Thomas Hawley
Encyclopedia
Officer of arms
An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate armorial matters*to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state...
at the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He began his career of royal service as a groom porter to Queen Margaret
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
from her marriage in 1503 until 1508. Although he may have been made Rose Blanche Pursuivant in the reign of King Henry VII, his first permanent heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
appointment came in 1509.
Heraldic career
King Henry VIII appointed Hawley to be Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in OrdinaryRouge Croix Pursuivant
Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is a junior officer of arms of the College of Arms. The office is named after St George's Cross which has been a symbol of England since the time of the Crusades...
by letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
dated 26 August 1509. It was in this capacity that he journeyed with the Earl of Surrey
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
on the campaign of 1513 against King James IV of Scotland. Hawley was captured and detained as a prisoner before the Battle of Flodden, but released before the fighting actually started. On 1 November 1514 he was created Carlisle Herald in recognition of his diplomatic services in Scotland. The king also granted him an annuity of 20 marks.
As Carlisle, Hawley also performed the ceremonial and other duties of an officer of arms. In 1530 he was appointed the deputy to Thomas Benolt
Thomas Benolt
Thomas Benolt was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. As part of his service, he was also a diplomat. He appears to have been born at Rouen, though his family had stronger links with Calais. Benolt is thought to have been raised in that city, and his brother at one...
, Clarenceux King of Arms
Clarenceux King of Arms
Clarenceux King of Arms is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial kings of arms and his jurisdiction is that part of England south of the River Trent. The office almost certainly existed in 1420, and there is a fair degree of...
. In this capacity, he undertook a heraldic visitation
Heraldic visitation
Heraldic Visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms in England, Wales and Ireland in order to regulate and register the coats of arms of nobility and gentry and boroughs, and to record pedigrees...
of London churches on Benolt's behalf. He was charged "to reforme all false armorye & Armes devysed without auctoritie" (Wagner, Heralds and Heraldry, 9). His record of the occasion is the earliest existing account of a heraldic visitation. After several more diplomatic trips to Scotland, Hawley was made Norroy King of Arms by patent dated 15 June 1534. Hawley continued a long-running dispute with Garter Principal King of Arms
Garter Principal King of Arms
The Garter Principal King of Arms is the senior King of Arms, and the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms. He is therefore the most powerful herald within the jurisdiction of the College – primarily England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and so arguably the most powerful in the world...
over the privileges of their offices. On 19 May 1536 Hawley was appointed Clarenceux King of Arms. Visitation commissions were issued to Hawley in 1541, 1552, and 1555, but it is not certain if these were acted on.
Hawley died at his house in the Barbican, London on 22 August 1557. He was buried two days later in an elaborate ceremony at St Giles Cripplegate. He is not known to have married; his will appointed William Harvey
William Harvey (officer of arms)
William Harvey was born June 1510 to Turner and Mary Harvey in Ashill, Somerset. He was an only child. According to the Dictionary of National Biography vol 1-20, 22, William Harvey became a junior officer of the college of arms and was appointed the Bluemantle Pursuivant in ordinary on 18th June...
, Norroy King of Arms, as his executor, also leaving him the substantial library that Hawley had inherited from his predecessor as Clarenceux, Thomas Benolt.