Leonardo da Vinci
Tower of London
Henry VIII's Coronation
Jousting Rules
Catherine of Aragon's pregnancy
Utopia by Thomas More
Songs written by Henry VIII
The Field of Cloth of Gold
First printed Bible in English
Henry VIII's 'Great Matter'
Last letter from Thomas More to Henry VIII
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Henry VIII's Great Bible
Henry VIII's Psalter
Minstrels at a feast
Chopping Wood
Vesalius's anatomy lessons
Copernicus
Edward VI's diary
Henry VIII's assets
Letter from Elizabeth I
Circular zodiac chart
Elizabeth I's Map
The First National Lottery
Elizabeth I in a golden chariot
Handwritten recipe
Elizabethan dress codes
First English Dictionary
Recipe for pancakes
Mary Queen of Scots
Elizabeth's Tilbury speech
Elizabethan thieves
Doctor Faustus by Marlowe
A cure for drunkenness
Drawn up in the summer of 1528, when the sweating sickness was raging, this list gives the titles of almost 100 books in religious houses in Lincolnshire that might pertain to Henry’s ‘Great Matter’ (divorce). Those books that were to be transported to the Royal Library were marked with a cross.
More revealingly, there is a note beside a list of three titles from the Gilbertine priory of St Catherine in Lincoln in Henry’s own hand to the effect that all of the books or at least the older of them were worthy of examination (uel omnes uelantiquior istorum). It is clear that Henry was closely involved in the search for evidence, overseeing what was going on and determining what might be most useful to him.