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.

Where to Follow Jane Austen and Find Fan Clubs

House where Jane Austen lived for the last years of her life. Now  museum. Photo from Wikipedia.

Problem
I know there's a Jane Austen statue or person outside a museum in Bath, but where else can I go? Would I find a fan as far away as Singapore.

Answers
1 Bath Museum. most visually appealing from the outside and in the busy, bustling city of Bath.
2 House where she lived for last years.
3 Winchester Cathedral. Disappointed me. Not a lot to see or say.
4 If you fancy yourself as the next Jane Austen, Winchester has a writers' festival every summer, good for would be writers who can stay in university accommodation.

Gravestone. Photo from Wikipedia.

Fan Societies Worldwide
UK
USA
Singapore
Society of fans who dress up, using spree fabric to recreate clothes. Not as far fetched as it at first sounds. In Jan Austen's era imported sprees were used and appreciated for colourful ladies clothes.

Story
As a young teenager I had heard of Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen but had trouble remembering which was which. Later I discovered :

The Brontes sisters were poor and had miserable lives and wrote stories of horror and passion. Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre about a poor governess in a house with a terrifying mad woman. The governess nearly commits bigamy, but ends up marrying a man only when he is widowed in a fire after he goes blind. Sister Emily wrote the tragedy Wuthering Heights. Anne wrote a miserable story about drunkenness. The three girls all died young, in their thirties.

By contrast, Jane Austen's books are full of humour and irony.
I studied Jane Austen at school, a girl's Grammar School, in England, for A level. The book was Mansfield Park. It is not my favourite book. Most people most enjoy Pride and Prejudice.

Tips
List of 22 sites with visually appealing pictures:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/lost-in-austen?utm_term=.ql9O9lOYo#.nbb3kD3Ke

Jane Austen's Worldwide Fan Club
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40093010

Winchester Writers' Festival
http://writersfestival.co.uk

Quotations from Jane Austen:
From Goodreads:
Pride and Prejudice: 'A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.'
(Post being researched. More later.)

Jane Austen books are on
Amazon
Ebay

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share your favourite posts. 

Historical Houses in Hampshire: Jane Austen and more

Holiday outings to Historical houses in Hampshire
What a neatly alliterative title I have invented or discovered. Jane Austen had some alliterative book titles. Pride and Prejudice is my favourite title.

1 Jane Austen's House Museum
The house has her writing desk, letters, her famous ring (why was it famous?), costumes and novels 2017 is the 200th anniversary of Jane's death and you can get involved in events in the house and garden thought the year.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote 6 major novels published in her life time plus and unfinished novel and lots of junior and shorter works and letters and bits and pieces. The best known titles are:
Mansfield Park
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Pride and Prejudice
Northanger Abbey
Persuasion

You can visit museums related to her in several places, such as Bath.
www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk

Picture from Wikipedia. See more details there. Excellent article about her life and books, pictures of Jane and her sister Cassandra and even Jane Austen cookies. Other places of interest in the UK connected with Jane Austen include the museum in Bath and her burial place in Winchester Cathedral.

2 Gilbert White's House
Gilbert White was a naturalist, scientist and writer.
www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk

3 Historic skills you can learn:
Celtic cooking
Cave painting
Sword making
Milking

4 You can also take literary walks.

More later. I'm off around the internet looking for pictures - I'll be back in a couple of hours when I feel like a holiday on the internet and I can spare some time from work.

http://www.easthants.gov.uk/visit-east-hampshire

You can read about me and my books on Lulu.com, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn and see me on YouTube under Angela Lansbury author / poet .
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.