Remains Of Queen Elizabeth's Distant Relative Who Lived In The 11th-Century Found

Researchers now believe that one of the mortuary chests inside Winchester Cathedral might actually contain the bones of an eleventh-century royal, an English queen who is actually related to the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Biological anthropologists from the University of Bristol think that they’ve found the remains of Queen Emma of Normandy, a queen consort of England, Norway and Denmark, who lived between 985 and 1052 AD.

Researchers began the time-consuming task of trying to sort out the bones contained in six mortuary chests located inside the cathedral. The problem is that while the chests have inscriptions stating whose remains are supposed to be inside them, each chest actually contains broken bones belonging to several people whose identities no longer match the names stated in the chests’ labels.

The mix-up happened during the 1642 English Civil War, when the cathedral was stormed by Roundhead soldiers and the bones inside the mortuary chests were scattered. Locals later repacked the bones, but they had no way of knowing which bones belong to whom.

The University of Bristol researchers analyzed and radiocarbon dated the remains to determine which bone fragment matches. They finally were able to ascertain that the mixed bones belong to at least 23 persons.

However, further DNA analysis is needed to determine Queen Emma’s identity. “It is not yet certain, but these bodily remains could be those of Queen Emma, daughter of Richard 1, Duke of Normandy,” the researchers explained.

Queen Emma married two English kings. She was first married to King Ethelred the Unready then later to his successor, King Canute.

She was once accused by her son, Edward the Confessor, of committing adultery with the Bishop of Winchester. To prove her innocence, she was forced to walk over red hot plowshares with her son and high officials of the Church and the state as witnesses. She went through the ordeal miraculously unhurt, not even feeling the heat of the iron she was walking on. The incident was later recorded in a 1793 engraving by artist William Blake.

Queen Emma is said to be one of the richest people in the country during her time. She was a major landowner in Wessex and also had connections to both the English and French royal families.

She is distantly related to the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. “William the Conqueror is the 22nd great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Emma was his great-aunt,” Prof Kate Robson Brown, a member of the research team, shared.