I. i. 95. For France hath flaw'd the league. Holinshed (1587), p. 872:
'Many complaints were made by the merchants to the king and his councell of the Frenchmen, which spoiled them by sea of their goods. . . . The sixt of March, the French king commanded all Englishmens goods being in Burdeaux to be attached, and put under arrest. . . . The king, understanding how his subiects were handled at Burdeaux by the French kings commandement, in breach of the league, the French ambassadour was called before the councell. . . .' As this was March, 1522, and Buckingham was executed on Friday, May 17, 1521, the authors of the play have muddled their dates.
I. i. 97. Th' ambassador is silenc'd. Holinshed (1587), p. 873:
'The ambassadour in words so well as he could excused his master, but in the end hee was commanded to keepe his house.'
I. i. 115. The Duke of Buckingham's surveyor. Holinshed (1587), p. 862:
'. . . The cardinall boiling in hatred against the duke a Buckingham, and thirsting for his bloud, deuised to make Charles Kneuet, that had beene the dukes surueior, and put from him (as ye haue heard) an instrument to bring the duke to destruction.'
Holinshed borrowed this explanation of Buckingham's fall from Polydore Vergil, a personal enemy of Wolsey. Modern investigation has shown that Wolsey's hatred was not the chief cause of the tragedy.
I. i. 120. This butcher's cur. Wolsey's father sold meat among other things. His will shows him to have been a successful retail grocer and butcher, and the Ipswich town records prove that he was not overscrupulous. Wolsey was often taunted with his lowly origin.
