The Spanish Queen: A Novel of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
Page 27
Besides, I was sure that Anne must be suffering anguish and worry knowing that Henry had found someone whose company he preferred to hers. His favored companion is plain, sensible Jane Seymour, who I know to be kind and docile, the opposite of Anne in every way. The Seymours are fruitful and have sons … and I hope …
Kimbolton Castle, February 1, 1536
To His Imperial Majesty Charles V from his envoy Eustace Chapuys:
With the greatest respect and in profound regret at the news I must send to Your Imperial Highness, I must inform you of the circumstances which have kept me here in Kimbolton Castle since Advent and continue to detain me here.
As Your Imperial Majesty is well aware, I was summoned to Kimbolton by the Princess Dowager’s physician who informed me that she was gravely ill and that I should come at once. She was asking for me. I made my way to the castle as soon as I was able, though the roads were full of snowdrifts and my breath turned to frost in the cold air.
I found the Princess Dowager very ill indeed, surrounded by her household officials and by her lesser servants as well: her laundrywomen and grooms, her gardeners and ewerers and musicians, even her pastrycooks. All were praying most fervently for her recovery and bringing her gifts to lighten her spirits. There were nightingales in a cage, and half-grown lambs curled up on her blankets, a singer and a lutenist and a boy with a high, clear voice who sang Spanish songs.
When I entered the bedchamber the Princess Dowager held out her arms to me and told me that she did not wish to die alone, like a brute beast in a field, but in the embrace of one who cared about her and shared her belief in the Roman church. Mary was not allowed to be with her, and she feared that at any moment I might be sent out of the bedchamber and not allowed to return.
Her strength was failing, she could barely speak above a whisper. Maria de Caceres brought her soup and wine, but she could eat only a mouthful or two of the soup and though the taste of the wine made her smile, she drank only a little, then slept.
When she woke again it was evening, and all the lamps were lit and the dingy old room looked less neglected. I stayed by her side, as I could plainly see that my presence gave her comfort. She pointed to a leather trunk that had been brought in and put in one corner of the room. In that trunk, she told me, was a record of her life, written by her own hand. She regretted that she had not been able to complete it, but that she hoped I would take it to Your Imperial Majesty. She also gave me her prayer book, brought from Spain when she first came to England to marry Prince Arthur. And her black lace mantilla that had belonged to her grandmother. These she wished me to present to her daughter in the hope that Mary would keep them near her always.
I stayed with the Princess Dowager for four days, at her bedside for most of that time. She ate only bread and a few sips of tea. She laughed at the foolishness of my jester and was glad when I told her that she would soon be moved to a fine new palace the king was building in the south, where the sun was warm and she would never feel cold again. It was not true, but it gave her comfort.
She received the last rites and forgave the king whatever wrongs he may have done her. Then one by one her servants came to her bedside and knelt before her, and she thanked and blessed each of them and gave each one a gift. She had no jewels left, but gave what tokens she had, books and combs and lengths of lace, vials of scent, her clove-scented pomander, embroidered patches with the arms of Aragon and Castile that she and her women had sewn. To Griffith Richards she gave a pair of her favorite hunting gloves, to Maria de Caceres her choice of what garments still remained to her. No one left empty-handed, not even the weeping head pastrycook, a large, sad-eyed woman to whom the Queen Dowager handed a small green ceramic jar saying “for your comfits.”
As Your Imperial Majesty is aware, the Princess Dowager surrendered her spirit on the afternoon of the seventh day of January, and her frail body was opened at once to determine the cause of her death. I heard it said by the chandler who opened her that her heart was black, as is the heart of any person who dies of poison. I found this hard to credit. Nonetheless I am duty-bound to report it to you. The chandler and his assistants were alone when they did their work; the Princess Dowager’s physician Miguel de Lasco was not permitted to be present, nor was the Bishop of Llandaff, who heard her confession. It was said that the Princess Dowager succumbed to illness after drinking Welsh beer, but as Your Imperial Majesty knows, royal courts are filled with such rumors, and in all my time with the Princess Dowager I never saw her drink anything but wine, unless there was no wine to be had, as happened at Kimbolton and on occasion at Durham House.
She was buried two days ago. May the Lord have mercy on her soul.
As Your Imperial Majesty knows, the concubine Anne has miscarried another child. It was said to be a prince, though as it was barely three months in the womb, no one can say for certain. The king swore and broke his golden walking stick over his knee when he heard this news, especially as it is rumored that the concubine miscarried after eating a surfeit of comfits made with green ginger.
Note to the Reader
Once again, dear reader, a caution and a reminder: The Spanish Queen is a historical entertainment, in which the authentic past and imaginative invention intertwine. Fictional events and circumstances, fictional characters and whimsical alterations of events and personalities are blended. Fresh interpretations of historical figures and their circumstances are offered, and traditional ones laid aside. I hope you have enjoyed this reimagining of the past.
ALSO BY CAROLLY ERICKSON
HISTORICAL ENTERTAINMENTS
The Unfaithful Queen
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette
The Last Wife of Henry VIII
The Secret Life of Josephine
The Tsarina’s Daughter
The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots
Rival to the Queen
The Favored Queen
NONFICTION
The Records of Medieval Europe
Civilization and Society in the West
The Medieval Vision
Bloody Mary
Great Harry
The First Elizabeth
Mistress Anne
Our Tempestuous Day
Bonnie Prince Charlie
To the Scaffold
Her Little Majesty
Arc of the Arrow
Great Catherine
Josephine
Alexandra
Royal Panoply
Lilibet
The Girl from Botany Bay
About the Author
Among CAROLLY ERICKSON’s twenty-nine critically acclaimed, prize-winning, bestselling books are biographies, histories, and the recent series of fictional historical entertainments. Her range is wide, her audience worldwide. In recent years she has lived in Washington State and Hawaii.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE SPANISH QUEEN. Copyright © 2013 by Carolly Erickson. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Danielle Florella
Cover painting © Michiel Sittow (1469–1525)/Bridgemanart.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Erickson, Carolly, 1943–
The Spanish queen: a novel of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon / Carolly Erickson. — First Edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-250-00012-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-03838-8 (e-book)
1. Catharine, of Aragon, Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England, 1485–1536—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History—Henry VIII, 1485–1509—Fiction. 3. Queens—Great Britain—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3605.R53S73 2013
813'.6—dc23
2013020799
e-ISBN 97812500383
88
First Edition: October 2013