With the return of Wolf Hall to our TV screens you may be interested to know that Cuckfield has a direct link with one of the characters in Hilary Mantel’s novel. They were one the most prominent and influential people in the Tudor courts of both Henry Vll and Henry Vlll and their life story refelects the violence of the times. On the face of it, some aspects of the tale seem unbelievable - but so many sources cross check that the greater proportion of what follows must be factual.
Our key character, Henry Wyatt, in the late 15th century lived near Maidstone and his second marriage was to a well connected lady from Reigate.. He was the executor of Edmund Flower's* will (in 1521) and arranged Edmund's laying in state in Southwark Cathedral and subsequent burial under Cuckfield Church. [*Cuckfield Grammar school founder]. As much of Edmund's will is devoted to the constitution and running of the school - it was Henry we must thank for implementing Edmund's instructions for the ongoing running of the school.
Hilary Mantel in her book Wolf Hall, according to the ‘Wolf Hall Companion’, includes Henry Wyatt when he begs Cromwell to take his son, Thomas, under his wing and asks him to be a mentor, and father figure to him.
Henry Wyatt was the closest courtier to King Henry Vll. In 1492 he was appointed Esquire-of-the-Body, King’s select Bodyguard. He later would act as executor of the King's will in 1509.
Edmund Flower in his role of Master of Merchant Taylors' Company (see our earlier series of articles on Flower and MT) Edmund had direct dealings with the King during his negotiations for a new Royal Charter. As Wyatt was at the King's side much of the time Edmund must have known him very well.
Henry Wyatt lived in Kent near Maidstone at Allington Castle and welcomed the great and the good of the times - this included Cardinal Wolsey, Henry Vll and Vlll to his home at Allington Castle, near Maidstone.
Wyatt's imprisonment by Richard lll
Henry himself appears to have been raised by a modest family in a Yorkshire village. He took part in the Duke of Buckingham’s failed revolt against Richard III. In ‘A Sketch of the Life of Sir Henry Wyatt’ (written in 1963 by Eric Norman Simons) the author wrote that Henry was:
‘…remarkable because, though Yorkshire born, he supported the cause of Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian who claimed the throne of England. For this he had been jailed in Scotland in “stocks and irons” for two years by Richard III, who is said to have watched him undergo torture.’
We will spare you of the grisly details here, but the final link below will tell you more.
He grew rich in the service of Henry VII, being a councillor and was entrusted with many commissions including military work, diplomacy and acting as the king’s agent/spy throughout his reign, mainly in Scotland (he was also active in Ireland). To serve the King more closely he moved his home from Yorkshire to Kent, and purchased the castle in 1492.
'fed by a cat'
While imprisoned he was starved of food. And while passing time in his cell, he made a pet of a stray cat, whom he ‘laid … on his bosom to warm him’. The, story goes, that the cat grew so attached to him that each morning she deposited at his feet a pigeon pilfered from a neighbouring dovecote, which was later cooked for him by his compassionate jailer.
The family of Wyatt for many years cherished a half-length portrait of Henry in his cell. But the painting was executed long afterwards. It is recorded that after his imprisonment Henry ‘would ever reck much of cats’. [See Thomas Wyatt link below]
And in the Wyatt papers, drawn up in 1727 relate that Sir Henry on his release from the Tower 'would ever make much of cats, as other men will of their spaniels or hounds.'
As a token of gratitude Henry: '… introduced to the dovecotes of Allington castle a strain of brown pigeons from Venice, which are as numerous there today as in his own time'.
Executor in charge of implementing Edmund Flower's will
The executor of a will is usually a relation or closely trusted friend who will ensure that a will is correctly fulfilled to the wishes expressed by the deceased.
According to Cuckfield vicar and historian Rev James Hughes Cooper in the book 'History of Cuckfield' Edmund Flower appointed the following executors:
… his wife with Richard Conhille and Robert Shether, merchant tailors, as his executors, with Sir Henry Wyatt as overseer. The witnesses who signed
their names were Robert Wrothe, Hugo Welshe
(goldsmith), Louis Chaloner (haberdasher), Hugo
Pellett, John Patterton, and William Molyneux
(clerk).
Who were these people? We can confirm from the livery company records that Richard Cornhill was a Master of Merchant Taylors in 1506, and that Robert Shether was Master in 1526.
Robert Wrothe could be Sir Robert Wroth of Durants, Enfield (1490-1536) who in 1515 married Lady Jane Haute of Bishopsbourne Kent (1473-1536) in Bishopsbourne. Robert was JP for Middlesex.
We have not been able to identify John Patterton.
The crucial question is can we be sure that the overseer of the executors Wyatt the same person as the courtier Sir Henry Wyatt?
Nothing can be certain 500 years later, but Edmund will have known the King's advisor Sir Henry. Henry's position in Royal circles made him senior to the Cornhill and Shether - and so his role as 'overseer' was a natural fit. Being in the Royal household would also mean that Wyatt would have 'had the clout' to secure and influence Edmund's 'lying in state' at Southwark Cathedral. Sir Henry Wyatt's dates are (c1460–1536) so he was, within a year or two, the same age as Edmund and, as far as friendship goes, they were age compatible.
Henry lived near Maidstone, not that far from Cuckfield. Henry, in the will, is not referred to as 'Sir Henry'. The reason may be that 'will' was dated 1521, Henry was knighted 1509. But what we see here is a will and probate, and the original will was retranscribed and the probate wording added - so the knighthood may have been omitted when it was transcribed.
The life expectation in medieval times was around the 40s but Edmund died when he was around 60. The original will would probably have been written 15-20 years before. But the content is largely about the running of the school - this fits neatly with the theory that Cuckfield School was founded in 1503/4, the years that Edmund Flower was Master of Merchant Taylors. The average age of a Master was 43 at a time when a man would be thinking of writing his will.
Further details of Henry's life
Sir Henry Wyatt KB (c. 1460–1536) was an English nobleman, knight, courtier, and politician. Under Henry VII he was appointed Clerk of the King's Jewels and Captain of Carlisle Castle. His close connections with Scotland came to the fore in his later career as Henry VII's agent in that country, for which there is ample evidence of his employment on secret and sensitive missions. He was also present at the reception for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor at Canterbury in 1522. He was Treasurer of the King's Chamber from 1524 to 1528 (that's Henry Vlll).
About 1502 Wyatt married Anne Skinner, the daughter of John Skinner a politican of Reigate, Surrey, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. In April 1509 Henry VII died and Henry VIII was crowned and Henry Wyatt was knighted.
The school and the will
Cuckfield must be heavily indebted to Henry whose task was to implement the detailed instructions in setting up and securing thefuture of Cuckfield's school. A fact that goes unrecorded in Cuckfield's history books.
Flower's will, confirms that 'for certeine years past at his cost and charge caused a fre Gramer Scole to be maintained and kept at Cukfelde.' So the school was already up and running - and the endowment was intended to allow it to expand and have a more secure future.
You can read more about the provision that Edmund made for setting up the school in 'Education in Cuckfield' by Joan Ward. Essentially the instructions were in four parts:
The school was to be Edmund's own memorial
There are instructions relating to the schoolmaster
It covers emergencies that might overtake the school
There were financial provisions for the school
The memorial aspect (1) is explained by William Harrington in the Mid Sussex Times in 3 January 1922. Harrington was Cuckfield historian and headmaster. It concerned saving the soul in the afterlife:
One duty, which to us in the twentieth century seems strange, was that of keeping a solemn obit, memorial service, every year. Both Founders [the second was William Spicer, some years later] were emphatic on this point, and gave very detailed instructions concerning it. Flowers’ Will has “I wolle that executors, by the space of twenty years, next ensuying after my disease, shall cause a solemne Obit or Anniversary to be kept and mayntayned by the Vicar, Prests and Clerks at Cuckfield, in the Parisshe Chlrche there about such season or tyme of the yere and it shall happen me to disceas.
Founding of medieval schools was not solely an educational endeavour but also a spiritual act. Schools became extensions of religious life, where the founder's name would be preserved in prayer and memory, ensuring that they settle will be remembered, prayed for, and ultimately preserved in the afterlife.
We know that the future of the school was dependent on the income from lands in Westerham:
'I woll that the maister and wardeins of oure blessid Ladye nowe holden and kepte in the parishe churche of Cuckfeld aforesaid for the tyme beyng and theire sucessoures shall yerely apply the income of his lands in Westerham, Kent, which he directed his feoffees [trustees] to convey to nominees of the fraternity; and also of other lands worth £5 a year for the purchase of which he had given them £100 to ‘the contynuall and perpetuall mayntenaunce of the said Gramer Scole.’
Westerham is just 30 miles from Allingham Castle could there have been a link to Henry here? Another possibility is the land was related to a religious order at Westerham Manor, later broken up by Henry Vlll with the dissolution of monasteries in the 1530s.
Conclusion
By the company Edmund kept, and our knowledge that he was involved in the negotiations of creating a Royal Charter for his livery company it is clear that he was right at the centre of the national affairs at this very dangerous time in our country's history.
Sadly we don't really make enough of the village's link to our former granmmar school founder Edmund. Did we ever find, perhaps unknowingly, the school founder's coffin underneath church when it was re-floored a few years ago?
Watch out for Sir Henry on Wolf Hall - but it seems that Sr Henry's story would make an interesting TV dramatisation in his own right.
Sir Henry Wyatt’s tomb enscription
Sir Henry Wyatt’s tomb in Boxley (North east of Maidstone) reads (in part):
To the Memory of Sr Henry Wiat of Alington Castle
Knight Bannert descended of that Ancient family who was imprisoned and tortured in the Tower in the reign of King Richard the third kept in the Dungeon where fed and preserved by a Cat. He married Ann daughter of Thomas Skinner of Surrey Esqe was of the Privy Council to King Henry the Seventh and King Henry the Eighth and left one Son Sr Thomas Wiat of Alington Castle who was Esquire of the body to King Henry the Eighth and married Elizabeth Daughter of Thomas Brooke Lord Cobham and well known for Learning and Embasys in the reign of that King
Sr Thomas Wiat of Alington Castle his only Son married Jane younger Daughter of Sr William Hawt of this County and was beheaded in the reign of Queen Mary Leaving George Wiat his only Son that Lived to Age who married Jane Daughter of Sr Thomas Finch of Eastwell and Katherine his wife Restored in blood by act of Parliament of the 13th of Queen Elizabeth
Sources
Sir Henry Wyatt (in Part 1 of this article) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wyatt_(courtier)
Edmund's will can be found (subscription required for access) at ancestry.com: https://tinyurl.com/2yxz8mpu
Portrait of Sir Henry Wyatt is by Hans Holbein the Younger, once thought to have been painted during Holbein's first visit to England from 1526 to 1528, but now believed to have been done towards the end of Sir Henry's life. Wikimedia public domain image.
Photo of Allington Castle, Kent , December 2013, Wikimedia public domain image.
Sir Henry Wyatt Wikimedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wyatt_(courtier)
Allington Castle, Kent, just north of Maidstone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allington_Castle
About Henry Eyatt: Claire Ridgway on this day in Tudor history
The cat story: Sir Thomas Wyatt www.sirthomaswyatt.com/2010/10/10/sir-henry-wyatt-knight/
'Wolf Hall Companion' by Lauren Mackay, Batsford 2020. See P111/112
'Wolf Hall', Hilary Mantel, Fourth Estate, 2009. Winner of Booker Prize. See P323
'Education in Cuckfield' by Joan Ward. pub 1981 by WSCC.
November 10 - Cats, pigeons and Lions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SwmtHrfuGA&t=391s
The questionable legend of Henry Wyatt by historian Annette Carson https://richardiii.net/richard-iii-his-world/reputation/the-questionable-legend-of-henry-wyatt/
Sir Henry Wyatt (with gory details of torture) https://www.deloriahurst.com/deloriahurst%20page/3002.html
Sir Thomas Wyatt and his father https://sirthomaswyatt.com/2010/10/10/sir-henry-wyatt-knight/
Thomas Wyatt, one of the greatest poets of the Tudor period., was accused of an alleged affair with Anne Boleyn (living close by at Hever Castle) and executed on the orders of Henry Vlll. Thomas features prominently in Wolf Hall.
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