Katharine of Aragon (84 page)

The Bishop took his bible and turned to that chapter.

“I pray you read verse twenty-one,” said the King.

The Bishop read: “‘And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing; he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.’” He stopped reading and was silent, not daring to make comment.

Then Henry said: “You see! You have read that. Does it not state clearly God's will? They shall be childless… and in all these years…”

Seeking to comfort the King, the Bishop said quickly: “God cannot be displeased with Your Grace. He has given you the Princess Mary.”

“A girl!” snarled the King. “I think of those sons which were born to us. Born dead. Again and again God gave us signs of His displeasure… and we heeded them not. We went on living…in sin.”

“Your Grace distresses himself unduly. There may yet be a son.”

“There will be no son,” Henry shouted.

“Your Grace, there was a dispensation. There is no need for Your Grace to feel anxious.”

The King's eyes narrowed. He snapped: “There is every need. This burden of sin lies heavy on my conscience. I, who have lived as near to God as a man can live…I who have heard Mass five times a day…have confessed my sins regularly and have always obtained absolution … I, the King, have offended against the laws of God. I have lived for all these years with a woman who is not my wife in the eyes of God. So He tells me this…He denies me my son. Do you not see that while I live thus there will never be a son!”

“Your Grace, let us pray for God's help.”

Henry could have cuffed the Bishop. He was no Thomas Wolsey. He was anxious to please the King but he lacked the Chancellor's wits. He thought to please him by assuring him that he had nothing to fear, that his marriage was legal.

Fool! Fool! he thought. Then he remembered the Chancellor's injunctions: As yet it is our secret matter.

He went on to his knees, and while the Bishop prayed he thought: Thomas is right. Good Thomas. 'Tis a delicate matter. There is the Emperor to be thought of. He will never stand aside and see his aunt repudiated. We have to go carefully. So … caution for a while.

When they rose from their knees, the Bishop said: “Your Grace is unduly concerned; I shall redouble my prayers that you may be blessed with a son.”

And the King's feelings were under such control that instead of roaring “Fool” at the man, he merely murmured: “I thank you, Bishop. I too shall pray.”

IN HIS PRIVATE CHAMBER
at Hampton Court the Cardinal was reading the letters which de Praet had written to the Emperor. There was matter therein which if laid before the King could bring about the man's downfall.

Had the time come to expose the ambassador to the King?

Wolsey was for prompt action. François and Louise were restive, and they were anxious for an immediate secret alliance with the English against the Emperor. An end, thought Wolsey, to this senseless war. What could be more desirable?

Although his spies worked well for him, there must be occasions when it was impossible to learn all that passed between the Queen and her nephew's ambassador.

The case against the Queen must necessarily move slowly. But, thought Wolsey, you are doomed, Madam. You have yet to discover that. But I shall find a French Princess for Henry, and then the bonds with your perfidious nephew will be cut forever.

What of Mary? Well, that marriage was three years away and more royal marriages were proposed than celebrated.

He wished that he could take de Praet's letters to Henry and say: You see how your ally's ambassador works against you. You see what an opinion he has of your Chancellor who cares more for your welfare than his own.

He was sure Henry would be furious; and then would be the time to bring forward those French ambassadors, whom he had waiting in hiding, that they might treat with Henry.

Yet how could he go to the King and say, My spies bring me the ambassador's letters; I have a method of breaking the seals and resealing them so expertly that none could guess they have been tampered with. Might not the King question the honor of his Chancellor? Of course he could explain that what he had done had been in the interest of the State; but it was never wise to expose one's methods too freely.

Wolsey had an idea. The city gates were closed each evening, and if any foreigner tried to pass through them he would be arrested by the watch and brought before a royal officer. If the Cardinal gave orders that any letters found on suspected persons were to be brought to him personally, and if he could delay de Praet's courier until the gates of the city had been closed, it was certain that the letters found on that courier would find their way to his table. It was almost certain too that those letters would contain words which would not please the King. And what more reasonable than that the Cardinal, so assiduous in the protection of the King's realm, should read those letters in person, and lay them before his master?

It was the way to deal with the matter and not difficult, with so many
spies surrounding the ambassador, to waylay his courier and prevent his attempting to leave the city until after the gates were closed; and as the man did not know the city's laws the plot worked as smoothly as Wolsey could have hoped. In a very short time the courier had been arrested by the watch as he attempted to leave the city, searched, and the letters found. They now lay on Wolsey's table.

Luck was with him. Both the King and Wolsey were referred to in these documents in a manner which was slighting, and Wolsey could scarcely wait to reach the King's apartments.

“A matter of some importance, Your Grace.”

The King waved a hand and those men who had been with him immediately departed leaving Henry alone with his Chancellor.

Wolsey quickly told Henry what had happened and as he laid the documents before him, was delighted to see the rich color flood the plump cheeks and the eyes blaze with anger.

“I had long suspected him,” said Wolsey; “and now Providence has enabled me to lay evidence of this man's perfidy before Your Grace.”

“He shall go to the Tower!”

“A foreign ambassador, Your Grace?”

“By God, this is treason.”

“As he is an ambassador of the Emperor, might I suggest that we place guards at the door of his house and forbid him to leave?”

“Let it be done!” commanded the King.

THE SEIGNEUR DE PRAET
stood before the Cardinal in the latter's private chamber at Hampton Court. The Flemish nobleman looked with something like scorn at the red satin garments of the Chancellor; he had felt incensed, as he disembarked at the privy stairs and walked across the grass, at the sight of that magnificent edifice; but when he had entered the place and seen the gloriously apparelled servants, the valuable treasures in every room, he had said to himself: Is it possible that a man of the people could own so much? He was resentful, believing possessions and honors to be the prerogative of the nobility.

It was easy when he was not in the presence of Cardinal Wolsey to sneer at his origins; when he stood before him he could not help being conscious of the man's intellectual power; the rather protruding brown eyes of the man of the people seemed to look into his mind, discovering his secret thoughts, to suggest that the reason he clung to the importance of his noble birth was because, knowing himself at a mental disadvantage, he sought to flaunt every little asset he possessed.

Archbishop of York, Cardinal, Papal Legate and Chancellor. So many great
titles for one man to hold—and he a man who had risen from the people. In spite of one's prejudices, one must feel in awe of such achievements.

He was received almost haughtily by the Cardinal's stewards. They would make His Eminence aware of the Seigneur's arrival. Had His Eminence summoned him to Hampton Court? Because if this was not so, they doubted whether they could disturb His Eminence at such an hour.

This was an insult. It did not occur to him that it might be intended. He presumed the servants to be ignorant of his standing.

“Tell the Cardinal,” he said in his haughtiest manner, “that the Ambassador of His Imperial Highness, The Emperor of Austria and the King of Spain, calls upon him at his own wish.”

He was kept waiting for fifteen minutes and then, fuming with rage, was led through the eight splendid rooms to the Cardinal's private apartment. Wolsey was seated at his table and did not rise when the ambassador entered.

What can one expect of a butcher's son? de Praet asked himself.

Wolsey continued to study the paper before him for a few seconds until de Praet said angrily: “I have come as you asked me to, my Lord Cardinal.”

“Oh, yes,” said Wolsey, laying aside the paper with what appeared to be reluctance. “I have bad news for you, Mr. Ambassador.”

There was insult in the title and de Praet felt the blood rushing to his face. Was he, the Emperor's ambassador, to be kept standing while the Cardinal remained sitting at his desk! He might be a servant come to receive a reprimand.

“Bad news!” he cried. “What bad news is this?”

“Your courier was arrested last night and certain documents were taken from him.”

“My courier! This is an insult to the Emperor.”

“It happened quite naturally,” explained the Cardinal. “He delayed his departure until the gates of the city were closed. As you may know, the law says that all foreigners, attempting to enter or leave the city after the gates are closed, are arrested and searched.”

“But he should have left before that. What delayed him?”

The Cardinal lifted his shoulders and smiled. “It is useless to ask me to keep an eye on your servants, Seigneur. This is what has happened. The letters you have written to the Emperor were brought before me. I had no recourse but to read them. We have to be very careful when dealing with those whom we believe to be spies. As it so happened I considered the contents of those letters treasonable, and I saw that it was my duty to lay them before the King.”

De Praet was startled. He remembered the frankness with which he discussed
the King and Cardinal in his letters to his master; he remembered the slighting comments he had made about them both—particularly this man who was now smiling blandly at him.

“His Grace,” went on Wolsey, “was much displeased. It seemed to him that we have been harboring an enemy in our midst.”

De Praet shouted: “You have done this. You had the man arrested. It is a plot.”

“And the letters? Shall you say that I wrote those treasonable documents?” Wolsey demanded with a smile.

“They were intended for the Emperor.”

“I did not expect for a moment that they were intended for the King and myself.”

“I shall go to the King,” said de Praet. “I have evidence against you, Master Wolsey. I know that you have been receiving a spy from France. I know that you are working to destroy the alliance between the King and the Emperor. The King does not know the Cardinal whom he trusts. If he did he would not trust him. But he shall know. I have the evidence. I shall go back to my house; and when I have collected this evidence, which shall bear out my word, I will lose no time in going to the King and laying before him all I have discovered.”

Wolsey continued to smile, and the ambassador turned and walked quickly out of the apartments. The Cardinal went to the window and watched him hurrying across the grass to his boat.

“Helpful of him to explain his intentions in such detail,” he murmured to himself, and then called his stewards to him and began to give orders.

De Praet cursed the slowness of his boat as he was rowed back to London. His indignation increased as he rehearsed what he would say to the King.

When he reached his house he went in and collected certain documents which he had kept in a safe place, and made a careful list of all the people he would call as witnesses against the Cardinal.

Then he was ready to set out for Greenwich. But as he attempted to leave his house two guards barred his way. He saw then that many of them were stationed about his house.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded fiercely, but his fierceness had no effect on the guards.

“Begging Your Excellency's pardon,” said one of them, “you are not to leave this house.”

“Who dares to restrict the Imperial ambassador?”

“The King, Your Excellency.”

De Praet was so angry that for a moment he could find no words to express his indignation; but as he grew a little calmer he realized that he was
defeated. They called him the King's prisoner, but he was in truth that of the Cardinal.

Yet, he reflected, in this country that was one and the same thing.

WITH SATISFACTION
Wolsey presented himself to the King.

“The spy is a prisoner in his lodging,” he said. “He can do little harm now.”

“Let him remain so,” said Henry, who was still smarting from the references to himself in the ambassador's correspondence; accustomed to flattery he was always surprised when he did not receive it, and on those rare occasions when he discovered disparaging comments had been made about him he never failed to be deeply shocked.