[MR] Two Books on Tudor Costume

[Garth Groff]

Noble Friends,

Just in at UVA's Alderman Library: THE GREAT WARDROBE ACCOUNTS OF HENRY 
VII AND HENRY VIII, edited by Maria Hayward (ISBN 9780900952524; our 
call # GT734 .G743 2012). Detailed information on men's clothing of this 
period is difficult to come by, though a great amount of unpublished 
information exists. Maria Hayward and the London Record Society have 
filled a major gap with the publication of the early Tudor wardrobe 
accounts. This book opens with some 40 pages of introductory material, 
discussing what the wardrobe accounts were, who worked in the wardrobe 
offices, and for whom the cloth and other goods were purchased. This is 
followed by the actual wardrobe accounts themselves as 
transcribed/translated from the Latin and English records. These 
accounts list what items were purchased from whom (including type of 
cloth and colours), and for whom the clothing was intended, including 
their names, ranks, and duties. This stuff is golden! Also included are 
a glossary, bibliography, and indexes.

The wardrobe accounts form the basis for another book which makes an 
excellent companion to the above work, THE KING'S SERVANTS, MEN'S DRESS 
AT THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII, by Caroline Johnson, edited by Jane 
Malcolm-Davies and Ninya Mikhaila (ISBN 9780956267405; Fat Goose Press, 
available from The Tudor Tailor at 
http://www.tudortailor.com/bookshoptks.shtml ). Johnson worked with the 
same records, and published a nice little volume which includes 
illustrations and patterns for some of the clothes. I have found this 
book valuable for my own persona, a late 15th century middle-class 
Lowland Scot (most researchers agree that Lowlanders generally wore 
clothes similar to the English).

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Who Occasionally Wears Something Better Than His Tunics