A subject that often comes up, when discussing Francis`s fate after the Battle of Stoke, is that of a supposed skeleton find at Minster Lovell Hall. This find is meant to have happened in 1708: workmen are supposed to have found an underground chamber at the manor and, upon opening it, seen a skeleton in fine clothing sitting at a desk. Sadly, however, before anyone could examine the skeleton, or whatever papers where lying on the desk, both the human remains and the papers crumbled to dust.
The main reason why this legend has often been taken as evidence of Francis having gone back to his ancestral manor and died there is Francis Bacon`s statement that there were rumours that after the Battle of Stoke, Francis lived "in a vault or cave" for a long time.
Sadly, while it makes a good story, it is rather unlikely, for a number of reasons. Francis did not spend a lot of time at Minster Lovell Hall during his life, and we know most of his friends and associates were in the north of the country, so that it is unlikely he would return to an unloved manor to hide. Moreover, the story clearly gears towards an end, the point always being that Francis went there and died. However, this would hardly have been the plan a rebel fugitive had at the time, and if it was simply about hiding, any number of other places offered a better and more luxurious option.
Even leaving all such considerations aside, which rely a lot on guessing people`s motivations, there are simple physics that contradict this tale, most notably that skeletons do not simply crumble to dust after two hundred years. The legend always claims this happened upon the skeleton being exposed to air, but logically, there would have been air to breathe in any underground chamber, for Francis to have lived there for years and not have suffocated within minutes, and thus also air to which his skeleton was exposed. Furthermore, Minster Lovell Hall is situated directly next to the river Windrush, which makes it unlikely there were any underground chambers, unless of course they were built with the intention of them being too wet to ever use.
Therefore, the story is sadly unlikely. However, the story of there being a skeleton at Minster Lovell Hall, even an ass of yet undiscovered one, still exist, and of course, it is possible. Minster Lovell and its manor have a long history, and skeletons have been found in many structures. If a skeleton is found at Minster Lovell Hall and actually is found to date to the 15th century, there is someone who it is, in my opinion, much more likely to have been that Francis: Francis`s thoroughly unloved father, John Lovell, 8th Baron Lovell.
Of course, for him as much as for Francis, all the problems about underground chambers and inexplicably crumbling skeletons hold true, and the most likely thing to have happened was that he died - under somewhat mysterious circumstances - at the age of 31, was buried either in his father`s tomb in the church of St Kenelm`s next to his ancestral manor or in an unmarked tomb in the church, and then forgotten as much as possible by his family.
However, it is notable that there are some irregularities about his death: said to have happened on 9th January 1465, it was only confirmed on 14th January 1465. Though this could have been simply slowness by clerks, or difficulties of travelling in winter, which explains why his Diem Clausit Extremum was issued later after his death than that of his ancestors, it is notable that there was confusion when exactly he died. While it was officially given as 9th January, some documents actually claim it was 14th - the day it was recorded.
Moreover, it seems as if his death was sudden and unexpected. Again, in itself, this is nothing particularly strange - there was any number of accidents or illnesses which could have killed him unexpectedly, without any warning, even if he was perfectly healthy beforehand.
There isn`t much of a case to be made, really, though we know John Lovell was extremely unpopular, to the point of his own father, William, refusing to name him or identify him as son in his will and his son, Francis, refusing to have prayers said for him - to say nothing of his father-in-law speaking about his daughter being married to him "to the fury of God". We know he died at Minster Lovell, and we know he died suddenly. That`s it. The coroner rolls for that time and that place sadly no longer survive (though they survive for the City of Oxford and are very interesting), so that we have no indication whether or not his death was considered suspicious or if there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding it. Most likely, it would have been recorded if a nobleman died in his own manor and his body was not found, but of course, there would have been ways to make it seem somewhat plausible.
All that said, I consider it almost certain that John Lovell was buried somewhere in St Kenelm`s church and neither his wife, mother nor children could ever be bothered to put a marker on his tomb. I`m just saying that if there is a skeleton found, of a man of around 30 years, closely related to the man lying in William Lovell`s tomb - I wouldn`t exactly bury him under Francis`s name.
I wouldn`t be responsible for any hauntings.
