by David Loades
None of this need have mattered in the long term, but thanks to the events that took place between May and July 1555, the regime suddenly lost momentum. On 30 April there was a false alarm, when:
… tidings came to London that the Queen’s Grace was delivered of a prince, so there was great ringing [of bells] through London and divers places. Te Deum laudamus sung, but the morrow it was turned otherwise, to the pleasure of God …[280]
The royal physicians were all at sea, obstetrics at that time being largely a matter of guesswork and experience. By mid-May they were saying that it could be any day, but Mary herself did not expect to give birth until early June. The uncertainty had a paralysing effect upon the Franco-Imperial peace negotiations that were going on at La Marque. The birth of an heir to the English throne would have given the Emperor an immense advantage, while if the queen and her child both died, the advantage would be to the French. On 30 May a number of blank letters were prepared, announcing the queen’s safe delivery, and the following day signs of impending labour were reported. The physicians adroitly shifted their predicted birth date to 6 June. The day came – and went. In the bed chamber a cradle stood ready, ‘very sumptuously and gorgeously trimmed’, and a team of rockers, nurses and other domestic servants were prepared to do their offices. Still nothing happened, and scandalous rumours began to multiply. The queen was not really pregnant at all, but seriously ill – some said dead. The whole seclusion was a charade, a Spanish plot to pass off another infant as the queen’s. On 11 June, we are told, a certain Isobel Malt was secretly approached by Lord North to surrender her newborn son – on generous terms. The lady apparently refused.[281]
The stakes were high. Michieli believed that if a prince were born, Philip’s whole relationship with Mary and with the English council would be transformed, and he would no longer be ‘like an alien’ in the realm. Some apprehensive Englishmen thought the same: ‘his father will bring into this realm his own nation, and put out the English nation’. In other words the marriage treaty would count for nothing. What Philip thought about all this fuss, and its immense implications for him, we do not know. He remained at Hampton Court, but whether he spent any time in his wife’s company is not recorded – probably not, given the strictness of the taboos on male intruders.
Mary herself remained obstinately hopeful, and wrote to her ambassador in Brussels, Sir John Mason, as late as the middle of July instructing him to deny rumours that her pregnancy was false.[282] However, not even Mary could hope indefinitely. Even before she wrote to Mason, some of her council had given up, while as late as the 25th her women were still expectant. By the end of the month, the whole pathetic farce had collapsed, leaving Mary exhausted and distraught. Her first reaction on finally becoming convinced of her delusion was to blame the ‘lies and flattery’ with which she had been surrounded, but in fact it had been her own will that had driven the pretence on and made it virtually treasonable to share the doubts of French agents and heretics. No official pronouncement was made, but on 4 August the court moved to Oatlands, and the rockers and other nursery staff were dismissed.
Those who liked Mary – and they were numerous at all social levels – were deeply saddened. Protestants proclaimed a divine judgement on their persecutor, and politicians had to take stock of a new situation. No one knew (or knows now) whether this convincing phantom pregnancy had been the result of her own intense desires, or was a symptom of some serious illness.[283] Although no physician could then have named it, it looks suspiciously like the onset of the cancer of the womb that was to kill her three years later. Mary recovered her health slowly, and refused to give up the hope of offspring in the future, but Philip and most of her council began to face the probability that she would never have a child. The immediate beneficiary of this was Elizabeth, who was released when the court moved to Oatlands, and she returned to her own establishment at Ashridge. Nothing had been said about the succession, but then it hardly needed to be.
MARY’S ‘PREGNANCY’
CONCERNING THE CHILDBED OF QUEEN MARY, AS IT WAS RUMOURED AMONG THE PEOPLE.
Long persuasion had been in England, with great expectation, for the space of half a year or more, that the Queen was conceived with child. This report was made by the Queen’s physicians, & other nigh about the court; so that divers were punished for saying the contrary. And commandment was given that in all churches supplication and prayers should be made for the Queen’s good delivery; the certificate whereof you may read before in the letter of the council sent to Bonner, p. 1405. And also the same moreover may appear by provision made before in the act of Parliament made for the child, p. 1410.
And now for somuch as in the beginning of this month of June about Whitsuntide, the time was thought to be nigh, that this young Master should come into the world, and that midwives, rockers, nurses, with a cradle & all, were prepared and in a readiness, suddenly upon what cause or occasion it is uncertain, a certain vain rumour was blown in London of the prosperous deliverance of the Queen and of the birth of the child. In so much that the bells were rung, bonfires and processions made, not only in the City of London, and in most other parts of the realm, but also in the town of Antwerp, guns were shot off upon the river by the English ships, and the mariners thereof rewarded with an hundred pistolettes or Italian crowns by the Lady Regent, who was the Queen of Hungary. Such great rejoicing and triumph was for the Queen’s delivery, & that there was a prince born. Yea, divers preachers, namely one, the parson of St. Anne within Aldersgate, after procession and Te Deum sung, took upon him to describe the proportion of the child, how fair, how beautiful, and great a prince it was, as the like had not been seen.
In the midst of this great ado there was a simple man (this I speake but upon information) dwelling within four miles of Berwick, that never had been before half way to London, which said concerning the bonfires made for Queen Mary’s child. Here is a joyful triumph, but at length it will not prove worth a mess of pottage, as indeed it came to pass. For in the end all proved clean contrary, and the joy and expectations of men were much deceived, for the people were certified that the Queen neither was as then delivered, nor after was in hope to have any child. At this time many talked diversely. Some said that this rumour of the Queen’s conception was spread for a policy; some other affirmed that she was deceived by a Tympanie* or some other like disease, to think herself with child, and was not. Some thought that she was with child, and that it did by some chance miscarry, or else that she was bewitched. But what was the truth thereof the Lord knoweth, to whom nothing is secret. One thing of mine own hearing and seeing I can not pass over unwitnessed.
There came to me, whom I did both hear and see, one Isobel Malt, a woman dwelling in Aldersgate Street, in Home Alley, not far from the house where this present book was printed, who before witness made this declaration unto us, that she being delivered of a manchild upon Whitsunday in the morning, which was the 11th day of June an.1555, there came to her the Lord North and another Lord to her unknown, dwelling then about Old Fish Street, demanding of her if she would part with her child, and would swear that she never knew nor had no such child. Which if she would, her son (they said) should be well provided for, she should take no care for it, with many other fair offers if she would part with the child …
[John Foxe, Acts and Monuments (1583), pp. 1596-7.]
* A tumour.
Philip faced the most serious dilemma because now, at the age of twenty-eight, it looked as though he was locked into a sterile marriage of indefinite duration. Mary was thirty-nine, and might well live for another twenty or thirty years. He had one son, who was not particularly robust, and apparently no prospect of redrawing the dynastic map of northern Europe. For the time being such sobering thoughts were set aside. Once the queen was back on her feet, he had to respond to the urgent situation that had been brewing up in the Low Countries. His father’s health was deteriorating steadily, and Charles was less and less able to attend to business.[284] The
time had come for Charles to begin handing over his responsibilities to Philip – but for that purpose Philip needed to be physically present. Everyone had agreed that as long as there was a prospect of an heir in England, Philip’s place was in proximity to his wife. Now that had changed, and for a variety of reasons he was anxious to be off. On 26 August the royal couple ‘came riding from Westminster through London unto Tower Wharf’. They only went as far as Greenwich, and the object was clearly to demonstrate that Mary was not only alive, but fit to discharge business. Three days later Philip set off for Dover ‘with a great company’, which included a number of his English gentlemen, and Mary went to Greenwich again to see him off.[285] There is no record of their parting, but it is reasonable to suppose that their emotions were very different.
9
MARY ALONE
Before he went, Philip had made arrangements to be kept in touch with English affairs by setting up a select council or council of state to act as a link between himself and the privy council.[286] This was unprecedented in England, but familiar in Spain and other dominions accustomed to being ruled from a distance. The idea was that the select council would extract from the privy council whatever business they judged to be of interest to the king, and minute it to him in Latin. They would also discuss and correspond with him about issues of policy that he wished to keep confidential. The oddity of this arrangement, and the reason why it did not work as intended, was that it took no account of Mary. Greatly as she respected and admired her husband, Mary had no intention of allowing herself to be bypassed in this way, nor would her own advisers have tolerated it. It may be that she also discussed matters of state with the select council rather than the privy council, but there is no direct evidence of that.[287] Consequently, although the select council worked effectively as a channel of communication, it had only the status of an informal advisory group in the government of England. If Philip had thought to increase his role in English government by manipulating it from a distance, then he miscalculated.
More successful was the surrogacy that Philip left to Reginald Pole. After several months of working with the cardinal, Philip’s opinion of him had improved, and he came to appreciate the relationship that Pole had established with Mary. Philip was well aware that his wife was in a fragile condition, both mentally and physically, after her ordeal during the summer, and he privately instructed Pole to care for her wellbeing, as far as he could. Her occasional emotional storms needed to be calmed; she needed to be discouraged from overworking; and above all she needed the support and consolation of his unwavering Catholic faith. When Philip left, it was with soothing reassurances of a speedy return, and he left a large part of his normal household in England. Whether he ever seriously intended to come back quickly may be doubted. When Parliament was summoned on 3 September, it was expected that he would be present at the opening, but well before it actually assembled on 21 October he had sent his apologies. On 25 October, in an emotional and tearful ceremony in Brussels, Mary of Hungary stood down as regent of the Low Countries, and Charles handed over the sovereignty of the seventeen provinces to his son.[288] This can hardly have come as a surprise to Philip, and the elaborate preparations almost certainly went back before his actual arrival at the beginning of September. In other words, the king had known perfectly well that he was unlikely to be back in the foreseeable future, but did not wish to add to Mary’s distress by being frank about it. In December the remainder of his household was quietly withdrawn, and Mary, we are told, was very upset. Not only did Philip have no intention of returning in the immediate future, but he had lied to her.
England was a depressing place in the autumn of 1555. The queen was in low spirits, both as a result of the failure of her pregnancy and because of her husband’s absence. The late summer weather was appalling and the harvest failed. The Parliament had been called to grant a subsidy, and soon revealed itself to be in a difficult mood.[289] The religious persecution ground relentlessly on. Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, burned at Oxford in October, were only the most prominent of the many victims. And on 14 November Stephen Gardiner, lord chancellor and Bishop of Winchester, died after a short illness.
THE BURNING OF RIDLEY AND LATIMER
THE BEHAVIOUR OF D. RIDLEY AND M. LATIMER AT THE TIME OF THEIR DEATH, WHICH WAS 16 OF OCTOBER AN.1555.
Upon the northside of the town, in the ditch over against Bailly College,* the place of execution was appointed; and for fear of any tumult that might arise to let the burning of them, the L. Williams† was commanded by the Queen’s letters, and the householders of the City, to be there assistant, sufficiently appointed, & when everything was in a readiness, the prisoners were brought forth by the Mayor and Bailiffs …
M. Doctor Ridley as he passed towards Bocardo, looking up where M. Cranmer did lie, hoping belike to have seen him at the glass window, and to have spoken with him. But then M. Cranmer was busy with Friar Soto & his fellows disputing together,‡ so that he could not see him through that occasion. Then M. Ridley looking back, espied M. Latimer coming after. Unto whom he said: O be ye there. Yea said M. Latimer, have after as fast as I can follow. So he following a pretty way off, at length they came both to the stake, one after the other, where first D. Ridley entering the place, marvellous earnestly holding up both his hands, looked towards heaven. Then shortly after espying M. Latimer, with a wonderous cheerful look, came to him, embraced and kissed him, and as they that stood near reported, comforted him saying; be of good heart brother, for GOD will either assuage the fury of the flames, or else strengthen us to abide it …
Then Doctor Smith,§ of whose recantation in K. Edward’s time ye heard before, began his sermon to them on this text of St Paul, in the xiii chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, Si corpus meum tradam igni, charitatem autem non habeo, nihil inde utilitatis capio. That is, if I yield my body to the fire to be burned, and have not charity, I shall gain nothing thereby. Wherein he alleged that the goodness of the cause and not the order of death, maketh the holiness of the person …
Master Ridley took his gown and his tippet, and gave it to his brother-in-law M. Shipside, who all his time of imprisonment, although he might not be suffered to come to him, lay there at his own charges to provide him necessaries, which from time to time he sent him by the Sergeant who kept him. Some other of his apparel that was little worth he gave away. Other the Bailiffs took …
M. Latimer gave nothing, but very quietly suffered his keeper to pull off his hose, and his other array, which to look unto was very simple; and being stripped into his shroud, he seemed as comely a person to them that were there present, as one should lightly see. And whereas in his clothes he appeared a withered and crooked little old man, he now stood bolt upright, as comely a father as one might lightly behold …
Then the smith took a chain of iron and brought the same about both D. Ridleys and M. Latimers middles, and as he was knocking in a staple, D. Ridley took the chain in his hand and shaked the same, for it did gird in his belly, and looking aside to the smith said Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the flesh will have his course. Then his brother did bring him gunpowder in a bag, and would have tied the same about his neck. M. Ridley asked what it was. His brother said gunpowder. Then said he, I take it to be sent of God, therefore I will receive it as sent of him. And have you any, said he, for my brother, meaning M. Latimer? Yea sir, that I have (quoth his brother). Then give it unto him, said he betime, lest ye come too late. So his brother went, and carried of the same gunpowder to M. Latimer ...
Then brought they a faggot kindled with fire, and laid the same down at D. Ridleys feet, to whom Master Latimer spoke in this manner; Be of good comfort Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by Gods grace in England, as (I trust) shall never be put out.
And so the fire being given unto them, when D. Ridley saw the fire flaming towards him, he cried with a wonderfully loud voice: In manus tuas Domine, commendo spiritum meum. Domine recipe spiritum me
um, and after repeated this latter part often in English: Lord, Lord, receive my spirit. M. Latimer crying as vehemently on the other side: O Father of Heaven, receive my soul, who received the flame as it were embracing of it. After, as he had stroked his face with his hands, and (as it were) bathed them a little in the fire, he soon died (as it appeared) with very little pain or none …
But M. Ridley, by reason of the evil making of the fire unto him … burned clean all his nether parts before it touched the upper … Yet in all this torment he forgot not to call upon God still, having in his mouth Lord have mercy upon me, intermendling this cry, Let the fire come to me, I cannot burn. In which pains he laboured, till one of the standers by with his bill, pulled the faggots above, and when he saw the fire flame up, he wrested himself into that side. And when the flame touched the gunpowder, he was seen to stir no more …
[John Foxe, Acts and Monuments (1583), pp. 1769-70]
* Balliol College.
† Sir John Williams, Lord Williams ofThame.
‡ Pedro de Soto, a Dominican at this time holding a chair of theology in Oxford, who was trying to persuade Cranmer to recant.
§ Richard Smith, who had been restored to the Regius Chair of Theology by Mary. He had been deprived of his see and had fled abroad for resisting the Protestant changes under Edward VI.
Irascible and difficult as he had sometimes been, Gardiner was a great loss to Mary, because he was a statesman of outstanding ability and long experience. He may, or may not, have been the author of a treatise on the coming of the Romans and Normans to England, which was a thinly disguised piece of advice to the king on how to secure his authority in England. This had been presented while Philip was still in England, and the only surviving copy is in Italian, so there is much doubt over its authorship, but it does appear to represent the position that Gardiner had reached after nearly two years of working with Mary.[290] We do not know whether Philip ever read the treatise, but he had developed a healthy respect for the chancellor’s abilities. He was not going to be easy to replace, and since no appointment had been made to the office of lord privy seal (vacant since March), there were now two places to be filled. No other offices of similar importance had been filled since Philip became king, so a significant issue arose over how this was to be done. The Duke of Alba advised Philip that he must take control of both, adding: ‘be careful whom you install, that they are not the Queen’s men’. This confrontational view of the joint monarchy may have been peculiar to Alba, but was probably not,[291] and may help to explain why Mary, strong as her emotional attachment to her husband may have been, was determined not to be steamrollered. Eventually a compromise was negotiated, although we do not know exactly how. Paget was proposed for the chancellorship, but was opposed by many of those close to Philip, notably Carranza, who suspected his commitment to the faith. Eventually he was made lord privy seal, while the chancellor’s position went to Nicholas Heath, the Archbishop of York. Heath may have been a ‘queen’s man’, but Philip’s servants gave him the credit for both promotions: ‘The King’s Majesty hath appointed …’
