Today in 1509 there was a joint coronation ceremony for Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Henry had become King on April 21st, but wasn’t crowned until this ceremony, thirteen days after his wedding to Katherine. Their wedding was small and private, and this was to be the large public ceremony.
Edward Hall’s chronicle talks about how the streets were hung with tapestries, “and the greate parte, of the South side of Chepe, with clothe of gold, and some parte of Cornehill also.” Henry was wearing a robe of crimson velvet, trimmed with ermine, a jacket of cloth of gold decorated with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls and other precious stones, and even his horse was dressed with cloth of Gold.
Katherine wore her auburn hair loose down her back, which was the custom for a coronation, and Edward Hall describes it as “of a very great length, bewtefull and goodly to behold.” She was “richely appareled in Tissues, clothe of Golde, Siluer, Tynsels, And Velvetes Embroudered” with a coronet “set with many riche orient stones.”
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 47: Tudor Times talks about Katherine of Aragon
Episode 69: Supplemental – Chat with James Boulton on Katherine of Aragon
From my shop:
“I choose what I believe and say nothing,” Catherine of Aragon quote pendant
Ps. All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.