Thomas Audley

Thomas Audley, the son of Geoffrey Audley, was born at Hay House, Earls Colne, in about 1487. He attended Buckingham College (Magdalene College) and in July 1510 was admitted to the Inner Temple.

In 1514 Audley became town clerk of Colchester. About 1519 he married Christina Barnardiston, the daughter of Sir Thomas Barnardiston. They had no children. Audley was first appointed Justice of the Peace for Essex in November 1520. He held the position for over twenty years. (1)

In March 1523 he was elected to represent Colchester in the House of Commons. In Parliament he became a supporter of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. In December 1526 he was appointed as attorney-general. The following year he was a member of Wolsey's household, and in July he became a groom of the king's chamber. His political ambitions were dealt a serious blow when Wolsey was dismissed from office in October 1529. (2)

Audley is said to have "hoped for the great seal on Wolsey's fall", but his rival, Thomas More, was appointed as Lord Chancellor. (3) According to Peter Ackroyd, this was a shrewd political move. "Since More was known to be an avid hunter of heretics, it was evident proof that Henry did not wish to disavow the orthodox Church. In fact, More started his pursuit within a month of taking his position he arrested a citizen of London, Thomas Phillips, on suspicion of heresy... It was the beginning of the new chancellor's campaign of terror against the heretics." (4)

Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley In December 1529 Audley became speaker of the House of Commons. It was claimed that this was on the request of Henry VIII. Audley played a key role in steering through Parliament the legislation that led to the break with Rome and permitted Henry to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Audley was so successful in this that John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, accused the Commons of promoting the church's destruction and compared Audley and his supporters to "heathens and infidels". On 26th January 1533 Audley was appointed as Lord Chancellor. (5) He was also the presiding officer in the House of Lords and Henry thought this was going to be important in his struggle with Parliament. (6) In March 1534 Pope Clement VII announced that Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn was invalid. Henry reacted by declaring that the Pope no longer had authority in England. In November 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy. This gave Henry the title of the "Supreme head of the Church of England". A Treason Act was also passed that made it an offence to attempt by any means, including writing and speaking, to accuse the King and his heirs of heresy or tyranny. All subjects were ordered to take an oath accepting this. (7) Sir Thomas More and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refused to take the oath and were imprisoned in the Tower of London. More was summoned before Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell at Lambeth Palace. More was happy to swear that the children of Anne Boleyn could succeed to the throne, but he could not declare on oath that all the previous Acts of Parliament had been valid. He could not deny the authority of the pope "without the jeoparding of my soul to perpetual damnation." (8) Thomas Audley now joined forces with Thomas Cromwell and Richard Rich to undermine the power of the Roman Catholic Church. As his biographer pointed out: "Promotion to lord chancellor did not immediately increase Audley's intimacy with Henry. His role appears to have been as a conduit between the council and the courts, when he was not away on local business.... During the 1530s Audley's letters containing legal advice for the king and requests for grants for himself were addressed to Cromwell, who would then pass them to Henry. Such requests were generally couched in the most humble and submissive of terms, yet his letters regarding legal affairs suggest that Audley was confident, even aggressive, in promoting his professional opinion, and also that he was thorough and well prepared, providing ample examples from legal precedent to back up his arguments but also suggesting alternative stratagems." (9)

Dissolution of the Monasteries In January 1535, Cromwell was appointed as Vicar-General. This made him the King's deputy as Supreme Head of the Church. On 3rd June he sent a letter to all the bishops ordering them to preach in support of the supremacy, and to ensure that the clergy in their dioceses did so as well. A week later he sent further letters to Justices of Peace ordering them to report any instances of his instructions being disobeyed. In the following month he turned his attention to the monasteries. In September he suspended the authority of every bishop in the country so that the six canon lawyers he had appointed as his agents could complete their surveys of the monasteries. (10) The survey revealed that the total annual income of all the monasteries was about £165,500. The eleven thousand monks and nuns in this institutions also controlled about a quarter of all the cultivated land in England. The six lawyers provided detailed reports on the monasteries. According to David Starkey: "Their subsequent reports concentrated on two areas: the sexual failings of the monks, on which subject the visitors managed to combine intense disapproval with lip-smacking detail, and the false miracles and relics, of which they gave equally gloating accounts." (11) As Jasper Ridley, the author of Henry VIII (1984) has pointed out: "After Cromwell had received the reports of the visitors on the state of monasteries, a bill was introduced in Parliament to dissolve the smaller religious houses. Audley, the Lord Chancellor, and Rich, who was chosen as Speaker of the House of Commons, explained to the lords and MPs that the King wished to preserve all monasteries which lived up to the old, pure monastic ideal, but to suppress those in which vice flourished, as it would be better to entrust their assets to the King, so that he could use them for educational and charitable purposes. As it was clear that better discipline was maintained in the larger than in the smaller houses, all monasteries and nunneries which had an annual income of less than £200 should be suppressed, unless the King, in special cases, allowed some of these houses to continue. The MPs, moved to indignation by the visitors' reports whoredom and sodomy, voted enthusiastically for the bill." (12) A total of 419 monastic houses were obliged to close but the abbots made petitions for exemptions, and 176 of the monasteries were allowed to stay open. It is claimed that Audley and Cromwell were bribed in money and goods to reach this agreement. Monastery land was seized and sold off cheaply to nobles and merchants. They in turn sold some of the lands to smaller farmers. This process meant that a large number of people had good reason to support the monasteries being closed. (13) Thomas Fuller, the author of The Church History of Britain: Volume IV (1845) has argued that dissolution of the monasteries was of great personal benefit to Audley. (14) Thomas Audley was given primary authority over "affairs of justice". In this role he was criticised by the French ambassador, Charles de Marillac, who complained that Audley "can neither speak French nor Latin, and has the reputation of being a good seller of justice whenever he can find a buyer". L. L. Ford claims this was unfair and although he was a good servant and an astute politician, his "decisions rarely appear motivated by profit rather than justice". (15) David Loades has argued that Henry VIII liked to employ what he called "baseborn" officials such as Thomas Audley. "The king had no intention of dismissing either Cromwell or Rich, or Cranmer or Audley, his other councillors who might come within the designation of 'baseborn'. He would not be bound, he declared later, to be served by noblemen, but would choose such men as might be more suitable for the tasks he had in mind. His authority alone should be sufficient to ensure that they were obeyed." (16)

Anne Boleyn Lord Chancellor Audley was in charge of the trial of William Brereton, Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton, Francis Weston at Westminster Hall. All the men were accused of having sexual relationships with Queen Anne Boleyn. Audley and Thomas Cromwell made sure that a reliable jury was empanelled, consisting almost entirely of known enemies of the Boleyns. "These were not difficult to find, and they were all substantial men, with much to gain or lose by their behaviour in such a conspicuous theatre". (17) Few details survive of the proceedings. Witnesses were called and several spoke of Anne Boleyn's alleged sexual activity. One witness said that there was "never such a whore in the realm". At the end of the trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the four men were condemned by Thomas Audley to be drawn, hanged, castrated and quartered. Eustace Chapuys claimed that Brereton was "condemned on a presumption, not by proof or valid confession, and without any witnesses." (18) Thomas Audley was fully supportive in Henry's decision to marry Jane Seymour on 30th May 1536. He described her as "chaste, pure and fertile" and offered up a prayer for the marriage: "Let us pray God to send offspring to our most excellent Prince; let us give thanks that God has preserved him for us safe from so many and so great dangers... and leave us thus to his posterity". (19)

Baron Audley of Walden On 29th November 1538, Thomas Audley was created Baron Audley of Walden. His wife Christina Audley died on 23rd January 1538. Three months later he married Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Grey, second marquess of Dorset (1477–1530). Audley and his second wife had two daughters, Mary and Margaret. The Act of Precedence passed by the 1539 parliament elevated Audley's political importance, giving him precedence over all but dukes of royal blood in parliament, privy council, and Star Chamber. (20) Lord Chancellor Audley opened the 1540 Parliament. Thomas Cromwell attempted to explain the government's religious policies: "The king's majesty desires nothing more than concord... he knows there are those who would stir up strife, and in places in his field tares have sprung up to harm the wheat. The forwardness and carnal lust of some, the inveterate corruption and superstitious tenacity of opinion of other excite disputation and quarrels most horrible in so good Christian men; one side calls the other papists, and the other calls them heretics, both naughty and not to be borne... They twist God's sacred gift, now into heresy and now into superstition." (21) Cromwell's execution on 28th July, 1540, gave Audley even more power. "Audley appears to have still been the mainstay of the privy council based in London, where he served as a contact for foreign ambassadors, received orders through the privy councillors at court regarding business to be done, passed information on to them regarding London issues, and responded to their summons to debate specific matters in which his legal expertise was presumably desired. In particular, he appears to have been considered the expert on issues of treason. His London house at Christ Church in Aldgate became a convenient meeting place and informal gaol." (22)