* Henry VII (1457-1509), King of England, 1485-1509. Document Signed, 'H.R.', given under the king’s signet at the Palace of Westminster, 18 June 1498, warrant on vellum in English, with the sign manual of Henry VII at head, to Sir Robert Lytton, knight, under-treasurer of England and keeper of our great wardrobe, to deliver clothing and furniture for the use of ‘our dearest second son [Henry] the Duke of York and our right dear and right well-beloved daughters the Ladies Margaret and Mary his sisters’, with descriptive details (see below) of the items to be given to each of the royal children, some age toning, marginal filing hole and later annotation '49', 1 page, verso blank, 145 x 250 mmQTY: (1)NOTE:For Henry: two coats, one of black damask and the other of black satin with sufficient lining; a gown of black velvet lined with black sarcenet; a bonnet of crimson velvet; a paylet [?pallet, a type of headpiece] case of canvas; a featherbed and a bolster; a pair of fustians; two pair sheets of three broads at 12d the ell; a counterpoint and as much black sarcenet as shall suffice for the lining of a gown of crimson velvet. For Margaret: a kirtle of black satin with sufficient lining to the same; a gown of black velvet with an edge of crimson velvet and sufficient lining thereto; three ells ribbon for girdles at 5d the ell; two ounces laces for her kirtle; one thousand pins; for a paylet for her woman; a featherbed, a bolster, two pair sheets of three broads at 8d the ell, a pair of fustians and a counterpane. For Mary: a kirtle of black satin with sufficient lining thereto; three ells ribbon for girdles at 5d the ell; two ounces laces for her kirtle; a bed for the same Lady Mary; a sparver [canopy for a bed or cradle] of green sarcenet, a paylet case of canvas, a featherbed, a bolster, two pair sheets of three broads at 16d the ell, a pair of fustians, a counterpane, two pillows of down and two pillow-beres to the same at 20d the ell. Henry VII’s children spent their earliest years at Sheen on the banks of the Thames, until a fire caused the royal nursery to be moved to Eltham Palace. Prince Henry (1491-1547), the future King Henry VIII, was born on 28 June 1491 and was accordingly just seven years old at the time of the warrant. His elder sister Princess Margaret (1489-1541), born 29 November 1489, was aged eight. She married James IV, King of Scots, on 15 January 1503, and the remainder of her troubled life was dominated by the politics of the Scottish crown. Princess Mary (1496-1533), born in March 1496, was aged two. In August 1514 she was pledged to marry Louis XII of France (1462-1515), who died on 1 January 1515, danced to death, it was said, by his energetic young consort. While still in Paris she surreptitiously married Charles Brandon (c. 1484-1545), Duke of Suffolk, whom the king had sent to escort her back to England. Sir Robert Lytton of Knebworth in Hertfordshire and the Middle Temple was a clerk in the Exchequer by 1470, and served as Under-Treasurer of England from 1497 until his death in 1505.
