tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/tudor-england-57254/articles
Tudor England – The Conversation
2024-03-25T13:05:18Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221275
2024-03-25T13:05:18Z
2024-03-25T13:05:18Z
How Henry VIII’s grandmother used a palace in Northamptonshire to build the mighty Tudor dynasty
<p>Today, you would be hard-pressed to find any visible evidence that <a href="https://www.royalpalaces.com/palaces/collyweston-house/">Collyweston village in Northamptonshire</a> was once <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Elite_Female_Constructions_of_Power_and.html?id=w7_CvQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">home to a palace</a> presided over by Henry VIII’s grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. As a royal power base, the palace was an epicentre of Tudor power and propaganda in the 16th century and was a key stopping point for royal visits. This included two royal tours in 1503 and 1541, which were crucial to the making (and remaking) of the Tudor dynasty. </p>
<p>Margaret Beaufort acquired Collyweston manor after her son Henry VII ascended to the English throne following the battle of Bosworth in 1485. There, she set upon expanding the manor house into a palace befitting her status as king’s mother. </p>
<p>Beaufort’s presence at Collyweston formed part of a strategic plan, devised by mother and son, to exert royal influence both locally and nationally. Collyweston was in the heart of the country at a time when most of the royal palaces were clustered in and around London and the neighbouring county of Lincolnshire was the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/vowesses-the-anchoresses-and-the-aldermens-wives-lady-margaret-beaufort-and-the-devout-society-of-late-medieval-stamford/7046EE13EA0E125BE58676150CAF34F3">epicentre of Beaufort’s influence</a>.</p>
<p>In the early years of the Tudor dynasty, Beaufort’s presence in the area was particularly important as Henry VII had spent much of his youth in exile in Brittany. His mother’s longstanding connections to the local area therefore helped proclaim his legitimacy. </p>
<p>The site was also close to the Great North Road (now partly occupied by the A1), making it an ideal stopping point for royal parties travelling between London and the north.</p>
<h2>Beaufort gets building</h2>
<p>While nothing remains above ground and no drawings of the palace survive, Beaufort’s <a href="https://thetudortravelguide.com/margaret-beaufort-and-the-palace-of-collyweston/">extensive works to the palace</a> over several years, are preserved in numerous volumes of <a href="https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/lady-margaret-beaufort-domina-fundatrix">household and building accounts</a>. </p>
<p>By the early 16th century, the palace was framed around three courtyards and boasted a chapel, great hall, rooms for Margaret and her household, a <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/jewel-tower/history/#:%7E:text=The%20Jewel%20Tower%20is%20a,much%20of%20the%20historic%20palace.">jewel tower</a> and library. Perched on the crest of a hill, the palace offered spectacular views over the Welland valley. The land falling westwards from the residence included a <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/gardens-landscapes/what-is-a-deer-park">deer park</a> of approximately 108 acres, along with ponds, gardens, orchards, summer houses and walkways.</p>
<p>Between 1502 and 1503, Beaufort commissioned significant building works, including repainting the chapel, new walkways through the grounds and a new accommodation block overlooking the deer park. This flurry of work anticipated the arrival of the first of two <a href="https://henryontour.uk/">Tudor tours</a>, known as progresses, which were to stop at Collyweston.</p>
<p>Progresses played a vital role in presenting the king (and his wider family) to his people, publicly displaying him as the people’s sovereign. They gave the king and his retinue an opportunity to hunt, engage with the localities and hear the grievances of the local elites and their people. </p>
<p>The 1503 progress notably celebrated the marriage of Beaufort’s granddaughter (Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret Tudor) to James IV of Scotland. For the fledgling Tudor dynasty, the event was a triumph, creating a political alliance in the form of a peace treaty between England and Scotland. </p>
<p>Beaufort recorded the event in a <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2011/08/the-beaufort-beauchamp-hours.html">prayer book</a> gifted to her by her mother, Margaret Beauchamp, along with other key dates relating to the dynasty’s successes. The wedding party stayed at Collyweston for two weeks, where they enjoyed feasting, hunting, entertainment and services in Beaufort’s repainted chapel.</p>
<h2>Fit for a king</h2>
<p>In 1541, approximately 32 years after his grandmother’s death, Henry VIII returned to Collyweston with his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, during their progress to York. </p>
<p>To travel as far as York was unusual. But Henry intended to secure the region after the Pilgrimage of Grace (a popular revolt that began in Yorkshire in October 1536) in much the same way his father had done in 1486, when he had taken a large force north to secure his reign after the wars of the roses. </p>
<p>Catherine also embarked on <a href="https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/catherine-howard-thomas-culpeper/">her ill-fated affair</a> with her husband’s friend, the courtier Thomas Culpeper, during the progress and met with him secretly throughout. </p>
<p>Henry VIII and Catherine stayed at Collyweston palace – the queen in rooms known to Margaret Beaufort and once occupied by Henry’s mother – on August 5, on the journey from London to York, and from October 15 to 17 on their return. They had departed from Westminster with their summer court of around 400 to 500 people and a group of 4,000 to 5,000 horsemen – a group larger than most Tudor towns. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Field of the Cloth of Gold by Hans Holbein the Younger (1545)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570069/original/file-20240118-15-2p9jdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Field of the Cloth of Gold by Hans Holbein the Younger (1545) shows the scale of Henry VIII’s progresses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/405794">Royal Collection</a></span>
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<p>The company was heavily armed, including at least 1,000 soldiers. The king and queen travelled in style, accompanied by an estimated 400 courtiers, officials, musicians and servants.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/sep/22/henry-viii-tent-field-of-cloth-of-gold-reconstruction">Elaborate tents</a> and <a href="https://henryontour.uk/blog/sovereign-2023-royal-progress-1541">the richest tapestries, plates and clothes</a> were brought from London to furnish the royal court on the move. Collyweston would once again have been a hub of activity during the progress, albeit with a different purpose and tone from 1503.</p>
<p>The sleepy appearance of Collyweston village today belies its significance as a stage on which key events relating to the Tudor dynasty were played out. While the site has fallen into relative obscurity, for the Tudors, it was very much on the map as a place of security in the face of uncertainty.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Delman has been researching Collyweston Palace for over a decade. Her doctoral research on the site was funded by a full Arts and Humanities Research Council award at the University of Oxford and she continues to investigate the significance of the palace as a site of female power in early Tudor England. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keely Hayes-Davies receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council for "Henry on Tour", a research project exploring the progresses of Henry VIII. The project is jointly led by the University of York and Historic Royal Palaces in partnership with Newcastle University (henryontour.uk).</span></em></p>
Beaufort’s presence at Collyweston formed part of a strategic plan, devised by mother and son, to exert royal influence both locally and nationally.
Rachel Delman, Heritage Partnerships Coordinator, University of Oxford
Keely Hayes-Davies, PhD Candidate, Early Modern History, University of York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222298
2024-03-14T13:28:33Z
2024-03-14T13:28:33Z
How the Tudors dealt with food waste
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579929/original/file-20240305-24-2ojthy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1690%2C1295&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Baron Cobham and family around the dinner table, 1567.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Brooke_10th_Baron_Cobham_and_Family_1567.jpg">Master of the Countess of Warwick </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://wrap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-11/WRAP-Food-Surplus-and-Waste-in-the-UK-Key-Facts-Nov-2023.pdf">ten million tonnes</a> of food is wasted in the UK each year. Leftovers perish in their plastic Tupperware tombs, supermarket bins heave with damaged but perfectly edible produce and fields are littered with spoiled harvests. Preventing good food from ending up in the bin is an important part of the global fight against climate change. </p>
<p>But what about the past? How did our ancestors deal with food waste? Surprisingly, given the pertinence of the issue in modern discourse, very little has been written about the history of food waste. My <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/leftovers-9781803281575/">new book</a>, Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation, addresses the topic across the last half a millennium, from the Tudor kitchen right up until the present day. </p>
<p>Tudor society was intrinsically religious. Henry VIII’s well-known <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Henry-VIII/#:%7E:text=Henry%20took%20matters%20into%20his,was%20forced%20to%20leave%20court.">divorce issues</a> ignited the English Reformation, the tumultuous transformation from Catholicism to Protestantantism, heightening religious fervour and shaping attitudes towards food across the country. </p>
<p>In Tudor eyes, food was the ultimate gift from God that literally sustained life on earth. And in the form of the bread and wine, it was food that Christ had chosen to represent his body and blood at the Last Supper. No wonder that wasting food was seen as sinful and immoral. “The least crum, which can be saved, be not lost,” commanded the puritan writer <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A15695.0001.001?view=toc">Ezekias Woodward</a>, “no, not a crum”. </p>
<p>Familiar to many of us today, clergymen taught their parishioners about the feeding of the 5,000. In the Biblical tale, when Jesus went to mourn the passing of John the Baptist, the large crowd that followed him were miraculously fed on just five loaves and two fish. According to the <a href="https://biblehub.com/john/6-12.htm">Gospel of John</a>, at the end of the meal, Christ told his disciples to “gather the pieces that are left over,” so “nothing be wasted,” and they collected 12 full baskets of leftovers.</p>
<p>In another Biblical parable, the rich man Dives went to hell when he denied the scraps of his feast to the poor man <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2016%3A19-31&version=NIV">Lazarus</a>, who instead ascended to heaven. Like Lazarus, the Tudor poor waited at the gates of grand estates to receive the remains of lavish feasts. An almoner (a church official who was responsible for distributing money or food to the poor) collected leftovers but also the first slices of meat to be given in charity. </p>
<h2>Leftovers</h2>
<p>Even those from humbler backgrounds could donate surplus food. Instead of throwing it to the pigs, the whey left over from cheese making, for example, could become a nourishing summer drink for the labourers who toiled in the hot fields. </p>
<p>Charitable housewives who expressed their piety by distributing such leftovers to their poor neighbours would “find profit therefore in a divine place,” according to Gervase Markham in his popular <a href="http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book%201615%20huswife.htm">1615 cookery book</a>. </p>
<p>As well as being distributed to the poor, the leftovers from large Tudor households went to employees rather than going to waste. In Queen Elizabeth I’s <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Collection_of_Ordinances_and_Regulatio/yGxBAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1">royal household</a>, workers who cooked meats in the “boiling house” received the “dripping of the roste” and even “the grease… in the kittles (kettles) and pannes” as a benefit for their labour. A waste product to those with plenty, these meat juices could be reimagined to add flavour and nutrition to sauces and gravies. </p>
<p>Still, those at the top of the social scale had access to far more than they could possibly eat. Elizabeth’s table overflowed with elaborate pies, roasted meats, sugar sculptures, imported wines and exotic fruits. </p>
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<img alt="An old painting of a table filled with ornate looking food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Still life with turkey pie by Pieter Claesz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Claesz._-_Stilleven_met_kalkoenpastei_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">Rijksmuseum/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<h2>Waste and hunger</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, widespread hunger led to rioting across the country in the 1590s after years of devastating harvests. As wealthy landlords closed off their land to common pasture, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Worlds_Within_Worlds/A_odA1alLoYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">flour prices tripled</a> over the span of just a few years. </p>
<p>In the Bible, Ruth gleaned from the field of a wealthy man named Boaz, in accordance with the <a href="https://biblehub.com/leviticus/23-22.htm">Old Testament law</a>: “when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field…thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger”. With this example, the poorest in Tudor England collected the scraps from the harvest to feed themselves and their families. </p>
<p>Squaring these disparate images of plenty and want is not too hard when we consider that in the UK <a href="https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/food-insecurity-tracking">9.7 million adults</a> experience food insecurity according to data from September 2022. Meanwhile the richest <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7484/">5% take home 37%</a> of the nation’s total disposable income. On a global scale, <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/5-facts-about-food-waste-and-hunger">a third of the food</a> we produce goes to waste while <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Waste_Free_Kitchen_Handbook/Y0IACgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1">842 million people</a> are afflicted with chronic hunger. </p>
<p>Food waste today is a pressing environmental issue. But this foray into Tudor food waste reminds us that it is also a deeply moral issue that reflects the growing inequalities between the rich and the poor. In telling the so far untold history of food waste, my research reflects on our changing moral values, and our relationship with food, people and planet. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Barnett is the author of Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation (Head of Zeus, 2024). She receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Cardiff University. </span></em></p>
During the Tudor period, religious beliefs shaped people’s attitudes towards food and food waste.
Eleanor Barnett, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208767
2023-07-04T12:22:50Z
2023-07-04T12:22:50Z
Henry VIII’s notes in prayer book written by his sixth wife reveal musings on faith, sin and his deteriorating health – new discovery
<p>It’s common knowledge that Henry VIII had six wives. But the cataclysmic love triangle between <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-of-Aragon">Catherine of Aragon</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-Boleyn">Anne Boleyn</a> gets all the airtime, while wives three to six are an afterthought.</p>
<p>In director Alexander Korda’s rollicking film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAlabDCkawY">The Private Life of Henry VIII</a> (1933), Katherine Parr (wife six) was reduced to a throwaway joke in the film’s last moments. Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s upcoming film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPGNNoaBc8c">Firebrand</a> is the first to bring Parr to centre stage – and not before time. </p>
<p>Right on cue, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renaissance-quarterly/article/katherine-parrs-giftbooks-henry-viiis-marginalia-and-the-display-of-royal-power-and-piety/8402F8B9E7F8369B47F8C8F7A965BF16">new evidence</a> has come to light giving an intriguing glimpse into Parr’s relationship with her capricious husband. Namely, the discovery of Henry’s notes in a book authored by his wife. </p>
<h2>The bookish queen</h2>
<p>Katherine Parr was unlike her five predecessors. Aged 30 and already twice widowed in 1543, the king made her an offer she couldn’t refuse, forcing her to break off another planned marriage. The increasingly disabled Henry had finally stopped pursuing nubile broodmares and sought out a companion instead. </p>
<p>Parr deftly navigated the tangled politics of the royal family, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Kateryn_Parr.html?id=OmtnAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">brokering a reconciliation</a> between the king and the two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, he had declared to be bastards. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Kateryn_Parr.html?id=OmtnAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">She may even</a> have helped in restoring them to the line of succession. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534793/original/file-20230629-25-cww47l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A late 16th century portrait of Katherine Parr (1512–1548) by an unknown artist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ap&npgno=4618&eDate=&lDate=">National Portrait Gallery</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Henry certainly came to trust her judgment. When he set off for his final, futile war in France in 1544, he made her regent in his absence. Part of the appeal, it seems, was her bookish piety. Parr was the first English queen to publish a book and the first English woman to publish under her own name. </p>
<p>Her three books were pious exercises, beginning with a safe collection of translated texts titled <a href="https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/28613/chapter-abstract/239019072?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Psalmes or Prayers</a> (1544) and becoming more daring thereafter. The <a href="https://newwhitchurch.press/parr/lamentation">Lamentation of a Sinner</a> (1547) was written during Henry’s lifetime, but its theology was too assertively Protestant to be published until he was safely dead.</p>
<p>The earlier books, though, seem to have delighted the king. He inscribed the queen’s own copy of Psalmes or Prayers: “Remember this writer / when you do pray / For he is yours”. He had always been theatrically pious and in his last years – brooding, in pain, nurturing his many humiliations – he turned to religion with melancholy intensity.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A portrait of Henry VIII in gold finery." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535343/original/file-20230703-267655-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Henry VIII as painted in 1540 by Hans Holbein the Younger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.barberinicorsini.org/en/opera/portrait-of-henry-viii/">National Gallery of Ancient Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/ref_2002_7_1_004">We know</a> what Henry thought religion should mean to his subjects: a tough, moralistic faith without much room for forgiveness, whose keynote was obedience to himself. But what about his personal faith?</p>
<p>Enter <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renaissance-quarterly/article/katherine-parrs-giftbooks-henry-viiis-marginalia-and-the-display-of-royal-power-and-piety/8402F8B9E7F8369B47F8C8F7A965BF16">a new discovery</a> by Canadian literary scholar <a href="https://carleton.ca/english/people/white-micheline/">Micheline White</a>. </p>
<p>Queen Katherine ordered a few luxury copies of Psalmes or Prayers printed on vellum, with delicate hand colouring. One of these, now in Buckinghamshire’s <a href="https://wormsley.com/venues/library/">Wormsley Library</a> is festooned with marginal markings and “<a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/manicules">manicules</a>” – little doodled hands with fingers pointing to a passage some reader wanted to emphasise.</p>
<p>White has established, by meticulously comparing these distinctive manicules with others whose provenance we know, that this attentive reader was none other than Henry VIII.</p>
<h2>What Henry VIII’s notes reveal</h2>
<p>It’s no surprise Henry should have taken comfort in the Biblical psalms. They were supposedly the work of a pious but lecherous king, David, with whom <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Early_Tudor_England.html?id=8ER2QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">he strongly identified</a>.</p>
<p>The passages Henry marked are a telling glimpse of the extent – and the limits – of his self awareness. His illness and other troubles are much on his mind: he marks prayers to “take away thy plagues … turn away thine anger”.</p>
<p>He is also drawn to prayers lamenting sin and asking God for wisdom. “Give me a new heart, and a right spirit, and take from me all wicked and sinful desires.”</p>
<p>The sentiments indicate a man who was serious both about his kingly responsibilities and personal spiritual predicament. Unlike many other murderous narcissists, Henry VIII did know he was a sinner who needed forgiveness. But his confidence “that my sins may be purged” suggests tension between the eagerness with which he sought grace and his refusal to countenance mercy – royal or divine – for his subjects.</p>
<p>Queen Katherine, as the popular rhyme tells us, “survived” her marriage, but it was a close run thing. </p>
<p>In 1546, the last summer of Henry VIII’s life, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/abs/alec-ryrie-the-gospel-and-henry-viii-evangelicals-in-the-early-english-reformation-new-york-cambridge-university-press-2003-pp-xix306-6500/3E8F6623E049954FD5BD9D4A7853B370">she was suspected</a> – on good grounds – of nurturing a nest of religious radicals at court. Henry allowed himself to be persuaded that all her pious talk was actually an attempt to lure him into heresy.</p>
<p>According to a late <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315253374-27/one-survived-account-katherine-parr-foxe-book-martyrs-thomas-freeman">but well-informed account</a> by the martyrologist John Foxe, she got wind of the danger and immediately threw herself on his mercy. Katherine <a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/index.php?realm=text&gototype=&edition=1583&pageid=1268">protested that</a> she, a “poor woman so much inferior in all respects of nature unto you”, had simply been seeking his religious guidance.</p>
<p>“Not so, by Saint Mary,” Henry replied. “You are become a Doctor, Kate, to instruct us (as we take it) and not to be instructed, or directed by us.” </p>
<p>No, she protested: she had only sought to distract him with talk during “this painful time of your infirmity” and had in the process learned a great deal from his wisdom. With someone else, that might have been laying it on too thick, but she knew her man. </p>
<p>“And is it even so, sweetheart?” Henry replied. “Then perfect friends we are now again.” The arrest warrant was cancelled. </p>
<p>Months later, the king was dead. Unfortunately, Queen Katherine married the man she’d kept waiting with almost indecent haste – only to be cold shouldered when she fell pregnant and left to die in childbirth. History is thin on happy endings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alec Ryrie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Henry had always been a theatrically pious king and in his last years he turned to religion with melancholy intensity.
Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Christianity, Durham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/143765
2020-08-13T10:13:04Z
2020-08-13T10:13:04Z
How Thomas Cromwell used cut and paste to insert himself into Henry VIII’s Great Bible
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352544/original/file-20200812-14-albovd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=94%2C249%2C2507%2C2560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian McKee/St John’s College</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Great Bible is often seen as a monument of English reform – but could it also contain the first known example of political photoshopping in early modern England? Printed in 1538-9, it was to be purchased by every parish church in the realm. Its creation was overseen by Henry VIII’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell. The Great Bible ushered in the English parish Bible and its large size and meticulous printing set the bar for centuries to come. Nowhere is its iconic appearance more evident than in a unique presentation copy made for the Tudor court. This copy was printed on vellum and hand-coloured by highly skilled illuminators. </p>
<p>I encountered this lavish copy while carrying out an <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-material-history-of-the-bible-england-1200-1553-9780197266717?view=Standard&facet_narrowbyproducttype_facet=Print&facet_narrowbybinding_facet=Hardback&facet_narrowbyprice_facet=50to100&lang=en&cc=gb#">in-depth study</a> of the production and use of Bibles in late medieval and early modern England. Researchers have long known about the Great Bible and used its striking title page for illustration. But little or no scientific analysis has ever been carried out on it. So I asked Paola Ricciardi, scientist in residence at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, to help me with a new investigation which utilised the latest technology to study the Bible in forensic detail. The results blew us away.</p>
<p>Our analysis revealed a new – and hitherto unknown – plot by Cromwell to literally change the balance of power on the Bible’s front page, just one year before his execution for high treason. We plan to publish our research results in full later this year.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>As Lord Privy Seal and Vicegerent in Spirituals (Henry’s deputy in matters relating to the church), Cromwell was the most powerful man in Henry VIII’s court. Henry’s break from the Catholic Church and the dissolution of the monasteries became an opportunity for Cromwell to advance religious reform. For Cromwell, support for a vernacular Bible (translated into English for the general population) was linked with obedience to the King. But he had to counter a strong opposition and a substantial conservative faction in court and within the church. Henry’s support for religious reform was always limited. His stance on religion was influenced more by his political aims, rather than faith, so his support for a vernacular Bible was hesitant from the start.</p>
<p>Cromwell thought that the best way to ensure royal support was to produce a Bible worthy of royal patronage – both in its content and in its material grandeur. Such a Bible would combine Cromwell’s own evangelical leanings with the political aim of consolidating Henry’s control over the English church. Production began in Paris. English printers were simply not equipped to produce a book of the magnitude sought by Cromwell.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photograph of the Great Bible's title page." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352489/original/file-20200812-14-5xwsdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The title page of the Great Bible, which has yielded its secrets after more than four centuries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian McKee/St John’s College.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A letter to Cromwell from the production team in Paris dated June 23, 1538, reveals that two luxurious vellum copies of the Bible were being prepared. It reads: “We have here sent unto your lordship two examples, one in parchment, wherein we intend to print one for the King’s grace, and another for your lordship.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Great Bible on display at a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351279/original/file-20200805-239-1b67g2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Great Bible in the Old Library of St John’s College, Cambridge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian McKee/St John's College</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Printed on parchment and meticulously hand-coloured, these copies have survived – one at the National Library of Wales and the other in St John’s College, Cambridge. In November 2019, with the kind assistance of St John’s College, we engaged in a technical and scientific investigation of their copy of the Great Bible. </p>
<h2>Scientific analysis</h2>
<p>We employed various non-invasive analytical techniques to examine the St John’s Bible, including X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, reflectance spectroscopy (in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared range), high-resolution digital microscopy and advanced technical imaging. Scientific investigation of works of art has much to offer and is more reliable for material identification than visual analysis (historically the primary identification method for painting materials and techniques).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352982/original/file-20200814-22-kg6jnn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>The focus of our technical examination of the Bible was the decoration. Knowledge of the painting materials and techniques used to decorate books can provide a wealth of information on production methods and artists’ skills –and, occasionally, on their identity. All of the hundreds of black-and-white images printed in the Bible were painstakingly hand-coloured by a group of talented artists for this special presentation Bible. In some cases, the artists did not simply colour in the print, but made significant changes to the black-and-white printed images used in the regular editions of the Bible.</p>
<p>Our investigation focused on 14 images, spread out across the volume. First, we used a range of spectroscopic methods to analyse a selection of small areas in each image, allowing the identification of individual pigments. The pigments identified throughout the volume were consistent with what is known about the materials used by Continental painters and illuminators during the 16th century. One of the most interesting results of this investigation was the fact that different “palettes” can be identified in different images, which suggests the presence of no less than six (and quite possibly more) artists at work on the decoration of this Bible.</p>
<p>The spectroscopic analysis was followed by high-magnification digital microscopy (in direct as well as <a href="https://www.hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/about/services/photographicservices/lightingtechniques">raking and transmitted light</a>). The close-up images captured using these methods not only provided greater insight into the stylistic preferences and working methods of the artists, but were also crucial in revealing the extent to which the printed images were modified at the painting stage. </p>
<h2>From black and white to colour</h2>
<p>We paid special attention to the Bible’s title pages. Each of the book’s five parts is preceded by a full, illustrated and meticulously hand-coloured title page. The title pages depict scenes from the parts of the Bible they precede (historical books, the words of the prophets, or the New Testament). We discovered that the St John Bible’s main front page was actually a hand-coloured adaption of the printed black-and-white version which would have been present in all the mass-produced Bibles. But this luxurious front page – meant for the eyes of King Henry VIII – contained some key differences, as the slider image below illustrates. </p>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="900" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=cfebea46-dc9a-11ea-bf88-a15b6c7adf9a"></iframe>
<p>The main black-and-white title page depicts an ideal scenario in which the majestic Henry VIII distributes bibles to lay and religious subjects, assisted by two of his faithful ministers – <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cranmer_thomas.shtml">Thomas Cranmer</a>, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cromwell. Renowned art historian <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Art-and-Communication-in-the-Reign-of-Henry-VIII/String/p/book/9780754663058">Tatiana String</a> believes the printed title page was the visual manifestation of Henry’s authority. Henry reigns at the top of the page, distributing bibles to laypeople and clerics, aided by Cromwell to his left and Cranmer to his right (each identified by his coat of arms). The Word of God then reaches the general public in the lower part of the page, who duly proclaim “<em>vivat rex</em>” and “God save the king” (apart from those in prison, who are seen on the bottom right and shout nothing). </p>
<p>This black-and-white title page of the Bible masterminded by Cromwell, distilled his theory of scripture and obedience. The dissemination of the Bible was from top to bottom (literally), resulting in greater submission to the monarch. Its details reveal, however, that it moves away from the more radical reformation ideal of putting the Bible “<a href="https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-17-no-2-2016/william-tyndale-john-foxe-boy-driveth-plough">in the ploughboy’s hands</a>”. The laity at the bottom of the page do not hold the Bible, they simply listen to the Word of God preached from the pulpit. This was a nuanced and hierarchical way to disseminate the book and it reflected the unease Henry had with common people reading the Bible.</p>
<p>In the St John’s copy, the printed title pages were carefully hand painted, with the original print at times peeping through. For example, in the hand-coloured version the prison was obliterated and replaced by a dedication scene. The original brick background is still visible through the red stockings of the green-clad figure. </p>
<h2>Cut and paste politics</h2>
<p>The most striking modification we found has so far been hidden from scholars working on this Bible. Under a microscope with raking light, it becomes evident that some of the faces were painted on separate pieces of vellum and pasted over the existing page. A thin line can be seen under Cromwell’s face where the image was pasted in. This was done in a highly professional manner, covering much of the border area with paint overlapping the edges and creating the impression of a single image. This major modification applied to Cromwell and another key figure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close up of Thomas Cromwell image on Great Bible" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C30%2C4644%2C3532&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351276/original/file-20200805-22-y3voc3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The edges of Cromwell’s portrait are barely noticeable but reveal it was painted separately and glued on to the vellum page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">St John's College</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We believe that the instigator of this modification was Cromwell himself and the change had much to do with his representation on the page – a page which illustrates Henry’s complex attitude towards the lay readership of scripture, wavering between distribution and retraction. The same phenomenon, more nuanced but equally powerful, is evident in this careful modification. The pasting of Cromwell’s portrait had reshuffled political powers and affinity to the monarch.</p>
<p>In the original black-and-white design, Cromwell is affiliated with distributing the Bible to the laity – his coat of arms is in the middle of the page, below the figure whose features resemble Cromwell, handing the Bible (inscribed <em>verbum dei</em>, or “the Word of God”) to lay nobility. He mirrors Cranmer’s image, on the other side of the page, distributing a similar book to the clergy. This accorded with Cromwell’s central role in lay administration, as with his reformed leaning and his support for the printing of the Great Bible. In this image, then, Cromwell is on the level below the King and positioned in the middle of the page.</p>
<p>In the painted version of the title page, on the other hand, Cromwell is moved up a level and transformed into the person receiving the book from Henry’s left hand. This serves two purposes. It enhances the affinity between Cromwell and Henry, placing them next to each other. It also renders Cromwell in a more passive position, receiving the book from Henry rather than actively distributing it. Given Henry’s ambivalence towards the lay readership, this was a much less hazardous position. The careful and extensive modifications of the title page demonstrate Cromwell’s political prowess and his ability to read the political map and manipulate the visual image accordingly.</p>
<p>This transformation was both careful and premeditated. A back-light exposure reveals that the faces underneath the pasted elements had not been previously painted in, but rather left blank – anticipating the subsequent pasting. The scientific analysis reveals that the two faces were painted at the same time, most likely in a setting different from the painting of other features in the Bible. Very similar pigment mixtures were used across the two faces and they differ from those employed for flesh tones in the rest of the Bible. </p>
<p>Similarly, the pigments used in the uppermost sections of the fur garments in which the two figures are cloaked (those closest to the faces) differ from those identified in the lower portions of the garments. The same is true for the green brushstrokes surrounding the faces, painted with posnjakite (a copper sulphate mineral) unlike the rest of the grassy landscapes, which were painted in a different sulphate of copper. </p>
<p>This all suggests a targeted campaign. The separation between the painting of the other elements of the presentation copy and the faces reveals that the latter was carried out in a different location and at a later time – most likely in England – after the Bible had arrived from Paris. Reallocating the painting of the faces to London ensured greater accuracy, especially for those whose likeness was less well known outside of England.</p>
<p>In London, very few artists were capable of such skilled and intricate work. The workshops of either <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07130/lucas-horenbout-or-hornebolte">Lucas Horenbout</a> or <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07116/hans-holbein-the-younger">Hans Holbein</a> are the likely location where these portraits were painted and inserted into the title page. The involvement of artists with such close ties to Henry’s court (Horenbout was King’s Painter and court miniaturist from 1525 until his death in 1544, and Holbein was also painting for the court by the mid-1530s) would have guaranteed great accuracy in the depiction of key people. The features of the upper pasted face on the title page closely resemble known depictions of Cromwell. The image of him in the hand-coloured title page is probably his last accurate portrait.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Portrait of Thomas Cromwell." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351296/original/file-20200805-22-1psrnjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex – watercolour on vellum by Hans Holbein, 1537.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/use-this-image.php?mkey=mw09423">National Portrait Gallery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Machiavellian manoeuvring</h2>
<p>But who was the second person, distributing Bibles below Cromwell? There is no obvious answer. Based on court politics at the time, and the iconography of the portrait, we believe that this could be <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hatfield-forest/features/sir-richard-rich">Richard Rich</a>, Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations (responsible for dissolving English monasteries) and Speaker of the House of Commons. A comparison between Rich’s known portrait and the pasted face supports this hypothesis.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A comparison of a portrait of Richard Rich with a close up image in the Bible." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352501/original/file-20200812-24-1plbz0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hans Holbein’s portrait of Richard Rich compared to a pasted in face in The Great Bible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/912238/sir-richard-rich-later-1st-baron-rich-14967-1567">Wikimedia/Royal Collection Trust/St John’s College</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This would demonstrate, once again, Cromwell’s political manoeuvring. Rich, once an affiliate of Cromwell and a leading politician at the court, would have been a natural ally in the dissemination of the Bible to the laity. By placing him underneath, further removed from Henry and closer to the more tricky endeavour of empowering the lay readership, Rich was presented as subordinate to Cromwell (which was not the case at the time) and with a clearer evangelical stance (again, this was not the case).</p>
<p>Rich was instrumental in facilitating the execution of Cromwell soon after and this may attest to Cromwell’s distrust of him. A few years earlier, Rich’s testimony was key in the executions of John Fisher and Thomas More.</p>
<h2>Jane Seymour</h2>
<p>The image of the woman on the bottom right of the page (and in front of the prison in the black-and-white page) was also changed in the painted copy. In the printed image, a woman is sitting next to a group of children, her hair in curls, possibly with a white undercap. Her hands instruct the children, while she is facing the man on her left (who appears to be the prison warden).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white and colour Jane Seymour image side by side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352509/original/file-20200812-22-w8po8t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The female image believed to represent Jane Seymour evolved from black-and-white into a more ornate figure decorated in gold leaf.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cambridge University Library/St John’s College</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the painted image, however, this was completely transformed. The woman now faces the children and her features are more distinct and more subtle. Her headgear has been turned into a lavish gable hood, worn by nobility and royalty. This sumptuous gable, trimmed in gold and possibly jewelled, together with the distinctive facial features are reminiscent of Holbein’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Jane_Seymour,_Queen_of_England_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">portrait of Jane Seymour</a>, painted in 1536.</p>
<p>The portrait was well known at the time and served to inspire other <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315253374/chapters/10.4324/9781315253374-18">depictions of Jane Seymour</a>, who was Queen of England from 1536 to 1537 as Henry’s third wife. One such portrait was made in 1539 – the same year as the hand-painted title page. The importance of this figure is revealed when looking at the materials used for its creation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Portrait of Jane Seymour from 1536." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351780/original/file-20200807-14-bojdo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hans Holbein’s portrait of Jane Seymour, 1536.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wga.hu/html_m/h/holbein/hans_y/1535h/02seymou.html">©KHM-Museumsverband</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The woman’s headdress and collar are the only instances where gold leaf was used on the page. Every other gilded area was decorated using “shell” (or powdered) gold. Pigment analysis also reveals the dress, which appears white with dark grey lines, contained tarnished silver. This combination of dazzling gold and silver makes the woman a truly spectacular addition to the colour title page.</p>
<p>Cromwell and Cranmer had previously used the King’s affinity to Seymour to elicit his support for the English Bible. In 1537, they evoked her pregnancy in the dedication to Henry which prefaced the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/matthews-bible">Matthew Bible</a>. The title page of that Bible proclaimed: “Set forth with the King’s most gracious licence.” Seymour’s pregnancy led to the birth of the future Edward VI – Henry’s much sought-after male heir. It is little wonder then that the woman in the painted title page is instructing a group of children, with her gaze directed to them – unlike the turned head of the woman in the original image. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352516/original/file-20200812-14-67ou34.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘Jane Seymour’ figure’s dress under a microscope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian McKee/St John’s College</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seymour died shortly after labour on October 24, 1537. Henry grieved for her and cherished her memory. Her loss permeated throughout the remainder of his life and he was subsequently buried at her side at Windsor Castle. A further change of mind about this female portrait is evident in the hand-painted title page. The analysis of the woman’s dress reveals an additional layer of modification, which attests to a later transformation of the figure. Under a microscope, it becomes evident that the white of the upper part of the dress conceals a red layer of paint. </p>
<p>The dress was therefore originally red with a low neckline, mirroring the dress worn by Seymour in the Holbein portrait and was later modified. The motivation for this later transformation is not yet known.</p>
<h2>Political upheaval and betrayal</h2>
<p>The importance of this presentation copy of the Great Bible – and its sister copy held in Wales – should not be underestimated. These copies were most likely the first ones seen by Henry and his court. </p>
<p>The modifications we have uncovered provide a unique insight into Cromwell’s thought process. Between the design of the printed title page and the hand-colouring, he has grown more cautious and more wary of Henry’s support of the English Bible and reform in general. As a result, he wished to distance himself from the role of distributing Bibles and instead put in his place the person who was to play a key role in his downfall and execution. </p>
<p>The Great Bible was reprinted in six subsequent editions, all produced in quick succession between 1539 and 1541. Henry approved of the printed title page, which was kept in all editions – and later even replaced the title page to the New Testament. However, further transformations to the title page reveal the political upheavals which were to come and the ultimate fate of Cromwell.</p>
<p>Shortly after the appearance of the Great Bible, Cromwell devised Henry’s ill-fated <a href="https://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/anne-of-cleves/">marriage to Anne of Cleves</a> in January 1540. The conservative faction in court used this opportunity to move against Cromwell, leading to his execution in July 1540 – in which the perfidious testament of Rich was instrumental. </p>
<p>The printers of subsequent editions of the Great Bible faced the problem of retaining the image of a convicted traitor. The solution was not to replace the woodcut used for printing altogether (a cumbersome and very costly endeavour). Instead of erasing Cromwell’s image entirely, they erased his coat of arms from the fourth edition of November 1540 and all subsequent editions thereafter.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white image of title page with coat of arms blanked out." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352513/original/file-20200812-20-s0ma9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image shows how Cromwell’s coat of arms was erased.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Pennsylvania</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than completely obliterating Cromwell’s memory, the blank circle reminded readers of the fate of traitors to the Crown. Henry also grew disillusioned with the dissemination of bibles to the laity. He came to realise that reality was different to the ideal of the printed title page, and that reading the Bible did not necessarily lead people to shout “long live the king”, but rather to think for themselves. </p>
<p>Cromwell’s fear, leading him to rejig the images, became a reality. Henry’s distrust of lay reading led to legislation in 1543, prohibiting lay women and men of the lower classes from accessing the Bible. Our analysis reveals how key players reacted to political and religious changes. The image modifications have laid bare the truth of the English Reformation period and illustrated just how dangerous and political 16th-century England was – especially in the court of King Henry VIII.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
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<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eyal Poleg receives funding from The British Academy (PDF/2008/601). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paola Ricciardi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
New scientific research reveals how Thomas Cromwell’s Machiavellian manoeuvring influenced his own depiction on the front of The Great Bible.
Eyal Poleg, Senior Lecturer in Material History, Queen Mary University of London
Paola Ricciardi, Senior Research Scientist, The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/133091
2020-03-09T15:01:28Z
2020-03-09T15:01:28Z
The Mirror and the Light: Hilary Mantel gets as close to the real Thomas Cromwell as any historian
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319257/original/file-20200309-58017-1y2x6sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C310%2C2747%2C2569&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Frick Collection</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thomas Cromwell has had a remarkable and lasting impact on English history. The role that Henry VIII’s chief minister played in the country’s break with Rome and Catholicism and the focusing of power in the hands of the king’s government continues to have repercussions today as modern states debate their place in the world. </p>
<p>The question of Cromwell’s influence on the king and his role as backroom mastermind continues to fascinate modern audiences, holding up a mirror to more recent discussions over the role in today’s political sphere of special advisers such as Dominic Cummings or Alastair Campbell and their influence on modern-day leaders.</p>
<p>Cromwell’s life was lived largely in the shadows, so what can we make of his character and what is the truth of his existence? Historical evidence is limited and we catch only glimpses of Cromwell’s inner life in his own letters and the words that others said and wrote about him. </p>
<p>The basic skeleton of the historical record gives us a remarkable life, and yet it is a life that has – until relatively recently – been little discussed beyond the historical arena. Historians never anticipated that they would be able to capture a richer sense of Cromwell as a human being, so the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/02/wolf-hall-hilary-mantel">publication of Hilary Mantel’s Booker prize-winning Wolf Hall</a> in 2009 came as something of a shock to the world of Tudor history. </p>
<p>To suddenly encounter a fully realised individual, reliving the experiences of his childhood and violent father and grieving the shocking and sudden loss of his wife and daughters, formed a remarkable intervention in our understanding of a man who was described by Geoffrey Elton, the historian who admired him most, as being “<a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/wolf-hall-author-hilary-mantel-talks-tudors-and-thomas-cromwell/">unbiographical</a>”. </p>
<p>The subsequent publication by Bring up the Bodies, which <a href="https://thebookerprizes.com/resources/media/pressreleases/2012/10/16/bring-bodies-wins-2012-man-booker-prize-second-triumph">won Mantel a second Booker prize</a>, and Diarmaid MacCulloch’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/22/thomas-cromwell-life-diarmaid-maccolloch-review">2018 biography</a> completed Cromwell’s rehabilitation as someone we can make sense of when placed within his time and the events in which he took such a central role. But it has taken until now – more than seven years after volume two – for Mantel to tell the final phase of the story that she has transformed.</p>
<p>Mantel has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/03/hilary-mantel-why-i-became-a-historical-novelist">firmly stated</a> that it was not her aim to write a history. Yet her Cromwell is so real, so compellingly lifelike, that it has become very difficult to think about him without her interpretation coming into mind. For historians it is an important reminder that the figures we study were real people who lived and died – often in painful, even horrific, circumstances. </p>
<h2>Mantel’s small world</h2>
<p>It is easy, of course, for historians to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/31/students-take-hilary-mantels-tudor-novels-as-fact-hay-festival">find problems with Mantel’s account</a>. Mantel telescopes some events and adds to others for dramatic effect, providing Cromwell with motivations and a rich emotional inner life, all of which remains within the fictional realm.</p>
<p>What she really gives us is a version of what may have been possible. Just as historians disagree over the reading of a particular letter or incident, so we are free to engage with Mantel’s version of Cromwell. Her books are – and will continue to be – vital to the teaching of the subject and to the development of our understanding of Cromwell and his world. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pE0jqwttxn8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Historians have been increasingly drawn to thinking of the past not only in terms of the textual, material and visual records that survive, but also in terms of the architectural and geographical worlds in which people operated. The Tudor court was a small world of confined spaces and intimate relationships – an intense environment in which remarkable events took place. We can now add an imaginative reconstruction of that world, grounded in careful detail accrued from the years of research carried out by Mantel. </p>
<p>It is about as realistic a depiction as we could hope for and it provides a valuable frame for understanding how a whispered exchange might carry vital information or how Henry VIII’s sudden anger might terrify his subjects into compliance. While we can never be certain of the precise nature of Cromwell’s relationship with the king, we can now offer a range of possible interpretations, from shared memories of early military campaigns to a monarch requiring effective service of his subject, finding him wanting and therefore disposable.</p>
<h2>Decline and fall</h2>
<p>The question of Cromwell’s fall is one that has troubled historians. How did a man so immersed in the Tudor court, who had witnessed the destructions of Thomas Wolsey and of Anne Boleyn, miscalculate badly enough to end up on the scaffold? </p>
<p>Mantel offers us some possible routes into making sense of Cromwell’s miscalculation. The courtly world that Mantel depicts is acutely dangerous. From the start of The Mirror and the Light we see Cromwell surrounded by rumours of his fate in the aftermath of the fall of Boleyn – someone to whom he had been so close. Later on he squabbles with her uncle the Duke of Norfolk and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer – ignoring the latter’s warning not to get too deeply involved in the matter of the king’s marriage after the death of Jane Seymour. </p>
<p>Cromwell’s trust in Henry, and his belief that the king will stand by his assertions of loyalty and the signs of warmth that Henry gives, prove to be his downfall. In the face of the warnings from those around him, Cromwell follows his role to its natural end. Elevated to become Earl of Essex, Cromwell holds “the shining bowl of possibility … all is mended” – a final cruel miscalculation. </p>
<p>When it comes, Cromwell’s enemies physically closing in on him to strip him of rank and title, this provides a fundamental truth about power and about the reality of being a king’s councillor or special advisor: in the end, everyone falls.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133091/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet Dickinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Mantel’s prize-winning novels put imaginary flesh on the skeletal historical record and gives us the complete picture of the Tudor courtier.
Janet Dickinson, Senior Associate Tutor in History, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/113227
2019-03-11T15:19:39Z
2019-03-11T15:19:39Z
Richard Burbage: Shakespeare’s leading man and the reason Hamlet was fat
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262933/original/file-20190308-155502-hj3m5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C1128%2C1073&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RIchard Burbage: actor, theatre owner and entrepreneur. Born, January 5 1558, died March 12 1619.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unknown artist</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s 400 years since the death of Richard Burbage, the first person to play the roles of Hamlet, Lear, Othello and Macbeth in the original version of the Globe in London. As far as Shakespeare was concerned, Burbage was both a blessing and a curse. He was a good actor, and he seems to have been a particular draw for female audience members – <a href="http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/richardiiiscenes.html">an anecdote</a> by the contemporary diarist <a href="https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/exhibition/document/john-manninghams-diary-earliest-mention-twelfth-night-and-shakespeare-anecdote">John Manningham</a> tells of a citizen’s wife who was so smitten after seeing Burbage play Richard III that she sent a note backstage to make an assignation, only for it to be intercepted by Shakespeare, who went off to the rendezvous himself with the remark that “William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third”. </p>
<p>This story may or may not be true, but the story would never have been told if Burbage had not had sex appeal.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263154/original/file-20190311-86710-1nwh819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William Shakepeare’s first folio, dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke in 1623.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Burbage seems not to have aged well. In the mid-1590s he was playing Romeo and climbing up to Juliet’s balcony, but by the time of Hamlet, which was first performed in about 1600, Gertrude’s remark “he’s fat, and scant of breath” probably got an appreciative laugh from the audience. Hamlet’s trip to England in Act Four of Hamlet looks a lot like Shakespeare engineering a rest for Burbage before the exertions of the fight scene in Act Five.</p>
<p>Five years after playing Hamlet, Burbage was playing King Lear, who – we are told – is over 80 years old. That was overstating the case a bit – Burbage would have been about 40 at the time – but a year or so later he is the male lead in Antony and Cleopatra – a grizzled old warrior who is repeatedly said to be past his best. By 1611, Prospero in The Tempest, perhaps the last role that Shakespeare intended to write for Burbage, is announcing that every third thought will be of his grave. </p>
<p>And eight years later Burbage was indeed dead, leading the Earl of Pembroke – to whom <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/shakespeares-first-folio">Shakespeare’s First Folio</a> would be dedicated four years later – to decide that he <a href="http://bloggingshakespeare.com/the-first-great-shakespearian-actor">could not face going to see a play</a> because it was “so soon after the loss of my old acquaintance, Burbage”.</p>
<h2>Supporting cast</h2>
<p>Burbage was Shakespeare’s most famous actor – but he was not the only one, and the things that the other actors could or couldn’t do had an impact on what was needed from him. Shakespeare wrote for a company of ten men and four boys – and the four boys had to act all the female roles. So if you have ever wondered why Romeo’s mother dies so suddenly and doesn’t have her own death scene, the answer is simple – the boy actor who had played her is <a href="https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/starcrossed/enter-montague-alone-5-3-208-215/">already on stage</a> as the page.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263155/original/file-20190311-86678-8qz9rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Old Globe theatre — a print of the original theatre in London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wenceslas Hollar (1642)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Early in his career, Shakespeare enjoyed the services of two really exceptional boy actors – they played Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It, and could learn long and complicated speeches. But just after Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night, his best boy actor suffered the misfortune of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_7wRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=shakespeare+rewrote+twelfth+night+after+actor+playing+viola%27s+voice+broke&source=bl&ots=NwuJ1kYBf7&sig=ACfU3U2G3PakUwyFBP2raYusrMMq7rr1iw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilw_-orvrgAhV_URUIHYkBBC0Q6AEwEnoECBAQAQ#v=onepage&q=shakespeare%20rewrote%20twelfth%20night%20after%20actor%20playing%20viola's%20voice%20broke&f=false">having his voice break</a>. We can see this from the way Shakespeare designed the play – Viola, the female lead, says at the beginning that her plan on entering Orsino’s household is to sing, but in the event she never does. Instead Feste the clown is improbably presented as the resident singer in Orsino’s household as well as the Countess Olivia’s. Shakespeare revised the play, but the joins still show.</p>
<p>For a few years after that the parts Shakespeare writes for women are much less ambitious and demanding: Cordelia in King Lear speaks fewer than 100 lines – though that might be partly because it is easier to create an impression of virtue if you do not shine too bright a light on it, and Cordelia is the one good daughter who must be strongly contrasted with the two bad ones.</p>
<p>By the time of Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare had a new performer at his disposal whose Cleopatra could give Burbage’s Antony a run for his money. The boy who played the Egyptian queen had to go through some mercurial mood changes – and Cleopatra dominates the stage in the fifth act after Antony has very unusually died in the fourth.</p>
<p>Even this mark of weakness, though, helps us remember that throughout his writing career, when Shakespeare thought “hero” he thought of Richard Burbage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Hopkins is co-editor of the journal Shakespeare and a member of the board of the British Shakespeare Association.</span></em></p>
All of Shakespeare’s major male roles were written for Richard Burbage who died in the 1619s.
Lisa Hopkins, Professor of Renaissance Literature, Sheffield Hallam University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100392
2018-07-24T13:51:28Z
2018-07-24T13:51:28Z
What the 16th-century shipwreck found on the Kent coast can tell us about trade in Tudor England
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228821/original/file-20180723-189323-sv8ymu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tudor warship, part of a manuscript presented to Henry VIII in 1546 by Anthony Anthony.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Library</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent discovery of a <a href="http://www.kentonline.co.uk/whitstable/news/video-experts-uncover-rare-shipwreck-186389/">well preserved early modern shipwreck</a> in the mudflats of Tankerton Beach near Whitstable, Kent, is a highly significant archaeological find. Not only can it provide important information on early modern shipbuilding techniques, it can also provide valuable insights into the maritime trade of late Tudor and early Stuart England. </p>
<p>Archaeologists have reportedly subjected the ship’s oak planks to dendrochronological sampling, a process which dates timber through an analysis of ring width of trees. The tests revealed that it was felled in a southern British woodland in 1531, while three other samples of different timbers have been provisionally dated to the 16th century.</p>
<p>The hull’s construction suggests that the vessel is a late 16th or early 17th-century carvel-built, single-masted merchant ship. This was a process whereby a hull’s planks were fastened to a frame, with their edges flush against one another – as opposed to clinker building, where the planks overlap along their edges. The wreck is 12.14 metres long by five metres wide and estimated to have been between 100 and 200 tons (the carrying capacity of a vessel in Bordeaux wine casks, or “tuns”, at about 954.7 litres, or 210 gallons, a barrel – the common measure used in England at the time).</p>
<p>It is the only known wreck of this period in the south-east of England. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, on the advice of Historic England, has therefore scheduled the wreck as one of national importance, giving it <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1447487">protected status</a>.</p>
<p>It is difficult to say at this stage whether or not the ship is an English vessel. The provenance of some of its timbers would suggest it is – but it could equally be Dutch or German-built. The wreck’s location – close to a series of well-known <a href="https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.070%20-%201956/070-05.pdf">copperas</a> (iron sulphate, also known as green vitriol) works in northern Kent – has <a href="http://www.kentonline.co.uk/whitstable/news/video-experts-uncover-rare-shipwreck-186389/">led to suggestions</a> that the ship was involved in the trade of this important commodity which was used in dying and tanning and in the production of ink. </p>
<p>But without further investigation it is difficult to know whether this is the case, or whether the vessel’s final resting place was by accident or design – it may have been abandoned on the coast in an area that was once a tidal salt marsh.</p>
<h2>Large for its time</h2>
<p>Whether it is an English ship or not, a merchant ship of 100–200 tons was atypical of the vast majority of merchant ships operating in northern European waters in the 16th century. Recent research into the <a href="http://medievalandtudorships.org/">merchant fleet of medieval and Tudor England</a>, using the English national customs accounts which record seaborne trade (of both English and foreign ships), allows us to place the ship found in Kent within the wider context of the merchant fleet of the period.</p>
<p>The research found that most 16th-century English merchant vessels in the period (1565–1580) were on average between 20–30 tons burden (carrying capacity). English seaborne trade in this period was predominantly coastal, with voyages between English ports. This coastal trade was undertaken by ships of all sizes, but the majority of cargoes were carried in ships of less than 100 tons; fewer than 1% of coastal trading voyages from 1565–80 were by ships of 100 tons and over. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228822/original/file-20180723-189319-1ku1jwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archaeologists at the site of the wreck in Tankerton, Kent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Historic England</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Smaller ships (that is to say ships of 50 tons or less) also dominated overseas trade, but large ships of 100 tons and over were far more prevalent in overseas activity – 25% of overseas voyages by English ships were undertaken by vessels of 100 tons and over. It was a similar case for foreign ships trading with England. Though one might expect foreign vessels to be bigger, especially if they came from further away places such as Spain, the English customs accounts reveal that about 90% of foreign ships trading with England were 50 tons or less. At 100–200 tons, the Kent ship was therefore in the top tier of merchant ships active at the time.</p>
<h2>Trading places</h2>
<p>The ship’s size also hints at the voyages it may have undertaken. The final decades of the 16th century, and the first decades of the 17th, were important in the development of England as a maritime nation. Some overseas trade routes, such as those between England, France, and the Low Countries – even those to farther flung destinations such as in the Baltic, Spain, and Portugal – had been traversed <a href="https://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/cruise-destinations/multi-region/trade-routes-middle-ages/index.html?itineraryday=5">since the Middle Ages</a>. But others were new. </p>
<p>As the merchant fleet increased in size and tonnage after about 1580, so too did the places with which English vessels traded. Large Tudor merchant vessels travelled to Russia, North Africa, the Azores and, by the last decades of the 16th and early 17th centuries, began <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/projects/archive/newberry/collaborativeprogramme/ren-earlymod-communities/britishandamericanhistories/summerworkshop/11july/the20creation_british20atlantic20world.pdf">traversing the Atlantic</a> with increasing frequency and rounded the southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1019514869387849728"}"></div></p>
<p>They brought back with them increasingly exotic goods: silk, sugar, pepper, currants, and crops from the Americas such as the potato and maize, and many other exotic goods. The Kent ship may well have been involved in this slow but steady growth of overseas trade. </p>
<p>Excavations underway by <a href="https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/">Wessex Archaeology</a> will hopefully discover more about the vessel’s provenance, usage, and some personal effects of the ship’s crew, shedding invaluable light on a ship that sits at a critical juncture in the development of an English maritime empire.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary Paul Baker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The cargo ship was built at around the time that England was beginning to look further afield for trade opportunities.
Gary Paul Baker, Post-Doctoral Researcher in History, University of East Anglia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.