Sir Thomas Cawarden (died 25 August 1559) of

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Gre ...

Nonsuch Park Nonsuch Park is a public park between Stoneleigh, Surrey, Stoneleigh, Cheam, and Ewell in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. It borders the London Borough of Sutton. It is the last surviving part of the Little Park of Nonsuch, ...

and

East Horsley East Horsley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, 21 miles southwest of London, on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line to London Waterloo. T ...

(

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

) was

Master of the Revels The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberla ...

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

, and

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

Background

Thomas was the son of William Cawarden, a cloth-fuller and citizen of London. In 1528, he was apprenticed to a

mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...

in London, Owen Hawkins. By 1542, Thomas Cawarden had married. His wife's first name was Elizabeth; her surname is unknown.

Career

In 1542 and 1547 he was elected member of parliament for

which did not have town status and had a smaller forty-shilling freeholder electorate than the average of the time, poor enough to be challenged in the courts in 1614. In 1544 Sir Thomas Cawarden received a patent as Master of Revels and Tents, becoming the first head of an independent office and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

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in September of that year. Tents were provided for festivals, royal progresses, and in military expeditions. In July and August 1547, Cawarden provided 'hales', 'roundhouses', and a kitchen tent for the mission to Scotland during the war of the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (; December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following the English Reformation, the break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland ...

which culminated in the

Battle of Pinkie The Battle of Pinkie, also known as the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (), took place on 10 September 1547 on the banks of the River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland. The last pitched battle between Scotland and England before the Union of the Crowns, ...

. Cawarden paid for the tents which had been 'wetted in the shippe' to be dried and put away on their return.

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

as queen requested tents on 19 July 1553. On 1 January 1559 Mary I ordered her officers to collect arms and armour from Cawarden's house to counter

Wyatt's rebellion Wyatt's Rebellion was a limited and unsuccessful uprising in England in early 1554 led by four men, one of whom was Sir Thomas Wyatt. It was given its name by the lawyer at Wyatt's arraignment, who stated for the record that "this shall be eve ...

. Seventeen wagon loads were taken. The patent also allowed him to keep 40 armed and liveried servants at

Castle or Palace. Soon after his appointment, the revels office and its stores were transferred to a dissolved Dominican

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

at Blackfriars, having previously been housed at Warwick Inn in the city, the

London Charterhouse The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Clerkenwell, London, dating to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square, and lies within the London Borough of Islington. It was originally built (and ...

, and then at the

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

of St. John of Jerusalem in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

, to which a return was made after Cawarden's death. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Surrey The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066. At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635). 1066–1228 (High Sheriffs of Surrey only) 1229– ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

for 1547–48, keeper of Hampton Court in 1550 and joint

Lieutenant of the Tower of London The Lieutenant of the Tower of London serves directly under the Constable of the Tower. The office has been appointed at least since the 13th century. There were formerly many privileges, immunities and perquisites attached to the office. Like t ...

(with Sir Edward Warner) in November–December 1558. Cawarden formally obtained Bletchingley, which had been the home of

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (; 28 June or 22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the Wives of Henry VIII, fourth wife of Henry VIII. Little is known about Anne before 1527, ...

, on 7 April 1547. He was also keeper of the house and gardens of

Nonsuch Palace Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor architecture, Tudor royal family, royal palace, commissioned by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII in Surrey, England, and on which work began in 1538. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundary of the ...

from 1543 to November 1556. Between 1547 and 1559 he was four times elected

knight of the shire Knight of the shire () was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 ...

for

. In 1551 Cawarden built a banqueting house in Hyde Park with Lawrence Bradshaw, surveyor of works. Cawarden was in charge of the interior decoration by the painters Antony Toto and John Leades. This by 1556 had been largely superseded by his own Banqueting House at

close to the original Nonsuch Palace, at the foot of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

which he had been granted in 1547 by King Edward ("a messuage and lands in the manor of Nonsuch alias Cuddington") to hold for 21 years for a rent of £5 5s. 8d . Cawarden died at

on 25 August 1559, or according to some sources, at

on 20 August. His body was taken to Bletchingley for burial on 5 September. A brass plate intended for Thomas Cawarden's monument was found at

Loseley Park Loseley Park is a large Tudor manor house with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in Artington close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, th ...

, the home of his executor, Sir William More, in the 19th century. Cawarden was succeeded as Master of the Revels by Sir Thomas Benger.

Loseley manuscripts

Thomas Cawarden's official papers survived at his executor's descendants' house at Loseley Park. These were moved into public collections. A catalogue of the papers in the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...

collection is available on-line. Other revels papers are available to study at the National Archives, Kew, and the Surrey Record Office,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. Extracts from the papers were first published by

Alfred Kempe Sir Alfred Bray Kempe FRS (6 July 1849 – 21 April 1922) was a mathematician best known for his work on linkages and the four colour theorem. Biography Kempe was the son of the Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly, the Rev. John Edwar ...

in 1836, and by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1879.

Inventory of the revels costume and royal tents

An inventory was made of the costumes kept by Thomas Cawarden as Master of Revels. This includes embroidered coverings and bards for horses. Masque clothes for men include sets of 12 long garments of cloth of gold, of silver, and of crimson satin, and other sets for suites of masquers. Eight masquers dressed as "Turks" with head pieces in "Turkish fashion". There were clothes for performers to dress as falconers, as Germans or "Allmaynes", and as monks. There were masks with and without beards, masks for disguise as Germans, pilgrim's staffs, halberds, and shepherds' crooks. Costume for women included kirtles and sleeves, Italian gowns, costume for "frowes" or German wives, garments to disguise as African people called "Mores" with wigs of hair (made by Niccolo da Modena),Ian Smith, "White Skin, Black Masks",

Jeffrey Masten Jeffrey A. Masten (born June 10, 1964) is an American academic specializing in Renaissance English literature and culture and the history of sexuality. He is the author and editor of numerous books and scholarly articles. Masten's book ''Queer Phil ...

& Wendy Wall, ''Renaissance Drama 32'' (Evanson, 2003), p. 44; ; . and as Egyptians or Gypsies. The royal tents included the king's lodging tent, really a group of connecting tents, his lesser lodging tent, a dining house, and decorative hangings and accessories. Cawarden was also responsible for the tents sent into Scotland with the army of the

Footnotes

References

* * * *

External links

* * Historical Manuscripts Commission, 7th Report, ''Manuscripts of William More Molyneaux at Loseley Park'', (1879), 596–681.
The Loseley Manuscripts at Surrey History Centre

Loseley Manuscripts at Surrey History Centre – National Archives record

Place Farm Bletchingley
home of Anne of Cleves and Thomas Carwarden. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cawarden, Thomas Year of birth unknown 1559 deaths Politicians from Surrey Masters of the Revels European court festivities High sheriffs of Surrey High sheriffs of Sussex Lieutenants of the Tower of London English MPs 1542–1544 English MPs 1547–1552 English MPs 1553 (Edward VI) English MPs 1554–1555 English MPs 1559 Knights Bachelor Court of Henry VIII Court of Edward VI Court of Mary I of England