Ralph Sadler
Sir Ralph Sadler (1507 - 30 March 1587) was an English statesman of the 16th century, and served as a Secretary of State under King Henry VIII.
Sadler was born in Hackney, Middlesex to a minor official in the service of the Marquess of Dorset and Sir Edward Belknap. At a young age, he was taken into the household of Thomas Cromwell. Around 1536, he was made a gentleman of the King's privy chamber, and was soon sent to Scotland to investigate complaints made by Margaret Tudor (the King's sister) against her third husband, Lord Methven, and to improve Anglo-Scottish relations. He succeeded in both respects.
The King was pleased with Sadler's work, and sent him again to Scotland, this time to discourage the King of Scotland (James V) from accepting Cardinal Beaton's proposed Franco-Scottish alliance. Sadler failed in that respect, but the King was nonetheless impressed with his work. In 1540, he became one of the Two Secretaries of State, knighted, made a privy councillor, and began sitting in Parliament as member for Hertford.
After the Battle of Solway Moss, Sadler was sent to Scotland again, this time to arrange a marriage between the infant Queen Mary and Edward, Prince of Wales; he was again successful. However, all of his work in solidifying Anglo-Scottish relations was for naught, when war broke out in 1543. He accompanied the Earl of Hertford on his campaign as treasurer of the army, then filled that position again in 1545. Sadler had been replaced by William Paget as Secretary of State, owing to his frequent absences on diplomatic missions, but was appointed Master of the Great Wardrobe. When Henry died in 1547, he had appointed Sadler onto the council of regency that would rule England during Edward VI's minority.
Sadler again accompanied Lord Hertford, this time at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh as High Treasurer of the Army. In recognition of his services during the fighting, Sadler was made a Knight-banneret, a position "above a knight and next to a baron". Sadler was present when Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester was arrested, and he also accompanied the force that put down Robert Ket's Norfolk Rebellion. He was one of the signatories of Edward's Will, but remained in retirement during Queen Mary's reign.
During Elizabeth's reign, however, Sadler became one of Lord Burghley's most trusted advisors. He was sent to Scotland to arrange an alliance with the Scottish Protestants; when fighting broke out at Leith, he was one of the architects of the Treaty of Leith. In 1568 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and when Mary, Queen of Scots fled to England, Sadler was unwillingly appointed to meet with the Scottish commissioners regarding that problem. He was sent to arrest the Duke of Norfolk during the Rising of the Northern Earls, and was unwillingly appointed jailer of Mary, Queen of Scots. After the Babington Plot, Sadler was also on the council that sentenced Mary to death. Sadler died in 1587 at Standon, Hertfordshire.
