Extra-Familial relationships

The chamber books shed some light on the familial relationships of Henry VII, and these have been explored in a number of publications.[186] The friendships Henry VIII enjoyed early in his reign have also been the subject of recent study.[187] Less frequently examined are the likely friendships enjoyed by Henry VII, and other informal relationships, with the exception perhaps of his relationships with those who shared his exile.[188]

Henry VII stood as Godparent to at least two boys, both named Henry, and he appears to have diligently discharged his duties therein. From the start of the payment books regular payments are made to one Agnes Adams of Isleworth, frequently referred to as ‘the wiffe of Thistlewourth’ for Henry, son of Lady Jane Boughan.[189] That the boy is usually referred to as ‘Jane Boughan’s childe’ or ‘Lady Jane’s childe’ suggests that perhaps the father is either dead or wished not to be identified. The identity of the Lady Jane herself is a mystery, for at this point the Bohun noble family are extinct, and the surname ‘Bougham’ is connected to the Buchan earls of Scotland, for which a ‘Jane’ cannot be attributed to this period. The boy sadly did not survive his childhood, for the last entry for him, in July 1501, is to ‘Agnes Adames for keeping & burying of Henry Boughan the kings godson xxvjs viijd‘.[190]

Henry Pynago, the king’s other godson identifiable in the Chamber Books, fared rather better. First identifiable in the Chamber Books from 1498, he received regular rewards without mention of a parent or guardian.[191] He appears as one of the Sewers of the Chamber at Henry VII’s funeral and remains in this position into the reign of Henry VIII.[192] Unfortunately, like Boughan, his provenance is not readily apparent.

Another example of how the Chamber Books might be employed to shed light on his friendships, the regularity of payments to servants of Sir Walter Herbert for bringing of gifts to the king is suggestive of a long-standing relationship maintained until the end of their lives. Every year, in August, Sir Walter Herbert sent a gift of a hawk to the king.[193] It is possible this was to commemorate the king’s Bosworth battlefield victory, where Walter may have had fought, or simply because it was hunting season and the King’s love of hawking was well known.[194] Herbert was not alone in gifting the king hawks, of course, but he does appear to be the most consistent in his gifts.[195]

Walter Herbert was the second son of Sir William Herbert (later earl of Pembroke), who had been awarded the custody and wardship of the young Henry, then earl of Richmond, in 1461.[196] Henry grew up at Herbert’s castle of Raglan, and formed a close attachment to Pembroke’s wife, Anne Devereux, as evidenced by Henry sending for her almost as soon as he reached London after his Bosworth victory.[197] Anne and William had 10 children together, and the two eldest boys, William and Walter, were of an age with Henry and the boys would have had lessons together in subjects such as literacy, Latin and numeracy, and they would have trained together in the tiltyard.[198] If not close friends, certainly they were close acquaintances for the eight years that Henry lived at Raglan, and Walter’s regular gifts suggest the former was true.

In the summer of 1502, Henry VII and his queen, Elizabeth of York, went on progress visiting, as was usual for the time of year, the king’s favourite hunting lodges of Langley and Woodstock in Oxfordshire as well as some of the queen’s dower lands in Gloucestershire and areas of South Wales known to Henry in his childhood.[199] The trip was made only a few months after the death of the couple’s eldest son, Arthur, and whilst the queen was in the mid-term of a pregnancy that would eventually lead to her own death the following February.

It may be fanciful to imagine that after the death of his eldest son, Henry sought solace in revisiting his childhood home of Raglan, where they were hosted by Hebert, and other familiar places such as Chepstow and Monmouth, though it might be noted that the progress did not encompass travelling as far north as Worcester to visit their son’s burial site.[200]