Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Wriothesley, Thomas, first earl of Southampton

(1505-1550)
Copyright © Oxford University Press 2019
Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.
Published in print: 23 September 2004
Published in print: 23 September 2004
This version: 03 January 2008
Visitors may consult content provided below by Oxford Publishing Limited for research and study purposes only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of images or editorial content is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Oxford Publishing Limited (facilitated by PLSclear) at
Wriothesley, Thomas, first earl of Southampton (1505–1550), administrator, was the grandson of John Writhe, Garter king of arms, nephew of Sir Thomas Wriothesley, his successor, and cousin of Charles Wriothesley, who became Windsor herald. His father, William, like his brother Thomas, adopted Wriothesley as the family name. William, York herald, married Agnes, daughter of James Drayton of London, and they had four children. Thomas, the eldest son, was born on 21 December 1505, his sisters, Elizabeth and Anne (who married Thomas Knight of Hook in Hampshire), in 1507 and 1508, and his brother, Edward, in 1509. It was a sign of the family's rising status and fortunes that Edward Stafford, third duke of Buckingham, and Henry Percy, fifth earl of Northumberland, were godfathers at Edward's baptism.
Education, and early career in government
Thomas Wriothesley was first educated at St Paul's School, London, where his contemporaries included John Leland and William Paget. About 1522 he proceeded to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where his fellow students again included Paget, while his teacher in civil law was Stephen Gardiner. All three had leading roles in one of Plautus's comedies, and the red-haired Wriothesley, noted for his looks, was praised for his performance. Leland, who appears to have been his friend from childhood, later wrote a tribute to his qualities of mind, integrity, and handsome appearance. Wriothesley did not, however, proceed to a degree, but instead pursued a career at the court of Henry VIII. In 1524, when only nineteen, he became a client of Thomas Cromwell, whom he styled his master and from that
In December 1532 Wriothesley was sent to Brussels with dispatches, and in the following October royal service took him to Marseilles. From there he complained to Cromwell that his 'apparel, and play sometimes, whereat he is unhappy, have cost him above 50 crowns' (LP Henry VIII, 6, no. 1306). It is probable, albeit uncertain, that these missions concerned Henry VIII's 'great matter', the annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon. His services in this and in the dissolution of the monasteries gained Wriothesley the
King's servant
By 1533 Wriothesley had married Jane (d. 1574), daughter and heir of William Cheney of Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire, and Emma, daughter of Thomas Walwyn of Much Marcle, Herefordshire. She was also connected, presumably by parental marriage, to Stephen Gardiner and his private secretary and nephew, Germayne Gardiner, who was her half-brother. She died on 15 September 1574 and was buried at Titchfield. Thomas and Jane had three sons: William, who died in August 1537; Anthony, who died an infant c.1542; and Henry Wriothesley (bap. 1545, d. 1581), the only surviving son and successor. They also had five daughters: Elizabeth, Mary, Katherine, Anne, and Mabel. In 1534 Wriothesley was admitted to Gray's Inn, while in 1536 he was appointed engraver of the Tower mint (29 May) and constable (with Lord Sandys) of Donnington Castle (21 July). When the Pilgrimage of Grace erupted during that year, he attended Henry VIII at Windsor throughout the crisis, transmitting the king's fund-raising instructions to Cromwell. In October 1537 he informed Gardiner and Lord William Howard of Queen Jane Seymour's death and attended Prince Edward's baptism. Wriothesley the bureaucrat had also become the courtier. As such he enjoyed the material rewards which resulted from loyal service and royal
In contrast to the self-assured advancement of his career and
Royal secretary and chancellor
On 6 January 1540, a month after Wriothesley had been sent to Hertford to secure the consent of Princess Mary to her prospective marriage with Philip of Bavaria, Henry married Anne of Cleves. His distaste for his new bride was so great that Wriothesley pleaded with Cromwell, 'For Godde's sake,
The fall of Cromwell in June 1540 resulted in a prolonged period of political instability. The clients and supporters of the dead minister at once came under threat from a conservative resurgence. Although Wriothesley rapidly distanced himself from his former employer he was subjected to examination. He was even accused by Walter Chandler of slander against the king and of unjust retention of some manors near Winchester. However, the charge was judged malicious, and in December 1540 Chandler was compelled to apologize to Wriothesley before the privy council.
Political life at Henry's court remained full of
During the final years of Henry
"Henry VIII showed his confidence in Wriothesley when the chancellor, Baron Audley, who was seriously ill delivered up the great seal on 21 April 1544. Next day Wriothesley was authorized to exercise the office, and on 3 May, after Audley's death, he became lord chancellor. He continued to be heavily involved in administrative and financial business, however, and so, on 17 October 1544, a commission was granted to Sir Robert Southwell, master of the rolls, and three masters of chancery 'to hear and determine matters in Chancery in place of Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, who is occupied in the King's affairs' (LP Henry VIII, 19/2, no. 527 (24)). He accumulated offices and with them more responsibilities: the constableship of castles at Southampton (from 7 July 1541), Christchurch (20 February 1541), and Portchester (28 October 1542); JP for Hampshire from 1538; the stewardship of Christchurch and Ringwood, Hampshire, from 20 February 1541, and of the forfeited lands of Margaret, countess of Salisbury, from October 1542; and joint clerk of the crown and attorney of king's bench (from 1542, with Thomas White). He also continued to sit in parliament. He was re-elected for Hampshire in 1542, and during the first
As lord chancellor, Wriothesley summoned
Conservative champion
Wriothesley's prominence in government meant that he was actively employed in enforcing the conservative religious policy of Henry's final years. Rich, Bonner, Wriothesley, and especially Gardiner were prominent among the royal servants, some of them rigorous Catholic conformists, who sought to expose and punish not only individual evangelicals but also their support networks of friends, followers, patrons, and protectors, especially in the court. Whether or not Henry was actively responsible for the persecution or simply susceptible to Gardiner, who at Windsor in 1543 complained that heresy had crept into every corner of the court and even into Henry's privy chamber, he certainly authorized or allowed a search for reformers. Wriothesley was prominent in the business. In 1543 he examined the musician John Marbeck before the privy council; in 1546 he extracted from
Wriothesley did not restrict his activity to protestants. In 1545 he publicly punished a Catholic priest for counterfeiting a miracle; another stood at the Cheapside pillory and was burnt in both cheeks for a false accusation.
Anne Askew was executed as the decline of Henry VIII's health was causing politicians increasingly to prepare themselves for the next reign. Wriothesley's exact religious position is seldom clear, and may well have been subordinated to his temporal aspirations. Askew herself demanded of him 'how long he would halt on both sides?' (Acts and Monuments, 5.544). An ambitious trimmer, he acted against her in 1546 at a time when the tide was flowing against religious reform, in order to expose her evangelical religious associates among the wives of powerful men and potential rivals at court. These included friends and servants of Queen Katherine, who frequently urged religious reform on Henry. On one occasion in
When Seymour and Dudley returned the conservative cause was lost, and Wriothesley began to switch sides. He performed his last major service to King Henry in the proceedings against the Howards, who were leading figures among the religious conservatives. He assisted Henry in drawing up the accusations against the earl of Surrey, detained the earl in his house for several days, examined him, and drafted the charges and a list of interrogatories. He was also one of the commissioners at his trial on 13 January 1547. He also witnessed the written confession of Surrey's father, the third duke of Norfolk, and headed the commission which notified parliament of the royal assent to the bills of attainder against the two men. He was naturally active in proceedings against the Howards as Henry's dutiful lord chancellor. It is clear, however, that he was also distancing himself from the other conservatives, led by Gardiner, as they too fell from
Fall from power
On 31 January
Southampton's fall neutralized a possible political rival to Somerset, who was also his personal enemy. Southampton's bold, sometimes harsh
Defeat and death
Although Southampton's political fortunes revived he bore a continuing grudge against the protector as the man responsible for his fall. However, when Thomas, Baron Seymour of Sudeley, conspired to overthrow his brother Somerset and assumed that Southampton would assist him, the earl advised him not to intrigue and raise faction. '[F]or my
Southampton now ceased to attend council meetings and in February he was removed from the council list. He was also seriously ill. Although his condition improved in March he was reported to be 'desiring to … be under the earth rather than upon it' (CSP Spain, 1550–52, 47), and on 28 June he was allowed for reasons of health to retire to Titchfield. He was too ill to travel, however, and on 30 July
Assessment
In 1551 Sir Richard Morison wrote that 'I was afraid of a tempest all the while Wriothesley was able to raise any … I never was able to persuade myself that Wriothesley could be great, but the King's Majesty must be in greatest danger' (CSP for., 1547–53, no. 491). Some had a very different opinion. Leland praised his intellect, character, and probity. He certainly had high ambitions, and as he realized them so he assumed the airs and graces of a new member of the élite. By 1545 he was licensed to retain 140 men in his livery, and whenever he appeared in public he was preceded by his gentlemen and followed by his yeomen clad in velvet and gold chains. He rebuilt Titchfield as a residence fit for a king to visit, which Henry VIII did on 31 July 1545. According to Foxe, whose portrayal was later accepted by Burnet, Lodge, Strype, and others, Wriothesley was a careerist who was also variously a zealous papist, a Romanist, even leader of a popish party, and certainly a Catholic. His acceptance of the royal supremacy and his enthusiastic destruction of shrines, tombs, and relics make it impossible to be so certain. Indeed his sharp criticisms of bishops, the religious formula adopted in his will, his patronage of reformers such as Richard Taverner and Robert Talbot, the choice of John Hooper to preach at his funeral, and the fact that his children's teacher landed in trouble for heresy, all suggest that Wriothesley had some protestant sympathies. His true religious convictions were masked, however, by his social and political conservatism, the precariousness of court politics, and especially by the devoted loyal service of an obedient royal servant.
Wriothesley helped to implement royal religious policies, whether they were in a Catholic or a protestant direction. He profited from the dissolution of the monasteries, but he also drafted a paper on ways in which monastic wealth could be used to establish new hospitals, build highways, and maintain the army. He was respected as a lord chancellor who protected royal interests and rule of law. His dicta were repeated: that while force awed, justice governed the world; and that every man who sold justice sold the king's majesty. He was respected for other qualities too. Roger Ascham addressed him as a great patron of both literature and the University of Cambridge, while Leland referred to him as a friend to the muses, and in 1537 his servant John Huttoft gave 'immortal thanks for your goodness' (LP Henry VIII, 12/2, no. 546). Yet he was at the same time unbending and even cruel to those who opposed or offended royal wishes. He could also be without scruple—in 1547, immediately after Henry VIII's death, he, Warwick, Arundel, and Baron Russell all reduced their tax assessments.
Sources
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LP Henry VIII, vols. 4–21
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CSP Spain, 1538–52
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CSP for., 1547–53
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A. J. Slavin, ‘The fall of Lord Chancellor Wriothesley: a study in the politics of stability’, Albion, 7/3
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(1975), 265–86
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will, TNA: PRO, PROB 11/34, sig. 13, fols. 96v–98v
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J. Strype, Ecclesiastical memorials, 3 vols. (1822)
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A. J. Slavin, ‘Lord Chancellor Wriothesley and reform of augmentations: new light on an old court’,
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Tudor men and institutions, ed. A. J. Slavin (1972)
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J. Ponet, A short treatise of
politike power (1556) [in Theatrumorbisterrarum (1972)] -
GEC, Peerage, new
edn -
VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, vols. 2–5
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Calendar of the manuscripts of the most hon. the marquis of Salisbury, 1, HMC, 9 (1883)
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APC, 1542–54
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Select works of John Bale, ed. H. Christmas, Parker Society, 37 (1849)
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G. Redworth, In
defence of the church catholic: the life of Stephen Gardiner (1990) -
BL, Add., Harley and Stowe MSS
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A. L. Rowse, ‘Thomas Wriothesley, first earl of Southampton’, Huntington Library Quarterly, 28
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(1964–5), 105–29
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HoP, Commons, 1509–58, 3.663–6
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C. Wriothesley, A chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors from ad 1485 to 1559, ed. W. D.
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Hamilton, 2 vols., CS, new ser., 11, 20 (1875–7)
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The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535–1543, ed. L. Toulmin Smith, 5 vols. (1906–10);
-
repr.
with T. Kendrick(1964), vol. 1 byintroduction -
Literary remains of King Edward the Sixth, ed. J. G. Nichols, 2 vols., Roxburghe Club, 75 (1857)
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CSP dom., 1547–80
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M. A. R. Graves, ‘The Tudor House of Lords in the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I’,
PhD diss., Otago -
University, 1974
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J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (1970)
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G. R. Elton, Tudor revolution in government (1953)
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H. Ellis, ed., Original letters illustrative of English history, 1st ser., 2 (1824); 2nd ser., 2 (1827)
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The acts and monuments of John Foxe, ed. J. Pratt [new edn], 8 vols. in 16 (1853–70)
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S. Brigden, New worlds, lost worlds: the rule of the Tudors, 1485–1603 (2001)
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R. Grafton, Chronicle or history of England, 1189–1558, 2 vols. (1809)
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D. E. Hoak, The king's council in the reign of Edward VI (1976)
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E. W. Ives, ‘Henry VIII's will—a forensic conundrum’, HJ, 35 (1992), 779–804
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E. W. Ives, ‘Henry VIII's will: the protectorate provisions of 1546–7’, HJ, 37 (1994), 901–14
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state papers domestic, Edward VI, TNA: PRO, SP 10/6
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R. W. Goulding, ‘Wriothesley portraits’, Walpole Society, 8 (1920), 17–94
Archives
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BL, political corresp., Add. MSS 32647–32652, passim
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Hants. RO, personal, official, and estate papers
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TNA: PRO, Wriothesley papers, SP 7
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BL, Harley MSS,
corresp . -
TNA: PRO, SP 1
Likenesses
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H. Holbein, miniature, 1538, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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H. Holbein the younger, chalk drawing, 1538, Louvre, Paris [see illus.]
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group portrait, oil on panel, 1570 (Edward VI and the pope), NPG
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oils (after type by H. Holbein the younger, 1538), Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire
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portrait, Beaulieu
Wealth at Death
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considerable: TNA: PRO, PROB 11/34, sig. 13, fols. 96v–98v
Endnotes
View the article for this person in the Dictionary of National Biography archive edition.
See also
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Writhe, John (d. 1504), herald
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Wriothesley [formerly Writhe], Sir Thomas (d. 1534), herald
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Wriothesley, Charles (1508–1562), herald and chronicler
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Wriothesley, Henry, second earl of Southampton (bap. 1545, d. 1581), magnate
External resources
Bibliography of British and Irish history
Copyright & Terms of Usage
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Wriothesley, Thomas, first earl of Southampton
(1505–1550)
Entry by Michael A.R. Graves
Copyright © Oxford University Press 2019
Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.
Published in print: 23 September 2004
Published in print: 23 September 2004
This version: 03 January 2008
Visitors may consult content provided by Oxford Publishing Limited for research and study purposes only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of images or editorial content is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Oxford Publishing Limited (facilitated by PLSclear) at