Journey of Sir Francis in History

Chart Ye the Path of the Historical Sir Francis Bryan

Birth...around 1490 at Cheddington, England <a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Giles,_Cheddington_-_The_Tower_-_geograph.org.uk_-_330028.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="St. Giles, Cheddington - The Tower - geograph.org.uk - 330028.jpg"></a>

Grandson of Sir Thomas Bryan, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas <a class="external" href="http://www.innertemplelibrary.org.uk/collections/manuscript-collection/manuscript-collection-four-illuminated-manuscripts-court-of-common-pleas.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>

Son of Sir Thomas Bryan, Knighted by Henry VII and "King of the Body" at the beginning of Henry VIII's reign

Son of Margaret Bourchier, Governess to both Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth

<a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oxford_University.svg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="University of Oxford coat of arms"></a> He was educated at Oxford	He was appointed the captain of the Margaret Bonadventure in April 1513, a ship in the retinue of Sir Thomas Howard
<a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chalice.jpeg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Chalice in the vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery in Kostroma."></a> He became the King's cupbearer in 1516	He acted as "Master of the Toyles" in December on 1518, keeping Greenwich Park stocked with deer for hunting
<a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/clothgold.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> He accompanied Henry VIII to the Field of Cloth and Gold in 1520	1520: He started receiving a pension from the King as a servant and a "cipherer,"or one who is proficient in cryptography and able to encrypt or decode messages
<a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gothic_armor_2.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="A knight in gothic plate armour, from a German book illustration published 1483."></a> He served in Brittany under the Earl of Surrey in 1522, and was knighted for his "hardiness and courage"	<a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Essex.svg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Flag of Essex"></a> <a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hertsflag.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Hertsflag.jpg"></a> He was one of the Sherriffs of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1523
<a class="external" href="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1350940&AID=649295561&PSTID=1<ID=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Portrait of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (c.1475-1530) "></a> He accompanied Wolsey to Calais in 1527	He escorted the papal envoy Campeggio on his way to England to Calais
In November 1528 he was sent to Rome to obtain the papal sanction for the King's Divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He was given special instructions to induce Pope Clement VII to withdraw from his friendship with the Emperor.	On 10 May 1533 Bryan, with Sir Thomas Gage and Lord Vaux, presented to <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/catherinearagon.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Queen Catherine</a> at Ampthill the summons bidding her appear before <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/cranmer.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Archbishop Cranmer</a>'s court at Dunstable, to show cause why the divorce should not proceed; but the queen, who felt the presence of Bryan, a relative of <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/anneboleyn.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anne Boleyn</a>, a new insult, informed the messengers that she did not acknowledge the court's competency.
In 1531 Bryan was sent as ambassador to France. Bryan travelled with the <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/thomashoward2.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duke of Norfolk</a> in France seeking to prevent an alliance or even a meeting between the pope [<a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/clement7.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clement VII</a>] and the <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/francis1.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">king of France</a>.	Bryan during all these years remained the king's permanent favourite
When the influence of the Boleyn family was declining, Bryan entered upon a convenient quarrel with Lord Rochford, which enabled the king to break with his brother-in-law by openly declaring himself on his favourite's side.	In May 1536 <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/anneboleyn.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anne Boleyn</a> was chargedand Cromwell at first suspected Bryan of being one of the queen's accomplices. When the charges were being formulated, <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/cromwell.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cromwell</a>, who had no liking for Bryan, hastily sent for him from the country; but no further steps were taken against him, and there is no ground for believing the suspicion to have been well founded.
Bryan was very anxious to secure the queen's conviction and he took the office of conveying to <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/janeseymour.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jane Seymour</a>, Anne's successor, the news of <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/anneboleyn.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anne Boleyn</a>'s condemnation (15 May 1536). A pension vacated by one of Anne's accomplices was promptly bestowed on Bryan by the king.	Cromwell dubbed Bryan "The Vicar of Hell"
Bryan played a part in suppressing the rebellions of the Pilgrimage of Grace in October 1536	He played a prominent role in the christening of Prince Edward
He was part of the King's household that met Anne of Cleves near Calais on her way to England in December 1539	At the funeral of <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tudor.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Henry VIII</a>, Bryan was assigned a chief place as 'master of the henchmen.'
He fought, as a captain of light horse, under the <a class="external" href="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/edwardseymour.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duke of Somerset</a> at Musselburgh 27 Sept. 1547, when he was created a knight banneret.	<a class="external" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/St_Patrick%27s_saltire3.svg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> In 1548 James Butler, ninth earl of Ormonde, an Irish noble, died in London of poison under very suspicious circumstances. In 1548 he married the widowed countess Joan, daughter and heiress of James FitzJohn Fitzgerald, eleventh earl of Desmond. He was immediately nominated lord marshal of Ireland, and on 16 Dec. 1549 the Irish council recognised Bryan's powerful position by electing him lord-justice.