All Hail Hailes Abbey...

The abbey of Hailes based near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire was originally founded in 1246 by Henry III of England's brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall as a way of him giving thanks for his survival when at sea. It soon became home to a religious order, and housed Cistercian monks, otherwise known as 'white monks'. Cistercian monks lives were based on manual labour and self-sufficiency, with the monks at Hailes Abbey supporting themselves with the charitable donations made by Pilgrims who visited the site, but also through the produce from its vast estates. The abbey had an orchard, which supplied their fruit, and fishponds which supplied the fish for their tables.

Cistercian Monks, English Heritage

In 1270, the monks were provided with a small flask (or vial) made of a fine silver and crystal, which was said to contain the blood of Christ by Edmund, son of Richard, Earl of Cornwall. The relic proved to be highly popular with Pilgrims (attracting thousands to the site from across the country) and was known as the 'Blood of Hailes'. Due to it's popularity the monks built an entire shrine in which to house the relic, and the abbey grew quite profitable because of it.

The abbey and it's inhabitants lived in relative peace and tranquility up until the reign of Henry VIII of England, where it suffered at the hands of the 'Suppression of the Monasteries', otherwise known as the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' in 1538/1539.

Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger (1532-1533)

In 1535 the Valor Ecclesiasticus was drawn up, which provided a valuation of the wealth of the Church throughout both England and Wales, in which Hailes Abbey would have been listed as one of the more profitable religious houses. The King's commissioners (lead by Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, Vicar General, and Vicegerent in Spirituals to Henry VIII) were also instructed to investigate into all of these monasteries searching for evidence of corruption or vice, as it was believed the churches were fooling people with false relics or statues etc. The 'Suppression of the Monasteries' soon followed in 1536, and continued up until 1540. During this time over 800 monasteries (which had been home to over 10,000 monks, nuns, friars and canons) were suppressed, with former monasteries being sold off to landowners, turned into churches, or left to ruin.

Henry VIII in the Valor Ecclesiasticus (1535)

In 1538, the vial (which couldn't have escaped the King's commissioners) said to contain Christ's blood was taken from Hailes Abbey to London, where judgement was passed that it was not Christ's blood at all, but clarified honey that had been coloured using Saffron. The abbey which had put up some resistance then had no choice but to surrender to the King's commissioners, doing so on Christmas Eve in 1539.

The abbey buildings were taken down and dispersed, with the exception of the buildings in the West range. These buildings became the Country home of the Tracey family from Toddington nearby. However, by the mid 18th Century this was all a ruin.

Hailes Abbey Ruins, Author

Hailes Abbey Ruins, Author

The site now belongs to English Heritage and is well worth a visit if you have a spare couple of hours. The museum houses some amazing Tudor finds from the abbey such as Tudor floor tiles, Tudor Spoons, and Tudor Stucco.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistercians
• http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/henryviii/passion/wealth.htm
• http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106122.html
• English Heritage, Hailes Abbey, Notice Boards.

The Old Palace of Richmond

Richmond Palace (previously known as the Palace of Shene) is associated with all the Tudor Monarchs (it played a large role within all their lives), but it was mostly favoured by King Henry VII - the first Tudor king.

Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of King Edward IV, held the great Palace of Shene until shortly after Henry VII's victory over King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on the 22nd August 1485, where she then handed it over to her new son-in-law. When the Palace of Shene had come into the king's hands, he had relatively little to do with it, that is until him and his court visited over the Christmas of 1497, and he decided to rebuild/restore the fire ravaged palace into a modern day Tudor pleasure palace. The king's carpenters and stonemasons set to work soon after.

Elizabeth Woodville, Queens College Collection, Cambridge, portrait 88.

Building work finished in 1501,  (the palace now covered over 20 acres) after the king had "rebuilt it up again sumptuously and costly..", with the King then changing the palace's name to Richmond  after his father Edmund Tudor, whose title was that of the Earl of Richmond.

Richmond Palace by Anthonis van den Wyngaerde, C. 1558-1562 

Henry VIII was not as fond of Richmond Palace as his father had been and during his reign it quickly became one of the homes for his discarded queens. Anne of Cleves (Henry VIII's 4th wife) was even given it as part of her marriage settlement. However, Henry VIII's daughter Mary I and Elizabeth I made better use of the palace, with Mary staying at the palace with her new husband Phillip II of Spain as part of their honeymoon, and Elizabeth frequently visiting over the winter months, particularly at Christmas and Shrovetide. Elizabeth I was even at the palace when she died on the 24th March 1603.

The palace then passed from royal hand to royal hand until it was sold by the Commonwealth (after the execution of King Charles I). With the buildings of the royal estate being divided up, and some of the buildings even being destroyed so that the stone could be sold off. To this day the only surviving parts that can be seen of the Tudor Palace of Richmond are the Wardrobe buildings and the gate house.

The surviving Gatehouse

This stonework above the gateway is Tudor, but has been restored over the years.

To give you an idea of the scale of how big the palace would have been - this is me and the doorway.

When I got home after visiting the remains I opened my copy of 'The Royal Palaces of Tudor England' by Simon Thurley, and leafed through it to try and find a picture of the Gateway that I had just seen. And here it is...

Image from 'The Royal Palaces of Tudor England' by Simon Thurley.

You can clearly see the gateway, the stonework above it and the now bricked up doorway to the right of the gateway.

If you are walking through Richmond, or are looking for somewhere to visit on your holidays/travels do not neglect the remains of the palace. They are well worth a visit. It was always on my Tudor Bucket List to visit and it didn't disappoint. The perfect Tudor hideaway from the busy hustle and bustle of London...

Sources

1. https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/life-at-queens/about-the-college/college-facts/foundresses-and-patronesses/elizabeth-woodville
2. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Wyngaerde_Richmond_1562.jpg
3. https://www.richmond.gov.uk/media/6334/local_history_richmond_palace.pdf
4. The Royal Palaces of Tudor England by Simon Thurley, Yale University Press; First Edition; (31st Aug 1993)

Bibliography

1. http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/richmond-lost-palace/
2. http://richmond.gov.uk/services/libraries/branch_libraries/local_studies_collection/local_history_timelines/royal_richmond_timeline

Meeting the Historian and Author Leanda De Lisle and Dom Smee...

Hello Everyone!

I hope your weekend has been as fun filled and joyous as mine. I managed to tick two things off the Tudor bucket list this Sunday. Let me tell you what they are and how I did them.

This Sunday I attended the Battle of Bosworth Medieval Heritage Festival at Bosworth Market in the UK. For those of you that don't know this is the battle where Henry VII (Henry VIII's daddy) won his throne through right of conquest off of Richard III (the king under the car park, and hide and seek champion). The festival itself sadly doesn't take place on the actual field the battle is fought on, as that is currently a working farm, but at the Bosworth Hertitage Centre close to where the battle was actually fought. The festival itself is fundamentally a recreation of the battle of Bosworth - it's the second year I have visited this festival and it is well worth attending. They also have lots of market stalls with traders offering their wares, games for all the family, a living history camp with various presentations, jousting and feats of arms by Destrier (a jousting group -  check them out!), which all work alongside their heritage centre.

Battle recreation - The yorkists under their King Richard III line up ready for battle.

Throughout the day the festival had arranged for Phillipa Langley MBE and Leanda De Lisle, author and historian to give educational talks. Phillipa's talk (which I sadly didn't get to go on as it was sold out) was about her new project on the missing princes in the Tower, and Leanda's was on The Tudors a family story (based on her book), which informed you of how the Tudors came to power throughout this turbulent period of history. We managed to get tickets to Leanda's talk, and it was great. It was so well researched and she showed the audience many images, which I have never seen before relating to this period. Afterwards, she was doing a book signing, and as I had brought one of her books earlier (I had the other one they were selling already at home), I got in the queue ready for her to sign my book.

Me in line, my mum was saying something to me at the time I couldn't quite hear - hence my face!

So I waited patiently and finally it was my turn to meet her and for her to sign my book. All I can say is she is so lovely! She was more than happy to talk to those who had come to see her, and it didn't seem any trouble to her to have her photo taken. She also told me that Phillipa Gregory had based her book on the book I had just asked her to sign. 

And here she is... huzzah! A photo where I haven't accidentally pulled a face or squinted - result!

After this, I left Leanda to meet the rest of her adoring fans, to go and watch the jousting by Destrier,  which was based in the main arena. On the way, however I paused (okay, and jumped up and down a lot in excitement - granted) before grabbing my mums arm, and then pointing over in the direction of the huts. Stood in front of them was none other that Dominic Smee!

If you don't know Dominic Smee, where have you been?!?! Dom has the same curvature of the spine as Richard III, and following the dig for Richard was provided with armour specially made for his body so that he could carry out athletic-based tests to see how his body performed with this slight disability, and whether they could even get armour on somebody with scoliosis. Turns out you can, and it's didn't put him at a great disadvantage as many were to have believed. I have attached a link below to a short clip of Dom talking about how his life has changed since he helped scientists with these tests.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/richard-iii-the-new-evidence/videos/all/becoming-richard-iii/3728093957001

So, I plucked up the courage, ran over and asked him for a photo. Thankfully, he said yes, and I said to him ''I bet you get this all the time'', to which he said ''yes'' and then chuckled a little.

Me and Dominic Smee...

After, this I thanked him and then we had to run off for the jousting. I was on a high and then the sombre part of the day came round - the battle reenactment. I'm not really a teary person, but last year when they carried Richard off on the horse, and then Henry VII was given the crown I was fighting back the tears a little - and this year was no different. I guess it's just because I have spent many years following, and researching things to do with the Tudor period, but this is where it truly began.

In all I had a wonderful day, and was so fortunate to be able to tick two things off of my Tudor Bucket List. I even ran into my friend Catherine Brooks (who works for The Tudor Society and Made Global Publishing), her partner David Ibbotson and their wonderful son Lukas.