Lady Jane Grey: Funeral of Queen Catherine Parr

Funeral of Queen Catherine Parr

'...On Wednesday the 5th of September, between two and three of the clock in the morning, died the aforesaid lady, late queen-dowager, at the castle of Sudeley, in Gloucestershire, 1548, and lieth buried in the chapel of the said castle...she was cered and chested in lead accordingly, and so remained in her privy chamber until things were in readiness.

' The chapel was hung with black cloth, garnished with scutcheons of marriages...the rails were covered with black cloth for the mourners to sit within...and two lighted scutcheons stood upon the corpse during the service.

The Order in Proceeding to the Chapel
First, two conductors in black, with black staves; then gentlemen and esquires...then the corpse, borne by six gentlemen in black gowns, with their hoods on their heads; then the lady Jane (daughter to the lord marquis Dorset) chief mourner, her train borne up by a young lady...'

From "Lives of the Queens of England" by Agnes Strickland