M.B. Gibson Books

Mozart

My husband and I recently re-watched the 1984 movie about the great composer, Mozart, called Amadeus. Its depiction of Mozart’s death at age thirty-five made me curious. Shown as penniless, he became sick, quite possibly poisoned, and was dumped in a mass grave. Is that what really happened to such a shining star, a musical genius whose talents were appreciated all over Europe by the time he was six years old?

Pardon the pun, but I did a little digging. No one knows for sure how Mozart died. A week after he expired, one newspaper reported that his rival composer, Antonio Salieri, had poisoned him. The movie adopts this theory. But other theories abound—about 136 of them! The current favorite is strep throat.

Was his body unceremoniously dumped in a mass grave? Not exactly. Mozart was not penniless, but more likely middle class. He made lots of money and spent it. As befitting his class, he was buried with a half dozen other people in one grave. After ten years, the bones were dug up and moved to make room for more people. Burial space was at a premium! This practice is described as “organized and dignified.”

While the approximate location of the first grave has been identified, the second grave is unknown. If you go to St. Marx Cemetery in Vienna and find a marker, rest assured Mozart’s remains are not there.

One more thing: A gravedigger claimed to have salvaged Mozart’s skull when moving the bodies. He presented it to the Salzburg Mozarteum. Maybe it’s the composer’s skull, maybe it isn’t. No proof exists either way.

This research made me think of other strange ends for world-famous people.

Lincoln

After a three-week-long train ride reversing the journey he took to the White House, the slain body of Abraham Lincoln returned home to Springfield, Illinois. After much consideration, a committee organized and built his tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Years later, the Secret Service was investigating a counterfeit ring, as they were originally organized by Lincoln to do. One agent overheard a plot to kidnap Lincoln’s body from his tomb which was protected by only a padlock. They would ransom the corpse for $200,000 and a full pardon for their jailed engraver, Benjamin Boyd. Things did not go according to plan—maybe because they unknowingly enlisted the undercover agent in their cause.

On a November night in 1876, agents hid behind nearby gravestones while the thieves chipped away at Lincoln’s very heavy sarcophagus. The gun of one of the hidden agents accidentally went off. Thinking it was the grave robbers, the rest started a gunfight amongst themselves. The robbers took off. But not to worry. They went straight home where more competent agents arrested them.

Shaken by this plot, Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert, insisted the coffin be encased in concrete and lowered ten feet below the floor of the burial chamber. And so it lies. As far as we know.

William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror was born nearly one thousand years ago, but most people with a rudimentary knowledge of history have heard of him. What kind of funeral would such a man have?

Well, it wasn’t too good. His entourage and family stripped him—literally—of everything he had and left the naked body with some Benedictine monks. I wrote a blog about this fiasco in 2013.

Go here to learn why he’s known in some circles as “the exploding king.”

One famous epitaph reads “He who was earlier a powerful king, and lord of many a land, he had nothing of any land but a seven-foot measure; and he who was at times clothed with gold and with jewels, he lay then covered over with earth.”

Richard the Lionheart

This spring I visited the cathedral Notre Dame de Rouen, located in Normandy, France. It was consecrated in 1063, just three years before the famous Battle of Hastings led by William the Conqueror, who attended the ceremony. As I explored the magnificent edifice, I was told the heart of Richard the Lionheart was in the sanctuary. To my surprise, I was standing right beside the stone sarcophagus, inscribed in Latin.

“HIC COR CONDITVM EST RICARDI ANGLORVM REGIS QVI COR LEONIS DICTVS OBIIT AN M C XC IX”

Translation: Buried here is the heart of Richard King of the English, who was called Lionheart. Died in 1199

Just the heart? Admittedly, a famous heart, but that couldn’t be right. Oh, it is.

Richard was born in England to a short-tempered, impulsive clan with no familial love or loyalty. Known for his excessive energy and penchant for cruelty, his historical rock star status comes from exceptional wartime leadership and battlefield success. Not wisdom or patience.

His complicated life was primarily spent in Normandy, France, which he ruled along with England. Earlier, with an older brother, he’d rebelled against his own father, Henry II, insulted much of the European royalty, and led the Third Crusade against Saladin. The family motto, which he often quoted, was “From the devil we sprang and to the devil we shall go.”

As Socrates was fond of saying, “Know thyself.”

Nonetheless, his wild, dramatic life came to an end much like a cliched old Western or Edward G. Robinson movie. A young archer shot a bolt into his shoulder to avenge the killings of his father and brothers. (“You dirty rat…”) The wound got infected and, at forty-one years of age, the legend died.

At six feet, four inches tall, he must have been an imposing figure to the short populace of the day. Yet, when a bat zig-zagged around his head during the coronation, perhaps that omen should have been heeded.

After his untimely death, it’s safe to say everyone wanted a piece of him. Whether for a tourism attraction or to be near greatness, it’s hard to say. His organs and intestines were buried in Chalus, France, where he’d died. The rest of his body, minus the heart, was taken to Anjou and buried beside his father. Apparently, to ask for afterlife forgiveness. Tout suite. 

His heart was embalmed and entombed where I found it, in Rouen. Was anything left, I wondered? Or just a pile of dust. It seems in 2012, scientists analyzed the remains of Richard’s heart and found that it had been mummified with frankincense, myrtle, daisy, mint, and perhaps lime, apparently to give the heart “an odor of sanctity.” Which is what? Like incense?

So, with these role models in mind, when my time comes, I’m counting on another adventure or two.

*Quote from Sir Winston Churchill of 1675

References

@braveboat. (2021, November 16). The Heart of King Richard the Lionheart lay in Rouen Cathedral. TravelFeed. https://travelfeed.io/@braveboat/the-heart-of-king-richard-the-lionheart-lay-in-rouen-cathedral

Brownlow, M. (1923, January 3). Mozart’s grave in Vienna. Www.visitingvienna.com. https://www.visitingvienna.com/footsteps/mozarts-grave/

Everard, R. (2022, June 17). The Mysterious Death of a Genius: What Killed Mozart? Historic Mysteries. https://www.historicmysteries.com/mozart-death/

Grave Explorations. (2022). The Unbelievable Journey of Abraham Lincoln’s Corpse. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQhWFQcmac4

Levy, M. (2021, September 14). The Plot to Rob Abe Lincoln’s Grave | WHAT THE PAST? Www.youtube.com; Colossal Cranium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFmQE5mU1ew

Moore, C. (2014, January 30). The mystery of Mozart’s burial uncovered. Interlude. https://interlude.hk/the-mystery-of-mozarts-burial-uncovered/

Richard I the Lionheart. (n.d.). Www.englishmonarchs.co.uk. Retrieved July 26, 2023, from https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_2.htm

Wallis, G. (2019). Richard I | Biography, Achievements, & Facts. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-I-king-of-England

Wilde, Robert. (2020, August 26). Why Mozart Wasn’t Buried in a Pauper’s Grave. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/where-was-mozart-buried-1221267