Henry VIII is famous for executing two of his six wives. Was he also capable of taking a woman without her consent?
William Webb, the Keeper of Westminster Sanctuary, accused the king of just that in 1535. The State Papers of 1537 state that Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, ordered an inquiry into an event that had taken place two years earlier while the King was married to Anne Boleyn.
According to the records, William Webbe was out riding with ‘a pretty wench’ near Eltham Palace when he encountered the king. The King took a fancy to Webbe’s woman, ‘plucked down her muffler’ (scarf) and kissed her. Then commanded her to ‘alight from her horse and had his pleasure of her.’ Then it states that King Henry took the woman away with him and kept her for two years ‘in adultery.’
Some historians say this colourful event simply didn’t happen. Nevertheless, the state papers record that Cromwell ordered an inquiry into the event. So, if it didn’t happen, why did Cromwell, second in command to the King, order an inquiry into the alleged accusation?
William Webbe is documented as being furious and crying ‘vengeance on the King’. This is what prompted Cromwell’s interrogation of five men, all acquaintances of William Webbe’s, whom he told about the incident. Word of it got around, and they were all arrested.
A commissioner of the time suggested that Robert Sharpe, an acquaintance of Webbe’s, invented the story out of malice, that Robert coveted William’s position and made the whole thing up in the hope that Webbe would lose his job, and it would become Sharpe’s for the taking.
It is hard to believe that any man would make up a story to get another man’s job that included slandering the King, especially a king like Henry VIII. Surely there would be easier ways?
It is interesting that no official outcome of the inquiry was documented. If Robert Sharpe had been guilty of making the whole thing up then surely he would have been punished, and that would have been documented? Therefore, it is possible that there is merit in the story and therefore it was hushed up.