Lady Katherine Knollys

by Sarah-Beth Watkins

  Katherine began her own preparations to flee from England. As she was getting ready to leave for Germany with five of her children, Katherine received a letter from Elizabeth. Elizabeth signed the letter ‘cor rotto’ or broken heart, showing how deeply affected she was to lose her friend, cousin and sister. The letter is dated to 1553 in Wood’s Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain but Katherine did not travel to Frankfurt until 1557. Elizabeth must have sent her this note at a later date. One thing was certain, it was obvious that she would miss her and the two women whose lives were always to be entwined were saddened at their parting. Elizabeth wrote:

  Relieve your sorrow for your far journey with joy of your short return, and think this pilgrimage rather a proof of your friends, rather than a leaving of your country, the length of time, and distance of the place, separates not the love of friends, nor deprives not the show of good will…when your need shall be most you shall find my friendship greatest…My power but small my love as great as those whose gifts may tell their friendships tale…

  Your loving cousin and ready friend cor rotto8

  Katherine’s eldest daughter, Mary was now fourteen and she may have served Elizabeth while Katherine was overseas. The whereabouts of some of Katherine’s children are not known at this time as only five made the arduous journey with her when she finally departed England in June 1557. Katherine’s journey to Frankfurt was not the easy trip that can be made now but was a journey that could take up to six weeks, and she must have been worn out and anxious to settle into her new home, so far away from the country she had been raised in.

  Frankfurt was a booming town populated by Germans, French, Dutch and English tradesmen, many worked in the weaving trade and education and the production of books was also a thriving business with the yearly book fair being a main attraction. Charles V had offered the Marian exiles the freedom of the city but expected them to pay their taxes and take up employed work.

  Katherine joined Francis, who was awaiting her in Frankfurt, to live in a house owned by John Weller, a wealthy merchant and burgher of the city. The exiles for the most part lived crammed together in shared accommodation. Katherine had her five youngest children with her plus a maid and they all had to fit into a household that included Weller and his wife, their five sons and four servants9. On 21st December they were admitted as church members into the Protestant congregation and settled down to life in a new country.

  Mary’s reign had continued and in just five years since she took the throne, she had burnt over 280 Protestants at the stake, many of whom were documented in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs that would be published a year later. Foxe too had been in exile leaving England for Strasbourg in 1554 and moving on to Basle in 1556 where he had studied with Francis. He made it his life’s work to write of the injustices of not just Mary’s reign but of the continual persecution of Protestants. His book was a testament to why England should not be a Catholic country. And there was someone who agreed wholeheartedly - the future Queen of England.

  Mary died in the November of 1558. Philip had long ago returned to Spain and she had spent her final months ill and unhappy. Her policy of religious persecution had done nothing to stop the tide of Protestant belief. Elizabeth was her successor and England was about to enter into a new and glorious reign.

  Katherine and Francis could not have been more delighted. They could now go home along with the other Marian exiles and take up the life they had left behind. Francis actually returned to England just before Mary’s death to be ready to join the new Queen’s court on her accession. Katherine came home too to join Elizabeth at court and closer still, to attend her in her privy chamber as one of her closest confidantes.

  Chapter Seven

  Queen Elizabeth’s Lady

  Elizabeth shed few tears for the sister who had imperilled her life and reminded her of the fate of her mother and how fragile Tudor life could be. Sitting underneath an oak tree at Hatfield, she received the news of Mary’s death and was presented with her sister’s enamelled betrothal ring as proof of her demise. Elizabeth was Queen.

  Her first official words were in a speech entitled “Words spoken by the Queen to the lords at her accession:”

  My lords, the law of nature moveth me to sorrow for my sister; the burden that is fallen upon me maketh me amazed; and yet, consid- ering I am God’s creature, ordained to obey His appointment, I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may have assistance of His grace to be the minister of His heavenly will in this office now committed to me. And as I am but one body naturally considered, though by His permission a body politic to govern, so I shall desire you all, my lords (chiefly you of the nobility, everyone in his degree and power), to be assistant to me, that I with my ruling and you with your service may make a good account to almighty God and leave some comfort to our posterity in earth. I mean to direct all my actions by good advice and counsel. And therefore, considering that divers of you be of the ancient nobility, having your beginnings and estates of my progenitors, kings of this realm, and thereby ought in honour to have the more natural care for maintaining of my estate and this commonwealth; some others have been of long experience in governance and enabled by my father of noble memory, my brother, and my late sister to bear office; the rest of you being upon special trust lately called to her service only and trust, for your service considered and rewarded; my meaning is to require of you all nothing more but faithful hearts in such service as from time to time shall be in your powers towards the preservation of me and this commonwealth. And for council and advice I shall accept you of my nobility, and such others of you the rest as in consultation I shall think meet and shortly appoint, to the which also, with their advice, I will join to their aid, and for ease of their burden, others meet for my service. And they which I shall not appoint, let them not think the same for any disability in them, but for that I do consider a multitude doth make rather discord and confusion than good counsel. And of my goodwill you shall not doubt, using yourselves as appertaineth to good and loving subjects.”1

  Historians differ as to whether Elizabeth gave this speech on 17th or on 20th November - the day she heard of Mary’s death or the day she first met with her council - but by the 20th she certainly had other statements to make.

  Elizabeth had immediately begun to consolidate her position by rallying her most important supporters to her side, including Sir William Cecil who was sworn in as her Secretary of State at her first Privy Council meeting on 20th November 1558. She told him:

  I give you this charge that you shall be of my Privy Council and content to take pains for me and my realm. This judgment I have of you that you will not be corrupted by any manner of gift and that you will be faithful to the state; and that without respect of my private will you will give me that counsel which you think best and if you shall know anything necessary to be declared to me of secrecy, you shall show it to myself only. And assure yourself I will not fail to keep taciturnity therein and therefore herewith I charge you.2

  Theirs was a relationship that would last for many years and, as Elizabeth consolidated one relationship, she also spared a thought for those other persons closest to her. Her childhood nurse and companion, Kat Ashley was made Chief Lady of the Bedchamber and Elizabeth began to form her court around her with those that she most trusted and loved.

  Katherine and Francis were overjoyed at Elizabeth’s accession. They returned to England along with many other Marian exiles to be a part of the new Elizabethan court and to see their new Queen ride to the Tower on 28th November 1558. Dressed in royal purple velvet and cheered on by ecstatic crowds, Elizabeth entered the Tower of London, never again to be a prisoner but now England’s new monarch, ready to begin a long and powerful reign.

  Where Mary Tudor had ruled with religious fervour, Elizabeth trod a more careful line. Protestants upheld her as their saving grace and a monarch who would stand by their beliefs. Elizabeth did lean towards the Protestant faith but
she was ever the Queen of her people, a people who were both Catholic and Protestant and had seen enough persecution.

  Elizabeth was still not able to acknowledge Katherine as her sister, as to do so would render Elizabeth herself illegitimate and therefore not the true successor to the English throne: to admit that Mary Boleyn had slept with King Henry would make his marriage to Elizabeth’s mother, Anne, unlawful thus bastardising Elizabeth. Elizabeth knew the truth and she could welcome her closest kin to her side at court but she would never be able to acknowledge their true relationship. And she made certain that her Carey kin were well positioned around her.

  In January 1559, Katherine was appointed as a Chief Lady of the Bedchamber - one of only four paid positions. Her second daughter, Lettice, was given a position in the privy chamber and her fourth daughter, Elizabeth, was placed in the Queen’s household as a maid. Positions in the Queen’s household were not easy to come by and Elizabeth only allowed the women that she trusted with her life to manage her care. Katherine’s position in the bedchamber put her in the closest proximity to the Queen along with Kat Ashley and Blanche Parry - further evidence that Katherine was extremely important to the Queen and this shows that their relationship was an intimate one - as much as it was possible to be intimate with Elizabeth. The women of the bedchamber were responsible for dressing their Queen, washing her, cleaning her teeth and preparing her for bed, amongst other duties. It was hard work, being on call whenever Elizabeth should need them and she had to come first before anything or anyone else, including their husbands and children. After the women of the bedchamber came the women of the privy chamber - Elizabeth’s day room - where she ate and received her most important guests. Lettice would assume her role here until her marriage to Walter Devereux, accompanying Elizabeth at court and in her quieter moments. The Queen’s ladies were expected to dance, play music, read and embroider with Elizabeth, entertaining her and providing for her every need.

  Katherine’s eldest daughter, Mary, and third daughter, Maud, aren’t recorded as being at court but it is safe to assume that they were serving in other ladies’ households, possibly the Duchess of Suffolk’s3. Katherine’s sister-in-law, Anne Carey, joined the Knollys women with her daughters, Katherine and Philadelphia, in the Queen’s household. The Carey and Knollys women were firmly ensconced by Elizabeth’s side. And Katherine’s husband and brother were also in favour. Francis was made a member of the Privy Council and vice-chamberlain of the Queen’s household whilst Henry Carey was knighted and later made Baron Hunsdon.

  The coronation of the new Queen had started with her symbolic taking of the Tower but it didn’t proceed until the eve of 14th January 1559 when Elizabeth rode through London. The eve of coronation procession began at 3pm with Elizabeth leaving the Tower, carried on a litter covered in gold cloth, waving and smiling at the gathered crowds. The procession took her to Gracechurch Street, Cornhill, Soper’s Lane, Cheapside and Fleet Street where pageants were performed in her honour and her people gathered to see the plays and their new Queen. Katherine and Francis accompanied her - Katherine dressed in crimson and gold as were the other ladies-in-waiting who followed their mistress. Bundesen states that ‘coronation livery was granted to Lettice Knollys, her sister Elizabeth Knollys and their cousin Katherine Carey’ as well.

  Katherine, Francis and members of their family watched on as Elizabeth was crowned the next day by the Bishop of Carlisle at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey. She began the day by walking in her crimson robes along the blue cloth that lined the path from Westminster Hall to the abbey. After listening to the sermon and taking the royal oath, she changed into clothes of silver and gold for her anointing. Donning a white tunic, she was then crowned with three crowns; St Edward’s, the Imperial crown and a lighter crown (the Imperial crown weighing over seven pounds) that may have been her mother’s4 whilst sitting in St Edward’s chair and also receiving the sword, ring, mantle, bracelets and sceptre of the realm. Changing again into a dress of gold, she sat on the throne to receive homage from the gathered dignitaries and listen to the Coronation mass but Elizabeth rose when the Bishop offered up the host - unwilling to conform to Catholic practices - and wearing her royal purple robe, she swept back to Westminster Hall for the coronation banquet. It was nothing but sumptuous and extravagant. Sir Edward Dymoke, the Queen’s Champion, rode into the hall on his charger in full armour and challenged any one to a fight who would deny Elizabeth’s right to reign. It was a romantic but serious political gesture and nobody made any objection. As for romance, that was something Elizabeth did not want to discuss.

  Almost immediately Elizabeth was harried to marry by her councillors and even her ladies. Kat Ashley ‘passionately implored her’5 to marry for the sake of the kingdom and Katherine must have talked to her about how married life could be. She had been married to Francis for eighteen years by now and had had another son, Thomas, in 1558 and was about to conceive another daughter, Katherine, who would be born in the October of Elizabeth’s coronation year. But Elizabeth, as we know, saw herself as a virgin queen, married only to her kingdom.

  Of any of the suitors that Elizabeth may have consented to marry, Sir Robert Dudley was the only one who captured her heart. Elizabeth’s relationship with Robert, her master of horse, is now infamous but we shall never know how far their relationship truly went. Elizabeth favoured him above all other men and loved him in her own way. Early in her reign she may even have contemplated marrying Robert, even though he was disliked by many of her councillors, but the death of his wife brought down such a scandal that it quashed any thoughts of marriage the couple may have had. In the September of 1560, Amy Dudley fell down a flight of stairs and broke her neck - the circumstances were suspicious - she had sent all her servants out to the fair leaving her alone in the house. Was she secretly meeting with someone? Did she send the servants away so she could have alone time with Robert? There are many scenarios for what befell Amy but it is also believed that she had breast cancer and was in the final stages of the disease when a weakening of the bones can occur thus making her fall a fatal one. Whatever the circumstances of her death, it affected Elizabeth’s relationship with her Robert. How could she marry him now when it was rumoured that she had a hand in his wife’s death?

  Also in 1560, Elizabeth granted Francis, Katherine and their son Robert the manor of Taunton in Somerset. Henry, Katherine’s brother, was made master of the Queen’s hawks and the following year was made a knight of the garter. Elizabeth remembered her childhood friends and family and was a generous Queen but there was also a harsh side to her, a selfish side - she was after all the reigning monarch. Katherine’s relationship with Elizabeth made her ‘often weep for unkindness’6 and serving her sometimes kept her away from her husband and younger children. Katherine would have seen her daughter Lettice daily but during this year Lettice married and left court to live in Chartley, Staffordshire with her husband’s family.

  Somewhere Katherine and Francis found the time to be intimate together as Katherine gave birth to her last child, Dudley, named after Sir Robert Dudley, on 9th May 1562. Elizabeth was gracious in accepting the role of godmother as she was also to Henry Carey’s daughter amongst others. Elizabeth demanded that any of her pregnant ladies should leave court to give birth but must return immediately, passing the child to a wet nurse for its care. Katherine saw little of baby Dudley. He died soon after his birth and Katherine and Francis were both devastated at the death of their baby boy. But Katherine had little time to mourn as Elizabeth was relentless in keeping her busy and life went on at court where she needed to be.

  In the autumn of 1562, Elizabeth became frighteningly ill with smallpox. Lady Mary Sidney, Robert Dudley’s sister, became her nursemaid and helped her back to health but she caught the disease and was so badly disfigured by it that she had to withdraw from court. Elizabeth seemed to have shown little sorrow or sympathy for her. By now she was a Queen who expected her people to sacrifice themselves for her - she was Glori
ana. She may have been there for her people but she also expected her people to be there for her. They were hers to command and Katherine and Francis were no different, however close they were.

  Francis had been appointed Governor of Portsmouth and one of his duties was to ensure that the men of the Newhaven (Le Havre) garrison received supplies and wages. He visited the garrison on several occasions but was then ordered to advise on their withdrawal. His position sent him not only to France but the Channel Islands and the Isle of Wight.

  Katherine missed Francis but she had her duties to fulfil. Good news came when Lettice gave birth to her granddaughters Penelope early in 1563 and Dorothy in 1564. Katherine looked forward to seeing Lettice again when she briefly visited the court in 1565 but she infuriated Elizabeth by flirting with Sir Robert Dudley. Katherine’s daughter had turned out to be a beauty and men commented on her looks and demeanour. Elizabeth was a jealous Queen and expected no woman to outshine her. Katherine’s daughter was sent from court in disgrace but her relationship with Elizabeth would suffer more in the future. Dudley belonged to the Queen but Lettice had already turned his head and their relationship would blossom in years to come.