VIII.—Elizabethan Sheldon Tapestries

For many centuries, though a good many tapestries were woven in France, Flanders was the chief centre of the industry, and supplied the various European countries with tapestries and hangings of a similar character. Cloths of Arras were in demand for English country houses, and large purchases were made from time to time by the richer nobles. It was, however, at the beginning of the sixteenth century that tapestries came increasingly into demand and favour in England, as is evident by the fine collection made by Cardinal Wolsey for Hampton Court, and that of King Henry VIII for his own palaces. The inventory taken after his death records over 2,000 specimens, while a writer states that ‘one ship from the Continent carried no less than one thousand tapestries for the King of England’. Agents were employed in Flanders to secure the finest specimens as they were woven.