King Henry VIII and a Pope's Favorite Artist

By Nancy Bilyeau

In the year 1540, in the city of Brussels, a team of men worked indefatigably at their workshop looms. Using wool, silk and the most exquisite—and astoundingly costly—threads of gold and silver gilt, they wove the story of Hercules, a demi-god of ancient Greece, for the pleasure of a man who had made himself the head of the church of England and may well have considered himself close to a god: King Henry VIII.

The Triumph of Hercules, with dimensions of 189 × 245.3 inches

The drawing they placed on the looms to guide their weave was created in the school of Raphael. Born Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, Raphael is the third artist in the triumvirate of Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo--the High Renaissance geniuses. Befriended by Pope Leo X (who excommunicated Martin Luther), Raphael produced transformative paintings such as The Madonna of the Meadow. In 1516 Raphael created 10 drawings of St. Peter and St. Paul that were to become tapestries to hang in the Sistine Chapel.  He died in 1520 of a fever supposedly following a night of vigorous sex with his mistress.

Raphael's Portrait of Leo X with cardinals Giulio de'Medici
 (later Pope Clement VII, who refused Henry VIII his annulment)
 and Luigi de' Rossi.

After Raphael's death, his large workshop of 50 artists continued to produce work inspired by his signature symmetry, clarity of form and detail. The artists specialized in producing extensive drawings—called cartoons—that were then used to weave  tapestries. Henry VIII made it known that the Raphael-influenced tapestries were his favorites. Although the King of England broke with Rome and at various times sought alliances with rulers of Protestant countries, he certainly did not share the Reformers' views on art. John Calvin and his followers advocated the destruction of statues and religious paintings as "idolatry." Henry VIII was an informed and sophisticated patron of the arts--as was his second wife, Anne Boleyn-- who celebrated the art form whose original designs came from Papal-supported artists and often depicted Old Testament stories. It is unlikely he saw the irony of this.

 

John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, said,
"Man's nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols." 
His followers destroyed art throughout Europe.

Today many people do not realize how important these woven creations were to the Catholic rulers of the 16th century. For Henry VIII, whose passion for tapestries has often been described as "mania," there was a distinct element of competition. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and King Francis I of France also sought out the most exquisite tapestries for their courts. (Francis even sponsored a workshop at Château de Fontainebleau.) King Henry took satisfaction in outmaneuvering them. Although his kingdom was smaller, he was willing to pay more. He had agents all over France, Italy and the Low Countries, searching for the next great one.

Raphael's Miraculous Drought of the Fishes, commissioned by
Pope Leo X to be made into a tapestry for the Sistine Chapel.

Tapestries, largely imported, were the most vibrant form of visual art in England. Apart from the paintings and murals produced by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger, who resided in the English court, on and off, for less than 20 years, there were no significant painters in the Tudor era. England's greater homegrown accomplishments were in music and literature.

King Henry inherited several hundred tapestries from his father, Henry VII, who, like Edward IV and other latter Plantagenets, displayed large, ornate tapestries on castle walls. Apart from adornment, they kept the drafty palaces a bit warmer. Henry VIII had a different attitude. Tapestries held great emotional value. When he died in 1547, his belongings were painstakingly inventoried--and it was discovered he owned more than 2,200 pieces.

Henry VIII,
after Hans Holbein the Younger

The cost of all these acquisitions was tremendous. There is no question that, along with his passion for building and his pursuit of war against France, tapestry purchasing was where he sunk his two fortunes, the first one inherited from his thrifty father and the second acquired from the destruction of the English monasteries. The Story of Abraham, which Henry VIII commissioned after the birth of his son Edward in 1537, cost £2,000, the value of more than two warships.

During the previous decade, Henry VIII made his wishes known in not only the Raphael style of art but the subjects themselves. He commissioned his King David tapestries at the same time that he made the decision to break with the Pope. In his book Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty, Thomas Campbell, now director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, writes: "As God's anointed ruler of the chosen people, David was a flattering comparison for any king...for the Tudor monarch, the notion of a divinely sanctioned king was particularly appealing."

Now, in the late 1530s, the King's attention turned to Raphael's designs of Greek gods in various poses being made into tapestries called The Triumphs of the Gods. It's not hard to see why. Henry VIII was firmly head of the Church of England with a son to succeed him. He had viciously quashed a religious rebellion in the north of England. In 1538, his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, went after the few remaining relatives of the King's with royal blood, the only ones who could possibly threaten him, in the Exeter Conspiracy. The King ordered the execution of his relations Henry Courtenay, Henry Pole and Pole's elderly mother, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury. He also threw in for good measure the beheading of his close friend Nicholas Carew because he said in 1539 that he disapproved of the indictment of Courtenay being so "secretly handled." He was as close to deity as a man could be.

At the time of the weaving of the Hercules figure, Brussels was at its apogee of tapestry creation. There were dozens of workshops. Henry VIII, the other kings, princes of the church, and rich aristocrats wanted huge tapestries in a set--perhaps as many as 10 in a group--woven with silk thread and gilted with silver and gold. Colors were varied and brilliant; human and animal figures must be lifelike. A highly detailed tapestry demanded months, if not years, of scrupulous attention. The Guild of St. Luke controlled quality with deadly seriousness, ensuring that the highest standards were maintained. It's been estimated that one in six men who lived in Brussels worked in the tapestry industry in the 1540s.

Detail of Hercules fighting a dragon from an
earlier tapestry woven by Dermoyen brothers

The Triumph of Hercules was most likely woven in the workshop of the brothers Willem and Jan Dermoyen. It shows many "feats" among the colonnades: in the central position, the bearded, muscular and scantily clad Hercules stands confidently on a platform holding his club and lion skin. He is shown holding a planet on his head, strangling a lion, shooting a centaur with an arrow, and grabbing hold of a naked woman.

When this tapestry was delivered to King Henry VIII in late 1541 or early 1542, the discrepancy between subject and owner could not have been wider. The King weighed close to 300 pounds, was tormented by ulcerated legs, severe headaches, and fevers. He exhibited paranoia and depression. Henry had divorced his fourth wife, the German Princess Anne of Cleves, after claiming he did not consummate the marriage. Then the tables turned. His fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was arrested in November 1541 under suspicion of adultery. The man who was executed along with Queen Catherine was Thomas Culpepper, half the King's age and considered devastatingly handsome.

The King nonetheless favored his new tapestries showcasing the triumphs of the gods; they were proudly mounted on the walls of Hampton Court and Whitehall. He continued to make new purchases through the mid-1540s while he took a sixth wife and waged war on France again. Only the Tudor King's death halted the mania for new tapestries.

None of his children showed an interest in collecting richly woven stories of gods and men. And, by the middle of the reign of Elizabeth I, the golden age of tapestry weaving was over. Religious wars engulfed Brussels. The Hapsburgs struggled to stamp out Protestant heresy through increasingly harsh methods; since many weavers held reformist beliefs, they fled to more sympathetic countries.
At the same time, those who hated Catholics were destroying churches, statues, and any religious-tinged-art in the entire region: riots swept through Amsterdam and Ghent and Antwerp.

The destruction of a church and its works of art in the Netherlands

One witness said of an attack on a beautiful church in Antwerp:

"It looked like hell, with above 10,000 torches burning, and such a noise as if heaven and earth had got together, with falling of images and beating down of costly works."

Soon enough, all signs of "idolatry" were gone. And so was the rarefied and exacting magic of the tapestry workshops of Brussels.

                                                        *                     *                   *

The Triumph of Hercules is one of the few surviving tapestries of the reign of Henry VIII and is on display in Hampton Court.


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The Tapestry is Nancy Bilyeau's third book in the Joanna Stafford series, set in the reign of Henry VIII. It is for sale in print and on digital in North America and the United Kingdom and will be published in Germany in 2016.

“Nancy Bilyeau's passion for history infuses her books and transports us back to the dangerous world of Tudor England. Vivid characters and gripping plots are at the heart of this wonderful trilogy, and this third book will not fail to thrill readers. Warmly recommended!” -- Alison Weir, author of The Marriage Game: A Novel of Queen Elizabeth I

“The Tapestry moves like a modern thriller whilst at the same time managing to conjure up a Tudor England that feels very real and authentic in all its intrigue, mystery and menace. At the same time it never loses its focus on the psychological turmoil of its main character, forced to produce a thing of exquisite beauty for the man who destroyed her life. Intricately woven and brilliantly vibrant, The Tapestry is very aptly named." -- Simon Toyne, author of the Sancti trilogy

“In spite of murderous plots, volatile kings, and a divided heart, Joanna Stafford manages to stay true to her noble character. Fans of Ken Follett will devour Nancy Bilyeau’s novel of political treachery and courageous love, set amid the endlessly fascinating Tudor landscape.” -- Erika Robuck, author of The House of Hawthorne

To learn more, go to www.nancybilyeau.com

The Murder of Katherine Howard

By Nancy Bilyeau

Katherine Howard is the dirty joke of the Tudor era.

The second of Henry VIII's wives to be executed, she is a tragic figure, but there is not the same level of outrage over her fate as exists for Anne Boleyn, her cousin. Many who have studied the life of Queen Anne believe that the charges of adultery and incest and treasonous conspiracy were false, concocted by Thomas Cromwell to free Henry VIII of a woman he had come to hate. Queen Katherine, some 30 years younger than her ailing and obese husband when they wed, took lovers before and after her marriage, it is commonly believed. She was guilty.

Wasn't she?

A miniature portrait believed to show
Katherine Howard, perhaps 18 when she married

I believe that Katherine Howard was guilty but not of what you may think. Whether she was unchaste before marriage is not her chief crime. Her struggles to hide her premarital past from her husband and his councillors--and her mysterious meetings, perhaps adulterous, with Thomas Culpepper after her marriage--were just the excuse seized on to effect her removal.

It could be argued that her alleged misdeeds were echoes of the mistakes in judgment Anne Boleyn made, in her flirtatious banter with Henry Norris and Francis Weston. But most importantly, Queen Anne was the victim of a politically motivated coup, and I would argue that her cousin Katherine Howard was too.

Anne Boleyn, first cousin of Katherine Howard.

To read the books written about Katherine Howard is to plunge into a vat of scorn, contempt and disgust: "empty headed," "good time girl" and "juvenile delinquent."

There has, recently, been a shift of opinion. In his excellent book Katherine Howard: A New History, Conor Byrne makes a convincing case that Katherine, whose mother died when she was very young and whose father was the black sheep of the Howards, was the victim of sexual predators while living with her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. And Thomas Culpepper's attentions may have veered into blackmail.

In this post, though, I would argue that the crime she was actually guilty of—the reason Katherine Howard died—was not her morals, or lack of. It was her effectiveness as queen. She was the wife that Henry VIII was visibly most besotted with, according to contemporary records: his "affection was so marvellously set upon her." And, most critically, she was more than a mere plaything. She was the effective center of a power base.

What? people scream. But Katherine was promiscuous, frivolous, semi-literate, immature, grasping and heedless, right? That's what the miniseries depict and the books all agree on, even those that are supposedly sympathetic.

I would like to present some facts of Katherine's life and reign as Queen.

*  Within the span of not more than six months, Katherine, a barely literate teenager, was able to convince Henry VIII that she should be his next queen, rather than his mistress, even though he was married to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, when he "first set eyes upon her." Jane Seymour  is credited with shrewd managing of Henry VIII in similar circumstances. But Jane displaced a wife who was most likely pregnant when she began her relationship with King Henry, and is not known to have balked at Anne Boleyn's execution to make way for her. Anne of Cleves received a divorce and large settlement, not the axe. Moreover, Katherine went to great lengths to treat her predecessor, Anne of Cleves, with kindness and respect in public after the divorce.

* Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was more than 60 years old when arrested and confined in the Tower of London, charged with treason. Henry VIII considered her son, Reginald Pole, his greatest enemy, but the religious scholar lived in Italy and France, safe from the English king's grasp. So the king wiped out his family: brother, nephew and, finally, mother. Her imprisonment was not only terrifying but physically rigorous. Katherine arranged to have a set of warm clothes sent to Margaret Pole in the Tower, including a satin-lined nightgown, shoes, and slippers. It was an act of incredible bravery.

* Katherine persuaded her husband to pardon at least three people who could easily have been executed were it not for her intervention, including Thomas Wyatt. In 1541, Wyatt was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, accused of corresponding with Cardinal Pole, and referring to the prospect of Henry VIII's death. Katherine's actions led to his freedom. This success sets her apart from Jane Seymour, who when she attempted to dissuade Henry VIII from dissolving the monasteries, was told never to meddle in his affairs, and from sixth wife Catherine Parr, who was very nearly arrested after haranguing the king over religion. Although considered a 16th century "bimbo," Katherine was an effective political player.

* Katherine managed a relationship with a man in ill health, possessing volatile emotions and holding high expectations of a wife. After a "honeymoon" of several months during which Henry VIII appeared rejuvenated, his health problems returned and he was often in pain--and highly irritable. Ambassador Eustace Chapuys reports rumors that Henry VIII refused to see his wife for a long stretch of days, and even considered divorce briefly. Rumors flew throughout the marriage that Katherine was pregnant, though it is unlikely she ever was. This must have been a source of considerable stress to Katherine, since the king continued to be obsessed with begetting male heirs. Yet Katherine was able to solidify her hold on the king's affections. When they returned from their progress in late October, the king proclaimed his wife a "jewel."

Less than two weeks later, Katherine was being investigated. What happened?

It is a story often told that Anne Boleyn said of Mary Tudor, her husband's daughter, that "she is my death and I am hers." As it happened, it was not her stepdaughter who killed Queen Anne. However, that same phrase could be used for Katherine Howard and Thomas Cromwell. She was his death. Many historians believe that Cromwell stalled in obtaining the king a divorce from Anne of Cleves because he didn't want a Howard queen, but that stalling was fatal.

Yet in a chilling way, Cromwell, executed on the wedding day of Henry VIII and Katherine Howard, was the cause of her death 20 months later.

The Duke of Norfolk and his heir, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, openly gloated over the destruction of Cromwell. Their ally, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, returned to the King's council and a leading role. But what is not often written about is how this faction tried to wipe out Cromwell's supporters. The arrest of Sir Thomas Wyatt was part of their "clean up operation," as was the arrest of Sir Ralph Sadler, Cromwell's protegee. (Sadler, too, was eventually released.)

Thomas Audley

Other Cromwell allies, like Thomas Wriothesley and Richard Rich, jumped to the winning side, no matter how they felt about the Howards, to survive. Thomas Audley, who had shared many of Cromwell's religious and political views, accommodated himself to the winners at court, but he was not fully trusted by Norfolk. Audley was lord chancellor, though--too useful to destroy. For now.

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

The man in the kingdom left most exposed was Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the only one to publicly lament the fall of Cromwell, in a distressed letter to the King himself. Some at court expected Cranmer to follow Cromwell into disgrace. But the Archbishop survived, protected (as much as one could be) by King Henry's esteem. He retreated from the forefront of court affairs.

Bishop Gardiner, Cranmer's triumphant rival, left the court in the fall of 1540 to represent England at a German meeting of many religious and state leaders determined to resolve the question of religion, including the Emperor Charles V and John Calvin. Gardiner had instructions from Henry VIII that should a way be found for the Pope to welcome England back into the fold, he should not rule out such a possibility. One can only imagine how Cranmer felt about this summit and his relief when the Diet of Regensburg failed in the summer of 1541. But there was no doubt that Gardiner would continue to lobby for a return to Rome.

Katherine's husband, Henry VIII

In the coming year, the Howard-Gardiner faction did what they could to return the kingdom to the "True Faith" and repeatedly tried to move against former Cromwell allies. Those men they targeted must have been frightened. And frightened men make passionate enemies. It was unwise to alienate men who were capable of striking back. With the King entranced by his teenage Queen, the Howards felt invincible.

They weren't.

When Henry VIII and his Queen went on their historic progress to the North of England, three men were left behind. One was Thomas Cranmer. Another was Thomas Audley, with whom he had a friendship. The third was Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, who quietly shared their evangelical views and quite possibly worried that the Seymours were endangered, especially if Queen Katherine had children. There might have been occasions for this trio of men to meet and speculate about their future.

That is the moment when a man entered the picture who set the match leading to the horrible deaths of four people: Katherine Howard, Jane Boleyn, Thomas Culpepper, and Francis Dereham. His name was John Lascelles, and he was a fanatical evangelical, someone who would do anything for the Protestant cause. He had once served Thomas Cromwell. He hated Thomas Howard and Bishop Gardiner (he would die himself five years later, burned to death for heresy). His sister, Mary Hall, had served in the household of the dowager Duchess of Norfolk, and she saw and heard things about Katherine Howard's past. Scandalous things.

Lascelles found his way to the Cranmer-Seymour-Audley group and told them what he knew. The opponents of the Howards had found a fatal weakness. If they played this card, it could bring down the Howard faction, but it could also devastate King Henry. What should be done? Shortly after Cromwell was arrested, Katherine Howard had personally sent a note to Thomas Cranmer, reassuring him he was safe from harm. She was perhaps 20 years old when she returned with her doting husband from their northern progress; she had never done Cranmer any harm. But what if Lascelle's story were to reach the King's ears some other way?

On All Souls' Day, as King Henry left his devotionals in Hampton Court, his Archbishop of Canterbury handed him a letter and urged him to read it...



So ends Part One. In Part Two I will continue the story of Katherine Howard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nancy Bilyeau is the author of the award-winning Joanna Stafford trilogy, set in the reign of Henry VIII. The Crown was called "the debut of the year" by the Crime Writer's Association judges and shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger. The Chalice won the RT Reviews Award for Best Historical Mystery.  The Tapestry, on sale in North America and the United Kingdom, includes the characters of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII, Bishop Gardiner, and Thomas Howard.

For more information, go to www.nancybilyeau.com