1.
Artists of the Tudor court
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The Tudor period was one of unusual isolation from European trends for England. At the start the Wars of the Roses had greatly disrupted artistic activity, however these were both painted abroad. In the Tudor period foreign artists were recruited and often welcomed lavishly by the English court, much energy was also expended on decorative painting of fixtures and fittings, often of a very temporary nature. There was also the Master of the Revels, whose Office was responsible for festivals and tournaments, jewellery and metalwork were regarded as extremely important, and far more was spent on them than on painting. Holbein produced many designs for now-vanished table ornaments in precious metals. The main artistic interests of Henry VIII were music, building palaces and tapestry, of which he had over 2,000 pieces, the Flemish set with the Story of Abraham still at Hampton Court Palace is one grand set from late in his reign. She is reputed to have had paintings of her burnt that did not match the image she wished to be shown. There was also probably much decorative painting, the scattered fragments and images that have survived suggest that the awestruck accounts of visitors were not exaggerated. Many of the artists active at the Tudor court were connected by ties of family, marriage, Lucas Horenbout, who began painting and illuminating for Henry VIII in the mid-1520s, was accompanied in his workshop by his sister Susannah, who was also an illuminator. It is generally accepted that Lucas Horenbout taught Hans Holbein the Younger the techniques of painting miniatures on vellum when Holbein was engaged by Henry VIII in the early 1530s. In Bruges, Gerard was associated with Sanders Bening or Benninck and his son Simon, Simon Benings eldest daughter Levina Teerlinc was also trained as an illuminator. John Bettes the Elder apprenticed his son, John the Younger to Hilliard, hilliards most famous student, Isaac Oliver, later limner to Anne of Denmark and Henry, Prince of Wales, was married to the niece of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Gheeraerts was also the brother-in-law of Lucas de Heeres apprentice John de Critz the Elder, who took the dynasty into the Stuart period,1545 until his death in 1558. Hans Eworth, in England from c,1549, portrait-painter and recorded as a designer for the Office of the Revels Steven van Herwijck, portrait medallist, visited 1562, resident 1565 until his death in 1567. Steven van der Meulen, arrived 1560, naturalized 1562, and he submitted alternative designs for Henrys tomb, and a painted terracotta bust by him may be of Henry VIII as a boy. De Cock Dutch portrait and history painter, probably in England c. Browne died in office in December 1532. Andrew Wright, 1532–1544, about whom little is known Antony Toto, really Antonio di Nunziato dAntonio, a Florentine pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, from 1544 and he was the first Serjeant Painter who can be evidenced as an artist rather than an artisan. He had a Florentine colleague Bartolommeo Penni, brother of the more distinguished Gianfrancesco, Raphaels right-hand man, and Luca
2.
Mannerism
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Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, lasting until about 1580 in Italy, when the Baroque style began to replace it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century, stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Where High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favors compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting, Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and intellectual sophistication. The definition of Mannerism and the phases within it continue to be a subject of debate among art historians, for example, some scholars have applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The term is used to refer to some late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530. Mannerism also has been applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin literature, the word mannerism derives from the Italian maniera, meaning style or manner. Like the English word style, maniera can either indicate a type of style or indicate an absolute that needs no qualification. Vasari was also a Mannerist artist, and he described the period in which he worked as la maniera moderna, james V. Mirollo describes how bella maniera poets attempted to surpass in virtuosity the sonnets of Petrarch. This notion of bella maniera suggests that artists thus inspired looked to copying and bettering their predecessors, in essence, bella maniera utilized the best from a number of source materials, synthesizing it into something new. As a stylistic label, Mannerism is not easily defined, “High Renaissance” connoted a period distinguished by harmony, grandeur and the revival of classical antiquity. The term Mannerist was redefined in 1967 by John Shearman following the exhibition of Mannerist paintings organised by Fritz Grossmann at Manchester City Art Gallery in 1965. The label “Mannerism” was used during the 16th century to comment on social behaviour, however, for later writers, such as the 17th-century Gian Pietro Bellori, la maniera was a derogatory term for the perceived decline of art after Raphael, especially in the 1530s and 1540s. From the late 19th century on, art historians have used the term to describe art that follows Renaissance classicism. By the end of the High Renaissance, young artists experienced a crisis, no more difficulties, technical or otherwise, remained to be solved. The young artists needed to find a new goal, and they sought new approaches, at this point Mannerism started to emerge. The new style developed between 1510 and 1520 either in Florence, or in Rome, or in both cities simultaneously and this period has been described as a natural extension of the art of Andrea del Sarto, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Michelangelo from an early age had developed a style of his own, one of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and subsequent artists attempted to imitate it
3.
Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)
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Mary of Austria, also known as Mary of Hungary, was queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia as the wife of King Louis II, and was later Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. The daughter of Queen Joanna and King Philip I of Castile, Mary married King Louis II of Hungary and their marriage was happy but short and childless. Upon her husbands death following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Queen Mary governed Hungary as regent in the name of the new king, her brother, as governor of the Netherlands, Mary faced riots and a difficult relationship with the Emperor. Throughout her tenure she continuously attempted to ensure peace between the Emperor and the King of France, after her final resignation, the frail Queen moved to Castile, where she died. Having inherited the Habsburg lip and not very feminine looks, Mary was not considered physically attractive and her portraits, letters, and comments by her contemporaries do not assign her the easy Burgundian charm possessed by her grandmother, Duchess Mary of Burgundy, and her aunt Margaret. Nevertheless, she proved to be a determined and skillful politician, as well as a patron of literature, music. Born in Brussels on 15 September 1505, between ten and eleven in the morning, Archduchess Mary of Austria was the child of King Philip I. Her birth was difficult, the Queens life was in danger. On 20 September, she was baptized by Nicolas Le Ruistre, Bishop of Arras, and named after her grandmother, Mary of Burgundy. Her godfather was her grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. On 17 March 1506, Emperor Maximilian promised to marry her to the first son born to King Vladislaus II of Hungary, at the same time, the two monarchs decided that a brother of Mary would marry Vladislaus daughter Anne. Three months later, Vladislaus wife, Anne of Foix-Candale, gave birth to a son, Queen Anne died in childbirth and the royal physicians made great efforts to keep the sickly Louis alive. After the death of Marys father in September 1506, her mothers health began to deteriorate. Mary, Isabella, and Eleanor were educated together at their aunts court in Mechelen and their music teacher was Henry Bredemers. Mary was summoned to the court of her grandfather Maximilian in 1514, on 22 July 1515, Mary and Louis were married in St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna. At the same time, Louis sister Anne was betrothed to an as yet unspecified brother of Mary, due to their age, it was decided that the newly married couple would not live together for a few more years. Anne eventually married Marys brother Ferdinand and came to Vienna, where the double sisters-in-law were educated together until 1516 and that year, Marys father-in-law died, making Louis and Mary king and queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Mary moved to Innsbruck, where she was educated until 1521, Maximilian encouraged her interest in hunting, while childhood lessons prompted an interest in music
4.
Hans Holbein the Younger
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Hans Holbein the Younger was a German and Swiss artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century and he also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called the Younger to distinguish him from his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, Born in Augsburg, Holbein worked mainly in Basel as a young artist. At first he painted murals and religious works and designed for stained glass windows and he also painted the occasional portrait, making his international mark with portraits of the humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. When the Reformation reached Basel, Holbein worked for reformist clients while continuing to serve traditional religious patrons and his Late Gothic style was enriched by artistic trends in Italy, France and the Netherlands, as well as by Renaissance humanism. The result was a combined aesthetic uniquely his own, Holbein travelled to England in 1526 in search of work, with a recommendation from Erasmus. He was welcomed into the humanist circle of Thomas More, where he built a high reputation. After returning to Basel for four years, he resumed his career in England in 1532 and this time he worked under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. By 1535, he was Kings Painter to King Henry VIII, in this role, he produced not only portraits and festive decorations but designs for jewellery, plate and other precious objects. His portraits of the family and nobles are a record of the court in the years when Henry was asserting his supremacy over the English church. Holbeins art was prized from early in his career, the French poet and reformer Nicholas Bourbon dubbed him the Apelles of our time, a typical contemporary accolade. Holbein has also described as a great one-off of art history. After his death, some of his work was lost, but much was collected, recent exhibitions have also highlighted his versatility. He turned his fluid line to designs ranging from jewellery to monumental frescoes. Holbeins art has sometimes been called realist, since he drew and his portraits were renowned in their time for their likeness, and it is through Holbeins eyes that many famous figures of his day, such as Erasmus and More, are now seen. Holbein was never content, however, with outward appearance and he embedded layers of symbolism, allusion, and paradox in his art, to the lasting fascination of scholars. In the view of art historian Ellis Waterhouse, his portraiture remains unsurpassed for sureness and economy of statement, penetration into character, Holbein was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg during the winter of 1497–98. He was a son of the painter and draughtsman Hans Holbein the Elder, whose trade he and his brother, Ambrosius
5.
Henry VIII of England
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Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII, Henry is best known for his six marriages and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. Despite his resulting excommunication, Henry remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to England. Besides asserting the supremacy over the Church of England, he greatly expanded royal power during his reign. Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quash dissent, and he achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich and his contemporaries considered Henry in his prime to be an attractive, educated, and accomplished king, and he has been described as one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne. He was an author and composer, as he aged, Henry became severely obese and his health suffered, contributing to his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI, born 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Of the young Henrys six siblings, only three – Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret, and Mary – survived infancy and he was baptised by Richard Fox, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace. In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three, and was inducted into the Order of the Bath soon after. The day after the ceremony he was created Duke of York, in May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. Henry was given an education from leading tutors, becoming fluent in Latin and French. Not much is known about his early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king, as Duke of York, Henry used the arms of his father as king, differenced by a label of three points ermine. In 1502, Arthur died at the age of 15 of sweating sickness, Arthurs death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother, the 10-year-old Henry. After a little debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in October 1502, Henry VII gave the boy few tasks. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public, as a result, the young Henry would later ascend the throne untrained in the exacting art of kingship
6.
Edward VI of England
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Edward VI was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was Englands first monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a Regency Council because he never reached his majority, the Council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, from 1551 Duke of Northumberland. Edwards reign was marked by problems and social unrest that, in 1549, erupted into riot. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland as well as Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace, the transformation of the Church into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. Although his father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church of England and Rome, Henry VIII had never permitted the renunciation of Catholic doctrine or ceremony. The architect of these reforms was Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council drew up a Devise for the Succession, Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and excluded his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. This decision was disputed following Edwards death, and Jane was deposed by Mary nine days after becoming queen, during her reign, Mary reversed Edwards Protestant reforms, which nonetheless became the basis of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559. Edward was born on 12 October 1537 in his mothers room inside Hampton Court Palace and he was the son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, te Deums were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes. The Queen, however, fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, Henry VIII wrote to Francis I of France that Divine Providence. Hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness, Edward was a healthy baby who suckled strongly from the outset. His father was delighted with him, in May 1538, Henry was observed dallying with him in his arms, and so holding him in a window to the sight and great comfort of the people. That September, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Audley, reported Edwards rapid growth and vigour, the tradition that Edward VI was a sickly boy has been challenged by more recent historians. At the age of four, he fell ill with a quartan fever. Edward was initially placed in the care of Margaret Bryan, lady mistress of the princes household and she was succeeded by Blanche Herbert, Lady Troy. Until the age of six, Edward was brought up, as he put it later in his Chronicle, the formal royal household established around Edward was, at first, under Sir William Sidney, and later Sir Richard Page, stepfather of Edward Seymours wife, Anne Stanhope
7.
Hampton Court Palace
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Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the town of East Molesey, Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, England,11.7 miles south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Redevelopment began to be carried out in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, in 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the King seized the palace for himself and later enlarged it. Along with St Jamess Palace, it is one of two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII. In the following century, King William IIIs massive rebuilding and expansion project, work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque. While the palaces styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks, King George II was the last monarch to reside in the palace. In addition, London Buses routes 111,216,411, the structure and grounds are cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown. In addition the palace continues to display a number of works of art from the Royal Collection. The palaces Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival, Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, Chief Minister and favourite of Henry VIII, took over the site of Hampton Court Palace in 1514. It had previously been a property of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, over the following seven years, Wolsey spent lavishly to build the finest palace in England at Hampton Court. Wolsey rebuilt the manor house to form the nucleus of the present palace. Today, little of Wolseys building work remains unchanged, the first courtyard, the Base Court, was his creation, as was the second, inner gatehouse which leads to the Clock Court which contained his private rooms. The Base Court contained forty-four lodgings reserved for guests, while the court contained the very best rooms – the state apartments – reserved for the King. Henry VIII stayed in the apartments as Wolseys guest immediately after their completion in 1525. Perpendicular Gothic owed nothing historically to the Renaissance style, yet harmonised well with it and this blending of styles was realised by a small group of Italian craftsmen working at the English court in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century. They specialised in the adding of Renaissance ornament to otherwise straightforward Tudor buildings and it was one of these, Giovanni da Maiano who was responsible for the set of eight relief busts of Roman emperors which were set in the Tudor brickwork. Wolsey was only to enjoy his palace for a few years, in 1528, knowing that his enemies and the King were engineering his downfall, he passed the palace to the King as a gift. Wolsey died two years later in 1530, within six months of coming into ownership, the King began his own rebuilding and expansion. Henry VIIIs court consisted of one thousand people, while the King owned over sixty houses and palaces
8.
Anamorphosis
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Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. The word anamorphosis is derived from the Greek prefix ana‑, meaning back or again, an optical anamorphism is the visualization of a mathematical operation called an affine transformation. There are two types of anamorphosis, perspective and mirror. More-complex anamorphoses can be devised using distorted lenses, mirrors, or other optical transformations, examples of perspectival anamorphosis date to the early Renaissance. Examples of mirror anamorphosis were first seen in the late Renaissance, the deformed image is painted on a plane surface surrounding the mirror. By looking into the mirror, a viewer can see the image undeformed, leonardos Eye is the earliest known definitive example of perspective anamorphosis in modern times. The prehistoric cave paintings at Lascaux may also use this technique, Hans Holbein the Younger is well known for incorporating an oblique anamorphic transformation into his painting The Ambassadors. In this artwork, a distorted shape lies diagonally across the bottom of the frame, viewing this from an acute angle transforms it into the plastic image of a human skull, a symbolic memento mori. During the seventeenth century, Baroque trompe loeil murals often used anamorphism to combine actual architectural elements with illusory painted elements, when a visitor views the art work from a specific location, the architecture blends with the decorative painting. The dome and vault of the Church of St. Ignazio in Rome, painted by Andrea Pozzo, due to neighboring monks complaining about blocked light, Pozzo was commissioned to paint the ceiling to look like the inside of a dome, instead of building a real dome. As the ceiling is flat, there is one spot where the illusion is perfect. Mirror anamorphosis emerged early in the 17th century in Italy and China and it remains uncertain whether Jesuit missionaries imported or exported the technique. Anamorphosis could be used to conceal images for privacy or personal safety, a secret portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie is painted in a distorted manner on a tray and can only be recognized when a polished cylinder is placed in the correct position. To possess such an image would have seen as treason in the aftermath of the 1746 Battle of Culloden. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, anamorphic images had come to be used more as childrens games than fine art, in the twentieth century, some artists wanted to renew the technique of anamorphosis. Marcel Duchamp was interested in anamorphosis, and some of his installations are visual paraphrases of anamorphoses, Jan Dibbets conceptual works, the so-called perspective corrections are examples of linear anamorphoses. In the late century, mirror anamorphosis was revived as childrens toys. Beginning in 1967, Dutch artist Jan Dibbets based a series of photographic work titled Perspective Corrections on the distortion of reality through perspective anamorphosis
9.
Royal Collection
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The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family and the largest private art collection in the world. The Queen owns some objects in the collection in right of the Crown, the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was built specially to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is an art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Crown Jewels are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, few items from before King Henry VIII survive. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a collector of Italian paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria, in particular, most of the then royal library was given by George III to the British Museum, now the British Library, where many books are still catalogued as Royal. The core of this collection was the purchase by James I of the collections of Humphrey Llwyd, Lord Lumley. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II, there have been significant additions to the collection through purchases, bequests and through gifts from nation states. Numbering over 7,000 works, spread across the Royal Residences, numbering over 300 items, the Royal Collection holds one of the greatest and most important collections of French furniture ever assembled. The collection is noted for its range as well as counting the greatest cabinet-makers of the Ancien Régime. The Royal Collection is privately owned, although some of the works are displayed in areas of palaces, some of the collection is owned by the monarch personally, and everything else is described as being held in trust by the monarch in right of the Crown. All works of art acquired by monarchs up to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 are heirlooms which fall into the latter category. Items the British royal family acquired later, including official gifts, ambiguity surrounds the status of objects that have come into Queen Elizabeth IIs possession during her reign. The Royal Collection Trust has confirmed that all pieces left to the Queen by the Queen Mother belong to her personally, non-personal items are said to be inalienable as they can only be willed to the monarchs successor. The legal accuracy of this claim has never been substantiated in court, in a 2000 television interview, the Duke of Edinburgh said that the Queen was technically, perfectly at liberty to sell them. In 1995, Iain Sproat, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, a registered charity, the Royal Collection Trust was set up in 1993 after the Windsor Castle fire with a mandate to conserve the works and enhance the publics appreciation and understanding of art. It employs around 500 staff and is one of the five departments of the Royal Household, buildings do not come under its remit
10.
Francis I of France
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Francis I was the first King of France from the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois, reigning from 1515 until his death. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and he succeeded his cousin and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a male heir. Francis reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire. For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres. He was also known as François au Grand Nez, the Grand Colas, following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, he sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. When this was unsuccessful, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time. Francis was born on 12 September 1494 at the Château de Cognac in the town of Cognac, which at that time lay in the province of Saintonge, today the town lies in the department of Charente. Francis was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. His family was not expected to inherit the throne, as his third cousin King Charles VIII was still young at the time of his birth, as was his fathers cousin the Duke of Orléans, later King Louis XII. However, Charles VIII died childless in 1498 and was succeeded by Louis XII, the Salic Law prevailed in France, thus females were ineligible to inherit the throne. Therefore, the four-year-old Francis became the heir presumptive to the throne of France in 1498 and was vested with the title of Duke of Valois. In 1505, Louis XII, having fallen ill, ordered that his daughter Claude and Francis be married immediately, Claude was heiress to the Duchy of Brittany through her mother, Anne of Brittany. Following Annes death, the took place on 18 May 1514. Louis died shortly afterwards and Francis inherited the throne and he was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims on 25 January 1515, with Claude as his queen consort. As Francis was receiving his education, ideas emerging from the Italian Renaissance were influential in France, some of his tutors, such as François Desmoulins de Rochefort and Christophe de Longueil, were attracted by these new ways of thinking and attempted to influence Francis. His academic education had been in arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, reading, spelling, Francis came to learn chivalry, dancing, and music and he loved archery, falconry, horseback riding, hunting, jousting, real tennis and wrestling. He ended up reading philosophy and theology and he was fascinated with art, literature, poetry and his mother, who had a high admiration for Italian Renaissance art, passed this interest on to her son
11.
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
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Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526, and king of Croatia from 1527 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his brother, Charles V. Also, he served as Charles representative in Germany and developed useful relationships with German princes. Ferdinand was able to defend his realm and make it more cohesive. His flexible approach to Imperial problems, mainly religious, finally brought more result than the more confrontational attitude of his brother, Ferdinands motto was Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus, Let justice be done, though the world perish. Ferdinand shared his customs, culture, and even his birthday with his maternal grandfather Ferdinand II of Aragon and he was born, raised, and educated in Spain, and did not learn German when he was young. In the summer of 1518 Ferdinand was sent to Flanders following his brother Charless arrival in Spain as newly appointed King Charles I the previous autumn. He returned in command of his brothers fleet but en route was blown off-course and he was Archduke of Austria from 1521 to 1564. Though he supported his brother, Ferdinand also managed to strengthen his own realm, by adopting the German language and culture late in his life, he also grew close to the German territorial princes. After the death of his brother-in-law Louis II, Ferdinand ruled as King of Bohemia and Hungary. Ferdinand also served as his brothers deputy in the Holy Roman Empire during his brothers many absences, according to the terms set at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515, Ferdinand married Anne Jagiellonica, daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary on 22 July 1515. Therefore, after the death of his brother-in-law Louis II, King of Bohemia and of Hungary, at the battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, the success was only partial, as the Diet refused to recognise Ferdinand as hereditary lord of the Kingdom. The Croatian nobles unanimously elected Ferdinand I as their king in the 1527 election in Cetin, in Hungary, Nicolaus Olahus, secretary of Louis, attached himself to the party of Ferdinand but retained his position with his sister, Queen Dowager Mary. Ferdinand was elected King of Hungary by a rump Diet in Pozsony in December 1526, the throne of Hungary became the subject of a dynastic dispute between Ferdinand and John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania. They were supported by different factions of the nobility in the Hungarian kingdom, Ferdinand also had the support of his brother, the Emperor Charles V. Ferdinand defeated Zápolya at the Battle of Tarcal in September 1527 and again in the Battle of Szina in March 1528. Zápolya fled the country and applied to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for support, a further Ottoman invasion was repelled in 1533. In 1538, in the Treaty of Nagyvárad, Ferdinand induced the childless Zápolya to name him as his successor, but in 1540, just before his death, Zápolya had a son, John II Sigismund, who was promptly elected King by the Diet. Ferdinand invaded Hungary, but the regent, Frater George Martinuzzi, Bishop of Várad, Suleiman marched into Hungary and not only drove Ferdinand out of central Hungary, he forced Ferdinand to agree to pay tribute for his lands in western Hungary
12.
Palace of Whitehall
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Before then, it had grown to be the largest palace in Europe with more than 1,500 rooms, overtaking the Vatican and Versailles. The palace gives its name, Whitehall, to the road on many of the current administrative buildings of the UK government are situated. It is about 650 metres from Westminster Abbey, by the 13th century the Palace of Westminster had become the centre of government in England, and had been the main London residence of the king since 1049. The surrounding area became a popular and expensive location, the Archbishop of York Walter de Grey bought a nearby property as his London residence soon after 1240, calling it York Place. King Edward I stayed at York Place on several occasions while work was carried out at Westminster, and enlarged it to accommodate his entourage. York Place was rebuilt during the 15th century and expanded so much by Cardinal Wolsey that it was rivalled by only Lambeth Palace as the greatest house in London, the Kings London palaces included. The name Whitehall or White Hall was first recorded in 1532, Henry VIII hired Flemish artist Anthony van den Wyngaerde to redesign York Place, and he extended it during his lifetime. Inspired by Richmond Palace, he included a centre with a bowling green, indoor tennis court, a pit for cock fighting. It is estimated more than £30,000 were spent during the 1540s. Henry VIII married two of his wives at the palace—Anne Boleyn in 1533 and Jane Seymour in 1536, Henry died at the palace in January 1547. In 1611 the palace hosted the first known performance of William Shakespeares play The Tempest and its decoration was finished in 1634 with the completion of a ceiling by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, commissioned by Charles I. By 1650 Whitehall Palace was the largest complex of buildings in England. Its layout was irregular, and its constituent parts were of different sizes and in several different architectural styles. Like his father, he died at the palace—but from a stroke, james II ordered various changes by Sir Christopher Wren, including a chapel finished in 1687, rebuilding of the queens apartments, and the queens private lodgings. By 1691 the palace had become the largest and most complex in Europe, on 10 April a fire broke out in the much-renovated apartment previously used by the Duchess of Portsmouth that damaged the older palace structures, though apparently not the state apartments. This actually gave a greater cohesiveness to the remaining complex, however a second fire on 4 January 1698 destroyed most of the remaining residential and government buildings, the diarist John Evelyn noted succinctly the next day, Whitehall burnt. Nothing but walls and ruins left, beside the Banqueting House, some buildings survived in Scotland Yard and some facing the park, along with the so-called Holbein Gate, eventually demolished in 1769. Despite some rebuilding, financial constraints prevented large scale reconstruction, in the second half of the 18th century, much of the site was leased for the construction of town houses
