The Manner of Amy's Death (5 page)

     
Oh yes, Amy and I agree, Jane has seen life in all its perverse vagaries and is no fool; she will not allow Northumberland to dominate her.  She had been fortunate to have a very good teacher in Katherine Parr whose circle of intelligent and free thinking women friends had refused to be dominated by their husbands, even if poor Anne Askew had paid a terrible price for her courageous belief in the rights of women to hold an educated opinion.

      “If a woman can’t hold a view without fear of her husband calling her a heretic,” I say, “I think I’d rather not be married.  Just imagine!  You’re voicing your thoughts based on your studies of the new learning and the next thing your husband, whose probably got his eye on someone younger anyway, is turning you in to the religious authorities
as a heretic so you can be burned and got rid of.  Much to his convenience, of course!  Very nice for him!”

      “Robert would never do that to me, Kat
e,” says Amy.

     
“That’s because you got married for love, Amy, and not because your parents told you to.  Do you remember Cecil’s pompous comment at your wedding?  ‘I don’t believe in carnal marriages’ he said.  It’s his favourite saying!”

     
“Yes.  He should talk!  His first marriage was exactly that and his own parents didn’t even approve.”

      “Well anyway his first wife was
lucky enough to die.  Just imagine having to live with him, the old sour face,” I smile grimly.  We both laugh. 

      “But seriously,” Amy say
s, “Jane doesn’t seem to be averse to Guildford, even though it was an arranged wedding.  But I know for a fact that she can’t stand her new father-in-law, Northumberland.” 

      “
There will be interesting times ahead,” asserts Amy as we walk around the gardens in the mid morning sunshine. 

      She never spoke a truer word.

The
Dudleys Close Rank

Just before
midday Amy and I go into the house to eat dinner.  We do not dine with the servants in the Great Hall, as is the custom when the master or mistress of the house is present.  Instead we take our dinner in the withdrawing room upstairs.  The cook has prepared a stew of young rabbit and with the fine manchet bread, it’s delicious.  There are little tarts of preserved quince jelly to follow the meat.

      “You should not add sugar to your wine,” I reprimand her.

      “Why not?  They do at court.”

      “Only because they can then drink more
and be merry.  The goings-on in the evenings at court are a scandal!  Foreign visitors are disgusted.”

      Amy shrugs.  “I don’t drink too much anyway,” she says.  It’s true and I feel mean for spoiling her pleasure. 
Robert is often away on court business and, apart from me, she’s on her own and lonely. 

      After our dinner we settle down to a game of cards but very soon we hear the sound of hooves outside.  Amy leaps up.

      “Robert,” she says excitedly.

      But it isn’t; it’s
his brother, Ambrose, and he’s alone.  We watch from the window as he dismounts and strides towards the main entrance.  Amy goes running down the Long Gallery to meet him.

      “
Ambrose.  What’s the news?  What’s happening?”

      Ambrose puts a finger to his lips
and looks over his shoulder to ensure we’re alone.  We go back into the withdrawing room and Amy pours three glasses from the flagon ….. and adds sugar to her glass.

      “That’s a
distasteful habit,” says Ambrose.  Amy pulls a face and shrugs.

      “Well,” he says, “Let’s start at the beginning.  Robert asked me to beg yo
ur forgiveness, Amy, for he can not return home this evening.”

      Amy’s face reveals her disappointment ….. and anger.  But she keeps quiet, awaiting Ambrose’s explanation.

      “King Edward is within hours of death.”

      “God rest his soul,” says Amy and I say, “Amen” to that.

      “He will not live to see another day.  Our sister Mary and her husband, Henry Sidney, are with him as we speak.  Henry holds the poor boy in his arms and tries to comfort him.  Edward is in terrible pain; he coughs up black, foul-smelling matter and is covered in sores.  His death will be a merciful release.”

      We are all three silent as we reflect on the sad, short life of the poor young man.  Jane Seymour, his mother, had died soon after he was born.  His father,
King Henry, had died when he was ten and then Edward had been prevented by his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, from seeing his step mother, Katherine Parr, Henry’s sixth wife, who had been motherly and warm towards him. Then his cousin, Jane Grey, with whom he had grown up at court and of whom he had become very fond, was made a ward of his other uncle, Thomas Seymour, Earl of Sudeley, and his new wife – none other than Katherine, Henry’s widow.  So Edward lost Jane’s company too.

      Everyone the young King had loved had been taken away from him by the scheming adults at his court.  Finally his uncle Thomas
Sudeley was executed for treason, followed not long afterwards by his uncle Edward, Duke of Somerset.  Now the only one of his former friends left at court is Henry Sidney, his comforter as he lies dying.  It’s cause for reflection.  Who would be a king?

      “Poor boy!”
I say and Ambrose nods but then he says,

      “What
I am to tell you now is a matter for our kin and for no other ears.  As far as I am concerned you are our kin too, Kate.”  He gives both Amy and me a serious, direct look.

      “Edward has made Lady Jane Grey his heir. 
Not her male descendants, as he originally wanted, but Lady Jane herself.  He has stated specifically that he does not want either Mary or Elizabeth, as Mary will restore Catholicism and the ties to the Pope in Rome and Elizabeth was the whore Anne Boleyn’s daughter.  Both of them, he says, may marry a foreign prince and England may lose its sovereignty if either one is Queen.”

      “Robert told me of Edward’s ‘device’ for the succession,” says Amy, “So where does the problem lie?
  It’s what the King wanted.”

      “The problem,” says Ambrose, “Is that some members of the Privy Council say that Edward’s device was not ratified by Parliament and is therefore illegal.  The only legal document was
King Henry’s Succession which stated that first Mary and then Elizabeth were to be his heirs should Edward die childless.  They say it would be an act of treason to declare Jane to be Queen.”

      “So what will happen next?”

      “We can do nothing before Edward dies, which, pray God, will be mercifully soon.  He suffers so.  Father believes it will be a simple matter to win over the dissenters on the Privy Council.  He has many allies for Jane already.  But first he has plans to arrest the Lady Mary and prevent her from causing trouble.  He informed her that Edward is very ill and wishes to see her.  He had hoped to detain her when she came to court.  Unfortunately Mary seems to have smelled the plot and remains at her home, twenty miles away, at Hunsdon.”

      “And Robert?  Where does he fit into your father’s plotting?”

      “Please show more respect towards the Duke, your father-in-law,” Ambrose speaks severely to Amy. “Robert has been dispatched to Hunsdon with a small army of horsemen to arrest the Lady Mary there.”

      “WHAT?” shrieks Amy
, just about as disrespectfully as she can.  “The Duke has sent Robert to do his dirty work for him.  Why could he not go himself?  Why not John?  Why not you, Ambrose?  You are both his older brothers.  It’s not fair to send Robert.  If it all goes badly, it’s Robert who will suffer a traitor’s death.  How can the Duke do this to his own son?”  Amy’s voice tails off into a wail of despair.

      “Take heart, Amy,” says Ambrose, “You know that I am fond of Robert too.  We are very close and father has said that there is nothing to fear from Mary.  She will either be arrested at Hunsdon or she will flee and escape to the continent and the protection of the Emperor, Charles, her kinsman.  The French have promised help for our cause
.  They do not wish to see Mary made Queen and will do anything against the Hapsburg Empire.  They fear Mary’s Spanish blood will give the Emperor a foothold in England.”

      Amy looks doubtful and a tear rolls down her cheek
.  What Ambrose says is reassuring and yet ……  Can the French be trusted?  But it makes sense that Mary would flee to her cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Hapsburg Charles V, who now rules most of Europe. The French hate him and the Hapsburg dynasty even more than they mistrust the English.

      “Don’t worry,” says Ambrose, “Father has the matter completely in hand.  Nothing could be more certain.  Tomorrow he will persuade the remaining Council members to support him –
they will not dare refuse – and the rest will go smoothly.”  He pauses.  “Finally I am here, Amy, to ask you as a member of our kin to support us by offering your assistance.”

      “What does the Duke wish me to do?”  Amy says this with an air of resignation.

      “As soon as the King dies, Lady Jane Grey is to be taken to Syon House by my sister, Mary Sidney.  They will travel up the Thames by wherry from Katherine Parr’s old house at Chelsea.  Father intended us all to be at Syon to welcome Jane but with the recent turn of events, Mary Tudor’s reluctance to come to court and the Council’s wavering in its support, the Duke and my brothers are all needed here in London.  The King’s death will not be announced until everyone is united and all is complete.”

      “
Everyone is needed at court except Robert whose life, it seems, is expendable.  He does the dirty business of arresting the person some would see as the rightful Queen,” says Amy bitterly.

      Ambrose ignores this latest jibe.  “It is certain the King will die in the next few hours so Jane and Mary will go to Sy
on tomorrow.  Father wishes Jane to have some people there of her own age.  He would like you and Kate to join Jane and Mary in the evening.  It will make Jane feel more comfortable and you may take a wherry up river from Somerset House.”

      With that Ambrose gets up a
nd takes his leave of us.  We’ve not been asked to help by his father, Northumberland, we have been ordered.  Amy is not the least bit reassured by the news of Robert and I feel very apprehensive for the two of us.  One way or another we are involved in the Dudleys’ plotting up to our ears.

Syon

The following morning we pack a
few possessions into a small wooden box.  We don’t expect to stay at Syon for long and we sleep in the shifts we wear under our kirtles and gowns so we need very little other than a comb and our small pieces of jewellery.  Then we begin another seemingly interminable wait for Ambrose’s servant to arrive.  It’s well into the afternoon before he escorts us down to the wharf where the wherries are waiting.

      The journey upstream takes time.  It’s a pleasant
journey and the weather is fair.  A kingfisher skims the water and, as we leave the city behind, there are few boats other than ours.  No one speaks.  Conversation in front of the servants may give too much away. 

      Finally we round a bend in the river and there in front of us is Sheen
which means ‘beautiful place’.  It’s the royal palace where Amy and Robert were married three years ago.  King Edward had attended the wedding and so had his sister Elizabeth on what was an extravagant occasion of feasting and entertainment and it makes me sad as I remember how the young king had been almost childish in his delight at the masques, pageants and jousting.  Presumably he has now died or we would not be making this journey.

      I glance at Amy’s face as she too gazes at the magnificent façade of the palace. 
I wonder what she’s thinking.  Her marriage has taken her to the very heart of the court and she now has wealth and position that most women would envy but she has little personal happiness.  She loves her husband very much and, indeed, I think that he loves her too but …..  he is always working.  They see so little of each other and I know that they would dearly like a child.

      Sheen is a little way up river
and situated on the southern bank; we swing away from it as the oarsmen pull towards the northern bank where there is a landing stage for Syon House.  They hold the wherry steady as we disembark.

      Like Somerset House, Syon is imposing and new; although the ruins of the abbey can be clearly seen alongside it.

      “It makes me shudder,” says Amy breaking the silence.

      We walk from the landing stage up the path to the imposing entrance where Jane
Grey (now Jane Dudley) and Mary Sidney, Amy’s sister in law, are waiting to greet us on the steps.

      “You knew we were coming?” says Amy.

      “No, we saw you walking up the path,” says Mary.  “Jane has been so anxious; we were in the Long Gallery watching from all the windows for any sign of someone approaching.”

      Amy then remembers the servant
s and dismisses them.  We wait until they’ve gone round to the kitchen entrance before continuing.