The Tudors

by G. J. Meyer

  Instead of congratulating her Erickson, Great Harry, p. 199.

  To this group he delivered an address … : Fraser, Wives, p. 155.

  When it came back to him … : Erickson, Great Harry, p. 223.

  That Wolsey himself felt any compelling While Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 47, argues persuasively that Wolsey would have pursued very different policies had he aspired to the papacy, Elton, England Under, p. 84, says without offering much evidence that the cardinal wanted to be pope throughout all his years in high office.

  “Sir,” she began in the accent … : Fraser, Wives, p. 160.

  “No, my lord, not so” Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 105.

  He felt obliged to do this … : Loades, Henry VIII, p. 83.

  A considerable exercise of the imagination Among the many good introductions to England in the sixteenth century are Penry Williams, Life in Tudor England (Batsford, 1964) and John Morrill, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain (Oxford University Press, 1996).

  The great humanist scholar Erasmus …: Penry Williams, Life, p. 104.

  The population, which in the year 1300… : Loades, Henry VIII, p. 9.

  By 1485 the population was again growing… : Guy, Tudor England, p. 10.

  “The people here are held in little more esteem …”: W. G. Hoskins, The Age of Plunder (Longmans, 1971), p. 105.

  “Inasmuch as ye, the fathers of the laws…”: Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 238.

  “God forbid that he should die!”… : Lingard, History of England, p. 4:537. 85 On October 26, in conversing… : Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 246.

  As early as 1515 during a dispute… : Elton, England Under, p. 107.

  “God hath made in every realm …” : Guy, Tudor England, p. 121.

  “This,” he is supposed to have said …: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 352.

  Henry, whose opinion of himself… : Smith, Mask of Power, p. 124.

  Genuine and legitimate power, More said… : Marius, Thomas More, p. 365.

  The England of 1530 contained… : Good introductions to the religious life of pre-Reformation England are Penry Williams, Life; Maurice Keen, English Society in the Later Middle Ages (Penguin, 1990); Francis Aidan Gasquet, England Under the Old Religion and Other Essays (G. Bell & Sons, 1912); and most important, Duffy, Stripping of Altars.

  Stern and unfamiliar penalties… : Guy, Tudor England, p. 144.

  When he had heard Cranmer out… : Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 255.

  “Stop, sir,” he said in French… : Lingard, History of England, p. 4:545.

  Martin Luther himself, while insisting… : Ibid., p. 4:549.

  According to one of his confidants… : Ibid., p. 4:555.

  Henry, meanwhile, the bit in his teeth… : Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 38.

  By the end of the reign this number… : David M. Loades, The Tudor Court (Barnes & Noble, 1987), p. 185.

  At the same time he involved himself… : The words about Wolsey being “persuaded from vainglory,” and those on the following page about presumptuous sinister practices,” are in Scarisbrick Henry VIII, p. 239.

  “Father Abbot,” he said upon arrival… : Smith, Mask of Power, p. 107.

  Delay, long a source of frustration… : Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 52, and Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 291, explain Henry’s gradually emerging desire for delay.

  In the message that conveyed their offer…: Elton, England Under, p. 125.

  If they came from John Fisher…: Marius, Thomas More, p. 379, says: “The saving words usually have been incorrectly ascribed to John Fisher. But their insertion seems to have been an effort by the government to soften the blow.…”

  He blithely assured Tunstal… : Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 180, and Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 278.

  A letter signed by seventeen members… : Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 277.

  “This proposition cannot be counted as heretical”… : Marius, Thomas More, p. 380.

  In a stroke of sheer good luck…: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 350.

  The comptroller of the king’s household…: Neville Williams, Henry VIII and His Court (Macmillan, 1972), p. 117.

  “God grant him a good conscience”… : Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 75.

  “My lord,” a surprisingly good-humored…”: Lingard, History of England, p. 4:562.

  The supreme oddity, in any case…: Elton, England Under, p. 131, suggests that the initiative lay with Cromwell rather than the king, while Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 60, takes the opposite position.

  Cromwell had pulled it off…: The adherence of most of England to the old religion is accepted today by all of the most respected historians. See Elton, England Under, p. 109, and Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp. 241 and 328. Duffy, Stripping of Altars, provides an exhaustive demonstration of the vitality of the pre-Reformation English church.

  The churchmen were ordered to give…: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 355. 149 In doing so he crushed whatever autonomy…: Ibid., p. 749.

  Henry VIII on more than one occasion…: Francis Aidan Gasquet, Henry VIII and the English Monasteries (John Hodges, 1889), p. 1:156.

  “I beseech your Grace to take good heed …”: Derek Wilson, In the Lion’s Court (St. Martin’s Press, 2002), p. 339.

  From the start of the crisis …: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 173.

  “Well-beloved subjects,” Henry told Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 299.

  Thus it was that May 15 became Ibid., p. 300.

  It seems an exceedingly strange coincidence Among fruitful one-volume introductions to the Reformation both in England and on the continent are A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation (Schocken, 1968); James D. Tracy, Europe’s Reformations 1450–1650 (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999); John Bowker, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religion (Cambridge University Press, 2001); Geoffrey Woodward, The Sixteenth Century Reformation (Lion, 2001); and Gordon Mursell, gen. ed., The Story of Christian Spirituality (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001).

  Europe’s leading humanist…. : Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, p. 1:120.

  He had been drafting, presumably for delivery Marius, Thomas More, p. 421.

  Knowing little of who Cranmer Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 310.

  Cromwell was ready with an answer…: Elton, England Under, p. 132; Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 357; and Guy, Tudor England, p. 132.

  This happened on March 30 A detailed account of the oddities of Cranmer’s installation ceremony is in Lingard, History of England, p. 5:6.

  By all accounts the news…: Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 313.

  But when he wrote to the king Fraser, Wives, p. 190.

  PART TWO

  Monster

  W. G. Hoskins’s The Age of Plunder (Longmans, 1971) delivers what its title promises: a trenchant study of the price paid by the population of England for the innovations of Henry VIII. David Starkey’s The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics (Vintage, 2002) is rich in insights about the last two decades of Henry’s life. Much detail about the end of the reign is to be found in Jesse Childs, Henry VIII’s Last Victim (Jonathan Cape, 2006), and Robert Hutchinson, The Last Days of Henry VIII (William Morrow, 2006).

  Notes

  The first victim The story of Elizabeth Barton is told in Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 321, and in much greater detail in Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 87.

  It is not certain that these reported confessions…: Fraser, Wives, p. 211, writes that Barton “was said” (italics added) to have recanted, and Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 94, refers to her “scaffold speech” as having been “put into her mouth” by an unfriendly writer.

  There Barton, perhaps because she was…: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 94.

  The act’s assertion that Henry was to be succeeded …: The 1534 Succession Act appears in its entirely in Elton, Tudor Constitution, p. 6.

  Conveniently, Parliament neglected to specify …: Marius, Thomas More, p. 459.

  C
romwell continued to take care…: Guy, Tudor England, p. 135.

  A special version of the succession oath …: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 157.

  The results of the visits were Ibid., p. 157.

  Several were clearly unhappy Ibid., p. 178.

  To be guilty of high treason Elton, Tudor Constitution, p. 61.

  This probably explains the insertion The intent behind the inclusion of “maliciously,” and the word’s significance for the king, are in Guy, Tudor England, p. 139, and Marius, Thomas More, p. 480.

  It was called the Act of First Fruits…: The act is explained in Elton, Tudor Constitution, p. 42, and it appears in full on page 53 of the same book. The resulting increase in Crown revenue is detailed in Guy, Tudor England, p. 136.

  He was given a traditional levy …: Taxation on the basis of “fifteenths and tenths” is explained in Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 353.

  The king’s gambling, his many luxuries…. : Fraser, Wives, p. 211, and Hoskins, Age of Plunder, p. 208, provide details on Henry’s spending on palaces.

  Even the most reform-minded of the bishops…: Lingard, History of England, p. 5:51.

  Background: Monks, Nuns, and Friars: An excellent introduction to the religious orders of England is C. H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism (Longmans, 1993).

  Nothing of the kind can be said …: The story of the Carthusians is in Lingard, History of England, p. 5:39, and in much greater detail in Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 160. An entire chapter on the subject, with many of the statements about Sir John Gage and John Houghton and others in the pages that follow, appears in Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, pp. 1:202ff.

  It is possible that the king himself was present… : This and Houghton’s words “I call almighty God to witness” are attributed to Eustace Chapuys in Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, p. 1:224.

  “Lo, dost thou not see, Meg …”: Marius, Thomas More, p. 491.

  “Now I have in good faith discharged my mind …”: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 145.

  The new pope, Paul III, unwittingly way unusualway unusual…: Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 328.

  He warned that the pope could send Lingard, History of England, p. 5:40.

  He told the court that when the king Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 123.

  “What a monstrous matter is this!”… : Ibid., p. 124.

  He asked the people to pray…: Ibid., p. 125. 228 What Rich had to say…: Ibid., p. 146.

  “Can it therefore seem likely …”: Marius, Thomas More, p. 506.

  Being a good lawyer, More Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 149.

  “God preserve all my friends …”: Lingard, History of England, p. 5:45.

  In January he had been given Ibid., p. 5:51, and Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 245.

  What Cromwell and the king intended Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 376.

  The men Cromwell chose …: The character, motives, and conduct of the monastic visitors are subjected to critical scrutiny in Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 254; Elton, England Under, p. 144; Lingard, History of England, p. 5:54; and Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Pilgrimage of Grace (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002), p. 27. However, Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 247, argues that the original intent of Cromwell’s visitations was entirely honorable.

  Two of the most active …: Citing the reports and correspondence of the visitors themselves, Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, p. 1:286, details the astonishing number of monasteries examined by Layton, Legh, and others in only a few weeks.

  “Thanks for excusing my getting up…” : Ibid., p. 1:278.

  When Chancellor Audley could find no basis…: Ibid., pp. 1:278–80.

  There is no reason to think that Eustace Chapuys…: Ibid., p. 1:265.

  Nor was there any acknowledgment …: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 258.

  “Lastly, I make this vow…”: Catherine’s words and the autopsy results are in Fraser, Wives, pp. 228 and 229.

  Henry, remembering the restraint …: That and “Much scratching and by-blows” are in Carolly Erickson, Anne Boleyn (Macmillan, 1984), p. 242.

  According to one story, she tried …: Henry’s jousting accident is in Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 485, the story of Jane Seymour on the king’s knee in Fraser, Wives, p. 233.

  All the larger and richer houses …: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 376.

  He began to complain that Anne …: Fraser, Wives, p. 233; Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 379.

  On May 19, in the moment before Fraser, Wives, p. 257.

  Two days after Anne was found guilty …: Neville Williams, Henry VIII, p. 146.

  The information gathered by Cromwell’s visitors …: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 378, put the number of smaller monasteries at 399—372 in England and 27 in Wales—and estimated that 220 of these were eliminated in the first round of suppressions. Writing half a century later, Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 271, put the total at 419 and said 243 were dissolved.

  Some of the confiscated land was sold …: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 378.

  “We beseech your favor…”: This letter, and the appeal for the Carmarthan house, are in Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, p. 2:34, giving Chapuys’s reports as source.

  The monks inside, informed that …: Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, p. 2:37.

  After comparing Henry not only to Richard III …: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 220.

  He wrote to Mary, calling her Lingard, History of England, p. 5:80.

  Still later, sufficiently rehabilitated Neville Williams, Henry VIII, p. 152.

  In a truly extraordinary step Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 381.

  Even today scholars disagree Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 281, says that the Articles expressed Henry’s search for a “middle way.” Elton, England Under, p. 153, says similarly that they were a “compromise” between the demands of conservatives and evangelicals. By contrast Guy, Tudor England, p. 179, emphasizes their “reformed” character, and Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 399, their “Lutheran” content. But Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 382, notes that even Reginald Pole found little to object to in them.

  This is unmistakable in the preface Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 277.

  The dedication offered to that king Neville Williams, Henry VIII, p. 162; Penry Williams, The Tudor Regime (Oxford, 1979), p. 361.

  Sixteenth-century Europe was a world See Alison Sim, Food and Feast in Tudor England (Sutton, 1997).

  The story of how Succinct but detailed accounts of the Pilgrimage of Grace are in Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 293; Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 339; and Lingard, History of England, p. 5:82. Moorhouse, Pilgrimage of Grace, is of course a much fuller account.

  This was in no way unusual…: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 387.

  Wherever such men fell into the hands…: Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 306.

  The king denounced Lincolnshire Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 342.

  He would have been overwhelmed Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 388.

  Meanwhile King Henry, whose situation Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 343.

  Aske received a letter from the king Words from the letters exchanged by Henry and Aske are in Gasquet, Henry and Monasteries, p. 2:131.

  When they finished in mid-July Extensive treatments of the Institution are in Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 399, and Bernard, King’s Reformation, p. 475.

  The evangelicals hated much of it…: The bishops’ groveling preface, and the message from the king, are in Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 404.

  The Bishops’ Book as first published Henry’s changes are in Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 405.

  A more plausible explanation is…: Chris Skidmore, Edward VI: The Lost King of England (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007), p. 19.

  In rather short order he was reported Erickson, Great Harry, p. 282.

  Such memories were freshened by Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 397.

  His once-powerful constitution Perspectives on Henry’s health problems are in Smith, Mask of Power,
pp. 15 and 264; Erickson, Great Harry, pp. 328 and 360; and Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 485.

  But he was a frail reed …: Smith, Mask of Power, p. 94.

  But Henry proved a dangerous partner …: The story of the near-arrest of Catherine Parr is in Fraser, Wives, p. 388.

  A farce was played out…: Lingard, History of England, p. 5:189.

  The valuables hauled away Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 396.

  Quite apart from the colossal sums…: Lingard, History of England, p. 5:97. 294 He would be able to expand the ranksIbid., p. 5:99.

  In the last eight or nine years…: Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 400.

  He squandered his riches at home first…: Guy, Tudor England, p. 184.

  The French and Scottish campaigns…: The financial figures in this paragraph are all from Guy, Tudor England, p. 192.

  Students of the subject have calculated Lingard, History of England, p. 5:195.

  In 1542 Henry borrowed £112,000 The forced loans of this period are in Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 411. The financial consequences of the campaigns in France are in Elton, England Under, p. 198, and Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p. 453.

  Next Henry demanded and got…: Smith, Mask of Power, p. 244.

  Two London aldermen dared to object… : Lingard, History of England, p. 5:193, and Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 411.

  Foreign loans totaled some £272,000 Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 413.

  Soon its coins were only half gold Erickson, Great Harry, p. 352.

  Henry reaped £373,000 Smith, Mask of Power, p. 172.

  Prices rose some 25 percent…: The inflation rate and the “holy anchor” quote are in Erickson, Great Harry, p. 353.

  Under this law, anyone who “lived idly…”: Hoskins, Age of Plunder, p. 106. 298 Those impressed into bondage in this way Lingard, History of England, p. 5:258.

  The king’s word literally became law Ibid., p. 5:129.

  The penalty in connection with these doctrines…: Ibid.

  Thus in 1543 he drew out of Parliament…: The Act for the Advancement of True Religion, with the condemnation of Tyndale’s translation, is in Mackie, Earlier Tudors, p. 429, and Lingard, History of England, p. 5:159.