From Paston Letters to Power

On this day in Tudor history, 4 September 1550, Sir Thomas Paston, a gentleman of the privy chamber under Henry VIII and Edward VI, died. If the name Paston rings a bell, it should: the Paston Letters gave us one of the richest pictures of late-medieval/early-Tudor gentry life. But Thomas Paston wasn’t just part of a famous family, he carved out his own path at the heart of power.



In this video, I trace his journey from younger son to royal insider:

• Gentleman of the privy chamber (daily access to the king)


• Keeper of the armoury at Greenwich (1541)


• Steward & constable of Castle Rising (1542)


• French campaign with Henry VIII and knighthood after Boulogne (1545)


• Local authority & Parliament: steward of estates, MP for Norfolk, J.P.


• Crisis manager: helped quell Kett’s Rebellion (1549)


• Family life: marriage to Agnes Leigh; heir Henry (aged 4 at Thomas’s death), with Agnes pregnant with Edward

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