Letters and papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII - Volume 12, Part 2

Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volume 12, Part 2 [1537]

Arranged and catalogued by James Gairdner

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LETTERS AND PAPERS, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC, OF THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII VOLUME 12 PART 2 [1537] SEARCHABLE TEXT EDITION

Arranged and catalogued by James Gairdner

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LETTERS AND PAPERS, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC, OF THB KBION OI'

HENRY

VIIL

a 2

LETTEES AND PAPEES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC, OF T H E E E I G N

HENRY P B E S B E V E D IS

OE

VIII.

T H E P U B L I C E E C O E D OEEICE, T H E B E I T I S H M U S E U M , A N D ELSEWHEEE I N ENGLAND.

AEEANGED AND CATALOGUED

JAMES GAIRD¥EE, ASSISTANT K B E P B B O F THE PUBLIC EEOOEDS,

tTHDBa T H E D I K K C T I O N O I ' T H E M A S T E E O E T H E R O L I S , A N D W I T H T H E

/rSC^

U/V7i7>-^

H B B MAJESTY'S S B C K B T A B I B S

OE

SANCTION OE

STATE.

VOL. X I I . - P A R T 11.

LONDON: PBINTID FOE HEE MAJESTY'S STATIONEEY OPPIGE, BY EYEE AND PEINTEKS

SPOTTISWOODE,

TO T H E QUISIN'S M O S I E S O E L I B N T H A J E S I T .

And to be pnrcbased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, EAST' HAEDINO STEEET, EMET STKEEI, E.O.; or JOHN MENZIES & C o . , 1 2 , H J j f O V B B S r a t E B i , E D i N E f f K e n j and 88 and 90, WEST NILE STKEET, GLASGOW, or H O D G E S , FIGGIS, & Co., 104, GEAJXON SIEEET, Dram.

1891-

LoKBON

: Printed b y ETKB and SFOTMSWOODB, H e r Majesty's Printers. Eor H e r Majesty's Stationery Office.

CONTENTS.

PBBFACE

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LETTERS AND PAPERS

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APPENDIX

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INDEX

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NOTES AND ERRATA

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i - 1 -

482 495 72.5

PEEFACE.

THERE was no longer any resistance to the King. Martial law iiad done its work in t t e North., and the country had been completely terrified into submission. Trees and gibbets along the highways bore pitiful burdens suspended in ropes or chains, and, however great the sympathy with the victims, it could not be safely expressed. Women, however, had ventured to sally forth at night to cut' down their husbands' bodies and bury them decently—where they could, in con­ secrated ground, for rectors and vicars durst not connive at such defiance of authority.^ All other expression of feeling seems to have been most effectually repressed. But more regular proceedings had also taken place, preserving at least the form of law and justice. On the 6th March the abbot of EarkBtead, Thomas Moigne, and others to the number of 34, were arraigned at Lincoln before a special commission, for the parts they had taken in the Lincolnshire rebellion of October. They were all found guilty and executed the next day, though Thomas Moigne spoke three hours in his own defence " with such subtle allegations," as Sir "William Parre reported to the King, " t h a t if " Serjeant Hinde and your solicitor had not acquitted " themselves like true servants unto your Grace and " profound learned men, he had troubled aad in " manner evict all the rest."* But the principal 1 Part I., Nos. 1214,1246, 1257.

» ij,., jfog. gsi, 590-^91.

ii

PREFACE.

leaders had been sent up to London, where, on the 26th March, Dr. Maekerell, prior of Barlings, with Kendal, vicar of Lowth, and 10 others, were condemned at the auildhall, and suflPered at Tyburn on the 29th.^ So also as regards Yorkshire a.nd the Northern counties, the King had now all the leaders in his hands at London, and Lords Darcy and Hussey, Aske and Sir Thomas Percy, Bigod and his half-unwilling tool George Lumley, Sir John and Ealph Bulmer, Sir Stephen Hamerton and Margaret Cheyney—who passed as Lady Bulmer, Sir John's wife, though she seems to have been another man's—had been safely lodged in the Tower. They were brought before special commissions at "Westminster on indictments found in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. The two Lords . received sentence on the i5th May, and the others . two days later,^ with the exception of Ralph Bulmer, in whose case the Crown forbore to press for a verdict. Sir John and his lady, Percy and Hamerton, thought it as well to plead guilty, but gained no mercy thereby. They and all the others, except the lady, were sentenced to receive the death of traitors at Tyburn; she was to be dragged to Smithfield and burned. Next day another batch of prisoners consisting of Dr. Cockerell, quondam prior of Gruisborough, Adam Sedberg, abbot of Jervaulx, William Thirsk, quondam abbot of Fountains, a Black Friar named Dr. Pickering, of Bridlington, his namesake John Pickering of Lythe, and Nicholas Tempest of Baschehall, had the usual doom pronounced upon them.** Most of the sentences were executed at Tyburn on Friday in Whitsun week (25th M a y ) ; but lords Darcy and Hussey, Percy, Constable, Bigod, and Aske were 1 Part T., Nos. T34,764. 2 lb. Nos. 1 2 0 7 , 1227. 3 II). Compare Wriotbesley's Chronicle, i. 6-3.

l^REFACE.

iii

kept in the Tower for some weeks longer.^ The King ultimately determined to have Darcy beheaded on Tower Hill, and the others sent down into Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as a warning to the districts in whieh they had committed their so-called treasons. On the 27th June^ he wrote to Sir William Parre to prepare to take the custody of Hussey, Constable, and Aske from Sir Thomas Wentworth, who would convey them down to Lincolnshire; and then to hand them over to the duke of Suffolk to be sent on to Hull, where the duke of Norfolk's men would take charge of them. He also gave directions that Constable should be hanged in chains at Hull, Aske at York, and that Hussey should be beheaded at Lincoln as soon as possible after his arrival there.** On the 28th the prisoners were delivered out of the Tower to Wentworth, who, after handing over his charge to Parre, was going Northwards to Carlisle, where he had just been made captain. The 30th was appointed as the day for Darcy to suffer on Tower Hill.* And so it was done. Within nine months after the iirst outbreak in Lincolnshire the King had more than recovered his authority, shaken just for a moment by the outcry against his revolutionary proceedings, and had taken signal vengeance on everyone seriously implicated in the disturbances, even on those drawn into them against their wills.® The rash and ineffectual attempts of Bigod and Hallam had already strengthened 1 Part I., No. 1285: Part IL, No. 105. 2 Part IL, App. No. 31. The first draft of the letter was dated 24th June and did not mention Hussey. See No. 133, 8 No. 156. * Nos, 166, 101 (45). Yet, to crown the work, a proclamation was Issued of general pardon to those who had been seduced by Bigod into new rebellion, if they would sue for it under the Great Seal in Chancery! See No. 329 (2).

iv

PREFACE.

his hands to some extent. The Queen's pregnancy, which was already known in March, though the news does not seem to have been general till the close of April,^ must have given him further assurance. On Trinity Sunday, the 27th May, Te Deum was sung in honor of the event at St. Paul's,^ and orders were given to do the like at York and at Calais with firing of guns in testimony of the general satisfaction.^ Norfolk wrote to the King from Sheriffhutton on the 26th June to congratulate him on this subject and at the same time to inquire what numbers of men he was to summon to attend the King on his expected visit to the North of England. But the Queen's condition now gave Henry some excuse for going .back upon his promises, and he announced to Norfolk in reply that on consultation with his Council he had determined to put off his visit to the North for another year. Of course it was hardly to be expected that the Queen should go with him now to be crowned at York. But the reasons Henry gave for not going himself were four: first that the Emperor was sending " personages of great honor" to him on matters concerning the weal of all Christendom. 2. That the Queen might be in danger "from rumors blown abroad in our absence" if the King went more than sixty miles from her. 3.- That as the Emperor and Prench King had both great armies near Calais the King ought to be near at haad to prevent a breach of neutrality. 4.. He had not visited the North since the commencement of his reign, and the year was now so far advanced that he could hardly go beyond York, whereas next year he hoped to visit Hull, Carlisle, 1 Part I., Nos. 709,1069. 2 Wriothesley's Chronicle i. 64. 3 Part n . , Nos. 11, 22.

PREFACE.

V

Newcastle, Durham, and even. Berwick."^ Thus the royal visit to the North was put off; and as for the Parliament which the rebels had been assured would be held at the same time to consider their grievances, nothing more was heard of it. Only in one way did Henry seem at all disposed to make the least concession to popular feeling. On the subject of religion the Northern clergy had shown themselves so reactionary, that it was only natural that he should take counsel with his bishops, even if it led to some reconsideration of things already done. Here however, he conceded nothing that in any way touched himself. The Oommons at Doncaster had demanded a complete reversal of the new Church policy, the suppression of Lutheran and Wycliffite heresies, the restoration of the supremacy of the see of Eome, the restoration of suppressed abbeys and of the suppressed Order of the Friars Observants.^ To all such demands the King turned a very deaf ear; for as he had been supported by his Parliament and Council in the abolition of papal supremacy and suppression of monasteries he could say that the responsibility for these things did not rest with him. But as to heresies, that again was a question for others than himself, and if the Faith was at all in danger the bishops must consider it. For though the "Articles of Eeligion" put forth in the summer of 1536,^ apart from the authority under 1 No. 77. I'liere was also a reason of a more private nature, wMeh Norfolk was to keep to himself, viz., that the King had lately been visited with a "humor" in his leg—^a sore which continued to trouble him for years afterwards, and probably never left bim till his death ,• and the physicians did not advise him to travel far in the heat of the year, Henry's endeavours to keep this matter secret could hardly have been very successful, for it was known even in April that he did not go much abroad because he had a sore leg. See Part I., No. 1068. 2 Vol. XI., Nos. 1182, 1244, and 1246. ^ jfe,^ jfo. 59,

yi

PREFACE.

wMcli they were issued, seemed unobjectionable even to Reginald Pole,^ yet tbey were criticised by some as to tlieir omissions, for tbey only took notice of tbree sacraments instead of seven. There was also a considerable amount of discontent at the spread of new opinions touching Our Lady and Purgatory,^ The bishops were' accordingly called together in February,^ and had many a long and tedious discussion on points of doctrine. Some other divines were called along with them, among whom was the Scotchman Alesius, a combative Puritan whose contribution to the debate did not tend to general agreement.* A slight glimpse of the subjects of inquiry is given us in a letter of Dr. Coren written on the 24th March; ^ but the chief matter of difficulty seems to have been the four sacraments omitted in the book of articles of the year preceding. Later, however, the Archbishop of York was able to assure Dr. Dakyn that those four sacraments " b e found again now, and the book shall be printed new again."® On the 12th May Husee writes to lord Lisle that the bishops were said to be " at a point;"'' but their deliberations seem to have been continued till Tuesday the 17th July, when a new treatise on the fundamental truths of religion was approved and signed by the whole body of divines.* It was entitled the Institution of a Christian Man, and contained an exposition, first of the Apostles' Creed; 2. of the Seven Sacraments; 3. of the Ten Commandments, and 4, of the Lord's Prayer and the Ave Maria, with two articles on Justification and Purgatory reproduced with slight 1 Vol. XL, No. 376. Vol. XIL, Part L, No. 70 i. ^Part I., No. 457. * See his own account of the proceedings in Part L, No. 790. s Part I., No. 708. 6 lb., No. 789 (page 346). The article in Vol. XL, No. 60, douhtless belongs to the spring of 1537, not to tbe summer of ] 536. 4 lb.. No. 1187. 6 Part IL, Nos. 289, 293, 295.

PEEFACE.

vii

verbal differences from tbe "Articles" of tbe year preceding. To Foxe bishop of Hereford was committed the task of writing a preface; but he desired to know in the first place whether the book was to go forth in the King's name or in that of the Bishops.^ A rather important inquiry, for it seemed that though Henry had called the Bishops to deliberate he was desirous to leave to them the full responsibility of everything; and though he was asked in an address signed by the whole body of the divines to let it issue with the sanction of his royal authority,^ he found it most convenient to temporise. The work was sent to press and was printed by the end of j^.ugust,® and the King in reply to the Bishops wrote that he had no time to examine it satisfactorily, but trusting to their wisdoms agreed that it should be published and read to the people on Sundays and holidays for three years to come.* I t was ultimately issued in the end of September, Cranmer giving orders about it to his clergy on the 10th in advance of its publication.^ I t was uot without justice, therefore, that ths Institution of a Christian Man was commonly called " t h e Bishops' Book"—especially when it came to be superseded some years later by a book really authorised by the King himself. The printing of an English Bible, and the sanction given to its use next claims our notice."* But the documents connected with this matter are so well known that it is unnecessary to do more than mention it. Meanwhile new airangements had been made for the government of the North of Ingland. Norfolk who had 1 No. 330. « No. 402. ^ No. 57B. * No. 618. See the text in Cranmer's Letters (Parker Soe.) 469. « Nos. 703, 818, 834, 841. « Nos, 434, 512, 593, App. 35.

viii

PREFACE.

been long ill at ease and troubled witb incessant attacks of diarrhoea, had been more and more urgent as time went on for his recall. A winter in that cold bleak country, he said, would kill h i m ; but he was compelled to remain till he saw Aske executed at York, the people pacified or compelled to be content with an ofier of pardon, and satisfactory arrangements made for the government of the Borders and of the country North of the Trent.'^. Even in August after much entreaty he was only spared from his post for a very brief visit to the King at Ampthill and to his own home at Kenninghall, and was back at Sherifib.utton before the end of the month.^ On the 5th September, attacked by new maladies, he wrote urgently desiring that Bishop Tunstall, who was to come and replace him, might be sent at once so that he might return by Michaelmas. Yet he was still to go on to Northumberland, where, he said, if the King of Scots performed his promises, he meant to take his leave of the country in such a fashion that malefactors should not desire his return.** He went to Newcastle and found Tynedale and Reedsdale "far out of order." He endeavoured in vain to persuade the King to remove the new officers there, but only succeeded, after some correspondence in extorting an acknowledgment that his complaints were not without foundation.* He at length turned Southward on the 28th September leaving the rule of Tynedale and Reedsdale in the same hands as before, and disappointed that he had not been able to minister such severities as he had intended; for very few prisoners were brought; in to him, and only three were executed.® 1 Nos. 100, 102, 229, 238-9, 291. ^ ^os. 461, 479, 547, 588-90. 8 No. 650. * Nos. 696, 712, 732, 741, 746. « Nos. 772, 823.

PEEFACE.

ix

The constitution of the new Council of the North had of course been a matter of much deliberation, and various schemes were drawn up both for it and for the rule of the Borders.^ The Bishop of Durham was appointed Lord President. He was not popular in the North, and there were other reasons urged against his appointment,^ which indeed he himself could neither have wished nor apparently even expected f but no better man could be found. Nor did he make such haste to enter upon his duties as Norfolk after his long endurance expected; who besides ill health and anxiety had yet a further reason for desiring the Bishop's coming to relieve him. " His purse," he wrote, " does " not feel that mine doth, which was empty a month " past, and am fain to live of borrowing."* Tunstall, however, at last arrived and wrote his first letters from York on the 15th October.® The names of the Council by whom he was supported will be seen in No. 914. There could be no more danger of disturbance in England unless it came from abroad; and the failure of Pole's mission, owing to the unwillingness of either of the two belligerent powers on the continent to cause Henry to take part with his adversary,® seemed to give tolerable security in that matter. But circumstances changed from day to day. Francis, doubtful of the issue • of his struggle with the Emperor, concluded a three years' truce with the Turk, thereby strengthening Nos. 100, 102, 249, 250. ^ No. 651. 3 Even on the 10th August, apparently, he had no thought of it. See No. 497. * No. 828. * Nos. 915, 916. ^ It was an astute piece of poHcy on the part of the Emperor's agents at Eome to eause the Pope to send him through France rather than through Flanders, that his very presence in the country might cause Henry to complain of Francis. Nos. 17, 18, 1

*

61921.

b

X

PEEFACE.

the enemy of Christendom against Germany and Italy, and seemed already to have some thoughts of with­ drawing his lance-knights from Picardy to Piedmont.^ The Emperor in Spain perceived the danger and saw that the chief difficulty of the struggle would be in Italy. Money, too, was failing in the Low Countries. So, although the Burgundians had recovered lost ground in Picardy, had captured Hedin, Montreuil, and St. Pol, and were on the eve of winning Therouenne, suddenly, to the astonishment of all men, a ten months' truce was agreed to between France and Flanders.^ I t was not a peace, and it was only between France and Flanders, leaving the war open in Piedmont and on the borders of Spain. But it could hardly have been agreeable to Henry, and little more than two months later we find him anxious to discover whether a regular peace was not in the wind, and—of course to prevent it—desirous to be himself the arbiter.^ A peace between Francis and the Emperor would certainly have meant a European combination against himself which his nephew James in Scotland could have power­ fully aided by an invasion of the Northern Counties. And even without support from abroad it was a great question whether he would not have found the business made easy for him by the cruel sense of wrong and tyranny among Henry's own subjects, who only hushed their griefs because no deliverer was at hand. Of this Henry himself, as we shall see, had very significant evidence. On the 26th May Sir Thomas Clifford, captain of Berwick, wrote that Berwick Pursuivant, whom he had 1 Nos. 17,18, 46. 2 Nos. 106, 107, 113, 125, 148, 244, 307-9, 327, 333, 366, 367, 371-3, 390-1, 419, 442, 464, 483. » Nos. 832, 867-9,

PEEFACE.

XI

sent into Scotland with letters from the King, had witnessed James's arrival with his French queen at Leith and his entry into Edinburgh, and that he had also spoken with an Englishman named James Crane who had come over with the fleet in the suite of the Vice-Admiral of France; that Crane had given the ptirsuivant a ci'edence for Ralph Sadler " upon a token " that when the said Ralph Sadler was in France he " did inquire for the said James at his own house in " Rouen; " and the message was to the effect that on their passage Crane had landed near Scarborough to buy victuals for the company; that about twelve Englishmen had come aboard the Scotch king's ship and on their knees before him had thanked God for his safety, saying they had long looked for him as they were oppressed and slain, and promising that if he would make descent upon England " he should have all." At another town also some distance Southward (it should have been Northward) 10 Englishmen had gone on board James's vessel and said much the same thing. Further on in the voyage, moreover, James himself had said that if he lived one year more, he hoped to break a spear on one Englishman's breast. Crane, who was a willing informer, said he was anxious to declare everything to the King himself; but as to the second town from which men came on board he could only tell that it had a church dedicated to St. Andrew, and that the parson was one of the King's chaplains.^ Such weighty information was of course not lost sight of. Crane immediately afterwards returned to France with the Vice-Admiral, and a servant of lord Lisle's waited upon him at Rouen.^ No further 1

Pt. L, No. 1286,

* Pt. II., No. 122.

b2

xii

PEEFACE.

information, however, could be extracted from him until he was taken to England, where he was committed to the care of another servant of Lisle's, John Husee, whose entertaining letters fill up many details of our knowledge of this period, and who was sent by Oromwell to Calais to bring him over.^ Without delay he was sent down to the duke of Norfolk at Sheriffhutton, who at first would not believe his statements, but after sending him with an escort along the whole seacoast from Elamborough to Tynemouth, he identified a village near the latter place (Whitburn) as the locality; and there no doubt the church was dedicated to St. Andrew, and the incumbent, Dr. Marshall, was the King's chaplain, though it was only his priest that was really implicated. Crane was only about 60 miles out of his reckoning—not wonderful in a long voyage; and having brought the charge home to the priest and set Norfolk on the tracks of the other persons implicated, he was allowed to go back to Eranee again wiiii the King's pardon. By the time be had got back the priest and two sailors whom he had accused were hung in chains.'^ I t was clear that James of Scotland was by no means friendly to his uncle, and that unless restrained by considerations of policy he might easily have been tempted to make some attempt at invasion. But a sudden domestic blow compelled him immediately to consider his own position and alliances before attempt­ ing an aggressive policy. After only half a year of married life his young queen Madeleine d i e d ; and with whatever grief he mourned her loss James, like other sovereigns of the age, at once took the matter into consideration from a political point of view. He 1 Nos. 136, 270, 2 Nos. 201, 340, 422, 431, 479, 555 (p. 210), 625,732, 796 (Ij.

PREFACE.

xiii

despatcliea a secretary into France, partly, it wonld seem, to know if the pension he had from that country was to be continued to him now that his wife was dead, partly to see what terms he could make with Francis as to a second French marriage.^ Norfolk, who does not seem to have suspected the chief object of the secretary's instructions, weakly supposed that if not satisfied with the reply he got from France about money matters James would make overtures for a cordial understanding with England, and perhaps for a marriage with the princess Mary. Nothing was really less in James's thoughts. Ever since his return from France he had been getting ready ordnance at Dunbar, Tantallon, and elsewhere, and paying stealthy visits by night to the former place where the stores of war were accumulated. The English party in his realm were entirely out of favour, and the Lady Grlammis, sister of the earl of Angus, was burnt in Edinburgh for treason.^ There was not the smallest rub in the French alliance. Langeao, bishop of Limoges, a very able diplomatist who had gone to Scotland with James, had doubtless done his best to promote it. He returned to his own country through England in August, along with David Beton, abbot of Arbroath, so well known afterwards as Cardinal Archbishop of St. Andrews; and Henry was mortified to find from his intercourse with them that James was entirely devoted to the interests of France. The results of their negociations with Francis very soon became apparent, and before James had been three months a widower it was known even in England that he was engaged to Mary of Guise, widow of tho Duke of Longueville.* Nos. 332, 370, 539. — — 5 Nos. 422, 430, 626, 666,614, 829. Beton's abilities aa a negoelator were recognised by Francis, who by his iafloence with the Pope got him promoted on the 6th December to ths biishopric of Mirepoix. No. 1176, 1

^{.^

PREFACE.

To turn, h o w e T e r , to domestic events. The summer in England was very unhealthy. The sweating sickness had reappeared in all its old severity. In July a servant of CromweU's named Bold fell sick of it, and the Qaeen being alarmed, it was thought prudent for the time that the Minister should only meet his sovereign out in the fields while hunting.^ So also Cranmer durst not visit the King to report the pro­ ceedings of the Bishops who themselves were anxious to disperse and be out of the way of danger.^ Tunstall also feared even to send a messenger from Laleham to CromweU.^ The assizes in Devonshire and Cornwall had to be put off ;* the term in London was adjourned f and the lord Admiral Fitzwilliam proposed to discharge for two or three months the workmen engaged on the King's new ship at Portsmouth.® Among prominent men swept off during the month of September were Thomas Bedyll (a sycophant clergyman, whose letters in this and previous volumes remain to his eternal shame), John WhaUey, Controller of the Mint, and Mr. Justice Englefleld,^ whose deaths were probably due to the prevailing scourge. The utmost anxiety prevailed at Hampton Court, whore the Queen was expecting her confinement. Ralph Sadler who was in attendance there, had to leave when one of Ms servants fell ill of a complaint not clearly ascertained at the moment, and, following the King's advice, he repaired to his house at Hackney instead of going to his wife at Lessness in Kent.^ On the 12th October the Queen (Jane Seymour) gave birth to a son "conceived in lawful matrimony" as it was curiously intimated in circulars drawn up » No 242. 2 No. 293. 3 ^o. 497. * No. 690. 5 Nos. 812, 830, 847. « No,, 794. ' Nos. 646-9, 770, 813. « No. 821.

IPREFACE.

XT

in her name to announce tlie fact.^ The christening was arranged for Monday the 15th, hut the presence of several noble persons was dispensed with on account of the prevailing plague. Among these were the marchioness dowager of Dorset, who had been appointed to bear the Prince in her arms, and her son-in-law— lord Maltravers, as three or four persons died daily at Croydon, where they were staying; also the young marquis of Dorset and his wife.^ Proclamations were sent out to forbid the access of anyone to the Court without special letters from the King or some of his Council.^ Bonfires, however, were made in every street and guns shot day and night in honour of the auspicious birth; nor does the christening appear to have been shorn of much of its splendour by the necessary absence of some who had been in the way of contagion. The child, having been bom on the eve of St. Edward's day, received the name of Edward.* A distribution of honours followed on St. Luke's day—the sixth day after the Prince's birth, when lord Beauchamp, the Queen's brother, was made earl of Hertford, and Sir William Eitzwilliam earl of South­ ampton; six gentlemen being at the same time dubbed knights.® Here, however, there was certainly some diminution of the ordinary pomp; and we read " The " earl of Southampton was created after the said earl " of Hertford for default of estates present in their " robes to accompany them both at once." 1 No.

889.

Being

a

male

child

he

wonld,

of

course,

have

taken

p r e c e d e n c e h o t h of M a r y a n d E l i z a b e t h , e v e n if t h e y h a d b e e n r e g a r d e d a s legitimate; so

that

the expression was

quite unnecessary except to

additional emphasis t o t h e K i n g ' s o w n v i e w of t h e character of his previous marriages.

The

circulars

before the birth, w h e n t h e s e x i s no appearance written in a

of the

might

indeed

have

heen

two

prepared

of t h e c h i l d w a s still uncertain j but

word « P r i n c e " in Nero C. s .

give

1, h a v i n g

there been

blank.

2 Nos. 891-3, 905.

» No. 894.

* No. 911.

« Nos. 9 3 9 , 9 4 6 ,

xvi

PEEFACE.

Thus, except for the slight shadow cast by the pestilence out of doors, all was rejoicing and merriment for a few days. But within a fortnight of the event occurred a sudden change. On the morning of Wednesday the 24th information was sent to Oromwell by a letter signed by the earl of Rutland, the bishop of Carlisle, and three Court physicians, that the Queen, who was still very weak from her long and painful labor,^ had the previous day shown some symptoms of amendment, but had passed a very bad night, and that her confessor was preparing to administer extreme unction.'^ As the day wore on, however, some slight hopes were entertained of her recovery**; but in the evening the duke of Norfolk wrote to Oromwell that his presence was urgently desired at Hampton Court, as there was now little prospect of her living more than a few hours, and it was doubtful whether she would be alive even at the delivery of the letter.* She actually passed away about midnight.® I t was arranged that she should be buried at Windsor;® and we have a full account of the funeral, which took place on the 12th November, as well as of all the preceding rites.'' Immediately after the birth of the Prince, Sir John Dudley was despatched into Spain to inform the Imperor of the event.^ This, at least, was the ostensible object of his mission, though it certainly was not the only one. He was directed to take his way through France, but he had no mission to Francis, who was then at Grenoble on the point of departure for Piedmont.® He was to take advantage of the friendly relations 1 See Anstis' Eegister of the Garter, ii. 410. « No. 970. 3 Nos. 977, 988. No. 977 ought clearly to have been inserted between Nos. 970 and 971. i ifo. 971. s j^^o. 1060. « Nos. 1012, 1023. 7 No. 1060. » No. 960. » No. 967.

PEEFACE.

xrii

between England and Eranee for bis safe passage, tbough be bad certainly not earned tbe good opinion of all Erencbmen by tbe manner in wbicb be bad recently kept tbe seas in bis commission to protect tbe English neutrality.^ His secret instructions, moreoyer, altbbugb we only know tbeir contents by inference, were certainly not friendly to tbe country be passed tbrougb. On Ms arrival at Boulogne some Bretons, whose ships he had seized as pirates, assailed him with petitions for compensation; but Du Biez, captain of Boulogne, coming out of the castle, beat them with his sword, " t h a t it would have pitied a man to have seen it," and threw them into a dungeon. On the 24th he arrived at Paris, where he heard that Erancis was on the point of crossing the mountains.^ Early in November he reached the Emperor's Court, and was admitted to an audience along with the resident ambassador. Sir Thomas Wyatt. To the announcement of the birth of the Prince the Emperor had nothing to say but what might have been expected. He was all courtesy, and was no less glad of the event than of an addition to Ms own family that had occurred yet more recently. He could have wished, indeed, that the child had been of his own blood by Katharine, but he had the highest regard for the King's last marriage and wished the infant long life. The ambassadors then declared "the stature and goodli" ness of the child, and who were the godfathers and " godmothers;" after which Dudley took the opportunity of regretting that the Emperor had made no better answer to the King's overtures for mediation with France. The insinuation which this remark seemed to convey that the Emperor was not inclined to peace was certainly very ill-timed, for as a matter of fact, as Dudley 1

Hos. 393, 416, 439, 535, 508, 577, 595.

» Ko. 987.

xviii

PEEFACE.

doubtless was aware, be was even tben expecting the return of an ambassador from the French King upon the subject, and arrangements were really going on much faster than Henry had any desire to see them. But Dudley, as a new comer, had perhaps some excuse for pretending ignorance of t h i s ; and his colleague Wyatt immediately followed up his observations with some of his own. " Sire," he remarked, " undoubtedly " my fellow Mr. Dudley bere hath the like commandment " as I had to treat in this overture of peace; howbeit, " I think the matter is already so far forward between " your Majesty and the French King at Velly's last *' being here, that the King my master shall not need " to travail further. But though I am sure the King " my master will be glad to hear of a peace (for there " is nothing that he desires more) yet I am in doubt " how his Majesty will conceive it, seeing the overture " of mediation that he made was not otherwise " embraced."^ It was easy for the Emperor to meet this with perfect candour. " Mr. Ambassador," he said, " at the last time " you were with me for this matter, truth it is I did " not so frankly utter my mind to you as I will do " now." He then said that one Cornelius (Scepperus) and another envoy had been sent to him by his sister in Flanders through France at the time the war was still going on in Picardy, and tbat they had brought with them a message from the French King of his willingness to consider terms of peace. He had made answer to Francis in a like spirit by the same envoys, and the French King had sent him De Yelly, who would have made terms for the rescue of Therouenne, which the Emperor refused. Negotiations, however, ^ No. 1053.

See the correction in « Notes and Errata."

PEEFACE.

xix

were kept open till De Velly's return, wMoli was to have been on the 5 th October, though he had not yet arrived;^ but the Emperor had bound himself to keep the matter of their conferences secret till he came.^. Thus Henry's officious mediation was, with the most perfect courtesy, set aside. The English ambassadors could only object that there was no great appearance of peace on the part of France, when the French king was at that moment crossing with a great army into Piedmont, whither his Grand Master had already forced his way and won the passages. The Emperor replied that he did not think the French could do much there as the marquis of Guasto had 30,000 Spaniards and Italians, all well disciplined soldiers. Nothing more could be made of this subject, and "Wyatt asked particulars about the General Council, that he might certify the King. The Emperor said the Venetians had offered to allow it to be held at Vicenza at the beginning of next year, and he would see that nothing was done to the King's prejudice. Wyatt answered that he feared the receiving of " t h e bishop of R o m e " might occasion the excluding of the King. " Why," said Charles, "if the King have his purpose, " what harm in having a friend rather than an enemy ? " A sick man cannot be cured at once." This the 1 Dndley's inaccuracies in this report are a little perplexing. He makes the Emperor say that De Velly's return " should have been the 5th day of this last October, and now it is tbe lOth." The date of the audience was certainly not the 10th October when Dudley l»ad not yet left England, nor yet the lOfch November, ahfaough the expression «this last October " might be taken to refer to a past month, for De Velly actually arrived on Wednesday the .31st October {see p. 369). As Dudley was at Paris on the 25th, and no doubt made all the haste he could, we may perhaps date the audience on the 29th or 30th. It would seem, moreover, from the second paper (pp. 368—9), that De Velly mast have arrived either the first or second day after their interview with the Emperor, 2 No. 1053.

XX

PREFACE.

ambassadors construed as a reflection on tbeir nation. " W e do not feel sick," tbey said, " b u t of a long sickness bealed." ,0b, tbe Emperor, meant nothing of tbe sort; tbe King was not tbe patient but the physician. But the Emperor would do his best to serve him.^ Next day and the day after tbey had some con­ ferences with Grranvelle, both about the peace and the General Council, in which the Imperialist took occasion to point out of how great advantage tbe Council would be to the King himself and his succession, seeing that he had not divided bimself from the Faith and the Emperor had promised to justify his proceedings about Annates and other matters. Meanwhile De Velly arrived on Wednesday 31st October. He was in close con­ ference with Coves and Granvelle on, the following day, and the English ambassadors did not learn the result till Saturday 3rd November. They were then informed that a three months' truce had been agreed to, which was to be proclaimed in both camps on the 27th; and that with a view to further arrangements. Coves and Granvelle were to be at Perpignaii on the 17th December, while the Grand Master of France and the Cardinal of Lorraine were to be the same day at Narbonne; and further that during the month the Emperor was to be at Barcelona and the French King at Montpellier.^ The truce, however was not actually signed.till the 16.th November.^ In returning homewards Dudley was stayed for some days at Lyons by the French Council, who would give him no further reason for his detention except that it was their master's command, but promised to write to Francis about it. A messenger of bishop Gardiner 1 Jfo. I0o3.

2 lb., see also No. 1203.

3 No. 1104.

PREFACE.

xxi

was also stayed, and Dudley supposed that their object was to delay news. A report reached Lyons at the same time that "Wyatt had been arrested in Spain, but it was certainly unfounded. Although Charles understood well enough the true meaning of Henry's officious .offers of mediation,^ it was not the object either of him or Francis to be imcivil to England's representatives. Henry himself wrote to Wyatt to thank the Emperor for his kind treatment of Sir John Dudley^; and Francis wrote to his ambassador in England to explain that Dudley's detention at Lyons was the result of a general order that all couriers should pass by himself, or that he at least should be informed about their transit—a gentle rebuke to Henry for the want of courtesy shown in the way Dudley had passed through France before.^ We must now turn to Henry's dealings with France. About the same time that he despatched Sir John Dudley to the Emperor he probably also despatched lord William Howard to Francis for the same purpose —to announce the birth of his son. We know nothing of this mission, however, before the date of a letter of Oromwell to lord William himself and bishop Grardiner containing the news of the Queen's death ;* at which time apparently lord William was already in France, though he had been in England at the Prince's christening." The letter begins, " after most hearty commendations," to prepare them for a sad piece of intelligence, and then goes on to say:—^"Our Prince, Our Lord be " thanked, is in good health, and sucketh like a child " of his puissance, which you, my lord Willism., can " declare. Our mistress, through the fault of them " that were about her, which suffered her to take 1

See P.S. in No. 1143.

* No. 1004.

» No. 1249.

» jfo. 1253.

^ N0.6U.

xxii

PEEFACE.

" great cold and to eat things that her fantasy in " sickness called for, is departed to God."^ This news they were to communicate to the French King, while at the same time they were to make some secret inquiries on Henry's behalf, the motives of which are set forth as follows:— "And forasmuch as, though his Majestj' is not anything disposed to marry again, albeit his Highness, God be thanked, taketh this chance as a man that by rcAson with force overcometh his • affection may take such an extreme adventure, yet, as sundry of his G-race's Council here have thought it meet for us to be most humble suitors to his Majesty to consider the state of his realm, and to enter eftsoons into another matrimony in place for his Highness' satisfaction convenient, so his tender zeal to his subjects bath already so much overcome his Grace's said disposition and framed his mind both to be indifferent to the thing and to the election of any person from any part that with deliberation shall be thought meet for him, that, as we live in hope that his Grace will again couple himself to our comforts, so considering what pei'sonages in Christendom be meet for him, amongst the rest there be two in France that may be thought on. The one is the French King's daughter,^ which, as it is said, is not the meetest. The other is Madame de Longueville, whom they say the King of Scots doth desire. Of whose conditions and qualities in every point his Majesty desireth you both, with all your dexterity and good means to inquire; and likewise in what point and terms the said King of Scots standeth towards either of them: which his Highness is so desirous to know (his Grace's desire therein to be, nevertheless, in anywise kept secret to yourselves) that his pleasure is that you, my lord William, shall not return till you may learn both how the King of Scots standeth in his suit, and what the condition and qualities of both persons be."

The reader will probably not require much assistance to estimate the sincerity of a State Paper such as this. But the language of diplomacy here bas only to be translated according to some very obvious rules, to yield up its real meaning, for there was no intention of disguising anything from the persons actually addressed. The statement that the King was not particularly disposed to marry again was doubtless State Papers, vm. 1.

» Margaret, afterwards Puchess of Savoy.

PREFACE..

xxiii

not far from the truth. He was not intensely eager for a fourth wife in the earliest days of his bereayement. But as a politician the first thought that occurred to him was that his loss was a real gain. His Council could easily be got to press him to a new marriage for the good of the realm; and he could once more trouble the waters of European diplomacy by hinting to riral courts that he was open to a new engagement. Moreover, he was on a par now with James V., who had also become a widower lately, and if matters had not gone too far in the arrangements for James' second marriage, Erancis might perhaps break them off*, or alienate James by showing some disposition to break them ofi', in order that Mary of Gruise might be given to a more powerful ally. The ambassadors were simply to pick up any in­ formation that might be useful to the King in playing such a game. What information they supplied to him as the result of their inquiries we do not know. But, whatever it was, it did not restrain him from his attempt to trouble the waters. Indeed, it would almost appear that without waiting for their report, he began to broach the subject to Oastillon, the French ambassador in England, and talked of two or three ladies in France among whom one might be found to suit him. An answer was despatched from the French court to Oastillon on this subject on the 6th November; and on the 25th, Bochetel, the French secretary of finance, wrote to him further that Henry's matrimonial projects had given Francis no little amusement. The English, he said, wanted to treat women Mke hoi'ses,-—trot them out to see which went best; but he certainly could not approve of his own daughter being put ia

xxiv

PREFACE.

the row with the others.^ On the 11th December, however, Francis himself wrote to Oastillon, in answer to some new overtures on the subject made to the ambassador by Cromwell, that he should consider himself highly honoured if Henry took a wife in his Kingdom, and no lady would be refused to him except Madame de Longueville, whose marriage with the King of Scots had been already fully agreed upon.^ I t would seem, however, by a confidential letter from Bochetel written the same day that Francis still resented the fact of his daughter being put in comparison with the others; but it was important to keep the king of England in good humour, as the truce just concluded with the Emperor was no guarantee for a secure peace.^ That truce had been to Henry, cf course, a grievous disappointment, and his main object now was to foment the jealousies on either side, which alone stood in the way of a perfect settlement. I t was not easy doing this through the medium of ambassadors abroad; but the French ambassador in England bad his weak side, and Henry understood him pretty well, having had already some experience of him in his previous embassy four years before.* At the first news of the truce and the peace negociations the King's alarm was probably too great to be concealed—at all events Oastillon saw it plainly. After some days, however, he seemed much more comfortable—^in fact, both he and his Council had recovered their spirits amazingly. Henry himself explained the cause quite frankly. The No. 1125. 2 No. 1201. 3 No. 1202. * It is imfortunate that tliis ambassador, tbe Sieur de Castillon, was wrongly identified in vols. VI. and VII. witb the celebrated Gaspard de Coligny, Sieur de Ch&tilion. The mistake, which is an old one, is corrected bv Eaulek, 1

PREFACE.

XXV

Emperor had given him full assurance that -whatever meetings took place between his ambassadors and those of Erancis, nothing should be concluded without Henry's being informed of it. The English., therefore, were in no fear of being altogether abandoned, as at first they had fully expected to b e ; at which time, Castillon believed they would have given a good deal of money either to Francis or to the Emperor to prevent an accommodation. But now, it seemed, the Emperor was drawing nearer to England unsolicited, Henry was going to send a gentleman to the Emperor in return, and to all appearance the peace conferences would settle nothing whatever.^ Henry perhaps affected a somewhat higher degree of satisfaction than he really felt. The assurances he had received from the Emperor were probably nothing more than those given to Sir John Dudley in conversation, which he reported on his return home.* No doubt the King was relieved to be assured that the Emperor would include him as principal contrahent in any treaty made with France; but it was not exactly true that the Emperor had given such a pledge imsolioited. Sir John Dudley had procured it, and for all we know it was but breath—^mere spoken words, not written ones. The value of the English alliance had fallen in the market, but mutual suspicion forbade either Charles or Francis to drop it entirely until a complete settlement was obtained. And Henry had now got material enough to enable him to fan the flames. Oastillon was quite persuaded that th© Emperor had been soliciting Henry's friendship, and be was rather puzzled how to aet when he received letters from Francis written at Lourmarin on the 11th December, , 1 FOB. 1285-6.

4. 61921,

' Ko. 1249.

e

xxvi

PEEFACE.

directing Mm to "entertain" the king of England, as the saying was—that is to say, keep him in play and humour him as much as possible until everything was arranged. Could Erancis have realised how matters stood? Henry was not the man to be so easily managed as that.^ On considering the matter Castillon thought it best to inform the King that although Erancis was sending the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Grand Master to Narbonne to learn what the Emperor's deputies would say, he did not mean to negociate anything to Henry's disadvantage, but was determined to remain his perpetual ally, and if necessary to renew the treaties offensive and defensive between them. This he hoped would assure Henry that Erancis, even if he were in hope of peace with the Emperor and quite unconscious of the Emperor's secret intrigues, had no intention of deserting England. Henry waited four days before making answer to this, and did not do so without much consultation. H e said it was reported that the Scotch king was going to make war upon Mm, and that Oastillon was only playing their game that he might be taken unprepared. The ambassador did Ms best to remove these suspicions, and considered that he had partly succeeded. In fact Henry showed himself so well disposed that he not only acknowledged the good will of Erancis but was quite willing at once to have renewed the ancient amity if Castillon had only had powers to negociate. He said he had written to the Bishop of Winchester (Gardiner, who was then in France) to declare his mind to Erancis. " A n d you will greatly please him," writes Castillon to his sovereign, " by intimating that you will conclude 1

No.

1285.

PEEFACE.

xxvii

" notMng about tbe Council witbout letting bim know, " for be bas repeated tbis to me twice."^ Tbus Castillon wrote from London on tbe 30th December; and, curiously enough, on that very day Francis wrote to him a letter from Montpellier,^ which showed clearly that even if the Emperor had approached Henry witb new proposals it was nothing more than what Erancis had been endeavouring to do himself. Influenced by Henry's proposals for a Erench wife, he had commissioned Oastillon to solicit a renewal of the offensive and defensive alliance long before, and had since been balancing carefully in his own mind the comparative advantages of an English or an Imperial alliance; and it was only for want of a distinct reply to Ms proposals on the part of England that he was now inclined to close with the Emperor, with whom, as he very naturally remarked, he could not remain continually at war if England, under pretence of neutrality, continually favoured his rival. In any case, however, he desired to remain friends with Henry, and tbe only difiiculty was about the Greneral Council, which the Imperialists were so anxious to bring about. On that subject he was keeping matters open as much as possible until be knew Henry's intention. If Henry was willing to aid him against the Emperor on condition of Ms getting the General Council put off he must let him know secretly as soon as possible. To this point had diplomacy come between England and France at the end of the year 1637. Oastillon, however, could not satisfy Henry with regard to his proposed French match. He was for ever hailing upon Madame de Longueville. He would take no assumnco 1

No. 1283,

2

No, 1290. « 2

XXYiii

PREFACE.

that her mamage with the King of Scots had been definitely arranged. He would not believe, even though her father the Duke of (xuise had sworn to it and settled the matter witb the abbot of Arbroath, that the lady herself had consented to i t ; and when the Ambassador in amazement said, ""Would you marry another man's wife?" he said he knew well that she herself had not spoken. Castillon must make inquiry for him whether the match could not even yet be broken off, and he would do more for Francis than the King of Scots could.^ Yet for all this he was by no means so " amorous of Madame de Longueville " as Castillon reported; for he had just been getting John Hutton to inquire for him in the Netherlands whether there could be found a suitable wife for him at the Court of Mary of Hungary. On the 4th December Hutton had reported the qualities of three or four ladies there, one of whom was the widowed duchess of Milan, daughter of Ohristiern I I . the deposed king of Denmark by the Emperor's sister Isabella. Hutton had not seen her, but she was said to be " a goodly personage and of excellent beauty." A few days later she came to the Court, and Hutton wrote that she was only sixteen, a maiden widow, as it was supposed (and plausibly enough, for if her age was correctly reckoned she had been married at thirteen and left a widow at fourteen), that she was very tall " and competent of beauty, of favor excellent and " very gentle in countenance." Her complexion was not so pale as that of Henry's late queen. I t was true there had been some talk of marrying her to William duke of Ravenstein, son and heir to the duke of Cleves, but that depended entirely upon the Emperor's 1

No.

1285,

PREFACE.

XXIX

pleasure.^ Hutton was distinctly of opinion tliat slie would make an excellent match for the King,^ and wo shall see in the next volume of this Calendar that his advice was not altogether unheeded. One other important feature of foreign politics it would be wrong to pass over in silence, seeing that it dominated the entire European situation. Throughout the whole of 1537 the dread of tbe Turk in Italy, Hungary, and elsewhere was particularly acute. Early in the year he had ali'eady sent orders to the Basha of Bosnia to move an army against the strong fortress of Clissa in Dalmatia and was also collecting a fleet at La Yalona in Albania exactly opposite the heel of Italy.** Erancis had opened negotiations with him as a means of harassing the Emperor, and he had com­ pelled the Yenetians to declare against him, refusing to allow of their neutrality.* Clissa fell, though it was thought impregnable.® The Turks ravaged Solavonia and penetrated into Hungary.® I t was a slight comfort only that the Sophi was assailing them at the same time in Mesopotamia.^ The alarm at Rome was serious.* News came in June that the Turkish fleet was anchored off Apuglia,® but the intelligence may have been premature. In July reports were daily expected of their landing in Italy, for besides the fleet at La Yalona a great army had arrived there by land.^" Andrea Doria and his ships were not inactive and took several of their galleys. Some vessels of the Knights of Rhodes gave 1 2 * 6 7 9

Nos, 1187-8. See the text of these letters in the State Papers. No. 1243. » Part i.. No. 310. lb., Nos. 358, 524, 562, 762, 772, 873, 1144, 1262. lb., Nos. 763, 1190 (2) i Part ii. 17, 18. « Part i,, Nos. 924, 986, lb.. No. 1190 (2); Part ii., No. 1127. ® Part i.. No. S89. Part II., No. 103. No. 812.

XXX

PREFACE.

also efficient assistance.^ Kevertlieless the enemy made good tlieir landing in Italy, and after fruitlessly besieging Otranto took Castro.^ Tbey also took Corfu from tbe Venetians.^ In Hungary, too, on tbe 2nd October tbey were able give tbe troops of Ferdinand a disastrous defeat near Buda.* But on tbe 1st September a triple league was formed against tbem by tbe Pope, tbe Emperor, and Venice, wbo were very soon afterwards joined by tbe Oenoese;® and tbougb tbe Venetians in particular felt tbe grievous in­ terruption of trade, tbe end of tbe year found tbem Dusy in their arsenal in the building and equipment of 200 galleys.® Some other matters still demand our attention. And iirst of all a word or two more seem to be i-equisite about Cardinal Pole's abortive mission. Pole himself at Cambray on the 18th May had reported to Rome the completeness of his failure, and tbe apparant uselessness, besides personal danger to bimself, of his • remaining in those p a r t s ; and he asked instructions whether to leave or stay.^ He could not remain at Cambray in safety, but migbt iind a refuge within the diocese of Liege; and though at first his best friends at queen Mary's Court could only suggest his going thither in disguise, he afterwards received intimation that the Regent would send an escort to conduct him from Cambray to Liege in safety. Yet even with this aid the journey seems to have been a troublesome one, and it was only on the 10th June that he was able to report that he had arrived "much tempest-tossed" Nos. 320, 510. 2 Nos. 510, 524. 3 Nos. 730, 750, 826. They do not appear, however, to have held it long, and did not succeed in obtaining possession of the citadel. < Nos. 819, 1020. 6 No. 1040. « No. 1217. ? Parti., Nos. 1242-3. 1

PEEFlCE.

XXxi

at his haven of refuge. He remained at Liege during June, July, and the better part of August, when he received letters from Eome instructing him to return thither. He got as far as Trent when he received further letters, which should have been delivered to him at Liege from the papal prothonotary Ambrosius, superseding previous orders and leaving it to his own judgment whether to winter there or come back to Italy. I t was too late, of course, now to do anything but push on. He reached Eome in October and was received on his return in a special Consistory by the Cardidals, to whom he gave a full report of his unsuccessful legation on the 19th.^ He himself was thus safe from Henry's power; but his relations were not, and neither were his dependents. How bitterly his mother felt the fact that he had displeased the King was shown in the last preface.^ The letters he received from her and from his brother, lord Montague, before he went to Eome in 1536, almost turned him from his purpose, and made him go back to England instead, fearing, doubtless, what actually occurred sometime after, that his family would be made to suffer for his offence.^ But the first thoughts of the King and Cromwell were how to inveigle him into their power by means of his own trusty servant, Michael Throgmorton, the man by whom he had sent his book to England. They despatched him back again at once with those insidious letters to his master which invited him to come home and discuss matters in a friendly way with the King;* but they made Mm promise to return at once to England himself whether his master would come or no.® The master, of course, 1 Part II., Nos. 71-73, 169, 311-12, 499, 610, 569, 791, 944, 949. 3 Page xxxvi. * T o l XI., Ho. 654. * Vol. X., No. 1093; Vol. XI., No. 01. ® Vol. XI., No. 229.

xxxii

PREFACE.

refused to return, and the man seems to have delayed' fulfilment of his promise as long as he conveniently could. At the end of the year, however, he was definitely expected in England; and even the bishop of Eaenza in France knew that he was on his way thither.^ "Well aware that he was on a dangerous mission, he was still resolved to do his duty. But he was taken by the French at Montreuil before he reached Calais, and detained as a prisoner; and Cromwell had to write to the English ambassadors in France to procure his delivery.^ He was handed over to the English authorities, and early in January 1537 was conveyed to England. ^ Before he left Rome he had besought his master that if he were really created Cardinal the fact might not be published until he, Throgmorton, had returned to Rome, otberwise it might cost him his life."* The delay in his journey was unfortunate. Pole's creation as Cardinal had actually taken place on the 22nd December, and the fact must have been known in England almost, if not quite, as early as he arrived there.® And here was he, Pole's servant, in the hands of Henry Y I I I . at a time when the King was exasperated by having been obliged to make terms witb the Northern rebels. Worse still, his brother. Sir George Throgmorton, was at that time actually in the Tower along with one Sir William Essex, to whom he bad unluckily lent a copy of one of Aske's manifestoes.® I t behoved him to use the very utmost discretion for more sakes than his own ; and luckily for him 1 Vol. XI., Nos. 1260,1297. ^ Vol. XI., Nos. 1250, 1297, 1363, 1379. No. 4 at the heginning of the volume should apparently have heen placed in December. 3 YoL XII.. Part i., Nos. 34, 86. * Part i., No. 88. 5 Perhaps a little later, for Wallop writes of it as a piece of news at Paris on the 9th January. No. 53. 8 Vol. XI., Nos. 1406-6 ; Vol. XII., Part i., No. 86.

PREFACE.

xxxiii

the King's anxieties at the moment outweighed the desire of vengeance. He was, after all, the bearer of a message from his master, and Henry, on careful consideration, doubtless, thought it best that he should return with his answer. He might possibly be able to divert Pole from his intended mission to encourage rebellion in the North. So Michael Throgmorton once more went his way, pledged, apparently, to dissuade his master from any enterprise that might be obnoxious to the King, and to return once more to England as soon as he* had done his best. To the great relief of the Nuncio in Ei'ance, who was anxious at not hearing from him, he arrived .at Paris on the 26th January.^ On the 13th Eebruary he reached Eome.^ On the second day after his arrival he wrote both to Oromwell and to Richard Morison, a member of CromweU's household and author of a celebrated treatise in defence of Henry VIIL's severities, to show what he had done to redeem his pledges. He had found his master " i n very strange apparel," as the news before he left England had led him to expect. He had remonstrated witb him on his acceptance of the Cardinalate without the King's consent. Pole said he had written to justify himself on this point to the King's Council; that he had declined to accept the dignity until he was sure that refusing it would have been resisting the will of Ood; but that if the King would be reconciled to the Church and renounce his new title of supreme head, he, Pole, would obtain the Pope's leave to renounce his dignity of Cardinal, become a hermit and burn his book, promising to write nothing more against the King's mind and pleasure, but use aU his gifts to the promotion of peace in Ingland. ^ Part I., Kos. 86, 88, 240, 296, 313, 326.

" Part J., NOS. 429-30.

xxxiv His

PEEFACE. mission

as

determined on, anything to master who

legate, and

however,

Throgmorton

stop it.

had was

H e added t h a t

been

unable t o he

feared

was too little a m a n of the world and

sent

him

thought

of

quite

nothing- b u t

do his

those

their

own

profit.^ Of course, whatever pledges had been extracted from him, be took care not to go back to E n g l a n d ; b u t h e accompanied his

master

to Cambray and

Liege.

In

May the English Ambassador at Brussels h a d heard t h a t Pole intended to send him to E n g l a n d as soon as he himself was settled at Liege, and actually gone thither f untrue.

His

drew down

long upon

b u t the

evasion him

a

of

even t h a t he

report his

had

was

certainly

promise

naturally

message

of

Cromwell, which he answered a t length

reproof

from

on

20th

the

August from Liege.

H e had written to Cromwell, i t

seems,

after

pretty

expected an

early

leaving

answer at P a r i s ;

Rome,

and

had

b u t receiving none be

presumed Cromwell was satisfied with bis excuses, a n d Pole, whom

he continually speaks of as " this m a n "

without naming him, had declined to despatch h i m into England.

At Cambray be h a d found himself in d a n g e r

from the King's procurement, and he t h o u g h t it best to wait for further letters from CromweU.

Moreover

delay seemed Justified b y the statements

be h a d

the been

able to elicit from Pole touching his mission as legate, who was anxious to show t h e forbearance b e h a d exercised all along in not publishing the censures prematurely. if the K i n g insisted on treating h i m

But

as a rebel, Pole

said t h a t he m i g h t be constrained to show t h e world what sort of a rebel he was, and for w h a t reasons.

The

Oardmal was now recaUed t o I t a l y to t a k e p a r t in the General CouncU appointed for t h e 1 s t November 5 a n d I Part 1., Nos. 429-430.

2 part i.. No. 1293.

PEEFAOE.

XXXV

it was much to be feared that they would afterwards publish the censures, get him to print his book and then send ambassadors to the diiferent Christian Powers for a general combination against England. Under the circumstances Throgmorton said that he thought he could still do good service by remaining with his master, who, he felt convinced, had no other object in view than Henry's honour and profit.^ This letter to Cromwell he despatched under cover to John Hutton the English Ambassador at Brussels with a credence for the messenger to explain his mind more fully by word of moixth.- The message was to the effect that if the King desired to stay the publica­ tion of the censures, the best way would be to send bis chaplain Dr. Wilson over to Elanders and he would persuade Pole to go and meet him at Maestricht before bis departure to Rome, when terms might possibly be arranged. To this Oromwell drew up a reply that he had laid the suggestion before the King, and although his Highness counted for nothing all that the Bishop of Rome's malice might do, yet, out of regard for Pole, whom he had brought up from his cradle, he had acquiesced in the proposal. Indeed, he rather improved upon i t ; for a commission was presently drawn up for Dr. Wilson and Nicholas Heath jointly to go over and confer with the Cardinal (whom, however, they were never to address by that title) and to endeavour to induce him to write a submissive letter to the King, give up the draft of his "frantic book," and repair personally to England to make his submission.'"' The scheme, however, could hardly have been woll formed when it was laid aside; and the reply Oromwell actually sent to Throgmorton was of quite a different 1 Part II., Ho. 5f>2.

^ Ntf. 553,

^ Hon. 619, 620.

xxxvi

PREFACE.

tenor.i " I thougM," the letter began, " tbat tbe singular " goodness of tbe King's Highness showed unto you, " and the great and singular clemency showed to that " detestable traitor, your master, in promising him not " only forgiveness, but also forgetting of his most " shameful ingratitude, unnaturalness, conspiracy against " his honour, of whom he hath received no more but " as much and all that he hath,—I thought, I say, that " either this princely goodness might have brought that " desperate rebel from his so sturdy malice, blindness, " and pervicacie, or else have encouraged you to be " his Highness's true and faithful subject." But no (we must condense the rest), I might have judged " that " so dishonest a master could have but even such " servants as you are." Loyalty and treason dwell seldom together. " You could not, all this season, " have been a spy for the King, but at some time your countenance should have declared your heart to " be loyal," — in short, Throgmorton was an utterly abandoned scoundrel because he was really serving his master and not acting as a spy upon him for the King. And after some further virulence, significant bints are thrown out that " one brainsick Poole, or to say better, one witless fool," would be " the ruin of so great a family;" that if Pole did publish his work honest men would offer themselves " to revenge this so enorme unkindness," and that even in Italy ways might be found " to rid a traitorous subject." In short the King, who for a moment had entertained the idea of sending some one to confer with Pole, hoping thereby to defer the censures and prevent the 1 It is clear that No. 795, thongh placed at the end of September, is in answer to the same letter as No. 619, which is placed at the beginning of the mouth, viz., to the letter of 20 Aug., No, 552, in which Throgmorton says that Pole will be obliged to publish the reasons why he is a rebel.

PREFACE.

XXXYII

publication of Pole's book, bad on second tbougbts resolved to cast aside all decency and distinctly threaten tbe author with assassination, and the judicial murder of the chief members of his family at home. That this was what was signified there could be no manner of doubt, and part of the programme we know was carried out little more than a year later. All that the King did to hide the baseness of his policy was merely to keep bis own hand out of it. The threats of murder and of a cruel wrong to a noble family went forth only in the name of a minister who could be disowned if necessary. I t was, perhaps, another instance of the same policy -—to make one member of a family at home suffer for the conduct of another who was beyond the King's power — that Sir George Throgmorton, after having been some months at liberty, was again committed to the Tower on the 15th October—certainly not many weeks after Cromwell bad written that abusive letter to his brother. On the same day Sir Geofirey Pole, the Cardinal's brother, went to Court to show his loyalty, but the King refused to see him. As to Sir George, however, it was said that he had been impeached by Sir Thomas Dingley, one of the Knights of St. John, about whom the King was at this time making some very particular inquiries in Spain, the object of which, as we may presume from what is about to be related, was not merely to catch him in the net of an indictment for treason,^ Por that purpose he had almost enough information at home; for if it was Dingley that accused Sir George Throgmorton Sir 1 Nos. 921, 1023, 1143. Dingley was aotualiy attainted with many others in 1639, by the Act 31 Hen. YIII. cap, 16. This Act k not printed.

xxxviii

PEEFACE.

George very soon returned the compliment by accusing Dingley. Tbe matter bad reference to some conversations between tbem several years before about tbe Act abolish­ ing appeals to Rome. Dingley had said he wondered such an Act passed so easily. Sir George replied it was no wonder, as few would dare to displease Oromwell. He said he himself had been sent for by the King for naving spoken about it, and he reported to Dingley the interview he had had with Henry—certainly as "dangerous" matter as could very well be conceived. The King had talked to him of the trouble he endured in his conscience about having married his brother's wife. " A n d I said to him," so Throgmorton reports to the King himself, " that I told your Grace I feared ' if ye did marry queen Anne your conscience would ' be more troubled at length, for it is thought ye ' have meddled both with the mother and the sister." ' And his (your) Grace said, 'Never with the mother.' ' And my lord Privy Seal, standing by, said,' Nor never ' ' with the sister either, and therefore put that out ' ' of your mind.'^" I t was no wonder certainly that Sir George was questioned closely concerning the matter of this conversation; what his reasons were for believing the scandal and whether he did not tbink it very imprudent to report such things to Sir Thomas Dingley, " a man sometime travelling in far countries."^ A very few words must now suffice to call attention to other subjects iu this volume not as yet touched upon. Of matters relating to the suppression of monasteries—especially suppressions by attainder after the rebellions — the spoliation of shrines and the melting of lead taken from the dismantled buildings, 1

No. 952.

2

No. 953.

PEEFACE.

XXSix

not a little will be found in tbese pages.^ Tbe numerous exemptions from suppression granted to particular bouses can also be traced by tbe index. A special interest attaches to tbe surrender extorted from the monks of the Charter House and the fate of the brethren imprisoned in Newgate, concerning which some new notices will be found.^ An unprinted letter of Copinger, Confessor of Sion, is likewise to be noted.^ Of other matters of religion, besides a few more theological papers* and some expressions of popular feeling, occasionally set forth in prophecies,® there is little to note except what has been already given to the world in Cranmer's letters. I t would be wrong, however, to pass over in silence a curious correspondence which will certainly interest Sbaksperian students, showing the proceedings of three royal Commissioners who met at Stratford-on-Avon (their names were John Grevill, William Lucy, and John Combes) to ascertain whether Edward Large, priest of Bishop's Hampton, had been rightly convicted of giving utterance to some very irreverent Puritanical sentiments in the course of a two hours' sermon on Easter Monday, the 2nd of April. The Commissioners who were favoured by Latimer, the Bishop of the diocese, found the accusation was due to subornation of false witnesses on the part of William Olopton; but their report does not appear to have been considered decisive." Oromwell of course was still on the h i g h road of prosperity. On the 5th August h e was elected a Knight of the Garter;'' and he was installed at Windsor on 1 See on these subjects the references in the index under Bridlington Jervaulx, Kirkstead, &c. j aho No. 545 (account of lead.) 2 Nos. 2 7 , 6 4 , 91, 166, 601. » No. 33. * Noa. 408-9. s Nos 846, 1212, « Nos. 215, 3 0 2 - 3 , 4 9 6 , 5 0 1 , 840, ? Nos. 445,466.

xl

PEEFACE.

Sunday the 26th.^ At the end of the year he was appointed Keeper and Chief Justice itinerant of the Royal Forests Worth of Trent in the room of Lord Daroy.^ His son Gregory, though not blessed with very distinguished abilities, was able to marry lady Ughtred, the sister of Queen Jane Seymour.^ His nephew Richard, also, had become a man of high importance, receiving, besides some grants from the Crown,* valuable presents from clients to promote their interests with his uncle,® after whose great and notable example he knew how to put pressure on bishops, abbots, and others for the procurement of gifts and offices, and the disposal of conventual leases.*' The affairs of Ireland during this year were not calculated to give the King much anxiety on. the score of rebellion. The subjugation of the whole country was proceeding steadily under lord Leonard Grey as deputy. But the King was not satisfied as regards the revenue. He suspected jobbing, and thought a portion of the retinue might be discharged.'' I n the end Commissioners were sent over to inquire into the whole arrangements of the Council for the government of the country and the conduct of every officer under them; with orders also to reduce the Deputy and Treasurer's retinue to a body of 340 picked men, some of whom were to be told off to garrison fortresses. They carried with them also a number of Acts ready drawn up to be passed in Parliament.^ Of the measures they took to carry out their instructions and the reports they elicited from the different officers a pretty full 1 * e 7

No. 681. a No. 1311 (39). « Nos. 269, 423-4, 629, 881. No. 187 (7). a Nos. 49, 863, 423, 466. Nos. 241, 290,451, 533, 555 (p. 210), 625. Part I., No. 503. a p^rt ii.. No. 382.

PEEFACE.

xii

account will be found in this volume ;^ for which, and for a number of

other

matters of

great interest as

regards Irish history, we must refer the reader to the entries themselves. I t only remains for me to repeat—though I feel that a

mere repetition is inadequate—the

acknowledgments

t h a t I have made in previous volumes, of the constant assistance

and

zealous

co-operation

Mr. Brodie in the prosecution of

of

my

friend

this arduous work.

H i s services have yearly become more valuable to me and have enabled me to proceed more rapidly with the publication

than I could

possibly have done without

such able assistance.

1 Mos. 698, 729, 762-3, 786, 898,1310.

A

61931.

LETTERS AND PAPERS, FOREIGN

AND

DOMESTIC,

HENRY VIII.

A.D. 1537. June. J^-

1.

LOED DAECT. « After judgment given the petition of Thomas 1. Darey'to the King's Grace by my lord Privy Seah Sent by Mr. Doctor Woilson." 1. To have confession and, at mass, to receive my Maker. 2. That my wliole body may be buried with my late wife, the lady Nevyll, in the Friars at Greenwich. 3. That the straitness of the judgment may be mitigated at the King's pleasure. ii. "For my debts to be paid."—1. Tbat enough of my coin and plate may be delivered to Sir Arthur Darcy to pay my debts and he charged to pay them. 2. My debts are :—To tbe prior of Pontfret 100 mks.; and to Sir Arthur, that he paid for me to Mr. Allan, alderman of London, 100/. ; and to Sir Arthm-, more, 1001. odd. To Mr. Eoo of Watlyng Street for hveries, 4:4[/.] odd. To 'Thomas Lowther clerk for the discharge " of tbe foot of my last household book," &c., such sums as appear in his bill signed my me, to be viewed by Sir Arthur, Parson Elys and Geoi'ge Nevyll, or two of them. To John Coor, grocer of London, 10/. and more. My fellow Oxenfeld to have his eight tuns of wine at Templehurst baek again, for I have not paid him for them, witb reasonable recompense for his loss. To my servants their fees and wages from Easter to Wliitsunday. " Tho premises served is great merit in, and to me a singular comfort and to his Grace a small matter; this at the reverence of God and fbr Christ's blessed Passion, and more of pettv debts if any be duly proved poor T. Darcy." iii. Md. My bill of restitution I discharge both my sovereign Lords of; which by record amounts to 4,400/. and odd. " The King that dead is com­ manded that to all men restitution should be made, and charged the King's Grace that now is and his most trusty councillors to see the same done, and his wpll] and the Savoy performed." Trusting his Grace wiU the rather command tbe wi^iin written debts to be paid. Sol, pp. 2. Headed " in June 1537." 2.

JOHN LOED HUSE to HENBY V H I . Requests of his charity. (1.) That the King will discharge his sureties Ibr the payment of certain sums stiU due, as he never offended his Grace in will, deed, or thought, "'by tbe death that I shall die." (2.) I have paid

^- OA

61931.

Wt, 2 2 2 0 0 .

A

2

29 I I E N E Y VIII. 1537. 2.

JOHN LORD HUSE to HENRY

VIII.—cont,

his Grace the sum of 3,000Z. as will appear by my book signed by the Treasurer of tbe Chamber; " for the which sum his Grace gave me my pardon ready to be showed, so it touched nothing of his words, scilicet. Notwith­ standing my pardon, my lord Cardinal compelled me to pay it, at that time I moved his Grace, and his Highness promised me that I should have had remedy. Now in the honor of- Christ's Passion, have pity of my sinful soul and forgive jiU my defaults and negligence but treasons, and for that I will ask no pardon, for as I be saved I never offended his Grace in treason." (3.) That his Grace will pay his debls, of which he gives a catalogue, the creditors being:—One Cowper of Westminstei-, the executors of Thos. Robertson of Boston, Jas. Meryng (for part purchase money of some wood at Knysall), Win. Walhedd, bailiff of tbe same (qu. of Knysall ?), the bp. of Lincoln, Win. Cawdron of Hekington, Sir Jobn Aden, "ray aunt Marmyon " and ber daughter, tbe prior of Spalding (borrowed of prior Boston), Mr. Sentpole, John Scutte, the Queen's tailor, Eic. Gressham of London, my servant Nic. Petherston, one Tonge tailor in Fletestrele, Peter Seynthill, clerk of my khcben, John Clement of Polkingham, Mrs. Darnold in Woodstrete, Thos. Tipkyn of St. Katharine's, Poynter of Limehouse, Thos. Webster of Willoughby, " the sisters of one Grymsby (whose title as I remember one Wentworth hath by marriage) for the purchase of Bytham." Was also executor to one Lowe of Waltham and bound to spend with him 40/. on a way called Honye Lane, bnt has only spent 10/. yet; " and I spake with the warden of the Gray Freers at Ware to have gotten me some honest man to have looked upon it for tbis 30/. and tbat to spend upon the same; beseeching your Grace in the way of charity it may be paid." " Item, I beseech hi.'? Grace to be good unto a daughter of mine, which is called Dorothy Huse, which was liandfasted and bytraAvthid to one Thomas Wymbusshe by their own accords and agreements before sufficient record ; which Thomas Wymbusshe was ward unto his Grace, and I bought him of his Highness; beseeching his Grace tbat the said marriage may take effect for tbe discharging of tlieir consciences." Signed: Your humell servant, John Huse." Pp.3. ITmf/et/; To the King's Highness. Pndd.

3. Vesp. F.xni.

119 b. B. M.

Thanks Cromwell for his goodness and begs him not to credit ill i-eports against him in tbis troublesome world till be bear his answer. Is advised by his learned counsel that he may make whom he pleases his heir. Desires credence for Cromwell's servant Will. Blytheman and for his own chaplain. Sir Thos. Hallyman. Sends his Lordship's half year's fee which lie promised bim. Signed. P. 1. Add.: Lord Privy Seal.

4. n. o.

JOHK LORD LUMLEY, to CEOMWELL.

EICHAED, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER, to CROMWELL.

Owing to an attack of his old enemy the cohc, cannot wait this morning on tbe King. Having taken a remedy, hopes to wait on Cromwell to morrow, either here at London or there if the French ambassador is to bo there with him. Intended this day to have desired licence of the King to solemnise the feast of St. Eichard "whose day is for the church holiday of tbe cathedral church of Chichester." Hopes they may keep it there as they have been accustomed. The feast shall be now before Midsummer."* Hol., p.l. ^ es if he has done anything amiss Knight will forbear till lie can explain. Paris, "nonis Junii, 1587." HoL Latin, p. 1 . Add.: To, &e. « Mr, Dr. Knighto, archcdeeon of Eichenionde"; at his place in Canon Row, by Westminstur, London Endd. * Printed by error in Vol. X. as of the year 1586.

f Not foond.

14

29 HENEY VIH.

1537. 6 June. Harl. MS. 282, f. 203. B. M. Nott's Wyatt, 321.

June.

41.

OROMWELL to SIR THOS. WYATT.

Though Wyatt has beeu somewhat slack to write to him, takes the opportunity of this hearer, M. du Vauldray, who has been declaring the Queen of Hungary's excuses for the conveyance of the traitor Pole from Cambray (where he had retired when expelled by the French king) to the dominion of the bishop of Liege, "which was thought to have been more solemn than the treaties required." Don Diego de Mendoza arrived the Wednesday after Pentecost, and was well received by the King, then being at Hampton Court. With him and the other ambassador Cromwell and others of the Council have, by the King's appointment, had sundry con­ ferences upon the causes of his coming, touching the marriage. Though the King is well inclined, nothing is concluded, because Mendoza brought no new commission, but only such as the ambassador here resident had received long before; also because tbey make some difficulty in the demand that tbe Emperor sbould rather adhere to the King than to the bp. of Eome, and should withstand any attempts made by the Bishop and his adherents against the King. The said ambassadors have written of this by De Vauldray, and upon their answer from the Emperor the matter shall be concluded or broken off. Advises him to pretend ignorance; yet he may take any oppor­ tunity of saying that at his departure the King's mind was, for good causes, immutably against Ihe said Bishop, and doubtless he would not esteem an alliance perfect with any person tbat would assent to or assist in anything to his displeasure, taking heed evermore to the nourishing of the good amity between them. The King is in good health and disposition, the more because the Queen is quick with child. God send her good deliverance of a prince, to the joy of all faithful subjects. Hpon the news coming from Hampton Court to London on Trinity Sunday, at afternoon, there was great celebrity at Powles, and thanks given to God, and in the evening solemn fires both in the city and other towns. The whole I'ealm is peaceiEul, and offenders sorry for their offences, and desirous to serve the King, the more so because of his Grace's merciful pardon extended to them, and observed inviolably. For although lords Darcy and Husey, Constable, Bigot, Sir John Bulmer, Hamerton, the lord Lumley's son, Aske, Tempest, the abbot of Jervaulx, the prior of Bridlington, and some others, also Sir Thos. Percy, had their pardon, yet they have been openly convicted of high treason most ungratefully cxjmmitted since, and some of them be already executed. Wyatt may affirm that if they bad not offended since their pardon, the King would never have remembered their previous offences. From the Rolls, 6 June 29 Hen. VIII. Signed. Pp.2. Add.: Ambassador with the Emperor. Endd.: "From my loi-d Privy Seal, the first by Vauldray, 26 June,'' and also, " in June, at Valodolid." ^

42.

WRIOTHESLEY to SIR THOS, WYATT.

9?o*f ™^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ perceive ocenrrants here and the ' terms in which the treaty with Don Diego de Mendoza consists. If the B. M. Emperor will come to any good point in the matter of the capitulation Nott's Wyalt, against the bp. of Rome all vrill be well. Labour to cause him make an 421. overture to aid no man, directly or indirectly, against the King, and in case of invasion to assist the King against the bp. of Rome, or any other. Do not let it appear that " you could approve this overture, for that will offend. Make the bargain as good as you can, and stick you upon the Emperor's joining against the Bishop." From the Rolls, in more than haste. Sends herewith divers letters from friends. Mol. p.l. Add.: Ambassador with the Emperor. Endd.: Mr. Wriothes­ ley, m June, by Mr, Weldon, at Valladolid.

29 HENEY VIII. 1537. 6 June. ^-

4 3 . NOEFOLK to CEOMWELL. On Sunday last sent Sir Ealph Ellerker, with three of his servants, to Beverley, to take Thomas Strangwishe, and bring him to Cromwell. Comrnanded Sir Ealph to search for writings in his house that might toncli the King, and last night he sent such as you will receive with these. The first copy is that I sent from Windsor to lord Darcy by the King's command, after my first return ii-om Doncaster. The second is that written by Sir Ealph Ellerker and Epberfc Bowes at the same time to the said lord. The third is the King's letter sent with them. Some things must now be tried out, for it apppears they had spies among us, who must be discovered. Perhaps lord Hussey was one of them. So.me say the King .will not come hither this summer ; whereof I beg you to let me know the truth. Sheriffbutton, 6 June. Signed. r.l.

6 June. O.

15

; My lord Privy Seal. Undd.: 1587,

4 4 . SIE JOHN BULMEE. Survey of the lands of Sir John Bulmer, attainted, in Yorkshire, by Eic. Pollard, one of the King's general surveyors, in June 29 Hen. VIII. Possession taken at the lordship of Bulmer, 6 June 29 Hen. VIII., in presence of Thos. Laurens, Marmaduke Dawtrie, John Taylour, Eob, Annyngson and John Saunderson " with the body of the whole lordship, and there did atturne and become tenants to our said sovereign lord, and have given knowledge at the entry there, according to their ancient custom." List of freeholders with their tenures :—The priors of Marton and Mowseby, John Malfon and Eic. Otterborne. Tenants by indenture and by copy of court roll:—John Saunderson, Marmaduke Daltre, Will. Skalyng, Eob. Anneson, Eob. Maunsell, John Tayllour, Wm. Huchynson, Wm. Tayllour, John Malton, Janet Maunsell, John Stephynson, Davy Williamson, John Byturth's wife, Agnes Wattson, Hen. Bedall, John Etton, Wni. Wyll, John Benson, Wm. Skelton's wife, John Harreson, Matt. Wright, Edw. Calverd, Wm. Anneson and John Welborne. Tenants at will:—Eob. Bulmer, Eob. Welborne and John Tomson. Work-silver:—The township of Bulmer for " bonne silver otherwise called work silver." 6*. 8d. In WelborneTenants by copy of court roll:—^Ric. Wedrelt, John EUys, Eob. Smyth, Eic. Wright, Wm. Wayte, Sic. Knotte, Thos, Gilbank, Thos. Hare, Chr. Hare, Eob. Colt, Thos. Cawthom, Wm. Pykaryng, Wm. Wright's wife, Eob. Tanfeld's wife, John Seman, John Collynson, and Wm. Byfunh. Tenants at will.—Eob. Pekett, Thos. Laurence, John Twede and the township of Welborne. The mill of Welborne is a water mill standing upon a smdl. stream and grindeth aU manner of corn; repairs will cost 4/.: it is held by Eob. Bulmer at the lord's pl^ure : rent 40s, The demesne lands held by the township of Welborne and by Eobert Bulmer (the various parcels specified). The manor place stands on a plain high ground in the midst of the tomi and is a very old house covered with slate and greatly in decay. There is an orchard of about an acre growing no frait. Also an old " kylne house," at the back, and a gatehouse, at the entry, ready to fall down. Also two stables much in need of repair. Woods :~-Southwodde, Brandret'u and Storffe Wodde. Bulmer Common 60 acres and Welborne Common SO acres, Eoyalties The fine called the "greaebith" and the «gressham " and

16

2 9 HENBY VIII. 1537.4 4 , SIB JOHN Bvm^n-^cont. The lord has the advowson of Bulmer and there is a chapel of Our Lady at Welhorne. m, i, i