_VIA DOLOROSA._
1533-1536.
A crisis of some sort was generally thought to be at hand, although its
precise nature remained a mystery for a few days longer. The King’s
subjects made no secret of their satisfaction, because Anne had not
fulfilled the confident prognostications of the astrologers, who had
flattered her with assurances that she would present Henry with a son.
Not only did they rejoice in her disappointed ambition, and in the
visible cooling of Henry’s passion, but they now began to entertain
hopes that Mary would not be so completely set aside in the succession
as they had been led to expect.
The satisfaction and the hope were, however, short-lived, and on the
3rd November, Chapuys communicated to the Emperor the further untoward
progress of events.[111]
“Not satisfied with having taken away from his own legitimate daughter
the name and title of princess, as intimated in a former despatch,
the King has lately been talking of removing—and has actually begun
to do so—all the officers and servants of her princely household, on
the plea that they have encouraged her in her disobedience. This the
King has done, as he says, to daunt and intimidate her; he has even
gone so far as to demand that she (the Princess) should go and live as
‘demoiselle d’honneur’ to his bastard daughter, at which, your Majesty
may guess, both the Queen and the Princess are marvellously disturbed,
and in great trouble. They sent to me a week ago in this emergency
and begged I would speak to Cromwell, and see what could be done to
arrest the blow. I immediately sent to the Princess, a protest drawn
in due form for her to sign and keep secret, declaring that neither
by word nor deed, expressly nor tacitly, had she ever consented to
anything that may prejudice her or her right. I have besides put down
in writing several candid and temperate statements, to be addressed
to those who might come with such a proposition in her father’s name.
In case however, of there being no help at all, she was, I said, to
have patience, for she would not have to suffer long. Should the King
send some one to her on such an errand, she was to say from the very
first, that if the King her father wished it to be so, she submitted,
but that she protested, in due form, against whatever might be done to
her prejudice. These words I wrote down for her, she was to learn them
by heart, and repeat them daily, surrounded by her most confidential
servants.”
The blow fell speedily, and on the 16th December, Chapuys told his
master that what he had feared had come to pass:—[112]
“According to the determination come to by the King about the treatment
of the Princess and the bastard, of which I wrote in my last, the
said bastard was taken three days ago to a house seventeen miles from
here [Hatfield], and although there was a shorter and better road,
yet for greater solemnity, and to insinuate to the people that she is
the true Princess, she was taken through this town [London] with the
company which I wrote in my last; and next day, the Duke of Norfolk
went to the Princess, to tell her that her father desired her to go
to the court and service of the said bastard, whom he named Princess.
The Princess answered that the title belonged to herself, and to no
other, making many very wise remonstrances, that what had been proposed
to her was strange and dishonourable. To which, the Duke could not
reply. After much talk, he said he had not come there to dispute, but
to accomplish the King’s will; and the Princess, seeing that it was
needless excusing herself, demanded half an hour’s respite to go to
her chamber, where she remained about that time—to make, as I know, a
protestation which I had sent her, in order that if compelled by force
or fraud to renounce her rights, or enter a nunnery, it might not be
to her prejudice. On returning from her chamber, she said to the Duke,
that since the King her father was so pleased, she would not disobey
him, begging him to intercede with the King for the recompense of her
servants, that they might have at least a year’s wages. She then asked
what company she should bring. The Duke said it was not necessary to
bring much, for she would find plenty where she was going; and so she
parted, with a very small suite. Her gouvernante [the Countess of
Salisbury], daughter of the late Duke of Clarence and near kinswoman to
the King, a lady of virtue and honor, if there be one in England, has
offered to follow and serve her at her own expense, with an honorable
train. But it was out of the question that this would be accepted; for
in that case, they would have no power over the Princess, whom it is
to be feared, they mean to kill, either with grief or otherwise, or
make her renounce her right, or marry basely, or make her stain her
honour, to have ground for disinheriting her—since notwithstanding the
remonstrances I have hitherto made, touching the Princess, to which
I have had no reply, the King has proceeded to such excesses; and
considering that my words only served to irritate him, and make him
more fierce and obstinate, I have resolved not again to address to him
a single word, except he obliges me, without a command from the Queen.”
In the same letter he says:—
“You cannot imagine the grief of all the people at this abominable
government. They are so transported with indignation at what passes,
that they complain that your Majesty takes no steps in it, and I am
told by many respectable people, that they would be glad to see a fleet
come hither in your name, to raise the people; and if they had any
chief among themselves, who dared raise his head, they would require no
more.”
After signing the formal protest which Chapuys had drawn up for
her, Mary allowed herself to be placed in a litter, and conveyed to
Hatfield, where Elizabeth, then three months old, was provided with
an establishment. Dr. Fox, the King’s almoner, rode by the side of
the litter, in order to guard the Princess, and prevent any excessive
outbreak of indignation on the part of the populace. Nevertheless,
according to Anne’s scornful remark, Mary was treated, in the villages
through which she passed, “as if she were God Himself who had
descended from heaven”. Moreover, Dr. Fox, Henry’s own agent, took the
opportunity of telling her that she had done well, not to submit, and
he implored her for the love of God, and the welfare of the realm, to
remain firm.
On the 23rd December, Chapuys continues his narrative:[113]—
“When the Princess, who was taken off with only two attendants, had
arrived where the bastard was, the Duke (of Suffolk) asked her whether
she would not go and pay her respects to the Princess. She replied,
that she knew no other Princess in England except herself, and that
the daughter of Madame de Penebrok (_sic_) had no such title; but that
it was true, that since the King her father acknowledged her to be
his, she might call her ‘sister,’ as she called the Duke of Richmond
‘brother’. On her removing, the Duke asked her what word he should
carry to the King; to which she replied: ‘Nothing else except that
his daughter, the Princess, begged his blessing;’ and when he said
that he would not carry such a message, she told him curtly, he might
leave it; and after protesting several times, that what she did at the
King’s command, should not be to her prejudice, she retired to weep in
her chamber, as she does continually. Though the said Duke treated her
very roughly, the King reproached him for not having accomplished his
charge; that he went about it too softly; and he was resolved to take
steps to abate the stubbornness and pride of the Princess.”
Meanwhile, the same measure was to be meted out to mother and daughter,
and the Duke of Suffolk, albeit “he went about it too softly,” was in
each case Henry’s faithful agent.
Katharine was allowed to remain undisturbed at Buckden, till Mary was
removed from Beaulieu, when it was resolved to send her to Somersham,
in the Isle of Ely, a place surrounded with deep water and marshes, the
most unhealthy and pestilential spot in England. Katharine, knowing
what awaited her there, refused to stir, and for six days, Henry’s
commissioners remained with her, using persuasion and threats in vain.
She shut herself up in her room, and told them through a hole in the
wall, that if they would take her away they must break open the doors,
and carry her off by force. This they dared not do, for fear of the
people; and the Duke of Suffolk was obliged to depart with his mission
entirely unfulfilled. To do him justice, it must be remarked that he
was extremely loth to undertake it.
“The Duke of Suffolk,” wrote Chapuys,[114] “as I am informed by his
wife’s mother, confessed on the Sacrament, and wished some mischief
might happen to him, to excuse himself from this journey. The King,
at the solicitation of the Lady, whom he dares not contradict, has
determined to place the Queen in the said house, either to get rid of
her, or to make sure of her, as the house is strong; and besides, it is
seven miles from another house, situated in a lake, which one cannot
approach within six miles, except on one side; and the King and the
Lady have agreed to seek all possible occasions to shut up the Queen
within the said island, and failing all other pretexts to accuse her of
being insane.”
Nothing is more apparent, in all that Chapuys writes at this time,
than Henry’s weakness in whatever concerned Anne. His passion for her
was already on the wane, but he dared not disregard her least wish,
and her empire over him, although exercised by different means, was as
great as it had ever been. One day he set out for Hatfield, to pay a
visit to the little Elizabeth, and at the same time, to try all that
persuasion and threats from his own lips could do, to reduce Mary to
submission, and induce her to give up her title. Anne, considering his
“easiness or lightness (if any one dared to call it so), and that the
beauty, virtue and prudence of the Princess might assuage his wrath
and cause him to treat her better,” sent Cromwell and other messengers
after him to prevent his seeing or speaking with his daughter Mary.
Accordingly, Henry, before arriving at the house, sent on orders that
she was not to come to him, and while he was there, he delegated to
Cromwell, to the treasurer, and to the captain of the guard, the office
of remonstrating with her. But to all their arguments she replied that
she had already given a decided answer, that it was labour wasted
to press her further, and that they were deceived if they thought
that rudeness, bad treatment, or even the fear of death would shake
her determination. While her father was with Elizabeth, she sent to
ask leave to come and kiss his hand; but this request he dared not
grant. Just, however, as he was about to mount his horse, he looked up
(Chapuys is uncertain whether by chance or whether his attention was
directed by some one present) to the terrace on the top of the house,
and saw Mary on her knees, with her hands clasped. He bowed to her, and
put his hand to his hat, whereupon all present, who had before this not
dared to look at her, “saluted her reverently with signs of goodwill
and compassion”.[115]
The ambassador continues:—
“The day before yesterday, the Lady having heard of the prudent replies
of the Princess, complained to the King that he did not keep her close
enough, and that she was badly advised, as her answers could not have
been made without the suggestion of others, and that he had promised
that none should speak to her without his knowing it. Twenty days ago,
the King said to the Marquis [of Saluce, who had come with a proposal
of marriage] that the trust the Princess had in your Majesty made her
obstinate, but he would bring her to the point, as he feared neither
the Emperor nor any other, if the Marquis and other vassals were loyal,
as he thought they would be; they must not trip or vary, for fear of
losing their heads, and he would keep such good watch, that no letters
could be received from beyond sea, without his knowing it. Besides
his trust in his subjects, he has great hope in the Queen’s death. He
lately told the French ambassador, that she could not live long, as
she was dropsical, an illness she was never subject to before. It is
to be feared, something has been done to bring it on. I told Gregory
Casale of this saying of the King’s, and he replied that he thought of
renouncing the King’s service before leaving here, and of setting up
the white banner.... The Queen has not been out of her room since the
Duke of Suffolk was with her, except to hear Mass in a gallery. She
will not eat nor drink what the new servants provide. The little she
eats, in her anguish, is prepared by her chamberwomen, and her room is
used as her kitchen. She is very badly lodged; she desires me to write
to you about it.”
On the 11th February he continues:[116]—
“The French ambassador told me that the King on returning from a visit
to his new daughter, said that he had not spoken to the Princess, on
account of her obstinacy, which came from her Spanish blood; and when
the ambassador remarked that she had been very well brought up, the
tears came into his eyes, and he could not refrain from praising her.
Anne is aware of the King’s affection for the Princess, and does not
cease to plot against her. A gentleman told me yesterday, that the
Earl of Northumberland told him, that he knew for certain she had
determined to poison the Princess. The Earl may know something of it
from his familiarity and credit with Anne. The Princess has been warned
to be on her guard, but if God do not help her, it will be difficult
for her to protect herself for long. I do not know any other remedy,
except to persuade the Scotch ambassador to make the King and his
Council believe that his master will not make peace unless the right
of succession, on the death of the Princess is reserved to him. This
he has promised to do, and said he would come and see me yesterday
about it, without caring for the suspicions these people might have.
I thought also that the Princess, after making solemn protestations
of compulsion and danger, might offer to the King to be content not
to be called Princess, if she was allowed to reside with the Queen;
but Anne might be encouraged to execute her wicked will from fear of a
reconciliation between the Princess and her father, and would be able
to do it with less suspicion, under colour of friendship, than now that
her hatred and enmity is open. Perhaps also, those who now favour the
Princess would become cool towards her, not knowing the cause of her
actions, nor the protestations. A gentleman told me that Anne had sent
to her father’s sister (Alice, widow of Sir Thomas Clere of Ormesby, in
Norfolk), who has charge of the Princess, telling her not to allow her
to use that title, and if she did otherwise, she must box her ears as
a cursed bastard—_quelle luy donnast des buffes comme a une mauldicte
bastarde telle quelle estoit_. The Princess has been used to breakfast
in her chamber, and then come to table in public, but neither eat nor
drink, but Anne has now ordered that she shall not be served in her
chamber. She is going to see her daughter, the first Thursday in Lent,
and will stay two days. I pray this may not be to the injury of the
Princess. The French ambassador said he was astonished that good guard
was not kept about the Princess, to keep her from being carried away,
as it would totally ruin the King if she were to cross the sea. This
agrees with what I have already written, that the King did not care to
marry her on the other side of the sea.”
Mary’s condition became daily worse. Her position in Elizabeth’s
household was rather that of an attendant, than of a lady-in-waiting,
and to the humiliations showered upon the unhappy girl was now added
the want of the barest necessaries of life. The “pearl of the kingdom”
was less well provided for than the meanest of her father’s subjects.
Failing all other methods, she was to be starved into a surrender, and
if she would not dine at the common table, was to have nothing to eat
at all. Anne’s vindictiveness increased, when some peasants, assembling
under Mary’s balcony, cheered the poor prisoner, calling her their
rightful Princess. Chapuys’ despatch of the 21st February chronicles
what is perhaps the high-water mark of her disgrace.
“The Princess,” he writes,[117] “finding herself nearly destitute of
clothes and other necessaries, has been compelled to send a gentleman
to the King. She ordered him to take money or the clothes, but not
to accept any writing in which she was not entitled Princess. He was
also charged to ask leave for her to attend Mass, at the church which
adjoins the house, but this was not allowed. As the country people
seeing her walk along a gallery saluted her as their princess, she is
now kept much closer, and nothing done without the leave of the sister
of Anne Boleyn’s father, who has charge of her. The Duke of Norfolk,
and Anne’s brother lately reprimanded her for behaving to the Princess
with too much respect and kindness, saying that she ought only to be
treated as a bastard. She replied, that even if the Princess were only
the bastard of a poor gentleman, she deserved honour and good treatment
for her goodness and virtues. The Princess is well in health, and
bears her troubles with patience, trusting in God and your Majesty,
and showed no better cheer in her prosperity than now. God grant that
this may not irritate this accursed Lady to carry out her detestable
imaginations.”
Charles was not unmindful of the perils which surrounded his aunt and
cousin, but he was greatly embarrassed for means to help them. Henry
was deaf to persuasive arguments; the argument of force still remained
to be applied, but this would involve the Emperor in a series of
complications, out of which he did not see his way. If he made war on
Henry, he would have to reckon with Henry’s ally and his own enemy,
the King of France, who was by no means so scrupulous a Catholic, that
he would hesitate to take up a hostile attitude towards the Pope,
in a matter which was considered by the rest of Christendom as the
Pope’s peculiar province. Henry had effected a formal rupture with
Rome, and still Francis was as friendly to him as before. Moreover,
the French court, although it had professed to be shocked by Anne’s
effrontery, was known to favour the new Queen secretly; and dominating
all these other difficulties was the Emperor’s accumulated debt to
Henry, which his nephew was less than ever in a position to pay. A
chess-board policy was therefore all that was possible in the actual
state of affairs. Not any amount of sacrifices on the part of Charles
would avail to help his aunt’s cause, and the letter which he wrote at
this juncture to his ambassador in France, is alike a voucher for the
accuracy of Chapuys’ narrative of affairs in England, and a confession
of weakness by the Emperor.
“You have done well,” he writes, “to report what you have heard
touching practices against the Princess of England, and what the King
of France has said to you touching the King of England’s rupture with
the Pope and the Holy See, and his making alliance with the Lutherans,
and pretending that the Queen our aunt is ill. We have heard the same
from our ambassador in England, much to our grief. And you are to tell
Francis that the more Henry disowns obedience to the Holy See, the
more he ought to support it. As to the report spread by the King of
England, that the Queen our aunt is ill, you are to take an opportunity
of telling him that she is in very good health of body, notwithstanding
her ill-treatment, and that the spreading of such a report is very
suspicious—all the more, as they have put her in a very unhealthy
habitation, and taken away her physician, and almost all her servants,
so that the _essai_ of viands is no longer made. You have done right to
inform Cifuentes[118] of this, although our ambassador in England has
also done so.”[119]
Whether Chapuys was right in thinking that Anne would make a pretence
of friendship with Mary, in order to destroy her more completely, or
whether, having tried her utmost to break the Princess’s spirit, she
now thought to win her enemy by gentler means, it is certain that in
March 1534 she suddenly changed her tactics.
She went to Hatfield, ostensibly to see Elizabeth, but as soon as she
arrived, she sent a message to Mary inviting her to come and salute her
as the queen she was. If Mary would do so, Anne promised that she would
intercede with her father on her behalf.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Mary replied that she knew no queen in
England but her mother; but she would be much obliged if the Lady Anne
Boleyn would be a means to the King in her favour. Anne tried again,
sent a fresh message, but was again repulsed, whereupon she threatened
“to break the haughtiness of this unbridled Spanish blood”.[120]
But if Anne’s hatred increased from this moment, her power to influence
Henry was visibly on the decline. Her very threats are henceforth
indicative of her weakened hold on his inconstant mind. In the course
of the year 1534, there was a question of his departure for France,
and Anne was more than once heard to say, that when he had crossed the
sea, and she remained in England as regent, she would use her authority
to put Mary to death, either by starving her or otherwise. When her
brother, Lord Rochford represented to her that this would anger the
King, she replied that she did not care, even if she were burned alive
for it afterwards. “The Princess,” adds Chapuys, “quite expects this,
and thinking that she could not better gain Paradise than by such a
death, shows no concern, trusting only in God, whom she has always
served well, and does still better now. Having spoken to the Queen, by
her advice, I will make remonstrances; but I know not if they will do
any good.”[121]
In a formal letter of protest, dated 7th June 1534, against the
treatment she had received, in being declared illegitimate, and
deprived of her title of Princess of Wales, Mary declared that she
would not enter a convent, or take any such step at the will of her
father, without the free consent of her mother. The strange mixture of
firmness, self-reliance and sweetness in her behaviour at this time,
was a source of wonder and admiration to all not utterly devoid of
human pity, and even strangers were impressed with such conduct in a
girl of eighteen, whose whole life appeared to be one perpetual lesson
on the “uses of adversity”.
Chapuys told the French Admiral on his visit to England “that those who
had shown him the Tower, and several other things, had not shown him
the principal gem of all the kingdom, to wit the Princess. He replied
that he was as much vexed as possible, that he had no opportunity of
seeing her, although he had several times spoken about her, and used
means to that effect. I asked if he had been refused a sight of her,
and he confessed that he had not expressly requested it, but that the
King never would come to the point. He added that he had never heard
a lady so praised as the Princess, even by those who were giving her
trouble; and certainly he was her devoted servant, both on account of
her great virtue, and because she was so nearly related to the Queen
his mistress,[122] and that he hoped for certain, soon to do her good
service.”[123]
Chapuys had now begun to speak very openly to the King and Cromwell,
insisting on the discussion of matters over which they would rather
have drawn a veil. Of some of these Cromwell declared that “neither
sugar nor sauce would make them go down”.
It was evident to the envoy, that all their hope lay in the Queen’s
death, and he was at no pains to conceal the fact that he had fathomed
their designs. He had petitioned the King for leave to attend
Parliament when Katharine’s cause was tried, and to state her case
plainly. But Henry refused, on the plea that it was not customary for
foreigners to be present at parliamentary debates. Chapuys protested
that there had never been such a case before, and that no Parliament
could stigmatise the birth of the Princess, for the cognizance of such
cases belonged to ecclesiastical judges, and that even if his marriage
with the Queen were null, Mary was still his legitimate daughter, owing
to the lawful ignorance of her parents. The Archbishop of Canterbury,
he declared, had not dared to cast a slur on her birth, and the King
himself had considered her as the heir to the throne, until the birth
of his new daughter. Henry seemed more moved by this, than by anything
else that Chapuys had said; but he still maintained that there was no
need for Katharine, or any one else to be summoned to Parliament, as
he himself being a party could not be there, and that according to the
laws of the kingdom, Mary was unable to succeed, and there was no other
Princess except his daughter Elizabeth, who was the heir, until he had
a son, which he thought would happen soon, adding that he did not care
for all the canons which might be alleged, as he preferred his own
laws, according to which he would have legitimacy judged by lay judges,
who could also take cognizance of matrimonial causes. “As,” remarked
Chapuys, “I thought this was strange, he said he would send me books. I
asked him to do so, and also to show me the law which, he says, makes
against the Princess; but he will do neither the one nor the other, for
he will not find what he wants.”[124]
Soon after Anne’s visit to Hatfield, Elizabeth was removed to the
More, and Mary, thinking that she would prejudice her own and her
mother’s cause by consenting to go in her suite, declared that she
had no objection to go to the same place either before or after
Elizabeth, but that she would not pay court to her on the road, unless
she was led by force. She was accordingly put into a litter, when
she took the opportunity of making a public protest. Chapuys thought
this ill-advised, since it might only serve to irritate the King, and
draw upon herself worse treatment than before, “at the desire of his
mistress, who is constantly plotting the worst she can against the
Princess”.
[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.
From the original portrait by Holbein.]
The shrewdness of the ambassador was not at fault, and Mary was treated
more rigorously than ever. When Henry paid a visit of two days to the
More, she was commanded not to leave her room, and was told that her
father did not care in the least, whether she renounced her title or
not, since by statute she was now declared illegitimate, and incapable
of succeeding. It was also reported to her, that Henry had said he
would make her lose her head, for violating the laws of his realm. She
was constantly watched, so that it was extremely difficult for her to
communicate this new danger to Chapuys. Her ingenuity provided her,
however, with a means which proved successful. Her old schoolmaster
and friend, Master Featherstone, happened to be in the house, and Mary
asked to speak with him privately. This being refused, she contrived to
tell him what she wished he should know, without exciting the suspicion
of the bystanders. She began to say to him that she had been now so
long without speaking Latin, that she could not say two words properly,
and he desiring to judge for himself, asked her to say something in
that language. Then she told him what the King had said that day, no
one present understanding Latin. He was astounded, and could only
answer, that that was not good Latin, and immediately sent to inform
Chapuys,[125] who related the occurrence to the Emperor. In the same
despatch the envoy says:—
“It is feared the King will put to death the Bishop of Rochester, and
Mr. More, late Chancellor, who, as I lately wrote, are confined in the
Tower with others, for refusal to swear. The Scotch ambassadors laugh
at this King, with good reason, for imagining to strengthen his cause
and his laws by this oath violently extorted, for it rather tends to
show that they are worth nothing, since they require such help to
maintain them.”
On the 14th May he wrote:—
“Some days ago the King asked his mistress’s aunt, who has charge
of the Princess, if the latter had abated her obstinacy, and on
being answered ‘No,’ he said there must be some one about her who
encouraged her, and conveyed news from the Queen, her mother. The
said gouvernante, on consideration, could suspect no one, except the
maid of whom I lately wrote, who had been compelled to swear, and
on this suspicion, she drove her out, and she has been for some days
without any one to go to, or means to support herself. The Princess has
been much grieved at this, for she was the only one in whom she had
confidence, and by her means, she had letters from me and others. The
Queen also is very sorry, but still more because the King has taken
from the Princess her confessor, a very good man, and given her another
who is a Lutheran, and a tool of his own. During the last few days, the
King perceiving that neither by force nor menaces could he get his way
with the said Princess, or for some other reasons, has shown her more
honour than usual, and used more gracious words, begging that she would
lay aside her obstinacy, and he would promise her before Michaelmas
to make such a bargain with her, that she should enjoy a royal title
and dignity, to which, among 1000 other wise answers, she replied that
God had not so blinded her as to confess for any kingdom on earth that
the King, her father, and the Queen, her mother, had so long lived in
adultery, nor would she contravene the ordinance of the Church, and
make herself a bastard. She believes firmly that this dissimulation the
King uses is only the more easily to attain his end, and cover poison.
But she says she cares little, having full confidence in God, that
she will go straight to Paradise, and be quit of the tribulations of
this world; and her only grief is about the troubles of the Queen, her
mother.”[126]
Seeing that she was liable to make mistakes, if guided by her own
inexperience, Mary was anxious in future to do nothing without Chapuys’
advice, as the following letter from the ambassador shows:—
“The Princess, understanding of late that the King intended she should
remove, and accompany the Bastard, sent to me three times in less than
twenty-four hours to know what to do. I wrote back to her each time,
resolving her scruples, that even if she did obey the King without
opposition or protestation, all that the King desired in this respect
could do no prejudice to the protestations already made. Nevertheless,
I thought that to prevent her father and his lady imagining she was
worn out, and conquered by ill-treatment, she should speak boldly, and
with her accustomed modesty, but not go to the extremity of allowing
herself to be taken by force, as on the former occasion. I wrote to
her at full length what she ought to say; not that it was necessary,
considering her good sense, but because she desired me. She played
her part so well, that the Comptroller promised her she should not go
after the other. Nevertheless, on her coming to the first door of the
lodging, there was the litter of the Bastard, and the Princess was
compelled to go out after her, the Comptroller allowing her, as soon
as she was mounted, to go before or after, as she pleased; on which
account, she suddenly pushed forward, and arrived at Greenwich about
an hour before the Bastard. When she came to enter the barge, she took
care to secure the most honourable place. I had intimated to her that
I would go to Greenwich to see her pass; and she sent to beg me to do
so, as earnestly as she could. I was there accordingly in disguise,
and it was a great pleasure to see such excellent beauty, accompanied
by heroic bearing, which all the more increased the pity to see her so
treated.”[127]
A little later Chapuys, continuing his narrative, says:—
“Although Cromwell assured me of the goodwill the King bore the
Princess, I should scarcely have believed it, but for some other
things, which make it probable. For the King has commanded that she
shall be well treated; and on Wednesday, before leaving the More, she
was visited by nearly all the gentlemen and ladies of the court, to the
Lady’s great annoyance. On Thursday, the day before yesterday, being at
Richmond with the little lass, the Lady came to see her said daughter,
accompanied by the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk and others, including
some of the ladies, which was a novelty; and she refused to leave her
chamber till the Lady was gone, that she might not see her. The first
time that the said Princess accompanied the said little one, she was
placed in a litter covered with leather; but on leaving the More,
she had one of velvet like the other, in which she came to Richmond;
and being there, both to avoid following the litter of the other, and
because she was pleased to see me in passing, she let the little one
go by land, and came herself by water. In the evening, she arranged
with the bargemen to row her along the bank where she pleased, and
immediately gave notice to me, that I would not fail to be at a certain
house, which I keep in the fields by the river, between Greenwich and
this town, to inhabit in time of plague, for she wished to see me,
and requite my going to see her at Greenwich, when she passed. She
accordingly persuaded the steersman, instead of going by one side of
the river, to take the other, and from the time she came near enough to
see me, she caused the barge to be uncovered, and went on deck in the
most conspicuous place, and passed quite near where I was, never moving
from the place she had taken up to look at me, until she had lost sight
of me. She is, thank God, in very good health and _en bon point_, and
appears to be happy and very cheerful. I notified to her before she
left the More, that as the King’s severity was abating, she must take
care not to give him any cause of offence, and as the protestation I
had counselled her to make preserved her from all danger, she ought
to make no difficulty about following the Bastard, but should declare
that she was very glad in this to satisfy the King her father, and from
that proceeded the visit paid to her at Richmond,[128] of which I have
written above, and the licence to come by water without accompanying
the other.”[129]
Early in 1535, Mary fell ill, and Henry in a moment of relenting, not
only allowed her mother’s physician and apothecary to attend her,
but sent his own physician, Dr. Buttes. The only stipulations made
were that they must see her in the presence of witnesses, speak in
no language but English, and pay their respects on their arrival to
Elizabeth, before being conducted to Mary. The latter part of the order
could not, however, be carried out, as it arrived too late.[130]
Katharine eagerly seized the opportunity of Henry’s sudden kindness to
entreat that her daughter might be sent to her, a petition that was
answered with the singular concession, that the King would send her to
a house near her mother, provided that the two did not meet. Her letter
to Cromwell, in acknowledging his services in the negotiation, such as
they were, is as pathetic as it is dignified.
“My good friend,” wrote Katharine, “you have laid me under great
obligation by the trouble you have taken in speaking to the King, my
lord, about the coming of my daughter to me. I hope God will reward
you, as you know it is out of my power to give you anything but my
goodwill. As to the answer given you, that the King is content to take
her to some house near me, provided I do not see her, I beg you will
give him my hearty thanks for the good he does to his daughter and
mine, and for the peace of mind he has given me. You may assure him,
that if she were but a mile from me I would not see her, because the
time does not permit me to go visiting, and if I wished it, I have
not the means. But you may tell his Majesty, it was my wish that he
should send her where I am, as the comfort and cheerfulness she would
have with me would be half her cure. I have found this by experience,
being ill of the same sickness, and as my request was so reasonable,
and touched so greatly the honour and conscience of the King, I did not
think it would be denied me. Do not forbear, I beseech you, and do what
you can that it may be so. I have heard that he had some suspicion of
her security—a thing so unreasonable that I cannot believe it entered
into his heart, nor do I think he has so little confidence in me. If
such a thing be assumed, I beg you to tell his Majesty, it is my fixed
determination to die in this kingdom; and I offer my person as security
that if such a thing be attempted, he may do justice upon me as the
most traitorous woman that ever was born.”[131]
Katharine made another attempt to get possession of her daughter; and
the letter which she wrote to Chapuys with that object is very touching
in its tender, maternal anxiety:—
“My physician has informed me partly of my daughter’s illness, giving
me hope of her improved health; but as I know her infirmity lasts so
long, and I see he is slow to visit her (although for some days he
could not, as I was so ill myself), I have great suspicion as to the
cause. So because it appears to me that what I ask is just, and for
the service of God, I beg you will speak to his Highness, and desire
him, on my behalf, to do such a charity as to send his daughter and
mine where I am; because treating her with my own hands, and by the
advice both of other physicians and of my own, if God pleases to take
her from this world, my heart will rest satisfied; otherwise, in great
pain. You shall also say to his Highness that there is no need of any
other person but myself to nurse her; that I will put her in my own bed
where I sleep, and will watch her when needful. I have recourse to you,
knowing that there is no one in this kingdom who dare say to the King
my lord, that which I desire you to say; and I pray God reward you for
the diligence that you will make.”[132]
Immediately after receiving this letter, Chapuys asked Cromwell to
arrange an interview with the King, which was assigned for the next
morning. When he had read the letter aloud to Henry, the ambassador
supported it by all the arguments he could think of, and instead of
replying, as usual, that he knew better than any one else how to
provide for his daughter, Henry answered gently that he wished to do
his utmost for her health, but that he must not forget what was due to
his own honour, which would be injured if she were taken out of the
kingdom, or if she herself escaped, as she might easily do, by night,
if she were with her mother, for he had begun to suspect the Emperor of
designs for getting her away.
Chapuys craftily allayed this suspicion, but Henry went on to say that
there was no great occasion to confide Mary again to her mother’s
hands, for it was Katharine who had put it into her head to show such
obstinacy and disobedience, as all the world knew; and although sons
and daughters were bound to show some obedience towards their mothers,
their chief duty was to their fathers, and since the Princess could
not have much help from the Queen, and it was clear the whole matter
proceeded from her, Mary must submit to his pleasure. Chapuys then
asked that she might, at least, have her old governess, Lady Salisbury,
whom she regarded as her second mother. But Henry declared that she
was a fool, of no experience, and that if his daughter had been under
her care, she would have died, for Lady Salisbury would not have known
what to do, whereas her present governess was an expert lady. All the
physicians were apparently agreed, that Mary’s illness was caused by
distress and sorrow, and that if the Princess were placed where she
might enjoy a modicum of brightness and pleasure, and might be allowed
to take exercise, her cure would be effected.
Dr. Buttes urged the responsibility he would incur in attending her,
unless she were within reach of her mother’s medical adviser and
apothecary, for in the event of her death he might be accused of foul
play. Chapuys expressed a hope that some of Mary’s old and loyal
servants would be sent to her, to keep her cheerful; but he recommended
that her governess should not be changed, for he feared lest some one
should give her a slow poison; whereas Anne’s aunt had long been warned
that she would be suspected, if anything untoward happened to her
charge. There was, she was told, a common belief in London, that she
had already attempted to poison the Princess, so that the poor creature
was terribly alarmed, and could do nothing but weep and lament whenever
Mary was ill. Cromwell agreed that Chapuys’ demands were just, “but
matters,” he said, “were rather hard of digestion, and he couldn’t get
his master to chew them”.
In spite of all efforts, nothing was done to better Mary’s condition.
But her illness abated, and on the 23rd March the ambassador told
Cardinal Granvelle, that the Princess was well again, and “better than
some would have her. She may be called,” he continued, “the paragon of
beauty, goodness and virtue.” But she was constitutionally delicate,
and suffered all her life, from a malady aggravated by the grief and
sorrow which overwhelmed her in her youth. The violent attack which
prostrated her in the beginning of 1535 followed immediately upon the
information that had been conveyed to her at Christmas, of the statute
lately framed against those who refused to acknowledge the King’s
second marriage, and upon the command made directly to her, to renounce
her title and her mother’s, and to take the oath of supremacy. A
refusal, she was told, rendered her liable to instant imprisonment, and
danger of death.
In clinging to mere formulas, Mary was influenced by no pride or
obstinacy, for in yielding she would have implicitly repudiated her
mother’s marriage, and have admitted a slur on her own birth. While
maintaining her title she vindicated both.
Chapuys was now more thoroughly alarmed for Mary’s safety than ever,
and the Emperor began to make plans for spiriting his cousin over to
Flanders. “As to the possibility of withdrawing the Princess from
hence,” the envoy declared, “the thing is so hazardous at present,
that I doubt if she would listen to it. For besides that one must put
oneself at the mercy of the wind, she is so strictly guarded that I can
scarcely communicate to her anything; for apart from her indisposition,
I have only suggested to her whether she would not like to be beyond
the sea, and she replied that she desired nothing else.”[133] Shortly
afterwards he continues: “Whatever pretence the King makes about the
Princess’s illness, he has been very cold; in fact, she was taken ill
on Friday, and he did not send his physician thither till Thursday
after, and I do not know if he would have gone even then if I had not
importuned Cromwell. On Friday afterwards she was let blood, and on
Monday following, when I spoke to the King, he did not know she had
been let blood, or anything about her condition. Since the first news,
I have sent to her four or five times, by my servants, who make a poor
report of her treatment, and of her company. She sent to me yesterday,
two persons, to beg that I would continue to send some of my servants
to her, for that caused her to be better respected. Your Majesty may
consider what solace and pastime she can have with those about her,
hearing them desire her death, by which, they say, the world would be
at peace, and they, discharged of the pain and trouble they have had
about her. As to getting her away from hence, it could be accomplished
by having a pinnace on the river (Mary was then at Greenwich) and two
armed ships at the mouth of the river; at least I could find means to
get her out of the house almost at any hour of the night.”
On the 5th April he says:—
“The Princess, in order not to be altogether shut up, has remained ten
or twelve days at Greenwich, since the little one was removed thence.
On the 1st inst., she left for the house of which I wrote formerly. She
wished to go on horseback, but as three of my servants were mounted to
accompany her, those who had charge of her made her enter the litter,
and her _gouvernante_ along with her, and there she remained, till
my servants took leave of her, six miles from here. The litter was
covered with velvet, and was by far the most honourable she had had
since her misfortunes. This favour has been allowed to her this year,
besides that the King, her father, has sent her since Christmas, on two
occasions, sixty or eighty ducats. Since the little Bastard removed
from Greenwich, considering that one of the galleons of La Renterie
was on the other side of the river, and that there were some other
Spanish ships here, by means of which the Princess might be saved, I
sent to her to know if she would agree to it. She gave ready ear to the
suggestion, saying she desired nothing else, and has since sent two or
three times for my man, to solicit the matter; but her sudden departure
broke off the enterprise, to which also, I did not dare commit myself,
not having commandment from your Majesty, considering the practices put
in train, since it pleased you to charge me to write what means there
might be of withdrawing her. Nevertheless, the said Princess continues
in her purpose to go away, and has sent to desire me by my servant,
who has just come from seeing her, that, for the love of God, I will
contrive to remove her from the danger, which is otherwise inevitable,
adding that where she is now, there is no means of saving her by night,
and that as soon as it was fine weather, she would go out walking, to
see what arrangement could be made to come upon her by surprise, in
the daytime, and so that it should appear as little as possible that
it was by her consent; for the sake of her own honour, and the less
to irritate the King, her father. The house where she lies is twelve
miles from this river, and if once she could be found alone, it would
be easier to save her than it is at Greenwich, for we could put her on
board beyond Gravesend, past the danger of this river. The matter is
hazardous, and your Majesty will take it into due consideration.”
The same day, he wrote to Granvelle:—
“If I were to tell you the messages she sent me at her leaving
Greenwich, and again this morning, you could not refrain from tears,
begging me to have pity on her, and advise her as I thought best, and
she would obey....
“If the Princess going out to sport were once seized, and put on
horseback, and there were ready a great ship or two and a row boat, the
thing would be done. Except her guards, and some of the other side, the
people would help her, and those sent in pursuit would shut their eyes,
and bless those who had carried her off.”[134]
About this time, Mary and Elizabeth had removed to Eltham, and Anne
Boleyn again paid her daughter a visit. In _The Life of Jane Dormer,
Duchess of Feria_, it is recorded of this visit[135] that the Princess
Mary, and the Lady Anne Boleyn “heard Mass together in one room. At
the end of Mass, the Lady Mary made a low curtsy, and went to her
lodging; so did the Lady Anne, then called queen. When she came to
her quarter, one of her maids told her that the Lady Mary at parting
made reverence to her, she answered that she did not observe it, and
said: ‘If we had seen it, we would have done as much to her,’ and
presently sent a lady of honour to her to excuse it; adding, that the
love of none should be dearer nor more respected than hers, and she
would embrace it with the kindness of a true friend. The lady that
carried the message came when the Lady Mary was sat down at dinner.
When admitted, she said: ‘The queen salutes your grace with much
affection, and craves pardon, understanding that at your parting from
the oratory, you made a curtsy to her, which, if she had seen, she
would have answered you with the like; and she desires that this may
be an entrance of friendly correspondence which your grace shall find
completely to be embraced on her part’. ‘It is not possible,’ answered
the Lady Mary, ‘that the queen can send me such a message; nor is it
fit she should, nor can it be so sudden, her majesty being so far
from this place. You would have said the Lady Anne Boleyne, for I can
acknowledge no other queen but my mother, nor esteem them my friends
who are not hers. And for the reverence that I made, it was to the
altar, to her Maker and mine; and so, they are deceived, and deceive
her who tell her otherwise.’ The Lady Anne was maddened with this
answer, replying that one day she would pull down this high spirit.”
In 1534, Mary’s position was momentarily alleviated by the influence
of a friend at court, a young lady, who had for the time being taken
the King’s roving fancy,[136] and who sent the Princess word to be of
good cheer, and that her troubles would sooner come to an end than
she supposed, and that when the opportunity occurred, she would show
herself Mary’s true and devoted servant.[137] Anne was furiously
jealous, and intrigued with her sister-in-law, Lady Rochford, to have
the young woman removed from court. But Henry discovered the plot, and
banished Lady Rochford. The new favourite’s influence was remarked
to increase daily, while Anne’s diminished, “which,” said Chapuys,
“has already abated a good deal of her insolence”. Cromwell told him
that he had received a charge from the King, that Mary should be well
treated, and that if he found those about her did not do their duty,
he was to have them punished, and that henceforth he should not have
much difficulty in getting due respect paid to her, considering Henry’s
paternal affection.
However, Anne’s influence although diminished still had periods of
revival, and Mary was made to suffer for every sign of returning
affection which her father manifested towards her in his moments of
reaction.
“As to the King being dissatisfied with the Lady,” said Chapuys, “it
is true he sometimes shows it, but as I have written before, they are
lovers’ quarrels, and not much weight is to be attached to them, unless
the love of the King for the young lady of whom I wrote to you should
grow warm, and continue some time; of which it is impossible to form a
judgment, considering the changeableness of this King. I have learned
from the Master of the Horse, that when the Lady began to complain of
the said young lady, because she did not do, either in word or deed,
the reverence she expected, the King went away from her very angry,
complaining of her importunity.”
Describing an interview with Cromwell, Chapuys again wrote to the
Emperor on the 17th April. He continues:—
“He (Cromwell) then replied to me, as he had several times told me,
that it was the Princess, who created the difficulty, and troubled
matters, and that if it pleased God—he did not dare to say more, but it
was quite clear what he wished. I again spoke about placing her with
the Queen, her mother, but it was of no use; and on my saying that if
any illness overtook her, where she is, evil might befall, before she
received succour, he only answered that it was no question of illness,
and that she was not likely to fall into it. But he was a bad prophet;
and yesterday morning I sent him two of my servants, booted and
spurred, who had just returned from the Princess in great haste (they
had seen her the day before yesterday) to inform him that she had had
a relapse, and desire that he would notify the King, to send thither
the physician and servants he might think necessary. This he promised
to do; but I fear he will not do it, or that even if he does, the King
will make no account of it. Ill as the Princess is, she does not cease
to think if there be any means of escaping; and on this subject she
had a long conversation with one of my men, begging me most urgently
to think over the matter, otherwise she considered herself lost,
knowing that they wanted only to kill her. She has not had leisure to
visit the neighbourhood, nor to devise means how she could get away,
night or day. And because I see the thing is difficult, I keep her in
hope of a speedy remedy by some other means, and endeavour to remove
her suspicion that foul play is intended against her. Cromwell has
always given me to understand that he is much devoted to the Princess;
nevertheless, I have found no evidence of it except words.... Your
Majesty may consider how the good Princess is placed.”[138]
Soon afterwards the scheme was abandoned, on account of the
difficulties in the way, and on the 25th April, Chapuys was able to
report that Mary was well again:—
“The Princess, thank God, has recovered. The King at my request sent
her his physician, lending his own horses, for want of which, among
other reasons the said physician had excused himself. But when the King
told him that it concerned his honour, especially, seeing that he had
promised to send him whenever the Queen’s physician should be there,
all excuses ceased. He had only made them indeed, not for want of good
will to serve the Princess, but to avoid the suspicion, in which he was
held by the King and his lady, of too much devotion to her, and also
to give occasion for the Princess being near the Queen, and under the
care of her physician; and the said physician is of the King’s Chamber
with the great people and those of the Council. He understands many
things. He told the Queen’s physician that there were only two ways to
remedy the affairs of the Queen and the Princess, and of all the realm.
The first was, if God should visit this King with some little illness.
Then besides that of himself he might come to a better mind, he would
also take patiently the remonstrances made to him. The other way would
be to try force, of which he says, the King and those about him are
wonderfully afraid.”
Chapuys then informed the Emperor that “the said physician” had told
him, that if the Emperor would make war, the right time had come, and
that he knew for certain “of a score of the principal lords of England,
and more than a hundred knights, who were quite ready to employ their
persons, goods, friends and dependants, if they had the smallest
assistance from your Majesty, and that as aforesaid, the time is most
favourable, because the people are every day more dissatisfied at
the taxation, for the levying of which, they are beginning to depute
commissioners to enquire the value of every one’s goods, and assess
them accordingly”.[139] All over the country prevailed a discontent,
which not daring to break out into open rebellion took refuge in
seditious words, and a sullen, almost threatening attitude. People were
constantly arrested for speeches, such as: “It was a pity that the
King was not buried in his swaddling clothes,” and “It was to be hoped
that the Lady Anne would be brought full low,” and “We shall have no
merry world till we have a new change,” etc.[140] But in spite of these
mutterings, Henry inspired more terror even than hatred. The butchery
of the Carthusian monks for refusing the oath of supremacy was followed
quickly by the trial and execution of More and Fisher. Katharine and
Mary were in a desperate position. Cromwell asked Chapuys what evil
or danger would arise from the death of the Princess, even if it did
excite the indignation of the people, and what cause the Emperor would
have to be offended by it.[141]
Nevertheless, Henry was scarcely less to be pitied than his victims.
The nation needed little encouragement to revolt. His treatment of the
Queen and Princess, though not the whole cause of the disaffection,
was a large factor in the rebellious temper of the people. But if to
please them he showed Mary a little kindness, Anne left him no peace.
He was, it is true, beginning to weary of his fetters, and sometimes
inquired anxiously whether Anne too might not be divorced. Not, replied
his otherwise complaisant advisers, unless he took back Katharine,[142]
and he was not prepared for such a humiliation in the eyes of Europe.
It would look, forsooth, as if he submitted after all to the Pope’s
decree, and all that he had done with a high hand would have to be
undone. There was no alternative but to carry out the policy he had
determined upon, but his embarrassment was not lessened when Francis,
through the French Admiral, demanded Mary’s hand for the Duke of
Angoulême. Clearly, Henry had not succeeded in convincing the world,
or even his one friend, the French King, that Katharine was not his
wife, or in getting him to take Anne’s queenship seriously. The subject
of Mary’s betrothal to the Duke of Orleans had been tacitly dropped
since the divorce. It was no longer a part of Henry’s plan to marry
his elder daughter honourably, or to allow her to leave the kingdom,
and at first he pretended to regard the Admiral’s commission as a
joke. The Duke of Angoulême, he said, had much better marry the true
Princess, Elizabeth, and so the matter rested; but Francis would not
take Henry’s line with regard to Mary. When in the autumn of 1535 he
sent ambassadors to England for the purpose of drawing the King into
a war with the Emperor, they were charged to interview her, and find
out how she felt disposed to a marriage with the Dauphin. Mary had,
in fact, not forgotten that she had been affianced to him as a baby,
and would have welcomed any suitable proposal that would have freed
her from the perils of her actual lot. At that time she was at Eltham
with Elizabeth, into whose presence the French envoys were ushered.
To their annoyance they were not even allowed to see Mary, who had
orders to remain in her room while they were in the house, and to
prevent any possible communication between them and her, the windows
of her apartment were bolted. She had inquired of Chapuys whether she
was to obey or not, and as he had advised submission, she amused
herself while the ambassadors were with Elizabeth, by playing on the
virginals.[143]
During the whole of 1535, Mary was in imminent danger. Anne constantly
urged the King to treat her as he had treated Cardinal Fisher, saying
that it was she who caused all his troubles, and as for herself she
declared of the Princess, “She is my death and I am hers; so I will
take care that she shall not laugh at me after my death”.[144] Anne
could no longer be mistaken as to the decline of her power, and
expressions such as the above are indicative that the general terror
had reached the former favourite. The atmosphere was heavy with death,
and she knew that all depended for her on the feeble hope that she
might shortly give birth to a son. Henry himself was not free from
the uneasiness which he so well knew how to inspire in others. Tyrant
that he was, he saw danger where no danger lurked, and was strangely
enough misinformed as to the Emperor’s ability to declare war. In the
intervals of disgust which he felt for Anne, he was ready to stave off
the invasion of which he lived in abject fear, by surrounding Mary with
a little more circumstance; but with the revival of his expectations
of a son, he allowed himself to be goaded into fury by her opposition,
declaring that his worst troubles came from his own flesh and blood.
On the 6th November, Chapuys wrote:—
“The Marchioness of Exeter has sent to inform me that the King has
lately said to some of his most confidential councillors, that he would
no longer remain in the trouble, fear and suspense he had so long
endured, on account of the Queen and Princess, and that they should
see, at the coming Parliament, to get him released therefrom, swearing
most obstinately that he would wait no longer. The Marchioness declares
this is as true as the Gospel, and begs me to inform your Majesty, and
pray you to have pity upon the ladies, and for the honour of God and
the bond of kin to find a remedy.”
And again on the 21st:—
“The personage who informed me of what I wrote to your Majesty on the
6th, about the Queen and the Princess, _viz._, that the King meant
to have them despatched at this next Parliament, came yesterday into
this city in disguise, to confirm what she had sent to me to say, and
conjure me to warn your Majesty, and beg you most earnestly to see to
a remedy. She added that the King, seeing some of those to whom he
used this language shed tears, said that tears and wry faces were of
no avail, because, even if he lost his crown, he would not forbear to
carry his purpose into effect. These are things too monstrous to be
believed; but considering what has passed, and goes on daily—the long
continuance of these menaces—and, moreover, that the Concubine, who
long ago conspired the death of the said ladies, and thinks of nothing
but getting rid of them, is the person who governs everything, and
whom the King is unable to contradict, the matter is very dangerous.
The King would fain, as I have already written, make his Parliament
participators, even authors, of such crimes, in order that, losing all
hope of the clemency of your Majesty, the whole people should be the
more determined to defend themselves when necessary.”[145]
To Granvelle he expressed himself thus:—
“The person before mentioned (the Marchioness of Exeter) has sent to
say, that four or five days ago the King, talking about the Princess,
said that he should provide, that soon she would not want any company,
and that she would be an example to show that no one ought to disobey
the laws, and that he meant to fulfil what had been foretold of
him—that is, that at the beginning of his reign he would be gentle as
a lamb, and at the end worse than a lion. He said also that he would
despatch those at the Tower, and some who were not there.”[146]
In the meantime, one of Henry’s victims was nearing the end of her
trials, and reached it even before the meeting of Parliament that was
to pass sentence of death upon her. In the autumn of 1535 Katharine
had what appeared to be a slight illness, from which she seemed to be
recovering, when at Christmas she suddenly grew worse, and sent to
Chapuys, begging him to come to her without delay. He had no great
difficulty in obtaining the necessary permission, although his repeated
requests to see Mary, and for her to visit her mother, had been utterly
disregarded. He found the Queen suffering from extreme emaciation, and
from sickness. She was unable to retain any nourishment whatever; but
her condition improved during the few days that Chapuys remained with
her, and she was able to converse with him, and listen to him for about
two hours each day. She also slept better during that time than she
had done before, so that her physician pronounced her out of danger.
Chapuys, “not to abuse the licence” the King had given him, left
Kimbolton, where Katharine was then residing, on the 5th January, but
rode slowly, in case a messenger should be sent after him with the news
that she was worse, in which event he had promised to return to her.
On his arrival in London, on the 9th, he sent to ask Cromwell for an
audience with the King. In replying to this request, Cromwell sent word
that the Queen had died little more than forty-eight hours after his
leaving her, and that the news of her death had reached the court on
the preceding Friday. The suddenness of her end, and the circumstances
immediately following it, caused so much suspicion, that at the time
there was hardly any one who did not firmly believe that she had been
poisoned. The account of what passed was thus communicated to the
Emperor by Chapuys:—
“The Queen died two hours after midday, and eight hours afterwards, she
was opened, by command of those who had charge of it, on the part of
the King, and no one was allowed to be present, not even her confessor
or physician, but only the candlemaker of the house, and one servant
and a ‘compagnon,’ who opened her; and although it was not their
business, yet they have often done such a duty, at least the principal,
who on coming out, told the Bishop of Llandaff, her confessor, but in
great secrecy, as a thing which would cost his life, that he had found
the body and all the internal organs as sound as possible, except the
heart, which was quite black and hideous, and even after he had washed
it three times, it did not change colour. He divided it through the
middle, and found the interior of the same colour, which also would not
change on being washed, and also some black, round thing which clung
closely to the outside of the heart. On my man asking the physician if
she had died of poison, he replied that the thing was too evident, by
what has been said to the bishop, her confessor, and if that had not
been disclosed, the thing was sufficiently clear from the report and
circumstance of the illness.
“You could not conceive the joy that the king and those who favour the
concubinage have shown at the death of the good Queen, especially the
Earl of Wiltshire and his son, who said it was a pity the Princess did
not keep company with her. The King, on the Saturday he heard the news,
exclaimed: ‘God be praised that we are free from all suspicion of war,’
and that the time had come that he would manage the French better than
he had done hitherto, because they would do now whatever he wanted,
from a fear lest he should ally himself again with your Majesty,
seeing that the cause which disturbed your friendship was gone. On
the following Sunday, the King was clad all over in yellow, from top
to toe, except the white feather he had in his bonnet; and the little
Bastard was conducted to Mass with trumpets and other great triumphs.
After dinner, the King entered the room in which the ladies danced, and
there did several things, like one transported with joy. At last he
sent for the little Bastard, and carrying her in his arms, he showed
her first to one and then to another. He has done the like on other
days since, and has run some courses at Greenwich.[147]
“This,” added Chapuys, “has been the most cruel news that could come
to me, especially as I fear the good Princess will die of grief, or
that the Concubine will hasten what she has long threatened to do,
_viz._, to kill her, and it is to be feared that there is little help
for it. I will do my best to comfort her, in which a letter from your
Majesty would help greatly.”
Luther, writing about this time to Caspar Müller, says: “The Queen of
England is said to be dead, and her daughter mortally ill; but she
has lost her cause all over the world except with us poor beggars of
divines at Wittenberg, who would gladly have maintained her in her
queenly dignity; in which case she ought to have lived”.[148]
Katharine was buried with no more ceremony than befitted a Princess
Dowager, some said with much less, in Peterborough Cathedral, where her
remains still lie.
It was intended to have kept her mother’s death a secret from Mary
for some time, but by a mistake the news was brought to her four days
after the event. To Chapuys’ letter of condolence she answered, that
following his advice, “she would show such courage and constancy as he
advised her, but that in any case she would prepare herself to die”.
“She has written to me,” said the ambassador, “since she heard the
death of the Queen more frequently than she did before, and this I
think to testify the good heart and constancy to which I continually
exhort her, in which certainly she shows great sense and incomparable
virtue and patience, to bear so becomingly the death of such a mother,
to whom she bore as much love as any daughter did to her mother, who
was her chief refuge in her troubles.”
These events took place at the beginning of 1536, and Shakespeare, who
with his collaborators wrote his play of “King Henry VIII.” at the end
of the same century, had not only Holinshed’s _Chronicle_, and other
records to guide him, but a mass of still floating tradition. He had
grown to middle age, surrounded by persons who were in their prime when
Mary’s and her mother’s troubles were in the mouths of all. He knew of,
and described Chapuys’ visit to the dying Queen, and recorded in the
following words, part of the contents of a letter sent by her to her
husband:—
... I have commended to his goodness
The model of our chaste loves, his young daughter,—
The dews of heaven fall thick in blessings on her!—
Beseeching him to give her virtuous breeding,
(She is young, and of a noble modest nature;
I hope she will deserve well;) and a little
To love her for her mother’s sake, that loved him,
Heaven knows how dearly.[149]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 111: Chapuys to Charles V., 3rd Nov. 1533, Vienna Archives.]
[Footnote 112: Gairdner, _Cal._, vi., 1528.]
[Footnote 113: Chapuys to Charles V., 23rd Dec. 1533, Vienna Archives.
Gairdner, _Cal._, vi., 1558.]
[Footnote 114: Gairdner, _Cal._, vi., 1558.]
[Footnote 115: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 83, 17th Jan. 1534.]
[Footnote 116: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 171.]
[Footnote 117: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 214.]
[Footnote 118: The Count of Cifuentes, Charles’s ambassador in Rome.]
[Footnote 119: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 225. Granvelle Papers, 11, 90.]
[Footnote 120: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 296, 7th March 1534.]
[Footnote 121: _Ibid._, 871, 23rd June 1534.]
[Footnote 122: The Emperor’s sister.]
[Footnote 123: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 1507, 5th Dec. 1534.]
[Footnote 124: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 232.]
[Footnote 125: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 530.]
[Footnote 126: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 662.]
[Footnote 127: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 1095.]
[Footnote 128: Probably a mistake for “the More”.]
[Footnote 129: Chapuys to Charles V., 24th Oct. 1534, Vienna Archives.
Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 1297.]
[Footnote 130: Gairdner, _Cal._, vii., 1193.]
[Footnote 131: Original, in Spanish, in Record Office. Gairdner,
_Cal._, vii., 1126.]
[Footnote 132: Original, in Spanish, in Record Office. Gairdner,
_Cal._, viii., 200.]
[Footnote 133: Gairdner, _Cal._, viii., 189.]
[Footnote 134: Gairdner, _Cal._, viii., 501.]
[Footnote 135: Page 81.]
[Footnote 136: Not Jane Seymour.]
[Footnote 137: Chapuys to Charles V., Vienna Archives, P.C., 229, 1,
fol. 139.]
[Footnote 138: Gairdner, _Cal._, viii., 556.]
[Footnote 139: Gairdner, _Cal._, viii., 590.]
[Footnote 140: Indictments of the 28th April 1535, Record Office.]
[Footnote 141: Gairdner, _Cal._, viii., 429.]
[Footnote 142: _Anne Boleyn_, vol. ii., p. 55 note. In the reference
given there is a mistake in the year. It should be 1535, not 1536, when
Katharine was dead.]
[Footnote 143: The Bishop of Tarbes to the Bailly of Troyes, Camusat,
21. Gayangos, _Cal._, vol. v., pt. i., p. 551.]
[Footnote 144: Ortiz to the Empress, 22nd Nov. 1535, Add. MS. 28,588,
47, Brit. Mus.]
[Footnote 145: Gairdner, _Cal._, ix., 776, 861.]
[Footnote 146: _Ibid._, ix., 862.]
[Footnote 147: Gairdner, _Cal._, x., 141. Hall, who was always
unwilling to admit anything to Henry’s discredit, says that it was Anne
who dressed herself in yellow at the news of Katharine’s death.]
[Footnote 148: Luther’s _Briefe_, vol. iv., p. 667.]
[Footnote 149: Act iv., scene ii.]