Jane Austen's Burial Place, Winchester Cathedral and The Bones of Queen Emma

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Jane Austen was buried at Winchester cathedral.

Jane Austen from Wikipedia article on Jane Austen

Jane Austen remembered in Winchester cathedral.

 It also is known for commenorating St Swithin and assorted other famous and people and those you half know about. For example King Canute. Confusingly Canue is often called King Cnut. King Cnut - never heard of him. King Canute! Why didn't somebody say so?

Winchester cathedral exterior. Photo by Wyrdlight.com (Weird name! Or is it wired? ) creative Commons.  More details on the origins of the photo and the cathedral in Wikipedia.

An exciting new exhibition is planned for the end of this month (May 2019), somewhere to visit if you are in England this summer or later.

It's a detective story. The bones were scattered by Roundhead soldiers, jumbled up and put back later in the coffins in the cathedral.

Now, with modern technology, the bones have been matched up. One set of a woman might be the bones of Queen Emma. I had never heard of her. But she is was related to a line of kings, and ultimately our present Queen Elizabeth.

Emma's two husbands were known as The Unready and The Great. I know what you are thinking. She had two equally famous sons.

The man you are most likely to know of is Canute, who legend says tried to tell the waves of the sea to go back. They did not. This was to demonstrate to his fawning servants that he was not all-powerful. He was, however, head of an earlier united kingdom, of England, Denmark and Norway, a Viking.


Canute ruled England, Denmark, a bridging bit of Sweden between Denmark and Norway and Norway. Looking at the map makes sense of this

.

Here's a Canute coin. A bit primitive, but quite attractive.

If you are in London and want to learn more about Canute and see something associated with him, other coins are in the British Museum in London, England.

Let us move on to another well-known story. The Princes in the tower.

Painting by Millais. Public domain. (From Wikipedia article on the princes.)


Equally exciting is the find of the bones of two boys. Speculation says they could be the two princes in the tower, put there and reputedly murdered by their uncle Richard III (another controversy). Probably not their bones. If in London, go to the Tower Of London.

Or look at the outisde as you pass and wonder whether the boys' bones ended up in Winchester cathedral

Probably not? But interesting to go to Winchester and read about the research. The exhibition will even have a reconstruction of the face of one of the boys, taken from the skeleton, like those done for victims or murdered and unidentified bodies after accidents.  Like a photo from the past, matched to the skeletal remains.

Winchester, a lovely cathedral with associations with other famous people. Alfred the great it seems was here - but his bones were moved on.

However, history is all stories which may or not be true, and you really go to places to hear stories. But if you want to see bones, the exhibiton will show you bones, or at least, pictures of the bones. As we were all told as children, look but don't touch.

You can visit it on a day drive from London. A must visit if you are interested in royalty, history, forensic science, or your name is Emma.

 Or you happen to be a fan of Jane Austen. Jane Austen was not hinking of Emma when she said, or didn't say nor write, to lose one husband is a misfortunate - no, that was Oscar Wilde. Jane Austen did say that somebody in possession of a fortune must be in want of a spouse. When looking at the bones of British history, the words of great British writers spring to mind.

If you are as muddled as I am about long lost British Kings and Queens, perhaps this would be a fine time to plan to go to Winchester. Apparently there is a fee for entering the cathedral. I once went on a press trip to the Cathedral and we were walked around the outside to save the time and money of going inside. But one report says that the cost of a year's admission is the same is a one time admission, so, if that is still the case, you might as well buy the year's admission in case you are so enamoured that you wish to return.

Useful Websites
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-48281733
http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/whats-on/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Cathedral

Travel
visitbritain.com
visitbritain.org
visitbritainshop.com
visitengland.com
visitlondon.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.