Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Question from Guy - Gregory di Casale

According to Catherine of Aragon's Wikipedia article (ref Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. X, no. 200), "Gregory di Casale" tried to poison Katherine of Aragon. Who is Gregory di Casale?

4 comments:

Gregory House said...

Surely that is almost impossbile or an error. Casale was Henry's representative at the Apostolic See in Rome and all over Italy chasing down documents, reports and potential advocates for Henry's annulment. I have checked the Wiki article and can see no mention of Casale at all
Regards Greg

Marilyn R said...

It is there in the Wiki article. Fn 29 cites L&P VOL X: 200 - a letter from Chapuys,



"Many suspect that if the Queen died by poison it was Gregory di Casale who sent it by a kinsman, of Modena, named Gorron, who came hither in haste, and by what he told me the night before he returned, he had come to obtain letters in behalf of the Prothonotary Casale. He said the King and Cromwell would speak to me about it, but they have not done so. Those who suspect this say the said Gregory must have earned somehow the 8 ducats a day the King gave him, and to get a slow poison which should leave no trace ..."

Chapuys cannot easily believe this, as there would be too great adanger of its being made known. London, 29 Jan. 1535.

Guy said...

My first thought was that he meant Gregory Cromwell, so it's good to know there is really a Gregory di Casale.

Foose said...

There will be a book on Gregory di Casale published in early 2012, Catherine Fletcher's Henry VIII and his Renaissance Ambassador, which will apparently present a lot of archive material that has not been utilized before.