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Thomas Argall, Administrator of Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Tudor Church and State
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2016
Extract
Thomas Argall was born in or around 1500, apparently at Lambeth where his parents, John and Emme Argall, held a house and a close on the Archbishop of Canterbury's estate. Both parents were dead by 1522, when Argall, as the only son, inherited this small property and a few household goods. His family was closely associated with the Church and included a relative, William Argall, who was a cleric and probably another relative who became vicar of New Shoreham, Sussex, in 1545. Argall followed a similar career, although he remained a layman, and entered the administration of Archbishop Warham.
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1 In July 1540, he was forty years old: Public Record Office, SP 1/162, fo. 5. (Unless otherwise indicated the location of all manuscripts is the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London.)
2 Will of Emme Argall: PROB 11/20, fos 168v-9. I am grateful to Mr Christopher Harper-Bill for his assistance with the Argali family.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., Emme Argall knew a John Mylles and this points to a connection with the vicar of New Shoreham, Thomas Mylles alias Argill: ibid.; Emden, Oxford, 1501-1540, p. 410.
5 Churchill, I, 409; Christopher, Harper-Bill, ‘The Familia, Administrators and Patronage of Archbishop John Morton’, Journal of Religious History 10 (1979), p. 246.Google Scholar
6 PROB 11/21, fo. 283.
7 PROB 11/22, fos 171-2v.
8 Ibid.
9 All these individuals with the exception of Peter Potkin are mentioned in John Barret's will and most of the members are included in the wills of Broke and the two Potkin brothers: ibid., PROB 11/20, fo. 8v, 23, fos 23-25, 27, fos 122v-4. For Broke and Baker see D.N.B. I, 923-4; II, 1296-7. For Peter Potkin and Thomas Barret see Emden, Oxford to A.D. 1500, III, 1505-06; Oxford, A.D. 1501-1540, p.25.
10 For Cockes see Churchill, I, 594-5; Kitching, ‘Prerogative Court’, p. 196.
11 PROB 11/46, fo. 236.
12 L.P. IV, 5989; PROB 11/31, fos 52-53.
13 L.P. IV, 5589.
14 Ibid., 5989. Argall came to hold property within this diocese in Hampshire: PROB 11/46, fo. 237.
15 This was William Divdale: PROB 11/22, fo.172, /46, fo. 235v.
16 L.P. VI, 311 (2), 640, 737 (7).
17 Ibid.; PROB 11/22, fo. 171v, 27, fos 122v-4.
18 L.P. VI, 469.
19 Emden, Oxford to A.D. 1500, I, 148-9.
20 For descriptions of the registrar and the Prerogative Court in general, see Churchill, I, 380-423; Kitching, ‘Prerogative Court’, p. 202 and passim. For the importance of diocesan registrars in Churchadministration, see Rosemary, O'Day, ‘The Role of the Registrar in Diocesan Administration’, in Continuity and Change, pp. 77–94.Google Scholar
21 Kitching, ‘Prerogative Court’, p. 196.
22 Christopher, Kitching, ‘Probate Jurisdiction of Cromwell as Vicegerent’, Bulletin of the Institute ofHistorical Research, 46 (1973), 102–06;Google Scholar Margaret, Bowker, ‘The Supremacy and the Episcopate: TheStruggle for Control, 1534-1540’, Historical Journal, 18 (1975), 240–1.Google Scholar
23 Kitching, op. cit.
24 Frederick, Emmison, Tudor Secretary: Sir William Petre at Court and Home (London, 1961), pp. 9, 26, 41, 127;Google Scholar PROB 11/31, fo. 52v.
25 Emmison, p.8.
26 SP 1/99, fo. 231, described in Elton, G. R., Reform and Renewal (Cambridge, 1973), pp. 134–5.Google Scholar
27 Kitching, op. cit., 104.
28 Ibid. 103-05.
29 L.P. XI, 1377.
30 L.P. XII, ii, 1151 (3).
31 Elton, G. R., The Tudor Revolution in Government (Cambridge, 1953), pp. 190–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32 A list of all the important officers for the entire life of the Court is provided in The Report of the Royal Commission of 1552, ed. Richardson, W. C. (Morgantown, West Virginia, 1974), p. 108.Google Scholar The individuals associated with first fruits and tenths before 1540 arc mentioned in Ellon, Tudor Revolution, pp. 190-201. Goslwick's will is PROB 11/30, fos 222-v.
33 PROB 11/22, fos 171v-2.
34 The evidence for Courthop and Godfrey is based upon information in the wills of these men and other members of Baker's circle: PROB 11/11, fos 132-3, 22, fos 206-v, 27, fos 268-v, 29, fos 60v-1, 32, fos 61-v, 39, fos 108-09, and 42A, fos 183-4.
35 L.P. XVII, 202 (72).
36 For example: L.P. XVI, 933.
37 For example, in June 1541, Argali provided a certificate of the yearly value of the rectory of Clopton, Northamptonshire, with the amount of its clerical tenth: L.P. XVI, 933. In 1547, he composed a list ofthe Augmentations officials connected with the Court and signed it ‘Thomas Argali, keeper of therecords’: SP 46/1, fo. 144. For other examples see: L.P. XX, ii, 924; XXI, i, 1280, p. 638 (where ‘Orgall’ is a misprint for ‘Argali’).
38 Richardson, W. C., History of the Court of Augmentations, 1536-1554 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1961), p. 255.Google Scholar The other important officer of the Court, the treasurer, had his own clerk: ibid.
39 James, D. Alsop, ‘The Exchequer of Receipt in the Reign of Edward VI’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1978), pp. 64–65.Google Scholar
40 This was criticised in 1552 as an unwarranted delegation of the chancellor's duties: Report of 1552, ed.Richardson, pp. 197-8. For the administrative details involved in this work see the original writs for pay-ment: E. 135/10/39.
41 A 1609 summary of Sir Wimond Carew's account: British Library, Lansdowne MS. 156, fos 156-7.
42 Register of recognisances in the Court of First Fruits and Tenths: E.347/1/5, fo. 34.
43 Elton, Tudor Revolution, pp. 248-9. The duties of this office, which by the early seventeenth centuryconsisted of a remembrancer and three establishment clerks, are described in ‘A Book of All the SeveralOfficers of the Court of Exchequer …’, by Laurence Squibb, ed. Bryson, W. H. (London, 1975), pp.114–15.Google Scholar
44 A document in the Exchequer of Receipt miscellanea states that he died on 27 February 1577/8:E.407/73, unfoliated.
45 For example, their salaries were paid in this division: E. 405/510, unfoliated.
46 Exchequer of Receipt departmental expenses, 1556-8: E.407/68/1-2.
47 E.347/1/5, passim.
48 Richardson, Augmentations, p. 173n.
49 SP 46/1, fo. 144.
50 Payment of £20 reward each to Argali and two Exchequer auditors: E.405/484, fo. 43v.
51 For a private case in 1540 see: SP 1/162, fos 4-5.
52 L.P. XV, 860-1, 925; XV11I, i, 603.
53 Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, ed. George, Townshend (London, 1843–9), VI, pp. 94ff.;Google Scholar Timothy, Shirley, Thomas Thirlby, Tudor Bishop (London, 1964), p. 108.Google Scholar
54 Exchequer Accounts: E.405/120, m. 140v; E.405/484, fo. 43v.
55 Ibid.
56 PROB 11/42A, fo. 184v.
57 Accounts of payments to officers of the Exchequer: E.405/117, m. 6v, 120, mems. 38-v, 507-08, unfoliated; E.407/60/10, unfoliated.
58 For example, in Michaelmas term 1554, he collected annuities totalling £38 due to seven formermembers of religious houses in Kent, Middlesex, and Oxfordshire: E.405/501.
59 Kitching, ‘Prerogative Court’, p. 202.
60 PROB 11/24, fos 28v-9.
61 PROB 11/46, fo. 238v; E.405/182, Easter term 1553. In 1550, Walker proved the will of WilliamBrace, brother to John Brace who was Baker's appointee as Clerk of the Pells in the Exchequer: PROB 11/33, fo. I17v.
62 PROB 11/46, fos 236-8v; SP 1/162, fo. 4.
63 For example, in 1558, he personally altered the notice of probate on the will of a London haberdasher:PROB 11/40, fo. 232v.
64 L.P. XIX, i, 812 (87); Anthony, Wood, Athenae Oxonienses (London, 1813), I, 760–1.Google Scholar
65 Wills of Tallakarne (1558) and Thomas Asheley, a proctor of the Arches (1540): PROB 11/23, fos94-v, 42A, fos 410-11v. Argall was an executor of Tallakarne's will.
66 For this group, see Kitching, ‘Prerogative Court’, pp. 203-05.
67 SP 1/162, fos 4-5; PROB 11/46, fo. 238v.
68 Churchill, I, 400; Michael, Kelly, ‘Canterbury Jurisdiction and Influence During the Episcopate of William Warham, 1503-1532’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1965), p. 65;Google Scholar John, Stow, A Survey of London, ed. Kingsford, C. L. (Oxford, 1971), I, 342.Google Scholar
69 PROB 11/28, fos 94v.
70 PROB 11/31, fos 52-3.
71 PROB 11/35, los 129-v.
72 PROB 11/43, fos402v-4.
73 Ibid.
74 PROB 11/46, fos 236-8v. His will is: PROB 11/61, fos 283-v.
75 PROB 11/80, fos 201v-02v.
76 PROB 11/93, fos 1-2v, 124, fos 259-60v.
77 PROB 11/31, fo. 52v, 43, fo. 403v.
78 PROB 11/35, fos 181v-2v, 43, fo. 403v; D.N.B., 11, 141-2; Elton, Reform and Renewal, pp. 24-25.
79 PROB 11/35, fos 157-8; John, Venn and Venn, J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses (Cambridge, 1922), I, i, 212.Google Scholar
80 PROB 11/35, fo. 129v.
81 PROB 11/40, fos 194-6.
82 PROB 11/31, fos 52v-3.
83 Emmison, pp. 127-8.
84 PROB 11/42A, fo. 183v.
85 PROB 11/46, fo. 237v, 80, fo. 202.
86 PROB 11/73, fos 193v-4.
87 PROB 11/43, fos 257v-8.
88 PROB 11/49, fos 201-02. Sheriff held property in Kent and was possibly related to the Thomas Sheriffwho was an executor for John Baker's father in 1504: PROB 11/14, fos 159v-60v.
89 His fees in the Prerogative Court were considerable and could bring him over one and one-half pounds for a single substantial probate such as that of the Duke of Norfolk in 1554: E.407/60/8. His salary in the Court of First Fruits and Tenths was £20 a year and this was doubled in 1554: Richardson, Report of 1552, p. 108, Augmentations, p. 254. Extra duties were even more profitable; in 1555, he was paid £43 6s. 6d. for his work on knighthood and rebel fines and with the Duke of Northumberland's possessions: E.405/484, fo. 43v.
90 PROB 11/46, fo. 237.
91 Ibid.
92 L.P. XXI, i, 302 (65).
93 William, Berry, Pedigrees of the Families in the County of Kent (London, 1830), p. 170.Google Scholar
94 Ibid.
95 Details of all the family are given in: Alexander, Brown, The Genesis of the United States (London, 1890), II, 814–5.Google Scholar Richard Argall's will is PROB 11/73, fos 192v-4.
96 PROB 11/46, fo. 238v.
97 His will is PROB 11/68, fos 78-79. For the negotiations for the successor to the Argalls in thePrerogative Court see: Inner Temple, Petyt MS. 538/10, fos 12, 72.
98 Wood, 1, 760-1; D.N.B. II, 78.
99 PROB 11/80, fo. 202.
100 Venn, 1, i, 38.
101 Brown, II, 814; PROB U/80, fos 201v-2v, 93, fos 1-2v.
102 Arthur, Dasent, The Speakers of the House of Commons (London, 1911), p. 130.Google Scholar It is not convenientto provide a full description of Baker's religious position and activities at this point, but the author hopesto present such an account on a later occasion.
103 PROB 11/22, fos 171-2v. The same was true of Barret's close associates, William Potkin and Sir Richard Broke: PROB 11/23, fos 23-5, 27, fos 122v-4.
104 Franklin, B. Williams, Index of Dedications and Commendatory Verses in English Books Before 1641 (London, 1962), p. 5.Google Scholar
105 Ibid., p. 11; D.N.B. XLIV, 127-9.
106 She married Sir Giles Alington, whose first wife had been Alice Middleton, More's stepdaughter: Reynolds, E.E., The Field is Won, the Life and Death of Saint Thomas More (London, 1968), p. 173;Google Scholar Brown II, 814. Alington was apparently known to Argali and other members of his circle by 1552: PROB 11/35, fo. 129.
107 Leslie, Campion, The Family of Edmund Campion (London, 1975), p. 39.Google Scholar
108 PROB 11/31, fos 52-53, 40, fo. 195v, 42A, fos 183, 410.
109 PROB 11/46, fo. 236.
110 Christina, Garrett, The Marian Exiles (Cambridge, 1938), pp. 72–73.Google Scholar
111 Anne Warcope's accounts, British Library, Add, MS. 33,963, 10 July 1561.
112 PROB 11/68, fo. 78.
113 Ruth, Hughey (ed.), The Arundel Harington Manuscript of Tudor Poetry (Columbus, Ohio, 1960), I, 219, II, 269.Google Scholar
114 PROB 11/80, fos 201v-02v. In 1564, Osborne was appointed to be one of the trustees for Margaret Argall's dower when she married her second husband: Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, eds Collingridge, J. H. and Wernham, R. B. (London, 1939–74), III, 652.Google Scholar
115 PROB 11/73, fo. 193v.