Charles Wriothesley (/ˈraɪəθsli/[1]REYE-əths-lee; 8 May 1508 – 25 January 1562) was a long-servingofficer of arms at theCollege of Arms in London. He was the last member of a dynasty of heralds that started with his grandfather—Garter Principal King of ArmsJohn Writhe.
Charles Wriothesley was a younger son ofThomas Wriothesley, who also became Garter King of Arms, and his wife, Jane Hall. His uncle,William Wriothesley, had also served at the College of Arms asYork Herald. Charles Wriothesley was born in London on 8 May 1508. In 1511, he moved with his family into Garter House, which his father had built as an embodiment of the family's rise to fame. His father sent him to Cambridge to study law. He was being educated atTrinity Hall, Cambridge by 1522.[2]
He seems to have married twice. His first wife was the daughter of a Mr Mallory. When he died at his lodgings London on 25 January 1562, however, there was no mention made of a wife or children in his funeral certificate. His fellow heralds paid for a splendid funeral. He was buried not inSt Giles-without-Cripplegate, along with all the other members of his family, but in the middle aisle ofSt Sepulchre-without-Newgate. He left no will, and the great library of books that he had inherited from his father was sold after his death, many of its contents toGilbert Dethick and his sonWilliam, the founders of a new heraldic dynasty.
In October 1524, one of thepursuivants at the College of Arms was promoted to replace a seniorherald that had died. This gave the Wriothesley family a chance to extend their dynasty. At age 16, Wriothesley was appointedRouge Croix Pursuivant. His appointment was made formal byletters patent on 29 May 1525 with the annual salary of £10. Shortly after this appointment, Wriothesley resumed his interrupted legal training. In 1529 he became a gentleman ofGray's Inn.
In the early 1530s, Wriothesley reached the peak of his career as an officer of arms. He was a part of the ceremony that createdAnne Boleyn asMarquess of Pembroke in 1532. He also attended hercoronation the following year. The death of Thomas Wriothesley on 24 November 1534 set a series of promotions at the College of Arms into motion. Thomas Wall was made Garter King of Arms, and Charles was madeWindsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary. Wriothesley's work as a herald seems to have been undistinguished, and he plainly did not prosper. When Thomas Wall died in 1536, after only two years' tenure as Garter, Wriothesley found himself overlooked for the promotion to his father's and grandfather's office. Even the succession of his cousinThomas, Baron Wriothesley, to theLord Chancellorship does not seem to have improved his prospects. WhenChristopher Barker died in 1550 Wriothesley was again passed over for promotion to Garter. His name appears in the charter of 1554 wherebyKing Philip andQueen Mary I established the heralds and their successors as a corporation with perpetual succession and granted them the house called Derby Place in which to keep safe their records and rolls and all things touching their faculty.
A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, From A.D. 1485 to 1559, better known asWriothesley's Chronicle, was written during the reigns ofHenry VIII,Edward VI,Mary I andElizabeth I. Thischronicle ofEnglish affairs, detailing the accession ofHenry VII to the first year of the reign of Elizabeth I, edited byWilliam Douglas Hamilton [Wikidata], was published in two volumes, by theCamden Society in 1875.[3][4]
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