The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey (Pimlico)

by Gwyn, Peter

  1 L.B. Smith, Journal of the History of Ideas, xv.

  2Ven. Cal., iii, 213; see also Hall, pp.622-4. Since I wrote this Barbara Harris has published her Edward Stafford. My debt to her important article (AJLH, xx) will emerge in the subsequent footnotes.

  3 Rawcliffe, p.43; Kennedy, pp.210-11.

  4LP, iii, 1245, 1268, 1293. For Charles’s less mischievous regrets see LP, 1328.

  5 For the classic case against Wolsey see Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon, pp.160-1, but see inter alia Davies, Peace, Print and Protestantism, pp.165-6, Elton, Reform and Renewal, pp.81-2. Against the tide, neither Scarisbrick (Henry VIII, pp.120-2) nor Bernard (Power of the Early Nobility, pp.199-20) has seen Wolsey as the ‘culprit’. See also Fiddes, p.275.

  6 Vergil, pp.263, 265, 279.

  7LP, iii, 1293, 1556.

  8 Quinn, pp.334-5.

  9 Hall, p.623; Ven. Cal., iii, 209. Wolsey was to deny to Francis that their arrests had anything to do with Buckingham’s (LP, iii, 1293), but this seems unlikely.

  10 For the charges and evidence brought against Buckingham see LP, iii, 1284, much expanded upon, with transcripts of related documents, in J.S. Brewer’s introduction; see LP, iii, pp.cxxix-xxxi. See also Public Records, app.ii, pp.230-4.

  11LP, iii, 1284 (ii).

  12 He had married a Percy, while his three daughters had married respectively George Neville Lord Bergavenny, Ralph Neville earl of Westmorland and Thomas Howard earl of Surrey; see Rawcliffe, pp.22-3.

  13 See especially Bellamy, Law of Treason, though, unlike most other commentators, he takes the view that the important 1352 Act of treason did not insist on ‘overt acts’; see ibid, p.122, n.7. For an excellent summary of the legal position on the eve of the trial see Harris, AJLH, 20, pp.21-3. My interpretation of the trial relies very heavily on her account.

  14 Harcourt, p.470.

  15 B. Harris, AJLH, 20, pp.16-22.

  16LP, iii, 1204.

  17 In addition to B. Harris, AJLH, 20 see Levine, ‘Fall of Edward duke of Buckingham’.

  18 B. Harris, AJLH, p.17 calculates 49 noblemen. Both calculations include Thomas Docwra, prior of the order of St John.

  19 The minors were the earl of Derby and the Lords Clinton, Grey of Powis and Grey of Wilton, and the lunatic was Lord Burgh.

  20 This is alleged in B. Harris, AJLH, 20, p.17, but she provides no evidence. Berners was involved in complicated legal transactions with Buckingham (Rawcliffe, pp.140-1), which may have caused conflict, but it seems more likely that it was his residency in Calais as lord deputy that was the reason for his absence. I have found no information about any quarrel between Berkeley and Buckingham.

  21 For worries about emptying the North of noblemen in 1526 see LP, iv, 1910. Other northern noblemen were the Lords Clifford, Conyers, Dacre, Darcy, Latimer, Lumley, Monteagle, Ogle, Scrope and Stourton.

  22 Hall, p.623; Harris, AJLH, 20, p.20.

  23 Hall, p.623.

  24LP, iii, 1070.

  25 For Buckingham’s relations with Gilbert, Russell and Dellacourt, and more generally with his household officials see Rawcliffe, pp.90-1, 139-40, 151, 164-70, 195-6, 229-30, 247-9.

  26 Vergil, p.27. After Buckingham’s execution, Knivet was to state that he left Buckingham’s service of his own accord in September 1520, but since this was in furtherance of his claim for compensation for loss of office following disclosure of Buckingham’s plottings, the statement must be questioned; see LP, iii, 1289 (ii). The September date does, however, better fit the scenario being presented here, for if Knivet began to talk in May 1520, it is harder to explain why Buckingham was not picked up until almost a year later.

  27LP, iii, 1070.

  28LP, iii, 1283a, transcribed fully in LP, iii, pp.cxiii-cxiv.

  29LP, iii, 1070 for the request. For Buckingham and Wales see pp.170-1 below.

  30LP, iii, 1283a for Wolsey’s warning; LP, iii, 1245 for Henry’s.

  31 Guy, Cardinal’s Court, p.74; Hall, p.599 for Henry’s alleged comments to Buckingham on this occasion, and LP, iii, 1284 (ii) for Buckingham’s alleged anger.

  32 Rawcliffe, p.36.

  33LP, i, 94; Rawcliffe, pp.37-8.

  34LP, i, 474.

  35 Hall, pp.505, 512.

  36LP, i, 3483. More generally for Buckingham’s financial relationship with the Crown see Rawcliffe, pp.138 ff.

  37 B. Harris, Edward Stafford, p.89; Rawcliffe, pp.137-8 for expenditure at Thornbury and Penshurst.

  38 Rawcliffe, pp.37-9.

  39 Ellis, 3 ser, i, pp.216-7 (LP, ii, 2987, though he suggests 1519. I have followed the editors of LP in dating it to 1517, thereby associating it with the great joust of 7 July 1517 in which Buckingham did not take part; see Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.101-3; Hall, p.591).

  40 Roper, pp.20-21.

  41LP, ii, 4075.

  42LP, ii, 4469.

  43 The evidence for this is mainly negative; that is none of the accounts of the expedition make much mention of him; see Rawcliffe, pp.100-1.

  44LP, iii, 1284 (iii), from Gilbert’s deposition.

  45 Bush, History, iv for the argument that the Tudors’ suspicion of those with a claim to the throne has been exaggerated.

  46LP, iii, 1245.

  47 Guy credits him with attendance at only one meeting though there are many gaps in the evidence; see Guy, ‘Court of Star Chamber’, app.ii.

  48 For a good contemporary description of Thornbury see LP, iii, 1286.

  49LP, ii, 2987.

  50LP, ii, 1893.

  51 The date favoured by Rawcliffe (Rawcliffe, p.136), though it is sometimes placed in the following year.

  52 For this episode see Bernard, Early Tudor Nobility, pp.11-26, though his interpretation differs.

  53 Rawcliffe, pp.164-81.

  54 Ibid, pp.166-7, 230.

  55 Ibid, pp.170-1.

  56 Pugh, Marcher Lordships, pp.32-5, 44-6, 135-8.

  57 Ibid, p.45.

  58 Quoted by Skeel, pp.35-6.

  59LP, iii, 1233.

  60 Hall, p.622.

  61LP, iii, 2703.

  62 BL Hargrave, 249, fo.226 printed in Archaeologia, xix, pp.62-5.

  63LP, iii, 2932 (4).

  64 Cavendish, p.64.

  65 Ibid, pp.24-5.

  66 Ibid, p.20.

  67LP, iv, 3216; Calais, p.38 for identification of the names.

  68 St. P, ii, p.50 (LP, iii, 1011).

  69LP, ii, 2481.

  70 Coward, pp.21-88.

  71 Quoted in Paul V.B. Jones, pp.32-3.

  72 For Suffolk see Gunn, Charles Brandon, pp.32 ff., and more generally Bernard, Early Tudor Nobility, pp.173-208.

  73 My own calculations from the printed lists of JPs; see LP, i, app.1; iii, 1379, 2993, 3495; iv, 1525, 2002, 5083, 5243, 5510.

  74LP, iii, 2126.

  75 Hall, p.694.

  76 Ibid, p.696, LP, iv, 1235, 1260, 1305, 1321, 1325; iv, app.6.

  77Inter alia LP, iv, 3822.

  78Inter alia Rawdon Brown, ii, p.71 (LP, ii, 3204).

  79 Pythian-Adams, pp.253-7.

  80LP, iv, 1324.

  81 PRO SP1/47/fo.89v (LP, iv, 4044).

  82 PRO SP1/47/fo.91 (LP, iv, 4045).

  83LP, iv, 4192, 4320.

  84LP, iii, 1393, 1448, 1453-4, 1459, 1462, 1473.

  85 Very much my own calculations; but for those who took part in the 1513 campaign see LP, i, 2052-3.

  86 See pp.22 ff. above.

  87 Quoted and fully discussed in Lander, Crown and Nobility, pp.228-30.

  88 Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, p.23, n.3, but the unknown author’s prologue strongly suggests therwise; see Kingsford, pp.3-4.

  89 Froissart, p.xvii; more generally Ferguson, pp.23 ff; Gunn, ‘French wars’, pp.34-7; Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp.22-4.

  90LP, ii, 4475; more generally Angelo, pp.131-6.

  91 32 as compared with 27, but the first figure does include four sons of the marquess of Dorset; see Russell, Field of Cloth of Gold, pp.191-5. But the real point is that a lot went.
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br />   92LP, iii, 2288, 2333 (vi).

  93Ven. Cal., iv, 188, 201, 205; Angelo, pp.211-34.

  94Ven. Cal., ii, 918; see also Rawdon Brown, ii, 224-8 (LP, ii, 4481).

  95 See pp.20-2.

  96 Gunn, Charles Brandon, 6-8; D.R. Starkey, ‘King’s privy chamber’, pp.80 ff.

  97 D.R. Starkey, ‘King’s privy chamber’, pp.129-31.

  98Inter alia Chrimes, pp.137-9.

  99 See p.117 above.

  100 Guy, ‘Court of Star Chamber’, p.224.

  101 Scarisbrick, ‘Cardinal Wolsey’, pp.63-6.

  102 For further detail see pp.411 ff. below.

  103 Schofield, p.201.

  104LP, iv, 571; see also pp.568-9 below.

  105LP, iii, l.

  106LP, iv, 1319.

  107 Pugh, Marcher Lordships, p.135.

  108LP, iv, 3719.

  109LP, iv, 3926.

  110 See pp.220 ff. below.

  111LP, i, 2576: ‘You and I were bedfellows and each of us broke our minds to [the] other in all our affrays… ‘Darcy to Wolsey 15 Jan. 1514.

  112 See pp.117-18 above.

  113LP, iii, 1923 (3).

  114 PRO STAC 2/16/365-70; Clark, pp.14 ff; Guy, Cardinal’s Court, p.31.

  115LP, iii, 1293.

  116LP, iii, 1290;Clark, p.17.

  117LP, iii, 2140, 2712; iv, 6363 (1) though much remains uncertain; and to date he lacks a detailed study.

  118LP, iii, 3288.

  119LP, iv, 1431 (2).

  120 Guy, ‘Court of Star Chamber’, app.ii cites 18 attendances, with only the dukes of Norfolk and Dorset attending more often.

  121 Bernard, Early Tudor Nobility, pp.11-29. One of our few disagreements, but I am most grateful for much discussion on the subject.

  122 St. P, i, p.18 (LP, iii, 1383).; see Bernard, ‘Fourth and fifth earls of Shrewsbury’, pp.164 ff. for the 1522 Scottish campaign.

  123St. P, i, p.30 (LP, iii, 1462 (2).)

  124LP, ii, 1832, 2018

  125LP, ii, 2018 for Sir Richard Sacheverell’s similar advice see LP, ii, 1893.

  126LP, ii, 1815, 1887.

  127 This is the essence of Bernard’s argument; see his Early Tudor Nobility, pp.16-18.

  128LP, ii, 1836, 1861.

  129LP, ii, 1969-70.

  130LP, ii, 2018.

  131LP, ii, 1959. Marney was chancellor of the duchy 1509-23.

  132LP, ii, 1959; also LP, ii, 2018. But by 1521 Wolsey and Marney were happily co-operating (LP, iii, 4057, 4088, 4124), and Marney’s appointment as keeper of the privy seal in 1523 suggests at least a working relationship.

  133LP, ii, 1959, 2018.

  134 Cavendish, pp.107-8.

  135 For Durham see James, Family Lineage, pp.29 ff.

  136 A lot more work on the royal patronage and the household in the early Tudor period needs to be done, but for a good impressionistic account see L.B. Smith, Henry VIII, pp.78-84.

  137LP Add, 356.

  138 Gunn, Charles Brandon, pp.11-4, 66-74, 97-100, 121-3. In 1533 Suffolk was forced to resign in favour of Surrey, by then 3rd duke of Norfolk and uncle to the new queen.

  139Sp. Cal., iii (ii), p.432.

  140LP, iii, 223 Boleyn to Wolsey. Wolsey’s letter has not survived.

  141LP, iii, 223.

  142LP, iii, 223.

  143LP, iii, 447.

  144LP, iii, 1712, 2481.

  145 Called comptroller by Henry in Sept. 1520 (St. P, ii, p.57). Cf. Ives, Anne Boleyn, pp.15-17 for a different account of this episode.

  146 On the other hand William Roper suggested Wolsey plotted to send More to Spain in order to get him out of the way; see Roper, pp 19-20. There is no reason to suppose that Roper was right; see p.374.

  147St. P, i, pp.162-3 (LP, iv, 1646).

  148 Guy, More, pp.26-7 and for the details that follow.

  149 Somerville, Duchy of Lancaster, p.430.

  150 Ibid, p.606.

  151LP, iv, 3619.

  152LP, iv, 2248; see also Guy, More, pp.24-5.

  153LP, iii, 3267.

  154 More, Correspondence, pp.275 ff.

  155 Ibid, p.280 (LP, iii, 3291).

  156 Ibid, pp.284, 288, 299 (LP, iii, 3302, 3326, 3363).

  157 Mitchell, p.127.

  158 More, Correspondence, p.321 (LP, iv, 1696) Wolsey to More c. Oct. 1525.

  159St. P, i, p.304 (LP, iv, 4438).

  160St. P, i, p.309 (LP, iv, 4468).

  161St. P, i, p.304 (LP, iv, 4438).

  162St. P, i, p.304 (LP, iv, 4438).

  163LP, iv, 4449.

  164LP, iv, 4450.

  165LP, iv, 4476.

  166LP, iv, 4522.

  167LP, iv, 4522.

  168LP, iv, 4488.

  169LP, iv, 4522.

  170LP, iv, 4547.

  171LP, iv, 4438, 4456.

  172St. P., i, p.310 (LP, iv, 4476).

  173LP, iv, 4449.

  174LP, iv, 4544.

  175LP, iv, 4452.

  176LP, iv, 4452. In a P.S. Mordaunt asked Wolsey to burn his letter, but interestingly Wolsey did not comply.

  177LP, iv, 4483, 4734 and in the second letter he refers to having written at various times.

  178 Bindoff, iii, p.451.

  179LP, iv, 4456 for Kingston wanting it.

  180 See pp.558-9.

  181LP, iv, 4687 for various stewardships.

  182LP, iv, 4468.

  183LP, iv, 4687, 4896, 5083, 5243, 5406, 5510, 5624, 5906.

  184LP, iv, 5083, constable of Warwick Castle.

  185LP, iv, 4896.

  186LP, iv, 4556.

  187LP, iv, 4536.

  188St. P, i, p.310 (LP, iv, 4476).

  189 See pp.321-3 below.

  190 See pp.565 ff. below.

  191Inter alia Davies, Peace, Print and Protestantism, p.165; Elton, Tudor Revolution, pp.61-75; Guy, Cardinal’s Court, p.29. (‘Although the minister [Wolsey] could not refuse the advice of the Howards and Brandons, Marneys and Lovells, who attended both the council and the royal court, he could render consultation to the barest minimum, and the council was abrupt even with leading councillors. Discussion of affairs of state was almost entirely confined to domestic issues.’) Recently Guy has performed something of a volte-face. See also A.F. Pollard, pp.99 ff.

  192Ven. Cal., ii, 673.

  193Ven. Cal., ii, 682.

  194Ven. Cal., ii, 791.

  195Sp. Cal., F.S, pp.31, 38, 42 for these three episodes.

  196Sp. Cal., F.S, p.176.

  197LP, iii, 3114.

  198 And I am quite sure that I will have missed a good many.

  199LP, iv, app.206.

  200 Guy, Cardinal’s Court, p.131. But see also Elton, Reform and Reformation, pp.49 and pp.63-72.

  201 See pp.385-6, 552 below.

  202LP, iii, 2767. For an excellent treatment of their relationship see Bernard, War, Taxation and Rebellion, pp.96-109.

  203LP,iv, app.39.

  204 See St. P, vii, p.193 (LP, iv, 5797).

  205Inter alia Guy, Cardinal’s Court, pp.23-9; Lander, Crown and Nobility, pp.204-16.

  206 Guy, Cardinal’s Court, p.28. For references to a ‘privy’ or secret council see LP, iii, 1252 (St. P, ii, p.66); iv, 5016; Sp. Cal., iii (ii), p.105; Sp. Cal., F.S,, p.38, 78, 124.

  207 Chrimes, p.113.