All the Queen’s Jewels, 1445–1548

by Nicola Tallis

From Margaret of Anjou to Katherine Parr, All the Queen's Jewels examines the jewellery collections of the ten queen consorts of England between 1445-1548, and investigates the collections of jewels a queen had access to, as well as the varying contexts in which queens used and wore jewels.

The jewellery worn by queens reflected both their gender and their status as the first lady of the realm. Jewels were more than decorative adornments; they were an explicit display of wealth, majesty and authority. They were often given to queens by those who wished to seek her favour or influence and were also associated with key moments in their lifecycle. These included courtship and marriage, successfully negotiating childbirth (and thus providing dynastic continuity), and their elevation to queenly status or coronation. This book explores the way that queens acquired jewels, whether via their predecessor, their own commission or through gift giving. It underscores that jewels were a vital tool that enabled queens to shape their identities as consort, and to fashion images of power that could be seen by their households, court and contemporaries.

This book is perfect for anyone interested in medieval and Tudor history, queenship, jewellery and the history of material culture.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Royalty, Tudor Period, 16th Century, 15th Century

341 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2022

Reviews

[Sadie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Nicola Tallis provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis on the relationship between jewelry and royal women.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An academic study of how England's early queens used their jewelry as representations of power and individuality. Tallis combines much disparate research under her main theme, discussing how expanding study to include fashion and jewelry strengthen our understanding of how power was perceived at the time.

Making use of portraits and inventories, Tallis considers how jewelry moved about the court, as gifts and inheritances. She focuses especially between Henry VIII's multiple queens and how their jewelry collection combined to project reflected majesty.

[aislyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely fascinating

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When looking at late Medieval and Tudor portraits, it is impossible not to notice the superb clothing and splendid jewels that adorn the sitters. The period of 1445-1548 saw six King's rule England, and with them, ten Queen consorts - Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne Neville, Elizabeth of York, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr. Throughout this period, jewels formed a significant component of queenship. This is the topic of Nicola Tallis' groundbreaking new book All the Queen's Jewels 1445-1548: Power, Majesty and Display.

As identified by Tallis in the introduction, there already exists a body of research on the fashion of queens throughout this period (p. 4). Additionally, there is information available on the inventories of earlier Medieval Queens, as well as research on Elizabeth's I's jewellery collection. But, Tallis identified a gap in the research - specifically there lacked 'a comparative study of the jewel collections of these particular queens.' This book stems from Tallis' PhD thesis, and as such is an extensive, scholarly study of the queen consorts jewels throughout this time.

From the outset, Tallis identifies a number of aims of this study (pp. 12-13) . These are the building of a 'complete a picture as possible of the jewellery collection of the queens' from this period, analysing these jewellery collections, examining the means by which jewels were acquired, and lastly, how these queen consorts used jewels. In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion, this study is divided into seven chapters - An Introduction to Jewellery and the Queenly Use of Jewels; The Wills of the Queens of England, 1445-1548; The Jewel Inventories of Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard and Katheryn Parr; Portraiture; Goldsmiths and Commissioning Jewels; Gifts of Jewels; and The Crown Jewels.

While in a different style to Tallis' previous books, All the Queens Jewels 1445-1548: Power, Majesty and Display is brilliant and contributes an abundance of new information to the existing body of Tudor scholarship. I was hooked right from the outset - and you know it's a fantastic read when you are staying up late, and getting up early just so that you can read it. I loved learning about the importance of jewels to these queens and it has made me view jewellery throughout this time in a completely different light. Whether it was the types of jewels that were owned by the queens, the items they chose to include in their wills, or to gift to others, or the jewellery they are shown wearing in existing portraits, it was exciting and compelling to read something new about this much studied period.

If you are interested in the late Medieval/Tudor period, jewellery, or queenship, and enjoy reading academic works, then I highly recommend reading All the Queen's Jewels 1445-1548: Power, Majesty and Display by Nicola Tallis.

Additional Note: I also highly recommend all three of the author's previous books - Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth's Rival: The Tumultuous Tale of Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester, and one of my personal favourite history books, Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful Life of Margaret Beaufort, Tudor Matriach.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Dr. Tallis’s work for some time and greatly enjoyed her podcast on this topic. When I heard that she would be publishing her thesis work with Routledge I immediately preordered the book.

I do not have a great deal of experience with material culture work so I did not have many expectations. Overall I found this book fascinating and a novel (to me) approach to looking at a time period in history. I particularly enjoyed how be looking at jewels we can learn aspects of the Queens’ personalities and how they viewed their role as Queen. I particularly liked Chapters 3 and 4 for these reasons.

I due wish more images had been included through out the book as I often had to stop and think about what things might have looked like. Having even a sketch from the descriptions would have been helpful. Also, I wish numbers rather than Roman numerals would have been used in discussing the number of jewels on things.

This is a great read for anyone interested in this time period. You’ll learn a great deal about many of the queens in this period. Much of the information throughout this text is novel and helps paint an interesting picture of these women.

[Kara · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this is a solid academic study of Tudor royalty use of jewelry, I was heavily disappointed by the illustrations. there are only a handful of grainy, black and white poor copies of a few queen's portraits. There are no color illustrations, no photographs of surviving jewelry, and no reconstructions of various descriptions. This book is all about the visual world of the Tudors - there should have been more visuals!

[Allie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you think you know a lot about the Tudors - this book will prove you wrong. Such an interesting perspective looking at jewels and how they were handled. I found the writing to be more dry/academic, but fascinating! You can see a lot of new research went into this. I highly recommend!