3-057-482 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Holograph letter from King Henry VIII to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, c.1519-20. This secret note to Wolsey reveals Henry's absolute trust in his minister. Henry found penmanship arduous and this is a rare example of a letter entirely in his own hand. From the third line onwards, Henry confesses 'that by cause wryttyng to me is su(m) what tedius and paynefull, therfor the most part off thes bysynesses I have co(m)myttyd to our trusty co(un)seler thys berrar to be declaryd to yow by mowthe'. The matter about which he writes could not be made privy to the messenger 'nor non other but yow and I'. Henry also, however, wanted to warn Wolsey in confidence about a noble conspiracy and advises him that he should keep an eye on a group of nobles who resented Wolsey's authority: 'make good wache on the duke off suffolke on the duke off bukyngam on my lord off northetomberland on my lord off darby on my lord off wylshere and on others whyche yow thynke suspecte'. Henry's suspicions of Buckingham proved well founded and he was executed for treason on 17 May 1521. From Volume 1, Henry IV. King of England.