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A Wealth of Buildings: Marking the Rhythm of English History

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Abstract

There arose in the fifteenth century a new form of aristocratic dwelling, the courtyard house. This was the form adopted by Henry VIII for his vast portfolio of palaces. Magnate building reached a climax in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, with the prodigy houses built by the new aristocracy of courtiers who had displaced the old feudal aristocracy. These were men who had grown rich on the fruits of office and the estates they acquired from the dissolution of the monasteries. As the great house developed, it displayed increasing Renaissance influences and more open plan layouts. Following the hiatus caused by the Civil War and Commonwealth government, aristocratic building resumed with a preference for more compact houses of fully classical design.

The kynges courte

Shulde have the excellence

But Hampton Court

Hath the preemynence!

John Skelton, c. 1522, Why come ye not to Courte? (Gwyn 1992: xxi).

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  1. Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, London, UK

    Richard Barras

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Barras, R. (2016). Magnate Display. In: A Wealth of Buildings: Marking the Rhythm of English History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31921-0_5

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