Abstract
Henry VI, King of England and France, met his death at the Tower of London, probably on the night of 21–22 May 1471. Several questions about his death remain to be convincingly answered: Who was his killer? How was he murdered? A dagger held in a chapel in Caversham (Berkshire) was still believed, in 1538, to be the murder weapon, ‘the holy dager that kylled kinge Henry’, and was presented to visitors as a holy relic.1 Yet one aspect of Henry VI’s death is beyond doubt: it made him a miracle-working saint and martyr throughout England.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
W.J. White, ‘The Death and Burial of Henry VI: A Review of the Facts and Theories, Part I’, The Ricardian 6:78 (1982), pp. 70–80
C.A.J. Armstrong, ‘Politics and the Battle of St Albans’, BIHR 33 (1960), pp. 1–72.
W.G. Constable, ‘Some East Anglian Rood Screen Paintings’, The Connoisseur 84 (1929), pp. 211–20
W.W. Williamson, ‘Saints on Norfolk Rood-Screens and Pulpits’, Norfolk Archaeology 31 (1955–57), pp. 299–346
On this rebellion of April 1486 see C.H. Williams, ‘The Rebellion of Humphrey Stafford in 1486’, EHR 43 (1928), pp. 181–9
Oxford, Bodleian, MS Bodl. 277, fol. 376v. On this image see E. Ettlinger, ‘Notes on a Woodcut Depicting King Henry VI Being Invoked as a Saint’, Folklore 84 (1973), pp. 115–19.
L.A. Craig, ‘Royalty, Virtue, and Adversity: The Cult of King Henry VI’, Albion 35 (2003), pp. 187–209.
This is the case, for example, in the manuscript BL, Hargrave MS 274, fol. 204v; on the rood screen in Barton Turf Church (Norfolk); on the rood screen in Binham Priory (Norfolk); on the rood screen in Eye Church (Suffolk), where he is crowned and nimbed, holding a sceptre. This painting is dated to c. 1485. See L. Smith, The Canonization of King Henry VI’, The Dublin Review 168 (1921), pp. 41–53
H.S. Cuming, ‘On a Portrait of Henry VI in Eye Church, Suffolk’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association 36 (1880), pp. 432–4
C. Fletcher, ‘Manhood and Politics in the Reign of Richard II’, Past and Present 189 (2005), pp. 3–39.
Copyright information
© 2008 Danna Piroyansky
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Piroyansky, D. (2008). King Henry VI: Glory of Innocence. In: Martyrs in the Making. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582743_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582743_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-35470-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-58274-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)