An Unknown Draft of the October 8th Letter from the Council at Windsor to the Council at London

Abstract

1549 was a year of crisis in England. Dissatisfaction with the rule of Protector Somerset brought festering disaffection in central government. Simultaneously, religious, economic, and social discontent in the provinces flared into the most widespread riots and risings that the country had seen for over a decade. While recent research has added considerably to our knowledge and understanding of the diverse risings,1 little new material has been forthcoming on what was, perhaps, the most important development of the year, the negotiations which led to the resignation of the Protector without bloodshed. This was by no means a foregone conclusion. Rumors in the country and the movement of troops on both sides made a confrontation seem almost inevitable. The majority of the Council, gathered in London, were intent on Somerset's overthrow. Somerset himself, at Windsor, had only Cranmer, Paget, and Thomas Smith as allies. While they were, intellectually, the most distinguished members of the Council, they were, from any other point of view, little more than a rump. He had, however, the trump card of the king's person. What prompted him to avoid an armed conflict has never been certain. It is, of course, likely that all three of the advisers on hand preferred to counsel compromise in such circumstances.2 The exchange of letters with the Council in London has long been in print, unfortunately scattered in a variety of collections of letters. They do not, in themselves, indicate who took the lead in deciding the course of action which led to this desirable result. Mary Dewar believed of the advisers letter that although a joint letter, the pen was and that the sentence beginning 'and think not that this be written for any privat fear' was Smith's unmistakable personal touch.3 The only recent addition to the story of the negotiations, an anonymous eye witness account,4 does not give much assistance with this aspect of the problem. Nevertheless, debate on this question has continued.5 A letter in the Ellesmere collection at the Huntington Library sheds a little more light on the strategy and objectives of the party at Windsor, and also strengthens the presumption that William Paget was the moving spirit. This letter, EL 1183, is an unsigned rough draft of the letter dated October 8th 1549 that was sent to the Council at London and that was signed by Cranmer, Smith, and Paget. Apart from minor variations of