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436 María José Rodríguez-Salgado

Reactions in the English Court

Henry VIII was also away from his court in London throughout
these crucial months, on an extended hunting excursion in the
provinces with his chief ministers and courtiers. The ambassadors
were ordered to remain behind in London. This facilitated even higher
levels of secrecy and silence. The king’s absence has been usually
attributed to a desire to distance himself from the outcry following the
despoliation of the English church and the executions of Thomas More
and John Fisher. The news of their death reached Rome at the same
time as the taking of Tunis, causing the pope great distress, and
diverting attention from the emperor’s success 103 . In England, the
court was more concerned about the meeting between Leonor and
Mary of Hungary than with events in Tunis, in case it laid the
foundations of a Franco-imperial alliance 104 .
Trustworthy news from Tunis reached Henry VIII in early or mid-
August. On 11 July Gregorio Casale sent him copies from Rome of the
emperor’s letters to the pope dated 29 June and 2 July, as well as
details that the imperial camp was short of provisions and would
suffer heavy losses from disease if the campaign continued into
August as was likely 105 . It is possible they could have reached the king
by 12 August, when a full report from the ambassador in Tunis,
Richard Pate, arrived 106 . Casale and others continued to send Henry
VIII up-to-date news from Italy, including details of the conquest and
sack of Tunis and Barbarossa’s escape 107 . There must have been other
letters from Pate, but they have not been found and the king did not
admit to having them. Additional information came from the most
varied sources, such as Joan Batcok, a resident in the empress’ court
in Spain, who obtained copies of letters from Charles V to the viceroy
of Navarre and sent them to her uncle, John Batcok, who forwarded
them (and the copy of a letter from the bishop of Palencia) to Cromwell
on 5 August, along with details he had gleaned from talking to men
already back from the North African war. These alleged that

103 Ang, Carpi, 58, Ricalcato to Carpi, 3 August 1535.
104 LP, viii, n. 189, Chapuys to Charles V, 3 August 1535; and n. 190, to Granvelle,
same date; n. 193, to Charles V, 10 August 1535.
105 LP, viii, n. 1053, Gregorio Casale to Cromwell, Rome, 16 July 1535.
106 Chapuys found out later, LP, ix, n. 178, to Charles V, 25 August 1535; the fate
of Pate’s dispatch reported by Carpi, Ang, Carpi, p. 60.
107 Some of his letters have been cited already, see also LP Henry VIII, viii, n. 1120,
s.d. Certayne newes of themperor, and n. 1144, News from Rome 28 July, Bologna 30
July, Tunis, 6 July, and undated from Naples; LP ix, n. 127, Bernardino Sandro to
Thomas Starkey, 19 August 1535. LP, viii, n. 1155, Sir Clement West [to Cromwell], 31
July 1535.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Agosto 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)