SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



cloth of estate. . . . There was a cupboard in 

 length the breadth of the chamber, six desks high, 

 full of gilt plate, very sumptuous, and of the newest 

 fashions ; and upon the nethermost desk garnished 

 all with plate of clean gold, having two great 

 candlesticks of silver and gilt, most curiously 

 wrought, the workmanship whereof, with the 

 silver, cost three hundred marks, and lights of 

 wax as big as torches burning upon the same. 

 The plates that hung on the walls to give light in 

 the chamber were of silver and gilt, with lights 

 burning in them, a great fire in the chimney, and 

 all other things necessary for the furniture of so 

 noble a feast. . . . My lord's officers caused the 

 trumpets to blow to warn to supper . . . the 

 service was brought up in such order and abund- 

 ance, both costly and full of subtleties, with such a 

 pleasant noise of divers instruments of music, that 

 the Frenchmen, as it seemed, were rapt into Para- 

 dise. . . . 



' Before the second course, my Lord Cardinal 

 came in among them, booted and spurred, all sud- 

 denly, and bade them preface (welcome). My Lord 

 commanded them to sit still and straightways 

 being not shifted of his riding apparel, sat down in 

 the midst laughing and being as merry as ever I 

 saw him in all my life. . . . Then my Lord took 

 a bowl of gold, which was esteemed at the value of 

 500 marks, filled with hypocras putting off his 

 cap, said, " I drink to the king, my Sovereign Lord 

 and Master and to the king your master," and 

 therewith drank a good draught. And when he 

 had done he desired the Grand Master to pledge 

 him cup and all, the which cup he gave him, and 

 so caused all the other lords and gentlemen in 

 other cups to pledge these two royal princes. . . . 

 Then went my Lord to his privy chamber to shift 

 him ; and returned again among them, using them 

 so nobly, with so loving and familiar countenance 

 and entertainment, that they could not commend 

 him too much.' 



Cavendish goes on to describe that every cham- 

 ber had ' a bason and a ewer of silver, some gilt 

 and some parcel gilt, and some two great pots of 

 silver in like manner, and one pot at the least with 

 wine and beer, a bowl or goblet, and a silver pot 

 to drink beer in a silver candlestick or two and 

 a staff torch ; a fine manchet, and a chetloaf of 

 bread. ... In the morning of the next day (not 

 early) they rose and heard mass, and dined with 

 my Lord and so departed towards Windsor, and 

 there hunted, delighting much in the castle or 

 college, and in the Order of the Garter.' " 6 



On another occasion the king expressed his plea- 



HAMPTON 



sure in hunting with Wolsey, ' and wished him to 

 come again that they might have the pastime 

 together two or three days." 76 



Wolsey at first seems to have encouraged Henry's 

 desire for a divorce in order to further his own 

 foreign policy, 1 " but 'the greatest political genius 

 that England has ever seen ' was no match for the 

 ambition of Anne Boleyn, supported by the king's 

 passion. From the moment that Anne became 

 Wolsey's political rival his doom was sealed." 5 

 His enemies began to make themselves felt when 

 his efforts to obtain the decree of divorce from the 

 Pope failed," 9 and the royal favour was withdrawn 

 from him. His gift of Hampton Court to the 

 king was doubtless made at a moment when he 

 first realized that his influence was declining. 

 The satirists, Skelton and Roy, expressed public 

 opinion when they dared to publish reflections on 

 his name and fame. 180 



Meanwhile the cardinal continued to live at 

 Hampton Court, to receive private visits there, and 

 to transact business. The ambassadors continued 

 to wait upon him, notably Du Bellay, the French 

 ambassador, who stayed at the palace in June I 528, 

 and mentions in his dispatches the various conver- 

 sations he had with Wolsey, often while he was 

 'walking in his gardens.' 181 It was at Hampton 

 Court, too, that he saw the Netherlands ambassa- 

 dors, and there that eventually a truce for eight 

 months was arranged with the Low Countries, and 

 signed 15 June 1528. On 17 June it was 

 solemnly confirmed in the chapel, Wolsey, the 

 envoys of the Netherlands, Du Bellay, and the 

 representatives of the emperor being present. 181 

 This truce, which must not be confused with the 

 peace mentioned before, is also known as 'The 

 Truce of Hampton Court.' 



After this, the troubles which were gathering 

 fast about Wolsey, and the prevalence of the 

 ' sweating sickness,' seem to have prevented him 

 from offering further hospitalities. During June, 

 July, and August 1528 he was at the palace, 

 attended only by a few followers, instead of by the 

 train of noble and gallant gentlemen who had 

 hitherto clustered round him. 183 On 3 July 1529, 

 Du Bellay wrote that ' Wolsey is hidden at Hamp- 

 ton Court, because he knew nowhere else to go. 

 He has fortified his gallery and his garden (.'against 

 the sickness). Only four or five are allowed to see 

 him.' 184 The king seems to have stayed with him 

 there again in September and December I528, 185 

 and in March, April, and July l^zy. The last 

 time that Wolsey himself was at Hampton Court 

 was in July 1529. In November of that year a 



17* Cavendish, Lift of Wohey (ed. 

 Singer), i, 134-5- 



7 L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (2), 4766, 

 Sept. 1528. 



"7 Gairdner, in Engl. Hist. Rev. Oct. 

 1906. 



V* Creighton, op. cit. 160, 213. 



W Diet. Nat. Biog. ' Wolsey,' 339 ; 

 Trans. Roy. Hist. Sac. (Ser. 2), xiii, 75, 

 102. The various lords who had long 

 been jealous of Wolsey's influence with 

 the king were ready to take Anne 



Boleyn's part against him ; Friedmann, 

 Anne Boleyn ; Thos. Gairdner, ' New 

 Lights on Divorce of Henry VIII,' 

 Engl. Hist. Rev. July 1890, Oct. 1906. 



" See p. 328, n. 155. 



l L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (2), 4332, 

 4391, App. no. 1 58 j Le Grand, Hittoire 

 du Divorce, iii, 1 30-6 ; cit. Law, 

 Hat. Hampton Court Palace, i, 113. 



184 Le Grand, Histoire du Divorce, iii, 

 129 i L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (2), 4566. 

 The representative! of France and Spain 



33 1 



'touched hands in token of amity,' 

 though one of the terms of the truce 

 was that hostilities with Spain were 

 not to be entirely suspended. 



198 An account of the ' sweating 

 sickness ' gathered from the L. and P. 

 Hen. VIII is given in the preface to 

 vol. ii, p. ccvii et seq. 



1M L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (i), 

 1940. 



186 Ibid. (2), 4766, 5016. 



' Ibid. (3), 5476, 5681, 5806. 



