14 May 1536 A.D. Thomas Cromwell’s Letter to Stephen Gardiner & Sir John Wallop about Queen Anne Boleyn’s “incontinent and rank” living
14 May 1536 A.D. Thomas Cromwell’s Letter to
Stephen Gardiner & Sir John Wallop about Queen Anne Boleyn’s “incontinent and rank”
living
Ridgeway, Claire. “14 May 1536—The
Queen’s incontinent living was so rank and common.” The Anne Boleyn Files. 14 May 2015. http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/14-may-1536-queens-incontinent-living-rank-common/.
Accessed 14 May 2015.
14
May 1536 – The Queen’s incontinent living was so rank and commonPosted By Claire on May 14, 2014
On
14th May 1536, Thomas Cromwell wrote to Stephen Gardiner and Sir John Wallop,
Henry VIII’s ambassadors at the French court, to update them on the situation
in London. Here is the letter:
“The
King has deferred answering their letters sent by Salisbury till the arrival of
the bailly of Troyes. Has to inform them, however, of a most detestable scheme,
happily discovered and notoriously known to all men. They may have heard the
rumour of it. Will express to them, however, some part of the coming out, and
of the King’s proceeding.
The
Queen’s incontinent living was so rank and common that the ladies of her privy
chamber could not conceal it. It came to the ears of some of the Council, who
told his Majesty, although with great fear, as the case enforced. Certain
persons of the privy chamber and others of her side were examined, and the
matter appeared so evident that, besides that crime, “there brake out a certain
conspiracy of the King’s death, which extended so far that all we that had the
examination of it quaked at the danger his Grace was in, and on our knees gave
him (God ?) laud and praise that he had preserved him so long from it.” Certain
men were committed to the Tower, viz., Marks and Norris and the Queen’s
brother; then she herself was apprehended and committed to the same place;
after her Sir Fras. Weston and Wm. Brereton. Norris, Weston, Brereton, and
Marks are already condemned to death, having been arraigned at Westminster on
Friday last. The Queen and her brother are to be arraigned tomorrow, and will
undoubtedly go the same way.
I
write no particularities; the things be so abominable that I think the like was
never heard. Gardiner will receive 200l. of the 300l. “that were out amongst
these men, notwithstanding great suit hath been made for the whole; which
though the King’s highness might give in this case, yet his Majesty doth not
forget your service; and the third 100l. is bestowed of the vicar of Hell [Sir
Fras. Brian], upon [whom] though it be some charge unto you, his Highness
trusteth ye will think it well bestowed.” From the Rolls in haste, 14 May.
P.S.—Wallop
will not be forgotten, though Cromwell cannot tell at present how much he is to
have. The King is highly pleased with the services of both.”
“Incontinent”,
by the way, means lacking self-control.
It
is a letter that surely must have provoked shock in the ambassadors. The Queen
and the men had committed such “abominable” crimes that Cromwell couldn’t bring
himself to describe them, and they had also conspired to kill the King! What
scandal! The letter reads just like the indictments – sensational and shocking
tabloid style language – and Crowmell’s words regarding the upcoming trial of
the Queen and Lord Rochford, that they “will undoubtedly go the same way” show
that their trials have been prejudiced by the trials of Norris, Weston,
Brereton and Smeaton. The Queen was unlikely to be found innocent of adultery
when those four men had already been found guilty of sleeping with her.
Cromwell must also have been sure that the jury would do his bidding.
Cromwell
finishes his letter by promising that both Gardiner and Wallop would benefit
from the fall of Queen Anne Boleyn.
While
Cromwell was composing this letter, Henry VIII was sending Sir Nicholas Carew
to bring Jane Seymour to Chelsea and to settle her there – see 14 May 1536 Jane Seymour Moves to Chelsea
for more on this.
Notes and Sources
- LP
x.873, Letter from Cromwell to Gardiner and Wallop, 14th May 1536
Read more: http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/14-may-1536-queens-incontinent-living-rank-common/#ixzz3a7IkSXlY
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