Henry Norris (Chamberlain)

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Henry Norris (also Norreys, Norres; * around 1490 ; † May 17, 1536 in London ) was an English courtier and chamberlain of King Henry VIII. Initially a close confidante of the king and supporter of Queen Anne Boleyn , Henry Norris finally fell to the same Intrigue victims like the Queen, her brother George Boleyn , his comrades Francis Weston and William Brereton and the court musician Mark Smeaton . He was charged with alleged adultery with the queen of high treason and executed with the other men.

Life

Childhood and family

He came from the gentry of Berkshire . He was probably the second son of Richard Norris and his wife, who is not known by name. In older literature, Richard's older brother Sir Edward Norreys and his wife Frideswide Lovel were also given as his parents. His paternal grandparents were Sir William Norris († 1506), landlord of Yattendon Castle , and his first wife Jane, a daughter of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford . It was a tradition in Norris' family to serve the monarch. His great-grandfather, John Norris, had administered the royal wardrobe, and Sir William Norris was the ceremonial bodyguard at the court of Edward IV . Under Henry VII , Sir William received this post again and was Lieutenant of Windsor Castle until his death . Henry Norris' entry into royal service was only a matter of time. His cousin John also served in the household of Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI.

Rise at court

King Henry VIII , Henry Norris' friend and patron

In December 1516, Norris was listed as a gentleman of the Privy Chamber. Francis Bryan , Edward Neville and Nicholas Carew , close friends of the king, held the same office at this time . On February 17, 1518, Henry received the office of Weigher of the Common Beam in Southampton . On the occasion of the engagement of Princess Maria to François , the Dauphin of France , a spectacular reception of the French ambassadors took place in the house of Cardinal and Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey , during which Henry Norris, together with the King, Charles Brandon and nine other nobles at a masquerade participated. Among the dancers were Henry's younger sister Mary Tudor , Bessie Blount, the future mother of the royal bastard Henry Fitzroy , Francis Bryan's sister Elizabeth, and Henry Norris' future wife Mary Fiennes. In addition to dancing events, Henry Norris also took part in the joust , sometimes as an opponent of the king.

In January 1526 Henry Norris secured the important post of Groom of the Stool , which Sir William Compton had previously held. Compton's previous premises were also transferred to him. This made Norris not only head of the valet, but also the king's closest confidante. One of his duties was to have towels ready for the king when he eased himself on the toilet seat. Such an intimate task was only given to people whom the King trusted completely. It is unknown whether his predecessor Compton stepped down voluntarily or because of tension between him and Cardinal Wolsey. In any event, Norris was said to be "very well-disposed" of the king in 1528, and after William Compton's death some of his offices and possessions were transferred to Norris.

Norris quickly made a name for himself as a friendly mediator between supplicants and the king. In 1529, when Cardinal Wolsey's star was already on the decline, a meeting between him, Lorenzo Campeggi and the king was arranged in Grafton . However, accommodation in Grafton was only organized for Campeggi, an unparalleled humiliation for Wolsey. In this situation, Henry Norris offered the cardinal his own quarters so that he could at least change clothes. Some historians believe that this gesture was more due to the king than to Norris, for in December 1528 John Cooke wrote to Wolsey that “Master Norris, a certain Wellis, and others do everything possible to discredit me. Don't believe their untrue assumptions. ”He adds that after meeting Wolsey, Norris said he would not kneel before him even for a post over two pence a day.

Thomas Wolsey

Nevertheless, Henry Norris brought the unfortunate cardinal a ring from the king with the message:

“The king commands you to be of good cheer because he treated you unkindly. He only did it to give satisfaction to those he knows are not your friends, and that was the only reason. "

At these words Wolsey fell to his knees in front of Norris and hugged him in relief. Since he could not offer the king a gift of equal value, he gave Norris his personal court jester as a gift for the king instead. Thomas Wolsey tried to secure Norris' goodwill by giving him generous pay increases. He also urged Thomas Cromwell to always turn to Norris for information, as he, as the king's confidante, could give him one or the other advice. Nevertheless, the case of the cardinal could not be averted, and on October 25, 1529 Henry Norris was a witness as the state seal, which had been removed from Wolsey, was sent to his successor Thomas More .

As a confidante of the king, Henry Norris was sometimes given unusual tasks. One of them was taking care of a peacock and a pelican that Heinrich had received as gifts from the New World. In 1534, Anne Boleyn complained violently about the birds in the royal gardens, because she "could not rest in the morning because of the noise". The queen was pregnant at the time and Heinrich did his best to calm her down. So the king entrusted the birds to his friend Norris, who willy-nilly had to set up birdcages in his Greenwich house and deal with the noise of the feathered residents himself.

Henry Norris and Anne Boleyn

Like his predecessor William Compton, Henry Norris was courted by various camps because he had great influence on his decisions due to his proximity to the king. He gave petitioners hints and advice on where to best position themselves if they wanted to address the king on the way to mass. Sometimes he even stood up for them with the king himself. For such favors he was happy to accept gifts, such as a horse from Lord Lisle. Two letters from John Hussey to Lord and Lady Lisle show how important he was in this function. In them Hussey writes that due to Norris 'illness a decision had been delayed that otherwise would have long since been made in the Lisles' favor.

Anne Boleyn , Henry Norris' friend and later co-defendant

Henry soon became one of Anne Boleyn's official supporters and friends . In one source he is referred to as her "close relative and admirer", although the type of relationship is not explained in detail. In any case, he was the only one present when Heinrich and Anne Boleyn first inspected the confiscated Palace of Whitehall , and accompanied them on their trip to Calais in 1532. He was very likely also one of the few witnesses when Anne and Heinrich secretly married before sunrise in January 1533. Like Anne, Norris was also interested in the Reformation and had his son Henry tutored by the evangelist Nicholas Bourbon who had fled, with whom Anne Boleyn also placed her ward Henry Carey , the son of her sister Mary Boleyn .

Henry Norris' friendship with the Queen ensured that he stayed in her apartments more often. By about 1530 his wife Mary had died and he was now courting Anne Boleyn's cousin Margaret Shelton. However, his comrade Francis Weston also flirted with her, as Norris' attentions seemed to be waning towards her. After talking to Weston, Anne became suspicious of Norris' motives and finally confronted him shortly before April 30, 1536. Anne got so angry that she made a scene to Norris in front of witnesses. She accused him of only playing with her cousin, since he was really interested in her, the Queen herself, and yelled at him, “You covet the shoes of a dead man because if anything happened to the king you would try me Startled by this violent accusation, Norris replied that if he had such thoughts, he would “rather have his head cut off”. Anne replied angrily that she could destroy him if she wanted to.

In and of itself, this episode might just be a minor incident. In the world of courtly etiquette, however, it represented an unprecedented scandal. On the one hand, it was the convention of courtly love that the man should offer his services to the honored lady, not that the woman imposed herself on him in this way. On the other hand, a queen was expected to accept compliments and services from her admirers, but not to bring them down to the level of desire. These were the very rules that Anne had broken, leaving herself vulnerable to the accusation of being interested in Norris. The most dangerous thing about Anne's fierce words, however, was the fact that predicting or wishing the death of the king was treason. When she had calmed down and understood the damage her reputation could take from this argument, she ordered Norris to go to her almsman on Sunday morning and voluntarily take the oath that the queen was "a good woman." However, the damage was already done.

Fall and execution

On May 1, 1536, Anne Boleyn's enemies finally struck. During the tournament, Henry Norris was called from the field as the king had spontaneously decided to ride to Whitehall. Before that, he had offered Norris his own horse for the tournament and was as friendly as ever to him. But during the tournament the king received the news that the musician Mark Smeaton had confessed to adultery with Anne Boleyn, whereupon he fled away. The historian Eric Ives argues that Smeaton's confession reminded Heinrich of the dispute between Norris and Anne Boleyn, to which the king suddenly gave a new meaning.

Traitor's Gate - the Traitor's Gate - in the Tower of London

On the hour-long ride to Whitehall Palace, Heinrich cross-examined Norris and questioned him extensively about his relationship with the Queen. How close the relationship was between the king and his chief valet was demonstrated by the fact that Heinrich Norris was the only suspect to promise complete pardon and pardon if he only admitted adultery with Anne Boleyn. Norris, however, protested his innocence and refused to make a false confession. Finally Heinrich had him arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London .

Henry Norris was tried on May 12, 1536. Meanwhile, George Boleyn , William Brereton and Francis Weston had also been arrested, also on charges of adultery with the Queen. Norris, Brereton, Weston, and Smeaton all went to court in which all but Smeaton declared their innocence. Yet they were all found guilty and sentenced to death for high treason. The quarrel with Anne Boleyn, which the Queen had recounted in detail in a panic attack, was interpreted by Norris as malicious intent to want to murder the king and want to marry the queen herself. The imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys also heard the rumor that Henry Norris was the real father of Princess Elisabeth .

On May 16, Norris received word in the Tower that his execution was scheduled for the next day, as he had done for the other men. In the last twenty-four hours of his life, as was customary, he made his last confession and received the sacraments. According to the view of the time, every person as a sinner had to accept his death as the judgment of God, whether the death sentence is legally justified or not. On May 17, Henry Norris was executed on Tower Hill, second to George Boleyn. Unlike his fellow sufferers, he said nothing on the scaffold. After his beheading, he was buried with Francis Weston.

obituary

Despite all the rumors circulating about him, there was a high probability that Norris was innocent. Elizabeth I always encouraged his son and heir, Henry, since his father had died for her mother. In contrast to the other defendants, he could have saved his life by making a false confession to the king, but he preferred to die than incriminate Anne. Some historians suggest that Norris' fall was due to Thomas Cromwell . The minister had fallen out with the queen, and Norris, one of her closest friends, had great influence over the king. With evidence that Cromwell overturned Anne Boleyn to forestall his own overthrow by her, Henry Norris' influence posed a potentially serious threat to Cromwell.

Shortly after his death, a stanza in Thomas Wyatt's elegy was dedicated to Henry Norris in which the poet mourned the tragic death of Anne's co-defendant:

Ah! Norris, Norris, my tears begin to run
To think what hap did thee so lead or guide
Whereby thou hast both thee and thine undone
That is bewailed of court in every side;
In places also where thou hast never been
Both man and child does piteously thee moan.
They say, 'Alas, thou art far overseen
By thine Offences to be thus dead and gone'.

Ah! Norris, Norris, my tears begin to flow
I consider which star led or guided
you So that you destroyed yourself and yours. It is
lamented at court on all sides;
Even in places where you have never been,
husband and child complain pitifully.
They say, "Oh, you are too overshadowed
by your offenses to be dead and gone."

In the second season of the television series The Tudors , Stephen Hogan played the role of Henry Norris in four episodes.

progeny

Marriage to Mary Fiennes produced three children:

When their father was convicted as a traitor, Henry and Mary initially had a hard time, as all of a traitor's possessions were confiscated by the crown. On top of that, they were socially stigmatized as children of a criminal at a time when clan liability was completely normal. In 1539, young Henry finally regained access to parts of his inheritance and made it Baron of Rycote under Queen Elizabeth.

literature

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d Eric Ives: Norris, Henry . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 41: Norbury - Osborn. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861391-1 , doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 20271 .
  2. ^ William Arthur Jobson Archbold:  Norris, Henry (d.1536) . In: Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 41, New York City / London 1895, pp 221 - 222 (English).
  3. ↑ Sir Henry NORREYS, Knight , accessed March 28, 2011.
  4. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 2: 1515-1518. December 1516, 26-31 . Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, London 1864, pp. 851-878 (on- line ).
  5. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 2: 1515-1518. Preface, Section 3 . Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, London 1864, S. CVII-CLXV (on- line ).
  6. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 4: 1524-1530. January 1526, 26–31 . Longman & Co., London 1875, pp. 852-878 ( online ).
  7. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 4: 1524-1530. November 1529, 17-30 . Longman & Co., London 1875, pp. 2704-2710 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 123 ( online ).
  9. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 4: 1524-1530. December 1528, 21-25 . Longman & Co., London 1875, pp. 2206-2208 ( online ). "Master Norreis, one Wellis, and others, do all they can to bring him into Wolsey's displeasure. Begs him not to believe their untrue surmises. After Norris had been before Wolsey, he said, as it can be proved, that he would not kneel so long before him for an office of 2d. a day. "
  10. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 4: 1524-1530. Introduction, Section 10 . Longman & Co., London 1875, pp. DXXXII ( online ). "'That the King commanded him to be of good cheer;' for though he had dealt unkindly with the Cardinal, as he might suppose, it had only been done to satisfy 'the minds of some which he knoweth be not your friends, than for any indignation.' "
  11. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 4: 1524-1530. Introduction, Section 11 . Longman & Co., London 1875, S. DL ( online ).
  12. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 249 ( online ).
  13. ↑ James Gairdner (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 7: 1534. May 1534, 6-10 . Longman & Co., London 1883, pp. 241-247 ( online ).
  14. ↑ John Sherren Brewer (Ed.): Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Volume 4: 1524-1530. Introduction, Section 4 . Longman & Co., London 1875, pp. CCXVIII (on- line ).
  15. ^ A b c Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 335 ( online ).
  16. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 326 ( online ).
  17. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 320 ( online ).
  18. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 354.
  19. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. 'The Most Happy' . Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2004, ISBN 0-631-23479-9 , p. 363.
predecessor Office successor
William Compton Groom of the Stool
1526-1536 		Thomas Heneage
personal data
SURNAME Norris, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Norreys, Henry; Norres, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English courtier and valet of Henry VIII.
DATE OF BIRTH around 1490
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1536
Place of death London , England