The royal palaces were many and varied. The painting at the top of this page shows Greenwich Palace from the Thames. Greenwich is the "pleasure palace" of the title of the first book in the series. The old name for it was Pleasance. The view below is Greenwich from the land side.
Below are two views of the Tower of London in Tudor Times. It, too, is an important setting in all of the novels, both as a prison and as a royal residence. While awaiting their coronation, the king (or queen) customarily lived in the royal apartments in the Tower of London.
Some of the other palaces that figure in the novels in this series are Eltham, Richmond, Westminster, and Whitehall. After a fire at Westminster Palace in 1512, there was no royal residence of note there until King Henry took York Place from Cardinal Wolsey and renamed it Whitehall. Whitehall then became "the king's place at Westminster" and is often called Westminster in records of the time. This leads, as you can imagine, to considerable confusion! Below is a view of the water gate at Whitehall.
How did the courtiers travel from palace to palace? Often they went by water Below are two depictions of the sort of boat courtiers used. The first is a contemporary sketch, the second a photograph taken during a reenactment. That's "Henry VIII" being rowed down the Thames.
The map below shows a section of the Thames between Westminster on the west and Lambeth on the east. Whitehall is between Westminster and Charing Cross. The latter is depicted at the top of the map.
The Who's Who section of this website has mini-biographies of many of the women at court, but the anonymous subjects of paintings and sketches also create a picture of life at court. Take the unknown lady below. She was immortalized sometime in the 1520s or 1530s by Lucas Hornebolt. She's wearing the gable headdress so hated by Nan Bassett in Between Two Queens.
Just as a matter of interest, a very similar portrait has been identified by one scholar as Mary Boleyn, who was King Henry's mistress in the 1520s. Below is a sketch of court ladies done by Hans Holbein the Younger at about the same period. Again, they're wearing gable headdresses.
The portraits below show the sitters wearing French hoods, a much more comfortable and flattering headdress. The sketch is by Hans Holbein the Younger and is probably Mary Zouche, who was one of Nan Bassett's fellow maids of honor.
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In Between Two Queens, for Queen Jane's funeral, another sort of attire was required. Below is a sketch showing mourning dress for a countess.
Below is a sketch, supposedly by Hans Holbein the Younger, of young lovers at the court of Henry VIII.
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Of course, at the Tudor court, the center of attention is always the monarch. The sketch below is of Henry VIII at a meal in his Privy Chamber. The oil painting gives you an idea of how many men always surrounced the king when he ventured out of the palace.
I'll be adding more to this page as I find interesting depictions of people and places. Meanwhile, to return to the index page, click below.
last updated 10/28/11