Entitled

Names and titles sometimes are so evocative. I randomly collect them; my favourite title so far is “Keeper of the Imperial Inkpot” – apparently the title of a high-ranking functionary at the court of the Byzantine Emperors.

Holbein’s sitters’ titles are less glamorous, partly because a lot of them are current (the United Kingdom is the last European country still in the ancien régime phase of political development).

These caught my eye:

“Clerk of the King’s Signet”
“Page of the Chamber”

However nothing in Henry’s time can match “Silver Stick in Waiting”, a title held in Eizabeth II’s court today.

Tudor names can be glorious:

Cyriacus Hale
Cecily Heron
Lady Meutas
William Parr (younger brother of Queen Catherine Parr)

Ok, the last name is nothing really special. I was just touched by the drawing of the young dude – very much a young dude; I would imagine him as a skater-type boy today. He had a long life for the time, so he definitely survived his sister’s beheading.