Everything about The Palace Of Placentia totally explained
The
Palace of Placentia was an
English Royal Palace built by
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester in 1428, in
Greenwich, on the banks of the
River Thames, downstream from
London. The Palace was demolished in the seventeenth century and replaced with the
Greenwich Hospital (now
The Old Royal Naval College) in the late seventeenth century.
History
Duke Humphrey was Regent during the rule of
Henry VI, and built the palace under the name
Bella Court. In 1447, Humphrey fell out of favour with the new queen,
Margaret of Anjou, and was arrested for
high treason. He died in prison -
Shakespeare says he was murdered - and Margaret took over Bella Court, renaming it the Palace of Placentia, sometimes written as the
Palace of Pleasaunce.
The Palace remained the principal royal palace for the next two centuries. It was the birth-place of King
Henry VIII in 1491, and figured heavily in his life. Following his marriage to
Catherine of Aragon, Placentia was the birth-place of Mary Tudor (later Queen
Mary I) in February 1516. After his marriage to
Anne Boleyn, his daughter, later Queen
Elizabeth I, was born at Placentia in 1533, and he married
Anne of Cleves there in 1540. A tree in Greenwich Park is known as Queen Elizabeth's Oak, in which she's reputed to have played as a child.
Both Mary and Elizabeth lived at Placentia for some years during the sixteenth century, but during the reigns of
James I and
Charles I, the
Queen's House was erected to the south of the Palace. Placentia fell into disrepair during the
English Civil War, serving time as a biscuit factory and a prisoner-of-war camp. In 1660,
Charles II decided to rebuild the Palace, engaging
John Webb as the architect for a new King's House. The only section of the Palace to be completed was the east range of the present King Charles Court, but this was never occupied as a royal residence. Most of the rest of the palace was demolished, and the site remained empty until construction of the
Greenwich Hospital began in 1694.
The Greenwich Hospital complex became the
Greenwich Royal Naval College in 1873, when the naval college was moved from
Portsmouth. The buildings are today occupied by the
University of Greenwich and
Trinity College of Music.
Construction work for drains in late 2005 identified previously unknown Tudor remains. A full archaeological excavation completed in January 2006 found the Tudor Chapel and Vestry with its tiled floor in situ. The Vestry survived the demolition of the rest of the Palace and was later converted into a house for the Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital.
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