Politics and Posterity: English Royal Chantry Provision 1232–1509

Abstract

English chantry chapels are exceptional, often outstanding, and are specifically to their national environment in a number of ways. They became increasingly popular at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century, and their popularity has been ascribed mainly to piety and the multiplication of masses. In this article, it is argued that the chantry chapel was promoted by prelates, peers and members of the royal court. The impact of royal chantry provision has, however, attracted little scholarly attention. This is particularly the case for the tombs and chantry chapels of John of Gaunt, Henry V and Humphrey of Gloucester. The provision of chantry services for royal beneficiaries is analysed here as a political statement, initiated by those who were in charge of memorial afterlife : kings and queens, royal successors and prelates. It is argued that the joint venture of royal tomb and chantry chapel was exploited as a propaganda tool by the House of Lancaster and brought to perfection in the design of Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey.