Whose Body? Monuments Displaced from St Edward the Confessor's Chapel, Westminster Abbey

Documentary evidence reveals that, when in 1395 the Purbeck marble tomb with gilt cast copper-alloy effigies commemorating Richard II and his queen, Anne of Bohemia, was installed in St Edward the Confessor's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, another tomb was moved to make room for it. It has commonly been supposed that the displaced tomb was the Cosmatesque tomb chest now in the south ambulatory, which has traditionally been believed to house the bones of Katherine, daughter of Henry III, and up to eight other royal infants and older children of Henry III and Edward I. Examination of the evidence indicates that neither part of this view is correct. Three other tombs may have been moved from the Confessor's chapel; of these, the highstatus monument to William de Valence is the most likely candidate for the tomb displaced in 1395.

Ancient history · Art · Art history · Chapel · Queen (butterfly) · Classics · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Medieval Literature and History

• The Tomb Monument of Katherine, Daughter of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence (1253–7)

  Open Access•Sally Badham, Sophie Oosterwijk•The Antiquaries Journal•2012

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