Colophon

Henry Tudor made an extraordinary journey from his birth in Pembroke Castle as the posthumous son of a fairly obscure earl and an heiress of a disgraced duke with a modicum of royal blood to his death fifty-two years later in Richmond Palace, more than twenty-three of which he was king of England. The Chamber Books provide unique insight into that journey and that of his son; of the personality and interests of both Henries, the life of their court, and, of course, their statecraft, revenue and diplomacy. They are also objects of considerable interest in their own right. When fully understood and placed within the context in which they were created, they shed unparalleled light on the immense hard work of a few men in close physical proximity to the king and the processes at the heart of a very personal rule.

It was rightly noted that:

‘these accounts [Privy Purse accounts Henry VIII] are extremely curious for manners and, with those of Henry VII, preserved in the Exchequer at Westminster and a few others still remaining, would form an interesting addition to the Expenses of Edw. 1[221] already published by the Society of Antiquaries’ (A Catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum (Record Commission, 1819), p. 166).

It has only taken two hundred years.