Tudor imagery and Henry VIII (Key stage 2)
Aims of the workshop
This workshop aims to develop pupils' knowledge and understanding of the character of Henry VIII and how he used imagery to create an impression about himself. Pupils will also develop their skills at using original evidence by studying different types of documents from the Tudor period and learning how they were made. They will learn how to interpret information from documents, including portraits, and how to read original Tudor handwriting.
Documents
- Document 1: ref E36/228
Account of stuffs for the tourney (joust)
- Resource 2:
Individual word cards describing the images used to decorate Henry VIII's jousting horse
- Resource 3:
A transcript of the words for the teacher to use, with clues for helping the children work them out
- Resource 4:
An outline drawing of a jousting horse for pupils to use to decorate with their own choice of image as a follow up activity
Activity
Pupils can work in small groups on the activity depending on how many pupils you have in your class. Give each group one of the word cards (there are 10 cards in total). Each card has a word on it, copied from the original Tudor document, describing one of the images embroidered on to the caparison (cloak) that Henry VIII's jousting horse wore.
Get each group to try and work out what their word says by reading the original Tudor writing. To help them out, remind them that Tudors often spelt the letter 's' as 'f'. They can also try working out what letters they can recognise, then seeing if they can fill in the gaps, a bit like a crossword. Another tip is to try saying what they see out loud - remember Tudors didn't have set ways of spelling things, and they often just spelt a word as it sounded to them, so this can really help! To help you, there is a transcript of all the words, together with a clue you can use to help the pupils if they get really stuck.
When all the pupils have worked out what their word says, discuss with them why they think Henry VIII chose this particular image to go on his jousting horse - what is it meant to tell us about him as a person?
Download exercise materials
The materials are provided in Adobe PDF format so that they are easy to print out. Anyone with a visual impairment who is unable to use PDF documents should visit access.adobe.com for information about converting documents and versions of Adobe Reader with added accessibility features.
If you are unable to print out the preparation materials and need us to send you a paper print out, please email education@nationalarchives.gov.uk or call 020 8392 5365 and leave a message stating the title of the workshop you want the materials for, your name, your school's name, and the date of your workshop.
The workshop
This will begin with a close look at a selection of original documents relating to Henry VIII. These include an illuminated document with a portrait of Henry on it, a document signed in Henry's own hand, an inventory of his jewel house and the original document describing the decorations used on the jousting horse that you looked at for the activity.
The education officer leading the workshop will discuss each document in turn with the pupils, asking for their ideas about:
- What the documents are made of
- How they were written
- What information they contain about Henry VIII
- How useful and reliable they are as evidence about what he was like as king
The education officer will then explain about the sport of jousting, which was a great favourite of Henry VIII. Behind the education officer, you will see on the screen our replica jousting horse, Ned, wearing a caparison that needs some images added on to it. The education officer will ask each group to say what they thought their Tudor word card said. As each image is identified it will be added to Ned's caparison by the education officer, who will then ask the pupils to explain what they think the image meant in Tudor times and why Henry chose it, clarifying and explaining where necessary.
To conclude, the education officer will recap what the pupils have learnt about imagery, how it is used to create an idea about what someone is like, and how true they think the images on the jousting horse were for Henry's character given what they already know about him.
Objectives and outcomes
Pupils taking part in this workshop will learn:
- To ask and answer questions using a portrait as a source
- To identify features and characteristics from portraits
- About the appearance and character of Henry VIII
- What information can be gathered about Henry VIII from portraits and written sources
- To identify characteristics of Henry VIII from written sources
- About the power and importance of a Tudor King
QCA schemes of work link
Useful links
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