Agnes Hungerford was the second wife of Sir Edward Hungerford, a courtier during Henry VIII’s early reign. In December 1521 he wrote his will, describing himself as ‘of hole and perfite mynde and of good memory, being sike in body’. Two years later, Agnes would be attainted and hanged at Tyburn for ‘felony and murder’. Had she murdered her husband? Chroniclers John Stowe and the author of the Grey Friar’s Chronicle certainly thought so. Interestingly, Edward’s will was completed, shortly before his death, fully in Agnes’ favour. She would receive all her husband’s personal property and that of the Hungerfords. Sounds like something from a crime documentary.
However, before she was taken to her execution at Tyburn, an inventory of her belongings was made so that Henry VIII had a record of what was being received into his hands. It is a meticulously detailed inventory, recording various items of plate, wall hangings and items such as spoons, candlesticks, chests and books. Recorded at Farleigh Castle, the couple’s Somerset seat, there was also a long list of clothing and jewels that Agnes would have used. As well as provide details of the lush fabrics worn by a Lady of the Tudor realm, they dispel the idea that everyone wore brown, or dark green or other earthy colours like you see in the films.
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| Stunning Tudor gown made by After Elizabeth |
Among the ‘parcelles of rayment’ was an item which Agnes had marked ‘longyng to myne awne body… a gown of cremesyn velvet with Frenche sleeves, lined with tyncell and borded with the same’. By this, did Agnes mean that she was wearing this gown during the taking down of the inventory? It seems likely, as all other gowns and clothing items are simply listed below it without any embellishment or explanation. The circumstances of the inventory being made were unhappy, and the image of Agnes showing Henry VIII’s officials around her home while wearing her crimson gown with French sleeves is an intimate, but sad one.
Agnes also owned a similar gown with French sleeves in russet velvet, and one of black velvet lined with crimson satin. The colours of black and red are something we might consider as belonging more to the later Elizabethan era, but clearly Agnes dressed to impress in the early 1520s. Gowns of ‘tawney chamlet’ are also listed, decorated with fur, and she also owned another black velvet gown, this one with ‘narrowe sleves’ and embellished with a border of black satin, probably at the chest.
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| Formerly attributed to Steven van der Meulen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Elizabeth I was also a fan of red, white, gold and black |
A number of kirtles are listed next, some in satin (black and purple), and another in a ‘popinjay colour’. Whatever it was about this item, something reminded Agnes (or the inventory taker) of a parrot, whether it was a strong blue or red colour. She also had another kirtle of tawney chamlet.
Sleeves were removable from gowns and could be switched to suit whatever colour of fabric complemented the rest of the outfit. Agnes owned four pairs of sleeves, in crimson tinsel, cloth of gold damask, green tinsel and yellow satin and ten other pairs of sleeves made of ‘fine cameryke’. She also had a quarter of an ell of cloth of gold damask, ready to be made into another piece of clothing perhaps to complement the fancy gold sleeves. Equally, it’s possible that this was the fabric left over from making the sleeves, returned to her by her tailor.
Along with half a dozen blue ribbons, (one of them a ‘great blue ribbon’), Agnes had six frontlets. Four of them were made with cloth of gold, lined variously with tawny velvet, crimson satin and white satin. One of the frontlets described seems particularly fancy, ‘a frontlet of green satin with a cawl of gold and flat gold underneath’. Another was purely crimson in colour, ‘crimson velvet, lined with crimson satin’. She owned two velvet bonnets, one ‘garnished’ and the other plain. Predictably, Agnes also had a scarlet cloak. She certainly seems to have had a preference for the colour in her clothing choices, and would have stood out during visits to local lands, friends and family and while visiting the royal court.
If you’re thinking that the contents of Agnes’ clothing chests were impressive, wait until we get to the jewels. Listed is ‘an edge of goldsmith’s work for a past set with pearl’, which weighed nine pounds. She also owned two more ‘edges’ of gold of damask with pearls. It’s possible that these were to adorn the bust of a gown, or the edge of a gable head dress or French hood. She also had a string of pearls with true love knots along with other pearl necklaces. One item may have been a very special gift, ‘a gret flowre of golde, and in the same is a saffier [sapphire], an amytys [amethyst] and a gret pearl’. Also in her collection was ‘a flowre of golde with a saffeir and three perles’.
The list goes on. More jewels in the shape of flowers, one in gold, ‘full of sparkes of dyamondes set abowte with perles, and the Holy Gost in the mydste of yt’. Another was a tablet of gold depicting St Christopher, patron saint of travellers, suggesting that Agnes embarked on longer trips while on household business. There were other, more romantic ones. A heart made of gold, enamelled with white and blue; ‘a great brooch of gold with a man and a woman in him, the value £4’, and buttons of gold with hearts enamelled on the surface. There were more buttons with E&A marked on them, her and her husband's initials. On her fingers Agnes wore gold rings, one of them containing an emerald with four diamonds.
Agnes was confronted with a tragic end to her story, but the records that the event left behind give us valuable information on how a lady of wealth dazzled when seen by tenants, courtiers and even royalty. There are blues, golds, blacks, whites and a lot of crimson red in textiles such as velvet, satin and damask. She sparkled in diamonds, rubies, pearls, emeralds and gold, proving that appearance conveyed power and influence in the Tudor era, just as in many ways, it can today.
You might also like: Dressing Up As a Tudor Lady with After Elizabeth, The Return of Medieval Fashion and A New Look at Henry VIII's Wives.
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The Tudors are famous for creative expression, art and the theatre during their reigns. But the English Renaissance started a lot earlier than 1485. Find out more in my book Power Couples of the Renaissance. It features relationship dynamics that went against accepted norms of the period and power-hungry couples who ruled, fought and spread the patronage of art, science and culture across the globe during one of the most tumultuous periods of history. Find it on the Pen and Sword Books website.
Source: “Inventory of the Goods of Dame Agnes Hungerford, attainted of murder 14 Hen VIII; with Remarks thereon by John Gough Nichols, and the Rev. John Edward Jackson”. In Archaeologia, Volume 38, 1860, p353-372
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