New Year Gifts for King Henry VIII

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you are very welcome this is reading the past and I'm Dr Cat and welcome to the last reading the past video of 2023 I do hope that everyone has had a lovely festive season so far and a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate if though we were at this very moment to be transported back to this very day in history at say one of the years during the reign of King Henry VII we would still very much be making our list and checking it twice because at New Year we would be hoping to please impress even Dazzle our Monarch with the most fabulous and Unforgettable gift that we could both think of and afford now of course we must be mindful that that gift is not too flashy we must after all avoid either offending or indeed embarrassing more prominent courtiers and even members of the royal family if we get it right though we will get our Monarch's attention for all the right reasons and a gift will normally follow in return and perhaps that gift would be further sweetened with promotion and preferment or even forgiveness if that is what we are at this point seeking the stakes were high and there was everything to play for with that in mind what shall we [Music] buy [Music] at around this time last year we were exploring the Christmas celebrations of the chuda period as a whole and I will leave that video linked but as part of that video I did touch on the extant gift roles and on some of the items that can be found upon those gift rolls in this video however the tradition of gift giving and the gifts exchanged and recorded during the reign of King Henry VII will be our sole Focus so let's jump in the official record of the gifts given and received by King Henry VII at New Year 1532 has to my mind some fairly interesting blank spots we see that cathine of aragan the queen is named but the gift entry spot is left blank in each case both as a owner and as a recipient there is also as we can see a blank space for the gift that was given to the lady an we do get a fuller picture through eustus Sha's letter to the emperor Charles I dated to the 4th of January in this letter he writes quote though the queen has been forbidden to write or send messages to the king she sent him the other day by son novel or one of his chamber a Gold Cup as a present with honorable and humble words words but the king refused it and was displeased with the person who presented it two or 3 hours afterwards he looked at it and praised its fashion and fearing that the person who presented it would return it to the Queen's messenger and that the latter might make a present of it publicly to the other who could not refuse it he ordered it not to be returned till the evening and so it was sent back to the Queen the King has sent her no present and has forbidden the council and others to do so as is usual he used to send New Year's presents to the ladies of the queen and princess but this has not been done this year thus they will lower the state of both unless there is Speedy remedy he has not been so discourteous to the lady who has presented him with certain darts of biscayan fashion richly ornamented in return he gave her a room hung with cloth of gold and silver silver and Crimson satin with Rich embroideries It is believed that the darts being referenced here were actually a type of spear some have suggested they were a form of light spear that were designed to be thrown While others have describe them as being B Spears for those who are unfamiliar a bore spear is not light nor would it be intended to be thrown BS are famously very dangerous to hunt due to their incredible strength and B spares are designed with this in mind the wings that we can see sitting behind the main blade serve to prevent a charging boar from Goring its Hunter when it becomes impaled on his spear in short this is a sign that even when impaled a boar is so powerful and muscular that their body can travel up the length of a spar to injure the person who has hunted them Henry's gift in return saw him provide an with with fabrics for her room and her bed that would allow her to furnish those rooms in a manner that frankly befitted a queen now Anne may not be his Queen yet at least not officially but it certainly seems to me that Henry was very keen to have Anne housed in Thoroughly Royal style in the same gifting season Henry received among countless other items a pair of writing tables with a gold whistle from his sister Mary this pair of writing tables refers to a small portable tablet designed to be written upon it was usually something designed for note taking the bishop of elely gave his King a hawk Charles Brandon presented an 8 and 3/4 ounce gold ball quote for fume now presumably this is something that either held or gave off a perfume scent perhaps it did both I imagine that it was something like a pomander The Dowager Duchess of norfol provided quote the birth of our Lord in a box which I assume to be some kind of nativity scene possibly painted possibly made up of models Sir Arthur Darcy gave the king a pair of virginals this refers to a musical instrument from the harpsicord family as we get towards the bottom of this list we see Thomas Cromwell his place so low down on this list is a sign that he is on the Royal radar but has come nowhere near to reaching the heights that he will eventually achieve at this time he is recorded as having given his King a ring with a ruby tantalizingly he also gifts him a box with images of the French King's children I have no idea what Cromwell has in mind with this why is he giving Henry a man who has famously pursued a son for so long a box of images presumably miniature portraits showing the French King's Sons and Daughters this rival King to Henry VII he has what Henry wants what do you think Cromwell had in mind with this particular gift and at the very end last but I'm sure by no means least we have Steven Andrew giving his King a civit for those who are unfamiliar I will be showing a photograph of a civit on screen now this Beast may eventually have been removed to the Tower of London where it would have joined the rest of the royal managerie at New Year 1534 an berin was now the crowned Queen of England her daughter Elizabeth was now Henry VII's Heir and at that New Year Anne gave her husband quote a goodly guilt Basin having a rail or Board of gold in the midst of the brim garnished with rubies and Pearls wherein standeth a fountain also having a rail of gold about it garnished with diamonds out thereof issue with water at the teeths of three naked women standing at the foot of the same Fountain unlike a lot of the gifts that we have seen and will continue to see being listed that we are discussing in this video we do have an idea of what this particular gift looked like as we have this design drawing made by hands hold by the younger often described as a quote table Fountain it has been suggested that this particular piece may have been intended as a means to wash your hands before during and after the meal that this was in effect a glorious centerpiece to be put on your table it was common for a basin and U something that was used for the same purpose to be filled with warmed scented water so I do wonder if the same may be true for an's table Fountain is it possible that this piece was once filled with warmed Rose waterer for example either way I really wish that this finished found was still extant because I for one would absolutely love to see it in the same year Charles Brandon gave Henry quote a book garnished with gold having therein a clock I'm not exactly sure of what this refers to I have thought that perhaps what's being described here is a manuscript text bound and in that binding somehow that text has been accompanied and placed with some kind of time piece alternatively it may be that this is a clock or time piece that has been designed to be stored or housed within some kind of binding that is more commonly associated with books is it possible that what is being detailed here is a Time piece that is for some reason disguised as a book in either case I wonder would it be interesting to anyone for me to put together a video on shoter time pieces if it would please do let me know in the comments further down this list we see the following quote the presents are of the same kind as in previous lists among them a silver guilt Compass 69 and 3/4 o which I think is fairly self-explanatory as to what this item would have looked like but I will see if I can find a photograph of a similar piece most likely from a later time period we also have a goodly table of Hercules a table of Our Lord the tables in this case are flat boards onto which paintings have been made in this case Hercules and the Lord respectively we have a tablet of gold with an antic possibly pronounced antique face this golden piece is presumably embossed or molded into something that we might recognize as being a mask potentially however this is instead a gold item that has simply been painted with some kind of face there was a primer of written hand in Vellum this is a prayer book or book of ours handwritten on treated animal skins almost certainly richly illuminated a thoroughly beautiful and bespoke piece we have a goodly clock so another time piece and quote esposa or maybe esposa of gold with a chain I am unclear as to what this is referring to and my attempts to research the matter have frankly run ground so if anyone does have any thoughts on this please do let me know in the comments we see that there was also a goodly table of St Jerome so we have again a painted image of St Jerome a tablet of gold with a device Venus and cupido this being Venus and Cupid either painted and or embossed onto gold two sevet my best guess is that these are fine pieces of cloth intended for the king to use while he was dining so that he could wipe clean and or dry his hands there is also a mama set this is a small monkey and here is a photograph of one that I have been able to find as you'll be able to see in the examples that I'm showing on screen now these types of animals or at least monkeys that look quite similar too them were also found in a whole variety of Tuda portraits perhaps it be useful for me to explore the shifting significance of monkeys in the art of this period do let me know if you would find a video on that interesting the gift role of 1539 is now housed in the fer library in it we learn that the King's Barber Edmund Harmon gave Henry quote a crimson hat thrummed with a band of pearled gold the team at historic raw palaces have suggested a potential connection between this hat and the so-called brist Bristo hat which is believed to have been given to Nicholas Bristo Clark of the royal wardrobe by Henry VII it is possible that Henry was regifting the Hat in this case the hrp team write quote in style and quality it is likely to be an item that belonged to Henry the thick pile appearance of the hat is created by thrumming a common style in the 1530s in 1539 Edmund Harmon the King's Barber gave Henry a crimson hat thred with a band of pearled gold there are evenly placed pierced holes around the crown of the Bristo hat which may have been where such Jewels were attached though we'll never know if the Bristo hat belonged to the king it illustrates the practice of gifting select items of clothing so common in the chuda court it has also been suggested that this fabulous and famous portrait of Prince Edward by H Hine the younger was gifted to Henry VII during these same New Year celebrations Too Little Prince Edward was also the recipients of gifts at this time from his eldest half sister the Lady Mary he received an embroidered Crimson satin coat his other half sister the Lady Elizabeth gave quote a shirt of cambrick of her own working this would have been a shirt made from fine linen that would have been imported from combre in Flanders a gold Bell and a whistle also came his way as did a whole collection of livestock specifically oxen and mutton plus there were a number of cups and balls made from Silver and guilt the next year 1540 Prince Edward was well provided for once again his father gave him guilt table wear the Lady Mary presented him with a gold brooch with the image of St John the Baptist set with a Ruby from the Lady Elizabeth he was received a bracer of needle work of her own making this is likely to be a type of guard for the lower arm and or wrist it was commonly used for archery but considering that Edward was only two at the time that this gift was given I do wonder how much use he would have been able to make of it at least at the very start I also wonder what it says about his sisters and their choice of gifts that Mary's gifts appear to have been manufactured by other hands perhaps commission certainly purchased by her while Elizabeth handmade her own gifts for her brother in both years I wonder what you might think about the seemingly very different approaches to gift giving certainly handmade gifts would be something that Elizabeth would return to in later New Year gift exchanges in 1545 Elizabeth presented her stepmother Katherine par with her own handwritten translation from French into English of margarite of naar the glass of the sinful Soul the following year in 1546 she would translate John Calvin's institution of the Christian religion into English for Katherine and in the same year for her father Elizabeth translated Katherine PA's own prayers and meditations into Latin French and Italian for the last New Year of King Henry VII's Reign the new year of 154 7 we see the 9-year-old Prince Edward writing letters of gratitude for the gifts that he had received in separate letters all dated to the 10th of January Edward wrote to thank Henry VII Katherine par and Mary his sister for their gifts to him in the case of his stepmother we learn that the gift in question was a pair of portraits of Henry VII and herself now I think this was a gift gift with political as much as familial intent Katherine par would have been very aware of her husband's failing Health he would after all not live out that month I believe that in this gift she was seeking to assert and affirm her place as Henry's wife a woman he had previously trusted to be his Regent back in 1544 when he went to fight the French after all gifts given to members of the royal family were by no means a secret they weren't exchanged in private they passed through many hands they were recorded that is why we know of them today and so I am led to ask was this these two portraits Katherine's statement in regard to the prominence that should be her due as the King's widow if or indeed when that time should come and with that we come to the end of this henrian Christmas tide giftgiving expiration and also the year 2023 on reading the past if this has wetted your appetite perhaps we can take a look at what was given at New Year's in the Reigns of Henry's children in next year's New Year video well what do you think of that idea for a follow-up video next year of Katherine PA's potential motivations to give those portraits to Prince Edward of all the other gifts that we have looked at today what do you think you would have given to King Henry VII what one of them might you have liked to receive did any of the non-extant gifts stand out to you as something you wish that we could see today as always I'm looking forward to reading your conversations in the comment section underneath this video but I would also love it if you could pop an emoji or a social glyph in the comments too because that will boost the engagement and the more engagement a video gets the more YouTube shares it out and that does help us to grow this community as we have been talking about presents I think it's pretty obvious which Emoji I think you should go for you can find me Elsewhere on social media I will 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