Six months after Henry VIII died, instructions were issued for an inventory to be made of his possessions. This mammoth task took eighteen months to complete. There are two huge parts of this inventory: the first part (now Society of Antiquaries MS 129 A), which is 469 folios in length, details his money, jewels, plate, ordnance and munition, ships, and possessions in his armouries, stables, revels and tents; the second part (now British Library Harley MS 1419 A and B), which is 562 folios, details the contents of the king’s principal residences and wardrobes.

Beyond the 9,150 guns, cannons or other pieces of artillery, over 2,000 pieces of tapestry and 2,028 pieces of plate are mentioned. What follows are a few items selected to illustrate the richness of the royal possessions at the time of Henry VIII’s death, and the extensiveness of the estate that he bequeathed to the new King Edward VI. I have modernized the spelling and added punctuation.

In an act of scholarship almost equal in impressiveness to the original compilation, Dr David Starkey, with the help of Philip Ward and Alasdair Hawkyard, prepared for publication a comprehensive list of Henry VIII’s possessions. The full inventory of 17,813 itemized entries can be found in Starkey (ed.), The Inventory of King Henry VIII, Vol. 1, The Transcript (London, 1998). As a courtesy to readers wishing to consult the (original-spelling) versions in that volume, these selections are listed in order of the item numbers appearing there.

The Crown, ‘Jewels of Gold’ and adornments

[1] the King’s Crown of gold, garnished with 6 balas [rose-coloured spinel rubies], 5 sapphires, 5 pointed diamonds, 20 rubies, 19 pearls and one of the crosses of the same Crown garnished with a great sapphire, an emerald crased, 4 balas and 9 pearls not all of one sort and 3 sapphires… Upon the left side of the same cross a fleur-de-lis set with an image of a king with a great balas whole and a less balas, a pointed diamond, two pearls, a collar with a sapphire and a crampion with a pearl and with 30 small pearls… next that one other cross with a coarse sapphire, 4 coarse balas, a fair little emerald, a lozenged diamond like a heart, a ruby and 9 pearls… next that one other fleur-de-lis set with a Saint George, two balas, a pointed diamond, three pearls, a collar with a sapphire and 25 pearls… next that one other cross with a large round sapphire, four balas, nine pearls, a collar with a sapphire… next that one other fleur-de-lis set with an image of Our Lady and her Child, two balas, a pointed diamond, three pearls and a sapphire and 25 pearls… next that one other cross set with two sapphires, 4 balas, nine pearls… next that one other fleur-de-lis set with an image of a king, 2 balas, a sapphire, a pointed diamond, three pearls and with 20 pearls… next that one other cross set with a coarse sapphire, 4 balas, 9 pearls and a sapphire loop… next that an other fleur-de-lis set with an image of a king with two balas, a small pointed diamond, three pearls and a sapphire with 22 pearls… on the diadem above 12 pointed diamonds some better than other, three triangle diamonds, one table diamond and 32 pearls, two in a troche [lozenge] with a cap of purple velvet lined with black satin, weighing together 98 ounces

[3] one Sceptre of gold with a dove thereupon weighing 12 ounces

A portrait of King Charles I, by Daniel Mytens (1631). The Stuart monarch is here depicted with the Tudor imperial crown – the same crown that Henry VIII’s inventory describes as ‘the King’s Crown of gold, garnished with 6 balas, 5 sapphires, 5 pointed diamonds….’

[20] one clock of carnelian garnished with gold, diamonds, rubies, and pearls in the top of the cover being a boy with an arrow in his one hand and an antique shield with a diamond in it on the other hand [weighing] together 13 oz.

[21] one looking glass set in gold garnished in the one side with three sapphires, 4 rubies, one emerald and two pearls pendant and on the other side 4 sapphires and four rubies, the stele of Agathe, two little boys – one holding the king’s arms in a shield and the other a pearl and 6 pearls hanging, on the other side of the body is a man on horseback, the body being a clock within crystal garnished with four diamonds and 56 rubies with 4 antique boys enamelled white, two of them bearing in their hands a shield with the king’s arms and a pearl in either hand and the other two, the one hath two pearls and the other hath one pearl in their hands; the base or foot standing upon four round crystals garnished with ten rubies and 4 naked women of gold standing at every corner, one and a man in the top thereof being naked, [weighing] together 98 oz.

[223] an image of Our Lady with a Child and a ball with a lily in her hand and a crown garnished with glasses like sapphires and a balas with a vice [face] of silver and the base new made and she new gilt [weighing] 56 oz 3 quarters

[234] a book of Gospels garnished and wrought with antique work of silver and gilt, with an image of the crucifix with Mary and John [weighing] together 322 oz.

[2773] a man of diamond with a shield and a sword standing upon a dragon

[2806] two crosses of gold garnished with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and pearls

[3031] a Cross with a Crucifix, all gold, garnished with coarse emeralds and pearls

[3103] a lion of gold garnished with diverse gross stones of sundry sorts

[3218] one ring of gold being sometime Queen Katherine’s signet

[3470] a great sapphire set in gold

Dress

[3335] a black velvet cap with a brooch and 20 buttons of gold, small

[9915] a gown [a man’s loose outer layer] with a square cape of crimson velvet and crimson satin all over embroidered with purls of damask gold and silver, having a rich border and guard of crimson velvet embroidered with damask gold and pearl, faced with crimson satin all over embroidered with damask gold and pearl, with a like border containing the said facing, being upon the sleeves of the same gown 26 diamonds set in buttons of gold, the same gown lined throughout with crimson satin and having a case of yellow sarsenet quilted

[9926] 12 pairs of hose of black silk knitted

[14207] a Spanish gown of purple damask lined with purple taffeta, faced with purple satin with 42 pairs of aglets of gold

[14229] a doublet of white silk and gold knit with hands, bought off Christofer Mulliner

[14275] a coat of leather, furred with lamb and faced with sables

[14287] a riding coat of black velvet with 3 narrow borders of cordants with Venice gold, wrought with knots, raised with the same gold, furred with ermine and faced with sables

Furniture

[9795] three cushions of rich cloth of tissue, the backside being of plain cloth of gold, round about with a narrow fringe of Venice gold and every of them having four buttons with tassels of Venice gold and purple silk…

[10503] a coffer covered with black velvet containing the physiognomy of King Henry the Eight cut in wood in a case of metal

[10580] a great table with the picture of the Duchess of Milan being her whole stature

[10632] a table with the picture of King Henry the Eight standing upon a mitre with three crowns having a serpent with seven heads coming out of it and having a sword in his hand wherein is written Verbum Dei [the Word of God]

[12323] a Cupboard of printed leather, standing upon the same: Our Lady saluted by Gabriel, with diverse goodly flowers and conceits of needlework within a glass

[12960] one chair of purple gold tissue having the King’s Arms crowned, held by His Grace’s beasts, embroidered upon the back thereof fringed with a thin fringe of Venice gold and purple silk, having four pommels of wood gilt and two roundels of wood having in them the King’s Arms or badges painted and gilt.

[14153] one bedstead carved, painted and gilt, having ceelor tester [canopy], double valances and bases of crimson damask, embroidered with borders of acorns of cloth of gold, the said ceelor and tester richly embroidered with the King’s Arms within a garland crowned, held by his Majesty’s beasts. The said tester fringed on both sides with a narrow fringe of Venice gold, the valances fringed with a deep fringe of Venice gold and silk lined with canvas stained red, with 5 curtains of crimson taffeta fringed on both sides and beneath with a narrow fringe of Venice gold with one bed, one bolster, two pillow and one pillow of assaye of fustian filled with down with 7 quilts of linen cloth filled with wool and two little quilts for the bed sides of linen cloth filled with wool and covered with blue velvet, one crimson damask lined with red flannel, one scarlet lined with white fustian, one fustian of white fustian and one counterpoint of crimson damask, embroidered round about with a border of cloth of gold and allouer, lozenged with cordants of Venice gold and fringed with a narrow fringer of Venice gold lined with sarsenet and four cloth sacks to truss all the said stuff in.

Games and toys

[3227] a chessboard of ebony wrought with gold on both sides

[3228] a case of black leather containing 32 chessmen silver whereof 16 being gilt, and in the same cases 13 hens and a fox of silver gilt.

[11381] a great baby [doll], lying in a box of wood having a gown of white cloth of silver and kirtle of green velvet, the gown tied with small aglets of gold and a small pair of beads of gold and a small chain and collar about the neck of gold

Musical instruments

[11910] 5 flutes of ivory tipped with gold enamelled black with a case of purple velvet garnished at both ends with silver and gilt

[11926] a bagpipe with pipes of ivory, the bag covered with purple velvet

[12333] a pair of virginals [keyboard instruments with strings plucked with a quill] fashioned like a harp

Sundry items

[1976] three forks of silver and gilt two of them having crystals in the handles [weighing] 6 oz 3 quarts

[2844] an hourglass garnished with gold

[2919] a mirror of gold having written upon it on the one side ‘fiat voluntas tua’ [‘let thy will be done’], the other side a glass

[3294] a globe or instrument of astronomy copper gilt standing upon a foot of silver gilt

[3779] boar spears with ashen staves, trimmed with crimson velvet and fringed with red silk

[9452] 7 rackets for the tennis

[14434] a two-hand sword with a scabbard of green velvet, having scallop shells upon the pommel and the cross with the said pommel partly gilt

[16021] a staff of unicorn’s horns garnished with silver gilt and 9 stones in the top

[16047] a dagger garnished with silver gilt, the hilt enamelled blue.

A Tudor conception of what Henry’s will, in folio 9, describes as ‘this Realme of England and Irland’, here mapped out (c.1564) by Laurence Nowell. This beautiful map was commissioned by Sir William Cecil, who served the Duke of Somerset in the late 1540s as a secretary and who rose to become Elizabeth I’s durable chief minister.