Part 13 (2/2)
[101] _Spanish Calendar Henry VIII._, Chapuys to the Emperor, 11th and 30th July 1533.
[102] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._, edited by the present writer.
[103] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._ Cranmer, in his letter to Hawkins giving an account of the festivities on this occasion (Harl. MSS., Ellis's Original Letters, vol. 2, series 1), says that after the banquet in the hall of the old palace, ”She was conveyed owte of the bake syde of the palice into a barge and, soe unto Yorke Place, where the King's Grace was before her comyng; for this you must ever presuppose that his Grace came allwayes before her secretlye in a barge as well frome Grenewyche to the Tower, as from the Tower to Yorke Place.”
[104] Stow gives some curious glimpses of the public detestation of the marriage, and of the boldness of Friar Peto in preaching before the King at Greenwich in condemnation of it; and the letter of the Earl of Derby and Sir Henry Faryngton to Henry (Ellis's Original Letters, vol. 2, series 1) recounts several instances of bold talk in Lancas.h.i.+re on the subject, the most insulting and opprobrious words being used to describe ”Nan Bullen the hoore.”
[105] Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
[106] _Spanish Calendar Henry VIII._, 11th July 1533.
[107] Katharine was even more indignant shortly afterwards, when she was informed that of the sum apportioned to her sustenance, only 12,000 crowns a year was to be at her own disposal, the rest, 18,000 crowns, being administered by an agent of the King, who would pay the bills and servants. She was for open rebellion on this point--she would rather beg her bread in the streets, she said, than consent to it--but Chapuys knew that his master did not wish to drive affairs to an extremity just then, and counselled submission and patience. (_Ibid._, 23rd August.)
[108] Chapuys to the Emperor, 30th July 1533.
[109] Chapuys writes a day or two afterwards: ”The baptism ceremony was sad and unpleasant as the mother's coronation had been. Neither at Court nor in the city have there been the bonfires, illuminations, and rejoicings usual on such occasions.”
[110] Katharine had shortly before complained of the insalubrity of Buckden and its distance from London.
[111] Katharine's appeal that she might not be deprived of the service of her own countrymen is very pathetic. She wrote to the Council: ”As to my physician and apothecary, they be my countrymen: the King knoweth them as well as I do. They have continued many years with me and (I thank them) have taken great pains with me, for I am often sickly, as the King's grace doth know right well, and I require their attendance for the preservation of my poor body, that I may live as long as it pleaseth G.o.d. They have been faithful and diligent in my service, and also daily do pray that the King's royal estate may long endure. But if they take any other oath to the King and to me (to serve me) than that which they have taken, I shall never trust them again, for in so doing I should live continually in fear of my life with them. Wherefore I trust the King, in his high honour and goodness, and for the great love that hath been between us (which love in me is as faithful to him as ever it was, I take G.o.d to record) will not use extremity with me, my request being so reasonable.”--_Privy Council Papers_, December 1533.
[112] _Spanish Calendar Henry VIII._, 27th December 1533.
[113] _Spanish Calendar Henry VIII._, 27th December 1533.
[114] Chapuys to the Emperor, 17th January 1534.
[115] Many instances are given by Chapuys of Anne's bitter spite against Mary about this time. In February 1534 he mentions that Northumberland (Anne's old flame, who had more than once got into trouble about her) had said that she was determined to poison Mary. Some one else had told him that Anne had sent to her aunt, Lady Clare, who was Mary's governess, telling her if the Princess used her t.i.tle ”to give her a good banging like the cursed b.a.s.t.a.r.d that she was.” Soon afterwards the girl is reported to be nearly dest.i.tute of clothes and other necessaries. When Anne visited her daughter at Hatfield in March, she sent for Mary to come and pay her respects to her as Queen. ”I know no Queen in England but my mother,” was Mary's proud answer: and a few days afterwards Norfolk took away all the girl's jewels, and told her brutally that she was no princess and it was time her pride was abated: and Lady Clare a.s.sured her that the King did not care whether she renounced her t.i.tle or not. Parliament by statute had declared her a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and if she (Lady Clare) were in the King's place she would kick her out of the house. It was said also that the King himself had threatened that Mary should lose her head. There was, no doubt, some truth in all this, but it must not be forgotten that Chapuys, who reports most of it, was Anne's deadly enemy.
[116] Lee's instructions are said to have been ”not to press the Queen very hard.” It must have been evident that no pressure would suffice.
[117] The Queen wrote to Chapuys soon afterwards saying that the bishops had threatened her with the gibbet. She asked which of them was going to be the hangman, and said that she must ask them to hang her in public, not secretly. Lee's and Tunstall's own account of their proceedings is in the _Calendar of Henry VIII._, 29th May 1534.
[118] This lackey's name is given Bastian Hennyocke in the English State Papers. To him Katharine left 20 in her will. The other Spanish servants with Katharine at the time, besides Francisco Felipe, the Groom of the Chambers, and the Bishop of Llandaff (Fray Jorge de Ateca), were Dr.
Miguel de la Sa, Juan Soto, Felipe de Granada, and Antonio Roca.
[119] This narrative is taken from the _Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII._, edited by the present writer. The author of the Chronicle was a Spanish merchant resident in London, and he was evidently indebted for this description of the scene to his friend and countryman, Francisco Felipe, Katharine's Groom of the Chambers. The account supplements but does not materially contradict the official report of Lee and Tunstall, and Chapuys' account to the Emperor gained from the Queen and her Spanish attendants.
[120] Chapuys to the Emperor, 29th May 1534.
[121] She had written more than one fiery letter to Charles during the previous few months, fervently urging him to strike for the authority of the Church. All considerations of her safety and that of her daughter, she said, were to be put aside. It was the duty of the Emperor to his faith that the march of heresy and iniquity in England should be stayed at any cost, and she exhorted him not to fail. (_Calendar Henry VIII._, February and May 1534.)
[122] Bedingfield and Tyrell were instructed in May 1534 to inform Katharine that the appeal she had made that her Spanish servants should not be penalised for refusing to take the oath to the new Act of Succession had been rejected, but licenses for the Spaniards to stay with their mistress on the old footing were soon afterwards given. (_Calendar Henry VIII._, May 1534.)
[123] The account here given, that of Chapuys himself, is quaintly and minutely confirmed by that of one of the Spanish merchants who accompanied him, Antonio de Guaras, the author of the _Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII._
[124] See Chapuys' many letters on the subject.
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