Tudor Survivor

Book excerpt: William Paulet is the exemplar of the successful Tudor courtier. For an astonishing 46 years he served at the courts of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth and was one of the men responsible for introducing changes in religious, economic and social issues which shaped England as we know it today. He was a judge at the trials of Fisher and More and a central figure in the intrigues of the succession crisis following Edward VI's reign. Though born a commoner, by his death he was the senior peer in England and, as Lord High Treasurer, held one of the most influential positions at court. Paulet survived a bloody half-century of Tudor politics by making himself indispensable, satisfying the demands of four very different monarchs, while still maintaining his own principles. He watched former friends go to the block whilst he weathered the storms of a changing England. Bringing together the separate strands of biographical study and social history, this book offers a fascinating insight not only into Paulet's long and varied career within the royal household and in government but also, through the innovative use of descriptive scenes, into the many routines and rituals that shaped the everyday life of a Tudor courtier. In Tudor Survivor, Margaret Scard paints a captivating portrait of a great man who for many years held the purse strings of England, and both witnessed and was instrumental in the greatest events of the period. From the Siege of Boulogne to the execution of two queens, the Reformation and the beginnings of Elizabeth's Golden Age, Paulet was there, and the story of his fascinating life reveals the nature of life at the Tudor court set against the politics of the age.