And Profit in Tudor England: the Career of Sir Wymond Carew (1498—1549)

Financial Administration, Patronage and Profit in Tudor England: The Career of Sir Wymond Carew (1498—1549) Patrick Carter In the daily administration of its estates and revenues, the Tudor crown relied upon a small group of experienced financial officials: receivers, treasurers and auditors. These men frequently served in several capacities, in both the central and local administration, thereby aiding the crown to both extend and consolidate its power. In exchange the crown offered its officials excellent opportunities for social and economic gain. Few careers better illustrate the close correlation between royal service and private profit than that of the Cornishman Wymond Carew, who held a succession of posts in the royal financial administration during the 15305 and 15405. Deputy receiver’general of the Duchy of Cornwall, treasurer to three Tudor queens consort, and treasurer of the Court of First Fruits and Tenths, Carew was a successful administrative pluralist. Yet his rise to fortune owed as much to patronage and court politics as to industry or ability‘ In particular his marriage into the Denny family of Hertfordshire enabled him to profit from the power exercised Within the king’s privy chamber during the I 540s by his brothers—indaw Anthony Denny and John Gates. With such powerful connections Carew became an active conduit channeling suits for lands and offices to the king and his councillors. His favorable position gave Carew a certain measure of influence, which he exploited energetically (if not always successfully) for the benefit of his friends and himself. At the same time, however, his career also illustrates the trials of Tudor financial administrators who struggled to meet the spiralling fiscal demands of war while ensuring that the crown received its revenue and covered its expenses promptly and in full. A decade ago Dale Hoak argued for a new framework for writing Tudor political history, which considers the importance of the pluralists Financial Administration, Patronage and Profit 21 who held offices at court, in crown administration and in parliament. A study of Carew’s career (and others like him) contributes to construction of this framework, while also deepening our understanding of the role of the Henrician court as a centre of patronage.‘ Wymond Carew came from a cadet branch of one of the chief gentry families of southwest England. His great’grandmother Joan Courtney of Haccombe in Devon, an heiress, had married first Nicholas Carew; following his death in 1446 she took as her second husband Sir Robert de Vere, brother of the Earl of Oxford. Through these two alliances she amassed a considerable estate, which was divided between her five sons at her death in 1480: Wymond’s grandfather Alexander inheriting the manors of East Antony in Cornwall and Shobrooke (Crediton) in Devon as his portion.Z Sheriff of Cornwall in 1488 and a JP from 1486 until his death in September 1492, Alexander was succeeded by his son John, who in 1515 followed in his father’s footsteps as sheriff of Cornwall.3 John married Thomasin Holland of Exeter, and their eldest son, Wymond, was born (probably at Antony) in 1498. Nothing is known about Wymond’s life before the summer of 1519, when he married Martha, daughter of the Exchequer baron Edmund Denny of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. Carew's father—in—law had been the lord treasurer’s remembrancer before being appointed a baron in 1513.4 Unfortunately Denny’s death within months of the marriage precluded the possibility of an Exchequer career for Wymond, but in his will Edmund did leave two hundred marks to the Martha and her husband, provided that Wymond fulfilled the conditions of the recent agreement relating to his wife’s jointure.i Wymond may have owed his introduction to the Dennys to Sir Thomas Denys, an auditor of the Duchy of Cornwall, 3 Devon JP and a leading figure at court, who represented him in the marriage negotiations of I 519; perhaps Wymond was a member of his household at the time. The marriage to Martha Denny proved crucial in furthering Carew‘s fortunes. Martha’s brother Anthony was destined to occupy a powerful position in the king’s privy chamber, where he was joined by John Gates, who married Martha’s sister Mary. Another sister, Joyce, wed the London lawyer William Walsingham, and was the mother of the Elizabethan statesman Sir Francis Walsingham. Through his work in the Queen’s household, Carew was later associated with Joyce’s brother—inelaw Edmund Walsingham. In turn his ties to Carew may have influenced Anthony Denny’s own choice of bride. In I 5 38 he married the daughter of Sir Philip Champemon of Modbury in Devon, across Plymouth Sound from the Carew family seat at Antony; the bride’s mother was Catharine Carew of Mohun Ottery, a distant cousin of Wymond Carew.6 22 Patrick Carter Carew’s career in the crown’s service began in the administration of the Duchy of Cornwall, the landed estate preserved since the fourteenth century to furnish the Prince of Wales with an independent income. With no adult Prince during the reign of Henry VIII, the revenues of Duchy manors in Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, and from duties levied upon tin mining, were at the disposal of the crown; during the early sixteenth century these amounted to more than £4,500 per annum (approximately 5% of total ordinary royal revenue). The financial administration of the Duchy of Cornwall was overseen by the receiverr general and his deputy, who supervised the activities of the particular receivers responsible for individual manors.7 The Duchy offered local gentry in southwest England considerable opportunity for employment in the crown’s service. During the first half of the sixteenth century the post of receiver—general was the preserve of the Arundell family of Lanheme, Cornwall: Sir John Arundell, receiverageneral from 1507, was succeeded in March 1533 by his second son Thomas, who held the post until his execution in 15 52. Wymond Carew was first included among the stannary commissioners for the Duchy in 1532, and the following year the new receiver/general selected him to serve as his deputy. In July I 535 Carew was one of the Duchy officers assigned responsibility for valuing and leasing Duchy lands in Devon and Cornwall; at the same time he served on the commission charged with overseeing the seventeen ‘assessionable’ manors in Cornwall which constituted the core of the Duchy’s holdings.8 As Arundell’s deputy in the Duchy, Carew received the profits of individual manors and issued receipts to the particular receiver or bailiff concerned. For example in 1545—6 a total of £52 35. 5d. was paid to Carew by Christopher Cok, responsible for the assessionable manor of Helston» in—Triggshire.g The bulk of the receiver—general’s income was delivered to the treasurer of the Chamber, although substantial sums were directed to defray the costs of constructing a castle at Falmouth.10 From its tin revenues the Duchy traditionally paid £16 135. 4d. per annmn to the bishop of Exeter for ‘tithe tin’. In October I 5 3 5, however, bishop Veysey wrote to Arundell to complain that Carew had refused to pay the customary tithe tin for several years, despite repeated requests from the bishop, who protested that he was ‘not well handled thus to be delayed of my dewtye from yere to yere’.11 By 1538 the disputed sums were once again regularly paid, but Carew had already acquired a reputation for a reluctance to make payments. By grasping the opportunity for entry into royal service offered by the Duchy administration, Carew gained valuable experience of financial affairs, while cementing the ties with Sir Thomas Arundell which would later further his career in the Queen’s household. Financial Administration, Patronage and Profit 2 3 The turbulent politics of the English court soon presented Carew with an opportunity to enlarge his role in royal financial administration. The matrimonial machinations of Henry VIII during the 15305 and 15405 carried more than political and religious consequences, since each of his consorts possessed her own lands, income and household officers. The revenues of the queen’s various manors and fee farms were the responsibility of her receiver'general, supervised by a council headed by her lord Chamberlain and chancellor. Anne Boleyn’s household officials were closely associated with the Boleyn family; as a result the family’s destruction in the spring of 1536 cost most of them their places in the royal administration. Anne’s receiver’general George Taylor had and previously been in the service of her father the Earl of Wiltshire, was reportedly relieved to survive the turmoil of early 1536 with his life. With the queen’s execution his authority as receiver—general lapsed, although he was later temporarily reappointed receiver of the late queen’s lands in order to conclude his accounts.12 Within weeks of Anne's execution a new household was assembled for Henry’s bride Jane Seymour, in which Wymond Carew obtained the chief financial post of receiver—general. Unfortunately little evidence survives for Carew’s activities during her short reign. Following her death he continued in office for two years as receiver’general of the lands of the late queen, which were maintained as a discrete estate in readiness for the king’s remarriage.13 At last in September 1539 negotiations were concluded for a union between Henry and Anne, elder daughter of the Duke of Cleves. Preparations began almost immediately to re; establish the full household required for a royal consort. There was fierce competition for places in the new establishment; for example Lord Lisle sought the office of lord Chamberlain but was passed over in favour of the Earl of Rutland.

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