The Middleton Accounts of 1526: #11

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated 22nd March. It was described as money paid to cover the costs for Sir Henry’s servants, John Lewissay (who compiled the Middleton household accounts) and William Nottman, to go to Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland in order to speak with Dr Thomas Magnus. The amount was 20 shillings, which was the equivalent of about £441.28 today.

Dr Thomas Magnus was a churchman, administrator and diplomat. He became archdeacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire in 1504 and then chaplain to King Henry VIII. In 1520, at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Magnus was identified as the King’s chaplain and at the same time he became a member of the Privy Council. Furthermore, he was awarded a doctorate by the University of Oxford and became canon of Windsor in 1520 as well. He was granted numerous other religious benefices throughout his life. However, he was chiefly and most noteworthily employed in affairs concerning administrative, political and diplomatic relations with Scotland, especially in the border area.

Before the Battle of Flodden in 1513, Magnus had been employed in carrying money to the English army. In 1523, he was made paymaster of the English forces who were stationed and fought at the border. He was called the treasurer of the wars in the north. Magnus concluded a peace treaty between England and Scotland, which was signed about 15th January 1526 at Berwick-upon-Tweed. This was known as the Treaty of Berwick 1526 and the main terms of the Treaty included an abstinence from war, safe-conduct for travellers, redress for cross-border robberies and the return of criminals. Even after this Treaty, Magnus remained in the north as a member of the Duke of Richmond’s Council at York, maintaining a dialogue with the Scottish court and attempting to keep the peace between the two countries.

In 1529, Magnus founded a chantry and grammar school at Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, which was where he was born. He died on 18th August 1550 and was buried at Sessay in Yorkshire.

It is unknown why Sir Henry Willoughby sent two of his high-ranked servants to the north to speak in person with Magnus.

John Ray Room at Middleton Hall, 2025. Photograph taken by Steve Davies.

Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.382.

Sidney Lee (ed), “Magnus, Thomas”, Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 35, 1893.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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