The King's Curse

by Philippa Gregory

  “Then you shall come to me when you are very useful and hardworking,” she says.

  She draws me into her privy chamber, where we are alone and I can look at her pale face and wipe the tears from her cheeks and smile at her.

  “My dearest child.”

  “Oh, Lady Margaret!”

  At once I can see that she has not been eating properly, there are shadows under her eyes and she is too pale. “Are you not well?”

  She shrugs. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I was so grieved for the queen. I was so shocked . . . I could not believe that she would die like that . . . for a little while I even doubted my faith. I couldn’t see how God could take her . . .”

  She breaks off and leans her forehead against my shoulder, and I gently pat her back, thinking, Poor child, to lose such a mother and then to love and lose a stepmother! This girl will spend the rest of her life longing for someone she can trust and love.

  “We have to believe that she is with God,” I say gently. “And we sing Masses for her soul in my own chapel at Bisham.”

  She smiles at this. “Yes, the king told me. I am so glad. But Lady Margaret! The other abbeys!”

  I put a finger gently over her lips. “I know. There is much to mourn.”

  “Do you hear from your son?” she whispers, her voice so soft that I have to bend to hear her. “From Reginald?”

  “He was raising support for the pilgrims when they made peace and forged their agreement with your father,” I say. “When he got news of their defeat, he was recalled to Rome. He’s there now, safe.”

  She nods. There is a tap at her door and one of the new maids puts her head into the room. “We can’t talk now,” the princess decides. “But when you write to him, you can tell him, that I am well treated, I think I am safe. And now that I have a little brother my father is at peace with me, and with my half sister, Elizabeth. He has a son, at last. Perhaps he can be happy.”

  I take her hand and we go out to where her ladies, some of them friends and some of them spies, all rise and curtsey to us. I smile equably at all of them.

  WARBLINGTON CASTLE, HAMPSHIRE, SUMMER 1538

  I spend the summer at my house at Warblington. The court on progress passes nearby, but this year there are no Knights Harbinger, riding down the road to make sure that I can house the great party. The king does not want to stay, though the fields are as green and as wide and the forests as richly stocked with game as they were when he said it was his favorite house in England.

  I look at the great wing that I built for the comfort of Queen Katherine and her young husband and think that it was money wasted, and love wasted. I think that money or love offered to the Tudors is always wasted, for the Tudor boy who was so well loved by his mother has been spoiled by us all.

  I hear from my house at Bisham that Thomas Cromwell has taken the priory away from us, for the second time. The monks who were to pray for Jane Seymour have been told to leave, the chantry that was to stand forever, the only chantry in England, is quiet. The bishop’s cope is taken away, our priory is closed again. It was reopened on a Tudor whim; it closes on Cromwell’s command. I do not even write to protest.

  At least I am confident that the princess is safe at Hampton Court, visiting her half brother at Richmond Palace. Without doubt she will have a new stepmother before the year is out, and I pray every night that the king chooses a woman who will be kind to our princess. They will be looking for a husband for her too, the Portuguese royal family has been suggested, and Montague and I agree that whatever my age and wherever she is sent, I must go with her to see her settled in her new home.

  I am busy this summer in Warblington, preparing for the harvest and bringing the records up to date, but one day my steward comes to tell me that a new patient at our little hospital, a man called Gervase Tyndale, has been asking the surgeon Richard Eyre why there are no books of the new learning in the church or at the hospital. Someone tells him that it is common knowledge that I, and all my family, believe in the old ways, in the priest telling the word of God to the faithful, in the holy Mass, in faith not deeds.

  “He asked after that horse groom that you dismissed, my lady. The Lutheran that would have converted half the stable yard? And he asked after your chaplain, John Helyar, and if he ever visits your son Reginald in Rome or wherever he is. And he asks what your son Reginald is doing, staying away from England for so long.”

  There is always gossip in a small village. There is always gossip about the big house. But I feel a sense of unease that this is gossip about the castle, about the hospital, about our faith, just as we have come unscathed through the pilgrimage, and just as our princess has found some safety where she belongs.

  “I think you had better tell this man to mind his manners towards his hosts,” I say to the steward. “And tell Mr. Eyre the surgeon that I don’t need my opinions shared with half the country.”

  The steward grins. “No harm done,” he says. “There’s nothing to know. But I’ll have a quiet word.”

  I think little more of this until I am in my presence chamber, dealing with the business of the estate, Montague at my side, when Geoffrey comes in with Richard Eyre the surgeon, and Hugh Holland, his friend the grain merchant. At the sight of him I find myself sharply alert, like a deer freezing at the snap of a twig. I wonder why Geoffrey has brought these men to me.

  “Lady Mother, I would speak with you,” Geoffrey says, kneeling for my blessing.

  I know my smile is strained. “Is there trouble?” I ask him.

  “I don’t think so. But the surgeon here says that a patient at the hospital—”

  “Gervase Tyndale,” the surgeon interrupts with a bow.

  “A patient at the hospital wanted to set up a school here for the new learning, and someone told him that there was no call for that here, and that you would not allow it. Now he’s gone off full of ill will, telling everyone that we don’t allow the books that the king has licensed, and that Hugh Holland here, my friend, comes and goes between us and Reginald.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with this,” I say cautiously, glancing at Montague. “It’s gossip that we could do without, but there’s no evidence.”

  “No, but it can be made to sound wrong,” Geoffrey points out.

  “And this is the merchant that went to Reginald with my warning,” Montague says quietly in my ear. “And he shipped your chaplain overseas for us. So there is a little fire under this smoke.” Aloud he turns to the surgeon. “And where is this Mr. Tyndale now?”

  “I sent him away as soon as he was well,” the surgeon says promptly. “My lady’s steward told me that she didn’t like gossip.”

  “You can be sure that I don’t,” I say sharply to him. “I pay you to heal the poor, not to chatter about me.”

  “Nobody knows where he is,” Geoffrey says nervously. “Or if he has been watching us for a while. Do you think he might have gone to Thomas Cromwell?”

  Montague smiles without amusement. “It’s a certainty.”

  “How are you so sure?”

  “Because anyone with any information always goes to Cromwell.”

  “What should we do?” Geoffrey looks from me to his older brother.

  “You’d better go to Cromwell yourself. Tell him about this little disagreement, and that this bunch of old women are gossiping about nothing.” I glare at the surgeon. “Assure him of our loyalty. Remind him that the king himself restored our priory at Bisham and say that we have a Bible in English at the church that anyone may read. Tell him that we teach the new learning in the little school from books that His Majesty licenses. Tell him that the schoolmaster is teaching the children to read so that they may study their prayers in English. And let these good men explain what is said against them, and that we are all loyal servants to the king.”

  Geoffrey looks anxious. “Will you come with me?” he asks Montague very quietly.

  “No,” Montague says firmly. “This is nothing. There is nothing to fear. Be
tter that just one of us goes to tell Cromwell that there is nothing to interest him here, not here at the castle, not at the manor. Tell him that Mr. Holland took a message of family news to Reginald, months ago, nothing more. But go today, and tell him everything. He probably knows everything already. But if you go and tell him, then you have the appearance of openness.”

  “Can’t you come?”

  Geoffrey asks so pitifully that I turn to Montague and say: “Son, won’t you go with him? You can talk more easily with Thomas Cromwell than Geoffrey can.”

  Montague laughs shortly and shakes his head. “You don’t know how Cromwell thinks,” he says. “If we both go, it looks as if we are worried. You go, Geoffrey, and tell him everything. We’ve got nothing to hide, and he knows that. But go today, so that you can get our side of the story told before this Tyndale gets there and puts his report in to his master.”

  “And take some money,” I say very quietly.

  “You know I don’t have a penny in the world!” Geoffrey says irritably.

  “Montague will give you something from the treasure room,” I say. “Give Thomas Cromwell a gift and my good wishes.”

  “How will I know what to give him?” Geoffrey exclaims. “He knows I have a pocket full of debt.”

  “He will know this comes from me as a pledge of our friendship,” I say smoothly. I take my great keys and lead the way to our treasure room.

  The door opens with two locks. Geoffrey pauses on the threshold and looks around with a sigh of longing. There are shelves of chalices for use in the chapel, there are boxes of coin, copper for the woodcutters and the day laborers, silver for the quarterly wages, and locked chests of gold bolted to the floor. I take a beautifully worked cup of silver gilt from its wool cover. “This is perfect for him.”

  “Silver gilt?” Geoffrey asks doubtfully. “Wouldn’t you send something in gold?”

  I smile. “It’s flashy, it’s new made, it sparkles more than it shines. It’s Cromwell to the life. Take that to him.”

  Geoffrey comes back from London, filled with pride at his own cleverness. He tells me how he spoke to Thomas Cromwell—“not as if I was anxious or anything, but man to man, easily, as one great man to another”—and that Cromwell had understood at once this was the gossip of jealous village people about their betters. He told the Lord Chancellor that of course we wrote to Reginald about family matters, and that Hugh Holland had carried messages from us, but that we had never stopped blaming Reginald for his terrible letter to the king, and indeed, had begged him to make sure that it was never published, and that he had promised us that it would be suppressed.

  “I told him it was bad theology and badly written!” Geoffrey tells me gleefully. “I reminded him that you wrote to Reginald and sent a message through Cromwell himself.”

  Geoffrey succeeds so well with Thomas Cromwell that Hugh Holland’s goods which had been seized on the quayside are returned in full to him, and the three men, Holland, my son, and the surgeon, are at liberty to come and go as they please.

  Geoffrey and I ride down to Buckinghamshire together to take the good news to Montague, who is at his house at Bockmer. We have half a dozen outriders and my granddaughters Katherine and Winifred come with me to their family home.

  We ride towards the familiar fields and trees of Montague’s lands and then I see, coming towards us, the rippling royal standard at the head of a guard, riding fast. The captain of my guard shouts: “Halt!” and “Stand by!” as we give way to the king’s men on the highway, as all good subjects must do.

  There are a dozen of them, dressed for riding but wearing breastplates and carrying swords and lances. The rider at the front has the royal standard of the three fleurs-de-lys and the three lions, which he dips in salute to my standard as he sees us waiting for him to pass. They are traveling fast, at a punishing sitting trot, and at the center of the cavalcade is a prisoner, a man, bare-headed with his jerkin torn at the shoulder, a bruise darkening his cheekbone, his hands tied behind him and his feet lashed under the horse’s belly.

  “God save me,” Geoffrey breathes. “It’s Hugh Holland, the corn merchant.”

  The round, smiling face of the London merchant is blenched and pale, his hands gripping the crupper behind him to hold himself on the swiftly moving horse, as he is badly jolted with the hammering pace.

  They ride past us without slowing. The captain throws us a swift suspicious glare, as if he thinks we might have ridden to rescue Hugh Holland. I raise my hand to recognize his authority and this draws Hugh’s attention. He sees our standard and my men’s livery, and shouts out to Geoffrey: “Keep on your way, for you’ll come after me!”

  In the noise of the horses’ bits and the jostle of the riders, in the confusion of the dust and the rush of their passing, they are gone before Geoffrey can reply. He turns to me, white-faced, and says: “But Cromwell was clear. He was satisfied. We explained.”

  “This might be something else altogether,” I say, though I don’t think that it is. “Let’s get to Montague’s house and ask your brother.”

  BOCKMER HOUSE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, SUMMER 1538

  Montague’s house is in uproar. The king’s men broke tables, settles, and benches in the great hall when they arrested Hugh Holland, and he fought against them and ran around the hall as they crashed after him like clumsy hounds after a terrified deer.

  My daughter-in-law Jane has gone to her private room in tears. Montague is supervising the servants setting up the tables in the hall and trying to make light of it all. But I can tell that he is shaken when Geoffrey bursts in shouting: “Why have they taken him? What reason did they give?”

  “They don’t have to give a reason, Geoffrey. You know that.”

  “But Cromwell himself assured me!”

  “Indeed. And the king pardoned Robert Aske.”

  “Hush,” I say instantly. “There is some mistake here, there is no need for us to fear. This is between Hugh Holland and the law. Nothing to do with us.”

  “They searched my private rooms,” Montague says tightly, turning away from the men who are picking up the scattered pewter. “They tore my house apart. It is to do with us.”

  “What did they find?” Geoffrey whispers.

  “Nothing,” Montague says tightly. “I burn my letters as soon as I have read them.” He turns to me. “You keep nothing, do you, Lady Mother? You burn them as you read?”

  I nod. “I do.”

  “Nothing as a keepsake? Not even from Reginald?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing. Ever.”

  Geoffrey is pale. “I have some papers,” he confesses. “I have kept some papers.”

  Montague rounds on him. “What?” he demands. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Fool! You’re a fool, Geoffrey. Get them destroyed. I don’t want to know how.”

  He takes me by the arm to lead me from the hall. I hesitate; this is my son, my darling son.

  “Send the chaplain, John Collins,” I say quickly to Geoffrey over my shoulder. “You can trust him. Send him to your steward or, better, to Constance and tell her to burn everything in your room.”

  Geoffrey nods, white-faced, and scurries out.

  “Why is he such a fool?” Montague demands, dragging me up the stairs to his wife’s presence chamber. “He should never keep anything, he knows that.”

  “He’s not a fool,” I say, catching my breath and making the men pause before opening the door. “But he loves the Church as it was. He was raised at Syon Abbey, it was our refuge. You can’t blame him for loving his home. He was a little boy and we had nothing, we lived off the Church as if it were our family. And he loves the princess, as I do. He can’t help but show it.”

  “Not in these times,” Montague says shortly. “We can’t afford to show our love. Not for a moment. The king is a dangerous man, Lady Mother. You never know these days how he will take something. One minute he’s suspicious and anxious and the next he’s draped around your shoulder and is your best fr
iend. He watches me like he could eat me up, gobble me for his pleasure; and then he sings ‘Pastime with Good Company’ and it’s like the old days. You never know where you are with him.

  “But he always remembers—he never forgets—that his throne was won on a battlefield by chance and by treason. Chance and treason can turn against him, just as easily. And he has one frail son in a cradle and no one who would defend him. And he knows that there is a curse, and he knows that it justly falls on his house.”

  Montague’s wife, Jane, is frightened and crying in her room as I enter with Katherine and Winifred, and she pulls them towards her, blesses them, and says that she will never forgive their father for exposing them to danger. Little Harry makes his bow to me and stands staunchly beside his father as if he is afraid of nothing.

  “I don’t want to hear another word, Jane,” I say flatly to her. “Not another word.”

  That checks her and she curtseys to me. “I am sorry, Lady Mother. It was a shock. And that terrible man running away from the guard, and they broke some glasses.”

  “We must be glad that Lord Cromwell seized him if he is guilty, and if he is innocent he will be quickly freed,” I say stoutly. I drop my hand onto Harry’s straight little shoulder. “We have nothing to fear for we have always been loyal to the king.”

  He looks up at me. “We are loyal cousins,” he volunteers.

  “We are, and we always have been.”

  Jane follows my cue and for the rest of the day we try to act as if we were making a normal family visit. We dine in the great hall and the household pretends to be merry as we on the high table, looking down on them feasting and drinking, try to smile and chatter.

  After dinner we send the children to their rooms, leave the household to their drink and gambling, and go into Montague’s private chambers. Geoffrey cannot settle, cannot sit in one place. He prowls about from window to fireplace, from settle to stool.