As a visitor of my blog you’ve probably figured out that I absolutely LOVE Halloween. Here is a little something you don’t know about me – I live in a haunted house, it’s not a castle, or a palace, just a house built in 1950 that has a few visitors. When my husband and I decided to look for our first house in Spring 2007 he said, “I hope we get a house that’s haunted.” My immediate response was, “Watch your mouth!”
When we purchased our home in June 2007, we had two months to move things from our apartment into our new house. This was perfect since we had accumulated a lot of junk over the nine years we had been together. At the time, my husband was an on-air personality for a local radio station and had a schedule where he was done early in the day – this allowed him to make trips from the apartment to the house on a daily basis to make our move a gradual one. On weekends and evenings I was able to do my part moving boxes. It didn’t take long before we both started noticing strange things.
At first it was small things – the basement lights were on…”I swear I turned it off when I left the house.” Little did I know that this was also happening to my husband. It wasn’t until the first night we were going to sleep in the house that something big happened. While on the floor, in our new bedroom, putting together our bed frame (and our three year old asleep in his room) my husband quickly looked up like he had seen something right behind me in the doorway. He had this look on his face and I knew something weird had happened. I said, “What!?” He said, “Nothing.” I wouldn’t drop it, “What was it!? What did you see?” His response to me was, “I swear I just saw our son walk into this room, but it wasn’t him, and it disappeared as soon as I saw it.” Needless to say, I freaked out.
About a week after the first big incident I had forgotten what had happened that night in our bedroom. I climbed into our queen sized bed and covered up. That night it was a little warm in the house, so I stuck my bare foot out the bottom of the blanket. I awoke to the feeling of someone running their finger up the bottom of my bare foot. My eyes shot open immediately and there, at the end of the bed? Nobody. I no longer sleep with my foot outside the blanket like that.
My husband is a writer and wrote a few blogs about this – he does a better job at telling the stories than I ever will. When you have a minute, read about my haunted house and all the strange things that have happened:
Elizabeth of York, Queen to King Henry VII of England, died in the Tower of London on February 11, 1503. She had given birth to a daughter Katherine on February 2 and never recovered. The death was a shock to her husband, her children and to the nation. Due to detailed accounts, most likely composed by a herald, we have a narration of the funeral as well as financial account records. The king ordered two council members to arrange the funeral; his treasurer, the Earl of Surrey and the comptroller of his household, Sir Richard Guildford. The citizens of London had substantial input as well.
Upon her death, the bells of St. Paul’s Cathedral rang out and soon all the other churches rang their bells. Elizabeth’s body was washed and dressed in her estate robes and laid out on her bed. Her children were brought in to say their goodbyes and pay their respects.
The same day, her body was embalmed by the sergeant of the Chandlery. He was given many ells of cerecloth, gums, balms, spices, sweet wine and many pounds of wax. Her body was washed with wine and rosewater and rubbed with balm and perfumed spices. Next, the body was wrapped in the cerecloth with had been broken down into strips and dipped in molten wax. The King’s plumber then enclosed the body in lead and marked it with a lead epitaph with her name and who she was. The lead case was enclosed in a coffin made of holly wood and the coffin was covered in black velvet with a cross of white damask.
King Henry VII and his family. The image depicts all of Henry and Elizabeth’s children, even those who died young.
The coffin was carried by persons of the highest rank with a canopy held over it by four knights as it was taken to the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the confines of the Tower on February 12th. Following the casket was Lady Elizabeth Stafford, first lady of the bedchamber, the ladies and maids of honor then all the rest of the Queen’s household, marching side by side. The chapel was lit by five hundred tall candles with the windows being lined with black crepe and the walls hung with black damask.
The coffin was positioned on a bier in front of the altar. Elizabeth’s sister Katherine, Countess of Devon arrived and took her place at the head of Elizabeth’s body where she stayed while mass was celebrated and offerings made. She then retired. The coffin remained in state while six ladies kept vigil at all times. Katherine attended most of this vigil as the Queen’s chief mourner. Masses were said for three consecutive days. At night, the Lord’s Prayer was recited for the Queen’s soul. The coffin remained in the chapel until the day of the funeral procession which was February 22nd.
On that day, mass was said at St. Peter ad Vincula. At noon the coffin was put on a carriage which was lined with cushions made of black velvet and blue cloth of gold. Placed on top of the coffin was a lifelike effigy clothed in the robes of the estate of a queen with a crown on her head. Her hair flowed down to her shoulders and she held a scepter in her right hand. Her fingers had gold and precious stones on them. The procession for the funeral took the same route to Westminster Abbey that was taken for her coronation because Elizabeth died in the Tower which is where queens stayed the night before their crowning. Many commoners lined the streets to witness the cortege.
Effigy of Elizabeth of York used at her funeral (Author: Lisby1)
The procession was led by two hundred poor folk carrying torches who had been dressed in black cloth from the great wardrobe of the king himself. Behind them came numerous household members, clerics, the Mayor of London and then the Queen’s coffin. The carriage was drawn by six horses trapped in black velvet. Beside the coffin rode many knights who carried banners representing royal arms, royal saints (Edward and Edmund), the Virgin Mary, other saints and the parents of the queen. Hundreds of escutcheons had been made with the arms of the king and queen and these probably hung around the coffin and were among the procession as it made its way through torchlit streets.
Behind the carriage of the queen were eight palfreys saddled with black velvet bearing ladies of honor riding in single file. Each horse was led by a man in a black gown. Among these ladies were the four sisters of the queen. There were other noblewomen in carriages followed by representatives of the city of London and the royal households.
Many guilds provided mourning clothes for their members. Some of their representatives dressed in white and stood holding torches before the monument to Elizabeth’s predecessor Eleanor of Castile (first wife of King Edward I) at Charing Cross as the procession passed by. The lady mayoress of London arranged for thirty-seven virgins, one for each year of Elizabeth’s life, to hold burning tapers and stand in Cheapside in the queen’s honor. These women wore white linen and had wreaths on their heads in the colors of the royal Tudor livery.
Parish churches along the route contributed torches and their choirs stood outside, singing anthems. All the City churches were draped in black. As the cortege passed each church, a curate would come forward and cense the coffin and the bells would peal. There was a delegation of foreign funeral-goers which included French, Spanish, Venetian and Portuguese and others who carried torches decorated with their country’s arms. Their presence signified European acceptance of the Tudor dynasty. Along the route there were five thousand torches carried by citizens wearing white woolen gowns and hoods. The procession made its way to St. Margaret’s churchyard at Westminster where it was met by eight bishops.
The coffin and effigy were placed on a hearse which was hung with black cloth of gold and ornamented with her motto “humble and reverent” in gold. Four white banners were draped over the corners of the coffin, supposedly to signify she died in childbirth. There were other emblems of Tudor queenship displayed such as gold roses, portcullises, fleur-de-lys and her coat of arms entwined with the king’s beneath crowns.
The coffin on the hearse spent the night in the Abbey surrounded by torchbearers and other observers, mostly ladies and gentlewomen. As the coffin lay in state in the Abbey the night before the burial, Elizabeth’s sister Katherine, along with her nephew the marquis of Dorset and the Earl of Derby presided over a supper of fish in the queen’s chamber at Westminster. During the supper, in the Abbey, knights, ladies, squires and heralds kept vigil over the body all night while over one thousand candles burned.
On the final day of the funeral, candles flamed around the coffin and two hundred and seventy-three tapers decorated with escutcheons burned above black cloths hanging from the roof. There were two masses and then the Bishop of Lincoln officiated the final requiem mass. Women were the first to give their offerings and they were led by Katherine as the chief mourner. After the offerings, the women presented palls of blue and green cloth of gold which were laid over the effigy. The Bishop of Rochester gave a sermon. After the sermon, the palls were removed and the ladies exited after symbolically burying the Queen with their palls. The prelates and the king’s chapel were left to perform the actual interment.
The effigy was removed from the coffin. The Bishop of London sanctified the grave before the coffin was lowered. Elizabeth’s chamberlain and gentlemen ushers tearfully broke their staffs of office and threw them in the grave. Because construction of the Tudor tomb in the Lady Chapel had only just begun, Elizabeth was buried in a vault specifically made for her in the crossing of the Abbey, between the high altar and the choir. She would be re-interred in the magnificent new tomb after the death of King Henry in 1509.
Henry had been generous in his expenditure for Elizabeth’s funeral. In April of 1502, when his eldest son Arthur died, Henry paid £600 to bury him. For Elizabeth’s ceremony, he had spent £3000. In today’s equivalent, that amounts to £1,381,000. Clearly this funeral had more significance to the Tudor dynasty than Arthur’s. The design and execution of the procession was meant to be dramatic, spectacular and memorable for the royal household, the nobility, and the citizens of London and for all who witnessed it. The entire ceremony was an opportunity to have a huge public display to denote the wealth, prestige and substance of the Tudor dynasty and to allow the public to participate and grieve for their queen. The numbers of citizens who appeared to witness her coffin pass by were a tribute to Elizabeth’s role and status as queen as well denoting their love for her.
Further reading: “Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World” by Alison Weir, “Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the War of the Roses” by Sarah Gristwood, “The Last Medieval Queens” by J.L. Laynesmith
The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer took place on 29 July 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Their marriage was seen as the “wedding of the century”. It was watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million.
Charles had known Diana for a few years prior to their wedding. Diana and Charles had been dating for about six months when he proposed on 3 February 1981 at Windsor Castle.
Their engagement was official on 24 February 1981. Diana selected an elegant, large ring that had 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-karat white gold. This is the ring that the Duchess of Cambridge now wears.
In attendance at the wedding were 3500 guests at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Richard of Bordeaux, later to be known as Richard ll, succeeded Edward lll as king of England in July 1377. Richard was grandson to Edward lll and son of Edward, The Black Prince who died of dysentery in 1376.
Richard llEdward lllEdward, The Black PrinceJoan of Kent, mother to Richard ll
Cecily Neville was mother to Edward lV and Richard lll – she was another one of the strong females from the Wars of the Roses. Check out this blog by Susan Abernethy @ The Freelance History Writer about Cecily.
As a visitor of my blog you’ve probably figured out that I absolutely LOVE Halloween. Here is a little something you don’t know about me – I live in a haunted house, it’s not a castle, or a palace, just a house built in 1950 that has a few visitors. When my husband and I decided to look for our first house in Spring 2007 he said, “I hope we get a house that’s haunted.” My immediate response was, “Watch your mouth!”
