Today in Queen Bess's Life

In 1547, Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, died.  And that is when the proverbial shit started hitting the fan, so to speak.  Even though Henry had a male heir that was also a protestant, he was just a child -- and sickly.  Right behind him was her older sister, Mary, who was Roman Catholic and wanted to bring the country back to her mother's religion -- and then there was Elizabeth.

Dude had a lot of things wrong with him when he died -- morbid obesity, pussing ulcerated sores, paranoia ... Definitely not cute.  There was a rumor that he had syphilis, but more modern theories suggest untreated Type 2 Diabetes.  With his lifestyle, it probably could have been either -- or both.

I'll have to admit that part of my motivation for including Henry's death in this series is my morbid fascination with his burial.  Four years earlier, a Franciscan Friar (Peto), condemned the king from the pulpit and compared him to King Ahab in the Bible.  Peto said that dogs would lick up his blood at his death.


Since there wasn't any sort of "preservation" going on at the time and the King's 300-plus pound body had to be transported from Whitehall Palace to Windsor for burial, he was a little "ripe" after two weeks.  When the King's attendants opened the chapel at Syon the morning after the body's arrival, they were confronted with the following:

"...the leaden coffin being cleft by the shaking of the carriage, the pavement of the church was wetted with Henry's blood.  In the morning came plumbers to solder the coffin, under whose feet was seen a dog creeping up and licking up the King's blood."

Prophecy?  Or was it that the Friar knew a bit about contemporary burial practices and that stray dogs roamed where they pleased?  Either way, it wasn't a very dignified end.

Henry was buried in the floor of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.  His final resting place was next to his third wife, Jane Seymour, who had provided him with his only male heir.  A plaque lies over their resting place -- also anticlimactic for such a dramatic reign.  He had commissioned a monument for his burial, but it wasn't completed before his death.  Edward didn't live long enough to finish it, Mary wasn't interested in finishing it (understandably), and Elizabeth made an effort, but had too much to do.  A great synopsis of the whole thing is right here.

RIP Henry.