Thomas Cromwell: Servant to Henry VIII

by Loades, David

  45. Statute 26 Henry VIII, c. 13. Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 508–9.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Brad C. Pardue, Printing, Power and Piety; appeals to the Public during the early years of the English Reformation (2012), pp. 1–15.

  48. The Glasse of the Truth was published anonymously, but Henry is suspected of having had a hand in it himself, ibid., p. 122.

  49. Merriman, Life and Letters, I, p. 226. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, p. 110.

  50. Ibid., pp. 96–7.

  51. By Thomas Swinnerton, RSTC 23551.5.

  52. For a very full account of the activities of his servants and informers, see Elton, Policy and Police, which contains a large number of relevant stories.

  53. TNA E 344/1 – 21/8. Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell, pp. 92–3.

  54. John Caley and Josiah Hunter (eds), Valor Ecclesiasticus, 6 vols., (1810–34).

  55. In December 1535 a canon of St Osythe wrote to Cromwell claiming profession at the age of thirteen, and saying that he would rather die than live in such misery. His petition was granted. D. Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, Vol. 3: The Tudor Age (1959).

  56. A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation (1964), pp. 141–2.

  57. D. MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer (1996), p. 130. Cromwell was originally appointed to conduct a royal visitation, during which the powers of all bishops were suspended.

  58. Statute 26 Henry VIII, c. 1. Statutes of the Realm, III, p. 492.

  59. Statute 25 Henry VIII, c. 22. Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 471–4.

  60. Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell, p. 69.

  61. J. Scarisbrick, ‘Fisher, Henry VIII, and the Reformation Crisis’ in B. Bradshaw and E. Duffy, Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: the Career of Bishop John Fisher (1989), pp. 155–68.

  62. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, pp. 105–7.

  63. MacCulloch, Cranmer, p. 130.

  64. L & P, VIII, no. 750 (p. 280).

  65. BL Add. MS 8715, f. 53. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp. 332–3.

  66. It is possible that More’s whole correspondence with Cromwell is a kind of jest, designed to secure his favour, just as he mock-commended Henry VIII. E. F. Rogers (ed.), Correspondence of Thomas More (1947), pp. 506, 517, 541, 552, 554–5.

  67. BL Arundel MS 152, f. 294.

  68. L & P, VIII, p. 385. Nicholas Harpesfield, Life and Death of Sir Thomas More, ed. Elsie Hitchcock and R. W. Chambers (Early English Text Society, 186, 1932), p. 189.

  69. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 332.

  70. W. Roper, Life of Thomas More, ed. E. V. Hitchcock (EETS, 1935), p. 97.

  71. C. A. Hart (ed.), The English Works of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (2002), pp. 12, 350. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, p. 104.

  72. Ibid., pp. 104–5.

  73. Scarisbrick, ‘Fisher, Henry VIII, and the Reformation Crisis’, p. 157.

  74. Harpesfield, Life and Death of Sir Thomas More, pp. 243–4.

  75. R. J. Knecht, Francis I (1982) p. 275. L & P,VIII, no. 837.

  76. Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell, p. 78.

  77. L & P, VIII, no. 196. Elton, Policy and Police, p. 137. Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell, p. 79.

  78. D. Loades, The Boleyns (2011), pp. 134–5.

  79. Loades, Henry VIII (2011), pp. 262–3.

  80. L & P, X, no. 282. Ives, Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, p. 296.

  81. Statute 27 Henry VIII, c. 28. Elton, Tudor Constitution, pp. 379–81.

  82. Ives, Life and Death, pp. 307–10.

  83. Charles Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England, 1485–1559, ed. W. D. Hamilton (Camden Society, 1875), I, pp. 189–91. Ives, Life and Death, pp. 319–20.

  84. Thus ‘imagining’ the king’s death. Ibid., p. 325.

  85. Ibid., p. 326.

  86. Loades, The Boleyns, pp. 162–3.

  87. G. W. Bernard, Anne Boleyn, Fatal Attractions (2010)

  88. The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish, ed. S. W. Singer (1827), pp. 458–9.

  89. Ives, Life and Death, p. 328.

  90. Ibid., p. 327.

  91. Wriothesley, Chronicle, I, pp. 37–8.

  92. MacCulloch, Cranmer, pp. 158–9.

  93. Loades, Jane Seymour (2013).

  5 The Lord Privy Seal, 1531–1540

  1. D. Loades, Mary Tudor; a Life (1989), pp. 98–9.

  2. Ibid., p. 99. On Henry’s special relationship with God, see Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, esp. pp. 278–80.

  3. L & P, XI, no. 7. Loades, Mary Tudor, loc. cit.

  4. BL Cotton MS Otho C.x, f. 283. L & P, X, no. 968.

  5. Loades, Mary Tudor, p. 100.

  6. BL Cotton MS Otho C.x, f. 278. L & P, X. no. 1022.

  7. Chapuys’s surviving correspondence does not make this point clear. None of the documents immediately connected with this crisis are dated.

  8. L & P, X, no.

  9. Cal. Span., V, ii, p. 70.

  10. BL Cotton MS Otho C.x, ff. 172, 174. L & P, X, no. 1134.

  11. L & P, X, nos 429, 1150.

  12. Loades, The Reign of Mary Tudor (1979), p. 19.

  13. Chapuys to the Emperor, 1 July 1536. L & P, XI, no. 7.

  14. Mary merely dated the letter ‘Thursday’, but since she received her first intimation of forgiveness on the 26th that day must have been the 22nd. Royal Historical Society, Handbook of Dates (1978), p. 135.

  15. L & P, XI, no. 334. Loades, Mary Tudor, p. 103.

  16. Cal. Span., V, ii, p. 70.

  17. L & P, XI, no. 163. B. Murphy, Bastard Prince (2001), p. 176. Statute 28 Henry VIII, c. 7.

  18. Henry VIII to Gardiner and Wallop. L & P, XI, no. 445. The reference is to Charles, Francis’s third son, who became Duke of Orléans following the death of the Dauphin, Francis, in August 1536.

  19. Mary to Cromwell, probably 30 June 1536. L & P, X, no. 1186.

  20. He was made Warden and Chief Justice of all forests north of the Trent in December 1537, with a fee of £100 a year. L & P, XII, ii, no. 1311. Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell, p. 273. For Cromwell’s acquisition of the manor of Wimbledon, see Ibid., p. 124.

  21. L & P, XI, no. 1355. Memoranda for the King’s Council, 2 December 1533, L & P, VI, no. 1486.

  22. L & P, XI, no. 629. For repeated petitions over the settlement of debt, see Christopher, Lord Conyers to Cromwell, 13 October 1533. L & P, VI, no. 1366.

  23. G. R. Elton, ‘King or Minister? The man behind the Henrician Reformation’, History, 39, 1954, pp. 216–32. Ibid., Thomas Cromwell (ed. 2008), pp. 8–11.

  24. Statute 27 Henry VIII, c. 28. Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 575–8.

  25. Elton, Tudor Revolution in Government, pp. 208–9.

  26. R. W. Hoyle, The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Politics of the 1530s (2001), p. 93.

  27. L & P, XII, no. 380.

  28. TNA SP1/110, f. 162. L & P, XI, no. 968. Hoyle, Pilgrimage, p. 109.

  29. L & P, XI, no. 705.

  30. Hoyle, Pilgrimage, pp. 149–50.

  31. D. Loades, Politics and the Nation, p. 148.

  32. L & P, XI, no. 786 (iii). Merriman, Life and Letters, I, p. 181.

  33. TNA SP1/119, f. 4. L & P, XII, i, no. 1022. Hoyle, Pilgrimage of Grace, pp. 265 –81.

  34. TNA SP1/112, ff. 118–211. L & P, XI, no. 1246 (1–2). Hoyle, Pilgrimage, pp. 460–63.

  35. Ibid., p. 302.

  36. Suffolk to Cromwell, 27 November 1536, L & P, XI, no. 1180. Hoyle, Pilgrimage, pp. 409–10. On Bigod’s revolt, and his bid to capture Scarborough, see J. Binns, ‘Scarborough and the Pilgrimage of Grace’, Scarborough Archaeological and History Society, 33, 1997, pp. 23–39.

  37. Gervase Clyfton to Mr Banks, 11 November 1536. L & P, XI, no. 1042. L & P, XII, i, no. 698.

  38. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp. 355–60.

  39. Merriman, Life and Letters, p. 221. T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones etc. (1704–35), XIV, p. 539.

  40. S. G. Ellis, Tudor Ireland (1985), p. 123.

  41. B. Bradshaw, ‘Cromwellian Reforms and the Origins of the Kildare Rebellion’, Transactions
of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series, 1977, pp. 69–94. S. G. Ellis, ‘The Kildare Rebellion and the Early Henrician Reformation’, Historical Journal, 19, 1976, pp. 807–30.

  42. Ellis, Tudor Ireland, p. 125.

  43. Ibid., pp. 127–8. Skeffington brought 2,300 men with him, the largest force to be seen in Ireland since 1399.

  44. Ellis, ‘The Kildare Rebellion…’, pp. 812–16, 822–30. Ibid., ‘Tudor Policy and the Kildare ascendancy in the Lordship of Ireland’, Irish Historical Studies, 20.

  45. Ellis, Tudor Ireland, pp. 130–31. B. Bradshaw, The Irish Constitutional Revolution of the Sixteenth Century (1979), p. 141.

  46. Bradshaw, ‘George Browne, the first Reformation Archbishop of Dublin’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 21, 1970, pp. 310–12.

  47. Ellis, ‘Thomas Cromwell and Ireland, 1532–1540’, Historical Journal, 21, 1980, p. 510.

  48. Ellis, Tudor Ireland, p. 133. Bradshaw, Irish Constitutional Revolution, pp. 193–6.

  49. The policy of surrender and regrant involved the Irish chieftains surrendering their tribal land to the Crown, and receiving them back as fiefs, together with appropriate English titles. These titles then gave them seats in the Irish House of Lords, and integrated them fully into the government of English Ireland. The take-up was patchy, but disappointing. Ellis, Tudor Ireland, pp. 137–42.

  50. Elton, Tudor Constitution, p. 202.

  51. By the statute of 26 Henry VIII, c. 6.

  52. Statute 27 Henry VIII, c. 24. Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 555–8.

  53. W. S. K. Thomas, Tudor Wales (1983), pp. 49–65.

  54. David Rees, The Son of Prophecy; Henry Tudor’s Road to Bosworth (1997), pp. 15–21.

  55. W. Schenk, Reginald Pole, Cardinal of England (1950), pp. 21–3.

  56. Reginald Pole to Cromwell, 2 May 1537. L & P, XII, i, no. 1123. Tunstall to Pole, 14 July 1536. T. F. Mayer, Reginald Pole, Prince and Prophet (2000), pp. 13–33. Mayer, The Correspondence of Reginald Pole, I, A Calendar, 1518–1546 (2002), pp. 100–01.

  57. L & P, XII, i, no 270. Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell, p. 175. Cromwell did not normally resort to assassination as a political weapon, but see his letter to Michael Throgmorton in September 1537: ‘There may be ways found enough in Italy, to rid a traitorous subject.’ Merriman, Life and Letters, p. 218.

  58. Mayer, Reginald Pole. Loades, Mary Tudor, pp. 110–11.

  59. Hazel Pierce, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, 1473–1541 (2003), pp. 164–5.

  60. Ibid., pp. 117–20.

  61. Confessions of John Wissdome and Joan Tristlelowe, 13 September 1538. TNA SP1/136, ff. 202–3. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 392.

  62. Examination of John Collins. TNA SP1/139, f. 23. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 829.

  63. According to what Richard Ayers told John Ansard. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 817, f. 84. Pierce, Margaret Pole, p. 119.

  64. Ibid., p. 127.

  65. Examination of Jerome Ragland, 28 October 1538. TNA SP1/138, f. 37. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 702.

  66. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 743.

  67. The Countess of Salisbury’s examination, 12 and 13 November 1538. TNA SP1/138, f. 243. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 818.

  68. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp. 364–5. Pierce, Margaret Pole, p. 139.

  69. For a full discussion of this issue, see Ibid., pp. 141–5.

  70. Ibid., pp. 149–53. See also Christopher Hollger, ‘Reginald Pole and the legations of 1537 and 1539; diplomatic and polemical responses to the break with Rome’. (Unpublished D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1989).

  71. It seems to have been Henry, enraged by Reginald’s actions, both in his letter and in his legation, who was after blood. Cromwell kept his revenge within the boundaries of the law. At least a dozen other people could have suffered.

  72. Loades, Jane Seymour, p. 91. ODNB sub Edward Seymour.

  73. Henry was forty-six by this time, and not in the best of health. Even before Edward’s conception he had expressed doubts about his ability to beget more children.

  74. Cromwell to Lord William Howard and Stephen Gardiner (ambassadors in France), announcing the king’s intention to marry again. L & P, XII, no. 1004, printed in full by Merriman in Life and Letters, II, pp. 96–9.

  75. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, p. 337.

  76. L & P, XIII, i, no. 241.

  77. Ibid., no. 995.

  78. Ibid., XIII, i, nos 56, 203. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 356.

  79. Cromwell to Sir Thomas Wyatt, 10 October 1537. L & P, XII, ii, no. 870.

  80. John Hutton to Thomas Wriothesley, 2 June 1538. L & P, XII, i, no. 1126. Cromwell’s instructions to Philip Hoby, BL Add. MS 5498, ff. 1–2. L & P, XIII, i, no. 380. Merriman, Life and Letters, II, p. 121.

  81. L & P, XIV, ii, no. 400. This report came from the reformer George Constantine.

  82. L & P, XII, i, no. 1277. Hutton to Wriothesley, 28 June 1538. L & P, XIII, i, no. 241.

  83. Ibid., ii, no. 77. Francis offered to send one of the girls to Calais to be inspected, but that was all. Ibid., no. 277.

  84. L & P, XIV, i, no. 62. Chapuys was not withdrawn until his replacement (Mendoza) arrived, which rather destroyed the point of the gesture. Ibid, nos 345, 365.

  85. For a full examination of these defensive works, see H. M. Colvin. The History of the King’s Works, IV, 1485–1660 (1982).

  86. Mayer, Reginald Pole, p. 93. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 363.

  87. Henry had been totally unwilling to accept the Confession of Augsburg, which the Germans made their minimum condition for admission to the League. Rory McEntegart, Henry VIII, the League of Schmalkalden, and the English Reformation (2002), pp. 131–68.

  88. Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves (2000), pp. 71, 75.

  89. State Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, I, p. 605. L & P, XIV, i, no. 552.

  90. Ibid., no. 920. Warnicke, The Marrying, p. 64.

  91. 31 Henry VIII, c. 14, Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 739–43.

  92. Warnicke, The Marrying, p. 98.

  93. Lisle Letters, 5, nos 1574, 1620. Warnicke, The Marrying, p. 112.

  94. L & P, XV, nos 822–3, 850.

  95. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp. 370–1.

  6 Viceregent in Spirituals, 1536–1540

  1. David Daniell, William Tyndale: a biography (2001), pp. 208–20. William Tyndale, Practice of Prelates in The whole workes of W Tyndall, John Frith and Doct. Barnes… (1573), RSTC 24436, in which he denounces the king’s use of Leviticus.

  2. Redworth, In Defence of the Church Catholic, pp. 103–5.

  3. L & P, VIII, nos 75, 76. Merriman, Life and Letters, I, p. 166. Logan, ‘Thomas Cromwell and the Viceregency in Spirituals; a revisitation’, English Historical Review, 103, 1988, pp. 658–67.

  4. TNA SP1/101, ff. 33–4. L & P, X, no. 45.

  5. Ibid. Elton, Policy and Police, p. 245. The letter is printed by Merriman (II, pp. 111–13), where it is wrongly dated to 1538.

  6. Burnet, History of the Reformation of the Church of England (1865), IV, pp. 272–90. Merriman, Life and Letters, II, pp. 25–9.

  7. Elton, Policy and Police, p. 247.

  8. W. H. Frere and W. M. Kennedy, Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the period of the Reformation (1910), II, p. 2.

  9. Ibid., p. 5.

  10. Gerald Bray, Tudor Church Reform: The Henrician Canons (2000) pp. xxvi–xxx.

  11. Elton, Policy and Police, p. 248. The Register was kept by William Saye, and was copied in part by Robert Beale, the Elizabethan Clerk of the Privy Council, BL Add. MS 48022, ff. 83–96.

  12. TNA SP1/109, f. 196. L & P, XI, no. 876.

  13. TNA SP1/124, f. 56. L & P, XII, ii, no. 534.

  14. L & P, XIII, i, no. 942.

  15. Burnet, History of the Reformation, IV, pp. 396–9. For Henry’s proclamation, see Hughes and Larkin, Tudor Royal Proclamations, I, pp. 270–6.

  16. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 27.

  17. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, p. 111. Cal. Span. 1529–30, no. 211. Ibid., no.
492.

  18. Cal. Span., 1536–8, no. 43.

  19. Statute 27 Henry VIII, c. 28. Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 575–8. Elton, Tudor Constitution, p. 379.

  20. For the working of the Viceregential court, see BL Add. MS 48022, ff. 83–96. L & P, X, nos 372, 774.

  21. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, p. 115. The injunctions are printed in J. Youings, The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1971), pp. 149–52.

  22. L & P, V, no. 1428.

  23. Ibid., IX, no. 808.

  24. L & P, XIII, i, no. 778, ii, 1121.

  25. Ibid., no 1164. L & P, X, no. 424.

  26. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, pp. 119–20. For Kingswood, see L & P, VIII, no. 73.

  27. TNA SP1/96, f. 127–8. L & P, IX, nos 321–2.

  28. It was a myth propagated by John Foxe that Henry always followed the last advice he had been given. He was perfectly capable of making up his own mind on issues of this level of importance. Loades, Henry VIII, pp. 214–5. For a typical plea by a nobleman see Thomas, Earl of Rutland, to Wriothesley, 12 September 1538. L & P, XIII, ii, no. 332.

  29. Youings, Dissolution of the Monasteries. L & P, X, no. 1152.

  30. Loades, The Reign of Mary Tudor, pp. 96–128.

  31. Statute 27 Henry VIII, c. 27. Statutes of the Realm, III, pp. 569–74.

  32. L & P, IX, nos 65, 279, 301. Elton, Tudor Revolution in Government, pp. 192–3.

  33. BL Lansdowne MS 156, ff. 146–9.

  34. Elton, Tudor Revolution, pp. 203–5. Memorandum to the Chancellor of Augmentations to send to the Exchequer a list of sequestered properties, 11 February 1538. L & P, XIII, i, no. 253.

  35. TNA DL 5/6, ff. 204–5.

  36. TNA DL 12/7, no. 39. Elton, Tudor Revolution, pp. 209–10.

  37. Ibid., p. 212. W. C. Richardson, A History of the Court of Augmentations (1962).

  38. L & P, XIV, ii, no. 13.

  39. Elton, Tudor Revolution, p. 208. Richardson, Augmentations.

  40. Ibid., p. 206. For a list of the counties and how they were divided, see TNA E323/2B, pt l.

  41. TNA E361/11/49.

  42. Statute 33 Henry VIII, c. 39.

  43. For example the abbot of Whitby’s letter to the Lord Privy Seal in May 1538. L & P, XIII, i, no. 1113.

  44. Cranmer to Cromwell, 7 February 1538, asking him to write to the Bishop of London, L & P, XIV, i, no. 744. Schofield, Thomas Cromwell, pp. 118–9.