Tudor Dawn: Henry Tudor is ready to take the crown... (The Tudor Saga Series Book 1)

by David Field

  Foxe smiled. ‘You must have been listening at the keyhole of my chambers, Your Majesty, for only yesterday I received a letter from a young man who was formerly a chaplain to the late Archbishop Deane, and who is seeking some preferment. He is currently employed in Calais, as confessor to its Governor, but finds the work tedious, and is anxious for something more challenging. His name is Thomas Wolsey, and I feel sure that he would welcome the opportunity, not only to visit Rome, but also the shrine at Santiago de Compostela, where it is said that the remains of St James the Apostle are buried in the cathedral. It is a popular pilgrimage for English Christians, and to get there by land one must cross Castile.’

  ‘Excellent!’ Henry murmured. He thought a little longer, then lowered his voice. ‘His instructions are to discover all he can regarding Ferdinand’s popularity within his own kingdom, and the strength of those within his realm who would welcome Philip of Burgundy to Castile. He is to do that first and foremost, then he may visit Rome. While travelling through Italy, he is instructed to take note of any unmarried royal lady who may be found within its kingdoms. Preferably one young enough to bear children, and one who as closely resembles my own dear late Queen as is possible. If I am to marry such a woman, it would be tedious for an old man like myself to be obliged to gaze upon a new portrait; also, if she resembles Elizabeth of York it will not feel so much like some form of adultery. Can all this be achieved, say you?’

  ‘Without doubt, Your Majesty. You may leave it with me.’

  ‘I hope so. Have Daubeney attend me — I have work for him also.’

  Daubeney appeared apprehensive when he entered the chamber, and gladly accepted a goblet of wine in the hope that this augered that the King was in a good humour.

  ‘You were Governor of Calais for some years, as I recall,’ Henry began.

  ‘I was indeed, Your Majesty, and I handed over that office with a clear set of accounts. Is there now some problem of which I was not advised?’

  ‘You may unclench your buttocks, Daubeney,’ Henry grinned. ‘I am not about to accuse you of something of which you are innocent. Instead, I seek your counsel regarding the captainship of Guines Castle.’

  Guines was both a fortress and a prison, and it was located some ten miles south of Calais. It was crucial to the retention of the only remaining English foothold in France, but its Captain, by virtue of his isolation, always enjoyed a degree of independence, and was open to bribery and other forms of distraction from duty by foreign rulers. There was a supporting garrison at Hames, which also continued prison cells, and the unswerving devotion of its Captain was also a crucial factor in keeping England safe from any enemy force seeking to invade from the northern coast of France.

  ‘Suffolk is causing trouble for us in the court of the Emperor Maximilian,’ Henry explained. ‘He fled there to escape trial after killing a man, and was allowed safe conduct through Calais by the man who was then, and remains, the Captain of Guines, a man named Sir James Tyrrell. What do you know of him?’

  ‘He was a trusted ally of Richard of Gloucester, Your Majesty, as you know well, and indeed, if the rumours be correct — but perhaps I should say no more on that score.’

  ‘What rumours?’ Henry demanded.

  ‘Well, Your Majesty — and it is of course but rumour, as I said before — there are some who maintain that it was Tyrrell who was responsible for the deaths of the sons of Edward IV when they were in the Tower. He was in France when Your Majesty won the throne from Richard and, as I was led to believe, you pardoned him his Yorkist sympathies and in due course appointed him Captain of Guines. More than that I do not know, Your Majesty.’

  ‘It is enough,’ Henry replied with a smile. ‘Please instruct Lovell to take a moderate force across to Guines, and bring Tyrrell back here on a charge of treason. Then see to the arrest of Sir John Wyndham, and — for good measure — Suffolk’s brother William, and Lord William Courtenay. They are all to be held in the Tower for treason. Let me know when they are secure, and I will make arrangements for my interrogators to seek further knowledge from Tyrrell of the murders of the royal princes. This could well prove a double advantage.’

  Daubeney was much relieved to be bowing from the presence with no accusation against himself, but shuddered when he contemplated the treatment that was to be handed out to Tyrrell. A week later, he was back in his capacity as Constable of the Tower, looking nervous and carrying a sealed document.

  ‘Your Majesty, your Chief Interrogator bid me hand you this in person. As you can see, the seal is unbroken.’

  ‘As it should be, Daubeney, as it should be,’ Henry muttered as he broke the seal, read the contents, and allowed himself a smile. ‘It would seem that in exchange for a slight increase in height, Sir James Tyrrell confesses not only to assisting Suffolk in his treasonous flight from England, but also the murder of the royal princes. Take this document to Foxe, and have one of his clerks copy its contents, that my subjects may no longer accuse me, while in their cups, of having been responsible for the deaths that cleared my path to the throne, as of course they did Gloucester’s.’

  ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ Daubeney replied, slightly pale in the face.

  Henry held up a hand to delay him. ‘Before you go, what of the other three?’

  ‘Wyndham confesses to having given Suffolk a letter of safe passage addressed to Tyrrell, but claims that he was acting simply out of sympathy for a friend escaping a serious criminal charge for which he might be hanged, and had no treasonous intent. The other two claim no involvement in the matter other than their kinship with Suffolk.’

  ‘William de la Pole and William Courtney are to be held in the Tower until I decide otherwise, and their estates are forfeit, as are Suffolk’s,’ Henry commanded. ‘As for Tyrrell and Wyndham, they are to be placed on trial for treason before the Star Chamber, and then executed in full public view at Tyburn — when they are found guilty.’

  Three months later, Henry took a careful look at the sleek face of the young priest who had been brought into the Privy Chamber by Foxe.

  ‘Father Wolsey, I am much pleased with your work,’ he announced.

  The clergyman bowed his head graciously in thanks, adding, ‘I am most grateful to Your Majesty for the opportunity to visit such foreign parts at so young an age. As I reported to my Lord Bishop of Winchester, Castile would seem to prefer the prospect of a change of ruler, and is happy to be welcoming back one of its own princesses.’

  ‘She is not there yet,’ Henry reminded him, ‘but she would seem to have a better prospect of becoming a queen than her younger sister, the way Prince Henry carries on.’

  ‘He is a young man, Your Majesty, but no doubt in the fullness of time he will grow to have the same Stately wisdom as his father.’

  Henry smiled at the unashamed flattery, then recalled the other matter. ‘And did you find me a suitable bride in Italy?’

  Wolsey bowed again, and the candlelight flickered off his highly polished tonsure.

  ‘As a man of God, I am clearly no judge of woman-flesh, Your Majesty, and there was only one who came close to the description I was given regarding Your Majesty’s preference. However...’

  ‘Who is she, and what does “however” import?’ Henry demanded.

  Wolsey bowed yet again. ‘She is Joanna, the Dowager Queen of Naples, Your Majesty. She is most comely in appearance, is not yet forty, and is the widow of Ferdinand 2nd of that kingdom. She is also the niece of King Ferdinand of Aragon, so that marriage to her might serve to smooth Your Majesty’s relationship with Spain. However, her jointure is confiscated, so there would be no dowry.’

  Henry smiled. ‘You were well instructed, and it is as if you can read my mind. Do you read consciences as well?’

  ‘It has been my good fortune never to have to take confession from a man with an impenetrable conscience, Your Majesty.’

  ‘Would you like to?’

  Wolsey looked puzzled for a moment, until Henry made his meaning clear.r />
  ‘I am in need of a new chaplain, Thomas. Would you be prepared to hear the confessions of an old man with much on his conscience?’

  ‘It would certainly make a change, Your Majesty,’ Wolsey oozed, ‘and to be in Your Majesty’s service would be a deep honour in itself.’

  ‘I hope your penances are as easy to swallow as your honeyed words,’ Henry laughed. ‘Forget the matter of the Queen of Naples. I am not so desperate to climb on top of a woman that I would do so without a dowry. Foxe here will no doubt find some dusty priory where my current chaplain can eke out his days peering over the scriptures, and then you may take over his offices. I hear a private Mass daily, in my chambers, and I also make confession every week, on Fridays, otherwise you will only be required when I perceive my mortal soul to be in danger, which is not often. I am sure we will be able to use your silver tongue on other diplomatic missions while my soul takes a holiday.’

  XIII

  Early in 1505, Henry had another need for Wolsey’s services. Ferdinand of Aragon had married Germaine de Foix, the niece of Louis XII of France, and rumour had it that he had done so not only in order to thwart the ambitions of his son-in-law Philip of Burgundy regarding the throne of Castile, but in order to demonstrate to Henry that Spain was capable of forming alliances with England’s old enemy. The Scots King James had seen his opportunity to tighten the net by renewing the Auld Alliance with France that he had solemnly sworn not to do as part of his marriage vows with Margaret, but it came to Henry’s ears that two Scottish noblemen had travelled south through England in disguise on their way to Paris, where they announced James’s willingness to resume the anti-England pact. They were intercepted on their return journey and held for some time as honoured detainees in London while Wolsey convinced them of the error of their ways, then escorted them back over the border to perform the same service for King James.

  Henry also sent a further public message to the world, and put Ferdinand in his place, by prevailing upon a bemused Prince Henry, now Prince of Wales, to publicly renounce his betrothal to Katherine, on the ground that he had been below the age of consent when first talked into it. If the young prince was confused, Katherine was heartbroken, and redoubled her pleas to her father to remove her from this terrible country where she was being held in virtual imprisonment. Ferdinand was insisting on the return of her entire dowry before he would accept that the marriage was off, and Henry’s firm response was that Ferdinand would not get back a single escudo, but might see his daughter again when Henry had thought more about her future.

  In 1506, Henry was staring grumpily out of his chamber window at the rain that was remorselessly battering the mullioned windows of Richmond Palace, his bare foot raised on a footstool while his physician prodded and poked at Henry’s feet and ankles, despite his winces, howls of pain and protests at the indignities being inflicted on him. Finally the physician put down his eyeglass and pronounced his verdict.

  ‘It is gout, Your Majesty.’

  ‘It is certainly painful, and it does little for my comfort when you prod and poke me like a gypsy horse trader with a brood mare,’ Henry complained. ‘How may it be cured? Not leeches again, I hope?’

  ‘Indeed not, Your Majesty,’ the physician assured him. ‘It is simply a matter of taking less wine and red meat.’

  ‘How much less?’

  ‘Strictly speaking, none at all,’ was the nervous reply.

  Henry snorted, and was about to tell the physician where he could insert one of his leeches when he became aware of a loud argument at the chamber door, which burst open to admit a breathless Daubeney.

  ‘Forgive me for entering unannounced Your Majesty, particularly since they advised me that you were not fully dressed, but the matter is urgent.’

  ‘It is only my foot that is naked,’ Henry assured him, as he lowered it from the footstool, ‘and there was a time when subjects would regard it a blessing to kiss the royal foot. What is so urgent, pray?’

  ‘Your Majesty, the Archduke Philip of the Netherlands has landed at Weymouth.’

  ‘He is invading England, in this weather?’

  ‘No, Your Majesty — he is shipwrecked. It seems he was sailing to Castile with his wife the Queen when a storm in the Channel blew them onto rocks at Melcombe Regis. They made their plight known to the warden of the castle, and he had them conveyed to a nearby monastery. Their ship is quite destroyed, and they seek sanctuary until it may be repaired.’

  Henry sat thinking for a long moment, his smile growing wider the more he thought about this gift from the gods. Eventually he gave his orders. ‘Take a company of Yeomen Guards and escort our royal visitors to Windsor Palace. But before you leave, search out the Prince Henry, and have him attend me. In this weather, even he should have remained indoors — you will no doubt find him in the tennis room.’

  Daubeney bowed out, and Henry climbed back into his hose while chuckling loudly. The usher announced the entry of Prince Henry, and a tall, muscular young man with a mop of red hair plastered in sweat walked in with a sour expression.

  ‘I was beating Melford hands down, and he is said to be the best tennis player at Court. I hope this is important.’

  ‘It is always important when your King summons you into his presence,’ Henry snapped back. ‘Take a cup of wine to sweeten your mood, and listen carefully to my instructions. You are to take yourself and your grandmother, without delay, to Windsor Palace, and prepare it for a royal reception. Fate has landed the Archduke Philip and his wife Joanna of Castile into our hands, and they are to be royally entertained without realising that they are also our prisoners. Once at Windsor, your grandmother will be able to discern what is required, and the Steward is to acquire all he needs — inform him that there is to be no expense spared. In a few days, Daubeney will arrive with our guests, and they are to be received by you — as my representative — with all due honour as befits their status. The royal couple may be given the Royal Apartments, and do you occupy the Curfew Tower, along with your grandmother. I shall follow in due course with the Lady Katherine.’

  ‘Why are you not seeing to all these matters yourself?’

  Henry sighed. ‘There are several reasons for that, not the least of which is that it is well time that you demonstrated to the world that you have all the grace and status of a king, which you will be ere long, if this damned cough brought on by the foul winter does not ease. But also, it suits me greatly to make them wait upon my arrival, in order to demonstrate that they are there at my pleasure, and subject to my whim. Thirdly, these old feet of mine require that I hobble like some wounded knight from a battlefield, and it would not look good for the Archduke of the Netherlands to be greeted on arrival by some war veteran supported by sticks. In the world of statecraft appearances are everything, and I do not wish it worded around the princes of Europe that England is governed by an old man who can barely stand.’

  The expenditure of breath required for all these instructions brought on a fit of coughing, and the young prince stood politely waiting for it to subside before asking his next question.

  ‘Why the Lady Katherine?’

  Henry sighed again. ‘Because the Queen Consort of the Netherlands, now the Queen of Castile, is Katherine’s older sister Joanna. Now that my own Queen — your mother — is dead, and you are to be the host of this meeting of crowns, it is fitting that Katherine play the part of hostess.’

  ‘But we are no longer betrothed,’ Prince Henry objected.

  The colour began to rise in Henry’s face, and again he gave way to a fit of coughing, before he replied. ‘I am not asking you to bed her, simply let her play the genial host by your side. It will serve to remind her father that, contrary to what she insists in her letters to him, she is not my prisoner. Now, if there are no more questions, lose no time in riding to Windsor once this dreadful weather eases. You should enjoy wearing out a horse on the journey, at least.’

  The young prince bowed out, and Henry hobbled over to where h
e had left his sticks, then lurched across to the wine decanter, pouring himself a generous measure.

  ‘To Hell with all physicians,’ he muttered, as he downed a large mouthful, only to spit most of it out as another fit of coughing overtook him.

  XIV

  A thousand candles fluttered in the draught as they burned brightly in the candelabras suspended from the roof of the Great Hall of Windsor Palace. Beneath them could be heard the excited murmuring of a hundred guests at the banquet to welcome the Archduke Philip and his wife Joanna to the safety of England after their perilous attempt to sail down the Channel to Castile. Prince Henry sat, as usual, at one of the lower tables with a group of young knights who were wearing the Tudor Rose livery that also marked them out as royal grooms when they were not engaged in more martial duties, and they were already becoming quite boisterous. King Henry had made a tactful, limping, entry to the top table much earlier in the proceedings, and his young son would be required to join him there once the food was carried in. In the meantime, King Henry sat with his mother, talking fitfully about her future plans for the young prince’s education. On her other side sat Philip of the Netherlands, who occasionally distracted her from her conversation with her son with his hesitant attempts to converse with her in English.

  Several seats further down sat Katherine of Aragon, alongside her sister Joanna, whose husband Philip was on Joanna’s other side. At the centre of the table, Margaret had grown tired of attempting to maintain a conversation with Philip, and during the distraction caused by the delivery of the first meat course she turned back to Henry with a whisper.

  ‘How long will these heathens be our guests?’

  ‘Until I choose to release them,’ Henry smirked. ‘I gave orders that their vessel is to be repaired at my gracious expense in the royal dockyard at Portsmouth, where of course I can detain it for as long as I wish. I have already sent Wolsey to explain to Ferdinand of Castile — as he wishes to remain — that I have his son-in-law in luxurious captivity for as long as it suits me. This will obviously buy Ferdinand the time to strengthen his position in Castile, and he will remain indebted to me. By three hundred thousand Spanish Escudos, to be precise, which is what I calculate the balance of Katherine’s dowry to be worth.’