Henry Norris

Henry Norris, the second son of Richard Norris, was born in about 1496. The Norris family had long associations with the royal family. His great-grandfather Sir John Norris had kept the great wardrobe, while his grandfather was a knight who served under Edward IV.

His biography, Eric W. Ives, points out: "Henry Norris received his first royal grant in 1515, suggesting that he was already one of Henry VIII's ‘minions’, the group of half a dozen or so courtiers somewhat younger than the king who made up his immediate circle. From at least 1517 he was serving in the privy chamber, and he became a key figure around which its as yet inchoate establishment was forming. By 1518 he was handling money for Henry and by September that year he probably held one of the newly designated posts of gentleman of the privy chamber. He was granted an annuity of 50 marks in January 1519 and in the following May escaped the temporary disgrace of some of the other minions. Throughout his career he was prominent in court revels and he was clearly more than competent in the tilt yard." (1)

Henry Norris - Head of the Privy Chamber

In 1520 he was with Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold and in 1526, he was appointed keeper of the privy purse. By 1531 he was "Groom of the Stool and, as head of the Privy Chamber, the King's principal body servant". (2) Norris alone had the "right of entry to the king's bed-chamber... and for the rest of his life he remained the king's most intimate servant and confidant." (3) Norris was described as one of the King's oldest friends. (4) On 4th February, 1533, he was one of only three witnesses to the King's marriage to Anne Boleyn. (5)

Henry Norris, as keeper of the privy purse, had considerable financial power. By 1535 he had a total income of over £1,240. This made him wealthier than many leading nobles. This wealth and power put him in conflict with Thomas Cromwell. His biographer, Eric W. Ives argues that: "There was no major friction, but although the two did sometimes rub against each other, it is unlikely that the secretary managed to reduce significantly Norris's role in patronage. It was otherwise with national finance. Between 1529 and 1532 Norris, as keeper of the privy purse, had taken over many payments previously the responsibility of Brian Tuke, treasurer of the chamber. However, once Cromwell acquired financial responsibilities he began to make these payments direct, leaving Norris to manage only the king's immediate expenditure." (6)

Henry VIII continued to try to produce a male heir. Anne Boleyn had two miscarriages and was pregnant again when she discovered Jane Seymour sitting on her husband's lap. Anne "burst into furious denunciation; the rage brought on a premature labour and was delivered of a dead boy" in late January or early February, 1536. (7) What is more, the baby was badly deformed. (8) This was a serious matter because in Tudor times Christians believed that a deformed child was God's way of punishing parents for committing serious sins. Henry VIII feared that people might think that the Pope Clement VII was right when he claimed that God was angry because Henry had divorced Catherine and married Anne.

Henry now approached Thomas Cromwell about how he could get out of his marriage with Anne. He suggested that one solution to this problem was to claim that he was not the father of this deformed child. On the king's instruction Cromwell was ordered to find out the name of the man who was the true father of the dead child. (9) Philippa Jones has pointed out: "Cromwell was careful that the charge should stipulate that Anne Boleyn had only been unfaithful to the King after the Princess Elizabeth's birth in 1533. Henry wanted Elizabeth to be acknowledged as his daughter, but at the same time he wanted her removed from any future claim to the succession." (10)

Arrest and Execution

In April 1536, a Flemish musician in Anne's service named Mark Smeaton was arrested and interrogated at the house of Cromwell. He eventually broke down and confessed to having a sexual relationship with Anne Boleyn. David Loades has suggested that the story was "certainly fictitious, and probably a fantasy produced by psychological pressure". (11) Peter Ackroyd, the author of Tudors (2012) believes that Smeaton was tortured on the rack. (12) This is based on the evidence provided by George Constantyne he was "grievously racked for almost four hours". (13) Cromwell now had the evidence he needed. It seems that Smeaton had told him that Henry Norris had been Anne Boleyn's lover.

On 1st May, Henry Norris took part in the May Day jousts at Greenwich. While returning to London he was accused of committing adultery with the queen. He fiercely denied this, even though Henry promised to pardon his offence if he confessed. Norris was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (14) Norris refused to confess. So did Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton, a Groom of the King's Privy Chamber, and her brother, George Boleyn, who he had charged with incest. (15)

On 12th May, Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, as High Steward of England, presided over the trial of Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton, Francis Weston and William Brereton at Westminster Hall. (16) Except for Smeaton they all pleaded not guilty to all charges. Thomas Cromwell made sure that a reliable jury was empanelled, consisting almost entirely of known enemies of the Boleyns. "These were not difficult to find, and they were all substantial men, with much to gain or lose by their behaviour in such a conspicuous theatre". (17)

Few details survive of the proceedings. Witnesses were called and several spoke of Anne Boleyn's alleged sexual activity. One witness said that there was "never such a whore in the realm". At the end of the trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the four men were condemned by Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley to be drawn, hanged, castrated and quartered. Eustace Chapuys claimed that Brereton was "condemned on a presumption, not by proof or valid confession, and without any witnesses." (18)

George and Anne Boleyn were tried two days later in the Great Hall of the Tower. In Anne's case the verdict already pronounced against her accomplices made the outcome inevitable. She was charged, not only with a whole list of adulterous relationships going back to the autumn of 1533, but also with poisoning Catherine of Aragon, "afflicting Henry with actual bodily harm, and conspiring his death." (19)

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George Boleyn was charged with having sexual relations with his sister at Westminster on 5th November 1535. However, records show she was with Henry on that day in Windsor Castle. Boleyn was also accused of being the father of the deformed child born in late January or early February, 1536. (20) This was a serious matter because in Tudor times Christians believed that a deformed child was God's way of punishing parents for committing serious sins. Henry VIII feared that people might think that the Pope Clement VII was right when he claimed that God was angry because Henry had divorced Catherine and married Anne. (21)

George and Anne Boleyn were both found guilty of all charges. Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, who presided over the trial left it to the King to decide whether Anne should be beheaded or burned alive. Between sentence and execution, neither admitted guilt. Anne declared herself ready to die because she had unwittingly incurred the King's displeasure, but grieved, as Eustace Chapuys reported, for the innocent men who were also to die on her account." (22)

On 17th May, 1536, Henry Norris and the other four condemned men were executed on Tower Hill, their sentences commuted from being hung, drawn and quartered. George Boleyn exercised the condemned man's privilege of addressing the large crowd which always gathered for public executions. "Masters all, I am come hither not to preach and make a sermon but to die, as the law hath found me, and to the law I submit me." (23)

Primary Sources

(1) Eric W. Ives, Henry Norris : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

Henry Norris received his first royal grant in 1515, suggesting that he was already one of Henry VIII's ‘minions’, the group of half a dozen or so courtiers somewhat younger than the king who made up his immediate circle. From at least 1517 he was serving in the privy chamber, and he became a key figure around which its as yet inchoate establishment was forming. By 1518 he was handling money for Henry and by September that year he probably held one of the newly designated posts of gentleman of the privy chamber. He was granted an annuity of 50 marks in January 1519 and in the following May escaped the temporary disgrace of some of the other minions. Throughout his career he was prominent in court revels and he was clearly more than competent in the tilt yard. In 1520 he attended Henry at the Field of Cloth of Gold and in 1526, when under the Eltham Ordinance William Compton surrendered the posts of groom of the (close) stool and keeper of the privy purse, Norris took his place.