Alden Gregory
I’m a curator at Historic Royal Palaces, looking after the Tower of London and Whitehall Banqueting House. I research Tudor architecture, especially temporary structures built for court entertainments
Location London
Activity
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Alden Gregory replied to Barbara K-S
However, you're absolutely right to argue that it's difficult to diagnose the long-term effects of the accident at this distance. While the evidence does suggest that Henry began to suffer badly with his leg in the year following the accident - evidence that includes a letter written in 1537 by Henry himself - it will always be a point of debate as to whether...
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Alden Gregory replied to Barbara K-S
You've hit on the challenges of interpreting 500 year old sources! Personally I think we can be pretty confident that Henry did suffer a serious jousting accident in 1536. It's mentioned in several sources, including documents written at the time by the ambassador Eustace Chapuys and the chronicler Charles Wriothesley. The papal nuncio in France, Bishop...
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Alden Gregory replied to Barbara K-S
Hi Barbara, yes you're absolutely right that Jane's coronation was cancelled because of the plague, and we can only guess how Jane might have felt about it. Preparations had been well underway though when the decision to abandon it was taken. The staging was being constructed in Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall had been cleared and the tables set out for...
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Hi Fiona, good question. You're right to say that Anne Boleyn was serving in the household of Queen Claude in 1520, and while there's no surviving record to prove that Anne attended the Field of Cloth of Gold, I think we can be reasonably confident that she was there. François, Claude, Henry, and Katherine all travelled to the Field of Cloth of Gold with huge...
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The descriptions of the Knights of the Bath ceremony don't specify whether the baths were filled with hot or cold water. However, they do say that once the esquire had bathed, he should lie in his bed to dry off and then be dressed in warm clothes for his overnight vigil in the chapel. It sounds like the esquire was sat in his bathtub for quite a while though,...
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Interestingly, even at the time people commented on how weird this process was. Archbishop Cranmer, who was probably at the Tower to witness the event, wrote afterwards, "on Friday at night the King's Grace made eighteen Knights of the Bath, whose creation was not alone so strange to hear of, as also their garments stranger to behold or look on"
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Alden Gregory replied to Barbara K-S
That's a good question. We don't know how long Anne's procession lasted - the accounts of it don't specify the timings - but when Charles II processed along the same route ahead of his coronation in 1661 it took him 5 hours to get from the Tower to Whitehall.
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Alden Gregory replied to Shirley Foale
Welcome to the course Shirley! The mention of Knole caught my attention - it's a place I'm very fond of! I hope you find lots in this course that brings Knole to life for you. Look out for content about archery and bowling because, as well as hunting in Knole park, there's evidence that there was a bowling green and archery butts too in the 16th century. And...
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Alden Gregory replied to Evelyn ROSS
Hi Evelyn, tonlet armour was made for foot combats and wasn't intended to be worn on horseback. Henry had several suits of armour made for the Field of Cloth of Gold, at great expense, all carefully designed with a specific sport in mind.
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Alden Gregory replied to Barbara K-S
Hello Barbara, this is a great question, and you're right to say that there's been debate about whether the dragon was a kite or a firework. The best evidence we have for the dragon comes from a narrative poem by the French author Jacobus Sylvius titled 'Francisci Francorum regis et Henrici Anglorum colloquium' (The interview between Francis King of the French...
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Alden Gregory replied to Michael Bath
@MichaelBath it's not our intention to imply that we think Blanke was of Sub-Saharan heritage, only that he appears to have been from the wider African diaspora. For that reason, it's certainly possible that he was born in North Africa, or indeed in Spain or southern Europe to parents of African heritage. As I mentioned in my last reply, sources for Blanke are...
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Alden Gregory replied to John Cope
That's a very good point John! Actually one of the earliest surviving tennis balls - now in the Museum of London - was found in the rafters of Westminster Hall, so some of the balls must have got trapped in hard-to-reach places. That it was found in Westminster Hall also suggests that tennis wasn't always played on purpose built courts! It's also the case that...
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Alden Gregory replied to Michael Bath
Hi Michael, these are great questions. In truth little is known about John Blanke’s ethnic or cultural identity, but contemporary accounts described him as ‘black’ and the small portrait identified as Blanke on the Westminster Tournament Roll shows a man who appears to be of African origin. Blanke is important because he is representative of the many men and...
