The Tudors (90 page)

“Sir,” she began in the accent …
: Fraser,
Wives
, p. 160.

“No, my lord, not so”
Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 105.

He felt obliged to do this …
: Loades,
Henry VIII
, p. 83.

A considerable exercise of the imagination
Among the many good introductions to England in the sixteenth century are Penry Williams,
Life in Tudor England
(Batsford, 1964) and John Morrill, ed.,
The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain
(Oxford University Press, 1996).

The great humanist scholar Erasmus
…: Penry Williams,
Life
, p. 104.

The population, which in the year 1300…
: Loades,
Henry VIII
, p. 9.

By 1485 the population was again growing…
: Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 10.

“The people here are held in little more esteem
…”: W. G. Hoskins,
The Age of Plunder
(Longmans, 1971), p. 105.

“Inasmuch as ye, the fathers of the laws…”
: Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 238.

“God forbid that he should die!”…
: Lingard,
History of England
, p. 4:537.
85 On October 26, in conversing…
: Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 246.

As early as 1515 during a dispute…
: Elton,
England Under
, p. 107.

“God hath made in every realm …”
: Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 121.

“This,” he is supposed to have said
…: Mackie,
Earlier Tudors
, p. 352.

Henry, whose opinion of himself…
: Smith,
Mask of Power
, p. 124.

Genuine and legitimate power, More said…
: Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 365.

The England of 1530 contained…
: Good introductions to the religious life of pre-Reformation England are Penry Williams,
Life;
Maurice Keen,
English Society in the Later Middle Ages
(Penguin, 1990); Francis Aidan Gasquet,
England Under the Old Religion and Other Essays
(G. Bell & Sons, 1912); and most important, Duffy,
Stripping of Altars
.

Stern and unfamiliar penalties…
: Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 144.

When he had heard Cranmer out…
: Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 255.

“Stop, sir,” he said in French…
: Lingard,
History of England
, p. 4:545.

Martin Luther himself, while insisting…
: Ibid., p. 4:549.

According to one of his confidants…
: Ibid., p. 4:555.

Henry, meanwhile, the bit in his teeth…
: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 38.

By the end of the reign this number…
: David M. Loades,
The Tudor Court
(Barnes & Noble, 1987), p. 185.

At the same time he involved himself…
: The words about Wolsey being “persuaded from vainglory,” and those on the following page about presumptuous sinister practices,” are in Scarisbrick
Henry VIII
, p. 239.

“Father Abbot,” he said upon arrival…
: Smith,
Mask of Power
, p. 107.

Delay, long a source of frustration…
: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 52, and Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 291, explain Henry’s gradually emerging desire for delay.

In the message that conveyed their offer…:
Elton,
England Under
, p. 125.

If they came from John Fisher…:
Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 379, says: “The saving words usually have been incorrectly ascribed to John Fisher. But their insertion seems to have been an effort by the government to soften the blow.…”

He blithely assured Tunstal…
: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 180, and Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 278.

A letter signed by seventeen members…
: Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 277.

“This proposition cannot be counted as heretical”…
: Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 380.

In a stroke of sheer good luck…:
Mackie,
Earlier Tudors
, p. 350.

The comptroller of the king’s household…:
Neville Williams,
Henry VIII and
His Court
(Macmillan, 1972), p. 117.

“God grant him a good conscience”…
: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 75.

“My lord,” a surprisingly good-humored…”:
Lingard,
History of England
, p. 4:562.

The supreme oddity, in any case…:
Elton,
England Under
, p. 131, suggests that the initiative lay with Cromwell rather than the king, while Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 60, takes the opposite position.

Cromwell had pulled it off…:
The adherence of most of England to the old religion is accepted today by all of the most respected historians. See Elton,
England Under
, p. 109, and Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, pp. 241 and 328. Duffy,
Stripping of Altars
, provides an exhaustive demonstration of the vitality of the pre-Reformation English church.

The churchmen were ordered to give…:
Mackie,
Earlier Tudors
, p. 355.
149 In doing so he crushed whatever autonomy…:
Ibid., p. 749.

Henry VIII on more than one occasion…:
Francis Aidan Gasquet,
Henry VIII and the English Monasteries
(John Hodges, 1889), p. 1:156.

“I beseech your Grace to take good heed …”:
Derek Wilson,
In the Lion’s Court
(St. Martin’s Press, 2002), p. 339.

From the start of the crisis
…: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 173.

“Well-beloved subjects,” Henry told
Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 299.

Thus it was that May 15 became
Ibid., p. 300.

It seems an exceedingly strange coincidence
Among fruitful one-volume
introductions to the Reformation both in England and on the continent are A. G. Dickens,
The English Reformation
(Schocken, 1968); James D. Tracy,
Europe’s Reformations 1450–1650
(Rowman & Littlefield, 1999); John Bowker, ed.,
The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religion
(Cambridge University Press, 2001); Geoffrey Woodward,
The Sixteenth Century Reformation
(Lion, 2001); and Gordon Mursell, gen. ed.,
The Story of Christian Spirituality
(Hodder & Stoughton, 2001).

Europe’s leading humanist…. :
Gasquet,
Henry and Monasteries
, p. 1:120.

He had been drafting, presumably for delivery
Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 421.

Knowing little of who Cranmer
Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 310.

Cromwell was ready with an answer…:
Elton,
England Under
, p. 132; Mackie,
Earlier Tudors
, p. 357; and Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 132.

This happened on March 30
A detailed account of the oddities of Cranmer’s installation ceremony is in Lingard,
History of England
, p. 5:6.

By all accounts the news…:
Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 313.

But when he wrote to the king
Fraser,
Wives
, p. 190.

The first victim
The story of Elizabeth Barton is told in Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 321, and in much greater detail in Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 87.

It is not certain that these reported confessions…:
Fraser,
Wives
, p. 211, writes that Barton
“was said”
(italics added) to have recanted, and Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 94, refers to her “scaffold speech” as having been
“put into her mouth”
by an unfriendly writer.

There Barton, perhaps because she was…:
Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 94.

The act’s assertion that Henry was to be succeeded
…: The 1534 Succession Act appears in its entirely in Elton,
Tudor Constitution
, p. 6.

Conveniently, Parliament neglected to specify
…: Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 459.

Cromwell continued to take care…:
Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 135.

A special version of the succession oath
…: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 157.

The results of the visits were
Ibid., p. 157.

Several were clearly unhappy
Ibid., p. 178.

To be guilty of high treason
Elton,
Tudor Constitution
, p. 61.

This probably explains the insertion
The intent behind the inclusion of “maliciously,” and the word’s significance for the king, are in Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 139, and Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 480.

It was called the Act of First Fruits…:
The act is explained in Elton,
Tudor Constitution
, p. 42, and it appears in full on page 53 of the same book. The resulting increase in Crown revenue is detailed in Guy,
Tudor England
, p. 136.

He was given a traditional levy
…: Taxation on the basis of “fifteenths and tenths” is explained in Mackie,
Earlier Tudors
, p. 353.

The king’s gambling, his many luxuries…. :
Fraser,
Wives
, p. 211, and Hoskins,
Age of Plunder
, p. 208, provide details on Henry’s spending on palaces.

Even the most reform-minded of the bishops…:
Lingard,
History of England
, p. 5:51.

Background: Monks, Nuns, and Friars:
An excellent introduction to the religious orders of England is C. H. Lawrence,
Medieval Monasticism
(Longmans, 1993).

Nothing of the kind can be said
…: The story of the Carthusians is in Lingard,
History of England
, p. 5:39, and in much greater detail in Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 160. An entire chapter on the subject, with many of the statements about Sir John Gage and John Houghton and others in the pages that follow, appears in Gasquet,
Henry and Monasteries
, pp. 1:202ff.

It is possible that the king himself was present…
: This and Houghton’s words
“I call almighty God to witness”
are attributed to Eustace Chapuys in Gasquet,
Henry and Monasteries
, p. 1:224.

“Lo, dost thou not see, Meg …”:
Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 491.

“Now I have in good faith discharged my mind …”:
Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 145.

The new pope, Paul III, unwittingly way unusualway unusual…:
Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 328.

He warned that the pope could send
Lingard,
History of England
, p. 5:40.

He told the court that when the king
Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 123.

“What a monstrous matter is this!”…
: Ibid., p. 124.

He asked the people to pray…:
Ibid., p. 125.
228 What Rich had to say…:
Ibid., p. 146.

“Can it therefore seem likely
…”: Marius,
Thomas More
, p. 506.

Being a good lawyer, More
Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 149.

“God preserve all my friends …”
: Lingard,
History of England
, p. 5:45.

In January he had been given
Ibid., p. 5:51, and Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 245.

What Cromwell and the king intended
Mackie,
Earlier Tudors
, p. 376.

The men Cromwell chose
…: The character, motives, and conduct of the monastic visitors are subjected to critical scrutiny in Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 254; Elton,
England Under
, p. 144; Lingard,
History of England
, p. 5:54; and Geoffrey Moorhouse,
The Pilgrimage of Grace
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002), p. 27. However, Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 247, argues that the original intent of Cromwell’s visitations was entirely honorable.

Two of the most active
…: Citing the reports and correspondence of the visitors themselves, Gasquet,
Henry and Monasteries
, p. 1:286, details the astonishing number of monasteries examined by Layton, Legh, and others in only a few weeks.

“Thanks for excusing my getting up…”
: Ibid., p. 1:278.

When Chancellor Audley could find no basis…:
Ibid., pp. 1:278–80.

There is no reason to think that Eustace Chapuys…:
Ibid., p. 1:265.

Nor was there any acknowledgment
…: Bernard,
King’s Reformation
, p. 258.

“Lastly, I make this vow…”:
Catherine’s words and the autopsy results are in Fraser,
Wives
, pp. 228 and 229.