Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) – most famous for his political treatise The Prince, which advocated a common-sense approach to government which put political expediency above ethical and moral issues. Richard Rich’s reference to Machiavelli is a warning about the lengths to which he and Cromwell will go in order to succeed later in the play. It is interesting to note that Machiavelli did not himself actually subscribe to the principles in The Prince, but wrote the book to try to gain favor (and a position) with the ruling Medici family in Florence.

 

Dean of St. Paul – probably John Colet, a prominent churchman and one of the circle of humanist scholars.

 

Court of Requests – one of the many courts in England established over time to handle different types of cases. This one had been set up in the previous century to hand civil matters for poor suitors and evolved into a formal court by 1485.

 

Earl Marshall – an officer of the Privy Council who marshals and orders all great ceremonials, takes cognizance of matters relating to honor, arms, and pedigree, and directs the proclamation of peace and war. It was an hereditary office, which came to the family of the dukes of Norfolk.

 

“first cast of the day” – refers to falconry, the sport of hunting with birds of prey. Norfolk is telling Alice about a hunting incident.

 

Aristotle (354-322 B.C.E.) – Greek philosopher and writer, student of Plato and one of the most influential of ancient philosophers, and a key figure for Renaissance humanists.

 

farrier’s son – a blacksmith. Actually, Cromwell’s father is said to be a farrier, or cloth worker, or alehouse keeper.

 

butcher’s son – Wolsey’s father was actually a grazier and wool merchant. But it is significant that Cromwell and Wolsey were both of humble origin, partly due to Henry VII’s distrust of the nobility.

 

Hounslow – principal town of the London Borough of Hounslow in West London. The origin of the name Hounslow is disputed, with some claiming it derives from the Anglo-Saxon “Honeslaw” meaning an area of land suitable for hunting, whilst others claim it comes from an a mound or hill associated with Hundi, a pagan Anglo-Saxon.

 

Lorenzo Cardinal Campeggio (1471/2-1539)  - the papal envoy who represented pope at Treaty of London 1518. He was kept waiting in Calais for a long time, probably because Wolsey was asserting himself. Wolsey must have understood his importance as he appointed him Bishop of Salisbury in 1524 as a means of securing Campeggio’s role as papal curia for England. He was still around and powerful in 1529 and must have remembered the insult from 1518 because he refused to agree to the annulment when he came to England in 1528 to try to bring about a reconciliation. The pope had given him the authority to do so. Wolsey was unable to work with him.

 

Yorkist wars – a reference to the Wars of the Roses, which lasted for thirty years during the previous century, between the houses of Lancaster and York

 

Cuthbert Tunstall – Bishop of Durham, educated in Italy, humanist and member of More’s circle. He wrote a treatise on mathematics

 

Suffolk – The son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset. He married Henry’s niece.

 

“Dominus vobiscum” – “The Lord be with you:” an ancient form of devout salutation. The response is “et cum spiritu tuo” (“and with thy spirit”)

fathom – a measurement of 1.8288 meters

 

Dr. Luther – Martin Luther (1483-1546), German monk who was a key figure in the Protestant Reformation.

 

“forgiveness by the florin!” refers to the selling of indulgences, particularly in Germany, which prompted Martin Luther finally to post his 95 theses in 1517.

 

Inns of Court – legal societies which were universities of a sort, originally the hostels in which lawyers had stayed while they pleaded at nearby courts of Westminster. By More’s time they were well establish as training centers in English common law. There were four: Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple.

 

Antichrist – one who appears to be like God (or God himself), but is really under the powers of Satan. There are many biblical references to the Antichrist and their was a real fear about this figure, especially in the Middle Ages.

 

Divorce – King Henry was technically not seeking a divorce, but an annulment.

 

Tower of London – ancient fortress and prison, where traitors were kept in Tudor times.

 

Spanish Ambassador – Chapuys was actually the imperial ambassador, of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

English constitution – See ref. to Magna Charta

 

Great Harry – English carrack or “great ship,” formally named Henri Grâce à Dieu (Henry Grace of God), originally built 1512-1514, ordered by Henry in response to a Scottish ship of similar proportions. She was 165 feet long, weighing 1000-1500 tons. After the succession of Edward VI, she was renamed for him.

 

vespers – evening service, one of the two principle canonical hours, of the eight so-called daily Offices of the Virgin

 

John Colet (1467?-1519) – Dean of St. Paul Cathedral, son of the Mayor of London, and a prominent humanist

 

Leviticus and Deuteronomy – Pope Julius II gave the dispensation for Henry to marry his brother Arthur’s widow, which Henry now felt he wished to reverse, partly as a matter of conscience, but mostly to get a legitimate heir. The reference to Deuteronomy is from Chapter 25, verse 5: “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.”

 

“King of Spain’s knife to his throat” – this refers to the fact that Emperor Charles V, who was the nephew of Queen Catherine, was holding Pope Clement VII hostage for a number of reasons, including that he wanted to make sure he made no decisions against his aunt.

 

Moloch – divinity worshipped by idolatrous Israelites.

 

Sir Thomas Paget – actually Sir William Paget (1506-1563) who was the first clerk to the Privy Council, 1540.

 

“strikingly corrupt old person” – it can generally be said that most popes of the 15^th and 16^th centuries (not exclusively) were corrupt by anyone’s religious standards. In many ways, these were not only spiritual leaders but also feudal lords with lands and castles, as well as mistresses and much wealth. Clement VII was a member of the prominent Florentine Medici family, which had its own share of corruption.

 

“bishops in Convocation” – refers to the meeting ordered by Henry in which many privileges were taken away from the clergy. They had no choice really but to agree to his edict. It was after this event that More resigned his office of Lord Chancellor.

 

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam(1466 -1536) – Dutch humanist and theologian, who came to England around 1511, invited by a Sir William Blount (Henry’s tutor), and became a prominent figure in More’s circle. Among many other things, he wrote the antipapal work In Praise of Folly. He did remain a Roman Catholic all his life.

 

Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.) – thought to be the founder of Western philosophy, he was portrayed by Plato as a man of reason with a divine voice in his head. It is ironic that Socrates was also executed as an enemy of the state, who claimed he could have avoided being killed if he had gone home “to mind his own business.”

 

Yorkshire and Northumberland – England was certainly divided in terms of their opinion about the King’s wish for annulment as well as their religious leanings. Always concerned with his public image and in search of traitors, the King did send emissaries around to various parts of the country.

 

“He Shall flee the iron weapons, and the bow of steel shall strike him through”  - Job chapter 20, verse 24

 

Apostolic Succession of the Pope – belief that St. Peter was the first pope as appointed by Christ himself, and that all other popes and even bishops are figuratively descended from the Apostles, and it is the basis for their authority.

 

Bishop John Fisher of Rochester (1469?-1535) – a closer ally of the Queen than More, he was more outspoken in his opposition to the annulment. Also in More’s circle of humanists, he was executed in the same year.

 

Maid of Kent – a young woman named Elizabeth Barton, a poor uneducated servant girl from the town of Aldington in the county of Kent. In the summer of 1533 she fell ill with fever and delirium. She made prophecies and developed a following. At one point she said she saw a little devil whispering evil advice to Anne Boleyn, that she saw fiends snatching at the soul of Cardinal Wolsey after his death, and that the spirits told her that King Henry would not live more than seven months after his marriage to Anne Boleyn and that she had been shown the place in hell where the king would go when he had died a villain’s death. She appeared before Cromwell and was condemned. More able to prove he had only advised her against making such pronouncements.

 

A Defence of the Seven Sacraments – the King’s book which he published in 1521 in response to Martin Luther and for which he was named Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X.

 

upper and nether millstones – the lower or nether millstone is firmly fixed and very hard; the upper stone revolves around it on a shaft and the corn is ground by the motion of the upper stone around the lower one. Norfolk is clearly in a compromising position.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) – Catholic theologian and philosopher, author of Summa Theologiae.

 

Magna Carta – document which King John I was forced by his nobles to sign in 1215, which recognized their rights. It is the foundation of the English constitution and England as a Constitutional Monarchy.

King’s “Great Matter”

This began possibly partly a result of his bad conscience – Pope Julius II had granted the dispensation in 1509, overriding the Leviticus passage forbidding marriage to brother’s widow. There was also a question of whether the marriage had been consummated or not. The church strongly against divorce, so the only way to end a marriage, especially a royal one, was through papal-sanctioned annulment. In Deuteronomy Moses is quoted as urging one of followers to marry his brother’s widow – thus the ambiguity.

By 1528, there were three distinct factions at court:

Campeggio came to negotiate in 1528 and found that reconciliation not possible. He first suggested that Katherine go into a convent, which she refused to do. Campeggio said that the original dispensation was sound, and even offered another dispensation for Princess Mary to marry her illegitimate half brother, the Duke of Richmond.

 

Julius II, 1503-1513: granted the dispensation, called the “warrior pope,” known as a patron of the arts

Leo X, 1513-1521: was pope at the beginning of the Protestant Reformation; he was largely responsible for the excesses that Luther deplored

Adiran VI, 1522-1523: once a Head Inquisitor for Inquisition, he was a reform-minded pope

Clement VII (1523-1534) : a member of the powerful Medici family, who possessed diplomatic skills, but could not cope with the changes around him

Paul III, 1534-1549: first pope of the Counter Reformation; he tried to make John Fisher a Cardinal before Fisher was executed

 

In maintaining his silence, More felt he was safe under the law. His contemporaries may have felt he was acting obsessively or irrationally, but he believed himself to be acting legally. Likely the jury was not impressed by his legalistic hair-splitting. More had not publicly opposed Henry’s marriage, but had refused to swear the oath. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for refusing to swear that oath, but he was sentence to death for refusing to recognize that the king was Supreme Head of the Church of England.” That was the key issue by 1535. When asked directly whether he would obey the king as Supreme Head, whether he would accept marriage or whether he believed himself obliged to answer first question: he said “I can make no answer.”

 

The testimony of Richard Rich is well-documented in several accounts of the trial. It is interesting to note that it was customary 16^th century legal practice to use the phrase “put the case” to describe a hypothetical situation, calling for wisdom and subtlety of orator. In More’s cell, Rich tricked him by means of this type of discourse and it is possible that More did not imagine that this conversation would be taken to express own convictions – that is, if it actually took place.