On the western border of Buckinghamshire, five miles north of the town of Tring, there once stood the manor of Marsworth. Nothing now remains of the original manor-house that was pulled down in n the eighteenth century except the moated remnants of a grassy terrace and a few cobble stones. Built upon a softly rising incline that combined both arable land and grass, Marsworth was constructed about 1292. A survey thirty-two years later revealed a capital messuage (a dwelling house with adjacent buildings and a courtyard and adjoining lands used in connection with the household), a garden, and a fish-pond. The manor originally belonged to the Goldington family, for whom it was at times named, but by 1489 it had become the property of Sir Thomas Bryan, the grandfather of Francis, the subject of this biography.

Thomas Bryan was a gentleman of substance and standing in Buckinghamshire. His family background was obscure, and the place of

 his birth cannot be stated with certainly. During his first marriage Thomas sired at least four children, although the records indicate that three were illegitimate. A later marriage produced only one child. By the time of his death in 1500 Thomas held most of his property in Buckinghamshire but also possessed land in seven other counties extending from Kent to Yorkshire. It was to his career that the family owed it conspicuous rise during the 1460s and 1470's. He entered the legal profession and received his education at Grey’s Inn, and his mentioned in the Year Books of Henry VI as an advocate as early as 1456. His call to the degree of Serjeant-at-law, or Coif, was in Michaelmas (September 29) 1463,a lucrative post whose conferees were often regarded as "the richest advocates in the whole world".

As an able lawyer and servant of the crown, Bryan was raised to Chief Justice of the Common Pleas following the death or retirement of Sir Robert Danby soon after Edward IV’s restoration in 1471. Four years later he received the honor of knighthood on the same day as the Prince of Wales and he continued to perform his judicial duties without any apparent involvement in the struggle between the Houses of Lancaster and York. Sometime after his knighthood, the Bryan family adopted the motto "Ja Tens Grace" (I hope for salvation).

There is evidence that he served as Chief Justice under Richard III, and in fact received the manors of Wyllesford near the village of Uphaven in Wiltshire, over in Gloucestershire, and Calverton in Buckinghamshire, properties forfeited to the king by persons attainted. These grants are stated to be for services against the rebels, probably referring to the rebellious of Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, in September 1483, but there is no indication what duties Bryan performed. His activities on Richard’s behalf did not hinder his advancement under the new Tutor king Henry VII. His patent as Chief Justice was regranted on Henry’s accession despite his past loyalty to Richard III, and he was appointed as one of the commissioners to execute the office of Steward at Henry’s coronation in 1485.

As Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Bryan, regularly attended the House of Lords during the reigns of Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII. In the counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex, and Lincoln he served on local commissions of the peace during the latter 1470s and 1480s and as an itinerant justice on commissions of Assize, oyer et terminer, and gaol delivery.

He presided as Chief Justice until his death in October 1500, when Sir Thomas Wood was preferred to his place. Sir Thomas Bryan’s will was proved two months later. The name of his wife does not appear; however besides a daughter Elizabeth and as bastard child Joan, to whom he bequeathed a legacy, he left a son named Thomas, the father of Francis Bryan. Although his early career is relatively obscure, young Thomas benefitted substantially from the social and financial status his father had acquired from his years on the Common Pleas. This greatly aided him in securing a marriage, sometime prior to 1495, to Margaret, a daughter of Humphrey Bourchier, a nobleman of ancient lineage who had been slain at the Battle of Barnet in April 1471 fighting on behalf of Edward IV. Her grandfather, the earl of Ewe, had been created Baron Berners in 1455, and her uncle, Henry Bourchier, became earl of Essex in 1461. Moreover one of her mother’s sisters married Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, later second duke of Norfolk. His sister was Elizabeth Howard, the mother of Anne Boleyn, who would play an important role in the career of Francis Bryan.

In June 1497 Thomas served in Henry VII’s army that slew 2000 Cornish rebels encamped at Blackheath on the outskirts of London. For his part in the suppression Bryan was knighted, and soon became a trusted official of the crown as a gentleman of the royal court. At the funeral of Henry VII in May 1509, he was designated a mourner to attend upon the body until his burial. At the opening of Henry VIII’s reign Thomas was appointed Knight of the Body and later the Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Catherine of Aragon. Early in the reign of Henry VIII he also served on the Commission of the Peace for his own county of Buckinghamshire. Like her husband, Margaret devoted most of her life to the royal service, in her case as governess to Henry VIII’s daughters Mary and Elizabeth. A proud and self-confident woman, she possessed a forceful and resolute character, traits which reappear in her son Francis. By Thomas she had two daughters and two sons of whom Francis is probably the youngest. There is no record of his birth date, but the evidence of his later career indicates that he was born around 1496. Very likely he spent his childhood at his father’s manor in Marworth.

Because of the scarcity of records we know nothing of Francis’s relations with his father, mother, or other members of his family; no correspondence between them has survived. Both of his sisters married into families prominent at court. The eldest, Margaret, wed one of Henry VIII’s courtiers and favorites Sir Henry Guildford early in 1513. Elizabeth’s husband was Nicholas Carew, son of Sir Richard Carew, Captain of Calais.

Since both his parents were active members at the royal court, it was probably intended that Francis follow in their footsteps. In order to prepare him for these responsibilities some type of educational preparation was required. For this the family may have turned to Sir Thomas Parr (d.1518) father of Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Catherine. Possibly Bryan became a gentleman servant of Sir Thomas since he would later praise him as his "special patron". In the Athenae Oxonienses, J. Foster expresses the belief that Bryan went to Oxford in 1522, buy by this time he was probably over 25 years old, a late age in life to enroll as an undergraduate and long after his career at court had begun. No confirmation for Foster’s assertion exists in the records of the University. Whatever its form, there can be no doubt that he received a good education. He could speak and write French, and his letters reveal a gift for lucid expression.

As the only son in a family devoted to the service of the king, it was natural that Francis should seek his fortune at court. An opportunity arose as the young and restless Henry VIII, "eager to play a leading part in the affairs of Europe and fanned by the lingering influences of the code of chivalry" resolved on war with France. In November 1511 England joined the Holy League, an alliance with the Papacy, Venice, and Spain, against France. But Henry’s first French war opened with a disastrous expedition into southern France commanded by Thomas Grey, marquess of Dorset. Despite this fiasco, war still offered a pathway to honor and profit for the English aristocracy. Since he came from a wealthy gentry family, it could also provide Bryan a means to obtain recognition at court. His opportunity to serve under the royal banner came when the king began to rent provision ships for his navy in preparation for a renewal of hostilities. In April 1513, when the war against France resumed, Bryan received his first official appointment as captain of the victualing ship Margaret Bonaventure, part of the squadron of his kinsman Sir Thomas Howard, afterwards third duke of Norfolk, whose son Edward was the newly appointed Lord Admiral of the navy.

The Margaret Bonaventure had been commissioned in March 1513 as a navy provision ship, designated to supply the warship Henry Grace Dieu with food and supplies for the expedition. As an inexperienced youth of about eighteen years of age, Bryan could hardly be expected to take command of a 120 ton vessel that carried approximately 102 men. Therefore, Richard Berdisle, the former captain of the ship, probably oversaw and tutored him in the correct procedures for commanding the vessel.

The Margaret Bonaventure was part of a convoy that was to supply the Lord Admiral’s warships as they "swept the Channel" preparatory to escorting an English army into France. Bryan’s vessel left Queensborough, a port town on the Isle of Sheppey 32 miles east of London, on his first expedition at the beginning of April. Bad weather and high winds delayed his passage, but the convoy reached the Lord Admiral’s rendezvous point outside Brest harbor on 19 April, much to the relief of the hungry men Responsible for supplying provisions to the fleet, Bryan probably took no part in the unsuccessful attack on the French vessels in Brest harbor a few days later that cost Edward Howard his life and resulted in the withdrawal of the English fleet.

Within a short while another naval force was prepared to return to Brittany. The Margaret Bonaventure was again commissioned, in June, to supply victuals to this fleet as well as Henry’s army of 25,000 men assembling in Calais for the invasion. While the squadron of warships was held in port by contrary winds during the month of June, a number of vessels, including Bryan’s was able to ferry men and supplies across the Channel. The royal army’s successful campaign into France, that led to the capture of the cities of Tournai and Therounne in June 1513, made any further naval operations unnecessary, and therefore Bryan’s vessel was decommissioned in September.

His services in these operations probably led to his appointment as one of the king’s secretaries, the earliest record of which appears in a letter dated August 1514 from Pope Leo X.

Bryan and a group of merchants had been shipping sacks of wool to Italy. As the ships carrying these goods approached the north Italian port town of Leghorn, the cargo was seized by a group of Moorish pirates. They, in turn, were captured with the stolen property by a small naval contingent from Genoa. Failing to get satisfaction from the Genoese, Bryan and the merchants petitioned Henry for the retrieval of their shipment. This appeal was forwarded to Pope Leo X who requested the city of Genoa to restore the sacks of wool. Whether the request was successful is unknown. However, in the document Bryan was referred to by the Pope as "secretary to the king."

His appointment occurred at a time when revelry, ostentation, and above all "youthful freshness" dominated courtly activity. As a young man of about nineteen, five years younger than his royal master, Bryan closeness in age, sharp wit, and genial nature made him the perfect companion to join in the king’s pastimes. In his translation of Antonio de Guevara’s A Dispraise of the Life of a Courtier, Bryan wrote that he came to the court "a very young man" and the earliest reference to this occurs on a spring day in 1515. As the noted Tudor chronicler Edward Hall observed, the king, "delighting to set forth young gentlemen", had summoned Bryan and his younger brother-in-law, Nicholas Carew, to his aids in a "joust of pleasure". Henry picked out other young gentlemen to ride as opponents, "and lent them horses and harness to encourage all youth to seek deeds in arms". The king enjoyed sport in all forms: jousting, hunting, hawking, and tennis. In Bryan and the other young men of his circle he had found companions fit to share these pastimes.

Bryan soon became an enthusiastic participant in court activity, partaking in countless masques, jousts, and pageants. His partners, all youths of about the same age as himself and the king, assumed a closer and more intimate role with Henry. Among this first circle of fellow jousters and revelers, referred to by Hall as the king’s "minions" were William Cary, Edward Poyntz, Thomas Grey marquess of Dorset, Charles Brandon duke of Suffolk, Henry Guildford, and Edward Neville. These young noblemen and gentlemen were as yet of little political weight at court but often were representatives of powerful families. Their presence afforded Bryan an opportunity to become acquainted with rising members of the aristocracy as well as court officials.

A frequent sharer of the royal pastimes, Bryan made regular appearances at the courtly entertainments and Christmas festivities. For instance, on 19 April, 1515, he attended an elaborate banquet held on behalf of Louis VII’s queen Louise of Savoy. After the feast, Bryan and his companions tilted furiously for their quest’s enjoyment, breaking many lances and fighting valiantly. On this occasion, Bryan received two blue satin coats and a harness. And at Christmas he was usually part of the royal festivities at Eltnam or Greenwich Palace where he was often given gifts of splendidly colored apparel. On one occasion he was presented with a coat of green satin bound with green velvet, on another a white satin coat fringed with silver damask.

As well as providing diversion during the king’s leisure hours, Bryan also began to play an important part in Henry’s personal service. His first official position in the royal household occurred in 1516 when he was made Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber and the official Cupbearer, for which he received a half yearly wage of £3.6s.8d. A place in the king’s Privy Chamber confirmed the right and duty of perpetual attendance upon the monarch. Appointments such as these gave Bryan access to Henry not only during his leisure hours but also in an official capacity. How well he availed himself of the opportunities is shown by the comment of Florentius Volusenus, a Scottish humanist, who remarked that Bryan was "accustomed to speak familiarly to the king". This self-confidence was also noted by his close friend Robert Hobbes, abbot of Woburn, who observed that "Sir Francis dare speak boldly to the king’s Grace the plainness of his mind and that his Grace doth well accept the same".

These statements reveal the assured and agreeable manner that made Bryan such a likeable fellow. But he to temper such qualities with discretion, since Henry would not tolerate undue familiarity

even from his closest companions. Such attributes would permit Bryan to serve the king effectively as an able diplomat in the future.

Perhaps in recognition of his success on the hunting field, or as just a reward for attendance upon the king, young Bryan was appointed Master of the Toils in 1516. This office, although associated with the royal court, was considered outside the royal household, and so, as its head, Bryan was answerable directly to the king. In this post, he supervised a staff of six men responsible for the maintenance of the king’s stables and the upkeep and repair of the king’s private hunting grounds.

His position in the royal household also required that he fulfill diplomatic responsibilities as an official representative of the Crown. His earliest recorded opportunity to serve in this capacity occurred in September 1518 when a delegation of French officials arrived in England. Their presence marked the end of months of negotiation with Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey that was to conclude in a peace treaty. But for Wolsey, this was only part of a more general plan which aimed at committing all greater and lesser powers of Europe to guarantee the peace of Europe collectively. This was realized the next year in the Treaty of Universal Peace. Wolsey’s humanistic sympathies genuinely desired to keep England from hostilities and make her the arbiter of peace in Europe. This combined with the practical realization the war exhausted the treasury and left the crown dependent on Parliament where critical opinions of the king’s policies could be voiced. But if peace could not be pressed, he was also ready to wage war. In September therefore he met with the special embassy from France.

The talks that proceeded were endowed with grandeur and ostentation as Francis I’s train of "gentilshommes de la chambre" made their appearance at Henry’s court. Royal protocol required they should be paired off in processions with Henry’s Gentlemen of the Chamber. Thereby Bryan received his first introduction to French culture as a host to these dashing young men. The associations that subsequently developed denoted the first of many "bouts of Frenchification that so mark the history of the royal household under Henry VIII" and provided Bryan his first exposure to this culture.

Toward the end of September Wolsey and the French delegation had made enough progress to warrant sending a formal embassy to Francis I. Bryan and six other members of the king’s Gentlemen of the Chamber accompanied a large contingent of a thousand knights, gentlemen, yeoman, and soldiers on a return visit to the French court.

Once in Paris Bryan and his companions were lavished with charm and favor by Francis I. Hall reported that they were adopted into the circle of French courtiers and accompanied in their boisterous pastimes with "the French king, {all riding}.....daily disguised through Paris, throwing eggs, stones, and other foolish trifles at the people". Probably at this time Bryan established a friendly relationship with Francis I that was to be of great importance to his future diplomatic career. Meanwhile representatives of England and France swore to a new plan for Europe. The treaty was a collective security pact that required all signatories to come to the aid of the victim of aggression. This early idea of a concert of Europe was also signed later by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and rulers of over twenty other lesser powers.

By the time Bryan and his friends returned to England in February 1519, Hall records that "..... they had adopted French manners in eating, drinking, and apparel, and in French vice and brags, so that all the estates of England were by them laughed at; the ladies and gentlewomen were dispraised, so that nothing by them was praised but if it were after the French turn". What began as youthful infatuation turned, in Bryan’s case, into deep admiration for French culture.

The quick rise to office and preferment by Bryan and his fellow courtiers created sharp opposition from the king’s chief minister. During this period, it was Wolsey who guided English policy, and he believed that the pro-French inclination which Bryan and some of his companions embraced, politically as well as culturally, hindered his ability to arbitrate between Francis I and the latter’s arch-rival Charles V. But this was only a symptom of a larger problem which the Venetian ambassador, Sebastian Guiustiniani, shrewdly observed. Wolsey, he suggested, perceived the minions to be so intimate with the king that in the course of time they might have ousted him from the government. Faced by so direct a challenge to his position, Wolsey struck out against Henry’s favorites. In May 1519 most of the courtiers, including Bryan, were commanded to present themselves before the Council to face certain accusations. It was charged that:

Nevertheless, no formal accusations were preferred against them. Instead Bryan and his associates were simply denounced before the council for unbecoming conduct: for encouraging the king to gamble; for treating him with undue familiarity; in short for being "youths of evil council" and intent on their own benefit to the detriment, hurt, and discredit" of the king. A few days later in a letter written to the lord chancellor, Thomas Boleyn, the father of Anne Boleyn, listed the names of Bryan, Nicholas Carew, Edward Neville, Henry Guildford, and three others as those minions who had been put out of Henry’s court. Their offense had been "that they, after their appetite, governed the king, and therefore should no longer attend the royal court.

Probably the charges against Bryan and the minions had a considerable degree of truth, though Henry himself was at least as guilty as his supposed corrupters. Nevertheless the young men of the king’s chamber, who had been so noisily pro-French, were sent to the country or to posts in Ireland or Calais. Bryan retreated to his mother’s manor at Marworth. To replace them as gentlemen of the king’s chamber, Wolsey selected four older men who were also loyal adherents: Sir Richard Wingfield, Sir Richard Weston, Sir Richard Jenningham and Sir William Kingston. Each was a serious, successful careerist in government service, and all were middle aged. However Henry, who yearned for the enjoyable companionship of his youthful courtiers, reasserted his independence from Wolsey. Accordingly, Bryan and his companions were recalled to court within four months of their dismissal without any apparent loss of standing with the king.

They celebrated their recovery of royal favor in a masque held on 3 September, 1519 at the palace of New Hall, near Chelmsford in Essex. The entertainment was comprised of farces that portrayed the four men, with whom Wolsey had replaced the minions, as ridiculous old buffers. Hall describes these characters as having ".....white beards, and long and large garments of blue satin ....dancing with the ladies...{and} behaving very sadly", while both the king and the minions, inhabiting the gracious world of eternal youth that formed the masque proper, "....dressed in yellow satin and {were} very rich to behold". For Bryan, the masque denoted his return to court and to intimacy with the king.

It was also apparent that by the end of 1519 Bryan had fully regained his position as Gentleman of the Chamber, recovering his right to sit at the royal tables and reinvested with the title of Master of the Toils. In February of the next year Bryan became the chief steward of the manors of Stanford and Westhanne in Berkshire and the manors of Buklonde, Synklebarow, and Agendsham Westhanne in Buckinghamshire. These represented the first, but by no means last grants that Bryan was to receive from Henry.

As Bryan reaped the benefits of his renewed ties with the king, Wolsey began preparations in January 1510 for a conference with France. Tensions between Francis I and the emperor were growing, and the meeting was part of Wolsey’s general aim to act as intermediary, between the two in order to preserve a general peace in Europe. Although Francis sought an agreement with England to close the sea route between Spain and the Netherlands and thus set free his forces in northern France to defend Milan, Armada: The Growth of English Foreign Policy 1485-1588, p. 16, 95 Henry would not permit peace with France to become an excuse for attaching Charles V, his wife’s nephew. On 5 May Bryan joined an entourage of five thousand people which accompanied Henry and his queen to Calais in readiness for the meeting at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

Shortly after his arrival in the port town of Calais, Bryan accompanied Henry and his retinue on the seven mile journey to the English stronghold of Guisnes. On 7 June, the day of the famous meeting with Francis I, Henry rode off to the edge of the Field of Cloth of Gold accompanied by a few

select members of his company, including Bryan. When they reached the slight eminence on his side of the field Henry stopped. Francis and his large following, also mounted, appeared on the other side. The two kings stood still and silent, their attendants drawn up around them. Suddenly trumpets sounded. Henry and Francis then spurred their horses, galloped forward to the agreed point, marked by a spear stuck in the ground, and embraced two or three times. They then signaled their lords to come forward and embrace each other graciously.

A little pavilion had been erected at the exact center of the field, furnished with chairs, cushions, and refreshments, for the first conversation between the two monarchs. Bryan and his companions accompanied the kings inside, where they were joined by Wolsey and the French admiral, Guillaume Gouffier. The articles governing the meeting were read out, and when Henry’s titles were read, including the time honored phrase "King of France", he genially made light of the matter and suggested in very good French that Francis’s presence obviously invalidated the title which England kings had claimed since the time of Edward III.

Although the occasion provided Bryan an opportunity to renew old acquaintances, the meeting was designed to bring the social elite of the two nations together to joust and tilt, feast and dance. For two weeks, while diplomatic negotiations continued, Henry, Francis, and their companions jousted, wrestled, and banqueted. As Hall notes, both monarchs set up their two great shields to proclaim the commencement of feats of arms. Both the French and English bands tilted, breaking hundreds of lances and fighting with wooden swords at the palisades enclosing the ground. For nearly a fortnight Bryan and his companions participated in these events without a break, and when a high wind made tilting impossible for a day, they wrestled and danced instead. At the end of the many jousting competitions, Bryan was one of only nine personages who had scored the highest total, breaking six lances in one day, an accomplishment for which he received prizes.

He was also among a company of English maskers who performed before the two kings. He and four other men are described by Hall as dressed like "Eastlanders", referring to individuals native to the Baltic region, with hose of gold satin, shoes with little spikes of white nails, and a doublet made of rich crimson velvet lined with cloth of gold. Over these they wore a short cloak of the same material decked with ???? of silver and laces of Venice gold. They also had wide-brimmed hats, purses and girdles made of sealskin. With them were two other brightly arrayed companies. After the masque, the companies returned to the town of Guisnes in masking apparel, their minstrels playing them through the streets. In acknowledgment of his part in such activities, Bryan later received a monetary reward of 1000 marks, or about £690, from Henry.

On 24 June the sport came to an end as the two kings and their numerous ambassadors exchanged gifts and farewells. Henry now returned to Calais for a meeting with the emperor. Charles was also eager to secure England’s friendship since French control of Milan, following their victory at Marignano five year before, left the Channel as the only remaining link between Spain and the Netherlands. If England allied with him, Francis would have to divert many of his troops to the northern coast of France to prevent a possible invasion, weakening his forces in Italy and thereby enabling the Imperial army to mount an offensive against Milan. Bryan accompanied the king to the town of Gravelines, where they stayed for forty-eight hours, returning to Calais on 12 July with Charles and his aunt, Archduchess Margaret of Hungary Regent of the Netherlands. The emperor stayed for two days, and while handsomely entertained, conducted serious talks with Henry and Wolsey.

Once the official business had been completed, the emperor took his leave of Henry and departed from Calais on 14 July. Five days later the king and his retinue sailed for England. Six weeks of intense activity had left Henry, Bryan, and the entire company in the mood for "quieter things". For the rest of the summer he accompanied Henry and his companions on a leisurely excursion through the West Country.

The growing hostility between Francis and Charles in northern Italy shortly after the meeting at Gravelines afforded Bryan his first opportunity to witness actual diplomatic negotiations. In August 1521 Wolsey was sent to Calais with the intention of arbitrating the dispute between the two monarchs. He evidently chose Bryan to assist him in this matter because of his experience at the French court, apparently setting aside any ill feelings over past differences with him. However, Wolsey’s efforts to mediate an end to the dispute between the emperor and Francis I failed, and thus marked the breakdown of his attempt to preserve the peace in Europe. Henry, in fact, was eager for war against France on Charles’s side, and this marked a basic difference between himself and his chief minister. All Wolsey could do now was to delay England’s entry into war as long as possible.

Under the appearance of acting as an arbiter, Wolsey and his contingent arrived in Calais on 5 August and were met by the representatives of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Within a few days he, Bryan, and a small assemblage of men left the conference to visit Charles at Bruges where a secret alliance against France was concluded. By this treaty Henry was to allow Imperial vessels to use the Channel unimpeded and to declare war if Francis refused to make peace with Charles within a limited time. In return the emperor agreed to plans for the conquest and partition of France and to this end undertook to initiate an invasion from Spain in two year’s time while Henry attached from Calais, each at the head of 40,000 men. Charles also promised to marry Henry’s only legitimate child, the Princess Mary, when she reaches the age of twelve. It was this last point, the need to marry Mary to some sovereign prince who would have the power to assure her peaceful succession and to hold the realm in obedience, that explains Henry’s desire for military glory and his offensive alliance with the emperor.

Three weeks later Wolsey, still in Calais, received a letter from the king’s secretary Richard Pace, complaining that very few of Henry’s attendants were at court to wait upon him, as many had dispersed around the country or were sick. He therefore asked that Francis Bryan and Sir Henry Guildrford return as soon as possible. Henry’s wars and the antecedent diplomacy had this disruptive impact on the royal household. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were largely being employed as military officers, diplomats, and ambassadors as the need arose. Bryan’s presence in Wolsey’s embassy, which provided indispensable training for a prospective diplomat, was only the first of many instances when he would be called upon to fill just such a role. As a result of the king’s request Bryan was quickly sent back to England where he reported on the secret treaty signed by Charles. The cardinal remained at Calais for another two months before departing to England on 28 November 1521.

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