Henry's Special Branch?
Henry's Special Branch?
It's well known that security and protection of a weak claim to the throne was a regnal worry to Henry VII. He combatted this by his irregular use of the Star Chamber and nationwide Justices of the Peace. There were few outspoken defenders of R3 in Tudor times. Obviously for fear of retaliation.
Sir Francis Walsingham (who by many is considered to be the "founder" of the British Secret Service) was a spymaster to the later Elizabeth I of England, and also her principal secretary. He had a considerable ring of spies at his command. Her father Henry VIII had a not-so-well trusted spymaster in Thomas Cromwell, until the latter fell out of favour. John Thurloe (June 1616 21 February 1668) had a similar position being a secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell.
Does anyone come to mind as to who or whom (if any) had a similar confidential position and duty with Henry VII, or was he even too suspicious of everyone to employ such a man?
Would Morton fit the bill?
Alan.
Re: Henry's Special Branch?
Henry certainly employed intelligencers of some sort - every noble of rank did so, not just royalty. The question is of course whether their roles expanded beyond that.
Tamara
Re: Henry's Special Branch?
Sorry if this comes up twice, but just replied and the website went odd, before I'd posted I think.
Anyhow, I looked up the letter John Flamank wrote from Calais in 1501 informing on Sir Hugh Conway, and it is addressed directly to the King, so perhaps Henry acted as his own spymaster?
Marie
Re: Henry's Special Branch?
http://general-history.com/famous-spy-masters-through-the-ages/
which includes a passage on Morton from which I quote:
"Henry Tudor gave Morton carte blanche to develop a secret service, which would report directly to him and him alone. Morton would then tell all in secret audience with the clever king. No committies, no assemblies, certainly not a word in Parliament. Thus England's first official secret service began."
However there is no source cited.
I'm not convinced that Morton actually did develop a service such as Walsingham had. But then of course did he need to? Confessions and gossip come to churchmen on a regular basis. As a man of the cloth he would have been trusted by many, where in fact he couldn't be trusted an inch.
Alan
Re: Henry's Special Branch?
A..
Re: Henry's Special Branch?
It's James Gairdner, Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry VII, Vol 1, p. 231. There is a free pdf version available online, probably on Internet Archive site.
And I also made a mistake. The letter was written in 1503, or possibly 1502, but definitely not 1501. I think there may be a couple of other informants' letters in there too.
Re: Henry's Special Branch?
Al.
