Anne was not a popular Queen for several reasons including her religious beliefs. Did she influence the King with her more progressive religious ideas? Certainly she introduced Henry to the writings of William Tyndale. She was interested in the reformation of religion and had lengthy discussions with some of the leading reformers of the times. She is known to have had a copy of the Bible in English which she encouraged her ladies to read.
Katherine may have been influenced by her aunt and her beliefs at such a young age but their contact seems to have been sparse. However, Katherine would uphold the protestant faith in her adult life and although this would be encouraged from her husband’s side, it can be assumed that the basis for her beliefs also came from the maternal side of her family.
On 7th September 1533, the Princess Elizabeth was born at Greenwich - the daughter of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII, she was to play an all encompassing role in Katherine’s life. Katherine was now 8 or 9 years old and still living at Hever as far as we can tell. Could she have any idea of how their lives would intertwine?
The King had wanted a boy, a male heir so Elizabeth was something of a surprise. Letters had been written announcing the arrival of a new prince to which a hastily scribbled ‘s’ was added. Chapuys, being his usual malicious self, wrote, ‘The King’s mistress was delivered of a girl, to the great disappointment and sorrow of the King, of the Lady herself, and others of her party, and to the great shame and confusion of physicians, astrologers, wizards and witches, all of whom affirmed it would be a boy’.3
Within months, Elizabeth was sent to Hatfield although there is mention of Hertford Castle as the first choice for her residence. A household headed by Anne Shelton and Alice Clere was established and the three month old Elizabeth left London with some ceremony to journey to her new home. Anne was loath to see her daughter go but it was typical of the times for children to be sent from court and for princesses to have their own households.
Katherine packed up her belongings and set off for her new role as one of the many girls that would attend the new Princess Elizabeth. At one point Elizabeth’s household was so overflowing with young women that her father Henry refused to let any more young girls attend her preferring more ‘ancient and sad persons’ to instil less frivolity into her upbringing.4
In Alison Weir’s book about Katherine’s mother, Mary Boleyn, she says, ‘it is possible that Katherine…spent the next six years, until she was summoned to court, in her little cousin’s household’. She echoes Sally Varlow’s belief that ‘Katherine probably spent the next six years in the household of her young “cousin”‘. Elizabeth and Katherine were such firm friends in later years that they must have started that relationship during Elizabeth’s early years. ’She was always one of the Queen’s favourites and theirs was a friendship that had probably begun in childhood,’ states Josephine Wilkinson in her book about Mary. Katherine would go on to be a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard and then to flee England for Germany when Elizabeth’s elder sister, Mary, took the throne. For Elizabeth to have such feeling for Katherine and vice versa, the girls must have spent time together at an early age.
Katherine was growing up between the ages of ten and fifteen, for at least part of the time, in a household of royal children and it is here that she would have met her other half-sister, Mary, and seen how both she and Elizabeth, her half-sisters, were treated and how they treated each other. Their relationship started on a rocky path and the atmosphere in the house would have been tense and uncomfortable. The political situation created by their father set his two acknowledged daughters at odds. Mary was no longer the Princess of the realm, Elizabeth had usurped her position and it made those that supported Catherine of Aragon and the Spanish alliance angry.
On 16th December 1533, Chapuys wrote of the baby Elizabeth’s move to Hatfield House:
‘According to the determination come to by the King about the treatment of the Princess and the bastard, of which I wrote in my last, the said bastard was taken three days ago to a house 17 miles from here; and although there was a shorter and better road, yet for greater solemnity, and to insinuate to the people that she is the true Princess, she was taken through this town with the company which I wrote in my last; and next day the duke of Norfolk went to the Princess to tell her that her father desired her to go to the Court and service of the said bastard, whom he named Princess. The Princess answered that the title belonged to herself, and to no other; making many very wise remonstrances, that what had been proposed to her was strange and dishonorable. To which the Duke could not reply. After much talk, he said he had not come there to dispute, but to accomplish the King’s will; and the Princess, seeing that it was needless excusing herself, demanded half-an-hour’s respite to go to her chamber, where she remained about that time,— to make, as I know, a protestation which I had sent her, in order that, if compelled by force or fraud to renounce her rights or enter a nunnery, it might not be to her prejudice. On returning from her chamber she said to the Duke that since the King her father was so pleased, she would not disobey him…‘. 5
Chapuys would always defend the Princess Mary, Queen Catherine’s daughter, and in his eyes the Princess Elizabeth was the child of the usurper and therefore a bastard. Queen Catherine had been asked to accept the title of Princess Dowager of Wales when Anne was made queen but she refused to acknowledge it and always saw herself as Henry’s true wife, and her daughter Mary as his true daughter borne in wedlock, but the Act of Succession in March 1534 reduced the Princess to Lady Mary and declared her a bastard. Chapuys was not only furious but concerned for Mary’s safety. She was to join her sister at her new household at Hatfield and perhaps unbeknown to her meet her other half-sister, Katherine, as well.
Mary couldn’t believe that her father would reduce her status after seventeen years of being treated as a Princess of the realm. When she was told of her new circumstances by Lord Hussey, Henry’s new chamberlain, she remarked that she couldn’t believe him ‘without sufficient authorisation by commission or other writing from the King’. Mary refused to believe her father would treat her in such a way but Hussey returned to her with proof; a letter that ordered her to leave the country manor of Beaulieu in which she was referred to as ‘the Lady Mary, the King’s daughter’.6
Mary’s own household was dissolved but she was allowed to take some of her servants to Hatfield with her. On her arrival at her new home, she was asked if she’d like to greet the new Princess to which she replied that ‘she knew of no other princess in England but herself’. The move shocked and dismayed her and she wept uncontrollably at her new position. Mary was often unwell whether making herself sick or genuinely falling ill from the stress and turmoil of her changed circumstances. She was a fallen Princess and a teenage one at that. She refused to call Elizabeth Princess or acknowledge her as such. Her behaviour unsettled the otherwise calm of the nursery household although Elizabeth in her infancy was probably oblivious to her tantrums.
Hatfield House was a splendid decorative red brick house built around 1485 by John Morton, the Bishop of Ely, minister to Henry VII, as a Bishop’s palace. It was an ideal house for a nursery with four wings that were arranged around a central courtyard, set in lush and pleasant gardens surrounded by a deer park in the Hertfordshire countryside. It was a place that Elizabeth would spend many years in as a child and during her sister, Mary’s reign. In later days, she would receive news of Mary’s death along with her ring here and the news that she was the new Queen of England.
Hatfield may have been Elizabeth’s main residence but the girls travelled around to other country houses such as Hunsdon, Hertford Castle and Ashridge. Ashridge was given to the young Elizabeth by her father, the King. Hunsdon, a moated house with deer park, was later to be given to Katherine’s brother, Henry, by Elizabeth once she was Queen. It was deemed best for the royal children to be away from court and from an increased risk of disease and infection but they also visited the court at times
in such places as Richmond, Greenwich and Eltham.
The new nursery household was governed by Sir John and Lady Shelton, an aunt of Anne Boleyn’s, with Lady Bryan taking charge of Elizabeth’s care. Lady Bryan had been a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon and was made governess to the Princess Mary when she was born. She was held in high esteem by Henry VIII and was to be given the care of all the royal children in turn but for now, Elizabeth was her main charge.
Katherine would have witnessed the transference of affection from Mary to Elizabeth and Mary’s subsequent differential treatment. No longer the Princess, Mary was treated with disdain and contempt. Even her father didn’t wish to see her. In April 1534, the nursery moved to Eltham Palace, where Henry and Anne visited their daughter, Elizabeth. She was the one who received several visits from her parents during which Mary was shut out of sight, the forgotten daughter. While Anne was still Queen and in Henry’s affections, Elizabeth was to be treated like the royalty she was. But this affection didn’t last.
For Anne, her new role of Queen and mother was a whirlwind of activity but trouble was never far from the Boleyn family. The Lady Mary refused to acknowledge Anne as the Queen, seeing her mother as the only true Queen that she knew of. Whatever Anne tried, from having her ears boxed to insisting she took an inferior position in the Princess Elizabeth’s household, Mary remained defiant. And this wasn’t the only relationship that had turned sour. Anne and Mary Boleyn, Katherine’s aunt and mother respectively, whilst never close, were to become even more estranged. Mary married Katherine’s stepfather, William Stafford, a soldier and spearman at the Calais garrison, without permission. It is said she appeared at court visibly pregnant although there are no records of this child and she may have miscarried or had a stillbirth. Anne was now the reigning Queen and she was both shocked and disappointed at Mary’s actions. She sent the couple from the court in disgrace which prompted Mary to send a letter to Thomas Cromwell. From it we can see how she asked him to act on her behalf to bring Mary and her husband back into favour.
Master Secretary,
After my poor recommendations, which is smally to be regarded of me, that am a poor banished creature, this shall be to desire you to be good to my poor husband and to me. I am sure it is not unknown to you the high displeasure that he and I have, both of the king’s highness and the queen’s grace, by reason of our marriage without their knowledge, wherein we both do yield ourselves faulty, and do acknowledge that we did not well to be so hasty and so bold, without their knowledge. But one thing, good master secretary, consider, that he was young and love overcame reason; and for my part I saw so much honesty in him, that I loved him as well as he did me, and was in bondage, and glad I was to be at liberty: so that, for my part, I saw that all the world did set so little by me, and he so much, that I thought I could take no better way but to take him and forsake all other ways, and live a poor, honest life with him. And so I do put no doubts but we should, if we might once be so happy to recover the king’s gracious favour and the queen’s. For well I might have had a greater man of birth loved me so well, nor a more honest man; and besides that, he is both come of an ancient stock, and again as meet (if it was his grace’s pleasure) to do the king service, as any young gentleman in his court.
Therefore, good master secretary, this shall be my suit to you, that, for the love that well I know you do bear to all my blood, though, for my part, I have not deserved it but smally, by reason of my vile conditions, as to put my husband to the king’s grace that he may do his duty as all other gentlemen do. And good master secretary, sue for us to the king’s highness, and beseech his highness, which ever was wont to take pity, to have pity on us; and, that it will please his grace of his goodness to speak to the queen’s grace for us; for, so far as I can perceive, her grace is so highly displeased with us both that, without the king be so good lord to us as to withdraw his rigour and sue for us, we are never likely to recover her grace’s favour: which is too heavy to bear. And seeing there is no remedy, for God’s sake help us; for we have now been a quarter of a year married, I thank God, and too late now to call that again; wherefore it is the more almones to help. But if I were at my liberty and might choose, I ensure you, master secretary, for my little time, I have tried so much honesty to be in him, that I had rather beg my bread with him than be the greatest queen in Christendom. And I believe verily he is in the same case with me; for I believe verily he would not forsake me to be a king.
Therefore, good master secretary, seeing we are so well together and does intend to live so honest a life, though it be but poor, show part of your goodness to us as well as you do to all the world besides; for I promise you, you have the name to help all them that hath need, and amongst all your suitors I dare be bold to say that you have no matter more to be pitied than ours; and therefore, for God’s sake, be good to us, for in you is all our trust.
And I beseech you, good master secretary, pray my lord my father and my lady be so good to us, and to let me have their blessings and my husband their good will; and I will never desire more of them. Also, I pray you, desire my lord of Norfolk and my lord my brother to be good to us. I dare not write to them, they are so cruel against us; but if, with any pain that I could take with my life, I might win their good wills, I promise you there is no child living would venture more than I. And so I pray you to report by me, and you shall find my writing true, and in all points which I may please them in I shall be ready to obey them nearest my husband, whom I am most bound to; to whom I most heartily beseech you to be good unto, which, for my sake, is a poor banished man for an honest and godly cause. And seeing that I have read in old books that some, for as just causes, have by kings and queens been pardoned by the suit of good folks, I trust it shall be our chance, through your good help, to come to the same; as knoweth the (lord) God, who send you health and heart’s ease. Scribbled with her ill hand, who is your poor, humble suitor, always to command,
Mary Stafford7
Katherine’s mother, Mary, begged Cromwell to talk to the King on her behalf and through him perhaps the relationship with her sister could be improved. From the tone of the letter, Mary felt she had more chance of the King receiving her back into favour than she did from any of her family. Mary may never have returned to her sister’s favour as she is not mentioned in court records after this time although Roldolfo Pio, the Papal Nuncio in Paris, placed her back at court to attend Anne in her final pregnancy or as he put it ‘to keep up the deceit’. He believed that Anne had conjured up a pregnancy to keep herself in the King’s good books and that Mary as her closest companion and sister helped her in keeping the rumours alive thus prolonging her ultimate downfall. But Mary was not close to her sister at this time and probably never saw her again after being sent from court. Anne truly had been pregnant and she gave birth to a stillborn son in January 1536. The miscarriage happened on the same day as Queen Catherine died but was said to have been caused by her finding the King entertaining Jane Seymour and more specifically her sitting on the king’s lap. Distraught and upset, Anne lost her child that same evening. If he had lived, if she had given Henry his longed for son, her life would have been different. As it was Henry had had enough and had found her replacement. As for Anne, her life was now in danger, although she was yet to realise it.
When Queen Catherine died, there was still the pretence that Anne was in favour. King Henry exclaimed ‘Thank god, now we are free from any fear of war!’ when he heard the news of Queen Catherine’s death and ordered celebrations to be held with Queen Anne in attendance. The Lady Mary was kept away from court while Princess Elizabeth was paraded in front of the gathered ladies and gentlemen as Henry underlined who his legitimate daughter now was.
Anne made some attempt to befriend Mary at this stage perhaps being sympathetic to her losing her mother - a guilty conscience goading her to try to make amends - but Mary would have none of it. Mary refused to accept Anne as Queen and who can blame her? She was in mourning for t
he mother that she had been kept away from, that she hardly ever saw and the blame was laid at Anne’s door. Anne’s patience wore thin and she wrote to Lady Shelton concerning Mary’s attitude:
Mrs Shelton, my pleasure is that you do not further move the Lady Mary to be towards the King’s Grace otherwise than it pleases herself. What I have done has been more for charity than for anything the king or I care what road she takes, or whether she will change her purpose, for if I have a son, as I hope shortly, I know what will happen to her; and therefore, considering the word of God, to do good to one’s enemy, I wished to warn her beforehand, because I have daily experience that the king’s wisdom is such as not to esteem her repentance of her rudeness and unnatural obstinacy when she has no choice. By the law of God and the king, she ought clearly to acknowledge her error and evil conscience if blind affection had not so blinded her eyes that she will see nothing but what pleases herself. Mrs Shelton, I beg you not to think to do me any pleasure by turning her from any of her wilful courses, because she could not do me good or evil; and do your duty according to the king’s command, as I am assured you do.8
But Anne was soon to have other concerns. The same Cromwell who Mary Boleyn had beseeched to speak on her behalf was instrumental in the Queen’s downfall. The king was looking for a way out of his marriage and Cromwell presented him with the ultimate solution. If Anne was accused of plotting the death of the King, it would be seen as high treason and warranted the death penalty. Why did Henry want to go to such extremes? Could he not have just divorced her? Back when the couple had been courting, Henry had made Anne the Marquess of Pembroke, this gave her power and prestige in her own right, a substantial yearly income and lands. He had given her the title primarily to elevate her status before their trip to France and her meeting with Francois I. If she was to become a Queen of England she had to be seen to be worthy of the King and only a woman of status could meet with the ladies of the French court. Her status gave her rights and he wanted no ex-wife to be in such a powerful position when he put her aside. Beheading was the easiest answer. He would have no scorned wife waiting in the shadows plotting against him. He had always feared that his treatment of Queen Catherine would result in a war with Spain. Catherine had many loyal supporters and Henry had no wish to have yet another wife conspiring against him with her allies once their marriage was annulled. Killing the Queen was the best solution and a way to erase her from his life. Henry was well aware that people thought Anne had bewitched him and turned him into a cuckolded husband. His embarrassment could be ended with the swing of a sword.
Lady Katherine Knollys Page 3
