1st August, 1827.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In the possession of J. B. Nichols, Esq. F.S.A.
[2] Cottonian MSS. Vespasianus, F. xvi.
[INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.]
On the 23rd of October, 1529, Henry the Eighth came to his manor of Greenwich;[3] in the November following he went on board the Treasurer's ship;[4] and about the 20th of the same month arrived at York Place,[5] now called Whitehall, where he spent his Christmas.
Anno. 1530.—Early in February, 1530, his Majesty was at Hampton Court,[6] and on the 16th at Battersea, but returned the same day to York Place.[7] On the 21st he was again at Hampton Court,[8] and on the 13th of March, the celebrated Hugh Latimer, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, preached before him and was rewarded with a gratuity of five pounds, from which time he cannot be traced by these Accounts, until the 5th of April, when he was at More Park, in Hertfordshire;[9] and towards the end of that month he was at Windsor.[10] Between April and July, Henry seems to have resided either at York Place or Hampton Court: about the middle of July he was evidently at Oking,[11] or Ockham Park, in Surrey; on the 23rd at Guilford;[12] on the 29th at Windsor;[13] and returned to Hampton Court between the 10th and 13th of August,[14] where he remained until the 16th, on which day he went to Easthampstead,[15] and on the 17th was at Asheridge, in Buckinghamshire.[16] On the 21st he was at Ampthill,[17] where he appears to have remained until about the 4th of September; on the 5th of that month he was at Hertford,[18] having in passing through Hitchin on the preceding day, given forty shillings to the Friars of that place.[19] His Majesty did not quit Hertford Park until the 8th or 9th, when he proceeded to Waltham, at which place we find him on the 12th.[20] He seems to have been again at More Park on the 21st,[21] soon after which he returned to Hampton Court, where, it is particularly stated, he was on the 14th of October.[22] He resided chiefly at that palace, occasionally, however, going to York Place,[23] and perhaps to Greenwich, until the death of Cardinal Wolsey, on the 29th November, in that year; when, Hall says "he removed from Hampton Court to Greenwich, where he with Queen Katherine kept a solempne Christmas; and on the twelfe night he satte in the halle in his estate, where as were divers enterludes, riche maskes and disportes, and after that a great banket."[24] "Certain it is, however, that Henry did not leave Hampton Court until the 8th of December,[25] and it is most probable that he did not go to Greenwich until about the 14th of that month,[26] though it is unquestionable that he was there on the 19th."[27] The only evidence of the festivities[28] mentioned
by Hall, are entries of money delivered to the Princess Mary and
Lady Margaret Douglas, the King's niece,[29] "to disport with all this Christmas;"[30] the large sum of 2615l. 9s. 6¼d. paid for plate, and jewellery, chiefly for the latter, between the 21st of December, 1530, and the 6th of January, 1531; new year's gifts; and money lost at play.
Ao. 1531.—After Christmas, according to Hall "The King came to his Manor of Westminster which before was called Yorke Place;"[31] and we find that on the 17th January, 1531, he is said to have been there,[32] and where it seems he was on the 28th of that month;[33] on the 7th and 27th of February;[34] and on the 9th of March.[35] On the 20th, he appears to have amused himself with shooting at Tothill,[36] near Bridewell; and on the 23rd he was clearly at his palace of Bridewell.[37] The divorce then almost wholly occupied his Majesty's mind, though the only entries which in any way refer to it, are of books sent to him from different abbots and priors, and the removal of boat loads of books from one palace to another.[38] Hall takes no further notice of the king's residence until Whitsuntide, namely, the 28th of May, after which, he informs us, "The Kyng and the Queene removed [apparently from Greenwich] to Windsor, and there continued tyll the xiiij daye of Julye, on which daye the Kyng removed to Woodstocke, and left hire at Wyndsore, where she laye a whyle, and after removed to the More, and afterwarde to Esthamstede: and after this, day, the Kyng and she never saw together."[39] It is evident from these Accounts that Henry again amused himself with shooting at Tothill, about the 29th March;[40] that he was at Greenwich on the 13th of April;[41] that he went from it by water on the same day to York Place;[42] but he returned soon afterwards,[43] and was there on the 28th of May,[44] whilst Hall's statement that he then proceeded to Hampton Court is proved by several entries on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of June; especially by a payment of 14s. 8d. "to the watermen for carying of the King's stuffe from Greenwich to Hampton Court, eleven men for two days:"[45] on the 15th he is expressly said to have been there,[46] and again on the 18th, 22nd, and 24th, when watermen were paid for waiting "the day the King came from Westminster to Putney,"[47] an entry which probably referred to their attendance a short time before. On the 3rd of July, "Henry was at York Place,"[48] and on the 9th at Windsor;[49] but so far from there being any corroboration of Hall's assertion, that on the 14th of July, "the King removed to Woodstock," it may be inferred that he was either at Windsor or Hampton Court until the 28th,[50] with the exception of the 22nd, when he was at Chertseye.[51] It is however unquestionable that he commenced his progress towards the end of July; and the following seems to have been the itinerary of his journey. At Guilford on the 29th of July,[52] at, or near, Farnham, in Surrey, on the 2nd of August;[53] at Odiham on the 4th;[54] at the Vyne in Hampshire, the seat of Lord Sandys, from the 4th to the 5th,[55] during which time he hunted in Wolmer forest;[56] on the 8th he was at Easthampstead,[57] whence he proceeded to Woodstock, where we find him on the 22nd,[58] and probably also on the 13th.[59] His Majesty remained there until the 2nd or 3rd of September,[60] and evidently enjoyed every diversion which the country afforded him, namely, hunting, shooting, hawking, fishing, &c. From Woodstock he went to Grafton in Northamptonshire, where he arrived on the 5th,[61] when the Mayor of Northampton sent him a present of pears,[62] and where it appears he gave an audience to the Hungarian Ambassadors, for whom a house was hired at Stony Stratford.[63] Henry continued at Grafton until about the 10th, when he went to Ampthill,[64] in Bedfordshire, and purchased some silks and jewellery on the 15th;[65] and on the 20th we find him at Waltham Abbey,[66] where he was also on the 9th of October.[67] Hall informs us that about this time the King caused a solemn obsequy to be kept at that place for the Duchess of Angouleme, mother of the King of France, who died on the 22nd of September, at which ceremony he assisted, attended by many of his nobles.[68] On the 23rd of that Month he healed a poor woman at Havering Bower,[69] though he returned to Waltham before the 25th,[70] and on or before the 31st he arrived at his palace of Greenwich,[71] having previously fished at Hunsdon.[72]