Any Cromwell experts around?

"1503 - 28 December - Serves as a soldier with the French army when they are defeated by the Spanish at the Battle of Garigliano in Italy"

Is there any evidence of this? Because, the court rolls of Wimbledon manor give evidence quite at variance with the statement that he was at the battle of Garigliano. It was early in 1504 that the family rupture, that seemed to have forced Thomas to leave England, seems to have occurred, and he could not have gone abroad before that year. His name appears upon the court rolls alongside with the name of his father. It states that Thomas has been brought up as an attorney and accountant by John Williams, the steward of Wimbledon manor; but his master died in 1502, and in 1503 he was admitted to two virgates of land at Roehampton, which had belonged to Williams, to qualify him for the vacant stewardship. Richard Williams, the son of the late steward, surrendered these two virgates at a court held at Putney on 26 Feb. 1504, and Thomas then and there did fealty for them. But Thomas surrendered them again to the use of one David Dovy at a court held on 20 May following; at which court the jury presented that Richard Williams had assaulted and beaten Thomas, for which the court fined him six pence.

Thus, it actually could not have been before the summer of 1504 that he first went to Italy, and the absence of further mention of him in the court rolls for some years agrees well with the supposition that he went at that time.

1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?    

Show Last Reply