Product Description
KING HENRY VIIIth’s HOUSEHOLD BOOK, being an Account of the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VIII. from November, 1529, to December 1532; now first printed from the original MS.; with Notes and Illustrations by Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Esq. F.S.A. 8vo. price 1l. 1s.
This volume abounds in curious particulars, illustrative not only of the Manners, Customs, and Expenses of the time, but, to some extent, of the personal character of Henry the Eighth. From it may be traced where the King was on each day during the above period, his occupations, and amusements, together with the names of the persons composing his household, their wages, and the cost of their dresses, &c. It likewise contains numerous entries relative to Ann Boleyn, and the information which they afford respecting her are both new and important. Among other items are the sums paid for jewels, books, furniture, clothes, &c.; the charges of the King’s Fools and Jester; and the expenses attendant on his Majesty’s interview with Francis I at Calais, in October, 1532. Each month’s account is examined and signed by the King. The following persons are particularly mentioned: Cardinal Wolsey; Cromwell, Earl of Essex; the Marquess of Exeter; the Princess, afterwards Queen Mary; Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire; his son, Lord Rochford; the first Earl and Countess of Bedford; the Earl of Derby; the Protector Somerset; Bishop Latimer; the Duke of Norfolk; Sir Richard Gresham; Sir Anthony Browne; Sir Francis Bryan; Sir Francis Weston; Sir Henry Norris; Brereton; and the notorious Mark Smeton; Domingo; Sexton, the Fool, &c. &c.