Sexton of Peterborough Cathedral. He claimed to have buried two members of each Peterborough household during his tenure. The queens interred by Scarlett included Catharine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, who died in 1535, and Mary, Queen of Scots, who was beheaded at Fotheringay in 1587, and first interred at Peterborough, though subsequently transported to Westminster Abbey. Scarlett died at the age of 98. A portrait of him was painted at the west end of that church. He is buried under a stone marked simply R.S., but is remembered in a verse above the West Door.
Sexton of Peterborough Cathedral. He claimed to have buried two members of each Peterborough household during his tenure. The queens interred by Scarlett included Catharine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, who died in 1535, and Mary, Queen of Scots, who was beheaded at Fotheringay in 1587, and first interred at Peterborough, though subsequently transported to Westminster Abbey. Scarlett died at the age of 98. A portrait of him was painted at the west end of that church. He is buried under a stone marked simply R.S., but is remembered in a verse above the West Door.
Bio by: Iola
Inscription
R.S.
Verse on West Door
You see old Scarlitt's picture stand on hie,
But at your feete here doth his body lye.
His gravestone doth his age and Death time show,
His office by thes tokens you may know.
Second to none for strength and sturdye limm,
A Scarebabe mighty voice with visage grim.
Hee had interd two Queenes within this place
And this townes Householders in his lives space
Twice over: But at length his own time came;
What for others did for him the same
Was done: No doubt his soule doth live for aye
In heaven: Tho here his body clad in clay".
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