Between Two Kings (21 page)

Mary wasn’t immune to the king’s passion. Consequently, Mary didn’t reject the King of France anymore and accepted his offer to become his mistress in 1516. She was so enamored with François that she even didn’t think of the traditional necessity to preserve her maidenhead for her future husband, allowing the king to take her innocence during one dark night at the Château de Blois. She slept with him for experiment and pleasure. She definitely had a choice and could reject King François’ advances because nobody pushed her to become the king’s inamorata, but she wanted him and surrendered to her own untamed desire. Only later her father Thomas Boleyn hinted that her liaison with King François had brought additional praises and good recommendations for Thomas as the English ambassador to France.

Seduced by the King of France and under his glittering spell, Mary fell in love. However the brief affair soon ended when he became tired of her and discarded her for Marie de Macy, Dame de Montchenu, at the same time renewing his relationship with two previously discarded mistresses. Mary was hurt at being set aside in such a negligent manner. The only consolation for her was that the King of France hadn’t impregnated her, like he had several other mistresses at the court. Striving to forget François, Mary was involved in several other affairs in France before she was dismissed from Queen Claude’s service in 1519 and was instructed by her father to come back to England.

Later, when she attended
the Field of Cloth of Gold
in 1520, Mary again spent one night with François, again seduced by his resplendent handsomeness and charmed by his great gallantry. However, soon she had to face the consequences of that because on an Anglo-French summit King François told King Henry he was often riding Mary in the nights. At that moment Mary hated François, but over the years she forgot and her anger evaporated.

The Field of Cloth of Gold
was a turning point for Mary Boleyn’s notorious career as a royal courtesan because King Henry had noticed Mary’s lovely face and memorized it after King François told him about their romance. Her amour with King Henry had different roots. It was a glorious time for Henry as he was at the prime of his youth and handsomeness; Queen Catherine was an aging and increasingly pious wife who wasn’t able to satisfy the sexual appetite of the virile king who was just entering his thirties.

Henry was ripe for a new affair with a pretty young woman, and he remembered Mary Boleyn as François’ lover in France. Henry was quickly attracted to Mary because, like his former mistress Elizabeth Blount, Mary seemed to be in love with love, in love with handsome men, and in love with passion after the time she had spent in France. Her French conduct, coquetry, style, and manners highlighted her as a potential new mistress for the King of England. Besides, she was an accomplished professional dancer and eagerly participated in the pleasures offered by the court.

Mary Boleyn was physically attracted to King Henry, but she also had little choice in becoming his mistress because her father suggested she set herself in Henry’s path and be frivolous enough with the king to encourage his advances in order to bring wealth and elevate the social standing of the Boleyn family.

Although Mary partly regretted having her short amour with François at that time and didn’t want to bring a track of notoriety to herself at the English court, she quickly gave in to her passions, being enamored with the handsome, athletic, and powerful King of England. Henry also expected Mary to submit to his wishes without any qualm, and he wasn’t mistaken.

After an insignificant amount of the displayed courtly love, Henry summoned Mary to his suite and, smiling at her, straightforwardly asked her what she had learnt in France in the art of love and intimacy. During their first night, Mary showed the King of England the French ways of sensitive and passionate lovemaking, half immoral and immensely pleasant; it couldn’t have been otherwise because Mary had a brilliant teacher – King François.

More nights of passion with Henry followed, and their courtly love continued in public, right before the eyes of Queen Catherine. Mary thought that she had fallen in love with King Henry; she also believed that Henry had loved her. However, soon she was forgotten when Henry took another mistress and especially when Henry stated to fall for Anne Boleyn.

The practical result of Mary’s intimate relations with Henry was that Thomas Boleyn’s career went from strength to strength in the early 1520s, which was directly attributable to the king’s interest in Mary. For example, Thomas was granted lucrative stewardships in Kent, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Essex, and several other counties. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1523 and was appointed Vice Chamberlain of the Household, being eventually promoted to Chamberlain.

In July 1524, King Henry made a generous gift to George Boleyn – the luxurious manor of Grimston in Norfolk, making George another recipient of the benefits from Mary’s affair with the king. At the same time, it was fair to say that Thomas Boleyn had succeeded at the court largely thanks to his own merits and abilities, especially his widely admired diplomatic and linguistic skills. Mary’s father had been in the king’s favor for many years, long before Mary became Henry’s mistress. Yet, he still wanted Mary to help him advance himself at the court, satisfying his desire for more prestige and wealth.

While her family greatly benefited from her affair with Henry, Mary’s reputation in England was morbidly damaged. It was true that their intimate meetings were conducted rather discreetly, and the courtiers even didn’t know when the amourette stopped being courtly love and transformed into a physical contact between two lovers; the courtiers guessed when it started and when it ended.

In either case, they knew that Mary had slept with the King of England, and it was enough to have her called the great whore. King François was rumored to have laughed that Mary had also managed to slide under the bedcovers of the English King, his eternal rival and competitor. It was the reason why François had called Mary “
a great whore, infamous above all
”, but she didn’t take it close to her heart and quickly forgot about the insult.

It was remarkable that Mary’s relations with Henry also created an impediment to his marriage to Anne, but it was disregarded and the marriage finally took place; later Mary’s love affair with Henry become the reason to declare Anne’s matrimony null and void on the grounds of affinity.

The young Mary was a girl who easily fell in love. Mary indulged herself into the love affair with King François for the sake of pleasure and due to her deep passion for him. She also loved the dashing King of France. She was physically attracted to King Henry, was pushed to his bed by her own father, and eventually fell in love with him. Mary fell in love with both the King of France and the King of England, eventually paying the price of being forgotten by her royal lovers and having her heart broken. Mary’s notoriety stemmed from her life at the sybaritic and dissolute French court and from the vaulting ambitions of her family.

Mary knew that she had committed many doubtful and wrong things in her life, particularly in her early youth. However, she didn’t think that she would have altered her life if she had been able to do that. If she had changed her life path, she would have never met William Stafford, never learned the taste of true happiness and love. After her disinheritance and banishment from the English court, Mary knew that she would spend the rest of her life in peaceful obscurity, but it wasn’t the most important fact for her. She had found her soul mate and kindred spirit when she married William Stafford, and she never repented her decision.

She was very happy with her husband. Mary and William weren’t wealthy, but they had enough money to cover day-to-day expenses and secure food and clothes for them. Money wasn’t the most important thing for her. Mary eventually learned what really mattered in life, and it was not money and power. While Anne lived through much unhappiness in her marriage to the king and in the end fell down from her pedestal, Mary found true love and stability in her personal life. In contrast to her siblings who ended their lives tragically, she passed through the stage of wrongdoing and had a happy ending with William Stafford.

Over the last few years, Mary often thought of her younger sister Anne while fighting back her tears. When Anne was arrested, Mary did everything possible to save Anne. She beseeched King Henry on her knees and petitioned Cromwell and later Henry, but it was in vain. When she learnt Anne was pregnant, she sighed with relief, hoping that a miracle would happen and King Henry would take Anne back as his queen and wife.

However, she quickly realized that she was mistaken. She tried to save Anne in a legal way, but failed. Finally, Mary asked the king if she could become the guardian of Anne’s little child. She was shocked when her father refused to take Anne’s child. Since then, she hated and despised her father with all her heart. Firmly believing that Anne had been executed on fabricated charges, Mary wished to impart to Arthur a sympathetic view of his mother’s conduct and make him believe in Anne’s innocence once he had grown up enough to understand the true nature of the downfall of the Boleyns.

As Mary and William expected baby Arthur to arrive in their household, Mary was worried that they wouldn’t have enough money to live on. She and William had two children together - Anne and Edward. Their daughter was named in honor of Anne Boleyn. Having three small children in the same household would be quite expensive for them. The problem was solved when Lady Eleanor Hampton, who was Anne’s lady during her imprisonment and Henry Percy’s co-partner in their plan of Anne’s salvation, arrived with the child. Lady Eleanor handed Mary several pockets of golden coins in order to provide for Anne’s little son. Mary asked who gave the money, but Lady Eleanor didn’t answer. Mary and William were astonished, but took the money because they really needed it.

“Soon it will be a year since Anne was executed. And more than a year has passed since George’s death.” Mary looked down at the child in her hands – Anne’s son Arthur.

Arthur was growing quickly. Despite Anne’s difficult pregnancy and his birth at the Tower of London, the child was a healthy boy. At nine months, Arthur had already learnt to sit, roll over, and crawl. He had recently started trying to pull himself up to a standing position while holding onto furniture or Mary. Sometimes he could stand without support and tried to stoop and squat. He was a clever child as his blue eyes were always wandering around, analyzing his surroundings. Arthur easily recognized Mary and William, usually smiling at them as one of them took him in their hands.

“Mary, I don’t want you to torment yourself. They are gone, and nothing can be changed. If Anne or George saw the expression on your face now, they would be disappointed,” William spoke in a soft voice. He always tried to appease Mary when she remembered her deceased siblings.

Indeed, Mary’s face expressed regret and pain and her eyes didn’t sparkle. As she looked at Arthur who was playing with the collar of her dress, she smiled. “I know that they would have been displeased with me,” she said. She bounced the toddler, and he giggled in response. “God, how similar to King Henry Arthur is!” she exclaimed. “Just look, William. Arthur has Anne’s eyes and her hair, but in other things he is a fine but small copy of the king.”

William sighed heavily. “I think the king doesn’t care for him, believing that he is not his son.”

Mary laughed bitterly. “As soon as King Henry meets Arthur, he will have no doubt who his father is.”

“I doubt that it will happen soon, given that Queen Jane is pregnant,” William responded.

Mary winced as Arthur drew his small hand through her loose hair. “If Queen Jane delivers a girl or a stillborn child, the king may want to meet Arthur.”

“The king is sure that your sister betrayed him. He won’t even remember Arthur.”

Mary shrugged. “Who knows, William.”

“At least now your sister’s son is with us,” William added with a hint of irony. “Doesn’t your father still want to see his grandchild by Anne?”

Mary nodded. “My father doesn’t care for Arthur or for me. However, you know that he sent us some money a couple of months ago.”

“Your father is a contradictory man.” William tried to be as cautious as he could in talking about Thomas Boleyn. He despised the man, but he was Mary’s father.

Mary didn’t want to talk about her father. Then she laughed. “I wonder what King Henry would say if he knew the child’s name. I think Anne named her son in honor of the king’s deceased brother Arthur, the Prince of Wales.” A malicious grin splashed across her face. “My sister definitely knew that the name she had chosen would displease the king. I am not sure that the king would have approved of the name. What an irony of fate!”

William chuckled. “It would be entertaining to see the King of England’s reaction.”

CHAPTER 11

September 1537, Palais du Louvre, Paris, France

Dauphin Henri and his mistress Diane de Poitiers were spending the evening in Diane’s chambers; they were playing cards. Henri was the second son of King François I of France and became the Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Dauphin François III, Duke of Brittany, in 1536.

Dauphin Henri was a young handsome man with wide spaced, ink black eyes. He didn’t have the Valois long patrician nose. His short hair matched the color of his eyes and fell in sensual curls around his face. His face was the face of a naive young man, but beneath it was the powerful and well-defined body of a man. His features were neither soft nor stern.

In contrast to King François and his elder deceased brother Dauphin François, who looked like prominent patricians and had the stately bearing of a king, and used it to their own advantage, Henri definitely lacked his father’s regal air. Yet, Henri was a very serious and concentrated man. The time in the Spanish prison spent with his elder brother appeared to have changed his spirit, but not broken it. Henri was a young man just barely out of boyhood, but he wasn’t a carefree person and he could resist everyone and everything just for the sheer pleasure of it.

Henri preferred to wear clothes that weren’t as lavishly embroiled with jewelry and other ornamentation as his father and the French liked. His tastes were mainly affected by the austere Spanish fashion he had seen during his years of captivity. Today, Henri wore a black toque, trunk hose and a doublet of brown velvet with black slashing. His sleeves were covered with diamonds, with no other embellishments.

Dauphin Henri pushed the cards aside and looked at Diane. “As always, you look very beautiful today, 
chéri
.”

Diane gave a Cheshire-cat smile. “Thank you, Henri.” She looked into her cards, thinking that tonight she was doomed to lose the game. “I wonder when you will be bored with the color of my gowns.”

Indeed, Diane de Poitiers was the great beauty at the French court. Her facial features boasted almost classical beauty. She had full, rosy lips and high cheekbones. Her eyes were brilliantly blue, and her hair was glossy, long, and blonde. Her nose was a little long and her eyes were deeply set, which didn’t spoil her general perfect image. Her skin was alabaster and clear. Diane had a serene elegance and a natural charm, which had always caused people to notice her and which had always attracted men to her. Many men lusted after her as her image aroused desire and passion in male hearts. She had broken many hearts in her life.

For sixteen years, Diane de Poitiers had been married to Louis de Brézé, seigneur d’Anet and Count de Maulevrier, an old man who was thirty-nine years older. She had two daughters with him. After her husband’s death in 1531, she kept her late husband’s emoluments and assumed the title of the Grand Sénéchale de Normandie.

As usual, Diane was dressed in a black and white silky gown with a high neckline and long train. It was a gown without excessive ornamentation. After her husband’s death, Diane adopted the habit of wearing black and white, which was her personal hallmark at the French court. The color of her clothing against her alabaster skin was stark and dramatic.

“Madame, with every color of the rainbow exhibited on the banquets and balls at the court, all other women look like peacocks while you are like a beautiful black swan.”

She smiled at him, showing her perfectly straight white teeth. “Don’t flatter me, Henri.”

“It is true, not flattery,” he said, finally shifting his eyes to her.

Dauphin Henri made Diane de Poitiers his mistress because she was the first woman who showed tenderness to him. His mother, Queen Claude of France, was Henri’s last contact with any sort of affection. Since her death, few people had treated him with the necessary modicum of tenderness. King François had never been close to Henri. Since then he had closed himself off to it.

As Diane de Poitiers emerged in his life, she was all grace and kindness and what the world should be. Diane masterfully displayed her vulnerability, and it drew Henri to her. To Henri she was not like any of the other women he had met. She did not flirt and didn’t tease. She was very beautiful, and her charm and beauty bewitched young Henri at first glance. Over time that passion didn’t subside.

Like many other French women, she was educated according to the principles of Renaissance humanism and was proficient at music, hunting, manners, languages, the art of conversation, and dancing. Her keen interest in financial matters and practical shrewdness were also undeniable. She was a cold, calculating, and cunning woman, even if she didn’t show it to her royal lover.

Diane was twenty years older than Dauphin Henri. When Henri was returned to France from his captivity in Madrid at the age of ten, Diane was ordered by King François to act as a mentor to Henri and teach him courtly manners and more. Over time passing, Henri was more and more attracted to the beautiful Diane; in 1534, they became lovers. The age difference wasn’t an obstacle for love between Henri and Diane. Life was kind to Diane. She didn’t look anywhere near her actual age. Her body was still firm and strong, and she needed no cosmetics with which to mask herself. Diane ascribed the secrets of her well-kept beauty to daily cold baths.

The court had accepted her as Henri’s favorite, but they didn’t look so favorably on Henri’s paramour as they looked on King François’ official mistress, Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchess d’Étampes. At the court, Diane was always competing with the beautiful and ambitious Duchess d’Étampes.

“Great!” the Dauphin cried out with a good-natured smile. “
M’amie
, I am winning!” He opened his cards and put them in the middle of the table.

“Today fate is on your side,” she purred.

A furrow marred his forehead. “Today I received a letter from my father,” Henri declared with a tentative expression. “He indeed married that woman in Venice.”

Diane arched an eyebrow. “And who is that woman?”

“I don’t know her name, but my father called her an incredible woman in his letter.”

“Well, Henri, it is interesting.” Diane paused, selecting her words carefully. She knew Henri was worried about the marriage. Honestly, she also was not pleased with the news as she didn’t want to make her life more complicated at court. “There were so many rumors about this wedding. The people call the new Queen of France the Savior of the King.”

“Because she saved my father’s life in Venice,” the Dauphin confirmed.

“There is one positive aspect in your father’s marriage,” Diane stated, her lips pressed into one long, thin line. “Probably, Duchess d’Étampes will be set aside now.”

“I agree with that.” Henri laughed loudly and joyously, with his head back and his eyes sparkling with delight. “I have always hated that cold Anne de Pisseleu. Madame d’Étampes is far more arrogant than she is beautiful. She holds herself as if she were my father’s wife and queen. Maybe the new queen will put her on her place.”

“I regret what I must tell you, but I beseech you to be brave.” She paused, and the Dauphine looked at her in alarm. “As your father married that woman so quickly, there must be something beneath this strange marriage. And this new queen could be even worse than Duchess d’Étampes. We don’t know how she will treat the royal children.” She was accurate in her words, but she wanted Henri to be at the alert.

The Dauphin smiled, a childlike innocence born out on his handsome face. “She will be just the queen and the wife.”

“Ha!” she thundered. “I wouldn’t be so sure. The new Queen of France could have much political influence. Recall, Henri, your father was listening to your mother’s opinion on the political matters.”

Henri lowered his eyes, stung again by her remark. After a moment, he lunged toward her across the card table and kissed her on her lips. Then he settled back in his chair. “Diane, please don’t worry. The new queen will treat you with all respect and grace.”

Oh, Henri, you are just a boy, Diane thought. He didn’t realize that many things could change at the French court. Diane didn’t want to ease Henri’s concerns. On the contrary, her intuition told her that the new Queen of France would be her powerful rival at the court. “I am afraid she might be using your father. Their marriage is so strange.”

Henri’s black eyes turned pensive. “I just hope that the new Queen of France is a Catholic, like my mother. I don’t like this policy of religious tolerance my father is following.”

“You know why your father is so tolerant to heretics,” Diane answered with a smile.

The Dauphin laughed. “Because he aims to weaken the Holy Roman Empire,” he stated.

“Yes.” Diane nodded. “And when you are the King of France, you most likely will have to do the same.”

Henri narrowed his eyes at her. “Time will show.” He was a devout Catholic and believed that it was his duty to rid France of the threat posed by the Reformation that would divide not only the Church, but the country. He had always had collisions with his father as King François favored religious tolerance.

Diane signed. She agreed with Henri’s views on the Reformation, but she knew that King François didn’t like Henri’s views on the matter. “Henri, be careful how you speak to King François about this matter. You don’t need any clashes with him.”

“My father and I have opposite views on the policy of religious tolerance,” the Dauphin said gloomily.

“And at this point you must accept that.”

“I know, Diane.” He frowned as his thoughts returned to his father and the war with the emperor. “Can you please ask Anne de Montmorency what is currently going on in Piedmont?”

“I will, although I am not so sure that he knows. The king is still in Venice.”

“Then we must wait for the clarification, 
m’amie
,” the Dauphin answered.

Somebody knocked at the door. As Henri barked to come inside, the door opened. A young handsome man paused at the doorway. He was Charles de Valois, Duke d’Orléans, the king of France’s youngest son who had recently turned fifteen. He had almond-shaped, bright amber eyes, the Valois long nose, and high cheekbones. His height was much taller than average. He was smiling, and his face somehow managed to convey a simultaneously easy-going and serious expression. He was dressed in a light blue taffeta shirt, purple puffy Venetian pants, and a purple striped satin doublet, lavishly trimmed with diamonds and sapphires. His chestnut hair fell over his ears from beneath a light blue velvet flat cap, adorned with two white feathers and jeweled with a large diamond brooch, an affiquet.

Charles was François’ favorite child and most definitely his father’s son. His character was similar to François’ in many aspects. Even their tastes for fashion were quite similar, and the design of their clothes often coincided. Young Charles was known for his practical jokes and his extravagance, of which his father wholeheartedly approved.

By all accounts, Charles was much more popular with everyone at the court than Dauphin Henri, and the French nobility of the time would have much preferred to have him as the Dauphin as opposed to his dispirited and reserved brother.

Dauphin Henri arched a brow. “Charles, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Prince Charles bowed to Diane de Poitiers. “Madame,” he greeted.

Diane rose to her feet. She curtsied before Charles. “Your Highness, I am honored to see you in my chambers,” she said and shrank into her chair.

Charles shifted his gaze from Diane to Henri, and his face lightened up. He didn’t like Diane de Poitiers, and it was no secret to anybody at court. “Henri, you didn’t come to play cards today. I decided to come by myself.”

Dauphin Henri forced a smile. “You see, Charles, we are playing cards.”

Charles sat in the chair near Diane and Henri with an ambiguous smile. He loved his brother, but he hated that Henri often preferred Diane’s company to that of his siblings. She had too much influence over him, and Charles didn’t like that. “I see,” he said shortly. “I received a letter from our father. I think you also know the news.”

Henri nodded. “I know that our father again married a woman who saved his life.”

Charles laughed merrily. A carefree expression was on his face. “I am happy that our father is alive and that he is married. Maybe he will finally find his happiness and peace,” he assumed.

“I hope the new Queen of France is a Catholic,” Henri snapped.

Charles cocked his eyebrows. “Our father follows the policy of religious tolerance.”

“France is a Catholic country,” Henri opposed his brother.

Charles grinned at him. “Even if the new Queen of France has some interest in new religious movements, like Aunt Marguerite, I see no harm in it. We live in the Renaissance times, and enlightenment is a key source of knowledge,” he expressed his opinion.

Henri averted his gaze. “Charles, you should care whether this woman is a Catholic or not.” He rubbed his cheek. “I hope that she is at least conservative in her ideas.”

Charles shrugged. “Let’s wait and see,” he said in a neutral tone. He knew that there was no use arguing with Henri about religious topics. A smile illuminated his face. He took a pack of cards in his hands. “Henri and Madame Diane, shall we play?”

Henri smiled bleakly. “Of course, Charles,” a reply followed.

Diane was silent as the two brothers spoke. She sighed as she again remarked how different the two brothers were and how similar to King François Prince Charles was. “Gladly, Your Highness,” she said sweetly.

September 1537, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Piedmont

The Castello di Rivoli was built in the 11
th
century as a fortified construction along the road to France. The first owners of the castle were the archbishops of Turin, and in 1247 it became the property of the Savoy family. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the castle was one of the capitals of the Savoy itinerant court, being the hub for important political meetings, marriages, and many others magnificent celebrations.

Since the French invaded and captured Savoy and its capital Turin in 1536, the place was used by the King of France and his courtiers as the French primary residence in Piedmont. A part of the great and magnificent French court moved to Turin together with the King of France, Anne Jeanne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, many important courtiers, and French military men.