‘Saint’ Henry

Henry VI’s body was conveyed for burial at Chertsey Abbey in Surrey, where it almost immediately began to attract claims of miraculous healing. In death, ‘Saint’ Henry proved a far more effective protector of his people than he had ever been in life. Indeed, to judge by the number of pilgrim badges collected by visitors to his shrine, the cult of Henry VI, the least royal of English kings, soon came to rival that of Thomas Becket, the most anti-royal of English saints.