User:Smnco37/Matthewe Baker

Matthewe Baker.

Lifelong Liegeman, faithful unto death.

King Henry VII had a "military Court", and those few [about 400 men] who had endured the Exile with him were the ONLY Englishmen he really trusted in the early years of his Reign. Their names are recorded with their rewards for service "as wel beyond the sea as wythyn Oure Realme",or - "at oure layte victorious field", - or "beyond the sea and in our layte triumphant journey" in "Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII", edited by J. Gairdner, and published by "The Treasury" under the authority of "The Master of the Rolls" in 1878.

Biography: -

Boyhood companion & personal bodyguard to Henry Tudor [gradually becoming "Chief of Security" to the exiled Lancastrian "court" during the Breton & French Exiles]. Baker fought by his Liege Lord's side in the Bodyguard at Bosworth Field. Esquire of the Body to King Henry VII [ appointed September 1485, warrant formally issued February, 1486, & backdated]; Sewer of The Chamber - [which Duty gave Baker daily, direct-access to his King]; Castellan of Kenilworth Castle and Keeper of the Park there;  Governor and Captayne of the Isle of Jersey, with absolute military, civil and fiscal power in that isle, [1486 - 1494];  frequent  Ambassador for his King, [to Brittany, to France, to Sicily, & to the Holy See, &c.];  “Keeper of Paradise, Purgatory, & Hell”[ the Palace of Westminster, Henry’s "centre of Government" in London - a "Ministerial-level Office" with responsibility for the fabric of the buildings and their Security, which gave Baker a commodious house within the Palace, to add to his "grete houwse" at Kenilworth];  and Warden of Bethlehem Hospital.

When Baker and his longtime colleague Davy Phillip were offered knighthood in 1504, Davy Phillip accepted, - but Baker refused the honour, averring that continuing to serve his liege Lord and King  "in his present Roume" [his current Offices] was " honour-enough  for a yeman's son".

An early 16th C. Manuscript illustration, depicting the deathbed of Henry VII, shows his Household Officers surrounding the dying king, depicted lying  in his State bed. Many of the Officers are identified by their Armory depicted over their heads. “Maister Matthewe Baker”, [his Armory shewn above him],- is depicted standing at the foot of the State bed.

Baker died ar Bermondsey Abbey in 1513, and his Will is in the National Archives at Kew.