was interred at the church's high altar, and in 1398 Richard II pointed out the need for the tomb and effigy to be repaired. For centuries Henry lay in the centre of Reading Abbey's place of worship, the building and community he had founded for the salvation of his soul. Reading would be forever altered by the king's decision to place his abbey and burial there, and the monks and abbot presided over its civic and religious affairs. Later medieval monarchs would also visit Reading Abbey for funerals, weddings and to hold parliament when plague threatened in London.
Everything changed however in the sixteenth century. Reading was one of the casualties of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, intended to enforce the king's absolute control over the religion in his realm and exclude that of the Pope's following his annulment from his first wife Katherine of Aragon. While closing down monasteries and abbeys reported as corrupt or in financial difficulty, Tudor secretaries flocked to Reading, greedily advising the king of what ornaments he could appropriate for his palaces, including costly tapestries and other valuable artefacts. The abbot was hanged from the gatehouse for refusing to give up the abbey, and building materials dismantled and used elsewhere. Some of the pillars in Reading Minster date from this period, and once flanked the abbey buildings' structures. After this time, Henry's tomb and any effigy it contained, were lost.
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| Ruins of Reading Abbey Church today |
But where is it now? Some believe that Henry is somewhere near the ruins of the abbey church that can be visited today. A plaque has been placed on a nearby wall commemorating the king's burial site, but it is not intended to be a literal mark of where his body once lay. It is far more likely to be underneath the car park (yes, another king in a car park) of Reading Gaol, built in the late eighteenth to the mid nineteenth centuries. If this is the case, it is possible that Henry's remains - if not his tomb - have survived intact, underneath the surface. When visiting the abbey today no memorials, tombs, effigies or any other ornamentation survive. These were likely ransacked and stolen by locals during the abbey's decline in the sixteenth century, the metal and stonework likely made into other objects. The abbey was also the site of warfare, during the English Civil War of the mid-seventeenth century, also contributing to its desolate and ruined appearance today. It is still possible though that Reading may one day find its buried king. The new owners of Reading Gaol have stated that they wish to use the site as an art, heritage and culture centre. Perhaps they will be more open to archaeological investigation than the Ministry of Defence was when they owned the building. If so, the town might look forward to a renewed interest in its medieval history and foundation as an important political and religious centre, with the discovery of its own king.
Enjoyed this? You might also like The Surprising History of The George Hotel in Reading, Don't Be Fooled: Reading Abbey is a Big Deal and Drawing Reading Abbey Church.
Sources:
Own visits to Reading Abbey and Reading Minster
Henry I and his Abbey, Lindsay Mullaney, Scallop Shell Press, 2020.
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