A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



bill of indictment was preferred against him in the 

 King's Bench. 187 He was told that the king wished 

 him to retire to Esher, where he had built a small 

 house, of which a part still remains. 188 He only 

 lived for about a year longer, and Hampton Court 

 is not concerned in the final details of disgrace of 

 him who : 



Once trod the ways of glory, 

 And sounded all the depths and shoals of 

 honour. 18 * 



Henry was already at the palace when he sent 

 for Cavendish to speak with him about the car- 

 dinal's death. Cavendish's account shows plainly 

 the profoundly self-seeking character of Henry. 

 Wolsey's faithful servant was summoned to attend 

 the king, who was engaged in archery in the park. 

 As Cavendish stood against a tree, sadly musing, 

 Henry suddenly came up to him and clapped him 

 on the shoulder, saying, ' I will make an end of my 

 game, and then I will talk with you.' He after- 

 wards went into the garden, but kept Cavendish 

 waiting for some time outside. Their interview 

 was long, and the king said he would ' liever than 

 twenty thousand pounds that the cardinal had 

 lived.' 19 He nevertheless inquired anxiously about 

 1,500, apparently all that remained of his favour- 

 ite's great fortune, which he had sent Sir William 

 Kingston 191 to claim from Wolsey on his death- 

 bed. 19 ' 



It is possible to obtain a very clear idea of the 

 wonderful collection of furniture, pictures, tapes- 

 tries, and plate which Wolsey had at Hampton 

 Court from an inventory of his belongings taken 

 after his attainder, 193 from an Augmentation Office 

 Roll now in the Record Office ; from Cavendish's 



Life ; and from the Venetian ambassador's accounts 

 of his plate. 194 



Venier, the Venetian ambassador in 1527, 

 estimated what he saw at Hampton Court alone 

 as worth 300,000 golden ducats, or 150,000. 

 Giustinian valued the silver he saw in 1519 at the 

 same amount, and says that the cardinal always had 

 a sideboard of plate worth 25,000, in any house 

 where he might be, and in his own room a 

 cupboard with further plate to the amount of 

 3 o,ooo. 194 



The number of the cardinal's retainers, as es- 

 timated in contemporary records, varies, but con- 

 sisted probably of about four hundred persons. 194 

 In Cavendish's different MSS. the numbers vary 

 from one hundred and fifty to eight hundred. The 

 first assessment of his household in a subsidy roll 

 (No. 204) at the Record Office gives the number 

 35429 people; another, dated 1525, makes the 

 total not more than two hundred and fifty ; 197 but 

 an assessment, taken apparently after his attainder 

 in 1530, gives the number again as 429. 198 The 

 expenses of his household were something over 

 30,000 a year in modern reckoning, but of course 

 this ' included the entertainment of numerous 

 gentlemen of good family, a very considerable 

 retinue, and all the expenses of the Chancery.' lw 



Henry did not take possession of Hampton 

 Court until Wolsey was actually banished. Up to 

 that time the ' King's Manor ' of Hampton Court 

 was apparently a figure of speech, but one of his 

 first acts was to erase the cardinal's badges and to 

 mark the whole building with his own arms and 

 monograms. 200 In the Chapter House Accounts 

 for 1530-2 there are numerous items for fixing, 

 carving, painting, and gilding the king's heraldic 



1[ >" His last interview with the king 

 seems to have been at Grafton Regis 

 in Sept. 1529 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. 'Wol- 

 sey.' 



ld8 In tile grounds of Esher Place, 

 now the property of Sir Edgar Vincent; 

 Cavendish, op. cit. ii, 24.7 ; L. and P. 

 Hen. VIII, iii, 414. The Gent. Mag. 

 tor 1877 contains an interesting article 

 on 'Cardinal Wolsey at Esher ' by 

 Walford. 



188 Shakespeare, Hen. VIII, Act iii, 

 Sc. ii. Respect for tradition claims 

 mention of the ' Cardinal Spider,' which 

 is said to be peculiar to Wolsey's part 

 of the palace, and to be connected in 

 some strange fashion with his tragic 

 fate. It is of a reddish brown colour, 

 and often attains a very large size. 

 Respect for truth claims mention that 

 the species Tegenaria Guyvnii, or Domet- 

 tica, is to be found in other parts of the 

 Thamci Valley ; Blackwall, Hilt, of 

 the Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 1 60 et seq. ; cit. Law, Hist. Hampton 

 Court Palace, i, 115. Tradition also 

 has it that the cardinal haunts the 

 scenes of his former greatness, and an 

 amusing story is told of a housekeeper 

 of the palace early in the last century, 

 who, when asked if she had ever seen 

 or heard of Wolsey's ghost, replied 

 with nonchalance that she seldom went 

 through the cloisters without ' brush- 

 ing against his Eminence.' Another 



story is told of a room near that which 

 is now shown to the public as ' the 

 Cardinal's Oratory.' A party of young 

 people were playing at cards in this 

 room, and the door continued to burst 

 open constantly without any reason. 

 One of the players, becoming tired of 

 getting up to shut it, said, impatient- 

 ly, ' If it is the Cardinal who keeps 

 on opening that door, I wish he would 

 sometimes shut it again.' The door 

 immediately closed of itself, quite 

 quietly. (Local traditions.) 



190 Cavendish, op. cit. i, 328 ; L. 

 and P. Hen. VIII, iv, Introd. p. dcxx-i. 



191 Constable of the Tower. 



192 Cavendish, op. cit. i, 328-31; 

 Creighton, Life of Wohey, 206-7 i 

 L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, Introd. 

 p. dcxv. 



" Harl. MSS. 599. 



194 Aug. Office Roll ; cit. L. and P. 

 Hen. VIII, iv (3) ; Cat. S.P. Venetian, 

 152733, no. 205, &c. ; Giustinian, 

 Despatches, ii, 314, &c. ; L. and P. Hen. 

 VIII, ii, Introd. p. ccxlvii, &c. For 

 detailed account see Law, Hist. Hamp- 

 ton Court Palace, i, 57-82 ; Law, 

 Guide n Hampton Court Palace, 1907 ; 

 Inventories of plate are printed in 

 Gutch, Collectanea Curiosa, ii, 283, 



334- 



194 Cal. S.P. Venetian, 1527-33; 



Giustinian, Despatches, ii, 314, <Scc. ; 



L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (3), 6186, 



332 



6748, &c. ; Add. MS. B.M. 24359, 

 fol. 42. 



196 L. and P. Hen. VIII, ii, Introd. 

 p. ccxlvii, n. 



"7 Ibid. Brewer suggests that Wol- 

 sey's household, as well as the house at 

 Hampton Court, had been made over 

 to Henry in 1525, but the return to 

 the larger number at a later date is in- 

 explicable on this assumption. There 

 are entries in Wolsey's accounts for the 

 entertainment of the French ambas- 

 sadors at Hampton Court as late as 

 1527 ; L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (3), 

 pp. 3041-3. 



198 Ibid. (3), 6185. 



199 Brewer, op. cit. ii, Introd. p. 

 ccxlvii, &c. Wolsey's personal attend- 

 ants numbered 1 60 persons, including 

 his high chamberlain, vice-chamberlain, 

 12 gentlemen ushers, daily waiters, 8 

 gentlemen ushers, and waiters of hit 

 privy chamber, 9 or 10 lords, 40 per- 

 sons acting as gentlemen cup-bearers, 

 carvers, servers, &c. ; 6 yeomen ushers, 

 8 grooms of the chamber, 46 yeomen 

 of his chamber 'daily to attend upon 

 his person,' 16 doctors and chaplains, 

 2 secretaries, and 4 counsellors learned 

 in the law. As Lord Chancellor he had 

 a separate retinue ; Law, op. cit. i, 86, 

 87. 



200 See Henry's arms in the First, or 

 Base, Court, which still remain, also in 

 the chapel, at the chapel door, &c. 



