by Alison Weir
Cited by Saunders.
Edward Hall.
Ibid.; L&P.
CSP: Venetian; Erickson, Great Harry.
Edward Hall.
L&P.
Edward Hall.
Ibid.
Loades, Tudor Court; Erickson, Great Harry; Oxford Companion to English Literature; Scholes.
The Painted Chamber was destroyed in the great fire that ravaged the Houses of Parliament in 1834. The present Palace of Westminster was rebuilt between 1840 and 1852. All that remain from Henry VIII’s time are Westminster Hall, the crypt of St. Stephen’s Chapel, and the Jewel Tower.
Stow, London.
Baynard’s Castle would be held by each of Henry’s wives in turn. It was burned down in the Great Fire of 1666, after which the land it had occupied was used to build wharves and warehouses. In 1972–1973, when the site was being cleared for the building of the new City of London School, the foundations of the towers and river frontage of Baynard’s Castle were revealed.
Much of what remains today was built by Henry VIII, although the chapel was restored by Queen Victoria.
16 “A Galaxy of Distinguished Men”
Pronounced “Montjoie.”
Erasmus, Opus Epistolarum.
The Croyland Chronicle Continuation, 1459–1486 (ed. N. Pronay and J. Cox, Gloucester, 1986).
Polydore Vergil.
Cited in Erickson, Great Harry.
Erasmus, Opus Epistolarum.
Ibid.
William Roper; Nicholas Harpsfield; Erasmus Opus Epistolarum .
Cited by Strong.
Erasmus, Opus Epistolarum.
Ibid.
It remained in use for centuries; after 1758, it was known as the Eton Latin Grammar.
Erasmus, Opus Epistolarum.
Ibid.
Ibid.
More, Correspondence.
The 1534 edition ended with the death of Henry VII; Vergil later extended his history to 1537. He returned to Urbino in 1553 and died there three years later.
Cited in Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon.
Erasmus, Opus Epistolarum.
Ibid.
Roger Ascham, The Schoolmaster, in Whole Works.
It was first published in 1543 by Richard Grafton.
Hall’s chronicle was published by Richard Grafton in 1548 as The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York; the main section was entitled “The Triumphant Reign of King Henry the Eighth.”
Henry VIII: A European Court in England.
It was printed by William Thynne, and a copy is now in Clare College, Cambridge. Another late mediaeval classic, John Gower’s Confessio Amantis , was printed the same year by Thomas Berthelet.
Cited in L. B. Smith, Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty; Ferguson, Indian Summer of English Chivalry.
Henry VIII: A European Court in England.
The name of the English translator is unknown.
B.L. Additional MSS.
Inventory.
Inventory of the Whitehall library, 1542, in the Public Record Office. There were over nine hundred volumes in the “upper library” alone (Inventory). There were also over three hundred books in the library at Greenwich (PPE).
17 “The King’s Painters”
Nichols, Notices; Thurley, Royal Palaces.
Inventory.
Cited by Norris.
Loades, Tudor Court.
Now in the National Gallery, Washington.
Cited in Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court.
The bust of Henry VII is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, while that of Henry VIII is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
It is probably the plan of Dover in B.L. Cotton MSS.: Augustus.
The date has been determined by dendrochronological analysis. These portraits are still in the Royal Collection.
Inventory.
Ibid.; PRO; L&P; Norris; Thurley, Royal Palaces.
Its original frame, now lost, recorded her age as thirty-four. Both portraits now have frames inscribed JOHANNES CORVUS FLANDRUS FACIABAT (Richardson, Mary Tudor).
Another, almost identical, version is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Now in the British Museum.
Karel van Mander.
Inventory; Thurley, Royal Palaces.
18 “Graceless Dogholes”
CSP: Venetian.
George Cavendish.
Richard Foxe, Letters.
Opus Epistolarum. A year or so later, Colet retired to the Carthusian monastery at Sheen. He died in 1519 and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral in a tomb decorated with a bust by Torrigiano. This was lost in the Great Fire of 1666, but a contemporary copy of the bust survives at St. Paul’s School. Hans Holbein based his portrait drawing of Colet on Torrigiano’s original bust.
Ewelme was decaying by 1558 and in ruins when most of it was demolished in the 17th century. A Tudor range survived into the eighteenth century, when the present manor house, which incorporates part of the original brick walls, was built.
CSP: Spanish.
All that remains of this moated brick courtyard house today is a ruinous five-storey octagonal tower by the entrance gate.
L&P.
CSP: Milanese.
Ibid.
Ibid.
L&P.
Ibid.; CSP: Venetian; Erickson, Great Harry; Fraser. Etienne married Jean Neufchatel, Seigneur de Marnay, in October 1514.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P; B.L. Cotton MSS.: Vespasian.
B.L. Cotton MSS.: Vespasian.
The premature birth is inferred from the fact that there is no record of any preparations being made for the Queen’s lying-in, nor of her taking to her chamber.
Edward Hall.
CSP: Venetian.
Cited by Benton Fletcher.
Henry VIII later used Havering as a nursery palace for his children. It remained a royal residence until the Civil War, but decayed during the Commonwealth. Pyrgo was demolished in 1770 and the palace in 1814. Hardly any traces remain of either building.
19 “Obstinate Men Who Govern Everything”
Edward Hall.
PRO.
L&P.
She died before 1521. Guildford later married Mary Wotton, the “Lady Guildford” painted by Holbein. For the Bryan family, see The Spear and the Spindle: Ancestors of Sir Francis Bryan , by T. A. Fuller (T. Anna Leese) (Maryland, 1993).
L&P; CSP: Venetian.
Rivals in Power.
Cited in Rivals in Power.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
Erasmus: Opus Epistolarum.
B.L. Cotton MSS.: Vitellius; Edward Hall.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
Erasmus: Opus Epistolarum.
When Mary’s body was exhumed in 1784, her hair was found to be reddish gold and nearly two feet long. A lock has been preserved in Moyse’s Hall Museum, Bury St. Edmunds. It was probably the same colour as Henry VIII’s hair.
Peter Martyr, cited by Perry and in Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court.
L&P.
Fiddes.
PRO; History of the King’s Works; Anglo; Thurley, Royal Palaces.
Now in the Ashmolean Museum.
Edward Hall.
CSP: Venetian.
Henry VIII: A European Court in England.
Now in the National Maritime Museum.
L&P.
CSP: Spanish.
Cited by Benton Fletcher.
Today, boatswains wear similar whistles in commemoration of this event.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
Ibid.
L&P.
Cited in Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court.
CSP: Venetian.
Despite Wolsey’s extensive rebuilding programme, York Place was still not large enough to accommo
date the King and his entourage overnight, and Henry is known to have spent only one night there during Wolsey’s tenure (Thurley, Royal Palaces).
This seventy-foot cellar, known erroneously as “King Henry VIII’s Wine Cellar,” was discovered in 1935 when the present Ministry of Defence offices were built in Whitehall; because it was in the way of the new foundations, it was moved in its entirety forty-three feet along, twenty-three feet down, and then along again to its present position.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P.
Ibid.
20 “Cloth of Frieze Be Not Too Bold”
For the proxy marriage see CSP: Venetian; Edward Hall; B.L. Harleian MSS.; L&P.
The portrait he painted is probably that in the National Gallery.
Cited in Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
Now the Old Palace School of John Whitgift. Only one range remains of the original moated courtyard house.
CSP: Venetian.
Edward Hall.
Cited by Brewer.
L&P.
State Papers.
The effigies of the five boys and six girls appear on the sides of the tomb of Sir John Blount and his wife in the church of St. John the Baptist at Kinlet, Salop. The nearby manor house was demolished in the eighteenth century; Moffats School now occupies the site.
Her exact date of birth is not known, but her father was only thirty-six in 1519 (Inventories of Henry Fitzroy; Fraser).
Edward Hall.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
Edward Hall; Inventories of . . . Henry Fitzroy.
Edward Hall.
L&P.
CSP: Spanish.
PRO; CSP: Venetian.
CSP: Venetian.
Cited by Seward.
State Papers.
L&P.
Ibid.
It was bought by Katherine of York, Countess of Devon, who shortly afterwards married Elizabeth to her son, Henry Courtenay. Elizabeth died young without issue.
CSP: Venetian; Four Years.
Four Years.
Cf. the account of another Venetian envoy, Andrea Trevisano, who described how the King received him “in a small hall hung with handsome tapestry, leaning against a tall gilt chair covered with cloth of gold. His Majesty wore a violet gown lined with cloth of gold and a collar of many jewels, and on his cap was a large diamond and a most beautiful pearl.” (Is this another reference to the Mirror of Naples?) (CSP: Venetian)
CSP: Spanish.
Collection of Ordinances.
PRO.
L&P; CSP: Spanish; CSP: Venetian; Mackie.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.; Four Years; Edward Hall.
CSP: Venetian.
Cited in Starkey, Henry VIII.
CSP: Venetian.
The painting is now in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch.
Francis Bryan, introduction to his translation of Antonio de Guevara’s A Dispraise of the life of the Courtier (cited in Starkey, Henry VIII).
Although his work is said to have been featured in Tottel’s Miscelleny, his poetry is either lost or cannot now be identified; it was much admired by his contemporaries.
L&P.
Ibid.
CSP: Spanish.
In view of Suffolk’s previous matrimonial entanglements, the validity of his marriage to Mary was affirmed in 1524 by a papal bull, which also declared their children legitimate.
CSP: Venetian.
One version is at Woburn Abbey, another is in the collection of the Earl of Yarborough.
CSP: Venetian.
Polydore Vergil.
Westhorpe Hall was near Frimingham, twelve miles from Bury St. Edmunds. It was demolished in the eighteenth century. A farmhouse now stands on the site; above the door is a pediment bearing the arms of Mary Tudor.
21 “The Best Dressed Sovereign in the World”
A full-length copy by the seventeenth-century artist Daniel Mytens of a lost original is at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh; Scotland and France were ancient allies.
CSP: Venetian.
L&P; PRO.
PRO.
Ibid.; L&P.
L&P.
L&P.
CSP: Venetian.
Ibid.; Edward Hall.
PPE.
L&P.
B.L. Harleian MSS.
CSP: Venetian.
Cf. Holbein’s sketch of a lady in the British Museum; this is the best back view of an early Tudor gown.
CSP: Venetian.
Ibid. Silk stockings were not invented until the reign of Elizabeth I.
CSP: Venetian.
Now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
A carved ivory pin-head in the form of a gable hood was found during excavations at Whitehall.
Sim.
It was not introduced into England by Katherine of Aragon, as several writers have stated.
George Cavendish.
Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Ibid.
Now in the Royal Collection.
Cited by Diana Scarisbrick.
Cited in Henry VIII: A European Court in England.
Inventory.
One portrait is in the collection of Viscount Mountgarret at Nidd Hall and the other is in the National Portrait Gallery.
The rest of this suit of armour was sold as scrap metal in 1649 by the Commonwealth.
Now in the Royal Armouries, Tower of London.
These workshops survived into the seventeenth century.
L&P.
Nottingham University Library MSS.; Thurley, Royal Palaces.
Rawlinson MSS., Bodleian Library; Thurley, Royal Palaces.
Inventory.
22 “This Cardinal Is King”
Edward Hall.
Cited in Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court.
Cited in Starkey, Reign of Henry VIII.
It was formerly a preceptory dating from the thirteenth century. A manor house had stood on the site since Saxon times.
The bell was made by the fifteenth-century founder Thomas Harris, whose initials it bears. It used to chime the hours, but is now only rung at funerals. Traces of the manor house’s foundations were uncovered in the 1970s during excavations in Clock Court, where their position is marked out on the paving stones (Sturgis).
The moat, reputed to be the last one dug in England, was filled in by Charles II, but re-excavated in the nineteenth century, when the stone bridge to the gatehouse was uncovered.
The Cardinal’s arms were later removed by Henry VIII; they were rediscovered and restored to their original place in 1845.
He was paid £2.6s.8d (over £700) each for them. Some of Maiano’s work, such as the Histories of Hercules carved on the oriel window of the gatehouse (which Henry VIII removed), is lost. Maiano later worked for the King: two of his roundels were discovered at Windsor in 1882.
By 1770, the gatehouse had become much decayed and there were fears that it would collapse. In 1771–1773, it was partially demolished and rebuilt on a smaller scale, with only three storeys. The leaden cupolas on the turrets were never replaced. In 1882, the gatehouse was refaced with new red bricks.
Base Court remains much as it was in Wolsey’s day, despite some Victorian restoration. The rest of the palace has been greatly altered, and all the Cardinal’s private apartments have disappeared. The so-called Wolsey Closet is a twentieth-century reconstruction.
Wolsey’s banqueting hall may have been on the site of the present Great Watching Chamber. The existing oriel window was perhaps constructed to lighten the Cardinal’s table.
CSP: Venetian.
Sturgis.
Today, Unilever House occupies the site.
CSP: Venetian; L&P.
Four Years.
CSP: Venetian.
CSP: Venetian.
CSP: Spanish.
Polydore Vergil.
George Cavendish.
Polydore Vergil.
John Skelton.
His daughter Dorothy became a nun at Shaftesbury Abbey, Dorset. His son, Thomas Winter, took holy orders while still very young, and received, through Wolsey’s influence, thirteen lucrative benefices and offices. Joan Lark was the daughter of a Thetford innkeeper; her brother, who was Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, was Wolsey’s confessor. Wolsey arranged for Joan to be married to a gentleman, Mr. Legh; it is not known whether he continued having relations with her after the marriage.
Cited by Perry.
Polydore Vergil.
Cited by Mackie.
Cited in Erickson, Great Harry.
George Cavendish.
L&P.
George Cavendish.
Letters of King Henry VIII.
23 “The Pearl of the World”
This is the third-largest hammerbeam roof surviving in England, after those in Westminster Hall and Christ Church, Oxford.
William Lambarde.
History of the King’s Works.
PRO.
Edward Hall; Raphael Holinshed; Brewer.
This coat of arms may be seen in situ in an engraving of 1786 by George Vertue (Society of Antiquaries of London).
Watercolours of the stained-glass portraits of Henry and Katherine were painted in 1737 by Daniel Chandler (Society of Antiquaries of London).
Four Years.
John Leland, Collectanea; B.L. Cotton MSS.: Julius; Collection of Ordinances.
CSP: Venetian.
Cited in Erickson, Great Harry.
Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester, cited by Saunders.
The Princess also spent some time at Hanworth; she was there at New Year, 1522, when she received a gift of twelve pairs of shoes from Sir Richard Weston.
History of the King’s Works. A nineteenth-century house now occupies the site.
The present Bruce Castle is a Jacobean building erected on the foundations of the Comptons’ house.
L&P.
Cited by Bowle.
Edward Hall.
Ibid.
Cited in Henry VIII: A European Court in England.
Richard Foxe, Letters.
Ibid.
William Roper.
Although The Vyne was remodelled in the classical style in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Tudor gallery and chapel remain.
Cited in Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court.
CSP: Venetian; L&P.
L&P.
Edward Hall.
L&P.
Edward Hall; CSP: Venetian.
24 “Multitudes Are Dying Around Us”