In a discovery branded the most exciting Thomas Cromwell finding ‘in a generation’, historians at Hever Castle believe that Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, AND Thomas Cromwell all owned a copy of the same prayer book.
A 1527 prayer book belonging to Catherine of Aragon on loan from the Morgan Library in New York has been on display alongside the 1527 Book of Hours, which belonged to Anne Boleyn, already on display in the Castle (from 8 February to 4 June 2023).
With Catherine’s book returning to the USA, visitors will be able to see another 1527 Book of Hours – which is now believed to have belonged to Thomas Cromwell – on loan from the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge.
© Trinity College Cambridge
This book is thought to be the only object from any Tudor portrait to survive to this day and the first time the book has been lent from Trinity College since it was received on 10 August 1660. Assistant Curator at Hever Castle, Kate McCaffrey, made the link that Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn had copies of the same prayer book back in 2021. She then discovered a third copy of the 1527 Book of Hours, which had been donated to Cambridge in 1660, and took Hever’s curatorial team to view it.
Hever Castle’s Curator, Alison Palmer, recognised the bejewelled, silver gilt binding of the book from the famous portrait of Thomas Cromwell painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543) in 1532-3, which is in the Frick Collection, New York. Since Alison’s remarkable discovery, she has worked alongside Kate McCaffrey and Dr Owen Emmerson to uncover the mystery of the book’s ownership.
Previously little was known about the early provenance of this prayer book. However now Hever’s team has uncovered a compelling provenance trail that links the book from its donor, Dame Anne Sadleir, directly back to Thomas Cromwell. A team of experts, including historian, author and TV presenter Tracy Borman, have reviewed the exciting new evidence and have confidence that this is the very same book in the Holbein painting and that it belonged to Thomas Cromwell.
This book is thought to be the only object from any 16th-century portrait to survive to this day and also believed to be the first time this Thomas Cromwell prayer book has been on public display.
Image on top : The Frick Collection; Photo Michael Bodycomb
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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