Palace of Placentia

Last updated

The Palace of Placentia, after it was rebuilt around 1500 by Henry VII An historical account of the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich (1789) (14786307743).jpg
The Palace of Placentia, after it was rebuilt around 1500 by Henry VII

The Palace of Placentia, also known as Greenwich Palace, [1] was an English royal residence that was initially built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1443. [2] [3] The palace was a place designed for pleasure, entertainment and an escape from the city. [4] It was located at Greenwich on the south bank of the River Thames, downstream from London. On a hill behind the palace he built Duke Humphrey's Tower, later known as Greenwich Castle; it was subsequently demolished to make way for the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, which survives. The original river-side residence was extensively rebuilt around 1500 by Henry VII. A detached residence, the Queen's House, was built on the estate in the early 1600s and also survives. In 1660, the main palace was demolished by Charles II to make way for a proposed new palace, which was never constructed. Nearly forty years later, the Greenwich Hospital (now called the Old Royal Naval College) was built on the site.

Contents

History

A sketch of Greenwich Palace, published in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1840 (earlier published by W. Bristow in 1797) Greenwich PalaceGentlemen'sMagazine1840.jpg
A sketch of Greenwich Palace, published in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1840 (earlier published by W. Bristow in 1797)

Humphrey was regent during the minority of Henry VI (his nephew) and started building the palace in 1433, [3] under the name Bella Court. [5] In 1447, Humphrey fell out of favour with Henry VI and was arrested for high treason. He died in prison, likely due to a stroke, though it was popularly believed that he was murdered [6] (as is depicted in William Shakespeare's plays about Henry VI). Margaret of Anjou took over Bella Court, renaming it the Palace of Placentia, sometimes written as the 'Palace of Pleasaunce'. [5]

In 1485, Edward IV gave land and property adjacent to the palace for the foundation of a friary by the Observant Friars (a branch of the Franciscans). [7] The friars' church was used for royal baptisms and marriages, including the christenings of the future queens Mary I and Elizabeth I. However, the friars were persecuted during the English Reformation and finally expelled by Elizabeth I in 1559. [8]

In the next centuries, the name "Greenwich Palace" was commonly used. Henry VII rebuilt the palace between 1498 and 1504, with a design based around three large courtyards. [5] It remained the principal royal palace for the next two centuries.

The palace was the birthplace of Henry VIII in 1491, and it figured largely in his life. [9] Following the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Greenwich Palace was the birthplace of Mary I in 1516. [10]

After Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, his daughter, later Elizabeth I, was born at Greenwich Palace in 1533, [11] and he married Anne of Cleves there in 1540. A fallen tree in Greenwich Park is known as Queen Elizabeth's Oak, in which she is reputed to have played as a child. [12]

Both Mary and Elizabeth lived at Greenwich Palace for some years during the sixteenth century, but during the reigns of James I and Charles I, the Queen's House was erected to the south of the palace. [13] When James VI and I ordered the redecoration of the chapel in May 1623 it had not been refurbished since the reign of Mary I. [14] The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War, serving time as a biscuit factory and a prisoner-of-war camp. [13] [15]

In 1660, Charles II decided to rebuild the palace, engaging John Webb as the architect for a new King's House. [16] The only section of the new building to be completed was the east range of the present King Charles Court, but this was never occupied as a royal residence. [16] Most of the rest of the palace was demolished, and the site remained empty until construction of the Greenwich Hospital began in 1694. [16]

Architecture

The palace at Greenwich was built in the Tudor style. Although the structure is no longer standing, the size and design of Greenwich palace were said to be similar to that of Hampton Court which was built around the same time as Henry VII's rebuild of Placentia. [17]

The original building was constructed primarily with brick and timber. [18] The initial palace design had state apartments, a chapel, a five-story viewing tower, and two octagonal towers overlooking the tiltyard. [19] The chapel, which was redone by Henry VIII, featured stained glass windows and black and white glazed tiles. [20] The main face of the building looked out over the river Thames. It extended along 200m of the bank of the river and was accessible by boat. Piles from the original Tudor-era jetty remain today. [21] Its red brick exterior showcased the monarchy's wealth as the material was expensive to manufacture and considered an extravagance. [22] Aside from chapel renovations, Henry VIII also added an armoury, stables, and a banquet hall to the original palace. [4]

During the early 17th century, as the palace was being rebuilt, Queen Anne of Denmark commissioned several buildings including the Queen’s House, three rooms along the garden, [4] and a grotto aviary to be built in the gardens. The aviary was designed by Salome de Caus, a French architect and engineer. It was ornately decorated with pearls and shells and was covered in moss. [19] The only surviving building of the 17th century additions to the palace is the Queen's House. This building, designed by architect Inigo Jones, is of particular architectural and historical significance as it is often credited as being the first classical building in England and was a clear departure from the Tudor style. [23]

Archeological work in 2017 gave new insight into the architecture of the old palace. One of the more notable findings was lead glazed tile. These tiles were likely used as the flooring for the service areas such as the kitchen. [17]

Modern era

Historic marker on the site of the former palace Placentia - geograph.org.uk - 1154521.jpg
Historic marker on the site of the former palace

The Greenwich Hospital complex became the Greenwich Royal Naval College in 1873, when the naval college was moved from Portsmouth. [24] The buildings are today occupied by the University of Greenwich and the music faculty of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. [15] [25]

Construction work for drains in late 2005 identified previously unknown Tudor remains. A full archaeological excavation completed in January 2006 found the Tudor Chapel and Vestry with its tiled floor in situ. [26] The vestry of the old palace was not demolished and later became the home of the treasurer of Greenwich Hospital. [27]

During construction of the visitors’ centre for the painted hall in 2017, two more Tudor palace rooms were uncovered. One room contained bee holes for keeping hives in the winter. The other was believed to be part of the service range. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne of Cleves</span> Queen of England in 1540

Anne of Cleves was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of Bar, son and heir of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, although their marriage did not proceed. In March 1539, negotiations for Anne's marriage to Henry began, as Henry believed that he needed to form a political alliance with her brother, William, who was a leader of the Protestants of Western Germany, to strengthen his position against potential attacks from Catholic France and the Holy Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Court Palace</span> Historic royal palace in Greater London

Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal Palaces, a charity set up to preserve several unoccupied royal properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwich</span> Town in south-east London, England

Greenwich is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east-south-east of Charing Cross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Douglas</span> English noblewoman

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and thus the granddaughter of Henry VII of England. She was the grandmother of James VI and I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace of Whitehall</span> English royal residence in London (1530–1698)

The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. Henry VIII moved the royal residence to White Hall after the old royal apartments at the nearby Palace of Westminster were themselves destroyed by fire. Although the Whitehall palace has not survived, the area where it was located is still called Whitehall and has remained a centre of the British government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's House</span> Building in Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1635. It was built near the now demolished Greenwich Palace, a few miles downriver from the City of London and is now in the London borough of Greenwich. It presently forms a central focus of what is now the Old Royal Naval College with a grand vista leading to the River Thames. The Queen's House architect, Inigo Jones, was commissioned by Queen Anne of Denmark in 1616 and again to finish the house in 1635 by Queen Henrietta Maria. The Queen's House was commissioned by both Anne and Henrietta as a place to display artworks they had accumulated and commissioned; this includes a ceiling of the Great Hall that features a work by Orazio Gentileschi titled Allegory of Peace and the Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St James's Palace</span> Royal palace in London, England

St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Although no longer the principal residence of the monarch, it is the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council, the office of the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, and the London residence of several members of the royal family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tudor architecture</span> Architectural style

The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture in England and Wales, during the Tudor period (1485–1603) and even beyond, and also the tentative introduction of Renaissance architecture to Britain. It followed the Late Gothic Perpendicular style and, gradually, it evolved into an aesthetic more consistent with trends already in motion on the continent, evidenced by other nations already having the Northern Renaissance underway Italy, and especially France already well into its revolution in art, architecture, and thought. A subtype of Tudor architecture is Elizabethan architecture, from about 1560 to 1600, which has continuity with the subsequent Jacobean architecture in the early Stuart period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond Palace</span> Former royal residence in London, England

Richmond Palace was a royal residence on the River Thames in England which stood in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Situated in what was then rural Surrey, it lay upstream and on the opposite bank from the Palace of Westminster, which was located nine miles (14 km) to the north-east. It was erected in about 1501 by Henry VII of England, formerly known as the Earl of Richmond, in honour of which the manor of Sheen had recently been renamed "Richmond". Richmond Palace therefore replaced Shene Palace, the latter palace being itself built on the site of an earlier manor house which had been appropriated by Edward I in 1299 and which was subsequently used by his next three direct descendants before it fell into disrepair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windsor Castle</span> Official country residence of British monarch

Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Royal Naval College</span> World Heritage Site in London, England

The Old Royal Naval College are buildings that serve as the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as being of "outstanding universal value" and reckoned to be the "finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles". The buildings were originally constructed to serve as Greenwich Hospital, designed by Christopher Wren, and built between 1696 and 1712. The hospital closed in 1869 and so between 1873 and 1998 the buildings were used as a training establishment for the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The site is now managed by the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College, established in 1997 to conserve the buildings and grounds and convert them into a cultural destination.

Events from the 1530s in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tudor London</span> London in the reign of the Tudor monarchs of England

The Tudor period in London started with the beginning of the reign of Henry VII in 1485 and ended in 1603 with the death of Elizabeth I. During this period, the population of the city grew enormously, from about 50,000 at the end of the 15th century to an estimated 200,000 by 1603, over 13 times that of the next-largest city in England, Norwich. The city also expanded to take up more physical space, further exceeding the bounds of its old medieval walls to reach as far west as St. Giles by the end of the period. In 1598, the historian John Stow called it "the fairest, largest, richest and best inhabited city in the world".

Events from the 1510s in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwich Castle</span>

Greenwich Castle was a hunting lodge used during the reign of Henry VIII, located in Greenwich Park, in Greenwich, England. The Royal Observatory, Greenwich now stands on the site. Greenwich Castle was apparently a favourite place for Henry VIII to house his mistresses, as it was within easy travelling distance of Greenwich Palace at the foot of the hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Tower (Tower of London)</span> Central keep, or tower, of the Tower of London

The White Tower is a central tower, the old keep, at the Tower of London in England. It was built by William the Conqueror during the early 1080s, and subsequently extended. The White Tower was the castle's strongest point militarily, provided accommodation for the king and his representatives, and housed a chapel. Henry III ordered the tower whitewashed in 1240. Today the Tower of London is a museum and visitor attraction. The White Tower now houses the Royal Armouries collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Naval College, Greenwich</span> Royal Navy training establishment

The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a Royal Navy training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equivalent in the British Army was the Staff College, Camberley, and the equivalent in the Royal Air Force was the RAF Staff College, Bracknell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset</span> Duke of Somerset

Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset was an English prince, and the sixth child of King Henry VII of England and his wife, Elizabeth of York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth's Oak, Greenwich Park</span> Tree in Greenwich Park, London, England

Queen Elizabeth's Oak was a veteran oak tree in Greenwich Park, London. Seeded in the 12th century, the tree formed part of the grounds of the Palace of Placentia, home to the Tudor royal family. Henry VIII is said to have danced around the tree with Anne Boleyn. Their daughter Elizabeth I, after whom the tree is named, is said to have picnicked beneath its canopy, or else within its hollow trunk. When the palace grounds became Greenwich Park, the hollow tree was used as a prison for criminals caught on the grounds. The tree died in the 19th century but was left standing, partly supported by ivy. It fell in a storm in June 1991 and has been left lying where it fell, protected by a fence and marked with a plaque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophia Stuart</span> Danish princess (1606–1606)

Sophia Stuart was the fourth daughter and last of nine children of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark.

References

  1. ↑ William Shoberl (1840). A Summer's Day at Greenwich. H. Colburn. p. 34.
  2. ↑ John Bold (2000). Greenwich: An Architectural History of the Royal Hospital for Seamen and the Queen's House. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in association with English Heritage. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-300-08397-2.
  3. 1 2 John Richardson (2000). The Annals of London: A Year-by-year Record of a Thousand Years of History . University of California Press. p.  64. ISBN   978-0-520-22795-8.
  4. 1 2 3 "Royal Palaces" . Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Alison Weir (September 2008). Henry VIII: King and Court. Vintage. p. 10. ISBN   978-0-09-953242-2.
  6. ↑ Vickers, K. (1907). Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester: A Biography. London: Archibald Constable. LCCN   09008417. OCLC   1211527.[ page needed ]
  7. ↑ "Greenwich Greyfriars". Historic England Research Records. Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "Friaries: The observant friars of Greenwich", British History Online
  9. ↑ James Panton (24 February 2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarecrow Press. p. 247. ISBN   978-0-8108-7497-8.
  10. ↑ James Panton (24 February 2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarecrow Press. p. 326. ISBN   978-0-8108-7497-8.
  11. ↑ James Panton (24 February 2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarecrow Press. p. 178. ISBN   978-0-8108-7497-8.
  12. ↑ Time Out Guides Ltd (7 February 2012). 1000 things to do in London for under £10. Ebury Publishing. p. 215. ISBN   978-1-4090-8520-1.
  13. 1 2 Michelin; Michelin Travel &. Lifestyle (1 March 2012). London Green Guide Michelin 2012-2013. MICHELIN. p. 410. ISBN   978-2-06-718238-7.
  14. ↑ Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, Court and Times of James the First, 2 (London: Colburn, 1849), p. 400.
  15. 1 2 Lewis Foreman; Susan Foreman (2005). London: A Musical Gazetteer. Yale University Press. p. 178. ISBN   978-0-300-10402-8.
  16. 1 2 3 Trudy Ring; Noelle Watson; Paul Schellinger (28 October 2013). Northern Europe: International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge. pp. 432–434. ISBN   978-1-136-63944-9.
  17. 1 2 3 "Major archaeological finds at Greenwich uncover lost Royal palace". Old Royal Naval College. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  18. ↑ "Heritage Gateway - Results". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  19. 1 2 Henderson, Paula (2005). The Tudor House and Gardens. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 169. ISBN   0-300-10687-4.
  20. ↑ "Archaeologists reveal chapel where Henry VIII married his wives". the Guardian. 25 January 2006. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  21. ↑ "Tudor Times". Tudor Times. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  22. ↑ "Greenwich Palace and the Tudors". www.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  23. ↑ "History of the Queen's House". www.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  24. ↑ Mike Osborne (30 November 2011). Defending London: A Military History from Conquest to Cold War. History Press Limited. p. 158. ISBN   978-0-7524-7931-6.
  25. ↑ The Guardian (1 July 2010). The Guardian University 2011. Random House. p. 378. ISBN   978-0-85265-216-9.
  26. ↑ Ravilious, Kate (9 February 2006). "Henry VIII's Lost Chapel Discovered Under Parking Lot". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  27. ↑ "Major Archaeological Discovery at Greenwich: Henry VII's Chapel & Vestry". Old Royal Naval College Greenwich. 24 January 2006. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.

Further reading

51°28′56″N0°00′24″W / 51.48222°N 0.00667°W / 51.48222; -0.00667

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.