Tomb of Archbishop of Canterbury Henry Chichele -- Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent, UK
N 51° 16.790 E 001° 04.984
31U E 366305 N 5682689
The "memento mori" tomb of Archbishop of Canterbuty Henry Chichele, with a finely-dressed effigy up top and his gaunt cadaver on display below.
Waymark Code: WMT4J3
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/24/2016
Views: 7
The waymark coordinates are for the southwest entrance to the cathedral, the "official" entrance.
The waymarked "memento mori" tomb, literally, "remembrance of death," is one of the most famous of the many amazing tombs at Canterbury. It is located in the north-east transept near the upper quire. It is easily found, since it is a large, brightly coloured tomb with striking imagery, surrounded by an impressive "Chichele gate." A very grim inscription (translated from Latin) reads as follows:
"I was a pauper born, then to primate here raised, now I am cut down and served up for worms. Behold my grave. Whoever who may be who will pass by, I ask for your remembrance."
From the Cantebury Archaeological and Historical Society website: (
visit link)
"Archbishop Chichele
Archbishop Henry Chichele (1364-1443) was founder of All Souls College Oxford, and served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1414 until his death. His tomb, one of six to Archbishops in the choir, was designed by Thomas Mapilton, and is by far the most colourful in the cathedral - in large part arising from refurbishment and repainting financed by All Souls. The lower level was in place by 1425, so the Archbishop had a daily reminder of the frailty of his human life for 18 years as he took his place on the Archbishop's throne the far side of the choir. This supposedly underlined his remorse at supporting the unsuccessful French wars conducted by Henry V. Figures in the many niches around the tomb were destroyed by Puritans and later replaced. These were in turn removed to the pulpitum in the 1890s, and replaced with wooden figures in a major restoration by the artist C E Kemp.
What to see:
The tomb, known as a memento mori (Remember your mortality) tomb, showing two Chichele images - below, a gaunt, naked corpse or cadaver on a shroud, above as Archbishop in full regalia with pallium and crosier, angels supporting his head cushion; this is amongst the earliest of this type in England the canopy which is high to permit light from the north side into the choir an inscription in Latin below which reads "now I am cut down and served up for worms - behold my grave".