31 July 2025
Thomas Wolsey and the invasion of France
The Campbell Charters are among the oldest but least studied charter collections in the British Library. Three of the collection's charters shine a light on Henry VIII’s invasion of France in 1513, and the supply of armour for the English army.
The young Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) was eager to build a reputation as a warrior king like that of his namesake, Henry V (r. 1413-1422), whose victory at Agincourt in 1415 had cemented his legacy as one of England’s great rulers. When the Pope proclaimed a new alliance against France in 1511, Henry leapt at the chance to emulate his ancestor. He sent an expedition to Aquitaine in southern France, a region that had been lost to England almost sixty years earlier. His Spanish allies were supposed to help supply the English troops with food and horses but failed to do so. Poorly equipped and wracked by hunger and disease, the English raided a few French towns before the risk of mutiny forced them to return to England. Henry was angry but undeterred. He decided to attempt another invasion and, this time, he would lead it personally. Helping him was a rising star, the king’s almoner and soon to be Archbishop of York, Thomas Wolsey (b. c. 1473, d. 1530).
Portrait of Thomas Wolsey by an unknown artist; 1589-95, based on a work of c. 1520: NPG 32 (© National Portrait Gallery, London; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Henry appointed Wolsey as director of the invasion force, tasked with raising troops and buying supplies. In the Campbell Charters collection, three documents record his efforts to purchase armour for the gathering army. The first is a contract (LFC Ch VIII 18) between Wolsey and another royal agent, John Daunce (b. by 1484, d. 1545), with Guido Portinari, a Florentine merchant living in London. The Portinaris were one of several Italian merchant families whom the Tudors commissioned to provide armour, weapons, ammunition, and supplies for their forces. The 1511 expedition had been woefully underequipped, so, on behalf of the king, Wolsey and Daunce placed an order for 2,000 suits of Almain rivet for infantrymen. The contract features both their signatures – though in this instance Wolsey spells his name ‘Wuley’ – as well as that of King Henry himself.
Contract of Thomas Wolsey and John Daunce with Guido Portinari for the delivery of 2,000 suits of armour, 13 September 1512: LFC Ch VIII 18.
The signatures of Thomas Wolsey (‘Wuley’), John Daunce, and Henry VIII: LFC Ch VIII 18
Almain rivet was a recently invented type of flexible armour, of German design, made up of overlapping plates bound together by rivets. It was relatively cheap and easy to mass produce. Wolsey and Daunce required each suit be made according to a ‘pattern’ which Daunce possessed, and to include a breastplate, backplate, a sallet helm, a gorget to protect the neck, and a pair of splints for the legs. At 16s per suit, the king was being charged a high rate. In the 1520s and 1530s, a suit of Almain rivet could cost anywhere between 6s and 13s 4d, but, in 1512, with war ongoing, Portinari was able to demand a much higher price.
A suit of Almain rivet: CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Five months later, Portinari delivered the 2,000 suits of Almain rivet to Edward Guildford (b. c. 1474, d. 1534), master of the royal armoury at the Tower of London (the receipt now survives as LFC Ch VIII 19), but it would be a further three months before he was actually paid for his work by John Daunce, a total of £1600, the equivalent of over £1 million in modern-day currency (LFC Ch VIII 20).
Receipt of Edward Guildford, master of the royal armoury, to Guido Portinari for the delivery of 2,000 suits of infantry armour; 16 February 1513: LFC Ch VIII 19.
The expedition reached France in June 1513. Among the troops disembarking at Calais were thousands of footmen armoured in Almain rivet. The army besieged Thérouanne and defeated a French relief force before taking the town and the nearby city of Tournai. Henry would make peace with France the following year and ultimately relinquish control of Tournai in 1518, but, in comparison to 1511, the campaign was a success, mainly thanks to Wolsey’s effective administration, including his purchase of adequate armour from merchants like Portinari.
Receipt of Guido Portinari to John Daunce, of £1600 for supplying 2,000 suits of infantry armour, 28 May 1513, LFC Ch VIII 20.
These three documents are just a few of the over five hundred Campbell Charters and Rolls being catalogued as part of the Library’s Hidden Collections initiative. As the project progresses, future blogposts will highlight more discoveries and stories from the collection.
Rory MacLellan