Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

Henry VII was the only child of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (son of Henry V's widow Catherine de Valois and Owen Tudor) and his 13-year old wife Lady Margaret Beaufort (who died in the Abbot of Westminster's house on 29th June 1509, shortly after Henry VIII's coronation, and was buried in the Abbey).

He was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales on 28th January 1457. Edmund died a few months before the birth so mother and son were cared for by Jasper Tudor, Henry's uncle. After several years of exile in France Henry landed at Milford Haven in August 1485 to claim the English throne and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.

His reign is remembered for peace and prosperity and he spent lavish sums on building work, including the Lady Chapel at the Abbey, called the "wonder of the world". The foundation stone of his exquisite Chapel was laid on 24th January 1503 and it was consecrated on 19th February 1516. It has a magnificent fan-vaulted roof, with carved wooden stalls with misericords and statues of saints around the walls. During the time of Oliver Cromwell its altar, by Pietro Torrigiano, was destroyed, as was much of the stained glass and the floor tiles. Some Tudor glass quarries with the King's initials survived the Civil War, and later the Blitz, and are set in a window of the side aisle.

Marriage

His marriage in January 1486 to Elizabeth of York united the Houses of Lancaster and York (Henry claimed descent through his mother from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III).

Coronation

This took place in Westminster Abbey on 30th October 1485. Elizabeth's coronation was held on 25th November 1487.

Burial and monument

Henry died on 21st April 1509, having suffered from gout and asthma. He and his wife lie in a vault beneath his magnificent tomb in the Lady Chapel (the first monarchs to be buried in the Abbey in a vault under the floor rather than in a tomb chest above ground).

This was designed in the Renaissance style by Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano (Henry VIII had not liked the designs which were first put forward for the tomb by other sculptors). The black marble tomb base is adorned with six medallions in copper gilt representing the Virgin Mary and Henry's patron saints (Michael, George, Anthony, Christopher, Anne, Edward the Confessor, Vincent, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist). At either end are coats of arms supported by cherubs. The gilt bronze recumbent effigies can be seen through the fine grille which surrounds the monument. Seated angels balance on the carved frieze at each corner of the tomb, supporting coats of arms They once held pennants in their hands.

The grille is by Thomas Ducheman (who most likely also designed the bronze gates to the Chapel). Only six of the thirty two statues in the niches of the grille now remain (Saints George, Edward the Confessor, Bartholomew, James the Great, John the Evangelist and another). The badges of the Welsh dragon and the greyhound of Richmond are also part of its decoration. The grille was originally gilded and on special anniversaries many candles, each nine feet high, were lit on top. Four candles were to burn constantly, tended by the monks.

Around the grille (both inside and outside) is a Latin inscription which can be translated

Henry VII rests within this tomb, he who was the splendour of kings and light of the world, a wise and watchful monarch, a courteous lover of virtue, outstanding in beauty, vigorous and mighty; who brought peace to his kingdom, who waged very many wars, who always returned victorious from the enemy, who wedded both his daughters to kings, who was united to kings, indeed to all, by treaty, who built this holy temple, and erected this tomb for himself, his wife, and his children. He completed more than fifty three years, and bore the royal sceptre for twenty four. The fifteenth hundredth year of the Lord had passed, and the ninth after that was running its course, when dawned the black day, the twenty first dawn of April was shining, when this so great monarch ended his last day. No earlier ages gave thee so great a king, O England; hardly will ages to come give thee his like.

Funeral effigies

The heads of the effigies carried at their respective funerals still survive in the Abbey collection, that of the king being particularly lifelike and probably from a death mask. His funeral effigy was 6 feet 1 inch tall with the body made of wood, with a padding of hay covered with canvas and then plaster. Elizabeth's body was constructed of leather stuffed with hay. The funeral effigies were saturated by water during the blitz in the Second World War when the main bodies disintegrated, leaving only the heads, and an arm and hand in the case of Elizabeth. His nose, which had been lost much earlier, was reconstructed during the post war conservation.

Inscriptions

The inscriptions for Henry on the tomb can be translated:

Here lies Henry the Seventh of that name, formerly King of England, son of Edmund, Earl of Richmond. He was created King on August 22 and immediately afterwards, on October 30, he was crowned at Westminster in the year of Our Lord 1485. He died subsequently on April 21 in the 53rd year of his age. He reigned 23 years eight months, less one day.

And that around the edge of the tomb:

Here is situated Henry VII, the glory of all the kings who lived in his time by reason of his intellect, his riches, and the fame of his exploits, to which were added the gifts of bountiful nature, a distinguished brow, an august face, an heroic stature. Joined to him his sweet wife was very pretty, chaste and fruitful. They were parents happy in their offspring, to whom, land of England, you owe Henry VIII.

Elizabeth of York

She was born on 11th February 1465, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Her eldest son Arthur died soon after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and their second son Henry later married her. Several children who did not survive infancy are buried in the Abbey – Elizabeth, who has a small monument in the chapel of St Edward (the inscription has gone), Edmund and Catherine. The other daughters were Margaret Tudor, who married (firstly) James IV, King of Scots and Mary, who married Louis XII of France as her first husband. She died in childbirth in the Tower of London on her birthday, 11th February 1503.

She had a magnificent funeral, her body being brought through the City of London on a gorgeous hearse drawn by six horses, on which lay her funeral effigy in royal robes and a crimson satin dress. The body had been embalmed, wrapped in linen and encased in lead. This was placed in a coffin made of holly wood, laid on the hearse and covered with black velvet with a white cross. Eight ladies on white horses followed as part of the grand procession. She was temporarily buried in one of the side chapels until the main Lady chapel was sufficiently advanced for her grave to be made in it.

Her tomb inscription reads:

Here lies Queen Elizabeth, daughter of the former King Edward IV, sister of the formerly appointed King Edward V, once the wife of King Henry VII, and the renowned mother of Henry VIII. She met her day of death in the Tower of London on the 11th day of February in the year of Our Lord 1502, having fulfilled the age of 37 years

(This date is given in Old Style dating, now called 1503).

The funeral effigies are on show in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries in the Abbey triforium. A sword, possibly offered up at Henry's funeral, is also on display. And a large helm from his period.

During the 1939-1945 war most of the movable figures from the tomb, and the chapel itself, were evacuated to country houses for safety. The grille was dismantled, apart from its stone base. Each section was stamped with a letter code in order that it could be correctly put together again after the war.