It is inscribed with the great name of Charles Brandon.
At the east end of the north aisle is the chapter-house, in which is a
portrait and the sword of state of Edward the Third.
Adjoining the chapel on the east stands the royal tombhouse.
Commenced by Henry the Seventh as a mausoleum, but abandoned for
the chapel in Westminster Abbey, this structure was granted by Henry
the Eighth to Wolsey, who, intending it as a place of burial for himself,
erected within it a sumptuous monument of black and white marble,
with eight large brazen columns placed around it, and four others in the
form of candlesticks.
At the time of the cardinal's disgrace, when the building reverted to the
crown, the monument was far advanced towards completion--the vast
sum of 4280 ducats having been paid to Benedetto, a Florentine
sculptor, for work, and nearly four hundred pounds for gilding part of it.
This tomb was stripped of its ornaments and destroyed by the
Parliamentary rebels in 1646; but the black marble sarcophagus
forming part of it, and intended as a receptacle for Wolsey's own
remains, escaped destruction, and now covers the grave of Nelson in a
crypt of Saint Paul's Cathedral.
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