Sir Henry Guildford was an English courtier of the reign of Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

, master of the horse

Master of the Horse

The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...

 and comptroller of the royal household

Comptroller of the Household

The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the English royal household, currently the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department, and often a cabinet member. He was an ex officio member of the Board of Green Cloth, until that body was abolished in the reform of the local...

.

Life

He was the son of Sir Richard Guildford by his second marriage. His mother was Joan, sister of Sir Nicholas Vaux. On the accession of Henry VIII, he was a young man of twenty, and a favourite with the new king. On 18 January 1510 he and his half-brother, Sir Edward, formed two of a company of twelve in a performance described by Hall, got up for the amusement of the queen. Eleven of them impersonated Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....

 and his men, and with a woman representing Maid Marian

Maid Marian

Maid Marian is the wife of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.-History:The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion...

 surprised the queen in her chamber with their dancing and mummery. Next year, on Twelfth Night, he was the designer of the pageant with which the Christmas revelries concluded: a mountain which moved towards the king and opened, and out of which came morris-dancers. At the tournament next month, held in honour of the birth of a prince, he signed the articles of challenge on the second day. Immediately afterwards he went with Lord Darcy

Baron Darcy

-Baronies:*Baron Darcy of Nocton, created 1299, abeyant circa 1350*Baron Darcy de Knayth, created 1332, presently extant*Baron Darcy de Darcy , created 1509, extinct in 1635...

's expedition to Spain against the Moors, where the English generally met with such a cool reception; but he and Sir Wistan Browne remained a while after their countrymen had returned home, and were dubbed knights by Ferdinand at Burgos on 15 September 1511. Early next year they had both returned, and received the same honour at the hands of their own king at the prorogation of the parliament on 30 March 1512. Hitherto he had been only squire of the body, a position he seems still to have retained along with the honour of knighthood. He was also a ‘spear’ in the king's service, and of as 29 March 1510 he had a grant of the wardship of Anne, daughter and heiress of Sir John Langforde.

In May 1512 he married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Bryan. The king's sister, Mary, at that time called Princess of Castile, made an offering of six shillings and eightpence at his marriage. On 6 June the king granted to him and his wife the manors of Hampton-in-Arden

Hampton-in-Arden

Hampton-in-Arden is a village and civil parish located within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands of England. The village was previously located within the county of Warwickshire, until the 1974 county boundary changes. It lies in the countryside between Birmingham and Coventry...

 in Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

 and Byker, Lincolnshire. On 3 December he was appointed bailiff of Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...

 in Warwickshire, and keeper of Sutton Park

Sutton Park

Sutton Park, in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England, is one of the largest urban parks in Europe and the largest outside a capital city; it is larger than Richmond Park in London....

; on the 24th constable and doorward of Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle, southeast of Maidstone, Kent, England, dates back to 1119, though a Saxon fort stood on the same site from the 9th century. The castle is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds....

, and keeper of the parks of Leeds and Langley in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. In 1513 he embarked at Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

 with the army that invaded France, and was one of the commanders of ‘the middle ward,’ having been appointed on 28 May the king's standard-bearer in the room of Sir Edward Howard, the admiral, who was drowned. He commanded a hundred men when he passed out of Calais

Calais

Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

 on 30 June. He and Sir Charles Brandon

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...

 had five shillings a day each as joint captains of the Sovereign, in which they crossed the English Channel. At the winning of Tournai

Tournai

Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....

 he was created a knight-banneret, and as master of the revels he celebrated the victory by an interlude, in which he himself played before the king.

On 6 November 1515 he was appointed master of the horse, with a salary of £40 a year, an appointment which he surrendered seven years later in favour of Sir Nicholas Carew

Nicholas Carew

Nicholas Carew may refer to:* Sir Nicholas Carew, Baron Carew of Moulsford , courtier and soldier during reign of Edward I of England...

. On the same day he had an annuity of fifty marks granted to him as squire of the body. In the same year he became an executor of Sir Thomas Cheney of Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, and before Christmas was writing to a minstrel in the Low Countries named Hans Nagel, to allure him over to England as a spy who could make reports about the fugitive, Richard De la Pole

Richard de la Pole

Richard de la Pole was a pretender to the English crown. Commonly nicknamed White Rose, he was the last member of the House of York to actively and openly seek the crown of England...

. In 1519 he received two letters from Erasmus in praise of the court of Henry VIII. Next year he attended the king to the Field of the Cloth of Gold

Field of the Cloth of Gold

The Field of Cloth of Gold is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase...

, and also to the meeting with the Emperor Charles V at Gravelines

Gravelines

Gravelines is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies at the mouth of the river Aa 15 miles southwest of Dunkirk. There is a market in the town square on Saturdays. The "Arsenal" approached from the town square is home to an extensive and carefully displayed art collection....

. On 12 February 1521 he had a grant of the custody of the manor of Leeds in Kent, and of the lordship of Langley, near Maidstone, for forty years. In May following he was one of the justices both in Kent and in Surrey before whom indictments were found against Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham

Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham

Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, KG was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and the former Lady Catherine Woodville, daughter of the 1st Earl Rivers and sister-in-law of King Edward IV.-Early life:Stafford was born at Brecknock Castle in Wales...

. Next year, on 24 April, the duke's manor of Hadlow

Hadlow

Hadlow is a village in the Medway valley, near Tonbridge, Kent; it is in the Tonbridge and Malling district. The Saxon name for the settlement was Haeselholte...

 in Kent was granted to him. In the autumn of 1521 he accompanied Thomas Wolsey to the Calais conferences, but on 21 September Richard Pace

Richard Pace

Richard Pace was an English diplomat of the Tudor period. He was educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton, and later at Padua, at Bologna, and probably at the University of Oxford...

 wrote to the cardinal to send him and Francis Brian home, as the king had few to attend him in his privy chamber. In May 1522 he went again in Wolsey's train to meet the emperor at his landing at Dover

Dover

Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

.

In 1523 he became, on the return of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare

Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare

Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare , also known in Irish as Gearóid Óg , was a figure in Irish History. In 1513 he inherited the title of Earl of Kildare and position of Lord Deputy of Ireland from his father.-Family:...

 to Ireland, one of the earl's sureties that he would come again on reasonable warning and present himself before the king. On 1 September on the death of his uncle Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden

Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden

Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden was a soldier and courtier in England and an early member of the House of Commons...

, he and three other executors received orders to deliver up Guisnes Castle to Lord Sandes. At this period his personal wealth was growing with many grants, and about this time he is said to have surrendered his office of standard-bearer, which was conferred upon his brother, Sir Edward, in conjunction with Sir Ralph Egerton. He took on administrative duties.

About 1526 he and Sir Thomas Wyatt

Thomas Wyatt

Thomas Wyatt may refer to:* Thomas Wyatt , English poet* Thomas Wyatt the younger , rebel leader* Thomas Henry Wyatt , British architect...

built a banqueting-house for the king at Greenwich

Greenwich

Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

. In June 1527, just before Wolsey's great mission to France, he delivered to the cardinal's secretary, Stephen Gardiner

Stephen Gardiner

Stephen Gardiner was an English Roman Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.-Early life:...

, out of the exchequer boxes loaded with international treaties and other evidences. He received Wolsey at Rochester on his way, and the cardinal sent him on in advance of him to make arrangements at Calais. He accompanied him on his progress through France, and was saluted by Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

 as an ambassador. He was actually receiving at this time a pension from Francis under the treaty of the Moore. In the spring of 1528 there were seditious rumours in some parts of Kent about demanding repayment of the loan which the people had been forced to contribute to the king; and some even proposed to break into gentlemen's houses, among others that of Guildford's half-brother, Sir Edward, and steal their weapons. This gave Sir Henry much to do, and he ultimately sat on a commission at Rochester for the trial of the malcontents. When Thomas Cromwell came as Wolsey's agent to suppress the small priories in Kent for his college at Oxford, Guildford asked him to visit him at Leeds Castle, with a view to obtaining from him the farm of the suppressed house of Bilsington

Bilsington

Bilsington is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, England. The village is south of Ashford, on the B2067, Hamstreet to Hythe road just north of the Royal Military Canal...

.

The ravages of the sweating sickness

Sweating sickness

Sweating sickness, also known as "English sweating sickness" or "English sweate" , was a mysterious and highly virulent disease that struck England, and later continental Europe, in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485. The last outbreak occurred in 1551, after which the disease apparently...

 in 1528 caused the justices in Kent, among whom were Sir Henry Guildford and his brother, Sir Edward, to adjourn the sessions at Deptford, where they met ‘in a croft nigh unto the street,’ from June till October. At the end of June Sir William Compton died of it, and Guildford was his chief executor. On the arrival of Cardinal Campeggio in England at the end of September he was, as comptroller of the household, much occupied with the preparations for his reception. He met the legate on Barham Downs, and at Dartford

Dartford

Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....

 informed him of the arrangements for his entering London. In the same year he made an exchange of lands with the priory of Leeds in Kent, and appointed Lord De la Warr and others trustees for the execution of his will. Next year (1529) he was one of the witnesses called to prove the consummation of the marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...

; he said that he was not then twelve years old. In the parliament of 1529 he was knight of the shire for Kent, and it was he who gave point to the complaints of the commons against the spiritualty with regard to probates of wills by the statement that he had paid to Wolsey and Archbishop Warham a thousand marks as executor to Sir William Compton. On 1 December he signed the articles brought against Wolsey in parliament. On the 8th he witnessed at Westminster the charter which created Thomas Boleyn

Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire

Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, KG was an English diplomat and politician in the Tudor era. He was born at the family home, Hever Castle, Kent, which had been purchased by his grandfather Geoffrey Boleyn, who was a wealthy mercer. He was buried at St. Peter's parish church in the village of...

 Earl of Wiltshire. He was one of those whose friendship Wolsey at his fall, by Thomas Cromwell's advice, secured by a pension. On 13 July he signed the letter of the lords and councillors of England to the pope, urging him to comply with the king's wishes as regards the divorce.

On 23 April 1531 he attended a chapter of the Order of the Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

 at Greenwich. He was still in high favour with the king, but he was strongly opposed to the policy the king was now pursuing of casting off his wife without a papal sentence and fortifying himself against the pope and emperor by a French alliance. On this subject he spoke his thoughts freely to Eustace Chapuys

Eustace Chapuys

Eustace Chapuys was a Savoyard diplomat who served as the Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 until 1545 and is best known for his extensive and detailed correspondence.-Life:...

 and even in court he could not disguise his views; so that Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...

, looking upon him as an enemy, warned him that when she was queen she would deprive him of his office of comptroller of the household. He answered that she need take no trouble about that, for he would give it up himself, and he immediately went to the king to tender his resignation. The king told him he should not trouble himself about what women said, and twice insisted on his taking back his baton of office; but for a time Guildford retired from court. He still remained one of the king's council. He died in May 1532.

Family

Guildford was twice married, but he died without issue. It does not appear when his first wife, Margaret Bryan, died; she was daughter of Thomas Bryan

Thomas Bryan (courtier)

Sir Thomas Bryan was an English courtier during the reign of Henry VIII.-Family:His wife, Margaret Bryan was governess to the King's four acknowledged children, Mary, Elizabeth, Edward and his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset. She impressed the King so much, he...

.

His second was Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe

Boughton Malherbe

For other "Boughtons" in Kent see Boughton under Blean; Boughton Malherbe; and Boughton MonchelseaBoughton Malherbe is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone district of Kent, England, situated between Maidstone and Ashford...

, Kent. She survived him, and as his executrix obtained a release from all her obligations to the king on 25 March 1533, and she afterwards married Sir Gawen Carey, or Carew, of Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

shire.