Tournaments and Early Tudor Chivalry
Business with pleasure - Steven Gunn shows how the spectacle of the joust oiled the wheels of service and diplomacy as well as building up the court's image, not just for Henry VIII but for his dynasty-founding father as well.
The early Tudor court was designed to impress, and it succeeded. The lyrical praise of foreign ambassadors and the goggle-eyed admiration of London chroniclers testified to the achievement of Henry VII and Henry VIII in projecting an image of magnificence suitable for a strong dynasty in comfortable charge of a wealthy and cultured realm. For anxious usurpers in a weak and unstable kingdom on the periphery of Europe it was a remarkable confidence trick, and one that Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth would carry to even more dramatic lengths.
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