Who lies in the Mortuary Chests at Winchester Cathedral?

 

 Who lies in the Mortuary Chests at Winchester Cathedral? 

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 Winchester Cathedral have begun a project to analyse the contents of their six mortuary chests.

Historical records indicate that the bones were placed in the mortuary chests around the high altar of the cathedral, in the twelfth-century.

However, in 1642, at the beginning of the English Civil War, Parliamentarian troops entered the cathedral and toppled the chests in an act of sacrilege.

The church officials, who had no way of knowing which bones belonged to who, simply placed them back in the six chests.

 It is believed that the bones of 11 or 12 people are in these chests, including the kings~

Cynegils died in 643

Cynewulf died in 786

Ecbert died in 839

Æthelwulf died in 858

Eadred died 955

Edmund Ironside died 1016

Cnut died 1035

and William Rufus died 1100

 Also thought to be buried in the chests are~

Cnut’s wife Emma died 1052

Bishop Wini died 670

Bishop Alfwyn died 1047

and Archbishop Stigand died 1072.

 The officials at Winchester have announced their preliminary findings from the Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, at the University of Oxford.

It showed that these bones definitely come from the late Anglo-Saxon and early Norman periods - which is consistent with the historical burial records of the named individuals.

 More research on these bones will now be carried out by the University of Bristol.

Hopefully the bones can be laid to rest back in their respective chests.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)

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 medievalists/mortuary-chests-winchester-cathedral

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 The Six Mortuary Chests at Winchester Cathedral.