Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle was the illegitimate son of King Edward IV with one of his mistress. He was one of the leading figures in the court of King Henry VII. Through his writings in the Lisle letters, he displayed the survival of a huge collection of his correspondence which makes his life as one of the best documentation of that era.
Early Life of Arthur Plantagenet
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The exact birth year of Arthur is unknown, but it is assumed that he was born somewhere between the years 1461 and 1475 in Calais. His father was King Edward IV but there is confusion between her mother. There were few mistresses of Edward IV namely Dame Elizabeth Lucy, his “Wanton Wench”, and Elizabeth Wayte.
Before his marriage to Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Arthur had a relationship with Elizabeth Lucy. They had a bastard daughter named Elizabeth Lumley before 1477. Now Elizabeth Waytes son Arthur was not in records anywhere until his adulthood in 1501. This creates a lot of age difference between both the bastards of King Edward IV. Although two distinct identities of mistress, there is no clarity about his mother.
Arthur had spent most days of his childhood in his father’s court. There is no record of how he spent his youth from 1483 after his father’s death. He then was linked with the household of his half-sister, Queen consort Elizabeth of York in 1501 and stayed there till her death in 1503.
Then he moved with Henry VII. After his death in 1509, his succession was passed to this nephew Henry VII. Under Henry VII, Arthur was appointed as Esquire of the King’s bodyguard. He became the closest companion of Henry VII even at the age of 50 years.
Married Life of Arthur Plantagenet
Arthur married twice during his life, but he had children’s only from his first wife.
He first married to Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle in the year 1511. Elizabeth was the widow of King Henry VII’s treasurer, Edmund Dudley. Edmund was executed by the king himself in 1510. After his death, the king granted many of Edmunds estate to Arthur.
Arthur and Elizabeth had three daughters together namely Frances, Elizabeth, and Bridget. Elizabeth Grey died in the year 1529.
Following the death of her first wife, Arthur married Honor Grenville, the widow of Sir John Bassett of Umberleigh, Devon. Honor was the daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville of Stowe, Kilkhampton. Although Arthur and Honor had no children together, he helped Honor to raise her children’s John, Anne and Elizabeth Bassett from her previous marriage.
Achievements of Arthur Plantagenet
Arthur had become a good friend of Sir William Kingston. With his alliance, Arthur got the license to export 2000 kerseys from London and Southampton duty-free.
Arthur proved himself to be a valiant soldier in the French Campaigns of 1513.
-In 1514 Arthur was appointed as the High Sheriff of Hampshire and then was promoted to the Vice- Admiral’s ship “Trinity Sovereign”.
-In 1519 Arthur and his wife Elizabeth became the heir of lands of Lisle as Edward Grey’s other children died without leaving any heirs.
-In 1520, he attended his king at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
-In 1523 Arthur was granted the title of Viscount Lisle.
-In 1524 he was elected as a Knight of the Garter. In the same year, he was made the keeper of Clarendon Park.
-In 1525, Arthur was appointed as the Vice-Admiral of England by the new admiral duke of Richmond who was the son of Henry VIII.
-In 1527 Arthur was delegated as the chief of an embassy that was sent to France to represent the insignia of the Garter’s order to Francis I.
-In the year 1529, Arthur was made one of the triers of the petition in the parliament.
-Arthur was selected as the Privy Councilor, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Governor of Calais. He was also appointed as the Constable of Calais in 1533 after the death of 2nd Baron Berners.
Arthur as Constable of Calais
It is evident from the Lisle letters that Arthur was very honest and diligent as a constable, but was not equally competent. A letter from Thomas Cromwell suggests that Arthur was being rebuked to sent trivial matters to the king and his councils. He criticized him a lot for showing his inability to refuse for favors asked by anyone.
He also provoked Arthur about the dominance of his wife Lady Lisle over him and matter of states. Despite this, King never hesitated to employ routine errands to Arthur. It is said that Queen Jane Seymour was very fond of quail during her pregnancy, Lisle was the one who took responsibility to supply quails to the Queen.
Death of Arthur Plantagenet
Many members of the Plantagenet house present in Calais were arrested and summoned to England as they were charged for treason in 1540. Arthur was also one of them and was called to England and arrested.
Though no evidence was found about the actual conspirators and their link with Arthur, he spends two years in imprisonment in the Tower of London. Then King decided to release him. But before he got released, he suffered from a heart attack inside the prison and died two days later.
What was revealed in the Lisle Letters?
The Lisle letters were the proofs of the trials of treason of Arthur Plantagenet. They revealed each step of development that happened to Lord Lisle while being in prison. It shows the efforts Arthur and his wife management outside the Calais by correspondence while their stay in Calais. There were around 3000 copies of papers that were seized as evidence after Arthur was arrested which are still present on the Public Record Office. They were published later in the name of Lisle letters. These letters now hold historical value and resource of the critical English history period.
