Tudor Faction 1529-47
Round 1 – 1529-1536: The Boleyn Faction Victorious; the Aragonese faction defeated but not extinguished.
Aragonese faction defined by support for Catherine and opposition to break with Rome. Several members listen to and support Elizabeth Barton who
prophesied in 1532 that if Henry proceeded with divorce he would soon die (the kind of talk that was made treasonable in 1534). Thomas Cranmer was made
Archbishop of Canterbury following Warham’s death, 1532-3; Break with Rome begins in earnest with the Act in Restraint of Appeals, February 1533. the Act
of Succession, March, 1534 declares only the children of H and AB will inherit and required all subjects to swear an oath to recognise this act; the execution of
Elizabeth Barton, May, 1534 occurs on the day Londoners are expected to sweat; the annulment followed in May 1534; then the Coronation of AB on 1st June
1534; the Royal Supremacy was declared in an Act in November; this was followed by theTreason Act of December 1534 which made it possible to speak as
well as act treasonously; in accordance with this act, John Fisher and Thomas More were executed in June/July 1535. Members of the Charter House and
Observant Franciscans were executed between 1534-1540.
Aristocratic/conservative Faction
(accept divorce, royal supremacy,
act of succession, but not religious
change)
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester (attends White Horse
Tavern discussions, but remains
conservative in his views).
Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of
London
Boleyn Faction (Reformers)
Aragonese Faction (Conservative, loyal to Catherine and to Papal authority)
George Boleyn (re-admitted to
privy chamber in 1528; ennobled
by marriage to Lady Rochford in
1529);
Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter
(cousin of Henry VIII, member of the Privy chamber and the Council)
The Pole family
(descendants of Margaret Pole, Duchess of Salisbury, last Plantagenet, and
Governess to Mary until 1533 when she refused to hand over Mary’s jewels and
gold plate to the king, and is dismissed from service.)
Sir Francis Bryan (Privy
Chamber)
Sir William Brereton (Privy
Chamber)
Sir Thomas Audley (Speaker of
the House, and successor to More
as Lord Chancellor in 1532)
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cranmer
Edward Foxe (Foxe and Cranmer
Bishop John Fisher
(like members of the Courtenay, Pole family, George Throckmorton, and
archbishop Warham, he listens to and supports Elizabeth Barton).
Observant Franciscans – among the first to speak out against the divorce.
Charter House Monks
Sir Thomas More
Lord Darcy
Lord Hussey
Sir Nicholas Carew (Privy Chamber)
Sir Henry Guildford, Controller of the Household (d. 1532)
Sir George Throckmorton (member of King’s
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meet with other reform-minded
individuals at the White Horse Inn,
nicknamed ‘Little Germany’, to
discuss reforming the church.)
Household and MP – met with other MPs at the Queen’s Head Tavern and spoke
out against royal policy on the Church and the divorce; leaves the Privy Chamber
but survives.)
Sir Edward Neville (Privy Chamber)
Round 2 – the Fall of Anne Boleyn - 1536
January 1536 saw AB miscarry on the same day as Catherine of Aragon’s funeral. Henry may well have seen the two events as connected, reckoning his
second marriage to be cursed. In March 1536, the King’s interest in Jane Seymour led to Thomas Seymour becoming a member of the Privy Chamber. AB’s
fortunes took a turn for the worse in April 1536. Reports of adultery and treason were investigated by Cromwell who, seeing the end for AB, needed to
distance himself from her and threw in his lot with the rump of the Aragonese faction who were still seeking AB’s fall and the restoration of Mary – in
particular, the Poles, the Courtenays and Sir Nicholas Carew. Cromwell’s investigation brought down George Boleyn, Sir Harry Norris, and two other
members of the Privy Chamber, Sir Francis Weston and Sir William Brereton, all of whom were executed on 17th May. The same day Cranmer declared the
King’s marriage to Anne invalid, so barring their daughter Elizabeth from the succession. AB was herself beheaded on 19th May. Henry was betrothed to JS
on the same day and married her on 30th May.
Aristocratic/conservative Faction (accept royal
supremacy, but not religious change) – King’s
Council
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire (Lord Privy
Seal)
Cuthbert Tunstall (bishop of London)
Boleyn Faction (Reformers)
Aragonese Faction (Conservative, loyal to Mary
and to Papal authority
George Boleyn (now Lord Rochford)
Sir Francis Bryan (Privy Chamber)
Sir William Brereton (Privy Chamber)
Sir Thomas Audley (Speaker of the House, and
successor to More as Lord Chancellor in 1532)
Thomas Cromwell, Secretary
Thomas Cranmer (archbishop of Canterbury)
Edward Foxe
Hugh Latimer
Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter (member of
the Privy chamber and the Council)
The Pole family (Reginald Pole goes into exile,
published De Unitate addressed to Henry in 1536,
denouncing the Royal Supremacy and crown
religious policies.)
Margaret Pole allowed to return briefly to court
following AB’s fall.
Lord Darcy
Lord Hussey
Sir Nicholas Carew (Privy Chamber – selected to
be Knight of Garter in preference to George Boleyn
on 23rd April.)
Sir Edward Neville (Privy Chamber)
Sir John Russell (Privy Chamber – Cromwell ally)
Sir Robert Heneage (Privy Chamber – Cromwell
ally)
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Round 3 Cromwell’s triumph and fall, 1536-1540
Cromwell now turned on his Aragonese allies (his alliance with them had only ever been tactical). Parliament passed a second Succession Act in June 1536
(which, unlike the Act of 1534, specifically excluded Mary as well as Elizabeth). The succession was now to lie with the children of Henry’s marriage to Jane
Seymour. In the event of Henry at no time begetting a legitimate heir he was given the power to declare, by letters patent or in his will, who the heir should be.
Cromwell Packs the Privy Chamber and Extinguishes the White Rose
At the end of June, Thomas Cromwell replaced Anne’s father as Lord Privy Seal and was made Baron of Wimbledon. He got two of his close friends, Ralph
Sadler and Peter Mewtas appointed to the Privy Chamber. The Aragonese faction in the form of Lord Darcy supported the Pilgrimage of Grace to damage
Cromwell by ‘direct action’, but their involvement led to their execution in 1537. Reginald Pole’s publication of De Unitate in 1536, denouncing the Royal
Supremacy and attempts to drum up support on the continent for the Pilgrimage of Grace at the beginning of 1537, placed his family in England in peril. The
international situation deteriorates for Henry, when the Francis I and Charles V sign the Truce of Nice, declaring war on all schismatics in June 1538 and Henry
is excommunicated at the end of that year. It is in this context that Cromwell brings down the remaining members of the Aragonese faction through the
fabrication of the so-called ‘White Rose’ or ‘Exeter’ conspiracy. Their lands are confiscated.
Return of Stephen Gardiner
Cromwell becomes Chief Noble of the Privy Chamber. Cromwell is dominant but not unchallenged. Norfolk is opposed to religious change and to Cromwell
generally. Gardiner returns to Privy Council in 1538 after spell as ambassador to French court. He is keen to promote relations with France rather than
Cromwell’s preference for Germany. Jane Seymour dies in October 1537 after giving birth to Edward. Henry decides to make his next wife serve
diplomatic/strategic interests rather than dynastic interests and agrees to marry Anne of Cleves in October 1539 on the basis of a painting by Holbein. He meets
her on 1st January 1540 and dislikes her. He went through with the marriage because the political situation demanded it but the international situation improved
when hostilities are resumed between Francis and Charles, leaving Henry with a wife he did not need or want. Cromwell had to bear the blame.
Howard Marriage - Cromwell tarries over the Annulment – proves fatal.
Annulling the marriage with Anne was simple because it had not been consummated, but the Conservatives of the Privy Council dangled Catherine Howard
before the king, introduced to him at the house of Stephen Gardiner. It was obvious to Cromwell that a divorce from Anne would mean a marriage to Catherine
Howard, strengthening his conservative enemies. In April 1540 he was created Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain. However, the conservatives used
the religious situation in the realm to attack Cromwell. An investigation into the existence of a heretic ‘cell’ in Calais implied that Cromwell had tolerated their
presence despite attempts of Deputy Lord Lisle (Arthur Plantagenet) to deal with them. Cromwell tried to counter claim by accusing Lisle of being involved in
dealings with Cardinal Pole, but the delays over the annulment tipped the balance against him. On 10 June he was arrested in the Council Chamber; and
executed on 28th June.
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Aristocratic/conservative Faction
(accept royal supremacy, but not
religious change) – Privy Council,
emerges about 1540.
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester, returns to the Privy
Council in 1538.
Arthur Plantagenet - Lord Lisle
(Arthur Plantagenet, illegitimate son
of Edward IV; member of King’s
Council, and Deputy of Calais from
1533).
Reformers – mainly populate the Privy Chamber
Aragonese Faction – destroyed.
Sir Thomas Audley (Speaker of the House, and successor to More as
Lord Chancellor in 1532)
Thomas Cromwell, Secretary, Lord Privy Seal, Baron of Wimbledon.
Thomas Cranmer (archbishop of Canterbury) – King’s council
Edward Foxe
Hugh Latimer
Nicholas Shaxton
Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter
(executed in 1539 for part in White Rose
conspiracy)
Sir John Russell (Privy Chamber – Cromwell ally)
Sir Robert Heneage (Privy Chamber – Cromwell ally)
Lord Darcy (executed in 1537 for part in PG)
Lord Hussey (executed in 1537 for part in
PG)
Ralph Sadler (Privy Chamber – Cromwell household)
Peter Mewtas (Privy Chamber – Cromwell ally)
Anthony Denny (Privy Chamber, Cromwell client, becomes Chief
Gentleman and Groom of the Stool)
Cromwell himself made Chief Noble of the Privy Chamber in January
1539 and Lord Great Chamberlain in 1540.
The Pole family (several members executed,
including Lord Montagu; Margaret survives
until 1541)
Sir Nicholas Carew
(Privy Chamber – executed in 1539 for alleged
part in White Rose conspiracy).
Sir Edward Neville
(Privy Chamber – executed for his part in the
White Rose conspiracy)
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Round 4 – Faction in the 1540s
Duke of Norfolk’s star rises - Catherine Howard Marriage
Cromwell’s fall in June/July 1540 was quickly followed by Henry’s marriage to Catherine Howard, but there was no clean sweep of either Chamber or Council.
Most of Cromwell’s clients survived. November 1541 – evidence brought before Council concerning Howard’s adultery, which in this case was not in doubt.
Cranmer informed king by paper while at Mass. After recovering from the shock, the King included Cranmer and other associates of Cromwell were placed on
the commission to investigate the accusations. CH’s two lovers (one of them Thomas Culpepper, a favourite of the king on the Privy Chamber) were executed
in December. CH and her accomplice, Lady Rochford, were beheaded in February. CH’s relatives were expelled from the Privy Chamber so it was a block to
Howard ambitions there. The Duke of Norfolk survived because he once again speedily distanced himself from his niece.
Arthur Plantagenet replaced by John Dudley
Arthur Plantagenet was arrested along with members of his household in Calais on suspicion of treason and collusion with the French. He was not executed in
1540 but, although no evidence was found linking him to the plot, he was allowed to languish in the Tower until, in 1542, Henry decided to release him. On
hearing the news, Arthur dropped dead of a heart attack. He was replaced by a Seymour client, John Dudley, as Lord Lisle, Deputy of Calais and Lord
Admiral.
Cranmer Survives Plot
1543 the Conservatives attacked Cranmer, using evidence provided by clergy from his own cathedral. Stephen Gardiner led the accusations, but misjudged the
king who put Cranmer in charge of conducting the inquiry into his own activities. The repercussions fell on his nephew and secretary Germayne Gardiner who
was scapegoated. He was accused of denying the Royal Supremacy and collusion with the French and with Reginald Pole in particular.
July 1543 – the King’s sixth and final marriage to Catherine Parr, who was openly committed to the new ideas in religion. Her influence on Henry in this
regard was limited (she did not publish her work, The Lamentations of a Sinner, until after Henry’s death, but her household became a centre for the discussion
of new religious ideas and practices.)
Gardiner survives fall of Germayne
1544 Gardiner came under suspicion following the arrest and execution of his nephew and secretary, Germayne Gardiner. Cranmer, together with the Earl of
Hertford and Viscount Lisle (John Dudley, the reformer this time, who replaced the deceased Arthur Plantagenet in the council), and the Duke of Suffolk,
acting for personal rather than religious reasons, argued that Gardiner must have known and approved of his nephew’s beliefs. Gardiner was tipped off by an
ally in the Privy Chamber and made abject submission to the royal mercy which earned him a full pardon for any views he may have previously held. ‘If I had
suspected this’, Suffolk later complained, ‘I would have had him in the Tower overnight and have stopped his journey to the Court’.
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Anne Askew and Fall of Gardiner
1546 – Conservatives tried to associate Catherine Parr and her attendants, including the wives of Anthony Denny and Lady Seymour with heresy. In summer
of 1546 Anne Askew was arrested and charged with heresy and her interrogators, Wriothesley and Richard Riche tried to get her denounce members of the
court, but failed. Nonetheless, they were given permission to interrogate the Queen. Catherine threw herself on the King’s mercy, admitting that she might
have spoken out of turn on religious affairs but that she had discussed theology with Henry but would accept her husband’s judgement in such matters. When
Wriothesley arrived to arrest her, he was given short shrift. Stephen Gardiner’s former allies on the Privy Council turned on him – perhaps to scapegoat him by telling Henry that the bishop had refused to agree to an exchange of lands. As a consequence he was excluded from the Council by the middle of November,
and kept away from the king.
Fall of the Howards
2 December, Thomas Howard’s son, Henry, the Earl of Surrey, was accused of disloyalty to the King, and the Council ordered that he be taken into custody for
interrogation. He had already damaged his reputation by his poor showing at Boulogne earlier in the year. He had, on a number of occasions, spoken rashly of
what should happen on the King’s death and of his own family’s right to act as regents for the young Edward. 12 December, both Henry and his father were
sent to the Tower. He was tried on only one offence – quartering the arms of King Edward the Confessor with his own. He was found guilty and executed on
19 January 1547. Norfolk had confessed to knowing his son’s treason and was condemned to die on 28 January but was saved by Henry VIII’s death the
preceding night.
Late 1546 – the Succession and the Regency Council
Those who controlled the Privy Chamber had the key advantage – instant access to the King. It also meant control of the Dry Stamp – which produced an
impression of the King’s signature that could then be inked in by the appropriate officer, and from autumn of 1545, this had been the usual process for getting
the royal signature. Custody of the Dry stamp was given to John Gates, a client of Anthony Denny.
The centre of interest in the last few months of Henry’s reign was his will, in which the King in accordance with the 3rd Act of Succession passed in 1543 which
returned Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, could set out his final decision on the order of succession as well as naming the regency Council that
would advise his son. The will also named the members of the regency Council of 16 who, after removal of Gardiner and Norfolk, appear to have had a
majority of reforming sympathisers rather than conservatives. The will is dated 30 December, but evidence suggests it was not ‘signed’ (i.e. dry-stamped and
inked) until late January when Henry was actually dying or even already dead. Included in the will as a Councillor is Sir Thomas Seymour, who was not
appointed to the Privy Council until 23rd January, suggesting that at some point in the intervening month, when Henry was assumed unable to recover, further
changes were made to the will. Contrary to the principle that the regency Council should always act in concert, it was made possible for the Council to invest
authority in a single individual.
Control of the Privy Chamber and the Dry Stamp gave Edward Seymour and his allies four advantages:
1. Denial of access to the king for any but their own supporters which meant that only they could influence him as he drew up the final terms of his will.
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2. Their control of the Dry Stamp enabled them to produce a validly signed last will and testament even when Henry may no longer have been aware of
what was happening.
3. Control of the Dry Stamp enabled the Council to make grants of offices and titles which Henry had wanted to be made but had not lived to implement.
This gave the Hertford faction the opportunity to ‘reward’ themselves and to ‘buy’ the support of other significant figures where necessary.
4. Finally, Edward Seymour was able to withhold news of Henry’s death for three days, giving him to time to gain possession of the person of the new
King before the county had large had learned of the death of the old.
Privy Council – mainly conservative but increased presence of reformers
by 1547
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk (drops out the picture in 1546)
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, returns to the Privy Council in
1538 (drops out the picture in 1546)
Privy Chamber – mainly Reformers
Sir Anthony Denny – Chief Gentleman and Groom of the Stool – becomes
dominant figure.
Sir William Herbert, Denny client, 2nd Chief Gentleman from 1546, brotherin-law to Catherine Parr
Sir William Paget – reformer and supporter of Edward Seymour; appointed to
Secretary of State in 1543 – Henry’s private secretary: a powerful position.
Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, uncle of Edward, and profile boosted by
military exploits in 1540s
John Dudley - Lord Lisle (The conservative Arthur Plantagenet is replaced as
member of the king’s council and Deputy of Calais from 1542 by reform
John Dudley, Viscount Lisle (replaced Arthur Plantagenet who died in 1542),
minded John Dudley).
closely allied to Edward Seymour saw a rapid rise in 1542-3 when he gained
his peerage, a place in the Privy Chamber and with his appointment as Lord
Thomas Seymour, appointed to the Privy Council on 23rd January
Admiral, on the Privy Council.
John Gates, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, Custodian of the Dry Stamp,
and brother-in-law to Anthony Denny, giving Denny control over access to the
king and over the Dry Stamp.
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