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The Last Will and Testament of Henry VIII: a Question of Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Lacey Baldwin Smith
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Extract

That mighty prince, Henry VIII, died on Friday, the 28th of January, 1547, at two of the morning. The final years of the reign had been moving ponderously and inexorably to this moment when the King must die. The instant, however, that Henry slipped from life into death, a fundamental change took place. Not only was an irascible old man gone but so also was the dread and anxiety that had surrounded the concluding months of the King's life. For half a decade Tudor England had lived with the terrible certainty that Henry's reign was drawing to a close and the equally terrible uncertainty of not knowing when death would claim its sovereign. Thrice within the final year, in March, October, and December, Henry had approached death and had drawn away. No prediction could be secure, no plan assured so long as the moment of death remained unrecorded.

If Henry's death cleared the air and dispersed the atmosphere of fear and insecurity enveloping those who attended upon his passing, it also introduced a new and befuddling note for those who must record and narrate his departure. The ultimate irony of the historical profession is that the historian is a victim of his own knowledge; the breadth of his vision backward through the glass of time distorts his image of the past. He knows when, where and how the old King died; he can even date the event to the hour. In contrast, those who so impatiently awaited or dreaded the sovereign's demise could only speculate and form their plans upon the slender thread of surmise.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , November 1962 , pp. 14 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1962

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References

1. Brewer, J. S., Gairdner, J., and Brodie, R. H. (eds.), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII (London, 1862–1910), XXI, Pt. 2, 713Google Scholar. See also Bergenroth, G. A., de Gayangos, Pascual, Hume, M. A. S., Tyler, R., et al. (eds.), Calendar of State Papers, Spanish (London, 1862–1954), IX, 2Google Scholar. Hereafter cited as St. P. Sp.

2. Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 1, 439.

3. Ibid., XXI, Pt. 2, 605; 702; 725; 743; 760.

4. The original is in the PRO, Royal Wills, E. 23, Vol. IV, Pt. 1, 1-17. The most available printed version is Rymer, Thomas, Foedera (London, 1726–1735), XV, 110–17Google Scholar.

5. Pollard, A. F., England under Protector Somerset (London, 1900), p. 2Google Scholar.

6. Rymer, , Foedera, XV, 115–16Google Scholar.

7. Letters and Papers, XIX, Pt. 1, 864; Ludes, A., Tomlins, T. E., Raithby, J., et al (eds.), Statutes of the Realm (London, 1810–1828), III, 28 Henry VIII, c. 7, sec. 14, p. 661Google Scholar.

8. Quoted in Froude, J. A., History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth (London, 1877–1878), IV, 465Google Scholar.

9. St. P. Sp., VIII, 370, pp. 533-34.

10. Tytler, Patrick, England under the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary (London, 1839), I, 169Google Scholar.

11. Dasent, J. R. (ed.), Acts of the Privy Council (London, 1890–1907), II, 5Google Scholar.

12. Foxe, John, Acts and Monuments, ed. Townsend, G. (London, 1843–1849), VI, 163Google Scholar; Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 555 (14); 605.

13. Edwardes, Roger, Castra Regia (1558), ed. Bliss, P. and Bandinel, B. [The Roxburghe Club] (London, 1846), Pt. 1, 18Google Scholar.

14. Ibid., pp. 37-38.

15. Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 568.

16. Ibid., XXI, Pt. 2, 555 (3).

17. Foxe, , Acts and Monuments, VI, 163Google Scholar.

18. Ibid., V, 690; VI, 36, 163-65, 174.

19. Ibid., VI, 163.

20. Ibid., V, 692.

21. Ibid., VI, 163-65, 174; Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 487-88; St. P. Sp., VIII, 386, p. 556.

22. BM, Harleian MSS, 849, ff. 31-38; 419, f. 151; Burnet, Gilbert, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England, ed. Nares, E. (London, 1839), IV, 147–49Google Scholar. It has been suggested that the stamp was actually affixed after the King's death. See BM, Add. MSS., 4314, ff. 86-87.

23. Burnet, , Reformation, IV, 147–49Google Scholar.

24. Statutes of the Realm, III, 28 Henry VIII, c. 7, p. 661; and 35 Henry VIII, c. 1, p. 955.

25. Pollard, , Protector Somerset, p. 5Google Scholar.

26. Rymer, , Foedera, XV, 117Google Scholar.

27. Pollard, , Protector Somerset, p. 5Google Scholar. Pollard may have had in mind Francis Hargrave's “experts” who say “the letters of the king's name are evidently formed by a pen, and therefore strictly and properly by his hand not by his stamp. They [the experts] have likewise observed that some of the strokes of the letters are plainly uneven as drawn by a weak and trembling hand, in the time of his sickness; and are manifestly distinguished from those made by his stamp which is presently discerned at first view.” Hargrave, however, does not care to vouch for the exactness of this account. See Hargrave, Francis (alias George Harbin), The Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted (London, 1713), p. 206Google Scholar. I also have consulted “experts” and found them singularly reluctant to commit themselves.

28. Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 1, 1537 (34).

29. Ibid., XXI, Pt. 1 (31, 32, 33).

30. Cf. PRO, Royal Wills, E. 23, Vol. IV, Pt. 1, pp. 3 and 7 with PRO, State Papers 1, vol. CCXXI, f. 57 and vol. CCXXV, f. 5.

31. Cf. PRO, Royal Wills, E. 23, Vol. IV, Pt. 1, pp. 3 and 7 with PRO, State Papers 1, Vol. CCXXI, f. 57 and Vol. CCXXV, f. 5.

32. Hargrave, Hereditary Rights, pp. 186 ff.

33. PRO, State Papers 10, Vol. I, f. 3.

34. Acts of the Privy Council, II, 41.

35. Pollard, , Protector Somerset, p. 37Google Scholar.

36. State Papers, Henry VIII (London, 1830–1852), I, 892Google Scholar; Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 770.

37. Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 770 (86); 753 (ii).

38. Pollard, , Protector Somerset, p. 7Google Scholar.

39. Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 770 (85).

40. Burnet, , Reformation, IV, 147–49Google Scholar.

41. BM, Harleian MSS., 849, f. 32; 419, f. 151.

42. Letters and Papers, XXI, Pt. 2, 770 (85); St. P. Sp., VIII, 386, p. 557. There is a hint that Hertford did in fact obtain Henry's blessings to become Lord Protector. See St. P. Sp., IX, 31.

43. PRO, State Papers 11, Vol. IV, f. 93.

44. PRO, State Papers 12, Vol. VII, f. 71.