Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Savage, Thomas (d.1507)
SAVAGE, THOMAS (d. 1507), archbishop of York, was second son of Sir John Savage of Clifton, Cheshire, by Katherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Stanley (afterwards Lord Stanley) [q. v.] (cf. Notes and Queries, 7th ser. ii. 508, iii. 57, 252). Sir John Savage (d. 1492) [q. v.] was his brother. He was educated at Cambridge, where he proceeded LL.D. A Lancastrian in politics, he was much trusted and employed by Henry VII. On 21 Sept. 1485 he is spoken of as the king's chaplain, and received a grant of the chancellorship of the earldom of March; in the following February he was employed on a commission dealing with the tenants of the earldom. On 17 Dec. 1487 Henry entrusted the letting of the royal lands to him among others. He soon had more important employment. On 11 Dec. 1488 he was sent with Richard Nanfan [q. v.] to Spain and Portugal, and the treaty of Medina del Campo was the result. Roger Machado [q. v.] has left an account of the incidents of the outward journey; the significance of the treaty has been fully explained by Professor Busch. In 1490 he took part as a representative of England in the unsuccessful conference at Boulogne.
Savage was amply rewarded for his exertions. On 8 Dec. 1490 he received an annuity of six marks. In 1492 he became bishop of Rochester; in 1496 he was translated to London, and in 1501 to York. There is a story that he offended the people of his province by being enthroned by deputy, and sending down his fool to amuse his household. He was a courtier by nature, and took part in the great ceremonies of his time: the creation of Prince Henry as Duke of York, the meeting with the Archduke Philip, and the reception of Catherine of Aragon. He died at Cawood on 3 Sept. 1507, and was buried under a fine tomb in York Minster. His heart, however, was taken to Macclesfield, where he had intended to found a college. He is said to have been passionately fond of hunting. Accounts connected with his property, but not his will, are printed in ‘Testamenta Eboracensia’ (Surtees Soc., iv. 308, &c.; cf. Hist. of the Church of York and its Archbishops, Rolls Ser. iii. 354, &c.).
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 12, 522; The Savages of the Ards, ed. G. F. A[rmstrong], pp. 21, &c.; Earwaker's Hist. East Cheshire, ii. 480; Polydore Vergil's Angl. Hist. p. 610; Campbell's Materials for the Hist. of Henry VII, i. 22, 298, ii. 215, 273, 376; Gairdner's Letters, &c., Richard III and Henry VII, i. 392, 403, 410, ii. 87; Cal. State Papers, Spanish Ser. i. 3, 17; Gairdner's Memorials of Henry VII, passim; Busch's England under the Tudors (Engl. transl.), pp. 52, &c.]