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The court
was always full at Christmas. The royal palaces, like many
humbler homes, were decorated with "holly, ivy and bays, and
whatsoever the season afforded to be green,"13 and the public
were often allowed in to watch the "goodly and gorgeous mummeries."14
In the great hall or presence chamber, the mighty Yule log
crackled on the hearth, and carols were sung and danced, "to
the great rejoicing of the Queen and the nobles."15
Great
feasts were served at court over Yuletide. On Christmas Day,
there was always the seasonal favourite, seethed brawn made
from spiced boar or pork, and perhaps roast swans; the first
course, however, was in-variably a boar's head, which was
served "bedecked with bay and rosemary," according to the
old carol printed in 1521 by the King's printer, Wynkyn de
Worde. For the sumptuous banquet that marked Twelfth Night,
a special cake containing dried fruit, flour, honey, and spices
was baked. The cake contained a pea or a bean; whoever found
it would be King or Queen of the Pea or Bean for the evening.
From payments made beforehand, however, it appears that at
court the lucky recipients were often selected in advance,
just to be on the safe side. At the void on Twelfth Night,
the choir of the Chapel Royal sang as the wassail cup, which
contained spiced ale, was brought in by the Lord Steward and
pre-sented to the King and Queen and then passed around the
table.16
Christmas
was also a time for solemn religious observances. Each Christmas
Day, the King would hear mass in his closet before going in
pro-cession to the Chapel Royal for matins, where he actually
participated in the service. This was, observed a papal nuncio,
a "very unusual proceeding," since Henry usually attended
to business during public services.17 The choir usually sang
"Gloria in excelsis" on these occasions, for which the King
once rewarded them with £2 (£600). On the Feast of the Epiphany,
gold, frankincense, and myrrh were offered on behalf of the
Queen.
Presents
were exchanged, not on Christmas Day, but on New Year's Day.
Not only the Queen and the royal family, but also every courtier
and servant gave the King a gift. Each gift was presented
to him by the donor or his representative in a glittering
ceremony in the presence chamber, where the gifts--which might
be gold or silver plate, jewellery or money--were afterwards
displayed on sideboards or trestle tables for all to see.
Each was then listed by the royal secretaries before being
stored away. Great lords vied with one another to give the
most valuable or novel items: Cardinal Wolsey regularly gave
his master a gold cup worth £100 (£30,000). In return, Henry
distributed gifts of plate, such as cups and bowls chased
with the royal cipher, each weighted according to rank, to
every person at court, even the most menial members of the
Household.
In January
1510, Henry staged the first of many disguisings. Early one
morning, he and eleven companions dressed themselves as Robin
Hood and his outlaws, donning short coats of green Kentish
Kendal with hoods that concealed their faces. Then, armed
with bows and arrows, swords and bucklers, they burst into
the Queen's chamber--at which Katherine and her ladies were
much "abashed." Nevertheless, they agreed to dance with their
visitors, and only after the dancing was finished did the
King and his fellows throw back their hoods and reveal who
they were, to the astonishment of the ladies and the amusement
of the men.18
Henry
VIII's reign witnessed the Indian summer of the age of chivalry.
Tournaments in the Burgundian style were hugely popular, and
were staged at almost every court festival or diplomatic visit,
and as regular events during May and June to provide "honourable
and healthy exercise" 19 before the hunting season began.
They were essentially an aristo-cratic preserve, intended
to keep fighting men in peak condition in peacetime, since
the King was "not minded to see young gentlemen inexpert in
martial feats."20 Tournaments had also become glittering social
events that afforded Henry and his courtiers the chance to
show off their wealth and prowess before foreign ambassadors.
Success in the lists was a sure route to royal favour.
There
were different forms of combat: "barriers," with opponents
fighting on foot with swords across a waist-high wooden fence;
hand-to-hand combats on foot with a variety of weapons, "in
imitation of Amadis and Lancelot and other knights of olden
times";21 the tourney, fought out on horseback with swords;
and the dramatic tilt or joust between mounted knights with
lances thundering towards each other at either side of a wooden
palisade. In the tilt, competitors fought in pairs; in the
joust, alone. Contestants had to be courageous and strong,
with a good eye and a fine sense of timing because a high
degree of risk was in-volved, and men sometimes did get killed
or injured. Achieving honour in the joust was nearly as prestigious
as attaining glory in battle.
The tournament
was the ultimate theatre of chivalry. Lavish pageantry and
allegory attended these events, which were watched by spectators
in covered stands. The participants would enter their names
on a "Tree of Chivalry,"22 and they might arrive in the lists
in fancy costume--Henry once appeared as Hercules--riding
on pageant cars. Usually there was a grand procession to the
tiltyard, headed by the Marshals of the Joust on horseback,
followed by footmen; drummers; trumpeters; then lords and
knights, two by two, all splendidly dressed and mounted; pages;
the jousters, fully armed; and finally "His Majesty, armed
cap-a-pie, surrounded by 30 gentlemen on foot, dressed in
velvet and satin."23 Tournaments were often held over several
days.
Surviving
score sheets, kept by heralds, show that marks were awarded
on a bar-gate system according to which parts of an opponent's
armour were hit: the helmet scoring highest, closely followed
by the breast-plate. 24 In the tilt, the ultimate aim was
to unhorse an opponent or split his lance. Courtly love also
had a role in these affairs. The winning knight would be proclaimed
the champion of the day, and receive his accolade from the
Queen or the highest ranking lady present. Jousts were usually
held in honour of the ladies, who gave favours, such as scarves
or handkerchiefs, to their chosen knights to wear in the lists.
"The King,
being lusty, young and courageous, greatly delighted in feats
of chivalry."25 When he was sixteen, he was reported to have
exercised in the lists every day.26 On 12 January 1510, Henry
tilted in public for the very first time. He and William Compton
appeared in disguise in the lists at Richmond, but it was
a furious contest and when Compton, in combat with Edward
Neville, was "sore hurt and like to die," Henry deemed it
politic to leave the field. As he rode away, someone in on
the secret cried, "God save the King!" whereupon he had no
choice but to "discover himself "--at which there was general
amazement, for within living memory English kings had been
mere spectators at such events.27
Compton
fortunately recovered, and Henry went on to enjoy an illustrious
career in the lists, much to the dismay of the "ancient fathers"
on the Council, who worried that he might injure or even kill
himself. To placate them, the King began using specially made
hollow lances to reduce impact. But he still took fearful
risks, "having no respect or fear of anyone in the world,"28
and was nearly killed on two occasions, as we shall hear.
Henry
was literally obsessed with jousting. He trained regularly,
often charging with his lance to dislodge a detachable ring
from a post, or tilting at the quintain, a dummy on a revolving
bar. His favourite opponents were Compton, Neville, Buckingham,
and above all Brandon, who was soon being made jousting clothes
to match those of the King his partner. CONTINUE>>
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