Faction in the Court of Henry 1540-47

Debate

• Traditional view – L. B. Smith (1971) Henry VIII, the mask of royalty:– Henry was the master, exploiting differences between the

factions.

• Revisionist – Eric Ives (1979) Faction in Tudor England:– Henry was their victim, swayed in random directions by

whoever managed to secure his confidence at crucial moments, and often subsequently regretting the consequences.

Some episodes can be seen both ways

• 1543 – Cranmer (Prebendary plot)• 1544 – Germayne Gardiner• 1546 – Catherine Parr• Could be seen as subtle manoeuvres by Henry to

assert his mastery over both parties….• Or it could be seen as irresponsible and irrational

actions of an aging man of declining mental abilities too easily influenced by whoever managed to gain his ear at a particular moment.

• But neither the executions of Anne Boleyn (1536) or Thomas Cromwell (1540) suggest that Henry was in effective control of the situation.

• In allowing them to go to the scaffold, Henry seems to have been unduly influenced by their enemies, and in the case of the latter at least, he lived to regret it.

• Difficult to imagine that Henry recovered a level of control in the 1540s when he was clearly in physical and mental decline, that he didn’t have in the 1530s….

• On the other hand… The situation is less dangerous for the absence of Cromwell…

• After the executions of Thomas Culpepper, Francis Dereham and Catherine Howard, the kingllings stopped.

• Factions fighting in the 1540s was not as deadly as it had been under Cromwell – Cranmer, Gardiner and Henry’s wife were all accused of capital crimes but none were executed.

• The sting had gone out of faction fighting…suggesting that Henry was able to assert his authority and play one off against the other…

• In the end he sided with the Reformers of the Privy Chamber….

• Or did he…• He must have been their virtual prisoner by the end…• They had possession of the Dry Stamp• William Paget, the King’s Secretary controlled access to

the king.• Hertford and his allies were clearly able to influence

the writing of the will and then to further adapt it when Henry was too ill to know.