Henry VIII's Corpse: Did It Actually Explode? Separating Legend from Fact

The story says that on the way to Windsor, Henry VIII’s coffin burst overnight at Syon, and that dogs were found licking up what leaked out — exactly as Friar William Peto had prophesied in 1532. It is one of the best-known anecdotes in English history.
It comes from one hostile source, written down more than a century later, by people who badly wanted that prophecy fulfilled. This video separates the physical question (can a lead coffin burst? yes, and here is why) from the story — and ends with what was actually seen when the vault at Windsor was opened in 1813, which is stranger than the legend.

Chapters
00:00  I. Introduction
00:49 II. The Prophecy
01:56  III. What the Records Say Happened
03:26  IV. Where the Story Actually Comes From
04:30  V. The Objection That Has to Be Answered
05:45  VI. The Same Story, Other Monarchs
06:50  VII. What Was Actually in the Vault
08:26  VIII. The Tomb That Was Never Built
09:35  IX. So Did It Happen?
10:58  X. Conclusion

Sources and Further Reading
•  The heralds’ account of the funeral of Henry VIII, College of Arms
•  Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England, London 1679
•  Sir Henry Halford, An Account of what appeared on opening the Coffin of King Charles the First, London 1813
•  Orderic Vitalis, Historia Ecclesiastica (on William the Conqueror’s burial)
•  J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, London 1968
•  Suzannah Lipscomb, 1536. The Year that Changed Henry VIII, Oxford 2009
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#HenryVIII #TudorHistory #EnglishHistory