Tudor hat, back

The 'Bristowe Hat' may be a very rare surviving example of a Tudor hat, and has a legendary association with Henry VIII (1491-1547).

The hat may be associated with Nicholas Bristowe (1495-1584), a trusted Tudor courtier and clerk of the wardrobe of robes, as it was passed down through his estate at Ayot St Lawrence. The hat appears to have been kept as a highly valued item. The hat was sold at auction in 1969 to another branch of the Bristowe family.

Two, almost certainly untrue, stories are attached to the hat. One is that Henry VIII gave the hat and a pair of Anne Boleyn's (d. 1536) shoes to Bristowe, as proof of a promise to give Bristowe the estate of Ayot St Lawrence. The other is that Henry, triumphant at the fall of Boulogne in 1544, threw his hat into the air and that Nicholas caught it. Although neither story is likely to be true, the legendary association with Henry VIII has meant the hat has been carefully preserved over many years.

Few hats survive from the Tudor era to compare this one to. However, the flat brim and ostrich feathers are broadly characteristic of Tudor hat styles. The thick-pile appearance of the fabric, made of silk knotted tufts through a ground fabric, was created by a process called 'thrumming', which is recorded in 16th century sources as a method of hat making. The button covered in silver thread appears to be of a 16th century style, although examples also appear on later clothing.

While it is almost certainly impossible to prove the association with Henry VIII, the hat is an example of the powerful hold royal clothing has on people's imaginations, and the care that is taken of it as a result.