The top shelf of the table contains a number of scientific instruments. By today's standards they may look quite primitive. However, in the early 1500's they were advanced tools used to study the positions of the stars. From left to right the tools include a celestial globe, a portable brass sundial, a table quadrant, an astronomical instrument, a simple quadrant, a polyhedral sundial, and a torquetum or sundial used for finding the position of celestial bodies. Taken together, these instruments indicate that the two ambassadors were familiar with the latest scientific tools of their age.
The sundials are more than just tributes to the two ambassadors broad knowledge. To a trained eye, the sundials reveal that it is 10:30 am on April 11, 1533. But why is it important for Holbein to provide us with this exact date?
The date explains why the two ambassadors were in London. On April 11, 1533 England was on the brink of revolutionary changes. The trouble began when Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon, failed to give birth to a male heir. Henry believed that a son was vitally necessary to ensure a peaceful succession to the throne. He therefore asked Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage to Catherine. When the pope refused, Henry secretly married Anne Bolyn on January 25, 1533. In April, Henry's new Archbishop of Canterbury,Thomas Cranmer, threatened to annul Henry's marriage with Catherine and declare Anne Bolyn England's new queen. These unprecedented actions would place Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII on a collision course with frightening and unpredictable consequences.
Jean de Dinteville and George de Selve had the difficult mission of trying to persuade Henry VIII to refrain from defying the Pope and leaving the Church. Both men were fully aware that the stakes were high and the risks were very great.
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