Life and letters of Thomas Cromwell

<y\

Ex Libtis W. P. M. KENNEDY

THOMAS CROMWELL

FROM A PIOTTJRB Ttt THB BODLKTAN LIBRARY

LIFE AND LETTERS OF
THOMAS CROMWELL

BY

ROGER BIGELOW MERRIMAN

A.M. HARV., B.Lnr. Oxox.

\VITH A PORTRAIT AND FACSIMILE

VOL. I

LIFE, LETTERS TO 1535

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1902

DEC 2 1940

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

LONDON, EDINBURGH

NEW YORK

PREFACE

THIS book is an attempt to present the life of
Thomas Cromwell as a statesman, and to estimate
his work without religious bias. Though it would
certainly be difficult to overrate his importance in the
history of the Church of England, I maintain that
the motives that inspired his actions were invariably
political, and that the many ecclesiastical changes
carried through under his guidance were but incidents
of his administration, not ends in themselves. Con
sequently any attempt to judge him from a distinctively
religious standpoint, whether Catholic or Protestant,
can hardly fail, it seems to me, to mislead the student
and obscure the truth. I cannot agree, on the other
hand, with those who have represented Cromwell as
a purely selfish political adventurer, the subservient
instrument of a wicked master, bent only on his own
gain. It seems to me as idle to disparage his patriot
ism and statesmanship, as it is to try to make him out
a hero of the Reformation. He merits a place far
higher than that of most men of his type, a type
essentially characteristic of the sixteenth century, a
type of which the Earl of Warwick in England and
Maurice of Saxony on the Continent are striking
examples, a type that profoundly influenced the des
tinies of Protestantism, but to which theological issues
were either a mere nothing, or else totally subordinate
to political considerations.

IV

PREFACE

It has been justly said that Cromwell s correspond
ence is our chief source of information for the period
immediately following the breach with Rome. To
transcribe in extenso the letters he received would be
almost the task of a lifetime ; for they form the bulk
of the enormous mass of material with which the
editors of the Calendars of State Papers for the years
1533-40 have had to deal. But the number of extant
letters he wrote is, comparatively speaking, extremely
small ; it has therefore been possible to make full
copies of them in every case, and I trust that the
many advantages linguistic as well as historical
that can only be secured by complete, and as far as
possible accurate transcriptions of the originals, will be
accepted as sufficient reason for editing this collection
of documents, twenty-one of which have neither been
printed nor calendared before. The rules that have
been observed in transcription will be found in the
Prefatory Note (vol. i. p. 311). The Calendar refer
ences to the more important letters received by
Cromwell, where they bear directly on those he wrote,
are given in the notes at the end of the second
volume.

My warmest thanks are due to Mr. F. York Powell,
Regius Professor of Modern History in the Univer
sity of Oxford, who has guided me throughout in
matter, form, and style ; and to my friend and master
Mr. A. L. Smith, Fellow of Balliol College, whose
advice and encouragement have been an inspiration
from first to last. It is not easy for me to express
how much I have depended on their suggestions and
criticism. I am indebted to Mr. Owen Edwards,
Fellow of Lincoln College, for indispensable help in
the early stages of my work. The main plan of this

PREFACE v

book is in many respects similar to that of his Lothian
Essay for the year 1887, which I regret that he has
never published. My grateful acknowledgements are
also due to Mr. James Gairdner of the Public Record
Office for information about Cromwell s early life ; to
Professor Dr. Max Lenz, of the University of Berlin,
for helpful suggestions in connexion with the Anglo-
German negotiations in the years 1537-40; and to
Mr. G. T. Lapsley, of the University of California, for
similar services in regard to the Pilgrimage of Grace,
and the reorganization of the North after the suppres
sion of the rebellion.

I beg to express my appreciation of the kindness of
the Duke of Rutland, the Marquess of Salisbury, Earl
Spencer, Lord Calthorpe, William Berington, Esq.,
and Alfred Henry Huth, Esq., in giving me access to
the manuscripts in their private collections.

In conclusion, I wish to thank the officials of the
Public Record Office, British Museum, Heralds Col
lege of Arms, and Bodleian Library, for facilitating
my work in every way ; more especially Messrs.
Hubert Hall, R. H. Brodie, E. Salisbury, and F. B.
Bickley, who have repeatedly aided me in my search
for uncalendared letters and continental documents,
and in deciphering the most difficult manuscripts I
have had to consult.

R. B. M.

BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD.
February, 1902.

A

334

-C3IA5

IM

CONTENTS

VOLUME I

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE OF THOMAS

CROMWELL i

APPENDIX. PASSAGES FROM CHAPUYS, POLE,
BANDELLO, AND FOXE 17

II. THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 27

III. WOLSEY S SERVANT 47

APPENDIX. THE WILL OF THOMAS CROM
WELL .... 56
IV. THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 64
V. THE CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY OF

THOMAS CROMWELL . . 77

VI. IN THE KING S SERVICE 89

APPENDIX. THE SUPPLICATION OF THE
COMMONS AGAINST THE ORDINARIES . . 104

VII. INTERNAL POLICY 112

VIII. IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS . . 147

IX. THE MONASTERIES . * 6 5

X. THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE, 1536 . . .180

XL CARDINAL POLE 202

XII. THE FOREIGN POLICY -213

XIII. THE CATHOLIC REACTION AND THE AL
LIANCE WITH CLEVES . .242

APPENDIX. REPORTS OF THE LUTHERAN
AMBASSADORS TO ENGLAND IN 1539 AND
1540 ....

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XIV. THE FALL OF THOMAS CROMWELL . .281

APPENDIX. PASSAGES FROM FOXE: CROM
WELL S SPEECH AND PRAYER ON THE

SCAFFOLD 303

XV. THE WORK OF THOMAS CROMWELL . . 305

PREFATORY NOTE TO CROMWELL S LETTERS . .311

CROMWELL S LETTERS : 1523-30 . . 313

J53 1 - . . 335

!53 2 . ; . . . 343

1533 . 352

v X 534 ... . . 372

, . . 396

VOLUME U .

CROMWELL S LETTERS : 1536 . . . . . i

i537 ... 50

1538 . . . . . in

1539 . . . -. . 166

1540 244

AN ITINERARY OF THOMAS CROMWELL, 1523-40 , 279

A LIST OF THE MINOR PREFERMENTS OF THOMAS
CROMWELL, AND A DESCRIPTION OF HIS -ARMS

AND CREST / . . ... . . . . 283

NOTES TO LETTERS . . . . . . 285

LIST OF AUTHORITIES . . . . . . 313

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . 319

ILLUSTRATIONS

PORTRAIT OF THOMAS CROMWELL . Frontispiece to vol. i
FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM THOMAS CROMWELL

TO LORD LlSLE, AUG. 30, 1538 . Frontispiece to vol. ii

LIFE OF THOMAS CROMWELL

CHAPTER I

THE ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE OF THOMAS CROMWELL

THE manor of Wimbledon comprises the parishes of Wim
bledon, Putney, Roehampton, Mortlake, and East Sheen, and
parts of Wandsworth and Barnes l . In West Saxon times it
was one of the estates of the see of Canterbury, but after
the Conquest it was seized by Odo, the high-handed Bishop of
Bayeux: in 1071, however, it was recovered by Lanfranc, and
with one trifling interruption in the reign of Richard II, it
remained in the possession of the archbishopric until 1535.
In that year Cranmer surrendered it to Henry VIII in ex
change for the priory of St. Rhadegund in Dover, and a little
later the King granted it to Thomas Cromwell 2 , who was
born there some fifty years before, the son of a well-to-do
blacksmith, brewer, and fuller. The early history of the
manor of Wimbledon is almost unknown, for we do not
possess its Court Rolls prior to the year 1461 : they were
probably lost or destroyed during the Wars of the Roses.
After 1461, however, they are continuous, with the exception
of the years 1473 an( ^ J 474-

An entry in these rolls, written in the year 1475, states that
Walter Smyth and his father keep thirty sheep on Putney
Common, where they have no common 3 . A number of sub
sequent mentions of this same Walter Smyth shows that he

1 Antiquarian Magazine, Aug. Manor, 15 Edw. IV. These rolls

1882, vol. ii. p. 57. are now in the possession of Earl

a Manning and Bray, History Spencer, lord of the manor. They

and Antiquities of the County of were made accessible to me through

Surrey, vol. iii. p. 268. the courtesy of his steward, Mr.

3 Court Rolls of Wimbledon Joseph Plaskitt.

MERRIMAN. I B

THOMAS CROMWELL

was also called Walter Cromwell. The name Walter Crom
well occurs more than ninety times in the rolls, and the name
Walter Smyth at least forty times. That both these names
stand for the same person is proved by one entry written,
Walter Cromwell alias Walter Smyth/ by two written,
Walter Smyth alias Cromwell/ and by five written, Walter
Cromwell alias Smyth/ Who then was this Walter Crom
well, whence did he come, and how did he acquire this double
name?

The Cromwell family did not originate in Wimbledon. An
entry in the Close Roll of Edward IV states that in the year
1461 John Cromwell, son of William Cromwell, late of Nor-
well in Nottinghamshire, surrendered his right in Parkersplace,
Kendalsland and other property there to Master John Porter,
prebendary of Palishall 1 . Mr. John Phillips of Putney further
informs us that nine years before John Cromwell gave up
his lands in Norwell, he was granted the twenty-one years 5 lease
of a fulling-mill and house in Wimbledon by Archbishop
Kempe, lord of the manor, and had moved there with his
family 2 . It would be interesting to know what Mr. Phillips
authority for this statement is : unfortunately he has given no
reference for it. But whatever the precise date and circum
stances of their change of home, there can be little doubt
that the Cromwells migrated to Wimbledon from Norwell
some time before 1461. There is plenty of evidence in
the Court Rolls to show that Walter Smyth alias Cromwell
was the son of John Cromwell, and the entry of 1475 proves
that they were both in Wimbledon in that year. The family
in Nottinghamshire from which they sprung was well-known

The original entry reads :
Johannes Cromwell films et heres
^Nilelmi Cromwell nuperde North-
well in comz /a^ Nottingham re-
misit totum jus c. in quodam
messuagio vocattf Parkersplace et
in quodam tofto et v acris temze
et in uno tofto cum crofto et vii
acris terrae dudum nuper vocatis
Kendalisland et in viii acris terrae
et dimid/0 jaczntidus in villa et

campis de North well magz .y/ro
johanni Porter prebendario pre-
bende de Northwell voc/<? pre-
bende de Palishall in eccl^ria
collegzY bmtae Marine Suthwell et
successortbus suis (Dods. MSS.
in Bibl. Bodl., vol. xxxvi. p. 97,
I Edw. IV).

2 Antiquarian Magazine for
August, 1882, vol. ii. p. 59.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 3

and well-off; both John Cromwell s father William and
his grandfather Ralph were persons of wealth and position
there 1 .

Several entries in the Court Rolls indicate that John Crom
well s wife was the sister of a certain William Smyth, who is
often mentioned as William Smyth armourer/ and sometimes
as William Armourer. It seems probable that this William
Smyth came with John Cromwell to Wimbledon from Nor-
well, and the entries in the manorial records show that he
lived there with his brother-in-law. There is also reason to
believe that the latter s son Walter was apprenticed to him
during his younger days, and so acquired the name Smyth.

Walter Cromwell grew up as a brewer, smith, and fuller in
Putney. He had an elder brother named John, who moved
to Lambeth and settled down there to a quiet and prosperous
life as a brewer, later, according to Chapuys, becoming cook to
the Archbishop of Canterbury 2 . Walter, however, remained
in Wimbledon, and appears to have been a most quarrelsome
and riotous character. Most of the entries in the Court Rolls
concerning him are records of small fines incurred for petty
offences. Forty-eight times between 1475 and 1501 was he
forced to pay sixpence for breaking the assize of ale. In
order to prevent the sale of bad beer in those days,
an ale-taster was appointed to pass, or condemn as unfit,
all brewing in the parish. Walter Cromwell did not go
to the ale-taster before he drew and sold his beer, and for
failing so to do was fined as aforesaid. There is also record
that he was not seldom drunk. In 1477 a penalty of twenty
pence was inflicted on him for assaulting and drawing blood
from William Michell, and he and his father were very often
brought before the court on the charge of * overburthening
the public land in Putney with their cattle, and cutting more
than their share of the furze and thorns there 3 . But in spite

1 Dods. MSS., vol. xi. pp. 193 a, 2 Cf. Appendix I at the end of

248 a ; vol. xxxvi. p. 103. Thorold this chapter.

Rogers, in his Histoiy of Agriculture 3 The following are some of the

and Prices, vol. iv. p. 3, refers to more common entries concerning

Ralph Lord Cromwell as one of the Walter Cromwell :

richest men of the fifteenth century. Presentant quod Gualterus

B a

4 THOMAS CROMWELL

of all these petty misdemeanours, Walter Cromwell appears
to have been a man of property and influence in Wimbledon,
and the Court Rolls" in 1480 show that he then possessed two
virgates of land in Putney parish. To these were added six
more virgates in 1500 by grant of Archbishop Morton l .
Walter Cromwell was also made Constable of Putney in
1495 2 , and his name constantly occurs in the Court Rolls
as decenarius and juryman 3 . Towards the end of his life,
however, his character appears to have become so bad that
he forfeited all his position and property in Wimbledon. In
1514 he falsely and fraudulently erased the evidences and
terrures of the lord/ so that the bedell was commanded to
seize into the lord s hands all his copyholds held of the lord
and to answer the lord of the issue V This is the last mention
of the name of Walter Cromwell in the Wimbledon Manor Rolls.
Walter Cromwell s wife was the aunt of a man named
Nicholas Glossop, of Wirksworth in Derbyshire 5 . Mr. Phil
lips gives no reference for his statements that she was the
daughter of a yeoman named Glossop, and that she was residing

Cromwell est communis braczator 20 May, II Hen. VII : ~Elegerunt

de here et fregit ass/jam and in officz co;zstabul<2rz z de Putten-

quod Gualterus Cromwell et . . . hith Gualterum Smyth qui )\irafus

sunt communes tipellarn seruisie est in eodem offic/0.

et fregerunt ass/ram ideo ipsi in 3 As by an entry of 20 May,

imsericordia. vid. (Court Rolls, 19 Hen. VII : Gualterus Smyth et

17 Nov., 10 Hen. VII ; 17 Oct., 15 ... ibidem jura// presentant ownia

Hen. VII ; 28 Oct., 17 Hen. VII). b^ne.

Item presentcmt quod Gualterus 4 The entry in full reads : ( Item

Smyth alias Crumwell nimis exces- presentant quod. W . . . Crumwell

s/z/e supount communam pas/z/- alias Smyth false et fraudulent^

ram dommi . . . cum avz z s suis ad rasuravit evidence et terrures

commune nocumentz/wz ideo ipj-e dommi in diverszs parcelh s ad per-

in mlsericordfa vi d. turbac/o/zem et exheredacz owem

< Item presentant quod j Gualterus dommi A tenenciuw ejus ut plenius

(Johannes apparet in eisd<?m. laeo co//so-

Smyth de Puttenhith succidz/wt lendz/;;z est cum domino et medio

spinas in communa. pasher^. domi\\\ temporz prefatum est bidell<? seisir^

apud Puttenhith. Ideo ip^i in in mam^y dommi om^ia terras et

rmsericordiz. iiiid. (Court Rolls, tenement sua tenta de domino per

28 Oct., 17 Hen. VII). copiam, et de exitz* eorum dommi

L Court Rolls, 20 Edw. IV and respondere (Court Rolls, 10 Oct.,

16 Hen. VII. 6 Hen. VIII ; also Extracts, p. 74).

1 According to the record of 5 Cal. vi. 696.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 5

in Putney at the house of an attorney named John Welbeck,
at the time of her marriage with Walter Cromwell in 1474 1 ;
but we have no evidence that these assertions are incorrect.
At least two daughters and one son were born to Walter
Cromwell. He may have had other children, but as there
was no registration of births, marriages, or deaths in England
until 1538, we can only be certain of these three, of whom
there are mentions in the Court Rolls and in other contem
porary records. The eldest daughter Katherine, who was
probably born about the year I477> g re w up and married
a young Welshman named Morgan Williams 2 , whose family
had come to Putney from Llanishen in Glamorganshire. The
Williamses were a very important family in Putney, and John,
the eldest of them, was a successful lawyer and accountant,
and steward to Lord Scales, who was then in possession of
a residence and some land in Putney parish. The youngest
daughter of Walter Cromwell was named Elizabeth. She
married a sheep-farmer named Wellyfed, who later joined
his business to that of his father-in-law 3 . Christopher, the
son of Elizabeth Cromwell and Wellyfed, grew up and was
later sent to school with his cousin Gregory, son of his
mother s brother Thomas 4 . We are now in a position to
examine the many conflicting statements concerning the son
of Walter Cromwell, the subject of this essay.

The traditional sources of information about Thomas Crom
well s early life are the characteristic but somewhat confusing
stories of the martyrologist Foxe, founded to some extent
upon a novel of the Italian author Bandello, the meagre
though probably trustworthy accounts contained in Cardinal
Pole s Apologia ad Carolum Quintum, a letter of Chapuys to
Granvelle written November 21, 1535, and a few scattered

1 Antiquarian Magazine, vol. ii. concerning Morgan Williams, they

p. 178. are without value, and for the most

a Cal. iv. 5772. Cf. also Noble, part have been superseded by docu-

Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 4-5, 238-241. mentary evidence, discovered at a

The statements in Noble about the later date.

Williamses and Crom wells are most 3 Court Rolls, 10 Oct., 5 Hen.

confusing and contradictory. Ex- VII, and Cal. iv. 5772.

cept for the information afforded 4 Cal. iv. 5757.

6 THOMAS CROMWELL

statements in the chroniclers of the period. To these were
added in 1880 and 1882 the results of the researches of
Mr. John Phillips in the Wimbledon Manor Rolls 1 . Mr.
Phillips has certainly brought to light a large number of
interesting facts about the ancestry and family of Thomas
Cromwell : it is the more unfortunate that he should have
gone so far astray in some of his statements concerning the
man himself. He is surely correct in assuming Thomas to
be the son of Walter Cromwell ; the evidence afforded by
the State Papers leaves no doubt of this. He is also right
in stating that the name Thomas Cromwell does not occur
in the Court Rolls. But it is more difficult to believe the
theory which Mr. Phillips has evolved from these data. As he
finds no entry concerning Thomas Cromwell in the manorial
records, he seeks for some mention of him under another
appellation, and hits upon that of Thomas Smyth as the most
likely, owing to the fact that his father was called by both
surnames. He finds two entries in the Court Rolls concern
ing Thomas Smyth, and assumes that they refer to Thomas
Cromwell. These entries occur in the records of Feb. 26,
1504, and of May 20 in the same year. The first states that
Richard Williams came to the court and surrendered into
the hands of the lord two whole virgates of land in (Roe)-
hampton, one called Purycroft and the other called Williams,
to the use of Thomas Smyth, his heirs and assigns ; the
second, that Richard Williams assaulted Thomas [Smyth]
and beat the same Thomas against the peace of the lord the
King, and further that Thomas Smyth came to the court
and surrendered into the hands of the lord two whole virgates
of land in Roehampton, one called Purycroft and the other
called Williams, to the use of David Doby, his heirs and
assigns V Mr. Phillips has made these entries the basis

1 Antiquary for October, 1880, manus dommi duas mtegras vir-

vol. ii. p. 164. Antiquarian Maga- gatas terrae in Hamptone . . . qua-

zine for August and October, 1882, rum una vocata Purycroft . . . et

vol. ii. pp. 56 and 178. alia virgata vocata Williams ad

The original entries read as opz/J Thomae Smyth heredz/;;z et

follows : assignaforum (Court Rolls, 26 Feb.,

i. Ad hanc cuu am venit Riazrd- 19 Hen. VII).

us Williams et sursft7;z redzWz/ in 2. Ricardus Williams fecit injul-

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 7

for an attack on the veracity of many of the best-known
stories of Bandello and Foxe concerning the early life of our
subject, but his whole case hangs on the assumption that
Thomas Smyth and Thomas Cromwell were one and the
same man, and until he can prove this ingenious but some
what improbable theory his arguments cannot be supported.
He discusses at length the two entries in the Court Rolls,
adducing them as a proof of the falsity of the accounts
which assert Cromwell to have been in Italy previous to
1504, but concluding that the record that Thomas Smyth
disposed of his lands in Putney in May of that year in
dicates that Thomas Cromwell left England at that time.
To corroborate this last theory he refers to the story
of Chapuys that Cromwell was ill-behaved when young,
and was forced after an imprisonment to leave the coun
try, and also asserts, in order still further to strengthen
his case, that the Court Rolls contain nothing more
respecting Thomas Cromwell than what we have already
stated V

It seems very extraordinary that Mr. Phillips should make
this last statement in view of his readiness to jump at the
conclusion that Thomas Smyth and Thomas Cromwell are
identical. * Thomas Smyth, as a very cursory examination
of the Court Rolls will show, is mentioned therein every year
from 1493 to I 5%9 (inclusive), except in 1494 and 1516. As
there is certain evidence that Thomas Cromwell was in other
places during many of the years that Thomas Smyth was in
Wimbledon, it is clear that the two names cannot always
stand for the same man. The question which now arises
is this : were there two Thomas Smyths, one of them Thomas
Cromwell and the other some other member of the Smyth
family, perhaps a descendant of William Smyth, armourer?

ttim Thomae [Smyth] et eundem virgata vocata Purycroft et alia

Thomam verberavit contra, p&cem virgata vocata Williams ad opz^y

domim Regis . . . * Ad hanc Davidii Doby heredzwz et as-

curiam venit Thomas Smyth et signatorum (Court Rolls, 20 May,

suicsutn redidit in mam/j &omim 19 Hen. VII).

duas i^tegras virgatas terrae in x Antiquarian Magazine for Oo

Rokhamptone . . . quanm una tober, 1882, vol. ii. p. 183.

8

THOMAS CROMWELL

Or Is the Thomas Smyth mentioned in the Court Rolls one
man, and not Thomas Cromwell at all ?

The second theory seems on the whole more probable than
the first. There are no contradictory statements about
Thomas Smyth in the rolls, nor is the name mentioned twice
in any of the lists of the Homage or Frank Pledge. More
over had there been two Thomas Smyths, one of whom was
entitled to the name Cromwell, he would almost certainly
have been called so, in order to avoid confusion. On the
other hand, it scarcely seems likely that the son of Walter
Cromwell should not be mentioned at all in the Court Rolls.
But this may be partially explained by Chapuys account
of his youthful wildness and early imprisonment ; it seems
quite probable that he was a mere boy when he left his home.
The evidence which we possess certainly seems to strengthen
the conclusion that there was but one Thomas Smyth : the
man mentioned in the Court Rolls by that name was probably
a descendant of William Smyth, armourer 1 . Surely none
of the entries in the manorial records concerning Thomas
Smyth can be said to prove anything conclusive concerning
the early life of the subject of this essay. It has been the
fashion to decry Bandello and Foxe and to disbelieve all
their stories, because of the undoubted confusion of dates

1 It is possible that the Thomas
Smyth, whose name occurs so fre
quently in the Court Rolls, was
identical with a certain tryumphant
trollynge Thomas Smyth, who, in
1541, wrote several ballads de
claring the despyte of a secrete
sedycyous person, by name Wil
liam Graye, who had composed
certain verses very derogatory to
the memory of Thomas Cromwell.
This Thomas Smyth describes him
self as servaunt to the Kynges
royall Majestye, and clerke of the
Quenes Graces Counsell, though
most unworthy ; he had perhaps
obtained his position through the
influence of the King s minister.

He was supported in his tirade
against Graye by the ryght re
dolent and rotunde rethorician
R. Smyth ... in an Artificiall
apologie articulerlye answerynge
to the obstreperous obgannynges
of one W. G. evometyd to the
vituperacyon of the tryumphant
trollynge Thomas Smyth . . .
to thende that the imprudent
lector shulde not tytubate or hal
lucinate in the labyrinthes of
this lucubratiuncle. R. Smyth
was probably another member of
the Smyth- Cromwell tribe. The
name Ricardus Smyth occurs
frequently in the Court Rolls (Cal.
xvi. 423).

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 9

/

which vitiates their testimony. But if no reliance can be
placed on them, or on Pole, Chapuys, and the chronicles of
the period, must we not confess that our knowledge of the
early years of our subject s life must reduce itself to an
interrogation point? Let us guard ourselves against accepting
with implicit faith the statements of these authors, but let
us not cast them aside as utterly worthless. Let us rather
recognize that they still remain our most trustworthy sources
of information concerning the early life of Thomas Cromwell,
and therefore make a careful attempt to glean from their
very confusing statements the more probable facts con
cerning him.

None of the different accounts sheds any light upon the
date of Cromwell s birth, but it is doubtful if it occurred later
than 1485, in view of his probable age at the time of his
sojourn abroad. That he had a quarrel with his father seems
very likely : Bandello s statement that he came to Italy,
fleeing from his father, and Chapuys assertion that he was
ill-behaved when young, together with the many entries in
the rolls concerning the tempestuous and disorderly conduct
of Walter Cromwell, all point to the truth of this story l .
Foxe moreover asserts that Cromwell told Cranmer in later
years what a ruffian he was in his younger days. Pole
informs us that he soon became a roving soldier in Italy,
a statement which is borne out by the tales of Bandello
and Foxe that he was at the battle on the Garigliano (Dec.
28-39, 1503), in the service of the French army 2 . The
well-known story of the Italian novelist about Cromwell and
Frescobaldo the Florentine merchant, may well have some
foundation in fact : there are several mentions of Frescobaldo
in the State Papers of the years 1530-1540, which prove that
Cromwell was intimate with an Italian of that name 3 . Some

1 See Appendices I and III at maybe a mistake for Marignano 3
the end of this chapter. is scarcely plausible. The great

2 See Appendices II and IV at victory of Francis I occurred in
the end of this chapter. The 1515, when there is every reason
suggestion of Mr. Galton (The to suppose that Cromwell was in
Character and Times of Thomas England.

Cromwell, p. 22) that Garigliano 3 Cal. v. 1197; vii. 923-

10 THOMAS CROMWELL

scholars have gone so far as to refuse to believe that Cromwell
ever went to Italy at all ; but this must be the incredulity
of madness in face of the fact that all our contemporary
witnesses agree that he went there, and of the evidence afforded
by his wide acquaintance with Italians, and by his knowledge
of their language and literature.

From the date of the tale of Bandello up to 1512, the
most probable story concerning Cromwell s life is that
contained in Pole s Apologia. It is there stated that after
his brief military career he became a merchant, but did not
remain a merchant long ; and that he later attached himself
as accountant to a Venetian, whom Pole knew very well.
Bandello informs us that Cromwell returned to England after
his stay in Florence ; it seems more probable, however, that
he first went to Antwerp and engaged in trade there ; for
Foxe and Chapuys both agree that he was in Flanders, and
the former asserts that he was in the service of English
dealers in the Flemish marts. Another singular but character
istic and not improbable story of the martyrologist strengthens
the theory that Cromwell was in Antwerp some time after the
battle on the Garigliano. One Geoffrey Chambers was sent
to Rome as a representative of the Gild of Our Lady in
St. Botolph s Church in Boston, to obtain from the Pope
certain pardons or indulgences by which the severe rules
concerning Lenten observances might be relaxed ; and passing
through Antwerp he fell in with Cromwell, whom he persuaded
to accompany him. The latter entered into the spirit of the
enterprise ; arrived at Rome, he procured some choice sweet
meats and jellies, and armed with these lay in wait for the
Pope on his return from hunting. The delicacies were offered,
Julius was delighted with them, and granted the desired
indulgences without delay. Foxe states that this episode
took place about the year 1510 l .

The fact that this tale so active as Cromwell s agent,

concerns itself with Foxe s native and as Survey or- General of the

town of Boston increases the pro- King s purchased lands. Cf. Cal.

bability of its authenticity. It xii. (ii), 490, 783, 835, 852, 857,

was probably this same Geoffrey and Ellis, 3rd Series, vol. iii.

Chambers who in later years was p. 168.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 11

This story seems to indicate that Cromwell went to Italy
a second time. It fits in well with Pole s statement that after
his military experience he became first a merchant, and then
a clerk to a Venetian trader. The absence of any trustworthy
chronology, however, prevents us from regarding any of the
accounts of these different writers as really historical ; and
when at last we meet with a date on which we can rely, it
is most tantalizing to find that the evidence which is afforded
us in connexion with it is of such a nature as to leave us
almost as much in the dark as before. In a letter written in
June, 1536, a certain mercer, by name George Elyot, addresses
Cromwell as follows l : Ryght onourabyll sir my dewty Con-
sethered as to youre Masterscheppe apertayneth that hyt may
piece your Masterscheppe For the love off god to Exceppe
my Rewd Maneres in thes behalf of wrytyng vnto you butt
hyt ys onely to schowe yowre Masterscheppe my pore mynd
furste for the onour of god & secondly For the god love &
trew hartt that (I) have howtt vnto you sensse the syngsson
Martt at medelborow in anno 1512. This quotation does
not prove that Cromwell was at the Syngsson Mart at Middel-
burg in 1512, nor does it shed much light on the position he
occupied at that time ; still the probabilities strongly favour
the conclusion that he was either a merchant or a clerk to
a merchant in the Low Countries in 1512 : the accounts of
Foxe and Chapuys agree that he was in the Netherlands in
his younger days, and the letter of the mercer seems to fix
the date. We have also reason to believe that he was in
London soon after this practising as a solicitor. There
exists in the Record Office a document dated November,
1512, and endorsed, in a hand which certainly resembles that
of Cromwell s later correspondence, The tytle of the manour
Whityngham for Mr. Empson V The endorsement may of
course be of a very different date from that of the document
itself ; still the evidence which it affords is not utterly value
less, especially as another reason for supposing that Cromwell
returned to England in 1512, or soon after, is afforded by the
fact that his marriage must have taken place about this time :

1 Cal. x. 1218. z Cal. i. 3556.

12 THOMAS CROMWELL

the age of his son Gregory being such that it could scarcely
have occurred much later. The State Papers of 1513 give
us more information . concerning the early life of Thomas
Cromwell than those of any other year up to 1523. The
sum total of the evidence which they afford seems to indicate
that he was in England and in the Netherlands, that he was
occupied both as a merchant and as a solicitor, and that he
was married in that year or soon afterwards.

Cromwell s wife, to whom Chapuys refers as the daughter
of a shearman, was Elizabeth Wykys, descended from one of
an ancient family of esquires, who was gentleman-usher to
Henry VII 1 . A reference in Cromwell s will of July 12,
1529, to one Mercye Pryo//r as his mother-in-law 2 has led
some writers to suppose that he married Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir John Pryor, and widow of Thomas Williams, a Welsh
gentleman ; but a letter to Cromwell from one Harry Wykys
of Thorpe, near Chertsey, dated November 2, 1523 3 . disproves
this theory, and corroborates the other. The most probable
explanation of the entry in the will is that Mercy Pryor
married twice, and that she was the mother of Elizabeth
Wykys by her first husband 4 . Cromwell s wife was probably
a woman of some property. He was exactly the sort of man
who would seek a wife with an eye to the financial advantages
of the match, and the theory that Elizabeth Wykys was rich
fits in well with the evidence that her mother was married
a second time. Moreover Cromwell s property increased so
fast during his years of service under Wolsey, that even his
notorious accessibility to bribes could not account for it, had
it not been augmented from some outside source.

Chapuys goes on to say that for some time after his
marriage Cromwell kept servants in his house, carrying on the
business of his father-in-law ; a statement corroborated by
his correspondence, which shows that he plied his trade as

[ Appendix I to this chapter; Pryor both had rooms in Crom-

Antiquary for Oct. 1880, vol. ii. well s house, at Austin Friars Gate,

p. 164. where he lived after the year

2 Appendix to chapter iii. p. 59. 1524. Before that date he resided

3 Cal. iii. 3502. near Fenchurch (Cal. iii. 2624 ;
* Mr. Pryor and Mistress iv. 3197).

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 13

a cloth and wool merchant at least as late as 1524. There
can be little doubt, however, that he continued his business
as a solicitor at the same time, for it would be impossible to
explain his sudden advance in legal prominence in the years
1520 to 1525, if he had not had long practice in the law
beforehand. The strange combination of employments in
which Cromwell was engaged fitted in well with the peculiar
versatility of the man, and brought him into close contact
with diverse sorts of men, in diverse conditions of life. A
more detailed account of his career during the seven or eight
years which followed his probable return to England it is
impossible to give, for between 1512 and 1520 there occurs an
other extraordinary gap in the life of Thomas Cromwell, during
which we do not possess a single trustworthy contemporary
record concerning him. In 1520 there is certainly evidence
that he was known to Wolsey, but precisely how or when his
connexion with the Cardinal began, it is impossible to tell.

The statement in the Dictionary of National Biography
that Wolsey appointed Cromwell collector of his revenues
in 1514 is apparently unfounded x , and no reference is given
for the assertion in Singer s Cavendish 2 that the Cardinal
first met his future servant in France. Another unverified
story is that Lord Henry Percy, who had been an intimate
of the Cardinal s household in his early years, borrowed
money from Cromwell, and conceiving a high opinion of his
creditor, introduced him to Wolsey 3 ; while Mr. Phillips
informs us that Robert Cromwell (the son of Walter Crom
well s brother John), who was vicar of Battersea under the
Cardinal, gave to his cousin Thomas the stewardship of the
archiepiscopal estate of York House, after Wolsey had been
made archbishop there. Though Mr. Phillips has again
failed to cite his authority for this last statement, it is but
fair to say that the probabilities are strongly in its favour:
the theory that Cromwell owed his appointment as Wolsey s
servant to his cousin Robert seems particularly plausible, as

1 Mr. Gairdner kindly informs 2 Singer s Cavendish, vol. i.

me that he was misled by a record p. 193 n.

concerning Robert Cromwell (Cal. 5 Ellis, Thomas Cromwell, p.

ii. (i) 1369). 12.

14 THOMAS CROMWELL

the latter was certainly well known to the Cardinal. It is
possible that the origin of the connexion had something to
do with the young Marquis of Dorset, who later became
Cromwell s patron. Wolsey had long been acquainted with
the Marquis ; he had been the friend and tutor of his father
when he was principal of Magdalen School, and had been
given the living of Limington in Somerset by a still older
member of the family in I5QO 1 . The date of the origin of
Cromwell s connexion with Wolsey must remain as much
a matter of conjecture as its cause. It seems probable that
those historians who have placed it as far back as 1513 or
1514 have been at fault, for had Cromwell entered the
Cardinal s service as early as that there would almost cer
tainly have been more entries in the State Papers to show it.
As it is, we possess only one piece of evidence in contem
porary records to show that he was known to Wolsey before
October, 1520, and that is of such a nature that little reliance
can be placed on it. On the back of a letter, written in
August, 1514, by the Abbot of W T inchcomb to Wolsey 2 , are
some lines in a hand which bears some resemblance to Crom
well s, apparently intended as an exercise in penmanship ; the
similarity of the handwritings, however, is not so striking that
it can be regarded as affording any very conclusive proof:
moreover as the words on the back have no connexion with
the letter itself, it is quite likely that they were written at
a much later date. It is safe to say that the lack of infor
mation on the subject in the State Papers makes it probable
that if Cromwell s connexion with Wolsey began much before
1520, it was certainly of very minor importance.

In the autumn of that year, however, we possess a record
which leaves little doubt that Cromwell had at least become
known to the Cardinal. An appeal had been made to the
Papal Court at Rome against the sentence of the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury, in a suit between the vicar of Cheshunt
and the Prioress of the nunnery there. Wolsey, as Papal
Legate, soon afterwards received a copy of the citation and

Life of Wolsey, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. Ixii. p. 325.
2 Cal. i. 5355.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 15

inhibition with other information by the letters of Thomas
Cromwell, making clear the rights and wrongs of the case,
and the best method of handling it 1 . No other mention of
Cromwell in connexion with the Cardinal occurs until 1523,
when he drafted a petition to Wolsey in Chancery for a certain
John Palsgrave 2 . But these two records are enough to prove
that he was known to the Cardinal in the capacity of a soli
citor and clerk from a period at least as early as 1520. The
gap between that date and 1512 is more difficult to fill. The
supposition that Cromwell was in Wolsey s service as early
as 1513 is perhaps the easiest method of disposing of these
years, but it certainly cannot be regarded as more than
a theory, unless some new document is found which corro
borates it.

Most of the letters addressed to Cromwell during this
period from 1520 to 1524 concern themselves with legal
business, and request his aid as a practised lawyer in some
suit for the collection of debts or the decision of a title to
lands 3 . In August, 1522, he acted as an indifferent person
in a dispute between Richard Chauffer, alderman of Calais,
and Lord Mountjoy. In December, 1523, he served on the
inquest of wardmote in the ward of Bread Street. But it is
also evident from his correspondence that he had by no
means lost interest in his business as a cloth merchant and
wool-dyer 4 . It may have been in this capacity that he first
became known to the family of the Marquis of Dorset. The
old lady Marques writes to him in August, 1522, as her
sonne marquys servaunt, and desires him to send in haste
the trussynn bed of cloth of tyssewe and the fether bed wyth
the ftistyons, and amateras longyng to the same wyth the
covvnterpoynt .... tentes pauylyons & hales 5 . There is also
record that Cromwell was a great lender of money at high

1 In the original document (Cal. the case had already reached the

iii. 1026) the name of the Cardinal Papal Court,

is not expressly mentioned. The 2 Cal. iii. 3681.

copy of the citation, however, was 3 Cal. iii. 1026, 1940, 1963, 2441,

sent by his chaplain, Clerk, and 3657.

can scarcely have been intended 4 Cal. iii. 2624.

for any one but Wolsey, since 6 Cal. iii. 2437.

16 THOMAS CROMWELL

rates of interest. His friendship and reputation with foreign
merchants brought him an enormous amount of business,
and his property increased to a great extent. The training
he received during and after his journey on the Con
tinent was probably the best that he could have had to
fit him for the difficult life-work that was given him to
perform. The spirit of the Italy of Machiavelli and Caesar
Borgia stamped itself deeply upon his youthful character.
It gave him his ideas, his theories. The hard school of adver
sity (at first almost a struggle for existence), through which
he passed during his early years, afforded him the intimate
knowledge of men and things, the wonderful insight into
human nature, and the ability to turn every event to the
advancement of his own purposes, that enabled him at
a later day to mould the destinies of the English nation.

And my experience happily me taught

Into the secrets of those times to see,
From whence to England afterward I brought

Those slights of state deliu red vnto mee,
In t which were then but very few that sought,
Nor did with th umour of that age agree,
After did great and fearful things effect,
Whose secret working few did then suspect.

Michael Drayton. The Legend of Great Cromwell, p. 13.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I

PASSAGE FROM A LETTER OF CHAPUYS TO GRANVELLE,

NOV. 21, 1535 l

M e Cremuel . . . est filz dung poure marechal lequel en son
vivant se tenoit en vng petit villaige pres dici dune lieue et demye
et est sepulture au cemetiere de lad. parroiche dud. villaige de plus
pouurement que soient la son oncle 2 pere dung syen cousin qui(l)a
desia fait fort riche estoit cousinier du feu euesque de Conturberi
led. Cremuel en sa jeunesse fust assez mal condicionner, et apres
quelque emprisonnement il fut contrainct vuider le pays et senpasser
en flandres et dois la en rome ou et ailleurs en italic il demeura
quelque temps, estant de retour il se maria a la fille dung ton-
deur de draps, et tint quelque temps en sa maison semiteurs
exercent led. art apres il devint solliciteur de causes et par ce
moyen se feit congnoistre au cardinal de york, lequel congnoissant
la vigilance et diligence dud. Cremuel et habilite et promptitude
tant a mal que a bien, il le tint on nombre de ses serviteurs, et
Femploya principalement quant il fut question de ruyner et demoler
cinq du 3 six bons monasteres. Venant a descherir led. cardinal
il ny eust personne que saquittast myeulx enuers led. cardinal que
luy. Apres le decez dud. cardinal maistre valloup a present ambas-
sadeur en france le poursuyuant de injures et menasses le plus fort
du monde, et non voyant autre reffuge ne remede que de recourir
au roy, il fait tant par prieres et presens quil eust audience dud. roy
auquel il deust promettre de le faire le plus riche que oncques fut en
angleterre, et luy parla si bien et beaul qui le retint des lors de son
conseil, sans autre aduis et ne le decouurit led. roy a personne des
siens deans quatre moys apres Maintenant il a empiete de telle sorte
quil a bailie le bout a toute la reste (si) ce nest a la dame, et le tient

1 The original is in the Vienna Thomas, The Pilgrim, p. 107.

Archives. This copy was made l John Cromwell of Lambeth,

from the official Record Office 3 sic, read ou.
transcript. Cf. Cal. ix. 862, and

MERRIMAN. I

18 THOMAS CROMWELL

tout le monde ( auoir plus de credit auprez de son maistre, que neust
oncques le cardinal du temps duquel en y auoit questoient en con
currence de credit comme maistre Conton l et le due de suffocq et
autres, mais maintenant il n y a personne que face riens que luy, et
ne sert le chancellier synon pour mynistre et organe dud. Cremuel,
lequel jusques yci na voulu accepter led. office de chancellier, mais
Ion pense bien tost il se layra persuader de lempoigner. II est
home bien parlant en sa langue et mediocrement en la latyne
francoyse et italyenne, home de bonne chiere liberal et de ses
biens et de bonnes et gracieuses parolles, home manifique en trayn
et batissement . . .

II

PASSAGE FROM CARDINAL POLE S APOLOGIA AD CAROLUM
QUINTUM. Pars I. p. 126, c. xxviii.

Sic ergo, si tale nomen quaeratur, Cromvellum eum appellant,
si genus, de nullo quidem ante eum, qui id nomen gereret, audivi.
Dicunt tamen, viculum esse prope Londinum, ubi natus erat, & ubi
pater ejus pannis verrendis victum quaeritabat, sed de hoc parum
refert. Nunc si conditio quaeratur, sic quidem de eo intellexi,
aliquem in Italia fuisse gregarium militem, fuisse etiam mercatorem,
nee tamen longius progressum in mercatura fuisse, quam ut scriba
esset mercatoris, & libros rationum servaret, optime vero novi ilium
mercatorem, qui Venetus erat natione, cui operas suas locabat.
Tandem hujus conditionis pertaesus, domum reversus, causidicis se
immiscuit, his qui jura Regni profitentur. In quo eo magis se
proficere sperabat, quod versuti & callidi ingenii sibi conscius esset
ad defendendum tarn iniquum, quam aequum, quod ex externorum
commercio valde acuerat, cum nostrorum hominum ingeniorum
simplicitatem semper contemneret. Nee tamen in hoc genere valde
crevit, antequam ad Monasteriorum ruinam perventum est. Quod
incoepit vivente adhuc Cardinali Eboracense, dum Monasteria quae-
dam pene a suis deserta, & illorum bona ac praedia in subsidium
pauperum, qui in Gymnasiis literis operam dabant, essent conversa.
Hie vero notus esse coepit, idque ostendit ad hanc artem solam se
natum fuisse, ad ruinam & vastationem, id quod crebra aliarum
artium mutatio declaravit, in quibus nihil crevit, in hac vero statim

1 Sir William Compton. See Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xi.
P. 453-

BANDELLO S TALE 19

Celebris esse coepit, & pluribus notus, ita tamen in illis initiis hujus
suae artis notus, ut cum Cardinalis, cujus assecla fuit, & ex cujus
authoritate et imperio illam suam artem exercebat, ab administratione
Reipublicae remotus esset, et dignitate privatus, ipse omnium voce,
qui aliquid de eo intellexerant, ad supplicium posceretur. Hoc
enim affirmare possum, qui Londini turn adfui, & voces audivi, adeo
etiam ut per civitatem universam rumor circumferretur, eum in
carcerem fuisse detrusum, & propediem productum iri ad supplicium.
Nee vero populus ullum spectaculum libentius expectabat, nee ille
rumor ex alia re nascebatur, nisi quod omnes eum sciebant omni
supplicio dignum . . .

Ill

NOVELLA XXXIV BELLA SECONDA PARTE DE LE NOVELLE
DEL BANDELLO, Tomo quinto, p. 251.

Francesco Frescobaldi fa cortesia ad uno straniero, e n e ben
rimeritato, essendo colui divenuto Contestabile d Inghilterra.

Ne la famiglia nobile et antica de i Frescobaldi in Firenze fu,
non sono molti anni, un Francesco, mercadante molto leale et
onorevole, il quale, secondo la costuma de la patria, essendo assai
ricco, trafficava in diversi luoghi e faceva di gran faccende, e quasi
per 1 ordinario dimorava in Ponente, in Inghilterra, e teneva la stanza
in Londra, ove viveva splendidissimamente et usava cortesia assai ;
non la veggendo si per minuto come molti mercadanti fanno, che la
contano fin a un picciolo quattrino, come intendo dire che fa
Ansaldo Grimaldo Genovese, che tien conto fin d un minimo foglio
di carta e d un palmo di cordella da legar i pacchetti de le lettere.
Avvenne un giorno che essendo Francesco Frescobaldi in Firenze,
se gli paro dinanzi un povero giovine, e gli domando elemosina
per 1 amor di Dio. Veggendolo il Frescobaldo si mal in arnese
e che in viso mostrava aver del gentile, si mosse in pieta, e tanto
piu, quanto che lo conobbe esser Inglese; onde gli domando
di che contrada di Oltramontani fosse. Egli gli rispose che era
Inglese ; e chiedendogli alcune particolarita, il Frescobaldo, d Inghil
terra, come colui che assai pratico n era, il giovine molto accomo-
datamente al tutto sodisfece, dicendogli : lo mi chiamo Tomaso

C 2,

20 THOMAS CROMWELL

Cremonello, figliuolo cli un povero cimatore di panni, che fuggendo
da mio padre son venuto in Italia col campo de i Francesi, che
e stato rotto al Garigliano, e stavo con un fante a piedi, portandoli
dietro la picca. II Frescobaldo la menb in casa molto domestica-
mente, e quivi alcun di se lo tenne per amor de la nazione Inglese,
de la quale egli aveva ricevuti di molti piaceri ; lo trattb umana-
mente, lo vesti, e quando volse partirsi per ritornar ne la patria, gli
diede sedici ducati d oro in oro fiorentini et un buon ronzino. II
giovine veggendosi esser stato messo in arnese si bene, rese al
Frescobaldo quelle grazie che seppe le maggiori, e se n andb ne
T isola a casa.

[The next four pages are devoted to a more or less accurate account
of Cromwell s life in London, his connexion with Wolsey, and his
entrance into the King s service. The events narrated in the fol
lowing passage may be supposed to have taken place about 1535
or 1536.]

*- *

. . . Dico adunque che in quei di che il Cremonello era padrone
e governatore de 1 isola, che Francesco Frescobaldo si ritrovava in
Italia, ove, < ome spesso a mercadanti interviene, avendo patiti molti
disastri e di gran danni ne la perdita de le sue mercadanzie, restb
molto povero ; percib che essendo uomo leale e da bene, pagb tutti
quelli a cui era debitore, e non puotb ricuperar cib che da gli altri gli
era dovuto. Veggendosi egli ridutto a cosi povero stato, e fatto i suoi
conti e benissimo calculati, trovb che in Inghilterra aveva crediti per
piu di quindici migliaia di ducati ; onde si deliberb passar quindi,
e veder di ricuperar piu che gli fosse possibile, e mettersi a viver
il rimanente de la sua vita quietamente. Cosi con questo pensiero
passb d Italia in Francia, e di Francia in Inghilterra, e si fermb in
Londra, non gli sovvenendo percib mai del beneficio che egli fatto
gia in Firenze aveva al Cremonello ; cosa veramente degna d un vero
liberale, che de le cortesie che altrui fa, memoria mai non tiene,
scolpendo in marmo quelle che riceve, per pagarle ogni volta che
T occasione se gli offerisce. Attendendo adunque in Londra a
negoziar i fatti suoi, e caminando un giorno in una contrada,
avvenne che il Contestabile passava anch egli per la strada mede-
sima, venendo a V incontro del Frescobaldo. Cosi subito che il
Contestabile lo vide e gli ebbe gli occhi fermati nel viso, si ricordb
costui certamente esser quello, dal quale cosi gran cortesia aveva in
Firenze ricevuta, et essendo a cavallo, dismontb, e con meraviglia

BANDELLO S TALE 21

grandissima di quelli che seco erano, chi v erano piii di cento
a cavallo de i primi del regno che gli facevano coda, F abbraccib con
grande amorevolezza, e quasi lagrimando gli disse : Non sete voi
Francesco Frescobaldo Fiorentino? Si sono, signer mio, rispose
egli, e vostro umil servidore. Mio servidore, disse il Contestabile,
non sete gia voi ne per tal vi voglio, ma bene per mio grande amico,
avvisandovi che di voi ho giusta ragione di molto dolermi, perche
sapendo voi cib che io sono e dove era, devevate farmi saper la
venuta vostra qui che certamente io averei pagato qualche parte
del debito che confesso aver con voi. Ora lodato Iddio che ancor
sono a tempo ; voi siate il benissimo venuto. Io vado ora per affari
del mio Re, e non posso far piu lunga dimora vosco, e m averete per
iscusato ; ma fate per ogni modo, che in questa mattina vegnate
a desinar meco, e non fate fallo. Cosi rimontb il Contestabile
a cavallo e se n andb in Corte al Re. II Frescobaldo, partito che
fu il Contestabile, s ando ricordando che cotestui era quel giovine
Inglese che egli gia in Firenze in casa sua raccolse, e comincib
a sperar bene, pensando che il mezzo di cosi grand uomo molto gli
giovarebbe a ricuperar i suoi danari. Essendo poi 1 ora di desinare,
se n ando al palazzo del Contestabile, e quivi nel cortile poco attese
che egli rivenne. II quale smontato che fu, di nuovo amicabilmente
riabbraccib il Frescobaldo, e volto a F armiraglio, et ad altri prencipi
e signori che con lui erano venuti a desinare, disse : Signori, non vi
meravigliate de le amorevoli dimostrazioni che io faccio a questo
gentiluomo Fiorentino, perche queste sono parte di pagamento
d infiniti obblighi che io conosco e confesso di avergli, essendo nel
grado che sono per mezzo suo, et udite come. A F ora, a la presenza
di tutti, tenendo sempre per mano il gentiluomo Fiorentino, narrb
loro in che modo era capitate a Firenze, e le carezze che da lui
aveva ricevute ; e cosi tenendolo sempre per mano, se ne salirono le
scale, e giunti in sala si misero a tavola. Voile il Contestabile
che il Frescobaldo gli stesse appresso, e sempre F accarezzb amore-
volissimamente. Desinato che si fu e quei signori partiti, voile il
Contestabile saper la cagione, per la quale era il Frescobaldo ritor-
nato a Londra. Narrogli a F ora tutta la sua disgrazia il Frescobaldo,
e che non gli essendo rimaso, de la casa in fuori in Firenze et un
podere in contado, quasi niente, se non quei quindeci mila ducati
che in Inghilterra deveva avere, e forse duo mila in Ispagna, che per
ricuperargli s era ne F Isola trasferito. Or bene sta, disse il Contesta
bile. A le cose passate, che fatte non sieno, non si pub trovar
rimedio ; ben mi posso con voi dolere de gF infortunii vostri, come

22 THOMAS CROMWELL

con il core faccio ; al rimanente si dara tal ordine, che voi ricupera-
rete tutti i vostri danari che qui devete avere, e non vi si manchera
di quello che io potro, assicurandovi, che la cortesia che m usate, non
mi conoscendo altramente, mi vi rende di modo ubbligato che
sempre sarb vostro, e di me e de le mie faculta potrete disporre
come io proprio, e non lo facendo, il danno sara vostro, ne piii faro
offerta alcuna, parendomi che sarebbe superflua. Basti che questo
vi sia ora per sempre detto. Ma leviamoci et andiamo in camera,
ove il Contestabile serrato 1 uscio, aperse un gran coffano pieno di
ducati, e pigliandone sedeci gli diede al Frescobaldi, e gli disse :
Eccovi, amico mio, i sedeci ducati che mi donaste al partir di
Firenze, eccovi gli altri dieci che vi costb il ronzino che per me
comperaste, et eccovene altri dieci che spendeste in vestirmi. Ma
perche essendo voi mercadante, non mi par onesto che i vostri
danari debbiano esser stati tanto tempo morti, ma s abbiano gua-
dagnato, come e il costume vostro, eccovi quattro sacchetti di ducati,
in ciascuno de i quali sono quattro mila ducati. Voi in ricompensa
de i vostri ve gli pigliarete, godendogli per amor mio. II Fresco-
baldo, ancor che da grandissime ricchezze fosse caduto in gran
poverta, nondimeno non aveva perduto la sua generosita d animo,
e non gli voleva accettare, ringraziandolo tutta via di tanta sua cor
tesia ; ma a la fine astretto per viva forza dal Contestabile, che gli
desse tutti i nomi in nota de i suoi debitori; il che Frescobaldo fece
molto volentieri, mettendo il nome dei debitori e la somma che gli
devevano. Avuta questa cedula, chiamo il Cremonello un suo uomo
di casa, e gli disse : Guarda chi sono costoro, che su questa lista
sono scritti, e fa che gli ritrovi tutti, siano dove si vogliano in questa
isola, e farai loro intendere che se fra quindici giorni non hanno
pagato tutto il lor debito, che io ci porro la mano con lor dispia-
cere e danno, e che facciano pensiero, che io sia il creditore. Fece
T uomo il comandamento del suo padrone molto diligentemente, di
maniera che al termine statuito furono ricuperati circa quindici mila
ducati. E se il Frescobaldo avesse voluto gl interessi, che in cosi
lungo tempo erano corsi, tutti gli averebbe avuti, fin ad un minimo
denaio ; ma egli si contento del capitale, ne volse interesse alcuno,
che di piu in piii gli acquisto credito e riputazione appresso tutti,
massimamente sapendosi gia da ciascuno de 1 isola il favore che egli
aveva appresso la persona del Contestabile. In questo mezzo, fu di
continovo esso Frescobaldo commensale del Cremonello, il quale di
giorno in giorno si sforzava d onorarlo quanto piu poteva. E deside-
rando che di continovo egli rimanesse in Londra, piacendogli molto

FOXE S HISTORY 23

la pratica sua, gli offerse di prestargli per quattro anni sessanta mila
ducati, a cio che mettesse casa e banco in Londra e gli trafficasse,
senza volerne profitto d un soldo, promettendogli oltra questo ogni
favore ne le cose de la mercadanzia. Ma il Frescobaldo che desiderava
di ritirarsi a casa, e viver il resto de la sua vita in quiete et
attender solamente a se stesso, infinitamente lo ringrazib di tanta
suprema cortesia, e con buona grazia del Contestabile, rimessi tutti
i suoi danari in Firenze, a la desiderata patria se ne ritornb, dove
essendo ritornato assai ricco, si mise a viver una vita quietissima.
Ma poco tempo visse in quiete, perche quell anno istesso che da
Londra era partito, in Firenze se ne mori.

IV

.

PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE OF LORD CROMWELL AS CON
TAINED IN FOXE S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, vol. ii.
pp. 4I9-434-

* Thomas Cromwell although born of a simple Parentage and
House obscure, through the singular excellency of Wisdom and
dexterity of Wit wrought in him by God, coupled with like industry
of mind, and deserts of life, rose to high preferment and authority ;

* *

1 First as touching his Birth, he was born at Putney or there
about, being a Smiths Son, whose Mother married after to a
sheerman.

As touching the order and manner of his coming up, it would
be superfluous to discourse what may be said at large : only by
way of story it may suffice to give a touch of certain particulars
and so to proceed. . . . Nothing was so hard which with wit and
industery he could not compass. Neither was his capacity so good
but his memory was as great in retaining whatsoever he had
attained. Which well appeareth in canning the text of the
whole new Testament of Erasmus Translation without Book, in
his journey going and coming from Rome, whereof you shall hear
anon.

* Thus in his growing years, as he shot up in age and ripeness,
a great delight came in his mind to stray into forreign Countries to
see the World abroad, and to learn experience, whereby he learned

24 THOMAS CROMWELL

such Tongues and Languages as might better serve for his use
hereafter.

And thus passing over his youth being at Antwerp, he was
there retained of the English Merchants to be their Clerk or
Secretary, or in some such like condition placed pertaining to
their affairs.

It happened the same time that the Town of Boston thought
good to send up to Rome for renewing of their two pardons, one
called the great pardon and the other the lesser pardon. Which
thing although it should stand them in great expences of money
(for the Popes Merchandise is always dear ware) yet notwithstanding
such sweetness they had felt thereof, and such gain to come to their
town by that Romish Merchandise (as all Superstition is commonly
gainful) that they like good Catholick Merchants and the Popes good
customers, thought to spare for no cost, to have their leases again
of their pardons renewed, whatsoever they paid for the fine. And
yet was all this good Religion then, such was the lamentable blindness
of that time.

* This then being so determined and decreed among my Country
men of Boston to have their pardons needs repaired and renewed from
Rome, one Geffery Chambers, with another Champion was sent for the
messengers, with writings and money, no small quantity, well furnished,
and with all other things appointed necessary for so chargeable and
costly exploit. Who coming in his journey to Antwerp, and mis
doubting to be too weak for the compassing of such a weighty piece
of work, conferred and perswaded with T. Cromwel to associat him
in that legacy, and to assist him in the contriving thereof. Cromwel
although perceiving the enterprise to be of no small difficulty to
traverse the Popes Court, for the unreasonable expences amongst
those greedy Cormorants, yet having some skill of the Italian
Tongue, and as yet not grounded in the judgement of Religion
in those his youthful days, was at length obtained and content to
give the adventure, and so took his journey towards Rome.
Cromwel loth to spend much time, and more loth to spend his
money ; and again perceiving that the Popes greedy humour
must needs be served with some present or other (for without
rewards there is no doing at Rome) began to cast with himself
what thing best to devise wherein he might best serve the Popes
devotion.

At length having knowledge how that the Popes holy tooth
greatly delighted to new fangled strange delicates and dainty dishes,

FOXE S HISTORY 25

it came in his mind to prepare certain fine dishes of gelly, after the
best fashion, made after our Countrey manner here in England, which
to them of Rome was not known nor seen before.

* This done, Cromwell observing his time accordingly, as the Pope
was newly come from hunting into his pavillion, he with his com
panions approached with his English presents brought in with
a three mans song (as we call it) in the English tongue and after
the English fashion. The Pope suddenly marvelling at the strange
ness of the song, and understanding that they were English men, and
that they came not empty handed, willed them to be called in.
Cromwel there shewing his obedience, and offering his jolly junkets,
such as Kings and Princes only, said he, in the Realm of England
use to feed upon, desired the same to be accepted in benevolent part,
which he and his companions, as poor suters unto his Holiness had
there brought and presented, as novelties meet for his recreation etc.

* Pope Julius, seeing the strangeness of the dishes, commanded by
and by his Cardinal to take the assay. Who in tasting thereof liked
it so well, and so likewise the Pope after him, that knowing of them
what their sutes were, and riquiring them to make known the making
of that meat, he incontinent, without any more adoe, stamped both
their pardons as well the greater as the lesser : ... it seemeth
that Cromwell obtained this Pardon aforesaid about the year of
our Lord, 1510. . . .

[The rest of the story deals for the most part with Cromwell s
career in the service of the Cardinal and of the King. Historically
it is almost worthless nearly every paragraph contains statements
which the more trustworthy sources prove to be impossible. A
curious legend of Cromwell s saving the life of the Earl of Bedford
at Bologna is followed by a more plausible account of the latter
afterward commending his preserver to the King. Foxe also states
that Sir Christopher Hales, a violent papist, but a friend of
Cromwell s, took an opportunity to say a good word for him to
Henry after Wolsey s fall, that the King at last had an interview
with his future minister in Westminster Gardens, and was advised by
him to shake off the yoke of Rome. The latter part of this story
follows closely the account of Cardinal Pole (see chapter vi. p. 92).
Foxe goes on to an exhaustive defence of Cromwell s actions during
his ministry, especially the suppression of the monasteries and
the measures adopted for the promotion of the new religion. The
story of the loss of Cranmer s Book Against the Six Articles at the
bear-baiting on the Thames (see chapter xiii. p. 255) and the account

26 THOMAS CROMWELL

of Frescobaldo s kindness to Cromwell in Florence are related at
length. Many other minor incidents of Cromwell s life are also
recorded : we are told how he stopped a skirmish in Paternoster
Row, how he prevented a friar from wearing his cowl in the
streets, how he imprisoned a ruffian with long hair, and how
he aided a poor man whose father had once befriended him in
distress. The story closes with an account of Cromwell s fall,
sentence and execution, and gives the speech and prayer he is
supposed to have made on the scaffold. (See Appendix at the
end of chapter xiv.)]

CHAPTER II

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523

THE heavy veil that shrouds in mystery the early life of
Thomas Cromwell is not completely lifted until after he
becomes counsellor to the King, but even before and during
his service with Wolsey, we catch several interesting glimpses
of him. Especially important is the information we possess
concerning the part he played in the Parliament of 1523. We
have no means of knowing how he obtained a seat there, but
there are fortunately preserved two documents of undoubted
authenticity that shed much light on the attitude he assumed
towards the problems which came up for discussion. The first
is a speech which exists to-day at the Public Record Office in
the hand of one of Cromwell s clerks, and contains a distinct
and careful enunciation of the policy which the future minister
actually pursued in after years. The second is a letter from
Cromwell to a friend, John Creke, in Biscay, in which he
tells how he * amongyst other indured a parlyament V This
epistle is in itself an excellent index to the character and
political ideals of its author. Cromwell s ill-concealed con
tempt for the vague discussions and fruitless arguments of the
Commons, who finally in disgust left off where they began,
his evident disappointment that the right large subsydye
had been granted in spite of his disapproval, and his sneering
statement that this Parliament had failed as signally as its
predecessors had, to do anything of real practical value to
King or realm, but had wasted its time in foolish theorizing
and useless debate all are perfectly consistent with the
characteristics revealed by his later policy and actions.

In order to understand the speech which Cromwell wrote
to deliver in this Parliament, a preliminary survey of some of

1 Letters, I.

28 THOMAS CROMWELL

the business that lay before the House may be helpful. The
period immediately previous to the session of 1523 had been
occupied by Henry and Wolsey in sending messages to the
powerful and traitorous Duke of Bourbon, to obtain from him
a recognition of the King s title to the throne of France.
The breach between England and Francis was becoming
wider every day. Charles V had of course seized the favour
able opportunity to ally himself with Bourbon and Henry, and
had as usual succeeded in making the latter do the lion s
share of the work, and pay practically all the bills. Loans
to the Emperor and to the Duke, and the expense of keeping
up the defences in the north, where Scotland daily threatened
to break out into open war, had drained the country s resources
to their lowest ebb.

Under these circumstances Henry thought it fit to summon
a Parliament, the first since December, 1515. The policy of
Wolsey, in regard to the great legislative body of the king
dom, had up to this time been very closely followed. He
had not reached the point which Cromwell at a later day
was destined to attain ; that is, he had not so completely
obtained the upper hand of the Commons that he could use
them as a tool to accomplish his will. He rather regarded
Parliament as a dangerous power to be suppressed at all costs,
than as a means to attain his own ends. Consequently it
had not met for nearly eight years. But the present crisis
was one which called for more than the ordinary resources of
the nation ; nothing could be accomplished against France
unless an enormous subsidy was granted ; that subsidy could
only be granted by Parliament, and Wolsey, rather unwillingly,
was forced to consent to the King s summoning it, relying
on Henry s great personal popularity, and the peculiarly
bitter national hatred of France, to make it accomplish for
him what he could not do for himself 1 .

Sir Thomas More was chosen Speaker, probably because
of his high favour with Henry, who did not scruple to
give Parliament broad hints of his pleasure in all matters
in which he was interested, and though, as Roper says,

1 On this paragraph cf. Creighton s Wolsey, pp. 128-130.

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523

29

More was very loath to take this room upon him 1 / yet
the King would not consent to his resignation. And the
story goes on to tell how Wolsey found himself much
grieved with the burgesses of this Parliament, for that nothing
was so soon done or spoken therein but that it was immediately
blown abroad in every ale-house 2 / and how, fearing that the
subsidy bill might not pass, he determined to be present at
the debate himself, and was received, at Sir Thomas More s
suggestion, with all his pomp, with his maces, his pillars, his
poleaxes, his crosses, his hat, and his great seal too. But
Wolsey need not have been so anxious about the passage of
his bill. Though at first the House would not deign to con
sider the subsidy in his presence, alleging that there was
not so much money out of the King s hands in the whole
realm, it had been out of practice too long to realize its own
power, and after a great deal of haggling and fruitless
endeavours by the members to beg off for less than the
;8oo,coo at first demanded, Wolsey carried his point 3 , and
by the end of June was able to announce to Henry that there
was no further hindrance to the proposed invasion of France.
While -the debate was in progress, however, Cromwell was

Roper, Life of More, pp. 34-35.

Ibid. pp. 35-38.

3 On the 29th of April Wolsey
entered the House and proposed a
subsidy which he thought should
not fall short of ^800,000, to be
raised by a tax of four shillings in
the pound on all men s goods and
lands. The principal provisions of
the Act to which the Commons were
finally induced to give their consent
were as follows : for two years { a
rate of 5 per cent, was imposed on
all lands and goods of the value
of 20 and upwards ; i\ per cent,
on goods between 20 and 2 ;
if per cent on goods of 40^., or on
yearly wages averaging 20.?. In the
third year 5 per cent, on all lands
of ^50 and upwards ; and in the
fourth and last year, 5 per cent.

on personal property of ,50 and
upwards. These rates were doubled
in cases of aliens. The Act was not
to extend to Ireland, Wales, Calais,
to the counties of Northumberland,
Cumberland, or Westmoreland, to
Chester, to the bishopric of Dur
ham, or to Brighton in Sussex.
(Cf. Introduction to vol. iii of the
Calendar, pp. 243, 253, 270.) Brewer
informs us that it had been com
puted that the subsidy granted
by the Commons would produce
,800,000, though he confesses that
we are ignorant of the data on which
this estimate was based. Lingard
does not discuss the amount of the
subsidy, but lays stress on the fact
that the Commons asserted their
right to debate on the measure alone.
(Hist, of England, vol. vi. pp. 91-92.)

30 THOMAS CROMWELL

one of the strongest opponents of the Cardinal s scheme. The
following speech, which he wrote to deliver on this occasion l ,
clearly reveals his attitude on the questions before the House.
To recou^r agayne by the sworde the Realme of Fraunce,
belongyng to vur most Redowbtid Souerayne by good and
iuste tytle, and to chaunge the Sums of monay whiche we haue
in sundrey yeres Receyued from thens into the hole and iust
Reuenues that myght there from yere to yere be Leuyed yf
we did peasibly enioye the same, who ys here present that
wold not gladly dispend not oonly all his goodys but also his
lyffe yf euery of vs had ten thowsand lyues to help to obtayne
vnto our most benygne souerayne and his most noble Succession
besydys the high honour and wyde spredyng of his most
glorious fame, whiche while this world endured shuld euer be
had in memory, suche yerely reuenues and wellyng spryngg^y
as 2 treasure as shuld by thyse means contynually be browght
into this Realme, Whereoff there were no dowte but that ryght
haboundant stremys shuld from his most liberall magnyfysence
be dereuyed into eu^ry parte of this his Realme to the grete
Inryching and enprosperyng of vs and all suche as hereafter
showld lyue vnder hys obeysaunce and subieccion. And that
this high and Magnanyme enterpryse ys at this present by
otir saide Souerayne not only in secret wyse in his high
cowrage conceyued, but also vttred to his most prudent coun-
sayll, and at sundrey tymes by his grace and them rypely
dygested debated ye and fynally concluded as the thyng by
his most high wysdome and thens thowg/2/ not only possible
but also very apparaunt and lykely, ail reasonable dowtes
auoyded, we All haue clerely persayued as well by the mowth
and reporte of my lorde legattey good grace as by the Re-
capitulacion of the Right w^rshipfull best Assuryd and discrete
Speker, in so moche that we haue ben^ adu^rtised of the

1 Cal. iii. 2958. There can be p. 52), says, Die Rede selbst kann

no reasonable doubt concerning schlechterdings keinen anderen

the authorship of this speech. Urheber haben, und ist spaterhin

Neither Brewer nor Gairdner ques- bei der Confiscation der Papiere

tion it, and Pauli, in an article on Cromwell s in das Staatsarchiv

Wolsey and the Parliament of 1523 gekommen.
(Historische Zeitschrift for 1889, 2 sic, for of.

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1543 31

Indentures all reddy passed bytwene our said most noble
Souerayne and the Emparoz/rs Magesty, conteynyng not
oonly the nombre of horseme;/ and Fotemen, estemed
sufficient for the saide enterpryse, but also the day pr^fixid
for the Arryuall beyond the see of the saide Army. Whyche
thyng sythyns our most Redowbted Souerayne hathe so
depely myndyd, that for the more effectuall puttyng in
execucion of the same, his high enterpryze, he hathe promysed
in the saide endentures, to goo ou^r in his owne noble p^rsone
Whoo ys here present in this ryght \w?rshipfull assemble, or
any other his subiet Whatsoeuer he be whiche to the vtterest
of his power wold not payne and endeu^r hymself, that this so
glorious, so profyttable and so wysshefull an enterpryse myght
properously be atcheuyd and our souerayne wz t/2 assuryd
honour to Retoz/me agayne after this grete acte well and
victoryously p^rfynysshed. But for somoche As yt hathe
pleased oz/r most Redowbtid Souuerayne of his most high
and haboundant goodnes, to declare vnto vs by the mowthe
of my saide Lorde Cardinallis grace, not only this his purpose,
but also the manyfold pr^uocacions and hainous iniures done
aswell to his noble highnes, as to his most dere sister the
qtiene Douriere of Fraunce, in wrongus l w/t/zholding of her
Dowre, and also the grete vexacion of his subiecter by
robbyng and spoylyng of them, to theire vtter vndoyng, by
Francoys now raynyng there, and on the other side the
manyfold policies and gracious meanes studied by o>ur saide
most noble Souuerayne, and hys Counsayll, to establysshe
a generall peace amongyst all Crysten Prynces and to stay
the saide Frauncoys yf yt had bene possible by ma^nys
industry from his synyster wayes and disturbyng of all
Regions abowte hym. Me semyth that his highnes hathe
heryn Declared vnto vs the grettest loue that euer did noble
prynce vnto his humble and obeysaunt subiect^, seyng that
his high wysdome doth not disdayne to communicate and
declare vnto vs his waighty entrepases and affayres, in this
autentyk man^r assemblyd by the mowthe of so notable
a parsonage, beseching god of his haboundant goodnes and

1 sic, for wrongous or wrong. 5

32 THOMAS CROMWELL

ynfynyte mercye whiche wzt/^drawyth not his lyght from the
poore and low estate but vnto humble harttey departyth of his
grace, that this notable benygnete of our saide Souerayne be
not amongyst vs all frustrate, but that sum of vs here present
may say in this weyghty matier the thyng vaylable and
worthye in his most highe Juggement to be regarded whiche
by the Mowthe and report of the ryght wyse dyscrete and
excellently lettred speker may be benyng Interpretacion And
as we meane cum vnto his most gracious Erys. Whiche my
perfyte trust ys that his noble grace wyll not so vtterly regecte,
but that yt may oons entre into his noble harte byfore the
tyme come that he shall put hys high entrepryse in execution
seyng yt ys yet oon hole yere therunto and all thowgh
I reckyn myselff of all other the most vnworthy to haue in
the awdience of so many sauge and notable persons, any
manner saiyngg^y, especially in this weighty mattier whiche
makyth me to tremble, for fere, whan I thyncke upon hyt and
represent vnto my fantasy How the thre gouernours of
Crystendom, accompanyed wit/i so grete nombr^ of prync^r
noble men and other their Subgietter shuld after so manyfold
pr0uocacions of dedely hattred encounter togyder with theire
Swordys in theire hand^j, to trye where the pleasure of god
shalbe to stryke, and shew his indignacion, Of whiche slawghter,
most nedis ensue, the moste Lamentable cryes, and sorowfull
wryngyng of handys, that hath happened in Cristendome
many yeres. Neu^rthelesse after my symple and yngnorant
man^r, I shall humbly beseche yow all of your benygne
Supportacion that I may here with your fauours vtter my
poore mynde whose intent ys none other but to geue vnto
yow, whiche be of far more assuryd Wysdom, Lernyng and
experience then I, occasion to vtter jour wyse counsaylW, for
yn myself I know well ys nought ell^r but the intent of good
wyll, and entier desyre, of the Contenuaunce yn prosperite of my
most redowtyd souerayne, with the most frutefull con.seru3.cion
of the polytyk weall of this his noble Realme, and the good
fertheryng of all the enterprysys and affayres in any wyse
belongyng to the same.

To speke of peace certeynly as now hit ys no tyme, Albe

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 33

ta

hit that I doo in my hart therfore ryght sore lament, but want
of trowth ys so depely in the Frenche Nacion enrotid, and theire
insaciable apetite to extent theire bondes and to accroche from
other their Domynyons and possessions to the grete molestyng
and trowbelyng of all the nacions abowte theym, ys so manyfest
and notorys to all the word *, wzt//oute any regarde hauyng
ether to godde or Justyce, that thowgh we Hadde for our
owne ptfrticuler causes no manner quarell&j 1 vnto them, yet
cowld we not but haue in detestacion their false and fleyghty
Dealyng Wherwzt/J other Cristened prync^ be by them so
sore molestyd. But now ys hyt soo that our most Drad
Souerayne ys soo notably prouoked by the manyfold Iniuryes
done aswell to hymself as to his most derest Syster, and
sundrey his Subiect^ that me thynckyth, there be none, his
true and faythefull Subiettey, that can refrayne to bere towards
them a worthy haatred and fast inpryntyd groutche, as vnto
the nacion, whiche euer ys onrestful, And of suche malicious
nature that there ys no remedy, but other they most be
skowrgyd or ellys they wyll suerly be a skowrge to other, and
other their possessions must be ruffilled and dymynysshed or
ellys they wyll not cesse to Dymynysshe and take away from
other their possessions, of whiche Arogant Nacion thowgh we
haue of our selves by goddys Ayde and sufferance ben the
Chastners and terryble stronge yet at this present tyme All-
myghty god ys so benygne vnto vs that we haue now a muche
grete aduauntage to compell them not oonly to syt in rest but
also gladly to com^ to Reason seyng that by theyre sayde
mysprowde arregancy the * Haue in. so sundry Wayes prouoked
the saide Emparoz/rs magestye vnto iust hatered and dys-
pleasure agaynst them with whome our most Redowbted
Souerayne ys most assurydly confederate and alied, Whose
high and myghty power ys so great that Joyned vnto owers
they be enverouned on eu^ry syde wyth the nacions, whiche
by goddes grace shall afflycte them and abate their pryde.
Whiche thyng the emparo//rs maiesty hath full well for his
partie shewyd in Recoueryng agayne of Nauerne Where they
had no smale ou^rthrow and also by Wynnyng from theym

1 sic, for < world. z sic, for they.

MERR1MAN. I

34 THOMAS CROMWELL

the Cytte of To^ney and the hole Countrey Tornasyes
adiacent therunto, and farthermore to the more sorar encresyng
of their A^guysshefull abasshement and shame haue dryuen
them quyte owte of Ittaly and dispossessed them of the noble
Dowchye of Millayne, the gettyng and defendyng wherof
hath bem? so maruaylous chargeable vnto theym and also to
the Cyttyes of Genes wit/i the Terretoryes therunto belongyng.
And we for our partye haue spoyled and brent Morkesse,
Destroyed also a grete Contrey wM sundry village and
Townes therin, and to the grete and high honour of our
soueraigne and his valiaunt nacion, and the grete Lawde and
Prayse of the well fortunate and sawge Capetayn, the yerle of
Surrey, whiche taryed in the Domynyons of the saide
Francoyse wzt// a smale N ombre of men in comparyson by the
space or vj or vij wekys where all the power of Fraunce durst
not geue hym battayll whiche sayde valiant Capeteyne, I trust
by goddes help, shall ou<?rthrow and subdue also the Skottes,
whome the Frenche men haue so custuously intertayned,
and of so long tyme mayntayned agaynst vs, whiche thingg^j,
yf almyghty god of his goodnes, wyll suffre to contynue this
a while, there ys no dowte but that their hawlte and mys-
prowde Cowrage shall or owght long abate, and that we shall
constrayne theym to be glad to entret for pease as men dryuen
in to grete and extreme Dyspayre, seing their pec^r whiche
they haue bene so long in gettyng bene so valiauntly and
wzt//owt any hardynesse in theym to make Resystance
pullid away from theym, and they dare not trye hyt by the
sworde, nother with vs, nor wM the saide Emparo&rs Subiectey
for whan soeuer they so doo, they wyn nowght ellys but
a shamefull overthrow, as we all know, by good experyence.
But now myght yt be in questyon whyther hyt showld be for
the more aduaunsyng of our most Rodowtyd Souerayns
Honour and the Emperoz/rs Mageste also, and more vayllable
for the spedy acheuyng of bothe their desiryd purposys other
to contynew styll thys kynde of warre whyche hytherto god
be thancked hathe so prosperously succedyd or ellys to chaunge
our warre in to another kynde, more sharper, more violent and
also more terable, that is to say, where he hathe not bene so

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 35

hardy as to mete A meane Armyee, other of owers or of the
Emperors, to conuey now in to hys Realme on eyther of
our sydys, so grete and myghty a puyss^/mce as shalbe able
by goddys ayde, clerely to vanquysshe hym vtterly and to
subdue hym.

To this question I beseche god that sum sauge and well
experte man here amongyst vs present may say the thyng
that may be honorable to our most Redowted souerayne and
proffyttable this to his noble Realme, As for myne owne partye
knowyng my most redowtyd Souerayns high pleasure Whereof
we haue all by my saide lorde Cardinality grace ben so clerely
enfoz/rmed, I am at a poynt suche as dothe become an humble
and obeysant subiect to be, beyng adu^rtisid of his Souerayns
most redowtyd pleasure, especially by the mowthe of hys
most nere and cheffest Counsayloz/r, declaryd, oonly oon
thyng there ys whiche puttyth me in no small agonye, me
thowght I harde my lorde Cardynall^r grace say that our
most gracious Souuerayne, more derer vnto any of hys Subiecter
that hathe any maner zele to our cowmen welthe then hys
owne propre lyfe, indendyth to go ouer in his Royall persone,
Whyche thyng I pray god for my partie I neuer lyue to see,
Most humbly beseching hys haboundant and tendre benygnyte
of m^rcy and p^rdone of this my saiyng, for the humble and
obeysant loue I ow vnto his noble person, causyth me in this
case to forget obeysance, and I cannot consent to obey vnto
this hys pleasure wheryn lyith the hazardyng of this his
noble Realme, and apon the whiche myght follow (whiche
god defend) the grettyst Calamyte and afflation 1 that euer
happynned ther vnto by cause I am desyrous to be owte of
all dowttey that I may all my lyfe dayes hereafter be his
humble and obeisant subiet, and see wz t/z the prosperite and
suretye of his noble parson, his Realme and power subiect^
to lyue assuryd in tranquylyte and to be reconforttid wM his
noble presence, whose welthe and prosperyte ys so vrgently
necessary vnto vs all that I am sure their ys no good Englysshe
man whiche can be mery the day whan he happenyth to thynk
that his grace myght perchatmce be dystempmd of his helthe

1 sic, for affliction.
D 2,

36 THOMAS CROMWELL

so that albe hyt I say for my partie, I stomak as a sory
Subiect may doo, the high Iniures done by the saide Francoys,
vnto his most dere souerayne, yet rather then the thyng shuld
goo so ferre forth I cowld for my partie be contented to forget
altogyther soo that I may know the parson of my souerayne
to be yn helthe, and suretye owte of the thowsand Daungiers
whiche chaunce in warre, and lyue at his high Pleasure and
assuryd myrth for yf the Frenche men haue establysshed an
ordena^nce amongyst theym that their kyng in hys owne
p^rsone shall neu^r com^ in Raungyd Battayll agay^st our
nacion bycawse of the sundry hazardys that their saide prync^r
haue suffred in their owne parsons, notwzt^standyng their
maruelous pollecy deuysed amongest them for the certayn and
the establysshid succession of their Crowne, how neidfull ys
hyt for us consideryng in what case we be to make the
humblest sewyt that euer did pore Subjects to theyre Souue-
rayne, that he wyll for our sak^y and specially for the tendre
and Fathyrly loue he beryth to his most dere and oonly
dovvghter upon whose wele and sircumspecte bestowyng next
his noble parson dependyth all our welthis som^thyng to
RefTrayne his high magnanyme Courage and for our assuryd
welthe and quyet and specially of her noble person desyst
from that Dawngerows entrepryse, And whereas his highnes
hath the Reno^m to be the most faythefull and substauncyall
prynce, Crystayned yn the trew perfourmyng of all his pro-
myses that hyt may lyke his grace to lay the wyte on vs his
poore Subiecto thowgh that he breke in that poynt the tenour
of his Indenture, For yf his highnes wold so farre presse vs by
our allegence that he wold nedys cary ouer with hym the
Armay in the same Endentures expressed, I am suer there
showld not be oon amongest them all that had any reason in
his hed but he shuld be more metar to wayle and wryng hys
handes than assuryd to fyght, whan he consydered that yf
otherwyse then well showld fortune to that prescious Juell
whiche he had for hys partye, in custody, yt were more
metar for hyrn to departe in to Turkey than to Reto&rne
agayne in to his naturall Contray to hys wyffe and chyldren.
And now as yt fortunyth naturally where as a man ys fully

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 37

p^rswadyd in any matter as I am trewly that our most
Redowtid soueraygne showld in no wyse passe the Sees in his
owne noble person consideryng the ihynges aforsaide to fayne
Reasons to make for His purpose, soo doo I now Fantasye
syns I am so extremely desyrows that the noble parson yf l
my saide Prynce showlde tarry withyn Hys Realme that hit
were better to trayne owre warre and by lyttyll and lyttyll to
attempte wery the saide Francoys then at oons to send ouer
agaynst hym the power Royall of this noble Royalme.

In the reasonyng of whiche matter I shall but vtter myne
ygnoraunce afore Hanyball as our ryght wyse spekar rehersid
now of late, but syns I am wadyd thus far vnder your benygne
supportacion I shall here vtter my pore mynde yf thys grete
and puysaunt armaye of xxx Thowsand foteme^ and ten
Thowsand horsemen showld be co^ueyed in to the partyes of
beyond see I ymagyn wzt& myself whiche wayes they myght
take to noy our enemyes most Consideracion fyrst had vnto
their owne saufegarde, How they myght suerly be victualled
and thus I reason yf they shuld so invade Fraunce that they
myght eu^r wM suretye haue victayles owte of the Arche-
dukedome, than put I no dowbter but they showld saufely
Retowrne agayne, for any daungyer that showld com^ vnto
theym by their enemyes, for synse they durst not this yere
last past set vpon the Hardy and valiaunt Capetayn the
Yerle of Surrey notwzt^standyng any prouocacions that he
Cowld by hys exp^rte wysedome in the Feattey of warre
Imagyn to bryng them thervnto how moche more wold they
beware to mete wz t^ so howge an Armye whose bruit
I suppose god beyng indyfferent the poore of Fraunce were
not hable to susteyne, but by this meanes lyke as our saide
Armye shuld be in saftye soo showld the harme whiche they
showld doo to the Realme of Fraunce be nothyng so moche
as the harmys whiche we oz/rselffer showld susteyn in
sowldyng of so great an army which were hable or iii
Somers were expyred to exhawste and vtterly consume all
the Cogne and bolyon wzt//yn this Realme whiche I con-
iecture can not passe moche aboue a Million For yf all the

1 V,for of?

38 THOMAS CROMWELL

valew of the hole Realme excede not iiii Millions as my lorde
Cardinally grace Declaryth playnly vnto vs all of whiche
the possessions were estemyd to amount to oone Hole
Million, me thynkyth that there ys no dowbte but that the
Cornes, Cattails our owne Co;;zmodeties vtensllles Apparayll
for man and women whiche was neuer soo sumptuous and
also the wares not oonly made of our owne co//zmodetyes
but also conveyed from the partyes of beyond the see Hyther
wherof was neu^r so grete Haboundaunce Dothe amount at
the lest vnto other ij Millions This yf we showld take thys
way or eu^r we showld doo to our enemy any hurt that were
worthy to be regardid we showld be brought in to that case
that we showld neu^r be hable neuer to hurt hym ne none
other, nor to help our Prynce, nor this his noble Realme
What adu^rsyte soeu^r shuld fortune to Hap ye and what
showld we then Doo, but sit in peace with the highest
ignomine and Desperat confusion that eu^r did nacion and
be constraynyd for the maynten^z/nce of cowmutacion and
biyng and sellyng amongyst o^rselffes to koyne lether agayne,
lyke as we oons haue done, whiche as for me I could well
ynowgh be content with but yf yt showld fortune our most
Redowtyd Souerayne, yf he wold nyedys go ou^r yn hys
owne p<?rsone to happyn by any adu^rse fortune, whiche
almyghty god defend to cum into the hanctay of our enemyes,
how shuld we then be hable to Redeme hym agayne yf they
wyll nought for their wynes but golde they wold thynck
grete skorne, to take lether for our prynce, ye and how moche
the Inhabitaunter of the saide Archedukedome be desirows to
haue moche of our monaye for Lytyll of their victuaylis
whiche showld the sonner bryng this inconuenyence to passe,
we haue hadde ryght good experyence aswell whan our
moste Redowbtid Souerayne last went ouer in His owne
Royall parson as in the last yere, whan my lorde of Surrey
was sent by our saide Souerayne in to those parties whose
Soldyers at their Rettoz/rne made of the raryte and high
prysed victuales no lytyll complaynt. But yf we nedys wold
conuaye our armye by their possessions and to make our
way as short as myght be, to goo the most nere and dyrect

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 39

way to Parrys where vndowbtyd were no small spoylle to
be gotten and in manner the place self not hable in strength
to kepe vs owte Assone as euer we were Departyd owte of
the Marchys of the saide Archedukedome, we showld then
clerely p^rsayue whatt manner warre the Frenche men wold
vse ayenst vs whiche neu^r wyll offer to medyll wz t/z our
Armye, but lye yn wayte yf any of our saide Armye
happened to straye or stragle abrode or to destroye the
Conductors of our victuayle. And as for victuaylys in our
waye we shuld be sure none to fynde that other hadde legges
to convey hyt sylf from vs or elles by the diligence of the
paysans myght convaide l to the next strong holdys and then
myght we perchatmce (whiche god defend) p^rsayue what
high daunger to leue any strong holdys behynde vs,
whiche the most Saugge and Poletyke Pry nee Kyng Henry
the vij th of gracious memory thowght not best to doo.
For when he passed the Sees to wyn the ryght in Fraunce
he began fyrst to lay Seige to Bolayn, or euer he wold enter
anye farther in to the land. And o>ur most Redowtyd
souerayne now raynyng beyng in purpose as I harde reportid
goo as farre as Parres after the occupacion of his sawge
Counsayle began Fyrst at Tyrouenne and the Empero^rs
mageste Imployed A whosoeu^r be in Toz/rnay bycawse yt
was thowght to his high wysedome and hys noble councellers
euydently dawngerous yf he wold at any tyme hereafter
passe any farder by that way in to Fraunce, to leue suche
strong hold in the possession of his enemyes behynde hym
at hys bakke, and soo yf we showld for any dyspleasure
done vnto vs ammuse our Coscions armye abowte the
wynnyng of any those holdys, what maruelous Inconueny-
ences Let of purpose and Importable Charge we showld
sustayn therbye our most drad souerayne lorde hathe theryn
to good experyence in the wynnyng of Tyrouen which cost
his highnes more then xx tj suche vngracious Dogholes
cowld be worthe vnto hym But yf we wold vtterlye leue
this waye, and Determyn to Invade Normandie Bretayn or
sum other Contraye in the possession of his enemye vpon

1 sic, for be conveyed.

40 THOMAS CROMWELL

the Ryvage of the see and make our preparations here
wzt/zyn this noble Realme suche as showld be thowght
conuenable for suche an armye Royall Thys thyng passith
the streche of my pore wyt to speke for oone thing
I suppose, beside the Inestymable molestacion and charge
whiche I ymagyn this noble Realme showld sustayne for
theyr preparation for ware I can se nothyng but manyfest
dawngier on euery syde to be towards the saide Armaye
not onely at their Arryvall amongest their enemyes at all
tymes and so long as they shall there tarry Whiche to shew
theym their saide enemyes showld have no smale aduauntage,
and that in sundry wyse, but also how they should surely
be victayled for thowgh we made here neuer so good
dylygence to prepare victailes for them in due tyme yet
stode bothe we and they in daungier of the wynde in whose
oncerteynte god defend that the Flower, nay in manner the
hole Chyualry of this noble Realme showld so be hazardid
for thereby myght Chaunce the most lamentable losse ye
and wz t^out Recouery that euer heretofore to me happenyd
For thowgh we be indowtyd ryght sore dymynysshed of
our Treasure, We haue yet a farr gretar want of defensable
men whiche to any good Englysshe man that ys not
affeccionat to his owne pryuat lucre but wzt^ good harte and
true zele louyth the Commen wele ys to moche manyfest at
the yee, and hyt pleasid god of the contrary Wherby Supposid
that Almyghty god sent our souerayne his desiryd purpose
how showld we be Able to possede the large Cuntreye of
Fraunce whiche haue our owne Realme so meruelous rarely
storyd of inhabytaunter and hable men, but there paraad-
venture yt myght be saide vnto me Why puttyst thow so
many dowtter ayenst this my most redowtyd souerayns
enterpryse, he beyng so high in courage of maruelous
wysdome and well tryed experyence in all marcia.ll Cond utter
seyng other his progenitoz/rs of farre lesse graces with an
handfull of men in comparyson to his armye haue geuyn
them soo notable ou^rthrowes To thys question breuely to
show my pore mynde Trewly the manyfold victoryes that we
haue had ayenst theym bryngyth theym in playne dyspayre

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1533 41

to trye hyt anye more wzt/z vs In raunged battayll and to the
experyence that they haue of our Condicions bothe in warre
and pease hathe geuyn the saide Francoys hardynes thus
haynowsly to prouoke our Souerayne as he doyth for lyke
as he knowyth that in Armys oiir nacion ys ynvincible so
knowyth he our Impacience to Contynew in warre many
yeres and in especiall in wynter for we desier nowght elles
but to trye hyt w/t/z our handes at ones and that the
Maruelous charge far aboue any other nacion that we most
nedys continually be at for victuayles and other necessaryes
ys so grete that at the length we most nedys wery owrself
as oftyn as we be assemblyd to fyght yf We soo togyther
assemblyd long contynew thowgh none other nacion fyght
wz t^ vs I cowld here also towche what polecye we haue to
kepe things when we haue gottyn theym, but I let that
passe and wyll now shew the notable adu^/ntag^ that our
sou^rayns progenitoz/rs had ouer that we haue now, the
mean warre ayenst Fraunce yn tymes past we had euer
plac^- surlye to Lond in other of our owne, or of our assured
confederate and alies as Gascoyne Gwyen Bretayn and
sumtyme Normandie and at the lest we had Sum assuryd
freynd^ there whiche wern grete men of power and further
more their Townes and holdes were nothyng of the m^ruelous
strength that they be of at this present but now all thyse
thynges be chaunged places. We haue none to lond in any
of the saide Countrays but suche as we may be sure to haue
allema^n^r dyspleasure shewyd vnto vs that they dare or
may doo and as for any frend^j W T e haue that I dare not
presume to speke in, but as ferre as my pore conjecture
ledyth me there was neuer nacion more maruaylusly Lynkyd
togyder then they be amongyst theymselfoy nor more sundry
prouysyons found how suche A x nature hath made of high
courage beyng borne amongyst them myght be prouyded
of welthful lyuynges vnder their obeysaunce to consent to
any Dysturbyng of their Cowmen Welth thowgh he showld
for that intent be ofTeryd a great and notable Treasoure
But how by 2 Coruptable all the worlde w/t/z the mmielows

1 sic, for as. 2 sic, for be, possibly meaning very.

42 THOMAS CROMWELL

in excessyff gyftes the Emperoz/rs maiestye hathe
for his partie had of late ryght euydent experyence, For whyle
he was here in thise parties occupied abowte the wynnyng
of Tourney and other his affayres they had corrupted iij or
iiij of the grettest nobles of Spayne, apon whiche parsonages
for their euydent ontrewth the Emperoz/rs Magestye was
constraynyd to do Justyce at his Retoz/rnyng thyther,
whiche was no small losse onto hym yf they had lyke trew
subgiettey accordyngly regarded their allegiaunce and that
is to be m^ruayled at my lorde of Sheuerys 1 the most
bounden creature of the sayde Emparoz/rs Maieste that eu^r
was subiect to his Souuerayne, me thowght I harde my lorde
Cardinal!^ grace reporte, that he was also by their m^uelous
subtyle pollice and gyfies corrupt, and also yt ys euydent
that synse the saide Emperoz/rs Maiestie Retoz/rnyd in to
Spayne agayne the gouernours of his Archedukedome haue
grauntyd dyuers of safecondut vnto merchauntes of the
Frenche nacion ye and for their Sakys vnto Skotter also,
whiche ys a maruelous hyndraunce after my pore Jugeme;/t
to our souueraynes and the saide Emperows warres. For
yf our cowmodeties had aswell ben^ kepte from theim as
their cowmodeties be from vs many a thowsand artyfycer
lyuyng vnder the saide Francoys Domynyon whiche hathe
none other lyuyng but by workyng of our wollys haue
ben constrayned to haue made to their kyng lamentable
sute for peace, as people browght to extreme distresse and
not wottyng how to lyue.

Thus haue I here vttred my pore and symple mynde ryght
hartylly thanckyng yow all of your benygne Supportacion
and how that yow haue Wytsaufe to here so pacientlie my
ignorance most humbly beseching the tender benygnyte of
my most dere and most redowtyd souuerayn whiche wz t//-
drawyth hys m^rcifull yee from Wylfull offenders yf they
humbly make sute vnto his grace for pardon, that he wyll of
his haboundaunt goodnes wytsaufe to take me as I meane
whiche am as desyrous that all his most noble entrepases
should prosperously go forward as any symple creature that

1 William de Croy, Lord Chievres.

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 43

eiur was borne vnder his obeisaunce thinckyng after my
Ignorant Jugement that yi yt wold please his magnanime
Courage to conuert Fyrst and chief his hole intent and
purpose not only to the ouer ro;myng and subduyng of
Skotland but also to Joyne the same Realme vnto his,
Soo that both they and we myght lyue vnder oone
Bessaunce Law and Pollecy for euer. He shold therby
wyn the highest honour that euer dyd any noble pro
genitors synse thys Hand was fyrst Inhabyt to Joyne
vnto his noble Realme so populus a Cuntray wherby his
strength shold be of no small parte e^cresid and of this acte
should follow the highest abasshement to the saide Francoys
that euer happened to hym or any his pr^geneto^rs afore
hym not oonly for that he Left the saide Skottey his auncie^t
allies and which haue for hys and their Sak^j pr^uokyd our
nacion so notably heretofore at thys tyme vndefended by
reason of our souerayns naiuye whiche he dare not encounter
with nor neuer dare send theim socottr so long as he shall
know the narrow sees substansially to be kept, but also for
somoche as he shall vnderstand that we haue chaunged our
manner of warre, whiche were wont nought else to doo but
to skore the nacions abowt, but whan he shall p^rsayue that
by the hygh and pollytyk wysdome our saide most redowtid
Souerayne they be Joyned vnto vs in oone politik boddye
what fere shall we then stand in to Lose his possessions
wzt^out any hope of Recou^re agayne, and thowgh hit be
a commen sayng that yn Skotland ys nought to wyn but
strokes, for that I alledge another cowmen sayng, who that
entendyth Fraunce to wyn wzt/z Skotland let hym begyn,
Whiche enterpret thus truely hyt ys But a Symplenesse for
vs to thyncke to kepe possessions in Fraunce, (which) ys
seuowryd from vs by the ocean see, and suffre Skotland
Joyne(d) vnto vs by nature all in oon Hand, vnto which
we may haue Recourse at all tymes whan we woll, whiche
also to subdue, god beyng indifferent lyeth euer in our hand
to lyue vnder a nother pollecy and to Recognyse another
Pry nee send god that o>ur most Redowty Souuerayne (may
conquer Scotland) whiche whan we haue ones Joyned vnto

44 THOMAS CROMWELL

our polecy as a membra by nature dyscendyng apon the
hole, than shall we therby have the experyence how to
wyn and kepe other possessions of our most redowtyd
souerayne of due ryght and enherytaunce belonging to his
noble Crowne whiche we (have) in the parties of beyond the
see in whyche entrepryses I beseche god send our most dere
and most redowtyd souuerayn prosperous Succession and
fortunat atcheuyng of all this his noble entrepryse.

There is no record that this speech was ever delivered ;
even if it was, it certainly had no effect in this unwieldy and
unpractical session of Parliament. But the accuracy and
force of the speaker s reasoning were destined to be proved by
the subsequent course of events. For the student of the
present day, who is enabled to glance at the whole picture
from a distance, so that the various facts assume more or less
their proper proportion and perspective, Cromwell s words on
this occasion will always remain as one of the strongest proofs
of his political wisdom and foresight.

After touching on the subject of the war, and assuring the
House of his conviction that any one present would give
goods and life ten thousand times over to recover France for
the King (a shrewd beginning, for if Henry was not present
in person, no one knew better than Cromwell how accurately
every word spoken in the Parliament would be reported to
him, and how important it was for one who would gain the
royal favour to put his loyalty to the Crown first of all), he
goes on, after a few commonplace remarks about the war s
being waged with energy, to crave the pardon of the House
for addressing so noble an assembly. This preface is eminently
characteristic of the speaker. When not perfectly certain
of his ground, and in the presence of those whom he wished
to conciliate, none could be a more adroit flatterer than
he ; it was only when he was completely master of the
situation (and he had a peculiar gift of discovering just what
his position was in relation to other people) that he became
contemptuous, overbearing, and cruel.

But not even yet had he said enough to prove his loyalty
to the King. He agrees that war is inevitable, and that the

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523 45

question now is how it may be most effectually carried on,
but when he foresees that the King will go in person, he is
greatly distressed. He talks loudly about the danger of
the King being killed, hints that Henry possessed a courage
and a self-sacrifice to the interests of England which would
render him impervious to any argument about personal risk,
and then launches himself into the heart of his discourse.
The King is an absolute necessity to the welfare and progress
of the State. If the King were removed, the country would
probably be brought face to face with the horrors of a civil
war. Cromwell thus brings his hearers to the first great
principle of the policy that he was destined later to pursue,
namely, concentration of power in the hands of the Crown, as
a sine qua non of unity at home and safety abroad. This
principle he enforces with many other arguments. The
danger from the hostility of Scotland was enormous ; let the
King Reffrayne his high magnanyme Courage and remain
ing at home, so direct the movements of his forces, that
England and Scotland may together move as a unit. France
has bought off many who may seem to be England s allies
on the Continent. The consequence of an invasion of France
would be the scattering of the army ; it might be cut off in
an attempt to capture Paris, and England would be left to
the mercy of its first invader. The country must make sure
of its own safety, before entering upon a war of aggression.

He brings up other points to prove his case, and here
speaks against the proposed subsidy. He saw, as a merchant,
that the amount proposed was excessive ; his fear was that
all the coin and bullion in the realm would be exhausted by
three summers of fruitless warring, so that the nation would
be forced to koyne lether agayne, as it had done once
before. His appreciation of the importance of sound finance,
and the evils of a depreciated currency show a knowledge of
economic principles far in advance of his time. Yf yt showld
fortune vur most Redowtyd Souerayne, yf he wold nyedys
go ouer yn hys owne p^rsone to happyn by any adu^rse
fortune, whiche almyghty god defend to cum into the hand^
of our enemyes/ says Cromwell, * how shuld we then be

46 THOMAS CROMWELL

hable to Redeme hym agayne yf they wyll nought for their
wynes but golde they wold thynck grete skorne,to take lether
for Gur prynce. Cromwell had early learned the lesson that
money and brains were rapidly becoming far more important
factors in winning battles, than mere superiority in brute
strength or numbers. In his ingenious argument against the
subsidy, he had pleaded the cause of the poor people, on
whom the taxes fell most heavily, and had at the same time
avoided arousing the opposition of the other party, by his
adroit flattery at the outset.

His appreciation of the increased difficulty of waging war
abroad compared with that in previous ages, because of lack
of bases of supplies and friendly towns on the Continent,
which before had been numerous, betokens great foresight
and knowledge of details. Though he expressly declares, at
the beginning of his speech, his intention to leave to sage
persons the task of deciding how the war should be carried
on, he hints that it would be better to play a waiting game
and weary the French, while things were consolidated at
home, than to try to conquer France by invasion. His
attitude about Scotland is repeated with great vigour at the
close of his speech. For the King to unify England and
Scotland would secure him greater honour than his pre
decessors had ever attained, and would in the end prove
a much more telling blow against France, than a direct
invasion. The question of gaining possessions across the sea
is of secondary importance : the first thing is to obtain control
of a country which belongs to the same island.

Thus Cromwell succeeded in clearly enunciating the main
principles of the policy by which he was so soon to guide the
affairs of England, while he so flattered King, nobles, and
people, that he made many friends, and avoided the enmity
of those opposed to him. The man who could make such
a speech as this, would not be likely to escape the notice of
such an astute man as Henry VIII. It was probably within
the walls of this Parliament, that Cromwell laid the first stone
of his future greatness as servant and counsellor of the King.

CHAPTER III

WOLSEY S SERVANT

AFTER the year 1524, there is no further mention of
Thomas Cromwell as the cloth-merchant and wool-dyer.
He probably realized that his business as a lawyer brought
him into much more prominence as a public man, but his
term in Parliament doubtless aroused in him a desire for even
greater things than the life of a successful solicitor. His
advance in legal prominence, however, is marked by his
admittance in 1524 as a member of Gray s Inn, and by his
appointment in the same year as one of the Subsidy Com
missioners for the Hundred of Ossulton in Middlesex 1 ; but
such petty distinctions fade into the background in the face
of a matter of far more absorbing interest, that is, his rapidly
growing favour and intimacy with Cardinal Wolsey.

During the years 1524-5 he was actively engaged in the
Cardinal s service, and received many letters on legal business
which he transacted for his master 2 . Seekers for Wolsey s
mercy or patronage invariably came to him, as a likely means
of getting their wishes granted. In several cases requests
to the Cardinal are addressed directly to the right worshipful
Mr. Cromwell. It is evident from the tone of the letters
which he received, that to obtain his favour was the first and
most important step towards gaining that of his master. He
was usually spoken of as Councillor to my Lord Legate/ and
was pre-eminent above all the rest of Wolsey s advisers. It
has been thought by some that the Cardinal employed him
in connexion with his political schemes, but this is an error.
Cromwell began modestly, as befitted his lowly birth and
humble origin, and at this time, at any rate, was employed

1 Cal. iv. 969 ; Doyle s Baronage, 2 Cal. iv. 294, 388, 979, 1385-6,
vol. i. p. 689. 1620, 2347-8, 2379.

48 THOMAS CROMWELL

*

merely as an agent, chosen for his wonderful knowledge of
human nature and his great capacity for business.

In the beginning of 1525, however, Wolsey felt that he had
in Cromwell a servant sufficiently capable to be trusted with
the performance of a work which was nearest the Cardinal s
heart, namely the destruction of some of the smaller
monasteries to furnish funds for the building of his college
at Oxford. So on the 4th of January of that year, he com
missioned Sir William Gascoigne, William Burbank, and
Thomas Cromwell, to survey the monasteries of Tykford,
Raveneston, Poghley, Medmenham, Wallingford, and Fynch-
ingbroke and their possessions, and on the same day he
appointed Thomas Cromwell and John Smyth as attorneys
for the site and circuit of Thoby. Blakamore, Stariesgate, and
Tiptree, which had been granted to John Higden, Dean of
Cardinal s College 1 .

It may seem strange that Wolsey s suppression of the
smaller religious houses brought him so much unpopularity.
It was certainly true that the monasteries had long since
ceased to observe the strict traditions of religious asceticism,
which had been the watchword of their foundation. Some of
them had become resorts of the idle and worthless, who were
permitted by supine or indulgent superiors to exchange a life
of monastic discipline for one of luxury and indolence, if not of
downright vice. But there were a few, seemingly unimportant
facts, which outweighed all these charges. In the first place
the monks were the easiest of landlords. In their practically
defenceless state, it was surely for their advantage to
conciliate their fellow men in every way, and to avoid disputes
at any cost. They consequently suffered themselves to be
imposed upon by their neighbours and tenants, in preference
to risking their popularity by asserting themselves. So
Wolsey s measures, which brought in stricter landlords, in
creased rents, and did away with the good old slipshod
management of so many years standing, met with ill-concealed
dislike. The monks, moreover, were the most hospitable of
people ; the poor were never turned away unfed, the traveller

1 Cal. iv. 989, 990.

WOLSEY S SERVANT 49

could always find shelter beneath their roof, and this fact,
coupled with the rooted opposition of the less educated class
to any sweeping measure of reform adopted apparently
without reason, while the old system appeared to all intents
and purposes to work well, explained the rest. Wolsey s
measures to suppress the smaller monasteries, and confiscate
their possessions to the use of his own colleges, may justly be
described as universally unpopular 1 .

The first requisites for the accomplishment of such a design
as the suppression of the monasteries were an intimate know
ledge of law, especially as related to lands and property, and
a far-seeing, harsh, and rather unscrupulous nature. These
qualities Cromwell possessed in the very highest degree, and
as he had been eminently successful in carrying on all
Wolsey s legal business up to this time, and as the Cardinal
was too busy with his foreign policy to give his own attention
to this favourite scheme, it is no wonder that he chose
Cromwell to supervise it for him. The work consisted in
surveying and estimating the value of the property of the
condemned monasteries, making careful inventories thereof,
and finally in stripping them of all their transportable riches,
which usually meant altars, furnishings, bells, and tapestry,
while their lands and permanent possessions were sold or
leased on the spot. The transfer of property, settlements
with tenants, and adjustment of claims were a task of far
greater intricacy than Wolsey had expected, and Cromwell s
success in carrying it out was little short of marvellous. He
was usually present in person at the surrenders and dissolu
tions ; when this was impossible one of his many and faithful
agents sent him an exact account of the proceedings in his
absence. The number of monks and nuns that were suddenly
turned out upon the world with small and irregularly paid
pensions was not the least evil feature of the ruthless
way in which the suppressions were carried on ; but it was
nothing to what was to follow a decade later 2 .

In addition to surveying and confiscating monastic property,

1 Cf. Preface to volume iv of the Calendar, pp. 368-9.

2 Cal. iv. 1833-4, 2365, 5117, 5145.

MERRIMAN. I

50 THOMAS CROMWELL

Cromwell was employed directly in connexion with the
new buildings at Oxford and Ipswich. He drew up all the
necessary deeds for both foundations, and was appointed
receiver-general of CardinaFs College by Wolsey in 1537.
He kept account of all the incomes from the suppressed
houses and all the expenses incident to the building of both
colleges. He was continually superintending the workmen
at Oxford and Ipswich, and reported their progress to his
master. The Dean of the college at Ipswich wrote to the
Cardinal, Sept. 26, 1528, how Cromwell came thither with
copes, vestments, and plate, and took great pains to see
all the stuff carried in safely, and to prepare hangings and
benches for the Hall. Long lists of the manors and
monasteries, the incomes of which were devoted to the build
ing and establishment of the two colleges, are to be seen
to-day at the Record Office, and attest the gigantic amount
of labour that he performed 1 .

Cromwell s efficiency in carrying on this work was only
equalled by his notorious accessibility to bribes and presents
in the disposal of monastic leases. Adding to this the fact
that the measure was radically unpopular in itself, and that
when no bribes were offered, Cromwell and most of Wolsey s
other agents were harsh and overbearing in the extreme, the
reader ceases to wonder at the outburst of popular indignation.
The minute Wolsey s back was turned Cromwell and his
companion Dr. Alen, a hard and grasping man equally well
trained in business, proceeded to use the power given into
their hands to enrich themselves by every possible means,
some of which were utterly unjustifiable. The monastery
which could pay a large bribe was often left untouched ;
of those that were suppressed, probably a certain proportion of
the spoils was never employed at Oxford or Ipswich, but
went straight into the pockets of the suppressors 2 . Petitions
to save farms for poor people, or to get benefices for those
whose property was gone, were answered by Cromwell favour
ably, if granting them meant a substantial reward for him ;

1 Cal. iv. 3461, 4778, 5330; Letters, 6, 8.

2 Cal. iv. 3360.

WOLSEY S SERVANT 51

unfavourably, if the reverse. He became so generally hated
that in August, 1527, it was said that a sanctuary man lay
in wait to slay him, and Cardinal Pole, who was then in
London and knew him well, informs us that it was commonly
reported that he had been sent to prison, and would be
punished for his crimes as Wolsey s agent 1 .

But in spite of all this, instead of being removed from his
important post, Cromwell kept on rising to higher favour and
more importance. In April, 1527, Henry Lacy writes to
congratulate him on his promotion through Wolsey s favour.
In May of the same year he is mentioned as a granter of
annuities. His position brought him a great amount of
patronage. In 1528 Richard Bellyssis promises him a good
gelding, if he will prefer a friend to the position of mint-
master in Durham. A merchant requests him to get his
son a promotion from the Cardinal. He received many
petitions from poor men, who feared they would lose
house and home through the dissolution of the monastery
from which they were held. But the noble and great, as
well as the lowly and humble, were his correspondents
and suitors. The Abbot of York writes his heartfelt thanks
for his kindness in speaking well of him and his monastery
to Wolsey, and Lord Berners begs for his aid in his dealings
with the Cardinal 2 .

By far the greater portion of Cromwell s correspondence
during the years 1525-1529 is connected with the suppres
sion of the monasteries or the foundation of Wolsey s colleges.
Reports and receipts of money from his agents who visited
the religious houses in various parts of the country at his
orders, or who superintended the works at Ipswich and
Oxford, crowd in upon him with great frequency. Deeds of
the sale of castles and manors, valuations and inventories
of the property of various monasteries, are received by him
in large numbers 3 . In these letters we frequently meet with
the names of William Brabazon and Ralph Sadler, who were

1 Cal. iv. 3334, and Appendix II at the end of chapter i, p. 19.

2 Cal. iv. 3079, 3119, 4201, 5169, 5365, 5456.

8 Cal. iv. 3198, 3475, 3535, 3676, 411?, 4275, 457, 4573, 5399> 54H.

E 2

52 THOMAS CROMWELL

destined in the near future to become so well known as his
agents and commissioners when he entered the King s service.
Before this period he had made the acquaintance of Stephen
Vaughan, his friend and correspondent in later years, who
figured in connexion with Tyndale in the Low Countries.
Vaughan was certainly known to Cromwell at least as early
as 1523*; and in 1526 was employed by the Cardinal s servant
in connexion with the college at Oxford. In April, 1527, we
find Cromwell helping his friend in the recovery of certain
goods lost on the sea, and in the following year Vaughan
addresses a cordial letter to his benefactor, reporting various
things of interest in London, and announcing that he has
found so strong a chain for the wicket of Cromwell s house
at Austin Friars Gate, that it will be impossible for any one
to enter by force 2 . A year later he was employed as Crom
well s agent in the Netherlands.

Though mainly occupied with Wolsey s affairs, Cromwell s
correspondence during the years 1524-1529 shows that he
still kept up his business as a lawyer independently. William
Bareth writes in November, 1525, that he trusts he will
solicit his matter to Mr. Rowe, and sends his wife six plovers
e for to drynke a quart of wyn wzt/zall 3 ; in August, 1526,
George Monoux, alderman, promises Cromwell that if his
* grete matier is brought to a safe conclusion, he shall have
twenty marks 4 . A * lovyng letters from the Aldermen of our
Lady s Gild in Boston, in Dec. 1528, shows that Cromwell
still retained the friendship which he probably made years
before by obtaining for them the indulgences from the Pope
by the offer of choice sweetmeats. It was doubtless through
him that the Gild gained the privilege of supplying rare and
delicate fowls for the Cardinal s sumptuous table 5 . Cromwell
also found time to correspond with Miles Coverdale, who was
then at Cambridge, and who writes with enthusiasm of the
pleasures of a visit to his friend in London 6 .

It is probable that the terrible sweating sickness which

1 Letters, I. 4 Cal. iv. 2387.

2 Cal. iv. 2538, 3053, 4107. E Cal. iv. 5080, 5141.

3 Cal. iv. 1768. " 6 Cal. iv. 3388. "

WOLSEY S SERVANT 53

ravaged England from 1527 to 1528 carried off Cromwell s
wife Elizabeth, as there is no further mention of her in his
later papers and correspondence, except in his will of July,
1529, where she is referred to as his c late Wyff V She left him
one son, Gregory, who appears to have been a dull and
plodding lad, and who, after his mother s death, was sent with
his very precocious cousin, Christopher Welly fed, and several
other boys, to be put under the care of a tutor at Cambridge,
John Chekyng by name, whose correspondence with Cromwell
about the progress of * his scolers is very interesting and
entertaining 2 . Chekyng seems at the very outset to have
been unfavourably impressed with Gregory s talents, declares
that he has been so badly taught that he could hardly
conjugate three verbs when committed to his care, and reports
that he is now studying the things most conducive to the
reading of authors, and spends the rest of the day in forming
letters ; while Christopher does not require much stirring up.
A little later he sends word that Gregory is getting on well
in learning under his care, and desires his father to send
five yards of * marble frieze, for his winter * galberdyne ; and
again, in 1530, he declares that he has been so successful in
his teaching, that Gregory will be loadyd with Latyne
before he comes home again ; but it is evident throughout
that Chekyng considers every step in advance to have been
due to the excellence of his own tuition, rather than to the
aptitude of his pupil. If the tone of Gregory s letters to his
father be taken as a criterion of the boy s character, he must
indeed have been stupid and slow beyond belief 3 . But
Cromwell was too much occupied with his own affairs, to pay
much attention to the remarks of honest John Chekyng.
Indeed there is reason to think that his grasping disposition
showed itself in small ways to such an extent that he did not
always pay the very moderate bills that the tutor sent in for
Gregory s board, lodging, and tuition ; but instead taunted
Chekyng with not having done well with his folks. To
these insults Chekyng replied that he had brought up six

1 Cf. Appendix at the end of this 2 Cal. iv. 4560, 4837, 4916.
chapter, p. 58. 3 Cal. iv. 4561.

54

THOMAS CROMWELL

M.A. s and fellows of colleges, and that the least Cromwell
could do was to pay for the furniture which his scholars had
ruined ; he then goes on to tell how Christopher dyd hynge
a candel in a playt to loyk apone hys boyk and so fell
ascleype and the candell fell into the bed strawe and there
were burnt the bed, bolster, * three overleydes and a sparver V
In spite of his niggardly treatment of John Chekyng, it is
certain that Cromwell was in very comfortable circumstances
during his years of service under Wolsey. An inventory of
his goods at his house at Austin Friars, dated June 26, 1527 2 ,
which exists to-day at the Public Record Office, proves that
his dwelling was furnished handsomely if not luxuriously,
while a draft of his will, written July 12, 1539 3 , indicates that
his property at that time was by no means inconsiderable.
It is to this document that we owe the greater part of our
present information concerning Cromwell s family. It is
written in the hand of Cromwell s chief clerk, and was altered
at a later date by Cromwell himself 4 . The document is for
the most part self-explanatory, but there are a few interesting
facts to be especially noted in connexion with it. The
bequests to Cromwell s daughters * Anne and Grace and to
his Mitill Doughter Grace are our only proof that he had
other children than Gregory ; and the fact that both these
items were crossed out after the year 1529 possibly indicates
that the daughters died when young. We also learn that
Cromwell s nephew Richard, the son of Katherine Cromwell
and Morgan Williams, had followed in his uncle s footsteps,
and was seruaunt with my lorde Marques Dorssett at the
time that the will was first composed ; but he certainly
received other employment soon afterwards, for the name

Cal. iv. 4433, 5757, 6219.

2 Cal. iv. 3197.

3 Appendix at the end of this
chapter. The will is also printed
in Froude, Appendix to chapter vi.
The statement in a footnote that
the names Williams and Williamson
are used interchangeably is scarcely
credible.

4 Cf. footnote I in the Appendix,

p. 56. The will was originally mis
dated, owing to an obviously care
less error by the clerk, whjch was
corrected by him at the time. The
other corrections, by Cromwell, are
written in a different-coloured ink ;
and the handwriting according to
the Calendar (cf. footnote to vol. iv.
no. 5772) indicates that they were
made at a later date.

WOLSEY S SERVANT 55

of his master was scored through in the will by Cromwell
at a later date, and we also know from other sources that
Richard Williams entered his uncle s service and was active
in suppressing the monasteries and in subduing the Pilgrimage
of Grace, during the year 1536 and afterwards 1 . Before this
date he had changed his name to Cromwell, and later became
great-grandfather to the Protector 2 . His mother died before
1529, for Cromwell in his will refers to Elizabeth Wellyfed
as his onlye Suster. Cromwell s wife, as we have already
seen, had also died before the will was made ; her sister
Joan married a certain John Williamson, an old friend of
Cromwell s, who later figured prominently in the latter s
service. We also meet with many of the other names
mentioned in this will, in Cromwell s later correspondence.
Nearly all the friends of his earlier days were employed by
him in one capacity or another as spies, agents, or even minor
ambassadors to foreign Courts, after he had entered the King s
service.

1 Cal. xi. 1016 ; xii. (ii) 646.

2 Cf. the genealogy in the Antiquary, vol. ii. pp. 164 ff.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III

THE WILL OF THOMAS CROMWELL

R. O. Cal. iv. 5772 (i)

IN THE NAME OF god Amen The xij th Daye of lulie in the yere of
our lorde god Mcccccxxix* 1 1 and in the xxjti yere of the Reigne
of our Souereigne Lorde king Henry the viij th I Thomas Crumwell
of london gentilman being hole in bodie and in good and parfyte
memorye Lauded be the holie Trynytee make ordeyn and Declare
this my present testament conteyning my last will in maner and
(fourme) Folowing. FURSTE I bequethe my Sowle to the grete
god of heuen my maker Creator?* and Redemer beseching the most
gloryous virgyn our blessed ladie Saynct Mary the vyrgyn and
Mother m tfr all the holie companye of heuen to be Medyatours
and Intercessours for me to the holie trynytee So that I may be
able when it shall please Almightie god to call me out of this
miserable worlde and transitorie lif to inherite the kingdome of
heuen amongst the nomber of good christen people. And whan
so euer I shall departe this present lif, I bequethe my bodie to
be buryed where it shall please god to ordeyn me to die and to be
ordered after the discression of myn executours vndernamed And
for my goodly which our lorde hathe lent me in this Worlde I will
shalbe ordered and disposed in maner and fourme as hereafter shall
insue. Furst I gyue and bequethe vnto my Soon Gregory Crumwell
Syx hundreth threscore Syx pounds thirten shelynges foure pens 2
of lawfull money of Englonde With the Whiche Syx hundreth three
score Syx powndes xiij s foure pens 3 I will myn executours vnder
named ymediatlye or assone as they conuenyently may after my
Decesse shall purchase londes tenements and hereditaments to the
clere yerelye value of xxxiij 1 * vj s viij d 4 by the yere aboue all charges

1 Altered at the time from :- Calendar, vol. iv. pt. iii. p. 2573.
* MCCCCC xx viij* 1 by the clerk. All 2 Altered from: Foure hun-

the other changes are in Cromwell s dreth pownd^r.
hand, and were probably made at 8 Altered from: ccccV
a later date. Cf. footnote in the 4 Altered from : xx 11 .

HIS WILL. 1529 57

and reprysys to thuse of my saide Soon Gregorye for terme of his
lif And after the Decesse of the saide Gregorye to the heyres Males
of his bodie lawfully to be begotten And for lacke of heires Males
of the bodie of the saide Gregory lawfully to be begotten to the
heires generall of his bodie lawfully begotten. And for lacke of
suche heires to the right heires of me the saide Thomas Crumwell
in Fee. I will also that ymedyatly and assone as the saide lond^r
tenements and hereditaments shalbe so purchased after my deth
as is aforsaide by myn executours that the yerelie proffytef thereof
shalbe hollie spent and imployed in and aboutes the educacyon and
fynding honestly of my saide Soon Gregory in vertue good lerning
and Maners vntill such tyme as he shall cum to the full age of xxij
yeres. During Which tyme I hertely desir and require my saide
executours to be good vnto my saide Son Gregory and to see he
do lose no tyme but to se him verteously ordered & brought vp
according to my trust Item I gyue and bequethe to my saide Soon
Gregorie When he shall cum to his full age of xxiiij yeres Twoo l
Hundreth pounds of lawfull ynglissh money to order then as our
lorde shall gyue hym grace and discression Which cc ij I will shalbe
put in suertie to thintent the same may cum to his handdf at his
saide age of xxiiij fci yeres. Item I gyue and bequethe to my saide
Soon Gregory of such houseold stuf as god hathe lent me Three 2
of my best Fetherbeddes w/ /A thayr bolsters ij the best 3 payre of
blanket^ of Fustyan my best Couerlet of Tapistrye and my Quylte
of yelow Turquye Saten, x payre of my best Sheter foure 4 pillowes
of downe w/V/fc iiij payre of the best pillowe beres foure 5 of my best
table clothes, foure of my best towelkr Twoo dosen 6 of my Fynest
Naptkynnes and ij dozen of my other Naptkynnes, ij 7 garnyssh
of my best vessell, iij of my best brasse potto, iij of my best brasse
pannes, ij of my best kettilks, ij of my best Spitto, My best ioyned
bed of Flaunders woz/rke wz M the best Syler and tester and other
thappurtenaunces therto belonging My best presse caruen of Flaunders
Mvourke and my best Cupbourde caruen of Flaunders wourk with
also vj Joyned Stoles of Flaunders wo^rke and vj of my best
Cusshyns Item I gyue and bequethe to my saide Soon Gregorye
A Bason vrith a Lewer parcell gilte my best Salt gilt my best Cup

1 Altered from : one. 4 Altered from : two.

2 Altered from : * twoo. 6 Altered from : ij.

3 These last six words are altered 6 Altered from : One Dozen.
from : a Bolster the best. 7 Altered from : * A.

58

THOMAS CROMWELL

gilt, Three l of my best goblettes gilt three other of my best goblettes
parcell gylt, Twelue of 2 my best Syluer spones, Three of 3 my best
Drynking ale potes gilt. All the which parcelles of plate and house-
old stuf I will shalbe savelye kept to thuse of my saide Soonne
Gregorye till he shall cum to his saide full age of xxijti yeres and all
the which plate household stuf Naperye and other the pmnisses
I will myn executors do put in saufe keping vntill my saide Soon
shall cum to the saide yeres or age of xxij fci . And if he die before the
age of xxijti 4 Then I will all the saide plate vessell and houseold
stuf shalbe sold by myn executours And the money thereof cum-
wyng to be gyuen and equallie Deuyded amongst my poure kynnes-
folkes. That is to say amongst the children as well of myn owne
Susters Elizabeth and Katheryn as of my late Wyffes Suster Johane
Wif to John Willyamson, And if it happen that all the children of
my saide Susters and Suster in law Do dye before the particyon and
deuysion be made and none of them to be lyuyng Then I will that
all the saide plate vessell and houseold stuf shalbe solde and yeuen
to other my poure kynnesfolk^ then being on lyue and other poure
and indigent people in Deades of charytee for my Sowle my Father
and Mother their Sowles, and all Christen Sowles 5 Item I gyue and
bequethe vnto my Suster Elizabeth Wellyfed Wif to Wyllyam Welly-

1 Altered from : iij. 3

2 Altered from : * vj of.

3 These last two words are altered
from : * and.

4 Altered from : xxiiij 1 *.

6 Crossed out : c Item I gyue and
bequethe to my Doughter Anne one
hundreth Markes of lawfull money
of Englond when she shall cum to
her lawfull age or happen to be
maryed And xl 11 towards her Fynd-
ing vntill the tyme that she shalbe
of lawfull age or be maryed. Which
xl 1 * I will shalbe Delyuered to my
Frend John Croke on of the Six
clerks of the king his Ch^imcerie
to thintent he may order the same
and cause the same to be imployed
in the best wise he can deuyse about
the vertewous educacyon and bring
ing vp of my saide Doughter till
she shall cum to her lawfull age or

maryage. And if it happen my saide
Doughter to Dye before she cum to
her saide lawfull age or be maryed
Then I will that the said c Marker
and so moche of the said xl 11 as
then shalbe vnspent and vnim-
ployed at the Day of the deth of
my said Doughter Anne, I will it
shall remayne to Gregory my Soon
if he then be on lyue, And if he be
Dede the same c Mark^ and also
so moche of the saide xl 1 as then
shalbe vnspent to be departed
amongst my Sustres children in
ma.uer and fourme forsaid And if it
happen my saide Sustres children
then to be all Dede, Then I will
the saide c Mark^ and so moche
of the saide xl 11 as then shalbe
vnspent shalbe deuyded amongst
my kynsfolk^y such as then shalbe
on lyue.

HIS WILL. 1529 59

fed xpi 1 iij Goblette* without a Cou^r 2 a Macer, And A Nutt Item
I gyue and bequethe to my nephew Rycharde Wyllyams 8 Ixvj 11 xiij 8
iiij d 4 sterlings my best B gowne Doblett and Jaquet lie m I gyue and
bequethe to my nepue C^m/ofer Wellyfed my nephe xl li6 my v tb -
gowne doblett and Jaquett Item I gyue and bequethe to my nephew
Wyllyam Wellyfed the Yonger xx 11 7 Item I gyue and bequethe to my
nece Alice Wellyfed to her Maryage xx 1 * And if it happen her to
Dye before maryage then I will the saide xx 11 shall remayne to her
brother Chrtstofer And if it happen him to Dye the same xx 11 to
remayne to Willyam Wellyfed the yonger his brother. And if it
happen them all to Dye before their lawfull age or maryage, then
I will that their parte-f shall remayne to Gregory my Soon. And
if it happen him to Dye before them then I will all the said paries
shall remayn to Rychard Wyll/Vzms and Water Willzams my nephews 8
And if it happen them to Dye then I will that all the said partes
shalbe Distributed in Deader of charytee for my Sowle my Father
and Mothers Sowles and all christen Sowles. Item I gyue and
bequethe to my Mother in law Mercye Pryour xl 11 of lawfull yng-
lissh money and her chaumber with certen houseold stuf, That is
to saye A Fetherbed, a Bolster ij pillowes with their beres vj payre
of Shete.? A payre of blankettes, A garnyssh of vessell, ij potter,
ij pannes, ij Spytte5 with such other of my houseold stuf as shalbe
thought mete for her by the Discression of myn executours And
suche as she will reasonablye Desire not being bequethed to other
vses in this my present testament and last will. Item I gyue and
bequethe to my said mother in law a lytill Salt of Syluer a Maser,
vj Siluer Spones and a drinking pot of Syluer And also I charge
myn executours to be good vnto her duryng her lyffe. Item I gyue
and bequethe to my brother in law Willyaw Wellyfed xx 11 my thurde
gown Jaquet and Doblet. Item I gyue and bequethe to John
Wyllyamson my brother in law c markes* a gown a Doblet and
a Jaquet, A Fetherbed, A bolster vj payre of Shetes ij table clothes,
ij Dozen Naptkynnes, ij towellw ij brasse potter, ij brasse pannes,

1 Altered from : * xx u I Saye 5 Altered from : * Fourth.
Twentye pounds sterling : and 6 Altered from : xx 11 .
this is altered from : * xxx li which 7 Altered from : x h .

she oweth me. 8 Altered from : shall remayne

2 Crossed out : and. to Anne and Grace my dough-

3 Crossed out: seruaunt with ters.

my lorde Marques Dorssett. 9 Altered from: xl 11 : and this

4 Altered from : xl 11 . is altered from : xx 11 .

60

THOMAS CROMWELL

a Syluer pott A Nutte parcell gilt, and to Iohan<? his wyf x 15 J . Item
I gyue and bequethe to Johane Wyllyamson their Doughter to her
maryage xx ]i and to eu^ry other of their children vj u xiij 8 iiij d2 .
Item I bequethe to Walter Wyllyams my nephue 3 xx 1 * Item I gyue
and bequethe to Rafe Sadleyer my seruaunte cc 4 Marker of lawfull
ynglissh money my Seconde 5 gowne Jaquet and Doblet and all my
bok^y Item I gyue and bequethe to Hugh Whalley my Seruaunt
vj ]i xiij 8 iiij d . Item I gyue and bequethe to Stephen Vaughan sum-
tyme my seruaunte c markes 6 a gowne Jaquet and Doblet. Item
I gyue and bequethe to Page my Seru^zmte otherwise called John
du Fount vj 1 * xiij 3 iiijd 7 and also to Thomas Auerey my seruauntt
vj 11 xiij 8 iiij d 8. Item I gyue and bequethe to John Horwood vj ]i xiij 8
iiijd 9 Item that the rest of myn apparell before not gyuen ne be-
quethed in this my testament and last will shalbe yeuen and equally
Departed amongst my Seruauntes after the order and discression
of myn executours Item I will also that myn executours shall take
the yerely profytte.y aboue the charges of my Ferme of Canberye

8

VJ" XIIJ

; * iij 11 vj 8
: * Cosyn.

: c.

1 Altered from

2 Altered from

3 Altered from

4 Altered from

6 Altered from : Best.

6 Altered from : x 11 .

7 Crossed out : Item I gyue
and bequethe to Elizabeth Gregory
sumtyme my Seru<2nt xx 11 vj payre
of Shetej A Fetherbed A payre of
blankette.? A Couerlet ij table
clothes, One Dozen Naptkynnes ij
brasse potter, ij pannes, ij Spytte-y.

! Crossed out : Item I gyue
and bequethe to John Croke one
of the vj clerkly of the Chtfuncerye
x li my Second gowne Doblet and
Jaquet. Item I gyue and bequethe
to Roger More Seruaunt of the king
his bakehouse vj u xiij 8 iiij d iij yard^j
Saten and to Maudelyn his wyf iij 11
vj 8 viij d .

9 Crossed out : Item I gyue
and bequethe to my litill Doughter
Grace c Marker of lawfull ynglissh
money when she shall cum to her
lawfull age or maryage and also

xl 11 towards her exhibucyon and
Fynding vntill suche tyme {as} she
shalbe of lawfull age or be maryed
Which xl 11 1 will shalbe delyueredto
my brother in law John Willyamson
to thintent he may order and cause
the same to be imployed in and
aboutej the vertewous educacyon and
brynging vp of my saide Doughter
till she shall cum to her lawfull age
or Maryage. And if it happen my
saide Doughter to Dye before she
cum to her lawfull age or maryage
then I will that the saide c markes
and so moche of the saide xl 11 as
then shalbe vnspent and vnimployed
aboutej the fynding of my saide
Doughter at the Day of the Deth
of my saide Doughter shall remayne
and be Delyuered to Gregory my
Soon if he then shall happen to be
on lyue. And if he be Dede then
the saide c Market and the saide
residue of the saide xl u to be euenlye
Departed amongst my pourekynnes-
folkes, that is to say my Susters
children forsaide.

HIS WILL. 1529

61

and all other things Conteynyd vtithm my sayd lease of Canberye
in the Cowntye of Middelsex 1 And with the proffytej thereof 2 shall
yerelie paye vnto my brother in law Will/am Wellffe(d) and Elysa-
bethe his wyffe myn onlye Suster Twentye powndes duryng thayr lyves
and the longer of them and after the discease of the sayd WilbVzm
and Elysabeth the proffetter of the sayd Ferme ouer and aboue the
yerlye Rentt to be kept to the vse of my Son gregorye tyll he Cum
to the age of xxijt-i and at the yeres of xxij^ the sayd lease and
Ferme of Canberye I do gyue and bequethe to my sayd Son gregorye
to haue the same to hym his executors and assignes 3 and if it
Fortune the saide Gregorye my Soon to dye before he shall cum
to the age of xxij 4 yeres My sayd bruthure^ in lawe and syster being
dede Then I will my Cosyn Rychard Willmms shall (haue) the
Ferme with the appurtenance to hym and his executors and as
signes and yf it happen my sayd Brother in law my Suster 5 my
Son gregorye and my sayd Cosyn Rycharde to dye before the
accoumplyshement of this my wyll touching^ the sayd Ferme then
I wyll myn executors shall Sell the sayd ferme and the moneye
therof Cummyng to Imploye in dedif of charyte to praye 6 for my
Sowle and all Christen. Sowles. Item I will that myn executours
shall conducte and hyre a pryest being an honest person of contynent
and good lyuyng to Syng for my Sowle by the space of vij 7 yeres
next after my deth and to gyue him for the same Fortye Syx pownd^r
thertene sheling&y Foure pens that ys to saye vj^ xiij* iiij d yerlye for
his stypend 8 . Item I gyue and bequethe towards the making of high
wayes in this Realme where it shalbe thought most necessary 9 xx 11

1 The last seventeen words are
altered from : Sutton at Hone
and Temple Dartford in the Countie
of Kent And shall take the pr<?ffyte
of my Ferme of the parsonage of
Sutton/

Crossed out : cuwmyng.
! Crossed out : * in Dead<?j of
charytee ouer and aboue the charges
and reparac/ons gyue and Distry-
bute for my Soule quarterly xl 3
amongst poure people vntill my
Soon Gregorye shall cum to the
age of xxv yeres if he so long do
Lyue And then my saide Soon
to haue my said Fermes During

the yeres conteyned -wit km my
leases.

4 Altered from: xxv.

5 Crossed out : and.

6 Crossed out : my saide ex
ecutours shall sell my said Fermes
to the most proffyte and aduawntage
And the money thereof growing
to bestowe in Deader of charytee
vppon my poure kynnesfolk^ and
other charytable Dead^ to pray.

7 Altered from : iij.

8 The last eighteen words are
altered from : iij yeres xx b .

9 Added and crossed out : * by
the discression of myn executors.

62 THOMAS CROMWELL

to be Disposed by the Discression of myn executours. Item I gyue
and bequethe to Query of the v orders of Freers w/Min the Cytee
of London to pray for my Soule xx s 1 . Item I gyue and bequethe
to Ix poure Maydens Maryages xl li2 That is to saye xiij 8 iiijd 3 to
euerye of the saide poure Maydens to be gyuen and Distributed
by the Discression of myn executours. Item I will that there shalbe
Delt and yeuen after my decesse amongst poure people howseholders
to pray for my Sowle xx 1 * 4 . Item I gyue and bequeth to the poure
parochians Suche as by myn executors shalbe thowght most needffull
of the paroche Where god shall ordeyn me to haue my dwelling
place at the tyme of my Deth x 11 5 to be trewlye Distributed amongst
them by the Discression of myn executours 6 Item I gyue and
bequethe to the poure prysoners of Newgate Ludgate Kynges benche
and Marshall See to be equallye Distributed amongst them x u Wylling
charging and desiring myn executours vnderwrytten that they shall
See this my Will p^Hburmed in euery poynte according to my trew
meaning and intente as they will answer to god and discharge their
consciences.

7 Item I gyue and bequeth to Will/^m brabason my seruaunt XX H
sterling A gowne A dublett A Jaquet and my second gelding.

Item I gyue and bequeth to John averey yoman of the bottell with
the kynges highnes vj 11 xiij 8 iiij d , and doublet of Saten.

Item I bequeth to thurston my Coke vj 1 * xiij s iiijd.

Item I gyue and bequethe to William bodye my seruauntt vj 1 *
xiij 9 iiij d .

Item I gyue and bequeth to Peter mewtes my seruauntt vj lj
xiij 8 iiij d .

Item I gyue and bequeth to Rychard Swyft my seruauntt vj 1 *
xiij 8 iiij d .

Item I gyue and bequeth to george Wylkynson my seruauntt
vj 11 xiij 8 iiijd.

Item I gyue and bequeth to my Frend Thomas alvard x 11 and my
best gelding.

Item I gyue and bequeth to my frend Thomas Russhe x 1 *.

Item I gyue and bequeth to my seruauntt John Hynde my horse-
keper iij 1 * vj 9 viij d .

1 Altered from : xiij 8 iiij* 1 . 6 Crossed out: * Item I gyue and

2 Altered from : * xx li . bequethe to my paroche churche
s Altered from : vj 8 viij d . for my tithes forgotten xx 3 .

4 Altered from : * x 11 . 7 The last eleven bequests are

6 Altered from : v 11 . added in Cromwell s hand.

HIS WILL. 1529 63

Item I wyll that myn executors shall Saluelye kepe the patentt
of the M&nour of Rompney to the vse of my Son gregorye and the
money growing therof tyll he shall Cum to his lawfull Age to be
yerely Retayned to the vse of my sayd Son and the hole revenew
therof Cumyng to be trewlye payd vnto hym at suche tyme as he
shall Cum to the age of xxj yeres.

The residue of all my goodly catalkj and debttw not bequethed
my Funeralk.r and buryall p^rfourmed which I will shalbe Don
w/Mout any erthelye pompe and my Dettes payed, I will shalbe sold
And the money thereof cuwmyng to be Distributed in vtourkes of
charytee and pytee after the good Discression of myn executours
vndernamed whom I make and Ordeyn Stephyn Vaughan ] Rafe
Sadleyer my seruaunttes and John 2 Wyllyamson my brother in law.
Prayeng and Desiring the same myn executours to be good vnto
my Soon Gregorye 3 and to all other my Frend^r poore kynsfolkw
and Seruaunttes before named in this my testament And of this my
present testament and last Will I make Roger More myn Ouerseer
Vnto whom and also to Query of the other myn executours I gyue
and bequethe vj 11 xiij s iiij d4 for their paynes to be taken in the
execucyon of this my last will and testament ouer and aboue suche
legacies as herebefore I haue bequethed them in this same my
testament and last will. In Wytnes Wherof to this my present
testament and last will I haue sett my hand in Query lefe conteyned
in this Boke the day and yere before lymyted

per me Thomam Crumwell 5

Endorsed. Thomas Crumwell a Copy of my Master his Will And
bookes of debtes owinge to him.

1 Altered from: John Croke 3 Crossed out: and to my litill
one of the vj clerkly of the king Doughters Anne and Grace.

his Chrtuncerye. 4 Added and crossed out : ouer

2 The last four words are altered and aboue thayr legacyes beforsayd.
from : my Seruaunt lohn Smyth 5 Every page, except the last two,
and John. is also signed by Cromwell.

CHAPTER IV

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL

IN October, 1529, Cardinal Wolsey lost the King s favour,
and fell into disgrace. He was forced to give up the Great
Seal, sign an indenture acknowledging that he had incurred
the guilt of Praemunire, forfeit most of his lands, possessions,
and offices, and retire to his seat at Esher 1 . His faithful
biographer, Cavendish, gives a very touching account of the
Cardinal s surrender of his goods, his removal from the scene
of his labours, and his enforced living in estraunge estate 2 .
Few fallen ministers have ever been in a more pitiful position.
To have incurred the ill-will of his master, as he had done,
meant certain ruin in those days ; and besides this he had
turned the people against him by the part he had taken in
the divorce. Anne Boleyn, whose influence at the Court was
at its height, detested him for his failure to 1 bring it about ;
the clergy and common people hated him for attempting it.
The few friends who retained their fidelity to him in his
trouble were prevented from showing it by their conscious
ness of the royal and popular displeasure.

As Wolsey s servant, counsellor, and friend, Cromwell
naturally felt the keenest anxiety lest he should be involved
in his master s ruin. It has been already shown that his
action in suppressing the monasteries had made him very
generally hated ; and now that the prop that had supported
him in his difficult and unpopular task was gone, he had great
need to look to himself, if he did not wish to fall with the
Cardinal. That he was perfectly well informed of the posi
tion in which he was placed is proved by a letter which he
received from his friend Stephen Vaughan, written at Antwerp,
October 30, 1529, which tells him that he is more hated for

1 Cal. iv. 6017. 2 Cavendish, pp. 160-6,

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 65

his master s sake than for anything which he has wrongfully
done to any man l . Another letter from his companion in
Wolsey s service, Sir Thomas Rush, who was employed with
him at Ipswich, gave him further warning of the evil reports
that were circulated about him 2 . It is no wonder that he
was seriously alarmed.

Modern investigation has made it certain that there is but
little historical foundation for the touching pictures drawn by
Cavendish, Shakespeare, and, at a later day, Froude, which
represent Cromwell as the faithful servant of his fallen
master, unselfish, and exclusively devoted to his interests 3 .
There is no reason to think that Cavendish, whose testi
mony is most valuable as that of an eye-witness of the
scenes he describes, wilfully distorted the facts, but it is
certain that his directness and simplicity often prevented
him from drawing just conclusions from them, when he had
to do with such astute men as Wolsey and Cromwell. By
comparing his story with the events which followed, we shall
see that while Cromwell kept up the appearance of spending
all his time in helping Wolsey in his disgrace, he really was
occupied in serving his own ends, and in regaining the favour
he had lost as the Cardinal s agent. Though he carefully
abstained from doing or saying anything prejudicial to
Wolsey s cause, for fear of alienating people by laying
himself open to the accusation of faithlessness to his master,
he really did nothing to the Cardinal s advantage that did
not redound, in an infinitely greater degree, to his own profit
and advancement. Let us follow the letters of Cromwell,
the narrative of Cavendish, and the records of the Parliament
of 1529, for our facts, but let us draw our own conclusions
from them.

It chanced me upon All-hallowne day, 1 says Cavendish,
to come into the Great Chamber at Assher in the morning,
to give mine attendance, where I found Mr. Cromwell leaning
in the great windowe with a Primer in his hand, saying our

1 Cal. iv. 6036. 2 Cal. iv. 6110.

5 Cavendish, pp. 175 ff. ; Shakespeare, Henry VIII, iii. 2 ; Froude, vol. ii.
pp. 112 ff.

MERRIMAN. I F

66 THOMAS CROMWELL

Lady mattens : which had bine a strange sight in him afore.
-Well, what will you have more ? He prayed no more ear
nestly, than he distilled teares as fast from his eyes. Whom
I saluted and bad good-morrowe. And with that I perceived
his moist chekes, the which he wiped with his napkine. To
whom I saide, " Why, Mr. Cromwell, what meaneth this dole ?
Is my lord in any danger that ye doe lament for him ? or is
it for any other losse, that ye have sustained by misfortune?
" Nay," quoth he, " it is for my unhappy adventure. For I am
like to lose all that I have laboured for, all the daies of my
life, for doing of my master true and diligent service." " Why
Sir," quoth I, " I trust that you be too wise to do anything
by my lord s commaundement otherwise than ye might doe,
whereof you ought to be in doubt or daunger for losse of
your goods." " Well, well/ quoth he, " I cannot tell ; but this
I see before mine eyes, that everything is as it is taken ; and
this I knowe well, that I am disdained withal for my master s
sake ; and yet I am sure there is no cause, why they should
do soe. An evill name once gotten will not lightly be put
away. I never had promotion by my lord to the encrease
of my living. But this much I will saye to you, that I will
this afternoone, when my lord hath dined, ride to London,
and to the courte, when I will either make or marre, or ever
I come againe. I will put myself in prease, to see what they
will be able to lay to my charge." " Mary," quoth I, " then in
so doing you shall doe wisely, beseeching God to send you
good lucke, as I would myselfe V

Cromwell performed his promise well. He dined with
Wolsey on that All-hallowne Day, and later helped him to
discharge his servants, causing his chaplains to pay part of
the yeomen s wages, in return for the benefices and livings
which they had received from the Cardinal ; setting an
example himself, with unusual liberality, by a contribution
of five pounds to this end. He then desired of Wolsey leave
to go to London, which was granted, and he departed im
mediately with Ralph Sadler, his clerk.

No one knew better than Cromwell that the best place for

Cavendish, pp. 169, 170.

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 67

him to make or marre the Cardinal s fortunes and his
own, was in the Parliament which was to meet November 3
(two days later), and, being in London, he devised with
himself to be one of the burgesses V He sat as a member
from Taunton, as the records of Parliament attest 2 , but there
are very contradictory reports about the way in which he
obtained his seat. According to Cavendish he chaunced to
meete with one Sir Thomas Rush, knighte, a speciall friend
of his, whose son was appointed to be a burgess, of whome
he obtained his rome, and so put his fete into the parliament
house/ This may possibly be true, but it is not the whole
truth, for a letter of November i, from Sadler to Cromwell,
the genuineness of which it is impossible to doubt, hints at
a good deal more than is to be found in Cavendish s account,
which must have been made from Cromwell s own story about
his proceedings 3 . This letter reads as follows :

Woz/rshipfull S/r it may please you to be adu^rtised that
a litle before the receipte of yoz/r \ettere I cam from the courte
where I spake wit/i Mr. Gage and according to your com-
maundement moved him to speke vnto my lorde of NorfTolk
for the burgeses Rowme of the parlyament on your behalf
And he accordingly so dyd wzt^out delay lyke a faythfull
Frende, wherevppon my saide lorde of Norffolk answered
the saide Mr. Gage that he had spoken wz t the king his
highnes and that his highnes was veray well contented ye
should be a Burges So that ye wolde order yourself in the
saide Rowme according to suche instructions as the saide
Duke of NornW shall gyue you from the king Adu^rtesing
you ferther that the saide Duke in any wise willeth that ye
do speke vritfo his grace to morow for th[at] purpose. In
token whereof his grace sent you by mr. Ga[ge] your Ryng
wz t// the turques, Whiche I do now sende you by this berer.
As touching mr. Russhe I spake with him also at [the] courte
if I then had knowen your pleasure I could now haue sent
you answere of the same. Howbeit I will speke wit/i him
this night god willing and know whether ye shalbe Burges

1 Cavendish, p. 179. 2 Parliamentary Papers, vol. Ixii. pt. i. p. 37-

1 Cal. iv. App. 238.

68 THOMAS CROMWELL

of Oxforde or not And if ye be not elect there I will then
according to your ferther cowmaundement repayre vnto
Mr. paulet and requiere him to name you to be one of the
Burgeses of one of my lordes townes of his busshopriche of
Wynchester accordingly. Sir me thinketh it were good, So
it may stonde wit/t your pleasure, that ye did repayre hither
to morowe assone as ye conuenyently may for to speke with
the Duke of NorfiW by whom ye shall knowe the king his
pleasure how ye shall order yourself in the parliament house
Assuring you that your Frendes wolde haue you to tary with
my lorde there as litle as might be for many consideraczbns
as Mr. Gage will Shew you who moche desireth to speke wzt^
you. the king his grace wilbe to morow at night at yorke
place. Other newes at the courte I here none but dyu^s
of my lorde his seruaimtes as Mr. Aluarde Mr. Sayntclere
Mr. Forest, Humfrey lisle Mr. Mores & other ben elect and
sworne the king his seruauntes. Mr. Gifforde & I cam from
the courte togither but when we cam into london he departed
from me I knowe not whither. Newes I inquiered of him
but he sayed he knew none other then as I haue wrytten
you here, which Mr. Gage also shewed him. Humblie be-
seching you, if it be your pleasure, to make spede hither.
And thus I most hertely beseche our lorde god to sende you
your hertey Desire and to induce and bring all your good
purposes and affairees to good effecte. From london in
haste this present all Saynctey Day at iiij of the clocke after

none by

Your most humble Seruaunte

RAFE SADLEYER.

From this letter then it seems probable that Cromwell ob
tained his seat in the Parliament of 1529 through the influence
of the Duke of Norfolk. He was keen-sighted enough to see
that at Wolsey s fall all the royal favour had been transferred
to this man and to Gardiner. Both of these were Wolsey s
enemies, and Cromwell, whose name was coupled everywhere
with that of the Cardinal, saw that to gain influence at
Court, it was necessary at all costs to do away with their
hostility, which he must have incurred as Wolsey s agent.

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 69

Thus Cromwell s first move at the time of his master s dis
grace was to take steps to get himself into favour with
Norfolk. Cavendish s account is explained by the fact that
Cromwell would not have been very likely to tell Wolsey
how he had gone straight over to his bitterest enemy, but
far more probably sent back to Esher the incomplete tale
about Rush and his son, which the honest and simple-minded
biographer probably never suspected for an instant. One
can hardly doubt that Cromwell would not have been elected
to this Parliament had he not secured the consent of the
Cardinal s worst foe. He had thus killed two birds with one
stone ; he had gained his position in the House of Commons
where his influence would be felt, and he had successfully
escaped the odium of the chief person at the Court, which
would have naturally fallen upon him as Wolsey s servant,
and turned it into at least a temporary friendship.

From the contents of the letter above quoted, we may
also suppose that Cromwell s doings in the Parliament of
1529 were ordered by the King. The bill of attainder or
boke of artikels against the Cardinal was the first business
that lay before the House. It had passed the Lords and was
sent down to the Commons, but it was so violent and so false,
that even Henry and Norfolk relented. It had probably been
very clearly hinted to the Parliament that the King did not
wish it to pass, and royal * hints at this period of English
history were generally respected and obeyed. Cavendish
tells us that when Cromwell had obtained his seat in
Parliament, and the attainder was brought forward, he con
sulted with Wolsey to know what answer he might make in
his behalf ; insomuch that there was nothing alleadged against
my lord but that he was ready to make answer thereto/ and
he inveighed against the bill so discreetly and with such
witty persuasions and depe resons that the same could take
none effect, so that at length his honest estimation and earnest
behaviour in his master s cause grewe so in every man s
opinion, that he was reputed the most faithful servant to his
master of all other, wherein he was greatly of all men com
mended V

1 Cavendish, pp. I79ff.

70 THOMAS CROMWELL

This is all doubtless true, but whether or not he was alone
in the stand he made against the bill is quite another question.
Henry was perfectly satisfied with humbling the Cardinal to
the extent that he had already done, and did not wish him to
suffer any more ; in fact the opposition, consisting of most of
the nobles led by Norfolk and Anne Boleyn, were in constant
fear up to the day of Wolsey s death, lest he should regain
the King s favour. If Cromwell had gone openly over to the
other side at this juncture, he would have gained nothing,
and incurred the odium due to a deserter. He took the only
generous and right side, but in serving his master he served
himself far more 1 . Wolsey, as we have seen, had made a
written confession of all his misdeeds as soon as the first
blow had been struck against him 2 . This confession was
produced by Cromwell, and it gave the proposers of the bill
of attainder an excuse for dropping it. Cromwell supplied
the pretext for abandoning a measure displeasing to the
King, and consequently impossible to carry through this very
subservient Parliament ; by so doing he gained the praise of
a saviour of his master in his extremity.

This was the first step : the second was to win the favour
of other nobles, while still preserving the appearance of loyally
serving his fallen master. It was scarcely less important
than the first, and was carried through by Cromwell with
the greatest rapidity and success. His method of accomplish
ing it, however simple, was eminently characteristic, and
merits description.

It has already been shown how thoroughly Cromwell
realized the importance of money as a political force.
Though the traditional reproach of parsimony and stinginess
so often cast at Henry VII 3 is in great measure unmerited, it
is undeniable that his careful financial management and
accurate audits had served to surround his government
with an atmosphere of ostensible frugality. Henry VIII.
on the contrary, delighted in outward splendour and magni- .

1 Cal. iv. 6098, 6203, 6249. Cf. of National Biography, vol. xiii.

also Dixon, vol. i. pp. 48-9 n. p. 197.

Stubbs Lectures, p. 315, and the 5 Cal. iv. 6017.

ife of Cromwell in the Dictionary 3 Busch, pp. 288, 289.

LIBRARY r

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 71

ficence ; his Court was by far the most brilliant that England
had ever beheld, and nobody could play his part there who
was not prepared to lavish vast sums upon his outfit.
But the greater part of the nobles were quite unable to do
this. It had been an important part of the plan of Henry VII
for establishing a strong kingship to keep all possible rivals
of the Crown in a state of financial dependence. Many
items in the State Papers of his son s reign bear witness
to the complete success of these schemes of impoverishing
the nobility l . Only by pawning and selling lands, estates,
goods and chattels could the nobility obtain sufficient
sums to make a good appearance at the brilliant Court of
Henry VIII.

Such a state of affairs was a golden opportunity to a man
in Cromwell s position and of Cromwell s talents. To Wolsey,
whose mind had been intent on the larger schemes of his
foreign policy, the notion of staving off the hatred of the
influential people about the King by gifts of money, would
never have occurred. Cromwell hit upon the scheme in a
moment, as the only sure road to favour at the Court 2 . Now
that Wolsey had surrendered himself almost wholly to the
counsels of his painstaking, watchful, close and wholly un
scrupulous adviser, Cromwell immediately persuaded him to
grant annuities to the Court favourites. The casual reader
must not deceive himself into thinking that this was done
at Wolsey s own suggestion ; the measure was too evidently
Cromwellian to leave any room to doubt its originator, and
if any further proof be needed, it is furnished by evidence in
the Cardinal s papers. In a letter to Cromwell written in
December, 1529, Wolsey says, Yf the desspleasure of my lady
Anne be [somejwhat asswagyd, as I praye God the same
maye be, then yt shuld [be devised t]hat by sume convenyent
meane she be further laboryd [for th]ys ys the only helpe
and remedy. All possyble meanes [must be used for] at-

teynyng of hyr favor I comyt me to yower wyse

handling 3 . In the same month Cromwell made out the

1 Cal. iii. 3694, and iv. 6216, 6792.

2 Cf. Introduction to vol. iv of the Calendar, pp. 549, 550.
1 State Papers, vol. i. p. 35 1

72 THOMAS CROMWELL

draft of a grant by Wolsey to George Boleyn, Knight,
Viscount Rochford, son and heir apparent of Thomas Earl
of Wiltshire and Ormond, bestowing on him an annuity of
300 out of the lands of the bishopric of Winchester, and
a similar gift of 2,00 out of the abbey lands of St. Albans 1 .
Another letter from Wolsey to Cromwell in January, 1530,
says that, according to his servant s advice, he has had
Mr. Norris s fee increased from 100 to 200, and would
like to have Sir John Russell s annuity of 20 made 40 or
50, if Cromwell thinks it expedient 2 .

It is thus clear that these and other similar gifts were
bestowed at Cromwell s advice and suggestion, and that the
inevitable consequence was that the advantage resulting from
them accrued to a far greater extent to the Cardinal s agent
than to the Cardinal himself. Wolsey, in his confinement at
Esher, was forced to trust himself implicitly to the shrewd
and selfish counsellor, who moved about among those whom
it was most important for him to propitiate, and soon found
means to make it appear that Wolsey s favours in reality
emanated from him. Cromwell s selection of those to whom
the presents were made seems also to hint that he was
working in his own interest more than in his master s. He
must have known that the members of the Boleyn party, to
whom the greater part of the grants were made, hated
Wolsey himself too thoroughly to permit them to forget
their grudge for the sake of a few hundred pounds, but the
sums bestowed were sufficiently large to make the recipients
of them very friendly to the Cardinal s agent, who to all
intents and purposes appeared to be the real giver. Hints of
all this must indeed have reached Wolsey s ears. Though
throughout all the period of the attainder his gratitude, as
expressed in his many letters, was, in view of the real facts,
most unnecessarily effusive 3 , he later writes to Cromwell
that he hears he has not done him as good offices as he
might, in connexion with his colleges and his archbishopric/
But Cromwell had by this time got everything into his own

1 Cal. iv. 6115. 2 Cal. iv. 6181.

5 Cal. iv. 6098, 6181, 6204, 6249.

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 73

hands, so that Wolsey was forced to do exactly as he was

bidden. Whenever the Cardinal undertook anything on his

own responsibility, without asking his servant s advice, it was

greatly resented. If Wolsey dared to hint that Cromwell

was not wholly devoted to his interests, the latter sent back

a complaining and half-threatening reply 1 . The Cardinal

was even forced to write a humble apology to his agent

for sending Edmund Bonner on some mission without his

advice 2 . The less able Wolsey became to help himself, the

more harsh and imperious was his all-powerful counsellor.

With the whole control of his master s interests at the Court

in his own hands, it was exceedingly simple for a man of

Cromwell s peculiar talents to dispose the funds committed to

his care in such ways as tallied best with his own interests,

while casual onlookers simply regarded him as an honest

servant of his fallen master ; and Wolsey, unable to learn the

true state of affairs at Court, was kept practically ignorant of

his real designs. Cromwell had thus succeeded in attaining

a most enviable position, which was aptly described in a letter

which he received from Stephen Vaughan, who took the

opportunity to congratulate him, and also to warn him against

over-confidence in the following words : A mery semblance

of wether often thrustithe men into the Daungerous sees, not

thinking to be sodaynly opprest wythe tempest when vn.wa.res

they be preuented and brought in great ieop^rdie. The

Wyndes arn mutable vnsure and will not be caryed in mennys

\\andes to blow at a becke. Parell euerywhere followithe

men, from the birthe to the Dethe, And more thretenethe

them whiche entreprise Difficult and vrgent matters, then

those whiche only sekethe easy and light matters ye thoughe

they have great apparance of vertue, such is thinstabilitie of

the worlde, wher we find undique miseriam V

A final opportunity was given to Cromwell to ingratiate
himself with King and nobles when Henry took into his
hands the revenues of St. Albans and Winchester, and of
the colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. In this, even honest
Cavendish could see that Cromewell perceyved an occasion

1 Letters, 13. 2 Cal. iv. 6203. s Cal. iv. 6196.

74 THOMAS CROMWELL

given him by time to helpe himselfe. The intricacies of the
law of the period were such that annuities and fees out of
the revenues of these colleges, granted by the King, after
he had seized them, could only be good while Wolsey was
living, because the King, having obtained his right to them
by Wolsey s attainder in the praemunire, could not retain
that right after the Cardinal s death 1 . Thus, to have the
grants secure during the lifetimes of the recipients, there
was none other shifte but to obtaine my lord s confirmation
of their patents. Then began every man both noble and
gentleman who had any patents out of Winchester and St.
Albans to make suite to Mr. Cromwell to solicit their cause
to my lorde to get therin his confirmation, and for his paines
therin bothe worthily to reward him and every man to shewe
him such pleasures as should be at all times in their small
powers, whereof they assured him. . . . Now began matters
to worke to bringe Master Cromwell into estimation in suche
sorte as was muche hereafter to his increase of dignity; . . .
and having the ordering and disposition of the landes of these
colleges he had a great occasion of suitors, besides the con
tinual access to the King, by meanes whereof and through
his witty demeanour he grewe continually into the King s
favour 2 .

It is hard to realize how deeply Wolsey felt the seizure of
his two colleges. They had been the pride and joy of his
declining years. Instead of working earnestly to avert their
surrender into the King s hands, as a true servant would
have done, Cromwell permitted and almost welcomed it, as
a means to give him a chance to further his own ends, and
wrote empty, and, it would seem, almost contemptuous letters
of consolation to the Cardinal, of which that of August 18 is
an excellent example 3 . Instead of going to his master in his
sorrow and disgrace, as Wolsey repeatedly requested him to
do, he held himself aloof, and under the pretext of looking
after the Cardinal s interests at Court, contrived for his own
rise and advancement. It is true that he stood by Wolsey in

1 Introduction to vol. iv of the Calendar, pp. 584, 585.

2 Cavendish, p. 198. 3 Letters, 18.

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL 75

the parliamentary crisis in 1529, and that it was largely
through his efforts that Wolsey obtained his temporary
pardon in February, 1530 ; but when, at the last, the Cardinal s
enemies turned against him a second time and secured his
complete downfall, there is no record of Cromwell s saying a
word or doing a thing in his behalf. On November 29, 1530,
Wolsey died, shattered and disgraced.

It is very unfortunate that there still exist so few of
Cromwell s letters during the last two years of Wolsey s life.
There are preserved at present only twelve letters from him
during this period \ seven of which are addressed to Wolsey.
In none of them does he give evidence of a sincere desire to
serve his master at all costs ; the dominant note of the greater
part of them is one of selfish and rather supercilious advice ;
of a morality easy and cheap, because the preacher of it
evidently felt himself beyond the possibility of its ever being
applicable in his own case. There is also very little trust
worthy information about the means he employed to introduce
himself to the King, except what has already been mentioned
in connexion with Wolsey s fall. Foxe asserts that Sir
Christopher Hales, Master of the Rolls, commended him to
Henry, and further affirms that Sir John Russell said a
good word for him, in return for Cromwell s saving his life at
Bologna, so that the latter was enabled to have a private
conversation with the King in Westminster Gardens 2 . Part
of this story is obviously false ; Cromwell could not have been
at Bologna when Sir John Russell was (between 1524 and
1528), because he was occupied in England at that time, as
his correspondence shows. To judge from this, little reliance
can be placed on the rest of Foxe s tale ; and there are no con
temporary documents that bear out his statements. Another
story, which is perhaps more probable, is that of Chapuys 3 ,
who states that at Wolsey s death Sir John Wallop attacked
Cromwell with insults and threats, so that the latter for pro
tection procured an audience with Henry, whom he promised

*

to make the richest king that ever was in England. Henry,

1 Letters, 9-20. 3 See Appendix I at the end of

2 Foxe, vol. ii. pp. 419 ff. chapter i. p. 17.

76 THOMAS CROMWELL

it appears, was so struck with this offer, that he immediately
made Cromwell a member of his Council, but told nobody
about it for four months. This tale is in many respects
similar to the account contained in Pole s Apologia : but the
story of the Cardinal does not mention the quarrel with
Wallop, and the report of Chapuys does not say a word about
the plan for the solution of Henry s grete matier by which
Cromwell, according to Pole, completely fascinated the King.
All the accounts, however, seem to agree that by some means
he managed to secure an interview with Henry soon after
Wolsey s death, at which he clinched everything that he had
already gained, and obtained the favour of the King by one
master-stroke. Pole s story of this interview contains informa
tion which leads us into the thick of Cromwell s political
career. Before we proceed to examine it in detail a brief
chapter must be devoted to a description of the actors and
past events of the great political drama in which Cromwell
was to play a part, and to a further analysis of his own
character and ideals.

CHAPTER V

THE CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY OF THOMAS

CROMWELL

THE condition of England at the time of Wolsey s death
was in many ways an extraordinary one. At home and
abroad she had already begun to reap glorious fruits from the
untiring efforts and masterful policy of the first Tudor.
United under a powerful monarchy, which had strengthened
itself at the expense of every other institution in the realm,
she rested secure in the enjoyment of internal peace and of
a high degree of estimation and respect in foreign lands.
That she had lost nearly all those continental possessions
which had been the proudest boast of Edward III and Henry V
now proved an inestimable advantage. The wise Cardinal
had made use of England s insular position to such good
advantage, that she had been able, at least up to the time
when the political situation had been complicated by the
question of the divorce, to keep the Emperor and the King of
France in a state of constant anxiety concerning her real
attitude, and often to force the two rivals to bid against each
other for her alliance. In 1521 Henry had dedicated to
Leo X a treatise which he had written against the heresies of
Luther, and had been rewarded with the proud title of
Defensor Fidei. Success abroad meant popularity at home,
at least for the King, whose enthusiasm and winning manners
endeared him to his subjects, and who usually contrived to
shift the blame for the unwelcome measures of his government
on to the shoulders of the Cardinal. As long as the national
honour was upheld on the Continent without draining too
deeply the resources of the people at home, the country
seemed quite willing to trust the King to the full and to allow
him to rule as well as govern.

78 THOMAS CROMWELL

Such was the bright side of the picture, the side which first
claims the attention of the casual observer. A more critical
examination of the state of the country, however, reveals an
undercurrent of discontent, which was almost lost in the crown
ing years of Wolsey s greatness, but which did not fail to
make itself felt at a later day, when the allegiance of so large
a part of the people had been alienated by the affair of the
divorce. The surest proof that Henry and Wolsey were aware
of this latent hostility is afforded by the infrequent assem
blings of Parliament. Seldom did the King dare to face the
representatives of the nation with the demand for a subsidy ;
he preferred to veil his oppressive financial exactions under
the name of an Amicable Loan. The poverty of the nobles
was notorious ; and the distress of the poor people daily
increased owing to a succession of bad seasons, thin harvests,
and a few outbreaks of a devastating plague. Economic and
agrarian changes contributed to swell the universal discon
tent 1 . The break-up of the old manorial system, the increase
of enclosures for pasturage, and the substitution of conver
tible husbandry for the old three-field system all served to
displace labour, and so temporarily to diminish the demand
for it. Great distress among the agricultural poor was
necessarily the first result of these changes : unfortunately
economic science was not sufficiently advanced to enable men
to discern that it was but a passing phase, and that as soon
as labour had adjusted itself to the new conditions permanent
advantages to it were bound to ensue. The country-folk con
trasted their own wretched condition with the many reports
which reached them of Henry s sumptuous and luxurious
Court : small wonder if the government was wrongly blamed
for a large share of the misery which was inevitably the
first consequence of sudden and great economic development.
Finally all malcontents were united in opposition to the
King s attempts to gain a divorce from his first wife, during
the closing years of Wolsey s ministry ; so that the main
tenance and further strengthening of the powerful monarchy
established at the accession of the House of Tudor promised

1 Cf. Ashley, Economic History, vol. ii. pp. 259-304.

HIS CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY 79

in the near future to afford a problem of even greater
difficulty than before.

To turn for a moment to the situation on the Continent.
The House of Hapsburg, under Charles V. seemed to have
attained the acme of its greatness, but its power was not
by any means as real as it appeared. The Emperor s in
satiable desire for foreign conquest had caused him to neglect
affairs in Spain and in the Empire, and to overtax his powers
and drain his resources by continual struggles with his great
rival the King of France. The bone of contention was
ostensibly Italy ; perhaps a truer cause of the struggles of
the two sovereigns is to be found in the geographical position
of the countries over which they ruled. The newly-con
solidated realm of France divided the dominions of the
Emperor into two parts : the dream of Charles was to connect
them ; the object of Francis was to forestall him. Northern
Italy belonged to neither, but it was a rich prize and a fighting-
ground easily accessible to both the combatants, and so it
very naturally became the field of war. Soon after the
Imperial election of 1519 the tide began to set slowly but
surely against Francis ; he was a true soldier, and was not
a man to submit to any encroachment without a struggle ;
still he fought at a terrible disadvantage, betrayed as he was
by the Duke of Bourbon, and in 1525 he was forced to
acknowledge a thorough defeat, at the fatal battle of Pavia l .

Although the first idea that occurred to Henry and Wolsey
after the news of Charles great victory had reached them was
a plan for the conquest and subdivision of the kingdom of
Francis, they soon came to the conclusion that such a scheme
would render the Emperor far too powerful. Charles him
self, moreover, had received with little favour the extrava
gant proposals for an invasion of France which England
had sent him as soon as the result of Pavia was known,
and had consistently refused to allow Henry any share in
his triumph. The Pope also, who had watched with terror
the victorious march of the Imperial army, ventured for

1 On this and the succeeding vi. pp. 296-362, and Mignet, vol. ii.
pages, cf. Creighton s Papacy, vol. pp. 340-358.

80 THOMAS CROMWELL

the last time to present himself as the centre of the oppo
sition to Charles V, and strove in every way to reconcile
England and France. The obstinate resistance that the
Commissioners for the collection of the Amicable Loan had
encountered in the spring of 1525 was certainly no encourage
ment for undertaking a war of aggression, and Henry and
Wolsey soon determined to abandon all plans of invasion, and
to pursue the wiser policy of maintaining neutrality between
the two great continental powers. With this thought in
mind a treaty of peace was made with Francis in August,
and after the escape of the French King from captivity in
January, 1526, the two continental rivals were once more
placed on an even footing. With this restoration of equality
Henry was perfectly satisfied, and he took good care to avoid
committing himself permanently to Francis, by refusing
openly to join the League of Cognac in the following spring.
At this juncture the matter of the divorce began to occupy
his exclusive attention, and the foreign affairs of the next
three years were left almost entirely in Wolsey s hands.

Circumstances now drove the Cardinal temporarily to lose
sight of the policy which he had pursued for the most part
up to this time that of strict neutrality and to attempt to
convert the peace with France into a permanent alliance.
And certainly the events of 1527 seemed to give him every
justification for this new departure. The sack of Rome
appeared to put Italy at the mercy of the Imperialists, and
now the difficulties connected with Henry s matrimonial affairs
pointed to the need of securing a firm ally who would aid him
in persuading the captive Pontiff to consent to the divorce in
opposition to the wishes of his jailor the Emperor. With all
his experience the Cardinal had hardly learned how rapidly the
diplomatic combinations of Europe could change. The last
great venture of his foreign policy resulted in disaster: the
French alliance utterly failed to accomplish what was expected
of it. At first indeed it seemed that the matrimonial projects
which formed the basis of it would succeed, but the crafty
policy of Francis ruined all. His war with the Emperor broke
out again, as was to be expected, immediately after his release

HIS CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY 81

from captivity, but secret negotiations for peace were soon
set on foot, and finally, in 1529, took shape in the treaty of
Cambray the news of which came as a stunning blow to
Wolsey s dearest hopes. The lesson which the Cardinal
learned at the expense of his office was by no means lost on
his master. Absorbed in the attempt to obtain a divorce
from Katherine, Henry possibly had not been able to foresee
the course of events abroad any better than his minister;
but when, in 1529, the news of the treaty of Cambray aroused
him to a true appreciation of the state of affairs, he at once
realized how dangerous any permanent alliance with either
Francis or Charles would be, as long as the situation on the
Continent remained so uncertain. He resolved that, as soon
as he could rectify the Cardinal s false step, nothing should
tempt him again to abandon the only safe policy that of
strict neutrality between the two great European powers
as long as the two rivals remained nearly equal. This point
has been purposely dwelt upon here as a foreshadowing of
what was to happen to Cromwell a few years later. Departure f
from the policy of neutrality between France and Spain helped n
to ruin Wolsey: a similar blunder in foreign affairs was {(
destined to lead his successor to destruction.

The entire attention of England was now turned to the
absorbing question of the divorce. The history of Wolsey s
failure to bring about the separation of Henry and Katherine
of Aragon, does not belong to the ground covered by this
essay. Suffice it to say that the Cardinal s ineffectual
attempts to satisfy Henry s chief desire, coupled with the
obvious error in his foreign policy, sealed his doom and
gave Cromwell his opportunity. There is little need to dwell
upon the way in which the attempt to divorce the Queen was
regarded abroad. Henry was looked upon as the disturber
of Christian unity, not only by the Emperor, but also by all
continental Europe 1 . Charles, of course, was the obvious
person to avenge the wrongs of his aunt, but he was far
too busy just then with his schemes for suppressing the Pro
testants in Germany and of checking the advance of the

1 Cal. iv. 6521, 6691.

MERRIMAN. I G

82 THOMAS CROMWELL

Turk into the borders of Christendom, seriously to contem
plate an invasion of Henry s dominions. It was not the only
time that England s fortunes were saved by the turn of affairs
in distant lands.

It now remains only to say a few words about the chief
persons at the Court of Henry VIII, preliminary to a descrip
tion of Cromwell himself. Foremost among these was of
course Anne Boleyn. Born probably in 1507 of a good
English family, a niece of the Earl of Surrey, she had spent
a good part of her early life in France, as one of the French
queen s women, and returned to England in the latter part of
the year 1521 l . At Henry s exceedingly corrupt Court she
did not want for admirers and suitors, foremost among whom
was the King himself, who had formerly been in intimate
relations with her sister Mary. Henry s passion for her
is sufficiently attested by a succession of royal grants and
favours to her father, beginning only two months after her
arrival in England, and continuing for over three years 2 . How
far Anne was responsible for causing Henry to take steps to
divorce Katherine, and how far he was moved thereto by
a conscience that became over-sensitive at suspiciously short
notice, or by more legitimate political considerations, it
is not our business now to inquire ; our best sources of
information are the grants to her father, above mentioned,
and a most remarkable series of love-letters 3 . Though she
temporarily had the King at her feet, no woman of Henry s
Court was really to be less envied. Katherine and Mary, and,
in consequence, the majority of the people, were her bitter foes ;
to protect herself against the popular odium, she gathered
round her a following, known at Court as the Boleyn faction,
the chief person of which was her uncle, now Duke of Norfolk.

Norfolk was fifty-seven years old when Cromwell came
into power. He was a Catholic and against the New Faith.
He had received in his younger days a thorough military

1 For the date of the birth of Anne English Historical Review, vol. viii.

Boleyn see Friedmann, chap, i, p. 58, and vol. x. p. 104.
and Note A in the Appendix; 2 Cal. iv. 1431 (8), 6083,6163.
Round, The Early Life of Anne 3 Cal. iv. 4477, 4383, 4410, 3325,

Boleyn; and Gairdner in the 3326,3218-21.

HIS CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY 83

and diplomatic training, and in 1531 was characterized
by the Venetian ambassador, Falieri, as * prudent, liberal,
affable, and astute ; associating with everybody . . . and
desirous of greater elevation. This is a very flattering
description of this crafty and ambitious statesman. The
chief traits that characterized him were a cringing sub
servience to the will of the King, and a bitter hatred
of any rival to his influence with Henry ; a hatred which
first directed itself against Wolsey, for whose downfall he
laboured incessantly, and later against Cromwell, whose
opponent he was during the decade of the former s greatness.
He was the equal of neither of these two as a statesman ;
but his utter lack of honour and consistency, and his willing
ness to break promises in order to please the King, rendered
him an invaluable servant of the Crown at a period when one
startling change followed on the heels of another. He threw
himself heart and soul into the interests of his niece when
Henry s love for her was increasing ; and yet when the royal
passion waned, and Anne was accused in 1536, he was not
ashamed to preside at her trial and sentence her to death l .

The other important person at the Court was Stephen
Gardiner, who in 1531 became Bishop of Winchester. Ten
years Norfolk s junior, he was introduced into political and
diplomatic life by the Duke, and spent a large part of his early
life as Wolsey s servant and ambassador. He did not cherish
any lasting friendship for the Cardinal, however, and he seems
to have been an adherent of the Boleyn faction at Wolsey s
fall ; we find Anne writing to him when the struggle between
the two parties was at its hottest, to thank him for his wylling
and faythefull mynde V Still he took more or less a middle
course on the divorce question, and pleaded warmly, though
vainly, for the restitution of Wolsey s colleges. But when
the Cardinal s fate was settled he certainly expected that his
old master s favour with the King would be transferred to
himself, and when he was disappointed in this by Cromwell s
stepping in, he developed a hatred for him which he never

1 Cf. the Life of Norfolk in the Dictionary of National Biography,
vol. xxviii. p. 65. 2 Cal. iv. 5422.

G 2

84 THOMAS CROMWELL

abandoned. He was less active than Norfolk in his opposi
tion to Rome, and though he lacked the Duke s subserviency,
he was fully as able a diplomat. Neither of the two men
could have played the role of Cromwell : the scope of their
talents was more limited ; they were merely exceedingly
able politicians, but as such they were by no means to be
despised. When, however, they united to procure their rival s
ruin it was difficult to resist them l .

Thus when at Wolsey s fall Cromwell entered the King s
service, the situation of England both at home and abroad
was critical in the extreme. The relations of the government
with Rome were strained, owing to Henry s proceedings
in the divorce ; his * grete matier was unpopular with the
country at large ; France and Spain were both of them very
doubtful quantities, and might become friends or foes at
any moment. At the Court, various factions with different
aims were disputing for the precedence, and the best course
to be steered by one who was about to enter the King s service,
after leaving that of a fallen minister, was not an easy thing
to decide. Before inquiring into Cromwell s action at this
crisis, a brief description of the person and of the character of
the man himself at this time will not be out of place.

Cromwell was a short, strongly-built man, with a large dull
face. He was smooth-shaven, with close-cropped hair, and
had a heavy double chin. His mouth was small and cruel,
and was surmounted by an extraordinarily long upper lip,
while a pair of grey eyes, set closely together, moved rest
lessly under his light eyebrows. He had an awkward, uncouth
gait which lent itself well to the other peculiarities of his
personal appearance, and gave one the idea that he was a
patient, plodding, and, if anything, a rather stupid sort of man.
But this was all merely external. According to Chapuys,
who knew him well, he possessed the most extraordinary
mobility of countenance, so that when engaged in an interest
ing conversation, his face would suddenly light up, and the
dull, drudging, commonplace expression give way to a subtle,

1 Cf. the Life of Gardiner in the Dictionary of National Biography,
vol. xx. p. 419.

HIS CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY 85

cunning, and intelligent aspect, quite at variance with his
ordinary appearance. His conversation at such moments was
witty and entertaining to the last degree, and the Spanish
ambassador notes that he had the habit of giving a roguish
oblique glance whenever he made a striking remark. This
extraordinary power of facial control, according to the cir
cumstances in which he was placed, merely reflects one of
the dominant characteristics of the man. He obviously had
remarkable power of quickly adapting himself to his sur
roundings. He rarely failed to realize immediately his relation
to those with whom he came in contact, and his manner,
behaviour, and expression varied accordingly. No one knew
better how or when to flatter than Thomas Cromwell ; on
the other hand no one could be more harsh and cruel than
he, when he was in a position to dictate. He had thoroughly
learned the lesson

To beguile the time
Look like the time.

There are many evidences of his good taste and love of
beautiful things 1 . A long and complicated correspondence
with his friend Stephen Vaughan about an iron chest of very
curious workmanship, which he wanted for his house at Austin
Friars, of such expense that Vaughan was almost afraid to
buy it, is not without interest. There is record of his pur
chasing a globe, with a set of explanatory notes, and the only
two Cronica Cronicarum cum figuris that could be found in
all Antwerp 2 . Especially great was his love of Italian things.
His stay in Italy was of sufficient duration to steep him in the
spirit of the Renaissance ; he read and studied his Machiavelli,
so that it was a guide to his future political career ; we can
well imagine him repeating to himself the sentence in chapter
xviii of The Prince which begins Ma e necessario questa
natura saperla bene colorire, ed essere gran simulatore e
dissimulatore 3 , or the passage in chapter xvii of the same,
* Deve pertanto un principe non si curare dell infamia di cru-
dele per tenere i sudditi suoi uniti ed in fede V He doubtless

1 Cf. Pauli, Thomas Cromwell, p. 301.
1 Cal. iv. 4613, 4884, 5034, 6429, 6744.
3 II Principe, chap, xviii, p. 304. * Ibid., chap, xvii, p. 291.

86 THOMAS CROMWELL

possessed many of the important Italian books in print at
that time. In April, 1530, Edmund Bonner writes to him
to remind him of his promise to lend him the Triumphs
of Petrarch and the Cortigiano, and to make him a good
Italian l .

Of his social gifts and of his charm as a host there is no
room to doubt. There are many proofs that he was a most
magnificent entertainer, and that his personal attraction, when
he wished to make himself agreeable, was such that no one
could resist it. The letters of Chapuys inform us that even
the most careful and experienced politicians were often com
pletely put off their guard by Cromwell s pleasing presence
and address ; and more than once were induced to say things
which should not have escaped them.

But all these manners and externals were simply disguises
to hide the real inward character of the man. The whole
essence of Cromwell s personality consists of different mani
festations of one fundamental, underlying trait, which may
perhaps be best expressed by the common phrase a strict
attention to business. Cromwell worshipped and sought
after the practical and the useful only, and utterly disregarded
everything else. The first evidence of this quality has been
already noticed, as coming in the shape of a contempt for
the vague generalizations of the Parliament of 1523, which
beat about the bush for an entire session without ever coming
to the point 2 . Here it assumes a somewhat negative form.
Another striking instance of it occurs in the conversation
which Pole relates as having taken place between himself
and Cromwell, at Wolsey s house, concerning the proper
duty of a true servant of a Prince 3 . Pole as usual began
theorizing about the best way to bring honour to one s
master, when he was rudely interrupted by Cromwell, who
advised him in few words to forsake the remote learning of
the schools, and devote himself to reading a new book which
took a practical view of the case, and which Pole later found
was the adviser s favourite Prince of Machiavelli. Cromwell

1 Cal. iv. 6346. ! Letters, I.

1 Pole, Apologia ad Carolum Quintum, chap. xxix.

HIS CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY 87

at the same time took occasion to tell Pole that the great
art of the politician was to penetrate through the disguise
which sovereigns are accustomed to throw over their real
inclinations, and to devise the most specious expedients by
which they may gratify their appetites without appearing
to outrage morality or religion *. It is not astonishing that
Pole realized that it was dangerous for him to remain in
England, when Cromwell came into power.

Another more positive and striking way in which this
characteristic stood forth, was in his utter lack of emotion.
It was this quality which enabled Cromwell to tick off in
his memoranda the lives of human beings, as if they were
items in an account ; or to send people to trials, of which
the verdicts had been determined beforehand, as the Abbott
of Redyng to be Sent Down to be tryed & excecutyd at
Reding V He totally disregarded the justness or morality
of any action ; its utility was for him its morality, and created
its justification. He never struck at his victims in a moment
of passion, uselessly or capriciously; no personal feeling of
hatred mingled with his crime. On the other hand, had the
sacrifice of one of his nearest or dearest friends been necessary
to the accomplishment of his purposes, he would hardly have
hesitated a moment. Any means that could bring about
the ends he sought were ipso facto for him justifiable.
Whether his desires were attained by fair means or foul,
mattered little to him : he kept his eyes steadily fixed upon
the goal ; the smoothness or roughness of the road to it was
of no consequence in his eyes 3 .

1 This account was drawn up
by Pole in 1538. Canon Dixon
(History of the Church of England,
vol. i. p. 41) questions the truth of
the story on the ground that The
Prince was not published until
1532, several years after the re
ported conversation took place. The
book, however, was written in
1513, as Canon Dixon admits,
and there is every probability, es
pecially in view of his early ex

periences in Italy, that Cromwell
possessed a manuscript copy. Pole,
moreover, expressly states that
Cromwell offered to lend him the
work, provided he would promise
to read it.

2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 399.

3 The chronicler, John Stow, in
his Survey of London, p. 180, gives
the following anecdote, which proves
that Cromwell was no less arbitrary
as a man than as a minister :

88

THOMAS CROMWELL

Finally, and perhaps most important of all, Cromwell
never lost anything that might be turned to good account.
It has been shown how he not only succeeded in freeing
himself from any ill-name at Wolsey s fall, but also actually
used his master s overthrow to further his own ends, and
make himself known and popular at Court. But this is only
a slender hint of what was to follow. It was precisely from
this same practical utilitarian standpoint, that he regarded
and made use of to his own ends the King s amours, the
suppression of the monasteries, the Reformation. Catholicism
and Protestantism passed over his head ; he was not touched
by either of them. He simply used them as pieces in the
great game which he was playing.

Such was the man who, for the next ten years, was to have
almost the sole guidance of the course of English history.
As was his purpose when he rode on the afternoon of All
Hallows Day to London to look after his own interests and
those of his master, so was his mission as minister and coun
sellor of the King, to make or to marre.

1 On the south side and at the
west end of this church (the Austin
Friars) many fayre houses are
builded, namely in Throgmorton
streete, one very large and spacious,
builded in the place of olde and small
Tenementes by Thomas Cromwell
. . . This house being finished, and
hauing some reasonable plot of
ground left for a Garden, he caused
the pales of the Gardens adioyning
to the north parte thereof on a
sodaine to be taken downe, 22 foot
to bee measured forth right into the
north of euery man s ground, a line
there to bee drawen, a trench to
bee cast, a foundation laid, and a
highe bricke wall to bee builded.
My father had a Garden there.

and an house standing close to his
south pale, this house they lowsed
from the ground & bare vpon
Rowlers into my Father s Garden
22 foot, ere my Father heard thereof:
no warning was given him, nor any
other answere when hee spake to
the surueyers of that worke but
that their Mayster Sir Thomas
commaunded them so to doe, no
man durst go to argue the matter,
but each man lost his land, and my
Father payde his whole rent, which
was vi s . viii d . the yeare, for that
halfe which was left. Thus much
of mine owne knowledge haue I
thought good to note, that the sud-
daine rising of some men, causeth
them to forget themselves.

CHAPTER VI

IN THE KING S SERVICE

THE decade which followed Cromwell s appointment as
counsellor to Henry VIII, witnessed some of the most striking
changes that have ever taken place in England. The question
which must obviously occur to every student of the period, is
whether the King himself, or his new minister, was the real
cause of the secular and religious revolution of the years 1530
to 154- The difficulty of the problem is increased by the
fact that Henry and Cromwell made every effort to conceal
their traces ; scarcely any information can be gleaned from
their correspondence. We are therefore forced to draw our
conclusions for the most part from external evidence and the
reports of contemporary writers.

It may be justly said that in general the probabilities point
to Cromwell as the true originator of the startling changes
which occurred soon after his accession to power. The fact
that the ultimate object of all these changes was the con- (
centration of power in the hands of the Crown is not in itself\

^

of great value in determining the identity of their originator ;
for the strengthening of the monarchy was an end which both
King and minister always kept in view : in the methods by
which this object was attained, however, we have a most
valuable clue to aid us in the solution of our problem. These
methods were all intensely Cromwellian : their directness and
efficiency are essentially and distinctively characteristic of the
King s new minister. In the contrast between the dawdling
ineffectiveness of Wolsey s device for solving the problem of
the King s divorce, and the summary, revolutionary process
by which it was finally secured after the Cardinal s fall, lies our
strongest ground for supposing that it was at Cromwell s
instance that the decisive step was taken. It seems almost

90 THOMAS CROMWELL

impossible that Henry, after having suffered himself to be
guided so long by Wolsey, in the management of his * grete
matier should have adopted at the Cardinal s death a plan to
secure his wishes, so thoroughly repugnant to the principles
of his old adviser, unless the idea had been put into his head
by another. When the King had once determined to break
with Rome, it followed as a matter of course that the advice of
the minister who had suggested the first step, should be adopted
in devising measures to secure the King in the new position
which he had assumed. The means employed to attain this
end the intimidation of the clergy and the suppression of the
monasteries, the attacks on the independence of Parliament,
the ruthless execution of those who opposed the late innova
tions all bear the stamp of the sinister genius of Cromwell
as unmistakably as the great revolution that rendered them
necessary. Documentary evidence too comes in to help us
here ; scarcely an important Act was passed in Parliament
between the years 1533 and 1540, of which there is not some
previous mention in Cromwell s papers and memoranda.
Against these reasons it may be urged that none of the foreign
ambassadors at the English Court mentions Cromwell as an
important factor in the government until three years after he
entered the King s service, and that the country in general
certainly regarded the events of the years 1530 to 1533 as the
work of Henry alone ; and that these facts are strong testi
mony that the King s new minister did not attain any high
degree of prominence until the crucial period of the struggle
with Rome had passed. But this paucity of contemporary
information concerning Cromwell s earlier years in the King s
service may be better explained in another way. If Henry s
new minister was the true author of all the revolutionary
measures of this period, it was certainly most unlikely that he
should be paraded before the eyes of the people as such ; it
was, on the contrary, to his own interest, and also to the
King s, that he should be kept in the background. By per
mitting the people to think that Henry was the real originator
of all the new schemes for establishing the Royal Supremacy
in Church and State, the suddenness of the transition between

IN THE KING S SERVICE 91

Wolsey s ministry and that of his successor was disguised.
Moreover, had the people known that Cromwell was at the
bottom of these changes, which were universally unpopular,
nothing would have saved him from their revenge. As long
as the new measures were attributed to the King, respect for
the royal name was enough to prevent a revolt. Cromwell, on
the contrary, who was not even of noble birth, could not have
struck a blow in his own defence, had the people fastened
upon him as the cause of the hated innovations. It was
necessary to keep him concealed until his position was so
secure that the popular odium could not shake him from it.
When, in 1533, the mask was finally thrown off, Chapuys and
the other foreign ambassadors realized all at once that Crom
well s sudden burst into prominence would have been quite
impossible, had not the ground been thoroughly prepared for
it by important services rendered during the first years of his
ministry.

Such, then, are the general reasons for thinking that
Cromwell was the man who planned out and carried through
the various measures which have rendered famous the period
of his ministry. In examining separately the different events
which took place, we shall meet with other evidence which
points to the same conclusion. Most important is the account
contained in Pole s Apologia ad Carolum Quintum, which
describes at length Cromwell s first measure, his plan to secure
Henry s divorce from Katherine of Aragon ; a scheme by
which he won the confidence of the King and irrevocably
committed himself and his master to the policy which he
followed to the end of his days. Henry, it seems from Pole s
story, had become utterly discouraged at the time of Wolsey s
death concerning the prospect of ever obtaining a separation
from his first wife. He had vainly attempted to get an
encouraging reply from the English clergy, and his failure in
this added to his despondency ; his council, which lacked all
initiative, could only rejoice that he intended to abandon his
efforts. At this juncture the Satanae Nuncius, as Pole names
Cromwell, solicited and obtained an audience with the King,
and proposed a plan by which Henry could free himself from

THOMAS CROMWELL

Papal restrictions, marry Anne, divorce Katherine, and yet
ostensibly remain true to the Catholic Faith.

Cromwell introduced himself with his usual tact and skill.
In a few modest and carefully selected sentences he excused
himself for daring to offer an opinion on a subject of which he
felt himself to be so very ignorant but, he continued, his
loyalty to the King would not permit him to be silent when
there was the smallest chance of his being able to serve his
sovereign at this momentous crisis. He was certain, he said,
that the King s troubles were solely due to the weakness of
his advisers, who listened to the opinions of the common herd,
and did not dare to act upon their own responsibility. All
the wise and learned were in favour of the divorce ; the only
thing lacking was the Papal sanction ; was the King to hesitate
because this could not be obtained ? It would be better to
follow the example of the Lutherans, who had renounced the
authority of Rome. Let the King, with the consent of Parlia
ment, declare himself Head of the Church in England, and
all his difficulties would vanish. England was at present
a monster with two heads. If the King should take to himself
the supreme power, religious as well as secular, every in
congruity would cease ; the clergy would immediately realize
that they were responsible to the King and not to the Pope,
and would forthwith become subservient to the royal will.
Henry may have been surprised by the audacity of Cromwell s
scheme, but he was also much pleased, as it promised to
satisfy all his dearest wishes. The Satanae Nuncius received
his hearty thanks, and was further rewarded by a seat in the
Privy Council l .

Cromwell must have realized from the first, that the adop-

1 Pole, Apologia ad Carolum Quin-
tum, chap, xxix, and Lingard, vol. vi.
p. 233. There is every reason
to believe in the veracity of this
report. Pole was in London at
the time, and knew Cromwell inti
mately. He reiterates the truth of
his tale in the following words:
Hoc possum affirmare nihil in ilia
oratione positum alicujus momenti

quod non vel ab eodem nuncio
(Cromwell himself) eo narrante in-
tellexi, vel ab illis qui ejus consilii
fuerunt participes. This interview
was doubtless the one which Cha-
puys describes as due to the quarrel
with Sir John Wallop. According
to both accounts it ended by Crom
well s becoming a Privy Councillor.

IN THE KING S SERVICE 93

tion of his scheme to throw off the Papal authority in England
would encounter the greatest opposition from the clergy, but
he had already devised a plan by which every objection
could be silenced and the refractory ecclesiastics overawed.
His whole policy in this crisis was based on the knowledge
that the position of the clergy since Wolsey s fall was com
pletely altered. They were no longer in any sense popular.
The State Papers of the period contain many lists of the
grievances of the Commons against them 1 . They had re
ceived a severe lesson from the Parliament of 1529 ; they
were now isolated, timid and demoralized. Cromwell was the
first to perceive and make use of their changed condition.
At the same time he realized how completely the House of
Austria had possessed itself of the Papacy ; the failure of
Wiltshire s embassy to the Emperor in Bologna, in 1530 2 ,
assured him, if he needed any assurance, that the day of
compromise with the Pope was passed, and that no divorce
would ever come from the Vatican ; he saw that if a separation
of Henry and Katherine was to be secured at all, the battle
ground on which it was to be won was not the Papal Curia at
Rome, but the Houses of Convocation and Parliament.

So it was conveniently discovered that Wolsey s guilt was
shared by Convocation, the Privy Council and the Lords and
Commons, and indirectly by the nation itself; as all these
had recognized the Cardinal in his capacity of legate, and so
had become, by language of the statute, his fautors and
abettors. Again conveniently, but also most unreasonably,
while the laity, who had eagerly availed themselves of the
Cardinal s jurisdiction, were tacitly passed over, the clergy
who had been the only ones to make a stand in opposition to
the legatine authority, were included in the Praemunire. So
in December, 1530, as Holinshed quaintly puts it, the kings
learned councell said plainlie that the whole cleargie of

England were all in the premunire 3 / and the

Attorney-General was instructed to file a brief against the
entire body in the Court of King s Bench. The clergy then

1 As Cal. iv. 6183. 2 Cal. iv. 6111, 6154-5-

3 Holinshed s Chronicle, p. 766.

94 THOMAS CROMWELL

assembled in Convocation, and offered the King ioo,oco
pounds to be their good lord, and also to give them a pardon
of all offences touching the Praemunire, by act of Parliament.
To their surprise and dismay, however, Henry refused the
bribe, unless, in the preamble to the grant, a clause were
introduced making him to be the Protector and only Supreme
Head of the Church and clergy of England V The whole
plot on the part of the King and the Privy Council was con
ducted with the greatest possible secrecy, and their real
motives were probably not guessed at by the world outside.
Even the astute Chapuys was completely deceived respecting
the King s actual intention. In his letters of the 23rd and
3ist of January, 1531, he informs the Emperor that when the
King has bled the clergy, he will restore to them their liberties,
and take them back into his favour, and later declares that
the whole thing was done to bring about a union between
the clergy and the nobles V It was not until the i4th of
February, when the entire affair had been carried through,
that the Spanish ambassador really understood what was
happening, and discovered that it was all something more
than a striking exhibition of Tudor avarice 3 .

In the meantime a number of Latin manifestoes appeared
favouring the King s divorce, and inveighing against the
Papal Supremacy 4 . But in spite of all these intimidations,
the clergy though weak did not intend to surrender without
a struggle. We are told that * ille de suprematu regis conce-
ptus haud bene placuit praelatis et clero, inde eum modificari
voluerunt. Per tres itaqtie sessiones cum consiliariis regiis
(among whom Cromwell doubtless was most prominent) ratio
inita fuit quomodo regis animum flectere possent ad molliori-
bus verbis exprimendum articulum ilium V At first Henry
announced to the clergy through Rochford that the only
alteration he would accept would be the insertion of the

1 There were to be in all five solus est/ Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 725.

concessions, the first of which was 2 Cal. v. 62, 70.

the really important and crucial Cal. v. 105.

one Ecclesiae et cleri Anglicani, 4 Cal. v. 7, 9; vi. 416.

cuj us protector et supremum caput is 5 Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 725.

IN THE KING S SERVICE 95

words post Deum. In the end, however, he yielded in this
point, and consented to an amendment moved by Archbishop
Warham, so that in its final form the clause read Ecclesiae
et cleri Anglicani, cujus singularem protectorem, unicum et
supremum dominicum, et quantum per Christi legem licet
etiam supremum caput ipsius majestatem recognoscimus.
Both the Canterbury and York Convocations hastened to
accept this compromise, and the latter voted an additional
grant of 18,000. , The only bishop who raised the slightest
objection to the royal demand was Cuthbert Tunstall, of
Durham. It is obvious that if the famous quantum per Christi
legem licet was really enforced, the victory which the King s
party had gained was but an empty one : the amendment has
been characterized as a clause by which all practical value
was taken out of the act V But Henry certainly had no idea
of permitting a restriction as vague as this seriously to
interfere with his schemes ; if the qualification became really
troublesome he was quite prepared to have it expunged.
For the moment he had been willing tacitly to acknowledge
that there was some force in the clause in order to overcome
the obstinacy of his opponents, but Chapuys was certainly
not far wrong in saying that it was all the same as far as the
King is concerned as if they had made no reservation, for no
one will now be so bold as to contest with his lord the
importance of this reservation 2 . The long-deferred pardon
was at last granted : though when it was first sent down from
the Lords, the Commons discovered that the laity were not
mentioned and so were still in the Praemunire : a deputation
from the Lower House, however, waited upon the King and
expressed their doubts, and though at first Henry treated
them harshly, he finally succumbed, and the laity were included
in the pardon 3 .

But the struggle was not yet over. The following year
witnessed a continuation of the attacks on the independence
of the clergy. This time, however, Henry and Cromwell had
determined that the brunt of the battle should be borne by

1 Friedmann, vol. i. p. 142. 2 Cal. v. 105.

3 Cal. v. 171.

98 THOMAS CROMWELL

Parliament, which responded to the mandates of the King
and his minister with gratifying celerity. Shortly after the
opening of the session, in January, 1532, there appeared in
the Lower House that famous document, which is usually
known as the Supplication of the Commons against the
Ordinaries V The designation is certainly misleading : so
preponderant was the part played by one of the Commons
in the preparation of this memorable petition, that it cannot
be fairly regarded as the work of them all. The nature of
the charges of which the c Supplication was composed, its
phraseology and the handwritings in the various drafts of
it which are preserved to us to-day 2 leave little doubt that it
V was originally devised by the genius of Cromwell. It was in
fact the first of a number of measures ostensibly emanating
from Parliament, but in reality prepared by the King s minister
and forced by him upon the very tractable Lords and
Commons. The purport of the supplication was, in brief,
to accuse the clergy of making laws and ordinances without
the assent of the King or his lay subjects, of demanding
excessive fees, of dealing corruptly and unfairly, especially
with cases of heresy, and to request the King to take
measures for the remedy of these abuses. The Ordinaries,
to whom the petition was delivered from the King on
April 12, at once composed a temperate and dignified reply,
in which the injustice and unreasonableness of the charges
preferred against them were courteously but plainly pointed
out 3 . Parliament in the meantime had been prorogued for
three months, but as soon as it had reassembled it was forced
to take up the cudgels again 4 . The clergy had stated their
case so well that Henry, in dread lest the faint-hearted
Commons should abandon too soon a quarrel into which his
minister had led them, thought it advisable to intervene
himself in the dispute. A short interview between the King
and the Speaker was enough to reanimate the drooping
spirits of the House : Henry was even spared the trouble

1 Hall, p. 784. Wilkins, vol. iii. pp. 748, 750.

8 See Appendix at the end of this 4 Hall, p. 788 ; Cal. v. 989.
chapter, p. 104.

IN THE KING S SERVICE 97

of a frank avowal of his attitude in words a gracious promise
to be indifferent between the disputants was quite sufficient
to ensure the continuance of the struggle. The Ordinaries
were not slow to discover that their first reply had been
totally ineffectual, and hastened to compose a second which,
though maintaining in general the position which had
originally been assumed, contained a concession that no new
laws should be published without the royal consent 1 . A good
deal more haggling, however, was necessary before the final
compromise was reached 2 . In fact matters moved so slowly
that the King was obliged to make (or let Cromwell make
for him) another of his suspiciously timely discoveries to the
effect that his sovereign rights as Supreme Head were not
clear, because every bishop at his consecration had made an
oath of allegiance to the Pope. The Commons were asked
to rectify this, and were about to pass severe censure on the
bishops, when they were prorogued once more on account of
the ragings of the plague. Before he let them go, however, the
King had probably ascertained that the clergy intended to sub
mit. Threatened on all sides, Convocation on the i6th of May
finally agreed not to pass any more new regulations without
the King s licence, and to examine and revise, according
to the royal wishes, the canons already made 3 . The most
important result of the controversy for us to notice is that
the King, acting (as he evidently did) on the advice of
Cromwell, had succeeded in reducing Convocation to complete
subjugation, and in making Parliament pliant to his will, as it
had never been before. The scheme of controlling the clergy
is doubly significant, first, as the cause of a great change in
itself; second, as the first step of the dominant policy of
the next ten years, for establishing the Royal Supremacy
in Church and State. It must not be forgotten however
that Cromwell s action, in defiance of Papal authority at this
juncture, arose from no hate of the Romish dogmas nor from
any love of the new religion. He carried out all his schemes
solely from political motives ; the religious, the emotional side

1 Cal. v. 1018. 2 Cf. Dixon, vol. i. pp. 74-111.

8 Cal. v. 1023.

MERRIMAN. I

98 THOMAS CROMWELL

left him absolutely untouched ; the practical, the politically
serviceable aspect of the case, alone appealed to him.

Popular as Henry doubtless was, Cromwell must have
realized, when he thus threw himself heart and soul on the
King s side in the divorce case, that he had staked everything
on the continuance of the royal favour. The best of the
clergy were strongly against the cause of Anne Boleyn, and
there were but few who disagreed with them. The general
sympathy of the nation for Katherine was greater than
ever. Chapuys tells us that Henry was urged by the crowd
in the streets to take back the Queen, and that Anne
Boleyn was not infrequently publicly insulted *. The mob,
and still more the friars, spoke of her openly as a common
prostitute, who ruled the King and beggared spiritualty
and temporalty also. A letter of the imperial ambassador
tells us that the provincial of the Friars Observants at
Greenwich (better known as Friar Peto) preached before
the King, and told him that the unbounded affection of
princes and their false counsellors deprived them of their
knowledge of the truth, and that Henry was endangering his
crown by his marriage, for great and little were murmuring
at it. The King concealed his vexation as best he could,
but later ordered one of his chaplains to preach there in his
presence, and contradict all that Peto had said. At the end
of this sermon the warden arose, and answering for his
minister in his absence, dared to say in Henry s presence
that the royal chaplain had lied. The King was very angry
and had the warden and preacher both arrested 2 . Most of
the Greenwich friars were eager to stand by their brethren,
but some proved less incorruptible, and gave secret information
against the steadfast ones.

The result of all these murmurings among commons and
friars was that Cromwell was kept very busy in finding out
and extirpating sedycyous opynyons as they were termed.
In order to clinch the advantages that were to accrue to
Henry as a result of his newly-assumed ecclesiastical position,
it was as necessary to discover and either destroy or convert

1 Cal. v. 1202. 2 Ca i v . 941.

IN THE KING S SERVICE 99

the laymen opposed to it, as it was to keep in submission the
clergy from whose hands it had been snatched. Henry
could have probably found no abler man in the realm to
accomplish this purpose than his new minister. Early in
1532 Cromwell began to create a system of espionage, the
most effective that England had ever seen, that in a short
time was to render unsafe the most guarded expression of
dissent in politics or religion. The success which this
organized method of reporting treason later obtained, is one
of the most striking proofs of the relentless energy of its
originator. But Cromwell s efforts to extirpate sedition, and
to encourage the new ecclesiastical system, were not confined
to England alone during these first years of his ministry.
The years 1531 and 1532 must not be passed over with
out some slight reference to his connexion with William
Tyndale. There was no counsellor about the King, upon
whom Cromwell could rely as an intelligent and consistent
ally, to help him carry out his schemes of * political Pro
testantism. In this dilemma he turned to William Tyndale,
who was at that time in the Low Countries. The theory
of one King, one law in the realm ; no class of men exempt
from the temporal sword, no law except the law of the land
advocated in The Obedience of a Christian Man, doubtless
struck Cromwell, if he read the book. It was perhaps the
nearest approach he had yet found in writing to the policy he
was steadily pursuing ; he immediately desired to induce the
reformer to return to England and to enlist him in the defence
of his great cause. The fact that Cromwell was able to
persuade the King to permit him to attempt this is a good
proof of his influence with Henry. In May, 1530, Tyndale
had been denounced as a perverter of God s word l ; but so
great was the change which the new minister s accession to
power had wrought in the royal policy, that Henry now
allowed Cromwell to write to his old friend Stephen Vaughan
in the Netherlands 2 , and commission him to try and discover
where Tyndale was, and induce him to return to England.
To this request Vaughan sent a double reply to Henry and

Demaus, p. 257. 2 Demaus, p. 274.

H 2

100 THOMAS CROMWELL

Cromwell, informing them that he had written to the
reformer (three separate letters to different places, not know
ing where he was) and had received his answer, in which
Tyndale said that the news of what had lately happened in
England made him afraid to go there 1 . In a confidential
postscript to the letter to Cromwell, Vaughan writes in most
glowing terms about the reformer, saying that he was of far
greater knowledge than the King s Highness took him for,
as plainly appeared by his works. * Would God he were in
England. As usual Vaughan s enthusiasm had run away
with his discretion. He was the exact opposite of Cromwell
in this respect ; he was ever full of emotion and feeling,
while his master was to the last degree practical and
calculating.

In spite of his first rebuff, Vaughan persevered in his attempts,
and on the 25th of March sent Cromwell another letter, in
which he expressed a little more hope of getting Tyndale to
go to England 2 . Three weeks later his efforts received some
more substantial reward, for on the 1 8th of April he wrote to
Henry 3 , that he had at last obtained an interview with the
reformer, and that though the latter still refused to comply
with his request, his words had been such as to arouse the
enthusiasm of Cromwell s agent more than ever. With this
letter Vaughan sent to Henry the manuscript of Tyndale s
new book against Sir Thomas More, called the Answer,
which the reformer did not wish to put in print till Plenry
had seen it, because the latter had been displeased at the
hasty and unlicensed printing of his former work, The Practise
of Prelates. The letter and the book were not destined,
however, to have the desired effect on the King. The
Answer was sufficiently plain to indicate that Tyndale s
religious beliefs were not of the sort that would ever be
serviceable to Henry; the reformer was altogether too full
of Protestantism for its own sake, to suit either the King or

1 Cal.v. 65. Doubtless Vaughan Tyndale s brother John had been

referred to the steps taken by arrested in London for selling New

Bishop Stokesley and others to Testaments received from abroad,

punish those who favoured the new 2 Cal. v. 153.

religion. It was at this time that 3 Cal. v. 201.

IN THE KING S SERVICE 101

his counsellor. For once Cromwell had mistaken his man.
To say that the King was thoroughly vexed and annoyed,
when he had perused Vaughan s letter, and the enclosed
work, is a mild statement of the facts. The original letter
which Vaughan wrote is not extant, but there is a copy of it
in the British Museum which ends most abruptly with the
words To declare to yow Magyste what In my pore Judge
ment I thynke of the man, I ass^rteyne your grace I haue
not cowmunyd w/ t// A man l ; a fact which suggests the
possibility that the irritable King vented his anger on the un
offending sheet of paper, and tore it in two. The letter with
which Cromwell, at the King s direction, replied to Vaughan,
is a still surer index to the impression which the latter s report
had produced on the King. What with the precipitation of
his emotional, enthusiastic, and unpractical friend, Cromwell
must have been placed in a very awkward position. The
many corrections and interlineations in the draft of the letter
he wrote in reply to Vaughan, sufficiently reveal his great
perplexity and bewilderment 2 . The subject-matter of the
letter will speak for itself. The rage of the King is vividly
described, and Vaughan is repeatedly warned to abandon the
reformer : but in spite of everything he continued to attempt
to persuade Tyndale to return. He had two more fruitless
interviews with the latter, described in his letters to Henry of
the 2oth of May, and to Cromwell on the I9th of June 3 , and
after that came back to England for the summer. In
November he returned to the Netherlands, and wrote again
to Cromwell warmly on Tyndale s behalf, but not a word did
he receive in reply 4 . In the meantime Henry and Cromwell
had dispatched Sir Thomas Elyot to arrest the reformer and
bring him home 5 . Vaughan finally saw the danger he ran in
advocating the cause of the author of the venemous and
pestiferous worker, and dared say no more. The rest of his
letters during these two years do not even once mention him.
The whole Tyndale episode is noteworthy as the nearest

L British Museum, Titus B, vol. i. Cal. v. 246, 303.

p. 67. 4 Cal. v. 533, 574, 618.

2 Letters, 21. 5 Demaus, p. 307.

102 THOMAS CROMWELL

approach to a mistake in Cromwell s internal policy. Henry s
anger probably gave him a clear warning that many more
such would bring him to certain ruin. He was saved from
serious consequences in this case, only because he had amply
atoned for it by his brilliant success in obtaining the submission
of the clergy.

Cromwell was also occupied, during these two years, in
re-establishing Wolsey s foundation at Oxford, under the
new name of King Henry the Eighth s College. He was
appointed receiver-general and supervisor of all the lands
belonging to it ; and the adjustment of claims, transfer of
property, new foundation and charter kept him very busy,
ana gave him an excellent opportunity to display his legal
talent. He also superintended the building of a new palace
at Westminster, regulated the wages of the men working on
the fortifications at Calais, and was also busy with minor
duties in the King s own household the care of the royal
plate and jewels, and even the drawing of patterns for Henry s
robes of state 1 . From the close of the year 1529 until his
fall, the best index to the various occupations in which he
was engaged is afforded by his famous remembrances. These
consist largely of short and usually incomplete sentences,
sometimes even single words, jotted down at odd moments
by Cromwell or his chief clerk, on loose sheets of paper
often on the backs of letters and drafts of important docu
ments. They are for the most part absolutely disjointed
and unconnected in matter, form, and handwriting. Sand
wiched in between apparently careless phrases which later
expand into the most drastic of parliamentary enactments,
we find minute details concerning the wages of labourers,
the cost of New Year s presents at the Court, or even matters
of a private nature : next to a memorandum for the signing of
a letter for some Spaniards occur the significant words, To
Remembre the Auncyent Cronycle of magna Carta and how
libera sit Cam into the Statute V The less important items
are of course by far the more numerous, especially in the first

1 Cal. v. 701, 1548, 1600, 1728; 2 British Museum, Titus B,vol. i.
Letters, 36, 39. p. 422.

IN THE KING S SERVICE 103

six years when the King loaded his new minister with details
of the greatest variety and complexity. Towards the last
the remembrances are fewer in number, and deal less
extensively with minor matters ; but even up to the very end
we find ample evidence that the King s minister carried in
his head an amount of detail of a comparatively unimportant
nature, which would have been quite impossible for a man
like his predecessor. The Cardinal, absorbed in studying the
great diplomatic combinations of continental Europe, had
shamefully neglected minor affairs at home. Cromwell, in
his ten years of power, not only atoned for the errors of
Wolsey, but also familiarized himself with every detail of
domestic administration to an extent that no King or minister
had ever done in England before. It would have been
almost impossible to carry through the tremendous changes
which had followed the divorce, without the aid of a counsellor
of the peculiar talents of Thomas Cromwell.

The thread of our narrative now becomes so complicated,
when the new minister is at last fully installed in the King s
service, that it will be necessary to depart from the chrono
logical order of events hitherto followed, and to treat separately
each phase of Cromwell s policy, up to the reaction of J539-
The Internal and Foreign Administration, Suppression of the
Monasteries, of the Pilgrimage of Grace, &c., all move on hand
in hand, and in order to understand their bearing on one
another, it is only needful to remember that they were all
the work of one man, and were proceeding in general at the
same time.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI

THE SUPPLICATION OF THE COMMONS AGAINST THE

ORDINARIES

Four drafts of this petition exist to-day in the Public Record
Office. One of them is written in a hand which may be recognized in
the greater part of Cromwell s correspondence of the time, and which
is probably that of his chief clerk ; it is corrected and revised by
Cromwell himself. Of the other three, one, which is uncorrected
and probably a final draft, is also written by the clerk and the other
two, chiefly in a strange handwriting, are filled with interlineations
by Cromwell. The following copy was made from the first of these
drafts (Cal. v, 1016 (4)). The words in brackets are crossed out in
the original manuscript: the words in italics are inserted between the
lines. All the corrections are in Cromwell s hand.

To the King our Sovereigne Lorde

In most humble Wise Shewen vnto your excellent highnes and
most prudent wisedom your faithfull louyng and most humble and
obedient Subiecto The Cowmons in this your p^sente parliament
assembled That where of late aswell thorough new fantasticall and
erronyous opynyons growen by occasion of Frantike sedycious and
ou^rthwartly Framed bokes compiled imprynted publisshed and made
in the englishe tong contrarie and ayenst the veray trew catholique
and Cristen Faith as also by the (vnreasonableand) extreme (rygour
vndiscrete} and vncharytabk behaueour and dealing of dyuers ordy-
naries Ther Commyssaryes and Substytuttzs which haue heretofore
had and yet have thexamynacion in and vppon the saide errours and
hereticall opynyons moche discorde varyaunce and debate hathe
rysen and more and more daylie is like to encrease and insue
emonges the vniu^^sall sorte of your saide Subiectdr aswell spzWtuall
as temporall either ayenst other in most vncharitable maner to the
grete inquietacion vexacion and breche of your peax w/ t^in this your
most catholik realme. The speciall perticuler greues whereof which
most principally concerne your saide Commons and lay Subiecte? and
whiche ar (as they vndoubtedlie suppose) the veray chief Founteyns
occasions and causes that daylie bredeth Fostereth Norissheth and

BOKE AYENST THE CLERGY 105

maynteneth the saide sedycions factyons dedelie hatered and most
vncharitable parte takings either parte and sorte of your saide
Subiecte? spirituall and temporall ayenst thother hereafter Folowing-
lye Do ensue.

Furst where the prelate and spzWtuall Ordynaries of this your
most excellent Realme of Englonde and the clergie of the same
haue in their conuocac/ons heretofore made and caused to be made
and also day lie do make dyuers and manye Facyons <?/" lawes consty-
tuabns and ordena2tunces wz L&out your knowlege or most royal!
assente and w/t/fout the assent and consent of any your lay Sub
jects vnto the whiche lawes your saide lay Subiecto haue not onelie
heretofore and day lie be {boundene} constraynyd to obbeye as well in
their bodies goodes and possessions But also ben compelled daylie
to incurre into the censures of the same and ben contynuallie put
to importable charges and expense ayenst all equytee right and good
conscience. And yet your saide humble subiectar ne their predeces-
sours coulde euer be pryuey to the saide lawes Ne any of the saide
lawes haue ben declared vnto them in thinglisshe tong or otherwise
publysshed By knowlege whereof they might haue extued the daun-
giers censures and penaltees of the same Which lawes so made your
saide most humble and obedyent subjects vnder the supportacion
of your Maiestee Suppose to be not onelie to the dymynucyon and
derogacion of your imperyall iurisdiction and prerogatif royall But
also to the grete preiudice inquietacion and damage of all your
saide Subiectes- And also where now of late there hathe ben deuysed
by the most Reuerende father in god Wyllyam Archebusshop of
Caunterburie that in the Courts whiche he callith his Courtes of the
Arches and Audience shalbe but onelie Ten proctours at his deputa-
cion which be sworn to preferre and promote the onelie iurisdiction
{and preferrement} of the saide Courts. By reason whereof if any
of your lay Subiecte? shoulde haue any lawfull cause ayenst the Judge
of the saide Courts or ayenst any doctor or proctour of the same
or any of their Frend^ or adherents they can ne may in any wise
haue indifferent counsaill. And also all the causes depending in
any of the saide courts may by the confederacie of the saide Few
proctours be in suche wise tracted and delayed as your Subiect^
suing in the same shalbe put to importable charges costes and
expencs. And in case that any matiers there being p^ferred
shoulde touche Your Crowne Regallie Jurisdiction and pmogatif
royall yet the same shall not be disclosed by any of the saide proc
tors for fere of losse of their offices. Wherefore your saide most

106 THOMAS CROMWELL

obedient Subiectes vnder the protexion of your maiestee Suppose
that your highnes should haue the nomynacion of som conuenyent
nombre of proctours to be alwayes attendaunt in the saide courts
of tharches and audience there to be sworne aswell to the preferre-
ment of your iurisdiction and prerogatif royall as to thexpedyc/bn
of all the causes of your Lay Subiectes repayring and suing to the
same.

And Where also many of your saide most humble and obedient
subiecter and specyallie those that be of the pourest sorte w/t/^in
this your Realme ben daylie conuented and called before the saide
sp/Wtuall Ordynaries their Commissaries and Substytutetf ex officio
somtyme at the pleasures of the saide Ordynaries and Substytuter
for malice w/t^out any cause and sumtyme at the onelie pr^mocyon
and accusement of their {false} Somoners and apparitours being
veray light and vndiscrete persons w/t/fout any lawfull cause of
accusacion or credible fame proued ayenst them and wzt/fout any
presentement in the vysitacion ben inquieted disto&rbed vexed
troubeled and put to excessiue and importable charges for them to
bere and many tymes be suspended and excowmunycate for small
and light causes vppon thonelie certificat of the proctours of the
adu^rsaries made vnder a fayned Scale which Query proctor hathe
in his keping where as the partie suspended and excowmunycate
many tymes nQuer had any warning and yet when he shalbe absolued
if it be out of the courte he shalbe compelled to pay to his owne
proctor xxd and to the proctowr which is ayenst him other xxd
and xxd to the Scribe beside a pryuey rewarde that the Judge
shall haue to the grete impouerysshing of your saide poure Lay

Also Your saide most humble and obedient subiecto Fynde them
greued w/t% the grete and excessyue Fees taken in the said spmtuall
courts and in especiall in the saide Courts? of tharches and audience
where they take for euery Cytacyon ii 8 vi d for Query Inhibycyon
vjs viij d , for euerie proxie xvj d for Query certificat xvj d , for Query Libell
iij 3 . iiij d ., for Query answer to any Lybell iij 8 iiij d , for Query acte if it
be but two woord&r to the Register iiij d , for Query personall Cytacion
or decree iij 9 iiij d . for euery sentence or iudgement to the Judge
xxvi 8 . viij d , for Query testiwonyall vppon any suche sentence or iudge
ment xxvj s . viii d for Query significant xij 8 . for Query cowmyssion to
examyn wytnes xij 8 Which is thought to be importable to be borne
by your saide Subiect^ and veray necessarie to be reformed.

And Furthermore Where the saide spyrytuall Ordynaries {many

BOKE AYENST THE CLERGY 107

tymes purposedlie to revenge their inwarde greves and displeasures
and to put their saide lawes in execucion } theyr Commyssaryes 6
Substytuttes sumtymefvr thayr own pleasures Sumtyme by the Synister
procurement of other spmtuall persons vse to make out proces
ayenst dyuers of your saide Subiecto and thereby compell them to
appere before themselffey to answer at a certen day and place to
suche articles as by them shalbe of office afore themselffcf then
purposed and that Secretlye and not in oppen places and fourthwzt/fc
vppon their apparaunce w/t/fout cause or any declaracion then
made or shewed cowmytt and sende them to warde Where they
remayne w/t/fout bayle or mayneprise sumtyme half a yere and
somtyme a hole yere and more or they may in any wise knowe
either the cause of their imprysonement or any name of their accuser
and fynallie their grete coster charges and expenc^r therin when all
is examyned and nothing can be proued ayenst them but they
clerelie Innocente for any Faute or cryme that can be layed vnto
them in that parte ben set ayen at large without any recompence or
amende in that behalf to be towards them adiudged.

And also if percase vppon the saide proces and apparaunce any
p<zrtie be vppon the saide matier cause or examynacion brought
Fourth and named either as partie or wytnes and then vppon the
proffe and tryall thereof not able to prove and verefie his saide
accusacion or testymonye ayenst the p^rtie so accused to be trew
then the person so causeles accused is {clerely} for the more parte
wzUout any remedie for his charges and wrongful vexacyon to be
{in that parte} towards him adiuged and recouered.

Also vppon thexamynacion of the saide accusacion if heresie be
ordynarylie layed vnto the charge of the partie so accused then the
saide ordynaries or their ministres vse to put to them suche subtile
interrogatories concerning the high misteries of our feith as ar able
quyckelye to trappe a simple vnlerned or yet a well wytted lay man
wztfout lerning and bryng them by suche sinyster introduction sone
to his owne confusion And Fourthw/t/^ if there chaunce any heresie
to be by suche subtill polycie by him confessed in vtourdes and yet
neuer cowmytted nor thought in dede, then put they wzUout ferther
fauour the saide person either to make his purgacion and so thereby
to lose his honestie and credence for euer orelkr as som simple sely
Sowle precyselie stonding to the clere testymonye of his owne well
knowen conscience rather then to confesse his innocent trouth to
abyde {thextreme examynacion of deth by the Fyer} thextremyte in
that behalf zn& so is vtterly distroyed.

108 THOMAS CROMWELL

And if it fortune the saide partie so accused to denye the saide
accusacion and so put his aduersarie to proue the {false} same
vntrewlie forged and ymagened ayenst him then for the more parte
suche wytnesses as ben brought fourth for the same be they but
ij in nombre neuer so sore diffamed of litle trouth or credence
aduersaries or enemies to the partie yet they shalbe allowed and
enabeled onlye by Discrecyon of the sayd ordenaryes ther Commyssaryes
& Substytuttes and therevppon sufficient cause to procede to iudge-
ment to delyu<?r the partie so accused either to the seculer hands
{and so to be burned) after abiuracion w/tfcout remedie and afore
if he Submytte himself to compell him when best happeneth to make
his purgacion and bere a Fagotte to his extreme shame and vtter
vndoing.

In Consideracyon whereof most gracious Souereigne Lorde And
Forasmoche as there is at this present tyme and by a Few yeres past
hathe ben outrageous vyolens on thone parte and moche defaulte
and lacke of pacyent sufferaunce charitee and good will on thother
parte, A meruelous Disorder of the godlie quyet peax and tran-
quillyte that this your realm e heretofore euer hitherto hathe ben
in thorough your poletique wisedom in most honourable fame and
catholik feith invyolablye pr^serued. It may therefore most benigne
Souereigne lorde lyke your excellent goodnes for the tender and
vnyuersallye indyrTerent zele benigne loue and fauour that your
highnes berith towarde both the saide parties, the saide articles if
they shalbe by your most clere and perfite Judgement thought any
instruments or causes of the saide variaunce and disorder or those
and all other occasions whatsoeuer accompted by your highnes to
make towards the saide factions depelie and weightylie after your
accustomed weyes and maner serched weyed and considered gra-
ciouslie to prouyde all vyolence on both sides vtterlye and clerelie
set a parte some suche necessarie and behofull remedies as may
effectuallie reconsile and bryng in perpetuall vnytee your saide
Subiects sp/Wtuall and temporall. And for thestablisshing thereof
to make and ordeyn on both sides suche straite lawes ayenst the
brekers transgressours and offendours as shalbe to hevye daungerous
and weightie for them or any of them to bere suffer and susteyne.
Whereunto Your saide Comons most humblie hertelie and entierlie
beseche your grace as the onely hed Souereigne lorde protectour and
Defendour of bothe the saide parties in whom and by whom the
onelie and sole redresse reformacion and remedie herein absolutely
restith and remayneth. By occasion whereof all your saide Comons

BOKE AYENST THE CLERGY 109

in their conscience surelye accompt that beside the meruelous
Feruent loue that yo//r highnes shall thereby (gain) and engendre in
their harts towards Your grace Ye shall do the most pryncelie Feate
and shew the most honourable and charitable president and Mirrour
that Quer did Souereigne lorde vppon his subiects and therew/t//all
merite and deserue of our mercyfull lorde eternall blisse Whose
goodnes graunt your grace in most godlie pryncelie and honourable
astate long to reigne prosper and contynew as the Souereigne lorde
ouer all your saide most humble and most obedyent Subiects.

[Two blank pages herel\

And Where also the said prelatis and ordinaries daily do pmnytte
and suffer the parsons vicars Curates p#rishe presto and other
sp/r/tuall parsons hauing Cure of soule w/t/zin this your Realme
Ministring {vnto your said loving subgietts} to exact and take of your
humble 6 obedyent Sulriecfes dyuers Summys of money for the Sacra-
mentor & sacramentalUs of holy churche { as the holy sacrament of
the Aulter Baptyme, Matrimonye Confession, buriall weddyng
churchings and suche other} Sumtyme denying the same w\t\\out
they Fyrst be payd the sayd Sitmmys of money {6 to take for the
ministracion of the same of your said Subiects diuers and certen
sowmes of money allegging the same to be their dueties. } Whiche
sacraments and sacramentalls yoz/r saide most humble & obedient
subiectes vnder the protection of yoitr highnes doo suppose & think
ought to be in most Reuerent charitable & goodlie wise freely
mynystred vnto them at all tymes requisite w/t^oute denyall or {any
maner somme or} exaccyon of any maner sowmes of money {or other
duetie or contribucion to be asked demaunded or required for the
same \ to be demaundyd or askyd for the same And also where in the
spmtuall courts of the said Prelatis & ordinaries ben lymyted and
appoynted for many Judges Scribes Apparitowrs Somwzers praysours
and other ministres for the approbacion of testaments Whiche
coveting somoche theire owne priuate Lucres and satisfaccion of the
appetits of the said prelats and Ordinaries that when any of your
said loving subiects do Repaire to any of the said Courtis for the
probate of any testamentes they do in suche wise {extorte and}
make long delays or excessively take of theym so large fees and
Rewards for the same as is Importible for theym to beare directly
against all Justice lawe equite and goode conscience

{And also where most gracious soueraigne the Judges Constituted
and appoynted by the said spzWtuall Ordinaries in their said Courts

110 THOMAS CROMWELL

to here and determyne causes there, do in likewise daily take many
grete and excessive fees and rewardes of your said pore subiectdf
having any cause or matier depending before theym as is aforsaid
And ouer that when any Judgement or sentence by the said Judge
shalbe yeven before them wille also have grete sommes of money
for the same. So that no thing is or can be obteyned in any of the
said Courts w/t/^oute money. }

Wherfor Your said most humble and obedient subiecter do
therfore vnder your gracious correction and supportacion suppose
it were veray necessary that the said ordinaries in the deputacion of
suche Judges shulde be bounde to appoynte and assigne suche
discrete gravous and honest persons having sufficient Lernyng witte
discrecion & vnderstonding and also being indewed with such
spmtuall promocions stipend and salarye as they being Judges in
their said Courtermyght and may mynystre to euery parson repairing
to the same Justice wz t/foute taking any mam?;- fee or Rewarde for
any maner sentence or Judgement to be yoven before theym.
And also where as diuerse sp/V/tuall persons being presented aswell
by your highnes and by other patrons w/t^in this your Realme to
{any} dyuers benefices or other sp/r/tuall promocion. The said
ordinaries and there mynystres do not onely take of theym for theyr
Le#<?res of Institucion and Induction many grete and {excessive}
large sommes of money & Rewards But also do pact and coue-
naunte with the same, taking sure bonder for their indempnite to
aunswer to the said ordinaries the first frutes of the said benefices
after their Institucion so as they being ones presented or promoted
as is aforesaid ben by the said ordinaries veray {extremely} vncharyt-
ablye handled to their no litle hynderaunce & impoumsshement
whiche your said subgietto suppose not onely to be against all lawes
right & good consciens but also to be Symony and contrary to the
Lawes of god.

And also where as the said spzWtuall Ordinaries do daily conferre
and geve sundry benefices vnto certen yong folkes calling them their
Nephews or Kynsfolkvs> being in their mynorite and wz"t/in age not
apt ne able to Smie the Cure of any suche benefice Wherby the said
ordinaries do kepe and deteyn the frutes & p^fittes of the same
benefices in their owne handes and therby accumulate to themselffof
right grete and large sommes of money & yerely proftttes to the most
pernicious exsample of all your said lay subiect^ and so the Cures
& other promocions youen vnto suche Infants ben onely {youen
but} Imployedto {enriche} thenryching of the said ordinaries & the

BOKE AYENST THE CLERGY 111

pore sely soules of your people and subjects whiche shulde be
taught in the paroches yoven as aforsaid for lak of good curates do
perisshe w/t/kmte doctrine or any good teaching.

And also where a grete nombre of holy daies whiche nowe at
this present tyme \v/t/fc veray smalle Devocion be solempnised and
kept thorough oute this your Realme vppon the whiche many grete
abhomynable and execrable vices idle and wanton sportes ben vsed
and exercised whiche holy daies if it may stond w/t^ your gracious
pleasure and specyall suche as Fall in the heruest myght by your
maiestie by thadvice of your most honourable counseill prelates and
ordinaries be made fewer in nombre and those that shall herafter
be ordeyned to stond & contynue myght and may be the more
Devoutely religiously & reu^rently obserued to the Laude of
almyghty god and to thencrease of your high honour & fame.

Endd. A boke ayenst the clergy for takyng excessyve Fees

CHAPTER VII

INTERNAL POLICY

FROM the close of the year 1532 until his fall, the entire
domestic administration of England was in Cromwell s hands.
From the moment that he entered the King s service he had
definitely committed himself to the policy which he was to
follow till the end of his days. His own theories of internal
government, the traditions of the Tudor monarchy, and the
situation of the realm at the time of his accession to power,
combined to convince him that the maintenance of an all-
powerful kingship was indispensable to England s safety ; the
nature of the proposal by which he first won Henry s con
fidence was tantamount to an irrevocable declaration of that
principle, and a promise that it should be the guiding thought
of his entire administration. The revolt from Rome was an
incident rather than an aim of his policy. He had suggested
it at first as offering the only possible solution of the immediate
difficulties of the Crown, and as affording golden opportuni
ties for the increase of the power of the monarchy ; but as
soon as the decisive step had been taken, he saw that the
security of his own position had become conditional upon
the permanence of the new ecclesiastical system, which in
turn could only be ensured if the King, for whose sake it
had been created, was rendered supreme in Church and
State. Cromwell s very existence had thus become dependent
on the success of his endeavours to maintain and carry
further the policy initiated by Henry VII, and to elevate
the Crown to sovereign power above every other institution
in the realm. Perhaps no minister has ever had more varied
problems to confront him, than those which Cromwell had to
deal with during these eight years ; and yet his action in
every case is a logical, intelligent application of the theory

INTERNAL POLICY 113

of internal government, which he believed was the only sure
road to national greatness. With this great principle firmly
borne in mind, the history of Cromwell s domestic adminis
tration becomes comparatively simple.

A further assertion of the Supremacy of the Crown in
ecclesiastical affairs was necessary, before Cromwell could
attempt to strengthen its already predominant position in
the State. The chief object of the more important measures
of the years 1533 and 1534 was to utilize the consequences
of the breach with Rome for the benefit of the monarchy,
and to provide that none of the power of which the Pope
had been deprived should be permitted to escape the King.
During the year 1532 Henry had deluded himself with hopes
that his first attack on the liberties of the English clergy
might frighten Clement into acquiescence in the .divorce, but
at last his patience came to an end, and he surrendered
himself entirely to the guidance of Cromwell, who had been
persuaded from the first that nothing further was to be
obtained from the Pope. In January, 1533, the King was
secretly married to Anne Boleyn ; on the loth of May
Cranmer, who had lately been raised to the see of Canterbury,
opened his archiepiscopal court at Dunstable l . With a
promptitude which must have been highly satisfactory to
Henry after the delays of the previous proceedings at Rome,
the sentence of divorce was pronounced. There can be little
doubt that Cromwell gave efficient aid in hastening the
verdict 2 ; but what is far more important, he took effective
measures, even before it was rendered, to prevent its revo
cation. Parliament had been in session during the three
months previous to the assembling of the court at Dunstable :
in anticipation of the coming sentence, it had been induced
to pass an Act 3 to deprive Katherine of the only hope that
remained to her by forbidding appeals to Rome, and by
ordaining that the decision of an archiepiscopal court should
be final, except in cases where the King was concerned, when
appeal might be made to the Upper House of Convocation.

1 Cal. vi. 180, 461. 2 Cal. vi. 461, 469, 496, 525, 526, 527.

3 24 Hen. VIIIj c. 12.

MERRIMAN. I I

\

114 THOMAS CROMWELL

A notable effort was made to conceal the obvious and imme
diate purpose of this statute under a shroud of pious and
patriotic verbiage. The life of the Act, however, was but
short. Though it had dealt the death blow to the juris
diction of the Pope in England, it had not made adequate
provision for the maintenance of the Supremacy of the Crown ;
so in 1534 the statute of the previous year was superseded by
a new one 1 , which enacted that an appeal might always be
made from an archbishop s court to the King s Court of
Chancery, the decision of which was to be final. The abo
lition of the Annates (which will be considered in another
place) occurred at the same time. The effect of these two
measures was to complete the work begun in 1530, and to
sever the last links of the chain which bound the Church of
England to Rome. y

In the meantime the famous Act of Succession 2 , bastardiz
ing the Princess Mary and establishing the offspring of Anne
Boleyn as lawful heirs to the throne of England, had also been
passed in Parliament, and before the year had closed a new
statute 3 had formally recognized the King s ecclesiastical
supremacy for the third time ; for Henry was not satisfied
with the acknowledgements he had wrung from the clergy in
1531 and 1532, nor with the express assertion that the King
was on earth Supreme Head of the Church of England,
contained in the oath to the new succession, which Cromwell s
commissioners began to administer throughout the realm in
the summer of 1534. The last vestige of the independence
of the English bishops was also removed in the course of this
memorable year, by certain provisions of the final Act for the
restraint of Annates 4 . It had not been necessary, however, to

1 25 Hen. VIII, c. 19. received in her place, and that he

2 25 Hen. VIII, c. 22. Mendez was sure that they all loved His
Silva, pp. 14 and 15, asserts that Majesty so much that they would
Cromwell was responsible for the not refuse to do his will. Clergy,
passage of this statute. The King s Lords, and Commons, al peligro
minister appeared in Convocation de la conciencia . . . se reduxeron
and Parliament, and made a speech facilmente.

in which he said that his master 3 26 Hen. VIII, c. I.
desired that Mary be excluded 4 25 Hen. VI 1 1, c. 20.
from the succession and Elizabeth

INTERNAL POLICY 115

introduce any very radical innovation here. The bishops
were already virtually in the King s hands, for the elections by
chapters had long been a mere farce, and the royal nominee
had been almost invariably chosen. So the Act had aimed at
a legalization of the stattis quo merely adding a few new
provisions to strengthen the King s hold on the Church. All
relations with the Pope were of course to cease ; the bishops
were to be consecrated by virtue of a royal commission ; and
if the chapter failed to elect within twelve days, the King
was empowered to fill the vacancy by letters patent. But
even this does not seem to have been enough to satisfy
Cromwell. A letter of Chapuys in the early part of 1535
informs us that the King s Secretary called some of the
bishops before the Council to ask them if the King could
not make and unmake them at pleasure : they were obliged
to say yes, else they should have been deprived of their
dignities : as the said Cromwell told a person, who reported
it to me, and said that the Council had been summoned only
to entrap the bishops V Cromwell followed this up, later in
the year, by causing a Prohibitory Letter to be sent out in
the King s name, forbidding the bishops to visit any monastery
or to exercise any right of jurisdiction during the visitation of
the religious houses then in progress 2 . It appears that even
Cromwell, with all his audacity, was at a loss to devise a
means to silence the objections which were raised against this
high-handed measure. He was not ashamed to take a hint
from the fertile brains of his two blood-hounds, Legh and
Ap-Rice, who suggested an ingenious argument to crush all
opposition, the gist of which is contained in the following
quotation from a letter which they wrote to Cromwell,
Sept. 24, I535 3 -

Yf they (the bishops) had any Jurisdiction, they muste
nedes haue receued (it) either by the lawe of god or by the
busshop of Romes Authoritie or els by the King^j grace
permission. Which is no sufficient discharge ageinst the
statute.

1 Cal. viii. 121. 254; and Strype, Ecclesiastical

Cal. ix. 517. Memorials, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 216.

1 British Museum, Cleop. E. vi.

I 2

116 THOMAS CROMWELL

I

Yf they saye by the Lawe of god, Lett theym bring foorth
scrzptur but I thinke theym not so impudent as to saye so.

Yf they saye by the busshop of Romes Authoritie. Lett
theym exercise it still, yf they thinke it mete.

4 Yf they saye by the Kinges permission why be they more
discontent that the king shuld call agein nowe to his handes
that which came from hym to theym, than they wolde haue
ben^ yf he had never graunted it theym. And surely they
are not able to iustifie thexercise of their iurisdiction hetherto.
Fortified by such reasoning as this did the Royal Supremacy
pass into effect.

Having thus obtained the complete submission of the
greater lights of the Church, Cromwell consistently pursued
his relentless policy with the humbler orders of friars and
monks. His method of dealing with the latter did not differ
materially from his policy with the former, except that it was
perhaps more sanguinary. Priors Lawrence and Webster,
two Carthusians who denied the validity of the King s new
title, were examined by Cromwell, and when they stubbornly
refused to retract their assertions, they were promptly sen
tenced and executed 1 . Three others, Houghton, Hale, and
Reynolds, suffered death a little later, and the latter dared to
tell Cromwell that in spite of the terror he had caused by his
late proceedings, all good men in the kingdom really held the
same opinion, that the Headship of the Church was not the
King s 2 . But notwithstanding the wide popular dissatisfac
tion at the new measures, most malcontents, both lay and
spiritual, kept their thoughts to themselves. Men were be
ginning to discover how dangerous it was to criticize the
doings of the King and his minister. The elaborate system of
espionage and the commissions to seek out and punish treason,
which Cromwell had so laboriously established all over the
country in 1532, had now begun to bear fruit. It was impos
sible to tell who the government spies were : impossible to
know when or against whom the next accusation would be
made. The words which men spoke in the bosom of their
families or to their most intimate friends and neighbours were

1 Cal. viii. 565, 895. 2 Cal. viii. 609, 661.

INTERNAL POLICY 117

as likely to be laid to their charge as their utterances in
public: harmless, obscure and ignorant country folk were
brought before the magistrates as often as those of higher
degree. Edmond Brocke, husbandman, eighty years of age,
of Crowle in Worcestershire, was walking home in the rain
from Worcester market on the Saturday before St. Thomas
Day, in company with Margaret Higons. Yt ys long of the
Kyng that this wedre is so troblous or vnstable, he said, and
I wene we shall nevir haue better wedre vvhillis the Kinge
Reigneth, and therefore it makith no matter if he were
knocked or patted on the heed V These facts were declared
on August 12, 1535, before John Russell Esq., Justice of the
Peace, by Richard Fulke, husbandman, and Joan Danyell of
Crowle. Brocke confessed that he had said that it was
a hevy and grevous wether and that there was neuyr good
wedring^y sithins the King began this busines, but what he
meant by busines he could not tell : as to the rest of his
words, he said, he was mad or drunk if he spoke them more
than this he would not answer. William Ferrall, of East
bourne in Sussex, deposed before Sir John Gage on August 14,
1536, that Sir William Hoo, vicar of Eastbourne, and suffragan
of the diocese of Chichester, walking with him in the church
yard, said that they that rule about the King make him
great bankettey and geve him swete wynes and make him
dronke, and that then they bring him byllis and he puttyth
his sign to them whereby they doo what they will and no
man may Correcte them V Margaret Chanseler, of Senklers
Bradfeld in Suffolk, spinster, was forced to confess before
Sir Robert Drury in February, 1535, that, when drunk and
under the influence of an evil spirit, she had said, in pre
sence of Edmond Tyllet and Anthony Harward, that the
quenes grace had om? child by our sou^reigne lorde the
Kynge, which the seid (child) was ded borne, & she prayed
god that she myght neuer haue other ; also that the quenes
grtfce was a noughtty hoore & that the Kynges grace ought
not to mary within his realme. Tyllet and Harward, when
summoned, made the matter somewhat worse. They declared

1 Cal. ix. 74. 2 Cal. xi. 300 (2).

118 THOMAS CROMWELL

that the spinster had called the Queen a goggyll yed hoore/
and that she had added God save queen Katteryn for
she was ryghtuous queen, & that she trusted to see her
queen Ageyn & that she should warrant the same 1 . All
the magistrates before whom these depositions were laid,
received ample instructions from Cromwell how to deal with
every case ; if the accusation was very heavy, the offender was
usually sent up to the minister himself to answer for his
misdeeds at head quarters. The punishments in these cases
were very severe : there are almost no records of the penalties
inflicted on those against whom the depositions were brought,
but there is reason to believe that comparatively slight mis
demeanours were not seldom rewarded with death.

But of all the devices For the putting the Kyng^ subiecto
and other in more terroure/ as Cromwell once expressed it 2 ,
the most ruthless remains to be mentioned. The execution
of the Carthusians had had its effect, but Cromwell was per
suaded that more blood would have to be spilled before his
victory could be considered complete. As was usual with
him, he laid the axe at the root of the tree, and chose as his
victims the noblest and foremost in the land. The opinions
of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More were well known to
be opposed to the Royal Supremacy, and as such they carried
enormous weight. Cromwell must have seen that it would
be impossible to establish the King in his new position with
any security, until these two men were either converted or
destroyed. So, never once swerving from his purpose, nor
letting the rank and position of these distinguished men
change or deter him, he set about the business of making
or marring, with his usual directness and method. If he
knew More and Fisher at all well, he must have been reason
ably certain that he could never alter their convictions, so it
became necessary for him to look for some adequate pretext
for getting rid of them. Such a pretext soon presented
itself.

In July, 1533, occurs the first mention of serious disturbance
due to the visions and prophecies of Elizabeth Barton, better

1 Cal. viii. 196. 2 Letters, 107.

INTERNAL POLICY 119

known as the Nun of Kent 1 . Her reputation for holiness
and for divine inspiration was so high throughout the land,
that her mad follies were everywhere regarded with almost
superstitious reverence. Cromwell, at the King s command,
caused her to be examined by Cranmer, but apparently did
not succeed in eliciting the information he desired, for the in
vestigation was continued by other interrogators who were
less leniently disposed than the Archbishop 2 . The Nun was
finally obliged to confess that she never Hadd Vision in all
her Lyff, but all that ever she said was fayned of her
owne ymagynaczon, only to satisfie the Myndeis of theym
Whiche Resorted vnto her, and to obtayn worldly prayse V
She and her accomplices were forced to read their public
confessions on a scaffold erected at Paul s Cross, while
a sermon was preached in denunciation of the fraud. In the
following spring she was condemned to death in Parliament,
and in April she was executed with some of her accomplices

at Tyburn 4 .

But the destruction of the Nun was only of secondary
importance for Cromwell s plans ; he was mainly looking for
some mesh in which he could entrap others of whom he was
in much more fear than Elizabeth Barton. Every effort
appears to have been made to elicit from her a confession of
communication with the divorced Queen, but without success.
More and Fisher, however, were not destined to escape so
easily. Because the Bishop of Rochester, after several inter
views with the unhappy woman, had not reported to Henry
her disloyal prophecies (which the Nun had already made in
presence of the King himself), it was taken as a sign of
treason and neglect of duty to the sovereign. The long letter
which Cromwell wrote to Fisher in February, 1534, gives
a detailed account of the numerous and unfounded charges
against him 5 . This letter impresses the reader as having
been written pro forma only. Cromwell must have realized
that he could never hope to overcome two men who were so

1 Cal. vi. 835. 2 Letters, 52 ; Cal. vi. 967, 1445-

3 British Museum, Harl. MSS. 6, 148 f, 40 a.

4 Cal. vii. 54 (31), 522. 5 Letters, 68.

120 THOMAS CROMWELL

much his intellectual superiors as More and Fisher, in an
argument. He therefore carefully avoided having any con
versation with them, and wrote to them only in order to have
some slight outward justification for his arbitrary action.
Fisher sent pathetic letters to the King and the Lords, when
Cromwell refused to accept his excuses or listen to his argu
ments, but in vain. His name was included in the Act of
attainder of Elizabeth Barton and her accomplices which was
passed in March, 1534, but his life was spared until the King
could find a more valid pretext for actually destroying him 1 .

The accusations in the case of Sir Thomas More were even
more groundless than in Fisher s. The only charges that
could be proved against him were an unimportant interview
with the Nun herself, a letter which he confessed to have
written to her, warning her to leave political subjects entirely
alone, and an insignificant conversation about her with a
certain father Resbye, Friar Observant of Canterbury 2 . So
much was made of these slight accusations, however, that
More was forced to write a long letter of excuse to Cromwell.
His explanations about the Nun and about his attitude on
the Papal Supremacy appear to have been satisfactory ;
when he was examined by Cromwell and Audeley, all the in
ventiveness of his accusers seemed to be used to no purpose.
As the King did not find/ says Chapuys, as it seems
he hoped, an occasion for doing him more harm, he has
taken away his salary 3 . But this unfortunately was not
destined to be the end of the affair ; if the King was not
determined on the ex-Chancellor s destruction, his Privy
Councillor was ; but Cromwell was forced to bide his time
and wait for a better opportunity, so that further proceedings
were stayed until the following April.

In the meantime the new Act of Succession had been
passed in Parliament, and the oath of allegiance which it
required was promptly tendered to More and Fisher, who
finally consented to swear to the statute itself but not the
preamble 4 . They were unwilling to give their reasons for

1 Cf. Lewis, chap, xxxii. ! Cal. vii. 296.

2 Cal. vii. 287. * Cal. vii. 499, and Letters, 71,

INTERNAL POLICY 121

rejecting the latter, but Cranmer cannot have been far wrong
when he wrote to Cromwell that the cause of their refusal
to accept it lay in it s attacks on the authority of the Pope and
the validity of the King s first marriage 1 . The Archbishop,
ever on the side of humanity, urged the King s minister to
accept the compromise which More and Fisher offered, but in
vain. The ex-Chancellor and the aged bishop were com
mitted to the Tower, which they never quitted again. For
more than a year they remained there subjected to every
sort of indignity, until on May 5, 1535, they were sum
moned by the King, and told that unless they swore to the
Act of Succession and the Royal Supremacy, they would be
treated no better than the Carthusian monks who had lately
been executed 2 . They were allowed six weeks for reflection,
but they replied that they would not change their opinion in
six hundred years, if they lived so long. So strong was the
popular feeling however, that it is doubtful if Henry would
have dared to execute Fisher, simply because he said that
the King, our sovereign Lord, is not Supreme Head of the
Church of England ; but when it was announced that the
Pope, at a consistory held May 20, had created him a Cardinal,
the King was so enraged that he threw all caution to the
winds. He declared in his fury that he would give Fisher
another hat, and send his head to Rome for the Cardinal s hat
afterwards/ and ordered both his prisoners to swear to his
ecclesiastical headship before St. John s Day, or suffer punish
ment as traitors 3 . Cromwell had endeavoured from the
beginning to keep up the appearance of being reluctant to
punish the aged bishop and his noble companion, and there is
record that when he heard of the latter s first refusal to
abandon his beliefs, he sware a great oath V But in spite of
this there is every reason to think that he was the true cause
of the ex-Chancellor s death. It is not likely that Henry
would have consented to the execution of a man whom he

1 Strype, Cranmer, vol. i. p. 39 ; Lewis, chaps, xxxiv, xxxv, and

vol. ii. p. 693. xxxvi.

Cal. viii. 666. 4 Cal. vii. 575.
! Cal. viii. 742, 876. Cf. also

122 THOMAS CROMWELL

had formerly loved and respected as much as More, unless his
counsellor had poisoned his heart against him. Moreover,
the mentions of More and Fisher in Cromwell s remem
brances are so frequent and of such a character, as to leave
little doubt that he had determined to ruin them from the
first. They both suffered death by beheading in the summer
of 1535 *. It was a terrible evidence of the ruthlessness of
the forward policy to which Henry had now committed
himself by the advice of his new minister. The most brilliant
and cultivated Englishman of the time had been brought to
the block to bear testimony to the King s relentless anger ; the
gentleness and humility of the oldest prelate in the realm had
not shielded him from Henry s wrath and the swift, passion
less blow of his all-powerful agent. Terror had mastered the
country, and men wondered what the end would be 2 .

But though Cromwell s truculent measures had gained the
day in England, they excited the anger and horror of
continental Europe. Sentence of excommunication had been
passed on Henry in the summer of 1534; public opinion
would not have permitted the Pope longer to postpone the
final blow, even if he had wished to do so. It now became
more than ever necessary to defend the position of the King^
and Cromwell was busily occupied in filling the pulpit at
Paul s Cross with preachers who were willing and able to
expound the word of God to Henry s profit and advantage 3 .
In this he was greatly helped by Bishop Rowland Lee of
Coventry and Lichfield, who later played such an important
part in connexion with the subjugation of Wales. In seeking
means to defend the Royal Supremacy Cromwell s knowledge
of the law stood him in good stead. In a letter written in
the year 1538, Sir Thomas Denys tells how Cromwell three
years earlier had advised him to rede in a boke called
Bratton 4 nott vnwrittyn this cccc yer^ where he doth call the

1 Lewis, chap, xxxvii ; Roper, su Corona, sujecion, y terror en
55. los vassallos. Mendez Silva, p.

2 * Obraua Cromuel, estas, y otras 13.
atrocidades libremente, dando a" 3 Letters, 197.

entender ser conueniencia del * Henry de Bracton s De Legi-
Principe, para la estabilidad de bus et Consuetudinibus Angliae.

INTERNAL POLICY

123

Grace Vicarins Christi^ .... wherfor, he continues,
1 1 do rekyn a papiste and a traitow to be one thing V But
the most drastic of the measures which Cromwell adopted to
strengthen the power of the Crown was the famous Act
about Proclamations, which he was able to force the Lords
and Commons to pass in 1539. By this statute, all Proclama
tions made by the King and Council were given the force
of Acts passed in Parliament, save when they touched- the
subject s lives, lands, goods, or liberties, or infringed the estab
lished laws ; and these exceptions were expressly declared
inapplicable to those who should disobey proclamations con
cerning heresy. Cromwell had planned for the passage of this
statute from a period at least as early as 1535. A letter 2
which he wrote to Norfolk in July of that year affords us
interesting information concerning the origin of the measure.
In a controversy about the best means of preventing the
export of coin from the realm, the Chief Justice had delivered
the opinion that * For the avoyding of any suche daungers . . .
proclamacyons and polyces so deuysyd by the King & his
cownsayll for any such purpose sholde be of as good effect as
Any law made by parlyament or otherwyse V The Chief

1 Cal. xiii. (i) 120.

: Letters, 107.

The following passage from a
letter which Gardiner wrote to the
Protector Somerset in the reign of
Edward VI gives a slightly dif
ferent account of the origin of the
Act about Proclamations :

Whether the King may com
mand against the Common Law
or an Act of Parliament there is
never a Judge, or other man in the
realm, ought to know more by ex
perience of that the Lawyers have
said, than I ... being of the Coun
cil, when many Proclamations were
devised against the Carriers out of
Corn ; when it came to punishing
the Offenders the Judges would
answer, it might not be by the Laws,
because the Act of Parliament gave

liberty, Wheat being under a price :
wherupon at the last followed the
Act of Proclamations, in the passing
whereof were many large words.

It will be noticed that this ac
count of the origin of the Act is
in many ways similar to that con
tained in Cromwell s letter : the
chief difference being that accord
ing to the latter the measure was
adopted to prevent the export of
coiri) while Gardiner informs us that
the statute was devised to prevent
the export of corn. It is possible
that the Bishop of Winchester,
writing so many years later, had
forgotten the exact circumstances,
and was really referring to the
same incident as that described
by Cromwell. Burnet has printed
Gardiner s letter in full (Collection

124

THOMAS CROMWELL

Justice probably came to this decision at a hint from Cromwell ;
in any case the latter saw that the good work which had been
already begun could not be considered complete until the
opinion expressed had been given legal form. From this time
onward there occur in his remembrances frequent mentions
of an Act to be passed in Parliament to this effect, but the
measure proposed was so radical, that with all his energy and
unscrupulousness, it was four years before he was able to carry
it through *.

of Records and Original Papers,
&c., part ii, book i, no. 14), but
he does not seem to have made
use of the information it contains ;
for in another part of his work
(part i, book iii, p. 423) he asserts
that the Act about Proclamations
was the result of the great excep
tions made to the legality of the
King s proceedings in the articles
about religion and other injunctions
published by his authority, which
were complained of as contrary to
law. Hallam (vol. i. p. 35 n.) ap
parently agrees with Burnet in this
last statement, and ignores the
evidence supplied by the letter of
the Bishop of Winchester. It is
probable that both writers have
gone astray in this matter. The
opposition aroused by the King s
ecclesiastical proclamations may
have hastened the passage of the
Act, but they can scarcely be re
garded as its origin in the face of
the testimony of Cromwell and
Gardiner. Burnet and Hallam were
perhaps led to ascribe the source
of the statute to religious matters,
by the fact that the Act was passed
almost simultaneously with the Six
Articles, and by the special pro
vision which it contained concern
ing heretics.

1 Canon Dixon (History of the

Church of England, vol. ii. p. 129)
sees in the Act about Proclamations
a timid attempt to draw the pre
rogative within the limits of regular
legislation, 3 and seeks to show that
its true intent was to curtail, while
legalizing, a power which the Crown
had exercised hitherto illegally and
without any restraint. It is doubt
less true that the King had issued
proclamations before, and had en
forced obedience to them, without
the sanction of law ; and it is
equally certain that the intent of
this Act (like that of so many
others which Cromwell devised)
was to legalize a privilege of which
the Crown had already made use.
But it is more difficult to agree
with the reasoning by which Canon
Dixon attempts to show that the true
purpose of this process of legaliza
tion was to restrict and not to con
firm the power of the King. It is
pretty certain that the practical value
of these limitations was in reality
far less than at first appeared ; for,
as Hallam and Burnet justly re
mark, the immediate effect of them
was to confer great power on the
judges, upon whom the duty of
interpreting the statute devolved;
and the judges mere puppets in
the hands of Henry and Cromwell
-were sure to render every verdict

INTERNAL POLICY 125

It is scarcely necessary to state that a legislative body
which could be forced to consent to such a statute as this
retained in practice but few traces of that independence of
the Crown which it theoretically possessed. The passage
of the Act about Proclamations marks the culmination of a
process begun long before Cromwell came into power, but
only perfected at the close of his ministry, by which the
subserviency of Parliament to the royal will was secured.
But though the system did not reach its highest development
until 1539, the earlier years of Cromwell s administration
show such an advance over that of his predecessor in this
particular, that we are justified in regarding the entire period
of his ministry as the golden age of Tudor despotism. From
the time that the Commons permitted the King and his
counsellor to force on them the petition against the clergy
in 1532, it is scarcely too much to say that the sole function
of Parliament was to register the decrees which emanated
from the royal council chamber.

Of course in order to render Parliament as tractable as
it was, it became necessary for Cromwell to regulate the
choice of members for the King s profit, and the success of
his endeavours in this direction is little short of marvellous.
Royal interference in elections was certainly not unknown

in favour of the Crown. The ex- the true significance of the Act are
ceptions in the Act about Procla- certainly correct : The prerogative
mations may well be compared to could not soar to the heights it
the Quantum per Christi legem aimed at, till thus imped by the per-
licet, which had been tacked on fidious hand of Parliament. The
to the recognition of the King s fact that the statute was repealed in
Supremacy. Both were concessions the first year of Edward VI simply
granted merely as a sop to the proves that it was so unpopular
popular feeling : both were so that it was impossible to renew it,
guarded that they could easily when the strong hand of Henry VIII
be rendered nugatory. Finally, had been removed. Cf. Hume, vol.
the fact that Cromwell himself iii. pp. 255, 256 ; Hallam, vol. i.
was so active in assisting the p. 35 ; and Blackstone, vol. i. p. 269.
passage of this statute should be There is a curious passage in Beo-
a conclusive proof that its real aim wulf (11. 67-73), i n which the King
was not to legalize and limit, but rules as he wills, saving his sub-
to legalize and confirm the power jects lives and heritages, that is
of the Crown. The straightforward in striking congruence with this
verdicts of Hume and Hallam on Act.

126 THOMAS CROMWELL

before his time, but it had not attained the proportions which
it was destined to assume under Cromwell, and it was often
strongly resented by the people. It was only with much
difficulty, that Henry VII, in the year 1506, succeeded in
forcing the citizens of London to abandon the right to elect
their own sheriff, which had been granted them by the charter
of Henry 1 1 , and to accept the royal nominee to that office a .
But thirty years later, the Crown had carried its encroach
ment on the popular liberties so far that it seemed to be
usually regarded as a matter of course that a royal nomina
tion should take the place of a fair election. If any protest
was raised against Henry s palpable infringement of ancient
rights and this was very rarely the case the King and
his minister affected to regard the complaint with a^ort
of indignant amazement. Let us examine the details of an
election in Canterbury, which took place when Cromwell was
at the height of his power. Writs had been issued for the
choice of two members to Parliament from that city in early
May, 1536* Between eight and nine in the morning of the
eleventh of that month, the sheriff, John Hobbys, caused the
commonalty of Canterbury to assemble in the accustomed
place, where John Starky and Christopher Levyns were duly
elected burgesses. After the voters had dispersed, about
noon-time, John Alcok, the mayor of Canterbury, came to
Sheriff Hobbys in great perplexity, with a letter from
Cromwell and Audeley, which desired, on the King s behalf,
that Robert Derknall and John Bryges shulde fulfill the seid

1 Stubbs, Const. Hist., vol. i. Maior that he should cause an elec-
p. 439- tion to bee made for a new Sheriffe,

2 * William Copingar, Thomas at which day, came into the Guild
Johnson, Sherifes. These Sherifes Hall Mayster Edmond Dudley the
being on the morrow after Michael- Kings President, and there shewed
mas day by the Maior and Alder- the King s letters, that his corn-
men presented before the Barons mons shoulde name for the Kings
of the Exchequer, only William pleasure, William Fitz William, to
Copingar was admitted and sworne, bee Sheriffe for the peace ensuing,
but Thomas Johnson they woulde which with much difficulty at length
not admitte till they knew far- was granted, which William Fitz
ther of the Kings pleasure. The William kept his feast the Six-
x of October a commandment was teenth day of October. Stow s
brought from the King to the Lord Chronicle, p. 879.

INTERNAL POLICY 127

On the following morning the sheriff directed a humble
letter to Cromwell l , stating the facts, and begging that the
election of Starky and Levyns might be allowed to stand, as
the King s wishes were not known until too late ; if your seid
letters had come to me by fore the seid eleccion, he pleaded,
1 1 wolde haue done the best that had been in my powr to
(have) Accomplished our Souereigne lord the YLinges pleasure
and yoz/rs in the premysses. But the King s minister gave
no heed to the representations of John Hobbys : the fact that
an election had already been held did not trouble him in the
least: the King s will was to be accomplished at all costs.
On May 18 he addressed a significant letter to the Mayor
and Burgesses of Canterbury, which was quite sufficient
to induce the recipients to nullify their former proceedings.
The phraseology of the letter is noteworthy : the King s
minister did not discuss the fact that his first message had
arrived too late. He simply reminded the burgesses that the
King s pleasure had been signified to them, and that they
1 the same litle or nothynge regardynge but rather cotemn-
yg* had elected their own candidates, according to their
owne wylles and myndes cowtrarie to the kingly plesure and
comandemewt in that behalfe. This of course was a thing
whereat the King did * not a lytell marvell, and the burgesses
were admonished notwythstondynge the seyd elecczbn to
1 precede to a new and electe thosse other, accordyng to the
tenure of the former letters : they were also desired to notify
Cromwell at once * if any persone wyll obstynatly gaynsay
the same, so that the King s minister might deal with the
refractory burgess according to his master s pleasure. Two
days later Mayor Alcok replied with the following dutiful
letter. In humble Wise certefie you that the xx th Day
of this present monyth of Maye at vi of the Clok in the
mornyng I John Alcok mayre of Cauntebury receyved your
letters Dyrected to me the seid mayre Sheryf and Comynaltie
of the seid Citie sygnyfying to vs therby the kynges plesure
and co;^maundement is that Robert Darknall and John
Bryges shoulde be burgesses of the P^Hyament for thesame

1 Cal. x. 852.

128

THOMAS CROMWELL

V

Citie of Cauntebury by Vertue wherof accordyng to our bounde
Dutye immedyatly vppon the syght of your seid \ettew and
contend thereof p^rceyved caused the Comynaltye of the
seid Citie to Assemble in the Court Hall ther wher appered
the nombre of Fower score and xvii p^rsones Citizens and
Inhabltauntes of theseid Citie And accordyng to the Kyng^
plesure and Cowmaundement frely with one voyce and with
out any contradiccon haue elected and chosen the fore-seid
Robert Darkenall and John Bryges to be burgesses of the
ptfrlyament for thesame Citie which shalbe duly certefied by
Indenture vnder the scales of the seid Citizens and Inhaby-
taunter by the grace of the blyssyd Trynyte Who preserue
you . . . V Such was the calm way in which parliamentary
suffrage rights were made of no effect and the King s pleasure
enforced. It is important to notice in this connexion how
careful Henry and Cromwell were to cloak their most un
warrantable proceedings by the preservation of ostensible
constitutionalism. Never was the now farcical form of a fair
election abandoned ; never did the King fail outwardly to
observe those legal restrictions by which the Crown was
supposedly fettered, and the liberties of the nation theoreti
cally preserved. The autocracy which Cromwell had done
so much to establish was carried on within and upon the
already existing constitution, and the public protest was thus
in great measure disarmed.

It is no wonder that the invaluable services which Cromwell
rendered to the Crown were rewarded by an almost exclusive

1 The letter of Cromwell to the
Mayor and Burgesses of Canter
bury (Letters, 148) is now in the
British Museum ; it was put into
my hands by the kindness of
Mr. Brodie of the Public Record
Office. It was overlooked at the
time of the compilation of the tenth
volume of the Calendar, and escaped
the search of Fronde and Fried-
mann, both of whom discuss the
details of this election at some
length. Its discovery throws much

fresh light on the history of one of
the most famous cases of arbitrary
interference in the choice of mem
bers to Parliament that has come
down to us from Tudor times.
The reply of the Mayor (Cal. x.
929) is comparatively well known.
Froude has printed it in full (vol. iii.
p. 347), but has misread the name
of one of the burgesses, which is
Darkenall or Derknall, not
Sacknell.

INTERNAL POLICY 129

enjoyment of the royal confidence, which enabled him soon
to do almost what he pleased with his two great rivals,
Norfolk and Gardiner. At first he had cautiously held him
self aloof from these men, but now that he had outstripped
them in the King s favour, his bearing towards them altered
accordingly. It is a very significant fact that in his ten years
of service, he never left the King for any considerable length
of time, but often contrived to get Norfolk and Gardiner sent
away the one to cope with internal troubles, the other to act
as ambassador to France. Cromwell succeeded in harassing
them both while they were at Court, and in making them
abandon every pretence to consistency. Chapuys, in a letter
of December 9, 1533, tells us that Norfolk, hitherto the most
pronounced of Catholics, uttered * a thousand blasphemies
against the Pope, even more shocking than those of the King,
calling him c an unhappy whoreson, a liar, and a wicked man;

and that it should cost him (Norfolk) wife and children

and all that he possessed, or that he would be revenged on him.
He has a good deal changed his tune, for it was he .... who
favoured most the authority of the Pope ; but he must act in
this way not to lose his remaining influence, which apparently
does not extend much further than Cromwell wishes ; for which
reason, I understand, he is wonderfully sick of the Court 1 .
In the spring of 1535 the Duke was forced to surrender
entirely, and retire to his estate at Kenninghall. Gardiner
had to abandon the Secretaryship in 1534 in Cromwell s
favour. The new minister tantalized him in much the same
way as he did Norfolk, and doubtless increased the enmity
of the Bishop of Winchester, which he had first incurred
at the time of Wolsey s fall, and which five years later
was to be such an important factor in effecting his own
destruction.

Cromwell was perhaps the only man at the Court who, in
the early days of his ministry, had the least suspicion that
Anne Boleyn might sometime lose the royal favour. He
was able to comprehend the King s love for her better than
anyone else, and to discern that when the royal passion had

1 Cal. vi. 1510.

MERRIMAN. I K

130 THOMAS CROMWELL

been satisfied, Henry s affection for his second wife would
be a thing of the past. The King s chagrin that Anne had
not brought him a male child, and the rage awakened by her
subsequent miscarriage could not have escaped him. From
thenceforth he must have become convinced that her ruin was
ultimately certain, and he began to throw out hints that he
no longer wished to be reckoned among her adherents. In
April, 1536, it was notorious that there was a marked cool
ness between them, and a month later a very unexpected
turn in foreign affairs brought matters to a head and forced
him to take active measures against her, in order to save his
own reputation with the King l . There is reason to think
that he was the prime mover in the plot which led to her
arrest. He certainly worked against her at her trial, and was
present at her execution ; in fact he took every possible step
to forestall all chances of being included in her fall. His
sudden abandonment of one whom a few years before he had
done so much to support, should be enough to confute those
who have seen in his previous devotion to the cause of
Anne Boleyn an evidence that he favoured the Reformed
faith. Anne was certainly a professed Protestant ; she
possessed the English Bible and read it ; but it was only
because her Protestantism was temporarily useful to Cromwell s
designs, which were to obtain for his master a divorce from
Katherine, that he identified himself with her party during
the first years of his ministry. When the divorce had been
secured, and Henry had been declared Supreme Head of the
Church of England ; when the love which Anne had once
enjoyed had been transferred to Jane Seymour, and
Cromwell saw that to favour the cause of the unhappy
Queen in opposition to the King might mean ruin and
disgrace, he deserted her at once.

Nor can the fact that Cromwell s name figures prominently
in connexion with the publication of the Ten Articles of
1536 be justly urged as a reason for ascribing to him any
real devotion to the cause of Protestantism. Now that the

1 Cal. x. 351, 601, 1069, and Froude, The Divorce of Catherine
footnote to page 232. Cf. also of Aragon, pp. 413-5.

INTERNAL POLICY 131

severance from Rome was complete, the King and his minister
saw that a definition of the faith of the Church of England
had become necessary, in order that the unity of the new
ecclesiastical system might be preserved. The Ten Articles
of 1536 were adopted to make good this deficiency. Circum
stances had rendered them inevitable, and the fact that
Cromwell presented them to Convocation, and signed them
first of all the members proves nothing, except perhaps the
importance of his ecclesiastical office. The Ten Articles
declared the Bible and the three Creeds to be the only Rule
of Faith : Penance, Baptism, and the Eucharist were kept as
sacraments : the veneration of saints, soliciting of their inter
cession, use of images, and the usual ceremonies in the service,
though still held to be highly profitable, and as such worthy
to be retained, were pronounced in themselves powerless to
justify the soul 1 . But though the main aim of these Articles
was doubtless to preserve the integrity of the Church of
England at home, the time and circumstances under which
they were published seem to indicate that they were also
intended to serve a purpose abroad. We shall hear of them
in this connexion in another chapter.

Cromwell s zeal for the publication of the Bible in English,
and also his injunctions to the clergy 2 , must in the same way
be attributed to political rather than to religious motives.
He saw what a powerful weapon the Bible had become in
the hands of the German Reformers, and soon succeeded
in forcing Convocation, on December 19, 1534, to present
a petition to the King for the suppression of treasonable
books in the vulgar tongue, and for a translation of the
Scriptures into English 3 . Less than two years later
Cromwell s efforts were rewarded by the appearance of an
edition of the Scriptures patched together out of Douche 4
and Latyn by his friend Miles Coverdale. There seems
to have been a very general impression current that all
passages which might have been interpreted in favour of
Katherine, had purposely been rendered in the opposite

Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 817. 3 Cal. vii. 1555.

1 Letters, 159, 266, 273. 4 < High Dutch not Low Dutch

K 2

132 THOMAS CROMWELL

sense 1 . But this version was soon destined to be superseded.
The following year witnessed the appearance of the edition
which is usually known as Matthew s Bible, and which con
sisted of a combination of the translations of Tyndale and
Coverdale. It received the official sanction of Cromwell and
Cranmer, but its life was almost as short as that of its
predecessor. In the autumn of 1537 Grafton and Whit-
church, two London printers whose names had been con
nected with the previous editions, received a licence from
the King to publish a new version of the Bible at Paris,
where the facilities for carrying on their trade were better
than in England 2 . At first the work seems to have pro
gressed with great success, and in September, 1538, the King s
minister, in anticipation of its speedy completion, issued
injunctions that a copy of it should be placed in every church
at the cost of the parson and the parishioners, and that no
one was to be discouraged from reading it : he advised,
however, that the explication of obscure plac^ be referred
to men of higher iugement in scripture 3 . But Cromwell
was a little premature with his injunctions. An unforeseen
event occurred, which made the immediate publication of
the new edition impossible. The Royal Inquisition had
apparently got wind of the doings of Grafton and Whitchurch
at Paris, and just as the task was approaching completion,
they and all their subordinates, and the French printer at
whose house the work was being carried on, were suddenly
cited to appear before the Inquisitor-General for the realm
of France 4 . The Englishmen made haste to escape, without
even waiting to collect the implements of their trade or the
Bibles that had already been printed. Cromwell, on hearing
of the disaster, went with a piteous tale to the French
ambassador, telling him that he himself had contributed 600
marks towards the publication of the Bible in Paris, and
begging him to ask his master to permit the work to be
continued there, or at least to allow the copies already

1 Cal. x. 352, 698 ; xiv. (i) i86(v).

2 Cal. xii (ii), Appendix 35, and xii. (ii) 593.

3 Letters, 273. * Cal. xiii. (ii) 1085.

INTERNAL POLICY 133

finished to be sent to England safely, and not to suffer the
Inquisition to confiscate them. But Francis replied that
good things might be printed in England as well as in
France, but that bad things should never be permitted to
be printed in Paris, and he further refused to deliver up the
copies already completed. He was unable, however, to
prevent the final accomplishment of the work in London
in 1539 1 . The new version, commonly known as the Great
Bible, was the last authorized translation completed in the
reign of Henry VIII, but apparently great efforts had to be
made to prevent the publication of unlicensed editions. It
was not long before a royal commission was issued to
Cromwell, commanding him, in order to avoid diversity of
translations, to see that no man printed any English Bible
during the next five years except persons deputed by
himself 2 .

Perhaps the strongest point of Cromwell s domestic ad
ministration was his financial policy. He never forgot the
promise he had made on entering the King s service to make
Henry the richest king that ever was in England, for he
was shrewd enough to see that a full treasury was the first
essential to the attainment of the larger aim of his policy,
the establishment of a royal despotism. He skilfully con
trived that many of the measures of the earlier years of his
ministry, primarily intended to cut the bonds which held
England to Rome, should also serve to increase the wealth
of the Crown. The most noteworthy and successful of these
measures was the abolition of the Annates. There can be
little doubt that it was through Cromwell s agency that
a supplication was addressed to the King early in the year
1532 3 urging him to arrest the payment of First Fruits to the
Papacy : bokes of annates and remembrances concerning

1 Cal. xiii. (ii) 1163; xiv. (i) 37, cation or of Parliament. But the
371. Dixon, vol. ii. p. 77, and question is of minor importance:
Eadie, vol. i. p. 360. it is safe to say that neither body

2 Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 659. originated the Supplication, but that
Wilkins, vol. iii. p. 760. It is it was forced upon the Commons

not clear whether this petition was or the clergy by the King or his
put forth in the name of Convo- minister.

134 THOMAS CROMWELL

them are to be found in large numbers among the minister s
letters and papers 1 , and the petition by which the measure to
abolish the First Fruits was initiated was a method especially
characteristic of him, reminding us in many respects of the
way in which the independence of the clergy had been
attacked but a short time before. But the King was very
cautious in granting the request, which had thus been laid
before him. He had not yet given up all hope of a peaceful
solution of his difficulty with the Pope, and was not yet
prepared, as Cromwell was, openly to defy the Holy See.
So at first he determined to try the effect of a threat. The
immediate result of Cromwell s efforts was the passage in
Parliament of an Act 2 which abolished Annates, but preserved
to the Holy See certain payments on bulls obtained for
the election of bishops : the ratification of this statute by the
Crown, however, was expressly withheld, and the Act conse
quently remained inoperative, while a post was sent to Rome
to frighten the Pope about the Annates V But this plan
failed : Clement refused to be terrorized into submission ;
the King became convinced that a complete break was
inevitable, and, in July, 1533, the Act was ratified and declared
in force by letters patent 4 . The following year saw the
passage of another statute, which abolished all the payments
preserved by the exceptions to the Act of 1532 5 , and a little
later Parliament completed the work which Cromwell had
forced it to undertake by annexing the Annates to the
Crown 6 . Supplementary to these statutes was the Act
concerning Peter s Pence and Dispensations 7 , by which the
Pope was deprived of all contributions that had not already
been arrested by the Acts about Annates. The use to which
the rescued funds were put is aptly described by a significant
remembrance of Cromwell s to the effect that thenhabit-
aunt&y and peple of this realme shall pay yerely vnto the

1 Cal. vi. 299 (ix. x), 1381. In 2 23 Hen. VIII, c. 20.

one place occurs the significant 3 Cal. v. 879.

item To Remembre to make a 4 Cal. vi. 793.

byll for the parlyament touching 5 25 Hen. VIII, c. 20.

the augmentacyon of the Annattey. 6 26 Hen. VIII, c. 3.

British Museum, Titus B. i. 421. 7 25 Hen. VIII, c. 21.

INTERNAL POLICY 135

kyng for ever, in lieu or stede of smoke pence, whiche they
were wont to pay to the busshop of rome, for euery hed or
house a certayne small thyng for and towards the defense
of thys Realme, whiche may be ymployed in makyng of
forteresses throughout the Realme 1 . Another significant
paragraph, from a letter of Chapuys to Charles V, of Dec.
19, 1534, reads as follows: The King, besides the 30,000
pounds which he newly obtained from the clergy, and an
ordinary fifteenth from the laity, which was granted him
last year, and which may amount to 2cS,ooo pounds, has just
imposed a tax by authority of Parliament, of the twentieth
penny of all the goods of his subjects, and that foreigners
shall pay double, which will amount to a great sum. These
are devices of Cromwell, who boasts that he will make his
master more wealthy than all the other princes of Christen
dom: and he does not consider that by this means he
alienates the hearts of the subjects, who are enraged and in
despair, but they are so oppressed and cast down, that
without foreign assistance it is no use their complaining,
and it will not be Cromwell s fault, if they are not oppressed
further 2 .

The King s minister also appears to have been much
occupied with the coinage. He was constantly present at
assayes of gold and silver, and further took active steps to
stamp out the counterfeiters, of whom there appear to have
been a great number 3 . He caused a proclamation to be
issued for the false and clipped Coyne going in this Realme
with a greate punyshment to euery person that is founde with
any false or counterfeit moneye. The systematic debase
ment of the currency that disgraced the reign of Henry VIII
had begun under Wolsey, but appears to have ceased
entirely during Cromwell s ministry : it began again after
Cromwell s death, assuming far greater proportions than
before, and continued till the end 4 . That the King did not
need to resort to such costly methods of replenishing his

1 Cal. ix. 725 (i). 2 Cal. vii. 1554.

3 Cal. vii. 1304; ix. 144, 183; x. ii/o; xii. (ii), 1151.

4 Schanz, vol. i. pp. 535-7.

136 THOMAS CROMWELL

treasury while Cromwell was in power, bears eloquent testi
mony to the wisdom and success of his minister s finance.
The latter s efforts to prevent the conveying of coyne out
of the realme shows that he saw the importance of securing
plenty of good coin for English trade, and that he did not want
to create an artificial cheapness. The statutes of Henry VII
forbidding the export of precious metals had been renewed
by his son in an Act passed in 1511, but this law had
run out in 1523, and from that time onward there was no
legal hindrance to the practice, though the statutes enacted
previous to Tudor times were still considered in force l .
The result was that the earlier laws began to be transgressed,
and Cromwell, in devising methods to prevent further in
fringements of them, hit upon the expedient of a royal
proclamation, as we have already had occasion to notice.

Another most important measure passed during Cromwell s
ministry, was the so-called Statute of Uses 2 . It was at the
same time a legal and a financial reform. In order to evade
the common law, which prohibited testamentary disposition
of landed property and rendered it strictly subject to primo
geniture, the custom had long been prevalent that the owner
should name before or at his death certain persons to whose
use his lands should be held. These persons became to all
intents and purposes the true devisees ; for though the trustee,
or * feoffee to uses/ alone was recognized by the common law,
the beneficiary or cestui que use soon began to receive
strong support through the equitable jurisdiction of the
Chancellor, and so was often able actually to enforce claims
which originally had rested merely on moral obligation. This
was the usual method of circumventing the laws of the realm,
in order to make provision by will for younger children. In
this particular it was perhaps legitimate, but at the same
time it opened the way to a great number of abuses, which
are stated at length in the preamble to the statute just
mentioned. The chief of these were the extraordinary com-

Schanz, vol. i. p. 518. Digby, pp. 267-80, and Reeves,

2 27 Hen. VIII, c. 10. Cf. also vol. Hi. pp. 275-89.
on this and the following pages

INTERNAL POLICY 137

plication of titles to land, which resulted from the secret
methods of devising it, and the loss to the King and the
great lords of the feudal dues on successions, wardships, and
marriages. Two ineffectual attempts had been made to re
medy these evils in the reigns of Richard III and Henry VII J ,
and at Cromwell s accession to power the subject was
brought up again. There is reason to think that the Statute
of Uses was under consideration as early as 1531, and the
main principle of it bears a close resemblance to the measure
devised in the reign of Richard III. A mention of it occurs
in Cromwell s * remembrances of the year 1535-, but it was
not finally passed until 1536, probably on account of the
popular opposition, which, according to Chapuys, was very
pronounced. The upshot of the statute was, that all right
to the estate was taken from the grantee to uses and vested
in the beneficiary, and the distinction between legal and
beneficial ownership was thus entirely destroyed. The
ostensible tenant was made in every case the legal tenant ;
those entitled to the use of land became the actual
holders of it. The Act further was intended to abolish the
right to create further uses in the future : the power of
disposing of interests in land by will was thus removed, and
the King was restored to the enjoyment of his ancient
feudal dues.

Beyond the casual mention in his remembrances 3 there
is no precise record of Cromwell s connexion with this im
portant measure. It is worthy of note, however, that the
attainments needed to plan and draft such a statute were
precisely those which Cromwell possessed in the very highest
degree intimate knowledge of the law, and great shrewd
ness in finance. The bold and effective way in which the
measure struck at the root of the evil, and caused the
extra-legal practice which had grown up to become its own
ruin, is very characteristic of him. Furthermore, Cromwell
was certainly believed to be the originator of the measure
by the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace, which was partially

1 I Rich. Ill, c. i ; 4 Hen. VII, 2 Cal. viii. 892.

0.17. 3 Cal. viii. 892; ix. 725.

138 THOMAS CROMWELL

caused by it, and as such his death was demanded. It
therefore seems highly probable that it was he who devised
this scheme in order to deal the death blow to a very annoying
practice of evading the law, and to enrich the royal treasury.
The statute, however, was not entirely successful in attaining
the ends at which it aimed, for by a strained interpretation
of the letter of the Act, the courts managed to evade the spirit
of it, so that it failed to do away with the old distinction
between beneficial and legal ownership, which it had been
intended to destroy. In addition to this, the popular outburst
of indignation aroused by the Statute of Uses was so strong
that a few months before Cromwell s death he saw the actual
right of at least partial testamentary disposition of landed
property obtained by the people. The Act concerning the
willing of land by testament 1 , passed in the spring of 1540,
gave to every tenant in fee simple the right to bequeath
at his pleasure all lands which he held by socage tenure, and
two-thirds of the lands which he held by knight-service. The
force of usage was such that when the King and Cromwell
attempted to abolish a practice, which had rendered the
willing of land possible under another name, the actual right
to bequeath landed property without circumventing the law
was wrested from them.

The King was glad to entrust his capable adviser with the
preservation of that advantageous commercial position which
had been won for England through the masterful policy
of Henry VII. Cromwell s varied experience in foreign
markets and his intimate knowledge of all the details of the
wool-trade, which was by far the most important element
of English commerce, had taught him in his earlier years
many lessons of which the whole nation was to reap the
benefit. In general his administration witnessed but few
departures from the highly successful commercial policy
inaugurated by the first Tudor. His aim was rather to
strengthen the advantages already gained, and to increase
the security of English commerce and industry against the
competition of continental rivals, than to attempt any radical

1 32 Hen. VIII, c. i.

INTERNAL POLICY 139

innovations. The monopoly of the trade in the Mediterranean
which Venice had enjoyed in Lancastrian times, had been
a serious menace to the interests of the English merchants ;
but the Italian wars had now almost totally deprived the
Republic of that prominent political position which she had
occupied at the beginning of the century, and with the loss
of her national greatness her commercial supremacy fell.
The ancient privileges which had been granted to Venetian
merchants and galleys previous to Tudor times, had been
exchanged for a set of stringent enactments, which dealt
a heavy blow to her trade and shipping during the reign
of Henry VII. Cromwell followed the same policy, and
further seized the favourable opportunity afforded by Venice s
decline to foster the interests of English merchants in other
parts of the Mediterranean l . With the towns of the
Hanseatic League the case was slightly different. The
extensive privileges the merchants of the North German
cities had enjoyed in earlier times, had raised them to such
a commanding position that the growth of English com
merce in the north was rendered well-nigh impossible.
Henry VI Ts aim had been to overthrow the supremacy of the
Hanseatic League, by a gradual withdrawal of the concessions
which it had wrung from his predecessors. The early part
of his son s reign had witnessed a continuation of this wise
policy, but during Cromwell s ministry an alliance which the
threatening situation on the Continent had led England to
conclude with Liibeck, necessitated a temporary cessation
of the process of curtailing the privileges of the Hanse
merchants 2 . But the loud outcries of the people against the
destructive competition of the Germans were sufficient to
prevent Cromwell from making any permanent stand in their
favour. Political necessity alone had induced him to postpone
the complete withdrawal of their privileges : he knew that
the tendency of the times was irresistibly against the
Hanseatic towns, and he was perhaps the more willing
to grant them a few temporary concessions in that he realized
that nothing could ever raise them again to the position of

1 Schanz, vol. i. pp. 159, 160. 2 Cf. Schanz, vol. i. pp. 224-7.

140 THOMAS CROMWELL

dangerous rivals to English trade. His foresight was justified
by the event ; the process which Henry VII had begun was
completed by the fall of the Steelyard in the reign of
Elizabeth. A more difficult problem was presented by the
Netherlands. England and the Low Countries were com
mercially indispensable to each other ; the English wool-
market in Flanders was the centre of the mercantile interests
of both nations. The merchants of the Netherlands, however,
had contrived to get the better of their English neighbours
until the accession of the house of Tudor ; but the concessions
which resulted from the temporary removals of the English
wool-mart from Antwerp to Calais by Henry VII, and the
enormously advantageous commercial treaty which that King
was able to wring from the Archduke Philip when fortune
had thrown the latter into his hands in 1506, had completely
altered the situation to England s profit 1 . The efforts of
Henry VIII and Wolsey had been directed towards preserving
the provisions of the agreement of 1506, the validity of which
the Netherlanders were of course unwilling to acknowledge.
Cromwell went further than this ; his administration witnessed
not only the maintenance and increase of all the advantages
which his predecessor had secured, but also the discussion
of a plan for attaining complete commercial independence of
the Low Countries, by bringing home the English wool-mart
to London 2 . This scheme was not carried through, owing to
the unwillingness of the King to offend the Emperor; but the
news of the proposals for it was soon known in the Nether
lands, and was not without its effect there. The merchants
of the Low Countries were greatly alarmed lest they should
lose the English trade, and instead of opposing every move
which their rivals made, now began to grant them all possible
concessions. The Emperor s dread of alienating Henry also
contributed to force them to adopt a more conciliatory attitude
than ever before, and it may be justly said that at the close
of Cromwell s administration the mercantile relations of
England and the Netherlands were so regulated as to secure
every advantage for the former. Cromwell s whole commercial

1 Busch, vol. i. p. 149. 2 Schanz, vol. i. pp. 76-86, 107-8.

INTERNAL POLICY 141

policy was strongly influenced by his desire to increase
and improve English shipping, especially at the last, when
an invasion was threatened from the Continent 1 . His
remembrances are filled with items for appropriations for
building and rigging vessels of various kinds, and for making
and improving harbours 2 . He did his utmost to clear the
Channel of pirates, and was diligent in writing letters to
demand restitution of goods taken from English merchants at
sea 3 . In 1,54 he caused an Act to be passed for the
maintenance of the navy 4 : one of its provisions restricted
the privileges conferred on all foreign merchants by a pro
clamation in the previous year 5 to those who transported
their wares in English ships.

Throughout Cromwell s remembrances occur countless
minor items dealing with miscellaneous questions of internal
reform. Memoranda for the building and improvement of
roads and highways, for bettering the state of the coast
defences, and for the regulation of the rates of wages, are
especially numerous. In 1.538 he aided Norfolk in suppressing
a sort of strike among the Wisbech shoemakers, who had
agreed to stop work unless their wages were raised from
15^. to i8W. per dozen boots sewed 6 . It is perhaps un
necessary to state that this strike was regarded as a revolt
against authority, and that the masters gained an easy victory
over the men. Among Cromwell s injunctions to the clergy
in 1538 is an order to keep parish registers of births, marriages,
and deaths 7 . Apparently this measure was intensely un
popular, especially in the south-west of England, where
people seem to have got the notion that * some charges more
than hath been in time past shall grow to them by this
occasion of registering of these things 8 . Precisely what the
immediate object of the injunction was it is difficult to say,

1 Schanz, vol. i. pp. 372-4. custome and subsidy as the

2 Cal. xiv. (i) 399, 655. subiects. British Museum, Titus B.
Letters, 74, 190, 213. i. 572.

4 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14. 6 Cal. xiii. (ii) 57, 84, 91.

5 This proclamation, issued Feb. 7 Letters, 273.

26, 1539, decreed that for seven 8 Dixon, vol. ii. p. 83.
years straungers shall paye like

142 THOMAS CROMWELL

though there is little reason to think that the fears it aroused
among the people of Cornwall and Devonshire were realized.
It has been grudgingly applauded by one writer, and
characterized as an inadequate attempt to supply the loss
of the registers of various kinds which had been kept by
the monks l ; but its inadequacy, however great, might well
pass unmentioned, in the face of the many benefits which
later resulted from it. However unpopular the measure may
have been at the time, its author certainly deserves the thanks
of posterity for preserving a vast amount of valuable informa
tion which would otherwise have been lost.

A few words remain to be added concerning Cromwell s
zeal for the advancement of learning. As his political schemes
had caused him incidentally to take sides with the Reforma
tion, his object was to strengthen those who favoured the
new religion and opposed Rome. Education is necessary to
reform ; and Cromwell did not intend to leave to ignorant
men the task of carrying on the work he had begun. He
therefore took steps to see that the opportunities for learning
were improved. Among the injunctions which he issued to
the clergy in I536 2 , is a clause providing for an increased
number of exhibitions at the schools and the Universities,
to thintent that lerned men maye hereafter spring the more. 5
His dealings with Oxford and Cambridge do not seem to
have been very important, although in June, 1535, he was
appointed Chancellor of the latter in place of Fisher. He
appears to have been much occupied in suppressing the
various quarrels that constantly took place between the
students and the townspeople, and the letters which he wrote
to the Magistrates of Cambridge deal for the most part with
this problem 3 . In October, 1535* the King appointed him
Visitor to the University, and at the same time promulgated
nine injunctions in which he directed the Chancellor, Masters
and Scholars of Cambridge to abandon the frivolous questions
and obscure glosses of the schoolmen, to read and teach the
Scriptures, and to swear to the Royal Supremacy and the new

1 Dixon, vol. ii. p. 83. ! Letters, 106, 116, 124, 129, 186,

Letters, 159. 206.

INTERNAL POLICY 143

Succession 1 . Henry s minister, as usual, was the instrument
employed to see that the injunctions were enforced. Of
Cromwell s relations to Oxford still less remains to be said.
There are letters from him concerning the admission of a
President of Magdalen in 1535 2 , and the election of a Master
of Balliol in 1539. The latter appears to have been a most
disreputable character, and Cromwell s assertion that he was
chosen without any parcyalyte or corruptyon was certainly
false 3 . A very interesting but comparatively well-known
report from the pen of Dr. Layton gives us a vivid picture
of the state of the University in 1535, and tells of the founda
tion of several new lectures at the various colleges 4 .

As a reward for his success in the management of domestic
affairs, the King conferred on him the many dignities and
titles which, in 1536, marked the height of his power. He
had been raised to the offices of Privy Councillor, Master of
the Jewels, Clerk of the Hanaper, and Master of the King s
Wards in 1531 and 1532. The Chancellorship of the Ex
chequer had followed in 1533. He became Principal Secre
tary to the King in 1534, Master of the Rolls in the same
year, Vicar-general and Visitor-general of the Monasteries in
January, 1535, Lord Privy Seal, Vicegerent of the King in
Spirituals 5 in July, J 536. He was also created Baron Crom-

Cooper, vol. i. pp. 374, 375. In Cootes, formerly of Magdalen. He

the Calendar, ix. 615, these in- was Proctor in 1529. Davis, Balliol

junctions are apparently attributed College, pp. 82-86 ; Wood, Fasti

to Cromwell. But Cooper expressly Oxonienses, pt. i. p. 86.

states that the King promulgated 4 Cal. ix. 350.

them, while Strype (Ecclesiastical 5 On the Commissions to Crom-

Memorials, vol. i. (i) p. 322, and well as Vicar-general and Vice-

vol. i. (ii) pp. 218, 219) seems to gerent cf. Burnet, vol. i. pp. 292-3

think that they were drawn up by n., 342-3 //. ; Collier, vol. ii.

Legh and Ap Rice, though he p. 104 ; Gutch, vol. ii. p. 192 ; Her-

admits that they were issued in the bert, p. 202 ; Dixon, vol. i. pp. 244-

King s name. It seems very im- 247 ; Child, Church and State,

probable then that Cromwell wrote pp. 78, 79. It is probable that the

them, and I have not placed them last writer has confounded the two

among the letters. commissions : certainly there is

2 Letters, 104, and Wilson, Mag- little reason to think that the title

dalen College, p. 80. of Vicar-general was granted later

1 Letters, 325, 326. The name than that of Vicegerent,
of the Master was George Cotes or

144

THOMAS CROMWELL

well of Okeham in the same month, and Knight of the Garter
in August, 1537. During the last seven years of his ministry
he was granted no less than nineteen minor offices, through
which his income must have been very greatly increased J . Just
prior to the outbreak of the Pilgrimage of Grace, Cromwell s
position was almost that of a despot. He was supreme in
Convocation, Privy Council, and Parliament ; he enjoyed para
mount authority in the direction of internal affairs, and next
to the King was by far the most important man in the realm.
A letter of Chapuys in the summer of i536 2 , soon after
Anne Boleyn s execution, tells us that it was even rumoured
that Cromwell might marry the Princess Mary, but the Im
perial ambassador himself was too shrewd to be misled by such
an improbable report 3 . Had Cromwell seriously entertained the
idea of a union with the daughter of the divorced Queen, he
would scarcely have permitted himself to be made use of by the
King as an instrument for breaking down her resolution : he
could scarcely have written her such a brutal letter as that of
June 10, 1536 4 . But the inequality in rank is certainly in
itself sufficient proof of the absurdity of the proposition.
Cromwell was about the last man in the world to become

1 See vol. ii. p. 283.

2 Cal. xi. 41.

3 An event which took place in
July, 1536, may possibly have been
the source of this rumour. It ap
pears that Cromwell had a gold
ring made, with the figures of the
Queen, King, and Princess carved
on it, and the following Latin in
scription :

Obedientia unitatem parit,
Unitas animi quietem et con-

stantiam ;

Constans vero animi quies the
saurus inestimabilis.
Respexit humilitatem
Qui in Filio nobis reliquit
Perfectum humilitatis exemplar.
Factus est obediens Patri.
Et ipsa etiam natura parentibus
Et patrie obediendum docuit.

This ring he intended to bestow on
the Princess Mary, but apparently
the King got wind of the plan and
put a stop to it, taking the ring
away from his minister, on the plea
that he desired to have the honour
of presenting it to his daughter
himself. The episode should have
been sufficient to show that even if
Cromwell had any idea of marrying
the Princess, the King s opposition
to the plan would prove insur
mountable. The inscription on the
ring, moreover, surely indicates that
the gift was intended rather as a
reminder to the Princess of her duty
towards her father, than as a preli
minary to a matrimonial proposal.
Cal. xi. 148.
4 Letters, 150.

INTERNAL POLICY 145

reckless with success ; he never for a moment forgot his low
birth, and the imprisonment of the brother of his rival the
Duke of Norfolk for presuming to wed the King s niece was
a warning of the danger of such a proceeding, which could
not have been lost on him 1 . If such a proposition were put
forward at all, and we cannot believe that it was, it could
only have been as a pretext to prevent the Princess from
leaving the realm and joining with her cousin the Emperor
in an attempt to dethrone the King.

Cromwell was certainly shrewd enough to see that he
could never hope to marry into a reigning house himself,
but he was none the less anxious that his son Gregory
should wed such a wife as would enable him to found a noble
family. In April, 1533, Gregory had been taken from Cam
bridge, and sent to live with his father s friend Dr. Rowland
Lee, with whom he appears to have spent a summer in hunt
ing 2 . In 1535 he came out into public life, and in 1539
he was summoned to Parliament as a peer of the realm.
Two years earlier he had been able to contract an advantageous
marriage with the widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred, sister
of Jane Seymour 3 . This fortunate match must be attributed
to his father s influence, for Gregory seems to have been
entirely without ambition, and such an idea would never
have entered his mind ; his father, on the contrary, was pre
cisely the man to think of it. The number of grants either
made jointly to Cromwell and his son, or providing for the
succession of the latter at his father s death 4 , corroborates
the theory that the King s great minister wished Gregory
to be the heir of all his possessions and emoluments as far
as might be, and desired to raise his family to a permanent
position among the English nobility.

Of course Cromwell was obliged in large measure to abandon
his private business after he definitely entered the King s ser
vice, but his new position brought him far greater riches
than he could possibly have amassed in his old occupations.
The various inventories of his goods indicate great wealth

1 Cal. xi. 147. Cal. xii. (ii) 423.

5 Cal. vi. 913, 981, ion, 1014. 4 As Cal. viii. 571.

MERRIMAN. I L

146 THOMAS CROMWELL

and prosperity. He gave costly New Year s presents at the
Court, and owned several houses, all of them magnificently
furnished l . After October, 1534, when he was made Master of
the Rolls, his correspondence shows him to have been con
stantly in residence at the Rolls House, where he held his
Court. Writing in 1535, the Prioress of Little Marlowe
complained that so great was the crowd of his visitors there,
that it was impossible to gain access to him 2 .

1 Cal. ix. 478, 862 ; xiv. (i) 5. 2 Cal. viii. 108.

CHAPTER VIII

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS

THOUGH Cromwell was so busily occupied in England
itself, he was far from neglecting the adjoining countries.
The subjugation of Ireland, the pacification of Scotland, and
the reform of Wales and Calais, played a very important part
in his political programme. He plainly saw that the English
King s position could not be regarded as secure while these
countries remained in the state in which they were at Wolsey s
fall, and he determined as soon as possible to deal with them
in such a way that they should cease to be a menace to the
English Crown in the future.

When he entered the King s service he probably found
little difficulty in persuading Henry that, in order firmly to
establish his supremacy, he must take Ireland in hand as he
had never done before. Throughout Wolsey s administration
the tranquillity of the country had been continually disturbed
by the feuds of two rival Anglo-Norman families, the Fitz-
geralds under the Earl of Kildare, and the Butlers under the
Earl of Ormond. To repress these quarrels the Cardinal had
taken the office of Lord Deputy from the young Earl of Kil
dare, and created the Earl of Surrey Lord Lieutenant. After
a year s hard service in Ireland, however, Surrey was recalled
at his own request, and the Deputyship devolved on Sir
Piers Butler. He in turn was forced to resign his office to
his rival Kildare, who passed it on to Sir William Skeffington
of Leicestershire, just at the time of Wolsey s fall l .

The affairs of Ireland had naturally been thrown into con
fusion by these numerous changes, and Cromwell became
convinced that subjugation by the sword was absolutely
essential, before any attempt could be made to govern the

1 Bagwell, vol. i. pp. 124-52.
L 2,

148 THOMAS CROMWELL

country, or to draw revenues from it. This policy brought
him into collision with his rival Norfolk, but he seems to
have succeeded in convincing the King of the superiority
of his plan to that of the Duke, whose idea had been to
conciliate the Irish chieftains, and to pacify rather than
subjugate the country l .

During his first two years in the King s service, Cromwell
was so busy in establishing the Royal Supremacy, that he
could not pay much attention to Irish affairs. The three
years of Skeffington s administration, moreover, appear to
have been fairly quiet. In 1532, however, a change came.
The Earl of Kildare, by craftily misrepresenting Skeffington s
doings at the English Court, secured the latter s recall, and
obtained for himself the post of Lord Deputy for the third
time 2 . On regaining the coveted office, however, he returned
to Ireland, and instead of following out the King s instructions,
proceeded to stir up his adherents into open rebellion, and
neglected the English at Dublin. Unmindful of his hole
duetie to the Kingis Highnes, he used the royal authority
deputed to him, as a cloke or habyte to cover his crueie
persecutions, mynding utterly to extynguyshe the fame and
honor of any other noble man within that lande V It is
possible that he thus served Henry s and Cromwell s ultimate
purpose of subjugation better than he knew, as he certainly
weakened the power of many of the wildest clans, who hated
the English rule as much as his. But his use to the Crown
in this direction, if it amounted to anything, was only tem
porary, and things became ripe for his dismissal. Continual
complaints of him reached the King and Cromwell. Dublin
was almost the only place in the country, which remained
perfectly loyal to England. The neighbouring tribes were so
hostile, that the citizens were hard put to it for food, and its
inhabitants almost perished from starvation. John Deythyke,
a priest, wrote sarcastically to a friend in the autumn of 1533,
that although it was the custom to refrain from meat on
Wednesdays as well as Fridays, provisions were so scarce

1 Cal. vii. 1141. 2 Bagwell, vol. i. pp. 152-5.

3 State Papers, vol. ii. p. 167.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 149

that people had become more devout still, and abstained
also on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. * This
is a very sore abstenaunce . . . the country is so quiett that
they dare nott ryde one myle owte of the towne, to by
any maner of vytteyles ; and they make there complaynt to
the Deputie and the wynde hath blowen hym soo in the erys
that he can nott here them. But yt is a comon sayinge
"whoo is so defe as he that lyst not to here 1 ." Things
went on from bad to worse, and finally John Alen, Master
of the Rolls in Ireland, was sent over by the Council there to
report Kildare s doings at the English Court, and further
to submit to the King a set of articles for the reformation
of the abuses which had become prevalent in the country 2 .
Alen finally succeeded in procuring Kildare s recall ; and the
Deputy arrived in London in April, 15345 having left his
eldest son, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, in his place. Efforts were
made to induce the young man to come to England also ; and
when he persistently refused to put himself into the King s
hands, his father was arrested and sent to the Tower. These
vigorous measures, according to Chapuys, were due to Crom
well ; they were the beginnings of his policy of subjugation 3 .

The arrest of Kildare, coupled with a premature report of
his death, set half Ireland aflame, and his son, making up
a slight quarrel he had had with his kinsmen the Desmonds
threw off his allegiance. All the English were ordered out
of the Geraldines land before a certain day. The Archbishop
of Dublin attempted to flee the country, but encountering
a storm, was driven back on the Irish coast, fell into young
Thomas hands, and was murdered with most of his following 4 .
A formidable revolt against the royal authority was evidently
pending. Henry and Cromwell were seriously alarmed, and
the extraordinary popularity of the rebellion among the people
in England, who, as Chapuys said, thought it a very good be
ginning to remedy matters at home/ greatly increased their
fears 5 . Cromwell had to bear the brunt of all the blame,

1 State Papers, vol. ii. p. 180. 4 Cal. vii. 1057.

2 Cal. vi. 1586. 5 Cal. vii. 1095.
8 Cal. vii. 957, 1141.

150 THOMAS CROMWELL

and the Duke of Norfolk seized the opportunity to speak
ill of his successful rival. According to Chapuys, the Duke
had left the Court to be away when the affairs of Ireland
were discussed, and this out of disdain that the King
despised his advice, and at the suggestion of Cromwell and
Skeffington had ill-treated the earl of Kildare. and ruined the
affairs of Ireland. On this subject the Duke and Crom
well had reproached each other with many things . . . which
shows the ill-will they have borne each other a long time,
however much they have dissembled it 1 . But Norfolk s
efforts to undermine the influence of his rival were as yet un
availing. The time for pacific measures had now passed ;
Henry would have been only too glad to grant Kildare peace
on any terms, but the latter refused every offer. Skeffington,
who was Cromwell s friend, was sent over again as Deputy to
quell the rebellion. After many delays he crossed on the
i4th of October, with troops which the King had secretly
raised for him 2 .

Meantime the rebels had gained a decisive victory, and
were just outside the walls of Dublin. Piteous entreaties
from the inhabitants, begging him to come to the relief of
the beleaguered city, reached Skeffington, and after some
delay he advanced. His arrival made the rebels retreat,
but instead of pursuing them vigorously, and striking a telling
blow, he remained at Dublin, and wasted time in trying to
get a sentence of excommunication passed against the mur
derers of Archbishop Alen 3 . But in spite of the Deputy s
dallying inefficiency, the superiority of Cromwell s policy to
Norfolk s was destined to be made evident by succeeding
events. A new complication in Irish affairs arose when
young Kildare, taking advantage of Skeffington s inactivity,
sent an embassy to the Emperor, promising to hold Ireland
as a fief of the Holy See, on condition that he would offer
him protection against the English schismatics 4 . An ambas
sador, Dominick Power by name, was sent by Charles to
Ireland and Scotland, but Henry soon discovered it, and

1 Cal. vii. 1141. s Cal. vii. 1418.

2 Cal. vii. 1193, 1257, 1366, 1389. * Bagwell, vol. i. p. 172.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 151

complained l ; Charles was not quite ready as yet to do
anything active in aid of the rebels, and so the affair came
to nothing. Meantime, at the request of Cromwell, Skeffing-
ton was induced to shake off his apathy, leave Dublin and
Drogheda, and move after the rebels 2 . The Lord Privy
Seal s boast that the young Kildare would soon be a prisoner
in the Tower, was not as empty as Chapuys thought. May-
nooth Castle, a rebel stronghold, was besieged and taken 3 ;
many rebels were executed, others fell away from Kildare,
the young Earl finally surrendered, and was sent a prisoner
to London. Two years later he was hanged with five uncles
at Tyburn 4 . With his surrender other chieftains came to
terms ; many districts became comparatively quiet, and by
the end of 1535 Ireland seemed further on the road to
tranquillity than she had been for some time. This was
a significant triumph for Cromwell s policy over that of
Norfolk, and did much to increase his influence with the
King. On the last day of December, 1535, Skeffington
died, and Lord Leonard Grey was made Deputy in his

place 5 .

Before Cromwell could hope to derive much benefit from
Ireland, it was necessary to establish some sort of government
in the country, as well as to subjugate it. To this intent,
Lord Grey summoned a Parliament, which met at Dublin in
the spring of 1536 6 . Its first act was to pass a bill securing
the succession of Anne Boleyn s issue: the report of this
came to Cromwell in London in June, two weeks after Anne s
execution 7 . He must have been somewhat puzzled, when he
heard the news ; events were moving so rapidly, that even an
ordered* Parliament could not keep pace with them. He
finally wrote back that in case the act for the succession was
not passed thoroughly they were to staye the same tyl
further knowleage of his graces pleasure V It was too late,
however, to do this ; but when the report came that Anne had

1 Cal. vii. 1297; viii. 140.

3 Cal. vii. 1573, and Bagwell, vol. i. p. 173. Cal. viii. 448.

* Bagwell, vol. i. p. 1 80. 6 Cal. x. 15 n.

6 Cal. x. 822. 7 Cal. x. 897, 937-

8 Letters, 179.

152 THOMAS CROMWELL

been executed, and that Jane Seymour had become Queen, the
Parliament was ready enough at once to rescind the old statute,
and pass a new one in favour of the issue of Henry s third
wife. Later there were enacted a series of measures to loosen
the bonds that held the Irish Church to Rome 1 , and George
Browne, Provincial of the Austin Friars, who had already
made himself useful in forcing the oath of succession on his
brethren in the south of England, was nominated in 1535,
by Cromwell s influence, to succeed Alen as Archbishop of
Dublin. The Deputy meantime carried on the subjuga
tion steadily and consistently in the wilder portions of the
country.

Everything in Ireland was now proceeding to the complete
satisfaction of Henry and Cromwell, except the finances.
Few could equal Cromwell s ideal, or satisfy Henry s avarice
in this respect. Ireland had never paid its expenses before ;
and it was largely in the hope of deriving revenue from
a land which had hitherto been only a burden, that the King
and his minister had undertaken to subjugate it. A letter
from Henry to the Deputy and Council in 1537 blames them
for taking excessive fees, thinking only of private gain, and
not taking care of the royal income 2 . To remedy this
Cromwell appointed and sent over Commissioners, who were
ordered to try to reduce expenses and increase revenue, and,
to this end, to inquire into the conduct of every royal officer
in Ireland, learn all the particulars of the local government,
and cut down the retinue of the Deputy and Treasurer to
340 men 3 . In the list of Commissioners occurs the name of
William Brabazon (Cromwell s old friend and fellow servant
under Wolsey), who later attained a very important posi
tion in Irish affairs. The extant letters of Cromwell to
the Commissioners deal for the most part with the adjustment
of petty land claims. The most interesting of them is the
one concerning the policy to be pursued towards that
traytor Bryan OconorV

There are significant depositions against some of these Com-

1 Bagwell, vol. i. pp. 196, 197.

2 Cal. xii. (i) 503. s Cal. xii. (ii) 382.
4 Letters, 198-205, 207, 208, 211, 212, 214, 215, 232.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 153

missioners who dared to murmur at Cromwell s notorious
accessibility to bribes, which seems to have been more notice
able in his dealings with Ireland than anywhere else. He
appears to have received enormous sums from the rich
and powerful family of the Butlers, kinsmen of Anne Boleyn
and of the Duke of Norfolk, in return for a promise to
protect their castles from the search of the royal agents.
There was a great deal of discontent among the Com
missioners on account of his rapacity, and though they openly
flattered him, they continually spoke ill of him behind his
back. My Lorde Pryvee Scale hathe wrought to his awne
confusion and dethe/ said one, and of late tyme was veray
nere the same, and escapid veray narrowly . . . noo lorde or
gentilman in Englande berith love or favor to my Lorde
Pryvee Scale by cause he is soo great a taker of money, for
he woll speke, solicite, or doo for noo man, but all for money.
... I wold not be in his case for all that ever he hathe,
for the King beknaveth him twice a weke, and sometyme
knocke him well aboute the pate ; and yet when he hathe
bene well pomeld about the hedde, and shaken up, as it
were a dogge, he will come out into the great chambre,
shaking of the bushe with as mery a countenaunce as thoughe
he mought rule all the roste 1 . We may well believe that
Henry was willing that Cromwell should make some private
gains, provided he brought money to the royal treasury
as well.

The subjugation of the country, however, had not yet been
thoroughly accomplished. Though 1537 was comparatively
quiet, the following year witnessed a fresh outbreak. Taking
advantage of the precarious condition of England s foreign
affairs at the time, young Gerald, brother of the late Earl
of Kildare, and heir to his power, stirred up various chief
tains, and baffled all the attempts of the Deputy to lure him
into the King s hands. Letters for aid were written to the
Pope and to Cardinal Pole, and were sent by a certain monk,
as the safest means of transmitting them to their destination 2 .
The monk sailed from Scotland in a French ship, which was

1 State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 551, 552. 2 Cal. xiii. (ii) 999.

154 THOMAS CROMWELL

blown ashore on the English coast at South Shields ; the
messenger was captured, and the letter intercepted 1 . In
September, 1539, there were several skirmishes between the
various forces of the rebels and the Deputy ; but the latter
was generally victorious, and another crisis was tided over 2 .
Young Gerald was forced to flee into Brittany, and the rebels
were left without a leader. The Deputy, Lord Grey, appears
to have become very unpopular during his term of service,
however, and in the spring of 1540 he was recalled , on the
accusations of violence to the King s Council, extortion,
injustice, and maintaining the King s enemies. Affairs were
in a bad state after he left ; Scotch intrigues, even an invasion
of the country by James, were rumoured 4 , and Sir William
Brereton, who temporarily filled Grey s place, had a very hard
time. Grey was finally condemned and executed a year
after Cromwell s fall, and Sir Anthony St. Leger, the dis
creet/ who had been the Chief of Commissioners of 1537, was
sent over as Deputy in 1541 5 .

It may be said that from 1534 until his fall, Cromwell
was the virtual ruler of Ireland. His significant triumph
over Norfolk and his policy of pacification, mark the beginning
of his influence. From that time onward the King left to him
the entire direction of Irish affairs ; he appointed the officers,
regulated the revenues, and in short managed everything con
nected with the country until 1540. From the instructions
which the Commissioners received in 1537, we gather that
the main object of the Crown was to get a revenue from
Ireland, and the plan which Cromwell pursued in order to
attain this end is noteworthy, in that it differed so entirely
from his policy in all the rest of England s dependencies.
Realizing that the country was worse than useless to the
King, while it remained in the state in which it was when
he came into power, he saw that it was so wild and dis
organized, that subjugation by force would be possible and
profitable, if attempted vigorously, and in time. He there-

1 Letters, 297, 298. 4 State Papers, vol. v. p. 178.

2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 137. 5 Bagwell, vol. i. p. 249. .

3 Cal. xv. 441.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 155

fore pursued a most aggressive policy, which in Scotland, for
instance, where the conditions were so different, he would
never have dared to adopt.

In Wales he was confronted with a problem of a very
different nature. What was needed there was thorough legal
reform. The country was not large enough to render an
insurrection there very formidable, but the wild and law
less state of the Welsh Marches, which afforded hiding-places
for criminals of all kinds, was a source of much evil. One
Thomas Philips wrote to Cromwell in May, 1532 1 , that the
whole country was in great decay, and that the King s repre
sentatives there took fines for felony and murder, and used
the money for their own purposes ; he begged that such
a council might soon be established in Wales, that the best
officer should * quake, if found in fault. The Bishop of
Exeter, who was President of the Marches, was an inefficient
ruler and took no pains to remedy the existing evils. The
crimes of making and uttering counterfeit money seem to
have been extremely common 2 . Cromwell saw that it was
high time measures were taken to rectify this lawlessness,
and his remembrances are full of items for the reform of
Wales. He replaced the Bishop of Exeter by his own friend
Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who in his
younger days had served with him under Wolsey 3 . Lee s
energetic and business-like methods rendered him a fit man
for the place, and he set about reorganizing and reforming
Wales in earnest. It was probably at his instance that
Cromwell devised several Acts, passed in the Parliament of
1534, to establish justice and maintain order 4 . As the King s
writ did not run in Wales, it was next to impossible to get
a case fairly heard there ; so Royal Commissioners were sent
thither, with authority to punish crimes and felonies (which
were to be tried in the next English court), and to establish
Justices of the Peace. Chapuys, in a letter written in
December, 1535, describes the distress of the Welsh at

1 Cal. v. 991. Cal. vi. 946 ; vii. 1026 (28).

Ruding, vol. i. p. 308; Cal. vii. 4 26 Hen. VIII, c. 4, c. 6, c. n,
1225. c. 12.

156 THOMAS CROMWELL

these measures as incredible, saying that Parliament has
just taken away their native laws, customs, and privileges,
which is the very thing they can endure least patiently 1 . He
further states that the Welsh were violently in favour of the
cause of Katherine and Mary, and longed for an opportunity
to declare themselves. A rising was probably prevented by
the fact that the King himself was of Welsh descent.
Cromwell was exceedingly active in his endeavours to stamp
out all sedition of this sort, and was ably seconded by Lee,
who, when the clergy in 1535 were required to preach in
favour of the Royal Supremacy, and against the power of the
Pope, declared himself ready to ride into his diocese in his
own person and carry out the decree, though, as he confessed,
he had never before been in a pulpit 2 . But Lee adopted
other measures to extirpate sedition, far more vigorous than
preaching in favour of the Royal Supremacy ; he never
failed to enforce his words by deeds. He hung and beheaded
offenders and criminals right and left, and sent full reports
of his doings to Cromwell, who must have rejoiced to
find an agent whose energy corresponded so closely to his
own 3 .

But in spite of Lee s good-will, the state of Wales was not
satisfactory, until Cromwell s great statute of 1535 was passed 4 .
By this Act, Wales was formally declared to be incorporated
with England, to be entitled to the same privileges, and to be
subject to the same laws. The Marches were declared to
be in disorder, and were annexed or divided into shires.
The King was further empowered by the Act to erect courts
in Wales every five years. These fundamental reforms laid
the basis for an entirely new method of administration of
justice there, and the country henceforth ceased to cause
anxiety to its prince.

In striking contrast to Cromwell s vigorous policy in Ireland
and Wales, was his conciliatory attitude towards Scotland.
The strength and proximity of this country, and the weak
defences of the northern marches of England, were a con-

1 Cal. vii. 1554. 3 Cal. viii. 133, 195, 240, 509, 91$, 1058.

3 Cal. viii. 839. 4 27 Hen. VIII, c. 26.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 157

stant source of alarm, which was rather increased than
diminished by Henry s strained relations with those continental
powers who were on the best of terms with James. It was
obvious that in case of a foreign invasion of England from
the Continent, the enmity of Scotland would be the only thing
lacking, to render disaster certain. It is also not improbable
that an attack from the north would have been welcomed
by some of Henry s more disaffected subjects. In his speech
in the Parliament of 1523 Cromwell had advocated a policy
of unification with Scotland: from this principle he never
departed, but he saw that it was now no time to gain his
ends by force. He therefore adopted a pacificatory attitude
towards Scotland at the opening of his ministry, and con
sistently followed it until the end. He began by persuading
his master to make every effort to strengthen the rather
precarious truce which, owing to French mediation, had been
concluded between the Commissioners of the two countries
upon the Borders, Oct. i, 1533 l . Anxious to show all pos
sible courtesy to the Scottish delegates who were finally sent
to London to open negotiations, the King prepared for them
a house, which had been occupied by the Grand Master of
France, and, contrary to his custom with most ambassadors,
supplied it with choice wines and provisions 2 . The Scots
were not slow to realize the strength of their position, and
in proportion as Henry s desire to conclude a permanent
peace increased, their movements grew more and more de
liberate. After long delays, which exasperated the King
greatly, an alliance was finally made, to continue during the
joint lives of the two sovereigns, and one year longer. During
the two following years Henry continued his pacific policy
by making James a Knight of the Garter, and by sending an
embassy to induce him to abandon the Pope. The latter
plan was doubtless a suggestion of Cromwell s ; a mention
of the ambassadors Barlow and Howard occurs in his * remem
brances/ and Barlow later wrote him continual reports of
his progress. The mission was unsuccessful in attaining its

1 Cal. vi. 1196. Cf. also Hume Brown, vol. i. p. 381.

2 Cal. vii. 296.

158 THOMAS CROMWELL

purpose ; but there were no signs that James leaning to
Rome would render him an active enemy of England l .

The year 1537 brought with it new developments of Scottish
policy. James had gone abroad to marry Madeleine of Valois,
an alliance highly displeasing to Henry, after all his efforts
to counteract his nephew s tendency to lean upon the good
will of Francis. The King proceeded to express his vexa
tion in an emphatic manner, and, contrary to the advice of
his Council, refused to permit James to return to Scotland
from France through England 2 . James marriage and Henry s
outspoken wrath stultified all Cromwell s efforts to bring
about a cordial personal feeling and a lasting peace between
the two sovereigns. The Scots King was forced to travel
by sea ; but events took place on the voyage which filled
Henry with suspicion. Twelve Englishmen boarded the
Scottish ship when it touched at Scarborough for provisions,
welcomed James, and promised their aid if he invaded Eng
land. This episode was repeated at another town further
north, and it was even reported that the Scottish King had
boasted, that if he lived a year longer, he would himself
break a spear on one Englishman s breast V Such incidents
must have been unpleasant, coming as they did just after
a serious northern revolt had with difficulty been quelled,
and while the Borders were still in a wild and lawless state.
But any thoughts James may have entertained of an in
vasion were interrupted by the sudden death of his young
French Queen. Henry perhaps had hoped that his nephew
would come to him with offers of peace and a petition for
the hand of the Princess Mary, but, if so, he was rudely
disappointed. In October it was announced that James was
engaged to marry a second French wife, Mary of Guise 4 ;
and though Henry, at that time a widower, made every effort
to prevent the match by putting himself forward as a rival
to his nephew, his proposals were courteously set aside 5 .

1 Cal. ix. 178, 730; x. 75, 227, 8 Cal. xii. (i) 1286.
482, 863, 944, and Pinkerton, vol. ii. * Cal. xii. (ii) 829.
pp. 327-8. 6 Cal. xii. (ii) 1201.

2 Cal. xii. (i) 398, 399.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 159

That the King of France should have distinctly preferred
a Scottish to an English alliance when the choice lay open,
stung Henry to the quick ; but he was quite aware that he
could not afford just then to quarrel with Francis or James,
and he may have regretted that he had not taken his mini
ster s advice to conciliate the latter. The history of Henry s
relations with his nephew from this time until Cromwell s
fall, yields ample proof of the complete triumph of the
English minister s pacificatory policy. Attempts made in the
past to stir up Border jealousies were completely abandoned,
and England seemed almost suspiciously desirous to show every
courtesy to her troublesome northern neighbour. A letter
of Cromwell to Sir Thomas Wharton *, deputy Warden of
the West Marches, directs him to hand over to the Scottish
officers an arrant traitor who had made his escape to England,
even if the Scots failed to doo the sernblable. Actions as
gracious as this were a new thing on the Borders : the usual
policy in the past had been for each nation to give shelter
to the outlaws who had fled to it from the other. The news
that David Beton, Abbot of Arbroath, had been raised by
the Pope to the cardinalate and was working at the Scottish
Court in the interests of Rome, made Henry still more anxious
to preserve friendship with his nephew, and to preclude all
chances of his being induced to join a continental league
against England 2 . So in January, 1540, we find him sending
Ralph Sadler, Cromwell s old friend, to James, to counteract,
if possible, the effect of the visit of Beton 3 . By the capture
of certain letters in a Scottish ship which had been wrecked
on the Northumbrian coast, Henry had been furnished with
the means of misrepresenting the objects of the Cardinal
at his nephew s Court. Sadler was instructed to hint that
Beton was plotting to usurp all the authority of the King
of Scotland, and to advise James to be on his guard. The
ambassador was further directed to conciliate the Scottish
King by a present of six geldings, to assure him of Henry s
friendship, and to suggest that James augment his revenue

1 Letters, 330. " Cf. Pinkerton, vol. ii. pp. 352-3.

8 Cal. xv. 136.

160 THOMAS CROMWELL

by suppressing the monasteries in his kingdom as his uncle
had done in England. Finally Sadler was to represent to
the Scots King the advantages of an alliance with England
over one with France, and to request him to ponder on the
desirability of eradicating the ancient enmity of the two
peoples, especially in view of the fact that he might some
day himself succeed to his uncle s crown. The result of the
mission taken as a whole was satisfactory. Though James
refused to accede to any of Henry s more definite requests,
and would not listen to any proposals to abolish the old
religion or to suppress the monasteries, he still assured Sadler
that no alliance he made on the Continent would lead him
to break with England, and further enlarged on the benefits
that would result from a meeting with his uncle, though he
puzzled the envoy by suggesting that Francis should also be
present J . The mission of Sadler marks the last stage of
the relations of England and Scotland during Cromwell s
ministry; and the fact that war between the two countries
broke out so soon after his fall, furnishes a final reason for
believing that it was by the able and unceasing efforts of
the Privy Councillor that an open rupture was so long
averted.

Lastly, a few words remain to be said on the subject of the
government of Calais. If the name of that town were graven
on the heart of Mary Tudor at her death, from the grief
which its loss during her reign caused her, it must have been
also graven upon the minds of her father and his minister,
from the trouble its maintenance gave them during the last
seven years of the latter s power. In March, 1533, Arthur
Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, was nominated successor to that
learned soldier, Lord Berners, as Deputy there, and took the
oaths at the town, on the loth of June 2 . The choice was
certainly unfortunate, and Lisle s unfitness for his new position
was destined soon to be made evident. He seems to have
been a man completely lacking in the qualities necessary
for a good ruler of such a place as Calais was in those

1 Cal. xv. 248. Cf. also Hume 2 Cal. vi. 300 (21), 619, and
Brown, vol. i. pp. 388-9. Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 452.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 161

days : he possessed small discrimination in judging what things
he could deal with by his own authority, and what things
it was necessary to report to head quarters. Hence there are
many mild rebukes among Cromwell s letters to him l , in
some of which he chides him for bothering the King about
such a trivial thing as a private quarrel between two minor
officials in Calais, while in others he mervayles not a litel
that he should be so negligent as not to make immediate
report of sacrilegious preaching. Calais was by no means
an easy post to manage; Henry and Cromwell kept its
officers and garrison exceedingly short of money ; the soldiers
wrangled and mutinied, and religious conferences amongst
the townspeople sometimes took most violent forms, and not
seldom resulted in dangerous riots. Placed as a sort of spy
on the movements of Francis and the Emperor, in a town,
the government of which on a small scale presented all the
difficulties of that of a great kingdom, the Deputy was in
a position which demanded resources greater than his own.

The first part of Lisle s administration seems to have been
comparatively uneventful. Cromwell, always keenly alive to
the necessity of having the country in an adequate state of
defence, at once caused him to repair all breaches in the
ramparts, a task which Lisle set about without competent
men or supplies ; and the immediate result of his ill-judged
attempts^to lay a new foundation for one of his walls was the
fall of the small part of the old fortification which was yet
standing 2 . Lisle was of course continually busied in pre
venting his neighbours, French and Flemish, from meddling
with the King s Pale, especially throughout the year 1536, when
the war between Francis and the Emperor broke out afresh 3 .
He tried to keep the town well victualled and in good defence,
and was zealous to do as he was bidden by Cromwell, though
seldom successful, for he lacked ability. After 1537 he was
confronted with a new and more difficult problem.

In the spring of 1538, Cranmer heard that there were seven
or eight persons in Calais, who manifestly denied Christ.

1 Cf. Letters, 86, 260. 2 Cal x

8 Cal. xi. !8.

MERRIMAN. I M

162 THOMAS CROMWELL

His Commissary there, John Butler, asserted that this report
was false, but in a later epistle advised the Archbishop that
there were three papists in the town, who slandered those
who applied themselves to God s word ; the letter went on to
suggest that Cromwell be requested to write to Lisle to have
them punished 1 . The minister, however, had heard of the
existence of certayn Sacramentaryes or deniers of transub-
stantiation there, before this report arrived, and had written
the Deputy a severe reproof for not informing him about
them 2 . The state of foreign affairs at that moment was such
as to render it indispensable for the King to preserve the
appearance of being zealous for orthodoxy, and he had called
on his efficient minister to aid him in his attempts to extirpate
heretical doctrines. The rebuke which the latter had ad
ministered to the Deputy seems in this case to have been
undeserved, for Lisle, who apparently was more on the watch
than usual this time, had certainly sent home information
about the Sacramentaries before he received Cromwell s
epistle : the two letters perhaps crossed on the way. That
of the Deputy reported the arrival in Calais of a young
English priest, lately come from Germany, who had uttered
opinions about the Eucharist which the King would not
tolerate, and which had shocked the good people of Calais
beyond measure. This young priest can have been none
other than Adam Damplip, originally a strong papist, who
(according to Foxe) had been chaplain to Fisher, and at the
Cardinal s execution had left England and travelled in France,
Germany, and Italy. His sojourn in foreign lands must have
altered his opinions completely, for when he came to Calais
his doctrines were so advanced J and heretical, that as a result
of a warning of Cromwell s, in his letter to Lisle of May 14 3 ,
a decree was made out by the Council of the town that Butler,
the Commissary who had given Damplip licence to preach }
would be held responsible for any false opinions that the
priest expressed 4 .

Determined as he was to extirpate unlawful and treasonable

J Cal. xiii. (i) 813, 934. ! Letters, 263.

2 Letters, 260. * Cal. xiii. (i) 1219.

IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS 163

doctrines both at home and abroad, Cromwell was too much
absorbed in the maintenance of his foreign policy, and the
prevention of the pressing dangers which threatened the
country from without, to pay much attention to Damplip at
Calais during the latter part of 1538 and 1539. He was far
more anxious to have the town well victualled and defended,
in case of a sudden attack from France or Spain. Damplip
himself, however, had gone over to England to answer to the
charges brought against him before Cranmer l . The result of
the examination seems to have been very favourable to him,
and the Archbishop, in a letter to Cromwell about it, supported
the position which the priest had taken up in only denying
Transubstantiation while admitting the Real Presence 2 .
But the accusations from Calais against the Sacramen-
taries did not cease. Lisle and the Council, now thoroughly
roused, kept sending in depositions against Damplip, until
Cromwell, in May, 1539, rebuked them for uncharitable
behaviour, saying that the affair was being made too
much of, and that the King was busy about other things 3 .
Exhortations to charyte and myld handeling were not
Cromwell s usual style ; and in this case at least they were
superseded within ten days by instructions of a very different
nature. The cause of the sudden change is doubtless to be
found in the debate on the Six Articles, just then at its
height. Cromwell saw the trend things were taking, and
understood that as the doctrine of Transubstantiation was
evidently about to be confirmed at home, it would be ex
tremely dangerous for him to urge leniency towards those
who opposed it at Calais. He consequently sent another letter
to Lisle 4 , in which he retreated from his former position, and
ordered the Commissary and the parish priest of Our Lady
Church to be sent in custody to England. The subsequent
appearance of these men before the Privy Council seems to
have resulted in their acquittal, and a public recantation in
the Market Place at Calais was deemed sufficient to prevent
a recurrence to the heresy. The recall of Lord Lisle in the

1 Cal. xiii. (i) 1446, 1464. 3 Letters, 312.

2 Cal. xiii. (ii) 97. * Letters, 314.

M 3

164 THOMAS CROMWELL

spring of 1540 was probably less due to his inefficiency in
handling the affair of the Sacramentaries, than to the many
proofs he had given of general incompetence. He was com
mitted to the Tower, where he remained a close prisoner till
January, 1542, when a message was sent to him that he was
pardoned and restored to favour. The story is that his joy
at hearing this news was so great, that he died of excitement
that same night 1 .

That Calais was not lost to England under the incompetent
management of Lisle (whose actions from first to last were too
much influenced by the whims of a foolish wife), was solely
due to the guidance which he received from Cromwell. The
brilliant success of the great minister s administration in
England was fully equalled by the wisdom and skill of his
dealings with her immediate neighbours and dependencies.
In every case the dominant principle of his policy had been
the same ; the completion of the work begun by Henry VII
the elevation of the Crown to absolute power on the ruins
of every other institution which had ever been its rival. In
attaining this end, which (as we must not forget) was one that
commended itself to most patriotic Englishmen of the time,
Cromwell had been confronted by a multitude of problems of
great difficulty and infinite diversity : he handled them all with
uniform success; and the monarchy, under his guidance, passed
safe through one of the gravest crises in the history of the
realm, finally to emerge triumphant, absolute, supreme in
Church and State.

1 See Life of Arthur Lord Lisle in the Dictionary of National Biography,
vol. xlv. p. 400.

CHAPTER IX

THE MONASTERIES

THE suppression of the English monasteries, though in one
sense but a single branch of Cromwell s internal administra
tion, still deserves to be considered in a separate chapter.
Of all the changes that followed the breach with Rome, none
bears as plainly as this the stamp of Cromwellian origin.
The sinister genius of the King s minister particularly fitted
him for this task of destruction, and his title of malleus-
monachorum is thoroughly well deserved. Cromwell s intent
in suppressing the monasteries was obviously, like that of
all the rest of his internal administration, the strengthening
of the Crown : how far his measures were successful in
accomplishing what was expected of them must be deter
mined not only from their immediate effects, but also from
the developments which later resulted from them.

It has been pointed out in an earlier chapter that the state
of the lesser monasteries was far from satisfactory in Crom
well s time ; but that in spite of this, when Wolsey s agents
suppressed a few of them in order to convert their revenues
to the use of the Cardinal s cherished colleges, a loud cry
of indignation was immediately raised among the rural
population. During his first few years in Wolsey s service
Cromwell had acquired sufficient experience to master at least
the elementary principles of monastic confiscation, but before
he had gone half as far as he had probably intended, his
master s attainder and his own consequent change of life had
temporarily interrupted the work. We have seen that as soon
as the King had arbitrarily assumed the Headship of the
Church of England, Cromwell immediately cast about for
means to secure him in his new position. To this end he had

166 THOMAS CROMWELL

weakened the bishops and also the lesser clergy ; the dissolu
tion of the monasteries immediately presented itself to him as
a consistent method of following up these measures. It all
tended in the same direction of severing England s connexion
with Rome and of establishing the Royal Supremacy. The
scheme of suppressing the monasteries also promised great
things from a financial point of view ; Cromwell could have
hit upon no better plan than this to aid him to fulfil his
promise to make Henry the richest King that ever was in
Christendom. If the idea of dissolving the religious houses
in order to increase the wealth of the Crown, had occurred to
Henry during Wolsey s administration, he would hardly have
dared to carry it out while there was any chance of avoiding
a breach with the Pope ; but now the course of events had
converted the only objection to the plan into an argument in
Its favour. There was certainly nothing in the conscience of
the King or of his minister to deter them from such a step,
when so much advantage both political and financial promised
to result from it.

In January, 1535, two documents appeared the first, a
royal commission to Thomas Cromwell authorizing him as
the King s Vicar-general to undertake a general visitation
of churches, monasteries, and clergy, and to depute others
to act as his agents ; the second consisting of a series of
formal inquiries to be made concerning the state of the
religious houses, and royal injunctions for their reform. The
latter is written in a strange hand, copiously interlined and
corrected by that of the King s minister *. The decrees were
quickly put in operation. By the month of August in the
same year Cromwell s two agents, Legh and Ap-Rice. were
hard at work among the Wiltshire monasteries, and sent in
their reports to their master full of ludicrously pathetic
lamentations, when unable to trump up any plausible charges
against the monks 2 . Doctor Richard Layton, who had come
under Cromwell s notice at the time of the trials of More
and Fisher, sent him a request for employment on the same
mission, and eventually got permission to go to Gloucester-

1 Cal. viii. 75, 76. 2 Cal. ix. 139.

THE MONASTERIES

167

shire 1 . He had made a preliminary visitation at Bath and
Farley, and while there had aroused the jealousy and hatred
of Legh, who wrote to Cromwell complaining that he was
not sufficiently severe, and urging the necessity of uniformity
of action 2 . A great many grumbling letters of this kind
were sent to Cromwell by his visitors. Layton and Ap-Rice
were not slow to revenge themselves on Legh by reporting
to the Vicar-general the pride, arrogance, sumptuus vsage,
and roughe fasshyon of their hated colleague 3 .

The bad character of Cromwell s agents, and the devices
to which they were forced to have recourse in order to extort
from the monks the information they desired, furnish ample
proof of the unfairness of many of the reports which they made.
The Commissioners found means, as it has been significantly
stated, * to make divers monasteries obnoxious V Cromwell
had taken special pains that the efforts of his agents should
not be hindered by any external interference : it was to this
end that he had issued the Prohibitory Letter to the bishops
in the month of September 5 . Legh, Layton, and Ap-Rice
were left a perfectly clear field, and devoted themselves to
examining into the monastic discipline, and to inducing
discontented monks to accuse their fellows. The arrogant
Legh was especially efficient in this particular, as is shown
by the letters Cromwell received from the monasteries he
had visited. One monk wrote to the Vicar-general that
the inmates of his house cared nothing for true religion, but
came to mattins as dronck as myss and [played] sume at
cardes, sume at dyyss 6 -and finally imparted the significant
piece of information that Cromwell s visitors had ordered

1 Cal. viii. 822, 1127. The King
and Cromwell were both absent on
a tour in the west and south of
England from the end of July until
the beginning of October, 1535.
Chapuys states that the object of
this trip was to win the affection
of the people on the Borders of
Wales, and to enjoy the excellent
hunting which that region afforded.
It is probable that Henry and

Cromwell were also desirous per
sonally to inform themselves con
cerning the religious houses in the
south and west counties, before
permitting their agents to com
plete the visitation. Cal. ix. 58.
: Cal. ix. 138.

3 Cal. ix. 621, 622.

4 Herbert, p. 186.

5 See ante, chap, vii, p. 115.

6 Wright, p. 133. A tag of verse.

168 THOMAS CROMWELL

him to write these opinions to head quarters. Another, John
Placett by name, sent cringing letters to the Vicegerent,
begging that his zeal in advancing the new doctrines and in
reporting those who opposed them, might be rewarded by
official exemption from rising at midnight and from observing
the customary fasts 1 . Epistles of this sort form the bulk of
Cromwell s correspondence during the years 1535 and 1536.
The chief reason why the Vicar-general did not protest
against this flood of defamatory information, which through
the efficiency of the zealous Legh continually poured in upon
him, lay probably in the fact that along with these reports
there came also letters of a somewhat different nature which
afforded him excellent opportunities for private gain. I sub-
mytt myselfe, wrote the Abbot of Rewley, fulle and nolle
to your mastershipp, as all my refuge, helpe, and socor is yn
yow, glad of my voluntarye mynde to be bounde in obligacion
of one hunderd powndes to be payed to your mastershipp, so
that our house may be savyd V We may well believe that
this proposal did not fall on deaf ears. Though we do not
possess the reply of Cromwell in this particular case, the
letters which he sent to the Priors of St. Faith s and of
Coxford in the same year, indicate that he was as willing to
accept bribes from the heads of monasteries as from any
one else 3 .

Less crafty but scarcely less efficient than the untiring
Legh was his brutal colleague Lay ton. The Sussex monas
teries which he visited in October, 1535, were so unfortunate

1 Cal. ix. 321, 322. Warwickshire, Yarmouth in Nor-

2 Wright, p. 73. folk, and Laund in Leicestershire.

3 Letters, 163, 180. Cf. also Gas- Sir Richard Cromwell, his nephew,
quet, English Monasteries, vol. i. and great-grandfather of Oliver,
pp. 413, 421. Cromwell also took received Ramsey Abbey, Hinchin-
good care that some of the sup- brooke Nunnery, Sawtry Abbey,
pressed houses also should fall to his St. Neot s Priory, and a house of
portion. He appropriated to his Austin canons in Huntingdonshire,
own share the rich Priory of Lewes with Neath Abbey in Glamorgan-
in Sussex (including its cell of Mel- shire, and St. Helen s Nunnery in
ton-Mowbray in Leicestershire), the London. Blunt, vol. i. p. 377- See
Priory of Michelham in the same also note 4 at the bottom of the
county, that of Modenham in Kent, same page.

of St. Osythe in Essex, Alceter in

THE MONASTERIES 169

as to incur his particular displeasure. He does not appear
to have troubled himself, like Legh, with devising means
to make the monks accuse one another : he reported every
thing to head quarters on his own responsibility, and wrote
to Cromwell how at one place he found the abbot the
* varaste hayne betle and buserde and the aranttes chorle
he ever saw, while at another he swore that his master would
scarcely believe quanta sit spurcities. He concluded with
two philosophic reflections that sacerdotes omnes non creati
ex natura angelica, sed humana/ and that the blake
sort of dyvelisshe monkes ... be paste amendment V He
possibly bore a personal grudge against these southern
houses ; at least this seems a likely explanation of the fact
that later investigation showed them to be no worse than
ordinary, and especially popular with their neighbours 2 .
Lay ton, however, found willing listeners to his accusations
in the King and Cromwell, and a commission was sent
down to confiscate the property of the monasteries of
Dover, Langdon, and Folkestone, and to take the surrender
of these houses into the King s hands. It was the first
step of the great devastation which was to ensue during the
following four years.

The next scene of the visitors operations was in the
northern counties. Early in 1535 Lay ton had taken occasion
to inform Cromwell that he and Legh were particularly
competent to carry on the work there. Ther ys nother
monasterie, selle, priorie, nor any other religiouse howse in
the north/ he wrote, * but other doctor Lee or I have familier
acqwayntance within x or xii mylles of hit. . . . We knowe
and have experiens bothe of the fassion off the centre and
the rudenes of the pepull . . . ther is matter sufficient to
detecte and opyn all coloryde sanctitie, all supersticiouse
rewlles of pretensyde religion, and other abusys detestable
of all sorttesV Cromwell certainly had no reason to be
dissatisfied with the results which his agents had already
accomplished, and doubtless welcomed their zeal to continue
their labours in a new field. With most astounding rapidity

1 Cal. ix. 509, 632. 2 Cal. ix. 829. s Wright, p. 156.

170 THOMAS CROMWELL

the visitation was carried through : all the houses in the north
had been reported on by the end of February. There was
certainly an object in having the work completed so quickly,
for Parliament had already met, and was prepared to take
action on the comperta or catalogue of offences sent in by
Cromwell s agents. The extraordinary hurry in which the
latter part of their task was accomplished, and the suspicious
uniformity of the offences reported, furnish a last and most
cogent reason for doubting the truth of the statements of
the visitors. There must of course have been some im
morality in the monasteries : the abbots and heads of houses
were elected by the monks themselves, who were sure to
have an eye to their own ease, and would tend to choose
those whose discipline was lax. But it must be a prejudiced
person indeed who will accept word for word the catalogues
of the religious persons reported guilty of the lowest and most
degrading forms of vice, which Legh and Layton seemed to
delight in sending to their master. Parliament, however, was
too completely in Cromwell s hands fairly to judge of the
character of the visitors, or of the circumstances under
which they drew up their comperta, and the report was
strong and clear ; so it was not long before the first Act for
the dissolution of the smaller monasteries was passed. The
statute declared that all Relygeous Houses of Monkes
Chanons and Nonnes, whiche may not dyspend Manors,
Landes, Tenementes, & Heredytamentes above the clere
yerly Value of ij C li. are geven to the Kinges Highnes, his
heires and successours for ever V Another Act was passed
at the same time establishing a Court of Augmentations of
the King s revenue 2 . Power was given to this court to
collect the spoils, lands, and buildings of the suppressed
abbeys, and dispose of them in the way most profitable to
the Crown. It consisted of a chancellor, treasurer, solicitor,
and thirty subordinates. The chief persons in it were friends
and hirelings of Cromwell s. In April commissions were
sent to the principal men in every county 3 , authorizing them
to inquire further into the state of each house, to make

27 Hen. VIII, c. 28. 2 27 Hen. VIII, c. 61. 3 Cal. x. 1191.

THE MONASTERIES 171

inventories and estimates of their property, and to ascertain
the number of monks who desired capacities for entering
secular life, and the number who intended to remove to some
other religious house. It is significant that the reports of
these men, concerning the character and morality of the
inmates, are uniformly of a more favourable description than
those of Layton and Legh.

The process of the surrender immediately followed the
first visit of the Commissioners. They sent in their report
to the Court of Augmentations, which then issued its final
orders for the dissolution of the house, and its conversion
to the King s use. A receiver was appointed to plunder
the church, and sell the lead, bells, &c. An interesting
letter, from an agent of Cromwell s to his master, sheds some
light on the usual methods of these officials. * We ar
plucky ng down an hygher vaute, writes the receiver, borne
up by fower thicke and grose pillars xiiij fote fro syde to
syde, abowt in circumference xlv fote . . . we browght
from London xvij persons, 3 carpentars, 2 smythes, 2 plum-
mars, and on that kepith the fornace. Euery of these
attendith to hys own office : x of them hewed the walles
abowte, amonge the whych ther were 3 carpentars : thiese
made proctes to undersette wher the other cutte away,
thother brake and cutte the waules V Coupled with reports
like this, came curiously confused accounts of the saleable
articles of the house, which had been disposed of, such as

Item ij brasse pottes sold to Edward Scudamor . iiij 8
Item a vestment and ij tynakles of old prest

velvet sold to Johan Savage baylyf . . xiij 3 iiij d

Item ij pannes vi d

Item a cope of tawny damaske xij d

Item a image of Seynt Katerine sold to Lee . . vj d
Item sold to John Webbe the tymber worke
of the hyegh quyer, and a auter of alablaster
in the body of the churche . . . . ix 8 viij d2 .

It will be noticed that the sums for which these articles were
1 Wright, pp. 1 80- 1. 2 Wright, pp. 267-9.

172 THOMAS CROMWELL

sold, were very small. It is said that not more than 100,000
were obtained from the sale of the jewels, plate, lead,
bells, and other valuables, which were seized in the first
suppression of the monasteries. The annual incomes of the
three hundred and seventy-six houses which were suppressed,
however, probably amounted to about 32,000, a sum
which was quite sufficient to render the measure a successful
one from a financial point of view.

In spite of the Act of Parliament, which declared that the
monks were either to be pensioned, or else moved to some
other religious house, there is no doubt that great misery
and wretchedness invariably accompanied the dissolutions.
Chapuys writes : It is a lamentable thing to see a legion of
monks and nuns, who have been chased from their monasteries,
wandering miserably hither and thither, seeking means to live,
and several honest men have told me, that what with monks,
nuns, and persons dependent on the monasteries suppressed,
there were over 20,000, who knew not how to live V The Act
for the protection of the exiled inmates cannot have been at
all strictly enforced, and there were certainly many monks, to
whom no homes or means of living were assigned. Sir
Henry Ellis has printed a document, concerning the dissolu
tion of some of the monasteries, which was written in 1591
by one whose father and uncle witnessed the scenes he
describes. It tells how it would have made an heart of flint
to have melted and wept to have seen the breaking up
of the House, and their sorrowful departing ; and the sudden
spoil that fell the same day of their departure from the
House. And every person had everything good cheap ;
except the poor Monks, Friars, and Nuns, that had no money
to bestow of any thing. The people entered the church, and

took what they found, and filched it away It would have

pitied any heart to see what tearing up of the lead there was,
and plucking up of boards, and throwing down of the sparres ;

.... and the tombs in the Church (were) all broken, and all

things of price either spoiled, carped away, or defaced to the
uttermost V Nor is this tendency of the people of the neigh-

1 Cal. xi. 42. ? Ellis, 3rd Series, vol. iii. pp. 33, 34.

THE MONASTERIES 173

bourhood to plunder in the least to be wondered at. They
knew that as the monasteries were to be pulled down they
would lose all the old charities, easy rents, and other advantages
to which they had so long been accustomed, and they naturally
wished to make good the loss. Cromwell probably did not
object to this ruthless waste as much as one would expect,
for he saw that if he attempted to stop it, the feeling against
the suppression would be so strong, that it would be impossible
to continue it. As it was, the famous rebellion of the
Pilgrimage of Grace, which broke out in the northern counties,
just as the first houses were being suppressed, gave him
a terrible warning of the general unpopularity of the change.
The insurrection, however, was soon quelled, and Cromwell s
genius was able to turn it to his own advantage, and make it
the pretext for carrying out the scheme which had probably
been part of his original plan, namely the suppression of all
the monasteries ; a step which, without some valid excuse, he
would have hardly dared to take.

In 1537 the visitors began to go to the larger monasteries,
and intimidate their inmates into surrender, mainly by threaten
ing them with punishment for complicity in the rebellion
which had just been put down. An excellent example of the
way in which this was done, is given by the story of the
suppression of the two large Cistercian abbeys in Lancashire,
Whalley and Furness 1 . John Pasleu, Abbot of Whalley,
had been executed in March, 1537, by the Earl of Sussex
for his treason in taking part in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
The Earl was commended for this action by the King, who
further desired him with good dexteritie to laye unto the

charges of all the monkes there their grevous offences,

and therwith assaye their myndes, whither they woll conforme
themselfes gladly for the redubbing of their former trespaces
to goo to other houses of their cote ... or rather take
capacities and soo receyve seculer habite 2 . The Abbot of
Furness was doubtless threatened with death if he refused to
surrender his house, for a month after the execution of his
brother at Whalley, he signed a document, by virtue of which

1 Cal. xii. (i) 632, 668. 2 State Papers, vol. i. p. 540.

174 THOMAS CROMWELL

he handed over to the King his abbey, and all its lands and
possessions, knawyng the mysorder and evyll liff both unto
God and our prynce of the bredren of the said monasterieV

Another method of intimidation was to threaten punish
ment for superstition and image worship. Against the latter
Henry s minister was particularly zealous. Some of the
images were very valuable, and could be sold for a high price.
Two of the most extraordinary of the venerated relics found
in the defacement of the monasteries have become famous
to posterity, under the names of the Rood of Grace, and the
Blood of Hailes. The former was a wonder-working crucifix,
held in great veneration at Boxley Abbey, which Geoffrey
Chambers 2 , an agent of Cromwell s, found full of certen
ingynes and olde wyer wyth olde roton stykkes in the backe
of the same, that dyd cause the eyes of the same to move and
stere in the hede thereof lyke unto a lyvelye thyng 3 / It
was seized and exhibited, first in Kent, and then in London,
and the abusion thereof dyvulged. The Blood of Hailes
was a phial of liquid, which a tradition of three centuries
asserted to have been the blood of the Saviour 4 . The head
of the monastery brought it to Cromwell in great perplexity,
swearing that he was willing to suffer the most shameful
death, if the phial had been meddled with in his day. A
commission, appointed to inquire into it, took the liquid out
of the phial, and found it to be a thick, red, sticky substance.
They then gave it back to the abbot, to keep until he heard
the King s pleasure concerning it. Meantime Bishop Hilsey
had preached a sermon in denunciation of the fraud, in which
he asserted that a former abbot had told his paramour that the
phial contained only drake s blood ; but he was later compelled
to take back this last statement, as a result of the Commissioners
inquiry. What ultimately became of the Blood of Hailes has
remained a mystery, but it is noteworthy that Cromwell was
so annoyed, at having unearthed a relic which proved value-

1 Wright, p. 153. 3 Ellis, 3rd Series, vol. iii. p.

2 This was perhaps the man 168.

whom Cromwell years before had 4 Introduction to vol. xiii. of the
helped to obtain from the Pope the Calendar, pp. 8-14 ; Wordsworth s
indulgence for the Boston Gild. Cromwell, pp. 346-7 nn.

THE MONASTERIES 175

less from a financial point of view, that when the bluddy
abbot, as Latimer called him, came to consult him about it,
he was forced to pay 140, his best mitre, cross, and
another thyng or two, to make good the amount which
Cromwell had expected to obtain from the relic. The icono
clastic zeal of the Vicar-general varied in proportion to the
value of the image l .

The first Act of dissolution had only given to the King
the monasteries of which the annual income was less than
200. But now that Cromwell, on the plea of com
plicity in the late rebellion, had contrived to bring in all the
larger religious houses, so that a general suppression had in
fact begun, a fresh Act was needed to legalize his proceedings.
So in the spring of 1539, a new statute was passed for the
dissolution of all monasteries and abbeys 2 . But long before
this the main part of the work had been accomplished. When
the monks refused to be terrorized into submission, attainder
and death invariably followed. It is but justice to Cromwell s
agents to say, however, that their methods of intimidation
were so highly effectual that attainder was the exception,
and surrender the rule. The Commissioners may well have
been surprised that any of the abbots dared to stand out
against them.

From 1537 to the end of 1539, the story of the suppres
sion of the monasteries is simply a catalogue of houses
surrendered or confiscated, on more or less unjust pretexts.
So rapidly and thoroughly did Cromwell and his Com
missioners accomplish the work, that by the end of Decem
ber no monastery in the country had been left untouched,
except Westminster Abbey, and a few other larger houses.
The climax of cruelty and injustice was reached in the
executions of the Abbots of Glastonbury and Reading.
Cromwell s famous remembrance concerning the latter was
literally obeyed. There was no pretence of a fair hearing of
his case. He was sent down to be tryed and excecutyd} as
Cromwell had ordered it 3 . The punishment of the Abbot of

1 Wriothesley s Chronicle, vol. i. pp. 76, 90. Cal. xiii. (i) 347 ; xiii. (ii)
1 86, 709-10.

2 31 Hen. VIII, c. 13. 3 Cal. xiv. (ii) 399.

176 THOMAS CROMWELL

Glastonbury was, if possible, even more unjust. Though
weak and broken with age and illness, he was arrested and
sent up to the Tower, simply on the charge of having in his
monastery a book against the King s divorce, divers pardons
and bulls, and a printed life of Becket 1 . It is stated that on
examination Cromwell discovered that he had lent money to
the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace, but it mattered little
whether this serious charge was proved or not. His execution
was determined on long beforehand, and his rich and ancient
abbey was plundered immediately after his arrest. His
fate was sealed long before his mock trial at Wells took
place; the verdict of the worshypfull jury was of course
guilty, and he was executed two days later on Glastonbury
Tor 2 .

Hand in hand with the suppression of the monasteries
came the fall of the various houses of the friars. This had
probably been a part of Cromwell s scheme from the very
first ; it will be remembered that several houses suffered in
the early part of his ministry, as a penalty for permitting
their inmates to preach against the King s divorce. A sort
of preliminary visitation had been carried on in 1534, at
Cromwell s command, by his agents Browne and Hilsey 3 : but
a far more energetic person was found in Richard Ingworth,
Bishop of Dover, who, on the 6th of February, 1538, was
commissioned by the Vicar-general to carry on a second
investigation, in which he was to visit all the houses of the
various orders of friars in England, to examine into and cor
rect abuses, and to expel and punish the guilty inmates 4 . As
he refers to the King s Vicegerent, as his synguler helper for
XII yeres past 5 / there is reason to think that he had been an
intimate of Cromwell s before the latter had entered the royal
service : it is possible that they had worked together in the sup
pression of the monasteries which furnished funds for Wolsey s
colleges. A greater traveller than Ingworth could scarcely

1 Cal. xiv. (ii) 206. 4 Cal. xiii. (i) 225.

2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 530, 531. Cf. 8 Cal. xiii. (ii) 102 1. Cf. also
also Gasquet, The Last Abbot of the Introduction to vol. xiii of the
Glastonbury, chaps, vi and vii. Calendar, p. 23.

3 Cal. vii. 587 (18).

THE MONASTERIES 177

have been found in those days. The number of houses he
visited during the first six months of 1538 is perfectly amazing,
but with all his energy, Richard of Dover was far less efficient
than his terrible master. When he hesitatingly wrote to
Cromwell to ask whether he should meddle with the White
Friars of Winchester, he received a smart rebuke for his
doubts, and was told that though he had changed his friar s
habit, he had not changed his friar s heart 1 . The Vicar-
general found it necessary to give him a coadjutor, and chose
a singularly apt man for his purpose in Dr. John London,
Warden of New College, Oxford, who received a special com
mission with the mayor and two others to loke vpon the
friars of that town 2 . The friars gave the Commissioners
more trouble than the monks. They seemed to have secret
ways of learning when the visitors were going to arrive, and
either carefully hid, or else sold all their valuables beforehand,
a fact which affords the most probable explanation of the
amount of poverty reported by the visitors. Still the houses
fell without ceasing ; if not by voluntary surrender, by com
pulsion. Nor did the visitors hesitate in the case of nunneries,
to resort to the most shameful devices to elicit a surrender.
London s conduct was so disgraceful, that Cromwell was
obliged to recognize the justice of the complaints of the
Abbess of Godstow against him, and * steye his procedinges V
Doctor Londone/ wrote the abbess to the Vicar-general/ whiche
. . . was ageynste my promotyon and hathe ever sence borne me
greate malys and grudge like my mortall enmye, is sodenlie
cummyd unto me withe a greate rowte with him, and here
dothe threten me and my susters, sayeng that he hathe the
kynges commyssyon to suppres the house spyte of my tethe V
It appears that London himself wrote to Cromwell the day
after to beg him to favour the abbess and her sisters 5 . Did
he perhaps feel that he had gone too far, or are we to
infer that his usual methods were even more brutal than
this?

Wright, pp. 195, 197. * Wright, p. 230.

1 Cal. xiii. (i) 1335. 5 Cal. xiii. (ii) 767.

1 Cal. xiii, (ii) 758, 911.

MERRIMAN. I N

178 THOMAS CROMWELL

And thus the work was finished. Within five years of the
time that the first visitation of the monasteries had begun,
a complete devastation of all the religious houses had been
accomplished, and a torrent of wealth had been poured in
upon the Crown, such/ says Hallam, as has seldom been
equalled in any country, by the confiscations following a
subdued rebellion 1 . The suppression which included the
larger houses was evidently a far greater financial success
than the first. A new device for gaining revenue had been
invented, and put in operation during the last few years. It
consisted in imposing a fine on every place in which a religious
house had existed, * for the toleracyon and contynuaunce of
the monastery ther 2 ; an ingenious device, which yielded
a most substantial income. The King had then in his hand,
says Burnet, the greatest opportunity of making royal and
noble foundations that ever King of England had. But
whether out of policy, to give a general content to the gentry
by selling to them at low rates, or out of easiness to his
courtiers, or out of an unmeasured lavishness of expense, it
came far short of what he had given out he would do. . . .
He designed to convert 18,000 into a revenue for eighteen
bishoprics and cathedrals. But of these he only erected six. . . .
Great sums were indeed laid out on building and fortifying
many ports in the Channel, and other parts of England V

Lacking any evidence from the sources on the subject
of the use to which the revenues from the suppression of the
monasteries were put, one must judge from this passage, and
from subsequent events. An Act giving Henry the power
to erect bishoprics by letters patent, was passed in Parliament,
May 23, 1539*. It was by the authority of this statute, that
the King founded the six new bishops sees above mentioned,
and also converted some of the old houses, such as Beverley,
Ripon, and Manchester, into collegiate churches. But the
passage in Burnet also hints at other methods of employing
the money gained from the suppression of the monasteries,
which it seems likely that Cromwell suggested. The use

1 Hallam, vol. i. p. 76. 3 Burnet, vol. i. p. 431.

2 Cal. xiii. (ii) 457 (3). 4 31 Hen. VIII, c. 9.

THE MONASTERIES 179

of the funds to strengthen the coast defences along the
Channel was always one of his favourite schemes ; it is
probable that he found no difficulty in persuading the King
how necessary such a precaution was, in view of the danger
of foreign invasion, which threatened England at the close of
1539. But the plan of selling the lands of the confiscated
houses to the nobles at low prices, is even more Cromwellian.
It immediately reminds the reader of the course which
Wolsey, ten years before, had pursued at his servant s advice,
when he bought off the popular hatred by grants out of his
own lands and revenues. Cromwell plainly saw that after the
suppression, steps must be taken to ensure the permanence
of the reform he had effected. By judicious grants he turned
aside the hatred of some of the rural gentry, who were at first
opposed to the destruction of the monasteries, and thus,
by rendering the work popular at home, he secured himself
and it from the attacks of Catholic potentates abroad. But
his action at this juncture had another more subtle and more
important result. For by the grants which he made to the
rural gentry, he laid the basis for the foundation of a territorial
aristocracy, destined at a later day to wrest from the Crown
the power which he had wrung from the older nobility, lay
and clerical. This after-effect of Cromwell s policy, which was
in direct opposition to the aims of his government, did not take
place till long after his fall. It was rendered possible solely
by the movement of events over which he had no control,
and he could have scarcely anticipated it. But it is only
fair to mention it here, in order that we may be able to look
on the suppression of the monasteries and its after-effects as
a connected whole. If we do this, the cruelty and treachery
of Cromwell and his agents in gaining their ends will not
make us blind to the fact, that in the end the destruction of
the religious houses in England certainly accomplished
other and better results than those it was originally intended
to compass.

N 2

CHAPTER X

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE. 1536

WHEN Cromwell entered the King s service, it was inevitable
that the policy he adopted should force him to abandon all
hope of popularity with the people at large, as soon as
his real position became generally known. The efforts
Henry and his minister made to conceal the identity of the
true author of the sweeping changes of the years 1530-34,
bear testimony to the fact that they were both perfectly well
aware of the opposition the new measures must arouse in the
minds of those who were outside the Court circle and
consequently could not see the reason of them. For a long
time these efforts were crowned with success. We have seen
that it was not until the year 1535 that those who were in
close proximity to the King discovered what a power Cromwell
had become in Church and State. It was even longer before
the country people began to realize the true state of affairs.
News of the extraordinary revolution in ecclesiastical matters,
of the King s divorce and second marriage, of the packed
Parliaments, and of the ruthless execution of so-called heretics,
slowly spread among the rural population. The changes were
certainly unwelcome, but they were universally thought to be
the work of the King alone, and traditional English respect
for royalty was sufficient to check any serious outbreak. The
common people contented themselves with vague murmurings
and disloyal speeches which were soon suppressed through
the efficiency of Cromwell s agents ; and by the opening of the
year 1535 the King and his minister began to hope that the
crisis had been tided over.

But they were destined to be disappointed. At the very
moment when he began to think himself secure in his almost
exclusive enjoyment of his master s favour, Cromwell took a
measure which was destined to conduce directly to the formid-

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 181

able rising that nearly hurled him from his hard-won place.
The moment the Vicar-general sent out his agents to visit the
monasteries, the Englishman of the country began to realize
that the puzzling changes, of which he had hitherto under
stood so little, were going to have an important and also a
disagreeable effect on his own life. Up to this time he had
been unwilling actively to express his dissatisfaction at the
new measures, because they had seemed but remotely
connected with his own fortunes : but now there came an
evidence to the contrary which he did not fail to appreciate.
The army of outcast monks and nuns, from whom in old days
he had been accustomed to receive every sort of kindness,
now passed his door, begging for food and shelter. The spoil
which he had perhaps filched from the monastery suppressed
near by, had not been sufficient to repay him for the injury
to the inmates whom he had been taught to love and respect.
His griefs are vividly described in the following verses of a
song written for the Yorkshire rebels in the autumn of 1536 :

I. for clere it is

Crist crucifyd the decay of this

for thy wounds wide how the pore shall mys

vs commons guyde no tong can tell.

which pilgram^j be
thrughe godes grace

for to purchache for ther the y hade

olde welth & peax boith ale & bre y de

of the sp/rzVualtie. at t y me of nede

and succur grete

^ in alle distresse

Gret god^r fame

, .,, , , and hevynes

doith church pr^clame

, . * # * *

now to be lame . .

, c u j and wel intrete.

and fast in bounds

robbyd spoled & shorne 5.

from catell & corne In troubil & care

and clene furth borne where that we were

of howsez landes. in man^ all bere
3. of our substance

alacke alacke we founde good bate

for the church sake at churche me gate

pore comons wake without checkmate

& no irarvell or vary^zmce 1 .

1 Cal. xi. 786 (3).

182 THOMAS CROMWELL

Such were the complaints which arose among the country
folk as a result of the suppression of the monasteries. And
just at the moment that this intensely unpopular measure
began to be carried out in earnest, and largely as a result
of it, the veil which had hitherto prevented the people from
recognizing the true author of the hated innovations was torn
away, and a pretext was offered for a revolt, which had it
been directed against the King, would have been no better
than treason. The people fastened on Cromwell as the author
of all their troubles ; and the thought that a man whom they
knew to be low-born, of no better or more noble origin than
themselves, had been able to cause them such misery, was
enough to kindle a smouldering fire of discontent into
a brilliant blaze. A crusade against Cromwell, they argued,
could not be regarded as a revolt against the royal authority.
They had no complaint against the King, or even against any
of the nobles, but they were determined to rid themselves
at one blow of the plebeian minister whom they thoroughly
detested and whom they had no cause to respect : with the
destruction of Cromwell and his agents, they were certain
that the good old days would return. The last verse of their
war- song contained a frank avowal of their object :

Crim l crame 2 & riche z
w/t/z thre 111* and ///e liche 5
as sum men teache

god theym amend
And that aske may
wz t/^out delay
here make A stay

and well to end 6 .

The reasons why the rising against the authority of Crom
well, known to posterity by the suggestive name of the Pil
grimage of Grace, was organized, and set afoot in the northern
counties, are not far to seek. In the first place devotion to
the Old Faith, and to the cause of Queen Katherine, was
far stronger in the north than in the south of England.

i Cromwell. 2 Cranmer. 3 Richard Riche.

The Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Legh, and Dr. Layton.
5 The Bishop of Lichfield. 6 Cal. xi. 786 (3).

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 183

A comparison of the comperta of the northern and southern
monasteries, or of the details of the different visitations,
will easily convince the reader of this discrepancy. In the south
occur constant complaints by the monks that their superiors
failed to observe the canons of religious asceticism ; and
on the other hand, whenever an abbot refused to acknowledge
the Royal Supremacy, his subordinates were always sure
to report him to head quarters, in the hope of gaining favour
with the King or Cromwell l . The letters of Dr. Legh from
the south of England contain frequent reports of towardness
among the inmates, and willingness to adopt the New Faith 2 .
In the north one finds none of this. The reports concerning
the monasteries there are of a very different sort : immorality
and unnatural crimes are the principal charges against the
inmates 3 . There is scarcely a record of apostasy ; scarcely
a case of mutual accusation among the monks. The abbots
and their subordinates almost invariably supported each other,
and their loyalty to the Old Faith and their hatred of those
who tried to disestablish it, gave the Commissioners a far
harder task in the north than in the south. There is also
reason to think that Cromwell s spy system operated less
perfectly there, partly owing to this spirit of conservatism
and love of the old usages permeating every sort and
condition of life, and partly owing to the great spaces of wild,
uninhabited land.

This is only the religious side. But there were other almost
equally valid reasons for the localization of the revolt in the
north. The south was thickly populated, and to a certain extent
commercial ; the north sparsely populated, and for the most
part pastoral and agricultural. Cromwell had done everything
that he could to facilitate trade, and his efforts in this direction
had been rewarded by comparative popularity in the com
mercial counties. The discontent in the agricultural north,
however, was most pronounced. The Statute of Uses had
not been in all cases correctly interpreted. It was said that
the King made such laws that when a man died his wife and

Cal. ix. 314, 321, 322. Cal. ix. 694.

3 Cal. x. 364.

184 THOMAS CROMWELL

children had to go a-begging l . Lastly, the proximity of the
Scottish Borders, which were in a continual state of disorder,
offered great encouragement for undertaking a rebellion in
the north. Cromwell was constantly occupied with the
suppression of minor disturbances there 2 , owing to the very
lax administration of the Courts and Wardens of the three
Marches, while across the Tweed an attitude of more or less
active hostility to the English government was always
maintained. There was every probability that a revolt in the
northern counties of the realm would receive substantial aid
from Scotland.

But though the Pilgrimage of Grace was locally restricted
to the northern counties, it embraced all classes, animated
by the most varied interests 3 . The objects of the insurgents
were secular and religious, their mottoes conservative and
progressive. On their banners were borne the emblems of
the five wounds of Christ, a chalice and a host, a plough, and
a horn. The first of these symbols indicated that the
insurrection had been undertaken for the defence of the
faith ; the second was to remind the commons of the spoils
of the Church. The plough was to encourage the husband
men, and the horn was in token of Horncastle : for the
banner was brought among the rebels by the commons of
Horncastle 4 . The watchwords of the rebels were of the
very most diverse nature. Some of them cried out for the
restoration of the suppressed monasteries ; others for the re
newal of guarantees against exorbitant taxation, for remedies
for the agrarian discontent, or for legal permission to leave
land by will to daughters and younger sons. All of them
united in demanding the destruction of Cromwell, whom the
people regarded as the cause of all their woes 5 . The leaders
and participants in the revolt were not of any one rank or
station in life ; the popular and aristocratic elements were
almost equally mixed. It is no wonder that a rising,

1 Cal.xi. 705, 780 (2) ; xii. (i) 70; also A. L. Smith in Social England,
xiii. (ii) 307. vol. Hi. pp. 21 ff.

2 Letters, 105. 4 Cal. xii. (i) 70 (13).

3 Cal. xii. (i) 138, 786, 900. Cf. 5 Cal. xii. (i) 163.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 185

supported by men of such various classes, which aimed at
the extirpation of abuses of so many different sorts, and
which yet was united by the feeling that all these abuses
were due to one man alone, was regarded as the daungerest
insurrection that haith ben seen V

On September 29, 1536, when the Commissioners for the
suppression of the monasteries came to Hexham in Northum
berland, they were rudely surprised by finding the house
there fortified, and prepared to defend itself to the last.
The Commissioners left the town and reported the affair to
the King, who ordered them to assemble all the forces they
could muster, and if the monastery did not yield, to treat
the monks like arrant traitors 2 . But scarcely was this danger
past when news came that the Commissioners for levying the
lay subsidy, the collection of which was superintended by
Cromwell, had met with a similar experience at Caistor in
Lincolnshire. It seems they had feared some disturbance
at their arrival, and had invited several country gentlemen
to join them in case of any danger. A large force had
meantime assembled to resist the payment of the subsidy.
The country gentlemen were pursued, taken, and forced to
write to Lord Hussey at Sleaford, to summon him to join
the rebel commons, unless he wished to be treated as an
enemy, and also to send to the King to seek a general
pardon 3 . Hussey promptly reported the state of affairs to
Cromwell, and though he put a bold face on the matter in
presence of the rebels, it is evident that he was seriously
alarmed 4 . The King meantime himself received the letter
the captured gentlemen had been forced to send him, caused
the bearers of it to reveal the names of the ringleaders, and
wrote to the Commissioners for levying the subsidy, express
ing his distress at the vnnatural vnkyndness of his subjects,
and marvelling that he that is worth xxli sholde rebell for
the payment of x s 5 . But this sort of letter of mild surprise,
with which Henry had sometimes successfully warded off

1 Cal. xi. 585. 2 Cal. xi. 504, 544.

Cal. xi. 533-4, 536-9, 552-3, 567-8.

1 Cal. xi. 547. s Cal> xi<

186 THOMAS CROMWELL

pressing danger, did not prove to be sufficient in this case.
He was relieved from any apprehension on his own account ;
the rebels had expressly denied any desire to be disloyal to
the King : they only wished that the Church of England
should have its old privileges, without any exaction, that
the suppressed houses of religion be restored, and that they
should not be taxed, except for defence of the realm in time
of war. Again and again did they repeat their demands for
the surrender or banishment of Cromwell, Audley, Cranmer,
Riche, and others of the Privy Council. That the King did
not throw over his ministers in their hour of need, surely
shows that Henry was committed to them and to their policy,
and believed in it.

The situation was certainly alarming. It was very fortunate
that at the time of the outbreak the position of the King was
otherwise so strong, and England s foreign affairs in such
good condition, that every effort could be centred on the
suppression of the revolt. The insurgents evidently meant
business. Sir Christopher Ascugh, gentleman usher to the
King, wrote to Cromwell, October 6, The rebels ar in nombre
of men of armys well harnesyd x or xii m spars and bows ; &

xxx m other sum harnesyd and sum not harnesyd and

all the contrey Rysys holly as they goo before them

Mellessent your seruauni they have hanged & Baytyd Bellowe
to deth wyth Dogg^ wyth a bull skyn vpon his bake wyth
many Regorous word^ agaynst your lordeshepp V Letters
were sent to the principal men in the county, asking them to
use all their efforts to check the revolt, and the King later
declared his intention to take the field himself 2 . Cromwell s
nephew Richard 3 got all the arrows and implements of war
out of the Tower, and dispatched a number of men to
Lincolnshire, among them sixty or eighty masons and
carpenters, who were at work on his uncle s house. Cromwell
himself was in great fear. The Imperial ambassador informs
us 4 that the whole blame for the insurrection was laid

1 Cal. xi. 567. and Katherine Cromwell. Cf. chap.

8 Cal. xi. 579-80. iii. pp. 54-5.

3 The son of Morgan Williams 4 Cal. xi. 576.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 187

on him. Norfolk was recalled to the Court, whence he
had been banished at Cromwell s suggestion, and the Duke
arrived at London, happy as he had never been before in the
thought that the first step towards the ruin of his rival had
been taken. But in this he was doomed to disappointment,
for Cromwell retained his ascendancy ; the King, according
to Chapuys, had been very reluctant to send for the Duke,
and when the latter was dispatched again to raise men and
prevent the spreading of the revolt, he was overtaken by
a most discomfortable message from the Court, ordering
him to send his son in his place while he himself remained at
home l . Cromwell had not only succeeded in getting him
away from the Court, but had also prevented his having
a hand in the suppression of the rebellion. The Lord Privy
Seal himself was content with maintaining his position at
the King s side. It would have been sheer madness for him
to have marched against the rebels in person. If the Lincoln
shire men could have murdered him, they probably would
have been induced to return quietly to their homes. Nor
did Cromwell even dare to give orders at arm s length, or
in any way to undertake the management of the royal forces.
He kept himself consistently in the background ; almost all
our information concerning the rebellion is contained in
the correspondence of the King with Norfolk and Suffolk. The
few letters which Cromwell did write in connexion with the
Pilgrimage of Grace are quite unimportant 2 . They consist
for the most part of messages of profuse and almost hysterical
thanks to the leaders of the King s party for their loyal
service. It was not until the revolt had been thoroughly
suppressed that Cromwell ventured again to assume the
general direction of public affairs.

Meantime the Duke of Suffolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury
had been sent against the rebels, who were waiting in Lincoln
shire for the King s answer to their first letter. Richard
Cromwell had found great difficulty in conveying to the
scene the arms and artillery he had got out of the Tower,
because the people were at first unwilling to furnish the

1 Cal. xi. 601-2, - Letters, 165, 167, 169.

188 THOMAS CROMWELL

requisite number of horses, owing to sympathy with the
insurgents, if one may believe the report of Chapuys nephew l .
Finally, however, he succeeded in overtaking the Duke of
Suffolk, who was marching with an army against the rebels
from the south, at Stamford on October 10. The Earl of
Shrewsbury, according to the King s orders, was advancing
at the same time from Nottingham. Caught between two
armies supplied with the ordnance which the insurgents so
much dreaded, the Lincolnshire men, further frightened by
a proclamation from the Earl of Shrewsbury transmitted to
them by one Thomas Miller, Lancaster Herald, began to lose
heart and finally consented to surrender, on condition that
they should receive assurance of merciful treatment. The
King was pleased, ordered the rebels to deliver up their
arms, and commanded Shrewsbury and Suffolk to examine
the country gentlemen who had aided them, and report to
him 2 . He further wrote an answer to the insurgents,, calling
them the rude commons of one shire, and that one of the
most brute and beestelie of the hole realme 3 , expatiating on
the trouble he had given himself in their defence, and assuring
them that they had no grounds to complain of any of the
new measures, either secular or religious. He was just
thinking that the worst part of the danger was over, when
suddenly news came from Lord Darcy, who was the chief
person in the north, that all Yorkshire had risen in a
similar way 4 .

The news of this outbreak was even more disquieting than
that of the first. Besides being much further from London,
where the King s armies could only reach them with great
difficulty, the Yorkshire rebels were nearer the lawless and
hostile Scottish borders. They had from the very first been
in sympathy with their neighbours in the south, and had
communicated with them by means of beacons burned on
the banks of the Humber 5 . The same motives had prompted
them to rise in arms. They elected as captain a young

1 Cal. xi. 714. * Cal. xi. 6ll.

2 Cal. xi. 674, 694, 706, 715, 717. 5 Cal. xi. 563, 622.

3 State Papers, vol. i. p. 463.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 189

barrister named Aske, who issued a proclamation for all men
to assemble on Skipworth Moor, and take oath to be faithful
to the King s issue and noble blood, to preserve the Church
from spoil, and be true to the commonwealth a clever
euphemism for demanding the death of Cromwell and his
adherents. The Yorkshiremen had gone about their revolt
with far more method and system than the Lincolnshire
rebels. The latter had been easily conquered, mainly because
they lacked a head ; but the Yorkshiremen promised to
give far more trouble. They made musters by scrolls and
bills nailed to the door of every church in the county, and
proclaimed that any one who refused to take their oaths
and rise with them should be put to death, whether he
was lord or peasant. It was even rumoured that they in
tended to send an embassy to Flanders, to ask for aid in
money and armed men, and to petition the Pope for abso
lution for all offences committed in the course of their holy
pilgrimage \

The King replied at once to Darcy s letter, commanding
him to arrest all seditious persons, and promising so to treat
the originators of the revolt in Lincolnshire that all York
should soon learn that they had got their deserts 2 . Darcy
wrote to the Lord Mayor of York, warning him to be
prepared to resist the insurgents, while he himself proceeded
to Pomfret Castle to hold it against the rebels, and there
awaited further instructions from the King 3 . He succeeded
in maintaining his position at Pomfret for only ten days
however, for on October 20 he surrendered the town to
the rebel army under the leadership of Aske, and together
with the Archbishop of York, who had sought refuge there,
swore to take part with the insurgents 4 . At his trial in the
following year he pleaded that he was unable to hold out
any longer because the provisions had run short, and further
stated that he had been compelled to side with the rebels
under pain of death. He also alleged as an excuse for his
conduct that he thought that if he got in touch with the

1 Cal. xii. (i) 163, 259, 1080. 3 Cal. xi. 627.

2 Cal. xi. 611. 4 Cal. xii. (i) 900, 944.

190 THOMAS CROMWELL

insurgents, he could the more easily induce them to lay
down their arms. How loyal he really was to the King
must remain a matter of conjecture, but there is strong
reason to think that he had much sympathy with the
revolt 1 .

For a time the rebels seemed to carry all before them.
Shrewsbury had been ordered to go to Yorkshire and engage
the insurgents there, now that Lincolnshire was regarded as
safe. Meantime Thomas Miller, Lancaster Herald, who had
been so successful in obtaining the submission of the Lincoln
shire men, was sent by the King from Scrooby, on October
21, to read a royal proclamation to the rebels at Pomfret,
upbraiding them for their conduct, but promising them pardon
on condition that they should immediately disperse. When
he arrived at his destination the town had been surrendered.
Aske, although he treated the royal envoy with all due
respect, entirely refused to let him read his proclamation in
public, and sent him away with two crowns and his errand
unaccomplished 2 .

Meantime the Duke of Norfolk, who two weeks before had
returned sadly to Kenninghall with all his hopes of regaining
the royal favour blighted, had been hurried to and fro in the
south of England by a continued stream of conflicting orders
from Cromwell and the King, until he finally heard of the
disturbances in Yorkshire from Shrewsbury 3 . He imme
diately turned his steps with a small company of men towards
Doncaster, in the hope of regaining the King s favour by
a prompt suppression of the new outbreak. So anxious was
he to recommend himself to Henry, that he spent .1,500
of his own in paying the wages of the King s soldiers ; and
when this was not sufficient, and Henry refused to advance
any money, he asked for a loan to meet the expenses, and
took the responsibility for its payment upon himself 4 . Nor
folk s whole proceeding in this crisis was eminently character
istic. He never hesitated to spend money or to tell lies, if he
thought that by so doing there was any possibility of gaining

1 Cal. xii. (i) 853, 1087. ; Cal. xi. 626, 671, 758.

2 CaJ. xi. 826. 4 Cal. xi. 793, 800.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 191

the royal favour. He assured the King that, in treating with
rebels, he would pay no respect to what others might call his
honour distayned, for he considered it perfectly permissible
to break promises in order to serve the Crown l . Henry,, it
would seem, did not take Norfolk s treacherous proposals to
sacrifice his own honour in the royal service in as good part
as the Duke had hoped, and wrote back hinting that if Nor
folk made promises to the rebels that he could not keep, he
must make them on his own responsibility, and take great
care that the King s name remained unsullied.

When the Duke arrived in the rebel country he issued
a proclamation to the insurgents, commanding them in proud
and haughty terms to submit, and promising to be an inter
cessor for them with the King. This was on October 27.
But the very next day he wrote to Henry that he had been
forced to declare to the insurgents the royal pardon, in order
to sparple them, and get them to return to their homes ~.
It is evident that in the meantime a meeting must have taken
place between the Duke and the rebels, in which the latter
succeeded in convincing their enemy that they, and not he,
were in the position to dictate terms. A general truce was
arranged, and Lord Darcy was ordered to cease to molest
the insurgents 3 . The dread with which Norfolk awaited his
first interview with the King is vividly described in the letter
in which he announced to the Council his prospective return
to the Court. * I come, wrote the Duke, -with my hert nere
bresten .... inforced to appoynt with the rebelltfj .... and
fearing how his maieste shall take the dispeachyng of our
bande V

Norfolk finally arrived at Windsor with two emissaries
from the insurgents, who were to report their grievances
and receive the King s answer. Henry was just composing
his reply when news came that Aske had attempted to stir
up the rebels in the other northern counties. Norfolk wrote
to Darcy that the King suspected him of treachery in deliver
ing up Pomfret to Aske, and advised him to do his best to

1 Cal. xi. 864. 3 Cal. xi. 901.

2 Cal. xi. 887, 902. * Cal. xi. 909.

192 THOMAS CROMWELL

extinct the ill bruit, by taking the rebel leader dead or
alive l . Meantime the King detained Ellerker and Bowes,
the two rebel envoys, as hostages, while Darcy attempted
to allay any fears of a third outbreak. The King in fact
was so seriously alarmed at the danger in the north, that
he dreaded that his letter to the Lincolnshire men in early
October might not prove sufficient to prevent their joining
a new revolt, if such occurred. So seeing their maner, im-
plieng a great repentance, and contrasting it with the rebel
lious attitude of the Yorkshiremen, he sent them on the i4th
of November a full pardon 2 . Meantime the report of the
probability of a fresh insurrection passed by, and Ellerker
and Bowes returned with the King s answer, with which
Henry had taken much trouble, and had endeavoured to
disguise the fact that he was really suing for peace, by pro
mising to pardon those who were truly penitent. A conference
for discussion of terms was arranged to assemble at Doncaster
on the 5th of December, in which Lords Scrope, Latimer,
Lumley, Darcy, and others were to represent the rebels, and
Norfolk, Suffolk, Shrewsbury, Rutland, and their subordinates
the King a .

Henry laid his plans carefully in preparation for this
meeting. He instructed Shrewsbury to do his utmost to
prevail upon Aske and Darcy to betray the rebels, upon
promise of a free pardon for themselves. He also ordered
the Duke of Suffolk to hold himself in readiness with a large
force in case of another outbreak 4 . There was probably far
less danger that the truce would be broken by the rebels
than by the King ; but the former certainly had no intention
of returning to their homes without at least an assurance of
a general amnesty. Henry soon realized that they were in
earnest, and reluctantly instructed Suffolk, in a second letter,
to yield to their demands for a free pardon and a Parliament
as a last resort, if all other expedients to induce them to
disperse should fail 5 . The conference at Doncaster lasted

: Cal. xi. 995. 4 Cal. xi. 1224, 1225.

2 Cal. xi. 1061. 5 Cal. xi. 1236.

3 Cal. xi. 957, 995, 1115, 1206.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 193

four days, but in the end the rebels were successful in gaining
their wishes, and the desired pardon was proclaimed on the
9th of December l . Henry had never before been forced to
acknowledge such a complete check at the hands of his
subjects, and the sensations of the proud King must have been
as disagreeable as they were novel. Still it was impossible
for him to give vent to his rage until he had once more
obtained the upper hand.

So he wrote to Aske requesting an interview with him in
London. The tone of the letter is noteworthy. Though
evidently beaten, Henry spoke as if he were master of the
situation, and began by stating that he had learned that
Aske was sorry for his offences in the late rebellion. The
King also did his utmost to stop any rumours on the Con
tinent which might give the impression that the rebels had
come off victorious. He instructed Cromwell to write a full
account of the revolt to Gardiner and Wallop at the French
Court, ordering them to tell all people that though at first
the insurgents made peticzon to haue obteyned certain
articles, .... in thende they went from all and remytted all
to the kinges highnes pleasure only in moost humble and re-
uerent sorte desiring their pardon, -with the greatest repentance
that could be deuised V But Henry was a little premature
with his boasts that peace had been concluded on terms so
favourable to himself. Aske indeed came up to London,
had what certainly appeared to be a most successful interview
with the King, and returned to the North, January 5, 1537,
to confirm the royal pardon, and to promise that all reason
able petitions should be heard by Parliament 3 . But the other
rebels did not seem by any means as sure of Henry s good faith.
Aske wrote to the King a letter containing six * marvilus
congectures of the people, among which were the dread
with which they regarded the fortifying of strongholds, and
their distrust that Cromwell and his adherents were as high
in favour as ever 4 . Henry of course paid no attention to
these complaints, with the result that many of the insurgents,

1 Cal. xi. 1276. 3 Cal. xii. (i) 44.

2 Letters, 174. 4 Cal. xii. (i) 67.

MERRIMAN. I O

194

THOMAS CROMWELL

who saw plainly, as the Court historian writes, that the
King did constantly follow the reformation of the abominable
Church . . . incontinently renewed the old practice of rebelling
again 1 . 5 A plan was evolved by Sir Francis Bigod and a
certain John Hallam, to attack and take both Hull and Scar
borough : the whole country was ready to rise again, and they
anticipated an easy victory 2 . But the success of this last out
break was very short-lived. The attempt which Hallam made
against Hull failed, owing to the fact that the plot had been
reported to the mayor there, and Hallam himself was cap
tured 3 . At Scarborough Bigod was scarcely more fortunate.
He had succeeded in calling out the people of the East Riding,
and had harangued them ; ( Ye are deceaued by a colour of
a pardon; he said, for it is called a pardon that ye haue, and
it is none But a pr^clamacion. The commons responded to
his words with a great shout, and he marched off with a large
following to repair his comrade s disaster at Hull, leaving
the son of Lord Lumley with a handful of men to attack
Scarborough 4 . But Lumley deserted his post, abandoning
the command to two subordinates, who attempted to lay siege
to the castle of Scarborough in the absence of its keeper, Sir
Ralph Evers ; the latter, however, soon returned, and they
gave up the enterprise, only to be captured and imprisoned.
Bigod s second attempt on Hull had meantime also failed,
and Bigod himself fled 5 .

Meantime the Duke of Norfolk had returned into the
north, no longer as a peace commissioner, but as a messenger
of death and destruction 6 . Now that the tide of affairs had
turned and the rebels were weakened, the King thought it at
last safe to inflict the long-deferred punishment on the leaders
of the revolt. It is true that Norfolk was accompanied by a
few persons, who together with certain gentlemen in the north
were to compose a council to aid him in carrying out a general
pacification : this arrangement, however, was obviously tem
porary, and it was soon to be replaced by a more stable form

1 Thomas, The Pilgrim, p. 53.

2 Cal. xii. (i) 201, 370.

3 Cal. xii. (i) 104.

4 Cal. xii. (i) 369.

5 Cal. xii. (i) 234, 3^9 (? 166).

6 Cal. xii. (i) 86, 98.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 195

of government. The true mission of the Duke was to do
dreadful execution. Before a permanent reorganization of
the north could be attempted, it was absolutely essential
that the chief rebels should be dealt with in such a way
as would deter others from attempting a fresh insurrec
tion. The situation demanded severity, and there can be
no doubt that the inclination of the King tallied closely
with the dictates of political expediency. Norfolk justified
to the full the confidence that Henry reposed in his
ruthlessness. He reported that he thought that so great
a number had never before been put to death at one time,
and confessed that had he proceeded by jury, not one in five
would have suffered 1 . All the rebel leaders were taken and
sent up to London, and by the end of July, 1537, Aske,
Darcy, Hussey, Bigod, and many others had been condemned
to death as traitors. Darcy at his mock trial had dared to
tell Cromwell : f It is thow that art the verey originall and
chif causer of all thies rebellyon and myschif . . . and dust
ernestly travell to bring vs to owr end and to strik of our
hedd^ and I trust that . . . thought thow Boldest procure
all the nobell mens hedd^y within the Realme to be striken
of, yet shall ther one hedde remayn that shall strike of thy
hede 2 . But the Lord Privy Seal was still in too secure
a position to be harmed by any such words as these. He
seemed in higher favour than ever. If Norfolk had enter
tained the notion that he had begun to supplant his rival
in the royal favour, when the King chose him rather than
Cromwell to carry out the dreadful execution, he was
again doomed to disappointment. The reason why the
King had not been willing to employ his favourite instru
ment of destruction in this case, lay for the most part in
the fact that he needed his aid in a far more important
task, to which Norfolk s proceedings were merely
a necessary preliminary. For the moment had now arrived
for the long-contemplated reform of the government of the
north, a matter in which the Duke vainly attempted to
give advice. His proffered counsel was consistently rejected :

1 Cal. xii. (i) 498. 2 Cal. xii. (i) 976.

O 2,

196 THOMAS CROMWELL

in dealing with this problem the King preferred to consult
Cromwell.

The Border Counties of England had never been governed
like the rest of the kingdom l . The institution of the three
Scottish Marches, which at first included the greater part of
Northumberland and Cumberland, took its rise as early as
the middle of the thirteenth century. Each of these three
Marches was placed in charge of a Warden, who, aided by
a special court, exercised general authority, judicial, military,
and administrative, according to his commission. There
appears also at a very early date a kind of informal confer
ence or Council of the Marches, composed of the ordinary
March authorities, sitting in conjunction with local magnates.
When the war with Scotland broke out at the end of the
thirteenth century, the King attempted through the Privy
Council to increase his personal influence in the north. He
did not disturb the existing organization however. By special
commissions he strengthened the power of the Wardens, and
later gave the government of the Marches a definite head in
an officer called the Lieutenant of the North, who represented
the King s interest, and derived his authority from the Crown
and Council and not from Parliament. The Border Counties
were thus placed under a special jurisdiction and outside the
ordinary administration of the kingdom. The tendency of
the Privy Council to mingle in the affairs of the north in
creased during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and (as
a result of the strained relations between England and Scot
land in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII) reached
its culmination under Wolsey. The Lieutenant s control had
meantime been extended southward into Yorkshire.

It may perhaps seem strange that the Tudors, with their
special genius for centralization and conciliar government, had
not yet succeeded in rendering the condition of the north
more satisfactory, when its administration lay so completely
in their own hands. But the ever-threatening danger of a

1 On this and the succeeding rican Historical Review for April,
pages, cf. G. T. Lapsley, * The 1900, pp. 440-66.
Problem of the North, in the Ame-

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 197

raid from the Scots, coupled with the bitter feuds of the local
baronage, tended so far to disorganize the region that the
problem of the north had remained unsolved. The attempt
of Wolsey to reform the government of the Border Counties
had consisted in a thorough rehabilitation of the old Council
of the Marches. He replaced the ill-defined, loosely-con
structed body which had hitherto done service by a secret,
permanent organization, composed principally of northern
gentlemen, but still entirely dependent on the Privy Council.
His reluctance to grant the local organ a sufficient degree of
autonomy was the cause of the failure of his plan. The
renovated Council of the Marches was forced to confess itself
incompetent to deal with even the simplest problems which
presented themselves for solution, and the old unsatisfactory
state of affairs continued with little change, until after the
Pilgrimage of Grace.

The problem of the reorganization of the north was now
vigorously attacked by Henry and Cromwell during the
absence of Norfolk. The question which presented itself
after the suppression of the revolt was whether it would
be better to create an entirely new form of government
for the north, or to reconstruct, readapt, and strengthen the
old. The principle of control by a permanent local council,
first definitely established by Wolsey, was essentially charac
teristic of the Tudor policy, and Henry and Cromwell saw
no reason to depart from it. It had been one of the chief
sources of the strength of their rule, that though they never
shrank from any change, however radical, which the demands
of a royal despotism in Church and State rendered necessary,
they carefully avoided any gratuitous innovations which they
knew would be unwelcome to the people at large. An
entirely fresh organization of the north would have been
exceedingly unpopular, especially in that most conservative
portion of England : it was far less obnoxious, and equally
effective, to infuse new life into the old regime, by granting
the Council of the Marches a sufficient degree of independence,
and above all by changing its composition. The problem
was in many respects similar to that with which Cromwell

198 THOMAS CROMWELL

had been confronted in connexion with the election of bishops.
No radical innovation was needed in either case ; the status
quo, when fortified by official sanction, was perfectly satis
factory, save for a few trifling readaptations. It was on this
basis accordingly, that Henry and Cromwell resolved to re
construct the government of the Border Counties. The old
forms were retained though under different names. The
jurisdiction of the Council of the North (merely a new version
of the old Council of the Marches) was extended so as to
include the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, West
moreland, York, and Durham. It was given wider competence
in general administration, and its judicial authority in certain
cases was so strengthened as to exclude that of the ordinary
courts in the districts in which it exercised its functions l .

Far more interesting for our purpose than the jurisdiction
of the newly-organized Council, is its composition, especially
as revealing the identity of its originator. It seems that the
new body was largely composed of men of low birth, a certain
indication that Cromwell s was the guiding hand in its
organization 2 . The .base-born knave at whose feet England
lay had succeeded in proving to the King, that he and others
of humble origin had as much power and willingness to serve
the Crown as any nobleman in the land. Moreover the
personal character of many of the members of the new
Council was not above reproach, and though this fact does
not seem to have disturbed the King, a bitter protest was
evoked from Cromwell s rival, the Duke of Norfolk, who,
from his isolated position in the north, had watched with
increasing impatience the success of the Lord Privy Seal
in maintaining his influence at Court, and in organizing a
body obviously intended to supplant the temporary council
composed in the previous January. Norfolk s anxiety to
recommend himself to the King had alone induced him
to take upon himself the task of punishing the revolt ; now
that he discovered that with all his subserviency Cromwell
had again stepped into the place which he had coveted for
himself, his enthusiasm for executing rebels gave place to

1 Cal. xii. (i) 595. * Cal. xii. (ii) 914.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 199

petitions to be permitted to return to Court. But Cromwell
was strong enough to keep him in the north till September,
and the Duke was forced to content himself with writing
letters to the King and Council, to complain of the new
arrangements for the government of the Borders which had
been made in his absence 1 . He and Cromwell came into
collision here, just as they had done before over Irish affairs :
each had his own idea as to the best method of government
in both cases, and the antagonism of the two men was the
sharper in that each knew that his favour with the King
depended on the success of his plan of administration. The
Duke from the very first was convinced that the wylde
peple of all the Marches wolde not be kept in order vnles
one of good estimacz on and nobilitie have the ordering
therof, while Cromwell and the Council asserted that the
King had already been ill served on the Borders by the.
reason of controversy & variaunce depending between the
great men that ly upon the same ; but, they continued, if
it shal please his Majesty to appoynt the meanest man . . .
to rule & govern in that place ; is not his Graces aucthoritie
sufficient to cause al men to serve his Grace under him w/th-
out respect of the. very estate of the personage ? 2 The
dispute on this point began in early February, when Norfolk
wrote to protest against certain names in a list of officers
for the north which the Privy Council had sent him.
More arraunt theves and murderers be not in no Realme,
asserted the Duke, then they haue of Long tyme been
and yet ar . . . and the same shall not only cause Light
persounes to saye and beleve that the Kingly Highnes
is fayne to Hire with Fees the moost malefactors (in
order) to syt in rest, but also not to Loke vppon theire
most detestable offence 3 . An animated correspondence
on this topic continued for several months, the dispute
finally centering about the Presidency of the new Council
and the Wardenships of the three Marches ; Norfolk insisted
that only noblemen were fitted to hold these offices 4 . In

1 Cal. xii. (i) 318, 319, 321, 3 Cal. xii. (i) 319.

594, 651. 4 Cal. xii. (i) 651, 667, 916,

2 Cal. xii. (i) 594, 636. 919.

200 THOMAS CROMWELL

May the discussion was finally closed by the King, who had
steadily supported the position adopted by Cromwell and
the Council. Henry now took the matter into his own hands,
and sent a peremptory letter to the Duke. We doo accept
in good parte, wrote the King, the declaraczbn of your
opinion for the Marcher. Neuertheles we doubt not but you
woll both conforme your owne mynde to fynde out the good
order whiche we haue therin determyned and cause other by
your good meane to p^rceyve the same For surely we woll
not be bounde of a necessitie to be smied there with lordly,
But we wolbe s^rued with such men what degre soeuer they
be of as we shall appointe to the same V The Presidency
of the Council was finally conferred on Cuthbert Tunstall,
Bishop of Durham. The death of the Earl of Northumber
land in June, 1537, served as a convenient pretext for the
suppression of the Lord Wardenship of the East and Middle
Marches, which that nobleman had previously enjoyed ; and
the Earl of Cumberland, who had hitherto held a similar
office on the West Marches, was not permitted long to retain
it. Three Deputy Wardens, Sir William Evers, Sir John
Witherington, and Sir Thomas Wharton, were appointed in
their places by the King and Cromwell 2 ; the three March
Courts were revived, and exercised concurrent jurisdiction
with the new Council 3 , which was also composed as Henry
and his minister had originally planned it 2 . In every point
the advice of Cromwell had been taken in preference to that
of Norfolk, and when the Duke finally obtained leave to
return to Court in September, it must have been with the
feeling that he had again suffered defeat at the hands of his
plebeian rival. The rebellion, which eleven months before
had threatened to hurl Cromwell from his place, had been
completely quelled, and the country had been again reduced
to internal quiet. The danger while it lasted had indeed
been pressing, but so firmly had Cromwell been established
as the King s chief minister by the events of the years 1530
to !53^5 that the storm passed over him and left him scath-

1 Cal. xii. (i) 1118. 2 Cal. xii. (ii) 254, 914.

s Cf. Gneist, pp. 513-4.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE 201

less. The failure of the Pilgrimage of Grace and the process
of reconstruction which followed it, bore witness to the
thoroughness with which he had carried out his main aim
in internal government, and to the security of the position
to which he had elevated himself by his temporary success
in establishing a royal despotism.

CHAPTER XI

CARDINAL POLE

THE story of the life of Reginald Pole and of the destruc
tion of his illustrious family will always be inseparably bound
up with the history of Thomas Cromwell. It affords the
most striking example of the unscrupulous policy of the
King s minister towards those who stood in the way of
the royal despotism in Church and State. It forms moreover
a valuable connecting link between the internal and foreign
administration of the time, as it concerns itself with nearly
all the great problems which Cromwell had to face.

To turn for a moment to the earlier history of Pole ; he
was born in March, 1500, the fourth son of Sir Richard Pole,
and his wife Margaret, Countess of Salisbury 1 . In his youth
Henry had helped him forward in his education, paying
twelve pounds for his maintenance at school, and later obtain
ing for him a pension from the Prior of St. Frideswide s,
while he was an undergraduate at Magdalen College 2 . Sub
sequently, by the royal munificence Pole was enabled to go
to Italy, where he worked with the foremost scholars of the
time 3 . He returned to England in 1527 and there received
many marks of distinction, but wishing to continue his studies,
he soon removed to Paris. Henry was particularly anxious
that the University there should pronounce in favour of the
divorce, and with some difficulty induced Pole to carry on
negotiations with it to that intent. When the University
finally came to the decision that the King desired, Pole
received a hearty letter of commendation and was subse
quently induced to return to England 4 .

1 Phillips, Pole, p. 3. Cf. also 2 Cal. i. 4190.
the genealogy at the beginning of s Cal. iii. p. 1544.
the book. 4 Cal. iv. 6252.

CARDINAL POLE 203

Henry now urged him openly to support the divorce, and
offered him as an inducement the archbishopric of York,
which had been left vacant at Wolsey s death, but in vain.
Pole firmly refused to approve of the King s new measures,
saying that to do so would be inconsistent with his prin
ciples \ A little later he witnessed the concessions wrung
from the clergy concerning the Royal Supremacy, and was
not slow to perceive that it was by Cromwell s agency that
the entire ecclesiastical system of the country had been
overthrown. He called to mind the conversation he had
held years before with the Satanae Nuncius, when the latter
had dared to uphold the superiority of Machiavelli s doctrines
to the scholastic learning, and soon became convinced that
England was not a safe place for a man of his ideas, while
such a person as Cromwell was in power. He accordingly
requested leave to continue his study of theology abroad, and
obtained Henry s consent 2 .

He settled down at Padua, and there lived the quiet life
of a scholar until 1535, when the King determined to find
out -about him. He sought information concerning Pole and
his beliefs from one Thomas Starkey, who had long been
an intimate of the future Cardinal. In answer to the King s
inquiries Starkey sent back an imaginary dialogue between
Pole and his companion Lupset, in which the former was
represented as opposed on principle to a royal despotism,
but still personally faithful to Henry VIII. The King, how
ever, was not contented with this vague and half-contradictory
reply, and caused Starkey to write again to Pole and ask
him honestly to express his views about the divorce and the
Royal Supremacy 3 . To this Pole responded in May, 1536,
with a letter enclosing his famous treatise, De Unitate
Ecclesiae, which he sent by his faithful servant Michael
Throgmorton 4 . This work fulfilled all too perfectly Henry s
request for a candid opinion ; so plain were its expressions
of disapproval, that even Starkey himself felt obliged to write
to the King to say how much he had been shocked by its

Poll Epistolae, i. 251-62. * Cal. viii. 217-9.

2 Cal. v. 737. * Cal. x. 974-5.

204 THOMAS CROMWELL

violence 1 . Henry dissembled his anger, and sent Throg-
morton back to Pole with a message urging him to come
home in order that he might talk with him more fully. The
King took good care to make Throgmorton himself promise
to return in any case 2 . Coupled with the King s message
came a letter of reproof from Pole s mother, which had
evidently been written at Henry s command 3 . This letter
aroused Pole s suspicions and he refused to return, alleging
as his excuse the fact that the King enforced with sore
severitie a law by which any man who would not consent
to his supremacy was declared a traitor. It appears from
Pole s reply that Cromwell had also written to him, to styrr
hym the more vehemently. If the letter of the King s
minister was half as savage and threatening as those which
he later wrote, it is no wonder that Pole was alarmed.

On the 22nd of December, 1536, Pole much against his will
was created Cardinal at Rome,, and two months later was
appointed Papal legate to England 4 . It appears that in spite
of the Ten Articles the Pope had not yet given up all hope
of re-establishing his power in Henry s dominions, and had
determined to make use of Pole as the most likely means of
accomplishing this end. The news of the latter s new dignity
and of the Papal intentions against England was received with
dread at the King s Court. It was remembered that as far
back as 1512 a prophecy had been made to the effect, that
one with a Red Cap brought up from low degree to high
estate should rule all the land under the King, .... and after
wards procure the King to take another wife, divorce his lawful
wife, Queen Catherina, and involve the land in misery ; and
that further that divorce should lead to the utter fall of the
said Red Cap . . . and after much misery the land should
by another Red Cap be reconciled, or else brought to
utter destruction 5 . We are told that Cromwell knew this
prophecy well, and that he often discussed it, and sought to
learn whether the last part of it should some day come to
pass, as he had seen the first fulfilled in his own time. Had

1 Cal. xi. 156. 2 Cal. xi. 229. 4 Cal. xi. 1353 ; xii. (i) 779.

3 Cal. xi. 93. 5 Cal. xiv. (i) 186.

CARDINAL POLE 205

Pole been able to arrive in England promptly, so that he
could have taken advantage of the disturbance caused by
Bigod s rebellion, it is possible that Cromwell s fears might
have been realized before his death, and that a reconciliation
with Rome might have taken place in 1537 instead of in
1554. But the bull of legation was unaccountably delayed
till the 3ist of March 1 . Meantime the northern revolt had
been crushed, Francis and Charles were still at war, and
Pole s chance had gone. By this time Henry had doubtless
perceived that the new-made Cardinal could never be induced
to support his cause, but would certainly oppose it as long as
he lived. As reconciliation seemed impossible, the King
turned his thoughts to arrest or execution. The foreign affairs
of England at that juncture were in such a favourable con
dition that Henry felt strong enough to dictate both to the
Emperor and to the King of France. Informed by the latter
(who was just then in terror of losing England s friendship
because of his war with Charles) that Pole was coming
through France with money to help the northern rebels,
Henry was bold enough to demand in answer that he should
not be received as a legate, and also that he should be
extradited as a traitor ; he also wrote to Gardiner at Paris to
keep good espyall on his movements 2 . A letter from
Sir Thomas Palmer, a somewhat quarrelsome knight at Calais,
would seem to indicate that a plot to apprehend or assassinate
Pole had been set on foot as early as the spring of 1537, and
Cromwell in a letter to Gardiner of May 18 further discusses
the matter 3 . Pole, however, had been advised of these
treacherous schemes, and had escaped first to Cambray and
later to the palace of the Cardinal of Liege, where he remained,
grieved and mortified at the failure of his mission, but per
fectly safe from Cromwell s assassins 4 . Returning thence to
Rome at the Pope s command, he reported the unsuccessful
result of his journey in October.

Meantime in January, 1537, Michael Throgmorton had

1 Cal. xii. (i) 779. 4 Life of Pole, Dictionary of

Cal. xii. (i) 625, 939. National Biography, vol. xlvi.

1 Cal. xii. (i) 1219; Letters, 187. p. 38.

206 THOMAS CROMWELL

fulfilled his promise and returned to England 1 . If Henry
had once thought that Pole s servant would put his loyalty
to the Crown before his faithfulness to his master 2 , he must
have been convinced of his mistake by this time ; but
Throgmorton was saved from punishment for the present by
Henry s temporary failure to subdue the Pilgrimage of Grace,
and anxiety lest fresh hostility should be aroused abroad ; and
was soon sent back to carry to his master a final warning
to desist from attacking the Royal Supremacy 3 . From this
errand Throgmorton did not return ; it would have been the
act of a madman to do so, considering the way in which
events were moving. Instead, he wrote two long and con
ciliatory letters to Cromwell, one from Rome on February 15,
the other from Liege on August 20 4 . In the first he
attempted to appease the anger of the King, which had
been aroused by Pole s acceptance of the Cardinalate. In the
second he insisted that Pole had always done his utmost for
the advancement of the King s honour and good name, except
in matters which concerned the unity of the Church. Further
more he pointed out that though Henry had treated him as
a rebel and put a price upon his head, the Cardinal had shown
great forbearance in not leaving his book against the King
in the hands of the Pope, who would infallibly have published
it, and in refusing the exercise of certain censures which had
been prepared against Henry in Rome. Throgmorton added,
moreover, that the Pope had just called Pole back to Italy to
take part in the General Council appointed for the following
November, at which it was inevitable that strong measures
would be taken against England. He assured Cromwell that
if the King desired to avoid this danger it would be indispens
able for him to become reconciled to Pole, on whose attitude
at the Council so much depended. Throgmorton appears to
have supplemented this letter with a verbal suggestion that
a conference should be arranged between the King s chaplain
Dr. Wilson and the Cardinal, before the latter s departure for

1 Cal. xii. (i) 34, 249. the King. Cf. Letters, 218.

2 There is reason to think that 3 Cal. xii. (i) 249, 296, 313.
Throgmorton had promised to be 4 Cal. xii. (i) 429; xii. (ii)
a spy on Pole s movements for 552.

CARDINAL POLE 207

Rome, in the hope that some final agreement might be reached.
He promised to use his own efforts to induce Pole to do his
part, and seized the opportunity to excuse himself for not
returning to England, by observing in this connexion that he
could best further the King s interests by tarrying with his
master. At first the plan which Throgmorton proposed
seems to have found acceptance with Henry. A favourable
reply was drawn up by Cromwell, and Dr. Wilson and his
companion, Dr. Nicholas Heath, received instructions prepara
tory to a conference with Pole 1 . But though Henry,
discouraged as he was by his failures to kill or capture the
Cardinal, appears to have been momentarily persuaded that
Throgmorton s suggestion was feasible, his minister from the
first was strongly opposed to it. The first draft of the reply
to the letter of Pole s servant bears every evidence of having
been written under compulsion, and Cromwell must have
succeeded, before it was actually sent, in persuading the King
that a mission which was to meet the Cardinal on his own
ground could only result in failure, and that the sole
thing to do was openly to menace Pole and his family with
assassination. Such at least seems the most probable
explanation of the fact that Wilson and Heath never started
on their errand, and of the singularly abusive and malevo
lent letter with which Cromwell finally replied to that
of Throgmorton 2 . The last hope of reconciliation with the
Cardinal had vanished ; not he alone, but also his aged
mother and brother in England, had been threatened with
destruction. Another obstacle to Henry s despotism was
to be annihilated, as every attempt to surmount it had
failed.

Pole meanwhile remained in Italy, assured of his personal
safety but grieved to the heart that his mother and brother
were still in England, where the King could take vengeance
on them for his own alleged treason. In August, 1538, his
brother, Sir Geoffrey Pole, was arrested and placed in the
Tower, where he was examined on the charge of having had
treacherous correspondence with his brother Reginald, and

1 Letters, 216-7. 2 Letters, 218.

208

THOMAS CROMWELL

having interfered with the King s endeavours to arrest him 1 ..
His replies to the questions put to him implicated many
others, and before the close of the year the heads of the
powerful families of Montague, Courtenay, Delawarr, and
Nevill had been arrested and sent to the Tower 2 . There is
reason to believe that the confessions of Sir Geoffrey Pole
were extorted from him by threats of torture, to serve as an
excuse for the arrest of these noblemen, and a letter of
Castillon to Montmorency asserts that their destruction had
been decided on long before, on account of their connexion
with the Yorkist dynasty 3 . Cromwell s activity in procuring
matter for the various indictments is sufficiently attested by
an enormous number of notes of evidence and memoranda for
prosecution in the hand of his chief clerk. The apparent
difficulty which he had in trumping up any plausible charges
against his victims, would seem to show that no adequate
proof of any really disloyal intent could be found. Indeed,
in order to have any sort of excuse for the arrests of the
Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter, Cromwell had to exhume
a long forgotten episode, and accuse the latter of having
ridden in disguise three years before to confer with the Holy
Maid ; while it was remembered that the Marquis had been
put in the Tower in 1531 on the charge of assembling the
commons of Cornwall for an insurrection, with intent to
depose the King. An unfortunate remark of Courtenay s
that * Knavys rule about the Kyng, and that he hoped to
gyue them a buffet oone day, was brought up against him as
a treasonable sentence ; it certainly could not have been
pleasing to Cromwell, who was doubtless the arch- knave
referred to 4 . But it is very unlikely that any of the un-

1 Cal. xiii. (ii) 232 (p. 91).

2 Cal. xiii. (ii) 695, 770, 771.

! Cal. xiii. (ii) 804, 805, 954-60.

4 Cal. xiii. (ii) 802, 979 (7). It is
said that Cromwell, in the course
of these prosecutions, contrived to
deprive the victims of all chance
of escape by inquiring of the judges
whether, if a man were condemned

to death for treason in Parliament
without a hearing, the attainder
could ever be disputed. He finally
succeeded in obtaining the reluc
tant but correct reply that an at
tainder in Parliament, whether or
not the party had been heard in his
own defence, could never be reversed
in a court of law. Cf. Hallam,

CARDINAL POLE 209

fortunate noblemen had been guilty of crimes which could
fairly be interpreted as treason. The French ambassador had
hit upon the real secret of their offences when he remarked
that they all were adherents of the White Rose l . In fact the
whole plot against Pole may in one sense be regarded as
preparatory to a final attack on the Yorkist nobles, whose
position had never been secure since the accession of the
House of Tudor. Blow after blow had been struck against
them by Henry VIII and his father, but still some vestige of
them seemed always to remain, to threaten the King s position
and endanger his succession. There can be no doubt that
Cromwell, whose action in the case was certainly influenced
more than usual by personal animosity, found little difficulty
in persuading the King that the existence of Courtenay was
a serious menace to the security of the reigning dynasty, on
account of the claim that he had to the throne as grandson of
Edward IV. At any rate, Henry seemed resolved on a whole
sale destruction of all nobles who could possibly be regarded
as rivals of the Crown, and the relationship of most of his
victims to the family of the persecuted Cardinal afforded him
a pretext of which he did not fail to take advantage. Exeter,
Montague, and Nevill were beheaded in December, on Tower
Hill, while Sir Geoffrey Pole, who had been tried and con
demned with them, was spared, mainly, as Cromwell frankly
told Castillon at the end of December, because the King
expected to get something more out of him 2 . He was
ultimately pardoned, but passed the rest of his life in musing,
going about, says a contemporary writer, like one terror-
stricken all his days V

The Marchioness of Exeter and the Countess of Salisbury
were meantime held prisoners in the Tower. On May 12,

vol. i. pp. 29-30. Coke, Fourth In- whereupon that erroneous and vul-

stitute, p. 38, adds, * The party gar opinion amongst our historians

against whom this was intended grew, that he died by the same law

was never called in question, but which he himself had made.

the first man after the said reso- 1 Cal. xiii. (ii) 753.

lution, that was so attainted, and 2 Cal. xiii. (ii) 986, 1 163.

never called to answer, was the said 3 Wriothesley s Chronicle, vol. i.

Earl of Essex (Thomas Cromwell) : p. 92.

MERRIMAN. I P

210 THOMAS CROMWELL

1539, the moste tractable parlament that Henry ever had
passed a sweeping bill of attainder, to legalize the wanton
massacres of the preceding year and to destroy the victims
who still remained 1 . The Marchioness of Exeter was sub
sequently pardoned, but the Countess "dragged on a miserable
existence in prison for more than two years after her attainder.
The only evidence of her treason was a cloth which had been
found in her house, embroidered on one side with the arms
of England and on the other with the five wounds of Christ,
the emblem carried by the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
Still execution was delayed, and it was not until the spring
of 1541, almost a year after the death of Cromwell, that an
insurrection in Yorkshire under Sir John Nevill sealed her fate,
and she was barbarously beheaded by a clumsy executioner
on May 28 2 .

Meantime the Cardinal at Rome, powerless as he was to
prevent the ruin of his family, was contriving in some way
to humble the arrogant King and the ruthless minister who
had caused him so much woe. The Pope saw that what
Henry dreaded most of all was a coalition of Francis and
Charles, and as there was a good prospect of this event at the
close of 1538, he sent Pole to each of these two sovereigns
to urge them to agree to stop all trade with England and lay
the foundation for a continental league against her. Pole
gladly accepted the task, and careless of his own safety,
though he knew that his path would be full of Henry s hired
assassins, he set out for Spain and reached the Emperor s
Court at Toledo in safety in February, 1539. When the
King heard of his arrival there, he wrote to Charles in very
much the same way that he had addressed Francis two years
before, accusing Pole as a traitor, and demanding his
extradition as such, or at least insisting that Charles should
not grant him an audience 3 . But unfortunately Henry was
now no longer in a position to dictate, and the Emperor,
realizing this, saw no reason to accede to his request, and
answered, as Cromwell later wrote to Wriothesley, that if

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 867, .15. 2 Cal. xvi. 868.

3 Cal. xiv. (i) 279-280.

CARDINAL POLE 211

Pole were his owne traytoz/r, cowmyng from that holy
father he could not refuse him audience l . But in spite
of all this, the Cardinal s mission was a failure. Charles for
the present was content with the slight rebuke that he had
given Henry for his bullying ways ; cautious as ever, he did
not propose to put himself in a position from which he could
not retreat until he was sure of his ground, and intimated
to the legate that the Pope had made a great mistake in
publishing censures which he could not enforce. Pole could
not obtain his consent to the Papal proposals and left Toledo
much discouraged 2 . He was also exceedingly suspicious
of some design of Sir Thomas Wyatt s to cause his assassina
tion, and mentioned it in a later letter to Cardinal Contarini :} .
That his fears were not entirely groundless is shown by
a cipher letter from Wyatt to Cromwell containing many
passages pregnant with hidden meaning which can only be
explained if such a design is premised 4 . Pole soon betook
himself to his friend Sadolet at Carpentras, whence he sent
a messenger to Francis on the same errand as that on which
he himself had gone to Charles. The French King s reply was
as unsatisfactory as the Emperor s had been, and in 1540 the
Cardinal returned to Rome with his mission unaccomplished,
and deriving only small consolation from the thought that he
had been successful in baffling the attempts of Henry s and
Cromwell s assassins.

The story of Pole s life between 1535 an< 3 1540 is the
thread which binds together the foreign and domestic, secular
and religious history of Cromwell s administration. The
Cardinal s attempts to make the King renounce his title
of Supreme Head and the other insignia of the despotism
to which Cromwell had raised him at home were an absolute
failure, and were punished with the shockingly unjust and
cruel destruction of his family. Still his efforts to thwart
the main aim of the foreign policy of the time, namely the
separation of the interests of France and Spain, though not
directly successful, were instrumental in bringing about the

1 Letters, 301. 8 Cal. xiv. (ii) 212.

2 Cal. xiv. (i) 603. 4 Cal. xiv. (i) 560.

P 2

212 THOMAS CROMWELL

fall of his arch-enemy Cromwell. For the endeavours of
the Cardinal were one of a number of things which combined
to persuade the minister that the catastrophe which seemed
imminent throughout the year 1539 could not be averted
without external aid, and thus to induce him to take a step
on his own responsibility which soon led him into disastrous
conflict with the King.

CHAPTER XII

THE FOREIGN POLICY

DURING the ten years of Cromwell s ministry, the relations
of England with the great continental powers presented
a problem fully as difficult as that afforded by the course of
events at home. Cromwell s efforts to cope with the dangers
which threatened England from without were far less success
ful than his internal administration : in the latter he never
failed to render invaluable service to the Crown, while in the
former he made the mistake which finally lost him the royal
favour and brought him to the block. As the results of the
minister s external policy thus led directly to his fall, we may
now return to the chronological order of events, which was
abandoned while the various phases of his home government
were under consideration.

Cromwell had entered the King s service in 1530 with
training and talents which rendered him far more competent
to undertake the domestic administration of the country than
to guide its foreign affairs. His acquaintance with different
trades, his legal ability, and his experience in the suppression
of the smaller monasteries for Wolsey s purposes were of
inestimable value to him throughout his ministry in dealing
with problems at home. But in the management of affairs
abroad he was still very inexperienced. He had borne no part
in the great schemes of external policy which had occupied the
Cardinal, and though his speech in the Parliament of 1523
showed a very just appreciation of the situation of England
abroad, he had had no opportunity to put his ideas into
practice. Thus at the outset we find him cautiously remaining
in the background and awaiting the development of the
King s foreign policy. In this he was wise, for at Wolsey s
fall Henry had resolved to take the external administration

214 THOMAS CROMWELL

of England Into his own hands. We have seen that the
Cardinal s failure had taught him the danger of concluding
any definite alliance with either France or Spain, while the
two great continental rivals remained at war. He had learned
that England s best security lay in maintaining a position
of neutrality between Charles and Francis, and in balancing
one against the other, while all disputes betwe en them were
encouraged under cover of offers of mediation. It was along
these lines that Henry had determined to guide the foreign
affairs of England, as soon as order could be brought out
of the chaos caused by the divorce. How correct his decision
was is proved by the utter collapse of the Imperial alliance
of 1543, the only really permanent departure from the policy
of neutrality which Henry ever made after the death of
Wolsey. A complete change of the political horizon led him
into it, only to be left in the lurch by the Emperor at the
peace of Crepy l in the same way that he had been abandoned
before by Francis at the treaty of Cambray. But during the
life of Cromwell the King made no such blunder as this.
Though he sometimes wavered, he never definitely renounced
the policy of neutrality, although his minister, who sometimes
doubted its efficacy, made several efforts to induce him to
^abandon it. There can be no doubt that, from the very first,
Cromwell over-estimated the danger of a foreign invasion and
failed to appreciate the real strength of England s isolated
position : he was deceived by constant menaces which never
really bore fruit. A more intimate acquaintance with the
practical and calculating nature of Charles V would certainly
have convinced the King s minister that however much the
Emperor threatened, he would never actually embark on
the somewhat remote project of a crusade against England,
until a great many affairs in his own scattered dominions on
the Continent had first been settled to his satisfaction. But
\CromweH s inexperience in the management of foreign affairs
Blinded him to this important fact : and his over-eagerness to
seek means for England s defence proved his ultimate ruin.
After successfully co-operating with Henry for seven years on

1 Cf. Robertson, vol. ii. p. 135.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 215

the basis of maintaining strict neutrality between France and
Spain, and of encouraging all disputes between them, he
abandoned the wise policy of his master in favour of an
alliance in Germany which, in. one form or another, had been
under consideration on several occasions before, but which
had been abandoned every time as unnecessary. This new
alliance turned out disastrously. At the moment of its
completion, the situation on the Continent which had called
it into existence suddenly changed ; it was thrown over,
together with the minister who had originated it. Such
is the outline of the history of England s foreign affairs
from 1530 till Cromwell s fall. We can now take up the very
complicated story in detail.

Although Henry ardently desired at once to put in practice
the policy of neutrality which he had learned from Wolsey s
failure, the affair of the divorce had thrown everything into
such confusion that an immediate application of the new
principle was impossible. In fact it was not until the
beginning of the year 1536 that the King was able to assume
the position he desired in his relations with France and Spain.
The alliance with France which Wolsey had bequeathed to
Henry was so close that the King saw that he must at least
partially withdraw from it, before he could hope to come
to such terms with the Emperor as would enable him to act
the part of a neutral and benevolent mediator between the
foreign powers. But at this juncture the King s anxiety
to obtain a legal justification for his second marriage was
paramount in his mind. In fact it almost seems to have
blinded him temporarily to the policy that he doubtless
intended ultimately to pursue. His energies were all bent
towards securing the aid of Francis in his grete matier ;
and for the moment he postponed his policy of conciliating
the Emperor, who was of course at that time in league with
the Pope. Each pair of allies had interviews and counter-
interviews, but with very different results. While Henry and
Francis were at first most cordial, Clement counted Charles
proffered friendship as of slight weight, against the prospect
of losing the support of the two most powerful kings of

216 THOMAS CROMWELL

Christendom, and of being forced to submit to the summoning
of the General Council by which the Emperor proposed to
rectify the abuses which had crept into the Holy Church 1 .
The visit at Bologna of Francis ambassadors, Cardinals
Tournon and Grammont, undid all that Charles threats had
accomplished 2 , and Clement, although he feebly menaced
Henry with excommunication in case he proceeded with his
second marriage 3 , refused to accede to the Emperor s wishes
that he should take more active measures against England.
Meantime Henry had endeavoured to come to an under
standing with the See of Rome concerning the hearing of his
case before a Council, in the hope that by giving the Pope
fair words, he might still obtain a favourable decision 4 . The
King s confidence in the ultimate success of his efforts was
so high at the opening of the year 1533, that ne dared to give
it expression by increasingly harsh treatment of Katherine.
She was moved further away from the Court than ever
before, and hardly a day passed without seeing her subjected
to some new indignity. Every effort which her friends made
on her behalf seemed unavailing. As petitions to Henry
himself were unanswered, Chapuys in despair turned to
Cromwell, whom he had by this time recognized as the man
who managed all the King s affairs 5 . But Cromwell succeeded
in evading the demands of the Imperial ambassador also ; in
fact he displayed such ability in beknaving Chapuys that
Henry always employed him in future to answer the perfectly
justifiable complaints of the Spanish representative. Cromwell
delayed the interview which the ambassador had requested
until he had had time to consult with the King 6 : and when
he finally met Chapuys, he spent much time in applauding
all the efforts that had been made to maintain friendly

Ranke, Popes, vol. i. p. 77. illness. Cf. Cal. vii. 959. Though it

Cal. vi. 64, 92. is certain that he suffered at times

! Cal. v. 1545. from violent attacks of ague, it is

Cal. vi. no. doubtful if it was always his ill-

Cal. vi. 465. health which prevented him from

6 Cal. vi. 508. Cromwell often fulfilling his engagements to the

begged to be excused from a pro- Imperial ambassador,
mised interview on the plea of

THE FOREIGN POLICY 217

relations between Spain and England. But when urged to do
his best to protect the Queen and Princess from the ignominies
to which they were subjected, Cromwell s replies were evasive,
if not absolutely untruthful. Chapuys was so exasperated at
the cool way in which his claims to justice had been set aside,
that he took occasion to hint that Charles and Francis might
some day join forces against England, to * which Cromwell
assented, but showed no great joy thereat. The threat,
however, had no lasting effect. The treatment of the Queen
went on from bad to worse, and two months later the same
conversation took place all over again, with the same
unsatisfactory result 1 . As long as Cromwell consented to
obey his master s commands implicitly, and to devote himself
solely to finding means to carry out the plans which the
King s riper experience told him were feasible, without trying
to take the lead himself, the two were an almost invincible
combination.

But the time was soon to come when Chapuys prophecy
of a coalition of France and Spain seemed more likely to be
fulfilled. Henry s impatience to conclude his matrimonial
troubles finally led him to throw caution to the winds. He
had, as we have already seen, postponed the application of
his wise policy of neutrality in the hope of obtaining aid from
France. But the French King did not move quickly enough
to suit him, and in the summer of 1533 he committed such
a breach of diplomatic courtesy that he completely alienated
his nere and dere brother. He had overtaxed his friendship
with the King of France by requiring him to support every
move he made, and to threaten the Pope, if his Holiness
refused to do the same. Francis only partially acceded to
Henry s wishes. Meantime all hope of obtaining the divorce
from Rome had been abandoned owing to Cromwell s advice ;
the affair was tried in England, and Anne Boleyn was
publicly proclaimed Queen. A provisional sentence of ex
communication was passed on Henry in July, giving him
till September to decide whether he would take Katherine
back or not. A few months before, Francis and Henry had

1 Cal. vi. 918 ; viii. 263, 327, 355, 948 ; ix. 594.

218 THOMAS CROMWELL

together endeavoured to win over the Pope against the
Emperor : now that the bull of excommunication had come,
Francis continued his good offices by offering to mediate
for Henry with the Holy See. Henry, however, blusteringly
assured him that he was not in need of any mediation he
hoped that Francis would not trouble himself 1 . But the
latter would not take the hint that England s policy towards
the See of Rome had changed from conciliation to open
hostility, and invited Clement to meet him at Marseilles, to
see if he could not bring about an agreement. The .Pope,
who needed Francis aid in the furtherance of his own plans
for the prevention of the dreaded Council, readily accepted
the opportunity which had been offered 2 . Henry was of
course unable to prevent an interview between the two
potentates, but he attempted to throw cold water on the
whole affair by sending an embassy to Clement while the
latter was the guest of the King of France, to announce to
his Holiness that he intended to appeal against his sentence
to the very General Council which the Pope was attempting
to forestall. The chief result of this extraordinary proceeding
was simply to deprive the King of the only ally that he had.
Francis was naturally exceedingly angry, and flatly refused
to fight Henry s battles for him any more 3 . Such was the
reward reaped from the alliance which Wolsey six years
before had been at such pains to bring about, in the hope of
obtaining much-needed support in the matter of the divorce 4 !
So far it certainly seemed as if Henry s foreign policy,

Cal. vi. 614, 641. Neither writer produces any very
1 Ranke, Popes, vol. i. p. 77. conclusive evidence in support of
1 Cal. vi, 1426, 1427. his theory: but Mr. Friedmann s
1 Mr. Friedmann (Anne Boleyn, view is certainly, on the face of it,
vol. i. pp. 225, 250 fF.) believes that the more plausible. It may be too
this break with France was due to much to say that it was by Crom-
the influence of Cromwell, who had well s advice that Francis was in-
urged the King to strike out an suited at Marseilles, but it is certain
independent policy as regards the that the King s minister evinced
Pope. M. Bapst (Deux Gentils- a decided preference for an Imperial
hommes, pp. 97, 113), on the other alliance long before the year 1535.
hand, thinks that the King s minister Cf. Froude, The Divorce of Cathe-
originally favoured the French alii- rine of Aragon, p. 308.
ance, and adhered to it until 1535.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 219

instead of gaining him his desired position as neutral and
pretended mediator between France and Spain, had only
served to alienate both. As his cruel treatment of Katherine
and Mary had not improved his position with Charles, he
had to cast about for other allies to counterbalance the effect
of his tiff with Francis. It is at this juncture that Cromwell
first steps into prominence in connexion with foreign affairs.
There can be little doubt that the negotiations with the
Lutheran princes, which began in July, 1533, were planned by
him. It is of course natural to look to the man, whose
name six years later became inseparably associated with a
German alliance, as the originator of the scheme ; in addition
to this there is documentary evidence. A letter which
Chapuys wrote to the Emperor, July 30, 1533, informs us that
two of Cromwell s men (one of whom later turned out to be
his trusty Stephen Vaughan) had been sent to Germany pre
sumably to embroil all they could l ; and on August 3,
a letter reporting the progress of the ambassadors was written
by them to Cromwell from Antwerp 2 . Vaughan and his
companion, a certain Christopher Mont, arrived in Niirnberg
on the 22nd, whence they sent home minute accounts of the
state of religion in Germany ; the one observing, with apparent
regret, that the country was not nearly as disturbed as had
been thought, while the other assured Cromwell that he had
never seen a land whose towns were so much divided 3 . Some
time in the autumn Cromwell sent a reply to Mont, praising
his diligence, and urging him above all things to discover the
state of feeling in Germany towards the King of England
and the Emperor 4 . The envoy appears to have returned
from his preliminary tour of investigation before the close of
the year, for in January, 1534, he was sent back again to
Germany, this time accompanied by Nicholas Heath, with
instructions to convey to the Lutheran princes the sym
pathy of the King of England, as being also an enemy of
the Pope, and to express his willingness to unite with them
for the extirpation of false doctrines 5 . England s overtures,

1 Cal. vi. 918. 2 Cal. vi. 934. 3 Cal. vi. 1039-40.

* Letters, 64. 5 Cal. vii. 21.

220 THOMAS CROMWELL

however, were not received with as much enthusiasm as
Henry perhaps had expected, and nothing definite resulted
from the mission of Heath and Mont for a long time. The
Germans probably had serious misgivings about the genuine
ness of Henry s Protestantism, and their suspicions of his
sincerity were confirmed by a new development of England s
foreign policy in the same year.

As one of the consequences of an unwarrantable act of
piracy near the English coast in the autumn of 1533, Henry
had been able to get hold of a prominent young man of
the violently Protestant town of Liibeck, by name Mark
Meyer. At London he was treated with the greatest courtesy
by the King and Cromwell, and returned to his native city
invested with the honour of knighthood l . Such bounty was
seldom showered on anybody by Henry VIII without some
ulterior purpose, and Meyer s case was no exception to the
general rule. It soon transpired that proposals had been
made for a close alliance between England and Liibeck 2 .
Ever since the peace of Stralsund in 1370, the cities of the
Hanseatic League had claimed a decisive voice in the affairs
of the neighbouring realm of Denmark 3 : the death of the
king of that country in April, 1533, had left the throne vacant,
and Liibeck was at this moment bent on obtaining the dis
posal of it. Henry signified his willingness to aid the
Liibeckers in this enterprise, on condition that they would
promise that if they were successful they would be guided by
him in the final bestowal of the Danish crown. In May,
1534, the Liibeckers sent an embassy to England 4 , and the
proposals of the previous year were accepted.

The new alliance had a very important bearing on the
larger issues of Henry s foreign policy. The social and
political revolution which had been in progress in Liibeck
since 1530 had placed the power in the hands of a party
whose anti-papal tendencies were fully as violent as those of
the Wittenberg theologians, and whose conscientious scruples
were of less weight, when thrown into the scales of political

[ Cal. vi. 1510. 3 Schafer, p. 512.

! B. M. Nero B. iii, 105. 4 Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 539.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 221

expediency 1 . The treaty concluded with England contained
certain doctrinal statements which lay suspiciously close
to the needs of Henry s immediate position 2 , and the
King must have been at least temporarily convinced that
he had obtained a valuable ally against the See of Rome.
The treaty with Liibeck was also a very distinct move against
the Emperor, for an Imperial candidate had been proposed
for the vacant throne of Denmark, and by supporting the
Liibeckers Henry necessarily opposed Charles. But the new
alliance failed to accomplish what was expected of it : in
fact it actually worked to England s disadvantage. Before
its conclusion, George Wullenwever, the demagogue whom
the recent upheaval had rendered temporarily supreme in
Liibeck, had offered to support the claims of the Lutheran
Duke of Holstein to the Danish throne ; but when Holstein,
unwilling to gain his ends by force, prudently refused the
proffered aid, the friendship of the Liibeckers was converted
into bitter enmity. They soon invaded his lands, but were
repulsed and besieged in turn in their own city : a peace
of a most extraordinary nature finally resulted, by which an
agreement was reached in regard to the affairs of Holstein,
though both parties reserved the right of continuing the war
for the disposal of the crown of Denmark. That country
in the meantime, seeing that its sole chance of safety lay
in obtaining a strong and capable leader, elected the Duke
of Holstein to the vacant throne, under the title of Christian III
a severe blow to the pretensions of the Liibeckers, who
were now robbed of their best excuse for interference in
Danish affairs, namely their professed desire to introduce
pure religion there 3 . Liibeck, however, had now gone too
far to draw back, and prepared to attack the new King in

1 Waitz, vol. i. p. 83. dispensatio. Entwurf eines Ver-

2 One of the provisions of the trags zwischen Konig Heinrich
proposed agreement was : * Ducere und Liibeck ; Sommer, 1534. Tran-
uxorem fratris mortui sine liberis est scribed from the original in the
jure divino et naturali prohibitum. Archives at Weimar ; Waitz, vol.
Contra prohibitiones divinas inva- ii. pp. 319-25.

lida ac prorsus nulla est Romani 3 Ranke, vol. iii. pp. 406-425.
pontificis vel cujuscumque alterius

222 THOMAS CROMWELL

connexion with England. Henry must have been much
annoyed at the complication into which his new alliance had
led him it seemed doubly foolish, in view of his attempts to
conciliate the German Protestants, that he should get himself
entangled with the enemies of those whom he wished to
make his friends. But though the King was advised by
Dr. Barnes, the English ambassador at Hamburg, to drop
Liibeck and conciliate Christian 1 , he was as usual too proud
to acknowledge that he had made a mistake. He soon
reaped the reward of his obstinacy, as the Liibeckers, in their
new attempt to overthrow Christian, were again completely
defeated. Henry had aided them with the services of two
skilled engineers, and the Danish King sent an embassy to
demand an explanation of his conduct 2 . Christian s envoy
was treated with scant courtesy by the King and Cromwell,
the latter vainly attempting to conceal his master s anxiety
by several preposterous lies 3 . But still the King was un
willing to consent to a complete reversal of his Liibeck
policy, and finally sent the ambassador home with an answer
which Chapuys characterizes as obscure and ambiguous.
Several subsequent victories of Christian, in which certain
English ships which had been sent to aid the Liibeckers were
captured, were sufficient however to convince Henry that he
had unduly despised the power of the new Danish King ;
and though his relations with Liibeck continued to be
friendly, he carefully abstained from any further active
measures on her behalf. But he had already done enough at
least temporarily to alienate his Lutheran friends, who were
shocked at the way in which the King of England attached
himself to people whose religious principles were as extreme
as those of the Liibeckers, and who had dared to attack one
of their own number.

Thus each of the two alliances with which Henry had
sought to fortify himself against France and Spain had
rendered the other worthless. The King probably bitterly
regretted that his matrimonial difficulties had led him to stray
so far from the policy which he originally intended to pursue.

1 Cal. vii. 970. 2 Cal. viii. 72, 327. 3 Cal. viii. 556, 1178.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 223

Had he been able to secure his desired position as neutral
and pretended mediator between France and Spain, he could
have relied on this eminently advantageous situation alone to
secure safety for England abroad, without troubling himself
about any outside alliance. But to attain this position was
impossible, as we have seen, until he became reconciled to
Charles, and reconciliation with Charles was out of the
question as long as Katherine remained subjected to such
indignity. Here lay the key to the whole situation. The
treatment of the divorced Queen was the sole hindrance to
a cordial relation between Spain and England, and con
sequently to the final application of the policy which Henry
so ardently desired. But there could be no hope of an
alleviation of her sufferings, for the King and Cromwell were
by this time irrevocably committed to a brutal attitude
towards Katherine and her daughter by the course of events
since the first trial of the divorce. The inference was obvious.
As long as Katherine lived, a reconciliation with Charles, with
all its attendant benefits, was impossible : her death alone could
pave the way for it. That these thoughts had already taken
shape at least in Cromwell s mind is proved by a hint which
the King s minister dropped in Chapuys presence in August,
1534, to the effect that the death of the Queen and Princess
would remove all occasion for a quarrel between their masters l .
But the autumn of 1534 saw several events which served to
encourage the King and his minister, and seemed temporarily
to postpone the necessity of coming to terms with the
Emperor. The first of these events was the death of the
Pope in September, an occurrence which, according to
Chapuys, caused Henry and Cromwell such joy that the
latter was unable to refrain from saying several times in
public that this great devil was dead, and it seemed as if he
was very sorry that he could find no worse name for him
than devil V Francis moreover, solely on account of his very
strained relations with Charles, had slowly begun to recover
from the effects of Henry s discourtesy at Marseilles, and had
made fresh efforts to come to terms with England again ;

1 Cal. vii. 1095. 2 Cal. vii. 1257.

224 THOMAS CROMWELL

while Henry, unwilling as yet to proceed to extremities in
order to gain the friendship of Charles, welcomed the prospect
of a renewal of amity with France. But the satisfaction
which the King derived from the attitude of Francis was
rudely dispelled in a few months. Several interviews which
had been arranged between the two sovereigns had failed, for
various reasons, to take place, but the Emperor meantime
had not been idle. Imbued with the idea of vindicating the
rights of the Princess Mary by some decisive stroke, he had
actually sent the Count of Nassau to the French Court to
suggest that Francis should ask Henry to give her to the
Duke of Angouleme 1 . Francis considered the Emperor s
plan worth a trial, and in October sent over an embassy under
Admiral de Brion to propose it to the King of England.
Henry had little idea of the unpleasant surprise that was in
store for him, and made great preparations for the reception
of the Frenchmen, and Cromwell sent for a number of beautiful
young ladies to come to the Court to entertain them 2 . There
seems to be some doubt whether de Brion first proposed that
Mary should be given to the Duke of Angouleme or to the
Dauphin 3 , but both suggestions were equally disagreeable to
Henry. An acceptance of either proposal would of course
involve retracting his declaration that Mary was illegitimate,
and annulling his hard-earned invalidation of his first marriage,
and yet he dared not insult Francis a second time. His first
reply, according to Chapuys, was that he would agree to give
Mary to Angouleme if both would make a solemn renuncia
tion of all claims that they could bring forward to the English
throne 4 . But the Spanish ambassador seemed to think that
this proposal would not prove satisfactory, and we gather
from the official report of Henry s answer that the suggestion
was dropped. Instead, however, the King finally replied that
if Francis could obtain from the new Pope a decision that the
sentence of Clement was void, he might be induced to renounce
his claim to the French throne in exchange for certain lands

1 Cal. vii. 1060, and Baumgarten, 3 Cal. vii. 1483, 1554.
vol. iii. pp. 145-6. 4 Cal. vii. 1554.

2 Cal. vii. 1437.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 225

and titles in the Netherlands, and further hinted that it might
be possible to arrange a match between Elizabeth and the
Duke of Angouleme 1 . But this proposal amounted to little
more than a diplomatic refusal of Francis request. De Brion
went away disappointed, and forgetting his usual caution, and
the fact that England was still in a stronger position than
France, determined to avenge himself for the failure of his
mission by parading before the eyes of Cromwell and his
master the probability of the dreaded alliance of France and
Spain, in much the same way that Chapuys had done in the
previous year. When Cromwell appeared in the great hall
to make the farewell present, the Admiral disengaged himself
from the crowd, and came to the Imperial ambassador with
the greatest civility, expressing his regret at not having seen
the Princess Mary, * the principal gem of the kingdom/ and
finally declaring that if he and Chapuys could only bring their
masters to accord, all would go well -.

In spite of Cromwell s boasting, we may well believe that
de Brion had succeeded in making Henry feel very uncomfort
able. The inferences which the King must have drawn from
the conduct of the ambassador at his departure were further
confirmed by the ominous silence from France which followed
the Admiral s return. But Francis himself was in too pre
carious a position to afford to throw away any chances, so
after a couple of months delay, he pocketed his pride and sent
over another embassy under Palamedes Gontier, Treasurer of
Brittany, to continue negotiations on the basis of a marriage
between Elizabeth and the Duke of Angouleme. Henry was all
the more annoyed that Francis should take him at his word,
and entertain seriously the somewhat chimerical proposal
with which he had dismissed de Brion ; and the mission of
Gontier failed as signally as its predecessor had done, in
coming to any definite conclusion 3 . But Henry had chosen
a very poor moment to administer this final rebuff; for the
Emperor had departed on an expedition against Tunis, and
thus left Francis a comparatively free hand on the Continent.
The advantage of position had hitherto lain with England,

1 Cal. vii. 1483. 2 Cal. vii. 1507. 3 Cal. viii. 174, 557.

MERRIMAN. I Q

226 THOMAS CROMWELL

but the absence of Charles totally altered the aspect of affairs.
The French King felt himself once more master of the situa
tion, and was not slow to inform Henry that he did not
propose to be dallied with any longer. The reconquest of
Milan was at this moment his heart s desire ; to accomplish it
he needed English aid. So he commissioned the Bailly of
Troyes to convey to Henry a Papal brief which had been
sent to the French Court, and which required all Christian
princes to cease to hold intercourse with the heretical King
of England ; he further instructed his ambassador to make it
clear that the sole consideration which would induce the King
of France to disregard the brief, would be a liberal contribu
tion of English gold, whenever he saw fit to make war on the
Emperor. This announcement, which was practically an
ultimatum, took Henry completely by surprise : angry words
passed between him and the French envoy, but there was no
use disguising the fact that Francis had the upper hand J .
The King finally sent Gardiner to Paris to answer the French
claims ; the instructions which the ambassador received reveal
a much more conciliatory attitude than Henry had yet adopted
towards France 2 . The gravity of the situation was further
confirmed by the seizure and detention at Bordeaux of several
English ships, for the recovery of which Cromwell kept writing
urgent letters to the Bishop of Winchester 3 . It was at this
juncture that the King and his minister made a feeble effort
to reap some reward from the mission of Heath and Mont to
the Lutherans in the preceding year. Attempts were made
to bring the reformer Melancthon to England, or at least to
prevent his going to Francis, who had sent for him in order
to obtain the support of his followers against Charles 4 . The
latter effort was superfluous ; the former failed. Melancthon
had no intention of going to France, but the King and
Cromwell could not persuade him to come to England either.
Henry s agent, Dr. Barnes, however, informed the Lutherans
that the King would not refuse to join in an alliance with
them for the defence of the Gospel, provided they would

1 Cal. ix. 148, 205, 594, 595. Letters, 126, 128, 135.

2 Cal. ix. 443. 4 Letters, 113.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 227

support him against the Pope, and he promised them that
another ambassador, the Bishop of Hereford, would come and
talk further with them 1 . At the close of the year the envoy
was received in Germany. Long negotiations followed, at
first with some hope of success. A request by the English
ambassador that the Germans would unite with his master in
a refusal to recognize a General Council convoked by the
Pope, was favourably received ; and the plenipotentiaries of
the Lutherans drew up a response in which they expressed
themselves as entirely in accord with Henry in regard to the
See of Rome, and offered the King of England the proud
title of Defender and Protector of their league. As long as
the Bishop of Hereford restricted himself to theological dis
cussion and abuse of the Pope all went well, but when he
made the more practical demand for aid to his master in
money and ships in case of an invasion, the Germans drew
back : they were not prepared to go as far as this until a more
complete agreement had been reached in matters of religion.
Trouble arose also over the question of the King s divorce :
the Lutherans acknowledged that marriage with a brother s
widow was wrong, but they refused to admit, if such a union
had taken place, that it was right to break it 2 . The news of
the executions of More and Fisher, moreover, had caused
great consternation in Germany, where every effort was being
made to introduce the new doctrines without bloodshed ; and
the Bishop of Hereford was finally sent away empty-handed,
the negotiations having resulted in a failure which plainly
foreshadowed the events of 1538 and 1539. Taken as a whole,
the year 1535 had simply been occupied in playing over again
the game of 1534- Twice had the French alliance been
tested, and it had failed. Twice had Henry and Cromwell
sought security in a league with the Lutherans without
success. Two proofs had been afforded that a reconciliation
with Charles was the surest road to England s safety ; and
this time the alternative of a closer alliance with France,
which, in 1534, had offered the King and his minister

L Cal. ix. 390, 1016. Reformatorum, vol. ii.pp. 1028 ff.; Hi.

2 Cal. x. 771. Cf. also Corpus pp. 46-50.

Q2

228 THOMAS CROMWELL

a temporary escape from an ultimately inevitable conclusion,
was out of the question. But a reconciliation with the
Emperor, as we have already seen, was impossible during the
lifetime of Katherine.

Under these circumstances then, we can scarcely wonder
that the Imperial ambassador reported to his master that the
death of the Queen, which occurred on January 7, 1536, was
due to foul play 1 . Chapuys also possessed other evidence,
which tended to strengthen him in this conclusion. He had
not forgotten the sinister hint which Cromwell had let fall
in his presence in August, 1534; and he had apparently
discovered that in November, 1535, the King had plainly told
his most trusted counsellors that he must be rid of the Queen
and Princess at the next Parliament 2 . Nor did Henry s
unseemly conduct when he received the news of the death
of his first wife escape the notice of the Imperial ambassador.
Chapuys wrote to Charles how the King clothed himself in
yellow from head to foot, and spent the day in mirth and
revelry. c God be praised/ had Henry exclaimed, that we
are free from all suspicion of war 3 . The ambassador also
dwelt at length on the suspicious secrecy and almost indecent
haste with which the body of the Queen was opened,
embalmed, and enclosed in lead ; on the very significant
testimony extracted from the chandler of the house who
did the work, and on the statements of the doctor and of
the Queen s confessor. The verdict of the best modern
medical authorities on the post-mortem examination as
reported by the chandler strongly favours the conclusion
that Katherine was not poisoned 4 , but died of a disease
called melanotic sarcoma, or, more popularly, cancer of the
heart : the testimony of a sixteenth-century artisan, however,
is but a poor basis for a modern scientific investigation. If
the Queen was murdered, there is every reason to think that
Cromwell was chiefly responsible for the crime.. To a man

1 Cal. x. 59. 4 Cf. Dr. Norman Moore, on the

2 Cal. ix. 776, and Friedmann, Death of Katherine of Aragon, in
vol. ii. pp. 169-73. the Athenaeum for Jan. 31 and

Cal. x. 141. Cf. also Fried- Feb. 28, 1885.
mann, vol. ii. p, 176.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 229

of his character and training such a step would have been far
less repugnant than to Henry, had he once assured himself
that it was indispensable to his purposes. He had had
sufficient experience of the Italy of Alexander VI and
Caesar Borgia to render him quite callous to the ordinary
sentiments of humanity in such matters. He had never fully
realized the innate strength of England s isolated position ;
he was always alarmed by the danger of foreign invasion far
more than his master, and consequently was more ready to
adopt desperate measures to avert it. It does not seem
likely that the more experienced Henry would have originated
the plan of murdering his wife, until the crisis in foreign
affairs had become far more acute. Though he fully com
prehended the many advantages of a closer alliance with
Charles, he must have been reasonably certain that he had
little cause to fear a direct attack in the immediate future,
especially as the death of the Duke of Milan in the end of
October had opened glorious possibilities for a renewal of the
quarrel between Francis and Charles. Of course it is mere
folly to suppose that Cromwell would have attempted to
murder the Queen without the King s full consent. It is
more than probable however that if poison it was it was
he who put the idea into Henry s mind, and took the
responsibility for its execution upon himself.

In any event the death of Katherine, whether due to
natural causes or advance sinistrement as Chapuys ex
pressed it, was the means by which Henry was at last
enabled to attain the position in foreign affairs that he had
aimed at since the fall of Wolsey, and to put in practice
a policy which, combined with a fortunate turn of events
abroad, was destined, for two years, to lead to the most
glorious results. It removed the chief cause of jealousy
between England and the Emperor 1 J and enabled Henry to
point out to Francis, who as we have seen had of late been
taking a very haughty tone with him, that the situation of
the two countries had again been reversed, and that France
was no longer in a position to dictate. This task Cromwell

1 Robertson, vol. ii. pp. 40-1.

230 THOMAS CROMWELL

performed for him three days after the Queen s death, with
his usual directness and efficiency. The King s minister
wrote to Gardiner and Wallop on January 8, indicating that
the death of Katherine had removed * the onelie matier of
the vnkyndenes between his master and the Emperor, and
instructing the ambassadors in their conference and pro-
cedyng^5 wzt/z the frensh kyng and his counsaile to keep
themselves the more aloof and be the more Froyt and colde
in relentyng to any their overtures or requests V A com
parison of this letter with one which Cromwell had written
to the Bishop of Winchester two months earlier 2 reveals
a very striking change of tone, which nothing else than the
death of Katherine could have rendered possible.

The King s secretary was no less prompt in pointing out to
the Imperial ambassador the bearing of the decease of the
divorced Queen on England s relations with Spain. He was
not ashamed to remark to one of Chapuys men that the
Emperor had the greatest cause to be thankful for the death
of Katherine, which in his judgement was the very best
thing that could have happened for the preservation of the
amity between Henry and Charles, as it completely removed
the sole cause of jealousy between them 3 . The Emperor
was too hard-headed a politician not to see the force of
Cromwell s words. We cannot doubt that he was exceedingly
angry at the death of his aunt, which he certainly believed
was due to foul play ; but his situation was such that revenge
was impossible, and with characteristic calmness and self-
control he determined to conceal his resentment and conciliate
Henry. It was doubtless with his full sanction that Chapuys
welcomed all Cromwell s proposals, which looked towards
a more cordial relation between England and Spain. Mean
time Francis had not been slow to take the hint which
Gardiner, at Cromwell s command, had given him, and was
again using every effort to regain Henry s favour. The
breach between the two continental sovereigns was, to the
King s intense joy, becoming wider every day, with the result
that each was making frantic attempts to outbid the other for

1 Letters, 136. 2 Letters, 126. 3 Cal. x. 141.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 231

England s friendship. Henry s position was for the moment
almost ideal. All he needed to do was to keep the two
rivals just evenly balanced. But precisely at this critical
juncture, Cromwell for the first time in his ministry made
a move without the King s leave, which, had it not been
instantly forestalled, would have completely upset the
beautiful equilibrium which Henry had laboured so hard to
establish. The King had doubtless ordered him to be cordial
to Chapuys, in order to counterbalance the effects of the
warmth of Francis ; but he had not the least idea of entering
into any definite agreement, which might lose him his precious
position of neutrality. But Cromwell did not see this. He
exceeded his instructions, was voluble in his disparagement of
the French in Chapuys presence, and finally brought matters
to such a point that he went with Chapuys to the King to
propose an Imperial alliance 1 . It was the most open avowal
he had yet made of a leaning towards Spain, that he had
doubtless cherished for a long time. Born among the
common people, Cromwell s early life had been spent in
that atmosphere of bitter hatred of France, which for genera
tions had been one of the most predominant characteristics
of the lower classes in England. In the first half of the
sixteenth century, hatred of France meant friendship with
Spain, and from the first years of the reign of Henry VIII one
encounters at every turn evidences of the devotion of the
common people to the Imperial cause. Wolsey s policy of
peace with France had won him almost as many enemies
among the lower classes as his reputation as originator of
oppressive financial measures. Cromwell had determined
not to make the same mistake that his predecessor had, but
he was foolish enough to err on the opposite side. During
the year 1535 he had given hints that he was no friend of
France 2 . His rudeness to the French ambassadors on more
than one occasion had convinced Chapuys that he favoured
the Emperor, but as yet he had not gone far enough to bring 1
himself into collision with the King. But this time he had
forgotten his previous caution, and his rashness resulted in

1 Cal. x. 351. 2 Cal. viii. 948, 1018,

232

THOMAS CROMWELL

his first serious quarrel with his master. Henry may well have
been furious that his minister s recklessness had threatened
to destroy the whole fabric of a policy which he had been at
such pains to put in operation. The Imperial ambassador
gives us an amusing account of a scene which ensued in the
Privy Chamber when he came with Cromwell to propose an
alliance between England and Spain. After Chapuys had
propounded the terms of a possible treaty, Henry called
Cromwell and Audeley to him and retired to another part of
the room. They talked together, writes Chapuys, who kept
a vigilant eye upon the gestures of the King and those with him.
1 There seemed to be some dispute and considerable anger, as
I thought, between the King and Cromwell ; and after a
considerable time Cromwell grumbling left the conference
in the window where the King was, excusing himself that
he was so very thirsty that he was quite exhausted, as he
really was with pure vexation, and sat down upon a coffer
out of sight of the King, where he sent for something to
drink. Henry soon came to Chapuys, and after being as
rude as possible, reproaching the Emperor with past in
gratitude, and asserting that Milan rightfully belonged to the
French, waived the point at issue entirely, and was with
difficulty persuaded to look over the treaties at a later time.
At this slender and provoking answer, writes Chapuys,
I left the Court, and went to wait on Cromwell, whose
regret was so great that he was hardly able to speak for
sorrow, and had never been more mortified in his life, than
with the said reply V

1 Cal. x. 699. Mr. Friedmann
points out that this quarrel of Henry
and Cromwell about the Spanish
alliance was intimately connected
with the fate of Anne Boleyn. The
Emperor, too cautious to express
any indignation at the news of his
aunt s death, was still planning for
the safety and, if possible, the suc
cession of his cousin the Princess
Mary. On hearing from Chapuys

of the possibility of a renewal of
cordial relations with England, he
wrote back on March 28, 1536,
a most diplomatic reply, in which
he pointed out that it would be
certainly for the interest of the
Princess that Anne Boleyn should
continue to be Henry s wife ; for
should the King marry again, he
might have male issue, which would
succeed to the prejudice of Mary :

THE FOREIGN POLICY

233

Ample justification was soon afforded for Henry s strict
adherence to the policy of neutrality, for events on the Con
tinent had moved rapidly forward, and Charles and Francis
were at last at open war. By restraining Cromwell from
making the mistake of cementing an alliance with the Emperor,
and by guarding himself against a too close intimacy with
Francis, the King had succeeded in placing England in such
a position that the two great continental powers were forced
to grovel at her feet. From the beginning of 1536 until the
autumn of 1537, when the truce between France and Flanders
(forerunner of the peace of Nice in the summer of 1538) was
concluded, the history of the foreign policy of England is as
simple as it is glorious and triumphant. Henry, constantly
pretending to be desirous of arbitrating between France and
Spain, for the peax and weale of Christendome, as he
elegantly put it, was in reality solely occupied with the
endeavour to embroil them the more. Alternately encourag
ing and repelling advances from both sovereigns, by judiciously
proposing and then retreating from alliances with each of
them, he succeeded admirably in keeping Charles and Francis
in a constant state of anxiety, as regarded his true position.
Cromwell s letters tell the story of the time very clearly. An
answer soo general that it doth neither refuse their alliance,
ne moche encorage them, to co^ceyue that they maye without
difficultie obteyn their desire was the reply which the

there was, on the other hand, little
probability that Anne would bear
Henry another child, and the
Emperor knew well that in the eyes
of the nation his cousin s right was
far superior to that of Elizabeth.
So, by a very extraordinary turn of
affairs, the interests of Charles and
of Anne had at least temporarily be
come identical. Cromwell probably
had not perceived that this was the
true state of affairs when he had
his conversation with Chapuys ; but
the failure of his attempts to bring
about a Spanish alliance must have

opened his eyes to the fact that he
had been working in the interests
of one whose ruin had been certainly
resolved on by this time. * He took
to his bed out of pure sorrow for
a few days as we are told ; and
when he returned to the Court, it
was to labour with all his might for
the ruin of Anne, which he saw was
necessary to save his own credit
with the King. Friedmann, Anne
Boleyn, chapter xvi; Cal. x. 575>
700 ; also W. H. Dixon, History
of Two Queens, vol. iv. pp. 262,
263.

234 THOMAS CROMWELL

English ambassadors were ordered to give at the French and
Spanish Courts l . So secure did Henry feel himself abroad
that he dared to issue a manifesto in contempt of the General
Council 2 , which the Pope had summoned to meet at Mantua,
and to publish the Ten Articles of 1536, which, while primarily
intended to serve another purpose, were politically useful as
a formal refusal to respect it. It was very fortunate for England
that her affairs abroad were so prosperous at this juncture, as
the end of 1536 and the beginning of 1537 were full of anxiety
at home, owing to the outbreak of the rebellion in the North.
This happy state of affairs however was not destined to
endure, for Francis and Charles soon tired of their strife, and
in the autumn of 1537 there were signs of a reconciliation.
Francis, moreover, had strengthened his position by a league
with the Turk, and began to feel powerful enough to make
a move without Henry s leave. The first intimation of this
unpleasant fact came to Henry in the shape of a refusal of
a matrimonial offer. The death of Queen Jane had left him
free to marry again, and so gave him an excellent opportunity
once more to mix in continental affairs, which he did not
permit to escape him. Cromwell wrote a letter for him to
Lord William Howard and Gardiner, artfully instructing them
to feel the way for a possible alliance with Mme. de Longue-
ville, who had just been affianced to James of Scotland. It
was too much of a favour to ask Francis to put aside the
claims of a sovereign who had always been his true friend, to
make way for those of the more powerful but perfidious King
of England, and Henry s offers were, after some negotiations,
politely but firmly declined, to the latter s intense chagrin 3 .
An almost equally ominous note of warning came from Spain
at the same time. Sir John Dudley, ambassador to announce
the death of the Queen at the Spanish Court, had expressed
to the Emperor the King s sorrow that his repeated offers of
mediation with France had been set aside, whereupon Charles
turned on him, and informed him that negotiations with
France were already set on foot, though he relieved Henry s
anxiety a little by assuring him that no actual treaty should

1 Letters, 170. 2 Cal. xii. (i) 1310. 3 Cal. xii. (ii) 1201.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 235

be made without the King of England s being included as
a premier contrahent, a promise which Cromwell was con
tinually harping upon a year later, when the situation had
entirely changed l .

Thus the year 1538 opened rather darkly for England.
The dread with which Henry watched the increasing signs
of good-feeling between Charles and Francis led him into
ridiculous and undignified action. As soon as it was settled
that Mary of Guise was to become James wife, Henry literally
scoured the continent of Europe in search of an alliance for
himself or his daughters, which would strengthen his position
and avert the impending crisis. A somewhat confusing set
of double instructions from Cromwell to his friend Philip
Hoby, instructing him to negotiate for possible marriages
with the younger sister of James wife, with the daughter
of the Duke of Lorraine, and also with the Duchess of
Milan, and to obtain their portraits, is not without interest
as revealing Henry s state of mind 2 . The first two of these
unions, if accomplished, would of course have rendered him
safe from France ; the other would have put him on friendly
terms with Spain ; but none of them was destined to succeed.
The King even went so far as to permit Sir Francis Brian,
his agent at the French Court, to suggest that various suitable
ladies should be brought to Calais for his inspection, that he
might be sure that he made no mistake. Henry s proceedings
evoked such ridicule and derision in continental Europe,
that Castillon, the French ambassador, contrived to convey
to him the general feeling with such directness and force
that he actually drew a blush from the King himself 3 .
Finding that his endeavours to obtain a suitable wife
for himself were abortive, Henry looked about for an
advantageous marriage for his daughter Mary. By altern
ately holding out to the Emperor a prospect of a match
for her with the Infant of Portugal, and pretending to accept
a proposition of the French representative, Castillon, that she

1 Cal. xii. (ii) 1053, 1285.

Letters, 243. Cf. also Preface to vol. xiii. pt. i. of the Calendar, pp. 37-8.

Cal. xiii. (i) 1355, 1405, 1451, 1496 ; xiii. (ii) 77, 232, 277.

236 THOMAS CROMWELL

should marry the Duke of Orleans, he contrived to lay the
basis for a continental quarrel. But his success in this scheme
was very short-lived. The only person that he could
deceive at all was Castillon. It seems that Cromwell, who
again at this crisis took the opportunity to show his decided
leaning towards Spain, had openly disapproved of the pro
posed French alliance, and when Castillon complained of this,
Henry turned fiercely upon his minister and reprimanded
him, saying that he was a good manager, but not fit to inter
meddle in the affairs of kings, and finally Norfolk was sent
for. Cromwell s great Spanish passion, as Castillon called
it, had got him into trouble again, and the French ambassador
was delighted, thinking that he had at last obtained the upper
hand. But Castillon s delusions were rudely dispelled three
weeks later, when he learned that the King and Council were
resolved to withdraw from the French match, on account of
offers which the Emperor had made, and when Francis wrote
that the King s proceedings only proved that he was jealous
of the negotiations for peace l . It is needless to state that
neither of the proposed unions ever took place, and Henry s
frantic endeavours to frustrate the steadily increasing amity of
France and Spain were entirely unavailing.

Matrimonial agitations being found useless to serve his
purpose, Henry had recourse to other methods to stir up
suspicions between Charles and Francis, and to prevent the
dreaded peace. Whatever malicious tale-bearing and false
representations could accomplish was used to the full by the
King and his minister. Cromwell wrote to Sir Thomas Wyatt
at the Spanish Court, directing him to declare how the
frenche men show themselfej so ernest to put al in the king*?.?
hand that they offer vpon any significaczon that thcmperour

woll make to condescende to the same, and

telling how the French ambassador had promised that Henry
shuld for the French kinges parte haue the hole and entier
manyeng of the Peax betwen him and Themper^r 2 . If Henry
could not obtain the hole and entier manyeng of the Peax,
he did his best to convince Charles and Francis separately

1 Cal. xiii. (i) 995, 1147, 1355. 2 Letters, 244.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 237

that his own friendship was more valuable to each of them
than that of the other. Furthermore he took pains to assure
each one of the two rivals apart, that the other prized England s
amity so much that great concessions would be necessary to
regain it.

But in spite of all Henry s efforts to avert it. the news of
the truce between Charles and Francis and of their subsequent
interview at Aigues Mortes reached England in July, 1538 1 .
Still so confident was the King in the wisdom of his original
policy of strengthening England solely by attempts to embroil
these two powerful sovereigns under cover of offers of mediation,
that he refused definitely to abandon it, in spite of the threaten
ing outlook on the Continent. He remembered that the
situation there had often changed before, and saw that it
would probably do so again. He encouraged himself with
hopes that in spite of the failure of his attempts to contract
a marriage in France, he might still gain the hand of the
Duchess of Milan, and with the reflection that the inroads
of the Turk into the Emperor s dominions would be a serious
hindrance to any direct attack upon England. He was un
willing to seek security in an outside alliance, for fear of
imperilling his hard-won position as a neutral between France
and Spain. He wished still to rely solely on judicious inter
ference in the affairs of Charles and Francis for England s
safety.

But with Cromwell the case was very different. The
closing months of the year 1538 were the turning-point in
his career, for they saw him take a step which was destined
to bring him into collision with the King, and later to lead
him to his death. The original difference of opinion between
King and minister, which first came to the fore in the quarrel
of I53^> now broke forth again under a slightly altered form,
which it was destined to maintain till the end. At first we
saw that Cromwell vented his distrust of the policy of
neutrality in favouring a definite alliance with Spain. The
changed situation on the Continent rendered a league with
Charles impossible now, so that the only refuge that remained

1 Cal. xiii. (i) 1486.

238 THOMAS CROMWELL.

for England, if the policy which had been so successful in 1536
and 1537 really broke down, was to court an alliance with
some power outside the two great continental rivals. And
Cromwell, inexperienced, and overestimating the danger of
foreign invasion, certainly believed that Henry s efforts to
maintain his old position between France and Spain were
now doomed to inevitable failure. He did not see, as the
King did, that the friendship of Charles and Francis was
but temporary, and that the old quarrels were ultimately
certain to break forth afresh. He looked the situation as it
was squarely in the face, abandoned once and for all the
policy of seeking safety by playing on the mutual jealousies of
Charles and Francis ; he frankly recognized the probability
of war, and deliberately courted an outside league for England s
defence. As he had always considered the friendship of the
Emperor more valuable than that of Francis, so he considered
his enmity, which he now regarded as inevitable, as more to
be feared. Consequently, in looking about for an alliance to
fortify England, he sought one which could be most effectively
directed against Charles.

It will be remembered that in order to guard against the
danger of a possible coalition of the Emperor and the King
of France in 1533 and 1534, some proposals had been made
for a league with the Protestant princes of Germany ; but that
owing to theological differences, the Liibeck affair, and the
death of Katherine and its results, the scheme had
been abandoned as useless. As long as the interests of
France and Spain were separated, the value of the German
alliance as a defensive measure was of course lost, and England
thought no more of it. But now that the news of the inter
view of Aigues Mortes had persuaded Cromwell that mere
meddling in the affairs of France and Spain was not sufficient
to prevent a coalition against England, he turned to his
forsaken friends in Germany once more. Cromwell must
have had great difficulty in bringing Henry to sanction
a move to seek friendship with the Lutherans, but so hopeless
did the King s efforts to prevent a cordial relation between
Charles and Francis appear, that he was at last induced to

THE FOREIGN POLICY 239

consent to the experiment, though, as we shall soon see, his
acquiescence was only temporary. The opportunity for an
alliance with the Germans was in many respects most favour
able. The proclamation which Henry had put forth to show his
contempt of the Papal authority to convoke a General Council,
coupled with the Ten Articles of 153^, had called forth the
most hearty approbation of the Lutheran princes. An elaborate
set of instructions in the hand of one of the King s secretaries
directed Christopher Mont to go to the Germans again, and tell
them how nearly Henry s theological views coincided with their
own, arid to request them to send representatives to discuss
with him points of faith l . The fact that the proposals for the
German alliance ostensibly emanated from the King, is no
sign that Cromwell was not the real originator of it. An
invitation to send ambassadors could scarcely proceed from
any other source than the Crown, so that the evidence
afforded by the authorship of the instructions to Mont is of
small weight ; whereas the course of events in 1539 and 1540
leaves little doubt that the guiding hand throughout was that
of the King s minister. Henry s name really appeared as
little as possible in connexion with the Lutheran alliance
from first to last, and only in the most formal manner.
Cromwell s was the moving spirit in it throughout, and Henry
really never cordially supported him, but regarded the
measure in the light of a disagreeable necessity, temporarily
forced upon him by the apparent failure of his own plans.

But the outside world of course knew nothing of the
difference of opinion between King and minister, and had no
suspicion that the foundations were being laid here for the
quarrel which was later to bring Cromwell to disaster. The
Lutherans were greatly flattered by the proposals that had
been made to them, and in May an embassy, headed by
Franz Burckhard, Vice-Chancellor of Saxony, arrived in
England. But in spite of all the trouble that had been
taken, the plans of the King s minister were not destined
to bear fruit, for the only result of the Lutheran embassy
was procrastination which seemed little better than failure.

1 Cal. xiii. (i) 367.

240 THOMAS CROMWELL

Theological differences were the ostensible reason for inability
to conclude an agreement, but not the real one. The
Protestantism of the Lutherans differed from that of Henry
and Cromwell in much the same way as that of Tyndale,
years before : they cared for their theology for its own sake,
and not, like Henry, as a means to an end, as a stepping-stone
to political greatness. A theological entente^ however, would
have been possible, had Cromwell and Henry united to bring it
about ; but they did not. The true reason for the failure to
conclude an agreement was the obstinacy of the King, which
asserted itself at the very moment that his minister had hoped
to gain his complete consent to the proposed alliance. In
the midst of the negotiations with the Lutherans, Henry s
faith in his old policy had been suddenly revived by
the news that the extensive preparations of the Emperor,
which he at first had feared were to be aimed at England,
were in reality directed against the Turk l : the King was at
least persuaded that he had no cause to fear an attack in the
immediate future. Gardiner in Paris, moreover, had been
steadily working to defeat the plans of Cromwell 2 , and at the
crucial moment his efforts appear to have borne fruit. The
King refused to commit himself any further to the policy to
which he had given his temporary sanction, but which, if
definitely adopted, would have seriously hampered his own
schemes. The most that Cromwell could do was to persuade
the King to keep up the appearance of amity, and not to cut
himself off from all chances of returning to his Lutheran
friends at a later date. So the envoys were sent home in
October, with a letter to the Elector of Saxony, telling him
that his representatives had given assurance of such sound
erudition and Christian piety, as would certainly lead to the
best results ; but as the matter of the negotiations concerned
the glory of Christ and the discipline of religion, it required
much more mature deliberation, and that a second embassy
would have to be sent over before matters could be concluded 3 .
For Cromwell, the dismissal of the Lutherans amounted to

1 Baumgarten, vol. iii. pp. 343 ff. 2 Burnet, vol. i. pp. 316, 409, 435.

3 Cal. xiii. (ii) 165, 298, 497.

THE FOREIGN POLICY 241

a second rebuke from the King, for meddling in foreign
affairs ; but this time the minister did not humbly accept the
rebuff as he had done before, but continued to oppose his
schemes to those of his master.

Thus at the close of the year 1538, England was trembling
at the prospect of a coalition of France and Spain against her.
The outlook was certainly alarming, and demanded united
action at home. But at this very moment the King and his
minister could not agree on the best method of averting the
peril which was threatening. Each adopted his own way
of meeting it, and the history of the year 1539 is the story of
the varying success of the two methods when brought into
conflict. We shall see that fortune twice inclined to favour
Cromwell, only to desert him, after he had become so hope
lessly committed to the policy which he had adopted in face
of the opposition of the King, that there was no drawing back,
and he paid the penalty for his rashness with his life.

MERRIMAN. I R

CHAPTER XIII

THE CATHOLIC REACTION AND THE ALLIANCE

WITH CLEVES

THE first few months of the new year brought no improve
ment in the state of England s foreign affairs. Having
postponed the Lutheran alliance which Cromwell had so
strongly advocated in the end of 1538, for fear of losing his
position of neutrality between France and Spain, Henry was
driven back on his own policy of seeking safety for England
in direct negotiations with Charles and Francis. Matrimonial
agitations had failed malicious tale-bearing had not borne
fruit, so the King took the more straightforward course of
making direct complaints that he was spoken of with too
little respect in foreign parts. He sent grumbling letters
to his neighbours, accusing them of permitting evil reports to
be circulated about him. He caused the President of the
Council of the North to request James of Scotland to suppress
and punish the authors of several spyttfull ballades, which
had been published about the wrongfully usurped authority
of the King of England, and also wrote to Wyatt in Spain,
commanding him to protest against the malicious and un
reasonable lies of the * barking prechers ther who slandered
him behind his back l . But these petty remonstrances had no
effect in diminishing the growing cordiality of Francis and
Charles, or their hatred of England: in fact the two continental
sovereigns seemed better friends than ever. On January J 2,
representatives of both monarchs met at Toledo and concluded
an agreement not to make any new alliances, either political
or matrimonial, with the King of England, without each
other s consent 2 . The news of this treaty was a deathblow
to Henry s hopes ; and the King was reluctantly forced to

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 92, 147. 2 Cal. xiv. (i) 62.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 243

admit that his minister s scheme of a German alliance offered
better chances of safety for England than any other. So he
again gave his consent to a renewal of negotiations for an
outside league, though, as we shall soon see, it was on a basis
somewhat different from that of the previous ones.

Disappointed by the King s refusal definitely to accept the
alliance for which he had laboured so hard, Cromwell had
meantime been amusing himself with a very feeble plan for
gaining friends against the Pope, the chimerical nature of
which was quite at variance with the direct and practical
character of most of his schemes. He had proposed a league
of England with the Dukes of Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino
against his Holiness, who had just challenged the title of
the latter to the dukedom of Camerino. An interesting
set of instructions to Cromwell s friend Edmund Harvell at
Venice tells the story of this negotiation very vividly l . But
the princes of northern Italy were too weak and the scheme
itself was too remote and far-fetched to promise any real
advantage, and Cromwell doubtless lost all interest in it as
soon as the King again consented to approach the Germans.
The fact that three months had been suffered to elapse since
the return of the envoys in 1538, without an acceptance of
the King s invitation to send other representatives to discuss
theological points, simply proves that Henry s treatment of
the first embassy had not been such as to encourage the
Lutherans to persevere 2 . But now that the King had again
veered round to Cromwell s policy, he mervayled not a litel
at the slowness of the Germans, and sent Christopher Mont
over to the Court of the Elector of Saxony on January 25
to discover the feelings of John Frederic and the Land
grave of Hesse, the leaders of the Schmalkaldic League,
towards the Emperor, to inquire further into their attitude on
the tenets about which they had so fruitlessly disputed with

1 Letters, 286. almost identical with those of the

2 John Lambert, moreover, had King at this time, but the Germans
been tried and burnt, for denying certainly disapproved of the violence
the Real Presence, in November, of Henry s measures for enforcing
1538. The doctrines of the Luther- them.

ans in this matter were probably

R 1

244

THOMAS CROMWELL

the English bishops in the preceding summer, and finally to
learn whether the Duke of Cleves and his son were of the
old popisshe fasshyon or no 1 . Appended to these very
non-committal injunctions are certain others from Cromwell
himself of quite a different nature 2 . Completely dodging the
theological issue, which he wisely left entirely in the King s
hands, Cromwell took up the question of the German alliance
from a new and far more practical side, the matrimonial. He
instructed Mont to suggest to the Vice-Chancellor Burckhard
the possibility of two marriages ; one between the young
Duke of Cleves and the Princess Mary, and the other between
Anne, the elder of the two unmarried daughters of the old
Duke, and the King himself 3 . It appears that Cromwell had
already discussed the feasibility of the first of these two
matches with the Vice-Chancellor, when the latter had been
in England in the previous summer, and John Frederic had
subsequently written to the King s minister that the plan met
with his entire approval. The proposal for Henry s marriage,
on the contrary, was now brought forward for the first time.
We shall soon see why it was that Mont was sent to the
Elector of Saxony, rather than to the Duke of Cleves himself,
to feel the way for these two alliances.

In order to understand the precise bearing on the foreign
affairs of England of the two marriages which Cromwell
proposed, and of the political league which would naturally
go with them, we must make a slight digression here and
examine the very peculiar position in which the Duke of
Cleves found himself at this juncture. Various political

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 103.

2 Letters, 287.

Throughout the negotiations
for the Cleves marriages Cromwell
made desperate efforts to assert
the dignity of the King, which he
could not help feeling was a little
lowered by approaching vassals of
the Emperor with matrimonial
offers. Mont was especially di
rected to confer with Burckhard
about the sister of the Duke of

Cleves, not as demaunding her,
but as geving them a prick to stirr
them to offre her, as the noblest
and highest honour that could come
into that noble house of Cleves, if
they could bring it to passe. Of
course nothing could induce the
mighty King of England to demean
himself by asking any favours of
the petty princes of Germany ; it
was their place, not his, to be the
suitor.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 245

considerations, above all an increasing jealousy of the power
of the House of Saxony, had led the Emperor Maximilian
in 1496 to declare Maria, the only child of the Duke of
Juliers and Berg, to be the lawful heiress of these two
provinces ; a step which was in direct contravention of a
grant which Maximilian, at his election as King of the
Romans, had made to Frederic the Wise of the reversion of
Juliers and Berg in case of failure of male heirs in the ducal
line there. This grant was definitely revoked in various
documents of the years 1508 and 1509 ; and Duke John of
Cleves, who in the meantime had married the heiress Maria
of Juliers and Berg, was permitted to unite these three rich
provinces in his own hand, and to establish a strong power
on the Lower Rhine which prevented undue preponderance
of the House of Wettin, and furnished a useful support for
the Hapsburgs in the western part of the Empire 1 . The
peace-loving Duke John lived and died in friendship with
Maximilian and his grandson, although his desire to see
a reform in the Church had prevented his definite acceptance
of the Imperial invitation to join a Catholic League against
the Schmalkaldner in 1537. Instead he devoted himself to
strengthening his power in his own possessions by a series
of wise and prudent measures, through which he welded the
three component parts of his dominions into one 2 . But
during the last year of his life (which ended on February 6,
1539, while Mont was on his way to the Saxon Court)
affairs took a turn which was destined to bring his son and
heir William into direct conflict with the Empire. In June,
1538, the warlike Duke Charles of Gelderland, whose posses
sions lay next to the province of Cleves on the north, died
leaving no children. His life had been spent in a struggle
against the pretensions to his hereditary dominions brought
forward by the Emperor as heir of Charles the Bold, and
in order to prevent the substantiation of the Imperial claims
at his death he had planned to leave his lands to the King

1 Cf. Ulmann,vol. i. pp. 579, 580; in the Allgemeine Deutsche Bio-
Ranke, vol. i. pp. 226-9. graphic, vol. xiv. p. 214.

2 Life of Duke John of Cleves

246

THOMAS CROMWELL

of France 1 . This scheme however had encountered strong
opposition from the estates of Gelderland, who regarded
with little favour a proposal so threatening to their com
paratively independent position, and Duke Charles was
finally forced, much against his will, to designate young
William of Cleves as his successor. The latter, though by
nature weak and irresolute, was not in a position to refuse
the chance which fortune had thrown in his way : he accepted
the proffered inheritance, and the death of his father soon
after left him in full possession of the four rich provinces 2 .

The result was that he immediately became involved in
a serious quarrel with the Emperor, who realizing how
dangerous a rival to his own power had been created by the
events just recounted, reasserted his claims to Gelderland
even more strongly than before. In looking for allies against
Charles, Duke William naturally turned to the Elector of
Saxony, whose rights to Juliers and Berg, once rudely
revoked by Maximilian, had not been forgotten, but who
seems to have preserved sufficiently friendly relations with
the family in favour of which his claims had been set aside,
to marry Sibylla, one of the sisters of the Duke 3 . Common
enmity to Charles V now drew them very close together, and
at the Imperial Court it was actually thought that Cleves had
been formally admitted to the Schmalkaldic League 4 . This
however was a mistake. Though Duke William was certainly
not opposed to the Lutheran doctrines, he had not as yet made
open confession of the Protestant faith ; and for that reason the
Elector and the Landgrave had steadily refused to make a
political alliance with him 5 . Still he was on very intimate

1 Ranke, vol. iv. p. 128 ; Heid-
rich, I, 2.

1 Heidrich, 21.
1 Heidrich, 4.

4 Ranke, vol. iv. p. 129.

5 Heidrich, 34, 35. Driven by
political necessity, William in 1543
finally took the decisive step,
and declared himself ready to in
troduce the new religion into his
dominions, in the hope of gaining

aid from his brother-in-law against
the Emperor. But the offer came
too late. The political situation had
changed once more, and the over
cautious Elector now definitely and
unconditionally refused the aid
which he had before made de
pendent on William s acceptance
of Lutheranism. The lands of the
Duke were invaded by the Imperial
forces, and William was forced, at the

THE CATHOLIC REACTION

247

terms with John Frederic, who had promised, when he wedded
Sibylla of Cleves, to advance money for the marriage of her
sisters, and thus had a certain right to be consulted when
husbands were to be chosen for them. Henry was doubtless
well aware of all this, and it was consequently at the Saxon
Court that Mont was instructed to obtain information about
the Duke of Cleves, and if possible to pave the way for the two
matrimonial alliances from which Cromwell hoped so much.

Having completed this preliminary survey of the position
of the Duke of Cleves, we are enabled to make some interest
ing observations on the instructions to the English ambassador.
It is very significant that the inquiries which Mont was
ordered to make concerning the religious tendencies of Duke
William were concerned only with his attitude towards the
Pope. Of course the King could not consistently ally himself
with firm adherents of the Holy See after the events of the
past ten years ; but it is also of the utmost importance to
notice that he apparently preferred a league with powers
which he knew had not definitely committed themselves to
the New Faith to an alliance with the Schmalkaldner. Else
why did he rather seek to unite with Cleves than with
Saxony? Both were politically valuable, as enemies of the
Emperor; the only difference was that Cleves was not as
yet avowedly Protestant, and Saxony was. It is possible
that the idea which bore fruit five months later in the Six
Articles had already taken shape in Henry s mind ; at least
it seems certain that he was determined to keep a perfectly
free hand in religious affairs, so as not to be hampered in
his political relations with France and Spain. Thus when

treaty of Venlo, Sept. 7, 1543, to re
nounce all claims to Gelderland and
Zutphen, to return to the Church of
Rome, and to permit no religious
innovations in Juliers and Berg.
Subsequently, however, encouraged
by the milder attitude of the Emperor
Ferdinand towards the Reformers,
he devoted himself with partial
success to an attempt to effect a
sort of compromise between the

two faiths in his own possessions,
and to establish there a purified
and enlightened Catholic Church,
Erasmian in its tendencies, and
in many respects approaching very
closely to the tenets of the Augs
burg Confession. Cf. Heidrich,
91-4, and the Life of William of
Cleves in the Allgemeine Deutsche
Biographic, vol. xliii. pp. 107-13.

248 THOMAS CROMWELL

Cromwell at last succeeded in persuading him reluctantly to
return to a German alliance, it was really only half a victory
for the minister. There was this great difference between
the league with the Lutherans which Cromwell had proposed
and which never succeeded, and the Cleves alliance which was
now sought. The one would have been necessarily both
political and religious (for we have seen that the Lutherans
had always refused to join with England until a satisfactory
theological agreement could be made), while the other was
solely political. It was simply another expression of the old
disagreement between Henry and Cromwell. The King,
always looking for a chance of reconciliation with Charles
and Francis, refused to enter an alliance the religious con
ditions of which would greatly enhance the difficulty of
a return to his favourite scheme. He was only induced to
enter a purely political league, which he doubtless felt he
could throw over at any moment if he wished to do so ; an
agreement both political and religious he might have found
it more difficult to escape from. Cromwell on the other
hand, having definitely given up all ideas of direct negotiations
with France and Spain, wished to plunge headlong into the
Lutheran alliance, caring little what he was committed to
provided he gained solid support. But, as we have seen, the
King would not agree to this, and the alliance with Cleves
can thus only be regarded as a compromise between the
royal and Cromwellian policies, which the King could abandon
whenever affairs in France and Spain took a more favourable
turn. Later events in the same year furnish further proofs of
this most important fact.

Furthermore the King had contrived that the responsibility
for the proposed league with Cleves should fall almost
entirely on his minister s shoulders, in order that he himself
might the more easily renounce it if occasion served. The
fact that the new alliance, if accomplished, would from its
very nature commit him to far less than the Lutheran league
which he had put off in 1538, was not enough for Henry; he
must needs have other safeguards, and determined to make
Cromwell his scapegoat. All the practical and important

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 249

parts of the instructions to Mont were given by the King s
minister. The conciliatory expressions with which Henry
had directed the ambassador to sound the Elector of Saxony
and the Landgrave of Hesse on the question of theology
were merely empty words, as is proved by the utter failure
of an attempted agreement four months later. Their sole
object was to induce John Frederic more favourably to
receive the practical proposals which followed. But the
King purposely left to Cromwell the task of framing the
vital part of the message, and it is evident that he gave his
consent to the proposals it contained only in the most
guarded and non-committal manner. We are merely told
that as regards the match proposed for the Princess Mary,
Cromwell perceived * the kinges hieghnes ... by his grac/j
countenance and exterior Visage ... to be of good In-
clinaczon V On the more vital question of the King s attitude
concerning his own marriage, the instructions of Cromwell to
Mont give us even vaguer information. The fact was that
the King was willing definitely to bind Cromwell, but not
himself, to a plan which he had resolved to abandon the
moment that any favourable alteration should take place in his
relations with France and Spain. From the day that Mont
departed on his mission, the fate of the alliance with Cleves
and the fate of Thomas Cromwell were joined together be
yond the possibility of separation.

We unfortunately do not possess the letter in which Mont
and his companion, a certain Thomas Paynell, reported their
first reception at the Saxon Court, but the reply of Cromwell
on March 10 gives us considerable information about the
success of the ambassadors 2 . John Frederic had apparently
welcomed the prospect of the two marriages by which Henry
proposed to bind himself to Cleves, and had promised, through
Burckhard, to do his best to bring them about. Cromwell s
letter goes on to direct Mont to follow up the advantage
already gained by telling bad stories about Charles, and to
inculcate and persuade vnto the said duke and landisgrave
the moment & iwporta/zce of that grudge, which thewperowr

1 Letters, 287. 2 Letters, 295.

250 THOMAS CROMWELL

doth beire, for the Bishop of Rom^j- pleasure against them
and oth^r of the avangelik sorte, which they may nowe easely
perceive by that he worketh and goeth aboute. At the same
time, another embassy, headed by a certain Dr. Nicholas
Wotton, was sent to Cleves to obtain confirmation of the
promises of Burckhard, and further to carry on negotiations
for a supply of gunners and artillerymen to be furnished to
Henry in case he should need them ; and finally to signify the
King s willingness to make an offensive and defensive league
with Duke William *. The latter was at first less eager to
accept the alliance which England offered than his brother-
in-law was to promote it : he wanted to postpone a definite
answer in the hope that he might yet come to a peaceful
solution of his difficulty with the Emperor 2 . But as this
prospect daily grew more and more remote, he became
correspondingly willing to entertain Henry s proposals, and
the outlook for the accomplishment of the practical part of
Cromwell s plan seemed very favourable. The comparatively
unimportant overtures for theological reconciliation with the
Elector and the Landgrave were apparently at first received
with less enthusiasm by the Lutherans, who had already had
some experience of the King s vacillating policy and evidently
thought it a little suspicious that Henry had suddenly become
so very urgent. We have seen that the King s proposals for
a religious agreement were chiefly intended as a blind to
cover the more practical matrimonial proposals which had
followed, but Cromwell evidently thought it worth while to
keep up the deception as a precaution. A second letter from
the King s minister directs Mont and Paynell to continue to
urge on the Elector and Landgrave the importance of theo
logical unity, and to conduce to haue them somw[hat
reproved for] ouersight & slakenes, in shewing [so little]
gratuite, and by that for to pryk th[em to] redubb the same
and give you more favourable] answer.

And at first Cromwell s eagerness for the alliance with
Cleves seemed to have every justification, for Henry s policy
in other parts of Europe appeared to have failed even more

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 489. 2 Heidrich, 32.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 251

completely than before. Ominous letters were received from
Wriothesley, the ambassador in the Netherlands, who did not
hesitate to express his fear that war would soon come and that
his retreat to England would be cut off 1 . At the same time
Chapuys received orders to return to the Court of the Queen
Regent, and Cromwell consequently instructed Wriothesley
to demand leave to depart 2 . The exchange was finally
effected, but that there was deep distrust on both sides is proved
by Cromwell s orders for the detention of Chapuys at Calais,
until the safety of Wriothesley was assured, and by the instruc
tions of the Queen Regent to the Provost of Mons to follow
the English ambassador to Gravelines 3 . But fortunately these
precautions were unnecessary ; no open act of hostility took
place, and the crisis seemed at least temporarily tided over
by the arrival of the Dean of Cambray in London to replace
Chapuys, and by the reception of Stephen Vaughan at
Brussels in Wriothesley s stead 4 . But the attitude of France
v/as more disquieting. On February 5 Castillon was recalled,
and though he made a vague promise at his departure that
another should be sent in his place, the anxiety at the Court
was but little relieved thereby. The most that Cromwell
could do, was to take care that the French ambassador should
carry back to his master full accounts of the excellence of
England s defences, and her readiness for war. So he took
him, as he later wrote to the King, to his armoury, showing

him a store of harneys and wepens the whiche he

semed to esteme moche/ and telling him that there were
twenty more armouries in the realm as well or better equipped ;
e wherat he woundred and sayd that he thought yotir grace
the prince best furnished thereof in Chm/endom V

But though Cromwell may have exaggerated the security
of England s fortifications, his words to Castillon were by
no means empty. Though the King and his minister may
have had differences of opinion in regard to the conduct of
foreign affairs, in the internal management of the kingdom

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 433, 440. 2 Letters, 291, 301.

1 Letters, 297; and Cal. xiv. (i) 584. * Cal. xiv. (i) 570.

5 Letters, 288.

252 THOMAS CROMWELL

they were, as always, united. Here Henry suffered himself
to be guided at all points by Cromwell. And at no time
is the masterfulness of the latter s domestic administration
better exhibited, than by his action at home the moment
the first rumours of an invasion reached England. Countless
memoranda, lists of men fit for military service, arms, ammu
nition, provisions, and other necessaries of warfare, all in his
hand, or in that of one of his clerks, attest his industry and
ability in preparing the country to repel the dreaded invasion.
All reports of the state of the coast defences at various places
were sent to him. General musters were ordered through
out the realm ; every precaution was taken to fortify all
vulnerable points. Beacons were placed upon all the hills,
and no detail that could add to the strength and efficiency
of the defences was left out 1 .

But just at this very moment, when everything seemed to
point to an open rupture with Charles and Francis, when the
schemes which Cromwell had opposed to those of the King
seemed to have every justification, an event occurred which
totally changed the aspect of affairs, and restored Henry s
badly shaken confidence in his own ability to stave off the
threatened crisis without the aid of outside alliances or an
appeal to arms. This event was the arrival in England on
March 38 of a new French ambassador, Charles de Marillac,
who had come to replace Castillon. So long a time had
elapsed since the departure of the latter that Henry had
probably given up all hope of the fulfilment of the vague
prospects that had been held out that a successor might be
appointed. But the unexpected appearance of Marillac at
once revived the King s drooping spirits. The letters in
which the ambassador reported his reception at the English
Court to Francis and Montmorency give us a vivid picture of
the universal joy with which this apparent reassurance of
friendship with France was hailed 2 . Henry was delighted,
and his satisfaction was increased when Marillac, at his
master s command, followed up the advantage already gained

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 398-400, 529, 564, 615, 652-5.

2 Cal. xiv. (i) 669-70.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 253

by renewed assertions of the cordiality of France. The whole
Court seemed to wear a new aspect and to be quite de
lighted V Had Henry seen the letter of instructions which
Marillac received from the French Court, he would have
realized that Francis was only endeavouring to keep him
in good humour 2 , while making a little more certain of his
own relations with Charles ; and he might have been less
encouraged. But Marillac s cordiality seems to have put him
off his guard, and he was led, in his exultation, to welcome
the apparent friendship of Francis in ways which very nearly
resulted in the permanent stultification of all the laborious
efforts of Cromwell to maintain amicable relations in Germany.
The events which took place in England in the three months
following the arrival of the French ambassador furnish ample
proof of this new departure in the royal policy.

On April 28 Parliament had met, its assembling being
indispensable to carrying on the * Kinges busynes. Cromwell
had practically appointed every member, in order that Henry
might have a * tractable House. His usual methods of order
ing the elections of members have already been described;
suffice it to say that in this case he had completely outdone
himself; the Parliament of 1539 was undoubtedly his master
piece 3 . It will be remembered that it was in this session
that he first succeeded in forcing the Lords and Commons to
sanction the statute by which royal proclamations were given
the force of laws. Cromwell s remembrance for other Acts to
be passed in the Parliament of 1539 is also noteworthy. It
makes casual mention of the attainders of Exeter, Salisbury,
and Pole, of plans for the fortification of the coast, and then
designates the scheme out of which the Six Articles were
later evolved as A devise in the parliament for the vnitie in
religion V It is very improbable that Cromwell had any
really accurate information concerning the King s real inten
tions in connexion with this last item. Henry had purposely
concealed them under a very non-committal statement.
Doubtless the King had long cherished the idea of making

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 908. ! Cal. xiv. (i) 520, 573.

2 Cal. xiv. (i) 804. 4 Cal. xiv. (i) 655.

254 THOMAS CROMWELL

use of a declaration that in matters of doctrine England
still adhered to the Old Faith, to facilitate a reconciliation
with Charles and Francis ; for such a statement would re
move the main pretext of the Emperor and the French King
for an attack on him, namely that they were undertaking
a crusade to suppress heresy. But so hopeless had been
the outlook in the early part of the year, that Henry had
not had the courage to try this experiment. He was
rather led to shun all moves which would imperil his friendly
relations with Germany, so that he had scrupulously avoided
any direct statement which could lead to the belief that a
Catholic reaction was possible. But the assurances of Marillac
had revived all his enthusiasm for his old policy. He now
abandoned all caution, and promptly proceeded to disclose
his real ideas in regard to the vnitie in religion. When
Cromwell discovered the true state of affairs he must have
been dismayed ; he probably already felt how deeply he had
become involved in the German alliance, and saw that the
new trend which things had taken boded no good to him.
His position was now a very uncomfortable one, and the
fact that a committee of bishops under his superintendence
was utterly unable to cope with the difficulties of the newly
presented religious problem, is very significant. Henry was
not to be balked however. He quickly took the matter
out of the hands of the incompetent bishops, and placed it
before the Lords ; finally, to make assurance doubly sure,
he came to them in person, and confounded them all with
Goddes Lerning 1 . Henry s theology was of course as un
impeachable as it was confounding, and his energy was re
warded before the middle of June by the definite passage
in Parliament of the Statute of the Six Articles. The
doctrine of Transubstantiation was confirmed, communion in
both kinds was pronounced unnecessary, the marriage of priests
was forbidden, all vows of chastity were to be strictly
observed, and private masses and auricular confession were
adjudged meet and expedient 2 .

In spite of the radically Catholic nature of the doctrines

1 Burnet, vol. iv. p. 499. 2 31 Hen. VIII, c. 14.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION

255

proclaimed in this Act, however, Henry took good care that
there should be no mistake about his attitude towards the
Pope. He was committed to hostility to the See of Rome
beyond the possibility of escape, and he knew it. Though
political expediency, internal and foreign, had led him to
proclaim the catholicity of the Church of England in matters
of doctrine, no consideration whatever could induce him to
make the least concession to the Papacy. In fact he took
measures to show, simultaneously with the passage of the
Six Articles, that his contempt of the See of Rome was
stronger than ever. Marillac wrote that on June 15 there
was played on the river in the King s presence a game of
poor grace, much less invention, of two galleys, one carrying
the King s arms, the other the Pope s, with several Cardinals
hats (so he was told, for he would have deemed it contrary to
duty to be a spectator). " The galleys fought a long time, and
ultimately those of the King were victorious, and threw the
Pope and Cardinals and their arms into the water, to show
people that this King will entirely confound and abolish the
power of the Holy Father 1 . Demonstrations like this were
of course mainly intended to impress people at home. Let
us now examine the effect of the Six Articles abroad, first in
Germany, and then in France and Spain.

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 1137. The mar-
tyrologist Foxe tells an amusing
and characteristic story of Crom
well s saving Cranmer from punish
ment for a book which he had
written against the Six Articles.
There appears to have been a bear-
baiting on the Thames before the
King, which Mr. Ralph Morice,
Cranmer s secretary, was watching
from a small boat : and the secre
tary, it seems, had the Arch
bishop s book in his girdle for safe
keeping. The bear broke loose
from the dogs and upset the wherry
in which Morice was ; in the tumult
which ensued he lost the precious
book. It was subsequently picked

up by the bearvvard, who per
ceiving what it was, and being him
self a violent papist, gave it to a
priest of his religion, who told the
bearvvard that whosoever wrote it
would be hanged if the King should
see it. The bearward endeavoured
to give it to some influential Catholic
at the Court, utterly refusing to listen
to Morice s entreaties that he should
return it to Cranmer. At this junc
ture Cromwell appeared upon the
scene, and so shaked up the bear-
ward for his over-much malapert-
ness that the latter was glad to
return the book to the secretary, and
so escape without further punish
ment. Foxe, vol. ii. p. 428.

256 THOMAS CROMWELL

The rather large hopes of a religious agreement which
Henry had held out to the leaders of the Schmalkaldic
League early in the year, merely as a bait to induce them
to favour the political alliance with Cleves, had finally, owing
to Cromwell s representations, been accepted in all seriousness
by John Frederic of Saxony and Philip of Hesse. They
soon sent over another embassy under the leadership of
Burckhard and Ludwig von Baumbach, a councillor of the
Landgrave, which arrived in London on April 23. Henry
was not yet quite sure of his ground with Marillac, and
had not fully decided what note should be struck in the
* devise in the parliament for the vnitie in religion/ so at
first he received the Germans cordially 1 . On April 29
they were granted an audience, in which Henry, though he
carefully avoided committing himself to any definite promises
of an alliance, spoke in the warmest terms of the Elector and
Landgrave, cautioned the Lutherans against the treachery of
the Emperor, and boasted long and loud because of the recent
collapse of an expedition against England which, according
to Wriothesley s report, had been preparing in Flanders since
the previous February 2 . A subsequent interview of the am
bassadors with Cromwell and other members of the Privy
Council was equally satisfactory, and Burckhard and Baum
bach were convinced that their mission would ultimately be
crowned with success. Had they understood the meaning of
the many excuses which were offered for the failure to
begin definite negotiations at once, the opening of Parliament
and the difficulty of gaining access to the King, they
might have been less encouraged. Henry merely wished to
detain them until he had made perfectly sure that they could
be of no more use to him. His relations with France were
improving every day, but he had not yet made sure of
the state of affairs in the dominions of the Emperor. On
February 24, at Frankfort, the Electors of Brandenburg and
the Palatinate had opened negotiations with the Imperial
plenipotentiary, the Archbishop of Lund, in the hope of
mediating between Charles and the princes of the Schmal-

1 Appendix I at the end of this chapter. 2 Cal. xiv. (i) 208, 440.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 257

kaldic League 1 ; Henry had determined to learn the result
of this meeting before giving the ambassadors a definite
answer. The news of the truce concluded between the Em
peror and the Lutherans on the I9th of April was finally
announced in London towards the middle of May : it at once
decided the King to send the envoys home empty-handed
again, for it was obviously useless to continue negotiations
for an alliance, which was primarily to have been directed
against the very power with which the Schmalkaldner had
just made a temporary peace. So much had Henry been
encouraged by the favourable signs of the past few weeks,
that he would probably have succeeded in finding an excuse
for dismissing Burckhard and Baumbach, even if the result
of the negotiations between the Emperor and the Schmal
kaldner had been reversed ; as it was he was spared the
trouble of exercising much ingenuity, for, most unfortunately
for the ambassadors, one of the clauses in the Frankfort
agreement contained a provision which in itself was quite
sufficient to stultify all their efforts. In the seventh article
of their treaty with the Emperor, the Schmalkaldner had
agreed not to admit any new members into their league
during the period of the truce. There is every reason to
think that this provision was especially directed against the
English negotiations, for both Brandenburg and the Count
Palatine had always looked with disfavour on the attempts
of Saxony and Hesse to gain the alliance of Henry, and
doubtless availed themselves of this opportunity to persuade
the Schmalkaldner to put an end to them. In any case the
King lost no time in acting upon the intelligence he had
received, and at once complained to Burckhard and Baum
bach, whose excuses and explanations were of no avail.
Wearisome disputes and attempts at a compromise ensued :
the question of reciprocity was discussed at length ; the
envoys insisting that England was sure to derive quite as
much benefit from the proposed alliance as the Lutherans,
the King and his ministers in turn demanding concessions
which they knew that the ambassadors were not authorized

1 Bezold, p. 686.

MEKR1MAN. 1 S

258 THOMAS CROMWELL

to grant. So reluctant were the latter to return without
having accomplished anything however, that it was only
with the utmost difficulty that Henry finally succeeded in
getting rid of them. To a blunt request that they depart
the envoys only replied with continued petitions for a more
favourable answer to their demands : finally, with pleasing
frankness, they begged that His Majesty would let himself
be guided by the truth alone in directing the religious con
troversies then in progress in Parliament. Henry made no
effort to conceal from Burckhard and Baumbach the anger
which this ill-timed and incautious request aroused in him,
for he probably realized that his best chance of hastening the
departure of the Lutherans lay in involving himself in some
sort of an altercation with them. We are not surprised to
read that both parties immediately became engaged in a
violent discussion concerning the celibacy of the clergy in
the midst of which the ambassadors apparently beat a some
what precipitate retreat : they seem at last to have had the
wit to realize that they had to do with a theologian, with
whom it was extremely dangerous to disagree. A fruitless
interview with Cromwell followed, and on May 31 the envoys
finally departed 1 . In the meantime the Elector and the
Landgrave had continued to show touching but unwarranted
confidence in the sincerity of Henry s professions, and had
remained in utter ignorance of the true state of affairs in
England. Their hopes of a speedy settlement of religious
differences had doubtless received considerable encourage
ment through the efforts of Dr. Barnes, who had been ear
nestly labouring to remove the disagreeable impression which
Henry had made on Christian III by his blundering Liibeck
policy in 1534. Barnes had been sent to Hamburg for this
purpose early in the year. He was himself an ardent Pro
testant who never once suspected the possibility of a Catholic
reaction in England ; and as his zeal more than supplied the
lack of diplomatic skill, his efforts seem to have met with
great success 2 . The King of Denmark was now in close

1 Cf. Appendix I at the end of this : Cal. xiv. (i) 441, 442, 955~
chapter. 958.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 250

alliance with John Frederic, and Barnes was soon enabled
to persuade them to arrange to send a joint embassy to the
King of England to treat of the political league which was
to follow a theological agreement l . But at this juncture
Burckhard and Baumbach returned with a very discouraging
report, which obtained full confirmation by the news which
arrived a week later, that the Six Articles had actually been
passed 2 . The enthusiasm of the Lutherans was of course
considerably dampened, and they wrote to Henry that if
a league was to be treated of at all, he would have to be the
one to send ambassadors ; they could not themselves venture
to visit England because of the machinations against the
Evangelical cause there 3 . Even in Cloves, where Henry and
Cromwell had sought an alliance of a purely political nature,
unhampered by religious restrictions, the news of the passage
of the Six Articles created profound distrust, and we may
well believe that John Frederic discouraged his brother-in-
law from continuing negotiations with England, after the
proof of Henry s perfidy that he had just received. We are
not surprised to find that the matrimonial projects which
formed the basis of the alliance with Cleves came to a com
plete standstill during the month of July. The proposals for
a match between Duke William and the Princess Mary had
apparently never been very popular : they were now definitely
abandoned and never revived. To the other plan, for a mar
riage of Henry and the Duchess Anne, an unexpected objection
had arisen. It appears that ever since 1527 a plan for a
marriage between the King s intended bride and the son of
Duke Anthony of Lorraine had been under discussion. For
twelve years the form of continuing the negotiations for this
union had been kept up on both sides, with the idea of bring
ing pressure on the Emperor, though all hope of an actual
completion of the match must have been abandoned long
before this time. But now that the union with England
seemed less desirable, the Duke of Cleves of course made the
most of the opportunity of evading the requests of Henry
that was afforded by the Lorraine affair. The claims of

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 1273. 2 Cal. xiv. (i) 1278. 3 Cal. xiv. (ii) 59,

S 2

260 THOMAS CROMWELL

Duke Anthony and his son would have to be satisfied, he
said, before his sister could be offered to Henry l .

Altogether it looked as if the German alliance would be
abandoned, and Cromwell, who of all people was most deeply
involved in it, must have been roused to a sense of his danger.
But the threatened reversal of his policy was destined to be
postponed once more. For it soon appeared that the exulta
tion of the King at the apparent success of his own plans was
premature. We have seen that it was largely in the hope of
conciliating Francis and Charles by removing their main pretext
for an attack on England that Henry had caused the Six
Articles to be passed. But the Act did not accomplish what
was expected of it. The courtesy of Marillac had given Henry
a very exaggerated idea of the cordiality of France. He did
not see that Francis was merely dallying with him, and had
no idea of a permanent friendship. The fact that Charles
had refused to listen to the proposals of Cardinal Pole had
also been regarded as a good omen 2 . But when it appeared
that dread of the Turks, who had advanced up the Adriatic,
was the sole cause of the Emperor s apparent unwillingness
to offend England, and it was rumoured that there was imme
diate prospect of another interview between him and Francis,
Henry discovered his mistake 3 . All the fair hopes he had
entertained of preventing the dreaded coalition against Eng
land were apparently blasted. The doctrinal statement from
which he had expected so much had proved but a feeble
weapon with which to arrest the current of continental politics.
He could consider himself fortunate if the Six Articles and
his own personal rudeness to the German ambassadors had
not been sufficient to preclude all hope of a return to the
alliance, which a few months before he had abandoned as
useless, but which now seemed to offer the one chance for
England s safety. Once more the policy of Cromwell seemed
justified, and Henry was forced to acknowledge it.

Fortunately for England, the situation, alarming as it was,
had even more terrors for the Duke of Cleves than for Henry.

*

1 Cal. xiv. (i) 920 ; Heidrich, ! Cal. xiv. (i) 603.

pp. 17, 18. 3 Cal. xiv. (ii) 218, 300, 545.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 261

Charles refusal to ratify the treaty of Frankfort had once
more blighted the hopes of a peaceful solution of the diffi
culties in Germany 1 ; in May the outbreak of a serious
rebellion in Ghent made it imperative for the Emperor to
appear in person in the Netherlands, and in early August
Francis sent him an invitation to pass through France on
his way to the Low Countries. The prospect that Charles,
in close alliance with his former rival, would soon be brought
within striking distance of Gelderland, was by no means
agreeable to Duke William. It was fairly obvious that
Charles would bend his energies to punishing the Duke of
Cleves for his contempt of the Imperial authority, before
attempting to chastise the King of England for the general
weal of Christendom. The Duke of Cleves was much more
practical than his brother-in-law : like Henry he never let
religious considerations or conscientious scruples weigh against
the dictates of political expediency. As soon as the news of
the Emperor s invitation from Francis was confirmed, Duke
William s doubts concerning the pre-contract of his sister
Anne and the son of the Duke of Lorraine were cleared up
with gratifying celerity. He probably had some difficulty
in obtaining the consent of the more scrupulous John Frederic
to a renewal of the negotiations with England, but his urgency
was such that he triumphed over every obstacle. A mes
senger from Burckhard to Cromwell in the end of August
was followed in early September by four ambassadors from
Cleves and Saxony who were authorized to conclude the
match 2 . The King must have been greatly relieved at the
arrival of the envoys. Since May 3 he had heard nothing
from his friends in Cleves except for the famous description
of his intended bride, which his ambassador Wotton had sent
him, for lack of other news. Anne appears to have been of

very lowly and gentle conditions She occupieth her

time most with the needle, wherwithall she .... She canne
reede and wryte her [own tongue but of] Frenche Latyn or
other langaige she [knows no]ne, nor yet she canne not synge
nor pleye enye instrument, for they take it heere in

Bezold, p. 686. 2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 63, 127, 128.

THOMAS CROMWELL

Germanye for a rebuke and an occasion of lightenesse, that
great ladyes shuld be lernyd or have enye knowledge of
musike .... your Graces servant Hanze Albein hathe taken
theffigies of my lady Anne and the ladye Amelye and hath
expressyd theyr imaiges verye lyvelye V In the end it proved
unfortunate for Cromwell that this letter, and the portrait
which Holbein made 2 were not sufficient to turn the King
against her, without the need of further confirmation. But
even if Wotton s description had been far less flattering, it
is doubtful if he could have persuaded Henry to abandon
the Cleves marriage at this crisis. The King was now as
reckless in accepting the alliance as he had been a few
months before in refusing it. He perhaps forgot that
though his zeal for the national welfare had never been
hampered by religion or conscience, he had not yet put his
patriotism to the more practical test of a sacrifice of matri
monial bliss. So the preliminaries of the match were hurried
through with a speed quite as remarkable as the delays in the
previous negotiations with the Lutherans. The ambassadors
departed on October 6 to return to Cleves and conduct Anne
to Calais, where a noble company assembled to welcome her,
Gregory Cromwell being among the number 3 . Such were
the delays of travelling in those times (Wotton wrote to
Cromwell that the lady s party could only make five miles
a day 4 ) that Anne of Cleves did not arrive at Calais until
December n, and there she waited till the 2;th, for weather
sufficiently favourable for her crossing 5 .

Having landed, she proceeded to Canterbury, where

Cal. xiv. (ii) 33. Minute in
quiries and sometimes indelicately
full replies concerning the appear
ance and bearing of intended brides
seem to have been authorized by
all Tudor traditions. The report
of Wotton is but meagre in details
when compared to that of the
ambassadors of Henry VII con
cerning Joanna of Naples, whom
the English King had once thought
of marrying in 1505. Anne of

Cleves was certainly considered
beautiful in Germany. Sleidan,
vol. ii. p. 150, refers to her as ele-
ganti forma virginem.

2 Now in the Louvre.

3 Cal. xiv. (ii) 664. Cf. also the
Chronicle of Calais, pp. 167-179.
In the latter, Gregory Cromwell s
name is erroneously written George
Crombwell.

[ Cal. xiv. (ii) 634, 677.
5 Cal. xv. 14.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 263

Cranmer welcomed her with due pomp and ceremony. He
had received from Cromwell fifty sovereigns to be presented
to her on her arrival, and promised to do his best to induce
the townspeople to give her fifty angels more 1 . From Can
terbury Anne journeyed on to Sittingbourne and Rochester,
where she was received on December 31 by the Duke of
Norfolk, with a great company of nobles 2 . When Henry
heard of her arrival there he determined to visit her in
disguise, and, accompanied by eight persons of his Privy
Chamber, he rode down to Rochester on New Year s Day and
saw for the first time his intended bride 3 . It is unfortunate
that we possess no trustworthy information concerning the
impression which Anne made on Henry at this first meeting.
A letter which Cromwell wrote to the King, six months later,
from the Tower states that when Henry, on his return from
Rochester, was asked how he liked the Queen, he had
answered hevelye And not plesantlye " nothing so well as She
was spokyn of"/ and had added that had he known as much
as he then knew she shold not haue Commen wzt/nn this
Realme 4 . It will be seen in a later chapter, however, that
Cromwell wrote this letter under circumstances which rendered
it very improbable that he told the exact truth : there is
every reason to think that he greatly exaggerated the aversion
which Henry first conceived for Anne of Cleves. In any case
if Henry felt any such disgust as Cromwell described, he
succeeded admirably in dissembling his feelings. Two days
after the meeting at Rochester, he rode in state to meet his
bride at Greenwich, and on January 6 he married her. The
sonday after, Hall adds, there were kepte solempne Justes,

on whiche daie she was appareiled after the Englishe

fassion, with a Frenche whode, whiche so set furth her beautie
and good visage, that euery creature reioysed to behold her 5 . 1

1 Cal. xiv. (ii) 753. telling of her wedding, the Chronicle

Cal. xv. 14. of the Grey Friars of London (p. 43)

Hall, pp. 832 ff. informs us that * thene beganne

1 Letters, 349-50. alle the gentyl women of Yngland

Hall, p. 837. It appears that to were Frenche whooddes with

the fashion changed in England at bellementtes of golde.
the time of the arrival of Anne. In

264 THOMAS CROMWELL

It is important to notice that even in this hour of national
peril, Henry did not make any overtures to the Elector of
Saxony or the Landgrave of Hesse. Not even the imme
diate prospect of war with France and Spain could induce
him to go as far as this and to bind himself by ties religious
as well as political. Even Cromwell had by this time dis
covered the uselessness of endeavouring to persuade the
King to return to an alliance of which he had never really
approved ; more than this, he at last seemed to realize, that
as advocate of a policy which his master had definitely aban
doned, he ran great danger of losing his influence if not his
life. It was rather late for him to attempt to break away
from a plan with which his name had become identified ;
but he saw that he must purchase safety at the cost of
consistency, and he took care in future to discourage all
efforts of the Lutherans to come to an agreement. The
reception accorded to an embassy which the firm but per
sistent Schmalkaldner sent to England in January 1540, and
the words which Cromwell spoke to the ambassador on that
occasion give us a very clear insight into the attitude of the
King s minister l . It was the last attempt which the Lutherans
made to treat with England during Cromwell s ministry, and
its failure marks the end of the negotiations which had begun
with the mission of Vaughan and Mont in 1533. Philip of
Hesse had sent his councillor, Ludwig von Baumbach, to
Henry s Court once more, with instructions to express to the
King his sorrow at the passage of the Six Articles, and his
hope that they would not lead to any action contrary to the
word of God and the truth of the Gospels. The Landgrave
also trusted that the King would not suffer the negotiations
with the Lutherans to drop, but the ambassador was to make
it clear that a political alliance would be conditional, as
always, on religious agreement 2 .

Baumbach arrived early in January and immediately betook
himself to Cromwell, whom he evidently considered the best
friend the Lutherans had at the English Court. But this

1 Cf. Appendk II at the end of 2 Lenz, vol. i. pp. 409-10, 420-
this chapter. 21.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION

2C5

time he met with a cold reception 1 . The minister kept
asking him if he had power to conclude a political alliance
a perfectly safe question, for no one knew better than
Cromwell that the Lutherans would insist on doctrinal re
conciliation in the first place. Baumbach tried to give an
evasive answer, but was soon summoned to Henry, who
repeated his minister s demand with still greater directness.
The ambassador could only reply that he must consult with
Burckhard, who having returned with Anne of Cleves to
England, was still in London. On January 12 the two
Lutherans had a conversation with Cromwell, in which the
latter defined his position with absolute clearness. He told
the ambassadors that the King desired a political alliance
with them, but that this must come first ; the religious
question could be settled later. Kaumbach and Burckhard
answered that this was impossible ; nothing could be done
until a theological agreement had been concluded. At this
Cromwell could contain himself no longer. With almost
pathetic frankness he turned to the Lutherans and told them
that he plainly saw what they wanted in regard to religion ;
but, as the world stood then, that he must hold to the same
belief as his master, even if it cost him his life 2 . Such was
the faith of the man who six months later was brought to

1 Cf. Appendix II at the end of
this chapter.

2 The truth of Baumbach s state
ments is confirmed by Seckendorff,
who obtained his information from
the report of Burckhard on this
same interview. Speaking of Crom
well Seckendorff says :

Lutheranum fuisse Burnetus pro
certo habet, nee dissentiunt Saxoni-
corum Legatorum de eo relationes.
Ex iisdem tamen et historiarum
documentis constat, hominem fuisse
non saltern solida doctrina minime
imbutum sed eius ingenii ut Regis
favorem omnibus rebus anteponeret.
Ultima sane Burcardi ex Anglia
relatione de II Jan. scripta . . .

diserte dicitur, ilium de religione
ita disseruisse ut se cum Evan-
gelicis in Germania consentire non
negaret, necessarium tamen sibi
esse diceret ut Regis voluntati sese
conformaret, etiam cum vitae suae
periculo, id quod eventus paulo
post comprobavit. Non est itaque,
ut hunc pro martyre Evangelicae
religionis habeamus, et ipse in loco
supplicii mori se professus est in
religione Catholica. Hoc, etsi ex
D. Burneti sententia de Romana
minime intellexerit, indicat tamen
animum infirmum et aequivoca-
tiones sectantem. Seckendorff, s.
Ixxviii, p. 261 ; liber iii, sect. 21.

266 THOMAS CROMWELL

the block on the charge of counter-working the King in
matters of religion ! There is little need to dwell on the
rest of Baumbach s stay in England. He had another inter
view with Henry, who, angered at the firmness of the
Lutherans on the religious question, now took occasion to
throw contempt on their usefulness as political allies. He
told some preposterous lies to Baumbach, informing him
that he had heard nothing of the danger of the coalition of
Charles and Francis of which the envoy talked so much,
although he had faithful ambassadors at both Courts. Even
if he were attacked, he said, he was fully able to defend him
self, owing to England s insular position and strong navy,
which was well manned by his own subjects. German
soldiers, on the contrary, would be of little use to him as
sailors, for they would certainly be always seasick. After
making a few counter-proposals" which he knew would never
be accepted, he dismissed Baumbach with a polite but non
committal message to the Landgrave, and Cromwell, who
bade the envoy farewell on January 21, followed suit. But
though the minister had used this last mission of the Luthe
rans mainly as an opportunity to break away from the policy
which he had hitherto advocated, but which he now realized
the danger of being connected with, his efforts to save himself
were too late. We shall see in the next chapter that the
events of the previous years had so thoroughly identified him
with the Lutheran alliance in the minds of the people, that his
enemies were enabled to make use of his supposed adherence
to it, as a pretext for conspiring his ruin.

The Lutherans did not send another embassy to England
for a long time. Negotiations were not resumed until
more than four years later, when the situation had entirely
changed, and even then they failed as signally as before.
But though Henry had thus dealt the death blow to the
hopes of the Schmalkaldner, he did not suffer the year 1539
to close without attempting to form an alliance of a very
different sort with another prince of the Empire. As soon as
he had heard of the failure of the plan for the marriage of the
Princess Mary and the Duke of Cleves, Henry began to look

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 267

about for another German husband for his daughter. It was
doubtless with the royal authority that Christopher Mont had
let fall a casual hint in conversation with a certain Niirnberg
merchant named Gundelfynger, that Henry would gladly see
Mary wedded to a prince of the Empire. The merchant
responded by proposing Duke Philip of Bavaria as a suitable
candidate for her hand. This prince was a member of the
Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach family, and a nephew of
the Elector Louis. He had been a faithful servant of the
Emperor and his brother Ferdinand in the first outbreaks of
the religious strife after the formation of the Schmalkaldic
League, and had been severely wounded in a brave attempt
to oppose the Hessian lanzknechts at the battle of Laufen *.
In spite of the fact that he belonged to a notoriously wavering
family, he appears to have been a firm adherent of the Old
Faith, at least at the time of which we are speaking. But on
the other hand he was certainly loyal to every tradition of
Wittelsbach impecuniosity. He had sacrificed all his property
in the Emperor s service, and Charles had characteristically
refused to make good his losses, and had also insulted him
by opposing his suit for the hand of the Duchess of Milan.
A financially successful marriage seemed to offer Philip the
only chance of recovering his lost fortunes, and it was at this
juncture that the possibility of a match with the daughter of
the rich King of England was opened to him. The proposal
of Gundelfynger seems to have met with Henry s approval,
and he soon signified to Philip his desire that the latter
should visit him in England. The Duke jumped at the
chance to conclude a marriage which promised so many
pecuniary advantages, and his anger at the ingratitude of
Charles certainly did not make him any less anxious to listen
to Henry s proposals. He arrived in London on December 8 2 ,
and at first the negotiations for the match proceeded with
unexpected rapidity. Against two points on which Henry
insisted, however, Philip raised strong objections 3 : the first

x Von Freyberg, vol. iv. p. 264. 2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 657.

Cf. also Life of Philip of Bavaria 3 Life of Philip of Bavaria in the

in the Allgemeine Deutsche Bio- Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic,

graphic, vol. xxvi. pp. 16 flf. vol. xxvi. p. 18.

268 THOMAS CROMWELL

was that he should take Mary as a bastard, incapable by the
laws and statutes of the realm of claiming any succession or
title by right of inheritance. The second was the King s
refusal to except the name of the Pope from the list of those
against whom the financial and political agreement which
was to accompany the marriage was to be concluded : Philip,
as a faithful Catholic, was apparently at first unwilling to
enter a league which might bring him into conflict with the
See of Rome. But the firmness of the King, coupled with
the great financial profits which the match promised to
Philip, finally triumphed over the religious scruples of the
Wittelsbacher, and on January 24 he signed a treaty in which
he accepted the marriage and the compact under the con
ditions on which Henry insisted : the agreement, however,
was not to be considered binding unless Philip could get it
ratified by his relatives in Germany before Whitsuntide, 1540.
He left England, January 37, for this purpose, but his attempts
were unsuccessful, and the proposal came to nothing. It was
taken up a second time at a later date, and again abandoned.
But though the scheme finally fell through there are a few
interesting things to be noticed in connexion with the nego
tiations for it, which serve to make clear the trend things
were taking at the time of Philip s visit in London.

The whole affair was carried on so secretly, and we have
so little documentary evidence, that it is very difficult to
form any certain conclusions concerning this attempted
compact. The name of Cromwell figures prominently in con
nexion with it ; we find Duke Philip consulting with the
minister at his house, and visiting the Princess Mary in his
company l ; but it is pretty obvious that all the negotiations
were conducted throughout with the full approval of the King,
and not, as was the case with the Lutheran affair, partially in
opposition to the royal wishes. For the scheme was radically
different from the proposed Lutheran alliance which had
failed, and not exactly similar to the union with Cleves which
had just been completed. It was far more cautious and non
committal than either of them, and it was for this reason that

1 Cal. xiv. (ii) 719; xv. 76.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 269

Henry liked it. In the first place, Philip was a Catholic, so
that an agreement with him involved no contradiction to the

o

doctrines proclaimed in the Six Articles. In the second
place, he was ostensibly a close ally of the Emperor s and
a member of the Imperial Order of the Golden Fleece l ,
though, as we have seen, the ingratitude of Charles after his
services in Germany must necessarily have tended to make
their relations less cordial. Henry was doubtless accurately
informed of all this, and saw in an agreement with a member
of this powerful though vacillating Wittelsbach family, an
opportunity to gain valuable aid in case he were really
attacked, without ostensibly committing himself to a policy
which would at any time prevent a return to cordial rela
tions with France and Spain. In the next chapter we shall
see that it was precisely during Philip s visit at the English
Court that Henry s hopes of staving off the dreaded coalition
of Charles and Francis against him were once more revived
in a most unexpected way. The terms of the agreement
which he attempted to conclude with the Duke may thus be
regarded as the first intimation of the complete reversal of
England s foreign policy which was witnessed by the first
six months of the year 1540. According to the draft of a
treaty drawn up in England to be presented to Philip for his
approval, the Duke was to send to the King s assistance the
number of horse and foot if Henry was attacked by any
prince or private person, and was further to aid the King if
he made war for the recovery of any right of which he was
defrauded 2 . We unfortunately do not possess the original
copy of the treaty signed on January 24, but in an account
of Philip s life by his brother Ottheinrich, it appears that the
final agreement was that the Duke should furnish the King
with T,COO horsemen and 4,000 foot-soldiers against everyone
except the Roman Empire 3 . The exception of the Roman
Empire, which was probably introduced at Philip s request,

1 Cal. xv. 177. menigklich, ausgenommen wider

2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 733, 737. das Romisch Reich, 1000 wohl ge-
The words, as given in the riste Pferdt Und 4000 wohl geriste

life by Ottheinrich, are : Herzog fuesknecht zufiehren. Von Frey-
Philipp soil dem khonig wider berg, vol. iv. p. 266.

270 THOMAS CROMWELL

was a provision of so vague a nature that it could not bind
either party very strictly ; it certainly could not have applied
to a coalition of Charles and Francis, which was all that Henry
wanted, and it had the additional advantage that it made it
appear that the compact was not especially directed against
the Emperor, and so could not be resented by him. On the
subject of the Pope and the illegitimacy of Mary, the King, as
we have seen, had remained firm : to yield to Philip on these
two points would simply have been to stultify all the work of
the previous ten years, a step which Henry, even in the
gravest peril, was not prepared to take. But the other terms
of the agreement were precisely to his taste. The new treaty
could be very useful if the crisis came, and yet it was so
arranged that with his well-known ability for quibbling, the
King could easily throw it over, if his hopes of a change for
the better in his relations with France and Spain were actually
fulfilled. It thus stands out in sharp contrast to the Lutheran
alliance which Cromwell had advocated, and which, if it had
been accomplished, would have irrevocably committed England
to permanent hostility to Charles. The terms of the treaty
with Philip were cautious, carefully guarded, and strictly non
committal ; the Lutheran alliance, had it been carried through,
would have been rash, definite, and irrevocable. The contrast
between the two schemes is the contrast between the policies
of Henry and Cromwell. Though the treaty with Philip was
never ratified and the agreement which it proposed was thus
never destined to succeed, the fact that so many efforts were
made to accomplish it at the very moment that the negotia
tions with the Lutherans, of which Cromwell had been the
chief supporter, were finally abandoned, is very significant in
revealing the relative positions of King and minister at the
opening of the year 1540.

Briefly to review the state of affairs at this critical juncture.
The dread of an attack by the joint forces of France and
Spain, which had hung over England for more than a year,
seemed to call for a defensive league with some outside
power. But even in this hour of national peril the King
did not forget the lesson that he had learned at Wolsey s

THE CATHOLIC REACTION 271

fall : he remembered that the situation on the Continent had
often changed before and was likely to do so again, and
therefore in his search for a foreign alliance he took the
greatest pains to keep his hand free. Cromwell, on the con
trary, was now too far advanced in the policy he had followed
since the summer of 1538 to be able to retreat from it, though
the warning conveyed by the reaction of June, 1539 had
certainly opened his eyes to the dangers of the course he
pursued. But it was in vain that he attempted to persuade
his master to sanction an alliance with the Lutherans. Henry
refused to consent to any move which would bind him
as permanently as this. Instead the King directed his
efforts towards concluding an agreement of a very different
nature with Duke Philip of Bavaria, but his demands were so
great that this scheme also failed, owing to the unwillingness
of the other members of the Wittelsbach family to ratify the
treaty. The only alliance which did materialize was that
with Cleves. It was a sort of compromise between the
Lutheran and the Bavarian plans ; it committed England less
definitely than the one, though more so than the other. But
the responsibility for it had been made to rest entirely on
Cromwell s shoulders, and the minister must have realized
that his safety depended on its success. While it was under
negotiation, the danger from France and Spain seemed so
threatening that the policy of Cromwell was apparently justi
fied. Almost at the moment of its completion, however,
events took place which totally changed the aspect of affairs,
called for the abandonment of the alliance with Cleves, and
led to the ruin of the man whose fortunes were identified with
it. What these events were will be seen in the succeeding
chapter.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIII

THE REPORT OF THE LUTHERAN AMBASSADORS TO
ENGLAND IN APRIL AND MAY, 1539, ENTITLED

{ Swwmarie bericht vnd verzeichnisz der gepflog^z handelu^ge in

Engelant anno domini 1539 V

Nachdem die gesantf^ desz churf. zu Saxsen etc vnd la^tgraue^
zu Hesse?z vnser g. vnd g. hern rethte den viij tag aprilisz zu Franck-
fort abgeraist sint sie den 23 deszselbig<?# monatz zu London
anko#/me# vnd nachdem die konigliche mayw/at dazumal nicht
dess orczt sondern auff eynem schloisz Riczmu/zt genant nicht fast
verne von Lunden gewest haben sie sich nichtsz destowinger biem
hern Crumello, \uyoiglichen mayestat zu engelant obersten vnd ge-
heywbsten raidt anczaig^ lassen. Als hat derselbige ob er wol
etwas die cziet myt schwachait beladi?* solchsz koniglichen m&yestat
von stands an zu erke^nen geben hat auch den gesante^ von
wege^ koniglichen mayestat eyne herberge vorordent vnd inen
komiglichen may?j-/t forderliche zukunff vormeld^^ lassen mit
anczaigu^ge^ dasz sie \ioniglichen may^/at gancz wilckuwme^ were^
vnd dasz die Tuooigliche mayestat auff den nest^/z sontag wilcher der
25 aprilisz gewest der gesante;z werbu^ge genedicklich zu horen
erpottick. Esz ist auch der kom g myt den 26 aprilisz obgemeltz
monatz gege;z London in ir<??z pallast zu Westmo^ster koines und
nachdem eyn parlame;zt beschriben gewest wilchesz auff den
28 aprilisz angefang^;; hat sich die \LOnigliche mzyestat desz
vorczoigksz halben entschuldig^z lassen vnd den 29 tag aprilisz
der gesante/z werbu/zge anzuhoren bestywmet wie dan geschehen.
Vnd hat die \.>nigliche m&yestat denselbig^^ tag der gesante^ wer-
bu^ge gehort die sie vormoge irer entpfa^en instrucion gethan.
Alsz hat sich die Isxmigliche mayestdt genedicklich^/z darauff vornew-
men lassen mit f. 2 dangsagu?zge^ gege den churf. zu Saxsen vnd
lantgraue/2 zu Hessen mit dem anhangk dasz ir<? mayesfat hern

Transcribed from the original document in the Archives at Marburg.
2 stc y for freundlicheo. 3

BURCKHARD S REPORT 273

Crumello vnd eczlich anderen vnd vornewmisten vnd geheimstew
ir maiesfat rethte befelich thon wolten mit den gesanten von eyner
erlichen trostlichen vorste/misse zu handeln haben sich auch hoich
gegew vnsere g.g. hern erpotten vnd von der franckfordissen fridsz-
handelluge allerlii gefragk auch v.g.h. von Gulich vnd Geldern
gedacht, vnd in latinisser vnd franczosser sprach sich mit de/*
gesanten in gespreche ingelassen darauff die gesantew siner males/at
allenthalben nach gelegenheit nottorfftigm bericht gethan. Es hat
\iOnigliche mates fat in sondernhait erinneru/zge gethan dasz sich
obgemelte vnsere g.g. hern mit guten worten nicht wolten vorfuer<?
lassen dan sin^ matestat wuste dasz man allerley wider ir ch. vnd
f. g. vnd der vorste/z vorwanten vorhette allein dasz men bys anhere
an forteil gemangeldt, darauff sie dan tag vnd nacht traichten vnd
bedorffte^ vlissigesz auffsehensz etc.

Es were auch gewisz dasz man sine maiesfat hette mit den schiffen
in Selant vberfallen wollen aber Got lobp sine mates fat hette ire prach-
ticke vorno/wmen vnd were/? durch gute frunde vorwarnnet warden
hatten sich auch alszo zur gegenwere gestellet vnd die vorsehuge
in irer mayesfat kon(ig)rich thon lassen dasz sie vor innen vner-
schrocken weren vnd wolte gerne dasz sie sich etwasz tetlichesz
vnderstanctai dan sie alszo entpfanen wurdew dasz sie den schimp
gerucht solte haben etc. Item es hat sine \ionigliche maiesfat angec-
zaigk dasz sie gewisz kunschafft hette wie dasz der kayser driemal-
hundert thusent gulden iczt cistern vorschien^/z in Duczlant etliche
krigsvolck domit anzune/men vorordent darumb solte man nicht
zu vil vortruen vnd die dinge in guter achtu^ge haben vnd nachd^w
here Crumello duezumall etwasz schwach gewest hat die laonigtiche
maiesfat begerdt eyne kleynne cziet gedult zu tragen dan s. maiesfat
wolt^^ die saiche szo mogelich zu fordern beuelen vnd sindt alszo
daszmal die gesanten von \Qmgtichcr mayesfat abgeschaid^^.

Den andern tag desz monacz maij sindt die gesanten in hern
Cruwmello hausz zu London erfordert do dan \&nigliche mayesfat
rethte alsz newmelich die bayde herczogen Norfoick vnd Soyffoick
desz richsz engelant cantzeller der oberste awmerall her Crumello
vnd der bisschoff von Derm Tustalliwj genant Wilche erstliche^
desz ma^datetsz halben allerley disputacionesz inngefort darauff
innen vorlegunge vnd bericht darmit sie dozumall zufneden gewest
von den gesanten geschehen vnd zum andern haben sie sich mit
den gesanten der condicio^ halben vnd wilcher gestaldt die con
federacies auffzuricht^ auch wasz \&nigliche mayesfat vor gege/z-
hulrf zu gewarte^ vntteredet denen die gesanten inhalcz irer in-

MERRIMAN. I T

274 THOMAS CROMWELL

struciow nach der lenge bericht vnd anczaigimge vorgewant dasz
dan die rethte mit flissz angehort vnd der ding allenthalben
\ioniglicher mayestat zu berichten auff sich gennowmen vnd ist ge-
betten die saichen so vil mogelich zu fordern domit kein vorczoigk

erfolge.

Nach disser vnderredu/zge vnd handelu^ge haben sich die dinge
etliche tage vorczug^ ausz vrsach dasz \Qniglicher mayestat rethte
obgemelt teglich insz parlament haben sin mossen vnd auff den
xvi tag maij sindt \Lomglicher mayestat rethte vnd die gesanten yn
mayestat pallast zu sent Jocop beim hern Cruwmello
ander# male bie eynnander gewest, vnd haben die konnigliche
rethte angeczaigk wie dasz der koniglichen mayestat vor gewissz
ausz Franckrich vnd Flanders geschriben dasz der churf. zu Saxsen
vnd lantgraue zu Hessen sampt irer chf. vnd f. g. relionszvorwanterc
sich in der gepflog* fridez handellu^ge zu Franckfort vorpflicht
forder in cziet desz anstansz nimancz in buntnissz zu nemmen wilchsz
der koniglichen mayestat fast befromdlich vnd beschwerlich (wird)
vnd darauff bericht begerdt etc. Alsz haben die gesantten vormoge
irer bieinstrucion dissesz puncktsz halben vnd sonderlichen auch
auff dasz schriben szo inen vom churf. (zu) Saxsen irem g. h. desz
fordern tagesz zukowme^ war den bericht vorgewant dasz die
kon(ig)lich<??z rethte daran guten genugen gehaipt vnd sich erpotten
der koniglichen mayestat solchsz zti/w forderlicheste^ zu vormelden
auch die saichen irsz vormogensz zu fordern helffen vnd darbie esz
daszmalsz blieben vnd haben die gesanten angehaltffl domit sie nicht
lenger auffgehalte^ mochte^ werd^.

Den xviij tag maij sindt die koniklichen rethte vnd die gsanten
zuw dritten male in obgemelt^ \aomgKcher may^/t pallast zu sent
Jocop zusame/z kome vnd haben die kongissen rethte nach lenge
erczelet dasz sie komglicher may es tat alle handelu??ge mit vlisz
bericht gethan esz wusten sich auch tonigliche mayestat der gesant^
werbu^ge selbst zu erinner^ were auch geneigk sich in eyn erlich
glichmessig vnd trostlich vorstentnissz mit ire^ her sampt dersel-
bigen relionszvorwant^^ irem vorigen erbitten nach inzulassen
aber die \e>nigliche mayestat kont nicht befind^ dasz sulchesz vor-
stentnisz der gegen hulff halben deren sich die chur vnd fursten
sampt iren relionszvorwantt<??z erbiten theten die glichait oder reci-
procuw mit sich breichte derhalben were der ^oniglichen mayestat
genedigesz begeren ob die gesant^ nach ferner be felich hetten der
gege^hulff oder reciproci halben dasz sie sich desz wolten vnbe-
schwerdt vornewme^ lassen.

BURCKHARD S REPORT 275

Item die \ionigliche mayestat vormyrck dasz dasz ma^dat sere enge
vnd restringirt were wilchsz auch allerlij nachdencken hette bie siner
\ioniglichen mayestat vnd ob die gesanten vmb ferner befelich vnd
volkommener mandat schriben wolten.

Darauff ist den konigissen rethten geantwortt dasz esz die chur
vnd fursten dar aichten die konigtiche mayestat alsz eyn vortrefflicher
berumpter richer konig wurde esz in solchen erlichen cristlichen
saichen wider desz romissen bisschoff prachticke vnd tiranni an
eyner tapffern summa geldesz zur defension nicht mangeln lassen
ob sich auch ire ch. vnd f. g. der gege^hulff halben nichtsz sonder-
lichesz erbiten tedten \nd aber nichtsz desto winger hetten sich ire
ch. vnd f.g. vorne;men lassen siner \&niglichen mayestat im fall der
nottorfft do solchsz sine? konigliche mayestat begeren worde eczliche
thuse/zt zu fuessz vnd etliche hundert zu rosz etc zu zu schicken
wilchsz kriegszvolck ire ch. vnd f. g. anne tappern vnkosten nicht
word<?/7 vorgadern vnd auff eynn monsterplacz brings lassen mogen.
Vnd domit sulchsz do daymen forder s. mayestat zugeschickt wurde
vnd im fall dasz esz die Yvnigliche mayestat darvor aichte dasz
solchsz gegen der summa geldesz szo die komgluhe mayestat erleg^w
solte nicht szo gancz glich ader rer/procuw were szo hetten doch sine
\anigUche mayestat zu bedenckf dasz esz siner koniglichen mayestat
selbst zum besten gereichte allesz waisz ire \ionigliche mayestat den
chur. vnd f. sampt ire/2 vorwanten gucz erczaigkt dan der romisz
bisschoff vbete sine prachtike nicht winger wider sine \&nigliche
mayestat dan ire ch. vnd f. g. vnd ier ch. vnd f. g. mitvorwante vnd
do innen etwasz widerwertigsz wilchsz der almechtige wend^ wolt
begegen solte worde darnach s. \smigliche mayestat solchsz auch zu
gewarte^ haben etc. Desz mandacz halben ist inne/z die anczeige
geschehen dasz sie desz puncksz zufried^ gewest vnd die ding
komglicher mayestat zu berichten auff sich geno/wmen alsz ist
deszmalsz nicht witter gehandelt vnd auff den 26 tag maij haben
die \LQnigliche mayestat die gesant^ wiedervmb erfordem lassen vnd
inne^ selbst angeczeigt desz 1 sie allenthalben vornowmen wasz sich
vor handelu^ge czuissen siner maiestat rethten vnd den gesamV^
zugetrag^ vnd wiewole sine maiestat gancz geneigk sich in buntnisse
mit den churf. zu Saxsen vnd lantgrau^ zu Hessen sampt ir^
relionszvorwantm ainzulassen szo vormirck doch ir<? \&nigliche
maiestat dasz die vorgeschlagene condicion der geg^hulff nicht der-
gestaldt reciproce were wie sich ire \iomgliche mayestat vorsehen
hetten vnd esz auch billich in confederacy sin solt dan seine

1 sic, for dasz. 1
T 2

276 THOMAS CROMWELL

konigliche mayestat begert eyn rumelich erlich vnd baidersicz
trostlich vorstentnisse vnd confederation myt iren chur vnd f. g. vnd
iren relionsz vorwanten atiffzurichten vnd diewil die gesanten keinen
witters oder fernern befelich hetten dan wie sie hie zuvor angeczeigft]
szo muste esz seine Ysnigliche maiestat dasz malsz auch darbie
wend^n lassen vnd wusten witer darauff mit men nicht zu handeln,
sondern wolten men hiemit genedicklich wiedervmb erlaubt haben.
Auch wolte sine \onigliche maiestat iren chur vnd f. g. schrifflich ire
gemut anczaigen vnd do sie iren chur und f. g. sunsten fruntlichen
willen erczaigen konte wolten ire YvnigHche mayestat alleczeit willig
befonden werd^n wie sie sich auch in glichnisse herwider vorsehen
theten. Alsz haben die gesanten irer konigKchen may es fat hinwider
angeczaigk dasz sie sich von weg^n irer g. vnd genedigen hern nicht
vorsehen hetten seine Ywnigliche mayestat worde sie nicht gancz vor-
gebelich abschaid^n lassen wil ire mayestat wmb disse schickunge
bei iren g. vnd genedigen hern ansuchung auch trostlich erbitunge
gethan esz worden sich auch ire chur vnd f. g. vile winger solchsz
abschaidsz vorsehen vnd were disse kegenhulff nicht szo geringe wie
sie ire \ionigliche mayestat achten etc Aber wie denn szo musten sie
esz darbie wend?/* lassen vnd wolten ire g. vnd genedige hern aller
handelunge zum vnderthenigsten vnd truelichesten wilsz Got zu irer
widerkumpfft berichten vnd worden sich demnach ire ch. vnd f. g.
geg^n seiner koniglichen mayestat irer nottorfft nach zu \\a\ten vnd zu
vornewmen lassen wissen vnd nachdem vil reden gewest dasz die
\Qnigliche mayestat etczliche artikel der relion im parlament handeln
lassen alsz newmelich von dem hoichwurdig^n sacrament desz liebesz
vnd bludez unsersz hern Cristi item von der prister ehe haben die
gesanten gebetten seine konigliche mayestat alsz die die warhait
liebte wolte in dissen groswichtig^n saichen alleyne die warhait
fordern vnd hanthaben etc Darauff dan die \JsmgKch6 mayestat in
eyne hefftige disputacion desz artikelsz die pristerehe belang^n^ mit
den gesantm komen die seiner mayestat nottorfftig^n bericht vnd
anczaige gethan vnd darnach iren abschaidt von irer mayestat
genonzmen etc. Vnd nachdem \>nigliche mayestat schrifften an
hoichgemelte vnsere g. vnd g. hern vorfertiget vnd den gesanten
durch hern Cruwmello zugesteldt haben sie gebetten sich zu
berichten wesz doch konigliche mayestat maynunge sie der con
federation halb^n vnd wesz seine borngtickt mayestat vor condicion
ader geg^nhulff oder reciprocuw begerte darauff der here Crum-
mellus angeczaigt dasz die koniglicke mayestat eyne tapffere summa
geldesz zu erlegen willig aber der gestalt dasz solche geldt bayd^n

BAUMBACH S EMBASSY 277

teilen alsz seyner \iQniglidien may^/t vnd vnsern g. vnd g. hem vnd
iren relionszvorwant^ zuglich zum besten kome vnd wilchsz tail
eher angriffen <wurde) dasz daszselbige solche geldt zu gebrauchen
haben solte etc. Vnd do iren ch. vnd f. g. sulchesz a/znemlich
(ware) woste eher 1 dasz die \Lonigliche maiestat an eyner tapffern
suwma geldesz niederzuleg^;z nicht erwind<? lassen etc. Alsz haben
die gesantew diewil sie dissesz artickelsz halben zu handeln ader zu
schlissen kein* befelich gehaipt sich erbotten daszselbige iren chur.
vnd f. g. zu irer widerkunfft mit gotlicher hulff vnderthenichlich^
auch zu berichtew vnd alszo irn abschaidt den leczten tag maij
genowmen anno vt supra.

Franciscus Burchart

vicecanczler

Ludowicwj de Baumbach

zufctrtpsit

Endd. Relation Ludwigs von Baumbach vnd Mgr. Frantz Burg-
hardi von vveg^z der sendung in Engellandt.

II

ACCOUNT BY LUDWIG VON BAUMBACH OF HIS JOURNEY
TO ENGLAND. DECEMBER, 1539 TO JANUARY, 1540 2 .

Auff donstag nach triuw reguw byn ich myt gottesz holff zu
London ankomen vnd mich bye dem Hern Crumello ansagen
Lassen hat er mich auff den freitag morgen frue alszo balde gefordert
vnd holen Lassen vnd mich allerleii gefraugk wie esz im thuczlant
stehe vnd ab ich nicht macht ader befelich habe dasz buntnisz myt
ko. mayfj/at zu schlissen etc.

Dar auff ich geantwort ich habe eyn credencz an die ko. mzyestat
vnd eyne werbunge im geheym vnd vortruen syner mayw/at anzu-
szgen vnd derhalp dem h. crumello gebetten myr forderlich zu sin
dasz ich auff dasz erst szo mogelich von siner may^/at gehort moge

Dar auff der H. Crumelhu geantwort er werde esz der ko. mayestat
zu forderlichesten ken grunewicz zu wyssen thon vnd vorsehe sich

1 sic, for ( er.

2 Transcribed from the original document in the Archives at Marburg.

278 THOMAS CROMWELL

ir mayestat werde mich zu forderlichesten hore^ diewil ir mayestat
mich ke/men.

Auff den sonnobent byn ich von Cristoffel mo^t beschick vnd
bericht die ko. mayestat habe befolen ich solt auff den sonntag
morgen frue zu ix vren zu grunewicz sin do wolle ir mayestat mich
ghoren vnd ir mayestat sie mynner ankonfft wole zufrieden.

Die ko. mayestat hat mich auff den sontag durch den hern
Crumelluw in s. mayestat innerst gemach fordern vnd fueren Lassen
vor der messes da habe ich nach dem die ko. mayestat die credencz
erbrochen vnd vorlesen allesz waisz myr befolen ist gewest nach der
lenge myt besten flissze erczalet vnd bericht dar auff ir may^/t
myt flisse gehort vnd alle wort zweygefraugk vnd alsz balde ich
auszgeredt Hat s. mayestat geantwort ich habe lange desz ko vom
franckrichsz gemudt gesport vnd vornommen vnd er wolde eyn<?
botschaffe sich der dinge zu erkonnen thon vnd mich gefraugk ab
ich solchsz auch lieden moge sonst wolle s. mayestat niemancz
nicht meld<?^ dar auff ich s. mayestat geantwort dasz moge ich wole
lied^ szo verne niemancz genent von wem s. mayestat disze dinge
vorstand^ vnd mich gefraugk ab ich keine befelich habe die buntnisz
myt s. mayestat zu schlyssen habe ich geantwort nein senders s.
mayestat zu raiden dasz sich ir mayestat irsz gemucz entlichen vor-
nemmen Lasse vnd zuw forderlichesten die bontnisz schlisse ehe esz
zu kriege komme dar auff ir mayestat gesag m. h. habe im geschriben
ich solde eyn<? zcitlangk bie s. mayestat blieben dar auff ich geantwort
desz habe ich von m. g. h. keynen befelich.

Dar nach ir mayestat allerleii gemeine rede gehaipt vnd alsz balde
in die kirche^ gangen vnd alsz balde ir mayestat in ir. kapellen
koines vnd mich gesehen haben ir mayestat myr gewinckt vnd
angesprochen vor alien heren vnd gsaugk er habe mynem g. g. hern
geschriben vnd sie haben im keyne antwort dar auff ggeben, vnd
alsz witter gefraugk ab ich keynen befelich habe witter myt s.
mayestat der buntnisz halber zu reden dar auff ich geantwort von
dem schriben habe ich keine wisse der bontnisz halber wolle ich
mich eyn kleinsz bedencken vnd mych myt dem Sexsissen vice
canczeller vnderreden vnd sine mayestat beantworten.

Auff den dienstag darnach hat der H. Crumelluj den vice canczeler
vnd mich gefordert vnd allerleii myt vnsz bayden geredt vnd gesaugk
s. h. der ko/znig sie geneigk sich myt vnsren h. zu vorbind^ vnd
darnach von der relionsz saichn zu reden angefang^z dar auff myr l
baide der vice canczeller auff latin vnd ich auff franczossiscz

1 sic, for * wyr.

BAUMBACH S EMBASSY 279

geantwort esz were gotelichen vnd erlichen dasz s. mzyestat sich zu
vor vnd ehe die pontnisz geschlossen myt vnsren g. h. desz gottlichen
worcz vorgliche dar nach worde got genade vorliehen dasz alle saichen
gudt word<? dar auff der. h. Crumelliu gesaugkt er siehe vnser
maynuge den glauben betreffen aber wie die weldt iczt stehet wesz
sich sin her der kcmnig halte desz wolle er sich auch halte vnd solte
er darumb sterben er rade aber dasz die pontnisz beschlossen vnd
dar nach von bayderseicz gelarten zus&men komen lasze vnd sich
der schrifft vnd gotlichesz worcz vorglichen lasse wilche teil dan
recht behalt dasz dem dan dasz ander teile folge vnd szo wyr myt
s. h. dem ko. der saichen halber zu red* kemen szo wolt er vnsz
geraid^ haben dasz wyr sidick vnd nicht zu hart myt s. may es fat
reden wolten etc. da myt s. mayestat nicht zue rngenadffi vnd
vngeduld* erregt werde.

Dar nach von stonde an ist der H. crumellu.v zu dem konige
gang* vnd alsz balde mich allein zuw konnige zu komen gefordert
vnd hat s. mayestat angefangf vnd gesaugk die dinge die ich
s. mayestat erczaldt habe nemen s. mayestat wonder dasz dasz
vorhand** sin solte vnd solte im szo lange vorschwig* blieben sin
in ansehu^ge dasz er syne anw/asatten an b&yden orten habe, zu dem
szo kone sie sich in ile szo starck nicht rusten er koncz in ile
erfare vnd szo sie den kreigk myt ime anfahen szo sollen sie
entpfanen werd^ dan s. konrich sie nicht eyn lant wie die lande in
thuczlant dan esz sie myt wasser vmbethomme beflossen vnd konnt
niemancz zu im komen dan zu schiff.

Da habe ich die sachen der massen myt ploichehausern vnd
polwercken auch myt schiffen bestaldt vnd vor wart dasz sie
entpfanen sollen werd<? szo habe ich gudte schucze^ vnd habe
die von London hart bie myr vnd sonsten eyne stedt ist myr zu
nene vorgessen da kan ich in ile eyn czemelich volck auffbringtf*
auch szo habe ich die vorretter gemeinklichen richten vnd die
koppe abschlag^ Lassen dasz myr niemancz lichlich eynen auffrure
wirdt anrichten dasz magestu dyne/w hem sag aber ich bedanck
mich kegen dmen h. wie gehort vnd ich vorstehe die sache nicht
anderst dan dasz er die saichen trueliche vnd gudt myt myr
maynt.

Vnd szo vile den konig von dennemarck betrifft da habe ich
nicht myt zu schaffen ich waiss auch kein bontnisz myt im zu
machen dan er hat den alten konig nach gefang<? dasz isst wieder
den pfalzgrau* vnd myt (welchem) byn ich in willensz eyn
fruntschaffe eynsz hiracz zu machen etc.

280 THOMAS CROMWELL

Auch szo dynen myr die lanczknecht nicht dan alsz balde sie
auff dasz mere kernes szo werden sie krancg vnd sint desz mersz nicht
gewont wie myne luede sint aber dasz wil ich raden dasz dyne hern
der chur f. zu saxsen myn brueder der herzoig von klefa vnd gelderln
vnd die andern fursten in der bontnisz sampt hanburgk vnd bremen
vnd nicht vile vberlendisse stedt eyn erlichs bontnisz in alien
gemeynen sachen beschlosse^, were von den selbig<^ vberzogew
worde dasz im die andern alle holffen mosten vnd eynsz sachen
aller andern sachen sin most szo wil ich pfalcz auch dar zu brings
dasz sie vnsersz teilsz sin sollen.

Dan die Vberlendisse stedt haben sich nit witter dan wasz die
relion betrifft keigen eubere hern vorbondew vnd ab der kaiser eyn
ander vrsach zu eubern h. suchen (werde) szo warden sie in keine^
biestandt thon. gedenck an mich vnd due magest dym h. solchesz
wolle sagen dar auff ich s. mayestat geantwort ich habe die vorschri-
bu^ge der bontnisz wie weidt sie sich streckt nicht gelesen der halp
ich s. mayestdt keyne^ bericht dar von thon konde dar auff ir
may^tft gesaugk esz ist gudt vnd genugk darvonn geredt vnd myr
die hant gebotten vnd myn abschaidt ggeben vnd der bontnisz nach
malsz wie vor begerdt dar auff ich siner may es tat geantwort Ich wolle
die dinge mynem g. f. vnd h. szo verne mich got gesunt frist zu
myner wieder ankonff myt flissz berichten vnd zwifel nicht vnd
zwifel nicht * s. f. g. wer<k sich gancz frundelich alsz siner mayestdt
frundt vnd der s. mayestdt ere vnd gucz gunne von vor wisslichen
vornewme^ Lassen vnd byn do myt von s. mayestat abgeschaiden.

Auff dinstag nach Sebastians vnd fabianes hat myr der H.
crumellu^ myne abschaidt der massen ggeben dasz im s. h. der
konnig befolen myr an zu sagen mynem g. h. sonderliche/z dangk zu
sagen vnd sien ir mayestat mynem g. h. myt allem fruntliche^ willen
auch allesz dasz zu thon dasz mynem h. zu ere^ vnd guttem kome zu
willefare hoich geneigk vnd ir. mayestat habe die saichen nicht
anderst dan trueliche^ von myr vorstanden vnd ir. mayestat sie myr
vor myne person myt alien genaden geneigk dar auff gancz mynen
abschaidt genommen. geschechen auff die tage wie ob stehet anno
etc. xl in vrkunt myne hant

D

Luodewig von baumbach
zu bynsfort sst.

Endd. Relation Ludove. von baumbachs aus Engelland vff d.
gesheene verwarnung.

1 sic.

CHAPTER XIV

THE FALL OF THOMAS CROMWELL

WHILE Henry and Cromwell had been occupied in negotia
tions with various German princes, the Emperor and the
French King had not been idle. Every day seemed to bring
some fresh confirmation of the unwelcome news that the two
rnonarchs were again on the most friendly terms. By the
middle of December the anxiety of England reached the
highest pitch, for the report came that Francis and Charles
had actually met at Loches, and that their first interview had
been marked by every demonstration of cordiality 1 . The
French King accompanied the Emperor on his journey north
ward, and on New Year s Day they entered Paris together
amid great rejoicing. For eight days the Louvre saw a suc
cession of balls, fetes, and jousts. It is said that Jean-
Cousin was ordered to make a bust of the Emperor 2 .

But if the meeting of Charles and Francis and their
apparently perfect amity were the cause of profound alarm
in England, the proximity of the two rivals furnished at the
same time an admirable opportunity for a last attempt to stir
up jealousy between them. The King, who as we have seen
had never even in his most anxious moments abandoned the
hope of fomenting discord between the two sovereigns, was
not the man to permit this chance to escape him. Sir
Thomas Wyatt, who had been recalled from Spain a short
time before, was now sent back to Paris to co-operate with
Bonner, the ambassador to France, in the endeavour to make
use of the situation for Henry s purposes 3 . His instructions
to express the King s joy at the prospect of a renewal of
amity between Francis and Charles were of course merely

* Cal. xiv. (ii) 717.

2 Martin, vol. viii. p. 260. Cf. also Guiffrey, pp. 276-318.

3 Cal. xiv. (ii) 524.

282 THOMAS CROMWELL

a blind to cover his real intentions. It was not long before
the character of the latter was made plainly evident. Wyatt
wrote a full account of his proceedings to Henry on January 7,
1540 l . In his letter he did not say whether he paid any
attention to the written instructions which the King had
previously given him or not, but reported his endeavours
to obtain the arrest of one Brancetour, an Englishman in
the Emperor s train, whom the Act of Attainder of 1539 had
condemned. From Wyatt s account, however, it appears that
the actual taking of Brancetour was a matter of secondary
importance, compared to the possibility it opened of stirring
up a quarrel between Francis and Charles. The two am
bassadors had waited upon the French King, and had readily
obtained his consent to the arrest. Brancetour was taken,
but insisted that he acknowledged no master except the
Emperor, and was consequently not amenable to English
law. He applied to Charles, who of course refused to give
his servant up ; the matter was again brought before the
French King, who, being far more anxious to secure the good
will of the Emperor than that of Henry, gave orders for the
prisoner s release. At first it seemed as if the efforts of the
two ambassadors had merely resulted in drawing Charles and
Francis closer together. Chagrined at the failure of his
efforts, Bonner had made matters worse by rudely remon
strating with the French King for permitting Brancetour to
be restored to liberty. The chief result of this proceeding
was that the English ambassador became so generally hated
at the French Court on account of his bluntness and dis
courtesy, that Henry felt obliged to recall him in favour of
Sir John Wallop 2 .

With the ground cleared by the retirement of his unpopular
colleague, Sir Thomas Wyatt was able to display to far
greater advantage that wealth of tact and diplomatic talent,
which had rendered him such an invaluable servant to Henry

1 Cal. xv. 38. possible for Henry to carry his

: Cal. xv. 1 86. Bonner and intrigues very far, as long as the

Wyatt moreover were on very bad two rivals remained together at the

terms at this time, owing to mutual French Court. Cf. Nott s Wyatt,

jealousy. It would have been im- vol. ii. pp. 44-52.

HIS FALL 283

at the Emperor s Court. He immediately saw that it was
useless to blame Francis, as Bonner had done, for an act
which the situation had forced upon him, and he forbore to
mention the affair of Brancetour again in the presence of the
French King. Instead he addressed himself to Charles, and
in the most careful and guarded phrases insinuated that the
Emperor had shown ingratitude to Henry, in obtaining the
Englishman s release 1 . Wyatt s action throughout was
characterized by an external courtesy quite as remarkable
as the previous rudeness of Bonner, and his efforts were
finally rewarded in a manner which exceeded the King s
highest expectations. He had caught the Emperor off his
guard, and the first result of his representations was to cause
the usually imperturbable Charles completely to lose his
temper. The Emperor in his vexation let several words
escape him, of which Wyatt was prompt to take advantage.
When reproached with ingratitude, Charles had turned
sharply on the ambassador with a few angry words, which
implied that it was impossible for him to be ingrate to
Henry, on account of the superiority of his own Imperial
rank. The Emperor confessed that the inferyour might be
ingrate to the greter, though the term was * skant sufferable
bytwene lyke V but hinted that an accusation of ingratitude
from the petty King of England against himself, the acknow
ledged head of Christendom, was entirely out of place. All
this was reported at the English Court in early February.
The use which Henry made of the information is remarkable.
As a result of Wyatt s communications, the Duke of Norfolk
was sent with a special message to Francis 3 . He was ordered
to quote all the conversation between Charles and Wyatt,
but so to distort the meaning of the Emperor s angry words
as to make it appear that Charles was using Francis friend
ship merely as a stepping-stone to an ulterior purpose, and
perhaps to a plan for the domination of Europe. Charles
unfortunate slip about superiors and inferiors lent itself well
to such an interpretation. On February 15 the Duke arrived

1 Cal. xv. 161. 2 State Papers, vol. viii. p. 241.

3 Cal. xv. 145, 202.

284 THOMAS CROMWELL

at the French Court, of which Charles had already taken
leave, and was immediately received by Francis 1 . From
Norfolk s own report it is evident that he had at last
succeeded in creating serious distrust of the Emperor in
the mind of the French King, and he reported to Henry
that by Francis countenance he dyd conjecte He was not
content with thEmperours wordes V

Of course the intrigues of Norfolk and Wyatt were only
one of a number of things which contributed to cause the
quarrel between Charles and Francis to break out afresh.
The ground had been pretty well prepared for it by a series
of petty but annoying occurrences, which had taken place
during the Emperor s visit 3 , and the efforts of the English
ambassadors were substantially aided by Charles flat refusal
to fulfil his promises to Francis about the Low Countries
and Milan, after the subjugation of the revolt in Ghent had
once more left him a free hand. But the part which England
played in accelerating the rupture was in itself by no means
inconsiderable, and it is of the most vital importance for
our purposes here, to notice that the name of Cromwell
scarcely appears once in connexion with it. It is true that
after Norfolk had succeeded in driving in the first wedge
which started the breach between Charles and Francis, the
King s minister wrote two letters to Wallop 4 , directing him
to follow up the advantage already gained, but they were
evidently dictated by Henry, and seem to have been a
necessity forced upon Cromwell by the action of his rival.
The fact was that Cromwell s identification with the German
alliance had cut him off from bearing a hand in any other
part of the foreign policy, and that his place as a negotiator
with France and Spain had been usurped by his bitterest
enemy, the Duke of Norfolk. The latter s success at the
French Court had proved that the policy to which the King
had always pinned his faith, in opposition to Cromwell s
advocacy of an outside alliance, had not lost all its efficacy,
and the rapidly widening breach between Charles and Francis

Ca). xv. 222. 3 Cf. Gaillard, vol. iii. pp. 77, ?S.

2 State Papers, vol. viii. p. 257. 4 Letters, 338, 340.

HIS FALL 285

showed that the league with Cleves was not indispensable
for England s safety. More than this, it now looked as if
the treaty with Duke William, far from being an advantage,
would become a positive burden. Cromwell had sought the
alliance in the hope of gaining valuable aid in case England
was attacked : it had not occurred to him that some day the
positions might be reversed, and that England might be
expected to give aid, rather than to receive it. The fact that
Charles, instead of planning an invasion of England with
Francis, had gone straight from Paris to the Low Countries *
and did not disguise his intention of regaining Gelderland,
rendered this disagreeable turn of affairs distinctly probable.
Worst of all, the King s disgust for Anne of Cleves had
increased so rapidly, that it was useless to attempt to conceal
it. Henry might pardon a political blunder alone, but when
combined with a matrimonial misfortune, it was more difficult
to forgive. Everything seemed to unite to call for a reversal
of the Cromwellian policy. The King s minister had aban
doned as hopeless a scheme which his rival had been able
to show was still feasible ; he had sought a cure before he
was certain that prevention was impossible : the cure he had
prescribed, besides being unnecessary, had actually proved
dangerous, and lastly, the matrimonial alliance which formed
the basis of it had turned out a complete failure.

It was certainly the most favourable opportunity that had
yet presented itself for Cromwell s enemies to compass his
ruin, and Norfolk and Gardiner, the most inveterate of his
foes, were not slow to realize it. The latter, ever since
his recall from France in 1538, had used every effort to
undermine the influence of the man who had stepped into
the place which he had coveted for himself at Wolsey s fall.
In alliance with Norfolk, who returned from his errand to
the French King in March, 1540, he now succeeded in gather
ing to himself all the influential persons at the English Court
who desired the downfall of their plebeian rival. It did
not take very long to discover that Henry was ready to
abandon Cromwell, and as soon as his enemies were certain

* Bradford, pp. 515 ff.

286 THOMAS CROMWELL

of this fact, they saw that all that was necessary for the
accomplishment of their designs was to devise a pretext for
the minister s destruction, more plausible than an accusation
of advocating a useless alliance and an unfortunate marriage.
So faithfully had Cromwell served the King s interests, how
ever, that at first it seemed almost impossible to find such
a pretext, but the astute Gardiner was soon able to discover
the one weak spot in his rival s armour. It is hardly
necessary to state what this was. The only occasions on
which Henry and Cromwell had been brought into collision
were disputes over questions of foreign policy, and the
Bishop of Winchester saw that the minister s reputation as
advocate of an alliance with the Lutherans in opposition
to the King s wishes, furnished the basis for a charge of
supporting their religious principles in defiance of the
doctrines proclaimed in the Six Articles. No accusation
against Cromwell could have been more unjust than this.
We have seen that the minister himself had abandoned the
Lutherans by this time ; moreover even in the days when
he had urged an alliance with them, he had never made the
least concession to their religious tendencies. We call to
mind at once the significant words that he had spoken to
Baumbach in the previous January, when he had declared
that his theological beliefs were identical with those of the
King. Cromwell s religion had always been dictated by
political expediency ; he certainly had no sympathy for
Protestant theology in itself, or indeed for theology of any
kind which did not lead to practical results. But un
fortunately the mass of the people were totally unable to
see this fact, and he was commonly looked upon as the
greatest friend and helper that the Protestants had. As
opposition to the Pope had given him his political greatness,
the Reformers had flocked to him for protection when the
Six Articles were passed, and their trust in him was further
strengthened by the inferences which they drew from his
foreign policy. The Bishop of Winchester was perfectly well
aware of the actual state of affairs, and also of the gross
misconception of Cromwell s true theological position which

HIS FALL 287

existed in the minds of the people. If he could only catch
his rival in some definite act which would justify a distinct
accusation of opposing the King in matters of religion, he
saw that the ground was already well prepared for the
success of his plot. The opportunity which he sought was
soon to present itself.

It will be remembered that in the early part of the year
1539 Henry had sent Dr. Barnes to Germany to conciliate
the King of Denmark and the Elector of Saxony. At the
news of the passage of the Six Articles, which of course
stultified all his efforts, Barnes had come back to England,
profoundly disgusted at the King s vacillating policy. Henry
felt so certain of his ground at the time of his ambassador s
return, that in spite of the requests of Cromwell, he con
temptuously refused to grant him a hearing 1 . The King s
minister was either unable or unwilling to take the hint, which
his master had given him, that Barnes was no longer in
favour, and he was rash enough to attempt to console the
envoy for the ill-success of his mission, by promoting him
to the prebend of Lanbedye 2 . Cromwell had thus played
into his enemy s hand by an action which lent itself to the
precise interpretation which Gardiner was seeking. It was
now an easy matter to hold the minister responsible for any
rash act which his protege might commit, and Barnes, who
was one of the very extreme Lutherans, did not take long
to fulfil the hopes which the Bishop of Winchester had
entertained of his recklessness. He was foolish enough to
take violent exception to a sermon which Gardiner had
preached at Paul s Cross, in which the latter had denounced
certain Protestant doctrines. Preaching in the same pulpit
two weeks later on the same text, Barnes denied all that
Gardiner had said, insulted him openly, and finally threw
down his glove to the people, as a defiance against the
Bishop 3 . Barnes had doubtless presumed on Cromwell s
protection to support him in this tirade, for it seems that the
year before, when his position had been much stronger,
the King s minister had successfully defended his friend

1 Cal. xiv. (ii) 400. 2 Cal. xiv. (ii) 688. 8 Cal. xv. 306.

288 THOMAS CROMWELL

against a charge of heresy by Gardiner, and had actually
been able to remove the latter from the Privy Council in
revenge for his attack on the Lutheran 1 . But this time
Barnes had gone too far, and Cromwell, whose influence was
by no means what it had been, was unable to save him again.
The Bishop of Winchester complained to the King, who was
scandalized, and ordered Barnes to be examined before him ;
the Lutheran was utterly worsted in a theological discussion ;
he was forced to recant and beg Gardiner s pardon. This he
did with such ill grace and so many contradictions that he
was arrested and placed in the Tower with the others who
had supported him.

All this happened in the last week of March. It was
perfectly obvious to those who had any real knowledge of
the trend things were taking, that Gardiner had made his
complaint far more with the idea of harming Cromwell, than
of injuring Barnes himself, and the fact that the minister had
not been able to rescue his friend a second time led many
to predict his speedy downfall 2 . But Cromwell managed to
stave off the ultimately inevitable catastrophe for two months
more, and to maintain his ascendancy until the end of May.
He certainly had no delusions as to the gravity of the
situation in which he found himself, and he fully realized that
his best chance of safety lay in making a humble acknow
ledgement of his error in favouring the Lutheran preacher.
Though there is no actual record that he apologized to the
Bishop of Winchester, there is every internal evidence of it.
That at least a temporary reconciliation took place between
him and Gardiner is proved by a letter of Sir John Wallop
which informs us that on March 30 the Bishop of Winchester
dined at London with the Lord Privy Seal, and that they
were more than iiij hourly and opened theyre hart^ and so
concluded that and therbe truthe or honesty in them not only
all displeasures be forgotten, but also in thayre hertey be
now perfight intier frencUtf 3 . It would have been hardly
possible to bring about even a temporary truce between these
two men without an apology on one side or the other, and

1 Cal. xiv. (ii) 750 (p. 279). 2 Cal. xv. 486. 3 Cal. xv. 429.

HIS FALL 289

it is not likely that Gardiner, backed as he was by the King,
would have been the one to make it. In order to maintain
his very precarious position, Cromwell had been forced to
grovel before a man, whom two years before he could have
ordered about to his heart s content.

But it had been one of the greatest secrets of Cromwell s
success that he had never been too proud to take any step,
however humiliating, which he deemed necessary for his
profit or safety. Nevertheless it is doubtful if his apology to
the Bishop of Winchester, unaided by any outside occurrence,
would have been sufficient to prevent his immediate over
throw. The month of April, however, saw two events, one
at home and the other abroad, which further raised his hopes
and encouraged him to renewed efforts to regain his influence.
The first of these was the assemblage of Parliament, an
occasion on which Cromwell had always been able to make
himself particularly useful to the King. He was not slow
to realize the opportunity that was offered him, and he
laboured with all his might for the passage of the measures
which he knew his master desired. He made an opening
speech in the House of Lords, in which he said that the King
wished concord above all things and desired to suppress all
dissension concerning religious doctrines : and he emphasized
his words by providing for the appointment of a commission
to correct all abuses and enforce respect for the Scriptures 1 .
What was accomplished in this direct endeavour to extirpate
heresy is less important than a move of a more practical
nature, which bears every evidence of being planned by
Cromwell. The ancient military and religious order of the
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem was the sole remaining
stronghold of monasticism in England that had been suffered
to escape the onslaught of the King s minister. To complete
the work of destruction which he had begun their downfall
was essential, and an Act to abolish them and confiscate their
property finally passed both Houses after a prolonged
debate 2 . A complicated Taxation Bill, which was carried
through at the same time, seemed also to bear the stamp

1 Lords Journal, vol. i. p. 129. 2 32 Hen. VIII, c. 24.

MERRIMAN. I U

290 THOMAS CROMWELL

of Cromwellian genius. Such services to the Crown had not
been suffered to go unrewarded, for on April 18 those who
had prophesied the ruin of the King s minister were amazed
by his being created Earl of Essex and Great Chamberlain
of England 1 . The French ambassador, who only seven days
before had reported to Francis that Cromwell was tottering to
his fall, now confessed that the new-made Earl was in as
much credit with the King as ever he was, from which he was
near being shaken by the Bishop of Winchester and others.

The other event which gave Cromwell a momentary ray of
hope was the arrival of a piece of news from France, which
at first looked like a vindication of his foreign policy as
against that of the King. Early in April it was rumoured
in London that the French were fortifying Ardres, and the
King s minister wrote a letter to Wallop on the twelfth
instructing him to demand an explanation from Francis 2 ,
who (according to the ambassador s report) replied that
He knewe not but that He myght aswell buyld there or
fortefye uppon his borders as the Kinges Highnes dothe at
Callais, Guysnes, and other his fortresses 3 . These words,
though spoken very gently and nothing in collour, appear
to have caused profound anxiety at the English Court, and
Henry s faith in the success of his plans of fomenting discord
between Charles and Francis received a rude shock. Every
thing which tended to justify the alliance with Cleves
as a defensive measure was of course welcome news to
Cromwell, who privately must have been as much encouraged
by the messages from France as others were dismayed by
them. But the satisfaction which he derived from the
report of the fortifications at Ardres was only of short
duration. There were no further hostile developments for
the present, and an announcement was soon received from
the Netherlands which offered reasons for the abandonment
of the alliance with Cleves far more cogent than those
which the news from France furnished for its continu
ance. It was reported that the Emperor, immediately after

1 Cal. xv. 540, 541. 2 Cal. xv. 543.

1 State Papers, vol. viii. p. 323.

HIS FALL 291

the subjugation of the revolt of Ghent, had repeated his
demands for the cession of Gelderland 1 by Duke William,
and there seemed every probability that in case of refusal
he would enforce them by the sword. The bearing of this
move on the alliance of England with Cleves has been
already indicated. We have seen that when Charles first
turned his steps from Paris to the Low Countries, Cromwell
probably realized for the first time that the league on which
he had based all his hopes might actually work to England s
disadvantage, and that Cleves might be the sole gainer from
it. The news from the Netherlands was virtually a confirma
tion of the minister s gravest fears. The prospect that he
would soon be called upon to defend an ally whom he had
expected to defend him, and for whom he had no real regard,
must have been intolerable to Henry, and the state of his
relations to Anne of Cleves at the time tended of course
to increase rather than to diminish his vexation. Add to this
the fact that tidings of a somewhat disquieting nature kept
coming in from Scotland and Ireland, the blame for which
could easily be made to fall on Cromwell, and one can well
believe that any gains the King s minister may have made in
the Parliament which had met in April were more than
counterbalanced by the losses he had sustained in the course
of affairs abroad. Norfolk and Gardiner probably siezed this
favourable opportunity to weave further plots against their
hated rival, and to devise fresh measures to poison the King s
ear against him 2 . But even had the enmity of these men
been turned into friendship, Cromwell s political blunders had
got him into a position from which nothing could extricate
him. He had incurred the enmity of a master who never
forgave, and his ultimate ruin could only be a question of
time.

The events of the month of May were but foreshadowings
of the end. On the ninth the King summoned Cromwell

Heidrich, p. 43. House. Katherine Howard was

2 Soames, vol. ii. p. 408, informs among the company assembled on

us that in order to fan the rising this occasion, and she then achieved

flame Gardiner invited the King the conquest of her amorous sove-

to an entertainment at Winchester reign s heart.

U 2

292 THOMAS CROMWELL

to a council, at which the definite abandonment of the
minister s policy must have been openly discussed 1 . Records
of the conference are not preserved to us, but the result of it
was that two days later Cromwell was forced much against
his will to write a letter to Pate, the new ambassador to
the Emperor, directing him to take steps to conciliate Charles
and hinting that the alliance with Cleves might be thrown
over at any moment 2 . The latter part of the month brought
with it further confirmation of the minister s impending fate.
Duke William had sent ambassadors to the English Court,
to ask the advice of his powerful ally in regard to the answer
he should give to the Emperor s demands for the cession of
Gelderland. Henry treated the envoys with marked coldness,
and replied to their requests in the most non-committal
manner : he could do nothing for the Duke of Cleves, he said,
until he had more explicit information concerning the rights
and wrongs of the case 3 . The ground on which Cromwell s
feet rested was being cut away on all sides, and yet Marillac,
in a letter of the first of June, seemed to think that the arrest
of Dr. Wilson for having Popish leanings was an indication
that the minister and his few remaining adherents still retained
some influence. He acknowledged, however, that things
changed so rapidly that no person could tell what was going
to happen, only he was certain that one party or the other
must presently succumb 4 .

The catastrophe came like a thunderbolt, less than two
weeks after Marillac had written this letter. An entry in the
Journal of the House of Lords on June 10 reads: Hodie
Vicegerens Regius .... Comes Essex in hora pomeridiana
per Dominum Cancellarium et alios Dominos in Arcano
Domini Nostri Regis Consilio, ex Palatio Regio Domini
Regis Westm. hora tertia pomeridiana super Accusationem
Criminis lese Majestatis missus est in Arcem Londinens. 5
This bald statement is confirmed by letters from Marillac to
Francis and Montmorency at the time 6 , but a much more

1 Cal. xv. 658. 4 Cal. xv. 736, 737.

Letters, 345. 6 Lords Journal, vol. i. p. 143.

3 Cal. xv. 735. 6 Cal. xv. 766, 767.

HIS FALL 293

striking account of the arrest is contained in another letter
from the French ambassador to the Constable, written two
weeks later. It tells us that as soon as the Captain of the
Guard declared his charge to make him prisoner, Cromwell
in a rage cast his bonnet on the ground, saying to the Duke
of Norfolk and others of the Privy Council assembled there,
that this was the reward of his services, and that he appealed
to their consciences as to whether he was a traitor : but since
he was treated thus he renounced all pardon, as he had never
thought to have offended, and only asked the King not to
make him languish long. Thereupon some said he was
a traitor, others that he should be judged according to the
laws he had made, which were so sanguinary that often words
spoken inadvertently with good intention had been constituted
high treason. The Duke of Norfolk, having reproached him
with some " villennyes " done by him, snatched off the order of
St. George, which he bore on his neck, and the Admiral, to
show himself as great an enemy in adversity as he had been
thought a friend in prosperity, untied the Garter. Then by
a door which opens upon the water, he was put in a boat and
taken to the Tower, without the people of this town suspect
ing it, until they saw all the King s archers under Mr. Cheyney
at the door of the suspected prisoner s house, where they
made an inventory of his goods which were not of such
value as people thought, although too much for a "com-
paignon de telle estoffe." The money was 7,000, equal to
28,000 crs., and the silver plate, including crosses, chalices,
and other spoils of the Church, might be as much more.
These moveables were before night taken to the King s
treasury, a sign that they will not be restored V

On the day of the arrest, a royal messenger was sent to the
French ambassador, to tell him that he must not be amazed
at what had happened, for though common ignorant people
spoke of it variously/ the King said that he was deter
mined that Marillac should know the truth. Henry stated
that while he was trying by all possible means to lead
back religion to the way of truth, Cromwell, as attached to the

1 Cal. xv. 804, and Kaulek, pp. 193, 194.

294

THOMAS CROMWELL

German Lutherans, had always favoured the doctors who
preached such erroneous opinions, and hindered those who
preached the contrary, and that recently warned by some of
his principal servants to reflect that he was working against
the intention of the King and of the Acts of Parliament, he
had betrayed himself and said he hoped to suppress the old
preachers and have only the new, adding that the affair would
soon be brought to such a pass that the King with all his
power could not prevent it. but rather his own party would
be so strong that he would make the King descend to the
new doctrines even if he had to take arms against him 1 .
From this and from another letter written by the council to
Wallop at the same time 2 it appears that the King had been
able to devise no more plausible pretext for the destruction of
his minister than that .which had been suggested by the
Bishop of Winchester, a pretext which as we have seen was
false and unjust in every respect, but convenient in many
ways, especially as it was sure to win the approval of the mass
of the people, who looked upon Cromwell as a true Protestant
and hated him as such, not being able to see that it was
solely owing to political motives, that he had been connected
with the Reformers 3 . But the fact that the charge on which

1 Cal. xv. 766, and Kaulek, p.
189.

2 This letter stated that Crom
well being put in great trust by
the King in matters of religion
had not only of his sensual
appetite, wrought clene contrary to
this His Graces most godly entent,
secretly and indirectly advauncing
thone of thextremes and leaving the
meane indifferent true and vertuous
waye, which His Majestic sought
and soo entierly desired ; but also
hathe shewed himself soo fervently
bent to the mayntenaunce of that
his oultrage, that he hath not
spared most prively, most traitor
ously, to divise howe to contynue
the same and plainly in termes to
saye, as it hathe been justified to

his face by good wittenes, that, if
the King and all his Realme wold
turne and vary from his opinions,
he wold fight in the feld in his
oune personne, with his sworde in
his hande against Him and all
other; adding that if he lyved a
yere or two, he trusted to bring
thinges to that frame, that it shuld
not lye in the Kinges power to
resist or let it, if He wold ; bynding
his wordes with such othes, and
making suche gesture and demon
stration with his armes, that it
might wel appere that he had no
lesse fyxed in his harte, thenne
was uttered with his mouth. State
Papers, vol. viii. pp. 349, 350.

8 Henry, however, used every
means in his power to support the

HIS FALL 295

he was convicted was totally unjustifiable does not in any
way imply that Cromwell was wrongly condemned. There
were other perfectly valid reasons for his punishment, which,
however, it was quite impossible to bring forward against him,
simply because the King had shared his guilt. If the number
of innocent persons, whom the minister s influence had brought
to the block, be not a sufficient warrant for his conviction and
execution, it would be difficult to find a character in English
history who merited the death penalty. But all these crimes
could not be laid to his charge because the King had
supported him in them, and he was arrested instead on the
false accusation of opposition to the master to whose service
he had devoted his life.

Cranmer was the only man who dared to say a word to the
King on Cromwell s behalf. He wrote a pathetic letter to
Henry the day after the arrest, expressing his wonder and
distress that one whom he had deemed so good and so faithful,
should be accused of treason, but in vain *. The fallen
minister was not even permitted a trial in which he could be
heard in his own defence. That terrible engine of extra-
legal destruction, the attainder, by which so many of his own
enemies had been annihilated, was used as a swifter and surer
means to bring him to the block. The Act of Parliament
which attainted him was read in the House of Lords just one
week after his arrest 2 : it simply enumerated various acts and
speeches which had been laid to his charge, as indicating that
he had plotted to make himself more powerful than the King
in matters both religious and political, and stated that he had
thus incurred the charge of high treason, for which he was
condemned to die. He was to suffer as a heretic or a traitor
at the King s pleasure, and forfeit all property held since

main accusation, with other charges two years before, and probably as

of a different nature, which if pos- a result of the letters of Chapuys)

sible were even more unjustifiable. that Cromwell had intended to

The King was not ashamed to marry the Princess Mary and to

write to Wallop in France to try make himself King. Cal. xv. 792,

and get confirmation of the old 801, 842.

rumour (circulated on the Continent l Cal. xv. 770.

by a certain Portuguese ambassador 2 Lords Journal, vol. i. p. 145.

296 THOMAS CROMWELL

March 31, 1538. That Cromwell was deprived of all titles
and prerogatives on the day of his arrest, and was
called only Thomas Cromwell, shearman, and that his
servants were forbidden to wear his livery, led Marillac to
think that he would not be beheaded, as befitted a lord,
but would be dragged up as an ignoble person, and
afterwards hanged and quartered V This impression was
current two weeks later, for Norfolk told Marillac on July 6,
that Cromwell s end would be the most ignominious in use
in the country V It was not until the day of his execution
that grace was made to him upon the method of his death,
and beheading was substituted for a more painful and igno
minious penalty 3 . For though his arrest had been imme
diately followed by his attainder, execution was delayed for
six weeks more, in order that the King might make use of him
for a last time, to gain an end which Cromwell had successfully
secured for him once before, namely a divorce from a hated
Queen.

From the day of his arrest, his execution had been a fore
gone conclusion ; there was no chance of ultimate salvation
for the fallen minister. But as a drowning man clutches at
a straw to save himself from death, so Cromwell, at Henry s
request, wrote a letter, which he must have known would
be useless, to say what he could on his own behalf 4 .
The letter speaks for itself: its denials of the charges are not
as frequent as the acknowledgements of guilt and pleas for
mercy, but it produced no effect on the angry King. What
the injudicious words spoken before Throgmorton and Riche
were, it is impossible to tell; they were probably simply
sentences into which a treasonable intent was read, as into
those mentioned in the attainder; the secrete matier which
Cromwell was accused of revealing without leave may well
have been a project of Henry s to get rid of Anne, which for
many reasons it was expedient for him to keep secret, until he
was certain that he could free himself by one blow from the
marriage which by this time had become intolerable to him.

1 Cal. xv. 804. z Cal. xv. 847. Cal. xv. 926.

* Letters, 348.

HIS FALL 297

To this purpose all the King s energies were now bent, and
conscious that his fallen minister had known more of his
relations with Anne than any other, he sent him in the end
of June a list of questions on the subject, couched in
such judicious language, that if Cromwell gave the replies he
confidently looked for, they would supply cogent reasons for
his divorce 1 . He was sure, he said, that now that Cromwell
was condemned to die, he would tell the truth and not damn
his soul also, by bearing false witness at the last -. Whether
Henry s assumption here was correct or not, it is impossible
to tell. Cromwell knew of course that his chance of pardon
was almost nothing, but he was not so foolish as to throw it
away absolutely ; he also knew that the King s heart s desire
was a divorce from Anne, and he saw that his only hope lay
in aiding Henry to his utmost to free himself from her. Nor
was Cromwell the sort of man to whom dying with a lie on
his lips would mean very much ; his whole interest was
absorbed in the endeavour to make the most of the one very
faint chance of escape that was offered to him. Hence it is
possible that the testimony he bore in this case may not have
been strictly true. He appears to have written two letters in
answer to the King s interrogatories ; one of them is in the
library of the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield House ; the
other, badly mutilated, in the British Museum 3 . Both of
them are filled with abject pleas for mercy, and one of them,
which was carried to the King by Cromwell s faithful Ralph
Sadler, moved Henry so much, that it is said that he com
manded it to be read to him thrice 4 . The two letters tell the
same story in slightly different words : they give a full account
of everything that Cromwell had seen of Henry s relation to
Anne, since they first met at Rochester. They dilate on the

1 Cal. xv. 822. than by his sympathy for his fallen

2 Cal. xv. 825. minister. Certainly there is no
! Letters, 349, 350. reason to think the closing scene
4 Foxe, vol. ii. p. 433. If this of the Life and Death of Thomas

story be true, the interest which the Lord Cromwell, in which a reprieve

King evinced in Cromwell s letter is brought from the King by Ralph

is to be explained rather by his Sadler after Cromwell s head had

anxiety concerning his divorce, fallen, has any foundation in fact.

298

THOMAS CROMWELL

King s disgust at the first sight of the great Flanders mare/
tell how he endeavoured to put off the wedding, alleging as
his excuse the previous engagement of Anne and the Duke of
Lorraine s son, and finally quote a conversation of Henry and
Cromwell, the day after the marriage, in which the King
appears to have informed his minister that consummation had
not followed. The truth of this last statement is apparently
corroborated by a letter which Anne sent to her brother
a few days later 1 . Experience of the very unscrupulous
methods of Henry VIII, especially when matrimonial issues
were at stake, leads the reader, however, at least to recognize
the possibility that Anne may have written this letter under
compulsion and the threat of death if she refused. The testi
mony with which the King had armed himself for the struggle
he anticipated over gaining a divorce from his fourth wife,
was thus all of it obtained under circumstances that certainly
cast grave suspicions on its veracity ; and the modern
student may well be excused for refusing to accept it with
that pleasingly implicit faith which the Convocations and
Parliaments of this period almost invariably placed in the
statements of the sovereign 2 .

Certainly there was little cause for Henry to doubt his own
ability to wrest a decision of the nullity of his marriage from
clergy, Lords, and Commons. Ten years of Cromwell s
masterfulness had been enough to convince them of the
absolute futility of opposing the King in any matter on
which he had set his heart. The evidence wrung from
the fallen minister almost under the shadow of the scaffold,
and the confirmatory letter elicited from Anne, coupled
with a breve trew and parfaict declaracz on from the King
himself 3 , were quite sufficient to cause Convocation after

accept as such at the time of the
trial of his first divorce. This is
merely one of those suspiciously
convenient changes of opinion one
encounters so often in dealing with
the personal history of Henry VIII.
Cf. Burnet, vol. i. pp. 163-4.
3 Cal. xv. 825.

Cal. xv.

2 It is somewhat significant to
note that in this case Henry
had practically acknowledged facts
considered by the canonists as
* sufficient proof 7 of consummation
in the case of Arthur and Katherine,
and that the King had been glad to

HIS FALL 299

three days of debate finally to agree on the judgement that
the union was unlawful, and to send their decision to Par
liament on July 12. An Act to proclaim the marriage null
and void from the beginning was hurried through the Houses
with all possible speed, and on the I4th it was passed l . From
that time onward the lady Anne was treated as a sister by
the King ; she was suffered to live in retirement, adequate
lands and money were apportioned to her, and she remained
in England, contented and happy that execution had not been
substituted for divorce -. The Duke of Cleves was naturally
enraged at the treatment of his sister, and resolutely refused
to acknowledge that she had been honourably dealt with ; but
he knew that he was too weak to avenge the insult, and
coldly promised that the nullification of the marriage would
not cause him to departe from his devotion leage and
amytie with the King of England 3 .

The story of Cromwell s arrest, followed by the report of
the divorce of Anne of Cleves, was also immediately com
municated to France and Spain. Francis appears to have
received the news of the first with unfeigned joy, and was
not slow to signify to Henry his satisfaction at the unex
pected turn of affairs 4 . He wrote again to the King a little
later, asserting that Cromwell had adjusted a dispute over
some prizes taken by the ships of the governor of Picardy,
the Sieur de Rochepot, in such a way that he had derived per
sonal gain from the transaction ; this complaint was sent to
Cromwell in the Tower, and drew from him the reply con
tained in the last existing letter which he wrote 5 . Francis
enthusiasm at the ruin of a minister whom he had such reason
to hate, seems to have been somewhat diminished when he
learned that Anne s marriage had been dissolved, as he naturally
saw that this step would immediately put England and Spain
on a better footing. An interesting account of the ambassador
Carne s breaking the news to Francis, is given in a letter of

1 Lords Journal, pp. 154, 155. attainder confiscated to the use of

2 Cal. xv. 899, 901, 953. Part of the Crown. Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 713^
Anne s income was derived from State Papers, vol. viii. p. 421.
the manor of Canbery, previously 4 Cal. xv. 765, 792, 794, 841.
owned by Cromwell, and at his 5 Letters, 351.

300 THOMAS CROMWELL

Wallop s to Henry of July 10. Francis, as it appears, fett
a gret sighte, as if reflecting on the vacillating methods of his
nere and dere brother, but finally assented that Henry s
owne conscience shuld be judge therein V The French
King, though he greatly rejoiced in Cromwell s fall, was
evidently somewhat taken aback by the first result of the
consummation of his hopes. Charles showed none of the
same outward enthusiasm, when Pate declared to him the news
of Cromwell s arrest ; he did not even send a message, but
left the ambassador in a later letter to the King to supple
ment his silence with his own approval. His replies to the
news of the divorce of Anne were likewise calm, but he cer
tainly was much relieved by what he had heard 2 . The
common opinion which the sudden reversal of Cromwell s
policy had caused on the Continent seems to have been, as
Pate wrote to Norfolk on July 31, that Henry had lost the
hartes of the Electors of thEmpire but had contravailed
thEmprour or the Frenche King in there places V

On July 27 the Parliament closed, having finished the
work that the King had mapped out for it. Since Crom
well s arrest it had practically undone all that his foreign
policy of the two past years had accomplished, by nullifying
the marriage of Henry and Anne. The rest of its proceed
ings are unimportant, except perhaps the attainder of Barnes.
Garret, and Jerome, the Lutheran preachers, who were
convicted of heresy and sentenced to die at the stake 4 .
With the divorce from Anne secured, and those whom the
minister had favoured at home condemned, there was now no
longer any impediment to the completion of the final act of
the tragedy, and on July 28 Thomas Cromwell, shearman,
was led forth to execution. In a letter to Francis, Marillac
simply mentions the fact of his death 5 , but a more complete
account of the end of the great minister is fortunately pre
served to us in the chronicles of Holinshed and Hall, and the
history of Foxe 6 .

[ State Papers, vol. viii. p. 392. 5 Cal. xv. 926.

Cal. xv. 794, 811. Holinshed, p. 817; Hall, p. 839;

1 State Papers, vol. viii. p. 412. Foxe, p. 433.

k Cal. xv. 498, p. 217.

HIS FALL 301

From the stones of all these chroniclers it appears that
Cromwell on the scaffold made an address to the people,
declaring the faith in which he died. That his speech was
printed and publicly circulated is attested by Pole ; and the
fact that Holinshed, Hall, and Foxe give it in almost exactly
the same words corroborates the truth of the Cardinal s
statement. Pole, however, goes on to say that though at first
he accepted the printed speech as a true version of Cromwell s
words, he later learned from trustworthy persons that what
Cromwell had actually said was something very different .
The words of the speech certainly have the appearance of
being composed beforehand and forced upon Cromwell s
dying lips. He confessed that he had done wrong, asked
forgiveness of his King, and finally asserted that he died in
the Catholic Faith, not doubting in any article of his faith,
no nor doubting in any Sacrament of the Church V This
last statement was certainly untrue ; nor would it have been
in any way less false, if Cromwell had said that he died a true
Protestant 3 . His religious beliefs were, as far as can be dis
covered, absolutely nothing when disconnected from practical
ends, and he probably made his last speech at the King s
command, either to save himself from a more shameful death
than beheading, or else, as is quite probable, to avert the ruin
of his son Gregory, who he perhaps feared would fall with
him. On this point, however, he need not have had any
apprehension ; Gregory Cromwell, perhaps on account of
his fortunate marriage with the aunt of Prince Edward,
appeared to be in as high favour as ever 4 , and the title of
Baron Cromwell, which his father forfeited at his attainder,
was regranted to the young man by patent, Dec. 18, 1540 5 .

Cal. xvi. 40. 5 Cal. xvi. 379 (34). Gregory
! Cf. Appendix at the end of this Cromwell died in 1557, and was
chapter. succeeded by his eldest son Henry.
1 Cf. Collier, vol. ii. p. 181. The latter s grandson Thomas,
1 1 readily grant Cromwell was no fourth Baron Cromwell, was created
Papist at his Death. But then, it Earl Ardglass in the Irish peer-
is pretty plain he was no Protestant age, April 15, 1645. The earldom
neither. of Ardglass expired in 1687, and
Cal. xv. 940. the barony of Cromwell became

302

THOMAS CROMWELL

Besides this speech, which has given historians so much
trouble, Hall makes mention of the fact that Cromwell made
his praier, which was long, but not so long as both Godly
and learned V This prayer is given in full in Foxe, and, as
it reads there, it certainly justifies the use of the epithets that
Hall applied to it 2 . Whether Foxe s words were Cromwell s
words, or whether Cromwell s words were his own, and not
those of the King which were given him to speak, is however
entirely another matter. It is unfortunate that we have
no more credible authority than the martyrologist on this
point. Cromwell s prayer, as he gives it, was certainly
that of a man who humbly acknowledged his faults, and threw
himself solely on the mercy of God ; but the words which he
spoke are suspiciously devout, for those of a man to whom
religion mattered so little.

And thus, says Foxe, his Prayer made, after he had
godly and lovingly exhorted them that were about him on
the Scaffold, he quietly committed his Soul into the hands
of God, and so patiently suffered the stroke of the Ax, by
a ragged and butcherly Miser, which very ungodly performed
his Office V

dormant in 1709. Life of Thomas
Cromwell, in the Dictionary of
National Biography, vol. xiii. p. 202.

1 Hall, p. 839.

2 Cf. Appendix at the end of this
chapter.

Foxe, vol. ii. p. 434. Cf. Mendes
Silva, pp. 34, 35: Acabadas de
pronunciar estas palabras, se di-

spuso a morir, pidiendo al verdugo,
llamado Gurrea, para no sentir di-
latada pena, le cortasse la cabec,a
de vn golpe. Tendiose, pues sobre
el madero, y recibiole terrible, mu-
riendo aquel que nu?zca deuiera
nacer, por quien Inglaterra desde
entonces se abrasa en infernal
incendio de heregias.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIV

PASSAGES FROM FOXE S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Vol. ii. p. 433.

A true Christian confession of the L. Cromwel at his death.

* I am come hither to die, and not to purge my self, as some think
peradventure that I will. For if I should so do, I were a very
wretch and a Miser. I am by the Law condemned to die, and thank
my Lord God, that hath appointed me this death for mine Offence.
For sithence the time that I have had years of discretion, I have
lived a sinner, and offended my Lord God, for the which I ask him
heartily forgiveness. And it is not unknown to many of you, that
I have been a great Traveller in this World, and being but of a base
degree, was called to high estate, and sithence the time I came
thereunto I have offended my Prince, for the which I ask him
heartily forgiveness, and beseech you all to pray to God with me,
that he will forgive me. And now I pray you that be here, to bear
me record, I die in the Catholick Faith, not doubting in any Article
of my Faith, no nor doubting in any Sacrament of the Church.
Many have slandered me and reported that I have been a bearer
of such as have maintained evil Opinions, which is untrue. But
I confess, that like as God by his holy Spirit doth instruct us in
the Truth, so the Devil is ready to seduce us, and I have been
seduced ; but bear me witness that I die in the Catholick Faith of
the holy Church ; and I heartily desire you to pray for the Kings
Grace, that he may long live with you in health and prosperity ;
and that after him his Son Prince Edward that goodly Impe may
long Reign over you. And once again I desire you to pray for
me, that so long as life remaineth in this flesh, I waver nothing in my
Faith.

The Prayer of the Lord Cromwel at his Death.

O Lord Jesus, which art the only health of all men living, and
the everlasting life of them which die in thee ; I wretched sinner
do submit my self wholly unto thy most blessed will, and being
sure that the thing cannot Perish which is committed unto thy

304 THOMAS CROMWELL

mercy, willingly now I leave this frail and wicked flesh, in sure hope

that thou wilt in better wise restore it to me again at the last day in

the resurrection of the just. I beseech thee most merciful Lord

Jesus Christ, that thou wilt by thy grace make strong my Soul against

all temptations, and defend me with the Buckler of thy mercy against

all the assaults of the Devil. I see and knowledge that there is in

my self no hope of Salvation, but all my confidence, hope and trust

is in thy most merciful goodness. I have no merits nor good works

which I may alledge before thee. Of sins and evil works (alas)

I see a great heap ; but yet through thy mercy I trust to be in the

number of them to whom thou wilt not impute their sins ; but wilt

take and accept me for righteous and just, and to be the inheritor

of everlasting life. Thou merciful Lord wert born for my sake, thou

didst suffer both hunger and thirst for my sake ; thou didst teach,

pray, and fast for my sake ; all thy holy Actions and Works thou

wroughtest for my sake; thou sufferedst most grievous Pains and

Torments for my sake ; finally, thou gavest thy most precious Body

and thy Blood to be shed on the Cross for my sake. Now most

merciful Saviour, let all these things profit me, which hast given

thy self also for me. Let thy Blood cleanse and wash away the

spots and fulness of my sins. Let thy righteousness hide and cover

my unrighteousness. Let the merit of thy Passion and blood

shedding be satisfaction for my sins. Give me, Lord, thy grace,

that the Faith of my salvation in thy Blood waver not in me, but

may ever be firm and constant. That the hope of thy mercy and

life everlasting never decay in me, that love wax not cold in me.

Finally, that the weakness of my flesh be not overcome with the fear

of death. Grant me, merciful Saviour, that when death hath shut up

the eyes of my Body, yet the eyes of my Soul may still behold and

look upon thee, and when death hath taken away the use of my

Tongue, yet my heart may cry and say unto thee, Lord into thy

hands I commend my Soul, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Amen.

CHAPTER XV

THE WORK OF THOMAS CROMWELL

IT is inevitable that there should be the widest divergence
of opinion concerning every great figure in Reformation his
tory, and it is idle to attempt to form an estimate of the
character and work of Thomas Cromwell that will satisfy
those who take different views of the great struggle during
which his life was lived. But Catholics and Protestants must
agree on the fundamental and permanent nature of the changes
which he wrought : whether his work was good or bad, no one
can deny his success in fulfilling his life s aim as declared
to Cavendish on the All Hallows Day when he rode forth to
London * to make or to marre. He was the first chief
minister that England had ever had, who was base-born and
yet not a cleric. He stood completely outside the great
religious movement of his time, and only made use of it to
further his own political ends. He came at a time when
things were in an unsettled state and ready for a change :
his personality, emotionless, practical, stern, impressed itself
on every phase of the national life. It was not alone in
Parliament, Convocation, or Privy Council that he reigned
supreme ; on every department of the government service
the stamp of his individual genius remains indelibly fixed.
The permanence of his work was largely due to the way in
which he clinched every reform which he introduced. He
followed up the separation from Rome by attacking in turn
the bishops, clergy, and friars, and by suppressing the monas
teries. He obtained the support of the King in almost every
measure which he invented, and then forced Parliament formally
to legalize it. His action was in no case ineffective ; the im-
mediate result of it was almost always the attainment of the
goal at which he aimed.

MERR1MAN. I X

306 THOMAS CROMWELL

To the student of the present day, however, who is enabled
to survey the decade of CrormveH s rule after a lapse of more
than three and a half centuries, the immediate effects of his
measures fade into the background and lose their importance,
in the face of later and far greater developments. The latter
were not always the results Cromwell wished to attain ; in
many cases they were ends which, if he could have foreseen,
Cromwell would have been the last person to promote.
They came years later, indirectly, as it were, and were rendered
possible only by the lapse of time, the influence of other
statesmen, and the growth and progress of civil and religious
liberty, but none the less were they due to the impulse of
Thomas Cromwell. By following out the effect of a few of
the more important steps of his policy, it will not be difficult
to see what some of these later developments were.

Let us take in the first place his action in rejecting the
authority of the See of Rome. Cromwell advised the King
to shake off his allegiance to the Pope, solely because he saw
that a divorce from Katherine of Aragon could never be ob
tained from Clement VII, as long as the latter was in the
power of Charles V. His aim was to please the King by
enabling him to divorce Katherine, so that he might marry
Anne Boleyn ; he realized that his desire could not be accom
plished while the country remained true to the Old Faith ; he
cut the bonds that held England to Rome, and gained what
Henry wished. The direct result, the only thing he cared about,
was accomplished ; but far more important than that, it was
by Cromwell s means that Protestantism gained a footing in
England, which even the Six Articles and the terrible perse
cution under Mary could not shake. To guard against the
return of the Papal power, and the annulling of the divorce,
Cromwell attacked and subdued the clergy, and negotiated
with the Protestants on the Continent. His immediate object
was solely political safety ; the ultimate result was the loosen
ing of some cf the strongest bonds of Romanism, and the
opening of the road for the incoming of the new religion.
Thus out of moves first made to attain and ensure a question
able end, grew consequences so great and so far-reaching

HIS WORK 307

that it is only with difficulty that one can trace their

origin.

The same remark will be found to hold true of the
results of the suppression of the monasteries 1 . The main
object of the King s Vicegerent in destroying them was
undoubtedly to fill the royal treasury with the spoils of the
Church, and to clinch the advantages gained by the separa
tion from Rome. But the later result of his measures was
actually to undo much of the work which they were first
intended to perform. For though they had weakened reli
gious opposition to the Crown, they strengthened the secular
element in its later struggle against the royal autocracy which
Cromwell had laboured to establish. We have seen that the
lands of the suppressed houses had been either given away,
or else sold at exceedingly low prices to the impoverished
nobles by Cromwell s advice, in order to ward off the oppo
sition aroused by their destruction. This measure certainly
attained its immediate purpose, but it also laid the foundation
for the growth of an extremely powerful territorial aristocracy,
that later on was to use its influence to oppose the royal pre
rogative and pave the way for modern constitutionalism.
While Cromwell, in his attacks on the older nobility, thought
that he was removing the last impediments to absolute
monarchy, he really, by enriching and strengthening this new
aristocracy, was rearing an infinitely more potent enemy to
the kingship for which he had sacrificed everything. It is well
known that such families as the Russells, Seymours, and
Cavendishes, who later figured most prominently in opposition
to the Crown, owed their power to gifts out of the revenues of
the suppressed monasteries. The smaller gentry also claimed
a share in the general advancement to wealth and prosperity
among the landed proprietors, and a sudden burst of political
activity in the Lords and Commons bore witness to the fact
that the Houses had once more asserted their right to govern.

This brings us to Cromwell s relations with Parliament. It
is here that we find the most striking instance of the con
tradiction between the immediate and the permanent effects

L Cf. for this and the following pages, Green, vol. ii. pp. 197-202.

308 THOMAS CROMWELL

of the changes he wrought. We have seen how his attitude
towards Parliament differed from that of his predecessor.
We have seen how Wolsey had looked upon the national
assembly as a great force which continually hampered his
schemes, so that his dislike of it led him to summon it as
infrequently as possible, and only when it was absolutely
necessary. We have seen how Cromwell was destined to go
one step further, and how by packed elections, fraud, and
violence, he succeeded in converting it into an utterly
subservient instrument of the royal will. It was now
no longer a power to be feared, but one to be relied on ;
a firm ally that consistently obeyed the slightest hint of
the wishes of the Crown. Consequently instead of rarely
assembling as under Wolsey, it was being constantly sum
moned, as a necessary means to accomplish the designs of
Henry and his minister. While the latter lived, everything
worked exactly as he had intended, and the Parliament re
mained * tractable. But when after his death the idea of
autocracy had passed away, and England had begun to
recover from the terror Cromwell s ministry had inspired,
Parliament suddenly realized that it had a power of its own.
Its frequent assemblings which of course had helped the
Crown, as long as under Cromwell the Houses had re
mained subservient, now began to work just the other way,
and aided it in shaking off the fetters that bound it to the
King. It had been Cromwell s plan that it should keep up the
forms of constitutional liberty, as a sort of sop to the popular
feeling, while in reality all its legislative vigour was lost. Now
that the pressure of his hand was removed, the animating spirit
revived, and finding all the old traditionary customs still intact
began to infuse itself into Lords and Commons. The earlier
independence of the Houses returned and increased, so that
the final result of the work of Cromwell was on the one hand
to thwart all efforts to compass the omnipotence of the
Crown, and on the other to lay the basis for a constitutional
government.

Had the English character been one that could per
manently suffer any form of tyranny or absolute monarchy;

HIS WORK 309

had the ends the great minister aimed at been such that when
the temporary madness and terror inspired by his own per
sonality had passed by, they could have aroused one spark
of enthusiasm in the English heart, Cromwell s would have
been the grandest figure in his country s history. But it
was not destined to be so. The national drift was through
out bitterly opposed to him and to the ideas for which he
stood, so that much of his policy was reversed in the years
that followed his death. There can be, it seems to me, no
doubt that Cromwell was perfectly sincere in his attempt to
establish an all-powerful kingship under the forms of ostensible
constitutionalism. He did it not from selfish motives, but
because he believed it to be the only sure road to national
greatness. The crimes that marred his career cannot be
excused, but may be palliated by this consideration, and by
his dauntless courage in resolutely destroying the Curial control
of the English courts and English Church ; on this side of his
work he was the true successor of Wyclif, the true predecessor
of his own great kinsman. Cromwell lived in an age when
a wave of monarchical enthusiasm swept over the entire west
of Europe : a belief in the absolute power of kings was the
most salient characteristic of the political atmosphere of his
day. He was essentially a man of his time in his faults and
in his virtues, and could scarcely have anticipated modern con
stitutionalism. Thus his policy perished with him, but his
work remained and was permitted by change and reaction
finally to attain results far more glorious and lasting than
he had hoped for. The despotism of the Tudors fell with
their dynasty, the liberties of the nation survived.

LETTERS OF THOMAS CROMWELL

PREFATORY NOTE

HERE follow a complete collection of the letters of Thomas
Cromwell arranged as nearly as possible in chronological
order, an itinerary, and a list of his minor preferments. The
letters have been copied from the original manuscripts, save
in a few cases duly noted, when transcripts have been made
from the official copies at the Public Record Office, from
Strype and Ribier, or from the collections of Sir Henry Ellis.
The spelling follows the original, all contractions are extended
but italicized : the original punctuation, paragraphing, and
use of capitals are preserved.

But (i) I have disregarded unintelligent or faulty marks
of contraction, occurring in words in which no letter is omitted.
(2) I have not italicized uncontracted letters inserted above
the line. For example: the name Thomas is almost
always written Thom a s in the original : I have transcribed it
Thomas and not c Thomas. On the other hand, the word
* your is usually written yo r in the manuscript : in this case
I have taken the superior r as a contracted form of ur/ and
so have transcribed it your. (3) In the originals the same
script form is used for T and C J ; I have followed the modern
use. (4) The bracket [ ] signifies that the words or letters
enclosed would have been in the manuscript had it not been
injured. The bracket { } signifies that the word or words
enclosed have been inserted by me to complete the sense.
The parenthesis ( ) signifies that the enclosure is bracketed
in the original. (5) Sentences and words crossed out or
underlined in the manuscript have been set below, except
when evident mistakes of the writer. The letters * c. o? signify

312 PREFATORY NOTE

that the passage against which they are written was crossed
out or underlined in the original.

In dating letters, I have followed the modern use, and have
taken the first of January and not the twenty-fifth of March
as the beginning of the year. I have used the bracket { }
in the headings to indicate that the name or date enclosed has
not been given in the letter itself, but has been found from
external or internal evidence. Letters which bear no indica
tion of the day and month in which they were written are
placed at the end of the year to which they apparently belong.
The abbreviations R. O. and B. M. refer to the Public
Record Office and British Museum respectively throughout
the collection.

LETTERS

1. CROMWELL TO JOHN CREKE.

R. O. Cal. iii. 3249. Aug. 17 (1523).

A letter of friendship, containing an account of the proceedings of the
Parliament of 1523, in which Cromwell sat. News concerning
Creke s friends in England.

Maister Creke as hertelye as I can I co;;/mende me and
in the same wise thanke yow [for your] gentill and louyng
\etterzs to me at sundrye tymys Sent and wher as I ac-
cordinglye haue not in lyke wise remembrid and rescribid
it hath bene for that I haue not hade anything to wryt of
to yottr adutf/mcement. Whom I assure yow yf it were in
my lytyll power I coulde be well contentyd to p?rferre as
ferre as any one man lyuyng. But at this present I being
at Sum layser entending to remembre and also remunerate
the olde acquayntauncrj and to renew otir not forgoten
Sundrye cowmunycacions Supposing ye desyre to know the
new^ curraunt in thes p^rtyes for it is said that newes
refresshith the spy[rit] of lyfife, wherfor ye shall vnderstonde
that by long tyme I amongist other haue Indured a parlya-
ment which contenwid by the space of xvij hole wekes wher
we co;;/munyd of warre pease Stryffe contencyon debatte
murmure grudge Riches pouerte penurye trowth falshode
Justyce equyte discayte opprescyon Magnanymyte actyuyte
force attempraunce Treason murder Felonye consyli . . .
and also how a co;;/mune welth myght be ediffyed and a[lso]
contenewid wz t/nn our Realme. Howbeyt in conclusyon we
haue d[one] as our predecessors haue been wont to doo that
ys to say, as well as we myght and lefte wher we begann.
ye shall also vnderstond the Duke of Suthffolke Furnysshyd
wz t/z a gret armye goyth ouer in all goodlye hast [whit]her
I know not, when I know I shall aduertyse yow. Whe haue
in our p^Hyament grauntyd vnto the King^j- highnes a right
large Subsydye, the lyke wherof was neuer grauntyd in this
realme. all your frendes to my knowlage be in good helth
and specially thay that ye wott of: ye know what I meane.
I thinke it best to wryt in parables becaus[e] I am In dowt.
Maister Vawhan Fareth well and so doth Maister Munkcaste[r].

MERRIMAN. I Y

314 LETTERS OF [1523

Maister Woodall is merye w/t/owt a wyffe and cowmendyth
hym to yow : and so ys also NyclWas longmede which hath
payd William Wilfforde. And thus as well f[are] ye as
I woolde do my Self At london the xvij daye of August by
your Frende to all his possible power

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To his [espjecial and entyrelye belouyd Frende
John Creke be this youyn Bylbowe in Biscaye.

2. CROMWELL TO ELIZABETH HIS WIFE.

Ellis Letters, 2nd Ser. ii. 125 ; Cal. iv, App. 57. Nov. 29 (1525)-

Sends her a doe. Desires that Richard Swift resort to him at Begham
or Tonbridge. Asks for news.

Elyzabeth I commend me unto you and have sente you
by this berer a fatt doo, the one half whereof I pray you may
be delyvered unto my gossyp mastres Smyth, and with the
rest to use your pleasure. And further yf Richard Swifte
be cum home or fortune to cum shortly, I will that he resorte
to me at Begham or Tonbridge with all dylygence. Such
news as ye have in those partyes I pray you sende me parte
by this berer. At Begham the xxix th day of November.
And farther I pray you sende me word in wry ting who hathe
resorted unto you syns my departuer from you to speke
with me.

Per your husbend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my well beloved wyf Elyzabeth Crumwell
agenst the Freyers Augustines in London be this given.

3. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. iv. 955 (3). (1524 or 1525.)

Desires that the lands of John Fleming, who has broken covenant with
Cromwell, be put in execution.

Syr in my most herty manner I co;;zmend me vnto yow
aduertesing yow that after knowlege hade of your departure
In to the north partyes was veray sorye that my chaunce was
not so happye to haue spokyn Vfitk yow befor wheruppon
I was constrayned for the Singuler trust and conffydence
which by long cotenuaunce hath Succedyd & ben approuyd

1524 or 5] THOMAS CROMWELL 315

In yow towards your Frend^y and louers to wryt vnto yow l
Syr So hyt is that on^ John Flemyng of Crofton in the
Countye of Yourke in the moneth of may last passid Solde
vnto Robert Bolt Certayn land^ Tenements & heredyta-
menttes to the Clere yerlye valew of Nyntene pounds and
xvi d. of good and lawffull monaye of Ingland to myn^ vse
to the Sum of ccclxxxj 11 vj 8 viij d wheroff the sayd John
Flemyng resayuyd In partyc of payment on^ hundereth
fortye eight pownd^j nyne shelingf & Syx pence and the rest
of the sayd S?/m which amountyth vnto ccxxxij 11 xvij 8 ii d was
put in the Saffe custodye and keping of your Frend Maister
Butrye ther to remayn vntyll Suche tyme the sayd John
Flemyng sholde haue p^rformyd all his couen<7?/nttey according
vnto a payre of Indentures For the which Su;;/mys of
Monaye and for the non pirfonxkumce of the sayd Coue-
nattnttes the sayd John Flemyng standyth bounden to the
sayd Rob^t Bolt In a statute of the Staple of Westminster
in one thousand marker payable in the Fest of Saynt Ber-
tholomew the appostill last past the date wherof is the xx th
daye. of Maii in the xv th yere of our souerayng lord kyng
henrye the viii th , and forasmoche as the said Flemyng hath
brokyn Couenamitt wM me In eu^rye poynt I am Com-
pellyd to take the execucyon vppon my statute which by this
bringer I haue sent vnto yow desyring and her[tely] praying
yow that ye will be so Frendlye vnto me yf it be possyble
beffore your retorn hetherward^ to make Suche Instaunce vnto
the Shereffe of Yorkeshyre that the sayd execucyon may be
taken 2 and that all suche landes as the sayd John Flemyng
hathe within Yorkshyre maye be put in execucyon and
extendyd befor your retorne owte of Yowkshyre and that
the wryt of execucyon may be retoz/rnyd and what so eu^r
charge shalbe For the Furnysshyng of the same I promyse
yow and bynde me by this my letters to Satysfye and Ferther
to recowpence your paynys in suche wyse I trust that ye
shalbe contentyd. Syr I hertelye desyre and praye yow to
haue me excusyd that I sholde be so bolde to requere yow
to take Suche payn for me howbeit the experyence which
I haue in your good and gentyll approuyd humanyte makyth
me the more bolde wz t/z yow hauyng no dowbt but that ye
will accept & take vppon yow as moche payne For yvur
Frend as any man lyuyng Ferther Syr ye shall vnderstonde

1 c. o. trustyng entyerlye In yow wzt/nn my lytyll power
that ye will witsaffe as I may zuer 2 c. o. before your Retorn to
herafter ow vnto yow my Symple London
s<?myce or any pleasure that shalbe

Y 2

316 LETTERS OF [1527

On the dorse

A fragment of a document containing indentures and agreements con
cerning the manor of Kexby.

The manor of Kexby

her after shall Inswe the abredgment of certayn Indentures
evydence charters ded^ esc[riptes] and Mynumentey con-
cernyng the mannowr of Kexbye with the appertena^ces wz t/nn
the Countye of Yorke Delyuery[d] . . by lohn Aleyn Cytizen
and Altherman of London to the hand^ of Sundrye Right
worsshypfful and discret persons Councello^rs vnto the most
reuefrent] Father in god Thomas lorde Cardenall legate de
latere archbusshop of Yoz/rke pry . . . and chaunceler of
Inglonde to the vse of the sayd most Reuerend Father in god
the dattes of the whiche Indentures evydence charters ded^
escript^ & Mynimentt^ cons^rnyng the sayd Manno^r with
ptfrte of the effects conteynyd [in] the same mor playnlye
herafter shall appere

4. (CROMWELL) TO LADY (DORSET).

R. O. Cal. iv. 3053 (ii). April (1527).

Reports a letter received from my lorde and addressed to her lady
ship, and encloses the copy of another from my lord George.

Pleasyth it your good ladyship my specyall dewtes fyrst
remembred that as vppon Wensdaye being the xvij th daye of
Aprell I resayuyd from my lorde a \ettero. directyd vnto your
good ladyship with also all his honourable aduenture In to
Scotland 3 theffect wherof your ladyship shall resayue in
your letteres Ferther I resayuyd the same daye a letters from
my lord George the tenoz/r and Copye wherof I haue sent
yow herin Inclosyd Madame as ye shall Thinke by your good
and vertuese discresyon it may please to adu^rtyse my good
lord which I thinke shalbe well takyn when he shall parsayue
that ye doo and shall contenually studye for the aduansment
of his honeur.

5. (CROMWELL) TO (VISCOUNT ROCHFORD).

R. O. Cal. iv. 3741. (December, 1527.)

Legal information and advice concerning a suit in which Cromwell has
been retained as counsel by the wife of Sir Robert Clere, the sister
of Rochford.

Pleasyth it your good lordship to be adurrtysed howe that
it hath pleasyd my ladye your suster wyff to Sir Rob^rte
Clere Knyght to requyre and desyre me to be of counsayll

1 c.o.l am ascertaynyd that your ladyship shall resayue

1527] THOMAS CROMWELL 317

w/t// the sayd Sir Robert her husbande in a certayn T Matyer
in varyaunce betvvene the lady Feneux late the wyff of sir-
John Feneux Knyght cheffe Justyce 2 desseasyd of and For
the deffence of a wrytt of extent of late passyd out of the
Kyngvj hygh courte of the Chauncery dyrected vnto the
Sheryff of Norffolke and Suffolke aswell for the extendyng of
the land^j of the sayd sir Roberte wzt//in the sayd countyes
as alsoo For the puttyng in execution the bodye of the sayd
s/> Robert Clere for the satysfactyon and payment of Foure
hundreth pounds supposyd to be due to the sayd late chcff
Justice disceasyd And For asmoche as by the reporte of my
sayd lady your sust<?r and alsoo by the syght of certayn
Indentures of Couen^/ntt^ & deffauntter made aswell bytwene
sir John Paston Knyght disceasyd and the sayd Sir Roberta
Clere as alsoo bytwene the sayd late cheff Justice and the
sayd sir Robert yt maye appere that the sayd Statute of the
Staple of cccc 11 was made and delyurred to none other intente
but onlye For the p^rfformaunce of certayn couenatmtes of
Maryage For the assuraunce and onlye aduaunseme^t of
a Joynter to be made to one Elyzabeth late the wyff off one
William. Clere disceasyd so/me and heyre at that tyme to the
sayd sir Roberte whiche Elyzabeth ys nowe wydowe and was
lately the wyffe of the sayd late lorde Feneux cheff Justice
all whiche couenatmtes of Maryage the sayd sir Robert Clere
hathe always as I am Informyd bene redye and yet ys to per-
fourme notwzV/standyng 3 that the sayd Sir John Paston in
hys lyffe nor sir William Paston nowe lyuyng so;me and heyre
of the sayd sir John wolde ne wyll not accordyng to suche
couenauntes * as the (same) be boundyn vnto paye vnto the
sayd sir Roberte Clere CC H Resydue of foure hundreth Marker
for the sayd 5 assuraunce of the sayd Couenauntte* of Maryage 6
yet dewe and vnpayd the none payment wherof ys A greate
matyer and it were gret pytye and also ayenst bothe reson
S>L Conscyens that the sayd sir Roberte shulde haue his land^j
extendyd and be co^pellyd to paye the sayd so;;zme of foure
hundreth pounds consyderyng the sayd bounde was made
but for the p^rformaunce of the couenauntes of Maryage
whiche 7 the sayd Syr Robert was and ys Redye to performe

1 c. o. case Clere in full co#tentaczV?n & pay-

2 c. o. vnto the kynges highnes ment of cccc Mark<?j- whiche cc 11 ys
of hys benche yet vnpayd

1 c. o. yff yt soo had ben 7 c. o. was and shulde haue ben

1 c. o. as was bytwene the sayd accomplyshyd in euery poynte

sir John and the sayd sir Roberte yff the sayd sir John Paston had

payd accordyng to hys couemz zmtej 1 payd

5 c. o. aduaunsement the so;;zmes of money whiche he

6 c. 0. one to the sayd str Roberte was bonde to paye by hys Inden-

518 LETTERS OF [1527

and good Reason it were that the Couenauntter on the partie
of the sayd S/r John Paston also sholde be p^rformyd and
the sayd cc 11 payde. Neuertheles the sayd Syr Robert Cleie
ys vtterlye without Remedye by course of the cowmon lawe l
to defende the execucyon of the sayd wryttes of extent so
that the sayd cccc 11 shalbe recou^ryd of hys lands and bodye
onles yt may please your good lordeshyp to moue my lorde
hys grace in Conscyens to graunt a wryt of Iniu//ctyon 2 to
be dyrectyd (to) the sayd lady Elyzabeth Feneux Com-
mandyng her by the same no ferther to prosecute thexecucz^n
of the sayd wryttw of extent vppon the sayd statute of cccc 11 .
And alsoo ayenst the sayd Sz> Roberte as my sayde lords
grace may gyue co/;2maundement 3 that no \vryttes of liberata
goo out of the sayd courte of Chauncerye vntyll suche tyme
(as) the hole matyer tochyng the pmnysses may dulye and
accordyng to conscyence be harde and examyned And your
lordshype thus doing shall do the thing in my poore opynyon
which shall (stand) with reason and good Conscyens as
knowyth the holye Trynyte whom I most hertelye beseche
to preseniQ your lordshyp in long lyffe good helth and moche

6. CROMWELL TO WOLSEY.

R. O. Cal. iv. 4135. April 2, 1528.

Reports his proceedings in connexion with the monastery of Wallingford.
Description of the progress of the Cardinal s colleges. Desires the
benefice of St. Florence for Mr. Birton.

Please it your grace to be aduertised how that I according
to your most gracyous cof/zmaundement haue repayred vnto
the late monasterye of Wallingforde Where I founde aswell
all the ornamentts of the churche as all other ymplementts
of houseolde clerely conueyed awaye and nothing remayning.
Sauyng only the euydences Which I sorted and conueyed vnto
your colledge at Oxforde And the same delyvered vnto your
Dean there. And afterwards Mr. Croke and I surueyed
amended^ and refourmed aswell the letteres patents graunted
by the king his highnes vnto your grace as also yo?/r gyftes
and graunttes made vnto yor said colledge in suche wise
I trust that no defaulte or pmyssyon at this tyme is lefte
vnrefourmed.

ture for the adu^wncement of hys hundrethpoundes shalbe Reco^red

sayd doughter. Neuertheles yt may of hys landes

please your lordeshypp to knowe 2 c. o. to Inyoine

the sayd sir Roberte Clere 3 c . o. in the courte of Chaun-

c. <?. but that the sayd foure eery

1528] THOMAS CROMWELL 319

I haue also founde offyces aswell of the saide late monas-
terye of Wallingforde and of all the \ondes and tenements
belonging to the same \vit/i m the Counties of Oxforde and
Berk as also of suche omyssions as were omytted within the
saide counties belonging to Frediswid^j and Lytlemore. And
now I do repayre into the Counties of Buck and Bedforde
for offyces to be founde there aswell of suche lond^ as apper-
teyne to the saide late monasterye of Wallingforde as also to
the late monasterye of Praye beside saincte Albons.

The buylding^ of yvnr noble col] edge most prosperouslye
and magnyfycently dothe arryse in suche wise that to euery
mannes Judgement the lyke thereof was neu^r sene ne
ymagened hauing consideracyon to the largeness beautee
sumptuous Curyous and most substauncyall buylding of the
same.

Your chapell wzt/^in the saide colledge most deuoutely and
vertuously ordered And the mynistres wzt//in the same not
onely dyligent in the seruyce of god but also the seruice
daylie doon wz t/rin the same so deuoute solempne and full
of Armonye that in myne opynyon it hathe fewe peres.

There is a benefyce voyde within the dyoces of saincte
dauyes in Wales which is of yvur gracyous gyfte by meane
of the chauncelorship of Englonde. Yf it may please your
grace to gyue the same to Mr. Byrton he shoulde be the
more able to do your grace seruyce. The name of the saide
benefyce is called sayncte Florence. I assure yotir grace the
saide Mr. Byrton is a right honest man And by somme reporte
right well lerned and shall do your grace good seruyce.

My besyness accomplisshed I shall according to my duetie
repayre vnto your grace. Most humblye beseching the holie
trynytee contynuallye to preserue the prosperous astate of the
same in long lif and good helth. At Oxforde the Seconde
day of Aprell.

Your most humble seruaunt

THOMAS CRUMWELL.
Add. To my 1 ...

Endd. M r Cromewel ii da Aprzlis 1528

7. CROMWELL TO THOMAS ARONDELL.

R. O. Cal. iv. 4441. June 30 (1528).

Requests him to send information concerning Wolsey s wishes about
various matters in connexion with the Colleges at Ipswich and Oxford.

Right woorshipfull sir in my right hartie maner I commende
me vnto youe, Aduertising the same, that I have receyued my

320 LETTERS OF [1528

lorde his gracious letteres, wherin his grace commaundethe to
be diligent in thexpediczVm of suche busynes as Do concerne
the perfeccion of his colledge in Gypswiche, whiche I do
intende (god willing) to put in execucion withe all spede,
howbeit certeyne things arn first to be knowen of my saide
lorde his gracious pleasure, or euer the same can be perfected
accordingly. Wherof one is, that it may please his grace to
name the person that shalbe his Dean of his saide Colledge,
And also to send to me ayen the Bille assigned of the licence
graunted to his grace by the kyng his highnes to erect the
saide colledge in Gipswiche, so that the signet and pryuye
Scale may be made out vpon the same, And that we maye
examyn the boke of erection which nowe must passe by my
lorde his grace with the same bille signed in euery poynt.
His gracious pleasure must also be knowen whether that (the
Dean of his saide saide 1 colledge being Decessed, or by any
other mean Depryued or amoued from the saide Deanrie) his
grace then wille that thellection of a new Dean shalbe emong^
them of the colledge or whether his grace will remytt the
same to be ordred by his Statutt^ by hym to be made
accordingly. It maye please youe also to moue his grace
whether he wille absolutelie haue a guyfte made to his
colledge in Oxforde of the late Monasterie of Wallyngforde
the parsonage of Rudbye, and suche other londes as his grace
hathe purchased of sir Antonye and sir Roberte Ughtred
in the Counties of Yorke and Lyncoln, or that he will haue
the same Monastori and other the premisses geuyn vpon
condicion to his saide Colledge in Oxforde, to thyntent that
they shall make a lyke guyfte of the \ondes apperteynyng to
the late Monastoris of Snape, Dodneshe, Wyke and Horkisley
to his saide colledge in Gipswiche, whiche condicion in myn
opynyon shulde well serue for all casualties, and compelle
them of the colledge in Oxforde to make a guyfte of the
same accordingly. One speciall thing ther is that ye must
moue his grace in which is, that he maye not in any wise
precede to therrection of his saide colledge in Gipswiche,
before the xxj. daye of Julye next comyng, for asmuche as
thoffices in the Chauncerie shall not expire, vnto the full
accomplishment of iij Monethes vntill the saide xxj Daye, nor
his grace cannot haue the Syte and circuyte of the late
Monastori of Saynct Peter suppressed, vpon the whiche the
saide colledge muste be erected by thordres of the lawe of
thie londe before the saide xxi Daye. His gracious pleasure
knowen in the premisses I trust by thassistence of my lorde

1 sic.

1528] THOMAS CROMWELL 321

chief Baron vnto whome I wille resorte from tyme to tyme for
his good counsaile to perfo^rme fulfille and accomplisshe
euery thing according to his said gracious pleasure, in suche
wise that he shall therwithe be right well contented. Hartely
Desiring youe to moue his grace for the signature of the
letters for the poore man of Arragosco who lyeth here to his
great and importunate costrj and charge in maner to his
vtter vndoyng, And also for the signature of one other \ettexo.
in Frenche Directed to the gouernours of the Towne of Depe
for the Delyuerie of certeyn Englisshe mennys good^r beyng
marchauntt^ of London of late taken vpon the See by men
of warr of the saide toune of Diepe. It maye also please
youe to shew my lorde his grace this \ettere and that I maye
haue answer of his gracious pleasure withe all spede, whiche
shalbe a great ftirtheraunce to his busynes. The mynute of
his erexion is all redye Drawen and shalbe perfected vpon
his answer And thus our lorde preserue youe At London
the xxx Daye of June.

At your co;;?maundement

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right woorshipfull maister Thomas Arondell
be this youen.

Endd. From Mr. Cromwell the xxx day of Junii about
the p^rfectinge of the Cardynalls ij College of Oxford and
Ipswich.

8. CROMWELL TO WOLSEY.

R. O. Cal. iv. 4697. (Sept 3, 1528.)

Details concerning the colleges at Oxford and Ipswich, and the revenues
from the lands and monasteries appropriated for their use.

Please it your grace to haue in remembraunce your
Fynours of Duresme whose contynuaunce here is not onely
to their greate cost and losse of tyme but also to the greate
hinderaunce of your werk^r ther, and also they be veray poore,
your gracious pleasure therfore wold be knowen whether
they shall resorte to your presence, or howe otherwise your
grace will they shalbe ordred

I haue according to your moste gracious cowmaundement
sent herein inclosed the clere yerely valeurs of all suche
londes as ye haue purchased in the Counties of Yorke and
Buckingham, and also the clere yerely value of the late
monasterie of Wallingforde

If it may stonde with your pleasure to appoynte in whose
name your grace intendithe to dedicate your colledge in

322 LETTERS OF [1538

Gipswiche, and by what name the maister and fellowes shalbe
called, the lycence of erexion, the \etteres patentto, pryuate
Scales and other things necessarie for the same myght be
put in a redynes so that no tyme shulde be loste

I haue caused suche bill^y as be allredie signed to passe the
pryuy signet and pryuate Seale, and shall nowe put to wryting
the \etteres patentto for the brode Seale, so that after the
iii monethes expired your grace may geue the lond^j con-
teyned within the same according to youre moste gracious
pleasure. It shalbe well done that your grace haue in remem-
braunce thappr^prza^on of the benefices to your colledge in
Oxford, and that an ende maye be takyn withe all ordynaries
which I thinke is not yet done

I haue spoken with maister Babington nowe lorde of
Kylmayne for the exchaunge to be made bitwene your
colledge in Oxforde and his religion for Saundforde, It
may therfore please your grace that your pleasure may be
knowen whether this vacacion yoz/r counsaile shall farther
commune withe hym and other whiche haue auctoritie in that
behalf, or not, whiche in myn opynyon shulde be well done,
and will sett your purpose in a great forwardnes

It may also please your grace that these instruccions herein
inclosed may be sent to maister Holgill for thordering of
hymself in taking possession lyueraye and season at Rudby,
whiche Instruccions were deuysed by the Judges, and it shalbe
necessarie that he haue them withe spede.

Your gracious pleasure knowen touching the premisses
I shall most humblie indeuoir myself according to my duetie
to accomplisshe your most gracious commaundement, As
knowithe the holly trynytie vnto whome I shall daily during
my lyfe praye for the prosperous conseruacion of yo//r good

grace

Your most humble servaunt

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my lorde his grace.

Endd. From Mr Cromwell touching rudby

Instruccions for Maister Willyam Holgill for possession
lyueraye and season to be taken in the parsonage of
Rudby in Clevelonde

First to cause my lorde Conyers to serche his euydence
towching thaduowson of the patronage of Rudby, and to
se whether it be aduowson appendaunte, that is to saye,
apperteyning to a manor or to an Acre of londe, or that it be

1529] THOMAS CROMWELL 323

aduowson in grosse, that is to saye, aduowsonage onely
appending to no manor ne yet to none Acre of londe, And
to receyue the saide Euydence of the saide lorde Conyers
concernyng the said aduowson

Itm to knowe whether the saide aduowson be intailed, and
whether it be intailed to theires males, or to theires generall,
and to receyue the dead^ of Intaile, or Fynes if any suche be,
of the saide lorde Conyers

Itm that thattourneis named in the deade of Feoffement
made to the saide Willyam Holgill and other, do enter into
thacre of londe named in the saide deade of Feoffement, and
delyuer season by a turfe, to the saide maister Holgill, and
also to delyuer possession and season by the ryng of the
churche dore

Itm after possession, lyueraye and season taken in the saide
Acre of londe, and by the ryng of the churche doore as is
aforsaide, that then the saide Attourneis do enter into the
saide parsonage and also to delyuer possession lyueraye, and
season in the parsonage vnto the saide maister Holgill. and
that the deade of Feoffement be redd in all thre^ l places,
and to take at the leste xxx or xl witnesses, calling therto
asmany yonge children as ye may

9. CROMWELL TO GARDINER.

R. O. Cal. iv. 5186. Jan. 18 (1529).

Has been unable to repair to the Cardinal, on account of the press of work
in connexion with his colleges. Description of the damage done by
the overflowing of the Thames.

Worshipfull Sir, after most hartie comendacyons it may
please you to aduertise my lorde his grace that the cause
Why I do not repayre thither at this present ys for that
I haue certen bok^ to be don and accomplisshed concerning
his colledge in Gipswich That is to say a deade of gyfte
from his grace to his saide colledge of the late monasteryes
of Felixstowe Rumburgh and Bromehill The King his
letteres patents of assent to the Suppression of the same late
monasteryes, The King his let feres patents of assent to the pope
his bull of exempcyon of the saide colledge The King his
U /teres patents of lycence for thimpropryaczon of the benefyces
belongyng to the saide late monasteryes A deade of gyft
from the Duke of Norff. to my lord his grace of the saide
late monasterye of Felixstowe A relesse from the prior

1 sic, for these.

3.24 LETTERS OF [1529

and conuent of Rochester of all theyr right tytle and
patronage of in or to the same late pryory of Felixstowe
A relesse from the abbot and conuent of Saynct Maryes in
Yorke of all their right and tytle in or to the late pryory of
Rumburgh A relesse from my lorde of Oxforde of all his
right and tytle in the late pryory of Bromehill And a
relesse from the Frenssh quene and the duke of Suffolk of
all theyr right and tytle in the manours of Sayes courte and
Byckeling and in the late pryorye of Snape. All which
bokcs be not yet in a redynes ne parfyted vnto my mynde
Intending assone as the same shalbe fynysshed and made
parfyte, whiche I trust shalbe to morow at nyght or wenesday
by none at the Ferthest to repayre vnto my lorde his grace,
vppon his gracyous pleasure knowen for thinsealing of the
same accordingly. It may also please you to aduertise
my lorde his grace that Sythen his repayree to Rychmond
I have ben at Lyesnes Where I saw one of the most
pyteous and greuous sights that ever I saw which to me
before the Sight of the same was incredyble concernyng the
breche out of the Thamyse into the marsshes of Lyesnes which
be all ouerflowen and drowned And that at the last chaunge
the tyde was so high that there happened a new breche which
hathe fordone asmoche worke there as will cost ccc 11 the
new making of the same In so moche that if my being
there had not ben to haue incouraged the workemen and
labourers I assure you all the labour and money that
hathe ben ther spent heretofore had ben clerely lost and
cast away. And the workemen and labourers wolde haue
departed and left all at chaunce whiche shoulde haue ben
the gretest yuell that euer happened to the countrey ther.
Newrtheles I wz t/z thaduyse of suche wyse men as ben in the
countrey there haue set suche dyrectyon in the same that
I trust all shalbe well and the vforkes there ended wM good
spede god willing. For the furnyture and accomplisshment
whereof there is a new assesse made and my lorde his
colledge for theyr parte ben assessed at ccxx li which money
of necessyte must be had out of hande Prayeng you so
to solycyte my lordes grace that the same money may be
had incontynent Assuring you that his grace shall do as
merytoryous a deade in the delyumng of the saide money
for his colledge at this tyme as though he gaue so moche
money for goddes sake Considering the grete hurte myschief
losses and inconuenyenc<?.y that is lyke to insue to the countrey
there and to the King his streme and also the hurte that may
insue to his colledge in the losse of suche grounde and land
as they haue there Whereunto for the quantytee thereof ys

1529] THOMAS CROMWELL 325

none lyke to the same in that countrey ne few in any other
countrey. Yf the saide breche be not shortly amended and
spedely prouyded for I assure you suche inconuenyenc^ may
insue that yt were to grete pytee. And to thintent that ye
may be the more assured of the trevvth in the pr^mysses
I haue sent you a lettere here inclosed which I receyued
from one of the maisters of the said worker ymedyatly after
the wrytyng of this \ettre Intending to repayre vnto Lyesnes,
wzt// all spede for the redresse and fortheraunce of the pre
misses asmoche as in me shalbe possible. Hertely beseching
you to procure that I may haue answer of my lordcs pleasure
in tuery thing concerning the contents forsaid by this berer
my serutf&nte. And thus our lorde pr^serue yo?/r long lyf
At London the xviii day of Januarye.

Yours most bounden

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right worshipfull Maister docto^r Gardyner
be this yeuen \vith spede.

Endd. Letters from M. Cruwwel of the xviij daie of
Januarij

10. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. iv. 5757 (ii). July (1529).

Has written in favour of the chaplain. Requests the recipient to desire
his wife to take the daughter of Cromwell s sister, and bring her up.
Promises to recompense him and his wife.

. . . C . . . ert as hertelye as I can I Co/amende me vnto
you and m^rvayle gretlye that ye haue made no better spede
for yo?/r chaplayn In whos Fauours I haue wryten vnto
Mr. Chaunceler of Wynchester trustyng that he wylbe good
maister vnto hym For my sake I wooldbe veray lothe that ye
sholde mysse your purpose Syr I praye you be so good
vnto me as to lett me send my systers daughter vnto the
Jentylwoman your wyfY and that ye wyll on my behalf desyre
her to take her and to bryng her vpp for the which her
goodnes yf she wylbe content so to doo I shold rekyn my self
moste bounden both to you and here and besydes the pay
ment For her borde I wyll so content your wyffe as I trust she
shalbe woll pleasyd that I may know your answer herin I
hertelye praye yow and thus hartelye Fare ye well.

At london the daye of July.

326 LETTERS OF [1529

11. CROMWELL TO MR. CLAYBROOK.

R. O. Cal. iv. 5812. (July, 1529.)

Desires him to seek out all registers, and the bulls of the Cardinal s
legation, so that the same may be shown to the King s attorney.

Maister Cleybroke this to adu^rtise yovv as ever ye intend
to doo my lord pleasure or s^ruyce that ye with all dylygens
seke owt the register of Maister Tonneys and also all other
registers wM also the bullys of my lord^ legacye to thentent
the same may be shewyd this nyght to the Kynges attorney
for suche Causes as I declaryd vnto yow at my last spekyng
wM yow of answer by thys berer I praye yow that I may
haue knowlege and fare ye woll.

Your Frend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

1.2. CROMWELL TO WILLIAM BRABAZON.

R. O. Cal. iv. 6099. Dec. 19 (1529).

Desires him to ride with Mr. Copeland to the north, and assist him with
advice in his affairs there.

Willyam Brabazon I comende me vnto you And wolde if
ye be at conuenyent leysour that ye do Ryde wit/i Maister
Cowplonde this berer into the North partey and to assiste him
with your counsaill in suche matiers as he hathe there to do
according to suche instruxions as I haue drawen and delyuered
to the same Mr. Cowplande Not doubting but he will con
sider your paynes accordinglye And thus fare ye well. At
London the xix tb day of December.

Your louyng maister

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

13. SUMMARIES OF CROMWELL S LETTERS.

MSS. Jesus Coll. in Bibl. Bodl. Oxon. c. 74, pp. 262 ff. ; Cal. iv. 6076.

Various items concerning the relations of Cromwell and Wolsey after the
latter fell into disgrace. Cf. Letters, 18, 19.

Crumwell to the Cardinal, July 12, (1530).

c As touching the pr^cesse against yoztr Grace out of the
Exchequer and all other matters and suites brought against

1530] THOMAS CROMWELL 327

yow I haue pleaded your pardon, w//zch is allowed in all ///e
King s Courts and by the same your Grace discharged of all
manner Causes at the K s suite.

Cromwell tells the Card 1 this sollicking his Cause hath
bin very chargeable to him and he cannot susteine it any
Longer without other Respect then he hath had hertofore.
I am i coo 1. worse than I was when your troubles began.

As touching your Colleges, the King is determined to
dissolve them, and that new offices shall be found of all /7/e
Lands belonging to them newly to intitle his Highnes w/ ch
be allready drawn* for this purpose. But whether his Highnes,
after the dissolution of them meane to revive ///em againe
and founde the;;* in his owne name, I know not. Wherefore
I entreat your Grace to be content, and let yo2ir Prince
execute his pleasure.

Cromwell to the Cardinal, May 17, 1530.

That the King hath received his Letters and is very sorry
/^at he is in such necessity, yet that for Releefe his Ma ty hath
differed it till he speak w/th his Counsail. The D. of Norfolk
pr<?miseth you his best ayd but he willeth you for the present
to be content and not much to molest the King (concerning
payment of your Debts etc) for, as he supposeth, the time is
not meet for it. His Grace (i. e. the King) shewed me how
it is come to his knowlege that your Grace should haue
certain words of him and other Noblemen vnto my L d of
Norfolk since the time of your adversityes w/zz ch words
should sound to make sedition betwixt him and my Lord of
Norfolk.

Mr. Page received yoz/r Letters directed vnto my Lady Anne,
and delivered the same, there is yet no answer, she gaue
kind words, but will not premise to speake to the K. for you.

Certein Doctors of both the Vniversityes are here for the
suppression of the Lutheran opinions. The Kings H nes hath
caused the sayd doctors at divers times to assemble, and hath
com?;zoned wz th them. The fame is that Luther is departed
this Life. I would he had never bin borne.

Cromwel writes to Card 1 Wolsey, August, (1530).

* Intreating him to haue patience etc. that there shall be some
offices sent into York and Nottinghamsh. to be found of your
Lands, belonging to your ArchBw^prick. This will be very
displeasant to you, but it is best to suffer it. for if they
should not be found you could not howld your Bis&Tprick
quiet, notwithstanding your pardon : for your Restitution
made by your Pardon is cleerly Voyd, for that the King did

328 LETTERS OF [1530

restitute yottr Grace before He was intitled by matter of
Record. When these offices shall be found, your pardon
shall be good and stand in parfait effect.

He tells him that his modest behavioz/r and humility hath
gayned him the Love and good report of the Country where
he now Lives and allso in the Court, yet his Enemyes
depraue all. Sir, some there be that do allege that your
Grace doth keep too great a Howse and family and that you
are continually a-Building for the Love of God therefore
haue a respect and refraine etc.

Crumwell writes to the. Cardinal, Octob(er, 1530).

* I am informed your Grace hath in me some diffidence as
if I did dissemble wz th you or procure anything contrary to
your profit and honour I much muse that your Grace should
so think or report it secretly considering the paines I haue
taken etc. Wherfor I beseech you to speak without faining
if you haue such conceit, that I may cleere myself. I reckoned
that your Grace would haue written plainly vnto me of such
thing, rather than secretly to haue misreported me etc. But
I shall beare your Grace no Lesse good will etc. Let God
judge between Vs. Trewly your Grace in some things over-
shooteth your self ; there is reg[ard] to be given what things
ye vtter and to whom etc.

I find by these Letters that Cramwel kept certein scholers
in Cambrige, for he entreats the Card 1 , to pr^ferre the;?z to
Benefices w/itch should fall in his ArchB^^prick. x

14. (CROMWELL) TO (WOLSEY).

R. O. Cal. iv. 6368. May 5 (1530).

Information concerning the progress of the Cardinal s affairs at Court.
Advises him to comply with the King s requests.

After my right hartie Cowmendaczons to your grace accord
ing to your desire specified in your "Letteres of answer to the
request made vnto youe by the King^ maiestie for the
Treasourership of York I haue so solicited the matier bothe
to his hieghnes and to doctor Leighton that bothe be content
that your gift shall stande so as yoztr grace do accomplishe
the tenour of his hieghnes L^/teres nowe eftsones directed vnto
youe, whiche myn advise and counsail is that youe shall in
any wise ensue, and that your chaunceloz/r shall do the sembla-

1 This last sentence was added were transcribed, and who calls
by the seventeenth-century scholar himself * Thomas Masters, Coll.
by whom the foregoing passages Nov.

1530] THOMAS CROMWELL 329

ble in another request made by his Maiestie vnto him withoui
staye tract or further stycking. And in any thing e\\es wherin
I maye do vnto your grace stede or pleasure I shalbe as glad
to doo thoffice of a frend^ as you shalbe to require the same of
me. Thus moost hartely Fare youe well. From St. James
beside Westminster the v th of Maye.

15. CROMWELL TO WOLSEY.

R. O. Cal. iv. 6431. June 3 (1530).

Promises to send a full answer to his letters by Ralph Sadler. Recom
mends the bearer.

Please it your grace to be aduertised that I haue receyued
your letteres by Thomas Rawlyns and haue perceyued the
contents thereof and will make answer to the same parti-
culerly by my seru<2unt Rafe Sadleyr, who our lorde willing
shalbe wzt^ your grace with all spede. Your grace I assure
you is moche bounde to the gentilman this berer for his good
reporte in eu^ry place who I assure yoz/r grace hathe not lefte
in euery presence to say of you as by lykelohod ye haue
gyuen him cause. I assure your grace he and such other
haue don your grace moche good, it shalbe in myn opynion
therefore right well don to give him thanks accordingly,
for by my faith he is right worthy e. And thus the holie
trynitee preserue your grace in long lyf good helth and moche
honour. At london the iii rd daye of June.

Your most humble seruaunt

THOMAS CRUMWELL.
Add. my lorde Cardinall(s) grace.

16. (CROMWELL) TO (WOLSEY).

B. M. Cott. App. L, 7 ; Cal. iv. 6482. June 30 (1530).

Fragment of a letter, in answer to several minor requests of the Cardinal.
Various details.

... as to send your grace any quayles it ys not possybyll
For ther ys non that will Carye them as For Sedes I wyll
Send yow by the next maister Stubbis Sayth he will pr^uyde
baudekyn for your grace I am sorye for hym he ys Swed in
a primineri by burges which was ons ellect p^sydent of
Maudlen Colledge I thinke it wyll cost hym money or he
get owt 1 , my lord chaunselo&r hath pr^mysyd that Masteres

1 . <?. For our lordys loue what

MERRIMAN. I Z

330 LETTERS OF [1530

lacye shall here the Coster of them that shall bryng vp John
lawrans and Robert Turner. I beseche yvur grace to be so
good lorde as to send me A gelding and I trust shortlye after
to se your grace by the assistens of our lorde whom I most
hertelye beseche to pr^serue your grace in long lyffe good
helth and moche honour at london the last daye of June

17. CROMWELL TO WOLSEY.

R. O. Cal. iv. 6530. July 24 (1530).

In favour of his kinsman Dr. Carbot ; requests Wolsey to take him into
his household and service.

After my most humble Recommendations wit/i my dailie
smiice and contynuall praier May it pleas your grace to call
to your good and most graceous remembraunce how that
I being wM your grace in your gallerie at the Chartrehouse
at Shene most humblie supplied x vnto the same for the
acceptaczbn of this berer Mr. doctour Carbot my kynsman
vnto your sluice At which tyme it pleased your grace
beninglie to graunt me to accept hym promising both vnto
him and me that ye wolde be his good and graceous Lorde vpon
the which he hath tarried here in these parties Contynuallye
to his great cost Supposing that I sholde haue repared wM
him vnto your grace by meane wherof he thought the better
to be esteemed But forasmoch as he now p^rceyueth that for
dyuers causes I maye not he hath desired me to write vnto
your grace in his fauowrs Most humblie and effectuallye
beseching your grace to receyue him into your house and
smiice Whome I trust your grace shall finde apte mete
discrete dilligent and honest And suchon that WillingHe
Louinglie and obedientlie shall and wilbe gladde to s^rue your
grace in any thing that your pleaser shalbe to commaunde
him Trusting fermlie that bye experience ye shall right well
lyke him Eftsones most humblie and effectuallie beseching
your grace to be his good and graceous Lorde for my sake
and at this my poure and most humble sute and contem-
placzon to take him wzt^owt reiection And thus the holie
trenitie preserve your grace in long lyf and good helth. At
Londe(n) the xxiiii th daye of July.

Your most humble s^ru^unt and bedysman

THOMAS CRUMWELL.
Add. my \ordes grace

1 sic, for { applied.

1530] THOMAS CROMWELL 331

18. (CROMWELL) TO WOLSEY.

R. O. Cal. iv. 6571. August 1 8 (1530).

Information concerning the progress of the .Cardinal s affairs at Court and
elsewhere. Begs him to cease building for a time, in order that his
enemies may have no chance to accuse him of extravagance. News
from England and the Continent. Cf. Letter 13.

Please it your grace to be adu^rtised l that after the Receipt
of your \etferes dated at Southwell on saynt Laurence Day
I p^rceyued how that your grace remayned in som displeasure
and anxietie of mynde for that I by my k/teres had before
artefied you of the fynding certen office concerning your
busshopriche of Yorke The Fynding whereof as I perceyue
by your k/teres ye do suppose should be moche to your
dishonor & detriment For the which intent that your grace
may put yourself in repose & quietaczbn of mynde I haue
sent vnto you this berer who shall at length declare vnto you
beside the demonstracion of the copies of suche office as be
drawen for that purpose that the Fynding of the said office
savyng onelie that in the preamble of the same there is
touched the conuiction of your grace in the pranunire which
all the \vour\d alredie knoweth shalbe for your good onelie
proffit and availe And yet your pardon and restitucion stand
in good & perfite effecte So that your grace shal haue no
nede nether to be in fere of losse of any your spzVzVuall or
temporall goodes or to be troubeled for the same ne also to be
put to any new Sute in the obteyning of any other pardon or
restitucion. And if in case your said pardon and restitucion
were in any parte insufficient I assure your grace I know that
the kinges highnes wold it should be made as good as by any
counsaill it could be Devised And doubt ye not but his
highnes is yottr gracyous and benigne Sou^eigne lorde and
wold in no wise that ye should be greued molested or
troubeled. Wherfore it may please your grace to quiet
yourself and to take the fynding of these office pacientlie
and vppon the retowme of the same there shalbe such orders
taken that your grace shall not be interrupted in the receyuing
of your reuenues ne otherwise be molested in any maner case
for any new sute As touching your colledges the office shalbe
founde houbeit the Deane and suche other as haue sued to
the king^ highnes haue had veray good answer wherof
I think they haue certefied your grace or this tyme. As
touching the m 1 markes of the reuenues of Wynchester
I doubt not but it shalbe obteyned at the audite And

1 c. o. that perceyuing by
Z 2

332 LETTERS OF [1530

concerning Batyrsey it may please your grace that such
things as ye haue sent me the copies of may be sent hither
vnder scale for they woll trust no scrowes and also that
Serche may be made for Busshop Bothes will concerning the
same. Strangwissh continually cryeth and maketh exclama-
czon in the courte of you insomoch that the \ordes of the
counsaill haue determyned to wryte vnto you in that behalf
wold to our lorde your grace were rid of that man. As
concerning the prebends of Witwang doubt ye not but in that
all thing is and shalbe ordered to your good contentaczon.
Sir I assure your grace that ye be moch bounde to our lorde
god that in suche wise hath suffered you so to behaue and
order yourself in thes parties to atteyne the good myndes
and herter of the people 1 there the reporte whereof in the
courte and ell&rwhere in these parties is & hathe ben 2 to the
aquyryng SL augmentyng the good oppynyons of many
persons towards your grace beseching your grace therfore
to contynue 3 in the same after Suche a Sorte and Fashyon
as ye may daylye increase not onlye in the Fauours of the
pepull ther but also here and ell^where to the pleasure of
god & the prynce And notwithstonding your good vertuous
and charitable demeaning and vsing yourself 4 in thes parties
ys not by your enemies 5 interpretyd after the best Fashyon
yet always Folow and perseuer ye attemperatelye in suche
things as your woorldlye affeccyons Sett apart Shall serue
to stand best wM the pleasure of god and the kyng Sir som
ther be that doth alledge in that your grace doth kepe to
grete a house & famylie and that ye are contynually buylding
for the loue of god therefore I eftesones as I often tymys haue
done most hertelye beseche your grace to haue respecte to
Query thing and consyderyng the tyme to refrangne your Self
for a Season from all manner byldingg^r more than mere
necessite requireth which I assure your grace 6 shall sease and
putto Sylence Som persons that moche spekyth of the same.
For the geldings which your grace Dyd send me I do most
humblie & hertelie thank you beseching your grace to gyue
Further Credens to this berer, who shall declare vnto your
grace other things not wryttyn 7 I do Relys your grace

1 c. o. in the hole cuntrey 5 c. o. which do & will not let

8 c. o. your grete good to interprete all your doings not in

* c. o. after such sorte by your the best parte Alledging that your

approuued high wisedom as ye lose onelie desire

not the wele & benefite of the same 6 c. o. shalbe grete good vnto

for yourself

1 c. o. there I assure yoz/r grace 7 c. o. Fynallie beseching al-

you haue mightie god to preserue your grace

1530] THOMAS CROMWELL 333

right happye that ye be now at libertye to serue god and
to lern to experyment how ye shall banyshe and exyle the
vayn desyrys of this vnstabyll warld, which vndowtydlye
dothe nothing elL?.y but allure eu^ry person therin And
specyally such as our lorde hath most endewyd wtt/i his
gyftes to desyre 1 the affeccyons of theyr mynd to be
satysfyed In Finding and Sekyng wherof most persons
besyd the gret trauaylkj and afflyccyons that men Suffer
daylye bene dryuyn to extreme Repentance and Serching for
plesure and Felycyte Fynd nothing but So trowbyll Sorow
anxyete and adu^rsyte Wherfor in myn oppynyon your grace
being as ye ar I suppose ye woolde not be as ye werre to
wyn a hundreth tymys as moche as ye were possessyd off
the Busshop of Bayon;^ ys daylye lokyd For and my lord of
Wyltshyre ys cummyn. home the Saying here is that the
emperoure hathe good obbedyence of his Subiect^y in all
thing sauyng that they wyll not discent from the lutheran
sekt it ys also sayd that empro//r doth mak musters for
a gret army to be p;vparyd agenst the turke to passe into
Hungarye for the recou^rey of that Regyon And that the
seconde Son of the emperour ys dep^rtyd this present lyffe
the news here ys that the Germayns wyll medlye haue
a gen^rall Consaylle for the reformacyon of many things
the Florentynys doth styll contenew and defende the power of
the pope and it ys Supposyd that they shall vynce by meane
that ther ys a gret pestylence Fallen amongst them being in
the Felde of the popis partye ther ys also a gret Carystye
in Italye of all manner of grayn in so moche A quarter of
whet ys worth generallye Fortye shelyngg^r. they loke daylye
for an ambassadour from the pope who at the Ferthest wilbe
here wzt// xiij dayes the kynges highnes is this nyght at
amptell and ther wyll Contenew this xiiij dayes. it may
please yoz/r grace to pardon me that I do not repayre vnto
yow at this tyme for vndowtydlye it ys not possyble as
this berer shall Ferther Declare vnto your grace our lord
knowyth my wyll and mynde. and I trust verelye that your
grace doth p^rffytlye think that I woolde be glade to see yow
and vnfaynydlye I woolde haue sene yo>ur grace long er this
yf I hadde not bene lettyd by Importune busynes wherfor
I eftsones most humblye besech your grace of pardon and
though I am not wz t// yow in person yet be ye assured I am
and duryng my lyff shalbe wz t/ your grace in hert spyryt

in long lif & good helth w/t/z the of August

full accomplisshment of your hertes * c. o. and enter into blynde to

desire From london the xviii day satysfye

334 LETTERS OF [1530

prayer & s^ruyce to the vttrest of my poore and symple
power as knowyth oz/r lorde whom I most hertelye besech
to preserue your grace in long lyff good helth wtt/i thincreace
of your hertys desyre. at london the xviij th daye of August.
I beseche yo^r grace to depeche this berer whom I mygh(t)
evyll haue forbern at this tyme but onlye that I p^rsayuyd by
your k/teres that ye moche desyryd to be put in quyetacyon
and that besyd myself I Coulde not send any that Coulde
certefye your grace of the effects of such things as ye desyre
to be answeryd in But onlye he eftsonys beseching your
grace spedlye to send hym home for my busynes ys such that
I cannot lake hym.

Endd. my lorde Cardenall.

19. (CROMWELL) TO (WOLSEY).

B. M. Cott. App. L. Si ; Cal. iv. 6699. Oct. 21 (1530).

Begs the Cardinal s favour for Doctor Carbot, Nicholas Gifford, and
Cromwell s scholars at Cambridge. News of the Emperor s move
ments. Information concerning the Praemunire. Cf. Letter 13.

. . . eyen three monethis in Chaunserye, howbeit your grace
shalbe so prouydyd for that ye shalbe owt of all dowttes for
all the kyng^j offycers in the meane Season. I most humblye
beseche your grace to be good lorde vnto my poore kynsman
Dociour Karbott and let hym haue sum lytyll offyce vnder
your grace. I dowt not thoughe he be Sumwhat Symple in
Aparence yet he shall discharge hymself yf ye put hym in
trust and A lityll auctoryte. I beseche your grace [ajlso to be
good lorde vnto your Seruaunt Nych<?Azs Gyfforde . . . when
Anything shall happen to Fall which may do (him) good to
Remembre hym for my sake your grace shall [fin]de hym in
myn oppynyon thoughe he be yong and [some]what wylde 1 ,
on disspossyd bothe to trewthe [honejste and hardynes, and
he (is one) that wyll loue yow [with] all his harte. yf any
thing Falle I beseche your grace [to relmembre my scolers
in Cambryge and bothe they [and I shajll pray to our lord
Jh^ru Crist to preserue [you] in long lyff good helth wz t/fc
Increase of [honour. Thjemperour wyl be at Colayn In the
Feaste of ... wMowt Faylle the Payment ys prorogyd
[yntil the] vi daye of January. The prelattar shalnot appere
[in the] premunire. Ther ys Another way deuysyd in [place

thereof

as your grace shall Ferther know, the prync^ of

J J O ^-V^AVAAN^* iVli\_/ VV L11V_, L/lVll^.C O V

[Almayne] Can ne wyllnot Agree to emperowr and[I bese]che
the holy trynyte preserue your grace . . . [in] quyetnes and

1 c. 0. a you[th]

1531] THOMAS CROMWELL 335

Contentacyon I beseche your ... for this \ettetz . . . Wrytyn
for lake of ... [in] hast the xxi of octobre

20. CROMWELL TO MR. BOROUGH.

R. O. Cal. iv. 6800 (i). (Dec. 1530.)

Desires to know if Borough wishes to buy a friend s horse, which certain
Frenchmen are anxious to purchase.

Mr. Borough in my most hartie wise I co;;/mende me vnto
you And so yt ys that my frende Mr. Sowmer may at this
tyme sell his horse right well and proffutablye but foras-
moche as he before this hath promised you that ye shall
refuse him before any other he hathe desyred me to know
your mynde So that yf ye will not medell he may do his
best. for there be certeyn Frensshe men which moche
desyreth to haue the saide horse Wherefore I hartely pray
you that I may know your mynde by this berer in wrytyng
what ye will do And this l hartely fare ye well At London
this present Saterdaye.

Assurydlye your frende.

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right worshipfull Mr. Henry Borough be this
yeuen.

21. (CROMWELL) TO STEPHEN VAUGHAN.

B. M. Galba B. x, 338 ; Cal. v. 248. (May, 1531.)

An account of the reception of William Tyndale s book, The Answer, by
Henry VIII, and of his anger at the opinions it advanced. Cromwell
urges Vaughan to cease advocating Tyndale s cause, and to request
Frith to abandon him 2 .

Stephen Vaughan I co^mende me vnto you And haue
receyued your k/teres dated at Andwerpe the xviii tb day
of Aprell wzt// also that parte of Tyndall^ boke Sewed and
inclosed in lether which ye with your \etterzs directed to the
kingly highnes After the recept whereof I dyd repayre vnto
the courte and there presented the same vnto his royall
maiestee who after the recept thereof made me answer for
that tyme that his highnes at oportun leysoz/r wolde vysite
ouersee and rede the contents aswell of you[r] \etterzs as also
the saide boke And at my next repayre thither it pleased his

1 sic, for thus. cisely. Words enclosed thus (...)

2 The number of erasures and are inserted above the line in the
corrections in this letter is such that original. Words printed in italics
the use of an additional bracket is are crossed out.

necessary, in order to render it pre-

336 LETTERS OF [1531

highnes to call for me declaring vnto me aswell the contents
of yottr \ette\zs as also moche of the matier conteyned in the
saide boke of Tyndalky. And albeit that I might well
perceyue that his maiestee was right well pleased and right
acceptablie considered your diligence and payn[es] taken
in the wryting and sending of the saide boke as also in the
perswading and exhorting of Tyndall to repayre int[o] this
realme in the accomplisshement of his high pleasure and
comaundement yet I might coniecture by the ferther declaracyon
of his high pleasure Which sayed vnto me that by your wryting
it manyfestlie appered how moche {yet his highnes nothyng
lyked the sayd boke being fyllyd wzt^ Scedycyous Slaunderous
lyes and Fantastycall oppynyon(s) Shewing therin nether
lernyng nor trewthe and ferther Co;^munyng wztA his grace
I mygh(t) well coniect that he though(t) that ye bare moche}
affection and zele ye bere towards the saide Tyndall whom
in his maners modes tie and Symplycytee {& knowlage in
woordlye things} ye vndoubtedlie {in your letters] do
moche more allowe and cowmende then his {whos} workes
being so replete w\ft\ lyes and most {then the warke of hit Self
is able to deserve} {being replete with so} abhomynable
Sclaunders {& lyes} Imagened and {onlye} fayned to infecte
and intoxicate {as it semythe} the peopull may to indyfferent
Judgement declarethe him, for the which your fauours Supposed
to be born to the saide Tyndall (who assuredlie sheweth himself
in myn opynyon rather to be replete with, venymous envye
rancour and malice then w\t\i any good lerning vertue knowlage
or discressioii) hathe put the kinges highnes in suspectyon
of you considering {dothe declare hym bothe to lake grace
vertue lernyng discrecyon and all other good qualytes
jijothing [ejlkr pretending in all his workes but [to] seduce
_and djyssayve} that ye should {ye} in such wise {by your
ette\ zs] lene vnto and fauour the evill dec try ne of so peruerse
and malycyous a person and so moche prayse him {prayse
Setforth and avaunse hym} {bothe to lake lernyng} {to be
envyous and to lake lernyng gra[ce]} {vertue and ail good
discrecyon} who nothing {zvhicke nothing elfes} {pretendyth 1 }
goeth about or pt&endetk but l onelie to Seduce deceyiie and
disquiet the people and comenwelth of this realme Whose
{Repayre thether ys to be estuyd} cummyng into Englonde the
kingzs highnes can right well for bere and {and sowe sedycyon
among the peopull of this realme. The king^j highnes
therfor} hathe cowmaunded me exptzssely to wryte vnto you
{to adu^rtyse you that is plesure ys} that ye should desiste

1 These words doubtless ought to have been crossed out in the MS.

1531] THOMAS CROMWELL 337

and leve any fcrther to persuade or attempte him thereunto
{the sayd tyndalle to Com into this realme} alledging that
his mates te so euydcntlie {he} p^rceyuing the malycyous
perverse vncharytable {and Indurate} mynde and disposicyon
of the saide Tyndall is rather vcray glad that he is out of his
Realme then? {Joyous to haue his realme dcstytnte} ... {of
the sayd Tyndalle ys in mam?r wz t//owt hope of reconsylyacyon
in hym and ys veray Joyous to haue his Realme destytute
of Such a person for hys highnes right prudentlye consyderyth }
if he were present by all lykelohod he wold shortelie (which
god defende) do as moche as in him were to infecte and
corrup[t] the hole realme {which now ys so Indurate] to the
grete inquietacyon and hurte of the cowmenwelth of the
same. Wherfore {Stephen} I hertelie pray you that from-
hensfonrth in all your doings and preceding^ and wryting
to the king*? highnes ye do iustely trewlie and vnfaynedlie
shew your self to be no Fantour vnto the saide {without
dyssymulacyon Shew your self his trew louyng and obedyent
Subiect beryng no manner Fauo//r loue or affeccyon to the
sayd} Tyndale ne to his \vourkes in any man^r of wise but
rather vtterlie to contempne and abhorre the same assuring
you that {in so} doing the contrary ye shall not oneli[e]
cause the kmges highnes royall Maieste whose highnes
goodnes at this tyme is so benignelie and gracyouslie mynded
toward*? you (- as by your good dyligence and Industrie to b\e\
vsed to serne his highnes and ex tewing and avoyding \to\
favour and allozv the saide Tyndale his erronyoiis workes and
opynyons] ye are like shortelie to atteyne ( 3 So to prouyde for
yon So to aduise yon So to Sett you forwardes as all your
louers & frend*? shall haue gret consolacyon in yoti of the
same \b\oth welth honestie and promocyon at his gracyous
handzs to the singuler ioy pleasure and comforte of all your
Frendzs) and by the contrarie to {doing ye shall} acquire the
indignacyon of god and displeasure of your Sou^reigne lorde
and by the same compell {cause} your good Frendes which
haue ben euer glad prone and redie to aduaunce {bryng} you
vnto the {into his gracyous} favours of your pry nee to lamente
and sorow that their sute in that behalf should {be frustrate
and} not {to} take effecte according to their good intent and

1 Here occur the following words bok^ craftie and false persuasions)

underlined, not crossed out : that he hathe partelie don all redie

[he] should retourne into the same a (...) underlined, not crossed

there to manyfest his errours and out.

sedycyous opynyons, which (being 3 (...) this passage is put in the

out of the Realme by his most vn- margin,
charytable venemous and pestilent

338 LETTERS OF [1531

purpose, hauing therefore firme trust that for the {Feare ye
hane in god obedyens to you? souerayn lord} loue ye owe to
your self me and other your French ye wilbe will beware
from hensfourth {and estew} to enter into any such opynyons
{or to the pray se of any such person} whereby any sclaunder
dishonestie or daungier (or Susspycyonj might insue toward*?
you whereof I promyse you I wold be as sorie as your good
{natural} father.

As touching Frith mencyoned in your saide \etteres the
king*? highnes heryng tell of his towardenes in good letters
and lernyng doth Regrete and {moche} lament that he should
in such wise as he doth Set fourth Shew and applye his
lerning and doctrine in the semynacyon and sowing such euill
seed*? of dampnable and detestable heresies mayntening
bolstring and aduawncyng the venemous and pestyferous
wottrkes erronyous and sedycyous opynyons of the saide
Tyndale and other Wherein his highnes as {lyke} a most
vertuous and benigne pr[ince] and gouernour hauing charge
commytted vnto him of his people and Subiect*y {&} being
{veraye} sorie to here tell that any of the same should
in suche wise Ronne hedling and digresse from th[e] lawes
and precepfes {and holsom doctryns} of almightie god {and
holye Fathers} {and most holsom} into suche dampnable {and
most holsom doctryne of holye Fathers into suche dampnable}
heresies and sedycyous opynyons and being euer inclyned
willifng] and gretelie desirous to forse and prouyde for the
same {& moche desyryng the reconsylyacyon of the sayd
Fryth} and also fermelie trusting that the said Frith {he} be
not so far as yet inrouted in the evill doctryne of the saide
Tind[all] {& oder} but that by the grace of god louyng
charitable and f rend [lie] exhortaaons and advertisement**
of good people he may be revoked and called agayne to the
ryght way wylleth {hath therefore} and desire th you {wyllyd}
{and Commaundyd} {me to wryte vnto yow that ye} accordyng
to his trust and expectacyon {will} -with your frendelie
persuasions admonycyons and holsome exhortaczbns to
counsaill and aduyse the said Fryth if ye may conuenientlie
speke vfit/i the same to lev[e] his wilfull opynyons and like
a good Christien to reto&rne vnto our Saueour Christe and
also into his natif cuntrey So that by his procedinges as he
begynneth there be no m\pre~\ \se~\dycyous infections and heresies
sowed amongst the kinges peopzill {wher he assurydly shall
Fynde the kynges highnes most m^rcyfifull and benygnlye
vppon his conversyon disposyd towardzs hym to accept hym
to his grace & mercye} Wherefore eftesoones I hertelie
pray you and {exhort you} for the loue of god do not onelie

1531] THOMAS CROMWELL 339

exhorte you vtterlie to forsake leve and wzt/zdraw your afTectyon
from the saide Tyndale and all his secte but also as moch as
ye can poletiquelie and charytablie to allure all {the said
Fryth and other} suche persons as ben {being in thes p#rtyes
which in any wyse ye shall know or suppose to be} Fautours
and assistenter to the same from all their erronyous mynd^
and opynyons. In which doing ye shall not onelie highlie
merite of {in} Almightie god but also deserue high thanks of
the k mges royall maiestee who will not forgett yo//r deuoyrs
and labours in that behalf So that his maiestee may {evy-
dentlye} p^rceyue that ye effectuallie {do} intende the same.
And as touching your diligent adu^rtisement vnto the
k mges highnes of the nombre of Shippes arryued wtt/i corne
and grayn in those parties he hathe cowmaunded me on his
behalf to gyue vnto you condigne thanks for the same And
being moche desirous to know and atteyne the trewth of that
matier his grace hathe co;;/maunded me to wryte vnto you
that by all good dexteritee polycie and meanes ye should
indeuoyr yoz/rself to atteyne to the knowlege of the Maisters,
seruauntes owners or other that made sale of the saide grayn
brought thither to thintent that by thexamynacyon of som
his highnes might haue knowlege of the rest and that ye shall
w/t/& all diligence aduertise h[is] highnes of their names, and
in likewise of such other newes concerning themperours
affayreses the discending of the turke into Germanye the
preparacyons ayenst him the gifte of money in the low
countreys to themperonr the abyding of themperour in the
low parties the agremen[t] bytwen him and the prynces of
Germanye as ye shafll] here by merchauntes or otherwise
most certeynlie to acertey[n] his grace by your \etterts
with as moch dyligence as ye can. Prayeng you therefore
substauncyallie and circumspectflye] to indeuoz/r yourself
to serue the king^r highnes herein effectuallie So that your
towardenes good mynde duetpe] of allegiaunce and seruice
towards his royall maiest[ie] may be apparaunt and notoryous
vnto the same. Which I doubt not shalbe to your singuler
proffite and aduauncement.

22. (CROMWELL) TO MR. STRETE.

R. O. Cal. v. 277. (May, 1531.)

Encloses a commission to survey the lands of the bishopric of Coventry
and Lichfield, and to receive the rents for the King, and orders to
cease collecting rents in Chester. Cf. Letter 43.

Mr. Strete after most hertie co^zmendaczons these shalbe to
aduertise you that by the berers hereof ye shall receyue the

340 LETTERS OF [1531

k mges comission and warraunte yeuyng you auctoryte to
Survey the lond^ of the bisshopriche of Couentre and Lich-
feld and to receyue the renies and pr^fites of the same to the
kmges vse. And also ye shall receyue his graa ous \etteres
directed to the Eschetor of the Countie palentyne of Chester
vppon the sight whereof I doubte not but he will not onelie
Surcease to medle any Ferther \\iik the receipt of any rentes
there but also in case he haue receyued any, will repay the
same vnto your handes accordinglie. Not dowbting but ye
will diligentlie effectuallie and trewly put in execuczbn the
teano&r and efifecte of your saide Co;/zmyssion in suche wise
as shalbe most for your honestie & to the Kinges most pr^fite
and adutfuntage. And for your paynes and diligence alredy
taken and susteyned aboute his affayres there his highnes
hathe co^m^unded me to yeve vnto you his most hertie
thankes. And trustith that ye will so indeuow your self in the
receipt of the said renter and reuenues as before the feaste of
the Natyuyte of Saynt John Baptist next ye will bryng or
send vp the hole half-yeres rent or the most parte of the same
and that ye will have good awayte and regarde to his hauk^
in the Cauke there wherein ye shall do and admynister vnto
his highnes right good and acceptable seruyce.

And as touching the Catell at the pryorie of Calliche the
kinges grac/ous pleasure is that ye shall suffer the berers
hereof named Fyndern and Curson to haue the pr^ferrement
in the byeng of the same vppon suche reasonable prises as
they may conuenyently lyve on taking of them som money in
hande and such sufficient bonde and suertie for the residue as
the king may be trewly answered of the same. And so Fare
ye well &c.

Your mastership.

23. CROMWELL TO (GARDINER).

B. M. Vesp. F. xiii, f. 154 ; Cal. v. 302. June 18 (1531).

Requests him to examine and correct the enclosed Mynewte before
presenting it to the King. Excuses himself for not coming in person.

Right honerable after due reco7?zmendaczons may it please
the same to be adu^rtysed that I haue sent herein Inclosed
the Mynewte with your Instruccions Beseching you to Survey
the same and if ye shall fynde any erroure to order and
correcte hit according to your wysdowme and goodnes
or euer ye shall pr^sente the sight thereof vnto the King^j
highnes which ons do/me and his highe pleasure knowne
I shall \\iih dylygence cause it to be engrossed and sent I wold

1531] THOMAS CROMWELL 341

myself haue commyn therewzt^ if other of the Kinges Busines
had not Lettid me, Beseching you to make myne excuse and
to depeche this Berar And this the holy trenyte pr^serue you
in Long lief & good helth wz t/2 thencrease of muche honour
at London this xviij day of June.

Yours most bounden

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

24. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. v. 458 (i). Oct. I (1531).

Requests, on the King s behalf, the preferment of Thomas Beryer,
warden of the Grey Friars of Blois, to be warden of the Grey Friars
of Paris.

Right worshypffull after most hertye cowmendacyons this
shalbe to adu^rtyse you that the kingly plesure ys that ye on
his gracyous behalf shall effectuallye move the Frenche kynge
for 1 the pr^ffcrment of on Frere Thomas Beryer which ys
now gardyen of the grey Freers of Bloyse so that he at the
coTztemplacyon of his highnes may be now elect to be gardyen
of the grey Freers in parys for assurydlye his highnes desyrethe
moche the adu^uncement of the sayd Freer and wooll that
ye in most effectuous wyse do solycyt the same vnto (the)
Frenche king^r 2 requyryng the same on the his 3 graces behalf
to move the gen^rall of the sayd relygyon now being at parys
in the effectuall prefferment of the aboue sayde Freer and that
ye Fayle not therof the kynges highnes requirythe yow. His
Highnes also woll that ye shall moue the gret maister in that
behalf For I assure you his maiestye moche tenderyth the
adu^un^ment & prefferment of this Freer and thus hertelye
Fare ye well.

At london the Fyrst daye of octobre.

25. (CROMWELL) TO MR. HERON.

R. O. Cal. v. 458 (ii). Oct. 3 (1531).

Advises him to permit the bearer, Richard Johnson, to retain the farm
granted him by Heron s parents, as Heron s interest in it comes from
the King.

Maister Heron in my right 4 hertye wyse I co^/mende (me)
vnto youe and so it is that this berer whos name is Rychard
Johnson hathe Supplyed 5 vnto the kyng^j highnes alledgyng

1 c. o. on the behalf of 4 c. o. most

2 c. o. highnes 3 sic* 5 sic, for applied.

342 LETTERS OF [1531

that he being possessyd of a certayn Ferme being parcell of
the manno^r of Highe Hall * of the dymyse and graunte
aswell of your Father as also of 2 your mother late disceasyd
whose sowlys our lord pardon owt of the which as he affer-
myth ye wooll expel hym Syr my aduyse shalbe that ye
according to Justyce do Suffr the sayd Johnson to occupye
his Ferme, consyderyng that your Interest In the same O/m-
myth of the kynges graunt for assurydlye his grace wyll
thinke straunge yf ye sholde expell his seruaunt hauyng a
lawfful grante aswell of yo&r Father as mother 3 as he affer-
myth. Wherffor methinkyth ye shall do well to let hym
occupye his Ferme wzt/owt yoz/r Interrupcyon, he paying For
the same as to right appartaynyth For I woolde ye sholde not
be notyd extreme in your proceedings and specyallye agaynst
your Felowes the Kyngs seruaunttes and thus hertelye Fare
ye well at london the thyrde daye of Octobre

26. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. v. 458 (ii). (Oct. 1531.)

Advises him not to receive any of the King s courser men in his
monastery.

My lord aftr right hertye recowmendacyons this shalbe to
Ortiffye yow of the receipt of your letters and being veray
Sorye of molestacyon doo aduyse yow not to suffr anye of the
kyng^r Courser men to lye with yow. For your monasterye
vndowtydlye ys moche to small to Resayue the kingfj
Coursers.

27. (CROMWELL) TO (Sm RALPH ELLERCAR).

R. O. Cal. v. 671. (1531.)

Thanks him for advice concerning a bargain that Cromwell is about to
make for the manor of Belthrop in Yorkshire.

Woorshipfull Sz r in my most hertye manner I commend
me vnto yow and In the same wise thanke yow for your
good and kynd chere made vnto my seruaunt which that
of late was wM yow 4 my Sayd S^ruaunt Informyd yow how

1 . o. which he helde For terme bargayn betwene me and John
of yeres of his highnes and hauyng Ardren of and for the manoz/r of
good and Suffycyent graunt In the Belthrop wM the apporten##nces
same which, as I am Informyd ye wer in

2 c. o. my ladye mynde to haue bought S/r I woold

3 c. o. and hauing no Just Cause I hadde bene made preuey to your
so to do mynd at whych tyme

4 c. o. and as concern yng the

THOMAS CROMWELL 343

that I hadde concludyd a bargayn with John Ardren of and
For the Manowr of Belthrop and ye then aduysyd my said
Serutfunt to Aducrtyse me Substancyallye to loke vppon the
sayd bargayn which aduertysment hath Sumwhat put me in
dowt wherfor Syr I hertelye desyre and also pray yow that
yff ye know anye manner dowt ambygwyte or Any acte done
by the sayd John Ardren or anye other Wherby I myght
Sustayn Any manner displeasure danger or losse conc^rnyng
the sayd Mannor or the purchasing of the same that I may
be certeffye(d) by this berer in evere poynt concernyng the
same as my specyall trust is in yow and ye so doing shall
bynd me

The letter ends abruptly here, the bottom of the sheet being
cut off.

On the dorse is the draft of part of a letter from the King concerning an
intended invasion from Scotland by the Duke of Albany, aided by
the King of France.

28. (CROMWELL) TO (GARDINER).

R. O. Cal. v. 723. (Jan. 1532.)

Sends news of the first reading of the Bill of Annates in the Lords. Has
asked for money for Gardiner from the King, who grieves at Gardiner s
absence.

My lorde after myn humble and most hertie recowmen-
daczbns these shalbe to adu^rtise yo^r lordeship how that
I haue receyued your gentill \ette?e to me delyz^red by
thandes of Mr. Wrythesley And whereas I do p^rceyue
by my kynnesman this berer that ye moche desire to here
newes from hens I assure you that here be non but such as
vndoubtedlie by a multytude of yottr Frend^r (which are
Farre more secret and nerer the knowlege of the same then
I am) be to yo&r lordeship all redie related and knowen but
yet to aduirtise of som parte that I know, as thys day was
Redd in the higher house a bill touching the Annates of
busshopriches for what ende or effecte it will succede suerlie
I know not. And as yesterday because I knew your lorde
ship not to be Furnisshed of all things necessarie for yozir
being there I moued the King^ highnes aswell for money
to be defrayed in and aboutes the furnyture of yoz^r purpose
and affayres as also for yo?^r Retoz/rne hither sayeng that
vppon myn owne coniecture your lordeship was wery of

344 LETTERS OF [1532

being there vvhereunto his highness answered me that you
were not so wery of your being there but he was as sorie
Sayeng by these \vordes expr^sselie. (His absence is the lacke
of my right hand for I am now so moche pestred with
busynes and haue nobodie to rydde ne depeche the same)
So that your lordeship may well know that your absence is
not to you so moche paynefull and greuous as your presence
here should be pleasaunt and comfortable to the King^r
highnes and all other yo^r poure Frend^ beseching therefore
your lordeship to Fynde som meanes on your parts as
moche as in you is that your Retoz/rne hither may be
shortelie which is long loked and wisshed for As our lorde
knoweth etc.

Endd. A mynute of my mr. s le//re.

29. (CROMWELL) TO HENRY VIII.

R. O. Cal. v. 1055. (May, 1532.)

Has had the news from Ratisbon translated into English. The English
ambassadors are going to meet those of the Emperor at Dunkirk.

May hit please your most n?yall magestye to be adu<?r-
tysyd that of suche news as hathe Cum from Ratyspone
I haue causyd the same to be translatyd owt of Italyon into
Inglysshe and according to your high co/^mawndment to me
youyn yesterdaye haue Inclosyd them in this my letters,
wherby your highnes shall and may woll p^rsayue of what
Importaunce they be of. I haue also resayuyd a letters
from Stephyn Vawhan which ys of no gret weight but that
he wrytythe that your gracyous ambasadours do now repayre
to the emperours ambassadours to Dunkyrke affermyng them
to be Suffycyentlye Furnysshyd to answer all things layd by
the co;/trarye parte and nothing dowtyth but that they shall
haue veray gud Successe in all your gracyous affayres and
thys our lord Jesu Crist preserue and continew the most
Royall estate of your most Ryoyall magestye in long lyffe
& good helthe

30. (CROMWELL) TO HENRY VIII.

R. O. Cal. v. 1092. June 13 (1532).

Sends the book that the Friar Carmelite brought him. Cannot yet inform
the King of the conclusion of Ap Ho well s matter. News from
Rome that the Turk is to invade Italy with a great army.

Pleasythit your most Royall mageste to be adu^rtysyd
how the Freer carmelyte browght vnto me this mornyng a

1532] THOMAS CROMWELL 345

boke willing me on yoz/r gracyous behalf wit/i all spede to send
the same vnto yo//r highnes. Which I haue done accord-
inglye I cannot yet certeffye your grace touching the Con-
clusyon of Jamys Gyrffyth ap Howell^ matyer for asmoche
as yet I haue not spokyn with mayster Thesaurer of yo?/r
most honorable hovvshold who vndovvtydly this daye wilbe
at Westm. Strange news haue arryuyd here aswell from
Rome as Venyse of the turk^r Repayre vnto and towards
Italye wz t/z a marvelous puisauntt Armye what shalbe the
Successe thereof our lorde knoweth it ys Suppossyd that gret
afflyccyon will Insew not onelye to the pope & the See of
Rome but also to the emprour and his conffederatt^ wherfor
it may please the holye trynytie in whos Inffinyte goodnes
power & wyll Restyth the the 1 order and traunquylyte of all
things to bryng peax good oppynyon and quyetacyo;/
amongyst Cristen pryncys and eu<?r conserue preserue & kepe
your highnes in long lyff good helthe v/tt/i quyetacyon of
your most vertuous most noble and most charytable mynde
At london the xiii th of June

31. (CROMWELL) TO THE MAYOR OF HAVERFORD WEST.

R. O. Cal. v. 1106. June 19, 1532.

Notifies him that Sir William Wolff is discharged of his appearance before
the council.

Master Maier I hartely recommende me vnto you And
where for Certaine causes ye toke bounde of Sir William
Wolff clerke somtyme chapplaine vnto Rice app Griff. Esquier
disceased and of other suert[ies] with him by recognisaunce
that the saide Sir WillzVzm shoulde k[epe] his personall
apparaunce here in the Sterre chamber before the kinges
most honourable counsaiell there for certayne causes to him
to be obiecte on the king^ behaulf in this present Terme as
in the Condicion of the same Recognisaunce is comprisid.
I doo you to vnderstonde that the saide Sir William Wolff
is clearly dischargyd of his saide apparaunce byfore the saide
counsaill wherefore I praie you to cause the saide Recog
nisaunce withe the condicion [to be] made frustrate and
Void. And thus Jhu kepe you writen the xix th daie of June
at London in the xxiiii yere of the Reigne of oure Sou^raien
Lorde the Kinge Henry the Eight.

Add. To Maister maier of Harfford Weste this be
deliu^red.

1 sic.

MERR1MAN. I A 3.

346 LETTERS OF [1532

32. (CROMWELL) TO MR. ROWLAND.

R. O. Cal. v. 1185 (i). July 19 (1532).

The King desires him to pay the bearer $, to the use of the dean
and canons of his college at Oxford, for the annual portion of his
parsonage of Garsington, due to the late suppressed monastery of
Wallingford.

Maister Rowland after my herty cowmendaczons this
shalbe to adu^rtyse you that hitt is the kinges graces
pleissuire and co;;miaundeme;2t that ye shall paye immediately
after the sight off theis my letters to the hand^s- off Maister
Herry Williams beyrrer heiroff Fyve povmdes off good and
lawfull money off Englonde to the behoiffe off the deanne
and Canons off his grac^ Colledge in oxford now lately
erected. The whiche saide su/;zme off Fyve powndes was
deue to haue byn payed by yow att the Feiste off sayntte
Michel 1 tharchangell laste paste For thannuall porcio;? goyng
owtt off your parsonage off Garsinto?z vnto the late sup
pressed priore off Wallingford. And theis my letters shalbe
vnto yow a sufficient warrauntt & acquyttaunce For the
payment off the Forsaide Fyve pownd^r. Faill you nott thys
to doo as ye tend re the king^ pleissuire and thus Faire ye
well. In haist From london the xix th daye off July.

33. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. v. 1184. July 19 (1532).
Recommends Robert Hogan, the King s chief cook.

Right worshipful! after moost hartie Reco;?zmendacions
thiese shalbe to aduertise you that my louynge felowe and
freende Robert Hogan Maister Coke to our sou^raigne
Lorde the King^ grace hathe obteyned lycence of his grace
to repaire into your parties for suche his Affaires and busynes
as he hath there to do. Whom I hartelie desire you to
entreteigne and accepte in makinge and showinge vnto hym
suche freendlie and louynge Chere and other pleasures for
my sake, as ye wolde to me, yf I were there with you
presente And in so doynge ye shall mynystre unto me a right
singler good pleasure, not to be forgoten in tyme co/^mynge
in suche your Requestes and Affayres as ye shall haue here
to do by the grace of god who euer kepe you. Att London
the xix th Daie of July.

1532] THOMAS CROMWELL 347

34. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cai. v. 1185 (ii). July 20 (1532).

Requests him to grant the farm of Myxberye in Oxfordshire to John
Welsborne, one of the gentlemen of the King s privy chamber.

My lorde after most hertye recowmendacyons this shalbe
to desyre and hertelye praye (you) to be so good at my
poore Instaunce and request to graunte the Ferme of
Myxberye vnto my veraye Frend and Felow Mr. John
Welsborne on^ of the gentylmen of the Kynges preueye
chaumbre in doing wherof besyd^J the good wyll ye shall
obteyn of hym ye shalbynde me to (do) yow suche poore
pleasures as shall lye in my lytyll power as knowyth our
lorde who eu<?r pr^serue your lordship wrytyn at londen the
xx tb daye of July

35. (CROMWELL) TO THE LORD (CHIEF JUSTICE

FlTZ-jAMES).
R. O. Cal. v. 1340. Sept. 24 (1532).

The King has directed his letters for the election to the abbacy of Bruton
in Somersetshire of that person whom Lord Lisle and Fitz-James
have recommended. Fitz-James may postpone the election for the
trial of the King s title if he sees fit.

My lorde after most hertie cowmendaabns these shalbe to
adu<?rtise jour lordeship how that I haue receyued jour
\etteres and according to the contents of the same moued
the Kingly highnes concerning thelection of the Abbote of
Bruton And like as I wrote vnto your lordeship in my last
letteres that ye should stay the saide election vntill the
Kinges title might be tryed So his high pleasure is that
ye shall do if ye see good matier to bere it. Neu^rtheles
his highnes at the sute of my lorde Lisle Supposing that he
and you do both sue for the adu#uncement of one person to
be Abbot of Bruton forsaid as my lorde playnlye affermyd
to his grace hathe theruppon directed his grac/bus \etteres
for that purpose whiche notwithstanding his high pleasure
is yf ye se cause that ye shall stay thelection vppon the
tryall of his title, as is aforsaide And in case your lordeship
will haue that person promoted for whom he hathe written
his grace is therewzt^ right well contented So that his highnes
may (haue) me remembryd Sumwhat, lyke as your loiv&shyp
wrot vnto me in your last whyche he onelye Remyttythe to
your wisedom and discrecyon for his highnes p^rfectlye
trustith that ye will substauncyallie loke thervnto, who woold

A a 2,

348 LETTERS OF [1532

as Fayne that ye were well neyhboryd as ye woold yourself,
my lord in this and all other that shall lye in my Lytill power
I shall allway^y do as I haue pr^mysyd and thus most hertelye
Fare ye well at london the xxiiii th daye off Septembre

36. (CROMWELL) TO HENRY VIII.

R. O. Cal. v. 1298. (September, 1532.)

Reports the making of patterns for the King s collar, and the accounts of
the King s jewels. Edmund Knightley has been committed to the
Fleet for contempt of the King and his laws.

Please it your highnes to be adu^tised that according to
your graczbus comnaundement I haue caused patrons to be
drawen after yoz/r graces Deuyse albeit I haue wyllyd yotir
goldsmyth not to precede to the making of any thing In
p^rffeccyon vntill your graaous pleasure shalbe Ferther
knowen for the which purpose both he and I shall repayre
vnto your highnes on Saterday night or Sondaye in the
morning and to the Intent your grace may determyn your
pleasure I haue Sent by this berer the patron of your Coller
of balasys and Dyamond^ drawn according to your graces
fyrst deuyse touching a certen matier in varyaunce betwixt
thexecutours of Sir 1 William Spencer disceasyd and 2 my
ladye spencer whereas informacion was made vnto your
highnes that grete Spoyle of the good^ of the saide Sir 1
William Spencer was made by the saide executours and
how that the executours wold haue put owt my ladye late
the wyff of the sayd William from the execucyon of the
testament the matier hath ben harde here before my lorde
the kep^r of your grete seale Sir Willya;;z Poulet and me 3 .
And as it appereth by thexamynacion as well of the executors
as by Edmond Knyghtley and Rychard his brother the hole
spoyle and eloyning 4 of the sayd goods & plate was made
onely by the sayd Edmond Knyghtley his brother Rychard
and the sayd ladye spencer thayr suster notwzt/^standz;/^ that
ther was Agrement made betwene the executors and the
ladye spencer that she sholde entyr into bargayn wM your
highnes and also into the execucyon of the testament w/t^
them as an executrix which vndowtydly she hadde done yf
Edmond Knyghtle hadde not bene Which Edmonde Knightley

1 c. o. Thomas offence as haue ben cowmytted

2 c. <?. Mr. Edmonde Knightley in that behalf haue ben onelie

3 c. o. with other of yo^r graces done and executed by the saide
counsaill Edmonde Knightley his Syster and

4 c. o. as hathe ben had & made suche other of that parte and none
of the saide goodly and also such otherwise

1532] THOMAS CROMWELL 349

hathe not onelie trauayled asmoche as in him is to sett pyke
betwene the sayd ladye and the executors and to defeate
your grace of your title to the heire of the saide Spencer
but also Justeffyed the same befor my sayd lorde kep^r of
///e gret Scale wher on the other partye it was openlye
prouyd that your grace hade good tytyll and all his
allegacyon vntrew yet neuertheles for the reducing of the
same his vntrew purpose to effecte and to the Intent to
slaunder your gracys tytill and others he hathe caused to be
made certen proclamacions in yo^r Countyes of Warwyke
leycester & Northampton in dyu^rs of your highnes Towns
there to the high contempte of your grace and your lawes
For it hathe not ben seen nor herd that any Subiecte within
this Realm e sholde presume to make pr^clamacion w/t//in this
yo//r realme but onelie in your grac^y Name Wherefore for
his offence and other contempts ayenst your highnes in that
behalf my lorde the kep^r of yo?/r grete (seal) takyng that
matyer to be a greuous offens ayenst yo^r Crown & Imperyall
magestye hathe cowmytted the sayd Edmond Knyghtley to
yo?^r pryson of the Flete where he now remayneth vntyll
yo?^r high plesure shalbe Ferther knowen in that behalf. As
touching the Cup of golde & Corporas Case I sent your
highnes woorde by Thomas Alvard the treuthe whereof this
berer Stevyn Vawhan can Informe your grace who hathe
made p^rfytte bokes aswell of the sayd Cuppe & Corporas
Case as also of all other yo;/r highnes Jewells now being in
the hand^ of Cornelys to be orderyd according to your
graces plesure and thys the holye trynyte pr^serue your most
royall estate of yotir most excellent magestye

37. (CROMWELL) TO THE ABBOT OF ST. EDMUNDS

BURY.

R. O. Cal. v. 1573. Nov. 24 (1532).

Desires the farm of Harlowberry, in Essex, near Honysdon. Will do all
he can for the monastery.

My lorde after my hartie manner I comwende me vnto you.
Adu^rtising you that for dyu^rse consideraczons I am verray
desirouse To haue some house in essex nere vnto Honysdon.
And forasmoche as your parsonage of Harlowebery shall
shortly be in your Handes and Letting, By Reason that the
lease whiche Malery and his Wyff hathe is nowe all moost
expired, I shall desire and instantly pray you to lett your
said Farme of Harlowebury vnto me by lease for terme of Ix
yeres for the same stokke Rent and Ferme that haithe byn

350 LETTERS OF [1532

of Olde tyme accustumyd paid and perceyuyd for the same.
In doing whereof ye shall bynde me to do you and that your
monastary suche pleasure as may ly in my Lytell power, in
tyme to com. And what shalbe your towarde mynde herin
I pray you to Adu^rtise me in wrytyng by this berer my
serwzunt And as for the yeres that malery and his wyff haithe
yitt to com ye shall vnderstaund that I haue Agred wttk
theym for his lease Thus fare ye hartely well from Elth^m,
the xxiiii day of Nouembre.

Add. To my Lord Thabbot of Seynt Edmounds Bury
geve this.

38. (CROMWELL) TO (THE EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND).

R. O. ; not in Cal. (Dec. 1532.)

Congratulates him on the success of his last raid against the Scots, and
assures him of the King s favour. Urges him to keep on his guard
against a surprise.

^

After myn humble co^mendacions please it your lordeship
to be adu^rtised that I haue receyued yoitr letters the con
tents wherof I haue right well pm:eyued And touching your
prosperous fortune and victorie in your last rode agenst your
enemy es Shewing therby your valiaunt courage glad hert
and mynde to serue the Kings highnes and annoye his
enemyes, I assure your lordeship there is no man lyuyng
gladder to here thereof then I am your poure Frende,
Wisshing to god that your lordeship did knowe and here
as I do how louynglie and acceptable the Kings highnes
doth Regarde and take the same, which vndoubtedlie
wold double the hardynes and courage of any man lyuyng
to do his grace s^ruice. And because it is to be thought that
after this rode your enemyes the scottes will invente & studie
to be reuenged to your like annoyance or more if they can,
my poure aduise shalbe that by all the wayes meanes and
polycies ye can, your lordeship do circumspectlie and wz t//
vigilant eye make such espialles and watches and so in most
poletique and warlyke Facion will forsee studye and prepare
as in no wise by your saide enemyes ye be preuented But
rather that yoz^r lordeship as ye alredy haue begon will so
contynue endeuouring your self to greue and annoye your
enemyes by doing of such valiant acts and exploytts to
thincrease of your high merite and worthie praise So as the
Fame renovvne and noble victorie which your lordeship hathe
now won and obteyned be in no wise hurte blemisshed or
defaced by any acte or exployte to be don hereafter for

1532] THOMAS CROMWELL 351

lacke of good forsight or preuencyon Thus I am bolde to
gyue your lordeship my poure frendely aduise beseching the
same to excuse my boldenes and to thinke I do it onelie for
that I bere unto your lordeship my hertie good mynde and
will And no man more gladder then I to here tell of any
thing which should sounde to your lordeshippes good Fame
and honour, the increase and augmentacion whereof I doubt
not but your lordeship will contynew to procure wtt/i no lesse
diligent propence glad hert and mynde to serue the king
in his afifairees there then as ye haue begon to the vtter grief
displeasure and annoyaunce of your enemyes wherein I
beseche our lorde to sende you as prosperous fortune and
good successe as your noble and valyaunt herte could wisshe
or desire At london etc

Endd. mynute of a \ettew

39. (CROMWELL) TO THE ABBOT OF BURY.

R. O. Cal. v. 1719. (1532.)

Regrets to hear that he has detained several workmen in his district, in
spite of the King s need of them in London. Urges him to send
them up at once.

My lorde after all dew reco;;zmendacyons this shalbe to
adu^rtise your lordshyp how that I and other hauyng charge
aswell of the Kyng^j Bulding^ at his Towre of london as
also at Westm. haue bene for lakke of masons Carpenters and
other woorkmen compellyd to sende in to all the plases of this
Realme For prouysyon of the same by the kingly co;#myssyon
and albeit that the kingly mesenger by the auctoryte of his
Commyssyon hathe repayryd into dyuers partyes of Suffolke
ther to execute the same and also to Burrye Saynt Edmonds
and therabowtt For to haue taken and prestyd masons For the
accomplyshment of the kyng^y saycl woorkes ye lytell Regarding
the kyng^y auctoryte and Co;;zmyssyon have stayed dyuers
masons and woorkmen abowte yow wherof I do moche mer-
vayle my lorde I woolde be loth and also veraye sorye the
the 1 kynges highnes sholde be Informyd of yo>ur demeanure in
that behalf For I dowt not though p^raduenture his highnes
woolde esteme yow to be Abbot of his Monasterye of Burye,
yet he woolde not forget that he ys yoz/r kyng and sou^rayng
lorde, who p<?rcase might thinke sum vnkyndenes and also pre-
sumpcyon in yow so to handell hym or his auctoryte within
his owne Realme Wherffor my lorde I thinke it shalbe well
done in aduoyding Further busynes to sende vpp those masons
and not to Contend wzt& yoztr prynce ne wM his auctoryte

SIC.

352 LETTERS OF [1532

I beseche your lordshyp to pardon my playne wrytyng For
assurydlye I woolde be veray lothe that the kinges highnes
sholde haue Anye occasyon to thinke anye vnkyndnes or dis-
obedyence in yow and thus the holye trynyte pr^serue your
lordshyp in long lyffe and good helthe

40. (CROMWELL) TO (THE BISHOP OF ELY).

R. O. Cal. vi. 312. April 6 (1533).

The King desires his presence at the next session of the Council, if his
health will permit. Recommends the bearer Mr. Jones.

My specyall good lord after my most humble recowmenda-
cyons (it) may please the same to be adu^rtysyd how that
the kynges highnes hathe Co/^maundyd me to gyue yow
knowlage that yf ye may by any possyble meanys your helth
and lyffe preseruyd Repayre hether this next terme yt sholde
be moche to his gracyous contentacyon and Comfort to haue
your presens and Cow?zsayle in his affayres and his grace
dowtyth not but ye wyll yf it be possyble for yow to trauayle
accomplyshe all thing that maye be to the Satysfaccyon
of his pleasure. I assure yo^r lordshyp his grace hathe not
a Few tymes lamentyd in the presens of your frend&y not
onlye your absens but also your Infyrmyte wherfor his grace
hathe bene veraye Sorye. And my lord bycause this berer
Maister Jonys dothe now repay re vnto your lordshyp for yoz^r
Fauours and goodnes to hym so shewyd towards his pr^ffer-
ment vnto whom yt may please you at my poore Sute &
medyacyon to be specyall good lorde Assuryng your lorde-
ship that he ys a p^rftect honest gentylman and such one as
ye shall neu^r Repent the thing that ye shall doo For hym as
knowyth the holye trynyte who euer pr^serue your lordshyp
in long lyffe and good helthe At londen the vi th daye of
Aprell.

41. (CROMWELL) TO (LORD SCROPE).

R. O. Cal. vi. 383. April 25 (1533).

The King has received his letters, and is glad that he will let him have
the manor of Pyssow in Hertfordshire. The King will give him
good lands in exchange.

My specyall goode lorde after all dew Recowmendacyons
this shalbe to adu^rtyse the same that the kyngys highnes
right thankffullye dyd accept your \etterts to hym dyrected
SL delyuered by mr. chasye and his grace ys m<?rveylouslye
well contentyd that your lordshyp wooll let his grace haue

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 353

your mano^r & parke of Pyssow in exchaunge. Wherfor his
Magestie hathe Cowmaundyd me to Inserche for land^y for your
Recompens which I shall doo \viik all conuenyent spede and
as to the rede howsys with the other things mouyd to me by
this berer your seruaunt I wyll vndowtydlye doo my best so
that yo7<r lordeshyp by the next shalbe certeffyed of the kynges
Full and determynate pleasure in all things as knowethe our
lorde who euer pr^serue your lordshyp in long lyffe & good
helthe at london the xxv th daye of Aprell.

42. (CROMWELL) TO (THE DUKE OF SUFFOLK).

R. O. Cal. vi. 415. April (1533).

The King is pleased with his willingness to surrender his patent of Earl
Marshal, which has been granted to the Duke of Norfolk. Suffolk
is to have the Justiceship of the Forests on this side of the Trent for
life, in exchange. Advises him to come to Court at once.

After my most humble Recowmendacions it maye please
your grace to Vnderstande that the Kingly highnes hath been
assuredlie aduertised howe that your grace is contente to
surrendre your patente of the office of Therle Marshall into
his handes Whervpon his Magestie hath graunted the same
vnto my lorde of NorfiW/ his grace Whose Auncestors of longe
tyme hadd thesame vntill nowe of late. And his highnes is
contente that your grace in the lewe and place therof shall
haue his letteres patents of the Justiceshipp of his Forests on
thisside Trente for terme of yo^r lyfe. Assurynge yo?/r
grace his highnes doth not onlie repute moche honour in yoz/r
grace for that ye soo kyndlie will deptfrte wit/i the saide office
of marshalshipp vnto my saide lorde of NorrT<?// but also his
magestie supposeth and p^rfectlie p^rcevith that your grace
hath moche more estimacion and zele to Norisshe kyndenes
and love bytwene my saide lorde of NorfiW and you then ye
haue to thatt or any other office whiche vndubtelie is highlie
to his gracious contentacion to see and p^rcezue so grate and
honorhable parsonages his subiectey so Jovynglie and Frendlie
the on to love thother. Wherfore as he that always rekonith
hymselfe [bou]nden vnto yo//r grace and beyng also ver[ayly ]
Joyouse to p^rsayve howe pleasauntlie the kingly highnes
taketh in gude parte and repute your honorhable and moost
gentill demeanours in this and all other your procedyng^
thought I coulde no lesse doo then to adu^rtise you
therof to thintente that ye knowynge thesame myght and
may determyn your self therafter. And amongest other
things as I can p^rceyue it shulde not be vnthankfullie taken
towards the kinges highnes and your grace yf it were yoz/r

354 LETTERS OF [1533

ease and pleasure to repayre to the Courte with Resonable
spede consyderyng that shortlye my lorde of Norfolke de-
partyth towards his gret Jorney in Ambassade. Beseching
your grace to pardon my bolde & Rude wryting whiche I am
rnovyd vnto For the poore good wyll I b[ear] [yowr]
grace as knowyth the holye trynyte who preserue your grace
in longue lyffe good helth wzt/z thincrease of inoche hono?/r
at London the daye of Aprell.

43. (CROMWELL) TO MR. STRETE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 645. June 14 (1533).

Recommends various persons to receive the land, cattle, and corn of the
late priory of Calvvich in Staffordshire. Gives directions for the
administration of Strete s office. Cf. Letter 22.

Maister Strete as hertelye as I Can I commend me vnto
yow and wher as by my last \etteres I wrott vnto yow in the
Fauors of Curson and Fyndern to be pr^fferryd vnto the Catell
and Corn of late belongyng to the pryorye of Colwyche and
Sythyn that tyme I wrotte vnto yow on the behalf of
Mr. longford for his preferment vnto the demaynes of the
sayd late pryorye so hit ys that now the sayd maister long-
ford by his Father in law Mr. Fyzherbert moche desyryth to
haue the Tythys and also suche Corn as at this tyme ys Sown
vpponthe demaynes of the sayd late pryorye for this yerewhych
tythe and Corn Sown vppon the demaynes I require yow
that he may haffe at suche prysys as ye shall thinke convenyent
and in such wyse as the kynges highnes may be Substaun-
cyallye answeryd of the proffyttes growing of the same wzt//out
any Fauoz^r to be born to anye othre partye and wher as
I wrott in myn other letter that Curson and Fyndern shold haue
the pr^ffermentt of the Catell and Corn I dyd not wrytt for
anye Corne growing on the grownde ne yet for any tythys
which in no wyse ye shall Suffer them to haue but to order hyt
as ys afforsayd most to the kynges pr<?ffytte & aduaz/ntage.
I well p^rsayue who grauntyth suchemen an Inche they wyll
take an ell. I am Inrformyd they avauntc them selfs to haue
Co^myssyons and graunttey of the kyng which ys vntrew
I praye yew aduyse them to vse no suche Facyons. Syr the
kynges highnes trustyth that ye viit/i all spede will bryng up
the half yeres Ferme and Rcnttey of the Busshopryche which
I praye yow may be here before his gracyous departyng in
pr^gresse. and as to the Chanon off Colwyche ye may trans
late hym vnto Sum good howse of that relygyon being nere
vnto yow and to gyue hym sumthing after your discrecyo;z
suche as may stand -with the kyng^r honour and also to his

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 355

honest Contentacyon and thus trustyng in your approuyd
wysdom and experyence Co/mytt all the pr^mysses vnto your
discrecyon trustyng eu<?r that ye wyll haue respect to your
dewftie] and charge and also that I may haue short answer
of thcs and other my !<?//<?res and so Fare ye well at london
the xiiii tb daye of June

44. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 706. June 26 (1533).

Desires him to admit Bartholomew Peters as surgeon of Calais. Will do
his best to obtain Lisle s requests for the town.

My lorde after my right hertie rcco/;/mendacions these
shalbe to adu^rtise [y]o?/r lordeship that where it hathe
pleased the king^ highnes to gyve and [gjraunte to Bartholo
mew Petres the rowme of Surgeon in his grace . . . wz t^in the
towne of Calays, as by a bill signed for that purpose ... ye
shall receyue of the saide Bartholomew more playnelie shall . . .
[ajppere I shall therefore requyre your lordeship that insuing
the teanoz/r purport and effecte of the k mges saide gr^unte
ye do see the saide Bartholomew admytted into the saide
rowme when tyme shall requyre accordingly. And concerning
suche matiers as ye latelie haue written in for the towne of
Calays, I do not ne shall not cesse to do my best to reduce
and bryng the same to suche good passe and effecte as shalbe
thought most requysite and expedient. I trust to your good
contentacion. And so our lorde p^serue your lordeship in
long lif and good helth wit/i thincrease of honour. At London
the xxvi day of June

\our lordshyppis assuryd

THOMAS C[RUMWELL]

I wrytt to your lordeshyp For this berer by the King^
expresse Cowmandmentt.

Add. To the right honourable and his singuler good
lorde my Lorde Lisle deputie to the King^ highnes of his
town and marches of Calays be this youen.

45. CROMWELL TO (THOMAS BEESTON).

R. O. Cal. vi. 776. (June-July, 1533.)

Ordering him to repair to the Emperor s Court and deliver the King s
letters to Dr. Hawkins there, with directions to turn them over to the
Emperor. He is to return with the Emperor s answer.

First the k mges highnes pleasure is that ye hauing receyued
your packet of letters and instructions directed vnto Mr.

356 LETTERS OF [1533

doctour Hawkyns, shall ymediatelie put yourself in aredynes
to dep^rte towards the parties of beioynde the See, inserch-
ing by yo?/r polycie the nerest wayes to suche place where
it shall happen the Emperour to lye.

Itm when ye shall repayre to thempro&rs Courte ym-
mediatly to delyu^r the saide packet vnto the saide Mr. Haw
kyns with hertie greting^y and salutacions from the king^j
highnes adu^rtesing him ferther that the king^ pleasure is
that when tyme shall Requyre, he shall not onelie intymate
declare and communycate the effects of suche k/teres and in
structions conteyned in the saide packet, with themproz/r,
alwayes insuing the teano&r purpose and meanyng of the
same, But also after his accustomed wisedom dexterite and
good polycie shall indeuoz/r himself so to propone handle and
set fourth all things as he by his good discression shall se
tyme place and occasion So as the same may take effecte
according to the King^ high trust and expectacion in that
behalf.

Itm that after declaracion of the premisses and co/#muny-
cacz on had at length with themperour in the same, the saide
Mr. Haukyns shall then if he so thinke good, devise determyn^
and conclude with you for your depeche and retoz/rne hither
with \etteres and instructions purporting suche answeres ar
ticles and allegacions as by themp^ro//r shalbe answered
leyed and obiected to those things which the saide Mr. Haw
kyns shall intymate and declare as is aforsaide on the kynges
behalf, which being don^ and accomplisshed the kyng^
gracious pleasure is that ye shall make all conuenyent haste
spede and diligence to repayre hither to his grace with the
same accordingly.

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Endd. mynute.

46. (CROMWELL) TO (THE MERCHANT TAILORS).

R. O. Cal. vi. 698. (June, 1533.)

Requests them to continue and increase the annuity granted to Nicholas
Glossop, servant of the late Archbishop Warham.

Right wellbeloued Frendes I recomend me hartly vnto yowe
And where I am enfourmed that at the request of my late
lorde of Caunterbury, whose sowle god pardon, ye graunted
to his serutfunt Nicholas Glossop, an olde Auncient of youre
Felisship of m^rchaunt Taillours a certeyn Annuytie of
xxvi s. viii d. toward the Sustentacion of his lyvyng for terme
of his Naturall life. Wherof by his report, he hath be(n) well

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 357

and truly Answered of a long tyme. Howe be it nowe upon
the deceas of his said maister, as it ys said, that ye entende
to withdrawe From hym youre saide Benyuolence and
graunte, which shulde be to his great Discomfort and
Hyndraunce. And forasmoche as I bere good Mynde and
Favour towardes hym And it were more charitie rather to
Augemente his lyving than to dymynysshe it or withdrawe
the same, specially nowe in his great Age, whan he hath most
nede of help and Socoure. I hertly desire yowe that for my
sake ye wille not only contynue the payment of the said
Annuytie to hym for terme of his life according to yo^r said
graunte, But also of youre larger Benyvolence and charitie
to encreas the same xiii s. iiii d. more by yere. Wherby in
myne opynyon, ye shall not only do the thyng whiche may
be right meritorious to yowe, but also right honorable for
youre said Felisship, and to me right great pleasure, and
for the same doing He may hereafter do yowe pleasure And
I shalbe glad to doo yowe pleasure or any good that I can
for your Felowship at alle tymes As knoweth god who
pr^serue yowe. And Further I desire yowe of your good
Answere in this behalf the morowe Folowing yo//r next
Courte Day by yowe to be holden at your halle

Endd. A \ettre for Nicholas glossop.

47. CROMWELL TO MR. THOMAS ALEN.

R. O. Cal. vi. 791. July 9 <I533>-

For failing to pay his debts to Cromwell, and to give sureties for the
money his brother owes the King, Alen has forfeited 1000 marks to
the Crown. Requests an answer by the bearer.

Maister Alen after right hertie cowmendacz ons these shalbe
to aduertise you that long or this tyme I loked to haue harde
from you and trusted not onelie to haue had and receyued
from you now at Midsomer last passed my Hundreth pounds
which of gentilnes I lent you but also sufficient bondes and
suertie for your brother tharchebisshop of Duntlyn concern
ing the payment of vii l mark^ which he oweth to the k mges
highnes according to suche bonde as you and other wz t/z you
stonde bounde in for the complement of the same. For lacke
and defaulte whereof ye haue forfaited to the king^j highnes
the Sowme of one thousande mark*?.*- which me thinketh ye
ought substaunciallye to loke vppon for the king is no person

1 i. e. 700.

358 LETTERS OF [1533

to be deluded nor mocked vritk all. And considering that
for your sake I so gentillie departed wzt/z my money me
semeth that reason and good honestie requireth ye should
se me payed ay en. prayeng you that I may be adu^rtised by
this berer what ye mean and intende to do in the premisses.
And so hertelie Fare ye well. At London the ix th day
of Julie.

Your louyng Frend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To his louyng Frende Mr. Thomas Alen be this
yeuen at Raylegh.

48. CROMWELL AND AUDELEY TO HAWKINS AND
RANDALL, BAILIFFS OF WEYMOUTH.

R. O. Cal. vi. 858. July 18, 1533.

Warrant for the delivery into the nearest prison of six men taken in the
ship Trinity, of Hull. The goods and the ship are to be delivered
to William Gonson.

Wellbelouyd we grete you well, and Where as William
Gonson of london hathe shewed vnto vs an Indenture datyd
the viii th daye of June last, made betwene Edward Waters
and you specyfyeng the deliu^rauns of a Ship namyd the
Trinite of Hull and Ixiiii Hoggyshedes of gascon wyne with
dyu*?rs other things therin conteynyd to your Handes. We
certefye yow that the Kyng his pleasure is that ye shall
incontynent deliu^r or cause to be deliu^red all things
conteanyd in the said Indentures to the said Willz tfm Gonson
or his assignes. and as towching the sixe pryson^rs taken in
the said Ship and lykewyse deliu^ryd into your kepyng that
ye deliiw theim into the next pryson to you, ther to be
surely kepte till the k mges pleasure be to you Further
knowne vvheche deliu^raunce of Ship and goodes &
prysoners shall be vnto you a sufficyent dyscharge at all
tymes herafter Wry ton at London the xviii daye of July
the xxv th yere of the Reigne of our sou^raigne lorde kyng
Harry the viii tb .

THOMAS AUDELEY Kt. chauncelo^r

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To our Welbelouyd \M\\\iam Hawkyns and William
Randall Baylyffkr of the towne of Waymowthe.

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 359

49. CROMWELL TO SIR ANTHONY FITZHERBERT AND

WALTER LUKE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 872. July 19 (1533).

Requires him to delay the trial of a case which may be prejudicial to
Cromwell, as the jury has been packed, and will be likely to give an
unjust verdict.

After my right hertie cowmcndacions Forasmoche as there
is a Nisipriwj passed out to be tried before you at the next
assises to be holden at Lyncoln concerning the tryall of the
title of Anthony Stydolffe who is my warde Which Nisiprius
is secretlie sued out and passed without my knowlege so as
p^rcase the same may be moche pmudiciall vnto me in that
thing whereunto I haue good iust and lawfull title as ye shall
apperceyue by suche deades and writings as my Frend this
berer shall shew vnto you, I therefore considering your
worshippes and good indifferencies, trusting that ye will do
me none iniustice in this behalf Do most hertelie require and
pray you to staye the tryall of the saide Nisiprius, Vntill ye
shall haue Ferther knowlege of the matier, the rather for
that I am crediblie infourmed that the enquest is alredie so
parciallie impaneled that vndoubtedlie it is thought they will
passe directlie ayenst the trowth. Eftesones therefore most
hertelie requyring you to provyde and forsee myn indempnyte
in this parte, And for the good acquytall of your gentilnes
to be shewed vnto me herein if there be any thing wherein
my poure powers can extende to do yow pleasure I shall not
Faile godd willing to accomplisshe the same to the vtterest
of my lytill power. And so most hertelie Fare ye well. At
London the xix th day of Julie.

It may please you to gyve firme credence vnto this berer
in such things as he shall declare vnto you on my behalf

Yo&r assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right worshipfull Mr. Anthony Fitzherberte
knight one of the kmges iustic^ of his comen benche and
to Mr. Walter Luke esquier and to either of them.

50. (CROMWELL) TO MR. MUSTIAM.

R. O. Cal. vi. 878 (ii). July 19 (1533).
Desires him to permit the bearer to enjoy a lease of the farm of Brokesley.

Master Mustiam I hartely co7?zmende me vnto you. And
in the same wise beseching you at this my poure contemplaczbn

360 LETTERS OF [1533

and request to be good master and Frende vnto . . . berar
hereof, in letting hym to opteyne, and peacably to occupie
and enyoye the hole effect of a lease of the ferme or parsonage
of Brokesley, in the p^roche of Detford in the Countie of
Kent to hym demysed by one Mr. Otywell of Westminst&t
diseased wzt&out any your further let grief or disturbauns.
Vntill suche tyme as ye shall knovve further of my will and
pleasure, and inso doyng ye shall mynyster vnto me right
singular pleasure. And this hartely fare ye well At London
this xix day of July

51. (CROMWELL) TO MR. MUSTIAM.
R. O. Cal. vi. 878 (ii). July 20 (1533).

The bearer complains that Mustiam intends unjustly to take the tithe
corn of Brokesley from him. Advises Mustiam not to do this.

Maist^r Mvstyam I hertelye cowmende me vnto yow
adu^rtysing the same that the poore man berer herof hathe
shewyd me that ye do Intend to do hym wrong in takyng
From hym the tythe Corn of Brokleye, other wyse wyse 1
Called west greenwyche whervnto I thinke ye haue no tytyll
nor Interest, wherfor I shall aduyse yow to stay to doo any
thing in the same vntyll suche tyme as ye shall be hable
honestlye to to l Clayme therin and thus Fare ye well at
london this xx th daye of July

52. CROMWELL TO HENRY VIII.

R. O. Cal. vi. 887. July 23 (1533).

Reports the examination of certain Friars Observants, who have been
taken by Cromwell s spies. Two of them would certainly confess
much if examined by torture. Desires instructions how to proceed.
Has inquired of Cranmer about the men, as the King desired.

Please it your highnes to be aduertised that vppon myn
arryuayle at London I receyued certen k/teres out of the
North directed vnto your grace from the lorde Dacre. Which
I haue sent to your maiestee herein closed wz t/z also certen
letters and Newes sent vnto me from my Lorde Deputie
of Calays. And touching the Freres obseruantej that were
wM the prynces dowagier, being subtillie conueyed from thens
were first espied at Ware by suche espialles as I leyed for
that purpose, and hauyng good awayte leyed vppon them
were from thens dogged to London, and there (notwzt>-
stonding many wyles and cauteles by them invented to
escape) were taken and deteyned till my cuwmyng home. So

1 sic.

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 361

as vppon my anyuayle here I called them before me and
vppon examynacion of them coulde gather nothing of anye
momente or grete importaunce, but entring into ferther
co7munycaab;z founde the one of them a veray sedycious
person, and so cowmytted them vnto warde where they now
do remayne till your gracious pleasure knowen. Ymmedy-
atelie afterwards repayred vnto me the warden of the grey
Freres of Grenewich who semeth veray desirous to haue the
punycyon of the saide two Freres, being named Hugh Payne
and Cornelius, and made grete intercession vnto me to haue
them delyu^red vnto him, Shewing unto me ferther that the
mynyster and generall Cowmyssarie of this prouynce of
Englonde had made out certeyne cowmaundements vnto
the said Freers willing them by vertue of obedience to
repayre vnto him to Rychemont to thintent they wold
haue the correction of them accordinglie. Which co;;z-
maundement^ being conteyned in certen mynutes of paper
I haue sent to your grace herein closed. It semeth assuredlie
that the saide mynyster is a right honest and discrete person
and Fayne wolde haue prevented and taken the saide Freers
if he had coulde by any meanes, Beseching yotir grace tha[t]
I may knowe your gracious pleasure Whether I shall kepe
and de[t]eyne them in warde and bring them wM me at my
repayree to the courte, or Whether your grace will haue them
sent ywmedyatelie to any other place or what other direction
to be taken therein as shall and may stonde \vM your high
pleasure. It is vndoubted that they haue intended and wolde
confesse sum grete matier if they might be examyned as they
ought to be that is to sey by paynes, for I perceyue the saide
Hugh Payne to be a subtile Felowe and moche gyuen to
sedycyon.

I haue also eftesones sent vnto my lorde of Caunterbury
according to your graczous co;;zmaundement touching the
dissymuled holynes and supersticious demeanures of the
Ipocryte Nunne, And haue declared your gracious pleasure
vnto the Staple whom in maner I do Fynde agreable
to all things according to your graces demaunde sauyng
onelie they as yet requyre lenger dayes for the payment
of the some of x m 1 pounds by them now graunted, and
also fermely requyre that your highnes will graunt them
their house for a reasonable somme of money yerelie, which
I do stycke vrtt/i them in. and as to morowe they will gyve
me a resolute answer in the hole.

And thus I shall daylie pray vnto almightie god for the

1 i.e. 10,000.

MERRIMAN. i~] B Q

362 LETTERS OF [1533

prosperous conseruacion of your royall maiestee in long lif
and good helth felyciouslie to indure. at London the xxiii day
of Julie. Your highnes most humble subiectte and seruaunt

THOMAS CRUMWELL.
Add. To the kmges royall maiestee.

53. (CROMWELL) TO AUDELEY.

R. O. Cal. vi. 894. July 26 (1533).

Desires him to permit the annuity of 20 which has just been granted to
Stephen Vaughan to bear date from a year ago this summer, as there
was already 20 due to Vaughan for one year s service.

Right honourable syr after myn^ hartie commendaczbns.
So it is that the king^ hieghnes hathe lately graunted Vnto
a seruant of his named Stephen Vaughan a certeyne annuytie
of xx li by yere to be paide from the faste of the natyuytie of
saynt John Baptiste now last passed Vnto the whiche
Stephen by cause there is owyng by the kynges hieghnes
xx li for one yeres seruyce ended at Mydsomer now laste
paste, therefore is it that by cause he hathe no waise to
demaunde it of maister Tuke by patent or other sufficient
warrant from his hieghnes. he hathe desyred me who vn-
doubtidly do know that his pleasure is that he shulde be
payde the sayde xx li. to Requyre yow that when his annuytie
commythe to the greate scale your pleasure maye be to suffer
it to bere date from Mydsomer Was a yere and that he maye
by force therof be payde the yere now passed. And doubte ye
not thus to do. for the king^ pleasure is he shulde be paide the
xx li due for the yere passed. And I shall alwayse warrant
yow to be sufficiently discharged and to be blameles for so
doyng. The saide Stephen had obteyned the king^ warrant for
the same, oneles his highnes had now sent hym into Germany
for thexpedicion of certeyn his affayres there. And thus the
holy trynytie pr^serue your lordeship in long lyfe goode healthe
and much honour, from London the xxvi daye of July e.

Add. To the right honourable Sir Thomas Audley knyght
lord chancelloz/r.

54. (CROMWELL) TO THE ABBOT OF WOBURN.

R. O. Cal. vi. 778. (July, 1533.)

Requests him not to maltreat the Abbot of Vawdy in Lincolnshire ; has
heard he intends to depose him. Desires him to cause Davys Edward,
the monk of Vawdy, to amend his ways.

My lord after my duetie remewbred, soo it is that I am
credibly enformed how that ye beryng inwarde grudge

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 363

disples?/;v to my welbeloued Frend th Abbot of Vavvdy entende
studie & goo aboutes by sinistre meanes to depose hyme from
his abbacye for the pr^mocion therunto of oon of your awne
monkes being the cellerer of your house. My lord I pray you
vse yo2tr selffe vnto my saide frende as accordeth to yo?/r
religion, For I knowe certainly that he is a good religious man,
And that his house wiche was in gret debt at the tyme of his
promotion, is nowe by his good policie reduced to good
& welthy state and condiczon aswell in catoll as in corne
furnisshed with other requisite & necessaries. Wherfor my
lord my trust ys that ye wol circumspectly loke therupon
baring yottr good & lawfull fauo//r unto hyme, like as good
charitie requireth. And the rather at my disire & request
ascertaynyng you that I haue at this tyme writen my sem-
blable k/teres in the fauow of my said frend vnto thabbot
of fountayns not doubtyng but that he at my requisiczbn wol
lovingly vse and intreate my said frend in all his busuynes.
And wher as ye haue vsit/i you a monk of the said house
of Vawdy oon Dauys Edward Clerke, wiche ye knowe well
haith gretely mysordred hymselff. I trust that ye woll
instructe hyme soo fruteffully that he shall not nede to be
further reconsiled to amend his lyvynge Wherby ye shall
doo averay good & charitable dede as knoeth god who kepe
yow

Add. To thabbot of Woborn

Endd. a letters for the abbot of Woborne

55. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1064. Sept. i (1533).

The King is displeased at Lisle s desire for new arrangements for the
restraynyng of Corne. Lisle should not take every man s or his
own wife s advice concerning things pertaining to his office.

After my right harty recommendation vnto your good
lordship This shalbe to adu^rtise the same that I have
resceyved your letteres wherein ye and the Mayer of Calays
do desire to have newe provisions concernyng the restraynyng
of Corne otherwise then hathe byn vsyd yn tymes past.
I ensure your lordship the kinges highnes is not a litle
displeased withe that your desire, but supposith your besynes
to be veray small that will in any wise ymportune his highnes
withe any soche matters Sayeng that before this tyme the
Towne and marches of Calays hathe ben well maynteynyd
and prospered wzt^out any soche newe devises. And I assure
your lordship as your frynd to my power that I have great

B b 2

364 LETTERS OF [1533

m^rvayll that ye will so sone enclyne to euery mannys devise
and .... specially in matiers of small ympor[t] ... ye and
. . . reportyd . . . nite me on ... causes as me semythe . . .
nothyng . . . ne gentilwymen, for although my lady be right
honourable and wise yet yn soche causes as longithe to
yoz/r auctoritie her advise and discresion can litle prevayle.
Wherfore I pray your lordship to consider the same, and
to ymportune the king^ highnes wzt/z none other matiers
then of necessite ye ought to do. And thus the blessed
Trynyte preserue you. At london the first day of
September.

Your lordshyppis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good lord my lord Vicount Lisley the
kingly deputie at Calays be thus youen.

56. CROMWELL TO THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR.

Huth Library; Cal. vi. 1128. Sept. 15 (1533)-

Reports the arrival of Danish and Norwegian ambassadors at the Court
of the Queen Regent of the Netherlands to conclude an alliance.

Monsieur lambassadez/r Le Roy mon maistre a este aduerty
par son agent estant en Flandres. Que puisnagueres les
ambassadeurs de Danemarche Norwege & Hoist au nom du
conseil et Royaulme de Danemarche, sont arriuez a la court
de la Royne douagiere de hungz erye regent deflandres auec
le nombre de xxxii p^rsonnes ou enuiron et co;/zme son dit
agent peult entendre avecques plain et suffisant pouuoir et
auctorite A conclure et affermer vne bonne allyance et paix
auecques Tempere^r et tons ses pais & dominions tant defen-
siue que offensiue, Aussy autant qu il peult entendre LadzY<?
Royne & son conseil sont determynez a traiter et conclure
auecques lesdits ambassadeurs auecques telle condition que
quiconques sera eleu Roy par dela (1 election duquel est
encore prolongee & differee pour 1 espace dung an) II Jurera
ratifiera & confermera la^ te allyance & Traycte de Paix.
Desquelles choses le Roy mon dit Mazstre ma commands vous
aduertir affin que en c^^uenient diligence vous en vuelles
rescripre au Roy Tres chrestten vostre maistre et Ladviser
quil seroit bon de penser sur cest affaire et essayer sil Luy
semble expedient a estoupper leurs propoz et aultreme^t y
po&rveoir ainsi quil Luy semblera conuenable. A tant Mon
sieur Lambassade&r apres mestre affect ueuseme/zt

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 365

mande a vous je prie nostre seigneur quil vous ait en sa
tressaincte & digne garde. Escript a Stepney le xv jour de
Septembre

Wtf/re entier et parfaict amy

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. a monsieur Lambassadewr du Roy Treschr^j/ien
a Londres

Endd. de M r . Craumeuelle

57. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1141. Sept. 21 (1533).

Requests him to permit the executors of Robert Baynham freely to
administer his testament, notwithstanding his former letters to the
contrary.

Aftre my right harty Commendaczons to your lordshipp
Whereas heretofore I addressed my \etteres vnto your lordshipp
at the sute of my seruaunt Bartholomew Bayneham concernyng
the steye of such good^ as lately apperteyned to his Father
Robert Baynam of Calaish vntil suche tyme as ye harde
Further of my mynde in that behaulf. These shalbe most
hertely to desyer and praye youe the rather at the contem-
placzon hereof to suffre thexecuto?/rs of his sayd Father Robert
Baynam to execute and mynistre according to the meanyng
of the Testament and last wyll of his sayd Father in as ample
wise as heretofore they haue doon my sayd former \etterzs
notwithstanding. And being enformed of your goodnes and
also of my lad^ of late shewed vnto my sayd seruaunt
p^rtely as I take yt for my sake I thanke you most hertely
for the same and though my lady for her parte might haue
been better before yet I requyre you bothe for my sake ye
nowe to contynewe the goodnes which youe doo presently
extende Vnto him. Wherein ye shall admynystre Vnto me
Veray acceptable pleasur. And thus Fare you hertely well
From Stepney the xxi th day of Septembre

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my Veray good lorde my lorde the Viconte Lisle
Deputie of the king^ Towne of Calaysh and Marches of
the same.

366 LETTERS OF [1533

58. CROMWELL TO RICHARD AND WILLIAM HAYBOURNE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1332. Oct. 24 (1533).

The Lord Chancellor and Cromwell will sit on the dispute between them
and Elizabeth Colcoke the Friday after All Hallowday.

I commend me vnto you. Advertising you that it is fully
determynyd betwixt my lord Chaunceler and me that we will
sitt vpon the mater in variaunce betwixt E/zzabeth Colcoke
widowe and you the Friday after Alhallow day. Wherfore
I requyre you in any wise to be here the day before that
ye may be redy for that purpose and that ye in no wise faill
so to do. vpon your peryll. And thus fare ye well. At
"london the xxiiii th day of October.

Yoz/r Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my frynd^ Richard Haybourne and William
Haybo&rne be this youen.

59. (CROMWELL) TO THE ABBOTS OF FOUNTAINS AND

BYLAND.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1408. Nov. 8 {1533).

Is surprised that they have not yet elected a new Abbot of Rievaulx as
the King wished. Advises them to delay no longer.

After my full hertie maner I recommende me vnto you.
And where as it hathe pleased the kinges highnes to directe
his moste gracious letters vnto you nowe at this presents
tyme for the elecczon of a newe Abbote of Ryvaulx wherein
his grace hathe bene adu^rtised ye haue not heretofore inde-
vored youreselfoy to thaccomplishemente of the same according
to his said letterzs and co;;zmaundemente (whereof I m^rvaile
not a little) that ye wold incurre his high displeasure for the
none executing of the same, therefore I hertely requyre you
and neu^rthelesse doo advise you in exchewing of further
Inconvenyenotf and displeasures that maye thereby ensue
(all affeccions sette aparte) ye doo accomplishe the said
elecczon according to the tenoz/r and purporte of his moste
gracious \etteres directyd vnto you and to the Convente of the
same monastary in that behalf. And thereby ye shall not
oonly desmie the k mges moste graaous thanks, but alsoo
haue me to doo for you in all your good causes the beste I can.
As knowethe our Lorde who kepe you. Written at London
the viii th daye of Nouembre.

Add. To the right honourable in god my Lorde Abbote
of Funtaunce and Bylande and to either of theym.

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 367

60. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1413. Nov. II (1533).

Has heard of the trouble that has arisen owing to the blow the knight
porter has given to a lewde Felowe. Thinks that there is no cause
why the knight porter should be molested for his action.

My lorde after my right hertie cowmendacions I haue
receyued your lordeshippes letteres And haue prrceyued by
the same what contencion is arrysen there by meanes of
a lewde Felowe for a stroke yeven vnto him by Sir Cristofer
Garnysshe the knight porter, Which matier hath ben debated
here by the king^ counsaile who pmreyuing the saide stroke
was yeven but onelie for correction and for none entente to
breke any law statute or ordenaunce of that towne of Calays,
do thinke the same but a veray light matier to make any suche
busynes of and no cause why the saide Sir Cristofer should
be put to any molestacion for the same. Wherefore your
lordeship may let it passe and wey it as it is And so our
lorde pr^serue your lordeship in long lif and helth vfitk moche
honour At London the xi day of Nouember.

[I] do also hertelie thanke your lordsship for yotir grete
chere made to my s^ruaunte [Willjyam Johnson and to this
gentilman straungier for whom I do wryte vnto your lordeship
at this tyme by myn other letteres. And for all other your
lordshippes gentilnes I do most hertelie thanke you trusting
if I lyue to requyte the same if I can.

Your lordshyppis assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right honourable and his singuler good
lorde the lorde vicount Lisle deputie to the k mges highnes
of his towne and marcheis of Calays.

Endd. M. Crowwell the xi th of novewbr

61. CROMWELL TO THE ABBOT OF NETLEY.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1502. Dec. 6 (1533).

Desires him to grant his friend John Cooke a new lease for sixty years of
Roydon farm near Southampton, as it lies by the sea and is con
venient for Cooke in his office of the Admiralty there.

In my right hartie maner I cowmende me vnto your good
lordship. And where as my frynd John Cooke the king^f graces
seruaunt berer herof hath and holdeth a Ferme of yours
calltd Roydon by lesse wherof the yeres in the same be
almost expyred And forasmoche as your said ferme lieth

368 LETTERS OF [1533

nygh the see syde necessaryly for my saide frynd to serue the
kinges highnes in his office of the admyraltie in those parties
I hartely desyre you at the contemplacion of thies my letters
that ye will graunte vnto the saide John Coke a newe lesse
of the saide ferine vnder your Conventuall Scale for terme of
Ix yeres paying vnto you and your Successours the accus-
tumable rent therof. And for your towardnes herin I shalbe
glad to requyte the same to your good contentacion And
farther I perceyve by the reporte of the same Cooke that ye
have shewed vnto hym and other that hathe byn wz tA hym to
do the k mges highnes seruice at the See muche Jentylnes and
lib^ralitie, for the whiche ye have deserved the king^r right
harty thankij. And therfore I for my parte hartylye thanke
you And of your conformable mynde herin I pray you to
adu^rtise me in wrytyng by this berer. And thus fare ye
hartylye welle. At london the vi th day of December.

Your lordshyppis Freend.

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the reu^rend father in god the Abbot of letley 1
be this youen.

62. CROMWELL TO (THE OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS).

R. O. Cal. vi. 1625 (iii). (1533.)

The King wishes Robert Bonvell, merchant of Paris, to come to England
with certain jewels, of which he desires a special account to be kept,
for the payment of the duty.

In my Right harty manner I Commend me vnto you
Adu^rtis[ing] the Same that the kinges pleasure is that
Robert Bonvell merchaunt of parys sholde Repayre into this
Royalme Towards his highnes with c^rteyn Juelks wherfore
his speciall Cowmaundment is that ye seing the same Jewells
do make Therof a Specyall note by bylles Indentyd betwyxt
you and the Seid m<?rchaunt mensyonyng Query p^rcell therof
and what the Custom therof maye Amounte vnto, not chargyng
hym For any Custom or other Charge due vnto his highnes
For the same for hys graces pleasure ys that if he do sell any
wit/tin, this Royalm that he shall therfore paye Custom as
Reason is and for that he Cannot Sell here to carry A waye
wtt/i hym A gayne witftoute payeng therfore any Custom or
other dutes Wherfore I requyre you takyng Surety in case
he do make Sale to paye the Custom accordyngly That ye do
p<?rmytt & Suffer the same m^rch#unt wz t/z the Same

1 j/V, see Notes.

I 533] THOMAS CROMWELL 369

to discharge And vnlade the Same Accordyng to the
Effects hereof
The coppy of Mr. Crumwell^r letters Sygned wz[t//] hys hand.

63. DRAFTS OF PORTIONS OF CROMWELL S LETTERS.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1625 (i). (1533.)

Thanks the recipient for sending news. Has presented his letters to the
Duke of Norfolk as he desired.

After most hertye Salutacyons this shalbe (to) thanke yow
of your exceding louyng kyndnes shewyd in the dylygent
wryting to me of your newse and according to your request
I presentyd your letteres vnto my lorde of Norffolk^j grace
who I assure yow ys singuler good lorde vnto yow and
wher ye wryt in your Fyrst k/teres . . .

Memorandum concerning the resignation of the chantry of Barking
Church, in Essex.

M d that maister Kendall Chauntrye preeste of the Chauntrye
Foundyd in Barkyng Churche may optayne my lorde of
londons Fauour (in) the resignacyon of the sayd Chauntrye
vnto Sir William Cowplaunde my freind.

End of a letter, urging care and perseverance in reporting important
matters, and promising favour.

. . . thus Fare ye hertelye well trusting that ye will perseuere
as ye haue bego;m I meane so Freindlye and secretlye as thes
things that shall passe betwene vs may be pr^ffytable to vs
bothe so that your wryting matyers of grauytie & Importaunce
wherin maye be persayued good will myxyd wtt/i wisdom and
trowthe I then l may haue Corage as an entyre frende 2 to
prosecute For your forderaunce & aduauncement with recu-
peracyon of that which I am sure ye most desyre which as
I shall See opportunyte I will not undowtydlye forget and
ons agayn Fare well 3 daylye lokyng For answer

64. (CROMWELL) TO CHRISTOPHER MONT.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1374. (1533.)

Encloses two letters from the King to the Dukes of Bavaria and Land
grave of Hesse, with copies. Urges Mont to discover the state of
feeling in the Empire. Sends a bill of exchange for

Felowe Cristofer I cowmende me vnto you And albeit
sythen your departure ye haue not receyued any letteres or
instructions from the kinges maiestee concerning the execucion

1 c. o. be the bolder, must ned&r 2 c. 0. the more boldlye
be cowpellyd 3 c. o. praying

370 LETTERS OF [1533

of suche his gracious affayrees as his highnes incow/mended
to you at your departure Yet thinke ye not that your Indus
trie labour travayle and diligence Vsed aswell in the setting
fourth of his graces busynes, Whereof ye were sufficiently
instructed at your saide departure as also in your diligent
wrytyng often and Frequent aduertisementey is put in any
oblyuyon or forgotten But for the same his maiestee hathe
cowmaunded me to gyve vnto you his grac^r right hertie
thanks. And in this packet ye shall receyue two L^/^res
addressed from the kinges maiestee vnto the Dukes of Bauarie
and the Landegraue van Hesse, which his highnes willeth you
to delyuer accordingly, the copies of whiche L?/teres (to
th intent ye shalbe the more rype to answer if any thing
shalbe obiected to you by the saide prynce) I haue sent you
hereinclosed. Not doubting in your dexterytee good polycie
and wisedom to propone and set fourth the effects of the
same, as shall apperteyne. And forasmoche as here hathe
ben the Secretarye of the duke of Bauarie who is named
Mr. Hubertus Thomas by whom the klnges highnes hathe
knowen and perceyued moche of the mynde and intent of the
same Duke, ye shall not moche nede to travayle or enbusie
yourself to procure answer other then of their owne mocyons
they shall declare vnto you, But contynuallie indeauo&r
your self vritk all diligent Circumspection to explore enserche
and knowe the state of the hole countrey of Germany and of
their myndes intents and inclynacions towards the k mges
highnes and this realme. And that also ye do by all the
good meanes and polycies that ye can explore and enserche
to knowe the myndes and intents of the prynce of Germany
and of the Germaynes how they be inclyned aswell towards
themperoz/r as the king of Romaynes. Being contynuallie
vigilant and diligent in wryting to the kyng^ maiestee of
all thinges and occurrauntey then according to his gracious
trust and expectacion And because I wolde not haue you
to lacke money ye shall receyue herewzt# a bill of exchange
for the some of xxx li.

Endd. A copy of a letters to Cristofer Mount.

65. (CROMWELL) TO HENRY VIII.

R. O. Cal. vi. 1369. (1533.)

Sends news about the Nun, and proposes to apprehend two friars who
have come into the realm with mischievous intent. Sends a receipt
for 24,000 cr., the residue of the Emperor s debt, for the King to sign.

Pleasythit your Royall magestye to be adu^rtysyd how
that reparyng horn warder oone of my lorde chauncelers

1533] THOMAS CROMWELL 371

seruaunttes met wM me and delyumd me your warrauntt^
Signyd wM the hande of the prynces dowager which warrauntt
I do send to yoz/r grace herin Inclosyd what your plesure
shalbe to haue done therin being ons known I shall right
gladlye accowplyshe I haue also Sythyn my repayre to
london spokyn \vitk Freer Lawraunce who hathe Sethens his
Repayre to london herde dyuers things touching the holye
mayde which he wyll declare to yowr hygnes and to non other
and he Shewyth me also that that 1 therbe ij strange Freersof
the order of obseruanttes latelye repayryd into this Realm e
which ij Freers haue exploryd here For all suche bokes
centencys and determynacyons as hathe passyd touching
your hygnes Matrymonye, which they Intend with other
pryvey practysys to Convey \vit/i them, to Freer Petow who as
I am Credyblye Informyd Sent them into this your Realme 2
the sayd ij Freers as I am acertaynyd haue browght vrttfc
them pryuy letters to dyuers and now bene gone to the
sayd 3 dowager, in my poore oppynyon it shalbe right well done
that thaye might be sent For by Som*? trustye person howbeit
yt were best that theye Fyrste sholde be sufferyd to speke
wzt/z her and suche other of hers as woolde p^raduenture
delyuer to them anything wherby theyr Ferther practysys
myght be p^rsayuyd and so thayr Cankeryd Intentter myght
be therbye dyscyfferyd. I am also Infformyd that there ys
A merchant of london whiche dothe practyse wit/i them in
thes premysses I shall goo veray nere to haue knowlage
therein yf it be trew he ys worthye to Suffer to make other
beware in tyme he ys of good Substaunce. I wooll thys daye
goo abowt to know the trowthe, thes things woold be met
wit/i all in tyme and the sonner the better. I trust your
highnes wyll by this berer adu^rtyse me in wrytyng what
shalbe your plesure touching as well the sayd Falls Freers
as also towching of the sayd dowager s warranter. I haue
also Sent to your grace on^ acquytance to be assigned for
the xxiiij** thousande Crowns dew to your highnes for the
resedew of the emperowrs dett and also A warrant to your
chanceler For the Sealyng of the same which warrantt and
acquytazmce it may please your magestye to assigne and to
send the same by this berer to the Intent Robert Fowler may
be depechyd. The rest of the acquy townees for your ordynarye
pencyon and Sale ben allredye Signed and Sealyd. and this
the Hollye trynyte to whom I shall contenewallye praye to
pfrserue your highnes in long lyff and most prosperous helthe
i

sic.

c. o. I trust to get owt the Roote of his practyse

5 c. o. prynces

372 LETTERS OF [1534

and send the same the vyctorye with honour over all your
Enemyes.

Endd. ij mynutey of my Masters letters with my lord
chancelo&rs.

66. CROMWELL TO <CRANMER>.

B. M. Harl. MSS. 6148, f. 81 ; Cal. vii. 19. Jan. 5 (1534)-

The King desires Cranmer to send to him Mr. Heath, whom his highness
wishes to employ as ambassador to the German princes.

By master Crumwell

After my moste humble cowmendaczons yt may please
your grace to be aduertised that the kynges highnes hath
comanded me to write vnto your grace Requiryng the same
with all coweniente celeritie to send vp hither Mr. heth,
whome for his Lerning, good gravitie and circu;^spect[i]on
the kyng^ highnes entendeth to send into the parties of
Garmany in Ambassade to treate ther with the prince of
Germany, as well in the kynges great cause of Matrymony As
in other causes p^rteynyng to the Welth of this Realme And
forasmoche as your grace knoweth the grounde, veray iustnes,
and equitie of the kyng^y said cause, his Highnes requereth
you to instructe the said Mr Hethe in the same as he may be
Ryppe and perfite in the knowlege of the nolle circumstaunc^j
of the same And that for lake of inst[r]uctzon when tyme shall
com to propone the matier it Appere not hym to be vnp^rfaite
and remysse to do suche s^ruice v;zto the kynges Maiestie in
that behalf as shalbe to his gracious truste and expectaczbn
which his highnes nothyng at all doubtith. Howbeit your
graces adu^rtisement and good instruction arrected vnto the
said Maister Heth shall vndoubtedly make hym more rype
and perfite in the premisses to do that thing that may be
moche to your honour, his prayse and merite As knoweth our
Lorde, who send your grace Long Lyf and good helth at
London the v. daye of January.

The kynges highnes also intendeth to practise certeyn
ihynges in the said parties of Germany, concernyng the
Auctoryte of the Bisshop of Rome.

Your gracys Bedisman

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 373

67. (CROMWELL) TO HENRY VIII.

R. O. Cal. vii. 73. January (1534).

Reports the passage in the Commons of the Act forbidding any man to
keep more than 2000 sheep, and requiring every farmer to put one-
eighth of his land in tillage. If the Bill passes the Lords also it will
be the most beneficial thing done sythyn Brewtyse tyme.

Pleasythyt your most Royall Mageste to be adu^rtysyd
how that according to your most highe pleasure and com-
maundeme;/t I haue made serche for suche patently and
grauntys as your highnes and also the most Famous kyng
your father whos Sowle our lorde pardon haue grauntyd
vnto sir Rychard Weston knyght your vndertesawrer of
your exchequer and the same haue sent to your highnes herin
closyd yt may also please your most Royall Mageste to
knowe how that yesterdaye ther passyd your Commons a byll
that no person within this your Realme shall herafter kepe
and Noryshe aboue the Nombre of twoo thousand shepe and
also that the eight parte of eu^rye mans lande being a Fer-
mour shall for euer herafter be put in tyllage yerlye which
byll yf by the gret wysdom vertuew goodnes and zerale *
that your highnes beryth towards this your Realme might
haue good Successe and take good effect Amongyst your lord^j
aboue I doo Coniecture and Suppose in my pore Symple and
vnworthye Judgement that your highnes shall do the most
noble proffyttable and most benefycyall thing that euer was
done to the Cowmone welthe of this your Realme and shall
therby Increase suche welthe in the same amongyst the gret
Nombre & multytude for your most louyng and obedye[nt]
Subiectys as neu^r was Seane in this Realme Sythen Brewtyse
tyme most humblye prostrate at the Fete of your Magnify-
cence beseche your highnes to pardon my boldnes (in) this
wry tyng to your grace which onlye pr^cedythe for the trowthe
dewtye allegaunce and loue I doo bere to your mageste and
the Common welth of this your Realme as our lorde knowyth
vnto whom I shall as I am most bounden Incessantly e praye
for the contenewans & p?^sperous cons^ruacyon of your most
excellent most Royall and Imperyall estate long to Indure

68. (CROMWELL) TO (FISHER).

B. M. Cleop. E. iv, f. 101 ; Cal. vii. 238. (Feb. 1534.)
Reproves him at length for his communications with the Nun of Kent,
and replies to seven reasons given by Fisher for not reporting her
revelations to the King. Advises him to lay aside excuses, and beg
the King s mercy.

My lorde in my right hertie wise I cowmende me to your
lordship doing you to vnderstand that I haue receyued your

1 sic.

\ r i
^ fjBRARY U

vv /py

374 LETTERS OF [1534

\ettetes dated at Rochester the xviij th of this moneth. In
whiche ye declare what craft and cunnyng ye haue to persuade
and to set a good countenaunce vpon an yl mater. Drawing
som scripture to your purpose whiche wel weyed acording
to the placer whereof they be taken, make not so muche for
your purpose as ye allege thaim for. And where in the first
lefe of your letters ye write that ye doubt nothing neither
before god, nor befor the worlde if nede shal that require :
so to declare yourself, whatsoeuer hath been said of you.
that ye haue not deserued suche hevy word^j or terrible
threte.y as hath been sent from me vnto you by your
brother 1 .

How ye can declare your self affore god and the world
when nede shal require I can not tell, but I think verely that
your declaration made by thes \etteres is far insufficient to
prove that ye haue deserued no hevy word^j in this behalf
and to sey playnly I sent you no hevy word^ but wordes
of great comfort wylling your brother to shewe you how
benigne and merciful the prince was. And that I thoug[ht]
it expedient for you to write vnto his highnes and to recognise
your offence and desire his pardon, whiche his grace wold not
denye you now in your aige and sikkenes. Whiche my
counsel I wold ye had folowed, rather than to haue writen
thes k/teres to me excusing your self as thoughe there were
no maner of defaute in you. But my lord if it were in an
other mannys caas than your owne and out of the mater
whiche ye fauor I doubt not but that ye wold think him that
shuld haue doen as ye have doen non only worthy hevy
\vordes but also hevy dedys. For where ye labor to excuse
your self of your hering believing and conceling of the numiys
fals and faynid reuelations, and of your manyfold sending of
your chapley[n] vnto her, by a certey;* intent whiche ye
pretende yourself to haue had, to knowe by cowmonyng
wM her or by sending your chapellaine to her, whether her
reuelations were of god or no. alleging diu^rse scriptures, that
ye were bound to pr^ve thaim, and not to reiecte thaim affore
they were pr^ued My Lord whether ye haue vsed a due
meane to trie her and her reuelations, or no. It appereth by
the pr*?cesse of your owne \etteres. For where ye write that ye
had conceyuid a greate opinion of the holines of the woman
for many considerations rehersed in your letteres comprised in
vi articles, whereof the first is grownde vpon the brute and
fame of her, the secunde vpon her entreng into religion after
her trauns^y and disfiguration, the third vpon rehersall that

1 <:. o. a marginal comment as follows : I began to marke the notable
poiuctes of his letteres

3534] THOMAS CROMWELL 375

her gostly father being lerned and religious shuld testifie that
she was a maide of greate holmes. The fourth vpon the
report that diuerse other vertuose presto me of good lernyng
and reputation, shuld so testifie of her, with whiche gostly
father and preestes ye never spake as ye confesse in your
letters. The fyveth vpon the prayse of my late lord of
Canter&ury, which shewed you (as ye write) that she had
many greate visions the sixt vpon this saing of the pr<?phete
Amos, Non faciet dominus deus verbum, nisi reuelauerit
secretuw suum ad seruos suos pr^phetas by whiche con
siderations ye were induced to the desire to know the very
certente of this mater, whether the reuelations whiche were
pretended to be shewed to her from god were true reuelations
or nott ? your lordship in al the sewgle 1 of your \etferes shewe
not that ye made no ferther trial vpo[n] the trueth of her and
her reuelation, but only in cowmonyng with her and sending
your chapellaine to her, with Idle questions as of the thre
mary magdalens. by whiche your co?;zmony[ng] and sending,
ye tried out nothing of her falshed, nouther (as it is credibly
supposed) entended to do, as ye myght haue doen many
weyes more easely than with coramonyng with her or sending
to her ; for litel credens was to be gyven to her affirmyng her
owne fayned reuelations to be from god.

For if credence shuld be gyven to Query suche lewd person
as wold affirme himself to haue reuelations from god what
redyer wey were there to subuert al common we[l]thes and
good orders in the worlde.

Verily my lord if ye had entended to trie out the trueth of
her and of her reuelations ye wold haue taken an other wey
with you, first ye wold not haue been contented with the
vayne voyces of the peple making brutes of her traunses
& disfiguration But like a wise discrete and circumspect
palate ye shuld haue examined (as other haue) suche sad
and credible persons as were present att her traunses &
disfigurations, not one or two, but a good number by whoes
testimony ye shuld haue pr^ued whether the brutes of her
trauncs and disfigurations were true or not And likewise
ye shuld haue tried by what craft and persuasion she was
made a religious woman. And if ye had been so desirous as
ye pretende to enquire out the trueth or falshed of this woman
and of her reuelations, it is to be supposed ye wold haue
spoken with her good religious and wel lerned gostly father
(as ye cal him) or this tyme : and also with the vertuose, and
wel lerned preestej (as they were estemed) of whoes reaportej

1 sic.

376 LETTERS OF [1534

ye were informed by thaim whiche herd thaim speke 1 ye
wold also haue been mynded to se the booke of her revelations
whiche was offerd you. of whiche ye myght haue had more
trial of her and of her reuelations, than a hundred communi
cations wM her, or of as many sendings of your chapellen
vnto her. As for the late lord of Cauntreburys seying vnto
you that she had many greate visions, it ought to move you
never a deale to gyve credence vnto her or her reuelations,
For the said lord knew no more certente of her or of her
reuelations than ye dyd by her owne reaport. And as
towching the saing of Amos the prophete, I thinke veryly
the same moved you but a litell to herkyn vnto her, for sythe
the consummation and thende of thold testament and sythens
the passion of Christ god hathe doen many greate and notable
things in the worl[d]e, whereof he shewed no thing to his
prophetes that hath cowmen to the knowlege of men. My
lord all thes thinges moved you not to gyve credence vnto
her, but only the very mater whereupon she made her fals
pr^ficyes to whiche mater ye were so affected (as ye be noted
to be on al maters whiche ye enter ons into) that nothing
could com amysse that made for that purpose

And here I appelle your conscience and instantly desire
you to aunswer. Whether if she had shewed you as many
reuelationsf or the confirmation of the kingly graces marriage
whiche he now enjoy eth as she did to the contrary, ye wold
haue gyven as muche credence to her as ye haue doen, and
wold haue let the trial of her and of her reuelations to ouer-
passe thes many yere^, where ye dwelt not from her but
xx mylys, in the same shire, where her traunses and dis
figuring^ and pr^phecyes in her traunses were surmised and
countrefeyd. And if p^rcaas ye wol sey (as it (is) not
vnlike but ye wol sey mynded as ye were wont to be) that
the maters be not like, for the Law of god in your opinion
standeth with the one and not wM thother. Suerly my lord
I suppose this had been no greate cause more to reiect the
one than thother for ye know by histories of the bible that
god may by his reuelation dispense wztn his owne Law, as
-with the 2 Israelites spoyling the egiptians and wzt/z Jacob to
haue iiij wifes, and suche other 3 .

Think you my lord that any indifferent man considering
the qualite of the mater and your affeccion, and also the
negligent passing over of suche lawful triall^y as ye myght

1 c. o. -with whom ye never spake soeu^r ye sey or write for yourself,
as in your lettres [ye say] the begynning of yo^r letters for

2 c. o. Egiptians your . . . g
J c. o. And suerly my lord what

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 377

haue had of the said nunne and her reuelations, is so dull,
that can not perceyue and discerne. that your commonyng
and often sending to the said nun was rather to here and
know more of her reuelations, than to trie out the trueth or
falshed of thes same And in this behalf I suppose it wol be
hard for you to purge yoz/rself bifore god or the worle, but
that ye haue been in greate defaut hering beleuyng and con-
celing suche things as tended to the destruction of the prince
And that her reuelations wen? bent and purposed to that
ende . it hathe been duely pr<?ued, affore as greate assembly
and counsel of the lordes of this realme as hath been seen
many yeres heretofore out of a parliament. And what the
said lordes demed thaim worthy to suffer, whiche had beleued
and conceled thees fals reuelations be more terrible than any
thretej spoken by me to your brother

And where ye go abought to defende that ye be not to be
blamed for conceling her reuelations co;/cernyng the kinges
grace, bicause ye thought it not necessary to reherse thaim
to his highnes. for vij causes folowing in your le^eres affore
I shewe you my mynde concernyng thees causes, I suppose
that albeit ye percaas thought it not necessary to be shewed
to the prince by you . yet that your thinking shal not be
your triall, but the Law must diffine whether ye owghted to
vtter it or not.

And as to the first of said vii causes. Albeit 1 she told
youe that she had shewed her reuelations concernyng the
kinges grace to the king herself, yet her seyng or others dis
charged not you but that ye were bound by your fidelite to
shewe to the kinges grace . that thing whiche semed to con-
cerne his grace and his reigne so nyghly . for how knew you
that she 2 shewed thes reuelations to the k mges grace but by her
owne seyng, to whiche ye shuld haue gyven no suche credence
as to forebere the utterance of so greate maters concernyng
a kir\ges welth And why shuld you so sinisterly iudge the
prince that if ye had shewed thees same vnto him, he wold
haue thought that ye had brought that tale vnto him more
for the strenghing and confirmation of your opinion then for
any other thing els. Veryly my lord what so euer your
Judgement bee . I se dayly suche benignite and excellent
.humanite in his grace that I doubt not but his highnes . wold
haue accepted it in good part if ye had shewed the same reuela
tions vnto him as ye were bounden to do by your fidelite.

To the secunde cause. Albeit she shewed you not that
any prince or other temporal lord shuld put the kinges grace

1 c. <?. it was told or els 3 c. o. or any other

MERRIMAN. I C C

378 LETTERS OF [1534

in dainger of his crowne yet there were weyes Inoughe, by
whiche her said reuelations myght haue put the kinges grace
in dainger, as the foresaid counsel of lordly . haue substan-
cially and duely considered And therefor Albeit she shewed
you not the meanes whereby the dayng^r shuld ensue to the
kinges [grace] yet . ye were neverthelesse bounden to shevve
him of the dainger.

To the third. Think you my lord, that if any person wold
com vnto you and shewe youe that the kinges destruction
were conspired against a certen tyme, and wold ferther shewe
you, that he were sent from his maist^r to shewe the same to
the king and wol sey ferther vnto ,[you] that he wold go
streyct to the king, were it not yet your duety to certifie the
king^r grace of the relation, but also to inquire whether the said
person had doen his foresaid messaige or no, yes verely. And
so were ye bound, thoughe the nu?me shewed youe, it was her
messaige from god to be declared by her to the king^ grace.

To the iiii th here ye translate the temporal duety that ye
owe to your prince, to the spiritual duety of suche as be
bounde to declare the worde of god to the peple, and to shewe
vnto them the pmll and punissheme^t of syn in an other
worlde, the co7/celeme?/t whereof p^rteyneth to the Judgement
of god, but the co^celeme^t of this mater p^rteyneth to other
iudges of this realme.

To the v th ther could no blame be arrested to you if ye had
shewed the nuwnys reuelations to the kinges grace, albeit
they were afterward found fals for no man owght to be blamed
doing his duety And if a man wold shewe you secretly that
there were a greate mischief entended . against the prince,
were ye to be blamed if ye shewed him of it, albeit it were
a fayned tale, and the said mischief were never Imagined.

To the sixt . co;/cernyng an Imagination of master Pacy.
It was knowen that he was beside himself, and therefore they
were not blamed that made no report thereof, but it was not
lik in this caas For ye toke not this nu;me for a mad woman,
for if ye had ye wold not haue gyven vnto her so greate
credence as ye dyd.

To the final and vii th cause where ye lay l vnto the charge
of our sou^raine, that he hath vnkyndly entreacted you . with
grevous woi des and terrible letters for shewing his grace
trowthe in his greate mater, whereby ye were discomforted to
shewe vnto him the nu;mys reuelations. I beleue that I know
the king^ goodnes and natural gentilnes so well, that his
grace wold not so vnkyndly handle you, as you vnkyndly
write of him, onles ye gave him other causes than be ex-

1 c. o. muche

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 379

pressed in your letters. And what so eu^r the k mges grace
hath sayed or writen vnto you heretofore, yet that notwzt//-
stonden, yc were neverthelesse bounden to vtter to him thecs
pernicious reuelations.

Finally Where ye desire for the passion of christ that ye
be no more quykkened in this mater for if ye be put to that
straite ye vvyl not lose your soule, but ye wyl speke as yo^r
conscience ledeth you vfiik many moo word^r of greate
curraige. My lord if ye had taken my counsel sent vnto
you by your brother and folowed the same, submitting
yourself by your letters to the kingly grace for your offenses
in this behalf, I wold haue trusted that ye shuld never be
quykkened in this mater more. But now where ye take
vpon you to defewde the hole mater as ye were in no default.
I cannot so far premise you 1 . And suerly my lord if the
mater com to triall : yowr owne confession in thes letters
beside the wittnes whiche be against you wolbe sufficient to
co/zdemne you Wherefor my lord I wol eftsones aduise you
that laying apart al suche excuses as ye haue alleged in
your letters whiche in myn opinion be of smal effect as
I haue declared ye beseche the kinges grace by your letters
to be your graciou[s] lord, and to remitte vnto you your
negligence ouersight and offence committed against his his 2
highnes in this behalf And I dare vndertake that his highenes
shal benignely accepte you into his gracious fauor, al maters
of displeasire past affore this tyme forgoten and forgyven.

3 As towching the speking of your conscience, it is thought
that ye haue writen and haue spoken as muche as ye can .
and . many things (as som right probably beleaue) against
your owne conscience. And men report that at the Last
conuocation ye spake many things whiche ye could not wel
defende. And therefor it is not greatly ferede what ye can
sey or write in that mater, howsoeuer ye be quykkened or
strayted And if ye had taken etc.

69. (CROMWELL) TO (THE SHERIFF OF YORKSHIRE).

R. O. Cal. vii. 383. Mar. 28 (1534).

In order to prevent any infringement of the King s rights in the lands of
Sir John Dunham, lately deceased, the council considers it expedient
that those persons who dwell near the lands should be impanelled to
inquire for the King.

Maister Sheryff I commend me vnto yow and being
Infformyd of the dethe of syr Jhon Dunham Knyghte

1 c. o. albeit I wol speke for

2 sic.

s The last paragraph is written along the margin.

C C 2

380 LETTERS OF [1534

whyche in his lyffe helcle of the king^j grace certayne
and tenements in the County of Yorke In Capite. And by
cause that the kyng^ righte shall not be hydde ne cloked
It is therfor considered by the kynges most honorable
counsell that suche persons who hath the most knowlege
sufficient of freeholde and dwellys next vnto the Landes of
the saied syr John Donham be impanelled to inquyre for
the "kynges grace the namys of whom herein enclosyd I do
send yow who are extemyd and reputed to be men of good
worship and conscience as I am credably enformed Aduer-
tysyng yow that vpon a precept to yow dyrected by the
kyng^y excheto^r ye do retourne a suffycient Inquest of
the same persons to inquyre for the kynges grace of the
tenure of the saied landes. And in your so doyng ye shall
do the kinges grace a righte acceptable seruyce to his
contentatyon And so fare ye well from London the xxviii 11
daye of march.

Endd. mynute of a \ettete.

70. CROMWELL TO GARDINER.

B. M. Add. MSS. 25,114, f. 348; -Cal. vii. 535. Apr. 24 (1534).

Requests for a friend the advowson of the parsonage of St. John s of Sh er-
borne, in Hampshire, the yearly value of which is 10 or n pounds.

My Lord in my right hertie wise I co^mende me to you.
And as I haue been, and wolbe glad and redy, to do you
suche pleasirc as I myght or may. so I desire you to graunt
vnto me to the behoue of a dere frende of myne. the
aduocation of the p^rsonaige of S. Jhons of [Shire] borne in
hampshir^ being of your gift . whiche is of the yerely value
of x or xj 11 and not aboue (as I am informed) by the gyft
whereof ye shal shewe vnto me a right acceptable pleasire .
whiche I wol not forgete when I may in recompense thereof .
do the thing that may be to your co/ztentation. And of
your beniuolent mynd in this behalf, I desire you not only
to certifie me by your next writing but also to direct your
letters to your vicar gen^rall and to the prio&r and comment
of your churche . for thexpedition thereof to be made in due
forme, and to be delluered vnto me wM suche spede as
shall pleace you to co;;zmaunde thaim . the xxiiij th day of
Aprile.

Your lordshippis assuryd freei^d

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my verey loving Lord my lord of wynchester.
Edd. the xxiiij of April Mr. Secretary

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 381

71. (CROMWELL) TO (CRANMER).

R. O. Cal. vii. 500. {Apr. 1534.)

The King considers it expedient that More and Fisher be compelled to
swear to the preamble of the Act of Succession as well as to the Act
itself: otherwise it might be taken as a confirmation of the authority
of the Bishop of Rome.

My Lorde after myne humble commendations it may
please your grace to be adu^rtesed that I haue receyued
your \ettevQs and shewed the same to the kinges highnes who
p^rceyuing your mynde and opynyon is that it were good
that the bisshop of Rochester and Mr. More should be sworn
to the acte of the kinges succession and not to the preamble
of the same, thinketh that if their othe should be so taken it
were an occasion to all men to refuse the hole or at the lest
the lyke. For in case they be sworn to the succession and not
to the preamble it is to be thought that it might be taken
not onelie as a confirmacion of the Bisshop of Rome his
auctoryte but also as a reprobacion of the king^ second mariage
wherefore to thintent that no such things should be brought
into the heddes of the people by the ensample of the saide
Bisshop of Rochester and Mr. More the kingly highnes in
no wise willeth but that they shalbe sworn aswell to the
preamble as to the acte of Succession l in no maner of wyse
Wherfore his grace specyallye trustyth that ye wyll in no
wyse Suppose attempt or move hym to the Contrarye For
as hys grace Suppossyth that that maner of Sweryng yf yt
sholde be sufferyd myght be an vtter destruccyon to his hole
Cause and Also to the effecte of the law made For the same

Endd. mynute.

72. CROMWELL TO THE PRIOR AND CONVENT

OF WENLOCK.

R. O. Cal. vii. 593. May I (1534).

Desires them to grant to Thomas Lowley the lease of Okinbold farm, in
Shropshire, at the rent which his father paid.

In myn harty maner I cowmende me unto youe And
wheras ye haue nowe in your handes and disposiczbn again,
the ferme of Oxinbold belonging to that Monastery. These
shalbe to desire and hartely pray youe, for my sake to graunte
a sufficient lease therof to my Freende Thomas Lowleye

1 c. o. For the conducing whereof your graces approved wisedom
to effecte the king&r highnes hath and dexteryte and thus the holie
specyall trust and expectacion in trynyte . . .

382 LETTERS OF [1534

to Mr. Norreys vnder your convent seale for the
terme of xl yeres yelding and payeng vnto yow suche rent for
the same, as his father whiche was fermo?/r therof hertofore
paid vnto your monastery at that tyme that he had it in ferme.
Desiring you in noo wise to alienate it to any man but only to
this tyl ye shal knowe further, in case ye shal not condescende
to this my request, and to adu^rtise me by your Letteres with
spede of your preceding in this Behaulf And thus Fare you
hartely well From Stepnaye the first daye of Maye

Your Freend THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my loving freendes the prior and Convent of
the Monastery of Wenlok.

73. CROMWELL TO DR. SAMPSON.

R. O. Cal. vii. 655. May 13 (1534).

Requires him to appoint a bishop to execute at the Court, as the Bishop
of Chester is unable to be present.

Mr. Deane, after my right hertie commendations Foras-
moche as my lorde of Chester is not onelie destitute of Myter
Crosier and other things necessarie but also shall to morowe be
enbusied and occupied aboutef other the kinges affaires I shall
therefore hertelie requyre you to appoynte som other Bisshop
to execute to morowe before the kinges highnes at the Courte,
till my saide Lorde of Chester shall be better Furnysshed as
app^rtyneth Wherein ye shall do him moche pleasure. And
so Fare ye well. At Stepney the xiii day of Maye.

Your assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right worshipfull Mr. Doctor Sampson dean
of the kinges chappell be this youen.

74. CROMWELL TO THE SENATE AND CONSULS

OF LUBECK 1 .

B. M. Vit. B. xxi, f. 107 ; Cal. vii. 707. May 24, 1534.

On behalf of William Gilbank, whose ship was captured near Sandwich
and taken to Liibeck, with goods worth 53 pounds sterling.

{Henricus Dei gratia Rex Angliae, et Franciae, fidei
defensor, ac "Dominus Hiber[niae] . . . Consulibus, et} Senator-

1 This letter was evidently first in brackets {...} are scored through
written by the King, and later in the original.
altered by Cromwell. The passages

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 383

{ibus}es Ciuitatis Lubiceom- etc. Amici{s} T\0stri{s] Carw-
j/mi{s} {salutem} plunmafw Salutetn et Commen . . .

Nuper apud {nos} . . . humiliter conq[uestus est] . . . s, ac
fidelis {noster potentissimi nostri Regis} eius subditus Willel-
mus gylbanke <\uod quum superioribus mensibus nauis quae-
dam cui Hugo ship . . . [praejerat, ex harmyvve Zelandiae vico
hoc {nostrum} inclytum Regnum uersus nauigatura soluerat,
ac varij generis merces ad u[alorem] . . . quinquaginta trium
librar//?;/ sterlingorum in ea onerasset, commercij givz/z a
hue aduecturus, accidit, ut dicta nauis iam . . . [njauiga-
tionis cursu {et nostrum] in eiusdem serent ssimi Domini
nostr\\\ Regis portuw Sandwicensem ferme ingressa, a vcstra
Classe quae belli praetextu, quod aduersus hollandos . . . bat,
per hoc {nostrum} mare excurrebat capta. et una cum dicti
{nostri subditi} WilWmi bonis, ac mercibusin ciuitatew istam
vestram . . . abducta fuit ; erit longe quidem praeter veterew
mutuamq/^ {nostram} amicitiam cum Serr;//^/ma hac Regia
Maiestote, et ingenti {eiusdem subditi nostri Wilk/mi eius sub-
di[ti]} prefati sui subditi detrimento, id q[u]od quum inscijs
vobis a wj/rae classis praefectis {commissum fuerit, volui r
mus} eadem Regia M^V^tas commissum fuisse plane credat,
iussit ut suo nomine nvs/ris his \itfer\s hanc causam vobis
imp^j^ntia commendaremus : Vos igitur quos pro intimis
amicifs] habet impense rogat, ut pro vest[ro] erga iustas quas-
que causas studio, pro mutuaqz^ {nostra.} secum coniunctione,
vestrz. authoritate efficere velitis <\uod praedicta bona sic
ablat[a] eidem {nostro subdito} Wilklmo uel eius procurator!
in integrum restitua;ztur, id quod {ut nobis} ut [ejidem
Regie Mates tati maxime gratum, et iustitiae consentane[um]
erit, ita {nos} ipsam ad parem beneuolentiam erga subditos
v^tros, data occasione, exhibendam propensior ardentiorque
{efficiem[ur]} reddetur. Et bene valete. Ex Regia nostrz.
Richemondiae Die xxiiij Maij MDXXXIHI.

De nobis vero possunt v^/^ates ownes in iustis suis hie
occurrentib.y negocijs ap^d ha[c] Regia?^ MazV.y/tftem omne
humanitatis omcium sibi polliceri quod suo loco et tempore
cumulate pr^z^stabim[u]s

Vester bonus amicus

THOMAS CRUMWELL

Add. Magnijicis Domtnis Consulibus, et Senatoribus Ciui
tatis Lubicen.V etc. Amicis nostris Carissimis.

384 . LETTERS OF . [1534

75. CROMWELL TO MR. SAPCOTTES.

R. O. Cal. vii. 790. June 4 (1534).

Desires him to repair to London as soon as possible, as he is executor
of Edw. Watson, deceased, who was in danger to the King.

Mr. Sapcotto I cowmende me vnto you. And For as
moche as ye were executour and admynistratoz/r of the good*?.?
of Edwarde Watson decessed who was in daungier to the
kinges highnes, I shall therefore aduertise and require you
that vppon the sight of these my Wteres for that matier \\iih
other things that I haue to sey vnto you ye do put your self
in a redynes to repayre vnto me wM all conuenie^t celeryte.
And at your cowmyng ye shall knowe Farther of the kinges
pleasure. So Fare ye well From my house at Canbery the
iiii tb day of June

Yoz/r Freend

i

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To his louing frend Mr. Henry Sapcotter be this
youen at Lyncoln.

76. CROMWELL TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY.

Ellis Letters, 2nd Ser. ii. 135 ; Cal. vii. 973. July 13 (1534).

Thanks him for his zeal in apprehending a hermit, who has been
examined, and is to be tried by the justices of assize, and punished
according to the law.

After my right herty commendacions to your Lordship,
I have by this bearer your servaunt, bailly of Chesterfeld,
receyved your Lettres and the byll therin enclosed concernyng
th Ermyte, the whiche being by me examyned, answered that
he could not tell whither he spake ever the same trayterouse
words or not. I have caused an Inditement to be drawen
therupon whiche your Lordeship shal receyve herwith ; and
also I have thought convenient to retorn the said Hermite unto
you agayn, there befor the Justices of Assise to be tryed and
to th exemple of all other to be punyshed according to right
and the King s lawes. I thank evermor your Lordeship for
your good zele, diligence, and dexterate in repressing and
apprehending suche perniciouse and detestable felons : and
therof shal I not faile to make true raport to his Highnes who
I am assure shal tak the sam in most thankfull part. Thus

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 385

I beseche our holy Creator to sende you prosperite and long
liffe. From Cheleshith this xiij th of July.

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my very good Lord Therle of Shrewesbury
Lorde Stuarde to the Kings Ma tie .

77.

(CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. vii. 990. July 20 (1534).

Orders him* to arrest four murderers from Yorkshire, who first fled into
Scotland, but have now returned to Durham, where they ride about
at their pleasure.

In my Right harty ma.ner I cowmend me vnto you and
where as I am enfourmed that one p<?rcyvall worme, wylliam
Corneforthe John bygott and wylh ^m dobson lately co;;z-
mytted a detestable mourdo^r in the Countye of Yorke and
beyng Indyttyd /V^erof thei ther vpon flede into Scottlond
where as ///ei //*er Remayned as yt ys thought tyll now of late,
that thei lyttyll dreadyng god nor the lawes of this Realme
arne comme into the byschopryche of Durham wher as thei
doo Ryde in all plac^y therof at ther pleasures to the greate
boldnes and p^ryllous example of all other suche [ev]yll dys-
posed p^rsonnes. And therfor my mynd ys that ye wit/i
dylygence do attach or cause the said persons to be Attachyd,
And them to deteyne in pryson vntyll such tyme as thei
schalbe by the order of //ze lawes acquyted or otherwyse
dyscharged as ye wyll aunswere to the kynges highnes at
your p^ryll. Wretyn at my house in london /,&e xx th day of
July.

78. (CROMWELL) TO THE ABBOT OF (ST. AUSTIN S

IN CANTERBURY).

R. O. Cal. vii. 1007. July 25 (I533 1 ).

Requests him to settle his differences with the bearer, whose father could
have had many offices of the abbot and his predecessor. As the
bearer has his brothers and sisters to support, the abbot ought to do
as much for him as he would have done for his father.

My Lorde Abbot I reco;;zmende me vnto you etc. and
where as George Goldwyn the brynger hereof hathe byn
A continuall sutoitr vnto me A great tyme to haue A Warde
made betwene you and hym 2 I shall hertelye desire & praye
you vppon the sight hereof to take some reasonable waye

1 sic, see Notes.

2 c. 0. which hath byn a great charge to the parties wherfore

386 LETTERS OF [1534

with hym so that I be no longer molestyd by hym and his
co?/tynuall Sute and whereas his Father myght haue had l of
yottr lordshyp & your predecesso&r dyuers offers who alwayes
refused them yet neu^rtheles me thinkyth yo>ur lordshyp now
can no lesse doo then to graunte hym so moche in con
sciens 2 as ye woolde have yovyn his Father For he ys moche 3
chargyd wzt/ the dettey of his Father as he affirmyth and also
wz t/z the Fyndyng of his Brethern and sisterne 4 . Whereffor
in myn oppynyon it shalbe well doon that ye take an ende
w/t/z hym Yow know his Father dyed in pryson at yoz/r Sute
and thus cowmyttyng this matyer to god & your Conscyens
& thanking yow For my hawke & bydde yow hertelye Fare
well at london the xxv 11 daye of July

Endd. mynute of a letters.

79. CROMWELL TO LORD COBHAM.

B. M. Harl. MSS. 283, f. 203 ; Cal. vii. App. 33. July 30 (1534).

Directions about the administration of the farm of the parsonage.
Promises to attend to the monks of which Cobham speaks, if he will
send them up.

I commend me vnto yo^r good lordship yn my right harty
maner, Adu^rtisyng you that I have receyvyd your \etterzs and
the Inventory accordyng to your wrytyng. And touchyng
the ferme of the parsonage I desire your lordship to cause the
corne and other dutyes to be getherd together, and as for the
rent I will order your lordship therin at our metyng. And
your Monkes of whome ye write if ye send theym hither
I wil be contentyd to common wzt& theym and to do
therin as the case shall requyre. I pray your lordshyp to
have me co^mendyd vnto my good lady in my right harty
maner and so to geve hir thanks for the foule that she hathe
sent vnto me. And thus our lord have you yn his kepyng. At
Stepenhey the xxx th day of Julye.

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL

Add. To my very good lord my lord Cobham this be
delyu^ryd.

1 c. 0. and good chargyng of your consciens I pray

1 c. 0. to consider the said offers you at my Desire to yeve vnto hym

vnto his sone a c 11 . whiche youe toke of his Father

3 c. 0. he is greatly charged wz t^ And ferder to yeve vnto hym some
his Fathers Dettes & also wz tfc his other Rewarde hereafter as you

4 c. 0. whzV/z ys a great charge shall thynke in consciens mete for
vnto hym wherfore my Lorde in dis- hym

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 387

80. CROMWELL TO THE MAYORS AND OFFICERS OF
SOUTHAMPTON, PORTSMOUTH, AND POOLE.

R. O. Cal. vii. 1132. Sept. 4 (1534).

Asks assistance for two men who are going into those parts on the King s
business.

I commend me vnto you. (and) Advertise you that the
king^ highnes at this tyme dothe send George Whelpeley
and John Brawne about certayne besynes geven vnto theym
in charge to be done in those parties, \\iih soche spede and
diligence as they convenyently may requyryng you and eu<?ry
of you to permytt and suffer the same George and John to
execute and do in eu^ry thyng, as the kyng^r grace hath
cowmaundyd theym wrtAout any yo^r ympedyment^ let or
interupcion in and about the same. And in case any ill
disposed p^rsone or prrsones will disobey or gaynsay the
same, I farther requyre you yn the kynges behalf to assiste
ayde and counsaill theym in and about thexecucion of
their purpose. As ye will advoyde the kinges high dis
pleasure. And thus fare ye well. At london the iiii th day
of September.

Your Freend THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the Mayres Sheriffs and Bayliffes Custumers
Comptrollers and Serchoz/rs wzt/zin the townes and porter of
Suthampton Portesmouthe and Pole and eu^ry of theym and
the Crek^j belongyng to theym and eu^ry of theym this be
youen.

Endd. My m 3 *. k//^re for George Whelpeley

81. CROMWELL TO SIR ROGER REYNOLDS, ROBERT WOLF,

AND JOHN KYTCH.

R. O. Cal. vii. 1134. Sept. 6 (1534).

The King desires them to repair to Cromwell to answer to the charges
made against them.

I comend me vnto you And these shalbe to adu^rtise you
that the king^ pleasure is that ye ywmediately vppon the
sight of these my letteres shall repayre hither to answer vnto
suche things as then shalbe leyed and obiected to you on
the king our saide sou^reigne lordly behalf. Fayle ye not
thus to do as ye will avoyde ferther perill and inconuenyence.

388 LETTERS OF [1534

So Fare ye well From my house at Canbery the vi th day of
Septembre.

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To Sir Roger Reynolds priest blaster of the Hos-
pitall of Saynt Johns in Huntingdon Robert Wolf Baylif
there and John Kytche and to euery of them be this youen.

82. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE AND LORD EDMUND

HOWARD.

R. O. Cal. vii. 1179. Sept. 21, 1534.

The King, hearing that the searchers of Calais are remiss, and permit
things to be conveyed out of the realm contrary to law, has appointed
Nicholas Caldwell and John Gough to aid them.

In my right herty man^r I co/^mende me vnto your good
Lordshipp^. So it is that the ~K mges Highenes is certaynly
informyd that dyuers and many things arne dayly conveyd
ouit of this realme into the partyes of beyond the sees con
trary to the statutes and provisions in suche casse ordeinyd
and provided, and for as muche as the serchours in the towne
and M<3rchys of Calais arne remysse and negligent in thexa-
mynacion of their office his highenes therfor well considering
the same, and also p^rceyving that his trusty servauntes
Nicholas Caldwall and John Gowghe byn men of good cir-
cumspiccion meate to make s^rche and fynde owt the same,
hathe ordenyd and constitutyd them Joyntly and severallie to
be attendant and vigilant abouit the serching of the same
w/t^in the saide toune and marchys and the havon Longing
to the same for this tyme. Wherfor adu^rtesing your Lord-
shippes of the kingly ples^r therin I requyre you in the
kingly behalff to assist and ayde the same Nicholas & John
and eyther of them in execucyon of this the king^ plesur
and co^/maundement as often and as the casse shall requyre
as the king^ trust is in you. and thus the blyssed trinitie
presume yotir good Lordshipp^ at Candbery the xxi of
Septembre

thus subscribyd
your Lordshipp^ assuryd Frynd

THOMAS CROMWELL.

The sup^rscripcio^. To the right honourable and my Veray
good ~Lordes my Lord Lyssle depute of Calas and my Lorde
Edmonde Howard Comptroller ther and to eyther of them be
this yeven

Endd. Copia of Mr. Cromwell^ Lettere for the serene to
John Gowghe and N. caldewall 22 Septembre. 1534.

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 389

83. CROMWELL TO (THE LORDS OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL).

R. O. (Museum) Cal. vii. 1271. Oct. 17 (1534).
Asks them to srive audience to the bearer, who can tell them much about

t^

the evil-disposed person apprehended on Sunday last. Advises that
the said person be not put to death till he has made full confession.

My lordes after my most afTcctuouse recowmendaczon,
This present berer my lord of Yorker seruaunt is arryved
nowe to me wz t/z Ir/fcres bothe to me and to the king^
highnes. I haue remitted hym furihwitA to deliver his
maicstes letteres. And because he can fully Instructe yoz/r
lordships and enfo^rme you of many things I pray you to
heare hym fauourably and to geve hym full audience for ye
shal here of hym sundry notable things and spmally ayenst
hym that was apprehended on Sondaye last whom I tak to
be an veray evill disposed prrsone and the which if he be
examyned according to the said berers relation ye shal knowe
things gretely to be marked & noted Therfor I beseche
you to have this mater recommended And that the said
person so apprehended be not put to deth tyll we may knowe
the hoole and profound bothom of his cancrcd hert. I pray
you to sende to me aduirtissemetft howe ye shal fynde hym
and knowlege of the veray mater And also of any suche
things As I can do here, any expd/tfhon for the furtherance
of any the kinges maters For I shal spaer no diligence.
Thus our blessed creatowr have you in his tuition & keping
From the Rooles this xvii th of Octobre.

Your lordshippis assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

84. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. vii. 1328. Oct. 29, 1534.

Requests him to examine and reform the * anoysaunces made by Sir
Robert Wingfield in the Marches of Calais.

In my right harty maner I commend me vnto your good
lordship. And wher as of late the kinges highnes hathe
directed his Co;;zmyssion vnto yo?/r lordship and other for
pullyng downe and reformation of certayne anoysaunces made
and done by Sir Robart Wyngfeld wz t^in the Marches of
Calays, the kinges pleasure is that ye and th other Co?;zmys-
sion^rs shall circumspectly viewe and ou^rsee the same. And
that that of neccssite ought to be refourmyd for the welthe

390 LETTERS OF

strengthe and cowmodite of the sayd Towne and marches
accordyng as it was thought at my last beyng ther to be
amendyng, and the resydue that (neither) damagithe ne
hurtithe the same Towne to stand still as ye see reasonable
cause after your discresion. and as ye shall seme good. And
thus the blessed Trenyte pr^serue your lordship At london
the xxix day of October.

Your lordshyppis assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the honourable and my veray good Lorde my
lord Vicount Lisle the kynges Depute of Calais be this
youen.

Endd. Maister Cromwell the xxix th of Octobre 1534.

85. CROMWELL TO AUDELEY.

B. M. Vesp. F. xiii, 105 b ; Cal. vii. 1415. Nov. n (1534).

Desires him to send back by the bearer a true copy of the proclamation,
which is to be printed by Bartlett the printer to-night.

Aftre my right harty co;;zmendaczons to your lordship
Forasmoche as it shalbe very necessary to haue some copies
of the proclamaczon also printed this night to thintent the
same maye be sent into sundry parties wM the bokes, of
answer, These shalbe to desire and pray your Lordship to
sende me by this berer a true copie of the same, and I shal
sende for bartelet the printer, and first swere him, and thenne
cause him to entende this night to the printing of the copies
therof accordingly. And thus most hartely Fare you wel.
From the Rulkj the xi tb of Nouembn?

I require your lordship to cause the proclamaczons to be
writen and sealed wM suche expedic/on as you may take the
payne to be here wzt^ them tomorowe by tenne of the clock
where my lord of NornW/ and I wzt/z others wil tary dyner
tyl your cuwmyng.

your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my very good Lord my Lord Chauncello?/^
delyu^r this with spede.

Endd. m r . Lord my m r . to my lord Chauncellow, etc.

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 391

86. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. vii. 1438. Nov. 17 (1534).

A letter of gentle reproof for failing to discharge his office, as his duty to
the King demands. Points out that his excess of living has
brought him into contempt.

My very good lorde aftre my right harty cowmendaczbns
I am now enforced to write my mynde plainly vnto youe as to
him the p;rseruation of whose honour I desire Bothe for the
discharge of my dueuty to the kingly highnes, and for the
declaration of myn hartye good will whiche I here vnto you,
and therfor I require you my lorde to take it in good parte.
First I trust you consider what a charge you haue there vnder
the k mges Maicstie and I woold youe should remember Both
what besemeth a man to doo being in that place, and that the
same conteineth in it no state of inheritaunce, ne terme for
lief But vppon the good Behauio&r of the p<?rsonne having it.
Nowe if you shuld waye the thing and the nature of it indif
ferently, Wold you thinke it mete that a man shuld haue that
charge, which wold Bring himself to suche necessitie that he
shuld be constrayned to put all things to sale, that be com-
mytted vppon sp^riall trust to his discreation, neglecting of
thone parte the kingly highnes honour to be pr^serued in
the satisfaction of his grauntto, of thother parte as it were
contempnyng all frieendeship in giving place to a litle Lucre.
Surely my lorde suche a gouernor as you Be shuld not
Bynde himself at any manes request to p^rforme that shall
not prrcase lye in him, ne by any his excesse in living make
himself soo nedye, that whenne the present thing shuld happen,
he shuld be forced to haue more estimaczbn of money thenne
regarde to the tayle it Bringeth wz t/z it. If I were not
determyned to contynue your lordships assured Freende
I wold not worke this plainly wzt/z you, neither thinke that
I doo it vppon any affection, for I wold (do) that I maywil
honestly, oon man I haue often tymes recommended that
is the Surveyor whom the K mges MazV-rte woold haue s^rued
of foure men according to his graunte and Late cowmaunde-
ment made for the same. But yet I write not this so moche
for him alone as for others and chiefly for yourself, and after
for the poore man that is berer herof who hathe your Bonde.
Whiche your honour shalbe to performe and accomplishe, and
Bothe myn aduise and desire shal concurre wzt/2 the same, lest
it might be taken yvel where p^rcase you did it vppon an
honest grounde. Finally my lorde I remayn^ yo>ur harty
Freende, and desire you to expresse your Freendeship again

392 LETTERS OF [1534

towards me in your honourable preceding^ 1 , and the helping
of such as the kingrj Mazkste wold shuld be there preferred,
among^ the Whiche the Surveyr is not the last, and yet
I wold he shuld haue nothing onles his s^ruice des^rue it.
Thus most hartely Fare you wel From the Nete the xvii th of
Nouembr

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my very good Lorde the Viscounte Lisle Deputie
(of) the king^ towne and the Marches of Calays.

Endd. by Lisle. Tochyng the gyft of romys

87. CROMWELL TO LADY LISLE.

/

R. O. Cal. vii. 1448. Nov. 20 (1534).

Denies the report that he is displeased with her. If she continues to act
as she has, she will always find him a firm friend.

In my right harty maner I commend me vnto yo2ir good
ladiship. And wheras I am infourmyd that reaport hathe
been made vnto you that I shuld be displeasid wM your
ladiship . Where of trouthe I knowe no cause wherfore
I shuld so be, Wherfore I pray you geve no soche credence
ne beleffe to any p^rsone, for your good ladiship vsyng yo^r
selfe in all causes none otherwise then I here that ye do, and
as I doubte not that ye will here after contynewe, shall fynd
me as redy to do you any pleasure, that may lye in me to do
as any frynd that ye have. And thus the blessed Trenyte
pres^rue your good ladiship. At london the xx th day of
November.

Your louyng Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right honourable and my very good lady
my lady lisle be this youen.

88. (CROMWELL) TO (HENRY VIII).

R. O. Cal. vii. 1613. (1534.)

Reports that Mr. Southwell is content to sell the manor beside East
Yafford, in Yorkshire, and will show it to the King s surveyor.

Pleasythit your highnes to be adu^rtysyd how that Sythyn
my repayre to london I haue 1 spokyn wM Mr. Sowthwell
to whom I haue declaryd your most gracyous pleasure

1 c. <?. Surveyed and I Fynd I haue

1534] , THOMAS CROMWELL 393

touching the purchasing of his Ma.nn.our besydes est yafford
who most humblye Submyttyth hym vnto the plesure of
your magestye and ys right well content that your grace
appoyntyng 1 Suche persons to vew the sayd mannoz/r as
shall (stand) wit A your highe pleasure he wyll gyue his
attendaunce to shew vnto them the same to thentent your
highnes may be trewlye certeffyed vppon the vew of the
Comodytes belongyng to the same, and that ons known,
wtt/i your most gracyous plesure, Further conclusyon to be
takyn SL Such as to yoz^ highnes shall Seme most mete.
Wherfor and it might please your grace that I myght know
your plesure who your highnes woolde appoynt to Survey
the sayd Manour I woolde then accordyngly 2 cause In-
struccyons to be in Redynes For the same 3 .

89. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. vii. 1614. (1534.)

Desires him to give Mr. Alen a lease of the farm of Canewood and Cane-
field, in Essex, without delay, and trusts he has made no promise
which will prevent him from doing this.

My Lorde after my right hertie reco^mendaczbns where
as I haue wrytten to you in the fauours of my veraye Frend
Mr. Alen for his pr^ferrement to the Ferme of Canewod and
Canefeld^j And hauing receyued your answer thereunto
whereby I do pm:eyve yvur desire is to haue respite of
your consent and graunntes in that behalf till your cowmyng
to London alledging that in the meantyme ye will do your
possible to call agayn a former premise by you thereof made
to a nother person, My lorde I trust ye haue made no such
pf0mise which in case ye haue, yet I doubt not ye will so
compase it that my purpose be not Disapoynted by that
meane. And therefore my lorde Forasmoche as I do so
ernestly meane and intende the satisfacczbn of my saide
Frend in that parte, I shall eftesones most hertelie requyre
you indelayedlie to confourme your self to thaccomplissh-
m^t thereof, and all excuses set a parte, to make him out
a lease of the said Ferme according to my former request,
Which be ye assured in Few wordes I shall intend so to
requyte as ye shall haue no cause to thinke the same
bestowid vppon an ingrate person

1 c. o. Indifferent 2 c. o. to precede

3 c. o. yt may also pie

MERRIMAN. I D d

394 LETTERS OF [1534

90. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. vii. 1615. (1534.)

On behalf of Thomas Miller, an English subject, whose goods have been
wrongly detained by James Sinclair, governor of the north of Scot
land, and who cannot get redress.

After my right hertie co#zmendac/ons it may lyke you to

undrestonde that where A Shyp called the Andrewe aper-

teynyng to one Thomas Miller beyng a Subiect to my most

dreade soueraigne Lorde Kyng and maister by chaunce of

tempest or other mysforttme was ronne Aground in the north

parties of the Realme of Scotland. And yet neuerthelesse

the most p^rte of alle the goodes and merchandises in the

said Shypp amountyng to the value of cclx li. sterling as

I am enformed were there and then (saved) by the diligens

and labours of the seruauntes of the said Thomas they beyng

taken owt and by them savely kepte to their saide maisters

vse by the space of viii or ix dayes. Vnto suche tyme

as one James Seyntcler governer and ruler in the said North

parties of Scotland vndre the Kynges grace your maister

wzt^out any reasonable cause toke awaye the said goodes and

merchandises from the Servants of the said Thomas and so

the same euer sens hathe kept and deteyned agaynst good

equitie and consciens. And for as moche as at your last

beyng in Englond ye gentilly premised me that if I wrote

vnto you for relief or necessitie of any the Subiect^ of

Englande in cases or Justice, ye wolde the rather at my pore

contemplacion put youre good endevor to accomplysshe my

request. At whiche tyme also of your said beyng in England

thys case was then by me and other the kyng my Maisters

Counsayle mocioned, and declared vnto you, Whereapon ye

premised vs that yf the partie damaged repayred to yo?/r

parties for Justice after your comyng home that then he

shold be restored as to reason, right, and conscience shold

apperteyne. And thys notwzt^stondyng albeit the said

Thomas Miller by the late maister of the said Shipp hath

made humble sutes for Justice and Restitucion of hys said

gooddes and merchandises to hys greate cosies and charges

yet neuerthelesse he hath hitherto had nor can get any

redresse. Wherefore at the desyre of the said Thomas I at

thys tyme am bold to wryght vnto you, right hartely desiryng

you that at the repaire of the said Thomas or eny of hys

servants to you with these my le//eres that he may by your

good favors and meanes so reasonably be ordered in thys

case as he shall haue no cause reasonable to compleyn for

1534] THOMAS CROMWELL 395

lak of Justice, by whiche doynges I shall accompt my self
bounden to reaquite your gentilnes wzt& semblable pleasures
for Any Frend or Neyghbour of yours.

Endd. A Copie of a letters writen into Scotland in the
favour of one Thomas miller of london

91. CROMWELL TO

R. O. Cal. vii. 1616. (1534.)

Desires him to restore the lands which he has wrongfully taken from
Reginald Williams in the West Country.

After my right hertie cowmendaczbns Forasmoche as
I haue bene sued vnto and requyred by my Freendes to
adresse thiese my \etteres vnto you in the fauottr of one
Reignolde Williams from whom as I am crediblie informed
ye do deteyne and wzt^olde certeyne londes in the weste
cuntrey contrary to all right and good equitie albeit the
saide Reignalde Williams as manifestly appereth by his
euydeno .y is nexte heire vnto the same lender I shall
therfore hertely desyre you the rather at this my requeste
and contemplacion that wit/tout any further molestation or
truble in the lawe ye will calle togither your Freendes and
after communication had in the mattier to conclude a Finall
ende therin accordinge to equitie and co/zsciens so that the
saide Reignolde receyue no iniurye nor wronge at your
hande *, but also bynde me to shewe you lyke pleasures
accordinglie. thus Fare ye well. At my howse of
Stepneth

92. (CROMWELL) TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

R. O. Cal. vii. 618. (1534.)

The King is displeased at hearing of the ill-treatment of the inhabitants
of the town by the authorities of the University, and desires that
amends be made.

I comend me vnto yow Aduertysing the same that wher
the king^j hyghnes is crediblie infourmed of your abusions
vsurpacyons & vngentill demeanour vsed towards the kingly
highnes his subjects & inhabitants of that his towne of
Oxforthe & subberb^ of the same I can not but mervaile
that ye being men of Lerning & in whom shoulde remayne
both wisedom & discressyon wille in suche wise demeane your

1 c. o. And in thus doynge ye shall not oonlie do a thinge profitable
and right meritorious for your sowle

D d 2,

396 LETTERS OF [1534

self 1 not onelie in making of lawes & ordynaunces Amongst
your self to their hindrance hurt and preiudice but also
contrary to the kingly lawes whiche aperethe in you to haue
proceded of nothing but mere malice Wherfor intending to
conduce & Allecte yow to som good conformyte & quyetnes
the king^ hyghnes therfore hathe coMmandyd me to. advise
yow not onlie to restore all such persons as you haue dis-
comoned permitting them to do & occupie as they did before,
wzt^out mayntening or suffering any scoler or semauntes
to occupie \\ith in the toune or suburbe of the. same as a bur-
gesse there dothe except lie or they do agree there fore wit/t
the sayd burgesses But also that in no wise ye do vexe
trouble or inquyete any of the saide inhabitauntey by suspen
sion excowrnuny cation discomonning banysshement or other
wise, vsing suche discression that all varyaunces may ceasse &
be stayed amongst yow so as all malice and evill will being
coT/tempned & expulsed from yow, good amyte peax & quyet
nes may take place accordynglie. And duobt ye not or it be
long the K mges Counsaile by his graczbus co;^maundement
will & haue determyned to set suche an ende & redresse
amongst yow as god willing shall be an establisshing of a
perpetuall peax good vnyte & accorde amongst yow for euer
fayell ye not this to do as yow wyll answre vnto the kynge^
highnes & advoyde the daungzer of his indingnacion & high
displessur And so Fare ye well

Add. To the Ch#uncelour and comissarie with other the
heddes & membres of the vnyversite of Oxforde be this youen

Endd. A copye of a letters to Oxforth

93. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. viii. 187. Feb. 8 (1535).

The King has written to Lisle to give Ralph Hare the next vacant
position at 8d. a day. Advises Lisle to follow the King s orders.

In my most harty wise I commend me vnto your good
lordship. And persayvyng that the k mges highnes hathe
not only geven vnto Raufe Hare by sufficient writyng vnder
the privey scale, the roume of eight pence sterling by the
day whiche shall first and next fall voyde wzt^in that the
towne of Calays, but hathe also writen vnto you his letteres
vnder hys signet confermyng thesame and mencionyng therby
his pleasure and expresse cowmaundment in that behalfe,
these shalbe therfore as your lordshippes assured frynde to

1 c. o. to their hindrance hurte & preiudice

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 397

my power to advise you to folowe the kynges cowmaunde-
ment therin for the satisfaction of his pleasure in that be-
halfe. Wherby ye shall not only des^rue the Kyng^ right
harty and condigne thanks but also admynyster and do vnto
me and other of his hyndes whiche dothe write vnto you also
in his favour, great pleasure and gratuyte, the whiche god
willyng shalbe on my part in semblable wise recompensed.
And thus the blessed Trenyte pr^serue your good lordship.
At the Rolles the viii th day of February.

Your lordshippis Freend assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right honourable and my synguler good lord
the vicount lisle the kynges depute at Calays.

Endd. Mr. Secretoryes letters

Mr. Sekretarye the viii th of Febrewary consuming raff Hare.

94. CROMWELL TO THE PRIOR OF DUDLEY.

R. O. Cal. viii. 191. Feb. 10 (1535).
The King desires the Prior personally to repair to Cromwell at once.

I Co;//mende me vnto youe. Lating youe wit that for cer
tain causes the particularities wherof ye shal knowe herafter
The k mges pleasure and co;;zmaundement is ye shal Ime-
diatly vppon the sight herof all delayes and excuses set-
aparte personally repaire vnto me wheresoeuer it shall chaunce
me to be wzt//out faylling as ye wil answer to his grace at
yo^r extreme pmll. From the Rulles the x th of Februarye.

Your Freend THOMAS CRUMWELL

Add. To my Freende the prior of Dudleye yeve this -with
spede.

95. CROMWELL TO THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF

LONDON.

R. O. Cal. viii. 221. Feb. 15 (1535).

Desires for Robert Baxter, a clerk of the Common Bench, the next
vacancy in the clerkships of their court.

In my ryght harty wise I commend me vnto you & to euery
of you And albeit I am many wise importune & bold apon
you for my selff & my frend^ When cause & occasion hath

398 LETTERS OF [1535

so requyred. This shalbe to aduertise you that Robert
Backster one of the Clarkes writers with John Joyner the
kynges Preignetory of his grac^y comen bench at West-
minster is very desyrous to be one of the Clarkes of your
Courte & hath made instant peticion to me that by myne
intercession to be made vnto youe in his fauoz/r he myght the
rather & more effectuelly opteyne the same. And were as
I am acerteynyd that the Rowmes of your foure Clarkes are
now furnyshyd & non of theym voide. Wherefore I hertely
desyre & pray you at the contemplacion of these my letters
and for my sake wylbe content to graunt vnto the said Robert
the next vacaczon of one of the iiii Clarke of that your courte
And I dare will undertake for hym that he shall at all tymes
(yf he lyue to optayne the same) vse and behaue hymself like
an honest officer. And for your goodnes herein to be shewed
vnto hym (for my sake) ye shalbe well assured to fynd me as
redy semably to requyte you of suche gratuite & pleasure as
shall lye in me to shew vnto you. And thus fare ye well
from the Rollys the xv day of february.

Add. To my veray good Lorde the Mayo?/? of the Citie
of London and to his worshypfull Brethern thaldermen of the
same & to euery of theym.

Endd. From Mr. Crumwelle.

96. CROMWELL TO HENRY BURTON.

R. O. Cal. viii. 239. Feb. 19 (1535).

The King is informed that Burton has disturbed Lady Carew in her
possession of a free chapel and ground, granted her by the King.
Desires him to cease troubling her.

In my hartie maner I cowmende me vnto you, Aduertising
the same that Whereas complaint hath nowe lately been made
vnto the King^ MasV-rtie on the behalf of my Ladye Carewe
howe that you haue made a wrongfull and riotouse entree into
a certayn free chapell and a litle close grounde abowt the
same whiche chapell and grounde his hieghnes hath geven and
graunted vnto her by his graces letters patents during her
lief, the remayndre thereof to Fraunceys Carewe her sonne,
and to the heyres masles of his bodye begoten, So that it
seameth his maiestie hath the Reversion of the fee simple in
him, his heyres and successoz/rs. His Hieghnes willed me to
signifie vnto you by these my \ettetes his graces pleasoz/r and
co?7zmaundeme;/t is that you do not onely permitte, and suffre
the saied Ladye Carewe to enioye peaxably the possession

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 399

of the premisses, and to restore suche thinges as you haue
wrongfully taken owt of the chapell and grounde aforsaied,
but also to cease your suete commenced againste her at the
cowmen lawe vnto such tyme as both yo>ur titles maye be
further examined and tryed by lerned and indifferent Coun-
saill, Not failing hereof as you tendere His Hieghnes pleasoz/r,
Thus fare you hertely well. From London the xix th daie of
Februarye.

Your louyng Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my Loving freende Henry Burton.

Endd. In the bahalf of the Ladye Carewe & her sonne
Fraunceys.

97. CROMWELL TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY.

Heralds Coll. of Arms, Shrewsb. MSS. A, f. 57; Cal. viii. 247.

Feb. 20(1535).

Sends him a letter from the King. As for the farm of which the Earl
wrote, Cromwell has discovered that his servant is not anxious to
leave it, and he is unwilling to urge him.

After my right harty cowmendaczbns to your good lord-
shippe wM semblable thanks for your Letteres Lately
addressed Vnto me The same shall herewzt/k receyue the
King^r highnes L^^/res of answer to suche credence as yow
cowmytted to my Freende Maister Butter to be declared Vnto
him. And albeit his Maiestie hathe not resolutely answered
to the particular points of your credence aforsaid yet your
lordshippe maye be assured at your cu;^myng vppe to re-
ceyve suche answer in euery of the same as shalbe to your
contentaczon. And vndoubtedly his grace woolbe as gladde
to see yo^ir lordshippe as any man I suppose in his realme.
Suche is his entier love and fauour towards yowe. Whiche
I am as gladde to p^rceyve and see as your self could desire
the same. Touching the ferme wherof your lordshippe wrote
vnto me I haue been in hande viM my seruaunt and like as
I wold be lothe to constrayne him if I might otherwise chuse
to forgoo it Soo I perceyve he woll not leave it onles it shalbe
for advoyding of my displeasure, and again the man dothe
me soo good sluice that wz t/z equitie I canne presse him no
further therin thenne I haue doon. Neuertheles if yozir
lordshippe woll haue me eftsones to travail in it I shall doo
asmoche more therin as your self shall at your cummyng

400 LETTERS OF [1535

thinke mete for me. And thus moost hartely Fare yow well.
From the Rull^s the xx th of February

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good Lorde Therle of Shrewisbury
lord Steward of the King^ Houshold.

98. CROMWELL TO ADMIRAL CHABOT, SIEUR DE

BRION l .

Bibl. Nat. de Paris, Fonds Moreau, 737, page 83 ; Cal. viii. 337.

<Mar.>4, 1535.

The report of the Treasurer of Brittany will assure him how desirous the
King is to remain in friendship with the King of France. Urges de
Brion to do all he can to strengthen and increase the amity.

MONSEIGNEUR,

J ay receu les lettres qu il vous a pleu m escrire ensemble
entendu vostre response, et charge de M r . le Tresorier Pala-
me"des, laquelle, selon sa tres bonne maniere de faire, et an
tres grand contentement du Roy, mon maistre, il a sceu tres-
bien dire et declarer, et pourtant que par la response qu il
emporte, vous pourrez clairement cognoistre la bonne con-
stance et continuation d amitid et vnion, en quoy le Roy mon
dit maistre entend persister a tout iamais tant luy que sa
posterite, sans aucunement varier, ains faire tout ce que avec
son honneur et condescentement luy sera possible, au desir du
Roy, son bon frere : pourtant aussy, que le diet Tresorier vous
S9aura faire ample rapport de toutes choses ;

Monseigneur, apres vous avoir tres afTectueusement prie que
veuillies persuader, et si mestier est, inculquer a la ma^ du
Roy V e Maistre, la grandeur de leur amitie, et bonne intention
de la dicte response et qu il ne veuille presser ne desyrer le
Roy de chose pourquoy Ton pense avoir suspicion ou con-
iecture qu en 1 amitie d entr eux y entre aucun respect de
lucre ou proffit particulier : car ce n est pas assez, comme
vous s^avez trop mieux, que leur amitie soit cogneue et prinse
pour ferme et establie par entr eux et leurs amys, qui est
a leur grand confort et encouragement : Mais aussy est tres
expedient de 1 entretenir et conduire en sorte que leurs
Ennemis et malveillans n ayant cause d y pouvoir penser, ne
suspecter aucune interruption, qui sera a leur tres grand
esbahissement Confusion et desconfort : et ce faisant, comme

1 From the official Record Office transcript.

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 401

bien gist en vous, le bien et plaisir, qui a tout le monde en
adviendra, ne se S9avoir assez estimer, sans vous rescrire pour
le present plus au long, m estre de tres bon coeur recommande
a V e Seigneurie et oftert tout ce en quoi vous S9auray faire
honneur et plaisir Je supplie nostre benoist Createur, que,
a vous Monseigneur, il veuille donner sa saincte et digne
garde.

Signe, Vostre a commandement

THOMAS CRAMWELL.

Escript a Londres,
le iv iour de May l .

J 534-
Add. A Monseigneur

Monseigneur I Admiral de France.

99. CROMWELL TO LORD LISLE.

R. O. Cal. viii. 419. Mar. 21 (1535).

The King marvels at his delay in granting Thomas Appowell a position
as soldier at Calais. Desires Lisle to give him the next vacant
place.

After my right harty cowmendacionsvnto yo?/r good lordship,
thiese shalbe for asmoche as the kingly highnes before this tyme
in consideracion of the good and acceptable s^ruice done vnto
his sayd highnes by his faythefull subgec[t] Thomas Appowell.
Hathe geven and graunted vnto hym the roume of a Souldiour
of the retynewe at Calays whiche first or next shuld fall and
be voyde wM the wages of viii d. a da[y] as by the kmges
graunt therof made vnder his signet beryng date the second
day of May in the xxiii th yere of his reigne and other his
spmall letteres sithens directed vnto you for that purpose
it dothe more playnly appere. And that notwithstanding,
hitherto he hathe not been preferred to any suche roume,
as he saythe wherat considering the kinges sayd graunt and
\etteres seu^rally made for that purpose his highnes dothe
not a litle marvaill. Wherfore I requyre and pray you for
asmoche as thesayd Thomas hathe done good s^ruice, and is
right mete for that roume. And the rather for my sake
and at the contemplacion of these my \etterzs, to graunt vnto
hym the next roume that shalbe voyde wM thesayd wages,
shewing vnto hym yoz/r lordshippes favour in that behalf.

The date May is obviously a quite certain that the letter was

mistake; it should be March. The written March 4, 1535, which, of

dates of the embassy of Gontier and course, was 1534 O. S. Cf. Cal. viii.

the itinerary of the King make it p. 133 n.

402 LETTERS OF [1535

Wherby besides that ye shall do a very good dede, ye shall
admynyster and do vnto me right thankfull pleasu[re] the
whiche god willyng I will in semblable wise requite, thus the
blessed Trenyte preserue you. At the rolles the xxi day
of Marche.

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good lord the vicount lisle the K mges
depute at Calays.

100. CROMWELL TO SIR GREGORY DA CASALE.

R. O. Cal. viii. 523. April 10, 1535.

The King is glad to hear that the Bishop of Rome begins to appreciate
the justice of his cause. Urges that every effort be made to prevail
upon the Pope to give formal sentence in favour of the divorce.

Mag;/z/zce Domino, Gregori salutem et commendationem
Complures post vestru//z hinc discessum, et uariis temporibus
datas a vobis hVteras accepi, quarum recensiores sub die xx
februarii Romae scriptae sunt, quicquid uero de occure^tiis
istis publicis, ac priuatis Regiae Maz>.ytotis rebus in dictis
\itteris unquam significabatur sigillatim, ac diligenter id ipsi
semper exposui, gratumq?/^ et acceptum habet seduluw istud
vestrum scribendi officium,nec ego antea vestris \itteris respondi,
quod putaui, praeter istorum successuu/^ cognitioneM (quae
sui nouitate grata semper est) non esse admodum multa,
quibus particularius foret respondendum : Nunc autem
Regia Ma&rtas quum vestr&s turn ad se, turn ad me
litters pressius, accuratiusqz^ perlegisset, illud inter coetera,
mente adnotauit, Pontificem vobiscuw loqui uoluisse, sum-
mamque praesetulisse Regiae Ma&r&ti gratificandi propen-
sionem, et ob earn causam, duos accersisse ex hetruria iure-
consultos cum primis eruditos, quorum doctrinae sanoq
iudicio potissimum fidat, eorumq^^ sententias, et opiniones
pro Regiae Ma&f&ztis causa stare, et eiusmodi esse vestris vos
\ittens affirmatis ut pontifex ex officio debeat praesens matri-
monium, etiam si de ualiditate dispensationis a lulio factae
constaret, approbare, Coeterum causa?^ hanc, ut ueritatis
fundamento totam innitentem, et si Regia Ma/^tas cum Deo
satis firmatam habeat, et omni ex parte stabilitam, in hunc
tamen sensum IzY&ras vestr&s interpretatur, Pontificem scilicet
de eius rectitudine et aequitate cum sua Regia Maiestate
qttam optime sentire, Proinde si amicum ac syncerum istud
pectus erga Seremssimum Dommum meum Regem (quod vos
scribitis) re uera habet, quin potius, ut bonum quenq?/^ virum
ab omni prorsus odio, et affectu liberum, et immunem in primis

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 403

decet, si ueritati ex anima fauet, ems certe sunt partes, ut
suam hanc erga Inuictissimum Domtnum meum Regem in
causa omnium iustissima bene affectam uoluntatem, suo etiam
publico testimonio, et approbatione vniuersi orbi reddat per-
quam manifestam, suaque sponte, innataque animi probitate
et solius ueritatis propagandae studio, nulla Regiae Matestatis
intercessione expectata, ad id adducatur, ut nullius metu, seu
respectu a uero rectoq?^ deflectens de prioris matrimonii
inualiditate, praesentisq/^? firmitate, et robore ingenue pro-
nunciet, quern ad modum doctissimis illis viris, quos huius
rei causa ab eo accersitos, istic adesse scribitis, maxime probari
significatis, efficiet certe Pontifex rem suo munere, et officio
dignam, Sertnissimo Domino meo Regi, qui suae causae
iustitiam tot uigiliis, sumptibus ac laboribus diu quaesitam,
et iam pridem cum Deo compertam habet, ueheme^ter gratam,
sibique in primis, et pontificatui suo longe utiliorem, qttam
nunc demonstratione sit opus, Vos autem si hac in re nullo
Regiae Mazkrtatis expectato mandate, nulloqz^ suo iussu (non
enim firmiora suae causae quam nunc habet adiumenta
aliunde sperat) qmcqitid profeceritis, ac Pontificem vestra.
dexteritate ex vobis ad id quod scribitis adduxeritis, eiusdem
Regiae Maitstatis expectationi quae non vana, aut victa
officia, nee infructuosos rerum euentus de vestrls actionibus
sibi pollicetur, procul dubio respondebitis, et haec a Pontifice
beneuolentia et gratia ex officio proueniens eo nomine gratior,
et acceptior erit, quod ueritatis ratio, deique respectus, sanaque
conscientia ad hoc eum mortaliuw nemine procura^te, nunc
commouerit. Et bene valete. Londini Die x Aprilis M.D. xxxv.

Vester bonus amicus

THOMAS CRUMWELL,

Add. Mag//Jco Equiti, Domino Gregorio Casalio etc.
Amico canssimo.

101. (CROMWELL) TO <Sm GREGORY DA CASALE).

R. O. Cal. vii. 268 *. (April 10, 1535.)
Draft in English of the preceding.

After my right (hearty) co/^mendacions, Sithen your depar
ture I haue receyued sundry of your letterzs whereof the last
bere date at Rome the xx day of Februarie. And whatsoeu^r
ye haue signefied vnto me by your saide l^^res aswell of the
publique occurranter there as of the King^j highnes pryuate

1 This letter is obviously misplaced in the Calendar,

404 LETTERS OF [1535

affairees I haue aliwayes intymated and declared the same to
the kings maiestie who right thankefully and acceptablie
taketh and estemeth your diligence in wryting And now
having p^rvsed and redde both your \ettei es addressed to his
maieste and also to me his highnes hathe speciallie noted in
the same amongst other that the bisshop of Rome speking
with you shewed himself veray propice and desirous to
gratefie his saide highnes And that he had sent for out cf
Ethrurie twoo Lawyers being singulerly well lerned in whose
doctrine and good iudgement he hathe grete trust and con
fidence Whose sentence and opynyons do stonde hollie wzt/z
the kings highnes cause Affirmyng (as ye wryte) that the
saide Bisshop of Rome of his duetie and office ought to
approbate and confyrme this present matrymonie albeit it
depended vppon the validite of the dispensacion made by
Julius. So as Notwithstanding that the kingly maiestie having
his saide cause sufficientlie diffyned and being himself in that
behalf resolutely determyned and grounded as vppon the
foundacion of veryte and trowth hathe discharged his con
science therein (like a good vertuous and catholique prynce)
afore god and the worlde Yet his maieste dothe in suche
sence interpretate your W/eres that (as appereth by the same)
the saide bisshop of Rome begynneth now somwhat to saucer
and fele the iustnes and equyte of the saide cause and
ptfKelie to stande with the Kings maiestie in the same.
Wherefore if the saide bisshop of Rome do in dede bere so
frendelie and syncere good mynde and will towards the
kings highnes (as ye do wryte) or rather if he love the trewth
as it beco;^meth every good man to do setting aparte all
hatred and affection it is his parte to shew the same now to
the vnyu^rsall worlde in this most iust and rightcious cause
by his owne publique testymonye and approbacion. And of
his owne free will and wz t/out any sute or intercession of the
kings maiestie onelie adhering to the trewth and neglecting
all other respects to pronounce the invalidite of the first
matrimony and the validite of the seconde according to the
sentence Judgements and diffynytions of the saide ii lerned
men which as ye wryte the saide bisshop of Rome called and
sent for vnto him for that purpose which if the saide Bisshop
of Rome will, surely he shall do (a) thing wourihie his office
and merite of god and the worlde and to the kings highnes
veray thankefull and acceptable pleasure, and also to him
self and his see moche more pr^fite and good then now
nedeth to expresse. And you for your parte if in this
matier as of yoz/r self ye can any thing pr^fite or pr^vaile
by your good policie and dexteryte towards the conducyng

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 405

of the saide Bisshop of Rome to that conformyte (as ye wryte
in your saide k//^res) ye shall then vndoubtedlie answer to the
kingly highnes expectaczbn And the same preceding of
the beneuolence of the saide Bisshop of Rome and the zele
that he hathe to the due execucion of his office and duetie
shalbe the more grate and acceptable a grete dell to the
Kingly highnes and the hole wo//rlde, seeing that the mere
veryte and the respecte that he hath to god and his owne
conscience shall move him thereunto wzt^out any mortall
mannes procurement

Endd. A Mynute of certeyn letteres responsyve to on at
Rome

A mynute of a L<?^re to intymate to the Pope the King^
desyre to haue him condiscend to the dyvorce & to allowe
th second maryage.

102. (CROMWELL) TO MR. RICHE.

R. O. Cal. viii. 563. Apr. 20 (1535).

Requests him to use his influence to induce Mr. Sinclair to cease suing
Edward Campion, clerk of the peace in Essex.

After my m[ost] hertie maner I cowmende me vnto you,
and evyn so I pray you at this my request and contemplaczon
to be good Maister and frende vnto Edwarde Campion clerke
of the peax wM m the shere of Essex of and in all suche his
busynes towching the same his office and to be ameane for
hym in the same unto Mr Sayntclere hym to desire to putt
the said campion to no further vexacions and sutes for the
said office as he hath heretofore done. In doyng whereof you
shall admynister vnto me right singular pleasure, which god
willing . I shall not for get semblable to requyte as shall lye
in my litill power. And this hertelye fare ye well. At
london this xx th day of Aprill

Add. To my lovyng frende Master Riche.
Endd. Mynute of letters.

103. CROMWELL TO THE PRIOR OF TREWARDRETH.

B. M. Add. MSS. 6,416, f. 8 ; Cal. viii. 743. May 21 (1535).

The King is informed that the town of Fowey is in a bad state, because
the Prior, who has the liberties of the town in his hands, administers
it so badly. Desires him to amend his ways.

M r priour as vnaccquanted I haue me commended vnto you,
and whereas it is comen vnto the king^j highnes knowledge
that the Towne of Fowey is sore decayed and thoccasion

406 LETTERS OF [1535

therof partlie is that in the saide Towne is no order of
Justice bicause the liberties concerninge the same graunted
by the king^ highnes and his noble progenitours to your
predecessours and by theime vnto the inhabitaunt^ of the
saide Towne remayne in your handes and kepinge So that
betwene you no maner good order equitie nor Justice is exe
cuted and vsed wz t^in the saide Towne. Wherfore I require
you to condiscende and agree wM the inhabitaunter of the
saide Towne so that you hauynge your reasonable approued
duties, they may haue theire liberties to be vsed and extended
amongeste theime wzt^in the saide Towne to thincrease of
good order wz t^in the same. And as ye shall agre therin to
certifie me in writinge by Thomas Treffry berer herof. For
his highnes thinketh that the saide porte of Fowey oweth to
be his and to be holden of hime so that his grace entendeth
from hensforth to haue it as well prouided for wM good
gouern^zmce and of defence for vtter enemyes as other his
townes and porter be wzt/zin those parties. Wherunto ye
for your partie before this tyme haue had litle or no re-
garde neyther to the good order rule and defence therof ne
yet to the good rule and gouernaunce of yourself your
monasterie and religion as ye be bounde wherfore his highnes
thinketh that ye be veray vnworthey to haue rule of any
towne that cannot well rule yourself. And that I may haue
aunswer as is afforesaide by this berer what ye intend to do
I require you to thintente I maye certifie his highnes therof
And thus fare ye well. At london the xxi th daie of Maie

Your Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the priour of trewardreth in Cornewall be this
youen.

104. (CROMWELL) TO DR. LONDON AND MR. CLAYMOND.

R. O. Cal. viii. 790. May (1535).

Desires them to request the fellows of Magdalen to admit Thomas
Marshall as president of the college, on the resignation of the
present president, who has already signified his willingness to give
up his position.

In my right harty man^ I co;#mende me vnto you. And
where the Presedent of Mawdelyn College, as well by his
seuera.ll \etteres as by mouthe (of his mere motion) at sundry
tymes, myche commending the qualities of my Lord and frende
master Thomas Marshall] graunted vnto me, that he wulde

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 407

be contented to resigne that his Rowme to the same master
Marshall, alledging that he was a man very apte & mete for
the same, promysing further and nothing doubting, but in that
behalf be bothe coulde & wolde fynde the meanes to obteyne
the goode willes & myndes of the felowes of the said College.
Neuertheles nowe of Late (to me no litle m^rvaile) the saide
presedent when I desired hym to accomplishe his saide pro-
messe, alledged for his excuse that the goode willes of the
saide felowes coulde not in that behalf be opteyned. Wherfore
I hartely desire and pray you effectually in my name to
solicite & entreate the saide felowes as by your wysdomes ye
shall thinke most conuenient that they for my sake & at
this my desire wilbe contented to conforme theym selves vpon
the resignation of the said p^sedent to the admission of the
saide master Marshall, or elles that contrary Wyse att the Leaste
I may knowe by yottr writing in whome the mater sticketh.
In doing wherof ye shall not only des^rue bothe Laude &
prayse in the furderaunce of the saide master Marshall, whose
advancement I hartely desire, but also I wille not faile
to remembre your kyndnes in that I may doo you pleasure.

And thus hartely fare ye well, from London the daye

of May.

Endd. The Copie of alitfire Sent to Mr. doctor London
& Mr. Claymond,

105. CROMWELL TO THE EARL OF CUMBERLAND.

B. M. Add. MSS. 12,097, f. i ; Cal. viii. 893. June 18 (1535).

Requests him to discover and apprehend certain evil-disposed and riotous
persons, who have unlawfully assembled in the county where the
Earl lives.

After my right harty recowmendacion vnto your good
lordship, thiese shalbe tadu^rtise the same that the k mges
highnes hathe been adu^rtised that diu^rse riotous and ill-
disposid persones of the parties wher ye inhabite, or wM m
your offices and roumes (as it is sayd) hathe lately vnlawfully
assembled theymselfes together to no litle nombre in riotous
maner to so;;zme lewde and vnthriftie intent and purpose.
Wherfor his highnes myndyng the quietenes of his subiect^y,
and good rule and order to be maynteynyd and kepte wz t/zin
this realme Willithe and cowmaundithe you and other of the
Justices of his peax, furthewzt^ after the receyt herof to make
inquisicion and serche, who and what nombre of the sayd
p^rsones hathe so assembled theymselfe, and for what cause
intent and purpose they hathe so done And that ye also

408 LETTERS OF . [1535

enquire who hathe beene the Capitall and cheffe doers in that
partye. and further that ye cause theym to be apprehended
and taken and sent hither with all convenyent spede together
vfM all that ye shall fynd and knowe concernyng the pre-
mysses, and suche other offenders as ye shall not think good
to be sent vp that your lordship cause theym to be put vnder
sufficient suretyes for their good aberyng accordy ng to his
lawes, prayeng your lordship to adu^rtise me of that ye shall
do in the premysses by the berer herof with all convenyent
spede. And thus the blessid Trenyte presmie you At the
rolles the xviii th day of June.

Your lordshyppis Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right honorable and my veray good lord
the Erie of Cumberland be this youen.

106. CROMWELL AND AUDLEY TO THE MAYOR AND
COMMONALTY OF CAMBRIDGE.

Cooper s Annals of Cambridge, i. 371 ; Cal. viii. 1036. July 14

Desires them to take measures to avoid any trouble with the members of
the University at the approaching Stourbridge Fair.

After our hertye commendacions, wher variaunce debate
and strif hath long depended betweene the Vycechauncellor
of the Universite of Cambridge and the scolers of the same of
the one partie, and you and the cominaltye of the towne of
Cambridge on the {other} party, concernyng both your iuris-
diccions and liberties. And albeit we, wyth others of the
king s counsaile by his graces commaundment, entended to
have pacyfyed the sayd variaunce or this tyme ; yet never-
thelesse, for that we have had no convenient leasure for the
same, the said variaunce as yet remaynith undetermyned.
And forasmuche as Sturbridge fair is nowe nere at hand
at whiche tyme it is thought verey like that variaunce
and breche of the kings peax may happen betwixt you, bi
reason of suche iurisdiccions as ether of you pretende to
exercise in the same faire, if remedye were not provided for
the same, we therfore, calling to rememberaunce that for the
conservacion of the Kings peax an order was takyn the last
yere at Lambeheth, before the most Reverend father in god
the archebysshop of Canterbury and other the Kings Coun
saile, what ether of you shuld exercise in the said faire without
interrupcion of other, till the variaunce betweene you were
fully determyned, Do nowe therfore advertise you that the

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 409

Kings pleasure is that as well ye for your parts, as the said
Vicechancellour and scolers for their parts, shall firmely for
this faire tyme to cume this yere, observe and kepe the same
order in every poynt without violacion therof : Signifying unto
you that we have written our letteres to the said Vycechaun-
cellour and scolers for the same cause, Putting you out of
doubt that by the due keping of the said order, ye shall take
no preiudice of eny your lawfull liberties that of right ye ought
to have, uppon examynacyon and fynall determynacyon of
ether your titles, To the proceeding in the finall order wherof,
we will with all diligence (god willing) put our effectuall
endevor this next terme, as the kings pleasure is we shuld do,
requiring you to take pacyens in the meane season. And
thus almyghtye Jhu have you in keping. Wrytten at London
the xiiij th daye of July.

Your frends,

THOMAS AUDELEY Knt. Chauncell.
THOM S . CRUMWELL.

Add. To the Maier and comynaltie of the Towne of
Cambridg be this yeven.

107. (CROMWELL) TO THE (DUKE OF NORFOLK).

B. M. Titus B. i, 318 ; Cal. viii. 1042. July 15 (1535).

Sends a royal proclamation against conveying coin out of the realm, and
a copy of the statute of 5 Richard II to the same effect. The
council gave its opinion that the King s proclamation in this case
should have the same force as a statute.

May hit please your grace to be Adu^rtysyd that I haue
resayuyd your \ettctzs l p^rsayuyng by the Contents therof
that the Kyng^j highnes dothe moche m^rveyle that I haue
not adurrtysyde your grace what order my lord chauncelor
and others of his Counceyll hath 2 takyn Concernyng the
conveyaunce of Coyne owt of the realme. Syr according
to your gracyous co;;zmaundement vppon tewysdaye last
Mr. Attorney and I bothe dyd Intymate & declare the
King*?.? pleasure vnto my lorde Chauncelor who Immedyatlye
Sent For My lorde cheffe Justyce of the kynges benche the
cheffe Justyce of the Common place the cheffe Barren and
Mr. Fytzeherberd Mr. Attorney Mr. Solysytor and I being
present and the Case by my sayd lord Chauncelor openyd
dyuers oppynyons ther were, but Fynally it was Concludyd

1 c. o. this nyght at xii of the Cloke

2 c. o. done and what order ys

MERRIMAN, I E C

410 LETTERS OF [1535

that all the statuttes sholde be Inserchyd to See whether ther
were anye Statute or lawe able to serue for the purpose and
yf ther were it was thought good, that yf it sholde happen
any accydent to be wherby ther myght Be any occasyon
that the money sholde be conveyed owt of the realme that
then proclamacyon sholde be made growndyd vppon the
sayd Statute adding therunto poletyklye certayn things For
the putting the Kynges Subiectey and other in more terroure
ande Feare vppon which deuyse serche was made and a
goode estatute Founde which was made in the Fyfte yere
of Kyng Rychard the seconde the Copye wheroff translatyd l
into Inglyshe I do sende vnto your grace drawne in manner
of A proclamacyon by the aduyse of the Kynges lernyd
Counsayle. But Amongyst all other things I mouyd vnto
my sayd lorde chauncelor my lorde cheffe Justyce and other
that yf in Case ther were no law nor statute made alredye
for any suche purpose what myght the Kyng^ hignes by the
aduyse of his Counsaylle doo to wzt/zstande so greate a
daunger lyke as your grace alledgyd at my beyng wzt/; you
to the which yt was answeryd by my lorde cheffe Justyce
that the Kyngts hyghnes by the aduyse of his Cownsayll
myght make pn?clamacyons and vse all other polecyes at his
pleasure as well in this Case as in Anye other lyke For the
avoyding of any suche daungers and that the sayd pro-
clamacyons and polyces so deuysyd by the King & his
cownsayll for any such purpose sholde be of as good effect
as Any law made by parly am ent or other wyse which oppy/y^n
I assure your grace I was veray gladde to here 2 wheruppon 3
the sayd statute 4 was drawen in to a (copy) in forme as
(a) proclamacyon I do now sende the same to your grace 4
and thus the holye trynyte pr^serue your grace in long
lyff good (health) wM the Increase of moche honor at london
the xv th day of July.

108. CROMWELL TO SIR JOHN RUSSELL, ROGER WYNTER,
JOHN PAKYNGTON AND JOHN VAMPAGE.

Library of William Berington, Esq., of Little Malvern Court. Not in Cal.

July 18(1535).

Desires them to examine the complaint of Robert Symonds, of Pershore,
in Worcestershire, and see that justice is done if possible.

I cowmende me vnto you in my right hertie maner And
by the tenure [of these letters] whiche I sende vnto you

1 c. o. drawne * c. o. to thentent the

* c. o. Serche was made and gracyous pleasure may be known

3 c. o. the Copye of this drawen according to the sayd

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 411

hcrin closid ye may perccuc the complaynt of Robert
Symonckj- of p^rshor in the countie of Worcester wherfor
I hartely desire and pray you groundly to consider and
pounder the contents of the same and callyng the parties
before you ye be soche waies and meanes as ye can best
devise examyne the hole circumstaunce therof and sett
a fynall ende therin if ye can And if through the obstinacie
of either of the said parties ye cannot convenyently so do
then my further desire is that ye wryte vnto me the truthe
and playnes of the mater wz t/i the circumstaunces therof to
thintent I may therin cause some meanes to be founde as
the [case] rightfully shall require wherby ye shall do a very
good and meritorious dede. And thus fare ye hartely well
at London the xviij th day of July

Your Frende

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my louyng frendes Sir John Russell Knyght
Roger Wynter John Pakyngton and John Vampage Esquyres
or to thre or two of them.

109. CROMWELL (AND AUDELEY) TO SIR JOHN RUSSELL,
JOHN PACKINGTON, AND JOHN RUSSELL, ESQUIRE.

Library of William Berington, Esq., of Little Malvern Court. Not in Cal.

July 20(1535).

Desires them to survey the possessions of the clergy in the Shire of
Worcester according to the King s commission, and to send an
account of their value to London.

After our right hartye co^mendacyons where the
Co;;zmyssion was dyrectyd vnto you & other for the surveyng
and taxacion of the clere yerely values of all the possessions
of the clergie in the Shire of Worceter accordyng to a boke
of Instruccyons assigned wit/i the hand of the Kynges highnes
annexed vnto the said Co?;zmissyon we signyfie vnto you that
the Kyng^j pleasure ys that ye callyng your fellowes Joyned
\\ith you in Co;;miyssion shall wit/i all possible dylygens
accomplysshe theffect^ therof And to sende to vs to london
all the bokes taken by you of the vieu & value of the said
possessions by one or two suche of your fellowes whiche were
Audytours of the same before the xij th day of Septembre
next coramyng. Not faylyng this to do at your perill. And as

estatute made in the sayd Fyfte yere afforsayd and that was all that was
of Kyng Richarde the second as ys done in that matyere by

E e 2

412 LETTERS OF [1535

ye entende to advaunce the Kynges pleasure in this behalf.
And thus fare you well. At london the xx th day of Julye

THOMAS AUDELEY K. Chauncelloz/r
THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To their loving freend^ Sir John Russell the yonger
Knight John pakington Esquz>r and John Russell Esquier
and to euery of theym be this yoven.

Endd. Wigorn.

110. CROMWELL TO BONNER.

Library of Lord Calthorpe. Not in Cal. July 23 (1535).

Begs him to make speed in his journey. Bonner s commission is ready,
and Mr. Gostwick will deliver to him the Duke of Holstein s letter.

Mr. Boner I co;;/mende me vnto you. Signefieng vnto
the same that the Kynges pleasure is ye wit/i yotir college
shall with all spede and possible haste set your selffes forward
towards thaccomplisshement of your io^rney, and cause
your Ship also to be rigged and made redy so as ye haue
no cause of Delaye. "Your co7/zmission I vnderstonde ye
haue alredy made and sealed, and touching the Duke of
Holster \ettere. if ye haue not yet receyued it Mr. gostwike
shall delyu^r it you or to Cauendish accordinglie. Prayeng
you ones agayne to make all thacceleracion and hast
forwards that ye can possiblie as ye intende to please the
K mges highnes. And so Fare ye well. At Wynchcombe
the xxiii day of Julie

Yo//r Freend THOMAS

CRUMWELL.

Maister Boner the Kin g^ highnes nothing dowtyth in your
wysedom polyce and discrecyo/2 But that ye wooll Vse yotcr
Self according to his trust and expectacy0;z.

Add. To his louing frende Doctor Boner be this youcn
wzt/z spede.

111. CROMWELL TO MR. RICHE.

R. O. Cal. viii. 1130. July 29 (1535).

Desires him to express to the Duke of Suffolk the King s displeasure at
the decay of certain places, which the Duke affirms he has repaired.
Urges him to request the Duke to part with certain reversions which
are desired by the King.

After my right hertie cowmendaczons these shalbe to
adu^rtise you that the kingly highnes hauyng receyued your
letters hathe youen me in co?;/maundement to make you

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 413

answer as here insueth. First touching suche leases as it is
supposed shoulde be made by the Duke of Suffolke, the
kingly highnes seyeth that he knoweth not that the saide
Duke or his officers haue made any lease syns the com-
munycaczon had betwixt them of this bargayn, but his highnes
is certenly infoz/rmed that the saide Duke or his officers haue
offered to make fourth certen leases syns the tyme of the
saide cowmunycaczon had. Whereof his maieste can not but
mervaile and for the same conceyueth som ingratitude and
vnkyndenes in the said Duke if it can so be proved. Secondely
touching the Decay of Ewelme and Donyngton the king^
highnes answered that what soeu^r the saide Duke hathe
spent vppon them, it may well appere in what decay they
stonde, and who soeuer shall view them shall facilly p^rceyue
that grete somes of money will not sufficientlie repaire them
as his highnes himself with his eye hath vewed the saide
Ewelme at his grac^ late being there. And for Donyngton
the house is not onelie in decay but also the keper of the
same Mr. Fetyplace hath both consumed and distroyed the
Dere and game there and also wasted the wood^ in such wise
as it is thought he hathe not onelie forfaited his patent but
also right ill deserued to haue eyther fee or thanke for any
good service he hathe don there. And semblablie the king^
highnes hauing ben at Hokenorton whiche his grace lyketh
veray well can not perceyue ne also his Surueyours sent
thither can not see how that xv c li should be employed
there as it is affirmed by the saide Duke, so as it is not vnlike
but that the saide Duke hathe ben deceyued by his officers.
And whatsoeu^r hath ben spent there, yet will it requyre no
small sommes of money to repare and buylde it after the
king^r mynde and pleasure whiche wilbe chargeable to his
highnes. And touching the game of the red Dere at
Hokenorton aforsaide, his maiestie Doubtith not but that the
saide Duke will iustefie his couuen#//nte and agrement with
the keper for the keping of Ixxx red dere there accordinglie.
Thirdely concerning the reuersions of the lady Gordon and
John Verney the k mges highnes p^rceyuing the conformyte
of the saide Duke in that behalf and also yoz/r travaile and
diligence in the same gyueth vnto him and you both therefore
his graces hertie and condigne thanks. Trusting that like as
his highnes hathe heretofore mynystered grete benefits and
cowmodytees vnto the saide Duke, who hathe atteyned this
degree honour and astate that he now is in by the meanes
and onely adz/^uncement of the king^ saide highnes. So the
saide Duke wilbe contented to departe with the saide reversions
frankely and frely to his highnes of his mere lyberalite to

414 LETTERS OF [1535

extende towards him, and to permytte his maiestee to haue
the saide retorsions wz t^in his bargayn alredy made as his
grace thought he had had, onely trusting to his graces bountie
and goodnes for the recompence of the same. Wherein the
king^ pleasure is ye shalbe playne wM the saide Duke,
vttering and declaring vnto him the good opynyon which the
king^ highnes hathe conceyved in his conformyte towards
all his graabus requester and affairees, and how he of all men
is thereunto bounde if he do well consider the manyfold
benefited that he hath receyued at the \ringes hande. Wherefore
ye may counsaile him not to gyue any cause or occasion in
this behalf to the kynges highnes to conceyve any Jalousie or
mistrust in him but that rather he will shew herein his frankenes
and liberall herte towards his maiestie without sty eking vfit/i
his grace in so small a matier. And so doing let him be
assured that like as the king^? highnes heretofore for lesse
cause youen on the saide Dukes p<zrte, hathe adz/#unced him
to this honour and astate that he now is at, So shall his
maiestee the rather now be Dryven to consider the frankenes
and gentill liberalite of the saide Duke in this behalf if he
frankely do com forwards with the same. And Fynally
I pray you on my behalf to say somwhat to the saide Duke
in this matier alledging vnto him that as I am, alwayes haue
be^n, and euer wilbe his graces poure frende so I requere him
not to stycke with the kinges highnes in this matier, and pray
his grace not to doubte but that the klnges highnes wilbe as
good lorde to him in recompence of the saide reu^rsions as if
his highnes Did now parte and couue/ztfunte wz t/z him for the
same aforehand. Wherein eftesones I pray you shew him on
my behalf that my poure and frendelie aduise is that his grace
shall liberally wryte to the king^ highnes in this matier so as
his highnes may thereby perceyue the saide Duk^ gentill
herte and naturall zele towards his maieste aswell in this
as in all other things. Which be ye assured in myn opynyon
shalbe more beneficyall vnto the saide Duke then x tymes
so moche lande as the saide reuersions Do amount vnto.
Requering you so to shew his grace fro me as from him that
wold be as glad of his graces welth and pr^speryte as any one
of his poure frende. So knoweth oz/r lorde who send you
well to fare. From the Monastery of Tewkesbury the xxix u
Day of Julie.

Your Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To his louyng Frende Mr. Ryche Solycytour to the
kingly highnes be this youen.

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 415

112. CROMWELL TO THE EARL OF RUTLAND.

Belvoir Castle MSS. Not in Cal. Aug. 9 (1535).

Desires him to examine a certain warden and his friars, and report the
result of his investigation to the King. Requests him to apprehend
Friar John Colsell, and detain him till further notice.

Mylorde after my right hertie cowmendac/ons these shalbe
to adu^rtise yonr lordship that having receyued your \etteres
and declared the effects of the same to the king^j highnes,
who for your dyligent adu^rtisement of suche things as do
touche his maiestie and for your good will shewed towards
the correction of suche transgressones gyueth vnto you his
graces hertie and condigne thanks, Forasmoche as the k mges
highnes is adu^rtesed that the warden of those Freres which
haue spoken those sedicious wordes, is a right honest person
and that it may be that he is accused by such light persons
as p^rcase can not iustefie the same, the kinges highnes there
fore requyreth your lordeship to call before you the saide
warden and all other his Freers and to take som payne
thoroughlie and exactely to here Debate and examym? the
matier \vith them and their accusers, so as the trewth and the
hole circumstauno\y of the matier may trewlie and substaun-
cyallie appere in suche wise as eu^ry man may haue his
merits and deserts according to good iustice. And of your
lordeshippes preceding^ in that behalf and what matier ye
shall Fynde vppon the saide examynaczon it may please yo^r
lordeship to signefie the same wit/i the circumstaunc^ to the
king^ high;/es or his counsaile, vppon the which adu^rtisement
your lordship shall knowe ferther of the kinges pleasure.
Touching the other Frere named Frere John Colsell vsing the
decitful arte of magike and astronomye, the king^ pleasure
is that ye shall cause him to be taken and apprehended and
deteyn him in warde vntill ye shall haue other knowlege and
adu^rtisement of the king^j pleasure in that behalf, and thus
the holie trynytie pn?serue yo?/r lordeship in long lif and helth
wz t/z thincrease of honour At Barklay hoornes the ix th day of
August.

Your lordeshyppes assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right honourable my lorde the Erie of Rut-
lande be this yeuen.

416 LETTERS OF [1535

113. (CROMWELL) TO (WALLOP).

R. O. 1 Cal. ix. 157. August 23 (1535).

Instructs him to justify to Francis the King s doings, especially the
executions of More and Fisher, and to request Francis to support
Henry in all his actions against the Pope. The King is desirous that
Melancthon should come to England.

Sir after my most hertie recommendations these shalbe to
adu^rtise you that the xvii th Day of this Moneth I receyued
from you a packet of k/&?res which indelayedlie I delyuered
vnto the kingly highnes and conferred with his grace theffect^
both of your let feres and all others within the saide packet
being directed aswell to his highnes as to me. And after his
highnes had with me p^rvsed the hole contents thoroughlie
of your saide letterzs, p<?rceyuing not onelie the lykelyhod of the
not repairee into Fraunce of Philip Melanchton, but also yo//r
communications had with the frensh king vppon yottr De-
maunde made of the kinges highnes pencions with also yo?/r
Discrete answers and replications made in that behalf, for the
which his maiestee gyueth vnto you his hertie and condigne
thanks, Ye shall vnderstonde that his highnes co?maundid
me to make you answer in this wise folowing First as touching
the kynges money his highnes dowtith not but seeing bothe
the Frensh king and also the grete Maister haue premised
you it shalbe depechid ye will as the case shall requyre not
cease to call vppon them till it be Depeched And ferther
considering that the saide frensh king vppon yo?/r saide
Demaunde of \he saide pensions so sodaynelye fell into co?/2-
munycacion with you aswell of his frendeship and humanyte
shewed to the kynges highnes, alledging that he at all tymes
hathe answered for the kynges highnes specyally being last at
Marcelks 1 with Pope Clement with other things as in your
saide L?//^res appereth, as also concernyng the executions
lately don^ here wit/tin this realme, The kingly highnes not
a litle m^rvaileth thereat, and thinketh it good that as of
yourself ye take som occasion at conuenyent tyme and opor-
tunyte to renovate the saide co?^munycacyon both with the
Frensh kyng or at the least with the grete Maister, sayeng
vnto them, that where the saide Frensh kyng alledgeth that
he hath at all tymes answered for the kynges highnes in his
cause and specyally to the saide Pope Clement at Marcelk^
affirmyng his procedynges to be iust and vpright concernyng
the Matrymony as ye do wryte, in that albeit the kynges
highnes proczdinges in all his affairees within this realme
being of such equyte and iustnes of themself as they be, nedeth

1 A copy of this letter is also to be found in Longleat House.

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL . 417

not any defence or assistence ayenst Pope Clement or any
other foreyn power, having goddes worde and lawes onelie
sufficient to defende him Yet in that that 1 the said frensh kyng
hathe as he sayeth answered at all tymes on the kingly p^rte,
he hathe don* nothing but the parte of a brother in iustefieng
and verefyeng the trewth, and so contynuyng shall Do as
ap^rteyneth to a prynce of honour which the kingly highnes
doubtith not he hath and will do onely in respecte to the
veryte and trewth beside the amyte betwixt them both iustlye
requyring the same. And concerning thexecuabns Done
wzt//in this realme ye shall sey to the saide Frensh Kyng that
the same were not so mervelous extreme as he alledgeth, for
touching Mr. More and the Bisshop of Rochester \vit/i suche
others as were executed here, their treasons conspiracies and
practises secretely practised aswell wz t/nn the realme as vfitk-
out to move and styrre discension and to sowe sedycyon
wzt//in the realme, intending thereby not onelye the distruc-
tion of the kyng but also the hole subuersion of his highnes
realme being explaned and declared and so manyfestly proved
afore them that they could not avoyde nor Denyc it and they
thereof openly detected and lawfully convicted adiudged and
condempned of high treason by the Due order of the lawes of
this realme, it shall and may well appere to all the worlde that
they having such malice roted in their hertes ayenst their
prynce and Sou^reigne and the totall Distraction of the
cowmen weale of this realme, were well worthie if they had
had a thousande lyves to haue suffered x tymes a more terrible
Deth and execucion then any of them Did suffer. And touching
suche \vordes as the saide frensh kyng spake vnto you con-
cernyng how Mr. More dyed and what he saied to his
doughter going to his Judgement and also what exhortacions
he shoulde gyue vnto the kyng^ subiect^ to be trew and
obedient to his grace (assuring you that there was no such
thing) whereof the gret Master promysed you a Double at
length. In that the k mges pleasure is that ye shall not onelie
procure the saide double and sende it hither but also sey vnto
the saide frensh king that the kyng<?.y highnes can not other
wise take it but veraye vnkyndely that the saide frensh king
or any of his counsaile at whose handes he hathe so moche
meryted and to whom he hathe mynystered so many grete
benefit*? pleasures and cof/zmodytees shoulde so lightly gyue
eare faith and credence to any such vayne brutes and fleeng
tales Not hauyng first knowlege or adu^rtisement from the
kingly highnes here and his counsaile of the veryte and
trewth, Affirming it to be the office of a frende hering any

1 sic.

418 LETTERS OF [1535

suche tales of so noble a prynce rather to haue compressed
the bruters thereof to sylence or at the leest not p^rmytted
them to haue dyvulged the same vntill such tyme as the
king^r maiestee being so dere a frende had ben adu^rtesed
thereof and the trewth knowen before he shoulde so lightly
beleve or allege any suche reporte which ingrate and vnkynde
Demeanure of the saide frensh king vsed in this behalf
argueth playneleye not to remayn in his brest such integryte
of herte and syncere amyte towards the "kmges highnes and
his prvced mges as his highnes alwayes heretofore hathe
expected and loked for. Which thing Ye may propone and
alledge vnto the saide frensh king and the grete Maister or to
one of them with suche modestie and sobrenes as ye thinke
they maye p^rceyue that the king^ highnes hathe good and
hist cause in this parte somwhat to take their light credence
vnkyndelye. And where as the saide frensh king sayeth
that touching such lawes as the k mgcs highnes hathe made
he will not medle wMa.ll alledging it not to be mete that one
prynce should desire a nother to chaunge his lawes sayeng that
his be to olde to be ch^unged, to that ye shall sey that such
lawes as the kmges highnes hathe made here be not made
without substauncyall grounds by grete and mature aduise
counsaile and deliberacion of the hole polycie of this realme
and are indede no new lawes but of grete antiquyte and many
yeres passed were made and executed within this realme as
now they be renovate and renewed onlye in respecte to the
comen weale of the same. And it is not a litle to his highnes
m^rvaile that the saide frensh kyng euer wolde counsaile or
aduyse him if in case hereafter any suche like offenders should
happen to be in this realme that he should rather banyssh
them then in suche wise execute them And specyallie con
sidering that the saide frensh king himself in cowmonyng
with you at that tyme not onely confessed thextreme exe-
cucyons and grete Bruyllie of late don in his realme But
also that he now intendeth to withdraw the same and to
revoke and to call home agayn such as be out of his realme
the kinges highnes therefore the more straungely taketh his
saide aduise and counsaile Supposing it to be neyther thoffice
of a frende nor of a brother that he wold Determyn himself to
call home into his realme agayn his subjects being out of the
same for speking ayenst the Bisshop of Romes vsurped auc-
toryte, and counsaile the kynges highnes to banysshe his
traytours into straunge partes where they myght haue good
occasion tyme place and oportunyte to w^rke their feates of
treason and conspiracie the better agaynst the king^ highnes
and this his realme. In which parte ye shall somwhat

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 419

engreve the matier after such sorte as it may well appere to
the saide frensh king that not onelie the king^ highnes might
take those his counsailes and co;//munycaczons both straungely
and vnkyndely thinking the same not to precede of mere
amyte and frendship, but also vsing such polycie and austeryte
in proponyng the same wit/i the saide frensh king and the
grete Maister taking such tyme and oportunyte as may best
serue for the same, as they may well p^rceyue the kingly
highnes preceding^ here wz t/Hn this realme both concerning
the saide execucyons and all other things to be onely groundid
vppon iustice and the equyte of his lawes which be no new
lawes but auncyent lawes made and establisshed of many
yeres passed wz t/an this realme and now renovate and renewed
as is aforesaide for the better order weale and suretie of the
same. And ye may ferther say that if the frensh king and
his counsaile well consyder as they ought to do that it were
moch better to adu<7?mce the punysshment of traito&rs and
rebellr^ for their offence then to ponysshe such as do speke
ayenst the vsurped auctoryte of the bisshop of Rome who
Daylie goth about to suppresse and subdue kyng^y and prynccs
and their auctorytee gyuen to them by goddes worde. All
which matiers the kynges pleasure is that ye shall take tyme
and occasion as ye talkyng agayn wzt/2 the frensh king or the
grete Maister may declare yotir mynde as before is prescribed
vnto you. Adding thereunto such matier wzt^ such reasons
after yoz/r accustomed dexteryte & discression as ye shall
thinke most expedyent and to serve best for the kingly
purpose, Defence of his preceding^ and the profe of the frensh
k mgcs ingratitude shewed in this behalf. Not Doubting in
yo?/r wisedom good industrie and discrete circumspection for
thordering and well handeling of the same accordinglye.

And touching Melanchton 1 considering there is no lyke-
lihod of his repayree into Fraunce as I haue well p^rceyued
by your L?/&?res, the kynges highnes therfore hath appoyntid
Cristofer Mount indelaiedlie to take his ioz/rney where Me
lanchton is and if he come to prevente MounszVz/r de Langie
in suche wise as the saide Melancton his repay re into Fraunce
may be stayed and dyu^rtid into Englond Not doubting but
the same shall take effect accordynglie. And as to Mr. Heynes
the kynges pleasure is that he shall go to Parys there to 2
lerne and dissiphre the opynyons of the lernid men and their
inclynacions and affections aswell towards the kynges highnes
procedinges as to the bisshop of Rome his vsurped power and
auctoryte, after such sorte as the kingly saide highnes hathe

1 c. o. &c. the kynges high 2 c. c* reside and demoure

420 LETTERS OF [1535

now wrytten to him by his gracious letteres addressed both to
him and the saide Cristofer Mount 1 . Dyrecting them what
they shall do in all things comytted to their charge at this
tyme As I doubt not they will put thereunto their devoires
for the accomplisshment of the king^ pleasure as ap^r-
teyneth. And thus makyng an ende prayeng you to vse
yo?/r discression in the proponing of the premisses to the
Frensh king and the grete Master or the one or both of them
vsing the same as a Medecyn and after suche sorte that as nere
as ye can it be not moch displeas^untly taken Adu^rtesing
the k mges highnes from tyme to tyme of the successes thereof
and of all other occurauntes as the case shall requyre, I shall
for this tyme bid you most hertelie Fare well &c. Thorne-
bery the xxiij day of August.

Endd. Fraunce

114. (CROMWELL) TO NICHOLAS OLDISWORTHY.

R. O. Cal. ix. 241 (i). Sept. i (1535).

Desires him to give up all the possessions of the bishopric of Hereford to
such persons as the Bishop-elect shall appoint.

In my harty wise I commend me vnto you . Aduertising the-
same that for certayne causes the kingly highnes specially
movyng, his graces pleasure is that ye shall surcease any
farther to yntermedle \vitk the possessions and lander be-
longyng to the Busshopriche of Hereford but that ye suffer
suche as the Busshop elect shall appoynt to haue the doyng
of the same. And that ye farther suffer the officers appoynted
by thesayd Busshop to resceyve aswell the next rent due at
the Fest of thannuaciacion of our lady last past as all other
rentes due sithe that tyme. And that ye fayll not thus to do
as the king^ trust is in you . thus fare ye well. At Bromham
the first day of September.

for Nicholas Oldisworthye.
115. (CROMWELL) TO (THE ABBESS OF WILTON).

R. O. Cal. ix. 271. Sept. 4 (1535).

Desires her to act kindly towards his friend William Nevill in the matter
of the lands belonging to her monastery. NeviJl does not wish to sue
her though he has good cause so to do.

Madame, after my right harty recommendations vnto you,
thiese shalbe like as here tofore I have writen vnto you, to

1 c. o. whereby

J 535] THOMAS CROMWELL 421

desire you to be good lady and frynd to my lovyng frynd
willzVzm Nevell about the Ferme of Chalke and do such
reparacions as belongithe vnto the same according to ysur
graunt therof made and that ye will suffer hym to have and
enioy such copy holdes as he of right shuld have and holde of
your Mano?/r of Semky belongyng to that your Monastery, as
by sufficient writyng and copies therof it dothe more at large
appere, in suche wise as he may have no cause farther to
complayne ouer you therfore. I cannot p^rsayve any reason
iust cause or meanes wherby * ye may or shuld deny hym the-
same. he hathe been, and yet is all wayes redy to paye his
rent and do that which ought or shuld 2 apperteyne vnto hym
to do in that behalf according to his wrytyng therefore.
Which ye refuse and will not suffer hym to do 3 . I p^rsayve
the honestie of the man to be suche, that he is veray lothe to
vexe or sewe you by the order of the common lawe or other
wise 4 , although he hathe good cause even so to do, whiche
if he wold he may do right well to your inquietacion for
thadvoydyng [wher]of I desire you the rather at the contem-
placion of thiese my \etteres and for 5 your owne quietenes and
ease to graunt hym his right yn the premysses 6 . Wherby be
side that ye shall shewe and declare your self to be one that
will do no p^rsone wrong-e, and kepe yo?/rselfe in quyetenes
and rest, ye shall admynester and do vnto me therby right
thankfull pleasure. The whiche I will not forgete semblably
to requyte. And thus fare ye hartely well. At Wolfall the
fourthe day of September.

116. CROMWELL TO THE MAYOR AND COMMONALTY OF

CAMBRIDGE.

Cooper s Annals, i. 372 ; Cal. ix. 278. Sept. 5 (1535).

As Chancellor of the University desires that all differences between the
town and the scholars may cease. Requests the Mayor to permit
the University to continue in the enjoyment of its privileges.

After my moost harty commendacions, Understanding that
the body of that the Universitie of Cambridge hath elected
and chosen me to be their hed and Chauncelor, and that there
is question at this tyme betwene you touching the exposition
and qualifieng of the Deere made the last yeer by the kings

1 c. o. ye can haue to right well do and

2 c. o. shall c. o. my sake

3 c. o. wherfore and for asmoche 6 c. o. in suche wise as he may
as haue no cause eftesones to com-

4 c. o. whiche if he wold he may playne one you for this matier

422 LETTERS OF [1535

counsail, for an order to be had without contencion betwene

youe and the Universitee in Sturberige fayr, whiche decre ye

have already commaundement for this yere to observe and

kepe, contending 1 on your part nothing to be comprehended

under the name of Vitaill, but that whiche shuld be presently

spent in the said faiier, and calling Salmon in barrel, musterde

sede, fishe, and suche other, with an exempcon from the terme

of vitaill by the name of merchandise, denyeing in like maner

the said Universitie to appoint two of their body to ioyne

with two of youe in the serche of merchandises there, sayeing

ther shal non other serche this yere for their parte, but those

that being of their congregacion the last yere were thenne

appointed for that purpose, whiche be nowe departed from

them and ioyned to youe in the libertie and freedom of the

towne. Bicause ye knowe that I have been ever desirous to

establish a quiet order betwene youe, and that with as moche

favour towards your parte as I might with indifferency and

justice, And that I doubt not but that ye will at my con-

templacon remembre the preservacion of the Kings peax,

and use suche a temperaunce in yottr procedings, as with the

saufgards thereof I may have cause to rest in your love and

kindness towards me, Being again for myn owne parte, moche

desirous nowe at the entree to the said Chauncelorship (which

office with the kings contentacion and pleasure I accepted

not so moch upon any respecte as to be the rather a meane

to set a quietnes betwene youe) to have al contencions and

controversies ceasse on eyther side, tyl direction and final

order may be taken therein, In the whiche I assure youe

I shal with such celeritee and indifferency travyll, as ye shall

not perceyve me a partie, but a personage holly bent without

al respects to the advancement of the common weal ; I have

thought good to addresse my letteres unto youe and by the

same to desire and praye youe, al vayne and frivolous qualifi-

cacons set aparte, to permyt and suffer the said Universitie

for this yere, according to the mynde and entent of the said

decre, to use and exersise their privileages in the things

specified, and also to use at their libertie the comen prison

of the Tolbothe as they have doon and as by their charters

they clayme to doo, soo as their precede on your part no

cause of breache of the peax, wherin ye shal serve the king

as appertayneth, and administer unto me suche thankfull

pleasure as I shall be gladde to deserve and requite towards

youe, in like maner most hartely desiring and eftsones praye-

ing youe, touching their Civile courte to be kept in the fayr

or any other thing that may com in to question, so to use

yourself as I may perceyve you remembre your dueties

*535] THOMAS CROMWELL 4:23

towards the king in the keping of his peax, and shewe your
selves gladde to doo unto me gratitude and pleasure. And
thus fare youe hartcly wel. From Whofall the fifte day of
September.

Your lovying freend,

THOM S CRUMWELL.

Add. To my loving Frends the Mayre and his Brethern
of the towne of Cambridge, and to every of them.

117. CROMWELL TO CriAruvs 1 .

Vienna Archives; Cal. ix. 326. Sept. 10 (1535).

Reports the joy of the King at hearing of the success of the Emperor in
storming Tunis. Hopes on his return to give Chapuys satisfaction
in his request to visit the Princess Mary. Cf. Letter 121.

Magnificc atquc observande Domine orator plurimam
salutem ct commendationem. Quern admodum D. vestra,
felices et christiano cuique principi speratos cesaree ma ti3
successus non grauatur crebris suis litteris Serenissimo domino
meo regi significare ita sepe antea ab eius regia ma te conceptam
toto pectore letitiam, suis nunc recentioribus litteris eadem
vestra D. ingeminauit et quam pulcherrime adauxit. Ex
lectione namque turn cesaree ma tis turn domini de granuell
litterarum, que toti christiano orbi saluberrimam diuinitusque
concessam Tunisii expugnationem describebant tarn solido
gaudio inuictissimus dominus meus rex affectus est, ut si sue
ipsi ma 11 gloriosa hec obuenisset victoria, maiori ncutiquam
affici potuisset nee alium vllum quam qui a deo nunc concessus
est, tarn sancte a cesare suscepte expeditionis euentu sibi
vnquam pollicebatur. Hanc igitur victoriam omni quidem
dignam laude, cesaree ma u iterum atque iterum gratulatur
salutaremque rei publice christiane precatur, cui sic ex corde
fauet, vt si vlla vnquam occasione, vllane sua opera, quicquam
addi poterit, experietur cesarea ma tas me nihil de Serenissimi
domini mea regis in se affectu, amicoque animo meis antea
litteris vestre D. frustra, aut parum sincere totiens affirmasse.
Ad id vero quod in suarum litterarum calce vestra D. addidit,
vt scilicet, quantum intelligo, bona regia Ma tis venia, sibi liceat
illic Dominam mariam inuisere iuxta regia pollicita impense
rogo D. vestram, vt istud suum desiderium velit in meum re-
ditum defferre, tuncque futurum spero quod turn hac in re, turn
aliis omnibus presenti meo sermone vestre do is expectation!

1 From the^official Record Office transcript.

424 LETTERS OF [1535

plurimum satisfiet siue feliciter valeat. Ex aula regia apud
Wolfal die x. septembris.

v. D.

Ex animo amicissimus

THOMAS CRUMUELL.

Add. Magnifico atque observando domino Eustachio
Chapuysio Cesare ma tis oratori.

118. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. ix. 470. Sept. 29 (1535).

The King desires him to pay half the last year s rent of the bishopric of
Worcester to the Bishop, and the remainder to M. Gostwick for the
King.

1 1 commend me vnto you. Adu^rtisyng thesame, that the
kyng^ pleasure and cowmaundement is, that ye wzt/z con-
venyent spede after the receyt herof, shall content and pay
vnto my lorde the Busshop of Wissetour the halfe yeres rent
of the hole Busshopriche due this last yere, and the rest
to retayne yn your owne hand^ to the kynges vse Wherfore
I require you furthew/t/z so to do wit/tout any delay, as the
kyng^r trust and expectacion is yn you. Thus fare ye hartely
well. At Wynchester the xxix day of September.

Postscript.

I Co;;/mend me vnto yow aduertysing the same that the
kynges highnes pleasure is that of the nolle yeres Rent dew
to his highnes and levyable at this Fest of Saynt Mychell
of the yssews reuenews and prcffccttes of the Busshoprych
of Worcester ye shall Content and paye or Cause to be
Contentyd (and) payde vnto my lorde the Busshop of
Woorcester the hole half yeres proffytt^ evynlye to be
deuydyd and the residew For the Fyrst hallffe yere to
be payd to the hand*?.? of Maister gostwyke to the kynges
vse and this ys expresslye the kyng^ plesure and so Fare ye
well at Wynchester

119. CROMWELL TO THE COUNTESS OF OXFORD.

R. O. Cal. ix. 485 (i). Sept. 30 (1535).

Desires her to restore Mr. Tirrell to the possessions from which she has
wrongfully expelled him. The King wishes to have justice done in
that cause.

In my most harty maner I commend me vnto your good
ladishippe. And wher as ther hathe of long tyme depended

1 c. o. In my right harty wise

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 425

betwene you and this berer Maister Tirrell certayne con-
trau^rsies, aswell concernyng his clayme to the parke and
Bailliswike of Camps, as a certayne copie Holde Whiche he
bought in the same Towne, from all the whiche ye haue
expulsed hym, I shall most hartely desire and pray you at the
especial! contemplacion herof, to restore hym agayne to
thesame. Whiche request I make not only vnto you bycause
I thinke ye haue vpon displeasures conceyved agaynst hym,
parcase in some part by the mysvsyng of hymselfe towards
you, done vnto hym, in his expulsion from the same park
Bailliwike and copie hold and your detynewe therof all
togither wronge and Iniurye, but because it should be
dishonourable to you, to haue the same in open Court of
Audience tried agaynst you, and likewise displeasaunt to be,
that way disapoynted of yo?tr will and pleasure, whiche as
I nowe frendly and frankly write vnto you, bicause that
I wold be glad, ye shuld wzt//out constraynt do as shall
apperteyne to your "honour, and Justice. So I am enforced
to adu^rtise you, as your poore frende, that the kinges highnes
like a prynce of honour is mynded to haue iustice precede
wzt/zout respect in that cause, Eftesones therfore requyryng
your good ladiship the rather for my sake wzt^out any
extremyte to be good lady vnto hym, who I dare affirme wilbe
glad to do vnto you during his liffe that srruice and pleasure
that shall lye in his litle power. As know*?//* god who send
your good ladiship long liffe and well to fare. From
Wynchester the last day of September.

Your ladyshyppis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To the right honourable and my good lady my
Lady Anne Countes of Oxford by this youen.

Endd. A letters directed from my master to the Lady
Anne Countes of Oxford.

120. CROMWELL TO (DAVYE MORGAN KEMYS).

R. O. Cal. ix. 486. Sept. 30 (1535).

Requests him to allow John Crede to retain possession of certain lands
in Cromwell s manor of Rumney in Monmouth to which he has a deed,
until reasonable cause can be shown for his ejection.

Datum per Copiam

I Commend me to yow. And for Asmoche As I haue
scene the Deed made (to) John Crede for certeyn Lander
in my mannour of Rompney called the Splott^ And other

MERRIMAN. I F f

426 LETTERS OF [1535

Lonckf there. W/iic/i I take to be a goode Deade. And
that Notwithstanding the said Crede Saithe that ye entend
to putt hym From the Same. Wherefore I Requyre you to
p^rmytt And Suffre hym to holde And kepe the possession
thereof According to the tennowr of his Deade Vntill Suche
tyme as Apon youre Adu^rtisement thereof I maie knowe
A Reasonable Cause . Whie he shuld be putt from the same.
Att Wynchester the Laste daie of September.

Your Loving maister

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

121. CROMWELL TO CHAPUYS 3 .

Vienna Archives ; Cal. ix. 484. Sept. 30, 1535.

Reports the King s joy at the news of the Emperor s success at Tunis.
Desires Chapuys to postpone a little longer his visit to the Princess
Mary. Cf. Letter 117.

Magnifice et observande domine orator plurimam salutem
et commendationem. Litteras quas vestra D. antea ad me
dedit grato hilarique semper animo accepi, non mediocremque
animi letitiam ob id presertim semper attulerunt, quod cesaree
ma ti8 successus vt sperandum et christiano reipublice saluti-
feros, vberrime nunciabant ; recentiores vero iste eo nomine
gratiores acceptioresque extitere quod succinte atque distincte
totius expeditionis rerum, temporum atque locorum seriem
et euentum ab ipso initio in hunc vsque diem sic describunt
et ob ipsos oculos ponunt vt eas legendo rebus gestis prope
modum mihi videar interfuisse, tantaque Serenissimus dominus
meus rex animi attentione de hiis me referentem audiebat
vt fraternum eius erga cesaream ma tem affectum et propensum
quoddam erga publicam quietem studium quam facile fuerit
agnovisse. Ad id porro quod per ministrum suum vestra
dominatio mecum agit et de quo statuendo iniectis com-
perendinationibus se protrahi suspicatur, non possum pro
mutue nostre coniunctionis sinceriorisque amicitie vinculo,
earn non summopere rogare, et pro innata sua prudentia et
animi equitate, boni consulere velit, quicquid in hoc Domina-
tionis vestre desiderio deffertur quum nihil interim omittatur
quod ex Serenissimi domini mei regis honore et dignitate,
simulque illustrissime domine marie securiori salubriorique
educatione esse posse videatur, quum maiori cure nemini sit
quam ipsi Serenissimo patri, qui regie sue humanitatis nimis

1 From the official Record Office transcript.

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 427

esset oblitus nisi carissimam filiam paterno complecteretur
affectu et aliorum vigilantia sibi in mentem redigi expectaret,
quod salubritati, atque solatio filie esse posset. Itaque quam
possum ex animo dominationem vestram obsecro, vt suum
istud illustrissimam dominam mariam inuisendi desiderium
ab amico pectore potius quam vlla necessitate profectum in
aliud commodius tempus defferre non grauetur, et enim vt fieri
facile potest de huius illustrissime domine neglecta valetudine
falso aliquid ad vos deferri, ita a dominatione vestra peto, vt
affirmanti mihi velit certam habere fidem nihil scilicet cure
studii, atque diligentie omitti quod ad illustrissime domine
Marie conseruationem expedire posse videatur. Pestis deinde
sic londini, locisque vicinioribus seuit, vt inofficiosus videri
posset, quicunque illinc veniens dominam mariam in aere
alique temperie agentem, quam saluberrima, officii gratia
nunc temporis vellet inuisere. Non grauetur itaque dominatio
vestra hoc meum responsum benigne amiceque, vt solet
interpretari nilque a me prospiciet pretermissum, quod ex
huius regie ma tis dignitate, Cesaris honore et domine marie
conseruatione esse potuerit. Sed de hiis in proximum con-
gressum colloquemur vberius, et felix valeat vestra dominatio
cui ex animi sententia, optima queque euenire precor . wintonie
die vltimo septembris 1535.

E. v. D.

Ex corde amicus

THOMAS CRUIMUELL.

Add. Magnifico Domino Eustachio Chapuysio Cesaree
ma tis oratori plurimurn observando.

122. CROMWELL TO SIR GREGORY DA CASALE.

R. O. Cal. ix. 240. Sept. 1535.

Explains, for the Pope s benefit, the reasons for the executions of More and
Fisher, and describes them as men proved guilty of high treason
Wonders at the Pope s indignation at their just sentence.

D0ne Gregori plurimam salutem et com-
Quae turn ex ferraria turn ex bononia vcstns
\ettev\s nuper ad me scripsistis, sigillatim omnia (ut mei est
officii) Serenissimae Regiae Mates tati significaui, in quibus,
ut multa erant, publicarum rerum cognitionis gratia lectu non
iniucunda, et vestri cum Domino Parisiensi habiti sermones
ipsi probantur, ita non satis demirari potuit, Ep&ogri Roffeiww 1
et Thomae Mori mortem, pontificis, illiusqw* curiae animutfg
adeo grauiter offendisse, ut ex hac re conceptam indignationem

Ff 3

428 LETTERS OF [1535

haud facile possint concoquere, licetq/^ Inuictissimae Regiae
Mates tati mortalium nemini. praeterq?/^ Deo (cum quo actiones,
consiliaqz^? sua habet qtiam maxime coniuncta)ulla sit factorum
suorum reddenda ratio, ne tamen maleuolorww calumniis, ac
ueritatis obscuratione, Regium suum nomen istic traducatur,
quid ea in re actu;;/ fuerit succincte ad vos perscribam : Post-
quam igitur Regia Ma&rtas bene fauente, ac promouente Deo,
causam suam publicam eruditissimor?/;^, probatissimoruwqz/^
totius christianitatis viron/w, qui nullis passionibus, seu
affectibus essent obnoxii, consensu, et authoritate tandem
terminasset, et ad ipsam ueritatem omni ex parte firmasset,
coeperunt isti boni viri, quibus res praeter expectatione?;z
ceciderat, et spes moliendi noua (ut iam animo agitarant)
praecisa fuerat, in alias cogitationes, syncere parum, animum
intendere, quumq?^ optimus Rex ex uigilantissimi principis
officio (quod a Deo acceptum sustinet in terris) sui Regni
quieti, et commodo prospicere, hominumqz/^ mores multa iam
parte collapsos in melius corrigere conaretur, istud etiam
publicum bonum, quoad fieri per eos potuit, simulatae integri-
tatis praetextu adnissi x sunt, sed nullo cum fructu impedire,
atq# praeuertere, huius eorum sceleris indicia Rex habebat
perqttam manifesta, sed ut vana semper floccifecit, et nihili
habuit, sperans aliquando futurum <\uod hac sua indulgentia,
hos viros (quos ut non penitus cognitos nonnunqz/tfw antea
in precio habuisset) ad aliquam frugem, ac mentis sanitatem
reuocaret, At ipsi, quibus genuina ambitio, sui ipsius amor
et sapientia quaedam singularis diuersum persuaserat, optimi
principis benignitate, ac mansuetudine pertinaciter sunt abusi,
et ubi publicum Regni concilium (quod parliamentu//? uocant)
pro Regni quiete stabilienda, ut ad certa tempora haberetur,
indictum foret, ceperunt undecunq?/^ sollicita cum sedulitate
clanculuw exquirere, qua de re tractari, quidque in hoc
parliam<?;2to, ut expediens rei p//#/z*cae agi oporteret, quicquid
uero aliomm delatu ex re praeterita rerum usu, uel coniectura
usqz/ collegissent id statim communibus consiliis trutinabant,
omnia secus interpreta;/tes, qiie Regni quies ac utilitas ex-
poscebat, eo quidem argumenton/w et rationum apparatu, ut
rudi plebeculae non rnulto cum labore potuisset imponi,
quumqz/^ ex conscientia parum sana, Regis animum sibi
offensum suspicarentur, ueriti ne parum commode, audacterqz^,
quod tacite animo moliebantur, tractare possent, ex hiis non-
nullos delegerunt, quos audaculos aut linguae uelocitate
promptiores, aut sui studiosos existimarunt cum his anti-
quioris amicitiae occasione ageba^t familiaribusq//^ colloquiis
excipiebant ; ac si quos morbo animi laborantes suae opinionis

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 429

reperissent, in horum sinum Jam antea conceptu; pectore
uenenum euomebant, suae erga claementissimum Regem fidei,
et obseruantiae, atq//r in ipsam patriam charitatis prorsus
obliti, Haec dum in uulgus haberentur passimque sparsa
promiscue essent, baud somnulenter solertissimus princeps
perscrutari coepit, quibus fundame/ztis tarn impia coniuratio
niteretur, quibusq?/^ enutriretur authoribus, luce clarius per-
spexit, ab hiis integerrimis iuris tantam iniquitatem deriuari,
quam redarguebant non obscuri testes, ultro, citroq?/^ missa
chyrographa, ipsorumq/^ oris confessio, haec et alia que multa
iustissimuw principem adegeru;/t, ut hos rebelles, ac degeneres
subditos, in patriam ingratos, communi bono aduersos, publicae
pacis turbatores, tumultuosos, impios, seditiososq?/^ viros in
uincula carceresq?^ coniecerit, nee id praetermittere poterat,
nisi patefacta iniquitate, sui officii consulto immemor permittere
uoluisset, huius sceleris contagionem publica cum pernicie in
<\uam multos transferri. Carceribus autem mancipati tracta-
bantur humanius, atqz^ mitius qitam par fuisset, pro eorum
dementis, per Regem illis licebat proximonoft colloquio, et con-
suetudine frui, ij fuerant illis appositi, praescriptiqz^ ministri,
quos a uinclis immunes antea fidos charosq^ habeba;/t, id cibi
genus eaq?/ condim^ta, et uestitus ei concedebantur, quae
eorum habitudini, ac tuendae sanitati, ipsi consanguinei, nepo-
tes atq?/ affines, et amici iudicabant esse magis accommoda,
Coeteru;;/ tanta Regis mansuetudine, fides, obserua/jtia, ueritas,
amorq^ recti apud rebelles istos, proditoresq?/^ homines usq?/^
adeo exoleuit, ut constanter iniqui esse maluerint, quam sui
sceleris poenitentia Regis bonitatematq//^ claementiam experiri,
et enim postqttam certae leges, statuta, atque decreta, re prius
multa deliberatione in omne;;z partem discussa, publica parlia-
mewti authoritate, assensu atq?/^ consensu condita prae-
scriptaq?/^ fuere, et ab omnibus nullo discrimine, repugna/^te
nullo, ut sancta necessaria toti Regno utilia. et cum uera
christi religione potissimuw consentientia admissa, atq& re-
cepta sunt, soli isti repugnabant, suae impietatis praesidium
semper aliquod fortuitum sibi ex tempore pollicentes, non-
nunqitam omissa rerum humanan/7/z cogitatione se totos
diuinan/;;? contemplationi egregie simulabant addictos, interim
studia, uigilias. cogitatusq?^, suos omnes utcunqz^ carceribus
obnoxii eo intendebant, ut quibuscunq?^ possent fallaciis,
praestigiosisqz/^ argumentis tarn sanctas Regni leges, ta.nta.que
authoritate firmitas ac rectissime stabilitas, soli ipsi perni-
ciosissimae seditionis principes in commune malum eluderent,
refellerent, atq?^ turbare;/t, huius autem tarn impiae, perfidae
ac iniquae affectae uoluntatis extant manifestissima indicia
extant chyrographa ipsa eorum manu carbonibus, et creta (si

430 LETTERS OF [1535

quando deerat atrame;2tum) depicta, ultro, citroque clam ab
ipsis destinata, neque ipsi ibant inficias complures mutuo
acceptas missasqz^ lifteras, fuisse in ignem coniectas ut
taciturn, tutumq//^ suae iniquitatis seruatorem, aliud nihil
hiis hV/iris conscriptum erat, quam quod ad publicam sedi-
tionem potissimu;^ spectaret, sustinere diutius non potuit
mitissimus Rex istorum culpam tarn atrocem, legumqz/^
examini publico foro et aperto iudicio illos commisit. Laesae
Mazkyfotis, ac rebellionis rei reperti sunt, zkque damnati,
supplicium de eis sumptum est longe quidem mitius quam
leges, ac iudicia praescribebant aut eorum culpa exegisset,
ex quorum exemplo ad sanitatem, ad fidem qziam multi
rediere : Quicunq&l sano defecatoqz/^ est iudicio non obscure
huic perspicere potest quod praecipitanter pontifex, et curia
Romana ullam ex hac re animi ofTensionem conceperit, per
Regiam Mazestatem non stat, quominus pontifex in suos
Cafrft**#les Epsw/os eosqwe omnes, in quos ius ullum sibi
uendicat, iure suo utatur, non eorum causam suam aestimat,
nee oflfenditur, si pontifex, aut quiuis alms chrw/zanus princeps
ullum de male mentis subditis aut rebellibus supplicium
exigat : Iterum igitur, atqz/<? iterum miratur, pontificem ex
hac re tantum indignationis animo concepisse, sed hanc
indignationem, quam tantopere exacerbare uidetur curia, tune
depositam iri putat, quum desierint maleuoli suggerere quae
falsa sunt, quumque mentiendi uia fuerit illis praeclusa, quibus
quum nil aeque graue, atque molestuftf sit, quam quod suon/;;z
consilion/7/2 tarn strenua fundamenta deiecta fuerint, id operae
precium non exiguum esse ducu^t, ut hoc uelamine suas
technas callide contega;/t priuatamq?/^ ofTensionem, si quae
sit, pontificis causam faciant. Non grauetur itzqne pontifex,
si Regia Matestas suo Regniq^ sui iure, si quando expedit,
uicissim utatur : Haec itaque omnia turn pontifici, turn
coeteris omnibus, qui ex horum rebelliuw suscepto supplicio
qmcquid offensionis concoeperint sedulo enarrabitis, ut quam
ex falsa auditione animi molestiam imbiberu;zt, hanc uera
audiendo, multa mentis tranquillitate quandoque deponant,
nihilq^^ omittetis, in eorum qua superius commemoraui
enarratione, etenim Regiae Mates fati gratissimuw erit, ne
ipsa ueritas, ut se habet, maleuolon/;;z calumniis obscuretur,
quta si tantum increbuerit mendax paucorum delatio, ut
nullus hac in re amplius apud illos sit locus ueritati relictus,
falsas eorum calumnias quantuw cum Deo poterit Regia
Maiestzs sustinebit, quae sic Regni sui statum, resquc omnes
undequzquc firmitas, stabilitasq?/^ habet, sic suorum fidem,
pectora, et obseruantiam compertam tenet, ut iniuriam omnem,
si qua alicunde inferatur, queat non multo cum labore deo

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 431

bene iuuantc, refellere et propulsare. Et bene valete. Ex
Aula Regia apud Brumham Die Septembrw MDXXXV.

Vester bonus amicus

THOMAS CRUMWELL.
Add. Mag;/z/fco Equiti, Domino Gregorio Casalio etc.

123. (CROMWELL) TO .

R. O. Cal. ix. 241 (ii). (Sept. 1535.)

The King thanks the recipient for his letter, and for the articles of the
charge he has given to the inquests, and desires him to act further
according to his discretion.

After right harty cowmendacion, ye shall vnderstand that
I have resceyved your \cttere. of the xxvi th day of August wit/i
the articles of the charge that ye haue geven to thenquestes
ther the whiche lettere and articles I have at large shewed
and declared vnto the kingly highnes who * consideryng your
payne and travaill takyn therin right well allowithe and
acceptithe your good procedyng^ and doyng^ in that
behalfe, yevyng vnto you therfore right harty thanks,
requyryng 2 the same farther like as ye have alredy begonne
So to precede therin withe suche acceleracion and spede as ye
convenyently may do, accordyng to thexpectacion and trust
that his highnes hathe in you. And touchyng the enquestes
that ye have charged for that purpose all though they be the
kinges seruauntes and sworne for that purpose, yet for asmoche
as many of theym in some poyntes p^rchaunce may be
offendoz/rs will therfore conceyll and not fynd the truthe in
every poynt. Wherfore the kingrj pleasure is that ye well
consideryng the same may order and devise eu^ry thyng after
your discresion, and as ye shall se cause beside thefFect of
the verdictes of thesame enquestes.

124. CROMWELL TO THE MAYOR, BAILIFFS, AND
BURGESSES OF CAMBRIDGE.

Cooper s Annals, i. 373 ; Cal. ix. 615. Oct. 15 (1535).

As the King has approved his election as Chancellor of the University, he
desires them to appear at the two yearly leets held by the University,
and not to deny to the University the use of the King s prison called
the Tolbooth.

*

In my right harty maner I commende me unto youe. And
whereas it hath pleased the kings highnes, uppon an election
passed by the universitie of Cambridge wherin they chose me
to be their hedde and Chaunceler, to condescende that I shuld
accepte and take the same, to the intent that all matiers

1 c. o. for your z c. o. you even

432 LETTERS OF [1535

depending betweene you and them, in contencon and variaimce,
might be rather by my meane and mediacon be finished, and
soo determyned, as eyther parte myght enjoye such privileages
as shuld be thought conveniente for them, with the advaunce-
ment of justice, the quiet and tranquillitie of the common
weale, Wherin I purpose with suche dexteritie to travayl, as
you shall have good cause to think that all respects and
affecttions laide aparte, I only mynd that which appertayneth
to the office of a faithfull counsailor. Ye shall understande,
that forasmoche as I am credibly advertised, that notwith
standing the said universitie hath hertefor had not only the
serche of vitail and the correccon of waightes and- measures
there, and may by the kings Charters (as they doo and of long
tyme have doon) kepe two letes in the yere, to be furnyshed
with the townesmen, for the punishment and amerciament
of suche as shuld be founde offenders in that behaulf, but also
the use of the kings prisonne there called the Tolbothe, for
the punyshment of all such other offences, as they may by
their said Charters correct and punish, the rather of perverse
mynd than otherwise, doo from tyme to tyme, when the
said letes be summoned, as wel make slender appearance in
the same, ne being theer charged, present and amerce the
offenders, as by virtue of yvur othe you be bounde. wherby
the good order to be observed therin is utterly confounded, to
the great detryment of the publique weale of the hole towne,
with the inquietacon of the kings subgiectts abiding within
the same, As utterly deny them the use of the said prisonne ;
I have thought good, by these my lettres, to desire and praye
youe, and nevertheles on the kings behaulf for the better
preservacion of his graces peax, to commaunde youe, not
only to mak your due appearance in the said letes, and their
to enquire, present, and amerce the offenders, as hath been
accustomed, but also bothe to permytt and suffer them to
have the correction of waightes and measures, and the use of
the said prisonne at their liberties, as they have had, without
yo>ur denyal or interrupcon to the contrary, untyl suche tyme
as the kings highnes shal take finall order and direction in
all things depending in variaunce or question betweene youe,
whiche his Majestic wil not fayle to do with al speede and
celeritie. And thus fare youe hartely well. From Stepnay,
the 1 5th daye of Octobre.

Your lovyng freend,

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my hartely beloved Freendes the Mayre, BailiefTs,
and Burgesses, of the towne of Cambridge, and to every of them.

THOMAS CROMWELL 433

125. (CROMWELL) TO JOHN GOSTWICK.

B. M. Titus B. iv, ff. 114-5 I Cal. ix. 647. Oct. 20, 1535.

Finds that Gostwick is charged with the sum of ,16,032 i6s. 8d. due to
the King from divers persons, for conveying corn out of the realm.
Desires him to collect as much of it as he can.

Mr Gostwyck. Where ye stande Charged in the Books
of Specialties Betwene you & me made at your furst entrie
into your Office subscribed wit/i QUT hands for the Receipt
of Sixtene Thousande thirty & two pounds sixtene shil
lings and eight pence, due vnto the Kings Maiestie by
diucrse & sundry pc/ sonnes, for the Conveyaunce of Corne
& other things out of this Realme contrary to the Kings
Lawes, as appereth by the condiczbns of their obligaczons,
remaynyng in your Custodye, And forasmuche as I do vnder-
stande and perfitely knowe that a grete p#rte of the said
su;;;me of xvi ml xxxii li xvi s viii d ys vnlevyable, desperat
& cannot be had nor recouped by reason that certain of the
saide personnes haue certificaths, sorame other fallen in vtter
decay, by occasion of the grete losses & hynderauncs that
they haue susteyned as well by See, as Lande, And sorame of
theim dedde, & not knowing of whome to be aunswered
Whereby I haue Considered the same to be mattier of Con
science, not intending nor mynding to charge you further
than shall stande with the same, nor wzt/i nomore sume or
su?;/mes than hath or herafter shall co?;zme vnto your hands
Have therfore thought it good, aswell for your Discharge, and
myne, As also for the spedy Recoueryng and Receipt of the
Rest of the Money due by the saide specialties, this to devise
& wryte, By the same in the Kings Maiesties name Auc-
torizing you, to call all the said parties before you, wzt/z all
seleritie & spede, And by your discresczon, so to vse them,
That the kings highnes may be aunswered of the money,
that by your saide discrescion shalbe thought of verey right
& Conscience sufficient. Further in the kings name Auc-
torizing you by vertue herof, to take newe composic/ons of
suche as hath not their money in arredynesse. And also by
the same to deliuer all suche specialties vnto the parties or
ther deputies, as shalbe proved of right either to haue Cer
tificate or other sufficient Discharge. And this Subscribed with
my hande shalbe vnto you your heires executors & deputies
sufficient Discharge at all tymes hereafter, for your so doing.
Wrytten the xx li day of Octobre the xxvii 11 yere of the Reigne
of our Soueraigne Lorde king Henry the eight.

Eudd. A minute of a lettre to M r Gostwyke, towching

434 LETTERS OF [1535

a newe ordre and composiczbn to be taken w/t/fc certayn
p^sons standing chardged in grete sommes of monaye vnto
the kingly Ma^tie whiche be vnleviable and desperate by-
reason the parties by casualtes be brought to greate pou^rtie

126. CROMWELL TO GARDINER.

B. M. Add. MSS. 25,114, f. no ; Cal. ix. 848. Nov. 19 (1535).

Urges him to work diligently in France for the delivery of the ships at
Bordeaux. Sends a dozen of Gardiner s orations and a dozen of
those of the Dean of the Chapel Royal also, for him to distribute
according to his discretion.

My veray good lorde aftre my moost harty cowmendac/ons
by maister brian whom the king^j highnes at this tyme
sendeth vnto his good brother the frenche king sufficiently
instructed to certain purposes, as by his instructions wherunto
ye shalbe participant and make him again the semblable to
yours, ye shal p^rceyve, ye shal receyve his highnes ktf&res,
touching matiers of importaunce, whiche as his grace doubteth
not but ye wil setfurth wit/i suche dexteritie as shal best
conduce his desire to effecte Soo his pleasure is ye shal wtt/i
suche stomak and courage travail wzt/z the frenche king and
his counsail in that pointe touching the delyueraye of the
shippes as ye maye not onely obteyne the same but also
declare and shewe therwzt/z howe ingrately his highnes is
handeled therm specially being at this tyme soo secrete and
freendly treatie betv/ene him and his good brother as there is
for matiers of soo high consequence, among^j whiche things
also his grace desireth youe to remembre the declarac/on
of the french king of tharticles sent by Melancton, luthers
epistle in the same, wtt/i thother circumstances conteyned
in the copies lately sent vnto you. Ye shall also receyve
herwztA a dosen of yoz/r orations and another dosen of the
deanes, whiche the king^j pleasure is ye shall by thaduise of
Mr. brian and Maister Wallop destribute to suche persoun.es
there as among^ youe ye shal think convenient. In whiche
treatie to be had concernyng the shippes ye may not forget
to inculce what Joye the subgiettej here conceyved for his
recouerye in the procession, and howe they bee again sithens
stayed vppon this staye of the shippes whiche hath indede soo
contrary a countenance to oz/r doings as it is no mervayl
thoughe they be abasshed at it. And this matier the kmges
highnes woll haue you chiefly prosecute, leving to Sir John
Wallop only the sute for the moneye, bicause the pmnyse
therof was made vnto him. And thus I pray god sende your

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 435

lordshipp well to fare. From the Rulles the xix th daye of
Nouembrc

Your lordshippis assuryd

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good lorde my lorde of Winchestre
the kingly highnes Ambassador at this tyme wit/i the french
king.

Endd. From the Roulles the xix th of Novembre. Mr.
Secretary

127. CROMWELL TO GARDINER AND WALLOP.

B. M. Add. MSS. 25,114, f. 232 ; Cal. ix. App. 8. Dec. 7 (1535).

Desires them to discover the real inclination of the French King, and to
ascertain whether they have any secret plans on foot. Gives a list of
the sums of money due to the King.

Aftre my moost harty co7#mendac/ons wtt/t like thanks
for your gentle let ten zs and aduertisement^ of the Occurrant^
there, ye shal at this tyme receyve the kinges highnes li/&res
answering to yours of the xxviii th of Nouembre The contents
wherof as his highnes dotibteth not but ye wil duely consider
and accomplishe tempering neu^rtheles the same in suche
sorte, as your wisedomes shall think maye best s^rue to
thentertaynement of thamytie betwene his grace and the
frenche king, and the conducing of his graces desire to effecte.
Soo his highnes spetVally desireth youe to endeuo//r yourselfes
by all the meanes ye canne possibly deuise and excogitate
to explore serche and knowe the veray inclynac/on of the
frenche king and whither the frenchemen haue any pryvie
practises in hande, and of the lightlywod of the successes of
the same wit/i suche other occurrantej 1 as shall chaunce to
comme to your knowleage to aduertise his highnes, as I shal
for my parte desire youe to doo to me the semblable as the
tyme and hast of your dispeches wil give you leave. The
treatie belli offensiui ratified at Amyans I sende vnto youe
herwzt/z, And as co;/cernyng thaccompt of the money due to
the kingly highnes First there is due to his grace 1M 1 1 crownes
lent to the duke of Bavier for the whiche the frenche king
standeth bounde by obligaczbn. Item 1M 11 crownes lent at
his request for the assistence of the duke of Wittenberge, for
the whiche they haue non acquietance, but were bounde by
promyse to repaye it in cace there ensued no good successe

1 i. e. 50,000.

436 LETTERS OF [1535

of themployment of the same whiche condition and con-
venaunt is wz t/zout question determyned.

Item there is due vnto his grace the hole penczon and salt
moneye for the last yere ended at Nouembre.

And wheras the king^ highnes in these his k/teres nowe
sent vnto youe hathe co/wmaunded youe Mr. wallop to presse
themperours, Ambassador for your declaration to the denyal
of thouertures, like as I writing by his graces cowmaundement
vsed the same terme, for declaraczon of yourself, to thintent ye
shal not thinke that anything is further ment therby thenne
to haue youe vse that worde to him to extorte what ye canne
in that matier, his highnes co;^mazmded me in this sorte to
expounde the same vnto youe. And thus moost hartely fare
youe well. From Richemont the vii th of decembre.

The kinges highnes speaally desireth youe to remewbre his
co^mandement touching the delyu^rance of the shippes

Your assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To myn assured frendes My lorde of Winchestre
and sir John Wallop knight the king^ Ambassadors in
fraunce.

Endd. From Richemonde the vii th of decembre. Mr.
Secretary.

128. CROMWELL TO GARDINER.

B. M. Add. MSS. 25,114, f. 234 ; Cal. ix. App. 9. Dec. 7 (1535).

Has been unable to obtain a copy of the treaty which he promised to
send, and thought it better to postpone sending it than to delay the
bearer. The King desires him to labour for the delivery of the ships.

Aftre my moost harty co;;zmendaczons to your lordshippe
Thise shalbe to aduertise youe that Albeit in myn other let feres
writen ioyntly to youe and Maister Wallop I haue signified
that ye shuld by this berer receyve the treaty belli offensiui
whiche ye wrote for, yet having here suche busines that
I could (not) departe to london to cause the same to be
copied, I thought it more expedient to differre the sending of
it vntil we shal dispeche another currour vnto youe, thenne to
demore your seruaunt here tyl I might haue goon to london
for that purpose. And wheras your said seruaunt hath de
clared vnto me your credence concernyng your necessitie of
money, I shall not fayle by the next messanger to take
suche direction \vit/i youe for the satisfaction of your desire
in that parte as ye shall haue cause to be contented. The
kingly highnes desireth youe to labour effectually (for) the

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 437

delyu^rance of the shippes at Burdeulx according to suche
instructions as ye haue in that behaulf. And thus moost
hartely Fare youe well. From Richemonte the vii th daye of
Decembre in hast

Your lordshippis assuryd Freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good lorde my lorde of Wynchestre
the k mgfs Ambassador; in fraunce.

Endd. From Richemonde the vii th of decembre. Mr.
Secretary.

129. CROMWELL TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND
BAILIFFS OF CAMBRIDGE.

Cooper s Annals, i. 377 ; Cal. ix. 977. Dec. 15 (1535).

Marvels that they have not complied with his requests that the University
be permitted to use the Tolbooth, and desires them to delay no
longer. Will see that justice is done in all respects.

In my right harty maner I comende me unto youe. Lating
you wit that I cannot a little marvayle to understand that
notwithstanding my sundrey lettres hertofor addressed unto
youe, tuching the permission of the use of the Tolboth, the
furniture of the Universitie leates, the advoyding of newc
practises, usages, or imposicions, wherby might insewg debate
and contencion betweene you and the said universitie, to yoz/r
owne disquiet, with the offence of the kings peax, ye have
both refused to doo and accomplish those things persuaded
and enioined therin unto youe, and for the contynuance and
nutryment of discorde and trouble amonge the kings subiectts,
devised newe things and meanes to augment and engrece the
same. The prysonne first is the kings, and seing his grace by
his charters and grauntes hath ioyned the universitie with
youe in the use therof, I cannot conceyve what ye meane to
denye that whiche his grace hath graunted, and by vertue
thereof, they have so long enjoyed, which expressly your
baylie Ousburn did bothe to the procurators, and also to the
vicechancelors deputie. A sergeant of yours also lately tok
a peace of cloth from the stall of a commone minister of the
Universities for non apparance in your Leate contrary to the
comandment given at the tyme of Sturberige fayr, that ye
shuld reyse no newe custome, or gather any newe exaction or
imposiccon, uppon any scoler, his servaunt or their comone
ministers ; ye have also refused alonly this yere, to make a
certain othe before the congregacion at Saint Maryes church,
for the conservacion of the peax, and the presentement to

438 LETTERS OF [1535

the vicechauncelor of vagabundes and others, breakers and
interrupters of the said peax. Nowe shal I, being only a
Counsailor, and otherwise then honestie and justice wil no
partie, whiche have not only proffessed to travayl for the
quiet of both parties, but will devise and labor also to per-
forme the same, desire youe to permytt them, first to have the
free use of the tolboth as they have had : to see the cloth
restored, taken violently awaye by your sergeant ; To see their
leats furnished, and to tak such othe, and use all suche things
and custumes as ye have doon, untyl fynal direction may be
taken betweene both parties. And yet I must ever saye,
whiche ye shall also fynde true, that in cace ye shall doo any
wrong, or not fulfill that ye be bound unto, wherby tumult
and busines shuld rise amonge the kings people, though I do
indede favor your cause, as appertayneth, and will also be
gladde to doo therein what I canne for your comoditie, Yet
in cace prayer and gentle entreatie cannot pull and allure
youe awaye from the doing of wrong and iniury, both to the
king and his subjectts, I will not fayle to advaunce, to the
uttermost of my power Justice and to see punished with
extremytie the interrupters thereof, to the example of other.
And therfor eftsones, I most hartily praye youe to conforme
yourselfs to quietnes in these pointes, and therein to performe
that without contencon whiche the princes grauntes, ever to
be reverently obeyed, doo require of youe, Ye shal by this
waye and meane, doo your dueties, first toward his grace, to
me administer most thankfull pleasure, and with your honesties
provyde yourselfs quiet and rest, with a good end in all suche
controversies as depende between youe and the said uni-
versitie. And thus fare youe hartely well. From Stepnaye,
the xv th daye of Decembre.

Your freend,

THOM^^ CRUMWELL.

Add. To my loving freendes, the Mayre, Aldermen and
bailieffs of the towne of Cambridge.

130. CROMWELL TO GARDINER.

B. M. Add. MSS. 25,114, f. 112 ; Cal. ix. 1010. Dec. 24 (1535).

Thanks him for his letters, and promises to attend to Gardiner s wants.
The postscript of Cromwell s other letter will inform Gardiner of
Thwaites arrival here, and of the answers made to the letters he
brought.

Aftre my moost harty co;;miendacons to your lordshippe
\vt/t like thanks for your gentle k//fcres by the post scripta

1535] THOMAS CROMWELL 439

in myn other let feres nowe writen vnto youe by the
highnes cowmaundement ye shal p^rceyve tharryval here of
your seruaunt Thvvaytes, wtt/i the determynaczon for answer
to be made to suche k/fcres as he brought wtt/i him. I shall
in the meane tyme so satisfie peter lark yo?/r seruatmt
touching your request for money that ye shall by the next
post prrceyve ye be not forgotten, but sufficiently and soo
furnished as ye shall haue cause to be contented. Your
doings be no lesse thankfully accepted, thenne your wisedom
travail and diligence therin do require and for my p#rte if
there be anything ell^y here that I may doo your pleasure
in, vppon your aduertisement I shalbe glad wit/i al my
harte to satisfie youe in the same. And thus most hartely
fare youe wel, from the Rulles the xxiiij th of Decembre

"Your lordshippis assuryd freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good lord my lord of Winchestre.

Endd. From the roulles the xxiiij of decemb^r Mr.
Secretary.

131. CROMWELL TO GARDINER.

B. M. Add. MSS. 25,114, f. 114 ; Cal. ix. 1039. Dec. 30 (1535).

The King approves of his service, and assures him that he will be glad to
welcome him on his return. Reports the illness of Katherine. Has
arranged for his money with Peter Lark.

My veray good lord aftre my moost harty cowmendaczbns
Thise shalbe taduertise youe that vndoubtedly the k mges
highnes doth in soo thankfull sorte accepte your sluice
there doon vnto his maiestie, and in euery condiczbn soo
allowe approve and co;;zmende your wise substanciall and
discreate preceding, as like as ye haue moche cause to
reioyse therin, soo shall the same be certain meane and
occasion, that ye shall assuredlye what ende soeuer your
busines there shall take, returne to his highnes as hartely
welcom and in as greate reputaczbn as youe could yourself
desire, wherof for my parte I am euen for many respects as
gladde as ye canne be yourself. Touchyng his graces
affayres I write nothing bicause the same be sufficiently
touched in his highnes letferes nowe addressed vnto youe,
only for nevves ye shal vndrestand that the douagier is in
greate daunger whiche his Maiestie also willed me to signifie
vnto youe, as by the copye of a lettere sent from ihemperours
Ambassador here touching her syknes ye shal p^rceyve.
And as concernyng yo^r money I haue taken ordre w/t/z

440 LETTERS OF [1535

your servant peter lark, soo as ye shall I doubt (not) be
shortly therin satisfied. And thus beseching god to sende
youe a good newe yere, I bid youe as well to fare as I wold
myself. From the Rulles the penultime of Decembre

Yo?/r lordshippis assuryd freend

THOMAS CRUMWELL.

Add. To my veray good lord, My Lord of Winchestre
the King^ highnes Ambassador in Fraunce.

Endd. From the Roulles the xxx tb of Decembre Mr.
Secretary

132. (CROMWELL) TO (THE PRIOR OF MONTACUTE).

R. O. Cal. ix. 1127. (1535.)

Has received his letters saying that a young person has made suit to
obtain the lease after its expiration. The King is assured that he
will not recommend any one to him who will not act honourably and
for the King s profit.

In my right hertie mam?;- I cowmende me vnto you Ad-
u^rtesing the same that I haue receyued your k//^res right
well p^rceyuing the contents of the same And where as ye
write vnto me that a nother person of younger yeres should
make sute for thopteyning of the lease after the yeres all
redie gr^unted in the same being expired and determyned
the truth is that there is labour made aswell vnto Mr. Norres
as other which is not so vehement ne hastie But that it may
be right well stayed. Neu^theles the k mges highnes hauing
ferme trust in your dexteritie and wisedom must ned^ haue
regarde and expectaczon in your letters. Doubting not but
ye will not pr^ferre any other vnto his highnes but suche as
shalbe right mete to do that thing which shalbe most for their
own honestie and will haue good regarde and aspect to the
King^r most proffite.

133. (CROMWELL) TO (POLE) 1 .

B. M. Cleop. E. vi, 371 ; Cal. viii. 220. (1535.)

Desires the recipient to answer the things contained in Starkey s letter
to him, which was written by the King s express commandment.

Syr after my most harty reco;^me;/datyanys thys shalbe in
few & short wordys to requyre you accordyng to the callyng

1 This letter, though written in Cromwell to Pole, transcribed by

Starkey s hand and addressed to Starkey on the inside of the cover

Harvell, is believed by Mr. Gairdner of a letter to Harvell.
to be a copy of a letter written by

i .-,35] THOMAS CROMWELL 441

that our lord ]hcsu Chryst hath callyd & redemyd you that
ys to say as vvel wyth the gyft of gud letters and vnd er
st ondyng, as wyth the most excellent gyft of jugemewt in the
same, ye wyl indeuur yourselfe to make answere vnto such
thyngys as be co/ztynyd in master starkeys \etteres to you
wrytyn at thys tyme, by the kyng our masturys & soueraynys
expresse cu;;2ma;/deme#t & that the same answer may be
such & of such gravyte, as the tyght & truthe therof may be
to the honowre of god, & the satysfactyon of hys hyghnes.
Wherof I assure you I wold be as glad as any parent or frend
ye haue lyuyng not dowtyng in your approuyd wysedome &
jugeme;/t but that ye wyl extend the gyftys gyue;; vnto you
in such wyse as leuyng al your respectys or affectyon wole
so inserch your co;/scyence & jugeme;/t for the truth as ye
wole both dyscharge yourselfe agaynst god & your pry/zee, in
clowyng wherof you shal assurydly dow the thyng much to
thencrese of your meryte & fame, wherin as he that ys your
assuryd frend to hys lytyl power I requyre you to haue
indyffere/rt co;/syderatyon & so to ordur yourselfe therm
as the expectatyon of your frendys wythe the jugeme;/t of al
me;z that knowyth you may be satysfyd in that behalfe & thus
our lord send you no worse to fare than I wold ye dyd at
london

Add. To my synguler frend Mayster Edmu;?de Herwel
marchant at Venyce

*

134. (CROMWELL) TO (AN ABBOT).

R. O. Cal. viii. 1122. (1535.)

Jn consideration of his willing mind, has obtained the King s licence for
him to resort to his manors near his monastery, provided that by so
doing he causes no disturbance.

Ye shall vnderstand that I haue rescey ved your \etteres } ,
and touching that ye desire amonges other things licence for
your selfe and certayn of your bretherne to walke to your
manors and other places about your monastery. Ye shall
understand that in consideraczon of the good and toward
mynd that I have found yn you towards me and my ser-
uauntey diiurse ways 1 2 have opteynyd licence of the k mges
highnes for your selfe that ye may resorte vnto your maners
and other convenyent walkes nygh vnto your monastery, so

1 c. o. wz t// the . . . and towch- ceyued your letteres
ing the contents of the same ye J c, o. am contented

shall vnderstand that I haue res-

MERRIMAN. 1 " g

442 LETTERS OF THOMAS CROMWELL [1535

that no common brute may be reysed therby, not doubtyng
but ye will vse your selfe so (as for the good will and mynd
I bere toward you) it may be to the good zele of religion
and as I may therby resceyve no disworship therby. so that
always your bretherne must ned^ use and order theymselfoy
accordyng to the Iniunccions in that case geven unto theym
in that behalf.

END OF VOL. I.

Oxford : Printed at the Clarendon Press, by HORACE HART. M.A.

Merriman R.B.

334
Life and letters of G9M5^

v7T~

foomas Cromwell v. 1

fUL. /-

DA

334

.C9M5

v.l