Was There a Seymour–Paget Coup After All? Reconsidering Henry VIII’s Wills, Written and Unwritten

Abstract Henry VIII’s will has provoked controversy almost from the moment of his death, and historians have debated its genesis and terms for generations. More recently, the issue of an ‘unwritten will’ making gifts and grants to those in Henry’s inner circle, documented only by the statements of Sir William Paget and two others before the Privy Council, has complicated the debate. Although Paget testified to an order of events, his account lacks dates, leading to conflicting claims over when and how both the gifts and grants and the will were agreed to by Henry, if at all. After a review of the historiography of the will, many, if not all, of the issues in contention are resolved in this article. Applying new and overlooked evidence, much of it relating to the fall of the Howards, the article substantiates a clear timeline of events, refuting claims that the will was altered or replaced after Henry’s death, or that Paget’s statement was misleading if not outright false.