Tuesday 15 June 2010

State Lottery 1566

The glory and magnificence of the Tudors still has power to amaze today. A letter from Elizabeth I to Sir John Spencer on 31 August 1566 giving him instructions to organise England's first State Lottery went up for sale by auction last Sunday.


The letter contains the details of how much tickets were to cost(10 shillings) and the top prize of £5,000 (about £850,000 in todays money). The draw was not actually held until 1569 because of the problems selling tickets across thye country.

The spelling is of course not what we are used to today and is also a flowery language, below is a short extract

'Where we have com[m]anded a ceratine carte of a Lotterie to be published by our Shirif of Countie in the principall townes of the same, of which we send you certen copies for the further execution thereof it is expedient to have somme persons appointed of good trust to receave such particular sommes as our subjects shall of their owne free disposition be ready to deliver upon the said lotterie who also shall w[it]hout faile be dewly authorised and their adventures shall happen w[it]hout either deceypt or delaye.'

The proceeds of the lottery were to go good causes
'Anything advantagious is ordered to be employed to good and publique acts and beneficially for o[u]r Realme and o[u]r Subjects') and nthe prizes werre to be money gold or other fine material and tapestries.

The letter? well it was sold for £24,000!! at that price I'll have to put in a bit of overtime I think.

www.tudorhistorytours.com

Tuesday 8 June 2010

The Field of the Cloth of Gold

June 7th 1520 King Henry VIII met Francis I the King of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais.
It was a sumptuous affair lasting two weeks and each king tried to outdo each other with lavish entertainment with all their courtiers in attendance. There was so much gold cloth in the costumes and in the tents that the event the was so named. The event is depicted in the most famous painting, with the Henry arriving on a horse in grand procession. The wine fountain flows freely and there are a few people who have had a tad too much to drink I think. The wine fountain has been re-created at Hampton Court palace recently, and for a small fee, you can have some wine.

Way up in the background in the painting there are two figures in a tent, either embracing or wrestling with each other, was this the time Francis won the wrestling duel and threw our Henry?

Henry was just 28 years old at the time and a very impressive male figure, 6 foot 2 inches tall and it must have really hurt his pride to be thrown.

The whole affair was supposed to establish closer relations and friendships between the two countries, it succeeded, but only for a short while.

www.tudorhistorytours.com

Saturday 5 June 2010

Kings College Chapel Cambridge

What a magnificent place this is. On a glorious sunny day the superlatives rapidly dry up to describe the assault on your senses.

Set right in the middle of the University city of Cambridge, the Chapel is larger than some Cathedrals I've been in. You walk in through the north door under the wrought iron gate with the Crown set in a thorn bush. This is to remind us that Henry VII found the Crown in a thorn bush at the battle of Bosworth, well, Shakespeare tells us so anyway.

As you step into the chapel itself it just takes your breath away. It is a statement from Henry VIII, you can hear him shouting down the centuries to us,"I am Henry Octavus, Lord of this land, This is me and I WILL be remembered" There are his coat of arms everywhere, dragons & greyhounds, Tudor roses, Portcullises and sheilds, the most magnificent fan vaulted roof, the largest anywhere in the world.

There is more than one unique feature in this buidling. One of the Tudor Roses in the north west corner has a female figure in the centre, the only one I have seen anywhere. It is of Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII's mother, now why is that?

There are two of his wives here, Anne Boleyn's initials are carved in the oak Rood Screen in the middle of the Chapel. The carver must have forgot to remove them after she unfortunately mislaid her head, or was it on Henry's orders? Katherine Howard is seen in one of the windows high up and adoring Henry, who is actually Solomon but with fiery red hair. It is the only authenticated image of Katherine Howard known anywhere. High up on the East Window, so high up that you either rick your neck or have to stand back a very long way, above the Red dragon of Wales are the letters, H & K, the initials of Katherine Howard.

The organist was practising all the time I was there and as I stepped out of one of the side chapels a full blast of music was timed to perfection to hit me as I stepped through the door, made me jump back. I stayed for ages just listenng to the music and didn't really want to leave.

A truly remarkable place to visit.


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