6th March 1547 was a day of humiliation for Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton. Once one of the most powerful men in England, he found himself stripped of the Great Seal of office and confined to his home. But how did a man who had been Henry VIII’s trusted Lord Chancellor fall so fast?
Wriothesley was a rising star of the Tudor court. Born in 1505, he was the son of a herald, educated at Cambridge, and started his career working for none other than Thomas Cromwell. He was ambitious, intelligent, and, according to his friend John Leland, quite good-looking!
His big break came in the 1530s when he became a key figure in Henry VIII’s government. He played a role in the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves, helped investigate Catherine Howard, and eventually became Lord Chancellor in 1544. He was trusted, powerful, and wealthy—owning vast estates, including the former Titchfield Abbey, which he transformed into his grand home.
But being at the top of Tudor politics was a dangerous game. And Wriothesley wasn’t just powerful—he was deeply conservative, fiercely loyal to Catholic traditions, and willing to do whatever it took to stay in favour. He was one of the men who interrogated and tortured Protestant reformer Anne Askew. And when Henry VIII’s final wife, Catherine Parr, was suspected of heretical beliefs, Wriothesley was right there, ready to arrest her—until Henry changed his mind, and he suddenly found himself out of favour.
Despite that misstep, when Henry VIII died in January 1547, Wriothesley was one of the key figures in announcing his death to Parliament. And with Henry gone, Wriothesley should have been sitting comfortably in power, guiding young Edward VI as one of the executors of Henry’s will. But Tudor politics was never that simple.
Henry VIII had wanted a regency council to rule for his nine-year-old son, Edward, with no one man taking control. But Edward Seymour, the new king’s uncle, had other ideas. He quickly manoeuvred himself into the role of Lord Protector, effectively making himself the ruler of England. And Wriothesley? He didn’t like that one bit.
Wriothesley opposed Seymour’s growing power, but Seymour had the upper hand. He needed Wriothesley gone. And on 6th March 1547, he got his chance.
The official charge? Wriothesley had issued a commission without the approval of the other executors of Henry VIII’s will. But in reality, this was all about getting rid of an opponent. He was stripped of his role as Lord Chancellor, lost the Great Seal, and was placed under house arrest at Ely Place. A man who had been at the centre of government for over a decade was suddenly powerless.
Unlike some other Tudor figures, Wriothesley managed to escape the executioner’s block. He was released from house arrest a few months later and by 1549 was back on the Privy Council. But he never regained his former power. Somerset had his own enemies, and when he was overthrown, Wriothesley might have thought he had a chance to rise again. But John Dudley, Somerset’s replacement, had no time for Wriothesley’s Catholic conservatism. In 1550, he was expelled from court once again.
And this time, he wouldn’t recover. His health began to fail, and on 30th July 1550, Thomas Wriothesley died at his London residence, Lincoln House. He was buried in London but later moved to Titchfield, his grand estate.
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