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built the 'Henri Grace a Dieu', the greatest warship of her day. He
christened the ship and appointed her captain as the first Master
of Trinity House, the corporation which still controls the lighthouses
and pilotage of the coasts of England. At that time, Trinity House
was located beside St. Nicholas, the 'seafarers'' church, in an area
famous for its association with Peter the Great, Admiral Benbow.
John Evelyn, Christopher Marlowe, Grinling Gibbons, Samuel
Pepys and others. For his shipbuilding needs, premises and
property were acquired by Henry VIII, especially in the vicinity of
Woolwich Dockyard, and some of these could be regarded as ordnance
depots which eventually were to lead to the establishment of
the Royal Arsenal.
Unquestionably Henry VIII loved Greenwich. Here within
easy water distance of London, he could hawk and hunt, watch his
merchant shipping bring valuable merchandise from abroad, visit
his ships of war anchored close by, and where he and his great
minister Cardinal Wolsey could welcome with grandest pageantry
the many illustrious visitors to his sumptuous palace. Wolsey was
the organiser of the historic ceremony at Greenwich when a legate
of Pope Leo X conferred upon Henry VIII the title of 'Defender
of the Faith' which was soon to acquire an entirely different
connotation.
In his dealings with Emperor Charles V, usually at Greenwich
Palace, Henry VIII laid the foundations of England's foreign
policy which remain to this day, viz. to oppose the military domination
of the Continent by any one state.
Following the failure of Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio to
resolve Henry's marriage difficulties with the church, Wolsey was
replaced by Sir Thomas More, author of 'Utopia', as Lord Chancellor.
He was beheaded in 1533 for refusing to take the Oath of
Supremacy. His beautiful and talented daughter, Margaret, subject
of a portraiture by the painter Holbein, married William Roper
who is reputed to have been responsible for the building of Well
Hall Manor house.
Before he died, Henry VIII had made great additions to the
Palace of Placentia. He completed the gardens and made them
the finest in England. He built the Armoury and staffed it with
the best of foreign craftsmen, mostly Germans, whose work in
this field made the name of Greenwich world famous. He added
the Tilt Yard which became renowned throughout Europe as did
his Banqueting Hall, the work of the architect William Vertue who
was responsible for the Bath Chapel at Westminster.
It is difficult to conceive the magnificence and splendour of
the Palace of Placentia during this period for, set amidst gardens