Unlike his rather austere father, Henry VIII is all about ostentation: the bolder and brighter the outfit, the better. But this isn’t just a matter of personal preference. He creates the image he wants to project with the silhouettes he chooses to wear. Mostly he wants to underscore his youth and his exuberance: this ain’t my daddy’s court, ya’ll! And so he spends quite lavishly on his ensembles. His layers are simple enough: he’ll wear a linen shirt as a base layer, very fine, of course, and often embroidered at the cuffs and collar. Henry has seamstresses to mend this layer when needed, but it’s considered a wifely duty to make shirts, even at this level of society. Which is how Henry’s shirts become something that Catherine and Anne go to battle over. In 1530, when Anne discovers a servant bringing Henry’s old shirts to Catherine’s chambers so she can mend them, she freaks. Darning the king’s underwear is an intimate, wifely duty, and would legitimize Catherine’s queenship in the eyes of the entire court. So Anne nips the whole thing in the bud, making sure that SHE will be the one darning Henry’s undies ever after. Well, she hires another woman to do it, obviously, but it’s the look of the thing! Later, Anne got involved in rather complicated relationships and married Henry VIII, which led to her beheading. But this is a totally different story. Natalie Grueninger and Sarah Morris. “Anne Boleyn’s Coronation Procession with Sarah Morris.” Talking Tudors Podcast, episode 76. May 30, 2020. Your Grace's displeasure, and my imprisonment are things so strange unto me, as what to write, or what to excuse, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you send unto me (willing me to confess a truth, and so obtain your favour) by such an one, whom you know to be my ancient professed enemy. I no sooner received this message by him, than I rightly conceived your meaning; and if, as you say, confessing a truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all willingness and duty perform your demand.

Anne presided over a court within the royal household. She spent lavish amounts of money on gowns, jewels, head-dresses, ostrich-feather fans, riding equipment, furniture and upholstery, maintaining the ostentatious display required by her status. Numerous palaces were renovated to suit the extravagant tastes she and Henry shared. [114] Her motto was "The most happy", and she chose a white falcon as her personal device. Anne is great at the game that is court life. She might not be traditionally beautiful, one contemporary puts it, but “…for behavior, manners, attire and tongue she excelled them all.” She is witty, sharp, and always captivating. Enough to catch Henry’s eye in 1524 and hold it fast. By 1526 he stops sleeping with Catherine, given up his mistress Mary – Anne Boleyn’s sister, by the way – and starts writing Anne letters that range from merely flattering to a little bit whiny. He gives her presents in the form of jewels and fine clothing: crimson satin, cloth of gold. He uses clothes to show his growing obsession with her – and with many of his wives to come. In 1540 he’ll shower his new mistress, Catherine Howard, with 23 lengths of fine soft silk.episode transcript there are likely to be typos is here, so forgive me: it was written for audio. Anne makes a splash Leah Kirtio. “‘The inordinate excess in apparel’: Sumptuary Legislation in Tudor England,” Constellations 3, no. 1 (2012): 17-29. https://doi.org/10.29173/cons16283 The most influe

Sarah Bochiccho. “1590-1599.” Fashion History Timeline. January 5, 2020. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1590-1599/ The last layer of underwear is a simple chemise. There were no drawers yet in England in the 16th century. The dress is laced at the front, and the lacing is covered with a stomacher which is attached by many pins. And, actually, the outfit that includes a dozen or two of pins is not the most comfy one. And a Tudor-era female attire is kept together mainly by lacing and pins. Nicholas Sander, a Catholic recusant born c. 1530, was committed to deposing Elizabeth I and re-establishing Catholicism in England. In his De Origine ac Progressu schismatis Anglicani ( The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism), published in 1585, he was the first to write that Anne had six fingers on her right hand. [181] Since physical deformities were generally interpreted as a sign of evil, it is unlikely that Anne Boleyn would have gained Henry's romantic attention had she had any. [182] Upon exhumation in 1876, no abnormalities were discovered. Her frame was described as delicate, approximately 5feet 3inches (1.60m), "the hand and feet bones indicated delicate and well-shaped hands and feet, with tapering fingers and a narrow foot". [183]

Site Customisation

Public support remained with Catherine. One evening, in the autumn of 1531, Anne was dining at a manor house on the River Thames and was almost seized by a crowd of angry women. Anne just managed to escape by boat. [75] The bottom of a kirtle is usually adorned with a velvet ribbon. And this is not just for good looks – it makes the skirt of a kirtle lie more even and smooth. And just to add to the scandal, Anne’s already pregnant. On September 7, 1533, she gives birth to a daughter: Elizabeth. It’s not the outcome she or Henry were praying for: the baby’s not a boy, after all. But with Elizabeth’s birth, Anne feels confident enough to flex her queenly muscles. And she does it, once again, through clothes. She demands that Catherine of Aragon send her the christening gown that Mary, Henry’s eldest daughter, wore. Catherine, it will not surprise you to hear, is having none of it. She writes, “God forbid that I should ever be so badly advised as to give help, assistance, or favor, directly or indirectly in a case so horrible as this.” Things get so heated that Henry has to intervene, showing us how intensely symbolic even a child’s gown can be.