King Henry VIII himself would have had an overwhelming influence over building works of the time. This ambition coupled with his academic knowledge may have been used to build palaces designed to surpass their European counterparts.

Two different examples will be used to examine European influence on Tudor palaces: Hampton Court Palace and Nonsuch Palace. European influences will be considered in relation to the following themes: external appearance including building materials, internal layout and the aesthetic interior. By the end of his reign Henry VIII owned over fifty houses (Summerson, J. 1993).

Hampton Court Palace is an accretive building that began in 1514 as the largest house in England (Watkin, D. 1997); it was owned by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (c.1471-1530) and given to Henry VIII in 1529. Half of the Tudor palace is still visible next to the newer part of the palace built by Christopher Wren (1632-1723) from 1689-1694 (Tinniswood, A. 2001). When Henry VIII took over the palace from Wolsey it had not been designed as a traditional Royal residence.

In 1532 special brick kilns were built near Hampton Court Palace to supply the enormous number of bricks needed (Thurley, S. 1988).

It could be argued that Nonsuch was inspired by Henry VIII’s love of chivalry, tradition and English antiquity.

Up until Henry VIII’s reign, the English monarchy had been lagging behind the French in terms of power and influence.

Henry VIII paid great attention to the building of a library and here we see a strong Flemish influence. Almost all of Henry VIII’s houses had libraries.

In terms of layout, Nonsuch Palace is easier to understand because it was built from scratch, (figure 2). (Steane, J. 1998) says that a “fully-fledged ordered planning of a Royal palace is reached with Nonsuch.”

Nonsuch was built around two courts. It is commonly accepted that Nonsuch Palace was Henry VIII’s attempt to emulate, and even “out do” Francis I’s hunting lodge at Chambord, which had been in progress for twelve years when Nonsuch began (Summerson, J. 1993).

Both Hampton Court and Nonsuch Palace had lavishly decorated interiors; we know this from surviving artefacts and records. In terms of architecture, the decorations used in Nonsuch and Hampton Court Palace, had a distinctly European influence. Although there is little evidence of pattern books from the building of Nonsuch and Hampton Court Palace, there are surviving pattern books from the medieval period. (Steane, J. 1998) described tapestried walls in the presence chamber at Nonsuch and there is a much-documented evidence about the tapestries at Hampton Court Palace. Only a small fraction of Henry VIII’s tapestry collection survive and it is difficult to know which pieces were at Nonsuch and Hampton Court. Henry VIII was a powerful Tudor ruler, he was extremely proactive and prolific in his building works, and was well read and well educated. This combination of European influence and Henrican desire was the driving factor in the building of these two palaces.

British Archaeology, Great Sites: Nonsuch Palace, 8th March 2009

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London Borough of Sutton, Nonsuch Palace, 8th March 2009

Museum of London, Nonsuch Palace:from a Print by George Hoefnagle, 11th March 2009

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Thurley, S. 1988, Henry VIII and the Building of Hampton Court: A Reconstruction of the Tudor Palace, Architectural History, Vol. 31, pp. 1-57.