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FAT GOOSE PRESS is pleased to announce the publication of a new book
offering a detailed insight into clothing at the beginning of the 16th
century. The King’s Servants provides a vivid picture of Henry’s early
court using evidence from royal warrants and account books in The
National Archive. Caroline Johnson’s transcriptions and translations of
more than two hundred hand-written pages of the original 16th century
Latin and English documents have revealed a wealth of fascinating facts
about expenditure on garments for servants at the Tudor court. The
typical clothes worn by middling men during the decades between the
battles of Bosworth (1485) and Flodden (1513) are described and
reconstructed in this beautifully illustrated book.
Previously unpublished documents, including bundles of orders for
clothes, and parchment books recording payments to such people as
mercers, drapers, tailors, cordwainers and silkwomen, are carefully
analysed to provide details of the usual allocation of dress to
different ranks of servants at the royal court. The book focuses on the
middle-ranking men who were clerks, messengers and huntsmen. There is
also information on trends in men’s fashion at the turn of the century
as the documents investigated demonstrate Henry VII’s expenditure as
well as his son’s. A noteworthy inclusion is an early livery issued to
Henry VII’s newly-founded Yeomen of the Guard, who were resplendent in
green and white damask coats embellished with lavish gold embroidery.
The book offers a survey of relevant pictorial sources such as effigies,
brasses and stained glass plus rare glimpses of archaeological artefacts
from the late 15th and early 16th century. These, together with the
archival information, have provided sufficient evidence for
reconstructions of the typical royal servant’s every day wardrobe to be
made and these are illustrated in high-quality colour photographs. The
book also features comprehensive patterns for a man’s complete costume
during the early Tudor period. These were devised by Ninya Mikhaila with
other experienced costumiers, including Sarah Thursfield (The Medieval
Tailor’s Assistant) and Jane Huggett (Clothes of the Common Woman,
1480-1580).
The King's Servant's is priced at £15 plus postage and packing.
Purchase copies by selecting the relevant button below. The variable
prices reflect the additional postage required for each destination, the
basic postage rate will be added at the checkout.
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