Mary Tudor (40 page)
Authors: Linda Porter
At Framlingham, meanwhile, a substantial host was gathering below the castle’s stout walls, commanded by the elderly earl of Sussex. There was also welcome news on 16 July from Sir Edmund Peckham, the treasurer of the Mint, who had been instrumental in the Thames Valley rising. Mary’s cause was prospering west of London and reports began to circulate that Peckham had 10,000 men ready to march on London, to seize the Tower and it armaments. All this increased Mary’s confidence, even as Northumberland’s began to waver.The duke reached Cambridge on 16 July and was joined by Sir Edward Clinton and the earl of Hunting-ton. But no further troops came from London, where the rumours of Peckham’s host caused consternation. The duke’s force set off towards Bury St Edmunds, sacking Sawston Hall in revenge for Huddleston’s sheltering of Mary. It was an ineffective gesture; the men began to desert and Northumberland was forced to turn back to Cambridge.There he waited and hesitated, uncertain whether to make the push to confront Mary’s troops. His eventual decision to refrain from causing bloodshed was crucial. At the time, he was given no credit for it, but Northumberland, despite his prickliness, was not, at heart, a bloodthirsty man. As in 1549, he did not relish the prospect of civil war.
The final boost for Marian supporters, and the one that probably assured her success, was the decision made by John de Vere, earl of Oxford, to declare for Mary on 18 July. The story was told at the time that he had been persuaded to change his mind only by a spirited household rebellion among his servants, but that may have been a convenient cover.
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The 16th earl, a Protestant sympathiser and notorious womaniser, was a complex man. He could hardly be considered a natural ally but, as he controlled most of Essex, his defection was of paramount importance. No doubt it was military prudence rather than personal distaste for someone with a very irregular private life which caused Oxford’s troops to be sent off to bolster the defence of Ipswich, rather than join Mary at Framlingham. She did not need him there, in any case. Convinced now that success was hers, she issued a memorable proclamation the same day. It was signed: ‘Marye the quene’.
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The 16th earl, a Protestant sympathiser and notorious womaniser, was a complex man. He could hardly be considered a natural ally but, as he controlled most of Essex, his defection was of paramount importance. No doubt it was military prudence rather than personal distaste for someone with a very irregular private life which caused Oxford’s troops to be sent off to bolster the defence of Ipswich, rather than join Mary at Framlingham. She did not need him there, in any case. Convinced now that success was hers, she issued a memorable proclamation the same day. It was signed: ‘Marye the quene’.
The original document, on a large square leaf of paper, has been in the possession of the Bedingfeld family for over 450 years, but has been overlooked by Mary’s biographers until now. In it, Mary announces her succession on the death of Edward and makes very clear that she is speaking with regal authority, true dynastic right and from a position of military strength. It begins:‘By the Queen. Know ye all good people that the most excellent princess Mary, elder daughter of King HenryVIII and sister to King Edward VI, your late sovereign Lord, is now by the grace of God Queen of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith and very true owner of the crown and government of the realm of England and Ireland and all things thereto justly belonging, and to her and no other ye owe to be her true Liege men.’
Having asserted her legitimacy, she makes clear her strength of arms. She is, she says, ‘nobly and strongly furnished of an army royall under Lord Henry, Earl of Sussex, her Lieutenant General, accompanied with the earl of Bath, the Lord Wentworth and a multitude of other noble gentlemen’. And she goes on to attack Northumberland and his ambitions without even deigning to name her cousin Jane Grey or mention her claim to the crown - her wrath is squarely aimed at the man she knows has sought to deprive her of her right: ‘… her most false traitor, John, duke of Northumberland and his complices who, upon most false and most shameful grounds, minding to make his own son king by marriage of a new found lady’s title, or rather to be king himself, hath most traitorously by long continued treason sought, and seeketh, the destruction of her royal person, the nobility and common weal of this realm’.The contempt for the Greys as claimants and the political opportunism that has made them usurpers of the true succession is very clear in these carefully chosen words of condemnation.
The proclamation ends with a rallying cry:‘Wherefore, good people, as ye mindeth the surety of her said person, the honour and surety of your country, being good Englishmen, prepare yourselves in all haste with all your power to repair unto her said armies yet being in Suffolk, making your prayers to God for her success … upon the said causes she utterly defyeth the said duke for her most errant traitor to God and to this realm.’
More, however, than just defiance is thrown at Northumberland. Mary is implacable in her determination, as she puts a price on his head: ‘Anyone taking him, if a noble and peer of the realm, to have one thousand pounds of land in fee; if a knight, five hundred pounds in lands, with honour and advancement to nobilitie; if a gentleman under the degree of knight, five hundred marks of land in fee and the degree of a knight; if a yeoman, 100 pounds of land in fee and the degree of a squire.’ The tone makes it quite clear, though it does not say so explicitly, that Northumberland’s fate, if he is taken, will be death.
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Still, no one in Mary’s camp knew whether there would be a military engagement and the mustered forces grew slightly restive with inactivity and anticipation. It was decided that a personal appearance by Mary was required. On 20 July, her splendid white horse was saddled and she rode out to make an inspection at four o’clock in the afternoon. An inspiring sight awaited her. The standards were unfurled, the military colours set up and battle lines divided into two, under Wentworth and Sussex. For the first time as queen, Mary saw her forces arrayed, ready to fight and die for her. But the press of men and arms was too much for her horse and it became frisky. She was a fine horsewoman but she could not afford the ignominy of being unable to control this nervous animal, so she dismounted and continued her inspection on foot. Moving among her men, she spoke to them ‘with an exceptional kindness and with an approach so wonderfully relaxed as can scarcely be described … she completely won everyone’s affections’. After she inspected these divisions, a large detachment of cavalry streamed forth, making a splendid sound. ‘The queen was much delighted with this show and spent three hours there before returning to the castle.’
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It was there, in the old Howard fortress on the evening of 20 July, that Mary received Lord Paget and the earl of Arundel, who had ridden post-haste from London.They brought her the news that she and her advisers had been hoping, praying and working for all summer. The privy council had proclaimed her queen the previous day and Northumberland had surrendered without even drawing his sword at Cambridge. After two weeks of confusion and intrigue not one drop of English blood was shed in bringing Mary Tudor to the throne of England. In London, bonfires were lit and church bells rung in one of the greatest spontaneous outpourings of joy that had ever greeted the accession of a new monarch. ‘Men ran hither and thither, bonnets flew into the air, shouts rose higher than the stars, and all the bells were set a-pealing,’ wrote an anonymous Italian in London, adding, with a fair infusion of hyperbole,‘from a distance the earth must have looked like Mount Etna. The people were mad with joy, feasting and singing, and the streets crowded all night long. I am unable to describe to you, nor would you believe, the exultation of all men. I will only tell you that not a soul imagined the possibility of such a thing’.
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Nor, until the last couple of months, had Mary, but now, suddenly, the distant dream of her childhood was reality. The sorrow, the suffering, the fears of a life spent in uncertainty were all part of her past. She instructed her chaplains at Framlingham to give thanks to God for her bloodless victory, saying that she ‘wanted the realm cleansed of divisive parties’.With God’s help, she had triumphed against all the odds. She took this as a sign that He would bless her through all the years of her reign.
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Nor, until the last couple of months, had Mary, but now, suddenly, the distant dream of her childhood was reality. The sorrow, the suffering, the fears of a life spent in uncertainty were all part of her past. She instructed her chaplains at Framlingham to give thanks to God for her bloodless victory, saying that she ‘wanted the realm cleansed of divisive parties’.With God’s help, she had triumphed against all the odds. She took this as a sign that He would bless her through all the years of her reign.
What had happened back in London, that brought Paget and Arundel to Mary with letters full of contrition and assurances of unswerving devotion? The simple answer is that, without a firm hand at the centre, there had been a collective loss of nerve. Northumberland himself had given voice to fears of such a development and it had come to pass, almost as if he had, perversely, willed it into existence. Suffolk was no war leader, and though he might lock his fellow-councillors in the Tower, as a protective measure, this form of polite imprisonment made it easy for doubts and resentments to fester.The duke was also an ineffective jailer. The marquess of Winchester managed to get out on 16 July but was brought back. He was clearly unhappy with the restrictions placed on him and it seems highly likely that he was already moving towards Mary. His example, allied to the highly disturbing rumours reaching London that Peckham’s forces were coming to invade the capital and that Mary had 30,000 men under her standard at Framlingham (in fact, she probably had no more than 6,000), provided the impetus for others to take more direct action.
There were also signs that the mood of the population of London as a whole might be shifting. Despite the growth of Protestantism in the capital, there was no outpouring of support for Queen Jane, who was not seen by anyone after her arrival at the Tower on 10 July. As the days went by, the upholders of Mary’s claim became more vocal. On 13 July a tract was printed and distributed in London by one ‘Poor Pratte’ which tells us a great deal about how public opinion could be influenced in the days when no other mass media existed.
Pratte wrote his epistle to Gilbert Potter, a drawer (the 16th-century equivalent of a barman) at the St John’s Head tavern, within Ludgate. Then, as now, public houses were places where political opinions were voiced and Potter had spoken too freely for the liking of the authorities. He had been pilloried and lost both his ears for saying that the Lady Mary had a better title to the throne than the Lady Jane. His beliefs, whether spontaneously expressed or coached as part of wider effort to discredit Jane at popular level, provided Potter’s defender with the ammunition for a stunning piece of propaganda. In a positively biblical style, Pratte warmed to his theme:
What man could have shown himself bolder in her grace’s cause, than thou hast showed? Or who did so valiantly in the proclamation time, when Jane was published queen (unworthy as she was) and more to blame, I may say to thee, are some of the consenters thereunto. There were thousands more than thyself, yet durst they not (such is the fragility and weakness of the flesh) once move their lips to speak that which thou didst speak.Thou offerest thyself amongst the multitude of people to fight against them all in her quarrel, and for her honour did not fear to run upon the point of the swords. O faithful subject! O true heart to Mary, our queen.
The heroic Potter is compared to various Old Testament figures, such as Daniel cast to the lions, and the writer continues in mixed religious and classical vein for some time. But he is convinced, even so, that Mary would rather her brother lived than become queen, but, as a virtuous princess and rightful heir, the throne is hers. At the end of the epistle is a reference that may provide a clue to the backers of this broadsheet, which would have been easily distributed, posted in public places and read out to those who were interested but illiterate.The writer has heard, he says, that in respect of those who exercise power, the earl of Arundel ‘will not consent to none of their doings’. He beseeches God to keep the earl steadfast.
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Whether Arundel had prior knowledge of ‘Poor Pratte’s’ epistle is impossible to say. The precise chronology of the council’s betrayal of Northumberland is hard to determine. On 16 July, the councillors sent out a long and impassioned letter to the counties which marked their final attempt to uphold Queen Jane. This time it pulled no punches in castigating Mary or calling upon every xenophobic and religious prejudice to discredit her. She was the
bastard daughter of the noble prince, king Henry VIII, seeking daily more and more by all ways and means she can to stir and move sundry of the nobles, gentlemen and others the Queen’s Majesty’s subjects to rebellion, [and] ceaseth not to spread and set further most traitorously sundry untrue reports of our sovereign lady Queen Jane and falsely also some of us of Her Majesty’s privy council …
Edward VI had considered that the crown could only pass to someone of ‘the whole blood’; otherwise would have meant the ‘bringing in of strangers, whereof was like to have followed the bondage of this realm to the old servitude of the Antichrist of Rome, the subversion of the true preaching of God’s word and of the ancient laws, usages and liberties of this realm’. The unanimity of the ruling elite in their support of the king was emphasised: ‘long before his death, not only we and every of us being of His Majesty’s privy council did consent and subscribe … so do we still wholly remain and God willing mind always to remain of that concord, and to maintain and to defend to the death our said sovereign lady Queen Jane’s just title during our lives’. The blame for all ‘these unnatural seditions and tumults’ was laid squarely on ‘the said bastard daughter’. Mary was an ingrate, who should have been content with the honourable state in which she was left by her father and allowed to live by her brother. ‘But,’ they went on,‘through the counsel of a number of obstinate papists she forsaketh as by her seditious proclamations may appear the just title of supremacy annexed by the imperial crown of this realm, and consequently, to bring in again the miserable servitude of the bishop of Rome, to the great offence of almighty God and utter subversion of the whole state of this realm’. And if this was not enough, there was a sweetener at the end, for those loyal to Queen Jane could be assured that they would find her a good and gracious lady, ‘and us most willing to further any your reasonable suites when occasion shall serve’.
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