CARDINAL WOLSEY 1475 - 1530

(Portrait source: http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=2015&Desc=Thomas-Wolsey,-Cardinal-of-York-|-16th-Century-English-School)


In 1530 (Webster, 1928), Cardinal Wolsey’s household inventory listed 231 bed hangings (this term usually meant the hangings around the bed and the coverlet or quilt on it).  None are known to survive (Von Gwinner, 1988).  Historically, Wolsey was a very rich and powerful man in the court of Henry VIII, so he would have had the resources to make this amount of purchases, or to have commissioned them.  When he died, Henry VIII claimed his property, so these items could realistically been given to other court members as gifts, sold, or even destroyed (Webster, 1928); maybe someday more information will be available.

Sources:

Von Gwinner, S. (1988). The History of the Patchwork Quilt: Origins, Traditions, and Symbols of a Textile Art. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Ltd.

Webster, M. D. (1928). Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them. New York: Doubleday.