Bureaucrats - Can't live with them; can't ...
One more thing about Sir Armagil Waad (or Wade to use modern spelling) before we move on. I mentioned that he served in the government during the reigns of King Henry VIII and Queen Mary. I need to add that he also served under Edward VI after Henry's death in 1547. He was working for a Lord Mautravers, then deputy governor in Calais, which was under British rule, in 1540 when the position of clerk to the governing council came open. Mautravers recommended Sir Armagil for the post, which he served in until 1546. Being clerk of the council, as best as I can make out, meant you were in charge of all the paperwork the council produced, a prodigious task given that government even back then ran on paper. About a year after returning to France, Sir Armagil became third clerk of the Privy Council. Now, in my head, when I hear the word "privy," I immediately think of the old-time word for the outhouse. Obviously this is not the meaning we're dealing with. No, the Privy Cou...