Under King Henry VII, the Earl was a distinguished and honoured warrior. He fought with distinction against Lambert Simnel at the Battle of Stoke and was created a Knight of the Garter after the battle. In 1489 he joined the English expedition to Flanders to aid the Emperor against the French. The same year, upon the birth of Henry's second child, a daughter named Margaret Tudor, Talbot became the first Tudor princess's godfather. On the accession of King Henry VIII, the Earl continued to serve the King as he did his father and again distinguished himself amongst his peers as a great warrior. During Henry's reign the Earl became a powerful man. Already hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland from 1473 to 1538, he was then appointed Lord Steward of the King's Household and a Chamberlain of the Exchequer from 1509 to 1538, a Privy Counsellor in 1512 and Lieutenant-General of the North in 1522. He was Lieutenant-General of the English army sent to invade France in 1512, where he was present at the Battle of the Spurs and captured Thérouanne in August 1513. He was later present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, commanded the army sent to control the border of Scotland, and was given many other high political positions at court. When the divorce question came on King Henry's 'Great Matter', Shrewsbury supported it, gave evidence at Queen Katherine of Aragon's trial, and signed the letter to the pope urging him to grant the divorce. He also signed the articles against Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1529. On 4 Nov 1530, Wolsey was arrested for treason and brought south from York for his trial, arriving four days later at the Manor Lodge of the Earl where he stayed for eighteen days. He was treated kindly by the Earl and his family, who tried to make his stay as comfortable as possible. However, Wolsey became very ill before leaving Sheffield while under guard. When the rebellion in the north broke out in October 1536, Shrewsbury promptly raised forces on his own authority, and 'his courage and fidelity on this occasion perhaps saved Henry's crown.' The Earl, John Russell, Sir William Parr, William Gonson, Sir Francis Bryan and Admiral Sir William FitzWilliam, who were royalists, mustered the 1,000 troops from Gloucester who lived at Stony Stratford who were present against the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace at Ampthill, Bedfordshire. It was Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, who opened negotiations with the insurgents at Doncaster, where Robert Aske had assembled between thirty and forty thousand men. An armistice was then agreed upon, and the insurgents laid their demands before the King.
Family
Having a large family and being a very wealthy man, he found the castle accommodation extremely cramped. He broke with the tradition of his family and decided to make Sheffield his home, living in the castle built by Lord Furnivall. This castle is best known for later holding Mary, Queen of Scots, prisoner and indeed it was the 6th Earl, the Earl's grandson, who confined her. In 1516, he decided to build himself a country mansion on a hill about two miles away. In 1520, he had a chapel added to the parish church at Sheffield to serve as a family chapel with a burial vault below. This is now known as the Shrewsbury Chapel and now forms a historic part of Sheffield Cathedral. In 1538, the Earl died, aged 70, while at Wingfield Manor. He was laid to rest in the Shrewsbury Chapel along with his first wife, Lady Anne. In his will, the Earl directed 'that a tomb of marble should be set over his grave with three images thereon, namely one of himself in his mantle of the Garter, another of his deceased wife in her robes, and a third of his wife then living'. The monument to Talbot and his two wives can still be seen in the church.
The Earl of Shrewsbury is depicted by Gavin O'Connor in the Showtime series The Tudors. In the series, the Earl of Shrewsbury is depicted as a much younger man. At the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, which is when he is featured in The Tudors, historically he was 70 yrs old. The date also confirms that he had to have been the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury; as titles are passed on only after a noble dies. The Tudors has been known to disregard the real ages of historical figures when casting roles. He is a minor character in H.F.M. Prescott's novel The Man on a Donkey, which tells the story of the Pilgrimage of Grace.
