adduced a very curious extract from one of the letters of this Earl of
Northumberland, which he thinks affords a "full vindication of the earl
from the charge of ingratitude in being the person employed to arrest
the cardinal." However this may be, the earl appears to have felt the
embarrassment of his situation; he trembled, and with a faltering voice
could hardly utter the ungracious purport of his mission. To a mind
of any delicacy the office must have been peculiarly distressing, and
even supposing the earl to have been formerly treated in an arbitrary
and imperious manner by the cardinal, it is one which he should have
avoided. As the letter gives a very curious picture of the manners as
well as the literature of our first nobility at that time, I shall
place it in my appendix; the very curious volume in which it is to be
found being of great rarity and value.
[187] "In the houses of our ancient nobility they dined at long tables.
The Lord and his principal guests sate at the upper end of the first
table, in the Great Chamber, which was therefore called the Lord's
Board-end. The officers of his household, and inferior guests, at long
tables below in the hall. In the middle of each table stood a great
salt cellar; and as particular care was taken to place the guests
according to their rank, it became a mark of distinction, whether a
person sate above or below the salt."--_Notes on the Northumberland
Household Book_, p. 419.
[188] The enemies of Archbishop Laud, particularly in the time of
his troubles, were fond of comparing him with Cardinal Wolsey: and a
garbled edition of this life was first printed in the year 1641, for
the purpose of prejudicing that great prelate in the minds of the
people, by insinuating a parallel between him and the cardinal. It is
not generally known that, beside the edition of this life then put
forth, a small pamphlet was also printed with the following title,
"A true Description or rather Parallel betweene Cardinall Wolsey,
Archbishop of York, and William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1641."
As it is brief, and of extreme rarity, I shall give it a place in the
Appendix.
[189] "But what he did there, I know not." The more recent MS. and Dr.
Wordsworth's edition have this reading.
[190] The words which follow, I apprehend, are part of some
ecclesiastical hymn. It was not unusual to attribute the name of
_Scripture_ to all such compositions; and to whatever was read in
churches. "Also I said and affirmed" (the words are part of the
recantation of a Wickliffite), "that I held no _Scripture_ catholike
nor holy, but onely that is contained in the Bible. For the legends and
lives of saints I held hem nought; and the miracles written of hem, I
held untrue." Fox's _Acts_, p. 591. _W._
[191] "I know not whether or no it be worth the mentioning here
(however we will put it on the adventure), but Cardinal Wolsey, in
his life time was informed by some fortune-tellers, _that he should
have his end at Kingston_. This, his credulity interpreted of Kingston
on Thames; which made him alwayes to avoid the riding through that
town, though the nearest way from his house to the court. Afterwards,
understanding that he was to be committed by the king's express order
to the charge of Sir Anthony [William] Kingston (see Henry Lord Howard
in his Book against Prophecies, chap. 28, fol. 130), it struck to his
heart; too late perceiving himself deceived by that father of lies in
his homonymous prediction." Fuller's _Church History_. Book v. p. 178.
_W._
[192] _where_ for _whereas_.
[193] In the old garbled editions the passage stands thus: "But alas! I
am a diseased man, having a fluxe (at which time it was apparent that
_he had poisoned himself_); it hath made me very weak," p. 108, edit.
1641. This is a most barefaced and unwarranted interpolation. The words
do not occur in any of the MSS. Yet the charge of his having poisoned
himself was repeated by many writers among the reformers without
scruple. See Tindall's _Works_, p. 404. _Supplications to the Queen's
Majesty_, fol. 7. A. D. 1555. Fox's _Acts_, p. 959.
[194] "This is an affecting picture," says a late elegant writer.
"Shakspeare had undoubtedly seen these words, his portrait of the
sick and dying Cardinal so closely resembling this. But in these
words is this chronological difficulty. How is it that Hardwick Hall
is spoken of as a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's in the reign of
Henry VIII, when it is well known that the house of this name between
Sheffield and Nottingham, in which the Countess of Shrewsbury spent
her widowhood, a house described in the Anecdotes of Painting, and
seen and admired by every curious traveller in Derbyshire, did not
accrue to the possessions of any part of the Shrewsbury family till
the marriage of an earl, who was grandson to the cardinal's host, with
Elizabeth Hardwick, the widow of Sir William Cavendish, in the time of
Queen Elizabeth?--The truth however is, that though the story is told
to every visitor of Hardwick Hall, that "the great child of honour,
Cardinal Wolsey," slept there a few nights before his death; as is
also the story, perhaps equally unfounded, that Mary Queen of Scots
was confined there; it was _another_ Hardwick which received the weary
traveller for a night in this his last melancholy pilgrimage. This
was Hardwick-upon-Line in Nottinghamshire, a place about as far to
the south of Mansfield as the Hardwick in Derbyshire, so much better
known, is to the north-west. It is now gone to much decay, and is
consequently omitted in many maps of the county. It is found in Speed.
Here the Earl of Shrewsbury had a house in the time of Wolsey. Leland
expressly mentions it. "The Erle [of Shrewsbury] hath a parke and
manner place or lodge in it called Hardewike-upon-Line, a four miles
from Newstede Abbey." Itin. vol. v. fol. 94, p. 108. Both the Hardwicks
became afterwards the property of the Cavendishes. Thoroton tells us
that Sir Charles Cavendish, youngest son of Sir William, and father of
William Duke of Newcastle, "had begun to build a great house in this
lordship, on a hill by the forest side, near Annesly-wood-House, when
he was assaulted and wounded by Sir John Stanhope and his men, as he
was viewing the work, which was therefore thought fit to be left off,
some blood being spilt in the quarrel, then very hot between the two
families.--_Thoresby's Edit. of Thoroton_, vol. ii. p. 294."--WHO WROTE
CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY? p. 18.
[195] Mr. Douce has pointed out a remarkable passage in Pittscottie's
History of Scotland (p. 261, edit. 1788,) in which there is a great
resemblance to these pathetic words of the cardinal. James V. imagined
that Sir James Hamilton addressed him thus in a dream. "Though I was a
sinner against God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant
to the Lord my God as I was to thee, I had not died that death."
[196] In the yeare 1521, the cardinal, by virtue of his legatine
authority, issued a mandate to all the bishops in the realme, to take
the necessary means for calling in and destroying all books, printed
or written, containing any of the errors of Martin Luther: and further
directing processes to be instituted against all the possessors and
favourers of such books, heresies, &c. The mandate contained also a
list of forty-two errors of Luther. See Wilkins's _Concilia_, vol. iii.
p. 690-693; and Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. i. p. 36-40.
_W._
[197] To administer the _extreme unction_. "The _fyfth sacrament_ is
anoyntynge of seke men, the whiche oyle is halowed of the bysshop, and
mynystred by preestes to them that ben of lawfull age, in grete peryll
of dethe: in lyghtnes and abatynge of theyr sikenes, yf God wyll that
they lyve; and in forgyvynge of theyr venyal synnes, and releasynge of
theyr payne, yf they shal deye." _Festival_, fol. 171. _W._
[198] He died Nov. 29, 1530. Le Neve's _Fasti_, p. 310.
According to the superstitious credulity of that age, the death of
Wolsey was said to have been preceded by a portentous storm. See
LETTERS FROM THE BODLEIAN, Vol. ii. page 17. In a letter from Dr.
Tanner to Dr. Charlett, dated Norwich, Aug. 10, 1709, is the following
passage:
"On the other side is a coeval note at the end of an old MS.
belonging to our cathedral, of the odd exit of the great Cardinal
Wolsey, not mentioned, I think, in Cavendish, or any of the ordinary
historians,--much like Oliver's wind.
"Anno Xti, 1530, nocte immediate sequente quartum diem Novemb. vehemens
ventus quasi per totam Angliam accidebat, et die proximè sequente
quinto sc. die ejusdem mensis circa horam primam post meridiem
captus erat Dūus Thomas Wulsye Cardinalis in ædibus suis de Cahow
[Cawood] infra Diocesam suam Eboracensem; et postea in itinere ejus
versus Londoniam vigilia St. Andreæ prox. sequente apud Leycestriam
moriebatur, quo die ventus quasi Gehennalis tunc fere per totam Angliam
accidebat, cujus vehementia apud Leystoft infra Dioc. Norwicensem et
alibi in diversis locis infra Regnum Angliæ multæ naves perierunt."
_Ad finem Annalium Bartholomæi Cotton. MS. in Biblioth. Eccl. Cath.
Norwic. habetur hæc notata._
[199] The excellent author of the dissertation on this life doubted
whether this passage was not an interpolation, because "Wolsey is
spoken of in terms so different from those used in other parts of the
book." But it is only a proof of the integrity of the biographer, whose
upright heart and devout catholic spirit would not conceal the truth.
[200] This passage follows in the more recent MSS. "riding that same
day, being Wednesday, to Northampton; and the next day to Dunstable;
and the next day to London; where we tarried untill St. Nicholas Even,
and then we rode to Hampton Court."
[201] Here is another addition, in the more recent MSS. to the
following effect: "Who hath gotten diverse other rich ornaments into
his hands, the which be not rehersed or registered in any of my lords
books of inventory, or other writings, whereby any man is able to
charge him therewith, but only I."
ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE LIFE OF WOLSEY.
PAGE 95. The Letter of Anstis, referred to in the note, is addressed
to Fiddes, and is printed in his Collections. It relates to a rude
representation of the House of Lords in the reign of King Henry VIII.
but that learned herald and antiquary has made it the vehicle of some
observations, which may not be misplaced here.
"Almost every action of Wolsey hath been interpreted as an instance of
pomp, ambition, or insolence; notwithstanding, probably, upon a strict
examination, most of them will be found to be strictly precedented.
This particular of _two crosses_ gave Polydore Virgil an opportunity
of making an uncharitable reflection: "Non contentus unâ cruce, qua
utebatur, quod Archiepiscopus esset Eboracensis, alteram præ se
ferri voluit, per duos sacerdotes statura elegantes, et equis magnis
insidentes, qui aperto capite, quocunque anni tempore incederent. Nunc
plane constat Wolsæum suæ sibi conscium esse culpæ, qui propterea
binas in pompa habet cruces, quod una non satis foret ad ejus expianda
commissa." Anstis then cites the passage from Roy's satire, which he
mistakingly attributes to Skelton; and proceeds thus: "Here is a long
catalogue, and yet possibly not one particular is singular to the
cardinal. For the same honours, according to the known customs of Rome,
were to be paid to every Legate _de Latere_ as to the sovereign pontiff
himself: Nay, he might of right use all papal ensigns and ornaments,
for which Parisius (De Resignat. L. 7. qu. 13. n. 6 et 7) produces the
vouchers."
"I know not what was the figure of the _pillars_ here mentioned; but it
was not an unusual ensign, because Chaucer, in the Plowman's Tale, v.
2044, setting forth the duty of a clergyman, says thus:
And usin none yerthly honours,
Ne croune, ne curious covertours,
Ne _pillar_, ne other proud pall, &c.
According to the present customs in this country, no one will charge
the cardinal's riding on a mule to be a mark of his insolence or
haughtiness, neither was it any testimony of his humility, but a usage
of his age, in correspondence to the ancient practice of clergymen, who
esteemed it unbecoming them to ride upon a horse, when our Saviour rode
on the foal of an ass. Thus St. Basil on Psalm 32, _Exclusus est ab usu
sanctorum equus_. And here I cannot forbear from diverting you with the
odd simplicity of the style wherein Peraldus (Summæ de Superbia, tom.
2) expresses himself on this occasion: "Christus nunquam equitavit,
tantum semel asinavit, atque adeo neque mulavit, neque palafredavit,
neque dromedariavit." His sentiment was as of some other rigid
disciplinarians at that time, that the clergy should travel on foot.
It is well known that our judges, till the first year of Queen Mary,
rode always to Westminster on mules, (v. Dugdal. Orig. Juridic. p. 38).
Christopher Urswicke, who had been Dean of Windsor, in his will made
10 Oct. 1521, devises to Mr. Cuthbert Tunstall, Maister of the Rolls,
"his gowne of blacke furred with martron, his typpet of sarcenet furred
with sables, and his little _mule_ with saddle and bridle and all hir
harneys." (Lib. Mainwaryng, in Cur. Prærog.) And upon the motive of
an affected humility it doubtless was that John de Beverle, in his
will dated 1380, "Volo quod corpus meum sit ductum ab hospitio meo
per duos asinos, si possint inveniri." (Registr. Beckingham Episcopi
Lincoln.) The sumptuary law for apparel, 24 Hen. 8. c. 13, prohibits
all persons to wear upon their horse, _mule_, or other beast, any silk
of purpure, &c. Of the custom of the clergy, see Bede Eccles. Hist. 1.
3, c. 14, and 1. 4, c. 3: and that they first began to ride on mares,
1. 2, c. 13, unless there be some error in the print. As to Cardinals,
David Chambre, in his History of the Popes abridged, acquaints us that
Innocent IV. gave them liberty to ride on horseback, and that Pope
Clement V. ordained they should ride upon asses, according to the
example of our Saviour.
But these rich trappings and housings of the cardinal's mule may give
offence; herein he could justify himself by an especial privilege to
those of his degree:--_Equitare mulas phaleratas, et clavam argenteam
ante se deferre_ (Cohelii Notitia Cardinalatus, p. 28). Here then is
a poleaxe or mace also, and the same author, p. 30, acquaints us that
in the Roman court the cardinals "dum equitant _mulas_, præmittunt
apparitores cum argenteis _clavis_ et _bulgis_ ab acupictoribus
gentilitiis insignibus auro et argento redimitis, necnon famulos duos
pedissequos (parafrænarios vocant) baculis duobus innixos."
Page 137. The circumstances attending the interception of De Praet's
dispatches, mentioned in the note, are thus related in a letter of
Wolsey's to Mr. Sampson, printed in the Appendix to Galt's Life of
Wolsey, p. clv. No. vi. 4to. 1812.
"It hath bene of a long season, and from sundry parts, reported unto
the king's hignes and to me at divers times, that Mon^{sr} de Praet,
who resideth here ambassador for the emperor, hath continually bene a
man disposed and inclined to make, in his letters and writings, both
to the emperor and the Lady Margaret, seditious and sinister reports;
saying many times, upon his own fantasie, suspicion, and conjecture,
things clearly untrue, and compassing at other times, when things have
been done, sayd, or set forth, frendly, kindlie, and lovinglie, soe
to cowch his reports, and the circumstances of the doings thereof, as
though the gratuities shewed by the king's highnes, have from time to
time been conduced by the industrie, pollicy, and labour of the sayd
ambassadors; ascribing, therefore, the laude and thank therof unto
himself, wherby he might acquire the more grace and favor of the sayd
emperor and Lady Margaret. To these things the kings highnes and I
were not over hasty to give soone creddence; but supposing the sayd
ambassador to be a p^rsonage of more vertue and inclinacion to good
then now he proveth to be, I would some times admonish him, in general
words of such advertisement; exhorting and advising him to be well
ware how he, being a minister betwene two princes so neerly conjoined
in intelligence, should attempt or doe any thing to the hinderance
thereof; but rather, regarding the office of a good ambassador to doe
that in him is for the nourishing and increase of the same. Wherein he
alwayes made me such answere that I conceaved noe further suspicion or
jealousy towards him in that behalfe; being therefore the more franke
and plaine with him in all my conferences, as he, that for the singuler
good mind which I have alwayes borne unto the emperors honor, weale,
and suretie, would procede with his majestie, sincerelie, plainely,
and truelie. And as familiarly, kindly, and lovinglie hath the kings
highnes and I admitted, entertayned, and used the sayd de Praet at
all times, as the most hearty love betwene the kings highnes and his
majestie doth require, making him privie, and having him present,
at all such comunicacions and accesses have bene of other princes
ambassadors, or of any matter worthy advertisement or knowledge, to the
intent that he should make most credible and plaine relacion thereof
unto th'emperor and other to whom it appertained."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * He then relates, that upon one occasion he
sent for the ambassador "to make him participant of such newes as
the kings highnes and I had received, as also to understand whether
he had any good newes in confirmation of the same." And after a long
communication, he "seeming to be joyous and well contented, giving me
thanks on the emperors behalfe, departed."
"Three days before that, as many times is here accustomed, it was
appointed that, as that night following, which was the xj^{th} day
at night, a privie watch should be made in London, and by a certaine
cercoute and space about it: in the which watch was taken, passing
between London and Brainford, by certaine of the watch appointed to
that quarter, one ryding towards the said Brainford; who, examined
by the watch, answered soe closely, that upon suspicion thereof they
searched him, and found seacretly hid about him a little pacquet of
letters, subscribed in French, which the sayd watch p^rceaving, brought
the letters unto a man of lawes clarke, being of the same company;
who, supposing the bearer of them to be either a spie or a messenger
from some merchant, stranger, or other, intendinge to disclose things
unto the emperor, and p^rceaving the sayd pacquet to be in the taking
of it, by the unlearned men of the watch, broken and evil handled,
looked in the letters. And thinking the same, by reason of the ciphers,
more suspect, brought it unto the king's solicitor, being in the same
watch; who not acquainted with the name of the sayd de Praet, brought
the letters soe opened unto Sir Thomas Moore, being in another watch
neere unto the same; and he presented them, in the morning following,
unto me, being in the chancery at Westminster; which, when I had read,
knowing how farr the effect of them was discrepant from the truth, anon
I conceived the former adv^rtisements made unto me touching the said
ambassadors accustomed usage in making sinister reports, to be true.
And p^rceyving by the sayd letters, that albeit the usage is not here
that strangers should passe through the realme without a passport,
yet one of the foulkes was depeched by the sayd ambassador the day
before with letters towards Spaine,--wherin it was like there might be
as evill or worse report then in these, I with all diligence sent to
countermande the sayd former letters, or any other depeched at that
time by the sayd ambassador. And soe was taken also a pacquet of his
letters directed to my Lady Margaret, which original letters directed
unto th'emperor, with copies of those addressed unto my Lady Margaret,
viewed and overlooked, and the untruth mencioned in them deprehended,
I send unto your hands herewith, as well because th'emperor may know
such things as his folkes on this side doe advertise his majestie of,
which may conferr to the furtherance of his affaires; as also, because
the same may hereby the more assuredlie and p^rfectlie understand
and p^rceave that the sayd de Praet hath of lykelyhood contrived noe
few matters untrue and fayned in his letters sent of a long season,
as well into Spayne as into Flanders. Wherof there is much apparance,
by reason of such proceeding, strange demeanour, and suspicion, as
hath seemed to have bene had towards the kings grace, both on that
side and in Flanders of a good season, soe that it is evident to be
conjectured that the sayd de Praet hath done more hurt, detriment, and
damage, by his evil reports in the comon affaires, then ever he can
be able to reduble or amend; and surely has by the same deserved much
more blame than I will reherse." He then enters into detail of the
misrepresentations of De Praet, who, he says, would have long since
been denounced to the emperor as "a man of insufficient qualities,
inexpert and far unmeet to be ambassador from so great a prince," had
it not been out of courtesy to that potentate and his council. And
further, that "De Praet being not a little abashed, ne without cause,
made first exception at the intercepting of his letters, as he would
not give credence to the manner of their interception, and the opening
of them by a fortunate error, as is aforesayd, saying that ambassadors
doe write unto their princes that which in their conceipt is thought
good, referring the judgment unto others. He affirmed also, that till
this time it could not ne should be ever found in any of his letters,
that he hath made evill report either of the king's highnes or of me,
as by his original letters, which he sayd he desired and would be gladd
should and might be showed, he would be judged, and that the cause and
occasion moving him thus to write at this time, was only the being here
of John Joachym by viij moneths, the difficulty made to condescend unto
the truce proposed at Rome, the not advancing of an army on this side,
as was spoken of, and the refusal of the kings highnes to contribute
any thing to the defence of Italy."
To this Wolsey states the long and circumstantial answer he gave, in
which he asserts that he was not privy to Joachinos coming, and that
it was some time after his arrival that he disclosed to him what he
was, and that as soon as he discovered himself to be sent from the Lady
Regent, he made de Praet privy thereto, praying him to advertise the
Lady Margaret and the emperor, as he also would do and did.
To this he states 'that De Praet could make no other answer than that
he wrote his fantasy, and remitted the judgment to wiser men.' The
whole letter is well worth attention as an example of Wolsey's talent
in diplomacy; and though his apology is not very convincing, it must be
confessed to be very skilful and ingenious.
FINIS.
APPENDIX.
EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE
OF
THE VIRTUOUS CHRISTIAN AND RENOWNED
QUEEN ANNE BOLEIGNE.
BY GEORGE WYATT, ESQ.
WRITTEN AT THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS OF THE REV. JOHN LEWIS.
Great princes favourites their fair leaves spread,
But as the marigold at the sun's eye;
And in themselves their pride lies buried,
For at a frown they in their glory die.
SHAKSPEARE.