Sir Thomas Cawarden (died 25 August 1559) of

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill, Surrey, Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with Middle Ages, medieval buildings and is mostly on a ...

Nonsuch Park Nonsuch Park is a public park between Stoneleigh, Cheam, and Ewell in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. It is adjacent to the boundary of the London Borough of Sutton. It is the last surviving part of the Little Park of Nons ...

and

East Horsley East Horsley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, 21 miles southwest of London, on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line to London Waterloo. ...

(

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

) was

Master of the Revels The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain. ...

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

, and

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

Background

Thomas was the son of William Cawarden, a cloth-fuller and citizen of London. In 1528, he was apprenticed to a

mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

in London, Owen Hawkins. By 1542 Cawarden had married. His wife's first name was Elizabeth; her surname is unknown.

Career

In 1542 and 1547 he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

which did not have town status and had a smaller forty shilling freeholder electorate than the average of the time, poor enough to be challenged in the courts in 1614. In 1544 Sir Thomas Cawarden received a patent as Master of Revels and Tents, becoming the first head of an independent office and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

in September of that year. Tents were provided for festivals, royal progresses, and in military expeditions. In July and August 1547, Cawarden provided 'hales', 'roundhouses', and a kitchen tent for the mission to Scotland during the war of the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Roman Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the ...

which culminated in the

Battle of Pinkie The Battle of Pinkie, also known as the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh ( , ), took place on 10 September 1547 on the banks of the River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland. The last pitched battle between Scotland and England before the Union of the Cro ...

. Cawarden paid for the tents which had been 'wetted in the shippe' to be dried and put away on their return.

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was ...

as queen requested tents on 19 July 1553. On 1 January 1559 Mary I ordered her officers to collect arms and armour from Cawarden's house to counter Wyatt's rebellion. Seventeen wagon loads were taken. The patent also allowed him to keep 40 armed and liveried servants at

Castle or Palace. Soon after his appointment, the revels office and its stores were transferred to a dissolved Dominican

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to: England * Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol * Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent * Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...

, having previously been housed at Warwick Inn in the city, the

London Charterhouse The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Farringdon, London, dating back to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square, and lies within the London Borough of Islington. It was originally built ( ...

, and then at the

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

of St. John of Jerusalem in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

, to which a return was made after Cawarden's death. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Surrey The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066. At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635). 1066–1228 (High Sheriffs of Surrey only) 1229– ...

and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

for 1547–48, keeper of Hampton Court in 1550 and joint

Lieutenant of the Tower of London The Lieutenant of the Tower of London serves directly under the Constable of the Tower. The office has been appointed at least since the 13th century. There were formerly many privileges, immunities and perquisites attached to the office. Like the ...

(with Sir Edward Warner) in Nov-Dec 1558. Cawarden formally obtained

, which had been the home of

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...

, on 7 April 1547. He was also keeper of the house and gardens of

Nonsuch Palace Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–83. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and the London Borough ...

from 1543 to November 1556. Between 1547 and 1559 he was four times elected

knight of the shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for

. In 1551 Cawarden built a banqueting house in

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

with Lawrence Bradshaw, surveyor of works. Cawarden was in charge of the interior decoration by the painters Antony Toto and John Leades. This by 1556 had been largely superseded by his own Banqueting House at

close to the original

, at the foot of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...

which he had been granted in 1547 by King Edward ("a messuage and lands in the manor of Nonsuch alias Cuddington") to hold for 21 years for a rent of £5 5s. 8d . Cawarden died at

on 25 August 1559. His body was taken to Bletchingley. A brass plate intended for Thomas Cawarden's monument was found at

Loseley Park Loseley Park is a large Tudor manor house with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in Artington close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the ...

, the home of his executor, Sir William More, in the 19th century. Cawarden was succeeded as Master of the Revels by Sir

Thomas Benger Sir Thomas Benger Master of the Revels (ca. 1520? – 1572) succeeded Sir Thomas Cawarden as Elizabeth I's Master of the Revels on 18 January 1560. He served until 1572 when it appears Sir Thomas Blagrave stepped in. Benger was considered to be a ...

The Loseley Manuscripts

Thomas Cawarden's official papers survived at his executor's descendants' house at Loseley. These were moved into public collections. A catalogue of the papers in the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare material ...

collection is available on-line. Other revels papers are available to study at the

National Archives, Kew , type = Non-ministerial department , seal = , nativename = , logo = Logo_of_The_National_Archives_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg , logo_width = 150px , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , dissolved = , superseding = , juris ...

, and the Surrey Record Office,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

. Extracts from the papers were first published by Alfred Kempe in 1836, and by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1879.

Inventory of the revels costume and royal tents

An inventory was made of the costumes kept by Thomas Cawarden as Master of Revels. This includes embroidered coverings and bards for horses. Masque clothes for men include sets of 12 long garments of cloth of gold, of silver, and of crimson satin, and other sets for suites of masquers. Eight masquers dressed as "Turks" with head pieces in "Turkish fashion". There were clothes for performers to dress as falconers, as Germans or "Allmaynes", and as monks. There were masks with and without beards, masks for disguise as Germans, pilgrim's staffs, halberds, and shepherds' crooks. Costume for women included kirtles and sleeves, Italian gowns, costume for "frowes" or German wives, garments to disguise as African people called "Mores" with wigs of hair (made by

Niccolo da Modena Niccolo da Modena or Nicholas Bellin of Modena (died 1569) was an Italian artist and technician at the English court. Career He was born in Modena near the end of the 15th century. He is first recorded at the French court in 1516 as a valet of t ...

), and as Egyptians or Gypsies. The royal tents included the king's lodging tent, really a group of connecting tents, his lesser lodging tent, a dining house, and decorative hangings and accessories. Cawarden was also responsible for the tents sent into Scotland with the army of the

.David Starkey, ''Inventory of Henry VIII'' (London, 1998), pp. 170-2.

Footnotes

References

* * * * *

External links

* Folger Shakespeare Library, (1955–2000) * Historical Manuscripts Commission, 7th Report, ''Manuscripts of William More Molyneaux at Loseley Park'', (1879), 596–681. * Kempe, Alfred John
''The Loseley Manuscripts'', John Murray, London (1836)

The Loseley Manuscripts at Surrey History Centre

Loseley Manuscripts at Surrey History Centre - National Archives record

Place Farm Bletchingley
home of Anne of Cleves and Thomas Carwarden.