A letter of Chapuys in the summer of 1536[314], soon after Anne Boleyn’s execution, tells us that it was even rumoured that Cromwell might marry the Princess Mary, but the Imperial ambassador himself was too shrewd to be misled by such an improbable report[315]. Had Cromwell seriously entertained the idea of a union with the daughter of the divorced Queen, he would scarcely have permitted himself to be made use of by the King as an instrument for breaking down her resolution: he could scarcely have written her such a brutal letter as that of June 10, 1536[316]. But the inequality in rank is certainly in itself sufficient proof of the absurdity of the proposition. Cromwell was about the last man in the world to become reckless with success; he never for a moment forgot his low birth, and the imprisonment of the brother of his rival the Duke of Norfolk for presuming to wed the King’s niece was a warning of the danger of such a proceeding, which could not have been lost on him[317]. If such a proposition were put forward at all, and we cannot believe that it was, it could only have been as a pretext to prevent the Princess from leaving the realm and joining with her cousin the Emperor in an attempt to dethrone the King.
Cromwell was certainly shrewd enough to see that he could never hope to marry into a reigning house himself, but he was none the less anxious that his son Gregory should wed such a wife as would enable him to found a noble family. In April, 1533, Gregory had been taken from Cambridge, and sent to live with his father’s friend Dr. Rowland Lee, with whom he appears to have spent a summer in hunting[318]. In 1535 he came out into public life, and in 1539 he was summoned to Parliament as a peer of the realm. Two years earlier he had been able to contract an advantageous marriage with the widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred, sister of Jane Seymour[319]. This fortunate match must be attributed to his father’s influence, for Gregory seems to have been entirely without ambition, and such an idea would never have entered his mind; his father, on the contrary, was precisely the man to think of it. The number of grants either made jointly to Cromwell and his son, or providing for the succession of the latter at his father’s death[320], corroborates the theory that the King’s great minister wished Gregory to be the heir of all his possessions and emoluments as far as might be, and desired to raise his family to a permanent position among the English nobility.
Of course Cromwell was obliged in large measure to abandon his private business after he definitely entered the King’s service, but his new position brought him far greater riches than he could possibly have amassed in his old occupations. The various inventories of his goods indicate great wealth and prosperity. He gave costly New Year’s presents at the Court, and owned several houses, all of them magnificently furnished[321]. After October, 1534, when he was made Master of the Rolls, his correspondence shows him to have been constantly in residence at the Rolls House, where he held his Court. Writing in 1535, the Prioress of Little Marlowe complained that so great was the crowd of his visitors there, that it was impossible to gain access to him[322].
CHAPTER VIII
IRELAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, CALAIS
Though Cromwell was so busily occupied in England itself, he was far from neglecting the adjoining countries. The subjugation of Ireland, the pacification of Scotland, and the reform of Wales and Calais, played a very important part in his political programme. He plainly saw that the English King’s position could not be regarded as secure while these countries remained in the state in which they were at Wolsey’s fall, and he determined as soon as possible to deal with them in such a way that they should cease to be a menace to the English Crown in the future.
When he entered the King’s service he probably found little difficulty in persuading Henry that, in order firmly to establish his supremacy, he must take Ireland in hand as he had never done before. Throughout Wolsey’s administration the tranquillity of the country had been continually disturbed by the feuds of two rival Anglo-Norman families, the Fitzgeralds under the Earl of Kildare, and the Butlers under the Earl of Ormond. To repress these quarrels the Cardinal had taken the office of Lord Deputy from the young Earl of Kildare, and created the Earl of Surrey Lord Lieutenant. After a year’s hard service in Ireland, however, Surrey was recalled at his own request, and the Deputyship devolved on Sir Piers Butler. He in turn was forced to resign his office to his rival Kildare, who passed it on to Sir William Skeffington of Leicestershire, just at the time of Wolsey’s fall[323].
The affairs of Ireland had naturally been thrown into confusion by these numerous changes, and Cromwell became convinced that subjugation by the sword was absolutely essential, before any attempt could be made to govern the country, or to draw revenues from it. This policy brought him into collision with his rival Norfolk, but he seems to have succeeded in convincing the King of the superiority of his plan to that of the Duke, whose idea had been to conciliate the Irish chieftains, and to pacify rather than subjugate the country[324].