The Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII

By the late fifteenth century the Great Wardrobe, the section of the royal household that supplied the king and his household with clothing and furnishings, was well established in the London parish of St Andrew by the Wardrobe (many of the suppliers of fabric to the Great Wardrobe and many of the individuals who worked for it lived and worked in the city).

This volume provides an edition and calendar of the accounts for 1498-99 and 1510-11, as wellas the section of the 1544 account relating to Henry VIII’s campaign in France. In addition there are two appendices listing the recipients of livery in the extant Great Wardrobe accounts and warrants and an extensive glossary. The Introduction to the edited texts discusses the patterns of supply to the Great Wardrobe and assesses the significance of a small but influential group of Italian merchants who traded alongside the Londoners.

Professor Maria Hayward teaches in the Department of History, University of Southampton.