This talk covers a range of documents in the collection of The National Archives to explore the clothing choices of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It considers the types of clothing that they wore, the gifts of clothing that Henry gave to Anne and the clothing that they wore at key points in their relationship and how this provides us with insights into court culture. This draws on research published in Dress at the court of King Henry VIII (2007) and Rich apparel: Clothing and the law in Henry VIII’s England (2009).
Dr Maria Hayward is professor of early modern history at the University of Southampton. Her areas of interest include material culture at the Tudor and Stuart courts, with a particular focus on clothing and furnishings. She is currently working on a comparative study of the clothing of Charles I and Charles II.
We are unable to display images from her presentation for copright reasons:
Introduction
Slide 1. Henry VIII by an unknown artist, c1520, National Portrait Gallery, London
Brief overview of male and female Tudor clothing
a) Male clothing
Slide 2: Above: 16th century man’s shirt: Right: Don Garcia de Medici’s red doublet and hose
b) Female clothing
Slide 3: Above: the Wadham shift; Right: Elizabeth I’s pair of bodies; Left: Replica bodies and farthingale
Types of evidence
a) Written
Slide 4: An example of a warrant issued by Henry VIII ordering clothes for a member of his household
Slide 5: A page from one of Henry VIII’s Great Wardrobe accounts
b) Visual
Slide 6: Henry VIII, by Joos van Cleve, c1535, The Royal Collection
Slide 7: Sketches of dress by Hans Holbein
c) Surviving objects
Slide 8: A pair of knitted yellow silk hose made for the Elector Augustus of Saxony, c 1552-1555, Dresden
Slide 9: There are very few items associated with Henry VIII: those that can be loosely associated with the king are a hawk hood covered in cloth of tissue, and a hawking
glove, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Henry VIII’s clothes
Slide 10: Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, c1536, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Anne Boleyn
Slide 11: Anne Boleyn, unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery, 1570s, after an original from the 1530s
Courtship
Slide 12: One of Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boleyn
Slide 13: Examples of enamelled jewellery from the first half of the 16th century
Slide 14: Drawing of an unknown lady, thought to be Anne Boleyn, c1536, by Hans
Holbein the Younger, The Royal Collection
Slide 15: Double portrait of Mary Tudor and her second Husband Charles Brandon
Duke of Suffolk, unknown artist
Consequences – short term
Slide 16: Francis I by Jean Clouet, The Louvre
Slide 17: Miniature of Anne Boleyn, unknown artist
Slide 18: Examples of cloth of tissue and cloth of gold
Slide 19: Drawing of Anne Boleyn at her coronation banquet, unknown artist, Royal College of Arms
Slide 20: Drawing of the procession for the christening of prince Edward, as an example of how Elizabeth’s christening procession would have been organised
Slide 21: Elizabeth I when Princess, c1547, unknown artist formerly attributed
to William Scrots, The Royal Collection
Slide 22: Portrait of an unknown lady, thought to be Anne Boleyn, c1536, by Hans
Holbein the Younger, The Royal Collection
Slide 23: Page from the Black Book of the Garter showing the king in his Garter robes
Slide 24: Anne Boleyn in the Tower by Edouard Cibot 1835
Consequences – longer term
Slide 25: Jane Seymour, by Hans Holbein the Younger, c1536
Slide 26: Prince Edward by Holbein c1539, National Gallery, Washington
Slide 27: Elizabeth I in her coronation robes c1600, British School, Warwick Castle (NPG)
Conclusion
Slide 28. Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors and examples of The Tudors trading cards which includes swatches of the costumes