William Brereton (c. 1487 – 17 May 1536), the son of a Cheshire landowner, was a

Groom of the Privy Chamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...

to Henry VIII. In May 1536, Brereton, the queen's brother

George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504 – 17 May 1536) was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s. He was the brother of Anne Boleyn, from 1533 the second wife of King Hen ...

, Sir Henry Norris, Sir

Francis Weston Sir Francis Weston KB (1511 – 17 May 1536) was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber at the court of King Henry VIII of England. He became a friend of the king but was later accused of high treason and adultery with Anne Boleyn, the king's second ...

and a musician,

Mark Smeaton Mark Smeaton ( – 17 May 1536) was a musician at the court of Henry VIII of England, in the household of Queen Anne Boleyn. Smeaton, together with the Queen's brother George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, Henry Norris, Francis Weston and Wil ...

, were tried and executed for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

and adultery with

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

, the king's second wife. Many historians are now of the opinion that Anne Boleyn, Brereton and their co-accused were innocent.

Family

William Brereton, born between 1496 and 1499, was the seventh son of Sir Randle Brereton of Ipstones, Shocklach, and Malpas, Knight Chamberlain of Chester, knight banneret and knight of the body of Henry VII. His mother was Eleanor, sister of Piers Dutton of Halton, Cheshire. Along with three of his brothers, including

Sir Urian Brereton Urian Brereton was a Groom of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII. While in this role his older brother William Brereton, also a Groom of the Privy Chamber, was executed along with other conspirators for high treason and adultery with Anne Bole ...

, William entered royal service. By 1521 he was a groom of the king's chamber, and from 1524,

groom of the privy chamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...

Marriage and issue

In 1529, Brereton married Elizabeth, daughter of

Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, KG (c. 146015 March 1526) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the legitimised bastard son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset by his mistress Joan Hill. Origins He was born in about ...

, widow of Sir John Savage, and second cousin to Henry VIII. He and Elizabeth had two sons: * Henry Brereton * Thomas Brereton Elizabeth's first husband was the grandson of Sir John Savage, who had been a Lancastrian commander at the

battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Au ...

in 1485. When the grandson had fallen into debt, and was also being held in the Tower for murder, all his lands were forfeited to the crown, and Brereton, as the king's man in Cheshire, was granted jurisdiction over them. After Sir John Savage's death, Brereton's marriage to his widow established a family relationship with the king and thus cemented his position as a royal servant. In reward for his work for the king, Brereton received a number of royal grants in Cheshire and the Welsh Marches. These eventually brought him more than £10,000 a year. However, he wielded power ruthlessly, on one occasion, engineering the judicial murder of John ap Gryffith Eyton, whom he blamed for instigating the killing of one of his own retainers.

Arrest, trial and execution

In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was accused of adultery with Mark Smeaton, a musician of the royal household, and the

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...

s Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, and William Brereton as well as her brother, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, all of the

privy chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

. The king's chief minister,

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

, "authorised and commissioned by the king," masterminded the proceedings against the queen and her co-accused. The allegation against Brereton, who had been arrested on 4 May, was that Anne solicited him on 16 November 1533, and misconduct took place on 27 November. Historian Eric Ives argues that Cromwell added Brereton to the plot against Anne to end the troubles he was causing in the Welsh Marches, and to reorganise (and centralise) the local government of this area. The trials of William Brereton, Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, and Mark Smeaton took place at

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

on 12 May. They were charged with high treason against the king, adultery with the queen and plotting the king's death. Having been found guilty, they were all sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. (The sentence was later reduced to beheading). The Queen and her brother were tried separately on 15 May within the

Tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

. On 17 May, William Brereton, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston and Mark Smeaton, were led from the Tower to a scaffold on

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...

. George Constantyne, an eyewitness to their executions, recorded their last words. Brereton's words as he faced the executioner's axe, "The cause whereof I die, judge not. But if you judge, judge the best," may be interpreted as a cautious declaration of his innocence which would avoid the forfeiture of his estates. An indication of his wife's continued trust in her husband is provided by her bequest to her son nine years later: "one bracelet of gold, the which was the last token his father sent me."

Portrayals

William Brereton was portrayed by James Gilbert on the Showtime series, ''

The Tudors ''The Tudors'' is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among ...

'', during season 2. The show presents him as a dedicated Catholic, prepared to act as assassin in the guise of courtier. He is commissioned by the Pope ( Peter O'Toole) and ambassador

Eustace Chapuys Eustace Chapuys (; c. 1490/92 – 21 January 1556), the son of Louis Chapuys and Guigonne Dupuys, was a Savoyard diplomat who served Charles V as Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 until 1545 and is best known for his extensive and detaile ...

( Anthony Brophy) to assassinate

(

Natalie Dormer Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)King Henry VIII (

Jonathan Rhys Meyers Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe; 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor, model and musician. He is known for his roles in the films ''Michael Collins'' (1996), '' Velvet Goldmine'' (1998), ''Titus'' (1999), '' Bend It Like ...

) from steering the English state at collision course with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was accused of having had carnal knowledge of the queen. Unlike the others in his position, who either denied –

George Boleyn George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504 – 17 May 1536) was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s. He was the brother of Anne Boleyn, from 1533 the second wife of King He ...

(

Pádraic Delaney Pádraic Delaney (born 6 November 1977) is an Irish actor known for playing Teddy O'Donovan in the Ken Loach film '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'', for which he earned an IFTA nomination as well as being named Irish Shooting Star for the 20 ...

) and Henry Norris ( Stephen Hogan) – were tortured into admitting it –

(

David Alpay David Alpay (born 6 October 1980) is a Canadian actor, musician and producer, known for playing Mark Smeaton in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' and Jade in the Epix series '' From''. Early life Alpay was born in Toronto, Ontario, and prior ...

) – or acquitted – Thomas Wyatt ( Jamie Thomas King) – Brereton falsely states his guilt to

(

James Frain James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. His best known television roles include Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime/ CBC historical drama ''The Tudors'' (2007–2009), Franklin Mott in the HBO drama ''True Blood'' (2010), Warwi ...

), knowing that it will ensure the Queen's conviction for high treason, and thus the fulfilment of his objective, albeit at the cost of his own life. On ''The Tudors'', although Brereton was an actual historical figure, his character was totally fictionalised. William Brereton is portrayed as a young man, while in reality he was almost fifty. Moreover, he was not a Jesuit, nor was he commissioned by the Pope to assassinate Anne Boleyn. Anne was crowned queen in 1533 and executed in 1536, while the Pope did not formally establish the Jesuit order until 1540. Brereton was probably collateral damage when Thomas Cromwell moved against the Boleyn faction and decided to get rid of him in the same coup. In ''

Wolf Hall ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a symp ...

'', a TV mini-series adaptation of the historical novel by

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, '' Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was relea ...

, he was played by

Alastair Mackenzie Alastair Mackenzie (born 8 February 1970) is a Scottish actor from Perth. Early life He was born in Trinafour, near Perth, and educated at Westbourne House School and Glenalmond College in Perthshire. Mackenzie left home at the age of 1 ...

References

Bibliography

* * *
in JSTOR
* * * * * *

External links

* ttps://histfam.familysearch.org//getperson.php?personID=I16234&tree=EuropeRoyalNobleHous Sir William Brereton, KnightFamily tree {{DEFAULTSORT:Brereton, William 1480s births 1536 deaths

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

People executed under the Tudors for treason against England Executed people from Cheshire Prisoners in the Tower of London 16th-century English people People executed by Tudor England by decapitation People executed under Henry VIII Publicly executed people