Wenceslas Hollar - Arundel House, from the N

Arundel House was a London town-house or palace located between the Strand and the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, near the Church of St Clement Danes.

History

During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

it was the

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

of the Bishops of Bath and Wells, when it was known as "Bath Inn", similarly to other grand London town-houses such as Lincoln's Inn,

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

, etc. In 1539 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was granted by King Henry VIII to William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton. It reverted to the Crown on Fitzwilliam's death and in 1545 was re-granted by King Henry VIII to

Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG, PC (20 March 1549) was a brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. With his brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, he vied for control of ...

, a younger brother of Queen

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

, the king's third wife and younger brother of

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (150022 January 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), also known as Edward Semel, was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry VI ...

, Lord Protector, uncle of the infant

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

. After Thomas Seymour's execution in 1549 for treason, the house was sold to Henry Fitz Alan, 12th Earl of Arundel, for about £40. It was later inherited by marriage by the Howard family and housed the " Arundel Marbles", the famous sculpture collection of Thomas Howard, 2nd/21st Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1585–1646), most of which is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, although a 2nd-century AD relief from Ephesus kept at the house may be seen in the 17th century gallery at the Museum of London. Arundel House also hosted his protégé the artist and topographer

Wenceslaus Hollar Wenceslaus Hollar (23 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a prolific and accomplished Bohemian graphic artist of the 17th century, who spent much of his life in England. He is known to German speakers as ; and to Czech speakers as . He is particu ...

. The

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

held its meetings here for a few years in the late 1660s. Around the year 1618 the court architect Inigo Jones designed an Italianate gateway for Arundel House, and probably a wing known from the view by Cornelius Bol, and the building with dormer windows seen in Hollar's engraving,Giles Worsley, ''Inigo Jones and the European Classical Tradition'' (Yale, 2007), pp. 75-6. Under the ancient name "Bath Inn" it housed Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, after his release from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

in 1621. The 17th-century Arundel House was demolished, and is commemorated by Arundel Street and Surrey Street. The present late 19th-century

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

Arundel House, at the foot of Arundel Street on the corner of Temple Place, is a conference centre which now serves as the headquarters of the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England. The 2017 Global Go To Think ...

. The Roman Baths, Strand Lane were situated within the grounds, and are in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. According to ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' (1994), the first performance of Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet, ''

Spem in alium ''Spem in alium'' (Latin for "Hope in any other") is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. It is considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. H. B. ...

'', probably took place in the Long Gallery of Arundel House in 1568 or 1569.

References

*Walford, Edward. ''Old London: Strand to Soho.'' London: The Alderman Press, 1987. Orig. publ. 1878. *

Ben Weinreb Benjamin Weinreb (1912–1999) was a British bookseller and expert on the history of London who in 1968 sold his entire stock to the University of Texas.Christopher Hibbert, eds. '' The London Encyclopædia''. 2nd edition (1st ed. 1983). London: Macmillan, 1992.

External links

Arundel House
article from The Map of Early Modern London project at The University of Victoria
Hollar's etchings of Arundel House from the North and South, plus the 1647 view of the City from the top of Arundel HouseAccount of Arundel House, with plan of Arundel and Essex Houses
{{Authority control Episcopal palaces in London Former houses in the City of Westminster Strand, London