Yale Manuscript Reveals Tudor Courtier John Gage Secretly Preserved Catholic Text He Was Ordered to Destroy

Key facts

• John Gage was a courtier to Henry VIII who secretly preserved a Catholic manuscript he was supposed to destroy during the dissolution of the monasteries.
• The manuscript is Nicholas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, a Middle English translation from the early 15th century.
• Six missing pages were found at the Keep archive in Brighton by Katie Walter and James Wade, and matched to a complete manuscript at Yale's Beinecke Library.
• Yale acquired the manuscript from collector Toshiyuki Takamiya in 2017; Takamiya had bought it at auction in 1976.
• Gage's signature appears on the manuscript's final page alongside two religious women, indicating his ownership.
• Gage held prominent roles including comptroller of the royal household, constable of the Tower of London, and member of the Privy Council.
• He worked under Thomas Cromwell and received some of Cromwell's lands after Cromwell's execution in 1540.
• After Henry VIII's death, Gage served Edward VI intermittently and was fully restored to favor under Mary I in 1553; he died in 1556 at age 76.