¹ British Library (hereafter cited B.L.), Lansdowne MS 205, fos. 56, 152–3. William Gates is erroneously called Richard in Morant, Philip, History and antiquities of the county of Essex (2 vols., London, 1760–1768), II, 146Google Scholar. Sir Geoffrey's wife Agnes was heiress to Thomas Mewes, according to The Victoria history of the counties of England: Essex, eds. Doubleday, Herbert A. et al. (7 vols., London, 1903–1978), iv, 199Google Scholar. Also see Essex gentry's wills, vol. iv of Elizabethan life, ed. Frederick G. Emmison (4 vols., Essex, 1970–8), p. 20. John Gates’ younger brother Sir Henry settled at Seamer, in the county of York. Notes & Queries, cxlviii (May 1925), 350, 394.Google Scholar

² Inquisitiones post mortem 18 Henry, VIII, List & Index Society, Index of inquisitions post mortem, 1509–1660 (4 vols., London, 1907–1909), I, 100. John was twenty-two in 1526.Google Scholar

³ Black Book of Lincoln's Inn, fo. 119, The records of the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn, ed. Baildon, William P. (2 vols., London, 1896), I, 41. Gates was admitted on 2 Aug. 1523.Google Scholar

⁴ Letters and papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, eds. Brewer, John S. et al. (21 vols. with Addenda, London, 1862–1932), xix.i.19 (hereafter cited LP).Google Scholar

⁵ Ridley's letter of 23 July 1551, The works of Nicholas Ridley, ed. Christmas, Henry (Cambridge, 1841), p. 33Google Scholar. This letter is printed in extenso in Strype, John, Ecclesiastical memorials (3 vols. 1721. Rpt. Oxford, 1822), III.ii.264–7 (hereafter cited EM).Google Scholar

⁶ B.L., Harleian MS 284, fo. 128 (transcripts in Essex Record Office, T/G 111/2).

⁷ Black Book of Lincoln's Inn, fo. 30b, Records of Lincoln's Inn, i, 34.Google Scholar A special admission was granted with a number of privileges such as exoneration from serving certain offices, the right of sitting at the Benchers’ Commons instead of the usual Fellows’ Commons, or the right to take meals in the Inn. Ibid. p. vii.

⁸ LP, iv.i.819, 1136(2), 2002(11), pp. 83, 236.

⁹ Braddock, Robert C., ‘The royal household, 1540–1560’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1971), p. 155 n. 35.Google Scholar

¹⁰ LP, i.Addenda.i.832. Denny held the post of the yeoman of the wardrobe as late as 1537. LP, XIII.i.309. His name is found for the first time listed with the grooms of the privy chamber in 1533. Historical manuscripts commission (hereafter cited HMC). Calendar of the manuscripts of the marquis of Bath (4 vols., London, 1904–1968), iv [Seymour papers 1532–1686, ed. Blatcher, Marjorie (1968)], 2.Google Scholar

¹¹ LP, viii. 149(36); xi.580 (p. 233), 670.

¹² LP, XII.ii.877; xiii.ii.1280 (fo. 53); xvi.380, 1489 (fo. 164b).

¹³ LP, XII.ii.877; XIII.ii.1191(6); xv.967(2); xvi.402; i.Addenda.ii. 1455, 1678 (pp. 563–4); HMC. Seventh report. Parts I & II (London, 1877), p. 605Google Scholar. The designation of groom, page, and yeoman of the wardrobe seems to have been used indiscriminately. Usually the rank of groom was senior to that of page, but we cannot explain why Gates, beginning as a groom, should be called a page four years later. For the history of the wardrobe see Johnson, J. H., ‘The king's wardrobe and household’, Willard, James F. & Morris, William A., eds., The English government at work, 1327–1336 (3 vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1940–1950), 1Google Scholar; Records of the wardrobe and household 1285–1286, eds. Benjamin, & Byerly, Catherine (London, 1977), pp. ix–xliv.Google Scholar

¹⁴ LP, XVII. 115, 388; xix.i. 1035(40). The institution of the gentleman was created on the French model and by amalgamating the posts of the two earlier officers: esquires of the household and the knights of the body. In the Eltham Ordinance of 1526, the gentlemen of the privy chamber were called ‘gentlemen wayters’. The Society of Antiquaries, A collection of ordinances and regulations of the royal household (London, 1790), pp. 154ffGoogle Scholar. For the history of the evolution of the privy chamber see Starkey, David R., ‘The king's privy chamber, 1485–1547’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University, 1973).Google Scholar

¹⁵ LP, xx.ii.Appendix 2(1, 2vi). As a gentleman Denny received £50.

¹⁶ LP, xxi.i.969.

¹⁷ LP, xxi.ii.200(50), 648(61).

¹⁸ LP, XVII. 1134.

¹⁹ LP, xxi.i.1334.

²⁰ LP, xxi.i.157, 388; II.769.11.2, 8, 9; III.4.

²¹ LP, XVII.231 (p. 128); xviii.i.436 (fo. 78); ii.231.

²² LP, xvii.267 (p. 148); xxi.ii.769 (14).

²³ LP, i.Addenda.ii. 1804; xxi.ii.769.iv (12). Constant movement and use called for occasional repairs to the chest and its lock.

²⁴ The Society of Antiquaries of London MS 29, fo. 23b (Henry VIII's Jewel Book) cited in Jackson, Charles J., ‘The spoon and its history’, Archaeologia, liii, I (1892), 125. Gates's financial activities strongly suggest that he worked as a cofferer of the royal household. Collection of ordinances, pp. 228–9.Google Scholar

²⁵ LP, i.Addenda.ii. 1520, 1722. Though Denny is not mentioned, the account itself suggests a record of petty expenses in the privy chamber incurred at the behest of a senior officer rather than the king himself. In 1545 Gates was described as Denny's deputy by the tailor of Westminster.

²⁶ LP, xv.445, 991; XVII.281, 299, 316, 322, 388, 417, 680, 883, Appendix 17; xx.i.101; i.Addenda.ii. 1492, 1513, 1517, 1546.

²⁷ LP, XVII.1012(9).

²⁸ LP, xix.i.275.4 (pp. 160–2, 164); ii.223. Also see xi.580 (p. 233) in note 11 above.

²⁹ LP, xx.ii.418. By a grant of 31 August 1546 this authorization was extended until 10 May 1547. Foedera, ed. Rymer, Thomas (10 vols. in 20. Third edn, London, 1739–1745), vi.iii. & iv.138–9Google Scholar; LP, xxi.i.1537 (32–4). William Clerc of Punsborn, Herefordshire had begun his career as a servant of Sir Thomas Heneage, Gates’ senior colleague in the privy chamber. He became a sergeant-at-arms in 1535. LP, viii.291(9). In 1542 he was appointed a clerk of the privy seal. Calendar of patent rolls. Edward VI (6 vols., London, 1924–1929), II, 80 (hereafter cited CPREd). Thereafter he was described as a clerk of the household. LP, xviii.i.982(110), p. 550.Google Scholar

³⁰ LP, xxi.ii.634.I; Strype, , Annals of the Reformation (4 vols. 1709. Rpt. Oxford, 1824), II.ii.432Google Scholar. The will is printed in extensor on pp. 425–47. In a subsequent copy of the will this amount was changed to £40. Probably the change was a mistake; this amount appears along with Sir William Herbert's (later earl of Pembroke) bequest of £200. We know that Herbert actually received £300. LP, xxi.ii.634(10). Also see Acts of the privy council of England 1542–1628, eds. Dasent, John R. et al. (46 vols., London, 1890–1964), II, 105 (hereafter cited APC).Google Scholar

³¹ These rewards included, besides cash, such delicacies as ‘a tun of the best “Casgeyn” [Gascon] wine’ and half a dozen fine sugar loaves to a gold chain, or a dozen ‘Kersey’ [‘kersey’-a coarse, lightweight woollen cloth], or a ‘nag’ [pony]. LP, xvii. 1075, 1076; XVIII.i.837; i.Addenda.ii.1524, 1540, 1546, 1553, 1608, 1625, 1679, 1802.

³² LP, I.Addenda.ii. 1550, 1652–4, 1800–1. Dorothy was most probably related to Gates.

³³ Williams, William R., Official lists of the duchy...of Lancaster (Brecon, 1901), p. 5Google Scholar; Lehmberg, Stanford E., The later parliaments of Henry VIII 1536–1547 (Cambridge, 1977), pp. 137, 208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁴ EM, II.i.36; Literary remains of Edward VI, ed. Nichols, John G. (2 vols., London, 1857), I, ccxcix-cccii (hereafter cited LR). As fee these knights had to pay ‘dowble the some [sum] of other knightes’, because they were nominate of the Bath.Google Scholar

³⁵ CPREd, 1, 83; v, 339; EM, 11.ii.164; List & Index Society, List of sheriffs for England and Wales from the earliest times to A.D. 1831 (Rpt. London, 1963), p. 45; Lists of duchy of Lancaster, P. 5.Google Scholar

³⁶ APC, II, 407.

³⁷ LR, II, 280; Chronicle of the grey friars of London, ed. Nichols, J. G. (London, 1852), p. 75Google Scholar; Burnet, Gilbert, The history of the Reformation of the church of England (7 vols. 1679–1715. New edn by Nicholas Pocock, Oxford, 1865), II, 273; v, 22.Google Scholar

³⁸ APC, III, 77; LR, 11, 284–5; Burnet, History of Reformation, v, 24; Parker Society, Epistolae tigurinae de rebus potissimum ad ecclesiae anglicanae (Cambridge, 1848), p. 368; letter of Martinus Micronius to Henry Bullinger from London, 28 August 1550. Gates guarded the winding lanes between Woodham New Hall and Woodham Walter (Mary resided at both places) and the sea.Google Scholar

³⁹ CPREd, iv, 26. Gates’ licence violated the statute of retainers and hence he had to be issued a royal pardon.

⁴⁰ LR, II, 244 n. I; APC, III, 18; CPREd, iv, 382; v, 143, 234. In 1549 Darcy, Andrew Dudley, Thomas Wroth, and Edward Rogers had been appointed principal knights or gentlemen. Later Gates seems to have replaced ogers.

⁴¹ LR, II, 312.

⁴² APC, III, 254.

⁴³ Ibid. p. 259; EM, II.i.464; ii.163, 202. Strype perhaps correctly dates the appointment in May 1551, as the two subsequent renewals of this annual commission are dated 16 May 1552 and 24 May 1553. APC, iv, 50, 277. Gates shared the lieutenancy with Lord Chancellor Rich, Lord Chamberlain Darcy, and the earl of Oxford.

⁴⁴ Gates sat for Essex from 1551 to March 1553. Lists of duchy of Lancaster, p. 5.

⁴⁵ Letter of 10 July 1549 from Gates and Darcy, commissioners against illegal enclosures, to Somerset. Public Record Office, SP 10/8, fo. 24; letter of 8 Mar. 1551 from the privy council to Gates cited in Aungier, George J., The history and antiquities of Syon monastery (London, 1840), p. 90. This letter, as printed here, mistakenly describes Gates as vice-chamberlain.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ List & Index Society, List & index of the declared account from the pipe office and audit office (Rpt. London, 1963), p. 1 (Pipe office roll no. 8). As one of the principal gentlemen of Edward's privy chamber Gates was also responsible for the privy purse.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Elton, Geoffrey R., The Tudor revolution in government (Cambridge, 1953), p. 230CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Richardson, Walter C., History of the court of augmentations, 1536–1554 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1961), p. 199Google Scholar; Lehmberg, S. E., Sir Walter Mildmay and Tudor government (Austin, Texas, 1964), p. 32.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ ‘The revenue commission of 1552’, Historical Journal, xxii, 3 (1979), 516–17.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Essex Record Office, D/DP/050. The commissioners submitted their report most probably on 10 Dec. 1552. For the most recent analysis of this report see Alsop's above-mentioned article, pp. 511–33.

⁵⁰ B.L., Cotton MS Nero, CX, fo. 79 cited in LR, II, 406 n., 498–501; CPREd, iv, 353. We must not regard these commissions as committees of the privy council. Hoak, Dale E., The king's council in the reign of Edward VI (Cambridge, 1976), pp. 132–3.Google Scholar

⁵¹ These commissions were granted at various times: 23 May (CPREd, v, 411), June (EM, 11.ii.208), 13 July (CPREd, iv, 354–5; LR, ii, 414 n.).

⁵² CPREd, iv, 228; v, 184; LR, 11,468 n. 2, 469–70, 471 n.; Richardson, Court of augmentations, p. 235 n. 57. For Gates’ still further commissions see CPREd, iv, 355–6, 397–8; v, 417–8; EM, II.ii.209, 247–8.

⁵³ CPREd, iv, 391; LR, II, 469.

⁵⁴ EM, II.ii.210; LR, II, 470.

⁵⁵ For a discussion of these financial reforms see Elton, Tudor revolution, pp. 224–58; Richardson, Court of augmentations, chs. VI-X; Dietz, Frederick C., English government finance 1485–1558 (Urbana, Illinois, 1926), pp. 188–201Google Scholar; and above all, Alsop, James D., ‘The exchequer of receipt in the reign of Edward VI’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University, 1978).Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Alsop, ‘Revenue commission’, p. 514. Professor Richardson states that Gates never actually served in the commission of 23 Mar. 1552, though he was named in it. He, however, states in the same paragraph that only Petre, Wroth, and John Gosnolde ‘were apparently excused from active participation’. The report of the royal commission of 1552, ed. Richardson, (Morgantown, Virginia, 1974), p. xxvi and nn. 56–8. Richardson's statement concerning Gates remains unexplained.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ B.L., Royal MS 18.C.XXIV, fo. 165b, cited Hoak, Council of Edward VI, p. 155. Also see note 29 above.

⁵⁸ Obviously, his actual experience in the administration of the duchy of Lancaster antedates his appointment to the revenue commission of 1552. Dr Alsop overlooks this earlier experience of Gates’ and rather misleadingly concludes that his appointment of July 1552 ‘made little impact upon his performance’ in the revenue commission of Jan. 1552.’ Revenue commission’, p. 516. LR, 11, 430–1 no. 2. The chancellorship carried an annual fee of £151 2s 8d together with substantial perquisites. APC, iv, 61.

⁵⁹ LR, II, 409, 416, 419, 436 n. On 16 May Gates held a muster of these men. On the 23rd, he, as one of the seven councillors with the king, joined the royal progress with his retainers. Nichols, J. G., ‘The progress of king Edward VI in Sussex’, Sussex Archaeological Collections, x (1858).Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Jordan, Wilbur K., Edward VI: the threshold of power (London, 1970), p. 51.Google Scholar

⁶¹ LR, II, 315–6 and n. 5; Strype dates Gresham's letter on 21 Aug. 1552. EM, II.i.563.

⁶² APC, III, 328–9; Hoak, Council of Edward VI, p. 111.

⁶³ According to Strype, thirty-nine officers were ‘chief about the king’ in about 1552. Of them the first fourteen (including Gates) were all privy councillors. EM, II.ii. 163–4. Meanwhile, Gates had acquired numerous sinecures amounting to a total of about £150 and a substantial landed property worth about £14,000. For details see Narasingha P. Sil,’ King's men, queen's men, statesmen: a study of the careers of Sir Anthony Denny, Sir William Herbert, and Sir John Gate, gentlemen of the Tudor privy chamber’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Oregon, 1978), pp. 263–8.

⁶⁴ MS St Germain, 740: ‘Relation de l'accusation et mort du due de Somerset’, printed in Friedrich von Raumer, , History of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (2 vols., London, 1835), II, 79Google Scholar; Godwyn, Francis, Armales of England, ed. & tr. Godwyn, Morgan (London, 1630), p. 297.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Elton, G. R., Reform and Reformation; England, 1509–1558 (Cambridge, Mass., 1977), P. 372.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Throckmorton, Sir Thomas, The legend of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, ed. Peck, Francis (London, 1740), p. 14. A critical study of Sir Nicholas is long overdue.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Ibid. pp. 28–9. Sir Nicholas’ younger brother John worked in Northumberland's household. Ibid. p. 15.

⁶⁸ Before death Gates confessed that though he was ‘the gretyst reader off scripture’, he ‘dyd not rede to then tent to be edyfiyd ther by nor to seke the glory off God, but contrarywyse errogantly to be sedycious...’ Harleian MS 284, fo. 127^V.

⁶⁹ Goodman, Godfrey, The court of king James the first, ed. Brewer, J. S. (2 vols., London, 1839), I, 117–8; Legend of Throckmorton, p. 30. Also see note 38 above.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ I owe this sentence to the kindness of Professor Elton. Also see A collection of state papers...left by William Cecil Lord Burhgley, ed. Haynes, Samuel (London, 1740), p. 118.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Jordan, Edward VI: threshold of power, p. 517 and ch. xiv.

⁷² The mid- Tudor polity c. 1540–1560, eds. Loach, Jennifer & Tittler, Robert (London, 1980), p. 48. Also see Hoak, Council of Edward VI, pp. 123–4, 267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷³ Elton, Reform and Reformation, pp. 374–5.

⁷⁴ LR, II, 573. The devise is printed in extenso on pp. 571–2; Strype, John, Memorials of… Thomas Cranmer (3 vols. 1694. New edn, Oxford, 1812), II, 911.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ The Chronicle of queen Jane, and… Mary (London, 1850), p. 20Google Scholar. Courtenay had been incarcerated since 1538. He was excluded from King Edward's amnesty in 1553. Nothing is known on Gates’ role in Courtenay's continued imprisonment. See Calendar of letters, despatches, and state papers relating to the negotiations between England and Spain, eds. Bergenroth, Gustav A. et al. (13 vols., London, 1862–1954), xi, 114 (hereafter cited CSPS); Dictionary of national biography, ‘Courtenay, Edward’.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ The acts and monuments of John Fox, ed. Catley, Stephen (8 vols. New edn, London, 1838), vi, 360Google Scholar. In fact, on 16 July, Paulet escaped, though he was apprehended later and brought back to the Tower. Heylyn, Peter, Ecclesia restaurata, ed. Robertson, James C. (2 vols., Cambridge, 1849), II, 31.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Godwyn, Annales, p. 273. Recently Dr Braddock has argued that not all the pensioners deserted the duke. ‘The character and composition of the duke of Northumberland's army’, Albion, vi, 4 (1974), 342–56Google Scholar. Also see The accession, coronation, and marriage of Mary Tudor, ed. & tr. Malfatti, Cesare V. (Barcelona, 1955), pp. 21–2.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Report of John Fox printed in The sermons of Edwin Sandys, ed. Ayre, John (Cambridge, 1841), p. iv.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Lodge, Edmund, Portraits of illustrious personages of Great Britain (12 vols., London, 1823), ‘John Dudley, duke of Northumberland’, p. 7.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Sermons of Sandys, p. iv.

⁸¹ Wriothesley, Charles, A chronicle of England during the reign of the Tudors, ed. Hamilton, William D. (2 vols., London, 1875–1877), II, 91, 99Google Scholar; The diary of Henry Machyn, ed. Nichols, J. G. (London, 1848), pp. 37, 41Google Scholar; Holinshed, Raphael, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577), ed. Ellis, Henry (6 vols. 1807–1808. Rpt. New York, 1965), iv, 4. John Gates’ younger brother Henry was a gentleman of the privy chamber. Also see CSPS, xi, 119, 175, 186.Google Scholar

⁸² Harleian MS 353: William Dalby's report of 22 Aug. 1553; Chronicle of Jane and Mary, p. 21; Stow, John, Annales, or a generall chronicle of England, ed. Howes, Edmund (London, 1631), p. 614.Google Scholar

⁸³ Guaras, Antonio de, Relación muy verdadera…como dona Maria fue proclamadapor reyna, ed. & tr. Garnett, Richard (London, 1892), p. 109.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Harleian MS 284, fos. 127v–128: Gates’ head was stricken off at three blows.

⁸⁵ Elton, Reform and Reformation, p. 377.

⁸⁶ Tudor royal proclamations, eds. Hughes, Paul L. & Larkin, James F. (3 vols., New Haven, Connecticut, 1964–1969), II, 12–7Google Scholar: ‘Announcing coronation pardon of Mary I’ no. 394; Hayward, Sir John, Annals of the first four years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, ed. Bruce, John (London, 1840), p. 14 and n.Google Scholar; Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton, A commentary of the services and charges of William lord Grey of Wilton, ed. Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton (London, 1847), pp. ix, 49Google Scholar. On 31 July 1553 Grey was described in Mary's patent as ‘our right trustie and welbeloved William Graye knight’, who was to levy 350 footmen and fifty horsemen demilances in the counties of Middlesex and Kent, and the city of London, for the garrison of Calais. Northampton's title was restored by Elizabeth on 13 Jan. 1559. Calendar of patent rolls. Elizabeth 1558–1575, (6 vols., London, 1939–1973), I, 48.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ See notes 38 and 69 above, and The chronicle and political papers of Edward VI, ed. Jordan, W. K. (Ithaca, New York, 1966), p. 78.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ CSPS, xi, 179–80.

⁸⁹ Cheke's letter to the queen in Harrington, John, Nugae antiquae, ed. Parks, Thomas (2 vols., London, 1804), I, 61–3.Google Scholar