Henry VIII, the Reign
Part Forty - Three
Privy Council, Culpeper, Progress and Execution
Privy Council, Culpeper, Progress and Execution
Above Image - Jesus and The Adultress
Henry VIII, the Reign
Part 43
Privy Council, Culpeper, Progress and Execution
The End of First Minister Control – Power Transferred to the Privy
Council – Adultery Up North – Another Broken Marriage –
Execution of Catherine Howard
Katherine Howard
The fall of Cromwell led to the rise of the Privy Council and for the time being the realm was governed by a small group of ministers rather than one man, as had been the case under Wolsey and Cromwell.
The first meeting after Cromwell’s death was on 10 August 1540.
The newly married king, however, never one for administrative matters, took his pleasure and leisure in the privy chamber.
Henry VIII’s privy chamber was a series of private rooms in every palace or house he resided in. Entry to these rooms was by privileged appointment.
The gentlemen of the privy chamber were servants to the Crown who waited and attend on the king and queen at court during their duties, functions and entertainments.
As a privilege of favour, they were empowered to execute the king’s verbal command without producing any written order because their person and character were sufficient authority.
The gentlemen who dominated the privy chamber shared the king’s religion, personal favour and trust. They held an important role in the administration of the Crown's coffers.
These royal servants organised hunting expeditions, pleasures and pastimes, and among this band of trusted companions was Thomas Culpeper. Culpeper was a favourite of Henry VIII, described as ‘a beautiful youth’ and similar in age to the new queen, the unchaste Catherine Howard.
As spring approached in 1541, the royal entourage was at Hampton Court. According to French ambassador Marillac, Henry was far from happy in the new season, ill in both mind and spirit. He bemoaned that he had an unhappy people to govern. He was discontented with his Privy Council, most of whom ‘under pretence of serving him, were only temporising for their own profit’.
Upon this impression, he spent Shrovetide without recreation, even of music, in which he used to take as much pleasure as any prince in Christendom, and stayed in Hampton Court with so little company that his court resembled more a private family than a king’s train. Strangers who went thither were asked their business and dispatched or sent back, as if to hide their mien and the king’s indisposition.
By 21 March 1541 the king and queen were at Greenwich, where Queen Catherine and her ladies were left to amuse themselves while the king inspected the fortifications at Dover Henry was gone for almost two weeks, returning on 4 April 1541.
Henry had spent time reviewing the southern coastal fortifications and had decided that next time he went Catherine would accompany him; indeed the royal progress this year included visits to the port of Hull on the north-east coast close to the mouth of the River Humber. There they could inspect the castle and both sides of the estuary.
If this were not fun enough for his young, ebullient wife, for further entertainment Henry’s nephew King James V of Scotland was invited to meet the king and queen at York.
Almost four years had passed since the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion and the king’s promise of a parliament in York was yet unfulfilled.
On 1 July 1541 a great royal train arrived at Enfield from Westminster on the first leg of the two-hundred-mile journey north to Yorkshire. Thomas Culpeper was with them, and the party would be away on royal progress for nearly four months.
James V, who had lost both his young sons on the same day on 21 April, did not arrive, which annoyed Henry. However, the fortifications at Hull and on the Humber were thoroughly inspected and orders given for a castle to be built over the next few years.
On Allhallowtide, 31 October 1541, the royal party arrived back at Hampton Court.
Catherine may have been pleased to be home but there was trouble in store, and there was hardly time to unpack the royal wardrobe. Cromwell had suffered the axe to his neck but the evangelist party was still alive and looking for revenge. While Henry and Catherine had been in Yorkshire, this group had sharpened their long knives.
At All Souls Day mass on 2 November, Henry gave thanks to God for the gift of his sweet matrimony to his young wife, Catherine, with whom he had ostensibly shared the last four months away. She was his ‘rose without a thorn’. Henry then opened a letter from Thomas Cranmer, the content of which plunged his fifth marriage into turmoil.
Cranmer, Thomas Audley and Edward Seymour had uncovered damning evidence about the queen having previous lovers, about her morals and about a current, secret lover.
The evangelical accusers apparently had not the heart to tell the king face to face and so had persuaded Cranmer to put it in writing.
The bitter gist of the letter was, in the first instance, that this ‘rose without a thorn’ had been deflowered long ago; indeed, the birds, bees and any number of the Privy Council had been busy with her long before Henry ever married her. Then, if that was not enough, Henry discovered that, even worse, loyal, trusty Thomas Culpeper had kept Catherine company in bed throughout the progress in the north. It was from the heat of Tom’s love, not Harry’s, that his wife had radiated her ebullient spirit.
The king at first did not believe the sordid tales about his wife’s promiscuous, adulterous behaviour. At first, he was calm and ordered further investigation, but he was fooling himself, and, when Cranmer returned with even more evidence about her bedtime romps, distraught, the sick and ageing monarch broke down and sobbed:
The first meeting after Cromwell’s death was on 10 August 1540.
The newly married king, however, never one for administrative matters, took his pleasure and leisure in the privy chamber.
Henry VIII’s privy chamber was a series of private rooms in every palace or house he resided in. Entry to these rooms was by privileged appointment.
The gentlemen of the privy chamber were servants to the Crown who waited and attend on the king and queen at court during their duties, functions and entertainments.
As a privilege of favour, they were empowered to execute the king’s verbal command without producing any written order because their person and character were sufficient authority.
The gentlemen who dominated the privy chamber shared the king’s religion, personal favour and trust. They held an important role in the administration of the Crown's coffers.
These royal servants organised hunting expeditions, pleasures and pastimes, and among this band of trusted companions was Thomas Culpeper. Culpeper was a favourite of Henry VIII, described as ‘a beautiful youth’ and similar in age to the new queen, the unchaste Catherine Howard.
As spring approached in 1541, the royal entourage was at Hampton Court. According to French ambassador Marillac, Henry was far from happy in the new season, ill in both mind and spirit. He bemoaned that he had an unhappy people to govern. He was discontented with his Privy Council, most of whom ‘under pretence of serving him, were only temporising for their own profit’.
Upon this impression, he spent Shrovetide without recreation, even of music, in which he used to take as much pleasure as any prince in Christendom, and stayed in Hampton Court with so little company that his court resembled more a private family than a king’s train. Strangers who went thither were asked their business and dispatched or sent back, as if to hide their mien and the king’s indisposition.
By 21 March 1541 the king and queen were at Greenwich, where Queen Catherine and her ladies were left to amuse themselves while the king inspected the fortifications at Dover Henry was gone for almost two weeks, returning on 4 April 1541.
Henry had spent time reviewing the southern coastal fortifications and had decided that next time he went Catherine would accompany him; indeed the royal progress this year included visits to the port of Hull on the north-east coast close to the mouth of the River Humber. There they could inspect the castle and both sides of the estuary.
If this were not fun enough for his young, ebullient wife, for further entertainment Henry’s nephew King James V of Scotland was invited to meet the king and queen at York.
Almost four years had passed since the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion and the king’s promise of a parliament in York was yet unfulfilled.
On 1 July 1541 a great royal train arrived at Enfield from Westminster on the first leg of the two-hundred-mile journey north to Yorkshire. Thomas Culpeper was with them, and the party would be away on royal progress for nearly four months.
James V, who had lost both his young sons on the same day on 21 April, did not arrive, which annoyed Henry. However, the fortifications at Hull and on the Humber were thoroughly inspected and orders given for a castle to be built over the next few years.
On Allhallowtide, 31 October 1541, the royal party arrived back at Hampton Court.
Catherine may have been pleased to be home but there was trouble in store, and there was hardly time to unpack the royal wardrobe. Cromwell had suffered the axe to his neck but the evangelist party was still alive and looking for revenge. While Henry and Catherine had been in Yorkshire, this group had sharpened their long knives.
At All Souls Day mass on 2 November, Henry gave thanks to God for the gift of his sweet matrimony to his young wife, Catherine, with whom he had ostensibly shared the last four months away. She was his ‘rose without a thorn’. Henry then opened a letter from Thomas Cranmer, the content of which plunged his fifth marriage into turmoil.
Cranmer, Thomas Audley and Edward Seymour had uncovered damning evidence about the queen having previous lovers, about her morals and about a current, secret lover.
The evangelical accusers apparently had not the heart to tell the king face to face and so had persuaded Cranmer to put it in writing.
The bitter gist of the letter was, in the first instance, that this ‘rose without a thorn’ had been deflowered long ago; indeed, the birds, bees and any number of the Privy Council had been busy with her long before Henry ever married her. Then, if that was not enough, Henry discovered that, even worse, loyal, trusty Thomas Culpeper had kept Catherine company in bed throughout the progress in the north. It was from the heat of Tom’s love, not Harry’s, that his wife had radiated her ebullient spirit.
The king at first did not believe the sordid tales about his wife’s promiscuous, adulterous behaviour. At first, he was calm and ordered further investigation, but he was fooling himself, and, when Cranmer returned with even more evidence about her bedtime romps, distraught, the sick and ageing monarch broke down and sobbed:
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John Dudley
There were suggestions that Henry had gone mad. French ambassador Marillac wrote to Francis on 7 December 1541 and informed him that ‘this King has changed his love for the Queen into hatred, and taken such grief at being deceived that of late it was thought he had gone mad, for he called for a sword to slay her he had loved so much. Sitting in council he suddenly called for horses without saying where he would go.’
So there followed another sad end to another marriage. For political ends, Henry had been duped again. Queen Catherine was condemned by a bill of attainder and executed on 13 February 1542. Thomas Culpeper and another lover, Francis Dereham, had been executed some weeks before, on 10 December 1541.
So there followed another sad end to another marriage. For political ends, Henry had been duped again. Queen Catherine was condemned by a bill of attainder and executed on 13 February 1542. Thomas Culpeper and another lover, Francis Dereham, had been executed some weeks before, on 10 December 1541.
James and Mary
There were suggestions that Henry had gone mad. French ambassador Marillac wrote to Francis on 7 December 1541 and informed him that ‘this King has changed his love for the Queen into hatred, and taken such grief at being deceived that of late it was thought he had gone mad, for he called for a sword to slay her he had loved so much. Sitting in council he suddenly called for horses without saying where he would go.’
So there followed another sad end to another marriage. For political ends, Henry had been duped again. Queen Catherine was condemned by a bill of attainder and executed on 13 February 1542. Thomas Culpeper and another lover, Francis Dereham, had been executed some weeks before, on 10 December 1541.
So there followed another sad end to another marriage. For political ends, Henry had been duped again. Queen Catherine was condemned by a bill of attainder and executed on 13 February 1542. Thomas Culpeper and another lover, Francis Dereham, had been executed some weeks before, on 10 December 1541.
Notes and Links Part 43
Fortifications at Hull, Progress 1541
Proceedings against Queen Catherine – State Trial including. 'inward sorrow the king’s majesty took'
Proceedings against Queen Catherine – State Trial including. 'inward sorrow the king’s majesty took'
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