“Turn thy Tombe into a Throne”: Elizabeth I’s Death Rehearsal

Abstract

What is the first “Tudor” epitaph? With a little ingenuity, it can be unearthed in Sir Thomas Malory’s account of Le Morte Darthur, published by Caxton just weeks before the Battle of Bosworth, and only months before the coronation of Henry VII, who notably annexed the figure of Arthur through implied Welsh filiations. When Malory closes his narration of King Arthur’s death, he assiduously acknowledges the gaps in the biographical record, admitting, for instance, that “Thus of Arthur I fynde neuer more wryton in bookes that ben auctorysed, no more of the veray certente of his deth herde I neuer redde… More of the deth of Kyng Arthur coude I neuer fynde…” (Spisak 592). These qualifications precede the story he deems most trustworthy, of the three queens bringing Arthur to his grave. Immediately following this description of an interment, however, Malory admits a conflicting story:

Yet somme men say in many partyes of Englond that Kynge Arthur is nat deed, but had by the wylle of our Lord Ihesu into another place. And men say that he shal com ageyn, and he shal wynne the Holy Cross. I wyl not say that it shal be so, but rather I wyl sey here in thys world he chaunged his lyf. (593)