Description
Eltham Palace is a large house in Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, in south-east London, England. It is an unoccupied former royal residence owned by the Crown Estate, and managed since 1995 by English Heritage which restored the building in 1999 and opened it to the public.
The original palace was given to?Edward II?in 1305 by the?Bishop of Durham,?Anthony Bek, and used as a?royal residence?from the 14th to the 16th century. According to one account, the incident which inspired?Edward III‘s foundation of the?Order of the Garter?took place here. As the favourite palace of?Henry IV, it played host to?Manuel II Palaiologos, the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, from December 1400 to January 1401, with a?joust?being given in his honour. There is still a jousting?tilt yard.?Edward IV?built the?Great Hallin the 1470s, and a young Henry VIII when he was known as?Prince Henry?also grew up here; it was here in 1499 that he met and impressed the scholar?Erasmus, introduced to him by?Thomas More. Erasmus described the occasion.