The British Library
On Monday I went to London to take in an exhibition at the British Library. The British Library is spread across many sites and is responsible for collecting every book published in the UK, and for curating a massive collection of documents and manuscripts collected (or “acquired”) throughout British history. I went to see an exhibition on Henry the VIII which was put together with the help of Dr David Starkey. Say what you will about the man’s wider opinions on history, he is an expert on the Tudors and the audio guide itself was worth the price of admission. Admission to what? I hear you ask, well in effect- 3 halls of books, objects, pictures and documents in glass cases.
To many people it would be nothing more than that, a museum of old objects, but not for me. The most imposing objects in the exhibit are the pictures, set as they are in dark wood box frames and much brighter than you would expect, why so special? These are the originals, these are the pictures you see in books or on TV, these are the reference images for what these people looked like- without them these people would just be names.
The exhibition starts with Henry’s birth and runs through his childhood, marriages, the dissolution of the monasteries, his formation of the navy, and his death. Each section features the actual books, important documents, maps and designs that were drawn up at the time. Again the disinterested person would say “ok so just old documents” but what makes them so much more than that is that most were actually touched, read and written by Henry the VIII. How do we know this? Because Henry was a very very well read man and relied on books and religious documents to justify to himself, and to others, his actions and opinions. What really makes you feel connected to history is that you are presented with a book where it is maintained Kings are above the authority of the church or the reverse and in the margin Henry the VIII has written notes or underlined keypoints. He amended the royal coronation oath by hand, he beefed up his appearances in earlier documents, he annotated most of the books he read on religion and kingship, he even had a pen pal! That is what is so amazing about this kind of thing for me. One of the most famous men in history sat in front of that page just like me, he touched it, he read it or even better he took a blank page and created it.
My personal highlight was a simple case containing two very ordinary looking objects until you think about them. One was an ornate writing desk, this was owned and used by Henry, this object could have been in the room with him when he wrote the second item in the case. It is a love letter to Anne Boleyn. A letter which the Vatican “obtained” some time after it was written and used to argue that Henry’s request for a divorce from Catherine Of Aragon was for reasons of lust rather than piety. My mind reels at the thought that I was 8 inches away from something Henry the VIII himself sat down and wrote, a passionate letter to the woman he loved. That in itself is an intense process if you have ever tried it. She read this too. Even more to think that this letter was stolen and conveyed to Rome, did the Pope of the time actually read it too? It’s this tangible, almost touchable history that I love.
On a side note their permanent exhibitions include copies of magna carta and another personal highlight, pages from a Da Vinci notebook. I recommend it to anyone who is into history, though in order to preserve these relics they don’t allow photography in the building which is a shame (though I did take the picture at top of the post).
