1. Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir PC, Knight banneret was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII as Privy Councillor, Secretary of State and ambassador to Scotland.
41 Facts About Ralph Sadler
1. 2.
Ralph Sadler was born in Hackney, Middlesex, the elder son of Henry Sadler, a minor official in the service of the Marquess of Dorset and Sir Edward Belknap.
3.
Henry Sadler was originally from Warwickshire, but later settled in Hackney.
4.
Ralph Sadler had a brother, John, who commanded a company at the Siege of Boulogne in 1544.
5.
At around seven years of age, Ralph Sadler was placed in the household of Thomas Cromwell, later Earl of Essex, where he received an excellent education.
6.
Ralph Sadler was taught to read and write, becoming fluent in French, Latin and Greek, and acquired a working knowledge of the law.
7.
Ralph Sadler proved to be not only intelligent and resourceful but capable of great feats of horsemanship and was skilled at falconry.
8.
Ralph Sadler began his career as secretary to Thomas Cromwell and went on to serve four Tudor monarchs.
9.
Ralph Sadler was granted the manor and lands from the suppressed St Leonard's Priory in Bow.
10.
Ralph Sadler failed in that respect, but the King was nonetheless impressed with his work.
11.
In 1535 Ralph Sadler built Sutton House in Hackney, It is a red-brick, three-storey H-plan structure.
12.
Ralph Sadler sold the house and surrounding estate to John Machell, a cloth merchant, in 1550, having built a grander house, Standon Lordship, in Hertfordshire.
13.
Ralph Sadler survived the fall from power and subsequent execution of his friend and mentor in 1540; however, during the power struggle following Cromwell's demise, he was arrested and sent to the Tower.
14.
Ralph Sadler was able to clear himself and was released in a few days, returning to the council chamber.
15.
Together with his allies in the council, notably Thomas Cranmer, Ralph Sadler gathered evidence in an unsuccessful attempt to discredit Norfolk and Gardiner, the men who had orchestrated Thomas Cromwell's downfall.
16.
Later, when the Cardinal was present, James and Ralph Sadler compared the captured letters with Beaton's copies and found a discrepancy.
17.
Ralph Sadler was a successful negotiator for the Treaty of Greenwich, although the marriage was not concluded.
18.
Ralph Sadler wrote that the infant was "as goodly a child I have seen, and like to live".
19.
Henry VIII wanted English servants in Mary's household, and Ralph Sadler recommended "Lady Edongcomb" for this role, his friend, Katherine Edgcumbe the widow of Peter Edgecumbe of Cotehele.
20.
Ralph Sadler accompanied Lord Hertford again, this time at the Battle of Pinkie in the post of High Treasurer of the Army.
21.
Ralph Sadler was present when Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was arrested, and he accompanied the force that put down Robert Kett's Norfolk Rebellion.
22.
Ralph Sadler was one of the signatories of Edward VI's will in 1553, proving one of the radicals in a Protestant government.
23.
Ralph Sadler signed the device settling the crown on the Protestant Jane Grey, and was noted by Lord Burghley as one of those expected to act on her behalf.
24.
When Mary, Queen of Scots, fled to England in 1568 after the battle of Langside, Ralph Sadler was unwillingly appointed to meet with the Scottish commissioners regarding that problem.
25.
Ralph Sadler was keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Sheffield in 1572 during the absence of the Earl of Shrewsbury at court.
26.
Ralph Sadler was sent to arrest the Duke of Norfolk in Scotland in 1572 following the Rising of the North.
27.
Ralph Sadler was again reluctantly appointed gaoler of Mary, Queen of Scots, from the summer 1584 to spring 1585, when she was housed at Wingfield Manor and Tutbury Castle.
28.
An intercepted letter appeared to compromise Somers, and Ralph Sadler vouched for his loyalty to Francis Walsingham.
29.
Ralph Sadler reported that the guards at Sheffield and Wingfield carried swords and daggers, pistols, halberds and partisans.
30.
Ralph Sadler was required to post guards round the castle and to search the grounds "once or twice a moneth".
31.
Around 1534, Ralph Sadler married Ellen, daughter of John Mitchell, of Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, who at the time of their marriage was believed to be the widow of Matthew Barre of Sevenoaks in Kent.
32.
Ralph Sadler then became a servant of the prioress at the nunnery of Clerkenwell.
33.
Ralph Sadler took delight in attempting to discredit leading public figures in England.
34.
An investigation found that Ellen's first marriage was valid, and Ralph Sadler was therefore obliged to have his children legitimised by a private act of Parliament.
35.
Ralph Sadler managed to prevent the publication of the act and its details never appeared among the statutes of the period.
36.
Ralph Sadler's wife was still living in 1569; however, there is no further record of her and there is no surviving tomb for her.
37.
Ralph Sadler left the majority of his vast landholdings, including Standon and Buntingford, Hertfordshire, to his eldest son and heir, Thomas Ralph Sadler.
38.
Henry Ralph Sadler received the manors of Hungerford, Berkshire, and Everley, Wiltshire, Jane Bash received a diamond ring and an annuity was provided for Richard Ralph Sadler.
39.
Ralph Sadler is one of the few Renaissance statesmen for whom extant Parliamentary orations survive, including a speech on succession in 1563 and one on subsidy in 1566.
40.
Ralph Sadler is one of the major characters in Hilary Mantel's 2009 novel Wolf Hall, which gives a fictional portrayal of Ralph Sadler's youth and early manhood in the household of Thomas Cromwell.
41.
Ralph Sadler is a minor character in Philippa Gregory's book The Other Queen, with an account given of the time he spent as gaoler of Mary, Queen of Scots.