Signed, stamped, and sealed: delivering royal justice in early sixteenth-century England

Abstract

As Henry VIII drew his final breaths in the early hours of 28 January 1547, the future of England and the Tudor regime appeared to remain firmly in his grip. His last will and testament, drafted during a bout of illness in late December 1546, appointed a body of sixteen executors to govern during the minority of his young son and successor. Empowered by statutes passed in 1536 and 1544, and in an unprecedented projection of royal prerogative, Henry also utilized his will to set out the order of succession for his other children and descendants, including conditions for the inclusion of his technically illegitimate daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. The first and final folios of this constitutionally significant document were endorsed with the king’s signature, reading ‘Henry R.’ Or so it was supposed to seem. On closer inspection it becomes apparent that this was no authentic autograph. Instead, the signature was imprinted on the page with a specially designed stamp – an obscure authorising mechanism that for some contemporaries and historians altogether undermined Henry’s royal authority in his final act.