The instructions drawn up by Thomas Audley by order of Henry VIII may
be taken as the last word in England of the purely mediæval time,
before the development of gunnery, and particularly of broadside fire,
had sown the seeds of more modern tactics. They were almost certainly
drafted from long-established precedents, for Audley was a lawyer.
The document is undated, but since Audley is mentioned without any
rank or title, it was probably before November 1531, when he became
serjeant-at-law and king's serjeant, and certainly before May 1632
when he was knighted. It was at this time that Henry VIII was plunging
into his Reformation policy, and had every reason to be prepared for
complications abroad, and particularly with Spain, which was then the
leading naval Power.

The last two articles, increasing the authority of the council of war,
were probably insisted on, as Mr. Oppenheim has pointed out in view
of Sir Edward Howard's attempts on French ports in 1512 and 1513, the
last of which ended in disaster.[1]

FOOTNOTE:

[1] _Administration of the Royal Navy_, p. 63.



_ORDERS TO BE USED BY THE KING'S MAJESTY'S NAVY BY THE SEA_.

[+Brit. Mus. Harleian MSS. 309, fol. 42, et seq.+[1]]

[_Extract_.]