Is the Cod Piece Important for Henry?

The cod piece is important for henry in terms of that whole question of no son until 15 36. I think there's an element of bravado, isn't there? Up until that point, where francis the first's got posse of sons, and he doesn't. But then i think the men are presenting their bodies in different ways. If you look at the portraits of dudley and essex, for instance, they've got these really tight fitting doublets that sort of accentuate the waist. They're designed to really show off the legs. And indeed, if we move into james's reign, we have descriptions of young men dressed in exactly the same way