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George Peele, poet and playwright

6 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Today is the anniversary of the baptism of poet and playwright George Peele on 25th July 1556 at St James Garlickhythe, London. As is the case with many Tudor people, his date of birth is unknown but it is likely to have been just a few days before his baptism.

Peele was one of the younger sons of James Peele, who was the author of books on book-keeping and who also wrote and organised pageants for the City of London, and his first wife, Anne. James became clerk of Christ’s Hospital in November 1562 and the family moved there. Between 1562 and 1571, George Peele was educated at the petty school and grammar school of the hospital, and then in 1571 he went on to study at Oxford, first at Broadgates Hall (now Pembroke College) and then at Christ Church. He graduated BA in 1577 and MA in 1579, both from Christ Church. While he was at college, Peele translated Euripides’ “Iphigenia” and he also wrote his poem “The Tale of Troy”.
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Should Ferdinand of Aragon have insisted on Katherine’s return?

6 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Thank you to Tudor Society member Angela for asking the question “Should Ferdinand of Aragon have insisted on Katherine’s return when Prince Arthur died?”. Historian Amy Licence, who is the author of “Catherine of Aragon: An Intimate Life of Henry VIII’s True Wife” has answered Angela’s question…

This is a complex question, because Katherine’s position in England fluctuated during the period of her widowhood between 1502 and 1509. Also, we have to consider the dual impulses in Ferdinand, as a father on one hand, and as a monarch on the other, playing on the international stage, on which all his children were pawns for the furtherment of the Spanish Empire. Out of Katherine’s parents, it was Isabella of Castile who played a more active role in terms of writing to Henry VII before and after her daughter’s wedding, so she was really the commanding figure of the pair until her death in 1505. We must be careful too, with the word “should,” because it is suggestive of hindsight. We know what an awful time Katherine was to have during her widowhood and later, at the hands of Henry VIII, but back then they didn’t know how things would turn out.
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17 July 1555 – The burnings of Margaret Polley and Christopher Wade

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history, 17th July 1555, Protestants Margaret (Margery) Polley and Christopher Wade (Waid) were burned for heresy. Wade was a linen-weaver from Dartford and Polley was a widow from Pepenbury, Tunbridge Wells.

Martyrologist John Foxe described Margaret Polley as being “in the prime of her life, pious, charitable, humane, learned in the Scriptures, and beloved by all who knew her” and “the first female martyr in England”, although surely that title actually belongs to Anne Askew, who was burned for heresy in 1546.

Here is John Foxe’s account of the condemnations and burnings of Polley and Wade:
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The Great Drought of 1540

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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In today’s Claire Chats video, I look at the primary sources for the great drought of 1540, the same summer that Henry VIII married Catherine Howard and executed Thomas Cromwell.
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Sir Thomas Hoby (1530-1566)

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Today is the anniversary of the death, on 13th July 1566, of Sir Thomas Hoby, diplomat, courtier and translator, at Paris. Hoby was buried in All Saints Church, Bisham.

Hoby was the second son of William Hoby of Radnor and his wife, Katherine Forden, and he was born at Leominster in Herefordshire in 1530. He was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge, matriculating in May 1545. Between 1545 and 1547 he studied under the famous Tudor scholar John Cheke but in August 1547, heeding the advice of his half-brother, Sir Philip Hoby, he left Cambridge without obtaining a degree and set off for the Continent. His Oxford Dictionary of National Biography biographer writes of how he studied classics and theology for nearly a year in Strasbourg as the guest of reformer Martin Bucer.
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This week in history 10 – 16 July

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history…

10th July:

1553 – Lady Jane Grey, her husband, Guildford Dudley, her parents and Guildford’s mother arrived by barge at the Tower of London, having travelled from Syon. Two heralds then proclaimed that Lady Jane Grey was now Queen of England before they moved on to proclaim their message in Cheapside and Fleet Street.
1553 – A letter arrived from Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, informing the council that she was the rightful heir to the throne, not Lady Jane Grey, and demanding their support.
1559 – Death of Henry II of France. He had been injured in a joust on 30th June when he was hit in the face by a lance. It is thought that a splinter entered his eye and went into his brain. He was buried in the Saint Denis Basilica.
1559 – Accession of Francis II and Mary, Queen of Scots as King and Queen of France.
1584 – Assassination of William of Orange, also known as William the Silent or William I, Prince of Orange. He was shot in the chest at his home in Delft by Balthasar Gérard, a Catholic Frenchman. A reward of 25,000 crowns had been offered by Philip II of Spain for the assassination of William, who was the main leader of the Dutch Protestant revolt against Spanish forces in the Netherlands. William was buried in the New Church in Delft. Gérard was captured and was tortured for days before being executed on 14th July 1584.
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Sir Thomas More

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Yesterday was the anniversary of the execution of Sir Thomas More, former Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, on 6th July 1535. To commemorate that anniversary, I thought I would share with you a brief bio of More, based on an extract from my book On This Day in Tudor History, and then some videos about him.

Sir Thomas More is thought to have been born on 7th February 1477 or 1478 n Milk Street, London, and he was the son of Sir John More, lawyer and judge on the King’s Bench, and Agnes Graunger, daughter of Thomas Graunger, a Merchant of the Staple of Calais and an Alderman of London.

More joined the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, before studying Latin and logic at the University of Oxford. He then studied law in London. It was while he was a student that he met and became friends with men like William Lilye, John Colet and Erasmus.
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The Northern Rebellion of 1569

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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The Northern Rebellion of 1569, also known as the Revolt of the Northern Earls, was the only major armed rebellion during the reign of Elizabeth I. In the last months of 1569, the earls of Northumberland and Westmorland rebelled against the queen in an attempt to preserve Catholicism. The establishment of the Elizabethan settlement alienated those who favoured the old religion, and their disaffection increased as growing numbers were arrested and imprisoned for religious nonconformity. This disaffection was spurred by the arrival in England of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1568, the year before the rebellion. Mary had been forced from her throne after the murder of her second husband Henry, Lord Darnley, and her swift remarriage to Darnley’s suspected murderer, James, Earl of Bothwell. Mary’s Catholic faith made her a sympathetic figure to traditionalists in England. Although the majority of English Catholics remained loyal to Elizabeth, some were determined to force her from the throne and replace her with her cousin Mary, who they hoped would restore Catholicism to the realm.
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Katherine Parr

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Born around 1512 to a family of gentry status, Katherine was the oldest daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, a late fifteenth-century courtier and knight. Her mother was Maud Green, a close friend and lady in waiting to Henry VIII’s first wife, Katherine of Aragon. The Parrs were a substantial northern family, with Thomas Parr tracing his ancestry to Edward III. Parr was a well-respected man and enjoyed the patronage of the young Henry VIII, who in 1515 sent him to Newcastle to escort his sister, the Princess Margaret, on her month-long progress south to London. Reports suggest he was charming and gallant, with the princess finding him particularly desirable; he soon became a favourite at Henry’s court. Upon his death in 1517 he left portions of £400 (£140,000 in modern value) to his two daughters, with a considerable amount more remaining for his son William.

Without the presence of a male figure in what was a patriarchal period, Maud was dealt the challenging duty of raising her children while maintaining a presence at court. Throughout these challenges, Maud was successful; she managed her estates and finances accordingly, oversaw her children’s education and arranged suitable unions for them befitting their status and marriageability.
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Lettice Knollys

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Lettice Knollys was born on 8 November 1543 at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire. She was the eldest of sixteen children born to Sir Francis Knollys and his wife, Katherine Carey. Lettice’s mother was the daughter of Mary Boleyn, meaning that Lettice was the great niece of Anne Boleyn. She was also a kinswoman of Elizabeth I. Francis and Katherine Knollys departed for the Continent in the mid-1550s to escape the religious persecution during Mary I’s reign, but it is possible that Lettice remained with Elizabeth Tudor at Hatfield. When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, Francis was appointed vice-chamberlain and Katherine, who was close to the queen, was appointed a lady of the bedchamber. Lettice, now in her teens, served as a gentlewoman of the privy chamber.
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Mary Boleyn

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Mary Boleyn was probably the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard. She was most likely born at Blicking Hall, Norfolk. The date of her parents’ union is open to question, but fragmentary evidence indicates that they had married by 1501 at the latest. Mary was probably born at the turn of the 16th century. It is possible that she accompanied Henry VIII’s sister Mary to France in 1514 in readiness for her marriage to Louis XII, but whether she resided at the French court has never been resolved. Hostile rumours in circulation during the 1530s claimed that Louis’ successor, Francois I, knew Mary to have been promiscuous, but it is uncertain whether this meant she had gained her supposedly dubious reputation in France. Possibly Mary indeed resided at the French court during her teenage years, but if so she had certainly returned to England by early 1520, for her marriage to Henry VIII’s attendant, William Carey, occurred on 4 February that year. It is possible that she served Katherine of Aragon, but there is no evidence that she did so.
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Katherine Howard

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard was a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and a niece of the third duke. She was born in about 1523, probably at Lambeth, to Edmund and Jocasta Howard. During her infancy, Katherine’s mother died and her father, who seems to have been both irresponsible and financially straitened, remarried twice. In 1531, when she was about eight years old, she departed for the household of her step-grandmother, Agnes, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, at Cheshunt. The dowager duchess, who was one of the premier noblewomen in England, also kept a household at Norfolk House in London and regularly resided at court. Her periods of absence prevented her from supervising her household as closely as she might have liked.
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Anne of Cleves

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Anne of Cleves was born on 22nd September 1515 in Dusseldorf to John III, Duke of Cleves, and his wife, Maria. Like Henry VIII’s first wife, Katherine of Aragon, Anne was born into a highly influential and politically active family. Her sister Sybille was married to the Elector of Saxony, and her brother, Wilhelm, became the future Duke of Cleves-Burg, and would be instrumental in negotiations regarding her future marriage.

Anne was born during the volatile reformation period, resulting in reforms against traditionalist Catholicism, which was spreading through western and northern Europe. Her mother has been described as a conservative Catholic, however, her sister Sybille’s husband was a renowned Lutheran, often given the epithet ‘champion of the reformation’, and a good friend of its founder, Martin Luther. Anne was originally intended to be married into the House of Lorraine when she was eleven in 1527. There were numerous negotiations regarding the union, but nothing was cemented, and by 1535 all official wedding discussions had essentially been rejected, leaving the desirable duke’s daughter available on the European marriage market. Henry VIII and his council were searching for a new wife after the death of Queen Jane Seymour in 1536, with rumours of a possible union with the Duchess of Milan. The French had aligned themselves to the Habsburgs and signed a ten-year truce in 1538 (although this never lasted), cementing a union between Europe’s two major Catholic powerhouses. Cromwell, Henry’s leading minister at the time, suggested a counter alliance with a Lutheran house in Germany, even though Anne’s family were relatively mild in their reformist views. Cromwell was aware that England was potentially vulnerable to a Franco-Habsburg invasion, and influenced the king that negotiating with the newly appointed Duke Wilhelm (Anne’s father had died in 1539) would be a successful diplomatic adventure, that would ensure the prosperity of England against foreign invasion.
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6 June 1522 – The grand entry of Emperor Charles V into London

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history, 6th June 1522, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, made a grand entry into London accompanied by King Henry VIII.

You can read two primary source accounts of Charles’s entry, and the pageantry involved, in the chronicles of Edward Hall and Charles Wriothesley at the following links
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Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history, 2nd June 1572, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, was executed on Tower Hill for treason. His remains were buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

Thomas was the eldest son of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and his wife, Frances de Vere, and he was born on 10th March 1538 at Kenninghall. His father was executed in January 1547 so his aunt, Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, was in charge of his early upbringing. His tutors included Hadrianus Junius, the martyrologist John Foxe and Bishop John White. When he was 15 years of age, in September 1553, he was made a Knight of the Bath by Mary I and he helped his grandfather, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and Lord High Steward, officiate at the queen’s coronation and coronation banquet in October 1553.

In July 1554, Thomas was appointed as first gentleman of the chamber to Philip of Spain, Mary I’s new husband. He became the Duke of Norfolk following the death of his grandfather on 25th August 1554 and also inherited his grandfather’s office of Earl Marshal. In 1555 he married Mary Fitzalan, daughter and heir of Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel. During Mary I’s reign, he was rewarded with offices including High Steward of Cambridge and Great Yarmouth, and Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk and Suffolk. His wife, Mary, died on 25th August 1557, having given birth to a son, Philip, on 28th June 1557. Thomas went on to marry his cousin, Margaret Dudley, widow of Lord Henry Dudley and heir of Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558.
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Sir Martin Frobisher (d. 1594)

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history, 31st May 1578, Sir Martin Frobisher set sail with his fleet from Harwich, England, to Frobisher Bay, Canada. By 31st August 1578, Frobisher and his men had mined 1370 tons of ore, which was loaded onto the ships to take back to England. Unfortunately, no gold or other precious metal was found in the ore.

But who was Sir Martin Frobisher?

Sir Martin Frobisher was a privateer, explorer and naval commander who was born around 1535. He was born in Altofts, near Normanton, West Yorkshire, and was the son of Bernard Frobisher and Margaret Yorke. After his mother’s death he was sent to live with Sir John Yorke, a relative of his mother’s, in London. Yorke was a merchant adventurer.

Frobisher took part in a voyage to Guinea in 1553 which Yorke had invested in and which was led by Thomas Wyndham. He acted as assistant to John Beryn, Yorke’s factor. A fever wiped out over two-thirds of the crew, including Wyndham, but Beryn and Frobisher survived. In 1554, Frobisher took part in a voyage to Guinea led by John Lok and ended up being taken into custody by the Portuguese and being held by them for 2-3 years.
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Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, born on 14 August 1473, was the only surviving daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, and his wife, Isabel Neville. She was the niece of Edward IV and Richard III, and cousin of Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s consort. Her brother, Edward, Earl of Warwick, was executed by Henry VII in 1499 in response to a request forwarded by the Spanish monarchs during the marital negotiations between Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Katherine of Aragon, since they feared that Warwick’s presence would encourage rebellion against the Tudor dynasty.

Perhaps in 1487, when she was fourteen, Margaret married Sir Richard Pole, a disparaging marital alliance from her perspective in view of her royal blood. Richard was later made an esquire of the body, chamberlain of North Wales, chamberlain of Chester and a member of the council in the Welsh Marches. In 1493, he was appointed chamberlain to the king’s son, Arthur, whose household was established at Ludlow that year. In 1499, he was elected to the Order of the Garter and participated at the proxy wedding of Arthur to Katherine. In 1504, Richard died, and Margaret was granted a generous loan to ensure that her husband’s funeral would be appropriately honourable. When not at court, she seems to have resided primarily at Warblington Castle and Bisham Manor. With Richard, she had five children: Henry, Arthur, Reginald, Geoffrey and Ursula.
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Jane Seymour

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Jane Seymour was the eldest daughter of Sir John Seymour and his wife, Margery. She was probably born in around 1509 at Wulfhall in Wiltshire. By virtue of her mother, Jane could claim descent from Edward III, and her father’s family were descended from Guy de St Maur, who allegedly accompanied William the Conqueror to England in the eleventh century. Unlike Anne Boleyn, nothing is known of Jane’s childhood and adolescence. An unsubstantiated nineteenth-century tradition claimed that she resided at the French court as a maid of honour, but no contemporary evidence supports the notion. It is likely that Jane was educated in line with the expectations of the sixteenth-century gentry. Her needlework and embroidery were praised during her tenure as queen, and it is also plausible that she received music and dancing lessons, although there is nothing to suggest that she was praised at court for any particular skill in those pursuits. Her family were entirely traditional in their religious sympathies: it was only during the last years of Henry VIII’s reign that her brother Edward espoused the cause of radical reform.
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Anne Boleyn

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Anne Boleyn was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire, and Elizabeth Howard. She was the granddaughter of Thomas Howard, second Duke of Norfolk, and like all of Henry VIII’s wives, was descended from Edward I. Where Anne was born remains uncertain; traditionally Blickling Hall and Hever Castle, both of which were Boleyn properties, have been suggested, but a family tradition claimed that she was born in London, perhaps at Norfolk House, one of the seats of her mother’s family. Modern historians have usually assigned 1501 as the year of Anne’s birth, but two seventeenth-century texts nominated 1507. William Camden, the Elizabethan historian and herald, researched and wrote a life of Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, in which, as Wyatt H. Herendeen notes, his ‘interpenetrating personal and professional lives were ‘authored’ by Elizabeth, while Burghley was his symbolic father.’ Entreating Camden to commence the project in the late 1590s, Burghley provided the historian with private papers as well as documents from the queen’s archives. This access, which included documents in Cotton’s library, ensured that Camden enjoyed ‘a privileged perspective’ on Elizabeth’s reign, as Herendeen contends. With the impressive resources available to him, it is questionable whether Elizabeth’s biographer would have erred in documenting her mother’s year of birth. Moreover, according to the memoirs of Jane Dormer, a favourite attendant of Mary I, Anne had not yet reached her twenty-ninth birthday when she was beheaded in 1536: an admission that supports a birth date of 1507.
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19 May – St Dunstan’s Day

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Happy St Dunstan’s Day! Here is some information on this feast day taken from our Feast Days section:
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This week in history 15 – 21 May

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history…

15th May:

1464 – Execution of Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, immediately after the Battle of Hexham. He was buried in Hexham Abbey.
1536 – Trials of Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn in the King’s Hall at the Tower of London. They were both found guilty and sentenced to death.
1537 – Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy, and his cousin, John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, were tried for treason at Westminster after being implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace. “Letters and Papers” recorded the verdict as guilty and the sentence was “Judgment as usual in cases of high treason. Execution to be at Tyburn.” They were actually beheaded.
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A Tudor gem that made me dance by Janet Wertman

7 years ago Author: ADMIN Tim
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We have many historians as members of the Tudor Society, and we thought it would be interesting to ask them what they are researching or working on at the moment, and whether they've come across anything of interest from the Tudor Period. Janet Wertman has responded with this wonderful Tudor gem... over to Janet!

What are you researching or working on at the moment? Can you share something of interest about the Tudor period?

Your timing is perfect! I just stumbled upon a gem that made me dance.

First, a bit of context.

It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this that the Tudor world is full of wild parallels. Catherine of Aragon spending seven years at the start of her life (relatively) waiting for Henry to marry her, then seven years at the end of her life waiting for him to return to her. The fates of Henry’s wives (divorced-beheaded-died/divorced-beheaded-survived) intertwined with their “types” (foreign princess-Howard family-basic English). Cromwell’s downfall stemming from invented charges and using the Act of Attainder he had popularized. Just to name a few.

I found one I had never noticed before.

I am deep into the first draft of The Path to Somerset, the sequel to Jane the Quene that charts Edward Seymour’s rise to power after her death (during what I lovingly refer to as Henry’s “crazy years”). It is turning out to be far darker than I expected – at least the way the story is revealing itself to me – and I have to say, I am having a blast.

Last week, I sank the Mary Rose (single handedly!). Gardiner was watching the battle with Henry from the shore in Portsmouth, they were right there as the pride of the country foundered (I use two points of view in a book; for Somerset I chose Edward and Gardiner/Protagonist and Antagonist – and Edward was off in Scotland at the time so Gardiner got to be the filter for the event). The scene was intense as it took them through the emotional devastation, the possibility of losing to the French, the fear that God had turned his face from them. But there was something about it that seemed just too pat, too predictable. I wanted a twist.

I got a great one....

Tell us about this "wild parallel"?

The night before the planned French attack, Francis went to dine on his own flagship, the Carraquon, to send off his fleet. Being a king, he brought his own food and chef. The poor man was used to the royal kitchens, not the cramped quarters of a ship’s galley. He was careless with the galley fires, which is not something to do when you’re that close to so much gunpowder. The fire spread quickly and Francis and his family barely made it off the ship before it blew up spectacularly. They had to delay the attack a couple of days to create a new flagship…

That detail changed everything. It allowed me to start the scene with English arrogance and overconfidence. After all, they had the Great Harry and the Mary Rose, the finest warships in the world, and hundreds of cannon whose fine construction was the envy of their enemies. And, of course, they smugly saw the hand of God in the destruction of the Carraquon– a sign that the Almighty was firmly on the English side. Playing up that attitude made the sudden reversal in the tragedy of the Mary Rose all that more poignant and terrible. It also gave my scene the oomph I was after …

Janet Wertman is the author of Jane the Quene (The Seymour Saga), a fantastic novel about a fascinating Tudor queen.
Margaret of York

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Thank you to Heather R. Darsie, our regular contributor, for writing this article on Margaret of York (1446-1503).

On 3 May 1446, Margaret of York, younger sister of the future Edward IV, was born. The fifth of seven children and the youngest daughter of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, and his wife, Cecily Neville, Margaret of York began her life at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire. Her youngest sibling and the youngest of the seven children, the future Richard III of England, was born at the same castle in 1452. Margaret lived an uneventful life until she was about nineteen years old, when the opportunity to become Duchess of Burgundy presented itself.
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Maypoles and rioting

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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1st May is May Day, a day to celebrate the start of summer and you can read more about how it was celebrated and see a video of Maypole dancing in my article “May Day”.

However, it wasn’t always a day of fun and dancing, in 1517 there was a riot.
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The Women of the House of Trastámara: An Introduction

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Thank you to regular contributor Heather R. Darsie for writing this introduction to the women of the House of Trastámara.

When thinking about the important players of the Renaissance, particularly during the reign of Henry VIII of England, one recalls the powerful families of the English Tudors, French Valois, and Burgundian Habsburgs. The family that is even more influential, even if quietly, is the overlooked Trastámaras of Spain. This family married into the Tudor, Valois, and Habsburg families, among others, and its reach was far. Who were they?
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Polydore Vergil

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history, 18th April 1555, Polidoro Virgili (Polydore Vergil or Virgil), the Italian humanist scholar and historian, died at Urbino. He was buried in the Chapel of St Andrew in the Duomo in Urbino. Virgil has been called the “Father of English History”, and his famous works include De inventoribus rerum and the Anglica Historia.
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Nicholas Carew

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Nicholas Carew
The fourth article in Sarah Bryson's series on prominent Tudor courtiers...

In today's article, I will be exploring the life of Nicholas Carew, Master of the Horse and close friend of King Henry VIII. Carew's life was one of prosperity moving from one advantageous position to another until suddenly and unexpectedly his king turned upon him. Carew would prove that not even being a close friend to the king could save you from the executioner's block.

While the exact date of Nicholas Carew’s birth is unknown, it is believed that he was born by 1496 to Sir Richard Carew of Beddington. There is no information regarding Carew’s childhood, however, during his teenage years, he made his first appearance at court, and in May 1511 he was made a groom of the privy chamber. In 1513 he was associated with his father in a grant from the crown for the office of Lieutenant of Calais Castle. After the death of his father, Carew surrendered the association with Lieutenant of Calais yet continued to receive an annuity from Calais of around £100. Despite protests from other courtiers, this annuity continued until 1524 when Carew was granted lands of equal value.

In the autumn of 1513, Henry VIII decided to invade France with an army of 30, 000 men, which included Carew. The English army took the city of Therouanne in Artois without a great deal of difficulty and then went on to besiege Tournai. Nicholas’s father led the artillery at Tournai and for his efforts at Therouanne Nicholas received “a coat of rivet” from the king.

The following year, Carew married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Bryan of Ashridge, vice-chamberlain to Queen Katherine of Aragon. The couple were granted the lands of Wallington, Carshalton, Beddington, Woodmansterne, Woodcote, and Mitcham, in Surrey upon their marriage. Nicholas and Elizabeth had one son, Francis, and four daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, and Isabel.

By 1515, Nicholas was recorded as being a squire to Henry VIII and one of the king’s cupbearers, being granted 30 marks per year. Sometime between 1515 and 7th July 1517, Nicholas was knighted. On the 7th of July 1517, Nicholas was recorded as a knight who attended the ambassadors of the future Charles V, at a banquet. On 18th December, Carew was also recorded as a knight when he was appointed keeper of the manor of Pleasaunce in East Greenwich, and of the accompanying park. In addition to being knighted, in 1518 Carew had the distinction of being appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber.

Nicholas Carew appears to have been a close friend of Henry VIII, both men similar in age, strong and athletic. They also shared common interests including a love of hunting and jousting. Carew was frequently mentioned in the lists of men participating in jousting events during Henry VIII’s early reign. One such example was on 17th July 1517 when Carew distinguished himself in the jousts in which Henry VIII also participated. After the jousts, Carew entered the lists, and three men carried out a lance nine inches in diameter and twelve feet long! Carew carried the huge lance three-quarters of the way down the lists to the amazement of the crowd!

Sometime between 1514 and 1518, Carew was banished from court. The reason and exact length of the banishment are unknown. By 1519, he had returned. However, in that same year, Carew and a number of men were banished from court partially due to their familiarity and influence upon the king and also in an attempt to save funds. Carew’s punishment was to be appointed as Lieutenant of Rysbank Tower, the tower that guarded the entrance to Calais harbour. Carew’s banishment was short; within six months he was back at court attending festivities. On 19th October 1520, Carew relinquished his post at Calais and in return was granted a pension of £100. A month later he gave up the annuity of 30 marks as the king’s cupbearer.

By 1518-1519, Carew had been appointed as sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. He also attended the Field of Cloth of Gold in June 1520, where Henry VIII met with the French king, Francis I, and participated in the jousting events for the English. Following the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Carew travelled with Henry VIII to Gravelines to meet Charles V.

Carew’s prospects continued to rise when in 1521 he was granted the offices of Constable of Wallingford Castle and Steward of the honour of Wallingford and St. Walric, and land at Chiltern. In Christmas 1521 Carew had the high honour of being appointed as the king’s carver. On 18th July 1522, Carew was appointed as Master of the Horse, one of the three highest positions at court. He was also granted the manor of Brasted in Kent, which had formally belonged to the Duke of Buckingham, and the manor of Bletchingley in Surrey.

Carew also proved to be a capable ambassador to Henry VIII. In late 1520, Carew was sent to Francis I to deliver papers and to persuade the French king not to invade Italy. Although the mission was not completely successful, Carew was granted £100 for his services. In 1527, Carew, Lord Lisle, Dr Taylor, Anthony Browne and Thomas Wriothesley were ordered to bestow the Order of the Garter on Francis I. In the same year, Carew's lands were assessed at around £400, a sizeable sum for the time.

In 1529, Carew continued his ambassadorial duties when he, Dr Sampson and Dr Bennet were sent to Bologna to ratify the Treaty of Cambrai with Charles V. Carew was also tasked with seeking Charles V’s thoughts on Henry VIII’s “Great Matter”, that is the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. When Carew left Bologna on 8th February 1530, he was given a gold chain worth 2000 ducats by Charles V.

In 1532, Carew returned to France to meet with Francis I and to organise a meeting between Henry VIII and Francis. Carew was reported as wishing he did not have to go. However, he was a dutiful servant and followed his king’s wishes. It is highly likely that Carew spoke with Francis I regarding his thoughts on Henry VIII’s “Great Matter” and the king’s possible marriage to Anne Boleyn.

Francis I appeared to have highly favoured Carew as in 1533 and in 1534 he wrote to Henry VIII to ask him to bestow the Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry in England, on Carew. As no current positions were available in the order, Henry VIII promised to do so at the next available opening. In April 1536, it was commonly believed that George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn, now second wife to Henry VIII, would receive the appointment to the Order of the Garter. However, on St. George’s day (23rd April) Sir Nicholas Carew was appointed. While a huge honour to Carew, such an appointment was a major blow to the Boleyns.

Carew was no friend of the Boleyns. When Henry VIII’s fool spoke favourably of Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII was outraged and banished his fool from court for a time. The fool sought refuge with Carew. Carew also aligned himself with Thomas Cromwell and spoke unfavourably of Anne Boleyn to the King. It is believed that Carew was one of the men coaching Jane Seymour on how to behave with the king, even providing Jane lodgings at his house at Beddington so that the king could visit her regularly.

Carew was installed into the Order of the Garter on 21st May 1537, at the order’s feast. He also attended the christening of Henry VIII’s longed-for son and heir, Edward, in October 1537. However, in November 1538, the strings would start to unravel that would lead to Carew’s arrest and his execution.
In November, Henry Pole, Baron Montague, and Henry Courtney, Marquis of Exeter, were arrested and taken to the Tower of London. They were charged with treason for corresponding with Cardinal Reginal Pole, Montague’s brother and an enemy of Henry VIII, and for wishing to see a change in the kingdom. Early the following year, Carew was arrested and then tried on 14th February 1539. At his trial, Carew was accused of corresponding with Montague and hiding Montague’s traitorous plans, as well as wishing for a change in the realm. The letters that passed between Carew and Montague were allegedly burned, and the evidence against Carew was flimsy at best. He was still sentenced to death.

Memorial to Nicholas Carew at St Botolph's.
Sir Nicholas Carew was beheaded on Tower Hill on 8th March 1539. Upon the scaffold it is reported that Carew “made a goodly confession, both of his folly and superstitious faith, giving God most hearty thanks that ever he came in the prison of the Tower, where he first savoured the life and sweetness of God’s most holy word, meaning the Bible in English.” (Bayley p. 377).

Carew was buried in St Botolph without Aldgate. When his wife, Elizabeth, died in 1546, her remains were buried with Nicholas. On their deaths, the remains of their daughter Mary and Mary’s husband Sir Arthur Darcy were added to the tomb. As a traitor, Carew’s property and lands reverted to the crown, but an act of Parliament in 1554 granted Carew’s son, Francis, his father’s former property and lands.
Sir Nicholas Carew was a loyal servant and friend of King Henry VIII. He served his king both at court and as an ambassador overseas, as well as participating in court festivities. He shared a love of jousting and hunting with the king and manoeuvred the ever-changing social order of the king’s court. Despite his close friendship with Henry VIII, Carew’s end came swiftly and suddenly, showing that even being a friend of Henry VIII could not save you from the executioner's block.

Sarah's other "The King's Men" articles:
Sources
- Bayley, J.W. (1825) The history and antiquities of the Tower of London: with memoirs of royal and distinguished persons, deduced from records, state-papers, and manuscripts, and from other original and authentic sources, T. Cadell, London.
- Doran, Susan (2008) The Tudor Chronicles, Quercus Publishing, London.
- Jokinen, Anniina 2010, Sir Nicholas Carew, Luminarium Encyclopaedia Project, viewed 10 February 2017, http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/carew.htm.
- Lehmberg, S (2007) Carew, Sir Nicholas (b. in or before 1496, d. 1539), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, viewed 18 February, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4633.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011) Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, CreateSpace, USA.
- Ridgway, Claire (2014) "23 April 1536 – Nicholas Carew, George Boleyn and the Order of the Garter", The Anne Boleyn Files, viewed 10 February 2017, http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/23-april-1536-nicholas-carew-george-boleyn-order-garter/.
Names – How do you pronounce them?

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
5 Comments

History books and primary sources are full of names that can catch you out – Wriothesley, Beauchamp, Blount, Lisle, St John… to name just a few – so how do you pronounce them?

In this week’s video, Claire gives the pronunciations of over 100 names and has some fun with the English language.
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Katherine of Valois: Lancastrian Queen, Tudor Wife

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
19 Comments

Today we are hosting Conor Byrne, “Tudor Life” magazine regular contributor, historian and author, as part of his book tour for his latest book Queenship in England 1308-1485: Gender and Power in the Late Middle Ages. MadeGlobal Publishing is offering a paperback copy of Conor’s book to one lucky commenter. All you have to do is leave a comment below saying which 14th or 15th-century queen you’d like to know more about and why. Leave your comment before midnight Tuesday 21st February 2017. One commenter will be picked at random and contacted for his/her address.

On 3 January 1437, Katherine of Valois, widow of Henry V, died at the age of thirty-five. The former queen was buried at Westminster Abbey. Five months later, the life of another former queen of England ended. Joan of Navarre, Katherine’s immediate predecessor, died at the age of sixty-six or sixty-seven and was buried at Canterbury Cathedral. The queenships of Joan and Katherine reveal the opportunities for triumph and tribulation that the office brought, as well as showcasing the variety of roles that were associated with it, including mother, intercessor, patron and lord. Their queenships also reveal the strikingly different political and diplomatic contexts, depending on circumstances, in which the occupant could attempt to fulfil her roles, and how these contexts affected her ability to succeed in the role of queen.
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Thomas Brandon

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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The third article in Sarah Bryson’s series on prominent Tudor courtiers…

In this article, I will be exploring the life of Thomas Brandon, uncle to the more famous Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Thomas Brandon served five kings during his lifetime; however, it was under the rule of King Henry VIII that he breathed his last. Frustratingly little is known about Thomas Brandon’s early life and most information that we have today comes from his adult years and the latter years of his life serving the Tudor King’s, Henry VII and Henry VIII.
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