Reblogged from here
The Great Fire of London. The devastating conflagration that consumed so much of medieval London including St James Garlickhythe. Artist Lieve Verschuier
This post will of necessity prove to be short there being a dearth of information on both Katherine and the pre-Fire St James Garlickhythe Church where she was buried. The church was located on Garlick Hill, or Hithe, delightfully so named because of the garlic sold nearby. Thanks to John Stow we know that the Countess of Huntington the Lady Harbert was buried in that church or as it was then known, St James Garlick Hithe or Garlick Hive (1). A church was first mentioned on the site in 1170, although it had probably stood on the site for some considerable time before this. It was rebuilt in around 1326 by Richard Rothing, Sheriff, who was buried there and also left money for the maintenance of the fabric ( 2). Christian Steer has confirmed that this Countess of Huntington was indeed Katherine Plantagenet illegitimate daughter of Richard III (3). Sadly little is known about Katherine who remains just a footnote in history so it’s comforting to know that her burial place was known and recorded by Stow as well as in the early 16th century by the herald Thomas Benolt who noted ‘the countesse of huntyndon ladie Herbert wtout a stone’ (really William!). We do not know who her mother was, although there has been speculation, her date of birth or if she was a sibling to Richard’s illegitimate son John of Pontefract.
We do know she was married to William Herbert 2nd Earl of Pembroke about 1484 and presumed dead by 1487 when her husband was recorded as a widower at the coronation of Elizabeth of York. William who died 16th July 1491 aged 35 (although there is a possibility it could have been earlier in 1490) was buried at Tintern Abbey next to his first wife Mary Wydeville as he requested in his will ‘in or neare as may be the same where my dear and best loved wife resteth buried’. Mary, who died around 1483, was sister to Elizabeth Wydeville and thus aunt to Elizabeth of York.
Tintern Abbey, burial place of William Herbert and his first wife Mary Wydville close to the high altar to the north of his parents tomb.
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murreyandblue 
Poor Katherine! Worth bearing in mind that William Herbert’s last will was made before his marriage to Katherine, in the summer of 1483 (interesting in itself), so he could hardly have requested burial with her.
I can only assume from that he died very suddenly, or at least became very instantly too ill to revise his will, because making/ revising one’s will was part and parcel of making the ‘good death’.
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