On this day in Tudor history, 3rd October 1518, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, sang a mass to Henry VIII and the French ambassadors at St Paul's Cathedral in celebration of a treaty between England and France.
This mass wasn't the only celebration, there was also a banquet and a lavish masque of lords and ladies dressed beautifully and disguised with masking hoods. And the masque included some well-known courtiers, people like Sir Francis Bryan and Bessie Blount, the King's mistress.
Hear a contemporary description of this masque in today's talk...
Also on this day in history:
- 1559 – Death of Sir William Fitzwilliam, Gentleman of Edward VI's Privy Chamber. He was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
- 1584 – Death of Sir Gilbert Dethick, herald, Garter Principal King of Arms and diplomat, in London. He was laid to rest in the church of St Benet Paul's Wharf. Dethick's offices included Hampnes Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary (1536), Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary (1540), Richmond Herald of Arms in Ordinary (1540), Norroy King of Arms (1547) and Garter Principal King of Arms (1550).
I have heard of “cloth of tissue” and know it was a type of very rich cloth but what exactly was it made from as obviously it wasn’t what we think of as tissue, just wondering what it was.
Beautifully narrated and vivid descriptions of the celebrations and I can just imagine the dancing and all the King and Queens friends celebrated by dressing up. The good old days.
From what I understand, it was a very expensive cloth made from either very fine silver thread or very fine gold thread. So a bit like cloth of gold or silver, but finer.
Hi Claire, you say you would have loved to be there and have seen the beautiful costumes as the Nobles partied. Maybe you were!! I think there’s a good chance that we lovers of history are so, because yes, we were there!!