"Tradition says, that one Arundell, steward to the Earl of
Pembroke, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, built a
large house in the town for himself, out of the Abbey materials.
This seems to have been the same which Mr. Coker speaks of, when
he says, 'The greatest ornament of the town is a fair turretted
house of the Lord Arundell of Wardour.' But it is most probable
it was built by Sir Thomas Arundell, or his son Sir Matthew, out
of the ruins of the Abbey. It stands in Bymport Street, and has
been a public house, it is now almost pulled down. In 1747, on
the chimney piece were these arms,--1. ARUNDELL, _with crescent
for difference_.--2. Quarterly, 1 and 4, _Gules, four lozenges
ermine_ (DINHAM), 2 and 3, _Gules, three arches conjoined,
argent_ (DE ARCHES).--3. CHIDIOCK.--4. _Sable (azure), a bend,
with label of three points or, for difference_ (CARMINOW)."
This was not all the property Sir Thomas appears to have had assigned
him at the dissolution of religious houses. In 1547, Henry VIII.
granted him the house and site of the Priory (or College) of Slapton
in South Devon, "except all the lead upon the said College other than
the gutters, and the lead in the windows; except all the bells and
ornaments"--the rectory, also that of Loddiswell, and three other
manors in Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall. Although his wife's sister
Queen Katharine had been executed four years previously, he is
described as 'Chancellor' to her.
Associated with Sir Thomas Arundell at the Court of Henry VIII., and
also in his country possessions in the west, was his relative Henry
Daubeney, Earl of Bridgwater, a most unfortunate man. He was the son
of Giles, Lord Daubeney, K.G., a trusted servant and soldier to Henry
VII.; the old seat and possessions of the family being at
South-Petherton, and later at Barrington Court near that town. Lord
Daubeney married Elizabeth, sister of Sir Thomas Arundell, K.B., of
Lanherne,--the father of Sir John Arundell, who was the father of the
Sir Thomas of our narrative,--Henry Daubeney, Earl of Bridgwater, his
only son, would therefore be Sir John's cousin.
But not only by kinship on his father's side, but also by a similar
relationship on his wife's, was the Earl closely connected with Sir
Thomas. Lord Bridgwater married secondly, Katharine Howard, daughter
of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife Agnes Tilney.
She was therefore aunt to Sir Thomas' wife, being her mother's
half-sister.
The Countess of Bridgwater was greatly persecuted during the trial of
her niece Queen Katharine Howard, and almost every means was resorted
to to implicate her with that unfortunate woman. The Earl, her
husband, plunged into the vortex of expensive frivolities that
surrounded the Court of Henry VIII., and it is related irretrievably
crippled, if not finally ruined himself by extravagant display at the
Field of the Cloth of Gold. He died without issue, in seclusion and
comparative penury at the little rural parish of South-Perrott, near
Crewkerne, and was there buried 12 April, 1548,--his wife survived
him, and was interred in the Norfolk Chantry in Lambeth church, 11
May, 1554.[42]
[42] For further account of this Earl, and his father Lord
Daubeney, see "_Memorials of the West_," pages 173-220.
[Illustration: REGAL HERALDRY, TEMP. HENRY VIII., COWIC, EXETER.]
It was this double tie of relationship that doubtless led to the
important transactions with regard to the sale or transfer of a large
portion of the Earl's landed possessions to Sir Thomas Arundell, when
from time to time he had necessity; or it may be by family arrangement
to protect himself and wife from forfeiture, in those days of peril
and consequent attainder and confiscation.
In 1536-8-9 Henry, Lord Daubeney, conveyed to his _nephew_, Sir Thomas
Arundell, his manors of Tollard-Royal, Farnham, Long-Crichell,
Kershall, Goorsley, and Hampreston, with advowsons, &c., and Shaston,
Wimborne-Minster, Gussage-All-Saints, Tarrant-Gunville, and
Stubhampton, in the counties of Wilts and Dorset, with a clause "that
if Henry, Lord Daubeney, should die without heirs to his body, the
same should remain to the use of the said Sir Thomas Arundell and his
heirs for ever." In 1542 the Earl conveyed the manor of
South-Petherton to him. This included the manor and park of
Barrington, and the forest of Roche (Neroche?) the advowson, Chantry,
and free Chapel of South-Petherton, and of the Hundred, and lands at
Yarcombe, &c.
And this leads us to his last and most important purchase, that of the
Castle and Park of Wardour, on 4 July, 1 Edward VI., 1547.
Wardour Castle and its olden inhabiters have a special interest
interwoven in our little narratives, three or four of the subjects of
them, having successively, either occupied or possessed it.
About the year 1495 the Earl of Ormond granted a lease of it to the
giant Sir John, afterward Lord Cheney, K.G.,--the "unhorsed at
Bosworth,"--and it is not at all improbable that he may have died
there, as he was buried at the not very far-distant cathedral of
Salisbury.
Then on the 4 July, 14 Henry VII., 1499, three years after Lord
Cheney's death, Thomas, Earl of Ormond, sold the Castle of Wardour to
Robert, the first Lord Willoughby de Broke, "our Steward of
Household," and according to one account, he is said to have died
there, although his monument is found and he is probably buried at
Callington, in far-distant Cornwall.
Lord Willoughby de Broke and his descendants appear to have retained
possession of it until 1547, when his ultimate heiress Lady Elizabeth
Greville and her husband Sir Fulke disposed of it to Sir Thomas
Arundell.
Thus much, as a short notice of the principal landed possessions
acquired by Sir Thomas Arundell. Some by gift of his father, others by
arrangement with his uncle Lord Bridgwater, or by purchase from
different possessors, and a further large portion partly by
purchase,--if it may be so-called,--and partly probably by free grant
from the King, Henry VIII., the whole of which in the aggregate would
constitute Sir Thomas a wealthy man, and a west-country magnate of
leading position.
A curious circumstance becomes noticeable here. The sale and grants of
property acquired under Henry VIII. were the despoiled possessions of
the Church, the property of the suppressed and dismantled Abbey of
Shaftesbury, and dissolved Priory or College of Slapton. Yet the
Arundells (as also the Howards to whom they were so nearly allied)
were at the time, and still continue to be, specially distinguished by
their fealty to the Roman communion, the antient faith of their
fathers. This fact, however, does not seem to have hindered his
acceptance of what at the time, by common consent had been "set aside
for the Lord." To which it may be answered, if he had not acquired it,
many others were doubtless eagerly waiting for the chance; and it was
never likely to return to fulfil the original purpose of the donors.
Notwithstanding the dangers that surrounded the Court of Henry VIII.,
and the perilous proximity of relationship in which, by marriage, he
stood toward that monarch, specially amid the complications that arose
during the impeachments, trials, and sad deaths of the two Queens, his
wife's relatives; yet neither Sir Thomas, nor Lady Arundell, seems to
have been involved or suspected in any way, indeed, to the contrary,
as he appears subsequently to have experienced Henry's favour, it
being three years after Queen Katharine Howard's death, when he
received the grant of the Priory of Slapton from that king.
All this points to his being a prudent man, keeping aloof from the
dangerous intrigues continually arising, and he has been described as
a wise administrator. He was grandson of Cicely Bonville, the great
west-country heiress, and his mother Elizabeth names him as one of the
executors to her will, and therein describes him as "her trusty and
well-beloved son."
Before the reign of Henry VIII. closed, its last victim was led to the
scaffold, the accomplished Earl of Surrey, and nephew of Sir Thomas.
The Duke of Norfolk, his father, with cruel obduracy had presided over
the trial of his niece the unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn, and now the
same fate had overtaken his son. The executioner was waiting for
himself also, but the unexpected death of Henry occurred just in time
to save him. The "Fair Geraldine" of the poet Earl was a cousin of Sir
Thomas on his mother's side, being the daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald,
Earl of Kildare, who married the Lady Eleanor, probably a younger
sister of the Lady Elizabeth Grey, mother of Sir Thomas.
With the conclusion of the reign of Henry VIII., the larger and
presumably, on the whole, happier portion of the life of Sir Thomas
Arundell may be said to have ended. The child-king, Edward VI., in
January, 1547, commenced his reign, and four short years only were
destined to pass before Sir Thomas was laid in a traitor's grave.
In 1549 a distinguished office was conferred on him, one that his
father had held before him, and of peculiar honour in his native
county, that of Receiver General of the Duchy of Cornwall.
This year, however, the first cloud appeared over his hitherto
fortunate career. Himself, with his brother Sir John Arundell of
Lanherne, were both suspected of being implicated in the rebellion of
their uncle Humphrey Arundell, Governor of St. Michael's Mount, "a man
well-esteemed for military services." This was the religious
insurrection, demanding the old ritual, and antagonistic to the
reformed service of the Church, which began in Cornwall, and gathering
strength as it advanced, laid ineffectual siege to Exeter, where,
however, the citizens, during their captivity, were reduced to great
straits. The insurgents then marched to meet Lord Russell, who was
stationed with some force at Honiton, but he defeated them with
considerable loss at Feniton (or Fenny) Bridges. They then retreated
to Clyst-Heath, near Exeter, where--
"they had brought with them a crucifix upon a cart, covered with
a canopy, and beset with crosses, tapers, banners, holy bread and
water, as a representation of those things for which they
fought."
At Clyst-Heath, Lord Gray with his troops, reinforced with those under
Lord Russell, dispersed the ignorant priest-led rustics with great
slaughter;--
"The dispersion of the insurgents was followed by the same
conduct on the part of the royal army, as if they had put to
route a foreign enemy in his own country, 'for the whole country
was then put to the spoil, and every soldier sought for his best
profit.'"
Sir Anthony Kingston, as Provost-Marshal of the king's army, was
commissioned to try and punish the delinquents, and his cruel and
brutal conduct was quite on an equality with that of the wretched
Jeffreys on a similar errand a century afterward;--
"Gibbets were set up in various places, on which great numbers of
the leaders of the rebellion were hanged. Others, and especially
Arundell, the chief captain, were carried to London, and there
executed. It was reckoned that about four thousand in all
perished by the sword or by the hands of the executioner, of
those engaged in this Devonshire (and Cornwall) insurrection."
Humphrey Arundell, their uncle, was conveyed to London and hanged at
Tyburn in January, 1549-50. And then it is recorded in the Council
book,--
"XXX. Jan., 1549-50. Sir Thomas Arundel, Knight, committed to the
Tower by order of the board."