Thomas Palmer

Thomas Palmer, an English soldier, plays a vital role in Game of Kings.

Titles, Nicknames and Other Names

Tommy

Role in Novels

Game of Kings

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Checkmate

CM 2.5 Mentioned by Francis Crawford. (Vintage p. 151; Kindle loc. 3603)

Role in History

Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1553), soldier, was the youngest of the three sons of Sir Edward Palmer, by his wife, the sister and coheiress of Sir Richard Clement, of the Moat, Ightham, Kent.

Sir Thomas was early attached to the court. In 1519 he was a gentleman-usher to the king, and at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. 1532 he was knighted at Calais, where he had become captain of Newenham Bridge. He was favourably noticed by Henry VIII, who played dice with him, and in 1533 he became knight-porter of Calais, an office of considerable importance.

In July 1543, when treasurer of Guisnes, he went with the force under Sir John Wallop against the French, and in August 1545 Lord Grey sent him on a message to the king. In this year he was captain of the ‘Old Man’ at Boulogne, presumably resigning it to his brother.

When Henry VIII died, Palmer had secured a reputation for unbounded courage. Though he hated Somerset, he was at first a member of his party, and was told off for service on the border. In 1548 he several times distinguished himself by bringing provisions into Haddington; but, having command of the lances in an expedition from Berwick, his ‘sellfwyll and glorie in that joorney dyd cast awaye the whoalle power, for they were all overthrowen.’ He seems none the less to have continued to hold his appointments at Calais. On 11 June 1550 he was sent with Sir Richard Lee to view the forts on the Scottish border, and provide for their repair.

Palmer, on 7 Oct. 1551, was the first to disclose Somerset's treason. He had evidently hoped to rise with Northumberland; having secured several monastic grants, he was building himself a house in the Strand. On 18 Feb. 1551–2 he had a pardon for all treasons, doubtless to clear him from all suspicion as a former follower of Somerset; and on 3 March following he was appointed a commissioner for the division of the debatable land on the borders. He was an adherent of Lady Jane Grey, and had been too prominent to escape when Northumberland fell. He was sent to the Tower on 25 July 1553, arraigned and condemned on 19 Aug., and brought out for execution on 22 August.

Of Sir Thomas's two elder brothers, the first, Sir John, known as ‘Buskin Palmer’ or ‘Long Palmer,’ was sheriff of Surrey and Sussex successively in 1533 and 1543. He became a noted dicer, and, having been constantly in the habit of winning money from Henry VIII at cards, he was hanged, though upon what exact grounds or at what date is uncertain.

His second brother, Sir Henry Palmer (d. 1559), ‘of Wingham’ in Kent, was a man of much greater repute. He commenced a soldier's career by serving as a ‘spear of Calais,’ but about 1535 he became acting bailiff of Guisnes. <ref>Read more online [1]</ref>

Quotes from Dunnett

CM 2.5 “I knew Tommy, the older brother. He held Guînes and Calais appointments as well. Meddled in politics, however, and paid for it.” (Vintage p. 151; Kindle loc. 3603)

References