Henry VIII by Alison Weir

white and green. Henry’s bed at Hampton Court was eight feet long, and had a ceiler and tester of cloth of gold and silver edged with silk fringes and purple velvet ribbon, as well as purple and white taffeta curtains bordered with gold ribbon. 39
    The King’s wives also slept in lavish splendour. Anne Boleyn had a “great bed” decorated with fringes of Venice gold and tassels of Florence gold, 40 while Jane Seymour occupied “a great rich bed” with hangings she embroidered herself. 41
    Early in the reign, most of the King’s beds were tester beds, with a heavy wooden frame and wooden boards or, after about 1525, rope mesh, to support the mattress or feather bed. The canopy, or tester, would have been suspended from the ceiling by cords. In the day, the hangings, which were suspended from rails attached to the wall, would be drawn back and knotted. Sometimes, heavy hangings were used in winter, and lighter ones in summer. Later in Henry’s reign, the first four-poster beds appeared, and headboards grew taller and more intricately carved and painted; designs included heraldic emblems, ciphers, foliage, figures, and medallions. An oak headboard with the painted initials of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves and grotesque carvings, dated 1539, is in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, while a carved headboard at Hever Castle bears the royal arms of England and is said to have belonged to Anne Boleyn; these are the only two pieces of furniture surviving from Henry VIII’s collection.
    Henry’s bedcoverings were made of the finest materials: his counter-points, or coverlets, were of silk, velvet, or even fur. His sheets were of best lawn, and he had woollen fustians, or blankets, and feather bolsters and pillows. He slept on no fewer than eight mattresses, each stuffed with thirteen pounds of carded wool. A wheeled trestle (or truckle) bed was kept under the royal bed. Each evening, it was pulled out for the Gentleman of the Privy Chamber whose turn it was to attend the King during the night.
    The King did not sleep in his beds of estate, but used them for the daily ceremonies of rising and retiring. His nights were spent in smaller, less elaborate beds in his privy bedchambers.
    Important visitors to court were assigned chambers containing splendid beds; Henry ordered ten such “rich beds” for Whitehall in 1532. 42 Household officers and servants slept in simple beds or on pallets on the floor.
    Buffets (for displaying plate), cupboards, and sideboard tables were everywhere to be seen in the royal apartments. They were frequently covered with carpets or sumptuous cloths of velvet or tissue. 43 In accordance with Burgundian practice, buffets were usually built in tiers or steps: the taller the display of plate, the grander the owner. Henry VIII had buffets of up to twelve tiers for use on state occasions; these were guarded by his buffetiers (perhaps the origin of the word “Beefeaters”). Buffets were used also as sideboards for serving food and drink.
    Gold and silver plate—cups, dishes, goblets, chargers, ewers, and salts—was among the most important status symbols of the age. A man’s rank and affluence were gauged by his being able to host a dinner without using any of the plate on display. Henry owned 2,028 items of plate. 44 Most of it was later melted down, and only three items from his collection survive: the silver-gilt Royal Clock Salt, an exquisite example of Gothic-Renaissance craftsmanship, which was a gift from Francis I around 1535, 45 the Royal Gold Cup, 46 once owned by the dukes of Burgundy; and a gold and enamel crystal bowl. 47 Some of the King’s plate was stored in his privy chamber in “great trussing coffers” covered in leather and lined with “Bristol red” cloth. 48
    Katherine of Aragon is said to have been bequeathed the Howard Grace Cup, a jewelled ivory and silver-gilt basin; in 1520, she and the King owned gilt