The King is Dead

by Suzannah Lipscomb

  10 Ibid., pp. 19, 20, 25.

  11 Foxe, A&M, Vol. VI, p. 189.

  12 Dodd, ‘Richard II’, p. 108.

  13 Ibid., p. 131.

  14 Machiavelli’s text was completed by 1513, and may well have circulated in manuscript before its actual publication.

  15 I am grateful to Dr Joanne Paul for sharing her thoughts on this with me: cf. her Ph.D thesis ‘Counsel and Command in English Political Thought, 1485–1651’ (Queen Mary, University of London, 2013).

  8 THE TRANSFER OF POWER

  1 EM, Vol. 2, Part I, p. 18.

  2 Burnet, History of the Reformation, 1865, Vol. I, p. 550; CSPS, Vol. IX, p. 6.

  3 Ives, ‘Henry VIII’s Will’, 1994, p. 908.

  4 BL Cotton Titus F III, in EM, Vol. 2, Part II, Appendix HH, p. 430 (109).

  5 EM, Vol. 2, Part I, p. 17.

  6 CSPS, Vol. VIII, p. 557.

  7 BL Cotton Titus F III, in EM, Vol. 2, Part II, Appendix GG, p. 427, and Appendix HH, p. 433 (111).

  8 Edward VI, Chronicle and Political Papers, p. 4.

  9 Ibid.; Sir John Hayward, Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixth (first published in 1630, though circulating in manuscript before that), p. 34.

  10 Letter from Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford to Sir William Paget (Tytler, England under the Reigns, Vol. I, pp. 15–16).

  11 Sir John Hayward, Life and Reign, p. 36. The general pardon was indeed issued at Edward’s coronation, although half a dozen names were excluded from its benevolence.

  12 Letter from Hertford to Paget and the Council, 29 January 1547 (TNA SP 10/1/1).

  13 On 7 February 1547, Edward VI wrote to the dowager queen from the Tower expressing their common grief at the death of ‘my father and your husband, the most illustrious King’ and wishing her ‘great good health’ (Parr, Complete Works, pp. 128–9).

  14 Letter from William Wightman, former servant of Sir Anthony Browne to Mr. Cecill, 10 May 1549 (Tytler, England under the Reigns, Vol. I, p. 169).

  15 BL Add. MS 71009, f. 45r.

  16 J.G. Nichols, Literary Remains of King Edward, Vol. I, pp. 86–7.

  17 APC, Vol. II, pp. 3–4.

  18 Ibid., p. 7.

  19 Ibid., p. 5.

  20 Jordan (Edward VI, pp. 57–8) and Hoak (King’s Council, p. 231) believed it overthrew the will; Elton (Reform and Reformation, p. 333), Loades (John Dudley, p. 87) and Ives (‘Henry VIII’s Will’, 1992, p. 803) believed it conformed entirely to Henry’s provisions, and that it was foreseeable.

  21 APC, Vol. II, p. 5.

  9 THE ‘UNWRITTEN WILL’

  1 TNA PROB 11/40/40; PROB 11/32/19.

  2 Rymer (Foedera) has ‘cabels’ for ‘cabettes’, and certainly cables would be an easy word to understand in the context of ships, but the correct transcription is definitely ‘cabettes’. It seems likely to be ‘sabot’ (from the Old French çabot; see the Oxford English Dictionary), meaning the block at the base of a cannon or device fitted into the muzzle of a gun to support it while loading. This would fit with it appearing after ‘artillery, ordnance, munitions, ships… ’ although is still frightfully specific. I am grateful to Paul Barnes, Allan Draycott and Caroline Shenton for their input on this.

  3 Starkey, Hawkyard and Ward, Inventory of King Henry, p. xi.

  4 Ibid., p. x.

  5 Astle, Will of King Henry, pp. 38–41.

  6 Hutchinson (Last Days, p. 214) states that 500 marks equalled £650, implying that Cranmer was given more than anyone else. In fact, a mark was worth two-thirds of a pound, or 13s. 4d., so 500 marks was less than £500: £333 4s.

  7 Except possibly Edward Bellingham, who became a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Edward VI.

  8 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50 (p. 147) for example warrants the payment on 28 November 1547 of £200 to Sir Richard Rich, ‘for so miche bequethed to him by the Kinges Majeste deceased’.

  9 I am grateful to Dr Lars Kjaer for this point. Cf. the will of Henry V, who instructs his executors to make ‘paiement of my dettes’; that of Henry VI, who asks his ‘to do plain and entire execution of my last will and testament, in the which I will that the debts of my household be specially preferred’; and that of Henry VII: ‘we wol, that all our debts furst and before al other charges… with all possible spede and diligence after thei appere due, justely and truly bee contented and paied, by the hands of oure Executours, wherewith we charge theim as thei wol aunswere for us before God, and discharge our conscience. And also if any p’sone of what degree soevir he bee, shewe by way of complainte to our Executours, any wrong to have been doon to hym, by us, our commaundement, occasion or meane, or that we helde any goodes or lands which of right ought to apperteigne unto hym; we wol that every such complainte, be spedely, tenderly and effectuelly herde… as the caas shall require, he and thei bee restored and recompensed by our said Executours, of such our redy money and juelx as then shall remayne’ and ‘we wol if any p’sone prove before our Executours, that any dutie is owing unto hym… then our said Executours take suche provision for his contentacion, that he be paied’. Quotations from J. Nichols, A Collection: Henry V, p. 236, and Henry VI, p. 309; Astle, Will of King Henry, pp. 11–13. Cf. Houlbrooke (‘Debate’, p. 895), who argues that it was an ‘extremely unusual clause’.

  10 Burnet, History of the Reformation, 1865, Vol. I, p. 550; Herbert of Cherbury, Life and Reign, p. 631; L&P, Vol. XXI, Part 2, 647 (item 25); 648 (items 43 and 51); 771 (item 14).

  11 L&P, ibid., 648 (item 50).

  12 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50, p. 16.

  13 Ibid., p. 17.

  14 Ibid., p. 19.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Calendar of the Patent Rolls: Edward VI, I, 1547–48, p. 173.

  17 Houlbrooke, ‘Debate’, pp. 895–9; Starkey, Reign of Henry VIII, pp. 141–2; Elton, Reform and Reformation, p. 333.

  18 TNA SP 10/1/28.

  19 Ives, ‘Henry VIII’s Will’, 1994, p. 905.

  20 Ibid., p. 906

  21 Elton, Reform and Reformation, p. 333; CSPS, Vol. IX, p. 4.

  22 Ives, ‘Henry VIII’s Will’, 1994, p. 906.

  23 Miller, ‘Henry VIII’s Unwritten Will’, p. 88.

  24 TNA SP 10/1/41.

  25 Calendar of the Patent Rolls: Edward VI, I, 1547–48, pp. 7, 17, 18, 21–4, 25–33, 173, 240, etc. Miller notes (‘Henry VIII’s Unwritten Will’, p. 96), however, that neither Sir John St Leger nor Sir Christopher Danby were actually ennobled.

  26 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50, p. 41.

  10 THE LEGACY OF THE WILL

  1 Edward VI, Chronicle and Political Papers, p. 4; cf. Sir John Hayward, Life and Raigne, p. 35.

  2 Van der Delft to the Queen Dowager, 10 February 1547 (CSPS, Vol. IX, p. 19).

  3 BL Add. MS 48126, f. 15a–b; Gibbons, The Political Career, p. 217.

  4 Skidmore, Edward VI, p. 64; Ives, ‘Henry VIII’s Will’, 1992, p. 803.

  5 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50, p. 48.

  6 Ibid., p. 55.

  7 Ibid., p. 56.

  8 Ibid.

  9 Ibid., pp. 63–4; Beem, ‘Have not wee a noble kynge?’, p. 224; Elton, Reform and Reformation, p. 334.

  10 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50, p. 68.

  11 EM, Vol. 2, Part II, p. 112.

  12 E/23/4, ff. 23, 20.

  13 MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, pp. 50–1.

  14 Stow, Annales, p. 601; Hoak, King’s Council, pp. 55, 96; Ives, ‘Henry VIII’s Will’, 1992, p. 792.

  15 Inner Temple Library, Petyt MS 538/47, f. 317.

  16 Ives, Lady Jane Grey, pp. 137–49

  17 CSPS, Vol. IX, p. 70; Houlbrooke, ‘Debate’, p. 897; letter from Mary I to her councillors, 9 July 1553, signed ‘Marye the quene’ (Inner Temple, Petyt MS 538/47).

  18 Whitelock, Mary Tudor, p. 301.

  19 Letter from Sir William Maitland, Lord of Ledington (Lethington), Secretary of Scotland to Sir William Cecil, 4 January 1566 (Egerton, Egerton Papers, pp. 41–9).

  20 BL Harley MS 849, f. 31v; BL Harley MS 419, ff. 150v–151r, dated 20 March 1565
; Miller, ‘Henry VIII’s Unwritten Will’, p. 94.

  21 BL Harley MS 849, ff. 32r, 37r.

  22 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50, p. 59; BL Harley MS 849, ff. 32rv.

  23 SP 12/7, f. 71; Baldwin Smith, ‘Last Will and Testament’, p. 25.

  24 SP 11/4, f. 93; Baldwin Smith, ibid.

  EPILOGUE

  1 Starkey, Reign of Henry VIII, p. 143.

  2 Redworth, In Defence of the Catholic Church, p. 243, n. 46.

  3 APC, Vol. II, 1547–50, p. 41.

  APPENDIX 1

  1 For example, ‘bodyes’ is regularly corrected to ‘bodies’, ‘Edwarde’ to ‘Edward’, ‘sayde’ to ‘said’, ‘sonne’ to ‘son’, etc. – although sometimes when it does say ‘said’, Rymer has curiously changed it to ‘sayd’, ‘stuff’ to ‘stuffe’ or ‘until’ to untill’, and so forth.

  2 Rymer has ‘commandeth’.

  3 Rymer omits ‘the’.

  4 Meaning ‘realm’, cf. OED early pronunciation and spelling.

  5 Rymer has ‘folk’.

  6 This repeat is in the original.

  7 An interstitial insertion.

  8 Rymer says ‘several’.

  9 Rymer has ‘our defoult’.

  10 Rymer has ‘and for our’.

  11 Rymer has ‘Catheryn’.

  12 Rymer omits ‘said’.

  13 An interstitial insertion

  14 Another interstitial insertion, this time struck through.

  15 Rymer says ‘the condition’.

  16 Rymer says ‘or’.

  17 Rymer omits these five words.

  18 Rymer has (as Ives observes) ‘do not kepe’.

  19 Rymer has ‘Lady Eliz.’

  20 Rymer omits the ‘c’ from ‘Peckham’.

  21 Rymer has ‘cabels’.

  22 ‘Realme’ is missing from Rymer.

  23 Rymer has ‘archebushop’.

  24 Rymer has ‘because’.

  25 Rymer has ‘graunt them’.

  26 Rymer has ‘and’ instead of ‘or’.

  27 Throughout, 500 is written ‘V’ with a superscript mark like a cross.

  28 A large space is left after each recipient.

  29 Rymer says 540.

  30 Rymer adds: ‘Tom. VI. P. III.’

  31 Rymer has ‘Mentes’, but this is Sir Peter Mewtas.

  32 The will is damaged here, and for seven lines below, so the sums in square brackets are gleaned from another copy.

  Select Bibliography

  Primary sources (in manuscript)

  British Library: Add. MS 48126; Add. MS 71009; Harley MS 419; Harley MS 849; Royal MS A X XVI.

  Inner Temple: Petyt MS 538/47.

  The National Archives: E/23/4; SP 1/212; SP 4/1/19, Documents stamped under Henry VIII’s dry stamp, 1545–7; SP 10/1; SP 10/1/1, Letter from Hertford to Paget and the Council, 29 January 1547; SP 10/1/17; SP 10/1/28; SP 10/1/41; SP 10/3/7; SP 10/8/4; PROB 11/32/19, Will of Katherine Parr; PROB 11/32/121, 11 May 1548, Will of Sir William Parr; PROB 11/32/514, 19 September 1549, Will of Sir Anthony Denny; PROB 11/34/154, 14 May 1551, Will of Thomas, Earl Southampton of; PROB 11/40/40, 28 January 1558, Will of Steven Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.

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  ASTLE, T. (ed.), The Will of King Henry VII (London, 1775)

  BALE, JOHN et al., Select Works of John Bale Containing the Examinations of Lord Cobham, William Thorpe, and Anne Askewe and the Images of Both Churches, edited by Henry Christmas (Cambridge, 1849)

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