Typically, Rochford’s manner had been one of intimidation and threat, but given Susanna’s nature and situation, this would not be necessary. He would approach the maid with a handsome payoff of 1,000 crowns a year with a two room cottage two miles away from her son Matthew. She would be able to retire in peace, take care of husband and be near her grandchildren. Being a grandparent himself, Rochford appealed to this emotional sensibility and met with Susanna on the 9th to discuss the arrangement.
He explained that all she would have to do is her routine duties, but with the utmost care smuggle out any documents she could with Cromwell’s name on them. He then showed her documents bearing Cromwell’s name and signature to memorize the appearance of, in case she was not literate. Susanna vowed to do her duty and Rochford told her that as soon as she had briefed him, she would immediately be taken to her new home in the country with the first three monthly payments with her. He would arrange for her non-essential belongings to be moved immediately so that they would be there waiting for her when she arrived. Hearing that her last day of work was upon her, and with such a lucrative offer waiting, Susanna graciously and repeatedly thanked Rochford and vowed that upon her death she would take the arrangement with her to her grave (we only know about this arrangement today because of Rochford’s own later accounts). The documents she would deliver would establish that the first minister to the King had maintained a close, even intimate, correspondence with the most important representative of England’s greatest enemy.
On a morning in late spring 1538, not long after the Papal Bull had been delivered, Henry and Anne had gone for a hunt, the perfect venue for her to subtly attempt to again place doubts within him about the minister. During this visit she asked Henry about his concerns over their worsening relationship with Spain, carefully suggesting that his minister could help him redress the problems because of his close relationship with the Spanish through their Ambassador, trying to plant the seed of distrust in Henry by continually linking Cromwell with the Spanish. She also noted Cromwell’s cleverness and ambition, likening his capacity for subtlety and secret-keeping to that of Wolsey—quickly noting, of course, that she was sure the King was right that Cromwell was unlikely to turn out as disloyal as his disgraced predecessor. The King grunted at the thought and grew silent.
The hunt was a success on two fronts. Henry killed seven birds and two deer, and Anne had found Henry—himself—raising the idea that he might do well to look into Cromwell’s affairs. It was a shrewd move to catch the King in such a great mood, and Anne would return to the palace thinking that, perhaps, she too had struck a blow at her own wily game.
George and Lord Rochford continued to gather evidence to solidify their case. They were pleasantly surprised at the King’s request, upon returning from the hunt, that they look into Cromwell’s affairs (smiling at Anne’s obvious success). Several weeks later, when it would not appear they had actually been long at work at the task, The Boleyns were granted an audience where Henry heard about their “preliminary” suspicions about Cromwell’s running of the royal treasury, and his foreign activities. They encouraged the King to investigate further and he signed an order that they get started right away. So ordered, they left the room to do the King’s bidding.
Select members of the Privy Chamber and Parliament who resented Cromwell were also notified and many were eager to participate in providing evidence against the minister. Many who sat on the bench had similar reasons to Audley in seeking Cromwell’s downfall and when potential evidence arrived speaking to his transgressions, belief in his guilt rather than Actual truth was all that was required. Most of the jurists had been waiting a long time to get Cromwell in front of their bench.
On June 13th, 1538, with concerns over Spanish influence at a new nadir following the Papal Bull incident and evidence gathered and witnesses were standing by ready to testify that Cromwell had held a secret meeting with Ambassador Chapuys on the very night that the Bull had been delivered, the Oyer and Terminer Court was set up for hearing evidence against Thomas Cromwell, Chancellor of the Realm.
Lord Audley had interrogated Ambassador Chapuys at length about his relationship with Cromwell, asking if the minister had divulged state secrets, what were his intentions, etc; he gave up little evidence. The only thing Chapuys confirmed was that they had conversations on many occasions and had socialized at his estate with his family, but he declined to comment further on anything of a political nature. Given Chapuys’ diplomatic status, Audley refrained from pressing him any further, for fear of exacerbating the tense relationship with Spain. He let the envoy go about his business, but he fully intended to recall him as a witness at Cromwell’s trial.
Rochford was cautious not to alert any of Cromwell’s agents of the investigation. In order for this to be successful, they would have to be discreet. Anne took her ladies-in-waiting with her and left to visit what remained of the Bisham Abbey, so the Queen’s involvement could not be questioned. The purpose of her visit was to bring with her some of the English Bibles Tyndale had translated, along with wine, breads, money and clothing that she and her ladies had personally knitted. She planned on attending services and hearing what their next plans were for keeping their establishment together. The Valor report fully absolved them from any wrongdoing towards the crown and documented that they had in every instance obeyed the changes in the law. Notwithstanding an understandable time lapse between a law being changed and word reaching the parish, their compliance was above reproach.
When Anne arrived she was treated with the utmost respect and found nothing but a genuine group of clergy and parishioners who wanted nothing more than to retain the little bit of faith they had clung to. She offered any service she could and vowed to make it her personal mission to save the parish. It was by all accounts a welcome change from the hostile and cutthroat environment happening back at court.
The day after Susanna the maid had cleaned both Cromwell’s and Chapuys’ chambers, and delivered to Rochford all that she had found, George and his father woke early and spent the entire morning going through the exchequer reports, Cromwell’s and Chapuys’ dispatches—including to each other—and reviewing interview notes from the minister’s clerks and grooms. Audley joined them later in the morning and began reviewing the minister’s diplomatic dealings. Their review of the expense accounts did not find very much to condemn the minister.
In fact, Cromwell had kept good on his promise to make Henry the wealthiest King in all of Europe. For the year 1536 alone, the minister had diverted the equivalent of millions in modern pounds from the monastery closings to the King’s exchequer—an astounding sum considering that the initial asset estimates were valued at less than 800,000. The crown had also gathered tens of thousands of weapons from the suppression of the Pilgrimage rebellion, aiding the army’s badly in need weapons depot. For all of their digging, they could not find, at least on paper, any evidence of misconduct regarding the King’s finances or the running of the military.
The interviews and documents from Susanna did, however, uncover damaging evidence of meetings between Cromwell and Chapuys on several occasions over the past few years. These meetings took place both when court was in session for official reasons and privately in either man’s chambers or at Cromwell’s estate. One groom recalled Chapuys meeting with Cromwell and his wife and son at the latter’s family estate, although the groom had not witnessed any state business discussed. None of the other attendants was able to detail these conversations, but Rochford did not believe that Cromwell’s main clerk would truly have been absent, and ordered the man to the Tower for holding until he could be dealt with later.
Susanna had handed over seven documents where she found Cromwell’s name, but only three of them were of value. She told them that Chapuys had hidden these in the bottom of his chest, inside a Bible, and that he most likely would notice that they were missing; she advised that the group copy these papers
and return them before the Ambassador returned. She was not certain what time that would be but stressed that they were all she was able to find. Rochford thanked her, assured her that they would be put back in time and, true to his word, his servant took her to a Boleyn family coach to take her to her new home. The coach was already packed with the last of her belongings and she immediately left court. Rochford ordered copies of the letters be made so they could be returned to Chapuys’ chambers before he could examine them.
The contents of the letters astonished Rochford’s group. The letters were coded, but from what their own code experts could make out, it appeared the minister was attempting to secure a rapprochement with the Emperor on trade policies to benefit England, but Spain was hesitant given the radical religious policies that Cromwell was implementing. Spain accused the English of promoting heretical ideals and Cromwell was promised that Spain would be more flexible in its dealings with England if Cromwell would assure the Emperor that no further radical reforms would be implemented at the minister’s hand. Cromwell had returned the proposal and attempted to assuage Spanish fears by promising moderations of religious policy to secure their friendship; that promise, alone, was enough to hang him. The Boleyns had finally uncovered the smoking gun.
Rochford and Audley presented their findings to the King, who was horrified to find that Cromwell had been conducting treason under his own roof. Henry ordered Audley to draw up a Bill of Attainder for treason against Cromwell and bring it to him immediately. He further ordered a continuous round-the-clock surveillance of Chapuys and his agents while at court. Anne had been notified of the pending investigation and checked in from time-to-time on how it was going. Once she heard the King not only had been told but had ordered his arrest she was delighted. She was notified after the fact only due to expediency reasons; they needed to review the evidence privately and quickly in order to ensure that a thorough investigation would be conducted. He ordered his guards to take Cromwell to the Tower where Audley would meet him with the Attainder that evening. The sheer speed of how quickly the group had been able to maneuver the minister’s arrest and downfall was astonishing. Cromwell protested his arrest that he had been no traitor and obviously some type of mistake had been made. Lord Rochford had been present at his arrest and smiled at him as he watched guards take him away.
7.3 A Chancellor in Chains
Around 4 P.M. on June 17th, 1538, several days after the quickly assembled court was presented with the evidence the Boleyns had obtained, Thomas Cromwell was arrested at Windsor Castle in his office. The head Yeoman, William Forsyth, read his charges for treason according to the Bill of Attainder and ordered his immediate detention and transport to the Tower. Cromwell was shocked, protested his innocence and demanded to speak to the King, kept repeating this was a misunderstanding and told his clerk to get his lawyer and to tell his son Gregory. He would admit nothing, he had been guilty of nothing no matter how much his former ally Sir Richard Rich had tried to convince him for the crown that he was guilty. Rich only watched out for himself and when Audley had told him that the King wanted him interrogated he treated him as any other prisoner, as if their past meant nothing to him.
By the time Anne returned to Windsor the following morning Cromwell was already arrested. She called for her father to brief her on the latest developments in her chambers. The Queen was delighted to hear of his arrest. Rochford advised her to appear naïve and careful with the King, he had not seen Henry’s mood since Cromwell’s arrest and it was possible the King had not fully had time to process the impact of the arrest. She thanked him and headed to see Henry. The King was happy to see her and lovingly sat her down to inform her of what had been happening while she was away. Pretending to be shocked, she comforted her husband. She supported his actions and encouraged him to be relentless until he was able to find the truth of the minister’s activities.
The Queen had an excellent way of cultivating Henry’s moods and managing his shifting political alliances while keeping the King in line with her family interests. Anne questioned the logic of having the Oyer and Terminor court meet after an extended absence when they had the evidence they needed now to punish Cromwell. She reasoned that if Henry’s true purpose was to keep the kingdom running successfully and to embrace the nobles, he should order the court hearing be held quickly to avoid additional scandal and speculation. She proposed they go on the offensive and let the public know about how devious the minister had been towards the crown, assuring her King that the people would embrace Henry further for his actions.
Having had his ego placated, the King agreed with his wife and called for Audley right then. Shortly after, Audley appeared in front of the couple and Henry ordered him to hold Cromwell’s trial, at the latest, by month’s end—and to ensure that the trial resulted in the correct verdict. Before dismissing him, the King made clear that Audley was able to use torture and disregard Cromwell’s formerly high rank; he was now but a common prisoner accused of treason. The Lord Privy Seal was now officially undone. Audley later recorded how thrilled Anne was to hear of this news and that she did her best to conceal her glee; he had no doubts this entire effort to arrest and execute Cromwell was her doing.
Audley took his charge and on the evening of the 25th of June, 1538, he visited Cromwell in prison to read to him his charges. He further read the order removing Cromwell from his offices and titles, and notified him that his estates were now the property of the King. He interrogated the minister for hours, well into the following morning, receiving no hint that Cromwell would plead guilty. Having enough, he ordered the minister to the rack to “rethink” his positions.
The rack was a medieval torture device that strapped an individual to a plank designed with a break in the middle. The ropes holding down each of the person’s limbs were tied to a rolling wheel that tightened each of the ropes, stretching the limbs until they would be slowly pulled out of socket. The device was incredibly painful and was one of the more popular choices for the crown to use to secure the “right confessions.” Cromwell would have been very familiar with this device, he had been so bloodthirsty he had subjected hundreds to the punishment; now he was to experience it himself.
George took great pleasure in drawing up the public notice of Cromwell’s arrest and charges; he personally delivered the notices to Chapuys and other nobles who were friendly towards the minister. As expected, the public rejoiced at the humiliation of the man so many blamed for the ruthless persecution of even compliant churchmen and many of the nobles celebrated his downfall. Further, it was not yet made public who would succeed him in his post, so many of the senior nobles felt they were being considered.
Cromwell’s torture yielded nothing more than what was already known in the letters to Chapuys. He did admit to his conversations with Chapuys and attempting to make peace with Spain, but he was adamant that it was only in Henry and England’s best interest to do so. He knew that trade was at an all time low and claimed only that he sought to secure England’s greatness. When the King heard these report, he grew enraged, breaking items about his chamber. Cromwell was formally charged with Treason by right of Praemunire for attempting to make treaties with foreign powers and usurping the King’s rights.
Cromwell was tried before an open public gallery that was filled with booing when he walked in and cheers when the court found him guilty on July 2nd, 1538. It took the jury only a few minutes to pronounce sentence. The court ordered him to be executed at the King’s pleasure, which Henry let stand. When the verdict was made public nearly all of London rejoiced. His execution was set for July 6th, 1538, at 9 in the morning. The Yeoman turned his ax towards Cromwell and led him back to the Tower to await his death; he was not allowed to defend himself and said nothing upon leaving the court. Upon hearing the verdict the Mayor of London ordered free wine for the city’s citizens to celebrate the downfall of the wicked. Cromwell’s family, in attendance at the trial, wept heavily, but th
e intense rejoicing of the crowd drowned out their sobs.
The evening before his execution, Cromwell called for Archbishop Cranmer to visit him. He had introduced Cranmer to Henry and considered the Archbishop of Canterbury and Queen’s personal chaplain to be his friend. Cromwell wanted Cranmer to read him his last rites and take his confession. He then confessed only to having secret dealings with Spain but denied usurping Henry’s authority, calling the evidence against him false. He blamed Lord Rochford for planting it, and admitted to sympathizing with the plight of Wolsey, his predecessor in so many ways. He lamented his role in Wolsey’s downfall and admitted to God that he had sinned against his fellow man. He insisted that he had been a devoted servant of Henry, but not of God or his family, and said that had he to do his life over again; he would certainly repent and lead a morally righteous life. He was not at all prepared to die.
Had the Queen Lived: Page 24