ABSTRACT
The men and women who made the clothes for Henry VIII, his family and his household were at the centre of a cycle of consumption and production. Their skills and ingenuity often brought them substantial financial rewards, while their roles as royal artificers brought them status and additional business. The leading royal artificers had workshops where they employed journeymen and trained apprentices. The king's artificers were frequently leading members of their crafts. The scissori regis or king's tailor would have been a familiar figure to Henry VIII. The office of the queen's tailor was a well established position and it was based within the queen's wardrobe in Baynard's castle. The specialist hosiers developed alongside tailors, some of whom still continued to make hose. The hose made for women differed from those supplied for men. The nature of the female wardrobe meant that the queen's skinner had a much more limited range of garments to work with than the king's skinner.
