Thomas Cromwell: The Rise And Fall Of Henry VIII's Most Notorious Minister by Hutchinson Robert

Author:Hutchinson, Robert [Hutchinson, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781780223780
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2012-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The Distant Sound of Conflict

Come, my lord of Winchester. Answer the king here, but speak plainly and directly and shrink not, man! Is not that which pleases the king a law?

CROMWELL TO BISHOP STEPHEN GARDINER, 15391

Throughout the early months of 1539, Cromwell marshalled the defences of the realm in fearful expectation that French and Spanish troops could land on the shores of England at any time. The signing of the Treaty of Toledo by Charles V and Francis I on 12 January was another straw in the wind of impending war. Under its terms, both rulers agreed they would not conclude any alliance or diplomatic pact with Henry without first obtaining the other’s full agreement. In addition, Pope Paul III also made the conservative Scottish abbot David Beaton2 a cardinal and commissioned him to inveigle James V of Scotland into attacking England from the north. In London, all this European hurly-burly raised the spectre of a simultaneous three-pronged invasion of the realm and appeared to place it in the unenviable position of being ‘but a morsel amongst choppers’, as a gloomy Wriothesley graphically wrote.

Henry appealed to the nobility, warning that the Pope – that ‘pestilent idol, enemy of all truth and usurpator of all princes’ – was now conspiring to corrupt England’s religion and strip her of all her wealth. He sought pledges that they each would supply at least forty men, preferably archers and gunners, to be available, rather optimistically, at one hour’s notice.3 Persistent rumours that the imperial and French ambassadors would both be recalled from London heightened the jittery fears of an imminent outbreak of war4 and just before the Frenchman Castillon departed, Cromwell pointedly escorted him around the Tower of London so he could see the large stocks of armour and weaponry stored there.

To underline his less-than-subtle warnings of English military might, the Minister read out interminable lists of ordnance, munitions, warships and volunteers, all of which, he claimed, were ready for immediate mobilisation. The Lord Privy Seal later told the King that he had also allowed the ambassador to visit his own personal armoury,

and have showed him such store of harness [armour] and weapons as I have, the which he seemed to esteem much. I told him there were other particular armouries of the lords and gentlemen of this realm, more than the number of twenty, as well or better furnished than mine was, whereat he wondered and said he thought your grace the prince best furnished thereof in Christendom.5

The Frenchman collected his passports and departed London the following day, naively impressed by all he had seen during Cromwell’s tours: such is the value of carefully orchestrated disinformation.

This militarist hyperbole was all very well, but some substance was required to cloak the illusion of strength. Henry’s realm was, in reality, largely unprepared to repel a determined and powerful invasion. To deploy the limited forces more efficiently, England and Wales were divided into eleven defensive regions. Work also began on the construction of new circular

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