Thomas Cromwell: The Rise And Fall Of Henry VIII's Most Notorious Minister (50 page)

6
LPFD, vol. XV, p. 377 and Hutchinson, p. 32. Some of the choicest items in the spoil unsurprisingly found their way into Henry’s personal possession. An inventory of his plate and jewels, drawn up
c
.1545, includes nine silver spoons engraved with the arms of Thomas Cromwell. See BL Egerton MS 2,679, fol. 4B. The 1547 inventory also includes some of Cromwell’s possessions appropriated by his king: a glass cup, garnished with silver; a pair of gilt pots; a pair of flagons of glass with black leather, garnished with silver gilt; a gilt table salt and a crystal salt, decorated with a lion ‘standing upon three deer or wild beasts’. There were also a number of cushions, including twelve in yellow satin and black velvet, embroidered with the initials ‘T. C.’, a chair covered in crimson velvet and bearing Cromwell’s arms, and two arras hangings, one depicting the Virgin Mary and Christ as a small child. For further information, see Starkey.

7
Kaulek, pp. 193–4.

8
Hall, pp. 838–9.

9
BL Arundel MS 97, fol. 132B and LPFD, vol. XVI, p. 187. Vincent, Edward Lloyd and Humphrey Orince, by special command of the King, rode from Hampton Court to Austin Friars in early August ‘and there busy at the late Earl of Essex’s house, at the Tower of London, at Westminster, for the furniture of the lady Anne of Cleves, four days, 32s’. BL Arundel MS 97, fol. 142B.

10
LPFD, vol. XV, pp. 454 and 488.

11
Kaulek, p. 193.

12
Kaulek, p. 189.

13
Kaulek, p. 191 and LPFD, vol. XV, p. 369.

14
Throgmorton was not only a member of the religiously conservative faction at court, but moreover was involved in a legal dispute with Cromwell over land in Warwickshire.

15
LPFD, vol. XV, p. 366 suggests that Cromwell was speaking to John Lord Russell, later Earl of Bedford, but he was not appointed Lord Admiral in succession to the Earl of Southampton until 28 July 1540, sixteen days after this letter to Henry.

16
A law against retainers was brought in by Edward IV in 1486 but it was not rigorously enforced. Henry VII, the King’s father, fearful of insurrection, was more careful to enforce it.

17
BL Cotton MS Titus B i, fols. 267–273; Merriman, vol. II, p. 348; and Ellis, ‘Original Letters’, 2nd series, vol. II, pp. 163–9.

18
Burnet, vol. II, pt i, bk iii, pp. lxxxii–iv; LPFD, vol. XV, p. 376; and BL Add. MS 48,028, fols. 160–165.

19
‘Lords Journal’, vol. I, p. 145.

20
LPFD, vol. XV, pp. 216–17.

21
‘Lords Journal’, p. 149, Act of Attainder, 32 Henry VIII cap. 62. Later copies of the Act are in BL Lansdowne MS 515, fol. 44 and Cotton MS Titus B i, fol. 503.

22
Ellis, ‘Original Letters’, 2nd series, vol. II, pp. 160–2.

23
BL Cotton MS Otho C x, fol. 241.

24
BL Cotton MS Otho C x, fol. 246.

25
Strype, vol. I, pt ii, p. 452. The promise was never kept and those papers that eventually were sent were judged not to ‘be authentic’.

26
The eight-page original is Hatfield House CP 1/27. See also Burnet, vol. II, pt i, bk ii, pp. lxxxv–vii, an inaccurate version, and BL Cotton MS Otho C x, fol. 242. Notarial copies are in BL Add. MS 10,451 and Harleian MS 1,061.

27
‘Lords Journal’, vol. I, pp. 152 and 155. The Act of General Pardon (32 Henry VIII cap. 49) was passed on 13 July.

28
‘State Papers’, vol. I, p. 635.

29
The original eight-page testimony is Hatfield House CP 1/23. See also BL Cotton MS Otho C x fol. 242.

30
Hatfield House CP 1/22.

31
The Act dissolving the marriage is 32 Henry VIII cap. 25.

32
Ellis, ‘Original Letters’, 2nd series, vol. II, pp. 158–9. The interpreter, the deputation reported, ‘did his part very well’.

33
‘State Papers’, vol. I, p. 638.

34
BL Cotton MS Otho C x, fol. 240.

35
‘State Papers’, vol. I, p. 642.

36
Wilson, p. 466.

37
See Ridley, p. 242 and Foxe, vol. V, pp. 402–3.

38
Hume, p. 103.

39
Foxe, vol. V, p. 438 and Bell, p. 113.

40
Letter from Richard Hilles to Henry Bullinger, LPFD, vol. XVI, p. 270.

41
Ibid.

42
In the next century, Bishop Burnet was convinced that Cromwell died a Lutheran. Many concluded at the time that his use of the word ‘catholic’ implied
that he died in the communion of the Church of Rome, but Cromwell probably used the word as a demonstration of his opposition to the more superstitious aspects of the Catholic faith. See Burnet, vol. I, pt i, bk iii, p. 206.

43
He used the word ‘imp’ in the sense of ‘outcome’.

44
Holinshed, p. 817.

45
BL Harleian MS 3,362, fol. 17.

46
The poet. He died in 1542. His son, also called Thomas, was later leader of the rebellion in Kent against Queen Mary in 1554.

47
Hume, p. 104.

48
Galton, p. 156. During an execution by beheading, it is likely that the victim becomes unconscious within a few seconds and dies from shock and anoxia, due to loss of blood pressure, within less than a minute. Because of the muscles and vertebrae in the neck, decapitation often required more than one blow by the axeman. Beheading is retained as a method of capital punishment in some Middle Eastern nations.

49
Cited by Weir, p. 435.

50
The dedication means ‘St Peter in Chains’ – an allusion to the prisoners held in the Tower. The chapel was rebuilt in 1520 and contains the bodies of those executed either on Tower Hill or on Tower Green, a few short yards away.

Epilogue

1
Holinshed, p. 818.

2
A Middle English word meaning to sing out in a carefree and jovial spirit.

3
‘Rumelow’ means a refrain or chant sung by sailors when rowing. ‘Broadsides’, fol. 4.

4
A courtier who waited on the King’s dining table.

5
‘Broadsides’, fol. 5. It bears the imprint ‘Printed: London at Lombard Street, near unto the Stocks Market at the sign of the Mermaid by John Gay’.

6
Foxe, vol. V, pp. 434–8.

7
Bindoff, p. 728.

8
The Fourth Earl’s daughter, Lady Elizabeth Cromwell, assumed the title of Baroness Cromwell on the death of her father in the mistaken belief that the barony was not entailed in the male line, as it was. However, she walked as a peeress both at the funeral of Queen Mary II and at the coronation of Queen Anne. She died of consumption on 31 March 1709, at which point the assumption ceased.

9
LPFD, vol. XVI, p. 284, 3 March 1541. The King was probably suffering from a severe infection caused by fistulas in his legs closing up and his life was briefly thought to be endangered. For a detailed discussion of Henry’s medical problems, see Hutchinson, chs. 5 and 9.

Bibliography

PRIMARY SOURCES

Manuscript sources

BRITISH LIBRARY

Add. MS 6,113, fol. 81 – Contemporary account of the christening of Prince Edward, Hampton Court, 15 October 1537.

Add. MS 8,715, fol. 53 – Letter from Ridolfo Pio, papal nuncio in France, expressing horror at the execution of the Carthusian priors and priests in London, 17 May 1535.

Add. MS 25,114, fol. 262 – Letter from Henry VIII to his envoys in France regarding the apprehension of Cardinal Pole, Greenwich, 25 April 1537.

Add. MS 28,587, fol. 81 – Spanish Privy Council memorandum to Emperor Charles V, reporting that Henry was ‘weary and tired’ of Queen Anne Boleyn, 1534.

Add. MS 28,588, fol. 149 – News of Catherine of Aragon’s death sent to Cromwell by Sir Edward Chamberlain and Sir Edmund Bedingfield, Kimbolton Castle, 7 January 1536.

Add. MS 30,662, fol. 246 – Copy of Pope Paul III’s bull appointing Cardinal Pole papal legate to England, Rome, 31 March 1537.

Add. MS 32,091, fol. 121 – Copy of the commission to Cromwell for visitation of churches, monasteries and clergy, 21 January 1535.

Add. MS 33,514, fol. 5 – Letter from the French ambassador Castillon to Montmorency regarding Henry VIII’s attitude to the surviving families of the Yorkist faction in England, Chelsea, 5 November 1539.

Add. MS 38,133:

fol. 7 – Account of two law cases, one involving Robert Aske, 1525–7.

fol. 9 – Account of expenses of Robert Aske, servant to Henry Percy, Sixth Earl of Northumberland, 1527.

Add. MS 48,022, fols. 83–96 – Extracts from proceedings of Cromwell’s Court for Ecclesiastical Causes from 14 October 1535.

Add. MS 48,028 (Yelverton MS 32), fols. 160–165 – Act of Attainder of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, 29 June 1540.

Arundel MS 97, fol. 132B – Charges for taking away Cromwell’s household ‘stuff’, June 1540.

Arundel MS 152, fol. 294 – Account of interrogation of Sir Thomas More by Cromwell, Tower of London, 31 April 1535.

Cotton MS Cleopatra E iv:

fol. 21 – Injunctions to commissioners during visitation of monasteries, January 1535.

fol. 26 – Order creating governors of the Charterhouse in London, October 1535.

fol. 35 – Letter from Jaspar Fylolle to Cromwell describing the finances of the London Charterhouse and detailing the brethren’s loyalties, 5 September 1535.

fol. 36 – Letter from Jaspar Fylolle to Cromwell describing the discovery of heretic books at the Charterhouse, 2 October 1535.

fol. 55 – Letter from Ellis Price to Cromwell regarding the image of Darvell Gadarn in North Wales, 6 April 1538.

fol. 75 – Letter detailing the prophecies of Elizabeth Barton, the ‘Holy Maid of Kent’, 25 November 1533.

fol. 79 – Thomas Goldwell, Prior of Christchurch, Canterbury’s account of Elizabeth Barton, 25 November 1533.

fol. 81 – Apology by monks of Christchurch, Canterbury, for their involvement in the episode of the ‘Holy Maid of Kent’, 25 November 1533.

fol. 84 – Inventory of Elizabeth Barton’s goods, 16 February 1534.

fol. 84B – Prophecies of Mrs Amadas, widow of Robert Amadas, former Keeper of the King’s Jewels, July 1533.

fol. 85 – Letter from Cromwell to Bishop Fisher of Rochester regarding his encouragement of the ‘Holy Maid of Kent’, 27 February 1534.

fol. 99B – John, Lord Russell’s, letter to Cromwell, providing an account of the abbot and two monks of Glastonbury, 16 November 1538.

fol. 120 – Letter from John ap Rice to Cromwell regarding the relics at Bury Abbey, Suffolk, 5 November 1535.

fol. 122 – Letter to Cromwell from Richard Wharton on behalf of Edward Calthorpe with a bribe to buy the priory of Ingham, Norfolk, 7 November 1536.

fol. 125 – Letter from Richard Layton regarding the nocturnal escapades at Syon, 12 December 1535.

fol. 127 – Richard Layton’s account to Cromwell on his visitation of Langdon Abbey, Kent, 22 October 1535.

fol. 129 – Account of an apparition of a Carthusian monk, London Charterhouse, 27 June 1535.

fol. 131 – Layton’s report of his visitation to Chicksands and Harrold Priories, Bedfordshire, December 1535.

fol. 134B – Letter from John Bartelot to Cromwell reporting the discovery of the Prior of Crossed Friars in bed with his concubine, Lent, 1535.

fol. 178 – Letter from Ralph Sadler to Cromwell reporting on his discussions about finding him a member’s seat in the House of Commons, November 1529.

fol. 223 – Letter from John London to Cromwell describing surrender of the Greyfriars of Reading, Berkshire, with an inventory of holy relics, 28 September 1538.

fol. 226 – Letter from John London to Cromwell concerning the image of Our Lady of Caversham, 27 September 1538.

fol. 234 – Letter from Thomas, Lord Delawarr, to Cromwell about his ‘poor house’ at Boxgrove, West Sussex, Halnaker, ‘Lady Day’, 25 March 1536.

fol. 249 – Letter from Dr Layton to Cromwell describing the human frailties of Richard Jenyn, Abbot of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, ‘Saint Austin’s without Bristol’, 24 August 1535.

fol. 269 – Letter from Nicholas Austen, Abbot of the Cistercian abbey at Rewley, Oxfordshire, to Cromwell, offering £100 for his house to be spared, September 1536.

Cotton MS Cleopatra E v:

fol. 300 – Letter from Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester, to Cromwell, Tower of London, 7 June 1540.

fols. 313–320 – Corrections and amendments in Henry VIII’s hand to proposals for the Act of Six Articles, 1539.

Cotton MS Cleopatra E vi:

fol. 149 – Letter from Sir Thomas More to Cromwell, vindicating himself in matters of religion, Chelsea, 5 March 1534.

fol. 161 – Letter from John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, to Cromwell, complaining that his letters have been misconstrued, 31 January 1534.

fol. 162 – Letter from John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, to Henry VIII, exculpating himself over the matter of the ‘Holy Maid of Kent’, Rochester, 27 February 1534.

fol. 178B – Indictment of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, for not acknowledging the King’s supremacy in matters of religion, 17 June 1535.

Cotton MS Cleopatra F ii:

fol. 131 – Commission to Cromwell for visitation of churches, monasteries and clergy, Westminster, 21 January 1535.

fol. 249 – Petition from the Commons against practices of the clergy, November 1529.

Cotton MS Faustina C ii, fols. 5–22 – Original draft, with autograph corrections, of Richard Morison’s ‘Persuasion to the King that the Laws of the Realm should be in Latin’.

Cotton MS Nero B vii, fol. 93 – Letter from Edmund Harvel in Venice, reporting Italian anger at the execution of the Carthusians, 1535.

Cotton MS Nero C x:

fol. 1 – Circular letter signed with Queen Jane Seymour’s signet, announcing the birth of Prince Edward, 12 October 1537.

fol. 2 – The Duke of Norfolk’s arrangements for 1,200 masses to be said in London churches for the soul of Queen Jane Seymour, 8 November 1537.

fol. 406 – Henry VIII’s summons to Cromwell, Westminster, 9 May 1540.

fol. 503 – Later copy of Act of Attainder of Thomas Cromwell.