Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:30:42.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A border baron and the Tudor state: the rise and fall of Lord Dacre of the North*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2010

Steven G. Ellis
Steven G. Ellis
Affiliation:
University College, Galway
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Crown policy towards the nobles and the rule of the provinces under the early Tudors reflected the values and social structures of ‘civil society’ in lowland England. Using as a case-study the Dacres, a minor peerage family who were wardens of the Anglo-Scottish marches, this paper explores the strains and tensions which were created by the application of these norms to the ‘peripheral’ parts of the Tudor state. The paper outlines the political ambitions, resources, and estate-management policies of a border baron, and argues that Henry VIII's policies for the rule of the borders and his expectations of his officials there were unrealistic. It also suggests that the traditional approach of historians to the problems of Tudor politics and government reflects too much a view of events as seen from ‘the centre’ and needs to be balanced by a more sensitive treatment of the problems of the ‘periphery’.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 253 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 James, Mervyn, Society, politics and culture: studies in early modern England (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 78, 80–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 94–113, 142–3; Bush, M. L., ‘The problem of the far north: a study of the crisis of 1537 and its consequences’, Northern History, vi (1971), 42–3Google Scholar; Miller, Helen, Henry VIII and the English nobility (Oxford, 1986), pp. 187–92Google Scholar; Harrison, S. M., The Pilgrimage of Grace in the Lake Counties, 1530–7 (London, 1981), pp. 26–38Google Scholar, Guy, J. A., The Cardinal's Court: the impact of Thomas Wolsey in Star Chamber (Hassocks, 1977), pp. 19, 122–3, 163Google Scholar; Reid, R. R., The king's council in the north (London, 1921), p. 93Google Scholar.

2 Chrimes, S. B., Henry VII (London, 1972), pp. 90–1Google Scholar; Gillingham, John, The Wars of the Roses (London, 1981), pp. 29–31, 136–55Google Scholar; Storey, R. L., The reign of Henry VII (London, 1968), pp. 69–70, 87–8Google Scholar.

3 For a comparative survey, see Ellis, S. G., The Pale and the Far North; government and society in two early Tudor borderlands (Galway, 1988)Google Scholar.

4 See especially, Reid, King's council in the north; James, Mervyn, Family, lineage and civil society; a study of society, politics, and mentality in the Durham region 1500–1640 (Oxford, 1974)Google Scholar; Smith, R. B., Land and politics in the England of Henry VIII; the West Riding of Yorkshire 1530–1546 (Oxford, 1970)Google Scholar; Bouch, C. M. L. and Jones, G.P., The Lake Counties 1500–1830: a social and economic history (Manchester, 1961), chs. 2–3Google Scholar.

5 Watts, S.J., From border to middle shire: Northumberland 1586–1635 (Leicester, 1975)Google Scholar; Newton, Robert, ‘The decay of the borders: Tudor Northumberland in transition’, in Chalklin, C. W. and Havinden, M. A. (ed.), Rural change and urban growth 1500–1800: essays in English regional history in honour of W. G. Hoskins (London, 1974), pp. 2–31Google Scholar.

6 Storey, R. L., ‘The wardens of the marches of England towards Scotland, 1377–1489’, English Historical Review, LXXII (1957), 593–615CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 James, Family, lineage and civil society, passim.

8 James, Society, politics and culture, ch. 4; Hoyle, R. W., ‘The first earl of Cumberland: reputation re-assessed’, Northern History, xxii (1986), 63–94Google Scholar; Storey, , ‘Wardens of the marches’, 596–9Google Scholar, 609–11. For a similarly unsuccessful attempt to intrude the earl of Ormond as governor of Ireland in 1593–4 in place of the earl of Kildare, see Ellis, S. G., ‘Tudor policy and the Kildare ascendancy in the lordship of Ireland, 1496–1534’, Irish Historical Studies, xx (1976–1977), 235–71Google Scholar.

9 See especially, Ellis, S. G., Tudor Ireland: crown, community and the conflict of cultures, 1470–1603 (London, 1985), chs. 3–5Google Scholar.

10 Letters and papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, ed. Brewer, J. S. et al., 21 vols. and addenda (London, 1864–1932)Google Scholar (henceforth LP), a (i), no. 2736; Public Record Office (PRO), SP 1/12, fo. 49 (LP a (i) 1365); Storey, , ‘Wardens of the marches’, pp. 604–6, 608Google Scholar. The salaries also included payments for deputies and warden Serjeants.

11 Conway, Agnes, Henry VII's relations with Scotland and Ireland 1485–1498 (Cambridge, 1932), pp. 36, 100, 112–13Google Scholar. From 1493 until 1499 the earl of Surrey received £1,000 per annum for the custody of the east marches, mainly in warden: PRO, E 403/2558, fos. 37, 41V, 42V, 51, 58, 69, 75v, 85.

12 British Library (BL), Caligula B. II, fos. 200–2v (LP I (2nd edn) 2913); PRO, E 403/2558, fos. 189, 189V, 216v, 217, 229, 253V, 264, 265, 272V, 273, 287; LP 1 (2nd edn) 857(19), 984, 1003 (15, 17, 23); Miller, , Henry VIII and the English nobility, pp. 187–8Google Scholar.

13 BL, Caligula B. u, fo. 202 (LP I (2nd edn) 2913); PRO, E 101/72, file 7/1166; LP 1 (2nd edn) 2840, 2863(4, 5).

14 PRO, SP 1/11, fos. 4–6 (LP II (i) 596); E 403/2558. fos 297. 306, 317. 331 345–355V, 362, 372, 379V; BL, Caligula B. II, fo. 262 (LP III 1225). The king may also have accepted Sir Christopher Dacre as deputy-warden: see PRO, SP 1/45, fos. 101–2 (LP IV (ii) 3629(2)).

15 BL, Caligula B. II, fo. 262 (LP III 1225); LP IV (i) 279. Cf. LP II 1120, 2533, 2736, 3783, 4547, 4562.

16 LP III (ii) 3106, 3626, IV (i) 220, 278, 1310.

17 Ellis, Henry (ed.), Original Utters illustrative of English history (II vols. in 3 series, London, 1824–6)Google Scholar, 3rd ser., I, 321–3 (LP III 2859); Miller, , Henry VIII and the English nobility, pp. 187–90Google Scholar.

18 For Argyle, see Dawson, Jane, ‘The fifth earl of Argyle, Gaelic lordship and political power in sixteenth-century Scotland’, Scottish Historical Review, Lxvii (1988), 1–27Google Scholar; idem, ‘Two kingdoms or three? Ireland in Anglo-Scottish relations in the middle of the sixteenth century’, in R. A. Mason (ed.), Scotland and England 1286–1815 (Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 120–31; Wormald, Jenny, Lords and men in Scotland: bonds manrent 1442–1603 (Edinburgh, 1985), pp. 84–5Google Scholar, 108–14, 121–6. For Kildare, see Ellis, S. G., Reform and revival: English government in Ireland, 1470–1534 (London, 1986), pp. 49–66Google Scholaridem, Tudor Ireland, pp. 53–129.

19 BL, Caligula B. II, fos. 200–2v (LP I (2nd edn) 2913); LP IV (i) 1372.

20 See, for example, Ellis, , Original Utters, 1st ser., I, 132Google Scholar; LP II 788, 2253, III 1078, 2525iii–iv, IV 133. 139 200 219. 1223. 1429. 1517ii BL, Add. MS 24,965 is Thomas Lord Dacre's letter book for June 1523 to August 1524.

21 University of Durham, Department of Palaeography and Diplomatic, Howard of Naworth MS C/201/4A; Goodman, Anthony, ‘The Anglo-Scottish marches in the fifteenth century: a frontier society?’, in Mason, (ed.), Scotland and England, pp. 20–4Google Scholar. Dacre fortunes in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are traced in Cott, S. E., ‘The wardenship of Thomas Lord Dacre, 1485–1535’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, Manchester University, 1971), pp. 7–17Google Scholar.

22 Gibbs, Vicary tt al. (ed.), The Complete Peerage by G.E.C. (13 vols., London, 1910–1959), iv, 8–22Google Scholar; Ross, Charles, Edward IV (London, 1974). pp. 30, 37–8, 47–8, 50, 66n, 69gnGoogle Scholar.

23 BL, Add. MS 24,965, fos. 200–1 (LP III 3649); Complete Peerage, vi, 197–201; Ferguson, R. S., History of Cumberland (London, 1890), pp. 160–6Google Scholar; Bouch, C. M. L., Prelates and people of the Lake Counties: a history of the diocese of Carlisle 1133–1933 (Kendal, 1948), p 171Google Scholar.

24 Durham, H of N MS C/201/3; PRO, C 54/394, m. 7 (which omiti the Dacre estates in the palatinate of Durham, worth c. £100 per annum). For example, in the year 1532–3 Dacre's total receipts amounted to £2,042 gs.old., of which the baronies of Burgh, Gibland, and Greystoke contributed £196 iis. 5d., £175 18s. iod., and £295 14s. 4d. respectively. Lands in Westmorland yielded £207 iis. 4d., Morpeth barony in Northumberland £168 5s. od., and lands in Yorkshire, Durham and Shropshire realized £275 at. 5d., £104 45. 4s., and £137 9s. 9d. respectively. Cf. Miller, Helen, ‘Subsidy assessments of the peerage in the sixteenth century’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, xxviii (1955), 15–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, Henry VIII and the English nobility, ch. 6; Cornwall, J. C. K., Wealth and society in early sixteenth century England (London, 1988), pp. 143–4Google Scholar.

25 See especially, Durham, H of N MS C/201/2 (which shows that in the fifty years to 1530 the Dacres acquired by purchase lands worth c. £120 a year); LP III 1262 (8), iv 1855; Graham, T. H. B., ‘Extinct Cumberland castles (part III)’, in Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, new series, xi (1911), p. 242Google Scholar.

26 PRO, SP 49/1. fos. 58–9 (LP II (i) 1350).

27 PRO, SP 1/84, fbs. 33–50 (LP vii 676), fos. 62–2V (LP vii 679iii); LP Add. 1933; Miller, , Henry VIII and the English nobility, p. 56Google Scholar.

28 Durham, H of N MS C/201/2, C/201/3; Bean, J. M. W., The estates of the Percy family, 1416–1537 (Oxford, 1958), p. 46Google Scholar.

29 James, , Society, politics and culture, p. 142.Google Scholar

30 Durham, H of N MS C/201/3; Storey, , ‘Wardens of the marches’, pp. 609–11Google Scholar.

31 PRO, E 150/112 (Calendar of inquisitions post mortem… Henry VII (3 vols., London, 1898–1955), 1, no. 157)Google Scholar; Durham, H of N MS C/201/3.

32 Calculated from Durham, H of N MS C/201/3; Bean, , Estates of the Percy family, pp. 45–6, 139Google Scholar. See also Ellis, Pale and the Far North.

33 LP III 1190iii, 1883, 1986, 2931, iv 220, 278, 726, 1310.

34 James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 142–3Google Scholar.

35 James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 60, 76Google Scholar.

36 State papers published under the authority of His Majesty's commission: Henry VIII (StP) (11 vols., London, 1830–1853), iv, 12, 29, 51, 54Google Scholar; Ellis, , Original letters, 1st ser., I, 214–18Google Scholar; Miller, , Henry VIII and the English nobility, pp. 147–9Google Scholar; Dawson, , ‘Two kingdoms or three?’, p. 121Google Scholar.

37 Durham, H of N MS C/201/5, fos. 4–4V. Cf. Hoyle, R. W., ‘An ancient and laudable custom: the definition and development of tenant right in north-western England in the sixteenth century’, Past and Present, cxvi (1987), 36–43Google Scholar; Harrison, , Pilgrimage of Grace, pp. 47–56Google Scholar.

38 Bernard, G. W., The power of the early Tudor nobility: a study of the fourth and fifth earls of Shrewsbury (Brighton, 1985), pp. n, 51, 114, 153–5Google Scholar. Another of Dacre's daughters married Lord Scrope of Bolton: LP III 3210.

39 See especially, Tuck, J. A., ‘The emergence of a northern nobility, 1250–1400’, Northern History, xxii (1986), 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, ‘Northumbrian society in the fourteenth century’, Northern History, vi (1971), 22–39Google Scholar; Goodman, , ‘Anglo-Scottish marches in the fifteenth century’, pp. 18–33Google Scholar.

40 LP I (and edn) 2246, 2283.

41 Ellis, Tudor Ireland, ch.4.

42 Dacre's cross-border ties in the years before Flodden are outlined in Dr Henry Summerson's forthcoming study of medieval Carlisle which the author kindly made available to me. See also below, pp. 263, 271, 273. Dacre's influence was perhaps facilitated by the Scottish crown's practice at this time of appointing as wardens borderers like Lord Home and Lord Maxwell whose income depended largely on estates which were vulnerable to English raids.

42 BL, Caligula B. vii, fos. 226–7V (LP I (2nd edn) 1329). Cf. BL, Caligula B. VI, fo. 25 (LP III 1048).

44 For example, LP I (2nd edn) 1342, 1504, 2381, 2390; Ellis, , Original letters, 1st ser., I, 241–5Google Scholar.

45 LP I (2nd edn) 1329, 2026, II 819, 850–1.

46 LP I (2nd edn) 2381, 2390, 2443, 2913.

47 LP II 62, 66, 886ii, vi.

48 LP I (2nd edn) 3181.

49 LP I (2nd edn) 3181, II 819xiv, IV 1151.

50 LP II 596, 779, 850. For the political background, see Eaves, R. G., Henry VIII's Scottish diplomacy 1513–1524: England's relations with the regency government of James V (New York, 1971 ch. 2Google Scholar.

51 LP II 779, 783, 788, 845–6, 850, 1044.

52 LP II 783, 788, 819iii, x, xiii, 8341, ii, 850, 1672ii.

53 LP II 834ii-iii, 850, 855, 863, 898i, 1672ii.

54 LP II 8341-ii, 850, 885, 1044, 1098.

55 LP II 2253, 2293, 2313.

56 LP III 3383, 3385 (quotation).

57 LP III 834, 855, 863, 868, 898, 1024, 1026, 1030, 1098, 1598, 1672, 2253, 2313, 2465, 2711, 3125. 3139; Hannay, R. K. (ed.), Acts of the Lords of Council in Public Affairs 1501–1554 (Edinburgh, 1932). pp 57–8Google Scholar

58 BL, Caligula B. n, fo. 201 (LP I (2nd edn) 2913); Bain, Joseph (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Scotland, iv (1888) nos. 1683, 1744, 1746Google Scholar; Col. Pat. Rolls, 1494–1509, p. 379.

59 LP I (2nd edn) 2382, 2386–7, 2390.

60 LP I (2nd edn) 2387, 2390, 2394, 2423, 2443.

61 Ellis, , Original letters, 1st ser., I, 93–9Google Scholar; LP I (2nd edn) 2443; Dickens, A. G. (ed.), Clifford letters of the sixUtnth century (Surtees Soc., vol. CLXXII; Durham, 1962), pp. 96–9Google Scholar.

62 BL, Caligula B. II, fo. 201 (LP I (2nd edn) 2913); LP I (2nd edn) 2793.

63 LP I (2nd edn) 2576 (quotation).

64 BL, Caligula B. VI (n), fos. 542–3 (LP III 1986); Caligula B. I, fos. 9–10 (LP III 2068); LP III 2075.

65 LP II 1169–70, 2031; PRO, SP 1/45, fo. 106 (LP IV 3629(4)).

66 LP II 64, 158, 250, 396, 841, IV 726, 1057–8; James, Society, polities and culture, ch. 2.

67 Sir Robert Bowes's survey of the border, 1550, printed in Hodgson, John, A history of Northumberland (3 pts. in 7 vols., Newcastle, 1810–1825), III, ii, 208–9, 243Google Scholar; LP IV (ii) 4336 (2); James, Society, politics and culure, ch. 2. Ellis, , Pale and the Far North, p. 7Google Scholar.

68 Ellis, , Pale and the Far North, p. 23Google Scholar, and the references there cited.

70 LP III 3544–5, 3574, 3598; and see below.

71 Cf. LP IV 1482.

72 PRO, SP 1/16, fos. 313–14V (LP II 4258). LP II 4452 seems to relate to 1524, where it is calendared again as LP IV (i) 682.

73 LP III (i) 1; Guy, , Cardinal's court, pp. 27, 31, 34, 119, 12a, 163 n. 146Google Scholar.

74 LP II 4547. 4562, 4676, IV 157.

75 LP IV (i) 133, 218, 220, 682, 687, 726, 893.

76 LP IV (i) 133, 218, 220, 279.

77 BL, Larudownc MS I, fo. 43; LP rv (i) 988, 1058, 1117; Guy, , Cardinal's court, pp. 122–3, 163. n. 146Google Scholar. The articles of complaint by the inhabitants of Northumberland, together with Dacre's replies to each of them, are printed in Hodgson, , History of Northumberland, II, ii, 31–40Google Scholar.

77 LP iv 1637, 1665, 1700, 1725, 1727, 1762; Guy, Cardinal's Court.

78 PRO, C 82/585 (LP rv (ii) 3022).

79 LP iv 1727.

80 Guy, , Cardinal's court, p. 123Google Scholar.

81 James, , Society, politics and culture, p. 82Google Scholar.

82 LP III 2645; Miller, , Henry VIII and the English nobility, pp. 188–9Google Scholar.

83 LP III 3365, 3384.

84 LP III 3531.

85 StP IV 53–6.

86 Castle Howard Archives, MS F1/5/5, fo. 29V (by kind permission of the Howard family); LP III 3544.

87 BL, Caligula B. VI (II), fo. 325 (LP III 2955); Add. MS 24,965, fos. 150–1 (LP III 3097); LP III 3100, IV (i) 278.

88 LP III 2645, 3365, 3384, IV (i) 218.

89 BL, Add. MS 24,965, fo. 10 (LP III 3078); LP III 3106, 3603.

90 LP III 3544–5, 3570, 3574. 3615. Add. i 374; StP iv 54.

91 LP III 3545, 3576, 3579, 3598. See also James, , Family, lineage and civil society, p. 54Google Scholar.

92 LP IV (i) 133, 220, 279; Castle Howard Archives, MS F1/5/5, fo. 29V.

93 LP IV (i) 328–9, 346, 405, 482, 530.

94 James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 56–62, 78–82, 98–9Google Scholar; Eaves, R. G., Henry VIII and James V's regency 1524–1528: a study in Anglo-Scottish diplomacy (Lanham, 1987), ch. 7Google Scholar.

95 LP IV (i) 1223, 1239, 1289, 1338, 1372.

96 LP IV (i) 1223, 1239.

97 LP IV (i) 1289, 1429, 1469, 1482, 1517.

98 BL, Caligula B. I, fos. 46V–7 (LP IV (i) 1289); LP IV (i) 346, 405, 1223, 1289, 1429 (quotations), 1517, 2110.

99 James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 80–2Google Scholar.

100 PRO, SP 1/45, fos. 101–7 (LP IV (ii) 3629(2–4)). Cf. Storey, , ‘Wardens of the marches’, pp. 606–9Google Scholar. Dr Miller, (Henry VIII and the English nobility, pp. 188, 191)Google Scholar suggests that both Lord Darcy and the earl of Westmorland received £1,000 per annum as wardens of the cast and middle marches, but this seems to be an extrapolation from Northumberland's fee. Certainly, Darcy's fee as lieutenant (1502–5) and as warden (1505–11) of the east marches had been the usual £114 6s. 8d.: PRO, SP 1/12, fo. 49 (LP II (i) 1365), E 101/72, file 7/1166; LP II (i) 2736; E 403/2558, fos. 116, 127V, 142, 164; E 405/183, fos. 79, 150.

101 PRO, SP 1/45, fos. 101–7 (LP IV (ii) 3629); LP rv (ii) 3689, 5085, Add. i 618, 828.

101 Bush, , ‘Problem of the far north’, pp. 45–6Google Scholar.

103 James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 56–62Google Scholar; PRO, E 101/72, file 7/1167. The evidence perhaps also supports Mr James's suggestion (ibid. pp. 81–2) that one reason why the 5th earl of Northumberland was not appointed warden, notably in 1523, was that his terms were thought too high.

104 LP VI 199, 876, VII 281; James, , Society, Politics aid Culture, p. 100Google Scholar.

105 LP V 986–7 (misplaced in 1532), VII 646, 676, 679–80.

106 Printed, 3rd Report ofthe Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (London, 1842), app. ii, pp. 234–6Google Scholar.

107 LP V 595, 1254, 1460, 1635.

108 LP V 1630, 1655, Add. i 801, 831.

109 LP v 1054; Durham, H of N MS C/201/3; James, , Society, polities and culture, p. 100Google Scholar.

110 LP V 1370(20), 1394, VI 107, 117.

111 LP VI 117, 199, 299iv, 876.

112 LP VI 553, 664, 876.

113 LP VI 750, 876, 1152.

114 LP V 1054, 1079, 1101 VII 1270; 3rd rep. D.K.P.R., app. ii, pp. 234–6; StP IV 608–9. Dacre had also cultivated good relations with the Scottish court before the war. In July 1530, for instance, he sent James V a horse worth £10: Durham, H of N MS C/201/2, m. 8d.

115 StP IV 608–11; LP V 1079, 1101, 1286.

116 LP V 1460, VI 125.

117 3rd rep. D.K.P.R., app. ii, pp. 234–6

118 StP IV 647; LP vi 876.

119 LP IX 64, 88; Rae, T. I., The administration of the Scottish frontier, 1313–1603 (Edinburgh, 1966), pp. 170–2Google Scholar.

120 James, , Society, politics and culture, p. 100Google Scholar.

121 PRO, SP 1/141, fos. 248–51 (LP XII (ii), app. no. 36); LP I (2nd edn) 2684(86), II (i) 1084, IV (ii) 3747(6), 4134, 453 StP IV 502; Calender of patent rolls, 1485–94, p. 429.

122 PRO, SP 1/141, fos. 248–51 (LP XIII (ii), app. no. 36); STAC 2/18/269, fos 1,2 STAC 2/30/74; STAC 2/33/60; Durham, H of N. MSS Caoi/3, C/aoi/a, mm I, 4, IId; Castle Howard Archives, MS F1/5/5, fo 29V; Calendar of patent rolls, 1483–94, p. 429; Calender of close rolls, 1300–9, nos. 582, 587; A descriptive catalogue of ancient deeds in the Public Record Office, III (London, 1900), pp. 497–8Google Scholar; LP I (2nd edn) 2684(86), n (i) 1084; James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 100, 110, 112Google Scholar.

123 PRO, SP 1/36, fos. 238–45 (LP IV (i) 1855), SP 1/141, fos. 248–51 (LP XIII (ii), app. no. 36); STAC 2/18/269, fos. 1, 2; Durham, H of N MS C/201/2, m. 7.

124 Durham, H of N MS C/201/2, mm 1, 4, I id; James, , Society, politics and culture, pp. 100, 110, 112Google Scholar.

125 StP IV 488–95, 502; LP IV (ii) 3972, 4014, 4020, 4298. In 1524 the elder Lord Dacre had asked that Thomas Musgrave's fee as constable be increased to enable him to govern Bewcastledale properly: Castle Howard Archives, MS F1/5/5, fo. 29v.

126 PRO, STAC 2/19/127. Sir William's father, Sir Edward Musgrave, and Thomas Musgrave were first cousins.

127 StP IV 488–95; LP IV (ii) 4134.

128 PRO, STAC 2/19/127.

129 LP IV (ii), 4531, (iii) 6135(20), v 220(14), 477. XII (ii) 203.

130 LP I (2nd edn) 2246ii, V 1370(120), 1375, 1394, VI 1313, VII 281, 380, 829, 1647; Castle Howard Archives, MS F1/5/5, fo 29v. The circumstances of Dacre's fall thus seem remarkably similar to those surrounding the earl of Kildare's disgrace in 1534. Kildare was also allied with Norfolk, and his rivals likewise received Cromwell's backing. See Ellis, S. G., ‘Thomas Cromwell and Ireland, 1532–40’, in Historical Journal, XXIII (1980), pp. 497–519CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

131 Williams, Penry, Tht Tudor regime (Oxford, 1979), p. 445Google Scholar.

132 Bush, , ‘Problem of the far north’, pp. 40–63Google Scholar; Tough, D. L. W., The last years of a frontier: a history of the borders during the reign of Elizabeth (Oxford, 1928), pp. 190–6Google Scholar.

133 Ellis, , Tudor Ireland, chs. 5, 8–9Google Scholar.

134 Bush, M. L., The government policy of Protector Somerset (London, 1975), ch. 2Google Scholar.

135 Cf. Ellis, Tudor Ireland, ch. 5.

136 I intend to explore these problems more thoroughly in a forthcoming comparative study of the borderlands under Henry VIII.