House Of Treason: The Rise And Fall Of A Tudor Dynasty by Robert Hutchinson Page A
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Authors: Robert Hutchinson
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should now return to his benefice, ideally as far away as possible from London and the court, and live out his days quietly as a pious churchman. Wolsey had collected a number of clerical hats - Archbishop of York, and Bishop of Winchester, for example - and Norfolk believed that York, 175 miles (282 km.) north of the capital, would fit the bill admirably.
Wolsey grasped that proximity to the king might still bring reinstatement and salvation. When Cromwell informed him of the plan, he replied cheerfully: ‘Well then Thomas, we will go to Winchester’ - signalling his intention to take up residence at his rich bishopric in Hampshire, not far from London. He failed to realise he was speaking to a man who temporarily owed much to Norfolk and, anyway, was only interested in advancing his own fortunes. Cromwell hastened to the duke to pass on Wolsey’s decision.
Norfolk often presented a mask of affability to the outside world. He was short and wiry, with a hooked, aquiline nose, inherited from his father, dominating his fleshy features. Beneath his cordial exterior and those hooded eyes lurked a violent temper, a cold brutality and a callous, single-minded determination. Now his friendly façade was swiftly stripped away and he answered Cromwell candidly:
I think that the Cardinal . . . makes no haste to go northward. Tell him, if he go not away shortly but shall tarry, I shall tear him with my teeth.
I would advise him to prepare himself as quickly as he can, or else he shall be sent forward. 35
Wolsey duly left for the north on 5 April 1530, and entered, for the first time, the Church province he had ruled as an absentee metropolitan since August 1514. He arrived at his decayed palace at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, on the 28th, whingeing about being ‘wrapped in misery and need on every side’ before moving on to Cawood Castle, twelve miles (19 km.) from York, 36 at the end of September. There he regained his refined taste for the trappings and splendours of ecclesiastical life and despatched a letter to Henry, seeking the rich ‘mitre and pall 37 which he had formerly used . . . in celebrating the divine office’. When he read the note, the king was astonished at Wolsey’s ‘brazen insolence’ adding: ‘Is there still arrogance in this fellow, who is so obviously ruined?’ 38
Cromwell tempered the king’s reaction when he told his former master that Henry was ‘very sorry that you are in such necessity . . . The Duke of Norfolk promises you his best aid, but he wills you for the present to be content and not much to molest the king (concerning payment of your debts) for, as he supposes, the time is not right for it.’ These were saccharic words and Cromwell knew it full well. 39
Wolsey wrote to Norfolk on 30 October, in a disingenuous attempt to reassure his brooding enemy that he did not wish to be restored as Lord Chancellor and would be happy to spend the rest of his life in York. He sent Thomas Arundell, a gentleman of his privy chamber, to deliver the letter to the duke, then staying at Hampton Court. After reading it, Norfolk walked in the park, mulling over its empty promises, and then brusquely told the messenger that ‘no man should make him believe that’. Arundell reported: ‘The more I spoke to the contrary, the more out of frame I found him.’
The duke and his niece were yet more determined to tear down the Cardinal once and for all and Norfolk posted agents to watch the movements of the household at Cawood and to intercept the communications, in cipher, of his Venetian physician, Dr Augustine de Augustinis. One of the reasons for his angry rejection of Wolsey’s blandishments was his knowledge of three secret messages sent by the Cardinal ‘whereby it appears that [he] desires as much authority as ever [he] did’. 40 Furthermore, he disclosed to Chapuys that Wolsey had attempted, by different agents, to undermine Norfolk’s position at court and they had told him all about it.
Wolsey grasped that proximity to the king might still bring reinstatement and salvation. When Cromwell informed him of the plan, he replied cheerfully: ‘Well then Thomas, we will go to Winchester’ - signalling his intention to take up residence at his rich bishopric in Hampshire, not far from London. He failed to realise he was speaking to a man who temporarily owed much to Norfolk and, anyway, was only interested in advancing his own fortunes. Cromwell hastened to the duke to pass on Wolsey’s decision.
Norfolk often presented a mask of affability to the outside world. He was short and wiry, with a hooked, aquiline nose, inherited from his father, dominating his fleshy features. Beneath his cordial exterior and those hooded eyes lurked a violent temper, a cold brutality and a callous, single-minded determination. Now his friendly façade was swiftly stripped away and he answered Cromwell candidly:
I think that the Cardinal . . . makes no haste to go northward. Tell him, if he go not away shortly but shall tarry, I shall tear him with my teeth.
I would advise him to prepare himself as quickly as he can, or else he shall be sent forward. 35
Wolsey duly left for the north on 5 April 1530, and entered, for the first time, the Church province he had ruled as an absentee metropolitan since August 1514. He arrived at his decayed palace at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, on the 28th, whingeing about being ‘wrapped in misery and need on every side’ before moving on to Cawood Castle, twelve miles (19 km.) from York, 36 at the end of September. There he regained his refined taste for the trappings and splendours of ecclesiastical life and despatched a letter to Henry, seeking the rich ‘mitre and pall 37 which he had formerly used . . . in celebrating the divine office’. When he read the note, the king was astonished at Wolsey’s ‘brazen insolence’ adding: ‘Is there still arrogance in this fellow, who is so obviously ruined?’ 38
Cromwell tempered the king’s reaction when he told his former master that Henry was ‘very sorry that you are in such necessity . . . The Duke of Norfolk promises you his best aid, but he wills you for the present to be content and not much to molest the king (concerning payment of your debts) for, as he supposes, the time is not right for it.’ These were saccharic words and Cromwell knew it full well. 39
Wolsey wrote to Norfolk on 30 October, in a disingenuous attempt to reassure his brooding enemy that he did not wish to be restored as Lord Chancellor and would be happy to spend the rest of his life in York. He sent Thomas Arundell, a gentleman of his privy chamber, to deliver the letter to the duke, then staying at Hampton Court. After reading it, Norfolk walked in the park, mulling over its empty promises, and then brusquely told the messenger that ‘no man should make him believe that’. Arundell reported: ‘The more I spoke to the contrary, the more out of frame I found him.’
The duke and his niece were yet more determined to tear down the Cardinal once and for all and Norfolk posted agents to watch the movements of the household at Cawood and to intercept the communications, in cipher, of his Venetian physician, Dr Augustine de Augustinis. One of the reasons for his angry rejection of Wolsey’s blandishments was his knowledge of three secret messages sent by the Cardinal ‘whereby it appears that [he] desires as much authority as ever [he] did’. 40 Furthermore, he disclosed to Chapuys that Wolsey had attempted, by different agents, to undermine Norfolk’s position at court and they had told him all about it.