The 1535 Progress: Wolvesey Palace & Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire

The King and the Queen is merry and hawks daily, and likes Winchester and that quarter, and praises it much.
Sir Richard Graynfeld, 2 October 1535

Set amid majestic rolling countryside and ancient woodlands, the capital of Anglo-Saxon England has long been associated with kings and queens. For Anne and Henry, approaching the city gates of Winchester after an overnight stay at Hurstbourne Priors, it would have felt like coming home, as aromas of wood fires, baking bread and roasting game scented the golden dusk of an early autumn evening.

As a backdrop to the culmination of the progress, the ancient city staged a ceremony which David Starkey has deemed ‘one of the most extraordinary scenes of the Reformation’, the public consecration of three newly appointed reforming bishops —Edward Fox, Hugh Latimer and John Hilsey— at Winchester Cathedral on 19 September 1535. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, performed the ceremony in the presence of the King and Anne. She had worked tirelessly to solicit their appointments and was almost certainly by her husband’s side to lend her support.

Although we cannot be sure where the court was lodged during their stay, as no records survive, it’s likely to have been at the bishop’s palace of Wolvesey, positioned next to the cathedral, as Winchester Castle had long since ceased to be used as a royal residence after an extensive fire destroyed the royal apartments in 1302. By the sixteenth century, it had declined in importance.

The intended plan was to stay at Winchester for four or five days, as specified in the original giests, before moving the seven miles to Bishop’s Waltham; however, the royal couple were so delighted with the sport on offer in the area, particularly the hawking, that they extended their stay to at least two weeks, moving to Bishop’s Waltham for a short visit around 18 or 19 September (although it’s possible that the court was split between Winchester and Waltham, as we know that Henry and Anne were present at the consecration on Sunday 19 September) before returning to Winchester on Saturday 25.

Not long after the royal party had arrived, Jean de Dinteville, a French diplomat, was granted an audience with the King and Queen. On 15 September, he wrote to Marguerite de Navarre, sister to King Francis I and wife of King Henry II of Navarre:

Madame, the first time I saw the King and Queen of England, I made your recommendations to them, and they were glad to hear of your recovered health. The Queen said that her greatest wish, next to having a son, is to see you again.

Anne’s strong expression of affection is evidence of a close friendship between her and Marguerite. The two women certainly knew each other from Anne’s time in service to Queen Claude, Marguerite’s sister-in-law. However, the true nature of Marguerite’s feelings towards Anne and the extent of their ‘friendship’ is the subject of debate and remains somewhat of a mystery. The evidence seems to suggest that Anne viewed Marguerite as a role model and that overall, Marguerite was pleasant in return.

While at Winchester, Henry and Anne received word that Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, had given birth to a son, Henry Brandon. He would die tragically during an epidemic of the sweating sickness in 1551, just shy of his sixteenth birthday and within an hour of the death of his younger brother from the same disease. While news of his birth was joyous, it must have left Anne and Henry hoping they would soon be blessed with the son they so desperately longed for.

Yet other matters were occupying Henry’s thoughts, as reported by Chapuys in a letter to Charles V on 25 September:

The King having arrived at Winchester, where he is at present, caused an inventory to be made of the treasures of the church, from which he took certain fine rich unicorns’ horns (licornes), and a large silver cross adorned with rich jewels. He has also taken from the Bishop certain mills, to give them to the community in order to gain favour. Cromwell, wherever the King goes, goes round about visiting the abbeys, making inventories of their goods and revenues, instructing them fully in [the tenets of] this new sect, turning out of the abbeys monks and nuns who made their profession before they were 25, and leaving the rest free to go out or to remain. It is true they are not expressly told to go out, but it is clearly given them to understand that they had better do, it, for they are going to make a reformation of them so severe and strange that in the end they will all go; which is the object the King is aiming at, in order to have better occasion to seize the property without causing the people to murmur.

Since joining the progress at Winchcombe, Cromwell had not ventured too far from the King’s side, but he is not the only familiar name that we find accompanying Henry and Anne at Winchester. The correspondences of the Duke of Norfolk, Anne’s uncle, reveal that he, too, intended to join the progress. On 24 September, he wrote to Cromwell to ask him to ‘Speak to some of the harbingers for room for 24 horses in my company, and beg my servant to make my chamber ready against my coming [to Winchester]’. Charles Brandon, too, had left his wife and newborn son to join the progress, where we find him on 25 September.

Wolvesley Palace

The complete plan of the buildings where Anne and Henry probably stayed is not known for sure, but we do know that Wolvesey was a luxurious palace, primarily constructed in the twelfth century, by the powerful Bishop Henry of Blois, brother of King Stephen and the grandson of William the Conqueror. It was extended and refurbished over the centuries by its subsequent owners. The original approach to the palace was through a gate in the city wall, which led to an outer courtyard containing stables and barns. The palace buildings were arranged around an inner courtyard. They included a great hall, chapel, domestic buildings and kitchens, a tower and a gatehouse, surrounded on three sides by a moat.

It is possible that the royal guests were accommodated in rooms in the west range, as this was used throughout its life as the principal residence and private apartments of the Bishop of Winchester, who was Stephen Gardiner at the time of Anne’s visit. These lodgings would undoubtedly have been grand enough to house royalty.

From the early fourteenth century, the palace was used primarily for state occasions rather than as a permanent residence. In 1554, a feast was held in the east hall to celebrate Queen Mary’s marriage to Philip II of Spain, which took place in Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554.

Today, all that remains of the palace Anne would have known are ruins and a fifteenth-century chapel incorporated into a Baroque palace built for Bishop George Morley in the seventeenth century on the site of the original one. This building is presently the private residence of the Bishop of Winchester. However, the ruins are in the care of English Heritage and are open to the public. Look out for the graphic panels, which speak to the palace’s history and illustrate what the medieval buildings may have looked like.  

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral, where Anne witnessed the consecration of three new bishops, still stands as a glorious testament to the city’s illustrious royal connections, power and wealth. It is home to many treasures, including exquisite fourteenth-century oak choir stalls; seven chantry chapels added between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries; medieval floor tiles and wall paintings; over a thousand beautifully carved roof bosses and a sixteenth-century chair, said to have been used by Queen Mary during her wedding ceremony, now housed in The Triforium Gallery. 

The nave is breathtaking and a perfect place to stop. Imagine Anne walking regally and triumphantly beneath the fine vaulted ceiling towards the high altar to witness the consecration of ‘her’ bishops. The Queen’s gaze perhaps fell on the painted statues adorning the ornately carved stone screen soaring up behind the high altar, now replaced with modern statues, as the originals were destroyed during the Reformation. Luckily, a few unique survivals are on display in the aforementioned gallery.

Images © The Tudor Travel Guide.

Apart from the cathedral and ruins of Wolvesey Palace, now known as Wolvesey Castle, the authors also highly recommend visiting the only surviving part of Winchester Castle – its great hall. It is home to King Arthur’s Round Table, made in the thirteenth century and painted during the reign of Henry VIII. But perhaps more importantly, the hall was built at the same time as the now-lost great hall at the Tower of London, where Anne feasted before her coronation and where the Queen and her brother were tried on 15 May 1536.

This extant hall gives visitors an insight into what the great hall at the Tower may have looked and felt like. Find a quiet spot and try to picture the stands that were erected to cater for up to 2,000 spectators. Imagine each of the twenty-six peers delivering their verdict, one by one —‘Guilty, guilty, guilty…’ — their judgments reverberating around the room. Think about the Duke of Norfolk, who cried as he condemned his niece to ‘be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known of the same’ and Anne’s composed response echoing throughout:

I do not say that I have always borne towards the King the humility which I owed him, considering his kindness and the great honour he showed me and the great respect he always paid me; I admit, too, that often I have taken it into my head to be jealous of him… But may God be my witness if I have done him any other wrong.

That such was her destiny would have been unimaginable to Anne as she enjoyed the hospitality in Winchester. Today, visitors will also be captivated by the city’s rich history, the myriad of historic buildings and the raw beauty of the landscape. In this city of kings, queens and bishops, the past finds its voice, eloquently speaking of days gone by.

To listen to the podcast associated with this blog click here. THE NEXT STOP ON YOUR PROGRESS IS THE CHURCH HOUSE, SALISBURY.  CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE.

Visitor Information

To find out more about visiting some fabulous historical places in Winchester, check our my Weekend in Winchester itinerary here.

To learn more about Winchester Cathedral, my on-location podcast, The Noble Tudor History of Winchester Cathedral, is here.

With so much to see in Winchester, we recommend that before you visit, you download a Winchester Explorer Map from www.visitwinchester.co.uk, which includes a city map, opening times and admission prices, and a suggested circular walking trail around the town covering all the locations associated with Anne and many more. Among the many additional locations is The Westgate Museum, which houses an interesting collection of artefacts, including a Tudor ceiling from Winchester College and The City Museum, home to a number of fascinating exhibitions about Winchester’s intriguing past.