The King's Secret Matter

by Виктория Холт

  Since the election of Adrian and his death the Emperor Charles had visited England, and he had become more aware than he had been before of the important part played by the Cardinal in the foreign policy of England. To win Wolsey’s approval of the alliance he had offered large sums of money, a pension no less; but Wolsey had begun to grow uneasy because none of these sums of money had yet been paid; and he could get no satisfaction as to when they would be from Louis de Praet, who was now Charles’s Ambassador in England.

  Money was needed to prosecute the war, was the excuse, and Wolsey was angry to contemplate the riches which were being squandered on useless battlefields in Europe, riches which could have been used not only to make the country prosperous but would have enabled him to increase his personal treasures.

  But there was one concession which Charles could make and would cost him little in money; and this was what the Cardinal needed more than anything else in the world: His influence at the Conclave. The powerful Emperor, of whom every Cardinal would stand in awe, had but to make it known that he wished to see an English Pope in the Vatican and that those who depended on his bounty were to give their vote to Cardinal Wolsey, and the Papal crown would be won.

  This the Emperor could do. He would do it. He must…since he had failed to supply the pension.

  “If he does not…,” said Wolsey aloud, but he did not continue.

  He would not face the possibility of failure. The Emperor could and would.

  The Cardinal’s unpopularity throughout the country was growing, and people looked on sullenly when he paraded the streets on his way to Westminster. He went in all his splendid pomp, but that did nothing to appease the people’s anger, but rather increased it. They were openly murmuring against him.

  He had always known, during his brilliant career, when it was time to move on, so now he was aware that he had reached the pinnacle of power in England, and that it was time to take the final step to Rome. It must be now, for there might not be another opportunity.

  This war will end in failure, he thought. And when there are failures, scapegoats are sought. Who would make a better scapegoat, in the eyes of the people, than the opulent Cardinal?

  He was alert because he had seen a boat pulling up at the privy stairs, and he guessed it could be his messenger.

  He tried to curb his impatience; he was so eager to go down to meet the man, but, as much as he longed to, he must remember his position and his dignity.

  How long it seemed to take for him to cross the park! Now he had entered the palace. Soon the usher would come to his door.

  I must be calm, he told himself. I must show no excitement, no eagerness.

  Cavendish was at the door.

  “A messenger is without, Your Eminence. He asks that he may be brought at once to your presence.”

  “A messenger?” He was sure the beating of his heart disturbed the red satin of his robe. “Let him wait…no, on second thoughts I will see him now.”

  Cavendish bowed low. Now he would be traversing the eight rooms to that one in which the messenger waited…the all-important messenger. It seemed an hour before he was standing on the threshold of the room.

  “You have a message for me?” he said.

  “Your Eminence,” said the man and held out a roll of parchment.

  As Wolsey took it it seemed to burn his fingers, but still he restrained himself.

  “You may go now to the kitchens. Tell them I sent you and you are to be refreshed.”

  The man bowed and was gone; so at last he was alone.

  He tore at the parchment, his trembling fingers impeding him; he felt dizzy and it was some seconds before he read the words which danced like black demons on the parchment scroll.

  He stared at them and tried to force them by his dominant will to reform themselves into what he wished to read.

  But of what use was that? The result was there for him to see and there was nothing he could do to alter it.

  “Cardinal de’ Medici has been elected the new Pope of Rome, Clement VII.”

  Never since the days of his obscurity had he known a defeat like this. Disappointed he had been when Adrian was elected; but then he had been sure that there would shortly be another conclave, and he had needed the time to consolidate his forces.

  But when would he have another chance? Perhaps never.

  This was the darkest moment of his life so far. He had come such a long way; he could not believe in failure. Was he to fail with the very peak of achievement in sight? It seemed so.

  Then a burning rage took possession of him. It was directed against one man—a sly pallid youth who had promised so much and done so little, who had seemed perhaps a little simple in his humility. But there was no real humility behind those mild blue eyes. A wily statesman lurked there, a statesman who believed he could best outwit his rivals by deceiving them with their belief in his own incompetence.

  Wolsey spoke softly to himself: “The Emperor has done this. He has refused me the Papal crown as he has the pensions he promised me. He shall regret it, as all those shall who become the enemies of Thomas Wolsey.”

  * * *

  ALL THROUGH THE WINTER Wolsey successfully hid his rancor against the Emperor while he was waiting for his opportunity. Determined to break the friendship between Henry and Charles, he kept a sharp watch on Katharine for, since her nephew was his enemy, she must be also.

  He asked the King’s permission to introduce a new woman to the Queen’s intimate circle, and Henry, delighted to do his Chancellor a favor, agreed that the woman should become one of the Queen’s maids of honor.

  Katharine did not like the woman, but she was enjoying her new peaceful existence too much to protest. She need not see much of her; and in any case she was so completely wrapped up in her daughter that she had little time for anything or anyone else. Vives’s curriculum was certainly a strenuous one and sometimes she thought Mary spent too much time in study; however the little girl was a willing pupil and, to help her, Katharine herself studied with her and commanded some of the ladies of the Court to do likewise.

  Being so pleasantly engaged she scarcely noticed the woman and thus gave her excellent opportunities for hiding herself when the Spanish Ambassador called and had conversations with the Queen; nor was it difficult to find a means of conveying those letters, which the Queen wrote to her nephew, to Wolsey before they were sent to Spain.

  As for the Cardinal, he had always been able to wait for revenge and, as he had never favored the Spanish policy and had always thought that alliance with the French would be a better alternative, he began to plan to this end.

  The winter passed; there were good reports of the progress of the war, but no material gains came the way of the English; and the King preferred to forget what was happening on the Continent in the Christmas and New Year Revels.

  During these Katharine was aware on several occasions of Thomas Boleyn’s daughter Anne who always seemed to be in the center of a merry and admiring group, with either Wyatt or Henry Percy at her side. Katharine had noticed the King, glowering at these young people as though their high spirits annoyed him. Could it be that he was angry because he was no longer quite so young; was he tiring of pageants and masques?

  * * *

  ALL THROUGH THE SPRING and summer there was news of the war, but none of it good. Wolsey was trying to raise money; the Emperor was still making promises to pay, not only what he had borrowed, but Wolsey’s pension.

  That is money we shall likely never see, thought Wolsey; but he did not tell the King this because Henry was at the moment eager to maintain his alliance with Charles, and his hatred of François was as strong as ever.

  One summer’s day Dr. Linacre, the King’s physician, begged an audience of the Queen, and when he came into her presence he brought a bouquet of beautiful roses.

  Katharine congratulated him warmly because she knew that he had recently brought this rose to England, and had succeeded in making it grow in English soil.


  The doctor was delighted and as he bowed low before her Katharine smiled at his enthusiasm and held out a hand to take the roses.

  “They are beautiful,” she cried.

  “I knew Your Grace would think so. I have come to ask permission of you and the King to present you with trees I have grown.”

  “I am sure His Grace will be delighted.”

  “I had doubts that they would grow in our soil. Our climate is so different from that of Damascus.”

  “And you have succeeded magnificently. I know the King will be as pleased as I am to accept these trees.”

  “I have called it the Damask Rose,” said the doctor.

  “An excellent name, and so explicit.”

  She was still admiring the roses when the King entered the apartment. The peaceful atmosphere was immediately disturbed for the King’s face was of that faintly purplish tinge which nowadays indicated anger, and his eyes ice-blue, his mouth tight.

  “Your Grace,” began the doctor, who could think of nothing but the pleasure his roses gave him and, he believed, must give all those who looked at them, “I have been showing the Queen the new Damask Rose.”

  “Very pleasant,” said the King shortly.

  “Dr. Linacre wishes to present us with trees too,” said the Queen.

  “They will be some of the first to be planted in this country, Your Grace,” went on the doctor. “I shall count it an honor…”

  “We thank you,” said the King. He took one of the roses in his hand and studied it, but Katharine knew that he gave it little attention. “It is indeed beautiful. We accept the trees. They shall be tended with care, and I am sure give us pleasure for many years to come.”

  The doctor bowed and asked the Queen’s permission to take some of the roses to the Princess Mary. Katharine gave that permission willingly and the doctor took his leave.

  When he had gone, Henry walked to the window and stood glowering out.

  Katharine knew that it was on occasions like this when his dogs and all wise men and women kept their distance from him, but she was his wife and must know what disturbed him, so she asked: “Does aught ail you, Henry?”

  He turned and she noticed how his lower lip jutted out.

  “Oh, ’tis naught but the folly of young Percy.”

  “Northumberland’s son?”

  “Yes, Henry Percy. The young fool has been presumptuous enough to promise marriage to one of the girls of the Court.”

  “And you cannot grant permission for this marriage?”

  “Northumberland’s is one of the most noble families in the land,” growled Henry.

  “Is the girl whom he has chosen so lowly?”

  “She is not of his rank.”

  “So far below him then?”

  “It is Thomas Boleyn’s girl.”

  “Oh?” The Queen thought of the girl as she had seen her about the Court—a flamboyant personality, one made to attract attention to herself, decidedly French in manners and style of dressing. Indeed since the beginning of the French wars, when the girl had come to England, fashions had been changing and becoming more French, which was strange when it was considered that the English were at war with that country. “I have noticed her often,” went on the Queen. “She seems to be one who attracts attention to herself. I have seen Percy with her and Wyatt also.”

  “Wyatt is married so he could not make a fool of himself,” muttered the King.

  “Thomas Boleyn has risen in your favor in the last years, Henry. Is the girl so very much below Percy?”

  “Come, come, he is the eldest son of Northumberland. His father will never consent to the match.”

  “But the girl’s mother is a Howard and…”

  Henry made an irritable gesture, wriggling his shoulders like a petulant boy. “Northumberland is coming to Court to forbid his son to have anything to do with the girl. Indeed she is pledged already to marry the son of Piers Butler. As to Percy, he is to marry Shrewsbury’s girl—Mary Talbot…a suitable match.”

  Katharine stared sadly before her. She was sorry for the lovers.

  “I thought the Boleyn girl to be well educated, and she has a certain dignity.”

  The King turned on her angrily. “’Tis a most unsuitable match. The Cardinal has already reprimanded that young fool Percy and made him see his folly. ’Tis a pity he ever took service with the Cardinal, since it has brought him into close contact with the girl.”

  “Percy will be docile,” said the Queen. She remembered him as she had last seen him at the side of that vital, glowing girl, and she had seen what a contrast they made—she so full of life, he so gentle, weak almost. She was certain there would be no rebellion from Percy.

  “He had better be,” said the King. “In any case he’s banished from Court and has been ordered not to see the girl again. His duty now is to marry Mary Talbot as soon as possible, and we shall see that that is done.”

  “Ah well, Henry, then the matter will be settled. But I am surprised that you should feel so strongly about it.”

  “You are surprised!” The King’s eyes were fierce. “Let me tell you that the welfare of the young people at my Court is my greatest concern.”

  “I know it well.”

  The King strode from her apartment; and she continued to wonder why he should have been so incensed by such a trivial matter.

  She saw Anne Boleyn a few days later, and all the sparkle seemed to have gone out of her. She was dejected and sullen.

  Poor girl! pondered the Queen. She is heartbroken at the loss of her lover.

  She wondered whether to send for her and offer her comfort; but decided that would be unwise, and tantamount to acting against the wishes of the King.

  A week passed and she remembered that she had not seen the girl; so she asked one of her women if Anne Boleyn was still at Court.

  “No, Your Grace,” was the answer, “she has returned to Hever Castle on the King’s command.”

  Banished from Court! And simply because she accepted Percy’s offer of marriage.

  The King’s anger was unaccountable.

  * * *

  AS THE CARDINAL bent over the documents on his table his usher entered and told him that a merchant of Genoa was craving an audience with His Eminence.

  “What is his business?” asked the Cardinal.

  “He would tell me nothing, Eminence, except that he had merchandise to show you which he would show no other, and that he felt sure you would be willing to grant him an interview if you would but look at the nature of the articles he has to lay before you.”

  Wolsey was thoughtful. Was he right when he fancied there was a hint of subtlety in the merchant’s words? What was the nature of the merchandise he wished to show? Could it be information—secret information?

  A year ago he would have had the merchant told that he might call again; since his defeat at the Papal election he had added that to his caution which he had subtracted from his dignity.

  “Bring the man to me,” he said.

  Cavendish retired and returned in a few moments with a dark-skinned man who carried a bag in a manner to suggest that what it contained was very precious indeed.

  “You may leave,” Wolsey told Cavendish; and as soon as he was alone with the Genoese, the man set down his bag and said: “My lord Cardinal, I am not merely a merchant. I come on behalf of one who is eager to negotiate with you.”

  “And who is that?”

  “The Duchesse of Savoy.”

  The Cardinal was silent. He knew that in truth this man was a messenger from François Premier, because, in everything François did, his mother, Louise of Savoy, was firmly behind him. Therefore if this man did indeed come from the Duchesse, it was tantamount to coming from the King of France.

  At last Wolsey spoke. “For what purpose are you here?”

  “My lady Duchesse knows full well the perfidy of the Emperor, which Your Eminence has so recently had reason to deplore. She believes that England would be h
appier in friendship with the King of France than with this perfidious Emperor. She knows that the King of England is deeply involved with the Emperor, that the Princess Mary is the Emperor’s betrothed; but she feels that a greater understanding could be possible between France and England if Your Eminence and she were friends. She sends you letters which I bring to you; and if it should please Your Eminence to answer these letters, your reply can be safely trusted to my care.”

  “Your credentials?” asked the Cardinal.

  The merchant opened his bag and produced papers which Wolsey studied.

  These told him that he was in the presence of Giovanni Joachino Passano, a man whom he could trust; Passano was in England as a merchant and would carry on that trade. If the Cardinal could find lodgings for him it would make their meetings easier to arrange and he would be always at his disposal as the go-between for correspondence between France and England.

  The Cardinal was thoughtful.

  He was determined to end the war, the cessation of which was necessary for England’s solvency; he was equally determined to show the Emperor that he could not neglect his promise to Thomas Wolsey with impunity. Secret communications with France would be useful at this moment.

  “I shall lodge you in London with a servant of mine in whom I have the utmost trust,” he said. “As a merchant of Genoa it will be understood that you are constantly travelling between London and the Continent. I shall study these papers you have brought to me and it may be that I shall wish you to carry my answers to the Duchesse.”

  “If that is so, Your Eminence, I shall be at your service.”

  “Let me see the articles you have brought with you to sell.”

  For the next ten minutes the Cardinal examined the exquisite cloth which the merchant showed him; then he summoned one of his pages and told him to send in a certain servant, one who did not live in the Cardinal’s intimate entourage but had his lodgings in London.

  When this man arrived he said to him: “Here is Giovanni Joachino Passano, a merchant from Genoa, who has brought me rich cloth. I wish him to return to Genoa in due course to bring me more, but for the time being he needs lodgings in London. Take him into your house, that he may be near at hand when I wish to give him my orders.”