THOMAS CROMWELL
FROM A PICTURE IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY

LIFE AND LETTERS OF
THOMAS CROMWELL

BY
ROGER BIGELOW MERRIMAN
A.M. HARV., B.LITT. OXON.

WITH A PORTRAIT AND FACSIMILE

VOL. I
LIFE, LETTERS TO 1535

OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1902

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK

PREFACE

This book is an attempt to present the life of Thomas Cromwell as a statesman, and to estimate his work without religious bias. Though it would certainly be difficult to overrate his importance in the history of the Church of England, I maintain that the motives that inspired his actions were invariably political, and that the many ecclesiastical changes carried through under his guidance were but incidents of his administration, not ends in themselves. Consequently any attempt to judge him from a distinctively religious standpoint, whether Catholic or Protestant, can hardly fail, it seems to me, to mislead the student and obscure the truth. I cannot agree, on the other hand, with those who have represented Cromwell as a purely selfish political adventurer, the subservient instrument of a wicked master, bent only on his own gain. It seems to me as idle to disparage his patriotism and statesmanship, as it is to try to make him out a hero of the Reformation. He merits a place far higher than that of most men of his type, a type essentially characteristic of the sixteenth century, a type of which the Earl of Warwick in England and Maurice of Saxony on the Continent are striking examples, a type that profoundly influenced the destinies of Protestantism, but to which theological issues were either a mere nothing, or else totally subordinate to political considerations.

It has been justly said that Cromwell’s correspondence is our chief source of information for the period immediately following the breach with Rome. To transcribe in extenso the letters he received would be almost the task of a lifetime; for they form the bulk of the enormous mass of material with which the editors of the Calendars of State Papers for the years 1533–1540 have had to deal. But the number of extant letters he wrote is, comparatively speaking, extremely small; it has therefore been possible to make full copies of them in every case, and I trust that the many advantages—linguistic as well as historical—that can only be secured by complete, and as far as possible accurate transcriptions of the originals, will be accepted as sufficient reason for editing this collection of documents, twenty-one of which have neither been printed nor calendared before. The rules that have been observed in transcription will be found in the [Prefatory Note] (vol. i. p. 311). The Calendar references to the more important letters received by Cromwell, where they bear directly on those he wrote, are given in the notes at the end of the second volume.

My warmest thanks are due to Mr. F. York Powell, Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, who has guided me throughout in matter, form, and style; and to my friend and master Mr. A. L. Smith, Fellow of Balliol College, whose advice and encouragement have been an inspiration from first to last. It is not easy for me to express how much I have depended on their suggestions and criticism. I am indebted to Mr. Owen Edwards, Fellow of Lincoln College, for indispensable help in the early stages of my work. The main plan of this book is in many respects similar to that of his Lothian Essay for the year 1887, which I regret that he has never published. My grateful acknowledgements are also due to Mr. James Gairdner of the Public Record Office for information about Cromwell’s early life; to Professor Dr. Max Lenz, of the University of Berlin, for helpful suggestions in connexion with the Anglo-German negotiations in the years 1537–1540; and to Mr. G. T. Lapsley, of the University of California, for similar services in regard to the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the reorganization of the North after the suppression of the rebellion.

I beg to express my appreciation of the kindness of the Duke of Rutland, the Marquess of Salisbury, Earl Spencer, Lord Calthorpe, William Berington, Esq., and Alfred Henry Huth, Esq., in giving me access to the manuscripts in their private collections.

In conclusion, I wish to thank the officials of the Public Record Office, British Museum, Heralds’ College of Arms, and Bodleian Library, for facilitating my work in every way; more especially Messrs. Hubert Hall, R. H. Brodie, E. Salisbury, and F. B. Bickley, who have repeatedly aided me in my search for uncalendared letters and continental documents, and in deciphering the most difficult manuscripts I have had to consult.

R. B. M.

Balliol College, Oxford.
February, 1902.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER I

THE ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE OF THOMAS CROMWELL

The manor of Wimbledon comprises the parishes of Wimbledon, Putney, Roehampton, Mortlake, and East Sheen, and parts of Wandsworth and Barnes[1]. In West Saxon times it was one of the estates of the see of Canterbury, but after the Conquest it was seized by Odo, the high-handed Bishop of Bayeux: in 1071, however, it was recovered by Lanfranc, and with one trifling interruption in the reign of Richard II., it remained in the possession of the archbishopric until 1535. In that year Cranmer surrendered it to Henry VIII. in exchange for the priory of St. Rhadegund in Dover, and a little later the King granted it to Thomas Cromwell[2], who was born there some fifty years before, the son of a well-to-do blacksmith, brewer, and fuller. The early history of the manor of Wimbledon is almost unknown, for we do not possess its Court Rolls prior to the year 1461: they were probably lost or destroyed during the Wars of the Roses. After 1461, however, they are continuous, with the exception of the years 1473 and 1474.

An entry in these rolls, written in the year 1475, states that ‘Walter Smyth and his father keep thirty sheep on Putney Common, where they have no common[3].’ A number of subsequent mentions of this same Walter Smyth shows that he was also called Walter Cromwell. The name Walter Cromwell occurs more than ninety times in the rolls, and the name Walter Smyth at least forty times. That both these names stand for the same person is proved by one entry written, ‘Walter Cromwell alias Walter Smyth,’ by two written, ‘Walter Smyth alias Cromwell,’ and by five written, ‘Walter Cromwell alias Smyth.’ Who then was this Walter Cromwell, whence did he come, and how did he acquire this double name?

The Cromwell family did not originate in Wimbledon. An entry in the Close Roll of Edward IV. states that in the year 1461 John Cromwell, son of William Cromwell, late of Norwell in Nottinghamshire, surrendered his right in Parkersplace, Kendalsland and other property there to Master John Porter, prebendary of Palishall[4]. Mr. John Phillips of Putney further informs us that nine years before John Cromwell gave up his lands in Norwell, he was granted the twenty-one years’ lease of a fulling-mill and house in Wimbledon by Archbishop Kempe, lord of the manor, and had moved there with his family[5]. It would be interesting to know what Mr. Phillips’ authority for this statement is: unfortunately he has given no reference for it. But whatever the precise date and circumstances of their change of home, there can be little doubt that the Cromwells migrated to Wimbledon from Norwell some time before 1461. There is plenty of evidence in the Court Rolls to show that Walter Smyth alias Cromwell was the son of John Cromwell, and the entry of 1475 proves that they were both in Wimbledon in that year. The family in Nottinghamshire from which they sprung was well-known and well-off; both John Cromwell’s father William and his grandfather Ralph were persons of wealth and position there[6].

Several entries in the Court Rolls indicate that John Cromwell’s wife was the sister of a certain William Smyth, who is often mentioned as ‘William Smyth armourer,’ and sometimes as ‘William Armourer.’ It seems probable that this William Smyth came with John Cromwell to Wimbledon from Norwell, and the entries in the manorial records show that he lived there with his brother-in-law. There is also reason to believe that the latter’s son Walter was apprenticed to him during his younger days, and so acquired the name Smyth.

Walter Cromwell grew up as a brewer, smith, and fuller in Putney. He had an elder brother named John, who moved to Lambeth and settled down there to a quiet and prosperous life as a brewer, later, according to Chapuys, becoming cook to the Archbishop of Canterbury[7]. Walter, however, remained in Wimbledon, and appears to have been a most quarrelsome and riotous character. Most of the entries in the Court Rolls concerning him are records of small fines incurred for petty offences. Forty-eight times between 1475 and 1501 was he forced to pay sixpence for breaking the assize of ale. In order to prevent the sale of bad beer in those days, an ale-taster was appointed to pass, or condemn as unfit, all brewing in the parish. Walter Cromwell did not go to the ale-taster before he drew and sold his beer, and for failing so to do was fined as aforesaid. There is also record that he was not seldom drunk. In 1477 a penalty of twenty pence was inflicted on him for assaulting and drawing blood from William Michell, and he and his father were very often brought before the court on the charge of ‘overburthening’ the public land in Putney with their cattle, and cutting more than their share of the furze and thorns there[8]. But in spite of all these petty misdemeanours, Walter Cromwell appears to have been a man of property and influence in Wimbledon, and the Court Rolls in 1480 show that he then possessed two virgates of land in Putney parish. To these were added six more virgates in 1500 by grant of Archbishop Morton[9]. Walter Cromwell was also made Constable of Putney in 1495[10], and his name constantly occurs in the Court Rolls as decenarius and juryman[11]. Towards the end of his life, however, his character appears to have become so bad that he forfeited all his position and property in Wimbledon. In 1514 he ‘falsely and fraudulently erased the evidences and terrures of the lord,’ so that the bedell was commanded ‘to seize into the lord’s hands all his copyholds held of the lord and to answer the lord of the issue[12].’ This is the last mention of the name of Walter Cromwell in the Wimbledon Manor Rolls.

Walter Cromwell’s wife was the aunt of a man named Nicholas Glossop, of Wirksworth in Derbyshire[13]. Mr. Phillips gives no reference for his statements that she was the daughter of a yeoman named Glossop, and that she was residing in Putney at the house of an attorney named John Welbeck, at the time of her marriage with Walter Cromwell in 1474[14]; but we have no evidence that these assertions are incorrect. At least two daughters and one son were born to Walter Cromwell. He may have had other children, but as there was no registration of births, marriages, or deaths in England until 1538, we can only be certain of these three, of whom there are mentions in the Court Rolls and in other contemporary records. The eldest daughter Katherine, who was probably born about the year 1477, grew up and married a young Welshman named Morgan Williams[15], whose family had come to Putney from Llanishen in Glamorganshire. The Williamses were a very important family in Putney, and John, the eldest of them, was a successful lawyer and accountant, and steward to Lord Scales, who was then in possession of a residence and some land in Putney parish. The youngest daughter of Walter Cromwell was named Elizabeth. She married a sheep-farmer named Wellyfed, who later joined his business to that of his father-in-law[16]. Christopher, the son of Elizabeth Cromwell and Wellyfed, grew up and was later sent to school with his cousin Gregory, son of his mother’s brother Thomas[17]. We are now in a position to examine the many conflicting statements concerning the son of Walter Cromwell, the subject of this essay.

The traditional sources of information about Thomas Cromwell’s early life are the characteristic but somewhat confusing stories of the martyrologist Foxe, founded to some extent upon a novel of the Italian author Bandello, the meagre though probably trustworthy accounts contained in Cardinal Pole’s ‘Apologia ad Carolum Quintum,’ a letter of Chapuys to Granvelle written November 21, 1535, and a few scattered statements in the chroniclers of the period. To these were added in 1880 and 1882 the results of the researches of Mr. John Phillips in the Wimbledon Manor Rolls[18]. Mr. Phillips has certainly brought to light a large number of interesting facts about the ancestry and family of Thomas Cromwell: it is the more unfortunate that he should have gone so far astray in some of his statements concerning the man himself. He is surely correct in assuming Thomas to be the son of Walter Cromwell; the evidence afforded by the State Papers leaves no doubt of this. He is also right in stating that the name Thomas Cromwell does not occur in the Court Rolls. But it is more difficult to believe the theory which Mr. Phillips has evolved from these data. As he finds no entry concerning Thomas Cromwell in the manorial records, he seeks for some mention of him under another appellation, and hits upon that of Thomas Smyth as the most likely, owing to the fact that his father was called by both surnames. He finds two entries in the Court Rolls concerning Thomas Smyth, and assumes that they refer to Thomas Cromwell. These entries occur in the records of Feb. 26, 1504, and of May 20 in the same year. The first states that ‘Richard Williams came to the court and surrendered into the hands of the lord two whole virgates of land in ‹Roe›hampton, one called Purycroft and the other called Williams, to the use of Thomas Smyth, his heirs and assigns’; the second, that ‘Richard Williams assaulted Thomas [Smyth] and beat the same Thomas against the peace of the lord the King,’ and further that ‘Thomas Smyth came to the court and surrendered into the hands of the lord two whole virgates of land in Roehampton, one called Purycroft and the other called Williams, to the use of David Doby, his heirs and assigns[19].’ Mr. Phillips has made these entries the basis for an attack on the veracity of many of the best-known stories of Bandello and Foxe concerning the early life of our subject, but his whole case hangs on the assumption that Thomas Smyth and Thomas Cromwell were one and the same man, and until he can prove this ingenious but somewhat improbable theory his arguments cannot be supported. He discusses at length the two entries in the Court Rolls, adducing them as a proof of the falsity of the accounts which assert Cromwell to have been in Italy previous to 1504, but concluding that the record that Thomas Smyth disposed of his lands in Putney in May of that year indicates that Thomas Cromwell left England at that time. To corroborate this last theory he refers to the story of Chapuys that Cromwell was ill-behaved when young, and was forced after an imprisonment to leave the country, and also asserts, in order still further to strengthen his case, that ‘the Court Rolls contain nothing more respecting Thomas Cromwell than what we have already stated[20].’

It seems very extraordinary that Mr. Phillips should make this last statement in view of his readiness to jump at the conclusion that Thomas Smyth and Thomas Cromwell are identical. ‘Thomas Smyth,’ as a very cursory examination of the Court Rolls will show, is mentioned therein every year from 1493 to 1529 (inclusive), except in 1494 and 1516. As there is certain evidence that Thomas Cromwell was in other places during many of the years that Thomas Smyth was in Wimbledon, it is clear that the two names cannot always stand for the same man. The question which now arises is this: were there two Thomas Smyths, one of them Thomas Cromwell and the other some other member of the Smyth family, perhaps a descendant of William Smyth, armourer? Or is the Thomas Smyth mentioned in the Court Rolls one man, and not Thomas Cromwell at all?

The second theory seems on the whole more probable than the first. There are no contradictory statements about Thomas Smyth in the rolls, nor is the name mentioned twice in any of the lists of the Homage or Frank Pledge. Moreover had there been two Thomas Smyths, one of whom was entitled to the name Cromwell, he would almost certainly have been called so, in order to avoid confusion. On the other hand, it scarcely seems likely that the son of Walter Cromwell should not be mentioned at all in the Court Rolls. But this may be partially explained by Chapuys’ account of his youthful wildness and early imprisonment; it seems quite probable that he was a mere boy when he left his home. The evidence which we possess certainly seems to strengthen the conclusion that there was but one Thomas Smyth: the man mentioned in the Court Rolls by that name was probably a descendant of William Smyth, armourer[21]. Surely none of the entries in the manorial records concerning Thomas Smyth can be said to prove anything conclusive concerning the early life of the subject of this essay. It has been the fashion to decry Bandello and Foxe and to disbelieve all their stories, because of the undoubted confusion of dates which vitiates their testimony. But if no reliance can be placed on them, or on Pole, Chapuys, and the chronicles of the period, must we not confess that our knowledge of the early years of our subject’s life must reduce itself to an interrogation point? Let us guard ourselves against accepting with implicit faith the statements of these authors, but let us not cast them aside as utterly worthless. Let us rather recognize that they still remain our most trustworthy sources of information concerning the early life of Thomas Cromwell, and therefore make a careful attempt to glean from their very confusing statements the more probable facts concerning him.

None of the different accounts sheds any light upon the date of Cromwell’s birth, but it is doubtful if it occurred later than 1485, in view of his probable age at the time of his sojourn abroad. That he had a quarrel with his father seems very likely: Bandello’s statement that he came to Italy, ‘fleeing from his father,’ and Chapuys’ assertion that he was ill-behaved when young, together with the many entries in the rolls concerning the tempestuous and disorderly conduct of Walter Cromwell, all point to the truth of this story[22]. Foxe moreover asserts that Cromwell told Cranmer in later years ‘what a ruffian he was in his younger days.’ Pole informs us that he soon became a roving soldier in Italy, a statement which is borne out by the tales of Bandello and Foxe that he was at the battle on the Garigliano (Dec. 28–29, 1503), in the service of the French army[23]. The well-known story of the Italian novelist about Cromwell and Frescobaldo the Florentine merchant, may well have some foundation in fact: there are several mentions of Frescobaldo in the State Papers of the years 1530–1540, which prove that Cromwell was intimate with an Italian of that name[24]. Some scholars have gone so far as to refuse to believe that Cromwell ever went to Italy at all; but this must be the incredulity of madness in face of the fact that all our contemporary witnesses agree that he went there, and of the evidence afforded by his wide acquaintance with Italians, and by his knowledge of their language and literature.

From the date of the tale of Bandello up to 1512, the most probable story concerning Cromwell’s life is that contained in Pole’s Apologia. It is there stated that after his brief military career he became a merchant, but did not remain a merchant long; and that he later attached himself as accountant to a Venetian, whom Pole knew very well. Bandello informs us that Cromwell returned to England after his stay in Florence; it seems more probable, however, that he first went to Antwerp and engaged in trade there; for Foxe and Chapuys both agree that he was in Flanders, and the former asserts that he was in the service of English dealers in the Flemish marts. Another singular but characteristic and not improbable story of the martyrologist strengthens the theory that Cromwell was in Antwerp some time after the battle on the Garigliano. One Geoffrey Chambers was sent to Rome as a representative of the Gild of Our Lady in St. Botolph’s Church in Boston, to obtain from the Pope certain pardons or indulgences by which the severe rules concerning Lenten observances might be relaxed; and passing through Antwerp he fell in with Cromwell, whom he persuaded to accompany him. The latter entered into the spirit of the enterprise; arrived at Rome, he procured some choice sweetmeats and jellies, and armed with these lay in wait for the Pope on his return from hunting. The delicacies were offered, Julius was delighted with them, and granted the desired indulgences without delay. Foxe states that this episode took place about the year 1510[25].

This story seems to indicate that Cromwell went to Italy a second time. It fits in well with Pole’s statement that after his military experience he became first a merchant, and then a clerk to a Venetian trader. The absence of any trustworthy chronology, however, prevents us from regarding any of the accounts of these different writers as really historical; and when at last we meet with a date on which we can rely, it is most tantalizing to find that the evidence which is afforded us in connexion with it is of such a nature as to leave us almost as much in the dark as before. In a letter written in June, 1536, a certain mercer, by name George Elyot, addresses Cromwell as follows[26]: ‘Ryght onourabyll sir my dewty Consethered as to youre Masterscheppe apertayneth that hyt may plece your Masterscheppe For the love off god to Exceppe my Rewd Maneres in thes behalf of wrytyng vnto you butt hyt ys onely to schowe yowre Masterscheppe my pore mynd furste for the onour of god & secondly For the god love & trew hartt that ‹I› have howtt vnto you sensse the syngsson Martt at medelborow in anno 1512.’ This quotation does not prove that Cromwell was at the Syngsson Mart at Middelburg in 1512, nor does it shed much light on the position he occupied at that time; still the probabilities strongly favour the conclusion that he was either a merchant or a clerk to a merchant in the Low Countries in 1512: the accounts of Foxe and Chapuys agree that he was in the Netherlands in his younger days, and the letter of the mercer seems to fix the date. We have also reason to believe that he was in London soon after this practising as a solicitor. There exists in the Record Office a document dated November, 1512, and endorsed, in a hand which certainly resembles that of Cromwell’s later correspondence, ‘The tytle of the manour Whityngham for Mr. Empson[27].’ The endorsement may of course be of a very different date from that of the document itself; still the evidence which it affords is not utterly valueless, especially as another reason for supposing that Cromwell returned to England in 1512, or soon after, is afforded by the fact that his marriage must have taken place about this time: the age of his son Gregory being such that it could scarcely have occurred much later. The State Papers of 1512 give us more information concerning the early life of Thomas Cromwell than those of any other year up to 1523. The sum total of the evidence which they afford seems to indicate that he was in England and in the Netherlands, that he was occupied both as a merchant and as a solicitor, and that he was married in that year or soon afterwards.

Cromwell’s wife, to whom Chapuys refers as the daughter of a shearman, was Elizabeth Wykys, descended from one of an ancient family of esquires, who was gentleman-usher to Henry VII[28]. A reference in Cromwell’s will of July 12, 1529, to one ‘Mercye Pryour’ as his mother-in-law[29] has led some writers to suppose that he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Pryor, and widow of Thomas Williams, a Welsh gentleman; but a letter to Cromwell from one Harry Wykys of Thorpe, near Chertsey, dated November 2, 1523[30], disproves this theory, and corroborates the other. The most probable explanation of the entry in the will is that Mercy Pryor married twice, and that she was the mother of Elizabeth Wykys by her first husband[31]. Cromwell’s wife was probably a woman of some property. He was exactly the sort of man who would seek a wife with an eye to the financial advantages of the match, and the theory that Elizabeth Wykys was rich fits in well with the evidence that her mother was married a second time. Moreover Cromwell’s property increased so fast during his years of service under Wolsey, that even his notorious accessibility to bribes could not account for it, had it not been augmented from some outside source.

Chapuys goes on to say that for some time after his marriage Cromwell kept servants in his house, carrying on the business of his father-in-law; a statement corroborated by his correspondence, which shows that he plied his trade as a cloth and wool merchant at least as late as 1524. There can be little doubt, however, that he continued his business as a solicitor at the same time, for it would be impossible to explain his sudden advance in legal prominence in the years 1520 to 1525, if he had not had long practice in the law beforehand. The strange combination of employments in which Cromwell was engaged fitted in well with the peculiar versatility of the man, and brought him into close contact with diverse sorts of men, in diverse conditions of life. A more detailed account of his career during the seven or eight years which followed his probable return to England it is impossible to give, for between 1512 and 1520 there occurs another extraordinary gap in the life of Thomas Cromwell, during which we do not possess a single trustworthy contemporary record concerning him. In 1520 there is certainly evidence that he was known to Wolsey, but precisely how or when his connexion with the Cardinal began, it is impossible to tell.

The statement in the Dictionary of National Biography that Wolsey appointed Cromwell collector of his revenues in 1514 is apparently unfounded[32], and no reference is given for the assertion in Singer’s Cavendish[33] that the Cardinal first met his future servant in France. Another unverified story is that Lord Henry Percy, who had been an intimate of the Cardinal’s household in his early years, borrowed money from Cromwell, and conceiving a high opinion of his creditor, introduced him to Wolsey[34]; while Mr. Phillips informs us that Robert Cromwell (the son of Walter Cromwell’s brother John), who was vicar of Battersea under the Cardinal, gave to his cousin Thomas the stewardship of the archiepiscopal estate of York House, after Wolsey had been made archbishop there. Though Mr. Phillips has again failed to cite his authority for this last statement, it is but fair to say that the probabilities are strongly in its favour: the theory that Cromwell owed his appointment as Wolsey’s servant to his cousin Robert seems particularly plausible, as the latter was certainly well known to the Cardinal. It is possible that the origin of the connexion had something to do with the young Marquis of Dorset, who later became Cromwell’s patron. Wolsey had long been acquainted with the Marquis; he had been the friend and tutor of his father when he was principal of Magdalen School, and had been given the living of Limington in Somerset by a still older member of the family in 1500[35]. The date of the origin of Cromwell’s connexion with Wolsey must remain as much a matter of conjecture as its cause. It seems probable that those historians who have placed it as far back as 1513 or 1514 have been at fault, for had Cromwell entered the Cardinal’s service as early as that there would almost certainly have been more entries in the State Papers to show it. As it is, we possess only one piece of evidence in contemporary records to show that he was known to Wolsey before October, 1520, and that is of such a nature that little reliance can be placed on it. On the back of a letter, written in August, 1514, by the Abbot of Winchcomb to Wolsey[36], are some lines in a hand which bears some resemblance to Cromwell’s, apparently intended as an exercise in penmanship; the similarity of the handwritings, however, is not so striking that it can be regarded as affording any very conclusive proof: moreover as the words on the back have no connexion with the letter itself, it is quite likely that they were written at a much later date. It is safe to say that the lack of information on the subject in the State Papers makes it probable that if Cromwell’s connexion with Wolsey began much before 1520, it was certainly of very minor importance.

In the autumn of that year, however, we possess a record which leaves little doubt that Cromwell had at least become known to the Cardinal. An appeal had been made to the Papal Court at Rome against the sentence of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in a suit between the vicar of Cheshunt and the Prioress of the nunnery there. Wolsey, as Papal Legate, soon afterwards received a copy of the citation and inhibition ‘with other information by the letters of Thomas Cromwell,’ making clear the rights and wrongs of the case, and the best method of handling it[37]. No other mention of Cromwell in connexion with the Cardinal occurs until 1523, when he drafted a petition to Wolsey in Chancery for a certain John Palsgrave[38]. But these two records are enough to prove that he was known to the Cardinal in the capacity of a solicitor and clerk from a period at least as early as 1520. The gap between that date and 1512 is more difficult to fill. The supposition that Cromwell was in Wolsey’s service as early as 1513 is perhaps the easiest method of disposing of these years, but it certainly cannot be regarded as more than a theory, unless some new document is found which corroborates it.

Most of the letters addressed to Cromwell during this period from 1520 to 1524 concern themselves with legal business, and request his aid as a practised lawyer in some suit for the collection of debts or the decision of a title to lands[39]. In August, 1522, he acted as an ‘indifferent person’ in a dispute between Richard Chauffer, alderman of Calais, and Lord Mountjoy. In December, 1523, he served on the inquest of wardmote in the ward of Bread Street. But it is also evident from his correspondence that he had by no means lost interest in his business as a cloth merchant and wool-dyer[40]. It may have been in this capacity that he first became known to the family of the Marquis of Dorset. The ‘old lady Marques’ writes to him in August, 1522, as her ‘sonne marquys servaunt,’ and desires him to send in haste ‘the trussynn bed of cloth of tyssewe and the fether bed wyth the fustyons, and amateras longyng to the same wyth the cownterpoynt . . . tentes pauylyons & hales[41].’ There is also record that Cromwell was a great lender of money at high rates of interest. His friendship and reputation with foreign merchants brought him an enormous amount of business, and his property increased to a great extent. The training he received during and after his journey on the Continent was probably the best that he could have had to fit him for the difficult life-work that was given him to perform. The spirit of the Italy of Machiavelli and Caesar Borgia stamped itself deeply upon his youthful character. It gave him his ideas, his theories. The hard school of adversity (at first almost a struggle for existence), through which he passed during his early years, afforded him the intimate knowledge of men and things, the wonderful insight into human nature, and the ability to turn every event to the advancement of his own purposes, that enabled him at a later day to mould the destinies of the English nation.

‘And my experience happily me taught

Into the secrets of those times to see,

From whence to England afterward I brought

Those slights of state deliu’red vnto mee,

In t’which were then but very few that sought,

Nor did with th’umour of that age agree,

After did great and fearful things effect,

Whose secret working few did then suspect.’

Michael Drayton. The Legend of Great Cromwell, p. 13.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I

I

PASSAGE FROM A LETTER OF CHAPUYS TO GRANVELLE, NOV. 21, 1535[42].

‘M^e Cremuel . . . est filz dung poure marechal lequel en son vivant se tenoit en vng petit villaige pres dici dune lieue et demye et est sepulture au cemetiere de lad. parroiche dud. villaige de plus pouurement que soient la son oncle[43] pere dung syen cousin qui‹l›a desia fait fort riche estoit cousinier du feu euesque de Conturberi led. Cremuel en sa jeunesse fust assez mal condicionner, et apres quelque emprisonnement il fut contrainct vuider le pays et senpasser en flandres et dois la en rome ou et ailleurs en italie il demeura quelque temps, estant de retour il se maria a la fille dung tondeur de draps, et tint quelque temps en sa maison seruiteurs exercent led. art apres il devint solliciteur de causes et par ce moyen se feit congnoistre au cardinal de york, lequel congnoissant la vigilance et diligence dud. Cremuel et habilite et promptitude tant a mal que a bien, il le tint on nombre de ses serviteurs, et l’employa principalement quant il fut question de ruyner et demoler cinq du[44] six bons monasteres. Venant a descherir led. cardinal il ny eust personne que saquittast myeulx enuers led. cardinal que luy. Apres le decez dud. cardinal maistre valloup a present ambassadeur en france le poursuyuant de injures et menasses le plus fort du monde, et non voyant autre reffuge ne remede que de recourir au roy, il fait tant par prieres et presens quil eust audience dud. roy auquel il deust promettre de le faire le plus riche que oncques fut en angleterre, et luy parla si bien et beaul qui le retint des lors de son conseil, sans autre aduis et ne le decouurit led. roy a personne des siens deans quatre moys apres Maintenant il a empiete de telle sorte quil a baille le bout a toute la reste ‹si› ce nest a la dame, et le tient tout le monde auoir plus de credit auprez de son maistre, que neust oncques le cardinal du temps duquel en y auoit questoient en concurrence de credit comme maistre Conton[45] et le duc de suffocq et autres, mais maintenant il n’y a personne que face riens que luy, et ne sert le chancellier synon pour mynistre et organe dud. Cremuel, lequel jusques yci na voulu accepter led. office de chancellier, mais lon pense bien tost il se layra persuader de lempoigner. Il est home bien parlant en sa langue et mediocrement en la latyne francoyse et italyenne, home de bonne chiere liberal et de ses biens et de bonnes et gracieuses parolles, home manifique en trayn et batissement . . .’

II

PASSAGE FROM CARDINAL POLE’S APOLOGIA AD CAROLUM QUINTUM. Pars 1. p. 126, c. xxviii.

‘Sic ergo, si tale nomen quaeratur, Cromvellum eum appellant, si genus, de nullo quidem ante eum, qui id nomen gereret, audivi. Dicunt tamen, viculum esse prope Londinum, ubi natus erat, & ubi pater ejus pannis verrendis victum quaeritabat, sed de hoc parum refert. Nunc si conditio quaeratur, sic quidem de eo intellexi, aliquem in Italia fuisse gregarium militem, fuisse etiam mercatorem, nec tamen longius progressum in mercatura fuisse, quam ut scriba esset mercatoris, & libros rationum servaret, optime vero novi illum mercatorem, qui Venetus erat natione, cui operas suas locabat. Tandem hujus conditionis pertaesus, domum reversus, causidicis se immiscuit, his qui jura Regni profitentur. In quo eo magis se proficere sperabat, quod versuti & callidi ingenii sibi conscius esset ad defendendum tam iniquum, quam aequum, quod ex externorum commercio valde acuerat, cum nostrorum hominum ingeniorum simplicitatem semper contemneret. Nec tamen in hoc genere valde crevit, antequam ad Monasteriorum ruinam perventum est. Quod incoepit vivente adhuc Cardinali Eboracense, dum Monasteria quaedam pene a suis deserta, & illorum bona ac praedia in subsidium pauperum, qui in Gymnasiis literis operam dabant, essent conversa. Hic vero notus esse coepit, idque ostendit ad hanc artem solam se natum fuisse, ad ruinam & vastationem, id quod crebra aliarum artium mutatio declaravit, in quibus nihil crevit, in hac vero statim celebris esse coepit, & pluribus notus, ita tamen in illis initiis hujus suae artis notus, ut cum Cardinalis, cujus assecla fuit, & ex cujus authoritate et imperio illam suam artem exercebat, ab administratione Reipublicae remotus esset, et dignitate privatus, ipse omnium voce, qui aliquid de eo intellexerant, ad supplicium posceretur. Hoc enim affirmare possum, qui Londini tum adfui, & voces audivi, adeo etiam ut per civitatem universam rumor circumferretur, eum in carcerem fuisse detrusum, & propediem productum iri ad supplicium. Nec vero populus ullum spectaculum libentius expectabat, nec ille rumor ex alia re nascebatur, nisi quod omnes eum sciebant omni supplicio dignum . . .’

III

NOVELLA XXXIV DELLA SECONDA PARTE DE LE NOVELLE DEL BANDELLO, Tomo quinto, p. 251.

‘Francesco Frescobaldi fa cortesia ad uno straniero, e n’è ben rimeritato, essendo colui divenuto Contestabile d’Inghilterra.’

‘Ne la famiglia nobile et antica de i Frescobaldi in Firenze fu, non sono molti anni, un Francesco, mercadante molto leale et onorevole, il quale, secondo la costuma de la patria, essendo assai ricco, trafficava in diversi luoghi e faceva di gran faccende, e quasi per l’ordinario dimorava in Ponente, in Inghilterra, e teneva la stanza in Londra, ove viveva splendidissimamente et usava cortesia assai; non la veggendo sì per minuto come molti mercadanti fanno, che la contano fin a un picciolo quattrino, come intendo dire che fa Ansaldo Grimaldo Genovese, che tien conto fin d’un minimo foglio di carta e d’un palmo di cordella da legar i pacchetti de le lettere. Avvenne un giorno che essendo Francesco Frescobaldi in Firenze, se gli parò dinanzi un povero giovine, e gli domandò elemosina per l’amor di Dio. Veggendolo il Frescobaldo sì mal in arnese e che in viso mostrava aver del gentile, si mosse in pietà, e tanto più, quanto che lo conobbe esser Inglese; onde gli domandò di che contrada di Oltramontani fosse. Egli gli rispose che era Inglese; e chiedendogli alcune particolarità, il Frescobaldo, d’Inghilterra, come colui che assai pratico n’era, il giovine molto accomodatamente al tutto sodisfece, dicendogli: Io mi chiamo Tomaso Cremonello, figliuolo di un povero cimatore di panni, che fuggendo da mio padre son venuto in Italia col campo de i Francesi, che è stato rotto al Garigliano, e stavo con un fante a piedi, portandoli dietro la picca. Il Frescobaldo la menò in casa molto domesticamente, e quivi alcun dì se lo tenne per amor de la nazione Inglese, de la quale egli aveva ricevuti di molti piaceri; lo trattò umanamente, lo vestì, e quando volse partirsi per ritornar ne la patria, gli diede sedici ducati d’oro in oro fiorentini et un buon ronzino. Il giovine veggendosi esser stato messo in arnese sì bene, rese al Frescobaldo quelle grazie che seppe le maggiori, e se n’andò ne l’isola a casa.’

[The next four pages are devoted to a more or less accurate account of Cromwell’s life in London, his connexion with Wolsey, and his entrance into the King’s service. The events narrated in the following passage may be supposed to have taken place about 1535 or 1536.]

. . . ‘Dico adunque che in quei dì che il Cremonello era padrone e governatore de l’isola, che Francesco Frescobaldo si ritrovava in Italia, ove, come spesso a mercadanti interviene, avendo patiti molti disastri e di gran danni ne la perdita de le sue mercadanzie, restò molto povero; perciò che essendo uomo leale e da bene, pagò tutti quelli a cui era debitore, e non puotè ricuperar ciò che da gli altri gli era dovuto. Veggendosi egli ridutto a così povero stato, e fatto i suoi conti e benissimo calculati, trovò che in Inghilterra aveva crediti per più di quindici migliaia di ducati; onde si deliberò passar quindi, e veder di ricuperar più che gli fosse possibile, e mettersi a viver il rimanente de la sua vita quietamente. Così con questo pensiero passò d’Italia in Francia, e di Francia in Inghilterra, e si fermò in Londra, non gli sovvenendo perciò mai del beneficio che egli fatto già in Firenze aveva al Cremonello; cosa veramente degna d’un vero liberale, che de le cortesie che altrui fa, memoria mai non tiene, scolpendo in marmo quelle che riceve, per pagarle ogni volta che l’occasione se gli offerisce. Attendendo adunque in Londra a negoziar i fatti suoi, e caminando un giorno in una contrada, avvenne che il Contestabile passava anch’egli per la strada medesima, venendo a l’incontro del Frescobaldo. Così subito che il Contestabile lo vide e gli ebbe gli occhi fermati nel viso, si ricordò costui certamente esser quello, dal quale così gran cortesia aveva in Firenze ricevuta, et essendo a cavallo, dismontò, e con meraviglia grandissima di quelli che seco erano, chi v’erano più di cento a cavallo de i primi del regno che gli facevano coda, l’abbracciò con grande amorevolezza, e quasi lagrimando gli disse: Non sete voi Francesco Frescobaldo Fiorentino? Sì sono, signor mio, rispose egli, e vostro umil servidore. Mio servidore, disse il Contestabile, non sete già voi nè per tal vi voglio, ma bene per mio grande amico, avvisandovi che di voi ho giusta ragione di molto dolermi, perchè sapendo voi ciò che io sono e dove era, devevate farmi saper la venuta vostra qui; che certamente io averei pagato qualche parte del debito che confesso aver con voi. Ora lodato Iddio che ancor sono a tempo; voi siate il benissimo venuto. Io vado ora per affari del mio Re, e non posso far più lunga dimora vosco, e m’averete per iscusato; ma fate per ogni modo, che in questa mattina vegnate a desinar meco, e non fate fallo. Così rimontò il Contestabile a cavallo e se n’andò in Corte al Re. Il Frescobaldo, partito che fu il Contestabile, s’andò ricordando che cotestui era quel giovine Inglese che egli già in Firenze in casa sua raccolse, e cominciò a sperar bene, pensando che il mezzo di così grand’uomo molto gli giovarebbe a ricuperar i suoi danari. Essendo poi l’ora di desinare, se n’andò al palazzo del Contestabile, e quivi nel cortile poco attese che egli rivenne. Il quale smontato che fu, di nuovo amicabilmente riabbracciò il Frescobaldo, e volto a l’armiraglio, et ad altri prencipi e signori che con lui erano venuti a desinare, disse: Signori, non vi meravigliate de le amorevoli dimostrazioni che io faccio a questo gentiluomo Fiorentino, perchè queste sono parte di pagamento d’infiniti obblighi che io conosco e confesso di avergli, essendo nel grado che sono per mezzo suo, et udite come. A l’ora, a la presenza di tutti, tenendo sempre per mano il gentiluomo Fiorentino, narrò loro in che modo era capitato a Firenze, e le carezze che da lui aveva ricevute; e così tenendolo sempre per mano, se ne salirono le scale, e giunti in sala si misero a tavola. Volle il Contestabile che il Frescobaldo gli stesse appresso, e sempre l’accarezzò amorevolissimamente. Desinato che si fu e quei signori partiti, volle il Contestabile saper la cagione, per la quale era il Frescobaldo ritornato a Londra. Narrogli a l’ora tutta la sua disgrazia il Frescobaldo, e che non gli essendo rimaso, de la casa in fuori in Firenze et un podere in contado, quasi niente, se non quei quindeci mila ducati che in Inghilterra deveva avere, e forse duo mila in Ispagna, che per ricuperargli s’era ne l’Isola trasferito. Or bene sta, disse il Contestabile. A le cose passate, che fatte non sieno, non si può trovar rimedio; ben mi posso con voi dolere de gl’infortunii vostri, come con il core faccio; al rimanente si darà tal ordine, che voi ricuperarete tutti i vostri danari che qui devete avere, e non vi si mancherà di quello che io potrò, assicurandovi, che la cortesia che m’usate, non mi conoscendo altramente, mi vi rende di modo ubbligato che sempre sarò vostro, e di me e de le mie facultà potrete disporre come io proprio, e non lo facendo, il danno sarà vostro, nè più farò offerta alcuna, parendomi che sarebbe superflua. Basti che questo vi sia ora per sempre detto. Ma leviamoci et andiamo in camera, ove il Contestabile serrato l’uscio, aperse un gran coffano pieno di ducati, e pigliandone sedeci gli diede al Frescobaldi, e gli disse: Eccovi, amico mio, i sedeci ducati che mi donaste al partir di Firenze, eccovi gli altri dieci che vi costò il ronzino che per me comperaste, et eccovene altri dieci che spendeste in vestirmi. Ma perchè essendo voi mercadante, non mi par onesto che i vostri danari debbiano esser stati tanto tempo morti, ma s’abbiano guadagnato, come è il costume vostro, eccovi quattro sacchetti di ducati, in ciascuno de i quali sono quattro mila ducati. Voi in ricompensa de i vostri ve gli pigliarete, godendogli per amor mio. Il Frescobaldo, ancor che da grandissime ricchezze fosse caduto in gran povertà, nondimeno non aveva perduto la sua generosità d’animo, e non gli voleva accettare, ringraziandolo tutta via di tanta sua cortesia; ma a la fine astretto per viva forza dal Contestabile, che gli desse tutti i nomi in nota de i suoi debitori; il che Frescobaldo fece molto volentieri, mettendo il nome dei debitori e la somma che gli devevano. Avuta questa cedula, chiamò il Cremonello un suo uomo di casa, e gli disse: Guarda chi sono costoro, che su questa lista sono scritti, e fa che gli ritrovi tutti, siano dove si vogliano in questa isola, e farai loro intendere che se fra quindici giorni non hanno pagato tutto il lor debito, che io ci porrò la mano con lor dispiacere e danno, e che facciano pensiero, che io sia il creditore. Fece l’uomo il comandamento del suo padrone molto diligentemente, di maniera che al termine statuito furono ricuperati circa quindici mila ducati. E se il Frescobaldo avesse voluto gl’interessi, che in così lungo tempo erano corsi, tutti gli averebbe avuti, fin ad un minimo denaio; ma egli si contentò del capitale, nè volse interesse alcuno, che di più in più gli acquistò credito e riputazione appresso tutti, massimamente sapendosi già da ciascuno de l’isola il favore che egli aveva appresso la persona del Contestabile. In questo mezzo, fu di continovo esso Frescobaldo commensale del Cremonello, il quale di giorno in giorno si sforzava d’onorarlo quanto più poteva. E desiderando che di continovo egli rimanesse in Londra, piacendogli molto la pratica sua, gli offerse di prestargli per quattro anni sessanta mila ducati, a ciò che mettesse casa e banco in Londra e gli trafficasse, senza volerne profitto d’un soldo, promettendogli oltra questo ogni favore ne le cose de la mercadanzia. Ma il Frescobaldo che desiderava di ritirarsi a casa, e viver il resto de la sua vita in quiete et attender solamente a se stesso, infinitamente lo ringraziò di tanta suprema cortesia, e con buona grazia del Contestabile, rimessi tutti i suoi danari in Firenze, a la desiderata patria se ne ritornò, dove essendo ritornato assai ricco, si mise a viver una vita quietissima. Ma poco tempo visse in quiete, perchè quell’anno istesso che da Londra era partito, in Firenze se ne morì.’

IV

PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE OF LORD CROMWELL AS CONTAINED IN FOXE’S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, vol. ii. pp. 419–434.

‘Thomas Cromwell although born of a simple Parentage and House obscure, through the singular excellency of Wisdom and dexterity of Wit wrought in him by God, coupled with like industry of mind, and deserts of life, rose to high preferment and authority;’

‘First as touching his Birth, he was born at Putney or thereabout, being a Smiths Son, whose Mother married after to a sheerman.’

‘As touching the order and manner of his coming up, it would be superfluous to discourse what may be said at large: only by way of story it may suffice to give a touch of certain particulars and so to proceed.’ . . . ‘Nothing was so hard which with wit and industery he could not compass. Neither was his capacity so good but his memory was as great in retaining whatsoever he had attained. Which well appeareth in canning the text of the whole new Testament of Erasmus Translation without Book, in his journey going and coming from Rome, whereof you shall hear anon.’

‘Thus in his growing years, as he shot up in age and ripeness, a great delight came in his mind to stray into forreign Countries to see the World abroad, and to learn experience, whereby he learned such Tongues and Languages as might better serve for his use hereafter.’

‘And thus passing over his youth being at Antwerp, he was there retained of the English Merchants to be their Clerk or Secretary, or in some such like condition placed pertaining to their affairs.’

‘It happened the same time that the Town of Boston thought good to send up to Rome for renewing of their two pardons, one called the great pardon and the other the lesser pardon. Which thing although it should stand them in great expences of money (for the Popes Merchandise is always dear ware) yet notwithstanding such sweetness they had felt thereof, and such gain to come to their town by that Romish Merchandise (as all Superstition is commonly gainful) that they like good Catholick Merchants and the Popes good customers, thought to spare for no cost, to have their leases again of their pardons renewed, whatsoever they paid for the fine. And yet was all this good Religion then, such was the lamentable blindness of that time.’

‘This then being so determined and decreed among my Countrymen of Boston to have their pardons needs repaired and renewed from Rome, one Geffery Chambers, with another Champion was sent for the messengers, with writings and money, no small quantity, well furnished, and with all other things appointed necessary for so chargeable and costly exploit. Who coming in his journey to Antwerp, and misdoubting to be too weak for the compassing of such a weighty piece of work, conferred and perswaded with T. Cromwel to associat him in that legacy, and to assist him in the contriving thereof. Cromwel although perceiving the enterprise to be of no small difficulty to traverse the Popes Court, for the unreasonable expences amongst those greedy Cormorants, yet having some skill of the Italian Tongue, and as yet not grounded in the judgement of Religion in those his youthful days, was at length obtained and content to give the adventure, and so took his journey towards Rome. Cromwel loth to spend much time, and more loth to spend his money; and again perceiving that the Popes greedy humour must needs be served with some present or other (for without rewards there is no doing at Rome) began to cast with himself what thing best to devise wherein he might best serve the Popes devotion.’

‘At length having knowledge how that the Popes holy tooth greatly delighted to new fangled strange delicates and dainty dishes, it came in his mind to prepare certain fine dishes of gelly, after the best fashion, made after our Countrey manner here in England, which to them of Rome was not known nor seen before.’

‘This done, Cromwell observing his time accordingly, as the Pope was newly come from hunting into his pavillion, he with his companions approached with his English presents brought in with a three mans song (as we call it) in the English tongue and after the English fashion. The Pope suddenly marvelling at the strangeness of the song, and understanding that they were English men, and that they came not empty handed, willed them to be called in. Cromwel there shewing his obedience, and offering his jolly junkets, such as Kings and Princes only, said he, in the Realm of England use to feed upon, desired the same to be accepted in benevolent part, which he and his companions, as poor suters unto his Holiness had there brought and presented, as novelties meet for his recreation etc.’

‘Pope Julius, seeing the strangeness of the dishes, commanded by and by his Cardinal to take the assay. Who in tasting thereof liked it so well, and so likewise the Pope after him, that knowing of them what their sutes were, and riquiring them to make known the making of that meat, he incontinent, without any more adoe, stamped both their pardons as well the greater as the lesser: . . . it seemeth that Cromwell obtained this Pardon aforesaid about the year of our Lord, 1510.’. . .

[The rest of the story deals for the most part with Cromwell’s career in the service of the Cardinal and of the King. Historically it is almost worthless—nearly every paragraph contains statements which the more trustworthy sources prove to be impossible. A curious legend of Cromwell’s saving the life of the Earl of Bedford at Bologna is followed by a more plausible account of the latter afterward commending his preserver to the King. Foxe also states that Sir Christopher Hales, a violent papist, but a friend of Cromwell’s, took an opportunity to say a good word for him to Henry after Wolsey’s fall, that the King at last had an interview with his future minister in Westminster Gardens, and was advised by him to shake off the yoke of Rome. The latter part of this story follows closely the account of Cardinal Pole (see chapter vi. p. 92). Foxe goes on to an exhaustive defence of Cromwell’s actions during his ministry, especially the suppression of the monasteries and the measures adopted for the promotion of the new religion. The story of the loss of Cranmer’s Book Against the Six Articles at the bear-baiting on the Thames (see chapter xiii. p. 255) and the account of Frescobaldo’s kindness to Cromwell in Florence are related at length. Many other minor incidents of Cromwell’s life are also recorded: we are told how he stopped a skirmish in Paternoster Row, how he prevented a friar from wearing his cowl in the streets, how he imprisoned a ruffian with long hair, and how he aided a poor man whose father had once befriended him in distress. The story closes with an account of Cromwell’s fall, sentence and execution, and gives the speech and prayer he is supposed to have made on the scaffold. (See [Appendix] at the end of chapter xiv.)]

CHAPTER II

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1523

The heavy veil that shrouds in mystery the early life of Thomas Cromwell is not completely lifted until after he becomes counsellor to the King, but even before and during his service with Wolsey, we catch several interesting glimpses of him. Especially important is the information we possess concerning the part he played in the Parliament of 1523. We have no means of knowing how he obtained a seat there, but there are fortunately preserved two documents of undoubted authenticity that shed much light on the attitude he assumed towards the problems which came up for discussion. The first is a speech which exists to-day at the Public Record Office in the hand of one of Cromwell’s clerks, and contains a distinct and careful enunciation of the policy which the future minister actually pursued in after years. The second is a letter from Cromwell to a friend, John Creke, in Biscay, in which he tells how he ‘amongyst other indured a parlyament[46].’ This epistle is in itself an excellent index to the character and political ideals of its author. Cromwell’s ill-concealed contempt for the vague discussions and fruitless arguments of the Commons, who finally in disgust left off where they began, his evident disappointment that the ‘right large subsydye’ had been granted in spite of his disapproval, and his sneering statement that this Parliament had failed as signally as its predecessors had, to do anything of real practical value to King or realm, but had wasted its time in foolish theorizing and useless debate—all are perfectly consistent with the characteristics revealed by his later policy and actions.

In order to understand the speech which Cromwell wrote to deliver in this Parliament, a preliminary survey of some of the business that lay before the House may be helpful. The period immediately previous to the session of 1523 had been occupied by Henry and Wolsey in sending messages to the powerful and traitorous Duke of Bourbon, to obtain from him a recognition of the King’s title to the throne of France. The breach between England and France was becoming wider every day. Charles V. had of course seized the favourable opportunity to ally himself with Bourbon and Henry, and had as usual succeeded in making the latter do the lion’s share of the work, and pay practically all the bills. Loans to the Emperor and to the Duke, and the expense of keeping up the defences in the north, where Scotland daily threatened to break out into open war, had drained the country’s resources to their lowest ebb.

Under these circumstances Henry thought it fit to summon a Parliament, the first since December, 1515. The policy of Wolsey, in regard to the great legislative body of the kingdom, had up to this time been very closely followed. He had not reached the point which Cromwell at a later day was destined to attain; that is, he had not so completely obtained the upper hand of the Commons that he could use them as a tool to accomplish his will. He rather regarded Parliament as a dangerous power to be suppressed at all costs, than as a means to attain his own ends. Consequently it had not met for nearly eight years. But the present crisis was one which called for more than the ordinary resources of the nation; nothing could be accomplished against France unless an enormous subsidy was granted; that subsidy could only be granted by Parliament, and Wolsey, rather unwillingly, was forced to consent to the King’s summoning it, relying on Henry’s great personal popularity, and the peculiarly bitter national hatred of France, to make it accomplish for him what he could not do for himself[47].

Sir Thomas More was chosen Speaker, probably because of his high favour with Henry, who did not scruple to give Parliament broad hints of his pleasure in all matters in which he was interested, and though, as Roper says, More was ‘very loath to take this room upon him[48],’ yet the King would not consent to his resignation. And the story goes on to tell how Wolsey ‘found himself much grieved with the burgesses of this Parliament, for that nothing was so soon done or spoken therein but that it was immediately blown abroad in every ale-house[49],’ and how, fearing that the subsidy bill might not pass, he determined to be present at the debate himself, and was received, at Sir Thomas More’s suggestion, ‘with all his pomp, with his maces, his pillars, his poleaxes, his crosses, his hat, and his great seal too.’ But Wolsey need not have been so anxious about the passage of his bill. Though at first the House would not deign to consider the subsidy in his presence, alleging that ‘there was not so much money out of the King’s hands in the whole realm,’ it had been out of practice too long to realize its own power, and after a great deal of haggling and fruitless endeavours by the members to beg off for less than the £800,000 at first demanded, Wolsey carried his point[50], and by the end of June was able to announce to Henry that there was no further hindrance to the proposed invasion of France.

While the debate was in progress, however, Cromwell was one of the strongest opponents of the Cardinal’s scheme. The following speech, which he wrote to deliver on this occasion[51], clearly reveals his attitude on the questions before the House.

‘To recouer agayne by the sworde the Realme of Fraunce, belongyng to our most Redowbtid Souerayne by good and iuste tytle, and to chaunge the Sums of monay whiche we haue in sundrey yeres Receyued from thens into the hole and iust Reuenues that myght there from yere to yere be Leuyed yf we did peasibly enioye the same, who ys here present that wold not gladly dispend not oonly all his goodys but also his lyffe yf euery of vs had ten thowsand lyues to help to obtayne vnto our most benygne souerayne and his most noble Succession besydys the high honour and wyde spredyng of his most glorious fame, whiche while this world endured shuld euer be had in memory, suche yerely reuenues and wellyng spryngges as[52] treasure as shuld by thyse means contynually be browght into this Realme, Whereoff there were no dowte but that ryght haboundant stremys shuld from his most liberall magnyfysence be dereuyed into euery parte of this his Realme to the grete Inryching and enprosperyng of vs and all suche as hereafter showld lyue vnder hys obeysaunce and subieccion. And that this high and Magnanyme enterpryse ys at this present by our saide Souerayne not only in secret wyse in his high cowrage conceyued, but also vttred to his most prudent counsayll, and at sundrey tymes by his grace and them rypely dygested debated ye and fynally concluded as the thyng by his most high wysdome and thens thowght not only possible but also very apparaunt and lykely, all reasonable dowtes auoyded, we All haue clerely persayued as well by the mowth and reporte of my lorde legattes good grace as by the Recapitulacion of the Right worshipfull best Assuryd and discrete Speker, in so moche that we haue bene aduertised of the Indentures all reddy passed bytwene our said most noble Souerayne and the Emparours Magesty, conteynyng not oonly the nombre of horsemen and Fotemen, estemed sufficient for the saide enterpryse, but also the day prefixid for the Arryuall beyond the see of the saide Army. Whyche thyng sythyns our most Redowbted Souerayne hathe so depely myndyd, that for the more effectuall puttyng in execucion of the same, his high enterpryze, he hathe promysed in the saide endentures, to goo ouer in his owne noble persone Whoo ys here present in this ryght worshipfull assemble, or any other his subiet Whatsoeuer he be whiche to the vtterest of his power wold not payne and endeuer hymself, that this so glorious, so profyttable and so wysshefull an enterpryse myght properously be atcheuyd and our souerayne with assuryd honour to Retourne agayne after this grete acte well and victoryously perfynysshed. But for somoche As yt hathe pleased our most Redowbtid Souuerayne of his most high and haboundant goodnes, to declare vnto vs by the mowthe of my saide Lorde Cardinallis grace, not only this his purpose, but also the manyfold prouocacions and hainous iniures done aswell to his noble highnes, as to his most dere sister the quene Douriere of Fraunce, in wrongus[53] withholding of her Dowre, and also the grete vexacion of his subiectes by robbyng and spoylyng of them, to theire vtter vndoyng, by Francoys now raynyng there, and on the other side the manyfold policies and gracious meanes studied by our saide most noble Souuerayne, and hys Counsayll, to establysshe a generall peace amongyst all Crysten Prynces and to stay the saide Frauncoys yf yt had bene possible by mannys industry from his synyster wayes and disturbyng of all Regions abowte hym. Me semyth that his highnes hathe heryn Declared vnto vs the grettest loue that euer did noble prynce vnto his humble and obeysaunt subiectes, seyng that his high wysdome doth not disdayne to communicate and declare vnto vs his waighty entrepases and affayres, in this autentyk maner assemblyd by the mowthe of so notable a personage, beseching god of his haboundant goodnes and ynfynyte mercye whiche withdrawyth not his lyght from the poore and low estate but vnto humble harttes departyth of his grace, that this notable benygnete of our saide Souerayne be not amongyst vs all frustrate, but that sum of vs here present may say in this weyghty matier the thyng vaylable and worthye in his most highe Juggement to be regarded whiche by the Mowthe and report of the ryght wyse dyscrete and excellently lettred speker may be benyng Interpretacion And as we meane cum vnto his most gracious Erys. Whiche my perfyte trust ys that his noble grace wyll not so vtterly regecte, but that yt may oons entre into his noble harte byfore the tyme come that he shall put hys high entrepryse in execucion seyng yt ys yet oon hole yere therunto and all thowgh I reckyn myselff of all other the most vnworthy to haue in the awdience of so many sauge and notable persons, any manner saiyngges, especially in this weighty mattier whiche makyth me to tremble, for fere, whan I thyncke upon hyt and represent vnto my fantasy How the thre gouernours of Crystendom, accompanyed with so grete nombre of prynces noble men and other their Subgiettes shuld after so manyfold prouocacions of dedely hattred encounter togyder with theire Swordys in theire handes, to trye where the pleasure of god shalbe to stryke, and shew his indignacion, Of whiche slawghter, most nedis ensue, the moste Lamentable cryes, and sorowfull wryngyng of handys, that hath happened in Cristendome many yeres. Neuerthelesse after my symple and yngnorant maner, I shall humbly beseche yow all of your benygne Supportacion that I may here with your fauours vtter my poore mynde whose intent ys none other but to geue vnto yow, whiche be of far more assuryd Wysdom, Lernyng and experience then I, occasion to vtter your wyse counsaylles, for yn myself I know well ys nought elles but the intent of good wyll, and entier desyre, of the Contenuaunce yn prosperite of my most redowtyd souerayne, with the most frutefull conseruacion of the polytyk weall of this his noble Realme, and the good fertheryng of all the enterprysys and affayres in any wyse belongyng to the same.

‘To speke of peace certeynly as now hit ys no tyme, Albe hit that I doo in my hart therfore ryght sore lament, but want of trowth ys so depely in the Frenche Nacion enrotid, and theire insaciable apetite to extent theire bondes and to accroche from other their Domynyons and possessions to the grete molestyng and trowbelyng of all the nacions abowte theym, ys so manyfest and notorys to all the word[54], withoute any regarde hauyng ether to godde or Justyce, that thowgh we Hadde for our owne particuler causes no manner quarelles vnto them, yet cowld we not but haue in detestacion their false and fleyghty Dealyng Wherwith other Cristened prynces be by them so sore molestyd. But now ys hyt soo that our most Drad Souerayne ys soo notably prouoked by the manyfold Iniuryes done aswell to hymself as to his most derest Syster, and sundrey his Subiectes that me thynckyth, there be none, his true and faythefull Subiettes, that can refrayne to bere towardes them a worthy haatred and fast inpryntyd groutche, as vnto the nacion, whiche euer ys onrestful, And of suche malicious nature that there ys no remedy, but other they most be skowrgyd or ellys they wyll suerly be a skowrge to other, and other their possessions must be ruffilled and dymynysshed or ellys they wyll not cesse to Dymynysshe and take away from other their possessions, of whiche Arogant Nacion thowgh we haue of our selfes by goddys Ayde and sufferaunce ben the Chastners and terryble stronge yet at this present tyme Allmyghty god ys so benygne vnto vs that we haue now a muche grete aduauntage to compell them not oonly to syt in rest but also gladly to come to Reason seyng that by theyre sayde mysprowde arregancy the[55] Haue in so sundry Wayes prouoked the saide Emparours magestye vnto iust hatered and dyspleasure agaynst them with whome our most Redowbted Souerayne ys most assurydly confederate and alied, Whose high and myghty power ys so great that Joyned vnto owers they be enverouned on euery syde wyth the nacions, whiche by goddes grace shall afflycte them and abate their pryde. Whiche thyng the emparours maiesty hath full well for his partie shewyd in Recoueryng agayne of Nauerne Where they had no smale ouerthrow and also by Wynnyng from theym the Cytte of Tourney and the hole Countrey Tornasyes adiacent therunto, and farthermore to the more sorar encresyng of their Anguysshefull abasshement and shame haue dryuen them quyte owte of Ittaly and dispossessed them of the noble Dowchye of Millayne, the gettyng and defendyng wherof hath bene so maruaylous chargeable vnto theym and also to the Cyttyes of Genes with the Terretoryes therunto belongyng. And we for our partye haue spoyled and brent Morkesse, Destroyed also a grete Contrey with sundry villages and Townes therin, and to the grete and high honour of our soueraigne and his valiaunt nacion, and the grete Lawde and Prayse of the well fortunate and sawge Capetayn, the yerle of Surrey, whiche taryed in the Domynyons of the saide Francoyse with a smale Nombre of men in comparyson by the space or vj or vij wekys where all the power of Fraunce durst not geue hym battayll whiche sayde valiant Capeteyne, I trust by goddes help, shall ouerthrow and subdue also the Skottes, whome the Frenche men haue so custuously intertayned, and of so long tyme mayntayned agaynst vs, whiche thingges, yf almyghty god of his goodnes, wyll suffre to contynue this a while, there ys no dowte but that their hawlte and mysprowde Cowrage shall or owght long abate, and that we shall constrayne theym to be glad to entret for pease as men dryuen in to grete and extreme Dyspayre, seing their peces whiche they haue bene so long in gettyng bene so valiauntly and withowt any hardynesse in theym to make Resystance pullid away from theym, and they dare not trye hyt by the sworde, nother with vs, nor with the saide Emparours Subiectes for whan soeuer they so doo, they wyn nowght ellys but a shamefull overthrow, as we all know, by good experyence. But now myght yt be in questyon whyther hyt showld be for the more aduaunsyng of our most Rodowtyd Souerayns Honour and the Emperours Mageste also, and more vayllable for the spedy acheuyng of bothe their desiryd purposys other to contynew styll thys kynde of warre whyche hytherto god be thancked hathe so prosperously succedyd or ellys to chaunge our warre in to another kynde, more sharper, more violent and also more terable, that is to say, where he hathe not bene so hardy as to mete A meane Armyee, other of owers or of the Emperours, to conuey now in to hys Realme on eyther of our sydys, so grete and myghty a puyssaunce as shalbe able by goddys ayde, clerely to vanquysshe hym vtterly and to subdue hym.

‘To this question I beseche god that sum sauge and well experte man here amongyst vs present may say the thyng that may be honorable to our most Redowted souerayne and proffyttable this to his noble Realme, As for myne owne partye knowyng my most redowtyd Souerayns high pleasure Whereof we haue all by my saide lorde Cardinalles grace bene so clerely enfourmed, I am at a poynt suche as dothe become an humble and obeysant subiect to be, beyng aduertisid of his Souerayns most redowtyd pleasure, especially by the mowthe of hys most nere and cheffest Counsaylour, declaryd, oonly oon thyng there ys whiche puttyth me in no small agonye, me thowght I harde my lorde Cardynalles grace say that our most gracious Souuerayne, more derer vnto any of hys Subiectes that hathe any maner zele to our commen welthe then hys owne propre lyfe, indendyth to go ouer in his Royall persone, Whyche thyng I pray god for my partie I neuer lyue to see, Most humbly beseching hys haboundant and tendre benygnyte of mercy and pardone of this my saiyng, for the humble and obeysant loue I ow vnto his noble person, causyth me in this case to forget obeysance, and I cannot consent to obey vnto this hys pleasure wheryn lyith the hazardyng of this his noble Realme, and apon the whiche myght follow (whiche god defend) the grettyst Calamyte and afflation[56] that euer happynned ther vnto by cause I am desyrous to be owte of all dowttes that I may all my lyfe dayes hereafter be his humble and obeisant subiet, and see with the prosperite and suretye of his noble parson, his Realme and power subiectes to lyue assuryd in tranquylyte and to be reconforttid with his noble presence, whose welthe and prosperyte ys so vrgently necessary vnto vs all that I am sure their ys no good Englysshe man whiche can be mery the day whan he happenyth to thynk that his grace myght perchaunce be dystemperid of his helthe so that albe hyt I say for my partie, I stomak as a sory Subiect may doo, the high Iniures done by the saide Francoys, vnto his most dere souerayne, yet rather then the thyng shuld goo so ferre forth I cowld for my partie be contented to forget altogyther soo that I may know the parson of my souerayne to be yn helthe, and suretye owte of the thowsand Daungiers whiche chaunce in warre, and lyue at his high Pleasure and assuryd myrth for yf the Frenche men haue establysshed an ordenaunce amongyst theym that their kyng in hys owne persone shall neuer come in Raungyd Battayll agaynst our nacion bycawse of the sundry hazardys that their saide prynces haue suffred in their owne parsons, notwithstandyng their maruelous pollecy deuysed amongest them for the certayn and the establysshid succession of their Crowne, how neidfull ys hyt for us consideryng in what case we be to make the humblest sewyt that euer did pore Subiectes to theyre Souuerayne, that he wyll for our sakes and specially for the tendre and Fathyrly loue he beryth to his most dere and oonly dowghter upon whose wele and sircumspecte bestowyng next his noble parson dependyth all our welthis somethyng to Reffrayne his high magnanyme Courage and for our assuryd welthe and quyet and specially of her noble person desyst from that Dawngerows entrepryse, And whereas his highnes hath the Renoum to be the most faythefull and substauncyall prynce, Crystayned yn the trew perfourmyng of all his promyses that hyt may lyke his grace to lay the wyte on vs his poore Subiectes thowgh that he breke in that poynt the tenour of his Indenture, For yf his highnes wold so farre presse vs by our allegence that he wold nedys cary ouer with hym the Armay in the same Endentures expressed, I am suer there showld not be oon amongest them all that had any reason in his hed but he shuld be more metar to wayle and wryng hys handes than assuryd to fyght, whan he consydered that yf otherwyse then well showld fortune to that prescious Juell whiche he had for hys partye, in custody, yt were more metar for hym to departe in to Turkey than to Retourne agayne in to his naturall Contray to hys wyffe and chyldren. And now as yt fortunyth naturally where as a man ys fully perswadyd in any matter as I am trewly that our most Redowtid soueraygne showld in no wyse passe the Sees in his owne noble person consideryng the thynges aforsaide to fayne Reasons to make for His purpose, soo doo I now Fantasye syns I am so extremely desyrows that the noble parson yf[57] my saide Prynce showlde tarry withyn Hys Realme that hit were better to trayne owre warre and by lyttyll and lyttyll to attempte wery the saide Francoys then at oons to send ouer agaynst hym the power Royall of this noble Royalme.

‘In the reasonyng of whiche matter I shall but vtter myne ygnoraunce afore Hanyball as our ryght wyse spekar rehersid now of late, but syns I am wadyd thus far vnder your benygne supportacion I shall here vtter my pore mynde yf thys grete and puysaunt armaye of xxx Thowsand fotemen and ten Thowsand horsemen showld be conueyed in to the partyes of beyond see I ymagyn with myself whiche wayes they myght take to noy our enemyes most Consideracion fyrst had vnto their owne saufegarde, How they myght suerly be victualled and thus I reason yf they shuld so invade Fraunce that they myght euer with suretye haue victayles owte of the Archedukedome, than put I no dowbtes but they showld saufely Retourne agayne, for any daungyer that showld come vnto theym by their enemyes, for synse they durst not this yere last past set vpon the Hardy and valiaunt Capetayn the Yerle of Surrey notwithstandyng any prouocacions that he Cowld by hys experte wysedome in the Feattes of warre Imagyn to bryng them thervnto how moche more wold they beware to mete with so howge an Armye whose bruit I suppose god beyng indyfferent the poore of Fraunce were not hable to susteyne, but by this meanes lyke as our saide Armye shuld be in saftye soo showld the harme whiche they showld doo to the Realme of Fraunce be nothyng so moche as the harmys whiche we ourselffes showld susteyn in sowldyng of so great an army which were hable or iii Somers were expyred to exhawste and vtterly consume all the Cogne and bolyon withyn this Realme whiche I coniecture can not passe moche aboue a Million For yf all the valew of the hole Realme excede not iiii Millions as my lorde Cardinalles grace Declaryth playnly vnto vs all of whiche the possessions were estemyd to amount to oone Hole Million, me thynkyth that there ys no dowbte but that the Cornes, Cattalles our owne Commodeties vtensilles Apparayll for man and women whiche was neuer soo sumptuous and also the wares not oonly made of our owne commodetyes but also conveyed from the partyes of beyond the see Hyther wherof was neuer so grete Haboundaunce Dothe amount at the lest vnto other ij Millions This yf we showld take thys way or euer we showld doo to our enemy any hurt that were worthy to be regardid we showld be brought in to that case that we showld neuer be hable neuer to hurt hym ne none other, nor to help our Prynce, nor this his noble Realme What aduersyte soeuer shuld fortune to Hap ye and what showld we then Doo, but sit in peace with the highest ignomine and Desperat confusion that euer did nacion and be constraynyd for the mayntenaunce of commutacion and biyng and sellyng amongyst ourselffes to koyne lether agayne, lyke as we oons haue done, whiche as for me I could well ynowgh be content with but yf yt showld fortune our most Redowtyd Souerayne, yf he wold nyedys go ouer yn hys owne persone to happyn by any aduerse fortune, whiche almyghty god defend to cum into the handes of our enemyes, how shuld we then be hable to Redeme hym agayne yf they wyll nought for their wynes but golde they wold thynck grete skorne, to take lether for our prynce, ye and how moche the Inhabitauntes of the saide Archedukedome be desirows to haue moche of our monaye for Lytyll of their victuaylis whiche showld the sonner bryng this inconuenyence to passe, we haue hadde ryght good experyence aswell whan our moste Redowbtid Souerayne last went ouer in His owne Royall parson as in the last yere, whan my lorde of Surrey was sent by our saide Souerayne in to those parties whose Soldyers at their Rettourne made of the raryte and high prysed victuales no lytyll complaynt. But yf we nedys wold conuaye our armye by their possessions and to make our way as short as myght be, to goo the most nere and dyrect way to Parrys where vndowbtyd were no small spoylle to be gotten and in manner the place self not hable in strength to kepe vs owte Assone as euer we were Departyd owte of the Marchys of the saide Archedukedome, we showld then clerely persayue whatt manner warre the Frenche men wold vse ayenst vs whiche neuer wyll offer to medyll with our Armye, but lye yn wayte yf any of our saide Armye happened to straye or stragle abrode or to destroye the Conductours of our victuayle. And as for victuaylys in our waye we shuld be sure none to fynde that other hadde legges to convey hyt sylf from vs or elles by the diligence of the paysans myght convaide[58] to the next strong holdys and then myght we perchaunce (whiche god defend) persayue what high daunger to leue any strong holdys behynde vs, whiche the most Saugge and Poletyke Prynce Kyng Henry the vij^th of gracious memory thowght not best to doo. For when he passed the Sees to wyn the ryght in Fraunce he began fyrst to lay Seige to Bolayn, or euer he wold enter anye farther in to the land. And our most Redowtyd souerayne now raynyng beyng in purpose as I harde reportid goo as farre as Parres after the occupacion of his sawge Counsayle began Fyrst at Tyrouenne and the Emperours mageste Imployed A whosoeuer be in Tournay bycawse yt was thowght to his high wysedome and hys noble councellers euydently dawngerous yf he wold at any tyme hereafter passe any farder by that way in to Fraunce, to leue suche strong hold in the possession of his enemyes behynde hym at hys bakke, and soo yf we showld for any dyspleasure done vnto vs ammuse our Coscions armye abowte the wynnyng of any those holdys, what maruelous Inconuenyences Let of purpose and Importable Charges we showld sustayn therbye our most drad souerayne lorde hathe theryn to good experyence in the wynnyng of Tyrouen which cost his highnes more then xx^ti suche vngracious Dogholes cowld be worthe vnto hym But yf we wold vtterlye leue this waye, and Determyn to Invade Normandie Bretayn or sum other Contraye in the possession of his enemye vpon the Ryvage of the see and make our preparacions here withyn this noble Realme suche as showld be thowght conuenable for suche an armye Royall Thys thyng passith the streche of my pore wyt to speke for oone thing I suppose, besides the Inestymable molestacion and charge whiche I ymagyn this noble Realme showld sustayne for theyr preparacion for ware I can se nothyng but manyfest dawngier on euery syde to be towardes the saide Armaye not onely at their Arryvall amongest their enemyes at all tymes and so long as they shall there tarry Whiche to shew theym their saide enemyes showld have no smale aduauntage, and that in sundry wyse, but also how they should surely be victayled for thowgh we made here neuer so good dylygence to prepare victailes for them in due tyme yet stode bothe we and they in daungier of the wynde in whose oncerteynte god defend that the Flower, nay in manner the hole Chyualry of this noble Realme showld so be hazardid for thereby myght Chaunce the most lamentable losse ye and without Recouery that euer heretofore to me happenyd For thowgh we be indowtyd ryght sore dymynysshed of our Treasure, We haue yet a farr gretar want of defensable men whiche to any good Englysshe man that ys not affeccionat to his owne pryuat lucre but with good harte and true zele louyth the Commen wele ys to moche manyfest at the yee, and hyt pleasid god of the contrary Wherby Supposid that Almyghty god sent our souerayne his desiryd purpose how showld we be Able to possede the large Cuntreye of Fraunce whiche haue our owne Realme so meruelous rarely storyd of inhabytauntes and hable men, but there paraadventure yt myght be saide vnto me Why puttyst thow so many dowttes ayenst this my most redowtyd souerayns enterpryse, he beyng so high in courage of maruelous wysdome and well tryed experyence in all marciall Conduttes seyng other his progenitours of farre lesse graces with an handfull of men in comparyson to his armye haue geuyn them soo notable ouerthrowes To thys question breuely to show my pore mynde Trewly the manyfold victoryes that we haue had ayenst theym bryngyth theym in playne dyspayre to trye hyt anye more with vs In raunged battayll and to the experyence that they haue of our Condicions bothe in warre and pease hathe geuyn the saide Francoys hardynes thus haynowsly to prouoke our Souerayne as he doyth for lyke as he knowyth that in Armys our nacion ys ynvincible so knowyth he our Impacience to Contynew in warre many yeres and in especiall in wynter for we desier nowght elles but to trye hyt with our handes at ones and that the Maruelous charge far aboue any other nacion that we most nedys continually be at for victuayles and other necessaryes ys so grete that at the length we most nedys wery ourself as oftyn as we be assemblyd to fyght yf We soo togyther assemblyd long contynew thowgh none other nacion fyght with vs I cowld here also towche what polecye we haue to kepe thinges when we haue gottyn theym, but I let that passe and wyll now shew the notable aduauntages that our souerayns progenitours had ouer that we haue now, the mean warre ayenst Fraunce yn tymes past we had euer places surlye to Lond in other of our owne, or of our assured confederattes and alies as Gascoyne Gwyen Bretayn and sumtyme Normandie and at the lest we had Sum assuryd freyndes there whiche wern grete men of power and furthermore their Townes and holdes were nothyng of the meruelous strength that they be of at this present but now all thyse thynges be chaunged places. We haue none to lond in any of the saide Countrays but suche as we may be sure to haue allemanner dyspleasure shewyd vnto vs that they dare or may doo and as for any frendes We haue that I dare not presume to speke in, but as ferre as my pore coniecture ledyth me there was neuer nacion more maruaylusly Lynkyd togyder then they be amongyst theymselfes nor more sundry prouysyons found how suche A[59] nature hath made of high courage beyng borne amongyst them myght be prouyded of welthful lyuynges vnder their obeysaunce to consent to any Dysturbyng of their Commen Welth thowgh he showld for that intent be offeryd a great and notable Treasoure But how by[60] Coruptable all the worlde with the meruelows sleyghtes in excessyff gyftes the Emperours maiestye hathe for his partie had of late ryght euydent experyence, For whyle he was here in thise parties occupied abowte the wynnyng of Tourney and other his affayres they had corrupted iij or iiij of the grettest nobles of Spayne, apon whiche parsonages for their euydent ontrewth the Emperours Magestye was constraynyd to do Justyce at his Retournyng thyther, whiche was no small losse onto hym yf they had lyke trew subgiettes accordyngly regarded their allegiaunce and that is to be meruayled at my lorde of Sheuerys[61] the most bounden creature of the sayde Emparours Maieste that euer was subiect to his Souuerayne, me thowght I harde my lorde Cardinalles grace reporte, that he was also by their meruelous subtyle pollice and gyftes corrupt, and also yt ys euydent that synse the saide Emperours Maiestie Retournyd in to Spayne agayne the gouernours of his Archedukedome haue grauntyd dyuers of safecondut vnto merchauntes of the Frenche nacion ye and for their Sakys vnto Skottes also, whiche ys a maruelous hyndraunce after my pore Jugement to our souueraynes and the saide Emperours warres. For yf our commodeties had aswell bene kepte from theim as their commodeties be from vs many a thowsand artyfycer lyuyng vnder the saide Francoys Domynyon whiche hathe none other lyuyng but by workyng of our wollys haue bene constrayned to haue made to their kyng lamentable sute for peace, as people browght to extreme distresse and not wottyng how to lyue.

‘Thus haue I here vttred my pore and symple mynde ryght hartylly thanckyng yow all of your benygne Supportacion and how that yow haue Wytsaufe to here so pacientlie my ignorance most humbly beseching the tender benygnyte of my most dere and most redowtyd souuerayn whiche withdrawyth hys mercifull yee from Wylfull offenders yf they humbly make sute vnto his grace for pardon, that he wyll of his haboundaunt goodnes wytsaufe to take me as I meane whiche am as desyrous that all his most noble entrepases should prosperously go forward as any symple creature that euer was borne vnder his obeisaunce thinckyng after my Ignorant Jugement that yf yt wold please his magnanime Courage to conuert Fyrst and chief his hole intent and purpose not only to the ouer ronnyng and subduyng of Skotland but also to Joyne the same Realme vnto his, Soo that both they and we myght lyue vnder oone Bessaunce Law and Pollecy for euer. He shold therby wyn the highest honour that euer dyd any noble progenitours synse thys Iland was fyrst Inhabyt to Joyne vnto his noble Realme so populus a Cuntray wherby his strength shold be of no small parte encresid and of this acte should follow the highest abasshement to the saide Francoys that euer happened to hym or any his progenetours afore hym not oonly for that he Left the saide Skottes his auncient allies and which haue for hys and their Sakes prouokyd our nacion so notably heretofore at thys tyme vndefended by reason of our souerayns naiuye whiche he dare not encounter with nor neuer dare send theim socour so long as he shall know the narrow sees substansially to be kept, but also for somoche as he shall vnderstand that we haue chaunged our manner of warre, whiche were wont nought else to doo but to skore the nacions abowt, but whan he shall persayue that by the hygh and pollytyk wysdome our saide most redowtid Souerayne they be Joyned vnto vs in oone politik boddye what fere shall we then stand in to Lose his possessions without any hope of Recouere agayne, and thowgh hit be a commen sayng that yn Skotland ys nought to wyn but strokes, for that I alledge another commen sayng, who that entendyth Fraunce to wyn with Skotland let hym begyn, Whiche enterpret thus truely hyt ys But a Symplenesse for vs to thyncke to kepe possessions in Fraunce, ‹which› ys seuowryd from vs by the ocean see, and suffre Skotland Joyne‹d› vnto vs by nature all in oon Iland, vnto which we may haue Recourse at all tymes whan we woll, whiche also to subdue, god beyng indifferent lyeth euer in our hand to lyue vnder a nother pollecy and to Recognyse another Prynce send god that our most Redowty Souuerayne ‹may conquer Scotland› whiche whan we haue ones Joyned vnto our polecy as a membre by nature dyscendyng apon the hole, than shall we therby have the experyence how to wyn and kepe other possessions of our most redowtyd souerayne of due ryght and enherytaunce belonging to his noble Crowne whiche we ‹have› in the parties of beyond the see in whyche entrepryses I beseche god send our most dere and most redowtyd souuerayn prosperous Succession and fortunat atcheuyng of all this his noble entrepryse.’

There is no record that this speech was ever delivered; even if it was, it certainly had no effect in this unwieldy and unpractical session of Parliament. But the accuracy and force of the speaker’s reasoning were destined to be proved by the subsequent course of events. For the student of the present day, who is enabled to glance at the whole picture from a distance, so that the various facts assume more or less their proper proportion and perspective, Cromwell’s words on this occasion will always remain as one of the strongest proofs of his political wisdom and foresight.

After touching on the subject of the war, and assuring the House of his conviction that any one present would give goods and life ten thousand times over to recover France for the King (a shrewd beginning, for if Henry was not present in person, no one knew better than Cromwell how accurately every word spoken in the Parliament would be reported to him, and how important it was for one who would gain the royal favour to put his loyalty to the Crown first of all), he goes on, after a few commonplace remarks about the war’s being waged with energy, to crave the pardon of the House for addressing so noble an assembly. This preface is eminently characteristic of the speaker. When not perfectly certain of his ground, and in the presence of those whom he wished to conciliate, none could be a more adroit flatterer than he; it was only when he was completely master of the situation (and he had a peculiar gift of discovering just what his position was in relation to other people) that he became contemptuous, overbearing, and cruel.

But not even yet had he said enough to prove his loyalty to the King. He agrees that war is inevitable, and that the question now is how it may be most effectually carried on, but when he foresees that the King will go in person, he is greatly distressed. He talks loudly about the danger of the King being killed, hints that Henry possessed a courage and a self-sacrifice to the interests of England which would render him impervious to any argument about personal risk, and then launches himself into the heart of his discourse. The King is an absolute necessity to the welfare and progress of the State. If the King were removed, the country would probably be brought face to face with the horrors of a civil war. Cromwell thus brings his hearers to the first great principle of the policy that he was destined later to pursue, namely, concentration of power in the hands of the Crown, as a sine qua non of unity at home and safety abroad. This principle he enforces with many other arguments. The danger from the hostility of Scotland was enormous; let the King ‘Reffrayne his high magnanyme Courage’ and remaining at home, so direct the movements of his forces, that England and Scotland may together move as a unit. France has bought off many who may seem to be England’s allies on the Continent. The consequence of an invasion of France would be the scattering of the army; it might be cut off in an attempt to capture Paris, and England would be left to the mercy of its first invader. The country must make sure of its own safety, before entering upon a war of aggression.

He brings up other points to prove his case, and here speaks against the proposed subsidy. He saw, as a merchant, that the amount proposed was excessive; his fear was that all the coin and bullion in the realm would be exhausted by three summers of fruitless warring, so that the nation would be forced ‘to koyne lether agayne,’ as it had done once before. His appreciation of the importance of sound finance, and the evils of a depreciated currency show a knowledge of economic principles far in advance of his time. ‘Yf yt showld fortune our most Redowtyd Souerayne, yf he wold nyedys go ouer yn hys owne persone to happyn by any aduerse fortune, whiche almyghty god defend to cum into the handes of our enemyes,’ says Cromwell, ‘how shuld we then be hable to Redeme hym agayne yf they wyll nought for their wynes but golde they wold thynck grete skorne, to take lether for our prynce.’ Cromwell had early learned the lesson that money and brains were rapidly becoming far more important factors in winning battles, than mere superiority in brute strength or numbers. In his ingenious argument against the subsidy, he had pleaded the cause of the poor people, on whom the taxes fell most heavily, and had at the same time avoided arousing the opposition of the other party, by his adroit flattery at the outset.

His appreciation of the increased difficulty of waging war abroad compared with that in previous ages, because of lack of bases of supplies and friendly towns on the Continent, which before had been numerous, betokens great foresight and knowledge of details. Though he expressly declares, at the beginning of his speech, his intention to leave to ‘sage persons’ the task of deciding how the war should be carried on, he hints that it would be better to play a waiting game and weary the French, while things were consolidated at home, than to try to conquer France by invasion. His attitude about Scotland is repeated with great vigour at the close of his speech. For the King to unify England and Scotland would secure him greater honour than his predecessors had ever attained, and would in the end prove a much more telling blow against France, than a direct invasion. The question of gaining possessions across the sea is of secondary importance: the first thing is to obtain control of a country which belongs to the same island.

Thus Cromwell succeeded in clearly enunciating the main principles of the policy by which he was so soon to guide the affairs of England, while he so flattered King, nobles, and people, that he made many friends, and avoided the enmity of those opposed to him. The man who could make such a speech as this, would not be likely to escape the notice of such an astute man as Henry VIII. It was probably within the walls of this Parliament, that Cromwell laid the first stone of his future greatness as servant and counsellor of the King.

CHAPTER III

WOLSEY’S SERVANT

After the year 1524, there is no further mention of Thomas Cromwell as the cloth-merchant and wool-dyer. He probably realized that his business as a lawyer brought him into much more prominence as a public man, but his term in Parliament doubtless aroused in him a desire for even greater things than the life of a successful solicitor. His advance in legal prominence, however, is marked by his admittance in 1524 as a member of Gray’s Inn, and by his appointment in the same year as one of the Subsidy Commissioners for the Hundred of Ossulton in Middlesex[62]; but such petty distinctions fade into the background in the face of a matter of far more absorbing interest, that is, his rapidly growing favour and intimacy with Cardinal Wolsey.

During the years 1524–1525 he was actively engaged in the Cardinal’s service, and received many letters on legal business which he transacted for his master[63]. Seekers for Wolsey’s mercy or patronage invariably came to him, as a likely means of getting their wishes granted. In several cases requests to the Cardinal are addressed directly to the ‘right worshipful Mr. Cromwell.’ It is evident from the tone of the letters which he received, that to obtain his favour was the first and most important step towards gaining that of his master. He was usually spoken of as ‘Councillor to my Lord Legate,’ and was pre-eminent above all the rest of Wolsey’s advisers. It has been thought by some that the Cardinal employed him in connexion with his political schemes, but this is an error. Cromwell began modestly, as befitted his lowly birth and humble origin, and at this time, at any rate, was employed merely as an agent, chosen for his wonderful knowledge of human nature and his great capacity for business.

In the beginning of 1525, however, Wolsey felt that he had in Cromwell a servant sufficiently capable to be trusted with the performance of a work which was nearest the Cardinal’s heart, namely the destruction of some of the smaller monasteries to furnish funds for the building of his college at Oxford. So on the 4th of January of that year, he commissioned Sir William Gascoigne, William Burbank, and Thomas Cromwell, to survey the monasteries of Tykford, Raveneston, Poghley, Medmenham, Wallingford, and Fynchingbroke and their possessions, and on the same day he appointed Thomas Cromwell and John Smyth as attorneys for the site and circuit of Thoby, Blakamore, Stanesgate, and Tiptree, which had been granted to John Higden, Dean of Cardinal’s College[64].

It may seem strange that Wolsey’s suppression of the smaller religious houses brought him so much unpopularity. It was certainly true that the monasteries had long since ceased to observe the strict traditions of religious asceticism, which had been the watchword of their foundation. Some of them had become resorts of the idle and worthless, who were permitted by supine or indulgent superiors to exchange a life of monastic discipline for one of luxury and indolence, if not of downright vice. But there were a few, seemingly unimportant facts, which outweighed all these charges. In the first place the monks were the easiest of landlords. In their practically defenceless state, it was surely for their advantage to conciliate their fellow men in every way, and to avoid disputes at any cost. They consequently suffered themselves to be imposed upon by their neighbours and tenants, in preference to risking their popularity by asserting themselves. So Wolsey’s measures, which brought in stricter landlords, increased rents, and did away with the good old slipshod management of so many years’ standing, met with ill-concealed dislike. The monks, moreover, were the most hospitable of people; the poor were never turned away unfed, the traveller could always find shelter beneath their roof, and this fact, coupled with the rooted opposition of the less educated class to any sweeping measure of reform adopted apparently without reason, while the old system appeared to all intents and purposes to work well, explained the rest. Wolsey’s measures to suppress the smaller monasteries, and confiscate their possessions to the use of his own colleges, may justly be described as universally unpopular[65].

The first requisites for the accomplishment of such a design as the suppression of the monasteries were an intimate knowledge of law, especially as related to lands and property, and a far-seeing, harsh, and rather unscrupulous nature. These qualities Cromwell possessed in the very highest degree, and as he had been eminently successful in carrying on all Wolsey’s legal business up to this time, and as the Cardinal was too busy with his foreign policy to give his own attention to this favourite scheme, it is no wonder that he chose Cromwell to supervise it for him. The work consisted in surveying and estimating the value of the property of the condemned monasteries, making careful inventories thereof, and finally in stripping them of all their transportable riches, which usually meant altars, furnishings, bells, and tapestry, while their lands and permanent possessions were sold or leased on the spot. The transfer of property, settlements with tenants, and adjustment of claims were a task of far greater intricacy than Wolsey had expected, and Cromwell’s success in carrying it out was little short of marvellous. He was usually present in person at the surrenders and dissolutions; when this was impossible one of his many and faithful agents sent him an exact account of the proceedings in his absence. The number of monks and nuns that were suddenly turned out upon the world with small and irregularly paid pensions was not the least evil feature of the ruthless way in which the suppressions were carried on; but it was nothing to what was to follow a decade later[66].

In addition to surveying and confiscating monastic property, Cromwell was employed directly in connexion with the new buildings at Oxford and Ipswich. He drew up all the necessary deeds for both foundations, and was appointed receiver-general of Cardinal’s College by Wolsey in 1527. He kept account of all the incomes from the suppressed houses and all the expenses incident to the building of both colleges. He was continually superintending the workmen at Oxford and Ipswich, and reported their progress to his master. The Dean of the college at Ipswich wrote to the Cardinal, Sept. 26, 1528, how Cromwell came thither with copes, vestments, and plate, and took great pains to see all the stuff carried in safely, and to prepare hangings and benches for the Hall. Long lists of the manors and monasteries, the incomes of which were devoted to the building and establishment of the two colleges, are to be seen to-day at the Record Office, and attest the gigantic amount of labour that he performed[67].

Cromwell’s efficiency in carrying on this work was only equalled by his notorious accessibility to bribes and presents in the disposal of monastic leases. Adding to this the fact that the measure was radically unpopular in itself, and that when no bribes were offered, Cromwell and most of Wolsey’s other agents were harsh and overbearing in the extreme, the reader ceases to wonder at the outburst of popular indignation. The minute Wolsey’s back was turned Cromwell and his companion Dr. Alen, a hard and grasping man equally well trained in business, proceeded to use the power given into their hands to enrich themselves by every possible means, some of which were utterly unjustifiable. The monastery which could pay a large bribe was often left untouched; of those that were suppressed, probably a certain proportion of the spoils was never employed at Oxford or Ipswich, but went straight into the pockets of the suppressors[68]. Petitions to save farms for poor people, or to get benefices for those whose property was gone, were answered by Cromwell favourably, if granting them meant a substantial reward for him; unfavourably, if the reverse. He became so generally hated that in August, 1527, it was said that a ‘sanctuary man’ lay in wait to slay him, and Cardinal Pole, who was then in London and knew him well, informs us that it was commonly reported that he had been sent to prison, and would be punished for his crimes as Wolsey’s agent[69].

But in spite of all this, instead of being removed from his important post, Cromwell kept on rising to higher favour and more importance. In April, 1527, Henry Lacy writes to congratulate him on his promotion through Wolsey’s favour. In May of the same year he is mentioned as a granter of annuities. His position brought him a great amount of patronage. In 1528 Richard Bellyssis promises him a good gelding, if he will prefer a friend to the position of mint-master in Durham. A merchant requests him to get his son a promotion from the Cardinal. He received many petitions from poor men, who feared they would lose house and home through the dissolution of the monastery from which they were held. But the noble and great, as well as the lowly and humble, were his correspondents and suitors. The Abbot of York writes his heartfelt thanks for his kindness in speaking well of him and his monastery to Wolsey, and Lord Berners begs for his aid in his dealings with the Cardinal[70].

By far the greater portion of Cromwell’s correspondence during the years 1525–1529 is connected with the suppression of the monasteries or the foundation of Wolsey’s colleges. Reports and receipts of money from his agents who visited the religious houses in various parts of the country at his orders, or who superintended the works at Ipswich and Oxford, crowd in upon him with great frequency. Deeds of the sale of castles and manors, valuations and inventories of the property of various monasteries, are received by him in large numbers[71]. In these letters we frequently meet with the names of William Brabazon and Ralph Sadler, who were destined in the near future to become so well known as his agents and commissioners when he entered the King’s service. Before this period he had made the acquaintance of Stephen Vaughan, his friend and correspondent in later years, who figured in connexion with Tyndale in the Low Countries. Vaughan was certainly known to Cromwell at least as early as 1523[72]; and in 1526 was employed by the Cardinal’s servant in connexion with the college at Oxford. In April, 1527, we find Cromwell helping his friend in the recovery of certain goods lost on the sea, and in the following year Vaughan addresses a cordial letter to his benefactor, reporting various things of interest in London, and announcing that he has found so strong a chain for the wicket of Cromwell’s house at Austin Friars Gate, that it will be impossible for any one to enter by force[73]. A year later he was employed as Cromwell’s agent in the Netherlands.

Though mainly occupied with Wolsey’s affairs, Cromwell’s correspondence during the years 1524–1529 shows that he still kept up his business as a lawyer independently. William Bareth writes in November, 1525, that he trusts he will solicit his matter to Mr. Rowe, and sends his wife six plovers ‘for to drynke a quart of wyn withall[74]’; in August, 1526, George Monoux, alderman, promises Cromwell that if his ‘grete matier’ is brought to a safe conclusion, he shall have twenty marks[75]. A ‘lovyng lettere’ from the Aldermen of our Lady’s Gild in Boston, in Dec. 1528, shows that Cromwell still retained the friendship which he probably made years before by obtaining for them the indulgences from the Pope by the offer of choice sweetmeats. It was doubtless through him that the Gild gained the privilege of supplying rare and delicate fowls for the Cardinal’s sumptuous table[76]. Cromwell also found time to correspond with Miles Coverdale, who was then at Cambridge, and who writes with enthusiasm of the pleasures of a visit to his friend in London[77].

It is probable that the terrible sweating sickness which ravaged England from 1527 to 1528 carried off Cromwell’s wife Elizabeth, as there is no further mention of her in his later papers and correspondence, except in his will of July, 1529, where she is referred to as his ‘late Wyff[78].’ She left him one son, Gregory, who appears to have been a dull and plodding lad, and who, after his mother’s death, was sent with his very precocious cousin, Christopher Wellyfed, and several other boys, to be put under the care of a tutor at Cambridge, John Chekyng by name, whose correspondence with Cromwell about the progress of ‘his scolers’ is very interesting and entertaining[79]. Chekyng seems at the very outset to have been unfavourably impressed with Gregory’s talents, declares that he has been so badly taught that he could hardly conjugate three verbs when committed to his care, and reports that he is now studying ‘the things most conducive to the reading of authors,’ and spends the rest of the day in forming letters; while Christopher does not require ‘much stirring up.’ A little later he sends word that Gregory is getting on well in learning under his care, and desires his father to send five yards of ‘marble frieze,’ for his winter ‘galberdyne’; and again, in 1530, he declares that he has been so successful in his teaching, that Gregory will be ‘loadyd with Latyne’ before he comes home again; but it is evident throughout that Chekyng considers every step in advance to have been due to the excellence of his own tuition, rather than to the aptitude of his pupil. If the tone of Gregory’s letters to his father be taken as a criterion of the boy’s character, he must indeed have been stupid and slow beyond belief[80]. But Cromwell was too much occupied with his own affairs, to pay much attention to the remarks of honest John Chekyng. Indeed there is reason to think that his grasping disposition showed itself in small ways to such an extent that he did not always pay the very moderate bills that the tutor sent in for Gregory’s board, lodging, and tuition; but instead taunted Chekyng with not having done well with his ‘folks.’ To these insults Chekyng replied that he had brought up six M.A.’s and fellows of colleges, and that the least Cromwell could do was to pay for the furniture which his scholars had ruined; he then goes on to tell how Christopher ‘dyd hynge a candel in a playt to loyk apone hys boyk and so fell ascleype and the candell fell into the bed strawe’ and there were burnt the bed, bolster, ‘three overleydes and a sparver[81].’

In spite of his niggardly treatment of John Chekyng, it is certain that Cromwell was in very comfortable circumstances during his years of service under Wolsey. An inventory of his goods at his house at Austin Friars, dated June 26, 1527[82], which exists to-day at the Public Record Office, proves that his dwelling was furnished handsomely if not luxuriously, while a draft of his will, written July 12, 1529[83], indicates that his property at that time was by no means inconsiderable. It is to this document that we owe the greater part of our present information concerning Cromwell’s family. It is written in the hand of Cromwell’s chief clerk, and was altered at a later date by Cromwell himself[84]. The document is for the most part self-explanatory, but there are a few interesting facts to be especially noted in connexion with it. The bequests to Cromwell’s daughters ‘Anne and Grace’ and to his ‘litill Doughter Grace’ are our only proof that he had other children than Gregory; and the fact that both these items were crossed out after the year 1529 possibly indicates that the daughters died when young. We also learn that Cromwell’s nephew Richard, the son of Katherine Cromwell and Morgan Williams, had followed in his uncle’s footsteps, and was ‘seruaunt with my lorde Marques Dorssett’ at the time that the will was first composed; but he certainly received other employment soon afterwards, for the name of his master was scored through in the will by Cromwell at a later date, and we also know from other sources that Richard Williams entered his uncle’s service and was active in suppressing the monasteries and in subduing the Pilgrimage of Grace, during the year 1536 and afterwards[85]. Before this date he had changed his name to Cromwell, and later became great-grandfather to the Protector[86]. His mother died before 1529, for Cromwell in his will refers to Elizabeth Wellyfed as his ‘onlye Suster.’ Cromwell’s wife, as we have already seen, had also died before the will was made; her sister Joan married a certain John Williamson, an old friend of Cromwell’s, who later figured prominently in the latter’s service. We also meet with many of the other names mentioned in this will, in Cromwell’s later correspondence. Nearly all the friends of his earlier days were employed by him in one capacity or another as spies, agents, or even minor ambassadors to foreign Courts, after he had entered the King’s service.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III

THE WILL OF THOMAS CROMWELL.

R.O. Cal. iv. 5772 (1).

In the name of god Amen The xij^th Daye of Iulie in the yere of our lorde god MCCCCCxxix^ti[87] and in the xxj^ti yere of the Reigne of our Souereigne Lorde king Henry the viij^th I Thomas Crumwell of london gentilman being hole in bodie and in good and parfyte memorye Lauded be the holie Trynytee make ordeyn and Declare this my present testament conteyning my last will in maner and ‹fourme› Folowing. Furste I bequethe my Sowle to the grete god of heuen my maker Creatour and Redemer beseching the most gloryous virgyn our blessed ladie Saynct Mary the vyrgyn and Mother with all the holie companye of heuen to be Medyatours and Intercessours for me to the holie trynytee So that I may be able when it shall please Almightie god to call me out of this miserable worlde and transitorie lif to inherite the kingdome of heuen amongst the nomber of good christen people. And whan so euer I shall departe this present lif, I bequethe my bodie to be buryed where it shall please god to ordeyn me to die and to be ordered after the discression of myn executours vndernamed And for my goodes which our lorde hathe lent me in this Worlde I will shalbe ordered and disposed in maner and fourme as hereafter shall insue. Furst I gyue and bequethe vnto my Soon Gregory Crumwell Syx hundreth threscore Syx poundes thirten shelynges foure pens[88] of lawfull money of Englonde With the Whiche Syx hundreth threescore Syx powndes xiij^s foure pens[89] I will myn executours vndernamed ymediatlye or assone as they conuenyently may after my Decesse shall purchase londes tenementes and hereditamentes to the clere yerelye value of xxxiij^li vj^s viij^d[90] by the yere aboue all charges and reprysys to thuse of my saide Soon Gregorye for terme of his lif And after the Decesse of the saide Gregorye to the heyres Males of his bodie lawfully to be begotten And for lacke of heires Males of the bodie of the saide Gregory lawfully to be begotten to the heires generall of his bodie lawfully begotten. And for lacke of suche heires to the right heires of me the saide Thomas Crumwell in Fee. I will also that ymedyatly and assone as the saide londes tenementes and hereditamentes shalbe so purchased after my deth as is aforsaide by myn executours that the yerelie proffytes thereof shalbe hollie spent and imployed in and aboutes the educacyon and fynding honestly of my saide Soon Gregory in vertue good lerning and Maners vntill such tyme as he shall cum to the full age of xxij yeres. During Which tyme I hertely desir and require my saide executours to be good vnto my saide Son Gregory and to see he do lose no tyme but to se him verteously ordered & brought vp according to my trust Item I gyue and bequethe to my saide Soon Gregorie When he shall cum to his full age of xxiiij yeres Twoo[91] Hundreth poundes of lawfull ynglissh money to order then as our lorde shall gyue hym grace and discression Which cc^li I will shalbe put in suertie to thintent the same may cum to his handes at his saide age of xxiiij^ti yeres. Item I gyue and bequethe to my saide Soon Gregory of such houseold stuf as god hathe lent me Three[92] of my best Fetherbeddes with thayr bolsters ij^o the best[93] payre of blankettes of Fustyan my best Couerlet of Tapistrye and my Quylte of yelow Turquye Saten, x payre of my best Shetes foure[94] pillowes of downe with iiij payre of the best pillowe beres foure[95] of my best table clothes, foure of my best towelles Twoo dosen[96] of my Fynest Naptkynnes and ij^o dozen of my other Naptkynnes, ij^o[97] garnyssh of my best vessell, iij of my best brasse pottes, iij of my best brasse pannes, ij^o of my best kettilles, ij^o of my best Spittes, My best ioyned bed of Flaunders wourke with the best Syler and tester and other thappurtenaunces therto belonging My best presse caruen of Flaunders wourke and my best Cupbourde caruen of Flaunders wourk with also vj Joyned Stoles of Flaunders wourke and vj of my best Cusshyns Item I gyue and bequethe to my saide Soon Gregorye A Bason with a Lewer parcell gilte my best Salt gilt my best Cup gilt, Three[98] of my best goblettes gilt three other of my best goblettes parcell gylt, Twelue of[99] my best Syluer spones, Three of[100] my best Drynking ale potes gilt. All the which parcelles of plate and houseold stuf I will shalbe savelye kept to thuse of my saide Soonne Gregorye till he shall cum to his saide full age of xxij^ti yeres and all the which plate household stuf Naperye and other the premisses I will myn executours do put in saufe keping vntill my saide Soon shall cum to the saide yeres or age of xxij^ti. And if he die before the age of xxij^ti[101] Then I will all the saide plate vessell and houseold stuf shalbe sold by myn executours And the money thereof cummyng to be gyuen and equallie Deuyded amongst my poure kynnesfolkes. That is to say amongst the children as well of myn owne Susters Elizabeth and Katheryn as of my late Wyffes Suster Johane Wif to John Willyamson, And if it happen that all the children of my saide Susters and Suster in law Do dye before the particyon and deuysion be made and none of them to be lyuyng Then I will that all the saide plate vessell and houseold stuf shalbe solde and yeuen to other my poure kynnesfolkes then being on lyue and other poure and indigent people in Deades of charytee for my Sowle my Father and Mother their Sowles, and all Christen Sowles[102] Item I gyue and bequethe vnto my Suster Elizabeth Wellyfed Wif to Wyllyam Wellyfed xl^li[103] iij Goblettes without a Couer[104] a Macer, And A Nutt Item I gyue and bequethe to my nephew Rycharde Wyllyams[105] lxvj^li xiij^s iiij^d[106] sterlinges my best[107] gowne Doblett and Jaquet Item I gyue and bequethe to my nepue Christofer Wellyfed my nephe xl^li[108] my v^th gowne doblett and Jaquett Item I gyue and bequethe to my nephew Wyllyam Wellyfed the Yonger xx^li[109] Item I gyue and bequethe to my nece Alice Wellyfed to her Maryage xx^li And if it happen her to Dye before maryage then I will the saide xx^li shall remayne to her brother Christofer And if it happen him to Dye the same xx^li to remayne to Willyam Wellyfed the yonger his brother. And if it happen them all to Dye before their lawfull age or maryage, then I will that their partes shall remayne to Gregory my Soon. And if it happen him to Dye before them then I will all the said partes shall remayn to Rychard Wylliams and Water Williams my nephews[110] And if it happen them to Dye then I will that all the said partes shalbe Distributed in Deades of charytee for my Sowle my Father and Mothers Sowles and all christen Sowles. Item I gyue and bequethe to my Mother in law Mercye Pryour xl^li of lawfull ynglissh money and her chaumber with certen houseold stuf, That is to saye A Fetherbed, a Bolster ij pillowes with their beres vj payre of Shetes A payre of blankettes, A garnyssh of vessell, ij^o pottes, ij^o pannes, ij^o Spyttes with such other of my houseold stuf as shalbe thought mete for her by the Discression of myn executours And suche as she will reasonablye Desire not being bequethed to other vses in this my present testament and last will. Item I gyue and bequethe to my said mother in law a lytill Salt of Syluer a Maser, vj Siluer Spones and a drinking pot of Syluer And also I charge myn executours to be good vnto her duryng her lyffe. Item I gyue and bequethe to my brother in law Willyam Wellyfed xx^li my thurde gown Jaquet and Doblet. Item I gyue and bequethe to John Wyllyamson my brother in law c markes[111] a gown a Doblet and a Jaquet, A Fetherbed, A bolster vj payre of Shetes ij^o table clothes, ij^o Dozen Naptkynnes, ij^o towelles ij^o brasse pottes, ij^o brasse pannes, a Syluer pott A Nutte parcell gilt, and to Iohane his wyf x^li[112]. Item I gyue and bequethe to Johane Wyllyamson their Doughter to her maryage xx^li and to euery other of their children vj^li xiij^s iiij^d[113]. Item I bequethe to Walter Wyllyams my nephue[114] xx^li Item I gyue and bequethe to Rafe Sadleyer my seruaunte cc[115] Markes of lawfull ynglissh money my Seconde[116] gowne Jaquet and Doblet and all my bokes Item I gyue and bequethe to Hugh Whalley my Seruaunt vj^li xiij^s iiij^d. Item I gyue and bequethe to Stephen Vaughan sumtyme my seruaunte c markes[117] a gowne Jaquet and Doblet. Item I gyue and bequethe to Page my Seruaunte otherwise called John du Pount vj^li xiij^s iiij^d[118] and also to Thomas Auerey my seruauntt vj^li xiij^s iiij^d[119]. Item I gyue and bequethe to John Horwood vj^li xiij^s iiij^d[120] Item that the rest of myn apparell before not gyuen ne bequethed in this my testament and last will shalbe yeuen and equally Departed amongst my Seruauntes after the order and discression of myn executours Item I will also that myn executours shall take the yerely profyttes aboue the charges of my Ferme of Canberye and all other thinges Conteynyd within my sayd lease of Canberye in the Cowntye of Middelsex[121] And with the proffytes thereof[122] shall yerelie paye vnto my brother in law William Wellffe‹d› and Elysabethe his wyffe myn onlye Suster Twentye powndes duryng thayr lyves and the longer of them and after the discease of the sayd William and Elysabeth the proffettes of the sayd Ferme ouer and aboue the yerlye Rentt to be kept to the vse of my Son gregorye tyll he Cum to the age of xxij^ti and at the yeres of xxij^th the sayd lease and Ferme of Canberye I do gyue and bequethe to my sayd Son gregorye to haue the same to hym his executors and assignes[123] and if it Fortune the saide Gregorye my Soon to dye before he shall cum to the age of xxij[124] yeres My sayd bruthuren in lawe and syster being dede Then I will my Cosyn Rychard Williams shall ‹haue› the Ferme with the appurtenaunces to hym and his executors and assignes and yf it happen my sayd Brother in law my Suster[125] my Son gregorye and my sayd Cosyn Rycharde to dye before the accoumplyshement of this my wyll touchinge the sayd Ferme then I wyll myn executors shall Sell the sayd ferme and the moneye therof Cummyng to Imploye in dedes of charyte to praye[126] for my Sowle and all Christen Sowles. Item I will that myn executours shall conducte and hyre a pryest being an honest person of contynent and good lyuyng to Syng for my Sowle by the space of vij[127] yeres next after my deth and to gyue him for the same Fortye Syx powndes thertene shelinges Foure pens that ys to saye vj^li xiij^s iiij^d yerlye for his stypend[128]. Item I gyue and bequethe towardes the making of high wayes in this Realme where it shalbe thought most necessary[129] xx^li to be Disposed by the Discression of myn executours. Item I gyue and bequethe to euery of the v orders of Freers within the Cytee of London to pray for my Soule xx^s[130]. Item I gyue and bequethe to lx poure Maydens Maryages xl^li[131] That is to saye xiij^s iiij^d[132] to euerye of the saide poure Maydens to be gyuen and Distributed by the Discression of myn executours. Item I will that there shalbe Delt and yeuen after my decesse amongst poure people howseholders to pray for my Sowle xx^li[133]. Item I gyue and bequeth to the poure parochians Suche as by myn executors shalbe thowght most needffull of the paroche Where god shall ordeyn me to haue my dwelling place at the tyme of my Deth x^li[134] to be trewlye Distributed amongst them by the Discression of myn executours[135] Item I gyue and bequethe to the poure prysoners of Newgate Ludgate Kynges benche and Marshall See to be equallye Distributed amongst them x^li Wylling charging and desiring myn executours vnderwrytten that they shall See this my Will perfourmed in euery poynte according to my trew meaning and intente as they will answer to god and discharge their consciences.

[136]Item I gyue and bequeth to William brabason my seruaunt xx^li sterling A gowne A dublett A Jaquet and my second gelding.

Item I gyue and bequeth to John averey yoman of the bottell with the kynges highnes vj^li xiij^s iiij^d, and doublet of Saten.

Item I bequeth to thurston my Coke vj^li xiij^s iiij^d.

Item I gyue and bequethe to William bodye my seruauntt vj^li xiij^s iiij^d.

Item I gyue and bequeth to Peter mewtes my seruauntt vj^li xiij^s iiij^d.

Item I gyue and bequeth to Rychard Swyft my seruauntt vj^li xiij^s iiij^d.

Item I gyue and bequeth to george Wylkynson my seruauntt vj^li xiij^s iiij^d.

Item I gyue and bequeth to my Frend Thomas alvard x^li and my best gelding.

Item I gyue and bequeth to my frend Thomas Russhe x^li.

Item I gyue and bequeth to my seruauntt John Hynde my horsekeper iij^li vj^s viij^d.

Item I wyll that myn executors shall Saluelye kepe the patentt of the Manour of Rompney to the vse of my Son gregorye and the money growing therof tyll he shall Cum to his lawfull Age to be yerely Retayned to the vse of my sayd Son and the hole revenew therof Cumyng to be trewlye payd vnto hym at suche tyme as he shall Cum to the age of xxj yeres.

The residue of all my goodes catalles and debttes not bequethed my Funeralles and buryall perfourmed which I will shalbe Don without any erthelye pompe and my Dettes payed, I will shalbe sold And the money thereof cummyng to be Distributed in wourkes of charytee and pytee after the good Discression of myn executours vndernamed whom I make and Ordeyn Stephyn Vaughan[137] Rafe Sadleyer my seruaunttes and John[138] Wyllyamson my brother in law. Prayeng and Desiring the same myn executours to be good vnto my Soon Gregorye[139] and to all other my Frendes poore kynsfolkes and Seruaunttes before named in this my testament And of this my present testament and last Will I make Roger More myn Ouerseer Vnto whom and also to euery of the other myn executours I gyue and bequethe vj^li xiij^s iiij^d[140] for their paynes to be taken in the execucyon of this my last will and testament ouer and aboue suche legacies as herebefore I haue bequethed them in this same my testament and last will. In Wytnes Wherof to this my present testament and last will I haue sett my hand in euery lefe conteyned in this Boke the day and yere before lymyted

per me Thomam Crumwell[141]

Endorsed. Thomas Crumwell a Copy of my Master his Will And bookes of debtes owinge to him.

CHAPTER IV

THE FALL OF THE CARDINAL

In October, 1529, Cardinal Wolsey lost the King’s favour, and fell into disgrace. He was forced to give up the Great Seal, sign an indenture acknowledging that he had incurred the guilt of Praemunire, forfeit most of his lands, possessions, and offices, and retire to his seat at Esher[142]. His faithful biographer, Cavendish, gives a very touching account of the Cardinal’s surrender of his goods, his removal from the scene of his labours, and his enforced living in ‘estraunge estate[143].’ Few fallen ministers have ever been in a more pitiful position. To have incurred the ill-will of his master, as he had done, meant certain ruin in those days; and besides this he had turned the people against him by the part he had taken in the divorce. Anne Boleyn, whose influence at the Court was at its height, detested him for his failure to bring it about; the clergy and common people hated him for attempting it. The few friends who retained their fidelity to him in his trouble were prevented from showing it by their consciousness of the royal and popular displeasure.

As Wolsey’s servant, counsellor, and friend, Cromwell naturally felt the keenest anxiety lest he should be involved in his master’s ruin. It has been already shown that his action in suppressing the monasteries had made him very generally hated; and now that the prop that had supported him in his difficult and unpopular task was gone, he had great need to look to himself, if he did not wish to fall with the Cardinal. That he was perfectly well informed of the position in which he was placed is proved by a letter which he received from his friend Stephen Vaughan, written at Antwerp, October 30, 1529, which tells him that he is more hated for his master’s sake than for anything which he has wrongfully done to any man[144]. Another letter from his companion in Wolsey’s service, Sir Thomas Rush, who was employed with him at Ipswich, gave him further warning of the evil reports that were circulated about him[145]. It is no wonder that he was seriously alarmed.

Modern investigation has made it certain that there is but little historical foundation for the touching pictures drawn by Cavendish, Shakespeare, and, at a later day, Froude, which represent Cromwell as the faithful servant of his fallen master, unselfish, and exclusively devoted to his interests[146]. There is no reason to think that Cavendish, whose testimony is most valuable as that of an eye-witness of the scenes he describes, wilfully distorted the facts, but it is certain that his directness and simplicity often prevented him from drawing just conclusions from them, when he had to do with such astute men as Wolsey and Cromwell. By comparing his story with the events which followed, we shall see that while Cromwell kept up the appearance of spending all his time in helping Wolsey in his disgrace, he really was occupied in serving his own ends, and in regaining the favour he had lost as the Cardinal’s agent. Though he carefully abstained from doing or saying anything prejudicial to Wolsey’s cause, for fear of alienating people by laying himself open to the accusation of faithlessness to his master, he really did nothing to the Cardinal’s advantage that did not redound, in an infinitely greater degree, to his own profit and advancement. Let us follow the letters of Cromwell, the narrative of Cavendish, and the records of the Parliament of 1529, for our facts, but let us draw our own conclusions from them.

‘It chanced me upon All-hallowne day,’ says Cavendish, ‘to come into the Great Chamber at Assher in the morning, to give mine attendance, where I found Mr. Cromwell leaning in the great windowe with a Primer in his hand, saying our Lady mattens: which had bine a strange sight in him afore.—Well, what will you have more? He prayed no more earnestly, than he distilled teares as fast from his eyes. Whom I saluted and bad good-morrowe. And with that I perceived his moist chekes, the which he wiped with his napkine. To whom I saide, “Why, Mr. Cromwell, what meaneth this dole? Is my lord in any danger that ye doe lament for him? or is it for any other losse, that ye have sustained by misfortune?” “Nay,” quoth he, “it is for my unhappy adventure. For I am like to lose all that I have laboured for, all the daies of my life, for doing of my master true and diligent service.” “Why Sir,” quoth I, “I trust that you be too wise to do anything by my lord’s commaundement otherwise than ye might doe, whereof you ought to be in doubt or daunger for losse of your goods.” “Well, well,” quoth he, “I cannot tell; but this I see before mine eyes, that everything is as it is taken; and this I knowe well, that I am disdained withal for my master’s sake; and yet I am sure there is no cause, why they should do soe. An evill name once gotten will not lightly be put away. I never had promotion by my lord to the encrease of my living. But this much I will saye to you, that I will this afternoone, when my lord hath dined, ride to London, and to the courte, when I will either make or marre, or ever I come againe. I will put myself in prease, to see what they will be able to lay to my charge.” “Mary,” quoth I, “then in so doing you shall doe wisely, beseeching God to send you good lucke, as I would myselfe[147].”’

Cromwell performed his promise well. He dined with Wolsey on that All-hallowne Day, and later helped him to discharge his servants, causing his chaplains to pay part of the yeomen’s wages, in return for the benefices and livings which they had received from the Cardinal; setting an example himself, with unusual liberality, by a contribution of five pounds to this end. He then desired of Wolsey leave to go to London, which was granted, and he departed immediately with Ralph Sadler, his clerk.

No one knew better than Cromwell that the best place for him to ‘make or marre’ the Cardinal’s fortunes and his own, was in the Parliament which was to meet November 3 (two days later), and, ‘being in London, he devised with himself to be one of the burgesses[148].’ He sat as a member from Taunton, as the records of Parliament attest[149], but there are very contradictory reports about the way in which he obtained his seat. According to Cavendish ‘he chaunced to meete with one Sir Thomas Rush, knighte, a speciall friend of his, whose son was appointed to be a burgess, of whome he obtained his rome, and so put his fete into the parliament house.’ This may possibly be true, but it is not the whole truth, for a letter of November 1, from Sadler to Cromwell, the genuineness of which it is impossible to doubt, hints at a good deal more than is to be found in Cavendish’s account, which must have been made from Cromwell’s own story about his proceedings[150]. This letter reads as follows:—

‘Wourshipfull Sir it may please you to be aduertised that a litle before the receipte of your lettere I cam from the courte where I spake with Mr. Gage and according to your commaundement moved him to speke vnto my lorde of Norffolk for the burgeses Rowme of the parlyament on your behalf And he accordingly so dyd without delay lyke a faythfull Frende, wherevppon my saide lorde of Norffolk answered the saide Mr. Gage that he had spoken with the king his highnes and that his highnes was veray well contented ye should be a Burges So that ye wolde order yourself in the saide Rowme according to suche instructions as the saide Duke of Norffolk shall gyue you from the king Aduertesing you ferther that the saide Duke in any wise willeth that ye do speke with his grace to morow for th[at] purpose. In token whereof his grace sent you by mr. Ga[ge] your Ryng with the turques, Whiche I do now sende you by this berer. As touching mr. Russhe I spake with him also at [the] courte if I then had knowen your pleasure I could now haue sent you answere of the same. Howbeit I will speke with him this night god willing and know whether ye shalbe Burges of Oxforde or not And if ye be not elect there I will then according to your ferther commaundement repayre vnto Mr. paulet and requiere him to name you to be one of the Burgeses of one of my lordes townes of his busshopriche of Wynchester accordingly. Sir me thinketh it were good, So it may stonde with your pleasure, that ye did repayre hither to morowe assone as ye conuenyently may for to speke with the Duke of Norffolk by whom ye shall knowe the king his pleasure how ye shall order yourself in the parliament house Assuring you that your Frendes wolde haue you to tary with my lorde there as litle as might be for many consideracions as Mr. Gage will Shew you who moche desireth to speke with you. the king his grace wilbe to morow at night at yorke place. Other newes at the courte I here none but dyuers of my lorde his seruauntes as Mr. Aluarde Mr. Sayntclere Mr. Forest, Humfrey lisle Mr. Mores & other ben elect and sworne the king his seruauntes. Mr. Gifforde & I cam from the courte togither but when we cam into london he departed from me I knowe not whither. Newes I inquiered of him but he sayed he knew none other then as I haue wrytten you here, which Mr. Gage also shewed him. Humblie beseching you, if it be your pleasure, to make spede hither. And thus I most hertely beseche our lorde god to sende you your hertes Desire and to induce and bring all your good purposes and affairees to good effecte. From london in haste this present all Saynctes Day at iiij of the clocke after none by

Your most humble Seruaunte
Rafe Sadleyer.’

From this letter then it seems probable that Cromwell obtained his seat in the Parliament of 1529 through the influence of the Duke of Norfolk. He was keen-sighted enough to see that at Wolsey’s fall all the royal favour had been transferred to this man and to Gardiner. Both of these were Wolsey’s enemies, and Cromwell, whose name was coupled everywhere with that of the Cardinal, saw that to gain influence at Court, it was necessary at all costs to do away with their hostility, which he must have incurred as Wolsey’s agent. Thus Cromwell’s first move at the time of his master’s disgrace was to take steps to get himself into favour with Norfolk. Cavendish’s account is explained by the fact that Cromwell would not have been very likely to tell Wolsey how he had gone straight over to his bitterest enemy, but far more probably sent back to Esher the incomplete tale about Rush and his son, which the honest and simple-minded biographer probably never suspected for an instant. One can hardly doubt that Cromwell would not have been elected to this Parliament had he not secured the consent of the Cardinal’s worst foe. He had thus killed two birds with one stone; he had gained his position in the House of Commons where his influence would be felt, and he had successfully escaped the odium of the chief person at the Court, which would have naturally fallen upon him as Wolsey’s servant, and turned it into at least a temporary friendship.

From the contents of the letter above quoted, we may also suppose that Cromwell’s doings in the Parliament of 1529 were ‘ordered’ by the King. The bill of attainder or ‘boke of artikels’ against the Cardinal was the first business that lay before the House. It had passed the Lords and was sent down to the Commons, but it was so violent and so false, that even Henry and Norfolk relented. It had probably been very clearly hinted to the Parliament that the King did not wish it to pass, and royal ‘hints’ at this period of English history were generally respected and obeyed. Cavendish tells us that when Cromwell had obtained his seat in Parliament, and the attainder was brought forward, he consulted with Wolsey ‘to know what answer he might make in his behalf; insomuch that there was nothing alleadged against my lord but that he was ready to make answer thereto,’ and he inveighed against the bill ‘so discreetly and with such witty persuasions and depe resons that the same could take none effect,’ so that ‘at length his honest estimation and earnest behaviour in his master’s cause grewe so in every man’s opinion, that he was reputed the most faithful servant to his master of all other, wherein he was greatly of all men commended[151].’

This is all doubtless true, but whether or not he was alone in the stand he made against the bill is quite another question. Henry was perfectly satisfied with humbling the Cardinal to the extent that he had already done, and did not wish him to suffer any more; in fact the opposition, consisting of most of the nobles led by Norfolk and Anne Boleyn, were in constant fear up to the day of Wolsey’s death, lest he should regain the King’s favour. If Cromwell had gone openly over to the other side at this juncture, he would have gained nothing, and incurred the odium due to a deserter. He took the only generous and right side, but in serving his master he served himself far more[152]. Wolsey, as we have seen, had made a written confession of all his misdeeds as soon as the first blow had been struck against him[153]. This confession was produced by Cromwell, and it gave the proposers of the bill of attainder an excuse for dropping it. Cromwell supplied the pretext for abandoning a measure displeasing to the King, and consequently impossible to carry through this very subservient Parliament; by so doing he gained the praise of a saviour of his master in his extremity.

This was the first step: the second was to win the favour of other nobles, while still preserving the appearance of loyally serving his fallen master. It was scarcely less important than the first, and was carried through by Cromwell with the greatest rapidity and success. His method of accomplishing it, however simple, was eminently characteristic, and merits description.

It has already been shown how thoroughly Cromwell realized the importance of money as a political force. Though the traditional reproach of parsimony and stinginess so often cast at Henry VII.[154] is in great measure unmerited, it is undeniable that his careful financial management and accurate audits had served to surround his government with an atmosphere of ostensible frugality. Henry VIII., on the contrary, delighted in outward splendour and magnificence; his Court was by far the most brilliant that England had ever beheld, and nobody could play his part there who was not prepared to lavish vast sums upon his outfit. But the greater part of the nobles were quite unable to do this. It had been an important part of the plan of Henry VII. for establishing a strong kingship to keep all possible rivals of the Crown in a state of financial dependence. Many items in the State Papers of his son’s reign bear witness to the complete success of these schemes of impoverishing the nobility[155]. Only by pawning and selling lands, estates, goods and chattels could the nobility obtain sufficient sums to make a good appearance at the brilliant Court of Henry VIII.

Such a state of affairs was a golden opportunity to a man in Cromwell’s position and of Cromwell’s talents. To Wolsey, whose mind had been intent on the larger schemes of his foreign policy, the notion of staving off the hatred of the influential people about the King by gifts of money, would never have occurred. Cromwell hit upon the scheme in a moment, as the only sure road to favour at the Court[156]. Now that Wolsey had surrendered himself almost wholly to the counsels of his painstaking, watchful, close and wholly unscrupulous adviser, Cromwell immediately persuaded him to grant annuities to the Court favourites. The casual reader must not deceive himself into thinking that this was done at Wolsey’s own suggestion; the measure was too evidently Cromwellian to leave any room to doubt its originator, and if any further proof be needed, it is furnished by evidence in the Cardinal’s papers. In a letter to Cromwell written in December, 1529, Wolsey says, ‘Yf the desspleasure of my lady Anne be [some]what asswagyd, as I praye God the same maye be, then yt shuld [be devised t]hat by sume convenyent meane she be further laboryd [for th]ys ys the only helpe and remedy. All possyble meanes [must be used for] atteynyng of hyr favor . . . . . . . . . . I comyt me to yower wyse handling[157].’ In the same month Cromwell made out the draft of a grant by Wolsey to George Boleyn, Knight, Viscount Rochford, son and heir apparent of Thomas Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, bestowing on him an annuity of £200 out of the lands of the bishopric of Winchester, and a similar gift of £200 out of the abbey lands of St. Albans[158]. Another letter from Wolsey to Cromwell in January, 1530, says that, according to his servant’s advice, he has had Mr. Norris’s fee increased from £100 to £200, and would like to have Sir John Russell’s annuity of £20 made 40 or 50, if Cromwell thinks it expedient[159].

It is thus clear that these and other similar gifts were bestowed at Cromwell’s advice and suggestion, and that the inevitable consequence was that the advantage resulting from them accrued to a far greater extent to the Cardinal’s agent than to the Cardinal himself. Wolsey, in his confinement at Esher, was forced to trust himself implicitly to the shrewd and selfish counsellor, who moved about among those whom it was most important for him to propitiate, and soon found means to make it appear that Wolsey’s favours in reality emanated from him. Cromwell’s selection of those to whom the presents were made seems also to hint that he was working in his own interest more than in his master’s. He must have known that the members of the Boleyn party, to whom the greater part of the grants were made, hated Wolsey himself too thoroughly to permit them to forget their grudge for the sake of a few hundred pounds, but the sums bestowed were sufficiently large to make the recipients of them very friendly to the Cardinal’s agent, who to all intents and purposes appeared to be the real giver. Hints of all this must indeed have reached Wolsey’s ears. Though throughout all the period of the attainder his gratitude, as expressed in his many letters, was, in view of the real facts, most unnecessarily effusive[160], he later writes to Cromwell that he hears ‘he has not done him as good offices as he might, in connexion with his colleges and his archbishopric.’ But Cromwell had by this time got everything into his own hands, so that Wolsey was forced to do exactly as he was bidden. Whenever the Cardinal undertook anything on his own responsibility, without asking his servant’s advice, it was greatly resented. If Wolsey dared to hint that Cromwell was not wholly devoted to his interests, the latter sent back a complaining and half-threatening reply[161]. The Cardinal was even forced to write a humble apology to his agent for sending Edmund Bonner on some mission without his advice[162]. The less able Wolsey became to help himself, the more harsh and imperious was his all-powerful counsellor. With the whole control of his master’s interests at the Court in his own hands, it was exceedingly simple for a man of Cromwell’s peculiar talents to dispose the funds committed to his care in such ways as tallied best with his own interests, while casual onlookers simply regarded him as an honest servant of his fallen master; and Wolsey, unable to learn the true state of affairs at Court, was kept practically ignorant of his real designs. Cromwell had thus succeeded in attaining a most enviable position, which was aptly described in a letter which he received from Stephen Vaughan, who took the opportunity to congratulate him, and also to warn him against over-confidence in the following words:—‘A mery semblance of wether often thrustithe men into the Daungerous sees, not thinking to be sodaynly opprest wythe tempest when vnwares they be preuented and brought in great ieopardie. The Wyndes arn mutable vnsure and will not be caryed in mennys handes to blow at a becke. Parell euerywhere followithe men, from the birthe to the Dethe, And more thretenethe them whiche entreprise Difficult and vrgent matters, then those whiche only sekethe easy and light matters ye thoughe they have great apparance of vertue, such is thinstabilitie of the worlde, wher we find undique miseriam[163].’

A final opportunity was given to Cromwell to ingratiate himself with King and nobles when Henry took into his hands the revenues of St. Albans and Winchester, and of the colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. In this, even honest Cavendish could see that ‘Cromewell perceyved an occasion given him by time to helpe himselfe.’ The intricacies of the law of the period were such that annuities and fees out of the revenues of these colleges, granted by the King, after he had seized them, could only be good while Wolsey was living, because the King, having obtained his right to them by Wolsey’s attainder in the praemunire, could not retain that right after the Cardinal’s death[164]. Thus, to have the grants secure during the lifetimes of the recipients, ‘there was none other shifte but to obtaine my lord’s confirmation of their patents. Then began every man both noble and gentleman who had any patents out of Winchester and St. Albans to make suite to Mr. Cromwell to solicit their cause to my lorde to get therin his confirmation, and for his paines therin bothe worthily to reward him and every man to shewe him such pleasures as should be at all times in their small powers, whereof they assured him. . . . Now began matters to worke to bringe Master Cromwell into estimation in suche sorte as was muche hereafter to his increase of dignity; . . . and having the ordering and disposition of the landes of these colleges he had a great occasion of suitors, besides the continual access to the King, by meanes whereof and through his witty demeanour he grewe continually into the King’s favour[165].’

It is hard to realize how deeply Wolsey felt the seizure of his two colleges. They had been the pride and joy of his declining years. Instead of working earnestly to avert their surrender into the King’s hands, as a true servant would have done, Cromwell permitted and almost welcomed it, as a means to give him a chance to further his own ends, and wrote empty, and, it would seem, almost contemptuous letters of consolation to the Cardinal, of which that of August 18 is an excellent example[166]. Instead of going to his master in his sorrow and disgrace, as Wolsey repeatedly requested him to do, he held himself aloof, and under the pretext of looking after the Cardinal’s interests at Court, contrived for his own rise and advancement. It is true that he stood by Wolsey in the parliamentary crisis in 1529, and that it was largely through his efforts that Wolsey obtained his temporary pardon in February, 1530; but when, at the last, the Cardinal’s enemies turned against him a second time and secured his complete downfall, there is no record of Cromwell’s saying a word or doing a thing in his behalf. On November 29, 1530, Wolsey died, shattered and disgraced.

It is very unfortunate that there still exist so few of Cromwell’s letters during the last two years of Wolsey’s life. There are preserved at present only twelve letters from him during this period[167], seven of which are addressed to Wolsey. In none of them does he give evidence of a sincere desire to serve his master at all costs; the dominant note of the greater part of them is one of selfish and rather supercilious advice; of a morality easy and cheap, because the preacher of it evidently felt himself beyond the possibility of its ever being applicable in his own case. There is also very little trustworthy information about the means he employed to introduce himself to the King, except what has already been mentioned in connexion with Wolsey’s fall. Foxe asserts that Sir Christopher Hales, Master of the Rolls, commended him to Henry, and further affirms that Sir John Russell said a good word for him, in return for Cromwell’s saving his life at Bologna, so that the latter was enabled to have a private conversation with the King in Westminster Gardens[168]. Part of this story is obviously false; Cromwell could not have been at Bologna when Sir John Russell was (between 1524 and 1528), because he was occupied in England at that time, as his correspondence shows. To judge from this, little reliance can be placed on the rest of Foxe’s tale; and there are no contemporary documents that bear out his statements. Another story, which is perhaps more probable, is that of Chapuys[169], who states that at Wolsey’s death Sir John Wallop attacked Cromwell with insults and threats, so that the latter for protection procured an audience with Henry, whom he promised to make the richest king that ever was in England. Henry, it appears, was so struck with this offer, that he immediately made Cromwell a member of his Council, but told nobody about it for four months. This tale is in many respects similar to the account contained in Pole’s Apologia: but the story of the Cardinal does not mention the quarrel with Wallop, and the report of Chapuys does not say a word about the plan for the solution of Henry’s ‘grete matier’ by which Cromwell, according to Pole, completely fascinated the King. All the accounts, however, seem to agree that by some means he managed to secure an interview with Henry soon after Wolsey’s death, at which he clinched everything that he had already gained, and obtained the favour of the King by one master-stroke. Pole’s story of this interview contains information which leads us into the thick of Cromwell’s political career. Before we proceed to examine it in detail a brief chapter must be devoted to a description of the actors and past events of the great political drama in which Cromwell was to play a part, and to a further analysis of his own character and ideals.

CHAPTER V

THE CHARACTER AND OPPORTUNITY OF THOMAS CROMWELL

The condition of England at the time of Wolsey’s death was in many ways an extraordinary one. At home and abroad she had already begun to reap glorious fruits from the untiring efforts and masterful policy of the first Tudor. United under a powerful monarchy, which had strengthened itself at the expense of every other institution in the realm, she rested secure in the enjoyment of internal peace and of a high degree of estimation and respect in foreign lands. That she had lost nearly all those continental possessions which had been the proudest boast of Edward III. and Henry V. now proved an inestimable advantage. The wise Cardinal had made use of England’s insular position to such good advantage, that she had been able, at least up to the time when the political situation had been complicated by the question of the divorce, to keep the Emperor and the King of France in a state of constant anxiety concerning her real attitude, and often to force the two rivals to bid against each other for her alliance. In 1521 Henry had dedicated to Leo X. a treatise which he had written against the heresies of Luther, and had been rewarded with the proud title of ‘Defensor Fidei.’ Success abroad meant popularity at home, at least for the King, whose enthusiasm and winning manners endeared him to his subjects, and who usually contrived to shift the blame for the unwelcome measures of his government on to the shoulders of the Cardinal. As long as the national honour was upheld on the Continent without draining too deeply the resources of the people at home, the country seemed quite willing to trust the King to the full and to allow him to rule as well as govern.

Such was the bright side of the picture, the side which first claims the attention of the casual observer. A more critical examination of the state of the country, however, reveals an undercurrent of discontent, which was almost lost in the crowning years of Wolsey’s greatness, but which did not fail to make itself felt at a later day, when the allegiance of so large a part of the people had been alienated by the affair of the divorce. The surest proof that Henry and Wolsey were aware of this latent hostility is afforded by the infrequent assemblings of Parliament. Seldom did the King dare to face the representatives of the nation with the demand for a subsidy; he preferred to veil his oppressive financial exactions under the name of an Amicable Loan. The poverty of the nobles was notorious; and the distress of the poor people daily increased owing to a succession of bad seasons, thin harvests, and a few outbreaks of a devastating plague. Economic and agrarian changes contributed to swell the universal discontent[170]. The break-up of the old manorial system, the increase of enclosures for pasturage, and the substitution of convertible husbandry for the old three-field system all served to displace labour, and so temporarily to diminish the demand for it. Great distress among the agricultural poor was necessarily the first result of these changes: unfortunately economic science was not sufficiently advanced to enable men to discern that it was but a passing phase, and that as soon as labour had adjusted itself to the new conditions permanent advantages to it were bound to ensue. The country-folk contrasted their own wretched condition with the many reports which reached them of Henry’s sumptuous and luxurious Court: small wonder if the government was wrongly blamed for a large share of the misery which was inevitably the first consequence of sudden and great economic development. Finally all malcontents were united in opposition to the King’s attempts to gain a divorce from his first wife, during the closing years of Wolsey’s ministry; so that the maintenance and further strengthening of the powerful monarchy established at the accession of the House of Tudor promised in the near future to afford a problem of even greater difficulty than before.

To turn for a moment to the situation on the Continent. The House of Hapsburg, under Charles V., seemed to have attained the acme of its greatness, but its power was not by any means as real as it appeared. The Emperor’s insatiable desire for foreign conquest had caused him to neglect affairs in Spain and in the Empire, and to overtax his powers and drain his resources by continual struggles with his great rival the King of France. The bone of contention was ostensibly Italy; perhaps a truer cause of the struggles of the two sovereigns is to be found in the geographical position of the countries over which they ruled. The newly-consolidated realm of France divided the dominions of the Emperor into two parts: the dream of Charles was to connect them; the object of Francis was to forestall him. Northern Italy belonged to neither, but it was a rich prize and a fighting-ground easily accessible to both the combatants, and so it very naturally became the field of war. Soon after the Imperial election of 1519 the tide began to set slowly but surely against Francis; he was a true soldier, and was not a man to submit to any encroachment without a struggle; still he fought at a terrible disadvantage, betrayed as he was by the Duke of Bourbon, and in 1525 he was forced to acknowledge a thorough defeat, at the fatal battle of Pavia[171].

Although the first idea that occurred to Henry and Wolsey after the news of Charles’ great victory had reached them was a plan for the conquest and subdivision of the kingdom of Francis, they soon came to the conclusion that such a scheme would render the Emperor far too powerful. Charles himself, moreover, had received with little favour the extravagant proposals for an invasion of France which England had sent him as soon as the result of Pavia was known, and had consistently refused to allow Henry any share in his triumph. The Pope also, who had watched with terror the victorious march of the Imperial army, ventured for the last time to present himself as the centre of the opposition to Charles V., and strove in every way to reconcile England and France. The obstinate resistance that the Commissioners for the collection of the Amicable Loan had encountered in the spring of 1525 was certainly no encouragement for undertaking a war of aggression, and Henry and Wolsey soon determined to abandon all plans of invasion, and to pursue the wiser policy of maintaining neutrality between the two great continental powers. With this thought in mind a treaty of peace was made with Francis in August, and after the escape of the French King from captivity in January, 1526, the two continental rivals were once more placed on an even footing. With this restoration of equality Henry was perfectly satisfied, and he took good care to avoid committing himself permanently to Francis, by refusing openly to join the League of Cognac in the following spring. At this juncture the matter of the divorce began to occupy his exclusive attention, and the foreign affairs of the next three years were left almost entirely in Wolsey’s hands.

Circumstances now drove the Cardinal temporarily to lose sight of the policy which he had pursued for the most part up to this time—that of strict neutrality—and to attempt to convert the peace with France into a permanent alliance. And certainly the events of 1527 seemed to give him every justification for this new departure. The sack of Rome appeared to put Italy at the mercy of the Imperialists, and now the difficulties connected with Henry’s matrimonial affairs pointed to the need of securing a firm ally who would aid him in persuading the captive Pontiff to consent to the divorce in opposition to the wishes of his jailor the Emperor. With all his experience the Cardinal had hardly learned how rapidly the diplomatic combinations of Europe could change. The last great venture of his foreign policy resulted in disaster: the French alliance utterly failed to accomplish what was expected of it. At first indeed it seemed that the matrimonial projects which formed the basis of it would succeed, but the crafty policy of Francis ruined all. His war with the Emperor broke out again, as was to be expected, immediately after his release from captivity, but secret negotiations for peace were soon set on foot, and finally, in 1529, took shape in the treaty of Cambray—the news of which came as a stunning blow to Wolsey’s dearest hopes. The lesson which the Cardinal learned at the expense of his office was by no means lost on his master. Absorbed in the attempt to obtain a divorce from Katherine, Henry possibly had not been able to foresee the course of events abroad any better than his minister; but when, in 1529, the news of the treaty of Cambray aroused him to a true appreciation of the state of affairs, he at once realized how dangerous any permanent alliance with either Francis or Charles would be, as long as the situation on the Continent remained so uncertain. He resolved that, as soon as he could rectify the Cardinal’s false step, nothing should tempt him again to abandon the only safe policy—that of strict neutrality between the two great European powers—as long as the two rivals remained nearly equal. This point has been purposely dwelt upon here as a foreshadowing of what was to happen to Cromwell a few years later. Departure from the policy of neutrality between France and Spain helped to ruin Wolsey: a similar blunder in foreign affairs was destined to lead his successor to destruction.

The entire attention of England was now turned to the absorbing question of the divorce. The history of Wolsey’s failure to bring about the separation of Henry and Katherine of Aragon, does not belong to the ground covered by this essay. Suffice it to say that the Cardinal’s ineffectual attempts to satisfy Henry’s chief desire, coupled with the obvious error in his foreign policy, sealed his doom and gave Cromwell his opportunity. There is little need to dwell upon the way in which the attempt to divorce the Queen was regarded abroad. Henry was looked upon as the disturber of Christian unity, not only by the Emperor, but also by all continental Europe[172]. Charles, of course, was the obvious person to avenge the wrongs of his aunt, but he was far too busy just then with his schemes for suppressing the Protestants in Germany and of checking the advance of the Turk into the borders of Christendom, seriously to contemplate an invasion of Henry’s dominions. It was not the only time that England’s fortunes were saved by the turn of affairs in distant lands.

It now remains only to say a few words about the chief persons at the Court of Henry VIII., preliminary to a description of Cromwell himself. Foremost among these was of course Anne Boleyn. Born probably in 1507 of a good English family, a niece of the Earl of Surrey, she had spent a good part of her early life in France, as ‘one of the French queen’s women,’ and returned to England in the latter part of the year 1521[173]. At Henry’s exceedingly corrupt Court she did not want for admirers and suitors, foremost among whom was the King himself, who had formerly been in intimate relations with her sister Mary. Henry’s passion for her is sufficiently attested by a succession of royal grants and favours to her father, beginning only two months after her arrival in England, and continuing for over three years[174]. How far Anne was responsible for causing Henry to take steps to divorce Katherine, and how far he was moved thereto by a conscience that became over-sensitive at suspiciously short notice, or by more legitimate political considerations, it is not our business now to inquire; our best sources of information are the grants to her father, above mentioned, and a most remarkable series of love-letters[175]. Though she temporarily had the King at her feet, no woman of Henry’s Court was really to be less envied. Katherine and Mary, and, in consequence, the majority of the people, were her bitter foes; to protect herself against the popular odium, she gathered round her a following, known at Court as the Boleyn faction, the chief person of which was her uncle, now Duke of Norfolk.

Norfolk was fifty-seven years old when Cromwell came into power. He was a Catholic and against the New Faith. He had received in his younger days a thorough military and diplomatic training, and in 1531 was characterized by the Venetian ambassador, Falieri, as ‘prudent, liberal, affable, and astute; associating with everybody . . . and desirous of greater elevation.’ This is a very flattering description of this crafty and ambitious statesman. The chief traits that characterized him were a cringing subservience to the will of the King, and a bitter hatred of any rival to his influence with Henry; a hatred which first directed itself against Wolsey, for whose downfall he laboured incessantly, and later against Cromwell, whose opponent he was during the decade of the former’s greatness. He was the equal of neither of these two as a statesman; but his utter lack of honour and consistency, and his willingness to break promises in order to please the King, rendered him an invaluable servant of the Crown at a period when one startling change followed on the heels of another. He threw himself heart and soul into the interests of his niece when Henry’s love for her was increasing; and yet when the royal passion waned, and Anne was accused in 1536, he was not ashamed to preside at her trial and sentence her to death[176].

The other important person at the Court was Stephen Gardiner, who in 1531 became Bishop of Winchester. Ten years Norfolk’s junior, he was introduced into political and diplomatic life by the Duke, and spent a large part of his early life as Wolsey’s servant and ambassador. He did not cherish any lasting friendship for the Cardinal, however, and he seems to have been an adherent of the Boleyn faction at Wolsey’s fall; we find Anne writing to him when the struggle between the two parties was at its hottest, to thank him for his ‘wylling and faythefull mynde[177].’ Still he took more or less a middle course on the divorce question, and pleaded warmly, though vainly, for the restitution of Wolsey’s colleges. But when the Cardinal’s fate was settled he certainly expected that his old master’s favour with the King would be transferred to himself, and when he was disappointed in this by Cromwell’s stepping in, he developed a hatred for him which he never abandoned. He was less active than Norfolk in his opposition to Rome, and though he lacked the Duke’s subserviency, he was fully as able a diplomat. Neither of the two men could have played the rôle of Cromwell: the scope of their talents was more limited; they were merely exceedingly able politicians, but as such they were by no means to be despised. When, however, they united to procure their rival’s ruin it was difficult to resist them[178].

Thus when at Wolsey’s fall Cromwell entered the King’s service, the situation of England both at home and abroad was critical in the extreme. The relations of the government with Rome were strained, owing to Henry’s proceedings in the divorce; his ‘grete matier’ was unpopular with the country at large; France and Spain were both of them very doubtful quantities, and might become friends or foes at any moment. At the Court, various factions with different aims were disputing for the precedence, and the best course to be steered by one who was about to enter the King’s service, after leaving that of a fallen minister, was not an easy thing to decide. Before inquiring into Cromwell’s action at this crisis, a brief description of the person and of the character of the man himself at this time will not be out of place.

Cromwell was a short, strongly-built man, with a large dull face. He was smooth-shaven, with close-cropped hair, and had a heavy double chin. His mouth was small and cruel, and was surmounted by an extraordinarily long upper lip, while a pair of grey eyes, set closely together, moved restlessly under his light eyebrows. He had an awkward, uncouth gait which lent itself well to the other peculiarities of his personal appearance, and gave one the idea that he was a patient, plodding, and, if anything, a rather stupid sort of man. But this was all merely external. According to Chapuys, who knew him well, he possessed the most extraordinary mobility of countenance, so that when engaged in an interesting conversation, his face would suddenly light up, and the dull, drudging, commonplace expression give way to a subtle, cunning, and intelligent aspect, quite at variance with his ordinary appearance. His conversation at such moments was witty and entertaining to the last degree, and the Spanish ambassador notes that he had the habit of giving a roguish oblique glance whenever he made a striking remark. This extraordinary power of facial control, according to the circumstances in which he was placed, merely reflects one of the dominant characteristics of the man. He obviously had remarkable power of quickly adapting himself to his surroundings. He rarely failed to realize immediately his relation to those with whom he came in contact, and his manner, behaviour, and expression varied accordingly. No one knew better how or when to flatter than Thomas Cromwell; on the other hand no one could be more harsh and cruel than he, when he was in a position to dictate. He had thoroughly learned the lesson

‘To beguile the time

Look like the time.’

There are many evidences of his good taste and love of beautiful things[179]. A long and complicated correspondence with his friend Stephen Vaughan about an iron chest of very curious workmanship, which he wanted for his house at Austin Friars, of such expense that Vaughan was almost afraid to buy it, is not without interest. There is record of his purchasing a globe, with a set of explanatory notes, and the only two ‘Cronica Cronicarum cum figuris’ that could be found in all Antwerp[180]. Especially great was his love of Italian things. His stay in Italy was of sufficient duration to steep him in the spirit of the Renaissance; he read and studied his Machiavelli, so that it was a guide to his future political career; we can well imagine him repeating to himself the sentence in chapter xviii of The Prince which begins ‘Ma è necessario questa natura saperla bene colorire, ed essere gran simulatore e dissimulatore[181],’ or the passage in chapter xvii of the same, ‘Deve pertanto un principe non si curare dell’infamia di crudele per tenere i sudditi suoi uniti ed in fede[182].’ He doubtless possessed many of the important Italian books in print at that time. In April, 1530, Edmund Bonner writes to him to remind him of his promise to lend him the Triumphs of Petrarch and the Cortigiano, and to make him a good Italian[183].

Of his social gifts and of his charm as a host there is no room to doubt. There are many proofs that he was a most magnificent entertainer, and that his personal attraction, when he wished to make himself agreeable, was such that no one could resist it. The letters of Chapuys inform us that even the most careful and experienced politicians were often completely put off their guard by Cromwell’s pleasing presence and address; and more than once were induced to say things which should not have escaped them.

But all these manners and externals were simply disguises to hide the real inward character of the man. The whole essence of Cromwell’s personality consists of different manifestations of one fundamental, underlying trait, which may perhaps be best expressed by the common phrase ‘a strict attention to business.’ Cromwell worshipped and sought after the practical and the useful only, and utterly disregarded everything else. The first evidence of this quality has been already noticed, as coming in the shape of a contempt for the vague generalizations of the Parliament of 1523, which beat about the bush for an entire session without ever coming to the point[184]. Here it assumes a somewhat negative form. Another striking instance of it occurs in the conversation which Pole relates as having taken place between himself and Cromwell, at Wolsey’s house, concerning the proper duty of a true servant of a Prince[185]. Pole as usual began theorizing about the best way to bring honour to one’s master, when he was rudely interrupted by Cromwell, who advised him in few words to forsake the remote learning of the schools, and devote himself to reading a new book which took a practical view of the case, and which Pole later found was the adviser’s favourite Prince of Machiavelli. Cromwell at the same time took occasion to tell Pole that the great art of the politician was to penetrate through the disguise which sovereigns are accustomed to throw over their real inclinations, and to devise the most specious expedients by which they may gratify their appetites without appearing to outrage morality or religion[186]. It is not astonishing that Pole realized that it was dangerous for him to remain in England, when Cromwell came into power.

Another more positive and striking way in which this characteristic stood forth, was in his utter lack of emotion. It was this quality which enabled Cromwell to tick off in his memoranda the lives of human beings, as if they were items in an account; or to send people to trials, of which the verdicts had been determined beforehand, as ‘the Abbott of Redyng to be Sent Down to be tryed & excecutyd at Reding[187].’ He totally disregarded the justness or morality of any action; its utility was for him its morality, and created its justification. He never struck at his victims in a moment of passion, uselessly or capriciously; no personal feeling of hatred mingled with his crime. On the other hand, had the sacrifice of one of his nearest or dearest friends been necessary to the accomplishment of his purposes, he would hardly have hesitated a moment. Any means that could bring about the ends he sought were ipso facto for him justifiable. Whether his desires were attained by fair means or foul, mattered little to him: he kept his eyes steadily fixed upon the goal; the smoothness or roughness of the road to it was of no consequence in his eyes[188].

Finally, and perhaps most important of all, Cromwell never lost anything that might be turned to good account. It has been shown how he not only succeeded in freeing himself from any ill-name at Wolsey’s fall, but also actually used his master’s overthrow to further his own ends, and make himself known and popular at Court. But this is only a slender hint of what was to follow. It was precisely from this same practical utilitarian standpoint, that he regarded and made use of to his own ends the King’s amours, the suppression of the monasteries, the Reformation. Catholicism and Protestantism passed over his head; he was not touched by either of them. He simply used them as pieces in the great game which he was playing.

Such was the man who, for the next ten years, was to have almost the sole guidance of the course of English history. As was his purpose when he rode on the afternoon of All Hallows Day to London to look after his own interests and those of his master, so was his mission as minister and counsellor of the King, ‘to make or to marre.’

CHAPTER VI

IN THE KING’S SERVICE

The decade which followed Cromwell’s appointment as counsellor to Henry VIII. witnessed some of the most striking changes that have ever taken place in England. The question which must obviously occur to every student of the period, is whether the King himself, or his new minister, was the real cause of the secular and religious revolution of the years 1530 to 1540. The difficulty of the problem is increased by the fact that Henry and Cromwell made every effort to conceal their traces; scarcely any information can be gleaned from their correspondence. We are therefore forced to draw our conclusions for the most part from external evidence and the reports of contemporary writers.

It may be justly said that in general the probabilities point to Cromwell as the true originator of the startling changes which occurred soon after his accession to power. The fact that the ultimate object of all these changes was the concentration of power in the hands of the Crown is not in itself of great value in determining the identity of their originator; for the strengthening of the monarchy was an end which both King and minister always kept in view: in the methods by which this object was attained, however, we have a most valuable clue to aid us in the solution of our problem. These methods were all intensely Cromwellian: their directness and efficiency are essentially and distinctively characteristic of the King’s new minister. In the contrast between the dawdling ineffectiveness of Wolsey’s device for solving the problem of the King’s divorce, and the summary, revolutionary process by which it was finally secured after the Cardinal’s fall, lies our strongest ground for supposing that it was at Cromwell’s instance that the decisive step was taken. It seems almost impossible that Henry, after having suffered himself to be guided so long by Wolsey, in the management of his ‘grete matier’ should have adopted at the Cardinal’s death a plan to secure his wishes, so thoroughly repugnant to the principles of his old adviser, unless the idea had been put into his head by another. When the King had once determined to break with Rome, it followed as a matter of course that the advice of the minister who had suggested the first step, should be adopted in devising measures to secure the King in the new position which he had assumed. The means employed to attain this end—the intimidation of the clergy and the suppression of the monasteries, the attacks on the independence of Parliament, the ruthless execution of those who opposed the late innovations—all bear the stamp of the sinister genius of Cromwell as unmistakably as the great revolution that rendered them necessary. Documentary evidence too comes in to help us here; scarcely an important Act was passed in Parliament between the years 1533 and 1540, of which there is not some previous mention in Cromwell’s papers and memoranda. Against these reasons it may be urged that none of the foreign ambassadors at the English Court mentions Cromwell as an important factor in the government until three years after he entered the King’s service, and that the country in general certainly regarded the events of the years 1530 to 1533 as the work of Henry alone; and that these facts are strong testimony that the King’s new minister did not attain any high degree of prominence until the crucial period of the struggle with Rome had passed. But this paucity of contemporary information concerning Cromwell’s earlier years in the King’s service may be better explained in another way. If Henry’s new minister was the true author of all the revolutionary measures of this period, it was certainly most unlikely that he should be paraded before the eyes of the people as such; it was, on the contrary, to his own interest, and also to the King’s, that he should be kept in the background. By permitting the people to think that Henry was the real originator of all the new schemes for establishing the Royal Supremacy in Church and State, the suddenness of the transition between Wolsey’s ministry and that of his successor was disguised. Moreover, had the people known that Cromwell was at the bottom of these changes, which were universally unpopular, nothing would have saved him from their revenge. As long as the new measures were attributed to the King, respect for the royal name was enough to prevent a revolt. Cromwell, on the contrary, who was not even of noble birth, could not have struck a blow in his own defence, had the people fastened upon him as the cause of the hated innovations. It was necessary to keep him concealed until his position was so secure that the popular odium could not shake him from it. When, in 1533, the mask was finally thrown off, Chapuys and the other foreign ambassadors realized all at once that Cromwell’s sudden burst into prominence would have been quite impossible, had not the ground been thoroughly prepared for it by important services rendered during the first years of his ministry.

Such, then, are the general reasons for thinking that Cromwell was the man who planned out and carried through the various measures which have rendered famous the period of his ministry. In examining separately the different events which took place, we shall meet with other evidence which points to the same conclusion. Most important is the account contained in Pole’s Apologia ad Carolum Quintum, which describes at length Cromwell’s first measure, his plan to secure Henry’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon; a scheme by which he won the confidence of the King and irrevocably committed himself and his master to the policy which he followed to the end of his days. Henry, it seems from Pole’s story, had become utterly discouraged at the time of Wolsey’s death concerning the prospect of ever obtaining a separation from his first wife. He had vainly attempted to get an encouraging reply from the English clergy, and his failure in this added to his despondency; his council, which lacked all initiative, could only rejoice that he intended to abandon his efforts. At this juncture the Satanae Nuncius, as Pole names Cromwell, solicited and obtained an audience with the King, and proposed a plan by which Henry could free himself from Papal restrictions, marry Anne, divorce Katherine, and yet ostensibly remain true to the Catholic Faith.

Cromwell introduced himself with his usual tact and skill. In a few modest and carefully selected sentences he excused himself for daring to offer an opinion on a subject of which he felt himself to be so very ignorant—but, he continued, his loyalty to the King would not permit him to be silent when there was the smallest chance of his being able to serve his sovereign at this momentous crisis. He was certain, he said, that the King’s troubles were solely due to the weakness of his advisers, who listened to the opinions of the common herd, and did not dare to act upon their own responsibility. All the wise and learned were in favour of the divorce; the only thing lacking was the Papal sanction; was the King to hesitate because this could not be obtained? It would be better to follow the example of the Lutherans, who had renounced the authority of Rome. Let the King, with the consent of Parliament, declare himself Head of the Church in England, and all his difficulties would vanish. England was at present a monster with two heads. If the King should take to himself the supreme power, religious as well as secular, every incongruity would cease; the clergy would immediately realize that they were responsible to the King and not to the Pope, and would forthwith become subservient to the royal will. Henry may have been surprised by the audacity of Cromwell’s scheme, but he was also much pleased, as it promised to satisfy all his dearest wishes. The Satanae Nuncius received his hearty thanks, and was further rewarded by a seat in the Privy Council[189].

Cromwell must have realized from the first, that the adoption of his scheme to throw off the Papal authority in England would encounter the greatest opposition from the clergy, but he had already devised a plan by which every objection could be silenced and the refractory ecclesiastics overawed. His whole policy in this crisis was based on the knowledge that the position of the clergy since Wolsey’s fall was completely altered. They were no longer in any sense popular. The State Papers of the period contain many lists of the grievances of the Commons against them[190]. They had received a severe lesson from the Parliament of 1529; they were now isolated, timid and demoralized. Cromwell was the first to perceive and make use of their changed condition. At the same time he realized how completely the House of Austria had possessed itself of the Papacy; the failure of Wiltshire’s embassy to the Emperor in Bologna, in 1530[191], assured him, if he needed any assurance, that the day of compromise with the Pope was passed, and that no divorce would ever come from the Vatican; he saw that if a separation of Henry and Katherine was to be secured at all, the battle-ground on which it was to be won was not the Papal Curia at Rome, but the Houses of Convocation and Parliament.

So it was conveniently discovered that Wolsey’s guilt was shared by Convocation, the Privy Council and the Lords and Commons, and indirectly by the nation itself; as all these had recognized the Cardinal in his capacity of legate, and so had become, by language of the statute, his ‘fautors and abettors.’ Again conveniently, but also most unreasonably, while the laity, who had eagerly availed themselves of the Cardinal’s jurisdiction, were tacitly passed over, the clergy who had been the only ones to make a stand in opposition to the legatine authority, were included in the Praemunire. So in December, 1530, as Holinshed quaintly puts it, ‘the kings learned councell said plainlie’ that the ‘whole cleargie of England . . . were all in the premunire[192],’ and the Attorney-General was instructed to file a brief against the entire body in the Court of King’s Bench. The clergy then assembled in Convocation, ‘and offered the King 100,000 pounds to be their good lord, and also to give them a pardon of all offences touching the Praemunire, by act of Parliament.’ To their surprise and dismay, however, Henry refused the bribe, unless, in the preamble to the grant, a clause were introduced making him ‘to be the Protector and only Supreme Head of the Church and clergy of England[193].’ The whole plot on the part of the King and the Privy Council was conducted with the greatest possible secrecy, and their real motives were probably not guessed at by the world outside. Even the astute Chapuys was completely deceived respecting the King’s actual intention. In his letters of the 23rd and 31st of January, 1531, he informs the Emperor that ‘when the King has bled the clergy, he will restore to them their liberties, and take them back into his favour,’ and later declares that ‘the whole thing was done to bring about a union between the clergy and the nobles[194].’ It was not until the 14th of February, when the entire affair had been carried through, that the Spanish ambassador really understood what was happening, and discovered that it was all something more than a striking exhibition of Tudor avarice[195].

In the meantime a number of Latin manifestoes appeared favouring the King’s divorce, and inveighing against the Papal Supremacy[196]. But in spite of all these intimidations, the clergy though weak did not intend to surrender without a struggle. We are told that ‘ille de suprematu regis conceptus haud bene placuit praelatis et clero, inde eum modificari voluerunt. Per tres itaque sessiones cum consiliariis regiis (among whom Cromwell doubtless was most prominent) ratio inita fuit quomodo regis animum flectere possent ad mollioribus verbis exprimendum articulum illum[197].’ At first Henry announced to the clergy through Rochford that the only alteration he would accept would be the insertion of the words ‘post Deum.’ In the end, however, he yielded in this point, and consented to an amendment moved by Archbishop Warham, so that in its final form the clause read ‘Ecclesiae et cleri Anglicani, cujus singularem protectorem, unicum et supremum dominicum, et quantum per Christi legem licet etiam supremum caput ipsius majestatem recognoscimus.’ Both the Canterbury and York Convocations hastened to accept this compromise, and the latter voted an additional grant of £18,000. The only bishop who raised the slightest objection to the royal demand was Cuthbert Tunstall, of Durham. It is obvious that if the famous ‘quantum per Christi legem licet’ was really enforced, the victory which the King’s party had gained was but an empty one: the amendment has been characterized as ‘a clause by which all practical value was taken out of the act[198].’ But Henry certainly had no idea of permitting a restriction as vague as this seriously to interfere with his schemes; if the qualification became really troublesome he was quite prepared to have it expunged. For the moment he had been willing tacitly to acknowledge that there was some force in the clause in order to overcome the obstinacy of his opponents, but Chapuys was certainly not far wrong in saying that it was ‘all the same as far as the King is concerned as if they had made no reservation, for no one will now be so bold as to contest with his lord the importance of this reservation[199].’ The long-deferred pardon was at last granted: though when it was first sent down from the Lords, the Commons discovered that the laity were not mentioned and so were still in the Praemunire: a deputation from the Lower House, however, waited upon the King and expressed their doubts, and though at first Henry treated them harshly, he finally succumbed, and the laity were included in the pardon[200].

But the struggle was not yet over. The following year witnessed a continuation of the attacks on the independence of the clergy. This time, however, Henry and Cromwell had determined that the brunt of the battle should be borne by Parliament, which responded to the mandates of the King and his minister with gratifying celerity. Shortly after the opening of the session, in January, 1532, there appeared in the Lower House that famous document, which is usually known as the ‘Supplication of the Commons against the Ordinaries[201].’ The designation is certainly misleading: so preponderant was the part played by one of the Commons in the preparation of this memorable petition, that it cannot be fairly regarded as the work of them all. The nature of the charges of which the ‘Supplication’ was composed, its phraseology and the handwritings in the various drafts of it which are preserved to us to-day[202] leave little doubt that it was originally devised by the genius of Cromwell. It was in fact the first of a number of measures ostensibly emanating from Parliament, but in reality prepared by the King’s minister and forced by him upon the very tractable Lords and Commons. The purport of the supplication was, in brief, to accuse the clergy of making laws and ordinances without the assent of the King or his lay subjects, of demanding excessive fees, of dealing corruptly and unfairly, especially with cases of heresy, and to request the King to take measures for the remedy of these abuses. The Ordinaries, to whom the petition was delivered from the King on April 12, at once composed a temperate and dignified reply, in which the injustice and unreasonableness of the charges preferred against them were courteously but plainly pointed out[203]. Parliament in the meantime had been prorogued for three months, but as soon as it had reassembled it was forced to take up the cudgels again[204]. The clergy had stated their case so well that Henry, in dread lest the faint-hearted Commons should abandon too soon a quarrel into which his minister had led them, thought it advisable to intervene himself in the dispute. A short interview between the King and the Speaker was enough to reanimate the drooping spirits of the House: Henry was even spared the trouble of a frank avowal of his attitude in words—a gracious promise to be ‘indifferent’ between the disputants was quite sufficient to ensure the continuance of the struggle. The Ordinaries were not slow to discover that their first reply had been totally ineffectual, and hastened to compose a second which, though maintaining in general the position which had originally been assumed, contained a concession that no new laws should be published without the royal consent[205]. A good deal more haggling, however, was necessary before the final compromise was reached[206]. In fact matters moved so slowly that the King was obliged to make (or let Cromwell make for him) another of his suspiciously timely discoveries to the effect that his sovereign rights as Supreme Head were not clear, because every bishop at his consecration had made an oath of allegiance to the Pope. The Commons were asked to rectify this, and were about to pass severe censure on the bishops, when they were prorogued once more on account of the ragings of the plague. Before he let them go, however, the King had probably ascertained that the clergy intended to submit. Threatened on all sides, Convocation on the 16th of May finally agreed not to pass any more new regulations without the King’s licence, and to examine and revise, according to the royal wishes, the canons already made[207]. The most important result of the controversy for us to notice is that the King, acting (as he evidently did) on the advice of Cromwell, had succeeded in reducing Convocation to complete subjugation, and in making Parliament pliant to his will, as it had never been before. The scheme of controlling the clergy is doubly significant, first, as the cause of a great change in itself; second, as the first step of the dominant policy of the next ten years, for establishing the Royal Supremacy in Church and State. It must not be forgotten however that Cromwell’s action, in defiance of Papal authority at this juncture, arose from no hate of the Romish dogmas nor from any love of the new religion. He carried out all his schemes solely from political motives; the religious, the emotional side left him absolutely untouched; the practical, the politically serviceable aspect of the case, alone appealed to him.

Popular as Henry doubtless was, Cromwell must have realized, when he thus threw himself heart and soul on the King’s side in the divorce case, that he had staked everything on the continuance of the royal favour. The best of the clergy were strongly against the cause of Anne Boleyn, and there were but few who disagreed with them. The general sympathy of the nation for Katherine was greater than ever. Chapuys tells us that Henry was urged by the crowd in the streets to take back the Queen, and that Anne Boleyn was not infrequently publicly insulted[208]. The mob, and still more the friars, spoke of her openly as a common prostitute, who ‘ruled the King and beggared spiritualty and temporalty also.’ A letter of the imperial ambassador tells us that the provincial of the Friars Observants at Greenwich (better known as Friar Peto) preached before the King, and told him that ‘the unbounded affection of princes and their false counsellors deprived them of their knowledge of the truth, and that Henry was endangering his crown by his marriage, for great and little were murmuring at it.’ The King concealed his vexation as best he could, but later ordered one of his chaplains to preach there in his presence, and contradict all that Peto had said. At the end of this sermon the warden arose, and answering for his minister in his absence, dared to say in Henry’s presence that the royal chaplain had lied. The King was very angry and had the warden and preacher both arrested[209]. Most of the Greenwich friars were eager to stand by their brethren, but some proved less incorruptible, and gave secret information against the steadfast ones.

The result of all these murmurings among commons and friars was that Cromwell was kept very busy in finding out and extirpating ‘sedycyous opynyons’ as they were termed. In order to clinch the advantages that were to accrue to Henry as a result of his newly-assumed ecclesiastical position, it was as necessary to discover and either destroy or convert the laymen opposed to it, as it was to keep in submission the clergy from whose hands it had been snatched. Henry could have probably found no abler man in the realm to accomplish this purpose than his new minister. Early in 1532 Cromwell began to create a system of espionage, the most effective that England had ever seen, that in a short time was to render unsafe the most guarded expression of dissent in politics or religion. The success which this organized method of reporting treason later obtained, is one of the most striking proofs of the relentless energy of its originator. But Cromwell’s efforts to extirpate sedition, and to encourage the new ecclesiastical system, were not confined to England alone during these first years of his ministry. The years 1531 and 1532 must not be passed over without some slight reference to his connexion with William Tyndale. There was no counsellor about the King, upon whom Cromwell could rely as an intelligent and consistent ally, to help him carry out his schemes of ‘political Protestantism.’ In this dilemma he turned to William Tyndale, who was at that time in the Low Countries. The theory of ‘one King, one law in the realm; no class of men exempt from the temporal sword, no law except the law of the land’ advocated in ‘The Obedience of a Christian Man,’ doubtless struck Cromwell, if he read the book. It was perhaps the nearest approach he had yet found in writing to the policy he was steadily pursuing; he immediately desired to induce the reformer to return to England and to enlist him in the defence of his great cause. The fact that Cromwell was able to persuade the King to permit him to attempt this is a good proof of his influence with Henry. In May, 1530, Tyndale had been denounced as a perverter of God’s word[210]; but so great was the change which the new minister’s accession to power had wrought in the royal policy, that Henry now allowed Cromwell to write to his old friend Stephen Vaughan in the Netherlands[211], and commission him to try and discover where Tyndale was, and induce him to return to England. To this request Vaughan sent a double reply to Henry and Cromwell, informing them that he had written to the reformer (three separate letters to different places, not knowing where he was) and had received his answer, in which Tyndale said that the news of what had lately happened in England made him afraid to go there[212]. In a confidential postscript to the letter to Cromwell, Vaughan writes in most glowing terms about the reformer, saying that he was of far greater knowledge than the King’s Highness took him for, as plainly appeared by his works. ‘Would God he were in England.’ As usual Vaughan’s enthusiasm had run away with his discretion. He was the exact opposite of Cromwell in this respect; he was ever full of emotion and feeling, while his master was to the last degree practical and calculating.

In spite of his first rebuff, Vaughan persevered in his attempts, and on the 25th of March sent Cromwell another letter, in which he expressed a little more hope of getting Tyndale to go to England[213]. Three weeks later his efforts received some more substantial reward, for on the 18th of April he wrote to Henry[214], that he had at last obtained an interview with the reformer, and that though the latter still refused to comply with his request, his words had been such as to arouse the enthusiasm of Cromwell’s agent more than ever. With this letter Vaughan sent to Henry the manuscript of Tyndale’s new book against Sir Thomas More, called the Answer, which the reformer did not wish to put in print till Henry had seen it, because the latter had been displeased at the hasty and unlicensed printing of his former work, The Practise of Prelates. The letter and the book were not destined, however, to have the desired effect on the King. The Answer was sufficiently plain to indicate that Tyndale’s religious beliefs were not of the sort that would ever be serviceable to Henry; the reformer was altogether too full of Protestantism for its own sake, to suit either the King or his counsellor. For once Cromwell had mistaken his man. To say that the King was thoroughly vexed and annoyed, when he had perused Vaughan’s letter, and the enclosed work, is a mild statement of the facts. The original letter which Vaughan wrote is not extant, but there is a copy of it in the British Museum which ends most abruptly with the words ‘To declare to your Magyste what In my pore Judgement I thynke of the man, I asserteyne your grace I haue not communyd with A man[215]’; a fact which suggests the possibility that the irritable King vented his anger on the unoffending sheet of paper, and tore it in two. The letter with which Cromwell, at the King’s direction, replied to Vaughan, is a still surer index to the impression which the latter’s report had produced on the King. What with the precipitation of his emotional, enthusiastic, and unpractical friend, Cromwell must have been placed in a very awkward position. The many corrections and interlineations in the draft of the letter he wrote in reply to Vaughan, sufficiently reveal his great perplexity and bewilderment[216]. The subject-matter of the letter will speak for itself. The rage of the King is vividly described, and Vaughan is repeatedly warned to abandon the reformer: but in spite of everything he continued to attempt to persuade Tyndale to return. He had two more fruitless interviews with the latter, described in his letters to Henry of the 20th of May, and to Cromwell on the 19th of June[217], and after that came back to England for the summer. In November he returned to the Netherlands, and wrote again to Cromwell warmly on Tyndale’s behalf, but not a word did he receive in reply[218]. In the meantime Henry and Cromwell had dispatched Sir Thomas Elyot to arrest the reformer and bring him home[219]. Vaughan finally saw the danger he ran in advocating the cause of the author of the ‘venemous and pestiferous workes,’ and dared say no more. The rest of his letters during these two years do not even once mention him. The whole Tyndale episode is noteworthy as the nearest approach to a mistake in Cromwell’s internal policy. Henry’s anger probably gave him a clear warning that many more such would bring him to certain ruin. He was saved from serious consequences in this case, only because he had amply atoned for it by his brilliant success in obtaining the submission of the clergy.

Cromwell was also occupied, during these two years, in re-establishing Wolsey’s foundation at Oxford, under the new name of King Henry the Eighth’s College. He was appointed receiver-general and supervisor of all the lands belonging to it; and the adjustment of claims, transfer of property, new foundation and charter kept him very busy, and gave him an excellent opportunity to display his legal talent. He also superintended the building of a new palace at Westminster, regulated the wages of the men working on the fortifications at Calais, and was also busy with minor duties in the King’s own household—the care of the royal plate and jewels, and even the drawing of patterns for Henry’s robes of state[220]. From the close of the year 1529 until his fall, the best index to the various occupations in which he was engaged is afforded by his famous ‘remembrances.’ These consist largely of short and usually incomplete sentences, sometimes even single words, jotted down at odd moments by Cromwell or his chief clerk, on loose sheets of paper—often on the backs of letters and drafts of important documents. They are for the most part absolutely disjointed and unconnected in matter, form, and handwriting. Sandwiched in between apparently careless phrases which later expand into the most drastic of parliamentary enactments, we find minute details concerning the wages of labourers, the cost of New Year’s presents at the Court, or even matters of a private nature: next to a memorandum for the signing of a letter for some Spaniards occur the significant words, ‘To Remembre the Auncyent Cronycle of magna Carta and how libera sit Cam into the Statute[221].’ The less important items are of course by far the more numerous, especially in the first six years when the King loaded his new minister with details of the greatest variety and complexity. Towards the last the ‘remembrances’ are fewer in number, and deal less extensively with minor matters; but even up to the very end we find ample evidence that the King’s minister carried in his head an amount of detail of a comparatively unimportant nature, which would have been quite impossible for a man like his predecessor. The Cardinal, absorbed in studying the great diplomatic combinations of continental Europe, had shamefully neglected minor affairs at home. Cromwell, in his ten years of power, not only atoned for the errors of Wolsey, but also familiarized himself with every detail of domestic administration to an extent that no King or minister had ever done in England before. It would have been almost impossible to carry through the tremendous changes which had followed the divorce, without the aid of a counsellor of the peculiar talents of Thomas Cromwell.

The thread of our narrative now becomes so complicated, when the new minister is at last fully installed in the King’s service, that it will be necessary to depart from the chronological order of events hitherto followed, and to treat separately each phase of Cromwell’s policy, up to the reaction of 1539. The Internal and Foreign Administration, Suppression of the Monasteries, of the Pilgrimage of Grace, &c., all move on hand in hand, and in order to understand their bearing on one another, it is only needful to remember that they were all the work of one man, and were proceeding in general at the same time.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI

THE SUPPLICATION OF THE COMMONS AGAINST THE ORDINARIES.

Four drafts of this petition exist to-day in the Public Record Office. One of them is written in a hand which may be recognized in the greater part of Cromwell’s correspondence of the time, and which is probably that of his chief clerk; it is corrected and revised by Cromwell himself. Of the other three, one, which is uncorrected and probably a final draft, is also written by the clerk—and the other two, chiefly in a strange handwriting, are filled with interlineations by Cromwell. The following copy was made from the first of these drafts (Cal. v, 1016 (4)). The words in brackets are crossed out in the original manuscript: the words in italics are inserted between the lines. All the corrections are in Cromwell’s hand.

‘To the King our Sovereigne Lorde

In most humble Wise Shewen vnto your excellent highnes and most prudent wisedom your faithfull louyng and most humble and obedient Subiectes The Commons in this your presente parliament assembled That where of late aswell thorough new fantasticall and erronyous opynyons growen by occasion of Frantike sedycious and ouerthwartly Framed bokes compiled imprynted publisshed and made in the englishe tong contrarie and ayenst the veray trew catholique and Cristen Faith as also by the {vnreasonable and} extreme {rygour vndiscrete} and vncharytable behaueour and dealing of dyuers ordynaries Ther Commyssaryes and Substytuttes which haue heretofore had and yet have thexamynacion in and vppon the saide errours and hereticall opynyons moche discorde varyaunce and debate hathe rysen and more and more daylie is like to encrease and insue emonges the vniuersall sorte of your saide Subiectes aswell spirituall as temporall either ayenst other in most vncharitable maner to the grete inquietacion vexacion and breche of your peax within this your most catholik realme. The speciall perticuler greues whereof which most principally concerne your saide Commons and lay Subiectes and whiche ar (as they vndoubtedlie suppose) the veray chief Founteyns occasions and causes that daylie bredeth Fostereth Norissheth and maynteneth the saide sedycions factyons dedelie hatered and most vncharitable parte takinges either parte and sorte of your saide Subiectes spirituall and temporall ayenst thother hereafter Folowinglye Do ensue.

Furst where the prelates and spirituall Ordynaries of this your most excellent Realme of Englonde and the clergie of the same haue in their conuocacions heretofore made and caused to be made and also daylie do make dyuers and manye Facyons of lawes constytucions and ordenauunces without your knowlege or most royall assente and without the assent and consent of any your lay Subiectes vnto the whiche lawes your saide lay Subiectes haue not onelie heretofore and daylie be {boundene} constraynyd to obbeye aswell in their bodies goodes and possessions But also ben compelled daylie to incurre into the censures of the same and ben contynuallie put to importable charges and expenses ayenst all equytee right and good conscience. And yet your saide humble subiectes ne their predecessours coulde euer be pryuey to the saide lawes Ne any of the saide lawes haue ben declared vnto them in thinglisshe tong or otherwise publysshed By knowlege whereof they might haue extued the daungiers censures and penaltees of the same Which lawes so made your saide most humble and obedyent subiectes vnder the supportacion of your Maiestee Suppose to be not onelie to the dymynucyon and derogacion of your imperyall iurisdiction and prerogatif royall But also to the grete preiudice inquietacion and damage of all your saide Subiectes And also where now of late there hathe ben deuysed by the most Reuerende father in god Wyllyam Archebusshop of Caunterburie that in the Courtes whiche he callith his Courtes of the Arches and Audience shalbe but onelie Ten proctours at his deputacion which be sworn to preferre and promote the onelie iurisdiction {and preferrement} of the saide Courtes. By reason whereof if any of your lay Subiectes shoulde haue any lawfull cause ayenst the Judge of the saide Courtes or ayenst any doctour or proctour of the same or any of their Frendes or adherentes they can ne may in any wise haue indifferent counsaill. And also all the causes depending in any of the saide courtes may by the confederacie of the saide Few proctours be in suche wise tracted and delayed as your Subiectes suing in the same shalbe put to importable charges costes and expences. And in case that any matiers there being preferred shoulde touche Your Crowne Regallie Jurisdiction and prerogatif royall yet the same shall not be disclosed by any of the saide proctours for fere of losse of their offices. Wherefore your saide most obedient Subiectes vnder the protexion of your maiestee Suppose that your highnes should haue the nomynacion of som conuenyent nombre of proctours to be alwayes attendaunt in the saide courtes of tharches and audience there to be sworne aswell to the preferrement of your iurisdiction and prerogatif royall as to thexpedycion of all the causes of your Lay Subiectes repayring and suing to the same.

And Where also many of your saide most humble and obedient subiectes and specyallie those that be of the pourest sorte within this your Realme ben daylie conuented and called before the saide spirituall Ordynaries their Commissaries and Substytutes ex officio somtyme at the pleasures of the saide Ordynaries and Substytutes for malice without any cause and sumtyme at the onelie promocyon and accusement of their {false} Somoners and apparitours being veray light and vndiscrete persons without any lawfull cause of accusacion or credible fame proued ayenst them and without any presentement in the vysitacion ben inquieted distourbed vexed troubeled and put to excessiue and importable charges for them to bere and many tymes be suspended and excommunycate for small and light causes vppon thonelie certificat of the proctours of the aduersaries made vnder a fayned Seale which euery proctour hathe in his keping where as the partie suspended and excommunycate many tymes neuer had any warning and yet when he shalbe absolued if it be out of the courte he shalbe compelled to pay to his owne proctour xxd and to the proctour which is ayenst him other xxd and xxd to the Scribe besides a pryuey rewarde that the Judge shall haue to the grete impouerysshing of your saide poure Lay Subiectes.

Also Your saide most humble and obedient subiectes Fynde them greued with the grete and excessyue Fees taken in the said spirituall courtes and in especiall in the saide Courtes of tharches and audience where they take for euery Cytacyon ii^s vi^d for euery Inhibycyon vj^s viij^d, for euerie proxie xvj^d for euery certificat xvj^d, for euery Libell iij^s. iiij^d., for euery answer to any Lybell iij^s iiij^d, for euery acte if it be but two woordes to the Register iiij^d, for euery personall Cytacion or decree iij^s iiij^d. for euery sentence or iudgement to the Judge xxvi^s. viij^d, for euery testimonyall vppon any suche sentence or iudgement xxvj^s. viii^d for euery significauit xij^s. for euery commyssion to examyn wytnes xij^s Which is thought to be importable to be borne by your saide Subiectes and veray necessarie to be refourmed.

And Furthermore Where the saide spyrytuall Ordynaries {many tymes purposedlie to revenge their inwarde greves and displeasures and to put their saide lawes in execucion} theyr Commyssaryes & Substytuttes sumtyme for thayr own pleasures Sumtyme by the Synister procurement of other spirituall persons vse to make out proces ayenst dyuers of your saide Subiectes and thereby compell them to appere before themselffes to answer at a certen day and place to suche articles as by them shalbe of office afore themselffes then purposed and that Secretlye and not in oppen places and fourthwith vppon their apparaunce without cause or any declaracion then made or shewed commytt and sende them to warde Where they remayne without bayle or mayneprise sumtyme half a yere and somtyme a hole yere and more or they may in any wise knowe either the cause of their imprysonement or any name of their accuser and fynallie their grete costes charges and expences therin when all is examyned and nothing can be proued ayenst them but they clerelie Innocente for any Faute or cryme that can be layed vnto them in that parte ben set ayen at large without any recompence or amendes in that behalf to be towardes them adiudged.

And also if percase vppon the saide proces and apparaunce any partie be vppon the saide matier cause or examynacion brought Fourth and named either as partie or wytnes and then vppon the proffe and tryall thereof not able to prove and verefie his saide accusacion or testymonye ayenst the partie so accused to be trew then the person so causeles accused is {clerely} for the more parte without any remedie for his charges and wrongful vexacyon to be {in that parte} towardes him adiuged and recouered.

Also vppon thexamynacion of the saide accusacion if heresie be ordynarylie layed vnto the charge of the partie so accused then the saide ordynaries or their ministres vse to put to them suche subtile interrogatories concerning the high misteries of our feith as ar able quyckelye to trappe a simple vnlerned or yet a well wytted lay man without lerning and bryng them by suche sinyster introduction sone to his owne confusion And Fourthwith if there chaunce any heresie to be by suche subtill polycie by him confessed in wourdes and yet neuer commytted nor thought in dede, then put they without ferther fauour the saide person either to make his purgacion and so thereby to lose his honestie and credence for euer orelles as som simple sely Sowle precyselie stonding to the clere testymonye of his owne well knowen conscience rather then to confesse his innocent trouth to abyde {thextreme examynacion of deth by the Fyer} thextremyte in that behalf and so is vtterly distroyed.

And if it fortune the saide partie so accused to denye the saide accusacion and so put his aduersarie to proue the {false} same vntrewlie forged and ymagened ayenst him then for the more parte suche wytnesses as ben brought fourth for the same be they but ij in nombre neuer so sore diffamed of litle trouth or credence aduersaries or enemies to the partie yet they shalbe allowed and enabeled onlye by Discrecyon of the sayd ordenaryes ther Commyssaryes & Substytuttes and therevppon sufficient cause to procede to iudgement to delyuer the partie so accused either to the seculer handes {and so to be burned} after abiuracion without remedie and afore if he Submytte himself to compell him when best happeneth to make his purgacion and bere a Fagotte to his extreme shame and vtter vndoing.

In Consideracyon whereof most gracious Souereigne Lorde And Forasmoche as there is at this present tyme and by a Few yeres past hathe ben outrageous vyolens on thone parte and moche defaulte and lacke of pacyent sufferaunce charitee and good will on thother parte, A meruelous Disorder of the godlie quyet peax and tranquillyte that this your realme heretofore euer hitherto hathe ben in thorough your poletique wisedom in most honourable fame and catholik feith invyolablye preserued. It may therefore most benigne Souereigne lorde lyke your excellent goodnes for the tender and vnyuersallye indyfferent zele benigne loue and fauour that your highnes berith towarde both the saide parties, the saide articles if they shalbe by your most clere and perfite iudgement thought any instrumentes or causes of the saide variaunce and disorder or those and all other occasions whatsoeuer accompted by your highnes to make towardes the saide factions depelie and weightylie after your accustomed weyes and maner serched weyed and considered graciouslie to prouyde all vyolence on both sides vtterlye and clerelie set a parte some suche necessarie and behofull remedies as may effectuallie reconsile and bryng in perpetuall vnytee your saide Subiectes spirituall and temporall. And for thestablisshing thereof to make and ordeyn on both sides suche straite lawes ayenst the brekers transgressours and offendours as shalbe to hevye daungerous and weightie for them or any of them to bere suffer and susteyne. Whereunto Your saide Comons most humblie hertelie and entierlie beseche your grace as the onely hed Souereigne lorde protectour and Defendour of bothe the saide parties in whom and by whom the onelie and sole redresse reformacion and remedie herein absolutely restith and remayneth. By occasion whereof all your saide Comons in their conscience surelye accompt that beside the meruelous Feruent loue that your highnes shall thereby ‹gain› and engendre in their hartes towardes Your grace Ye shall do the most pryncelie Feate and shew the most honourable and charitable president and Mirrour that euer did Souereigne lorde vppon his subiectes and therewithall merite and deserue of our mercyfull lorde eternall blisse Whose goodnes graunt your grace in most godlie pryncelie and honourable astate long to reigne prosper and contynew as the Souereigne lorde ouer all your saide most humble and most obedyent Subiectes.

[Two blank pages here.]

And Where also the said prelatis and ordinaries daily do permytte and suffer the parsons vicars Curates parishe prestes and other spirituall parsons hauing Cure of soule within this your Realme Ministring {vnto your said loving subgiettes} to exact and take of your humble & obedyent Subiectes dyuers Summys of money for the Sacramentes & sacramentalles of holy churche {as the holy sacrament of the Aulter Baptyme, Matrimonye Confession, buriall weddyng churchinges and suche other} Sumtyme denying the same without they Fyrst be payd the sayd Summys of money {& to take for the ministracion of the same of your said Subiectes diuers and certen sommes of money allegging the same to be their dueties.} Whiche sacramentes and sacramentalles your saide most humble & obedient subiectes vnder the protection of your highnes doo suppose & think ought to be in most Reuerent charitable & goodlie wise freely mynystred vnto them at all tymes requisite withoute denyall or {any maner somme or} exaccyon of any maner sommes of money {or other duetie or contribucion to be asked demaunded or required for the same} to be demaundyd or askyd for the same And also where in the spirituall courtes of the said Prelatis & ordinaries ben lymyted and appoynted for many Judges Scribes Apparitours Somoners praysours and other ministres for the approbacion of testamentes Whiche coveting somoche theire owne priuate Lucres and satisfaccion of the appetites of the said prelates and Ordinaries that when any of your said loving subiectes do Repaire to any of the said Courtis for the probate of any testamentes they do in suche wise {extorte and} make long delays or excessively take of theym so large fees and Rewardes for the same as is Importible for theym to beare directly against all Justice lawe equite and goode conscience

{And also where most gracious soueraigne the Judges Constituted and appoynted by the said spirituall Ordinaries in their said Courtes to here and determyne causes there, do in likewise daily take many grete and excessive fees and rewardes of your said pore subiectes having any cause or matier depending before theym as is aforsaid And ouer that when any Judgement or sentence by the said Judge shalbe yeven before them wille also have grete sommes of money for the same. So that no thing is or can be obteyned in any of the said Courtes withoute money.}

Wherfor Your said most humble and obedient subiectes do therfore vnder your gracious correction and supportacion suppose it were veray necessary that the said ordinaries in the deputacion of suche Judges shulde be bounde to appoynte and assigne suche discrete gravous and honest persons having sufficient Lernyng witte discrecion & vnderstonding and also being indewed with such spirituall promocions stipend and salarye as they being Judges in their said Courtes myght and may mynystre to euery parson repairing to the same Justice withoute taking any maner fee or Rewarde for any maner sentence or Judgement to be yoven before theym. And also where as diuerse spirituall persons being presented aswell by your highnes and by other patrons within this your Realme to {any} dyuers benefices or other spirituall promocion. The said ordinaries and there mynystres do not onely take of theym for theyr Letteres of Institucion and Induction many grete and {excessive} large sommes of money & Rewardes But also do pact and couenaunte with the same, taking sure bondes for their indempnite to aunswer to the said ordinaries the first frutes of the said benefices after their Institucion so as they being ones presented or promoted as is aforesaid ben by the said ordinaries veray {extremely} vncharytablye handled to their no litle hynderaunce & impouerisshement whiche your said subgiettes suppose not onely to be against all lawes right & good consciens but also to be Symony and contrary to the Lawes of god.

And also where as the said spirituall Ordinaries do daily conferre and geve sundry benefices vnto certen yong folkes calling them their Nephews or Kynsfolkes being in their mynorite and within age not apt ne able to Serue the Cure of any suche benefice Wherby the said ordinaries do kepe and deteyn the frutes & profittes of the same benefices in their owne handes and therby accumulate to themselffes right grete and large sommes of money & yerely profittes to the most pernicious exsample of all your said lay subiectes and so the Cures & other promocions youen vnto suche Infantes ben onely {youen but} Imployed to {enriche} thenryching of the said ordinaries & the pore sely soules of your people and subiectes whiche shulde be taught in the paroches yoven as aforsaid for lak of good curates do perisshe withoute doctrine or any good teaching.

And also where a grete nombre of holy daies whiche nowe at this present tyme with veray smalle Devocion be solempnised and kept thorough oute this your Realme vppon the whiche many grete abhomynable and execrable vices idle and wanton sportes ben vsed and exercised whiche holy daies if it may stond with your gracious pleasure and specyall suche as Fall in the heruest myght by your maiestie by thadvice of your most honourable counseill prelates and ordinaries be made fewer in nombre and those that shall herafter be ordeyned to stond & contynue myght and may be the more Devoutely religiously & reuerently obserued to the Laude of almyghty god and to thencrease of your high honour & fame.’

Endd. ‘A boke ayenst the clergy for takyng excessyve Fees’

CHAPTER VII

INTERNAL POLICY

From the close of the year 1532 until his fall, the entire domestic administration of England was in Cromwell’s hands. From the moment that he entered the King’s service he had definitely committed himself to the policy which he was to follow till the end of his days. His own theories of internal government, the traditions of the Tudor monarchy, and the situation of the realm at the time of his accession to power, combined to convince him that the maintenance of an all-powerful kingship was indispensable to England’s safety; the nature of the proposal by which he first won Henry’s confidence was tantamount to an irrevocable declaration of that principle, and a promise that it should be the guiding thought of his entire administration. The revolt from Rome was an incident rather than an aim of his policy. He had suggested it at first as offering the only possible solution of the immediate difficulties of the Crown, and as affording golden opportunities for the increase of the power of the monarchy; but as soon as the decisive step had been taken, he saw that the security of his own position had become conditional upon the permanence of the new ecclesiastical system, which in turn could only be ensured if the King, for whose sake it had been created, was rendered supreme in Church and State. Cromwell’s very existence had thus become dependent on the success of his endeavours to maintain and carry further the policy initiated by Henry VII., and to elevate the Crown to sovereign power above every other institution in the realm. Perhaps no minister has ever had more varied problems to confront him, than those which Cromwell had to deal with during these eight years; and yet his action in every case is a logical, intelligent application of the theory of internal government, which he believed was the only sure road to national greatness. With this great principle firmly borne in mind, the history of Cromwell’s domestic administration becomes comparatively simple.

A further assertion of the Supremacy of the Crown in ecclesiastical affairs was necessary, before Cromwell could attempt to strengthen its already predominant position in the State. The chief object of the more important measures of the years 1533 and 1534 was to utilize the consequences of the breach with Rome for the benefit of the monarchy, and to provide that none of the power of which the Pope had been deprived should be permitted to escape the King. During the year 1532 Henry had deluded himself with hopes that his first attack on the liberties of the English clergy might frighten Clement into acquiescence in the divorce, but at last his patience came to an end, and he surrendered himself entirely to the guidance of Cromwell, who had been persuaded from the first that nothing further was to be obtained from the Pope. In January, 1533, the King was secretly married to Anne Boleyn; on the 10th of May Cranmer, who had lately been raised to the see of Canterbury, opened his archiepiscopal court at Dunstable[222]. With a promptitude which must have been highly satisfactory to Henry after the delays of the previous proceedings at Rome, the sentence of divorce was pronounced. There can be little doubt that Cromwell gave efficient aid in hastening the verdict[223]; but what is far more important, he took effective measures, even before it was rendered, to prevent its revocation. Parliament had been in session during the three months previous to the assembling of the court at Dunstable: in anticipation of the coming sentence, it had been induced to pass an Act[224] to deprive Katherine of the only hope that remained to her by forbidding appeals to Rome, and by ordaining that the decision of an archiepiscopal court should be final, except in cases where the King was concerned, when appeal might be made to the Upper House of Convocation. A notable effort was made to conceal the obvious and immediate purpose of this statute under a shroud of pious and patriotic verbiage. The life of the Act, however, was but short. Though it had dealt the death blow to the jurisdiction of the Pope in England, it had not made adequate provision for the maintenance of the Supremacy of the Crown; so in 1534 the statute of the previous year was superseded by a new one[225], which enacted that an appeal might always be made from an archbishop’s court to the King’s Court of Chancery, the decision of which was to be final. The abolition of the Annates (which will be considered in another place) occurred at the same time. The effect of these two measures was to complete the work begun in 1530, and to sever the last links of the chain which bound the Church of England to Rome.

In the meantime the famous Act of Succession[226], bastardizing the Princess Mary and establishing the offspring of Anne Boleyn as lawful heirs to the throne of England, had also been passed in Parliament, and before the year had closed a new statute[227] had formally recognized the King’s ecclesiastical supremacy for the third time; for Henry was not satisfied with the acknowledgements he had wrung from the clergy in 1531 and 1532, nor with the express assertion that the King was on earth Supreme Head of the Church of England, contained in the oath to the new succession, which Cromwell’s commissioners began to administer throughout the realm in the summer of 1534. The last vestige of the independence of the English bishops was also removed in the course of this memorable year, by certain provisions of the final Act for the restraint of Annates[228]. It had not been necessary, however, to introduce any very radical innovation here. The bishops were already virtually in the King’s hands, for the elections by chapters had long been a mere farce, and the royal nominee had been almost invariably chosen. So the Act had aimed at a legalization of the status quo—merely adding a few new provisions to strengthen the King’s hold on the Church. All relations with the Pope were of course to cease; the bishops were to be consecrated by virtue of a royal commission; and if the chapter failed to elect within twelve days, the King was empowered to fill the vacancy by letters patent. But even this does not seem to have been enough to satisfy Cromwell. A letter of Chapuys in the early part of 1535 informs us that the King’s Secretary called some of the bishops before the Council to ask them if the King could not make and unmake them at pleasure: ‘they were obliged to say yes, else they should have been deprived of their dignities: as the said Cromwell told a person, who reported it to me, and said that the Council had been summoned only to entrap the bishops[229].’ Cromwell followed this up, later in the year, by causing a Prohibitory Letter to be sent out in the King’s name, forbidding the bishops to visit any monastery or to exercise any right of jurisdiction during the visitation of the religious houses then in progress[230]. It appears that even Cromwell, with all his audacity, was at a loss to devise a means to silence the objections which were raised against this high-handed measure. He was not ashamed to take a hint from the fertile brains of his two blood-hounds, Legh and Ap-Rice, who suggested an ingenious argument to crush all opposition, the gist of which is contained in the following quotation from a letter which they wrote to Cromwell, Sept. 24, 1535[231]:—

‘Yf they (the bishops) had any Jurisdiction, they muste nedes haue receued ‹it› either by the lawe of god or by the busshop of Romes Authoritie or els by the Kinges grace permission. Which is no sufficient discharge ageinst the statute.

‘Yf they saye by the Lawe of god, Lett theym bring foorth scriptur but I thinke theym not so impudent as to saye so.

‘Yf they saye by the busshop of Romes Authoritie. Lett theym exercise it still, yf they thinke it mete.

‘Yf they saye by the Kinges permission why be they more discontent that the king shuld call agein nowe to his handes that which came from hym to theym, than they wolde haue bene yf he had never graunted it theym. And surely they are not able to iustifie thexercise of their iurisdiction hetherto.’ Fortified by such reasoning as this did the Royal Supremacy pass into effect.

Having thus obtained the complete submission of the greater lights of the Church, Cromwell consistently pursued his relentless policy with the humbler orders of friars and monks. His method of dealing with the latter did not differ materially from his policy with the former, except that it was perhaps more sanguinary. Priors Lawrence and Webster, two Carthusians who denied the validity of the King’s new title, were examined by Cromwell, and when they stubbornly refused to retract their assertions, they were promptly sentenced and executed[232]. Three others, Houghton, Hale, and Reynolds, suffered death a little later, and the latter dared to tell Cromwell that in spite of the terror he had caused by his late proceedings, all good men in the kingdom really held the same opinion, that the Headship of the Church was not the King’s[233]. But notwithstanding the wide popular dissatisfaction at the new measures, most malcontents, both lay and spiritual, kept their thoughts to themselves. Men were beginning to discover how dangerous it was to criticize the doings of the King and his minister. The elaborate system of espionage and the commissions to seek out and punish treason, which Cromwell had so laboriously established all over the country in 1532, had now begun to bear fruit. It was impossible to tell who the government spies were: impossible to know when or against whom the next accusation would be made. The words which men spoke in the bosom of their families or to their most intimate friends and neighbours were as likely to be laid to their charge as their utterances in public: harmless, obscure and ignorant country folk were brought before the magistrates as often as those of higher degree. Edmond Brocke, husbandman, eighty years of age, of Crowle in Worcestershire, was walking home in the rain from Worcester market on the Saturday before St. Thomas’ Day, in company with Margaret Higons. ‘Yt ys long of the Kyng that this wedre is so troblous or vnstable,’ he said, ‘and I wene we shall nevir haue better wedre whillis the Kinge Reigneth, and therefore it makith no matter if he were knocked or patted on the heed[234].’ These facts were declared on August 12, 1535, before John Russell Esq., Justice of the Peace, by Richard Fulke, husbandman, and Joan Danyell of Crowle. Brocke confessed that he had said ‘that it was a hevy and grevous wether and that there was neuyr good wedringes sithins the King began this busines,’ but what he meant by ‘busines’ he could not tell: as to the rest of his words, he said, he was mad or drunk if he spoke them—more than this he would not answer. William Ferrall, of Eastbourne in Sussex, deposed before Sir John Gage on August 14, 1536, that Sir William Hoo, vicar of Eastbourne, and suffragan of the diocese of Chichester, walking with him in the churchyard, said that ‘they that rule about the King make him great bankettes and geve him swete wynes and make him dronke,’ and that then ‘they bring him byllis and he puttyth his sign to them whereby they doo what they will and no man may Correcte them[235].’ Margaret Chanseler, of Senklers Bradfeld in Suffolk, spinster, was forced to confess before Sir Robert Drury in February, 1535, that, when drunk and under the influence of an evil spirit, she had said, in presence of Edmond Tyllet and Anthony Harward, ‘that the quenes grace had one child by our souereigne lorde the Kynge, which the seid ‹child› was ded borne, & she prayed god that she myght neuer haue other; also that the quenes grace was a noughtty hoore & that the Kynges grace ought not to mary within his realme.’ Tyllet and Harward, when summoned, made the matter somewhat worse. They declared that the spinster had called the Queen ‘a goggyll yed hoore,’ and that she had added ‘God save queen Katteryn for she was ryghtuous queen, & that she trusted to see her queen Ageyn & that she should warrant the same[236].’ All the magistrates before whom these depositions were laid, received ample instructions from Cromwell how to deal with every case; if the accusation was very heavy, the offender was usually sent up to the minister himself, to answer for his misdeeds at head quarters. The punishments in these cases were very severe: there are almost no records of the penalties inflicted on those against whom the depositions were brought, but there is reason to believe that comparatively slight misdemeanours were not seldom rewarded with death.

But of all the devices ‘For the putting the Kynges subiectes and other in more terroure,’ as Cromwell once expressed it[237], the most ruthless remains to be mentioned. The execution of the Carthusians had had its effect, but Cromwell was persuaded that more blood would have to be spilled before his victory could be considered complete. As was usual with him, he laid the axe at the root of the tree, and chose as his victims the noblest and foremost in the land. The opinions of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More were well known to be opposed to the Royal Supremacy, and as such they carried enormous weight. Cromwell must have seen that it would be impossible to establish the King in his new position with any security, until these two men were either converted or destroyed. So, never once swerving from his purpose, nor letting the rank and position of these distinguished men change or deter him, he set about the business of ‘making or marring,’ with his usual directness and method. If he knew More and Fisher at all well, he must have been reasonably certain that he could never alter their convictions, so it became necessary for him to look for some adequate pretext for getting rid of them. Such a pretext soon presented itself.

In July, 1533, occurs the first mention of serious disturbance due to the visions and prophecies of Elizabeth Barton, better known as the Nun of Kent[238]. Her reputation for holiness and for divine inspiration was so high throughout the land, that her mad follies were everywhere regarded with almost superstitious reverence. Cromwell, at the King’s command, caused her to be examined by Cranmer, but apparently did not succeed in eliciting the information he desired, for the investigation was continued by other interrogators who were less leniently disposed than the Archbishop[239]. The Nun was finally obliged to confess that ‘she never Hadd Vision in all her Lyff, but all that ever she said was fayned of her owne ymagynacion, only to satisfie the Myndeis of theym Whiche Resorted vnto her, and to obtayn worldly prayse[240].’ She and her accomplices were forced to read their public confessions on a scaffold erected at Paul’s Cross, while a sermon was preached in denunciation of the fraud. In the following spring she was condemned to death in Parliament, and in April she was executed with some of her accomplices at Tyburn[241].

But the destruction of the Nun was only of secondary importance for Cromwell’s plans; he was mainly looking for some mesh in which he could entrap others of whom he was in much more fear than Elizabeth Barton. Every effort appears to have been made to elicit from her a confession of communication with the divorced Queen, but without success. More and Fisher, however, were not destined to escape so easily. Because the Bishop of Rochester, after several interviews with the unhappy woman, had not reported to Henry her disloyal prophecies (which the Nun had already made in presence of the King himself), it was taken as a sign of treason and neglect of duty to the sovereign. The long letter which Cromwell wrote to Fisher in February, 1534, gives a detailed account of the numerous and unfounded charges against him[242]. This letter impresses the reader as having been written pro forma only. Cromwell must have realized that he could never hope to overcome two men who were so much his intellectual superiors as More and Fisher, in an argument. He therefore carefully avoided having any conversation with them, and wrote to them only in order to have some slight outward justification for his arbitrary action. Fisher sent pathetic letters to the King and the Lords, when Cromwell refused to accept his excuses or listen to his arguments, but in vain. His name was included in the Act of attainder of Elizabeth Barton and her accomplices which was passed in March, 1534, but his life was spared until the King could find a more valid pretext for actually destroying him[243].

The accusations in the case of Sir Thomas More were even more groundless than in Fisher’s. The only charges that could be proved against him were an unimportant interview with the Nun herself, a letter which he confessed to have written to her, warning her to leave political subjects entirely alone, and an insignificant conversation about her with a certain father Resbye, Friar Observant of Canterbury[244]. So much was made of these slight accusations, however, that More was forced to write a long letter of excuse to Cromwell. His explanations about the Nun and about his attitude on the Papal Supremacy appear to have been satisfactory; when he was examined by Cromwell and Audeley, all the inventiveness of his accusers seemed to be used to no purpose. ‘As the King did not find,’ says Chapuys, ‘as it seems he hoped, an occasion for doing him more harm, he has taken away his salary[245].’ But this unfortunately was not destined to be the end of the affair; if the King was not determined on the ex-Chancellor’s destruction, his Privy Councillor was; but Cromwell was forced to bide his time and wait for a better opportunity, so that further proceedings were stayed until the following April.

In the meantime the new Act of Succession had been passed in Parliament, and the oath of allegiance which it required was promptly tendered to More and Fisher, who finally consented to swear to the statute itself but not the preamble[246]. They were unwilling to give their reasons for rejecting the latter, but Cranmer cannot have been far wrong when he wrote to Cromwell that the cause of their refusal to accept it lay in its attacks on the authority of the Pope and the validity of the King’s first marriage[247]. The Archbishop, ever on the side of humanity, urged the King’s minister to accept the compromise which More and Fisher offered, but in vain. The ex-Chancellor and the aged bishop were committed to the Tower, which they never quitted again. For more than a year they remained there subjected to every sort of indignity, until on May 5, 1535, they were summoned by the King, and told that unless they swore to the Act of Succession and the Royal Supremacy, they would be treated no better than the Carthusian monks who had lately been executed[248]. They were allowed six weeks for reflection, but they replied that they would not change their opinion in six hundred years, if they lived so long. So strong was the popular feeling however, that it is doubtful if Henry would have dared to execute Fisher, simply because he said that ‘the King, our sovereign Lord, is not Supreme Head of the Church of England’; but when it was announced that the Pope, at a consistory held May 20, had created him a Cardinal, the King was so enraged that he threw all caution to the winds. He declared in his fury that ‘he would give Fisher another hat, and send his head to Rome for the Cardinal’s hat afterwards,’ and ordered both his prisoners to swear to his ecclesiastical headship before St. John’s Day, or suffer punishment as traitors[249]. Cromwell had endeavoured from the beginning to keep up the appearance of being reluctant to punish the aged bishop and his noble companion, and there is record that when he heard of the latter’s first refusal to abandon his beliefs, ‘he sware a great oath[250].’ But in spite of this there is every reason to think that he was the true cause of the ex-Chancellor’s death. It is not likely that Henry would have consented to the execution of a man whom he had formerly loved and respected as much as More, unless his counsellor had poisoned his heart against him. Moreover, the mentions of More and Fisher in Cromwell’s ‘remembrances’ are so frequent and of such a character, as to leave little doubt that he had determined to ruin them from the first. They both suffered death by beheading in the summer of 1535[251]. It was a terrible evidence of the ruthlessness of the forward policy to which Henry had now committed himself by the advice of his new minister. The most brilliant and cultivated Englishman of the time had been brought to the block to bear testimony to the King’s relentless anger; the gentleness and humility of the oldest prelate in the realm had not shielded him from Henry’s wrath and the swift, passionless blow of his all-powerful agent. Terror had mastered the country, and men wondered what the end would be[252].

But though Cromwell’s truculent measures had gained the day in England, they excited the anger and horror of continental Europe. Sentence of excommunication had been passed on Henry in the summer of 1534; public opinion would not have permitted the Pope longer to postpone the final blow, even if he had wished to do so. It now became more than ever necessary to defend the position of the King, and Cromwell was busily occupied in filling the pulpit at Paul’s Cross with preachers who were willing and able to expound the word of God to Henry’s profit and advantage[253]. In this he was greatly helped by Bishop Rowland Lee of Coventry and Lichfield, who later played such an important part in connexion with the subjugation of Wales. In seeking means to defend the Royal Supremacy Cromwell’s knowledge of the law stood him in good stead. In a letter written in the year 1538, Sir Thomas Denys tells how Cromwell three years earlier had advised him to ‘rede in a boke called Bratton[254] nott vnwrittyn this cccc yeres where he doth call the Kinges Grace Vicarius Christi, . . . wherfor,’ he continues, ‘I do rekyn a papiste and a traitour to be one thing[255].’ But the most drastic of the measures which Cromwell adopted to strengthen the power of the Crown was the famous Act about Proclamations, which he was able to force the Lords and Commons to pass in 1539. By this statute, all Proclamations made by the King and Council were given the force of Acts passed in Parliament, save when they touched the subject’s lives, lands, goods, or liberties, or infringed the established laws; and these exceptions were expressly declared inapplicable to those who should disobey proclamations concerning heresy. Cromwell had planned for the passage of this statute from a period at least as early as 1535. A letter[256] which he wrote to Norfolk in July of that year affords us interesting information concerning the origin of the measure. In a controversy about the best means of preventing the export of coin from the realm, the Chief Justice had delivered the opinion that ‘For the avoyding of any suche daungers . . . proclamacyons and polyces so deuysyd by the King & his cownsayll for any such purpose sholde be of as good effect as Any law made by parlyament or otherwyse[257].’ The Chief Justice probably came to this decision at a hint from Cromwell; in any case the latter saw that the good work which had been already begun could not be considered complete until the opinion expressed had been given legal form. From this time onward there occur in his ‘remembrances’ frequent mentions of an Act to be passed in Parliament to this effect, but the measure proposed was so radical, that with all his energy and unscrupulousness, it was four years before he was able to carry it through[258].

It is scarcely necessary to state that a legislative body which could be forced to consent to such a statute as this retained in practice but few traces of that independence of the Crown which it theoretically possessed. The passage of the Act about Proclamations marks the culmination of a process begun long before Cromwell came into power, but only perfected at the close of his ministry, by which the subserviency of Parliament to the royal will was secured. But though the system did not reach its highest development until 1539, the earlier years of Cromwell’s administration show such an advance over that of his predecessor in this particular, that we are justified in regarding the entire period of his ministry as the golden age of Tudor despotism. From the time that the Commons permitted the King and his counsellor to force on them the petition against the clergy in 1532, it is scarcely too much to say that the sole function of Parliament was to register the decrees which emanated from the royal council chamber.

Of course in order to render Parliament as ‘tractable’ as it was, it became necessary for Cromwell to regulate the choice of members for the King’s profit, and the success of his endeavours in this direction is little short of marvellous. Royal interference in elections was certainly not unknown before his time, but it had not attained the proportions which it was destined to assume under Cromwell, and it was often strongly resented by the people. It was only with ‘much difficulty,’ that Henry VII., in the year 1506, succeeded in forcing the citizens of London to abandon the right to elect their own sheriff, which had been granted them by the charter of Henry I.[259], and to accept the royal nominee to that office[260]. But thirty years later, the Crown had carried its encroachment on the popular liberties so far that it seemed to be usually regarded as a matter of course that a royal nomination should take the place of a fair election. If any protest was raised against Henry’s palpable infringement of ancient rights—and this was very rarely the case—the King and his minister affected to regard the complaint with a sort of indignant amazement. Let us examine the details of an election in Canterbury, which took place when Cromwell was at the height of his power. Writs had been issued for the choice of two members to Parliament from that city in early May, 1536. Between eight and nine in the morning of the eleventh of that month, the sheriff, John Hobbys, caused the commonalty of Canterbury to assemble in the accustomed place, where John Starky and Christopher Levyns were duly elected burgesses. After the voters had dispersed, about noon-time, John Alcok, the mayor of Canterbury, came to Sheriff Hobbys in great perplexity, with a letter from Cromwell and Audeley, which desired, on the King’s behalf, that Robert Derknall and John Bryges ‘shulde fulfill the seid romes.’ On the following morning the sheriff directed a humble letter to Cromwell[261], stating the facts, and begging that the election of Starky and Levyns might be allowed to stand, as the King’s wishes were not known until too late; ‘if your seid lettere had come to me byfore the seid eleccion,’ he pleaded, ‘I wolde haue done the best that had been in my powr to ‹have› Accomplished our Souereigne lord the Kinges pleasure and yours in the premysses.’ But the King’s minister gave no heed to the representations of John Hobbys: the fact that an election had already been held did not trouble him in the least: the King’s will was to be accomplished at all costs. On May 18 he addressed a significant letter to the Mayor and Burgesses of Canterbury, which was quite sufficient to induce the recipients to nullify their former proceedings. The phraseology of the letter is noteworthy: the King’s minister did not discuss the fact that his first message had arrived too late. He simply reminded the burgesses that the King’s pleasure had been signified to them, and that they ‘the same litle or nothynge regardynge but rather contemnyng’ had elected their own candidates, according to their ‘owne wylles and myndes contrarie to the kinges plesure and comandement in that behalfe.’ This of course was a thing whereat the King did ‘not a lytell marvell,’ and the burgesses were admonished ‘notwythstondynge the seyd eleccion’ to ‘procede to a new and electe thosse other, accordyng to the tenure of the former letteres’: they were also desired to notify Cromwell at once ‘if any persone wyll obstynatly gaynsay the same,’ so that the King’s minister might deal with the refractory burgess according to his master’s pleasure. Two days later Mayor Alcok replied with the following dutiful letter. ‘In humble Wise certefie you that the xx^th Day of this present monyth of Maye at vi of the Clok in the mornyng I John Alcok mayre of Cauntebury receyved your lettere Dyrected to me the seid mayre Sheryf and Comynaltie of the seid Citie sygnyfying to vs therby the kynges plesure and commaundement is that Robert Darknall and John Bryges shoulde be burgesses of the Parlyament for thesame Citie of Cauntebury by Vertue wherof accordyng to our bounde Dutye immedyatly vppon the syght of your seid lettere and contentes thereof perceyved caused the Comynaltye of the seid Citie to Assemble in the Court Hall ther wher appered the nombre of Fower score and xvii persones Citizens and Inhabitauntes of theseid Citie And accordyng to the Kynges plesure and Commaundement frely with one voyce and without any contradiccon haue elected and chosen the fore-seid Robert Darkenall and John Bryges to be burgesses of the parlyament for thesame Citie which shalbe duly certefied by Indenture vnder the seales of the seid Citizens and Inhabytauntes by the grace of the blyssyd Trynyte Who preserue you . . .[262].’ Such was the calm way in which parliamentary suffrage rights were made of no effect and the King’s pleasure enforced. It is important to notice in this connexion how careful Henry and Cromwell were to cloak their most unwarrantable proceedings by the preservation of ostensible constitutionalism. Never was the now farcical form of a fair election abandoned; never did the King fail outwardly to observe those legal restrictions by which the Crown was supposedly fettered, and the liberties of the nation theoretically preserved. The autocracy which Cromwell had done so much to establish was carried on ‘within and upon the already existing constitution,’ and the public protest was thus in great measure disarmed.

It is no wonder that the invaluable services which Cromwell rendered to the Crown were rewarded by an almost exclusive enjoyment of the royal confidence, which enabled him soon to do almost what he pleased with his two great rivals, Norfolk and Gardiner. At first he had cautiously held himself aloof from these men, but now that he had outstripped them in the King’s favour, his bearing towards them altered accordingly. It is a very significant fact that in his ten years of service, he never left the King for any considerable length of time, but often contrived to get Norfolk and Gardiner sent away—the one to cope with internal troubles, the other to act as ambassador to France. Cromwell succeeded in harassing them both while they were at Court, and in making them abandon every pretence to consistency. Chapuys, in a letter of December 9, 1533, tells us that Norfolk, hitherto the most pronounced of Catholics, uttered ‘a thousand blasphemies’ against the Pope, even more shocking than those of the King, calling him ‘an unhappy whoreson, a liar, and a wicked man; and that it should cost him (Norfolk) wife and children . . . and all that he possessed, or that he would be revenged on him. He has a good deal changed his tune, for it was he . . . who favoured most the authority of the Pope; but he must act in this way not to lose his remaining influence, which apparently does not extend much further than Cromwell wishes; for which reason, I understand, he is wonderfully sick of the Court[263].’ In the spring of 1535 the Duke was forced to surrender entirely, and retire to his estate at Kenninghall. Gardiner had to abandon the Secretaryship in 1534 in Cromwell’s favour. The new minister tantalized him in much the same way as he did Norfolk, and doubtless increased the enmity of the Bishop of Winchester, which he had first incurred at the time of Wolsey’s fall, and which five years later was to be such an important factor in effecting his own destruction.

Cromwell was perhaps the only man at the Court who, in the early days of his ministry, had the least suspicion that Anne Boleyn might sometime lose the royal favour. He was able to comprehend the King’s love for her better than anyone else, and to discern that when the royal passion had been satisfied, Henry’s affection for his second wife would be a thing of the past. The King’s chagrin that Anne had not brought him a male child, and the rage awakened by her subsequent miscarriage could not have escaped him. From thenceforth he must have become convinced that her ruin was ultimately certain, and he began to throw out hints that he no longer wished to be reckoned among her adherents. In April, 1536, it was notorious that there was a marked coolness between them, and a month later a very unexpected turn in foreign affairs brought matters to a head and forced him to take active measures against her, in order to save his own reputation with the King[264]. There is reason to think that he was the prime mover in the plot which led to her arrest. He certainly worked against her at her trial, and was present at her execution; in fact he took every possible step to forestall all chances of being included in her fall. His sudden abandonment of one whom a few years before he had done so much to support, should be enough to confute those who have seen in his previous devotion to the cause of Anne Boleyn an evidence that he favoured the Reformed faith. Anne was certainly a professed Protestant; she possessed the English Bible and read it; but it was only because her Protestantism was temporarily useful to Cromwell’s designs, which were to obtain for his master a divorce from Katherine, that he identified himself with her party during the first years of his ministry. When the divorce had been secured, and Henry had been declared Supreme Head of the Church of England; when the love which Anne had once enjoyed had been transferred to Jane Seymour, and Cromwell saw that to favour the cause of the unhappy Queen in opposition to the King might mean ruin and disgrace, he deserted her at once.

Nor can the fact that Cromwell’s name figures prominently in connexion with the publication of the Ten Articles of 1536 be justly urged as a reason for ascribing to him any real devotion to the cause of Protestantism. Now that the severance from Rome was complete, the King and his minister saw that a definition of the faith of the Church of England had become necessary, in order that the unity of the new ecclesiastical system might be preserved. The Ten Articles of 1536 were adopted to make good this deficiency. Circumstances had rendered them inevitable, and the fact that Cromwell presented them to Convocation, and signed them first of all the members proves nothing, except perhaps the importance of his ecclesiastical office. The Ten Articles declared the Bible and the three Creeds to be the only Rule of Faith: Penance, Baptism, and the Eucharist were kept as sacraments: the veneration of saints, soliciting of their intercession, use of images, and the usual ceremonies in the service, though still held to be highly profitable, and as such worthy to be retained, were pronounced in themselves powerless to justify the soul[265]. But though the main aim of these Articles was doubtless to preserve the integrity of the Church of England at home, the time and circumstances under which they were published seem to indicate that they were also intended to serve a purpose abroad. We shall hear of them in this connexion in another chapter.

Cromwell’s zeal for the publication of the Bible in English, and also his injunctions to the clergy[266], must in the same way be attributed to political rather than to religious motives. He saw what a powerful weapon the Bible had become in the hands of the German Reformers, and soon succeeded in forcing Convocation, on December 19, 1534, to present a petition to the King for the suppression of treasonable books in the vulgar tongue, and for a translation of the Scriptures into English[267]. Less than two years later Cromwell’s efforts were rewarded by the appearance of an edition of the Scriptures patched together ‘out of Douche[268] and Latyn’ by his friend Miles Coverdale. There seems to have been a very general impression current that all passages which might have been interpreted in favour of Katherine, had purposely been rendered in the opposite sense[269]. But this version was soon destined to be superseded. The following year witnessed the appearance of the edition which is usually known as Matthew’s Bible, and which consisted of a combination of the translations of Tyndale and Coverdale. It received the official sanction of Cromwell and Cranmer, but its life was almost as short as that of its predecessor. In the autumn of 1537 Grafton and Whitchurch, two London printers whose names had been connected with the previous editions, received a licence from the King to publish a new version of the Bible at Paris, where the facilities for carrying on their trade were better than in England[270]. At first the work seems to have progressed with great success, and in September, 1538, the King’s minister, in anticipation of its speedy completion, issued injunctions that a copy of it should be placed in every church at the cost of the parson and the parishioners, and that no one was to be discouraged from reading it: he advised, however, that ‘the explication of obscure places’ be referred ‘to men of higher iugement in scripture[271].’ But Cromwell was a little premature with his injunctions. An unforeseen event occurred, which made the immediate publication of the new edition impossible. The Royal Inquisition had apparently got wind of the doings of Grafton and Whitchurch at Paris, and just as the task was approaching completion, they and all their subordinates, and the French printer at whose house the work was being carried on, were suddenly cited to appear before the Inquisitor-General for the realm of France[272]. The Englishmen made haste to escape, without even waiting to collect the implements of their trade or the Bibles that had already been printed. Cromwell, on hearing of the disaster, went with a piteous tale to the French ambassador, telling him that he himself had contributed 600 marks towards the publication of the Bible in Paris, and begging him to ask his master to permit the work to be continued there, or at least to allow the copies already finished to be sent to England safely, and not to suffer the Inquisition to confiscate them. But Francis replied that good things might be printed in England as well as in France, but that bad things should never be permitted to be printed in Paris, and he further refused to deliver up the copies already completed. He was unable, however, to prevent the final accomplishment of the work in London in 1539[273]. The new version, commonly known as the Great Bible, was the last authorized translation completed in the reign of Henry VIII., but apparently great efforts had to be made to prevent the publication of unlicensed editions. It was not long before a royal commission was issued to Cromwell, commanding him, in order to avoid diversity of translations, to see that no man printed any English Bible during the next five years except persons deputed by himself[274].

Perhaps the strongest point of Cromwell’s domestic administration was his financial policy. He never forgot the promise he had made on entering the King’s service to make Henry ‘the richest king that ever was in England,’ for he was shrewd enough to see that a full treasury was the first essential to the attainment of the larger aim of his policy, the establishment of a royal despotism. He skilfully contrived that many of the measures of the earlier years of his ministry, primarily intended to cut the bonds which held England to Rome, should also serve to increase the wealth of the Crown. The most noteworthy and successful of these measures was the abolition of the Annates. There can be little doubt that it was through Cromwell’s agency that a supplication was addressed to the King early in the year 1532[275] urging him to arrest the payment of First Fruits to the Papacy: ‘bokes of annates’ and remembrances concerning them are to be found in large numbers among the minister’s letters and papers[276], and the petition by which the measure to abolish the First Fruits was initiated was a method especially characteristic of him, reminding us in many respects of the way in which the independence of the clergy had been attacked but a short time before. But the King was very cautious in granting the request, which had thus been laid before him. He had not yet given up all hope of a peaceful solution of his difficulty with the Pope, and was not yet prepared, as Cromwell was, openly to defy the Holy See. So at first he determined to try the effect of a threat. The immediate result of Cromwell’s efforts was the passage in Parliament of an Act[277] which abolished Annates, but preserved to the Holy See certain payments on bulls obtained for the election of bishops: the ratification of this statute by the Crown, however, was expressly withheld, and the Act consequently remained inoperative, while a post was sent to Rome ‘to frighten the Pope about the Annates[278].’ But this plan failed: Clement refused to be terrorized into submission; the King became convinced that a complete break was inevitable, and, in July, 1533, the Act was ratified and declared in force by letters patent[279]. The following year saw the passage of another statute, which abolished all the payments preserved by the exceptions to the Act of 1532[280], and a little later Parliament completed the work which Cromwell had forced it to undertake by annexing the Annates to the Crown[281]. Supplementary to these statutes was the Act concerning Peter’s Pence and Dispensations[282], by which the Pope was deprived of all contributions that had not already been arrested by the Acts about Annates. The use to which the rescued funds were put is aptly described by a significant ‘remembrance’ of Cromwell’s to the effect that ‘thenhabitauntes and peple of this realme shall pay yerely vnto the kyng for ever, in lieu or stede of smoke pence, whiche they were wont to pay to the busshop of rome, for euery hed or house a certayne small thyng for and towardes the defense of thys Realme, whiche may be ymployed in makyng of forteresses throughout the Realme[283].’ Another significant paragraph, from a letter of Chapuys to Charles V., of Dec. 19, 1534, reads as follows: ‘The King, besides the 30,000 pounds which he newly obtained from the clergy, and an ordinary fifteenth from the laity, which was granted him last year, and which may amount to 28,000 pounds, has just imposed a tax by authority of Parliament, of the twentieth penny of all the goods of his subjects, and that foreigners shall pay double, which will amount to a great sum. These are devices of Cromwell, who boasts that he will make his master more wealthy than all the other princes of Christendom: and he does not consider that by this means he alienates the hearts of the subjects, who are enraged and in despair, but they are so oppressed and cast down, that without foreign assistance it is no use their complaining, and it will not be Cromwell’s fault, if they are not oppressed further[284].’

The King’s minister also appears to have been much occupied with the coinage. He was constantly present at ‘assayes’ of gold and silver, and further took active steps to stamp out the counterfeiters, of whom there appear to have been a great number[285]. He caused a proclamation to be issued ‘for the false and clipped Coyne going in this Realme with a greate punyshment to euery person that is founde with any false or counterfeit moneye.’ The systematic debasement of the currency that disgraced the reign of Henry VIII. had begun under Wolsey, but appears to have ceased entirely during Cromwell’s ministry: it began again after Cromwell’s death, assuming far greater proportions than before, and continued till the end[286]. That the King did not need to resort to such costly methods of replenishing his treasury while Cromwell was in power, bears eloquent testimony to the wisdom and success of his minister’s finance. The latter’s efforts to prevent the ‘conveying of coyne out of the realme’ shows that he saw the importance of securing plenty of good coin for English trade, and that he did not want to create an artificial cheapness. The statutes of Henry VII. forbidding the export of precious metals had been renewed by his son in an Act passed in 1511, but this law had run out in 1523, and from that time onward there was no legal hindrance to the practice, though the statutes enacted previous to Tudor times were still considered in force[287]. The result was that the earlier laws began to be transgressed, and Cromwell, in devising methods to prevent further infringements of them, hit upon the expedient of a royal proclamation, as we have already had occasion to notice.

Another most important measure passed during Cromwell’s ministry, was the so-called Statute of Uses[288]. It was at the same time a legal and a financial reform. In order to evade the common law, which prohibited testamentary disposition of landed property and rendered it strictly subject to primogeniture, the custom had long been prevalent that the owner should name before or at his death certain persons to whose ‘use’ his lands should be held. These persons became to all intents and purposes the true devisees; for though the trustee, or ‘feoffee to uses,’ alone was recognized by the common law, the beneficiary or ‘cestui que use’ soon began to receive strong support through the equitable jurisdiction of the Chancellor, and so was often able actually to enforce claims which originally had rested merely on moral obligation. This was the usual method of circumventing the laws of the realm, in order to make provision by will for younger children. In this particular it was perhaps legitimate, but at the same time it opened the way to a great number of abuses, which are stated at length in the preamble to the statute just mentioned. The chief of these were the extraordinary complication of titles to land, which resulted from the secret methods of devising it, and the loss to the King and the great lords of the feudal dues on successions, wardships, and marriages. Two ineffectual attempts had been made to remedy these evils in the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII.[289], and at Cromwell’s accession to power the subject was brought up again. There is reason to think that the Statute of Uses was under consideration as early as 1531, and the main principle of it bears a close resemblance to the measure devised in the reign of Richard III. A mention of it occurs in Cromwell’s ‘remembrances’ of the year 1535[290], but it was not finally passed until 1536, probably on account of the popular opposition, which, according to Chapuys, was very pronounced. The upshot of the statute was, that all right to the estate was taken from the grantee to uses and vested in the beneficiary, and the distinction between legal and beneficial ownership was thus entirely destroyed. The ostensible tenant was made in every case the legal tenant; those entitled to the use of land became the actual holders of it. The Act further was intended to abolish the right to create further uses in the future: the power of disposing of interests in land by will was thus removed, and the King was restored to the enjoyment of his ancient feudal dues.

Beyond the casual mention in his ‘remembrances[291]’ there is no precise record of Cromwell’s connexion with this important measure. It is worthy of note, however, that the attainments needed to plan and draft such a statute were precisely those which Cromwell possessed in the very highest degree—intimate knowledge of the law, and great shrewdness in finance. The bold and effective way in which the measure struck at the root of the evil, and caused the extra-legal practice which had grown up to become its own ruin, is very characteristic of him. Furthermore, Cromwell was certainly believed to be the originator of the measure by the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace, which was partially caused by it, and as such his death was demanded. It therefore seems highly probable that it was he who devised this scheme in order to deal the death blow to a very annoying practice of evading the law, and to enrich the royal treasury. The statute, however, was not entirely successful in attaining the ends at which it aimed, for by a strained interpretation of the letter of the Act, the courts managed to evade the spirit of it, so that it failed to do away with the old distinction between beneficial and legal ownership, which it had been intended to destroy. In addition to this, the popular outburst of indignation aroused by the Statute of Uses was so strong that a few months before Cromwell’s death he saw the actual right of at least partial testamentary disposition of landed property obtained by the people. The Act concerning the willing of land by testament[292], passed in the spring of 1540, gave to every tenant in fee simple the right to bequeath at his pleasure all lands which he held by socage tenure, and two-thirds of the lands which he held by knight-service. The force of usage was such that when the King and Cromwell attempted to abolish a practice, which had rendered the willing of land possible under another name, the actual right to bequeath landed property without circumventing the law was wrested from them.

The King was glad to entrust his capable adviser with the preservation of that advantageous commercial position which had been won for England through the masterful policy of Henry VII. Cromwell’s varied experience in foreign markets and his intimate knowledge of all the details of the wool-trade, which was by far the most important element of English commerce, had taught him in his earlier years many lessons of which the whole nation was to reap the benefit. In general his administration witnessed but few departures from the highly successful commercial policy inaugurated by the first Tudor. His aim was rather to strengthen the advantages already gained, and to increase the security of English commerce and industry against the competition of continental rivals, than to attempt any radical innovations. The monopoly of the trade in the Mediterranean which Venice had enjoyed in Lancastrian times, had been a serious menace to the interests of the English merchants; but the Italian wars had now almost totally deprived the Republic of that prominent political position which she had occupied at the beginning of the century, and with the loss of her national greatness her commercial supremacy fell. The ancient privileges which had been granted to Venetian merchants and galleys previous to Tudor times, had been exchanged for a set of stringent enactments, which dealt a heavy blow to her trade and shipping during the reign of Henry VII. Cromwell followed the same policy, and further seized the favourable opportunity afforded by Venice’s decline to foster the interests of English merchants in other parts of the Mediterranean[293]. With the towns of the Hanseatic League the case was slightly different. The extensive privileges the merchants of the North German cities had enjoyed in earlier times, had raised them to such a commanding position that the growth of English commerce in the north was rendered well-nigh impossible. Henry VII.’s aim had been to overthrow the supremacy of the Hanseatic League, by a gradual withdrawal of the concessions which it had wrung from his predecessors. The early part of his son’s reign had witnessed a continuation of this wise policy, but during Cromwell’s ministry an alliance which the threatening situation on the Continent had led England to conclude with Lübeck, necessitated a temporary cessation of the process of curtailing the privileges of the Hanse merchants[294]. But the loud outcries of the people against the destructive competition of the Germans were sufficient to prevent Cromwell from making any permanent stand in their favour. Political necessity alone had induced him to postpone the complete withdrawal of their privileges: he knew that the tendency of the times was irresistibly against the Hanseatic towns, and he was perhaps the more willing to grant them a few temporary concessions in that he realized that nothing could ever raise them again to the position of dangerous rivals to English trade. His foresight was justified by the event; the process which Henry VII. had begun was completed by the fall of the Steelyard in the reign of Elizabeth. A more difficult problem was presented by the Netherlands. England and the Low Countries were commercially indispensable to each other; the English wool-market in Flanders was the centre of the mercantile interests of both nations. The merchants of the Netherlands, however, had contrived to get the better of their English neighbours until the accession of the house of Tudor; but the concessions which resulted from the temporary removals of the English wool-mart from Antwerp to Calais by Henry VII., and the enormously advantageous commercial treaty which that King was able to wring from the Archduke Philip when fortune had thrown the latter into his hands in 1506, had completely altered the situation to England’s profit[295]. The efforts of Henry VIII. and Wolsey had been directed towards preserving the provisions of the agreement of 1506, the validity of which the Netherlanders were of course unwilling to acknowledge. Cromwell went further than this; his administration witnessed not only the maintenance and increase of all the advantages which his predecessor had secured, but also the discussion of a plan for attaining complete commercial independence of the Low Countries, by bringing home the English wool-mart to London[296]. This scheme was not carried through, owing to the unwillingness of the King to offend the Emperor; but the news of the proposals for it was soon known in the Netherlands, and was not without its effect there. The merchants of the Low Countries were greatly alarmed lest they should lose the English trade, and instead of opposing every move which their rivals made, now began to grant them all possible concessions. The Emperor’s dread of alienating Henry also contributed to force them to adopt a more conciliatory attitude than ever before, and it may be justly said that at the close of Cromwell’s administration the mercantile relations of England and the Netherlands were so regulated as to secure every advantage for the former. Cromwell’s whole commercial policy was strongly influenced by his desire to increase and improve English shipping, especially at the last, when an invasion was threatened from the Continent[297]. His ‘remembrances’ are filled with items for appropriations for building and rigging vessels of various kinds, and for making and improving harbours[298]. He did his utmost to clear the Channel of pirates, and was diligent in writing letters to demand restitution of goods taken from English merchants at sea[299]. In 1540 he caused an Act to be passed for the ‘maintenance of the navy[300]’: one of its provisions restricted the privileges conferred on all foreign merchants by a proclamation in the previous year[301] to those who transported their wares in English ships.

Throughout Cromwell’s ‘remembrances’ occur countless minor items dealing with miscellaneous questions of internal reform. Memoranda for the building and improvement of roads and highways, for bettering the state of the coast defences, and for the regulation of the rates of wages, are especially numerous. In 1538 he aided Norfolk in suppressing a sort of strike among the Wisbech shoemakers, who had agreed to stop work unless their wages were raised from 15d. to 18d. per dozen boots sewed[302]. It is perhaps unnecessary to state that this strike was regarded as a revolt against authority, and that the masters gained an easy victory over the men. Among Cromwell’s injunctions to the clergy in 1538 is an order to keep parish registers of births, marriages, and deaths[303]. Apparently this measure was intensely unpopular, especially in the south-west of England, where people seem to have got the notion that ‘some charges more than hath been in time past shall grow to them by this occasion of registering of these things[304].’ Precisely what the immediate object of the injunction was it is difficult to say, though there is little reason to think that the fears it aroused among the people of Cornwall and Devonshire were realized. It has been grudgingly applauded by one writer, and characterized as ‘an inadequate attempt to supply the loss of the registers of various kinds which had been kept by the monks[305]’; but its inadequacy, however great, might well pass unmentioned, in the face of the many benefits which later resulted from it. However unpopular the measure may have been at the time, its author certainly deserves the thanks of posterity for preserving a vast amount of valuable information which would otherwise have been lost.

A few words remain to be added concerning Cromwell’s zeal for the advancement of learning. As his political schemes had caused him incidentally to take sides with the Reformation, his object was to strengthen those who favoured the new religion and opposed Rome. Education is necessary to reform; and Cromwell did not intend to leave to ignorant men the task of carrying on the work he had begun. He therefore took steps to see that the opportunities for learning were improved. Among the injunctions which he issued to the clergy in 1536[306], is a clause providing for an increased number of exhibitions at the schools and the Universities, ‘to thintent that lerned men maye hereafter spring the more.’ His dealings with Oxford and Cambridge do not seem to have been very important, although in June, 1535, he was appointed Chancellor of the latter in place of Fisher. He appears to have been much occupied in suppressing the various quarrels that constantly took place between the students and the townspeople, and the letters which he wrote to the Magistrates of Cambridge deal for the most part with this problem[307]. In October, 1535, the King appointed him Visitor to the University, and at the same time promulgated nine injunctions in which he directed the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of Cambridge to abandon the ‘frivolous questions and obscure glosses’ of the schoolmen, to read and teach the Scriptures, and to swear to the Royal Supremacy and the new Succession[308]. Henry’s minister, as usual, was the instrument employed to see that the injunctions were enforced. Of Cromwell’s relations to Oxford still less remains to be said. There are letters from him concerning the admission of a President of Magdalen in 1535[309], and the election of a Master of Balliol in 1539. The latter appears to have been a most disreputable character, and Cromwell’s assertion that he was chosen without ‘any parcyalyte or corruptyon’ was certainly false[310]. A very interesting but comparatively well-known report from the pen of Dr. Layton gives us a vivid picture of the state of the University in 1535, and tells of the foundation of several new lectures at the various colleges[311].

As a reward for his success in the management of domestic affairs, the King conferred on him the many dignities and titles which, in 1536, marked the height of his power. He had been raised to the offices of Privy Councillor, Master of the Jewels, Clerk of the Hanaper, and Master of the King’s Wards in 1531 and 1532. The Chancellorship of the Exchequer had followed in 1533. He became Principal Secretary to the King in 1534, Master of the Rolls in the same year, Vicar-general and Visitor-general of the Monasteries in January, 1535, Lord Privy Seal, Vicegerent of the King in Spirituals[312] in July, 1536. He was also created Baron Cromwell of Okeham in the same month, and Knight of the Garter in August, 1537. During the last seven years of his ministry he was granted no less than nineteen minor offices, through which his income must have been very greatly increased[313]. Just prior to the outbreak of the Pilgrimage of Grace, Cromwell’s position was almost that of a despot. He was supreme in Convocation, Privy Council, and Parliament; he enjoyed paramount authority in the direction of internal affairs, and next to the King was by far the most important man in the realm.

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].

During his first two years in the King’s service, Cromwell was so busy in establishing the Royal Supremacy, that he could not pay much attention to Irish affairs. The three years of Skeffington’s administration, moreover, appear to have been fairly quiet. In 1532, however, a change came. The Earl of Kildare, by craftily misrepresenting Skeffington’s doings at the English Court, secured the latter’s recall, and obtained for himself the post of Lord Deputy for the third time[325]. On regaining the coveted office, however, he returned to Ireland, and instead of following out the King’s instructions, proceeded to stir up his adherents into open rebellion, and neglected the English at Dublin. Unmindful of his ‘hole duetie to the Kingis Highnes,’ he used the royal authority deputed to him, ‘as a cloke or habyte to cover his cruele persecutions, mynding utterly to extynguyshe the fame and honor of any other noble man within that lande[326].’ It is possible that he thus served Henry’s and Cromwell’s ultimate purpose of subjugation better than he knew, as he certainly weakened the power of many of the wildest clans, who hated the English rule as much as his. But his use to the Crown in this direction, if it amounted to anything, was only temporary, and things became ripe for his dismissal. Continual complaints of him reached the King and Cromwell. Dublin was almost the only place in the country, which remained perfectly loyal to England. The neighbouring tribes were so hostile, that the citizens were hard put to it for food, and its inhabitants almost perished from starvation. John Deythyke, a priest, wrote sarcastically to a friend in the autumn of 1533, that although it was the custom to refrain from meat on Wednesdays as well as Fridays, provisions were so scarce that people had become more devout still, and abstained also on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. ‘This is a very sore abstenaunce . . . the country is so quiett that they dare nott ryde one myle owte of the towne, to by any maner of vytteyles; and they make there complaynt to the Deputie and the wynde hath blowen hym soo in the erys that he can nott here them. But yt is a comon sayinge “whoo is so defe as he that lyst not to here[327].”’ Things went on from bad to worse, and finally John Alen, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, was sent over by the Council there to report Kildare’s doings at the English Court, and further to submit to the King a set of articles for the reformation of the abuses which had become prevalent in the country[328]. Alen finally succeeded in procuring Kildare’s recall; and the Deputy arrived in London in April, 1534, having left his eldest son, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, in his place. Efforts were made to induce the young man to come to England also; and when he persistently refused to put himself into the King’s hands, his father was arrested and sent to the Tower. These vigorous measures, according to Chapuys, were due to Cromwell; they were the beginnings of his policy of subjugation[329].

The arrest of Kildare, coupled with a premature report of his death, set half Ireland aflame, and his son, making up a slight quarrel he had had with his kinsmen the Desmonds threw off his allegiance. All the English were ordered out of the Geraldines’ land before a certain day. The Archbishop of Dublin attempted to flee the country, but encountering a storm, was driven back on the Irish coast, fell into young Thomas’ hands, and was murdered with most of his following[330]. A formidable revolt against the royal authority was evidently pending. Henry and Cromwell were seriously alarmed, and the extraordinary popularity of the rebellion among the people in England, who, as Chapuys said, thought it ‘a very good beginning to remedy matters at home,’ greatly increased their fears[331]. Cromwell had to bear the brunt of all the blame, and the Duke of Norfolk seized the opportunity to speak ill of his successful rival. According to Chapuys, the Duke had ‘left the Court to be away when the affairs of Ireland were discussed, and this out of disdain that the King despised his advice, and at the suggestion of Cromwell and Skeffington had ill-treated the earl of Kildare, and ruined the affairs of Ireland. On this subject the Duke and Cromwell had reproached each other with many things . . . which shows the ill-will they have borne each other a long time, however much they have dissembled it[332].’ But Norfolk’s efforts to undermine the influence of his rival were as yet unavailing. The time for pacific measures had now passed; Henry would have been only too glad to grant Kildare peace on any terms, but the latter refused every offer. Skeffington, who was Cromwell’s friend, was sent over again as Deputy to quell the rebellion. After many delays he crossed on the 14th of October, with troops which the King had secretly raised for him[333].

Meantime the rebels had gained a decisive victory, and were just outside the walls of Dublin. Piteous entreaties from the inhabitants, begging him to come to the relief of the beleaguered city, reached Skeffington, and after some delay he advanced. His arrival made the rebels retreat, but instead of pursuing them vigorously, and striking a telling blow, he remained at Dublin, and wasted time in trying to get a sentence of excommunication passed against the murderers of Archbishop Alen[334]. But in spite of the Deputy’s dallying inefficiency, the superiority of Cromwell’s policy to Norfolk’s was destined to be made evident by succeeding events. A new complication in Irish affairs arose when young Kildare, taking advantage of Skeffington’s inactivity, sent an embassy to the Emperor, promising to hold Ireland as a fief of the Holy See, on condition that he would offer him protection against the English schismatics[335]. An ambassador, Dominick Power by name, was sent by Charles to Ireland and Scotland, but Henry soon discovered it, and complained[336]; Charles was not quite ready as yet to do anything active in aid of the rebels, and so the affair came to nothing. Meantime, at the request of Cromwell, Skeffington was induced to shake off his apathy, leave Dublin and Drogheda, and move after the rebels[337]. The Lord Privy Seal’s boast that the young Kildare would soon be a prisoner in the Tower, was not as empty as Chapuys thought. Maynooth Castle, a rebel stronghold, was besieged and taken[338]; many rebels were executed, others fell away from Kildare, the young Earl finally surrendered, and was sent a prisoner to London. Two years later he was hanged with five uncles at Tyburn[339]. With his surrender other chieftains came to terms; many districts became comparatively quiet, and by the end of 1535 Ireland seemed further on the road to tranquillity than she had been for some time. This was a significant triumph for Cromwell’s policy over that of Norfolk, and did much to increase his influence with the King. On the last day of December, 1535, Skeffington died, and Lord Leonard Grey was made Deputy in his place[340].

Before Cromwell could hope to derive much benefit from Ireland, it was necessary to establish some sort of government in the country, as well as to subjugate it. To this intent, Lord Grey summoned a Parliament, which met at Dublin in the spring of 1536[341]. Its first act was to pass a bill securing the succession of Anne Boleyn’s issue: the report of this came to Cromwell in London in June, two weeks after Anne’s execution[342]. He must have been somewhat puzzled, when he heard the news; events were moving so rapidly, that even an ‘ordered’ Parliament could not keep pace with them. He finally wrote back that in case the act for the succession was not ‘passed thoroughly’ they were to ‘staye the same tyl further knowleage of his graces pleasure[343].’ It was too late, however, to do this; but when the report came that Anne had been executed, and that Jane Seymour had become Queen, the Parliament was ready enough at once to rescind the old statute, and pass a new one in favour of the issue of Henry’s third wife. Later there were enacted a series of measures to loosen the bonds that held the Irish Church to Rome[344], and George Browne, Provincial of the Austin Friars, who had already made himself useful in forcing the oath of succession on his brethren in the south of England, was nominated in 1535, by Cromwell’s influence, to succeed Alen as Archbishop of Dublin. The Deputy meantime carried on the subjugation steadily and consistently in the wilder portions of the country.

Everything in Ireland was now proceeding to the complete satisfaction of Henry and Cromwell, except the finances. Few could equal Cromwell’s ideal, or satisfy Henry’s avarice in this respect. Ireland had never paid its expenses before; and it was largely in the hope of deriving revenue from a land which had hitherto been only a burden, that the King and his minister had undertaken to subjugate it. A letter from Henry to the Deputy and Council in 1537 blames them for taking excessive fees, thinking only of private gain, and not taking care of the royal income[345]. To remedy this Cromwell appointed and sent over Commissioners, who were ordered to try to reduce expenses and increase revenue, and, to this end, to inquire into the conduct of every royal officer in Ireland, learn all the particulars of the local government, and cut down the retinue of the Deputy and Treasurer to 340 men[346]. In the list of Commissioners occurs the name of William Brabazon (Cromwell’s old friend and fellow servant under Wolsey), who later attained a very important position in Irish affairs. The extant letters of Cromwell to the Commissioners deal for the most part with the adjustment of petty land claims. The most interesting of them is the one concerning the policy to be pursued towards ‘that traytor Bryan Oconor[347].’

There are significant depositions against some of these Commissioners who dared to murmur at Cromwell’s notorious accessibility to bribes, which seems to have been more noticeable in his dealings with Ireland than anywhere else. He appears to have received enormous sums from the rich and powerful family of the Butlers, kinsmen of Anne Boleyn and of the Duke of Norfolk, in return for a promise to protect their castles from the search of the royal agents. There was a great deal of discontent among the Commissioners on account of his rapacity, and though they openly flattered him, they continually spoke ill of him behind his back. ‘My Lorde Pryvee Seale hathe wrought to his awne confusion and dethe,’ said one, ‘and of late tyme was veray nere the same, and escapid veray narrowly . . . noo lorde or gentilman in Englande berith love or favor to my Lorde Pryvee Seale by cause he is soo great a taker of money, for he woll speke, solicite, or doo for noo man, but all for money. . . . I wold not be in his case for all that ever he hathe, for the King beknaveth him twice a weke, and sometyme knocke him well aboute the pate; and yet when he hathe bene well pomeld about the hedde, and shaken up, as it were a dogge, he will come out into the great chambre, shaking of the bushe with as mery a countenaunce as thoughe he mought rule all the roste[348].’ We may well believe that Henry was willing that Cromwell should make some private gains, provided he brought money to the royal treasury as well.

The subjugation of the country, however, had not yet been thoroughly accomplished. Though 1537 was comparatively quiet, the following year witnessed a fresh outbreak. Taking advantage of the precarious condition of England’s foreign affairs at the time, young Gerald, brother of the late Earl of Kildare, and heir to his power, stirred up various chieftains, and baffled all the attempts of the Deputy to lure him into the King’s hands. Letters for aid were written to the Pope and to Cardinal Pole, and were sent by a certain monk, as the safest means of transmitting them to their destination[349]. The monk sailed from Scotland in a French ship, which was blown ashore on the English coast at South Shields; the messenger was captured, and the letter intercepted[350]. In September, 1539, there were several skirmishes between the various forces of the rebels and the Deputy; but the latter was generally victorious, and another crisis was tided over[351]. Young Gerald was forced to flee into Brittany, and the rebels were left without a leader. The Deputy, Lord Grey, appears to have become very unpopular during his term of service, however, and in the spring of 1540 he was recalled[352], on the accusations of violence to the King’s Council, extortion, injustice, and maintaining the King’s enemies. Affairs were in a bad state after he left; Scotch intrigues, even an invasion of the country by James, were rumoured[353], and Sir William Brereton, who temporarily filled Grey’s place, had a very hard time. Grey was finally condemned and executed a year after Cromwell’s fall, and Sir Anthony St. Leger, ‘the discreet,’ who had been the Chief of Commissioners of 1537, was sent over as Deputy in 1541[354].

It may be said that from 1534 until his fall, Cromwell was the virtual ruler of Ireland. His significant triumph over Norfolk and his policy of pacification, mark the beginning of his influence. From that time onward the King left to him the entire direction of Irish affairs; he appointed the officers, regulated the revenues, and in short managed everything connected with the country until 1540. From the instructions which the Commissioners received in 1537, we gather that the main object of the Crown was to get a revenue from Ireland, and the plan which Cromwell pursued in order to attain this end is noteworthy, in that it differed so entirely from his policy in all the rest of England’s dependencies. Realizing that the country was worse than useless to the King, while it remained in the state in which it was when he came into power, he saw that it was so wild and disorganized, that subjugation by force would be possible and profitable, if attempted vigorously, and in time. He therefore pursued a most aggressive policy, which in Scotland, for instance, where the conditions were so different, he would never have dared to adopt.

In Wales he was confronted with a problem of a very different nature. What was needed there was thorough legal reform. The country was not large enough to render an insurrection there very formidable, but the wild and lawless state of the Welsh Marches, which afforded hiding-places for criminals of all kinds, was a source of much evil. One Thomas Philips wrote to Cromwell in May, 1532[355], that the whole country was in great decay, and that the King’s representatives there took fines for felony and murder, and used the money for their own purposes; he begged that such a council might soon be established in Wales, that the best officer should ‘quake,’ if found in fault. The Bishop of Exeter, who was President of the Marches, was an inefficient ruler and took no pains to remedy the existing evils. The crimes of making and uttering counterfeit money seem to have been extremely common[356]. Cromwell saw that it was high time measures were taken to rectify this lawlessness, and his ‘remembrances’ are full of items for the reform of Wales. He replaced the Bishop of Exeter by his own friend Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who in his younger days had served with him under Wolsey[357]. Lee’s energetic and business-like methods rendered him a fit man for the place, and he set about reorganizing and reforming Wales in earnest. It was probably at his instance that Cromwell devised several Acts, passed in the Parliament of 1534, to establish justice and maintain order[358]. As the King’s writ did not run in Wales, it was next to impossible to get a case fairly heard there; so Royal Commissioners were sent thither, with authority to punish crimes and felonies (which were to be tried in the next English court), and to establish Justices of the Peace. Chapuys, in a letter written in December, 1535, describes the distress of the Welsh at these measures as incredible, saying that Parliament ‘has just taken away their native laws, customs, and privileges, which is the very thing they can endure least patiently[359].’ He further states that the Welsh were violently in favour of the cause of Katherine and Mary, and longed for an opportunity to declare themselves. A rising was probably prevented by the fact that the King himself was of Welsh descent. Cromwell was exceedingly active in his endeavours to stamp out all sedition of this sort, and was ably seconded by Lee, who, when the clergy in 1535 were required to preach in favour of the Royal Supremacy, and against the power of the Pope, declared himself ready to ride into his diocese in his own person and carry out the decree, though, as he confessed, he had never before been in a pulpit[360]. But Lee adopted other measures to extirpate sedition, far more vigorous than preaching in favour of the Royal Supremacy; he never failed to enforce his words by deeds. He hung and beheaded offenders and criminals right and left, and sent full reports of his doings to Cromwell, who must have rejoiced to find an agent whose energy corresponded so closely to his own[361].

But in spite of Lee’s goodwill, the state of Wales was not satisfactory, until Cromwell’s great statute of 1535 was passed[362]. By this Act, Wales was formally declared to be incorporated with England, to be entitled to the same privileges, and to be subject to the same laws. The Marches were declared to be in disorder, and were annexed or divided into shires. The King was further empowered by the Act to erect courts in Wales every five years. These fundamental reforms laid the basis for an entirely new method of administration of justice there, and the country henceforth ceased to cause anxiety to its prince.

In striking contrast to Cromwell’s vigorous policy in Ireland and Wales, was his conciliatory attitude towards Scotland. The strength and proximity of this country, and the weak defences of the northern marches of England, were a constant source of alarm, which was rather increased than diminished by Henry’s strained relations with those continental powers who were on the best of terms with James. It was obvious that in case of a foreign invasion of England from the Continent, the enmity of Scotland would be the only thing lacking, to render disaster certain. It is also not improbable that an attack from the north would have been welcomed by some of Henry’s more disaffected subjects. In his speech in the Parliament of 1523 Cromwell had advocated a policy of unification with Scotland: from this principle he never departed, but he saw that it was now no time to gain his ends by force. He therefore adopted a pacificatory attitude towards Scotland at the opening of his ministry, and consistently followed it until the end. He began by persuading his master to make every effort to strengthen the rather precarious truce which, owing to French mediation, had been concluded between the Commissioners of the two countries upon the Borders, Oct. 1, 1533[363]. Anxious to show all possible courtesy to the Scottish delegates who were finally sent to London to open negotiations, the King prepared for them a house, which had been occupied by the Grand Master of France, and, contrary to his custom with most ambassadors, supplied it with choice wines and provisions[364]. The Scots were not slow to realize the strength of their position, and in proportion as Henry’s desire to conclude a permanent peace increased, their movements grew more and more deliberate. After long delays, which exasperated the King greatly, an alliance was finally made, to continue during the joint lives of the two sovereigns, and one year longer. During the two following years Henry continued his pacific policy by making James a Knight of the Garter, and by sending an embassy to induce him to abandon the Pope. The latter plan was doubtless a suggestion of Cromwell’s; a mention of the ambassadors Barlow and Howard occurs in his ‘remembrances,’ and Barlow later wrote him continual reports of his progress. The mission was unsuccessful in attaining its purpose; but there were no signs that James’ leaning to Rome would render him an active enemy of England[365].

The year 1537 brought with it new developments of Scottish policy. James had gone abroad to marry Madeleine of Valois, an alliance highly displeasing to Henry, after all his efforts to counteract his nephew’s tendency to lean upon the goodwill of Francis. The King proceeded to express his vexation in an emphatic manner, and, contrary to the advice of his Council, refused to permit James to return to Scotland from France through England[366]. James’ marriage and Henry’s outspoken wrath stultified all Cromwell’s efforts to bring about a cordial personal feeling and a lasting peace between the two sovereigns. The Scots’ King was forced to travel by sea; but events took place on the voyage which filled Henry with suspicion. Twelve Englishmen boarded the Scottish ship when it touched at Scarborough for provisions, welcomed James, and promised their aid if he invaded England. This episode was repeated at another town further north, and it was even reported that the Scottish King had boasted, that if he lived a year longer, ‘he would himself break a spear on one Englishman’s breast[367].’ Such incidents must have been unpleasant, coming as they did just after a serious northern revolt had with difficulty been quelled, and while the Borders were still in a wild and lawless state. But any thoughts James may have entertained of an invasion were interrupted by the sudden death of his young French Queen. Henry perhaps had hoped that his nephew would come to him with offers of peace and a petition for the hand of the Princess Mary, but, if so, he was rudely disappointed. In October it was announced that James was engaged to marry a second French wife, Mary of Guise[368]; and though Henry, at that time a widower, made every effort to prevent the match by putting himself forward as a rival to his nephew, his proposals were courteously set aside[369]. That the King of France should have distinctly preferred a Scottish to an English alliance when the choice lay open, stung Henry to the quick; but he was quite aware that he could not afford just then to quarrel with Francis or James, and he may have regretted that he had not taken his minister’s advice to conciliate the latter. The history of Henry’s relations with his nephew from this time until Cromwell’s fall, yields ample proof of the complete triumph of the English minister’s pacificatory policy. Attempts made in the past to stir up Border jealousies were completely abandoned, and England seemed almost suspiciously desirous to show every courtesy to her troublesome northern neighbour. A letter of Cromwell to Sir Thomas Wharton[370], deputy Warden of the West Marches, directs him to hand over to the Scottish officers an arrant traitor who had made his escape to England, even if the Scots failed to ‘doo the semblable.’ Actions as gracious as this were a new thing on the Borders: the usual policy in the past had been for each nation to give shelter to the outlaws who had fled to it from the other. The news that David Beton, Abbot of Arbroath, had been raised by the Pope to the cardinalate and was working at the Scottish Court in the interests of Rome, made Henry still more anxious to preserve friendship with his nephew, and to preclude all chances of his being induced to join a continental league against England[371]. So in January, 1540, we find him sending Ralph Sadler, Cromwell’s old friend, to James, to counteract, if possible, the effect of the visit of Beton[372]. By the capture of certain letters in a Scottish ship which had been wrecked on the Northumbrian coast, Henry had been furnished with the means of misrepresenting the objects of the Cardinal at his nephew’s Court. Sadler was instructed to hint that Beton was plotting to usurp all the authority of the King of Scotland, and to advise James to be on his guard. The ambassador was further directed to conciliate the Scottish King by a present of six geldings, to assure him of Henry’s friendship, and to suggest that James augment his revenue by suppressing the monasteries in his kingdom as his uncle had done in England. Finally Sadler was to represent to the Scots’ King the advantages of an alliance with England over one with France, and to request him to ponder on the desirability of eradicating the ancient enmity of the two peoples, especially in view of the fact that he might some day himself succeed to his uncle’s crown. The result of the mission taken as a whole was satisfactory. Though James refused to accede to any of Henry’s more definite requests, and would not listen to any proposals to abolish the old religion or to suppress the monasteries, he still assured Sadler that no alliance he made on the Continent would lead him to break with England, and further enlarged on the benefits that would result from a meeting with his uncle, though he puzzled the envoy by suggesting that Francis should also be present[373]. The mission of Sadler marks the last stage of the relations of England and Scotland during Cromwell’s ministry; and the fact that war between the two countries broke out so soon after his fall, furnishes a final reason for believing that it was by the able and unceasing efforts of the Privy Councillor that an open rupture was so long averted.

Lastly, a few words remain to be said on the subject of the government of Calais. If the name of that town were graven on the heart of Mary Tudor at her death, from the grief which its loss during her reign caused her, it must have been also graven upon the minds of her father and his minister, from the trouble its maintenance gave them during the last seven years of the latter’s power. In March, 1533, Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, was nominated successor to that learned soldier, Lord Berners, as Deputy there, and took the oaths at the town, on the 10th of June[374]. The choice was certainly unfortunate, and Lisle’s unfitness for his new position was destined soon to be made evident. He seems to have been a man completely lacking in the qualities necessary for a good ruler of such a place as Calais was in those days: he possessed small discrimination in judging what things he could deal with by his own authority, and what things it was necessary to report to head quarters. Hence there are many mild rebukes among Cromwell’s letters to him[375], in some of which he chides him for bothering the King about such a trivial thing as a private quarrel between two minor officials in Calais, while in others he ‘mervayles not a litel’ that he should be so negligent as not to make immediate report of sacrilegious preaching. Calais was by no means an easy post to manage; Henry and Cromwell kept its officers and garrison exceedingly short of money; the soldiers wrangled and mutinied, and religious conferences amongst the townspeople sometimes took most violent forms, and not seldom resulted in dangerous riots. Placed as a sort of spy on the movements of Francis and the Emperor, in a town, the government of which on a small scale presented all the difficulties of that of a great kingdom, the Deputy was in a position which demanded resources greater than his own.

The first part of Lisle’s administration seems to have been comparatively uneventful. Cromwell, always keenly alive to the necessity of having the country in an adequate state of defence, at once caused him to repair all breaches in the ramparts, a task which Lisle set about without competent men or supplies; and the immediate result of his ill-judged attempts to lay a new foundation for one of his walls was the fall of the small part of the old fortification which was yet standing[376]. Lisle was of course continually busied in preventing his neighbours, French and Flemish, from meddling with the King’s Pale, especially throughout the year 1536, when the war between Francis and the Emperor broke out afresh[377]. He tried to keep the town well victualled and in good defence, and was zealous to do as he was bidden by Cromwell, though seldom successful, for he lacked ability. After 1537 he was confronted with a new and more difficult problem.

In the spring of 1538, Cranmer heard that there were seven or eight persons in Calais, who manifestly denied Christ. His Commissary there, John Butler, asserted that this report was false, but in a later epistle advised the Archbishop that there were three papists in the town, who slandered those who applied themselves to God’s word; the letter went on to suggest that Cromwell be requested to write to Lisle to have them punished[378]. The minister, however, had heard of the existence of ‘certayn Sacramentaryes’ or deniers of transubstantiation there, before this report arrived, and had written the Deputy a severe reproof for not informing him about them[379]. The state of foreign affairs at that moment was such as to render it indispensable for the King to preserve the appearance of being zealous for orthodoxy, and he had called on his efficient minister to aid him in his attempts to extirpate heretical doctrines. The rebuke which the latter had administered to the Deputy seems in this case to have been undeserved, for Lisle, who apparently was more on the watch than usual this time, had certainly sent home information about the Sacramentaries before he received Cromwell’s epistle: the two letters perhaps crossed on the way. That of the Deputy reported the arrival in Calais of a young English priest, lately come from Germany, who had uttered opinions about the Eucharist which the King would not tolerate, and which had shocked the good people of Calais beyond measure. This young priest can have been none other than Adam Damplip, originally a strong papist, who (according to Foxe) had been chaplain to Fisher, and at the Cardinal’s execution had left England and travelled in France, Germany, and Italy. His sojourn in foreign lands must have altered his opinions completely, for when he came to Calais his doctrines were so ‘advanced’ and heretical, that as a result of a warning of Cromwell’s, in his letter to Lisle of May 14[380], a decree was made out by the Council of the town that Butler, the Commissary who had given Damplip licence to preach, would be held responsible for any false opinions that the priest expressed[381].

Determined as he was to extirpate unlawful and treasonable doctrines both at home and abroad, Cromwell was too much absorbed in the maintenance of his foreign policy, and the prevention of the pressing dangers which threatened the country from without, to pay much attention to Damplip at Calais during the latter part of 1538 and 1539. He was far more anxious to have the town well victualled and defended, in case of a sudden attack from France or Spain. Damplip himself, however, had gone over to England to answer to the charges brought against him before Cranmer[382]. The result of the examination seems to have been very favourable to him, and the Archbishop, in a letter to Cromwell about it, supported the position which the priest had taken up in only denying Transubstantiation while admitting the Real Presence[383]. But the accusations from Calais against the Sacramentaries did not cease. Lisle and the Council, now thoroughly roused, kept sending in depositions against Damplip, until Cromwell, in May, 1539, rebuked them for uncharitable behaviour, saying that the affair was being made too much of, and that the King was busy about other things[384]. Exhortations to ‘charyte and myld handeling’ were not Cromwell’s usual style; and in this case at least they were superseded within ten days by instructions of a very different nature. The cause of the sudden change is doubtless to be found in the debate on the Six Articles, just then at its height. Cromwell saw the trend things were taking, and understood that as the doctrine of Transubstantiation was evidently about to be confirmed at home, it would be extremely dangerous for him to urge leniency towards those who opposed it at Calais. He consequently sent another letter to Lisle[385], in which he retreated from his former position, and ordered the Commissary and the parish priest of Our Lady Church to be sent in custody to England. The subsequent appearance of these men before the Privy Council seems to have resulted in their acquittal, and a public recantation in the Market Place at Calais was deemed sufficient to prevent a recurrence to the heresy. The recall of Lord Lisle in the spring of 1540 was probably less due to his inefficiency in handling the affair of the Sacramentaries, than to the many proofs he had given of general incompetence. He was committed to the Tower, where he remained a close prisoner till January, 1542, when a message was sent to him that he was pardoned and restored to favour. The story is that his joy at hearing this news was so great, that he died of excitement that same night[386].

That Calais was not lost to England under the incompetent management of Lisle (whose actions from first to last were too much influenced by the whims of a foolish wife), was solely due to the guidance which he received from Cromwell. The brilliant success of the great minister’s administration in England was fully equalled by the wisdom and skill of his dealings with her immediate neighbours and dependencies. In every case the dominant principle of his policy had been the same; the completion of the work begun by Henry VII.—the elevation of the Crown to absolute power on the ruins of every other institution which had ever been its rival. In attaining this end, which (as we must not forget) was one that commended itself to most patriotic Englishmen of the time, Cromwell had been confronted by a multitude of problems of great difficulty and infinite diversity: he handled them all with uniform success; and the monarchy, under his guidance, passed safe through one of the gravest crises in the history of the realm, finally to emerge triumphant, absolute, supreme in Church and State.

CHAPTER IX