Brereton and his wife had two sons:[3] Elizabeth's first husband was the grandson of Sir John Savage, who had been a Lancastrian commander at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
When the grandson had fallen into debt and was also being held in the Tower, all his lands were forfeited to the crown, and Brereton, as the king's man in Cheshire, was granted jurisdiction over them.
After Sir John's death, Brereton's marriage to his widow established a family relationship with the king and thus cemented his position as a royal servant.
[5] William's father settled an income on him in June 1508, so he was probably then of an age to make his way in the world, and so that perhaps gives credence to the sources stating he was born circa 1490.
The annuity, settled on lands in and around Malpas, was not large but it did give William the quasi-independence to be able to seek a gentleman's career in royal service.
Brereton exercised his power on one occasion with a Flintshire gentleman, John ap Gryffith Eyton, whom he blamed for instigating the killing of one of his own retainers.
By the mid to late 1520s some of his positions included the Escheator of the county palatine, the post of sheriff of Merioneth and Flint, constable of Chester Castle, the stewardship of Longdendale, the position of sergeant of the peace and steward of the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale, the lordship of Chirk, ranger of Delamere Forest, keepership of Mersley Park, and steward and controller of Halton.
Later in the year he journeyed around the country to collect signatures from the “elite of England” for a petition asking the pope for an annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
Eric Ives noted that due to his position and activities, William Brereton is one of the best documented men of his rank in the early Tudor period.
[12] Historian Eric Ives argues that Cromwell added Brereton to the plot against Anne to end his control of the Welsh Marches, and to reorganise (and centralise) the local government of Cheshire and the border area.
[14] The Brereton family made considerable efforts to save the life of their kinsman by offering substantial sums of money and forfeiture of houses and land to the crown.
Wyatt knew all the protagonists involved and his lines "These bloody days have broken my heart....." show of his anguish that his friends and acquaintances, whom he considered innocent, were to be put to death.
The remains of all four executed men were initially buried in the churchyard of the Church of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London but were later re-interred within the actual chapel itself.
Like George Boleyn, Henry Norris and Francis Weston, Brereton always maintained his innocence (at his trial, to individuals he spoke to as well as his final words on the scaffold).
As historians now believe, he was probably collateral damage when Cromwell moved against the Boleyn faction and decided to get rid of him in the same coup in order to gain power and control in Cheshire and the Welsh Marches.
An indication of Brereton's wife's continued trust in her husband is provided by her bequest to her son nine years later: "one bracelet of gold, the which was the last token his father sent me.
In Evelyn Anthony's 1957 novel "Anne Boleyn", Brereton was depicted as being the jouster who unseated Henry VIII to such disastrous effect in January 1536 where the king lay unconscious for over two hours.
In Wolf Hall, a 2015 TV mini-series adaptation of the historical novel by Hilary Mantel, William Brereton was played by Alastair Mackenzie.
In the series, he is asked by the pope (Peter O'Toole) and ambassador Eustace Chapuys (Anthony Brophy) to get rid of Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) to try and prevent King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) from placing the English state on a collision course with the Catholic Church.