Thomas Culpeper (courtier)

Thomas Culpeper (* around 1514; † December 10, 1541 in London ) was an English nobleman, courtier of Henry VIII of England and lover of Catherine Howard , Henry's fifth wife. He was a distant relative of the then very powerful aristocratic family of the Howards .

Life

There is some confusion about the life of Thomas Culpeper because he had an older brother who had the same first name and both lived at the court of Henry VIII. Culpeper probably entered royal services at the time of Heinrich's second wife Anne Boleyn . However, since there is no evidence that Anne Boleyn or Jane Seymour ever met Culpeper, his prominence probably only began after 1537.

Culpeper was said to be extremely attractive . He was described as a "handsome youth" and was a favorite of the king. Heinrich appointed him Gentleman to the King's Privy Chamber , through which role Culpeper was in close contact with the King. His duties included dressing and undressing the king, and he often slept in the king's bedroom. Culpeper was one of the privileged courtiers who greeted Heinrich's German bride Anna von Kleve when she arrived in England for her wedding. Culpeper, like his brother, is said to have been passionate, boastful, and greedy; the historian Lacey Baldwin Smith writes that the chronicles are "full of their efforts to obtain monastic land, court sinecures and pensions from the crown." The letter that a London merchant wrote to a friend in Germany after Culpeper's execution in 1541 shows that Culpeper had raped the wife of a park attendant less than two years earlier . At that time he was pardoned by the king and did not have to answer for a manslaughter that he committed when villagers attacked him after he was raped.

In 1540 Heinrich's new bride Catherine Howard became aware of Culpeper. In 1541 they met, often alone and late at night, supported by Catherine's chambermaid Jane Boleyn , Anne Boleyn's widowed sister-in-law.

Meanwhile, reports of the Queen's premarital affair with Francis Dereham had reached Thomas Cranmer , Archbishop of Canterbury . While doing his research, he came across rumors of an affair between the Queen and Culpeper. Culpeper was arrested for questioning. Both he and the Queen denied the allegations, but a love letter from Catherine to Culpeper found during a search of Culpeper's quarters provided the evidence Cranmer had been looking for. It is debatable whether Culpeper and the Queen really were intimate with each other, but the letter clearly proves Catherine's feelings for Culpeper. Reference was also made to Jane Boleyn in this love letter.

Culpeper may also have sought a relationship with the queen out of political ambitions. Heinrich was in poor health and only his young son Eduard was available as heir to the throne , so after Heinrich's death Culpeper would have held a strong political position as Catherine's favorite. However, he relied too much on his friendship with the king and on the queen's discretion.

Arrest and Execution

Culpeper was arrested on the king's orders. In December 1541 he was charged with high treason along with Francis Dereham. Dereham was accused of having had a sexual relationship with the Queen prior to her marriage to Henry. Catherine had not hidden the affair with Culpeper from her servants, who now testified against her in order to protect themselves.

The Queen was said to have seduced Culpeper at Chenies Palace , although it could have been the other way around. Culpeper's fate was sealed after witnesses confirmed private meetings. Under the torture , Culpeper confessed to having had a sexual relationship with Catherine. Culpeper and Dereham were found guilty and sentenced to death .

Both men were to be executed by hanging, eviscerating, and quartering . Both asked for mitigation, and Culpeper, probably because of his earlier closeness to the king, received a commutation of the sentence in beheading . Dereham, on the other hand, could not achieve any mitigation. Together with Dereham, Culpeper was executed in Tyburn on December 10, 1541. Their heads were on display on London Bridge . Culpeper was buried at St Sepulcher-without-Newgate Church in London . The Queen and Jane Boleyn were also executed on February 13, 1542.

Web links

• Letter from Catherine Howard to Thomas Culpeper

Individual evidence

1. ^ Retha M. Warnicke: Katherine [Katherine Howard] (1518x24-1542) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept. 2004
2. ↑ ^{a b} Lacey Baldwin Smith: The Fifth Wife . Henry VIII and Catherine Howard. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1969, p. 206–207 (English: A Tudor tragedy . Translated by Liselotte Mickel).
3. ↑ Lacey Baldwin Smith: The Fifth Wife . Henry VIII and Catherine Howard. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1969, p. 207–208 (English: A Tudor tragedy . Translated by Liselotte Mickel).