Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/399

 AUDLEY COMPLETE PEERAGE 349 was knighted; Lord Chancellor, 24 Jan. 1532/3, till just before his death 1 1 years later. (") Being a zealous promotor of the King's various schemes (whether just or otherwise) he obtained a large share of Abbey lands, parti- cularly in 1 53 1 those of the Holy Trinity, or Christchurch, Aldgate (subse- quently called " Duke's Place "), and of the rich monastery of Walden, in Essex, in (i C^S'-^g) 30 Hen. VIII. On 29 Nov. 1538, he was cr. BARON AUDLEY OF WALDEN, Essex. (") El. K.G. 23 Apr. and inst. 19 May 1 540. He resigned the Great Seal (nine days before his death) 2 1 Apr. 1 544. He w., istly, (.'' Margaret), da. of Sir Thomas Barnardiston,^) of Ketton, Suffolk, by Elizabeth, da. of John (or Roger) Newport, of Pelham, Herts. She d. s.p., 23 Jan. 1537/8. He w., 2ndly, 22 Apr. 1538, Elizabeth, da. of Thomas (Grey), 2nd Marquess of Dorset, by his 2nd wife, Margaret, da. of Sir Robert Wotton. C) He d. s.p.m.^ 30 Apr. 1 544, aged 56, at his resid- (*) These years were " a period more disgraceful in the annals of England than any of a similar extent. Within it were comprehended the King's divorce from one Queen, after a union of 22 years, under pretence of a scruple of conscience ; the repudiation of another after a few day's intercourse, on the mere ground of personal antipathy ; the execution of two others, one of them sacrificed to obtain a new partner ; and innumerable judicial and remorseless murders, those of Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher leading the dreadful array. " " Audley has acquired the character of undoubtedly equalling, if he did not exceed^ all his contemporaries in servility. " " His interpretations of the law on the various criminal trials at which he presided are a disgrace not only to him, but to every member of the bench asso- ciated with him, while both branches of the legislature are equally chargeable with the ignominy of passing the acts he introduced, perilling every man's life by the new treasons they invented, and every man's conscience by the contradictory oaths they imposed. " {jfudges of England, by E.Foss, F. S. A.) He "has always been consid- ered as the founder of Magdalene Coll. Cambridge, which he endowed with large estates, and ordained that his heirs, the possessors of the late monastery of Walden, should be Visitors of the College in perpetuum and enjoy the exclusive right of nominating the master, which appointment is still vested in the owner of Audley End. " [History of Audhy End, by Richard, Lord Braybrooke, London, 1836, p. 332.) In this work is an engraving of the Lord Audley from a picture by Holbein at that mansion. G.E.C. Lloyd remarks of him, " The King might very well trust him with his conscience when he trusted the King with his. " V.G. (") Audley, the Lord Chancellor, shows upon his tomb at Saffron Walden, arms of Quarterly gold and azure — the parting line indented — a bend azure between two eagles gold, with a fret between two martlets gold upon the bend. This coat, probably granted at the time of his elevation to the peerage, is a peculiarly bad example of Tudor heraldry, (ex inform. Oswald Barron.) V.G. f^) The Barnardiston pedigree is worked out in the Suffolk Arch. Inst. Proceedings, vol. vi. C) There is extant a metal plate, like a small Garter-plate, with the arms, enamelled, of The noble isf valyant Knvght Sre Thomas Audley horde Chunsylleyr of Ycnglond. It was lately, and probably is now [1885], in the possession of Mr. Joseph Clarke, F. S. A., Architect. At the top is the date " Anno Criste (sic) 1538." The arms are not those usually attributed to Lord Audley (and used by Magdalene College, Cambridge), but are, Or, on a fess, azure, between 3 hares courant, sable, as many martlets, argent. Impaled with this coat are the arms of Grey — 8 quarters.