THE WHITE QUEEN AND THE DUKE. THE SECRET MARRIAGE
Tradition says that Mary fainted on being told of the death of her
husband, and in spite of the covert sneers of his countrymen, the thing
is not impossible, for her situation, difficult as it had been, became
now a hundred times more so, and for the moment she might easily fall
under its weight. For the moment there were ceremonies to be gone
through, and the King had to be carried away from the palace to the
melancholy sound of the tinkling "campanes" and cries of "le bon roi
Louis, père du peuple, est mort," to lie in state in the church of Notre
Dame, and afterwards through the mud to St Denis for burial, while his
widow had to flit from Les Tournelles to the Clugny Palace by the river,
where la Reine Blanche, as the widow of the French King was always
called, was expected to mourn for six weeks. There, clad in white, the
Queen was supposed to keep her bed for that time, with curtained windows
and by candle light, secluded from the world and surrounded by her
women. Francis showed himself very sympathetic, and Mary kept the same
state there as though she had been Queen, while every evening he visited
her and comforted her according to his views. The Venetian ambassador
says that Mary at once said that the Dauphin could call himself King,
for she was not going to have a child, but, as was the custom, he had to
wait three weeks before etiquette allowed him to assume the title.
News was at once sent by Mary to England, and she awaited letters which
would tell her that her brother was going to keep the promise he had
given at the water-side at Dover. For there had been, she herself
confessed it, at some time or other stolen meetings between her and
Suffolk, and sweet words, and with the short memory of youth she had
already cast the disagreeable past behind her and was looking into the
future. The first letter which reached her was the one from Wolsey[356]
already quoted, written before the news of Louis's death had reached
England. He offered his consolation and advice "how your Grace shall
demean [yourself] being in this heaviness and among strangers far from
[your] most loving brother, and other your assumed friends and servants.
Touching your consolation, I most heartily beseech your Grace with
thanksgiving to God to take wisely and patiently such visitation of
Almighty God, against whose ordinance no earthly creature may be, and
not by extremity of sorrow to hurt your noble person." He assured her
that Henry will not forsake her, and begs her for the old service the
writer has done her to do nothing without the advice of his Grace,
however she should be persuaded to the contrary, and to let nothing pass
her mouth, "whereby any person in these parts may have [you] at any
advantage. And if any motions of marriage or other fortune to be made
unto you in no wise give hearing to them. And thus doing, ye shall not
fail to have the King fast and loving to you, to attain to your desire
[and come] home again into England with as much honour as [Queen ever]
had. And for my part to the effusion of my [blood and spen]ding of my
goods I shall never forsake nor leav[e you.]" Henry sent her his
surgeon, Master John,[357] with letters of comfort, telling her to make
ready to return to England, but for all that her letter to him shows she
was in very low spirits, with fits of hysterical crying and
toothache.[358]
[356] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 15; Calig. D. vi. 268.
[357] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 81; Calig. D. vi. 251.
[358] _Ibid._
As was to be expected, the party opposed to Suffolk and Wolsey in the
Council, led by Norfolk, used all means to prevent the marriage, and
attacked Mary herself through her confessor, Father Langley,[359] who
came to her one day to ask her to be shriven. But she said no, she had
no mind for confession, and would say nothing of what was in her mind.
"And then the said friar shewed her that he had the same day said mass,
and he sware by the Lord he had that day consecrated and that under
_benedicite_ he would shew her divers things that were of truth, and of
which he had perfect knowledge, desiring her to give him hearing and to
keep the same to herself." Then he went on to tell her of the bruit in
England that she was to be married to Suffolk, and advised her to beware
of him, for he and Wolsey meddled with the devil, and by his puissance
they kept their master subject to them, especially Suffolk, who had
caused the disease in Sir William Compton's leg. This Father Langley
knew for a fact, she need have no doubt of its truth, and the only thing
to be done to save her soul was to hinder Suffolk's "voyage." [There
seems to have been a second friar in the plot, but the letter is burnt
and mutilated, and it is impossible to get the exact sense.] It was a
tactless, useless move on Norfolk's part, for Mary, being a woman in
love, gave the friar "small comfort," and from the interview merely
gathered what fed her desire, that the people in England were openly
speaking of her coming marriage with Suffolk. In his daily visits,
Francis had hinted at other marriages, and suggested as husbands the
Duke of Savoy[360] and the Duke of Lorraine, or else that she should not
marry, but remain in France and hold her Court at Blois, of which
country he offered her the revenues, and then made suit unto her, "not
according with mine honor," as she wrote. He played his best card,
however, when he told her that Suffolk's coming to fetch her home was
only a blind, for under secret promise of marriage she was to be decoyed
back into England and then married to the Prince of Castile.[361] There
can be little doubt that the King played with the helpless creature, and
renewed his love-making in the newly darkened mourning room to her
"extreme pain and annoyance." No wonder she had fits of "the mother,"
and wept piteously and exclaimed passionately that rather than go to
England, to be married again to any strange prince, she would live and
die in a convent, and thus she wrote to her brother. "I would be very
glad to hear that your Grace were in good health and p[eace], the which
should be a great comfort to me, and that it would please your Grace to
send more oft time to me than you do, for as now I am all out of
comfort saving that all my trust is in your Grace and so shall be during
my life. Sir, I pray your Grace will send hither as soon as you may
possibly hither to me. Sir, I beseech your Grace that you will keep all
the promises that you promised me when I took my leave of you by the
w[ater s]ide. Sir, your Grace knoweth well, that I did marry for your
p[leasure a]t this time, and now I trust that you will suffer me to
[marry as] me l[iketh fo]r to do ... for I assure your Grace that [my
mi]nd is not there where they would have me, and I trust [your Grace]
will not do so to me that has always been so glad to fulfil your mind as
I have been. Wherefore, I beseech your Grace for to be good lord and
brother to me, for, sir, an if your Grace will have gran[ted] me married
in any place sav[ing] whereas my mind is, I will be there whereas your
Grace nor no other shall have any joy of me, for I promise your Grace
you shall hear that I will be in some religious house, the which I think
your Grace would be very sorry of, and all your realm. Also, sir, I know
well that the King that is [my s]on will send unto your Grace by his
uncle the Duke of [Savoy] for to marry me here.... [I sha]ll never be
merry at my heart (for an ever that I d[o marr]y while I live), I trow
your Grace knoweth as well as I do, and did before I came hither, and so
I trust your Grace will be contented, unless I would never marry while I
live, but be there where never man nor woman shall have joy of me.
Wherefore I beseech your Grace to be good lord to him and to me both,
for I know well that he hath [...] to your Grace of him and me both.
Wherefore an your Grace be good lord to us both, I will not care for all
the world else, but beseech your Grace to be good lord and brother to
me, as you have been here aforetime f[or in you] is all the trust that I
have in this world after God. No m[ore from m]e at this [time]. God send
your Grace [long life an]d your heart's de[sires].
By your humble and loving sister,
MARY, Queen of France.[362]
To the King my brother, this
to be delivered in haste."
[359] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 80 and 138; Calig. D. vi. 179 and 187.
[360] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 80; Calig. D. vi. 179.
[361] _Ibid._
[362] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 228; Calig. D. vi. 249.
Green's "Royal and Illustrious Ladies," i. 187.
All her fears seemed at first for nothing. Henry was quite willing she
should marry his favourite, and had she but kept her mental poise she
would have carried her love to a triumphant open marriage. But six weeks
in a darkened room, with Francis, "who looked like the devil," her
visitor every evening, her mouth closed by command of her brother and
her adviser Wolsey, her nerves racked by whispers of false dealing at
home and by the senseless suspicions that attack all lovers, had wrought
her to no state of cool reasonableness by the time Suffolk and his
fellow-ambassadors arrived.
[Illustration: HENRY VIII PAINTER UNKNOWN. NATIONAL PORTRAIT
GALLERY]
There is absolutely no doubt that Henry meant to keep his famous
"water-side" promise, and immediately on receiving official notice, on
January 14, of the death of the French King, sent the Duke of Suffolk,
Sir Richard Wingfield, and Dr Nicholas West, to condole with Francis and
to congratulate him. Their credentials also were for the arranging of
the return of the Queen and her dowry. At Suffolk's last interview with
Henry at Eltham,[363] before he set out, the King disclosed to him his
mind about his sister, but made him promise on oath that he would be
nothing to her save the ambassador of the King of England till he had
brought her safe out of France. Henry knew his sister's impulsive nature
and trusted his friend absolutely. Suffolk gave the oath, and said he
would rather be torn by wild horses than break it. They clasped hands
upon it, and the Duke set out for his undoing by a woman's tears.
[363] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 224. R.O.
Mary had in the meantime replied[364] to Wolsey's letter much in the
same tone as she wrote to her brother, "and whereas you advise me that I
should make no promise [of marriage] my lord, I trust the King my
brother and you will not reckon in me such childhood." It passed her
knowledge how Wolsey and Henry could for one moment imagine she would
have anything to do with a foreign marriage, and when Francis continued
to assure her that he knew from the state of affairs in Flanders that
Suffolk's coming was only a blind to entice her home, "for if she went
to England she should go to Flanders" as wife of the Prince, she wept
bitterly; and on the King pressing his own suit as a means of escape
from such fortune she wiped her tears and said, "Sir, I beseech you that
you will let me alone and speak no more to me of the matter, and if you
will promise me by your faith and truth and as you are a true prince
that you will keep it counsel and help me, I will tell you all my whole
mind."[365] For she feared, remembering that Francis and Suffolk had had
words about her, that ill might fortune to the Duke. Francis, possibly
seeing in this one way of getting within her guard, gave her his faith
in her hand that he would keep what she told him secret and help her to
the best of his power. So the tangled creature cast herself on his mercy
and told him all her mind and all that had passed between her and
Suffolk down to some secret "ware"[366] word they had used, and no doubt
grew happier in the telling. She ended by saying that she feared her
brother's displeasure, and implored Francis to write to him to get his
consent. This the King promised to do on the understanding that his
hunting of her should never be disclosed to Henry, for it would not
tally well with the filial attitude he had assumed in his letters. He
felt he had done a good evening's work, for he was not one to play a
losing game, and he now had Suffolk in his hands for as the price of his
marriage he could exact the Duke's help in gaining Tournay from Henry,
while after all Mary as the richest marriage in Europe would hardly have
been allowed to remain quietly at Blois.
[364] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 16; Vesp. F. xiii. 202._b_.
[365] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 134; Calig. D. vi. 163.
[366] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 101; Calig. D. vi. 174.
On Saturday, the 27th January,[367] Suffolk arrived at Senlis, and
there, hearing that Francis was at Rheims, "where he was sacred on S.
Paul's day," he sent a message asking for an audience. Francis sent word
that he was glad of their coming, and he would either come to them on
Candelmas Eve or else they might come to him straightway. For
convenience' sake, on the advice of the Admiral Bonnivet, the embassy
decided to wait till Thursday, and on that day their old friend
Longueville appeared at their lodging to take them out of the town,
about a mile, to meet the King and to make his entry with him. "He
received them heartily, asking for the health of the King and the
Queen's grace, and conversed with them as lovingly and familiarly as
ever he did, expressing his pleasure for the renewal of the peace
between the two countries, and also touching the Queen's grace your
sister's affairs." That afternoon, at 2 o'clock, Suffolk had his state
audience for condolence and congratulation and renewal of the amity. He
also thanked Francis in the King's name, "for the singular comfort he
had given the Queen in this her heaviness, reciting how lovingly he had
written to your Grace by his last letters, that he would neither do her
wrong nor suffer her to take wrong of any other person, but be to her as
a loving son should be to his mother, praying him of continuance.
Whereunto he answered that he might do no less with his honour, seeing
that she was your sister, a noble princess and married to his
predecessor. And h[ow] lovingly he had behaved him to her, he said, he
trusted that she should make report herself to [you], and that that he
did, he did with good heart, and n[ot grudingly] and much the rather for
your Grace's sake."[368] They then asked for licence to condole with
Mary, and he answered he was well content. Thus far all was ceremony.
Later in the afternoon the real encounter took place and Suffolk had to
cry _touché_. Francis sent for him to his bedroom, and without preface
said, "My lord of Suffolk, so it is that there is a bruit in this my
realm, that you are come to marry the Queen, your master's sister."[369]
Suffolk stood his ground and remembered his promise. "I trust your
grace," he replied, "would not reckon so great folly in me to come into
a strange realm to marry the Queen of the realm without your knowledge
and without authority from my master, and that I have not, nor was it
ever intended on my master's part nor on mine." But Francis answered,
"Not so," and "for then," goes on Suffolk's letter, "[as], I would not
be plain with him, he would be plain with me, and showed me that the
Queen had broken her mind unto him, and that he had promised her his
faith and truth, and of the truth of a King, that he would help her and
d[o what was possi]ble in him to help her to obtain [her heart's
desi]re. 'And because' [, went on Francis], 'that you shall not th[ink
that I do] bear you in this hand and that [she has not spo]ke her mind,
I will s[hew you some wor]ds that you had to her, and so showed me a
_ware_ word, the which none alive could tell them but she; and when that
then I was abashed and he saw that, and said, 'because for you shall say
that you have found a kind prince and a loving, and because you shall
not think m[e other], here I give you in your hand my faith and truth by
the word of a King, that I shall never fail unto you but to help and
advance this matter betwixt her and you with as good a will as [I] would
for mine[self].' And when he had done this I could do none less than
thank his Grace for the great goodness that his Grace intended to show
unto the Queen and me, and by it I showed his Grace that I was like to
be undone if this matter came to the knowledge of the King my master.
And then he said, 'Let me alone for that; I and the Queen shall so
instance your master that I trust he would be content, and because I
would gladly put your heart at rest I will when I come to Paris speak
with the Queen, and she and I both will write letters to the King your
master, with our own hands in the best manner that can be
devised.'"[370] Suffolk was overjoyed, "bounden to God," but cautious.
The man he most feared as an obstacle was "contented to be the doer of
the act himself and to instance the King my master in the same."[371]
This would also improve Henry's position towards the anti-Suffolk party
in the Council, for if he allowed the marriage at the express desire of
the French King, "his Grace shall be marvellously discharged against his
Council as all the other noblemen of his realm."[372] Still Suffolk's
experience had been that Francis was not without guile and he would not
act, he said, till he had heard from Wolsey, whom he prayed "with all
the haste possible send me your best [counsel what yo]u shall think best
that I shall [do in this mat]ter; and if you shall think good [to
advertise hi]s Grace of this letter I pray you [to give mi]ne assurances
to his Highness that I had [rather an I dared, have written] unto him
myself."[373] This was written ten leagues from Paris on February 3rd.
The following day, Sunday, the embassy reached Paris, and the impatient
Queen could not wait till Monday, but sent for Suffolk at once. Then all
her emotion burst forth, and she poured out to his willing ears all the
worries and distresses of her mind, and told him imperiously that she
wanted none other husband but he, "if I would be ordered by her, she
would never have none but me." She said that unless he married her
before they went to England she would neither marry him nor go to
England, and she wept. He asked her what she meant by that, "and,"
Suffolk's letter goes on, "she said the best in France had said unto her
that and she went to England she should go to Flanders. To the which she
said she had rather to be torn in pieces than ever she should come
there, and with that wept. Sir, I never saw woman so weep. And when I
saw [that] I showed unto her Grace that there was none such thing [upon]
my faith with the best words I could, but in none ways I could make her
to believe it. And when I saw that, I showed her Grace that and her
Grace would be content to write unto your Grace and to obtain your good
will I would be content, or else I durst not because I had made unto
your Grace such a promise." Her lover's caution angered Mary, for having
thrown herself with abandon into the situation, she resented his
thinking of a mere promise to a third person where she was concerned, so
she reasoned and threatened: "if the King my brother is content and the
French King both, the tone by his letters and the tother by his words
that I should have you, I will have the time after my desire, or else I
may well think that the words of [them] in these parts and of them in
England [be] true, and that is that you are come to _tyes_ me home [to
the in]tent that I may be married into Fland[ers] which I never will, to
die for it, and so [I posse]ssed the French King and you came; and th[at
of] you will not be content to follow [my] end look never after this
d[ay to have] the proffer again." Here was a cruel dilemma; to lose
either his master's favour or his mistress's love! Had Francis not
spoken Suffolk might possibly have held out, for there was his promise,
but now things seemed in train to a happy issue and rather "than to lose
all" he promised to marry her before they went to England. Mary was not
content with that, and said if he did not marry her within four days he
would never have her, and to this also he consented. Were Sir Richard
Wingfield and Dean West to know of their decision? No, decided Mary,
for they would only give "mo counsel to the contrary," and Suffolk knew
this to be true as the least devoir of sensible men, so they were left
in the dark.[374] The next day Wingfield and West came to visit her,
"and according to our instructions made overtures to her at length of
your grace's mind and pleasure as well touching that she shall not
consent to any motion of marriage in these parts, as also she shall not
determine her mind to make her abode there, but to apply herself to
follow your mind and pleasure in that behalf." She thanked them, "like a
wise, substantial, and Christian princess," for the King for sending my
Lord of Suffolk to comfort her in her heaviness and to obtain her dower.
"She said she were an unkind sister if she should not follow your mind
and pleasure in every behalf, for there was never princess so much
beholden to her sovereign and brother as she is to your Grace, and
therefore, as touching consent to any marriage in these parts, she
trusteth that your Grace knoweth her mind therein, and albeit she has
been sore pressed in that matter by the King [that now is] as other, yet
she never consented, nor never would do [but rather] suffer the
extremity of death. And as touching her [stay] here, she never was nor
is minded there to, for she [counts] every day a hundred till she may
see your Grace." The ambassadors added that the report was that "la
Royne Blanche" was to be married to the Duke of Lorraine. The next day
Wingfield and West supped with Mary's ladies,[375] and no doubt
gossipped about possibilities, while Suffolk supped with the Queen, and
she amplified her former confidences. They decided to tell Wolsey
openly of the difficulties of her position, but to say nothing of the
secret marriage, and by the same post to write to the King.
[367] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 105; Calig. D. vi. 206.
[368] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 105; Calig. D. vi. 206.
[369] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 106; Calig. D. vi. 174.
[370] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 106; Calig. D. vi. 174.
[371] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 106; Calig. D. vi. 174.
[372] _Ibid._
[373] _Ibid._
[374] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 80; Calig. D. vi. 179.
[375] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 139; Calig. D. vi. 209.
To Henry Suffolk wrote, and after telling how he had delivered the
letters to Mary, who was not a little glad and bounden to God, who had
given her so loving a brother, both father and brother to her, and how
she prayed that she might live no longer than that she might do that
thing that should be to his contentation [this is the Duke's paraphrase,
no doubt], he goes on, "So when I had been there awhile I was in hand
with her Grace, and asked her how the French King did with her Grace and
how she found him. And she said at the beginning he was in hand with her
of many matters, but after he heard say that I was come, he said unto
her Grace that he would trouble her no more with no such matter, but be
glad to do for her as he would do for his own mother, and prayed [her
that] she would not be a known of none thing that he had spoken to her,
neither to your Grace nor me, for because your Grace should take no
unkindness there in. [And further] he said that wheresoever her mind was
[for to mar]ry he would be glad to help her there[to with all] his
heart, and so since he never me[ddled other]wise, but as he would be to
her as [to his m]other. And so, Sir, I perceive that he had [regard to]
your Grace, for I think he [would not] to do anything that should
discontent [your Grace or your] Grace should think any unkindness, in
w[hich I assure] your Grace that I think that you will find him [either]
a fast prince or else I will say that he is the most [untrue] man that
lies. And not he only but all the [noble]men of France, for I cannot
devise to have [any] speak better than they do, nor to your honour."
Then he tells Henry sporting news of the jousts for the coronation of
Francis and how they are to run and that the King himself is to be one
of the _aides_ of the Duke of Alençon.[376] To Wolsey he tells out
bluntly what has already been described of the clearing interview
between Mary and Francis, after which they understood each other, and
beseeches his good offices as all his trust is in him, and an answer
with all possible haste. In a postscript he again begs to hear from him
with all possible haste, and desires him to ask from the King a loan of
£2000, "and Sir Oliver shall bring to your hands plate sufficient there.
For, my lord, all my money is gone and the Queen and I both must make
friends, and they will not be gotten without money. And also I am fain
to buy new array, for the King will have us at his coronation, and as
far as I know to bring him in at his entry, the which shall not be a
little charge. My lord, I beseech you that this may be done in all haste
possible and delivered to Sir Oliver."[377] The next day Mary, who knew
her brother, drew up the following: "Be it known to all persons that I,
Mary Queen of France, sister unto the King of England Henry the VIIIth,
freely give unto the said King my brother such plate and vessel of clean
gold as the late King Loys of France the XIIth of that name gave unto me
the said Mary his wife; and also by these presents I do freely give unto
my said brother, King of England, the choice of such special jewels as
my said late husband King of France gave me; to the performation
whereof I bind me by this my bill whereto with mine own hand and signed
with my name and to the same have set my seal the ixth day of February,
the year of our lord fifteen hundred and fourteen. By your loving sister
Mary Queen of France."[378]
[376] L. and P. H. VIII, ii. (i.) 133; Calig. D. vi. 161.
[377] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 134; Calig. D. vi. 163.
Mary had dismissed her French _dame de compagnie_, the Comtesse of
Nevers, and the French servants left with her by Francis when he went to
Rheims, and on the news of the arrival of Suffolk had recalled her
English ladies and servants. Francis is said to have been much annoyed,
and possibly his sister, the Duchess d'Alençon, told Suffolk how
impolitic a move this was, for on the return of the ambassadors from
paying their respects to Queen Claude and to her, they communed with
Mary of her household, and she showed herself conformable to the advice
of Suffolk and the rest.[379] At this interview things were put on a
good business footing, and the ambassadors were to write for copies of
the inventories of her wardrobe from Master Windsor, of her jewels from
Master Wyatt, one from the master of the horse for the stable and
another of the costs and charges of her traduction. But nothing could be
done till the King came to Paris. Francis made his entry on the 13th, so
that the English had scant time for their preparations; but Lent was
fast approaching (it began on the 21st) and haste was necessary if the
jousts and tourney were to be carried through in time. Mary was present
at the King's entrance, which Mercurin de Gattinare described to
Margaret of Austria as "belle et gorgiaise," and saw the Duke in the
procession with twenty horsemen in grey damask, talking to the Duchess
de Longueville, who rode in a habit of cloth of gold.
[378] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 237.
[379] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 139; Calig. D. vi. 209.
On Monday, the 12th, the day before the state entry, Suffolk was sent
for by the French King to watch him and five others running at the tilt
against the Duke of Lorraine and five with him, "for a banket, and I
insure your Grace there was good running."[380] Francis won, and after
the "banket" Suffolk had an interview with him, when the King showed
himself very heartily England's friend, and especially good towards
Suffolk and Wolsey: "as for the French King, I cannot wish him in better
mind towards the King's Grace than I hear him speak it ... and as for
you and me I trow that next the King our master we had never such a
friend which you shall perceive hereafter."[381] A few days before
Suffolk had received cheering letters from Wolsey in England, wherein he
was advertised what pain Wolsey took "daily for my cause and how good
lord you are to me, for the which and all the goodness that I find in
you I heartily thank you as he that shall never fail you during my
life." He felt his affairs were going on as well as possible in France,
for the King was ready to write to Henry in whatever form he thought
best. Suffolk's only uneasiness was the ominous silence of all his
friends at home, or else he imagined it was ominous, and he reproached
them in his letter to the King. "I beseech your Grace that I might hear
from your Grace some time, for it should be to my great comfort. Sir, I
beseech your Grace that I may be most humbly recommended unto the
[Queen's] Grace and to all mine old fellows, both men and women, and
tell them that I think it no little unkindness in them all that I never
heard from none of them since I departed from you, but I think the fault
has been in the weather (?) and not in them. Sir, I beseech your Grace
that I be not forgotten amongst you ar ..., for though my body be here
my heart is with you and you wot where."[382] He had great hopes of
returning very soon, for Francis said that once La Guiche, the French
agent to England, returned, a couple of days would easily settle all
English affairs.[383] The evening of the day after his entry Francis
went to see Mary, and it was arranged between them that he should write
to her brother at once, while the same post would take a letter from her
explaining her request for the help of Francis. Suffolk had had the
presence of mind at Compiègne not to betray Henry, and the French King
therefore did not realize that his news would come a day after the fair,
for he evidently thought at the beginning of the affair that he was to
be the _deus ex machina_. So he wrote that he had been to visit the
queen his _belle-mère_, as he used to do, to know if he could show her
any attention. On his asking her whether she contemplated a second
marriage, she confessed the great esteem she had for the Duke of
Suffolk, "que davant t[out] autre ele desyreroyt avecque[s] bonne
voulonte et lamye [...] maryage dele et de luy se fy," and prayed him
not only to give his own consent thereto, but to write to Henry in
Suffolk's favour which he now does.[384] Mary's letter also ignores her
confession before Suffolk's arrival--"Pleaseth it your Grace, the French
King on Tuesday night last [past] came to visit me, and [had] with me
many divers [discours]ing, among the which he demanded me whether I had
[ever] made any promise of marriage in any place, assuring me upon his
honour, upon the word of a prince, that in case I would be plain [with]
him in that affair that he would do for me therein to the best of his
power, whether it were in his realm or out of the same. Whereunto I
answered that I would disclose unto him the [secr]et of my heart in
hu[mility] as unto the prince of the world after your Grace in which I
had m[ost trust], and so decla[red unto him] the good mind [which] for
divers consi[derations I] bear to my lord of Suffolk, asking him not
only [to grant] me his favour and consent thereunto, but [also] that he
would of his [own] hand write unto your Grace and to pray you to bear
your like favour unto me, and to be content with the same. The which he
granted me to do, and so hath done, according as shall appear unto your
Grace by his said [letters]. And, Sir, I most humbly beseech you to take
this answer (?) which I have [made u]nto the French King in good part,
the which I [did] only to be discharg[ed of th]e extreme pain and
annoyance I was in [by reason] of such suit as [the French Ki]ng made
unt[o me not accord]ing with mine honour, [the whi]ch he hath clearly
left [off]. Also, Sir, I feared greatly [lest in] case that I had kept
the matter from his knowledge that he might have not well entreated my
said lord of Suffolk, and the rather [for] to have returned to his
[former] malfantasy and suits. Wherefore, Sir, [sin]ce it hath pleased
the said King to desire and pray you of your favour and consent, I most
humbly and heartily beseech you that it may like your Grace to bear your
favour and consent to the same and to advertise the said King by your
writing of your own hand your pleasure, [and] in that he hath a[cted
after] mine opinion [in his] letter of request, it shall be to your
great honour ... to content w[ith all] your Council and [with] all the
other no[bles of the] realm, and agree thereto for your Grace and for
all the world. And therefore I eftsoon require you for all the love that
it liked your Grace to bear to me, that you do not refuse but grant me
your favour and consent in form (?) before rehearsed, the which if you
shall deny me I am well assured to [lead] as desolate a life as ever had
creature, the which I know well shall be mine end. Always praying your
Grace to have compassion on me, my most loving sovereign lord and
brother, whereunto I have entreated you, beseeching God always to
preserve your royal estate." The postscript is: "I most humbly beseech
your Grace to consider in case you make difficulty to condescend to the
promise [as I] wish, the French King will take courage to renew his
suits unto me, assuring you that I had rather to be out of the world
than it should so happen, and how he shall entreat my lord of Suffolk
God knoweth, with many other inconvenience which might ensue of the
same, the which I pray our Lord that [I] may never have life to see.
By your loving sister and true servant,
MARY, Queen of France."[385]
[380] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 146; Calig. D. vi. 185.
[381] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 145; Calig. D. vi. 186.
[382] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 146; Calig. D. vi. 185.
[383] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 157; Calig. D. vi. 212.
[384] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 135; Calig. D. vi. 256.
[385] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 163; Calig. D. vi. 244.
The postscript is an echo of Suffolk's letter of the same date, where he
says, in case Henry does not give consent at Francis' request, that he
will "be at his liberty and again at his former suits, the which your
sister, the Queen, had rather be out of the world, to abide, and as for
me your Grace ... I had rather be out of the world to see her in this
case."[386] Suffolk had found that the King's mother, Louise de Savoie,
was also on his side, and she promised him to forward his matter, and
also told him he could put all confidence in her son's promises, which
the Duke evidently did. Louise charmed Suffolk, "She is the best spoken
princess I have ever seen and has great influence"; "it is she that
rules all, and so may she well, for I never saw woman like her."[387]
All things seemed going smoothly, and it must have been at this date, or
just before these letters, that the first marriage took place, the most
secret one, which was hidden from Francis as his attentions were
probably its cause. About a week after these letters, that is, about
February 21st or 22nd, Suffolk received an answer from Wolsey to the
letter he had sent on the way from Senlis to Paris telling of his first
private interview with Francis, which raised his spirits even higher,
for a near open marriage seemed in prospect.
"My lord," wrote the Archbishop, "in my most hearty manner I recommend
me unto your good lordship and have received your letter, written with
your own hands, dated at Paris the 3rd day of this month, and as joyous
I am as any creature living to hear as well of your honourable
entertainment with the French King and of his loving mind towards you
for your marriage with the French Queen, our master's sister, as also of
his kind offer made to you, that both he and the said French Queen shall
effectually write unto the King's Grace, for the obtaining of his good
will and favour unto the same. The contents of which your letter I have
at good leisure declared unto the King's Highness and his Grace
marvellously rejoiced to hear of your good speed in the same, and how
substantially and discreetly ye ordered and handled yourself in your
words and communication with the French King when he first secretly
brake with you of the said marriage. And therefore, my lord, the King
and I think it good that you procure and solicit the speedy sending unto
his Grace of the letters from the French King touching this matter,
assuring you that the King continueth firmly in his good mind and
purpose towards you for the accomplishment of the said marriage, albeit
that there be daily on every side practices made to let the same which I
have withstanded hitherto, and doubt not to do so till you have achieved
your intended purpose, and ye shall say by that time that ye know all
that ye have had of me a fast friend.
[386] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 134*; Calig. D. vi. 159.
[387] _Ibid._, ii. (i.) 82; Calig. D. vi. 165. B.M.
"The King's Grace sends unto you at this time not only his especial
letters of thanks unto the French King for the loving and kind
entertainment of you and the other ambassadors with you, and for his
favourable audience given unto you and them, but also other letters of
thanks to the Queen his wife, and to other personages specified in your
letter, jointly sent with the other ambassadors to the King's Grace. And
his highness is of no less mind and affection than the French King is
for the continuance of good peace and amity betwixt them....
"The lady of Suffolk is departed out of this present life and over this,
my lord, the King's Grace hath given unto you all such lands as be come
into his hand by the decease of the said lady of Suffolk, and also by my
pursuit hath given unto you the lordship of Claxton, which his highness
had of my Lord Admiral for 1000 marks which he did owe his Grace.
"Finally, my lord, whereas ye desired at your departing to have an
harness made for you, the King's Grace hath willed me to write unto you,
that he saith it is impossible to make a perfect head-piece for you,
unless that the manner of your making your sight were assuredly
known....
"And whereas ye write that the French King is of no less good will
towards me than his predecessor was, I pray you to thank his Grace for
the same and to offer him my poor service, which next my master shall
have mine heart for the good will and mind which he beareth to you,
beseeching you to have my affairs recommended that I may have some end
in the same one way or other...."[388]
[388] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 113.
The letter contained both good and bad news, at least Mary seems to have
thought so, for while Suffolk no doubt was confident that Wolsey would
over-ride all the practices of the Howard family to hinder the marriage,
and took the grant of the lands of the Lady Margaret de la Pole,
Countess of Suffolk, as earnest of the continued favour of his master
and his desire for his advancement, Mary's brain only took in the phrase
"there be daily on every side practices made to the let of the same,"
and connected this with the silence of her husband's friends at Court.
She had already insisted on marriage within four days or not at all, and
Suffolk had yielded to her reasoning--my brother is content, more than
content, and the King of France desires our marriage, why should we wait
and run the risk of some chance which might separate us--reluctantly,
however, because of his promise to Henry. From the secret nature of the
marriage it is impossible to fix the date save by inference. There are
two dates given in two different documents, one the 3rd of March, given
in a French chronicle in the Fontanieu Portefeuille, and quoted by Mrs
Green, the other the 31st of the same month, given by Louise de Savoie
in her diary. It is possible, too, that 3rd is a mistake for 31st, but
that is as may be, and the point to emphasize is this, that these dates
do not refer to the secret marriage confessed to by Suffolk on March 5,
but to some other and semi-public affair which took place at a later
date before the Court of France in Lent. No one was privy to this first
marriage save servants, and it must have taken place about the second
week of February, for, writing on March 5 to Wolsey, Suffolk says he
fears Mary is with child, and he urges the necessity for an open
marriage before the French Court, adding that the season need be no bar,
for marriages take place in Lent with consent of a bishop.[389] This
open marriage was to be later the sum of their desires, for the secret
one was illegal and could easily be quashed, and the child of it, the
heir to the English crown, would be born out of wedlock, but in the
early days of February Mary was ready to _mettre le tout par le tout_,
to do anything to gain her end of marriage with Suffolk. The place of
the February marriage would probably be the chapel of the Clugny Hotel,
but that and who actually married them is unknown. A later document says
a simple priest of no authority, which is not unlikely, though that
document, to be quoted in full later, does not pretend to strict
accuracy, for its facts were arranged by Suffolk and Wolsey to produce a
certain impression. So Wolsey's letter found Mary married to her lover,
in ill-health, nervous and suspicious (her head was never still and she
was constantly turning it from side to side), sucking terror out of
every phrase, and sensible that delay in the return home, or, failing
that, in a near open marriage, might publicly pierce the secret of her
union with Brandon. Her husband's mind was tranquil as yet, and to him
the Archbishop's letters "came as graciously as rosewater and vinegar to
him that is fallen in a sowne or a litargie."
[389] L. and P. H. VIII., ii. (i.) 222; Calig. D. vi. 176.