In 1502 the old Lady Chapel was demolished. This chapel built in the 13th century and located at the eastern end of Westminster Abbey was destroyed as part of a redevelopment plan for the great London church, cleaning that included dismantling the altar dedicated to Saint Erasmus.
Both chapels barely shared space for a quarter of a century. It was Elizabeth Woodvile, wife of Edward IV and queen consort of England between 1464 and 1483, who had the space built in honor of Erasmus of Formia at the end of the 1470s as thanks for the health of his children. And that small oratory ended up being used for royal burials and to house the relics of Saint Erasmus himself.
The place, however, was somewhat macabre. Although it was the focus of devotion for the royal family for a short time, the site probably housed gruesome images of the martyrdom of the saint, Bishop of Gaeta (near Rome) who was tortured in 303 by order of the Emperor Diocletian.
Some versions suggest that the Roman executioners extracted his intestines while the priest was still alive and that, shortly after, they burned him with boiling oil while demanding that he renounce Christianity and embrace pagan gods.
Researchers Matthew Paine and John Goodall reveal, in an article published in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, the story of how the “White Queen” of England, Elizabeth Woodville, used the chapel to pray and even indicated that she wanted to be buried on that site.
Payne, archivist of Westminster Abbey, discovered a document in which the queen consort records her devotion to that altar, in addition to her intention to be buried in that space. “The text says that the prayers were to be sung ‘around the grave of our consort.’ The construction, purpose and destiny of the chapel of Saint Erasmus, therefore, deserves more recognition”, she explains.
“Until now very little attention has been paid to this chapel. It receives hardly a passing mention in histories of the abbey, despite the survival of elements of the altarpiece,” adds Goodall. The burial of eight-year-old Anne Mowbray, wife of Elizabeth’s son Richard, Duke of York, also confirms her role as a royal burial place, according to the study.
The queen’s resting place was not finally in Westminster Abbey, but rather her remains were placed with her beloved husband in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, which Edward IV had begun to build in 1475. Many others Monarchs have been buried at Windsor, including Elizabeth II this 2022.
Saint Erasmus, in addition to being the patron saint of sailors, was responsible for child welfare. That is why experts suggest that the link with the children may have prompted the construction of the chapel just a year after Richard and Anne Mowbray married in 1478, when they were both still children.
The dedication of the chapel to St. Erasmus “reflects a new and growing devotion” to his cult, Payne and Goodall say. In addition, they speculate that the small building could also have housed relics of the Italian bishop. Specifically, his tooth, which is known to have belonged to Westminster Abbey.
The chapel was demolished in 1502 by order of Henry VII but an intricately carved frame can still be seen, sculpted from mineral alabaster, which would have surrounded a reredos that would form the backdrop for the altar. The image is missing, however, and researchers believe this is because it featured the martyr tied alive to a table and disemboweled while his intestines were wound around a windlass, a rotating cylinder often used on ships.
