Great Wardrobe Research Articles

Versailles in England: Culture, Commerce and Diplomacy, from Charles II to Louis XVI

The English fascination for Versailles and the French court was reflected not only in numerous visits to the palace in France, but also in gardens, architecture, decoration and manners in England. Diplomats, such as Ralph Montagu, later Master of the Great Wardrobe in England, craftsmen such as Daniel Marot, a Huguenot refugee who had worked for Louis XIV, and travellers brought their direct experience of Versailles to England. Particularly in its use of frescoes with monarchical themes and in the prominence and furnishings of the King’s Bedchamber, Versailles was one of the models (although not the only one) for Hampton Court Palace, Boughton and Chatsworth, among other houses. Recent work by Anna Keay, Simon Thurley and others confirms that some rituals and fashions followed at Versailles also influenced the English court: especially under Charles II, the first English king to have a lever and a coucher; William III, who planned his own Trianon beside Hampton Court; and the future George IV, who filled Carlton House with furniture like that at Versailles. The influence of Versailles in England shows the power of court culture to outweigh wars and national rivalries.

The Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, ed. Maria Hayward

The records of the early Tudor Great Wardrobe are important for two reasons. They show how kings and their courtiers dressed, at a time when social rank, political power and familiarity with foreign fashion were readily displayed in clothing. They also show where the most discriminating buyer in the kingdom went to buy luxurious materials and commission high-quality services, and thus shed light on the economy of London, above all the textile, fur and tailoring trades. They have been essential to Maria Hayward’s skilful reconstruction in her earlier publications of the world of dress at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII and in sixteenth-century society more generally. In the present volume she provides an edition of accounts for the years 1498–9, 1510–11 and 1543–4. These illustrate different parts of the period, under Henry VII, the young Henry VIII and his older self. They were produced by three successive keepers of the Great Wardrobe: Sir Robert Lytton (1493–1505), Sir Andrew Windsor (1505–43), and Sir Ralph Sadler (1543–53). While the first two are standard annual accounts, the third is a special account of the provisions made for the king’s invasion of France. But what they all have in common is that, unlike the particular accounts for other years, they were composed in English and can thus be reproduced here in their original wording, though modernised in spelling. Appendices list all the recipients of clothing from the Great Wardrobe for the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII noted in the Great Wardrobe accounts, warrants and inventories extant at The National Archives and in some other repositories. For the introductory analysis of suppliers of goods and services, various other relevant accounts, such as those of the King’s Chamber and those for coronations and royal funerals, are added in. The volume’s sweep is thus broad, but not quite comprehensive, for it does not consider the particulars of account in English for 1511–12 in British Library Egerton MS 3025, nor a number of warrants, scattered when part of the Great Wardrobe records left royal custody, sought out by autograph collectors for their royal signatures, and now in various British and American libraries.

Working Arras and Arras Workers: Conservation in the Great Wardrobe under Elizabeth I

The article examines the arrangements for the ongoing care of the royal tapestries under Queen Elizabeth, based on the continuous series of accounts for the arras men found in the National Archives LC 9, AO 3 and E 351. Taken on ‘at need’, the men worked a variable number of days per year in the Great Wardrobe, south of St Paul’s. The majority were émigré tapestry weavers resident in London, though a gradually increasing number of Englishmen entered service. An attempt is made to identify tapestries repaired or sent to an external firm for ‘refreshing’ and ‘cleansing’. Transcripts of the accounts are available on the National Archives web site, Your Archives.

Richard Whittington and His Sales to the Great Wardrobe in the Years 1392 to 1394

The list of goods supplied to the Great Wardrobe by Richard Whittington provides a starting point for a better understanding of the early career of this famous merchant of medieval London, one who made his initial fortune by selling large quantities of fine mercery to Richard II and the aristocracy. It demonstrates the range of textiles a medieval mercer like Whittington dealt in, shows how — in the absence of supporting documentation — these may have been used within the royal household, and prompts a consideration of the increased royal spending which has branded the king as extravagant.

A Rare Survival: The Barge Cloth of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers and the Embroiderer John Best

The Worshipful Company of Pewterers of London owns a barge cloth embroidered with the Company's arms and dated 1662. The bill for it from the embroiderer John Best also survives as part of that for a new barge ordered around the time of the entry into London by river of Charles II's bride Catherine of Braganza. The embroidery, which is a rare surviving example of applied work in woollen cloth on a wool ground, was the most expensive item in the order apart from the barge itself. The technique is compared with that of some other extant embroideries, while John Best's work for the Great Wardrobe Accounts is also discussed.

The King's Embroiderer: Edmund Harrison (1590–1667) II. His work

Edmund Harrison (1590-1667), known as the King's Embroiderer, was a member of the Great Wardrobe, a branch of the King's civil service. He worked under James I, Charles I, and Charles II, and his responsibilities included procuring materials, designing patterns, and running the embroidery workshops, which not only produced new work, but repaired and restored older work as well. Among the work produced by Harrison was work for the Master of the Robes (the King's clothes, armorial work, and masque costumes), work for the Great Wardrobe (the stables, bed hangings, cloths of state, barge cloths, heralds' tabards and liveries, banners and standards, the Order of the Garter, covers for bibles and prayer books, and ecclesiastical embroidery), and work for private patrons (the Corby Castle Pictures and the Sandys of the Vyne Chapel embroideries).

Clothing Provision and the Great Wardrobe in the Mid-Thirteenth Century

(1991). Clothing Provision and the Great Wardrobe in the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Textile History: Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 239-252.

Order and Fashion in Clothes: The King, His Household, and the City of London at the End of the Fifteenth Century

The general attitude toward excess in apparel in 15th-century England was one of disapproval. The king, however, was expected to adorn himself, which inspired respect for the government. Subjects in the lower ranks wore apparel that defined their social position. Sumptuary legislation was even passed to reinforce this behavior. Documents of the Great Wardrobe, the Corporation of London, and the Mercers' and Merchant Taylors' Companies, as well as wills, inventories, and letters, have been used to examine dress in this ordered society. The Great Wardrobe was the storehouse and manufactory of the royal household. Apparel supplied to the kings (Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VII) and their households and to groups who wore social or professional dress during the 15th century is detailed.

Clothing Provision and the Great Wardrobe in the Mid-Thirteenth Century

Clothing Provision and the Great Wardrobe in the Mid-Thirteenth Century

The Great Wardrobe Accounts as a Source for Historians of Fourteenth-Century Clothing and Textiles

The Great Wardrobe Accounts as a Source for Historians of Fourteenth-Century Clothing and Textiles

The Great Wardrobe Accounts as a Source for Historians of Fourteenth-Century Clothing and Textiles

(1989). The Great Wardrobe Accounts as a Source for Historians of Fourteenth-Century Clothing and Textiles. Textile History: Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 275-281.

Silk Cloths Purchased for the Great Wardrobe of the Kings of England, 1325–1462

(1989). Silk Cloths Purchased for the Great Wardrobe of the Kings of England, 1325–1462. Textile History: Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 283-307.

Silk Cloths Purchased for the Great Wardrobe of the Kings of England, 1325–1462

Silk Cloths Purchased for the Great Wardrobe of the Kings of England, 1325–1462

The Duke of Northumberland's Army Reconsidered

In the preceding article, Dr. William Tighe has drawn attention once again to a central mystery surrounding those ill-understood weeks between the death of Edward VI and Queen Mary's triumphal entry into London which I initially commented upon in this journal in 1974. The problem involves the rapidity with which Northumberland's army collapsed. The traditional interpretation has long been that the duke's forces consisted only of unreliable mercenaries and that he lacked support from the ruling elements which could have given him the means to carry out his coup. In my article I suggested that this was not the case. Gentlemen had been willing to risk their lives in his cause, and although it was impossible to know the relative strengths of the two sides with precision, I found no evidence that contemporaries found them to be unequal. Nor did I find support for Professor Jordan's contention that Northumberland was a reluctant conspirator who really wanted to surrender power and retire to his estates. Examination of accounts in the files of the great wardrobe also led me to conclude that so far as the gentlemen pensioners were concerned, military men had supported the coup while politicians had taken the side of legitimacy. Admittedly the definitions were not precise, but in the absence of other records, it seemed to enhance understanding of the deliberations taken in those fatal days.Since the publication of my article, other scholars have also pointed to the vigor and quality of Northumberland's leadership. Dale Hoak has recently extended the “rehabilitation” of the Duke of Northumberland begun by Barrett Beer. Hoak showed that Northumberland was far from reluctant to use force and political guile to achieve his purposes. He took control of the royal household in order to control access to the king. He also created a special household bodyguard, known as the gendarmes, to secure his coup and overawe potential troublemakers. To complete the picture of a man determined to hold on to power, Hoak showed how Northumberland had managed to manipulate the young king by planting suggestions which the boy then incorporated into his desires. Thus the alteration of the succession should be seen as Northumberland's own scheme to retain power, and not the dying king's. Although the gendarmes had proved too costly to maintain and had to be disbanded, Northumberland's plan was clear: maintain control of power by using the king's household in both its military and political aspects.

FURRED SERPENTS, SNUFFSKINS AND STOMACHERS

Loose collars, tippets, muffs and the like are nothing else than those parts of a garment that have become so to speak separated and independent. The first fur accessory was born when a stone age man tore off a corner from the crude skin-cloak he wore, to use this piece for a hat or footwear. In Stuart days detachable sleeves in all colours and shapes formed a large proportion of elegant folk's wardrobe, these items of clothing most probably begetting the idea of the muff. The expression to have something up the sleeve came from the custom to carry articles in them, and when in the eighteenth century oversized muffs for ladies and gentlemen were introduced, fashionable women carted their lap dogs around in this cosy hideout. Allegedly the muff, the Walloons called them mouffe, the Italians manicone or manichino, the French manchon, was a Polish invention. However, knowing the Chinese, Russians and the Magyars, I am convinced that each of them lays claim to this precedence. Whatever the case may be, the first mention of a muff is apparently in 1483, then under the name snuffkin. This expression had many variants, and these seem to arise from mistakes in transcription. To mention a few: snufkin, skimskyn, snoskyn, etc. all signifying the same article, namely some material, worked in cylindrical form, into which both hands are thrust from opposite ends, for comfort. The earliest illustration of a muff we could find is a woodcut in the 1567 edition of Recueil de fa diversit~ des habits, an English Lady wearing a tiny snuffkin, fastened on what appears to be a cord, chain or band. Among various warrants and accounts preserved at the London Public Record Office are several by Adam Blande, skinner. He charges in 1583 ten shillings for furring with five genette skins a seed-pearl embroidered, tawny coloured velvet snuffkin. In 1587 Queen Elizabeth's Great Wardrobe is debited by him with 7 Pounds for the supply of one lynx, five shilling each for four Russian squirrelskins, and ten shillings for making the muff. Two years later we find that Blande is asking one shilling per skin for thirty ermine, and one Pound for manufacturing this snuffkin. His price for mending one swandown and one lynx-skin was 3/4 she each. I am somewhat surprised to notice Mr. Blande's name in a register of persons fined by the Skinners' Company in 1589, for using inferior material. In this instance 12 shillings. Quite a large sum of money in those days. The lists of .New Year's Gifts to Queen Elizabeth in 1589 and 1599 contain many detailed descriptions of muffs. These items bear witness to the fantastic splendour displayed during the Renaissance, the Tudors of course

The Account Book of the Great Wardrobe of Edward IV, King of England, for the year 1478-1479

The Account Book of the Great Wardrobe of Edward IV, King of England, for the year 1478-1479

John Plummer, Master of the Children

The following document is of some interest as illustrating the history of the ‘Children of the Chapel Royal’, which is not yet worked out for the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.John Plummer is mentioned as one of the clerks of the King's Chapel in 1441, receiving a grant of £10 on the 12th April in that year. The grant of forty marks a year for the maintenance of the eight singing-boys, here mentioned, is dated 4th November 1444, and from that date onwards it may be presumed that they ceased to draw their clothing from the great wardrobe. On 24th February 1445 Plummer was formally appointed their teacher and governor. On 30th May 1446 the grant of forty marks, charged on the ulnager of Bristol, was renewed. This grant was presumably rendered invalid by the Act of Resumption of 1449, but it does not appear certain that the following warrant for its revival took effect, since no Letters Patent in pursuance are to be found in the Calendar of Patent Rolls. A similar grant of forty marks a year was granted to Plummer's successor, Henry Abyndon, on 16th March 1456, to date from his appointment at Michaelmas 1455. This grant was renewed by Edward IV on 10th July 1465.

Notes on the Supposed Dramatic Character of the "Ludi" in the Great Wardrobe Accounts of Edward III

Notes on the Supposed Dramatic Character of the "Ludi" in the Great Wardrobe Accounts of Edward III

The Staging of The Court Drama to 1595

It has usually been assumed by historians of the drama that amusements of a dramatic kind at court kept pace with those of the country in general. The entries of 1348 in the Record Books of the Great Wardrobe, which belong to the reign of Edward III, and which concern tunics and visors used in a Christmas celebration, have been interpreted as referring to dramatic entertainments (Collier, i, 15, 22; Warton, ii, 72; Brotanek; Ward, i, 148). This view, however, has recently been called into question in the researches of Professor Arthur Beatty, of the University of Wisconsin, who has pointed out that tunics and visors were also necessities of the tournament, that “It is antecedently improbable that Edward III should have had dramatic entertainments on important occasions,” and that therefore these important entries do not prove the existence of dramatic entertainments at this early date.

Original Documents Warrants to the Keepers of the Great Wardrobe, in the Reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII

Original Documents Warrants to the Keepers of the Great Wardrobe, in the Reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII