Wardrobe (government)

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Remains of the 12th-century Wardrobe Tower at the Tower of London

The King's Wardrobe, along with his Chamber, made up the personal part of medieval English government collectively known as the King's household. Originally the room where the king's clothes, armour and treasure were stored the term was expanded to describe its contents and then the department of clerks who ran it. Early in the reign of Henry III, and emerging out of the fragmentation of the Curia Regis, the Wardrobe came into its own as the chief administrative and accounting department of the Household. The wardrobe treasure of gold and jewels enabled the king to make secret and rapid payments to fund his diplomatic and military operations, and for a time, in the 13th-14th centuries, it eclipsed the Exchequer as the chief spending department of central government.[1]

There were in fact two main Wardrobes for much of this period: around 1300 the confusingly-named Great Wardrobe, responsible only for expenditure on such things clothing, textiles, furs and spices, split away from the more senior Wardrobe, which remained responsible for financing the king's personal expenditure and his military operations. In addition there were smaller Privy Wardrobes at various royal palaces; most of these provided items for the personal use of the King when in residence, but the Privy Wardrobe in the Tower of London came to specialize in the storage and manufacture of armour and armaments, and as such it too developed into an autonomous department of the State.

At its height, the King's Wardrobe operated in parallel with the emerging administrative and financial offices of government: the Chancery and the Exchequer. These departments, in earlier times, had routinely accompanied the King as part of his travelling Curia Regis, but by the 13th century they had a much more settled and separate existence. The Wardrobe, in some ways, bridged the gap between these offices of state and the king, serving as his "perambulating chancery and exchequer".[2] In time, though, the authority of Exchequer and Chancery was asserted more strongly (alongside that of the nascent Parliament of England); during the 15th century the Wardrobe began to lose first its influence and then its separate identity, retreating back into, and eventually becoming indistinguishable from, the Household. At the same time, the Great Wardrobe began to be referred to, more simply, as "the Wardrobe", to some extent taking on the identity of its forebear.[3] In the sixteenth century, though, the Great Wardrobe itself lost its independence; nevertheless, it continued in existence (if only as a subsidiary department within the Royal Household) until it was abolished by the Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782.[3]

The King's (or Household) Wardrobe

Building known as The Wardrobe on the site of Richmond Palace

Origins and early development

In the Middle Ages persons of wealth and power often slept in a chamber (Latin camera), alongside which a secure room or wardrobe (garderoba) would be provided for storage of clothes and other valuables. In the royal household, the Chamber came to represent the king's nearest advisers. Before long the Wardrobe emerged, under the auspices of the Chamber, to become an administrative body in its own right, providing secure storage for the robes, treasures, archives and armaments of the king. Like other offices of the household it was an itinerant operation: carts and cases containing valuables travelled with the King and his Court as they moved from place to place around the realm.[4]

Prior to the 13th century references to the Wardrobe and its keepers are few. The 10th-century King Eadred bequeathed substantial sums of money in his will to his hrœgelthegns (robe-keepers), which may suggest that these were persons of some importance.[4] By the reign of Henry II the king's Wardrobe is identified as a 'place of safe deposit' with its own staff, and its own premises within various royal palaces or strongholds.[2] There remained, however, a good deal of overlap between the Chamber and the Wardrobe.

The rise of the Wardrobe

After 1200, however, the Wardrobe grew in activity and in prestige, at first rivalling, then eclipsing the Chamber in terms of power within the Court and in relation to the governance of the realm. Thus we see, early in the reign of Henry III, the office of Treasurer of the Chamber annexed to (and taken over by) that of Keeper of the Wardrobe; (thereafter he is known interchangeably as Keeper, Treasurer or Clerk of the Wardrobe). Likewise, at around the same time the Keeper's deputy (the Controller of the Wardrobe) was given oversight of the Privy Seal (which had first come into use within the Chamber). This meant that the Wardrobe, already a repository of important documents and Charters, began producing them as well; thenceforward its Controller tended to be an important and trusted adviser to the king.[1] The administrative historian T. F. Tout has speculated that a reason for the Wardrobe's increasing influence was its "new and elastic" nature: it was not hidebound by restrictive traditions or customary ways of working.[2] Moreover, it was able to respond quickly in times when speedy expenditure was required - most especially in time of war - and with a flexibility which suited both the monarch and the nascent powers of English government. It did so largely by securing loans, on the basis of its valuable assets and treasures, from Italian bankers (the Riccardi and the Frescobaldi).[1] In this way the Wardrobe became an independently powerful financial office.

During the reign of Edward I, the Wardrobe was at the height of its power as a financial, administrative and military department of the Household and State. Its seal, the Privy Seal, no longer functioned solely as the personal seal of the King, but began to serve as a second, and somewhat less formal, State seal alongside the Great Seal of the Realm. (The fact that the Privy Seal invariably travelled with the King and his Court often made it quicker and easier to use than the Great Seal, which remained in the custody the Chancellor; the one complemented the other).[1] It was by letters authenticated by this seal that officials across the Kingdom received their instructions; as did both the Exchequer and the Chancery (the two main offices of State outside the Household). Furthermore, the Navy, the infantry and most of the cavalry were paid through the Wardrobe accounts.[1]

Its influence fades

Towards the end of Edward's reign, the Wardrobe began to receive block grants of funds from the Exchequer (a series of costly wars having taken their toll on the Wardrobe's hitherto independent means). During the reign of Edward's son, Edward II, some effort was made to reassert the financial authority of the Exchequer over that of the Wardrobe, and under Edward III, ongoing conflicts over the confusion of authority between the wardrobe and the exchequer were largely resolved when William Edington, treasurer in the mid-fourteenth century, brought the wardrobe under the financial oversight – if not control – of the exchequer.

It was around this time that the Wardrobe began to be known as the Household Wardrobe: this was in part to differentiate it from the increasingly autonomous 'Great Wardrobe' (see below), but it also reflects the fact that the wardrobe was losing its wider influence. By the reign of Richard II, the Wardrobe 'had ceased to be the directive force of the household, and remained simply as the office of household accounts'.[3] At the same time, the Chamber was re-establishing its seniority within the Household, and the wardrobe ceased to have very much influence (except in time of war, when, even in the fifteenth century, it still proved useful as a means of raising and distributing necessary funds).

In due course, the Wardrobe began to lose all together its identity as something distinct from the larger household: thus its senior officers began to be referred to as the Treasurer of the Household, Controller of the Household and Cofferer of the Household (rather than as "Treasurer/Controller/Cofferer of the Household Wardrobe"). These three remained, however, (and two of the three still remain) as senior officers of the Household who are also members of the Government.

Emergence of the Great Wardrobe

Wardrobe Place in the City of London, built on the site of the Great Wardrobe

In the course of the 13th century a distinct organisation began to be identified within the Wardrobe: it came to be known (rather confusingly) as the Great Wardrobe (the word 'Great' referring perhaps to the size of items being stored, not to the importance of the office).[3]

Origin and purpose

The Great Wardrobe dealt with a variety of commodities ranging from cloth, tapestries, clothing and furniture to sugar, spices, dried fruit and pepper; and it later became a repository (and indeed manufactory) of jewellery and other treasures, tents, saddles, bridles, as well as armour and other military items. What all these items had in common was that they were more or less non-perishable and could be stored long-term if not required for immediate use; the Great Wardrobe originated as the department of the King's Wardrobe which was primarily concerned with the storage of such items when not required by the itinerant Court.

Establishment in the 13th century

The term Great Wardrobe (magna garderoba) first appears in 1253.[3] The older ('Household') Wardrobe had, by this time, developed into a sophisticated bureaucratic and financial office, and its staff had less time (or inclination) to be occupied with the practical matters of storekeeping. Nevertheless, storekeeping remained a practical necessity as the Wardrobe, along with the rest of the royal household, continued to travel with the King as part of his Court, accompanied by the goods and chattels for which it was responsible. It clearly made practical sense for at least some of these items to be kept in a more settled location.

The Great Wardrobe was therefore established to provide a more centralised system of storage. Initially, however, there was no single Great Wardrobe location. A majority of items were stored in the Tower of London (London having proved to be the most convenient point of distribution), but others were stored elsewhere according to where they might be needed: indeed, several palaces and castles had their own Great Wardrobe storerooms (some of these were designed for storage of specific items, being located close to a place of specialized manufacture or trade; for example, the Prior of St Ives was required to maintain a storehouse for items purchased by the Wardrobe from the famous cloth market at nearby St Ives, Cambridgeshire.)

Despite the moves toward greater centralisation, the officers of the Great Wardrobe continued to travel with the Court through the 13th century; and if the King was due to stay in a place for any length of time (or, indeed, if he was engaged on a military campaign at home or abroad) it remained necessary for many of the Great Wardrobe's items to be transported with him in long convoys of wagons, described in the wardrobe accounts as "caravans".[3]

Diversification in the 14th century

By the fourteenth century the Great Wardrobe had branched into manufacturing (in addition to its duties of purchase, storage and distribution of non-perishable goods) and numbered the King's Tailor, Armourer, Pavilioner and Confectioner among its officials.[3] Nevertheless, it still remained in essence a sub-department of the Household Wardrobe up until 1324, whereupon it gained significant autonomy by being made accountable to the Exchequer rather than to the Wardrobe of the Household. It also began to travel less with the King's Court, and, significantly, began to put down roots outside the Tower in the City of London (its staff necessarily had regular dealings with the City's merchants). This was in part due to lack of space: the Tower was becoming a specialist store and manufacturing base for arms and armour (responsibility for which soon devolved upon a new branch, the Privy Wardrobe - see below).[3]

Arms and armour remained at the Tower, as did the royal jewels and other valuable items, but much else was moved out. From around 1300 the Great Wardrobe had begun to rent properties in the City to provide extra storage and office space. It made use of a series of properties, including in Bassishaw and in Lombard Street, all the while retaining foothold in the Tower. Then, in 1362 it obtained a suitable property (which itself became known as the Wardrobe) to the north of Baynard's Castle; and there it remained for the next three centuries. The nearby parish church is known to this day as St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe.

Emergence of the Privy Wardrobe

The Jewel Tower housed a branch of the King's Privy Wardrobe at the Palace of Westminster

Mention is made of a Privy Wardrobe (parva garderoba) from the 1220s onwards. To begin with, the phrase appears to indicate a room (or type of room) used to store the King's robes, armour and arms. By the end of the 13th century, the same phrase clearly refers to a small organisation headed by a Clerk, within the main Wardrobe, which would travel with the Court and furnish the king with these and other personal items (these included the royal jewels, for which two main strong-houses were used: one in the Palace of Westminster, one in the Tower of London). The itinerant Privy Wardrobe continued to operate and to provide for the King on his travels, even when the Court as a whole had ceased to be mobile; it was later known as the 'Removing Wardrobe'. The central Privy Wardrobe at the Tower of London, however, took on a new identity, and rose in prominence and power, becoming the main official repository and provider of arms, armour and ordnance in the Kingdom of England.[3]

Specialisation of the Privy Wardrobe at the Tower

By the 14th century, the Tower of London had become well established as a convenient and safe place for storage of arms and armour, jewels and plate; so when the Great Wardrobe departed these items stayed put. Arms had been manufactured within the Tower since the previous century; the local wardrobe staff had valuable experience and the Tower itself was strategically well-placed for fast distribution. Already in the 1330s, prior to the departure of the Great Wardrobe, the local 'Privy Wardrobe at the Tower' had begun to specialize in this work, and after 1361 it, in turn, took on a degree of financial and administrative independence (becoming directly accountable to the Exchequer rather than the royal household). It was superseded in the mid-15th century by the Office of Armoury and the Office of Ordnance (both also based at the Tower), whereupon the Privy Wardrobe's funding ceased and it largely faded from influence (though it continued to have a nominal role until the latter part of the same century).

Other Wardrobes

Other members of the Royal Family had their own separate Wardrobes, which (like the King's Wardrobe) were departments staffed by clerks. The first known Queen's Wardrobe was that of Eleanor of Provence (consort of Henry III); her Wardrobe had a high degree of autonomy, and accounted directly to the Exchequer; later Queens' Wardrobes were more likely to be subsidiary departments of the King's Wardrobe. A Prince's Wardrobe was established for Edward of Caernarfon (the future Edward II) and for other children of the sovereign over successive reigns. Furthermore, several Peers, Bishops and others set up and maintained their own personal Wardrobes along similar lines to that of the monarch in the 13th-15th centuries; the wardrobe accounts of some reveal levels of household (and military) expenditure to rival that of contemporary royalty.[4]

Lists of the Chief Officers of the Wardrobe

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See also: Comptroller of the Household and Cofferer of the Household

Keepers or Treasurers of the Wardrobe

  • c1200: Robert of Braybrooke
  • 1213–1215: Odo
  • 1218-1224: Peter de Rivaux (jointly from 1222)
  • 1222–1232: Walter of Brackley (later Bishop of Ossory) (jointly)
  • 1224–1231: Walter of Kirkham (later Bishop of Durham) (jointly)
  • 1224–1227: Ranulph le Breton (jointly)
  • 1232–1234: Peter de Rivaux
  • 1234–1236: Walter of Kirkham
  • 1236–1240: Geoffrey the Templar
  • 1240–1241: Peter of Aigueblanche (later Bishop of Hereford) and William de Burgh
  • 1241–1254: Peter Chaceporc
  • 1255–1257: Artaud of Saint-Romain
  • 1257–1258: Peter de Rivaux
  • 1258–1261: Aubrey of Fecamp
  • 1261–1261: Peter of Winchester
  • 1261–1263: Henry of Ghent
  • 1264–1265: Ralph Sandwich
  • 1265–1268: Nicholas of Lewknor
  • 1268–1272: Peter of Winchester
  • 1272–1274: Philip Willoughby
  • 1274–1274: Antony Bek (later Bishop of Durham)
  • 1274–1280: Thomas Bek (later Bishop of St Davids)
  • 1280–1285: William of Louth
  • 1285–1287: Hamo de la Legh
  • 1287: Roger de Lisle
  • 1290–1295: Walter Langton
  • 1307–1308: John Benstead
  • 1308–1309: John Droxford
  • 1309–1311: Ingelard Warley
  • 1312–1312: Peter Collingbourn
  • 1312–1314: Ingelard Warley
  • 1314–1316: William Melton
  • 1316–1322: Roger Northburgh
  • 1322–1323: Roger Waltham
  • 1323–1328: Robert Wodehouse
  • 1328–1329: Richard Bury
  • 1329–1331: Thomas Garton
  • 1331–1334: Robert Tawton
  • 1334–1337: Edmund Ferriby
  • 1337–1338: Edmund de la Beche
  • 1338–1340: William Norwell
  • 1340–1341: William Cusance
  • 1341–1344: William Edington
  • 1344–1347: Walter Wetwang
  • 1347–1349: Thomas Clopton
  • 1349–1350: William Cusance
  • 1350–1353: William de Retford
  • 1353–1357: John Buckingham
  • 1357–1358: William de Retford
  • 1358–1359: Henry Walton
  • 1359–1360: William Farley
  • 1360–1361: William Ferriby
  • 1361–1366: William Manton
  • 1366–1368: William Gunthorpe
  • 1368–1369: Thomas Brantingham (later Bishop of Exeter)
  • 1369–1375: Henry Wakefield
  • 1375–1376: William Moulsoe
  • 1376–1377: Richard Beverley
  • 1377–1390: William Pakington
  • 1390-1399: John Carp
  • 1399-1401: Thomas Tutbury
  • 1401-1405: Thomas More
  • 1405-1406: Richard Kingston
  • 1406-1408: Sir John Tiptoft
  • 1409-1413: Sir John Brownfleet
  • 1413: Thomas More
  • 1413-1416: Sir Roger Leche
  • 1416-1420: Sir John Rothenall
  • 1421: Sir Walter Beauchamp
  • 1421-1422: Sir William Philip
  • 1423-1431: John Hotoft
  • 1431-1437: Sir John Tirell
  • 1437-1439: Sir John Popham
  • 1439-1446: Sir Roger Fiennes
  • 1446-1453: John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton
  • 1453-1454: John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
  • 1454-1456: William Fallan
  • 1456-1458: John Brecknock
  • 1458-1460: Sir Thomas Tuddenham
  • 1460: Sir Gervais Clifton
  • 1460-1461: Sir Walter Skull
  • 1461-1468: Sir John Fogge
  • 1468-1470: Sir John Howard
  • 1470-1471: Sir John Delves
  • 1471-1474: John, Lord Howard
  • 1474-1483: Sir John Elrington
  • 1483: Richard Beauchamp
  • 1483-1484: Sir William Hopton
  • 1484: Sir Richard Croft

For subsequent appointments see Treasurer of the Household.

Keepers or Masters of the Great Wardrobe

The post was abolished with the other offices of the Great Wardrobe in 1782.

Keepers of the Privy Wardrobe

  • 1323-1344 John Fleet
  • 1344-1351 Robert Mildenhall
  • 1351-1360 William Rothwell
  • 1360-1365 Henry Snaith (also Keeper of the Great Wardrobe from 1361)
  • 1365- 1377 John Sleaford (also Keeper of the Great Wardrobe from 1371)
  • 1378-1381 John Hatfield
  • 1381-1382 John Hermesthorpe
  • 1382-1395 Randolph Hatton
  • 1396-1399 John Lowick
  • 1399- John Norbury
  • 1405- Henry Somer
  • 1407- Simon Fleet
  • 1430- Gilbert Parr
  • 1457- Thomas Thorp
  • 1460- John Parr
  • 1461- John Sidborough
  • 1476- Robert Allerton

No further appointments were made to this office after 1476.

Keepers of local Wardrobes

Deputy Masters of the Great Wardrobe

The Deputy Master of the Great Wardrobe was a position in the British Royal Household, the chief subordinate to the Master of the Great Wardrobe. Holders enjoyed a salary of £200 (fixed in 1674), reduced to £150 in 1761. The post seems to have developed into a sinecure, and by 1765, the office of Assistant to the Deputy Master had become established. The post was abolished with the other offices of the Great Wardrobe in 1782.

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See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 Bucholz 2006, pp. 146-156.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

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Further reading

  • Database of Court Officers
  • Arnold, Janet Lost from Her Majesty's Back, the Costume Society, 1980. Items of clothing and jewels lost or given away by Elizabeth I between 1561 and 1583, entered in one of the day books kept for the records of the Wardrobe of Robes.
  • --do.-- Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, Leeds: W. S. Maney and Son Ltd, 1988. ISBN 0-901286-20-6 A study of the clothing of Queen Elizabeth I, based on portraits, surviving inventories of the Wardrobe of Robes, and other original documents.
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  • Tout, T. F. (1920–33). Chapters in the Administrative History of Mediaeval England: the Wardrobe, the Chamber and the Small Seals, 6 vol. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
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