The truth behind Tudor tombs is out there

Art 25 Jan 11 The Renaissance sculpted tomb-monument of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, was altered when being moved from Thetford to Framlingham in the mid-16th Century. Credit: University of Leicester An Oxford historian is working with space scientists and art historians to analyse Renaissance Tomb-Monuments in Suffolk, which the team hope will unlock secrets of the Tudor Reformation. Dr Steven Gunn of the Faculty of History and academics from the University of Leicester will analyse the great Renaissance monuments of Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk (d. 1554) and Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond (d.1536), who was Henry VIII's illegitimate son. The interdisciplinary research programme, which also involves Yale and English Heritage, is funded by a grant for £497,000 and three PhD studentships from the Science and Heritage Programme of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The monuments were moved from Thetford Priory in Norfolk to Framlingham Parish Church in Suffolk in the mid-16th century, and researchers believe they were dramatically altered by the relocation. Scientists will apply techniques from space science to the monuments to work out how the statues would originally have looked, without needing to physically touch the monuments.