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Sir Edward Carne of Ewenni, c.1496-1561

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2018

Anna Maria Orofino
Anna Maria Orofino*
Affiliation:
Visiting Fellow, Early Modern History Research Group, Faculty of Arts, KU Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21/5, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Tudor Welshman, Sir Edward Carne (c.1496-1561), gained a wide reputation as an outstanding diplomat and lawyer. Chosen by Cardinal Wolsey to enter the service of King Henry VIII, he was sent to Rome as excusator in the process of annulment of the king’s marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon. After the Rota had refused to annul Henry’s marriage, Carne returned to Glamorgan, and continued his career as a civil servant. He was appointed justice of the peace, master of requests and was made a member of the Council in the Marches of Wales. His next main appointment was as English envoy to the Holy See during the reign of Mary I. Carne was entrusted with the difficult task of restoring diplomatic relations between England and Rome. He remained in Rome until his death in 1561. His attachment to Wales and his staunch Catholic faith are evident in the burial memorial erected to his memory in a church in Rome by two Welsh friends.

Keywords

WelshmanCatholic diplomatThe King’s Great Matterexcusator
Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , October 2018 , pp. 199 - 221
Copyright
© Trustees of the Catholic Record Society 2018. Published by Cambridge University Press 

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Footnotes

*

I am profoundly indebted to S. E. R. Mons. Sergio Pagano, Prefetto dell’ Archivum Secretum Vaticanum for access to the Vatican Archive and precious advice. I am also indebted to Prof. Ralph Griffiths for his unrivalled knowledge and encouragement.

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26 Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 260-1.

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29 Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 260.

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35 The Divorce Tracts of Henry VIII, 12-25.

36 TNA, SP 1/68, f. 86, Carne to Benet, 17 December 1531, L&PFD, 5, 586.

37 TNA, SP 1/69, f. 55, Carne to King Henry VIII, 20 January 1532, L&PFD, 5, no. 731.

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42 TNA, SP 1/69, f. 125, King Henry VIII to Carne [and Bonner], [29 February 1532], L&PFD, 2, no. 836.

43 L. E. Hunt, ‘Carne, Sir Edward (c.1496-1561)’, ODNB, 10: 184.

44 ASV, Arch. Concist., Acta Misc. 31, ff. 259 v.-260 r. The original text reads: ‘Die Venerii XVI februarii 1532 fuit consistorium pro controversia matrimonii inter Serenissimum Regem, et Reginam Anglie ubi fuerunt introducti Auditores Rote et aliqui Prelati nec non viri litterati propterea Orator Cesaris una cum Audvocatis Regine, necnon Oratores Anglie, cum excusatore et eius Advocatis, qui postquam non fuerunt concordes super quo Articulo disputandi, excusator dedit conclusiones n 25 [proposuit] separatum disputare dictas conclusiones.’

45 L&PFD, 5, 892.

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47 L&PFD, 5, 892.

48 Bernard, The King’s Reformation, 68.

49 ASV, Arch. Concist., Acta Misc. 31, ff. 276 r.-v. The original text reads: ‘Die XXIII Martii 1534 fuit Consistorium in quo fuit lecta sententia. In his sententis, pronunciamus, decernimus et declaramus in causa per appellationem Carissimam in Xsto filium Catharinam Reginam, et Carissimum in Xsto filiumn Henricus VIII Anglie Regem Illustrissimem super validitate et invaliditate matrimonii inter eosdem Reges contracti et consumati […] Matrimonium inter ipsos Catharinam et Henricum Anglie Reges contractum et inde fuisse et esse validum, et consumatum […] ad cohabitans cum dicta Regina eius legitima uxore, illamque maritali affectione, et Regio honore tractandam.’

50 Kelly, The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIII , 169.

51 TNA, SP 1/83, f. 65, Carne and Revett to King Henry VIII, 7 April 1534, L&PFD, 7 (5), 552.

52 L&PFD, 7 (5), 554.

53 Andrea Casali was Gregorio Casali’s cousin. Fletcher, Our Man in Rome, 13. ASV, Archivum Arcis, Arm. I-XVIII, 3265, ff. 97-8. The original text reads: ‘Beme Pater […] Eduardu Carne legali doctorem, ac dicti Sere.mi Regis legitimum excutatorem […]appello et permittitur in presentia clarissimi viri Doctori Andrea de Casalis, equiti aurati et Venerabilis viri Guielmi Revett [William Revett] legum doctoris.’

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71 Ibid.

72 TNA, SP 69/19, f. 68, Sir Edward Carne to Queen Mary, 17 April 1557; CSP, For., Mary, 1553-1558, 295.

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75 Ibid: The original text reads: ‘A lei debito per ragioni di sangue et di heredità, ma molto più per il valor bontà, et religion sua, con il mezzo di questa Donna volendo il Signor Dio fare opere mirabili ha mandato in Suo aiuto le due potenze maggiori del modo perché prima ha unito con lei l’Imperatore così potente principe, havendo operato che segua l’inaspettato ed admirabil matrimonio di Lei et del figlio di S. Maestà Cesarea et poi ha mandato me qui con l’autorità del sommo Pont. che nelle cose spirituali è il supremo capo.’

76 TNA, SP 69/10, f. 108, CSPF Mary, 171.

77 Ibid., 170.

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89 Ibid., 295.

90 Ibid., 641.

91 Rawden Brown ed, Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating to English Affairs Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice and in other Libraries of Northern Italy, vol 6 part 3, 1557-58 (London: Longman, 1894), no. 1248.

92 Ibid., 1249.

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96 Oscar Meyer, Arnold, England and the Catholic Church under Queen Elizabeth (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1967), 465–67Google Scholar. The original text in Italian reads: ‘Il signor dottor Karne, Inglese, il quale si trova qui et è stato ambasciatore della regina passata, sarà forzato di doversene ritornare alla sua patria, dove ha lasciato moglie et figlioli et l’ entrate sue di qualche importanza, et pare che habbia havuto commandamento di non doversi partire di Roma, la qual cosa potrebbe essere occasione che la regina si sdegnerà contro di lui, et lo priverà delle sue entrate, lui, la moglie et li figlioli. Imperò Sua Santità potrebbe rimediargli con lasciarlo andare dove meglio gli parerà, purché non ritorni in Inghilterra, et facilmente la regina si contentarà che, stando lui fuori di Roma, possa godere l’entrate sue, sicome ha concesso a molti altri. Et tutto ciò si dice per aviso, rimettendo il tutto nel prudentissimo giuditio di Sua Santità.’

97 CSPF, Elizabeth 1558-1589. Vol. 1: 1558-9, no. 469.

98 Ibid., 219.

99 George Bruner Parks, ‘The Reformation and the Hospice 1514-1559’, in The English College in Rome (Rome: Venerable English College, c 2012), 209-210.

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101 The English College in Rome, 218-9.

102 Ibid., 272-3. The original text reads: ‘Subsequenter vero prefatus Edouardus sponte coram Notario publico et testibus ad id adhibitis dixit et protestatus est se nolle quantum in se erat curam regimen et administrationem Hospitalis huiusmodi in persona sua admittere, seve in illis ullo modo intromittere quinimo id ipsum subire recusavit, omni iuri titulo et interesse sibi in illis vel ad illa competenti renunciando.’

103 The English College in Rome, 270.

104 CSPF, Elizabeth, Vol. 3: 1560 -1, 983.

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