The New Murrey and Blue blog

I DEDICATE THIS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE AT THIS SITE, TO ITS OWNER, STEPHEN LARK (SUPER BLUE), WHO HAS PASSED AWAY. HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED. REST IN PEACE, STEPHEN.

This article has been prompted by reading the following link: https://www.sciencealert.com/hidden-chapel-of-disemboweled-saint-found-in-the-old-lore-of-westminster-abbey. Elizabeth Woodville, the queen of Edward IV, died on 12 June 1492 and was buried with him at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Right? Well, not entirely, for it seems she was buried first in Westminster Abbey, in the chapel of St Erasmus.

In 15th-century England a cult of St Erasmus had sprung up, with a number of prominent churches dedicating chapels, altars and images to him. In the 1470s the royal family was particularly devoted to him. At Westminster Abbey there was “….a grisly chapel, a sacred space dedicated to the royal cult of Saint Erasmus of Formia, a martyr killed by slow disembowelment….” It seems that the first mention of the chapel is a grant to the abbey by Edward IV “….for a chantry….in a chapel of Saint Erasmus newly built by the queen….”

Now “….according to Abbey archivist Matthew Payne, and John Goodall, a member of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Advisory Commission, it [the chapel] may have been a site of worship used by England’s ‘White Queen’ Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV.…” Further, “….Among the evidence included in their new paper [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00681288.2022.2101237] is a newly rediscovered, centuries-old document in the form of a royal grant, and an alabaster frame that was once part of an ornamental screen known as a reredos….The White Queen wished to worship there and it appears, also, to be buried there as the grant declares prayers should be sung ‘around the tomb of our consort’ (Elizabeth Woodville)….”

In 1481 another royal of importance had been buried in the same Westminster chapel. “….8-year-old Anne Mowbray, child bride to Elizabeth’s son Richard, was interred there….” (see https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/anne-mowbray-duchess-of-york and here https://murreyandblue.org/2017/11/19/anne-mowbray-duchess-of-norfolk-her-reburial-in-westminster-abbey/.)  

It was in 1502 that Henry VII (husband of Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth of York) ordered the Saint Erasmus chapel destroyed to make room for his own splendid Lady Chapel (see https://www.westminster-abbey.org/history/explore-our-history/lady-chapel/)  Perish the thought that Henry Tudor shrank from self-glorification! He had Elizabeth Woodville removed* to be buried with her husband in Windsor, but Anne Mowbray’s coffin was lost until eventually rediscovered in 1964 (see links above).  

The Dean of Westminster gave permission for Anne’s remains to be re-buried in the Abbey on 31 May 1965. She was lain to rest in the north east apsidal chapel of the Lady Chapel, as near as could be found to the original site of her burial.

St Erasmus himself is not to be overlooked: “…Saint Erasmus, also known as Saint Elmo, was a bishop who lived in the 3rd century….and fell afoul of authorities. He was reportedly variously tortured, imprisoned, tortured again, burned alive (which, according to the legends, he survived), imprisoned and tortured again, and ultimately killed by having his entrails wound slowly round a windlass….” How particularly gruesome. The lengths humans will go to in order to achieve someone’s death as painfully as possible never ceases to dismay me. You can read St Erasmus’s story here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_of_Formia and here  https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=182.

You can see more at https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/12/new-study-helps-reconstruct-lost-chapel-at-westminster-abbey/145423 and here https://newsroom.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/lost-medieval-chapel-sheds-light-on-royal-burials-at-westminster-abbey-finds-new-study-featuring-15th-century-reconstruction/.

*In the sciencealert.com article above is the statement “….Elizabeth and Edward IV were, ultimately, buried at Saint George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle….”  Well, so they were, but might this rather imply that Edward too was buried first in St Erasmus’s Chapel? Maybe I’m over-interpreting….? But Edward wasn’t “ultimately” buried in Windsor, he had always been buried there. For his death and funeral see here https://www.windsor.gov.uk/ideas-and-inspiration/blog-latest-news/read/2020/04/the-death-of-king-edward-iv-b42