Shaking the Throne

by Caroline Angus Baker

  Cromwell turned to Rich. ‘Set forth for Lambeth Palace at once, as Archbishop Cranmer must know all of this at once.’

  Rich bowed to the King and disappeared down the hallway to the Cromwell rooms and Nicòla waited for an instruction, which never came.

  ‘I shall send those rebels a message,’ Henry seethed. ‘They think they can dictate laws? Take away things awarded to me in parliament? I never saw men committing to such treason! Suffolk, I demand you ride north at once, and take the Earls of Shrewsbury, Rutland and Huntingdon. All need to show their fealty. Lord High Admiral Fitzwilliam must go too, and I want 100,000 men sent north to quell this rebellion. No one rebelled against my father and lived to tell the tale, and no one shall during my reign!’

  At once Suffolk bowed to his friend and disappeared from the room. Henry stood on the spot shaking his head, his hands on his hips.

  ‘Your Majesty,’ Cromwell said. ‘It has been over thirty years since I fought in a battle, and I lost that battle. I would gladly take Suffolk’s place if I thought it useful…’

  ‘Half the men in your army would rebel and kill you, Thomas,’ Henry replied. ‘I am no fool; I know my favourite minister is not everyone’s favourite minister. But I shall not turn against you in this, Thomas, so have no fear. I shall recall Norfolk from his home at Kenninghall and help to control the north.’

  ‘Your Majesty, my nephew Richard is in Ware, thirty miles north, close enough to defend Windsor yet still on the main road north to Lincoln. I shall send him as many men as I can; I have eighty men working on Austin Friars. I have one hundred horses and can get handguns and arrows from the Tower…’

  ‘Yes, send all to Richard at once. He is a member of our Privy Council and must be defended. I value Richard. I shall not lose my crown to rebels.’

  ‘There is no need to worry about this, Your Majesty. I shall write up your words to the rebels, commanding them to obey their anointed leader on pain of death. This rebellion shall be broken apart in as fast as Suffolk can ride to Lincoln.’

  ‘I lived through the sacking of Rome, Your Majesty,’ Nicòla said. ‘Likewise, the uprising in Florence born from Rome’s uprising. I watched my father slain, his body burned. Even when society stumbles, Your Majesty, it is won back. Chaos cannot prevail for long.’

  Henry nodded. ‘You are a woman, Frescobaldi. Tell me, why is my new wife not with child yet?’

  ‘I know not, Your Majesty,’ Nicòla stumbled on the new subject. ‘For I have only given Lord Cromwell one daughter and two dead sons.’

  ‘As have both of my wives, and even more besides!’ Henry cried. ‘There shall not be a third wife who fails! My only son is dead, and I cannot mourn him openly as he was illegitimate!’

  Nicòla looked up and down at the King, dressed all in mourning black. ‘Many of us mourn Lord Fitzroy, Your Majesty. He is in our prayers.’

  ‘I want guards all around the palace,’ Henry changed conversations again. ‘I need double protection for myself and for Queen Jane. I want Lady Mary surrounded always, for she could be a symbol of hope to these rebels. Arm yourself, Thomas. If we are to war against our people, we shall win.’

  Cromwell and Nicòla bowed to Henry and started back to their chambers, Cromwell walking at a high speed, and Nicòla ran to keep up.

  ‘We must get word to Austin Friars at once,’ Cromwell said. ‘I want all men in the household to be ready to defend the manor, and I shall have fifty royal guards to watch the place. Gregory and Jane shall move away at once, we shall send all their nurses and tutors with them.’

  ‘Would they not be safer at Austin Friars, surrounded by people loyal to us?’ Nicòla asked as they headed into the private office again. The Ten Articles of Christ remained jumbled on Cromwell’s desk; the stolen kisses seemed forever ago.

  ‘Tens of thousands of men are marching in the north to kill me. They want my head on a spike. Nothing is too good for the safety of Gregory and Jane. Stephen Vaughan is my oldest friend in the world and is staying in Calais. The children would be safe in Calais.’

  ‘I shall not send the children to France!’ Nicòla exploded, uncaring that all the clerks and ushers of the rooms would hear.

  ‘You will do as I say. Gregory is my son and heir.’

  ‘Gregory is almost a man.’

  ‘I think we can both agree that Gregory is no great scholar or soldier,’ Cromwell lowered his voice as he neared Nicòla, looking her right in the eye. ‘He is a man of a…’

  ‘Effeminate nature, like me,’ Nicòla asked. ‘A creature, a fool?’

  ‘Say no such things about my son,’ Cromwell hissed back.

  ‘Jane is my daughter, and I will not put her on a ship due to an imagined rebellion of a group of village idiots from the north of England.’

  ‘You could be upon the ship with them both,’ Cromwell replied.

  ‘If we were under siege, I would fight, I would never leave,’ Nicòla scoffed. ‘How could you imagine such things?’

  ‘Imagine what they would do to a loyal servant of mine,’ Cromwell said. ‘Just think, Nicò. What if they were to discover your truth? I cannot bear to think what a mob would do.’

  ‘I know what they do to women, that is why my disguise as a man came in so useful in Rome,’ Nicòla said. ‘I have seen all the worst that people can do. The King is sending Suffolk to muster 100,000 men and nobles will tell these rebels to desist under pain of death. They are marching north and are 130 miles from us at present. We do not need to fear.’

  ‘We have to fear all at court, for any person could be a rebel from within. Everyone hates me for being low born and in power. Any person could knife you the moment you leave my sight. You must be guarded always, as do the children. If this rebellion does not disband when Suffolk reaches Lincoln, I shall take drastic action to protect my family, even if that means sending you all to Calais to face my fate alone.’

  ‘I shall not leave London or you, Tom, not for anything, even if it means I die with an arrow through my belly. We have not fought so hard to change England to lose to rebels. Have all we done, all we have seen, suffered and inflicted been for nothing?’

  ‘Not if I can help it. You may tarry in London for now. We have much to plan if we are to get 100,000 men to back Suffolk in the next few days. We must seek to gain everyone to our cause. If we are to die by these rebels, they will have to fight for our heads.’

  C

  Chapter 53 – October 1536

  lyes can render any man blynd

  Windsor Castle, outer London

  The Duke of Norfolk was now High Marshal, in command of the north while the Duke of Suffolk manned an army. Cromwell walked the palace hallways in London, flanked by ten guards to keep him safe from internal rebels. The dukes loved every second of the rebellion. Cromwell could imagine them sympathetic to the rebels and their cause, to fight the Reformation and stop Cromwell’s rule. Along with Suffolk, the Earls of Shrewsbury, Rutland and Huntingdon were eager to prove their fealty to the King and were ready to fight the rebels too, as the gentry of the Yorkshire area could not, or would not, suppress the commoners and their marching.

  Weeks had passed since the uprising by the time the King’s angry reply to the rebels reached Yorkshire through Suffolk. Fresh news arrived at Windsor, where Henry and Jane were safe, and it was Cromwell who had to give the news to the King. Flanked by guards, Cromwell approached the main entrance to the privy chamber where the King sat with his wife, and behind him, Cromwell heard Nicòla with a bag of coins. She was giving the guards extra money to remain faithful. All these years of hard work for England and this was the reward?

  The chamberlain announced Cromwell’s entry and Nicòla trailed in behind, carrying his books. Cromwell straightened the Tudor rose which hung from his Collar of Esses before Henry turned in his seat, where he sat by the window with Queen Jane. A fire had been lit nearby in the fireplace, just a little warmth in the autumn cool of the chamber.

  ‘Thomas,’ Henry said but did no
t rise from his seat. Instead, he gestured Cromwell to come over to him, leaving Nicòla by the doorway in silence.

  ‘Your Majesty.’ Cromwell bowed to the King and the same to Jane. But as he turned back to Henry, he noticed the pain on his face. Henry’s cheeks were red, his eyes wet with tears.

  ‘Can I be of service, Your Majesty?’

  ‘Tis my leg,’ Henry spat. ‘Damned thing hurts again. I fell in the joust almost a year ago, so when shall this pain cease?’

  ‘I can call for Dr. Butts, Your Majesty.’

  ‘The doctor has been, Lord Cromwell,’ Jane said. ‘But the King needs rest.’

  ‘The last thing I need is rest,’ Henry shot back. ‘Rebels are marching on my cities! What news, Thomas?’

  Cromwell swallowed a heavy lump in his throat. ‘We have received word, from Lord Darcy of Temple Hurst. He states that all of Yorkshire is up in rebellion, with plans to march upon the city of York. Both Sir George Lawson and William Harington, the Mayor of York, have asked for aid, as they face 40,000 men. Suffolk gave the leader of the rebellion, Robert Aske, your letter. They know their rebellion is contrary to God’s law, as you are the anointed leader of England. To rebel against you is to rebel against England and against God. Parliament sets the laws and for the commoners to revolt is treason and they shall be subject to Suffolk’s anger should they choose not to disperse.’

  ‘They mean to take York,’ Henry sighed and leaned back, a fear running across Henry’s strained face. Jane held her hands together, unsure of what to say to her husband.

  ‘There was rebellion when my father was king,’ Henry said. ‘My glorious mother kept us safe while my father fought the rebels himself. And Lord Darcy was one man who fought on my father’s side. That same man is now elevated to great power in the north and I expected him to aid in ending this stupid affair.’ Henry paused as he cringed in pain.

  Cromwell dared to glance at the King’s leg. Against the elaborate detail of his hose, Cromwell could see the dark stain of blood. Whatever the doctor was doing, it was not good enough for the King. ‘I shall do anything you desire, Your Majesty, to bring this rebellion to an end.’

  ‘Perchance I should cut off your head, Thomas, and then the rebels will go home.’

  ‘And they shall also take your profits from the monasteries, will not pay their taxes, and no longer consider you the leader of the Church, Your Majesty,’ Nicòla said from the other side of the room.

  Cromwell turned in horror at Nicòla’s outburst, but she did not shrink away; rather she stood behind her words. ‘Those rebels wish to fight you, Your Majesty, and everything you have given them. You have presided over them and the lands you allow them to live upon. Do you muster armies, taking away their precious sons? Do you start wars and burn homes in unrest? No, you are the great king of England’s peacetime. They think they know best about the monasteries and their abbeys. They are so fooled by the lies; they know no better. These rebels learn less in a lifetime than we educated men learn in a week. We are removing corruption from their lives and replacing it with the right to read and understand the religion which governs their souls and their lives. You and your father have given England great peace, and the commoners are taking that peace for granted. They fight due to a lack of education, Your Majesty.’

  ‘You dare let your mistress speak in such tones?’ Henry said to Cromwell.

  ‘The Waif speaks the truth,’ Queen Jane added. ‘These men rise up from a lack of education. They have not the education of noble men and cannot understand the Reformation. They find solace in the old faith.’

  ‘The Catholic faith lies and steals, Your Majesty,’ Cromwell replied to her. ‘I want better for England. I shall not steal the parish churches from the commoners, nor their riches; we shall use those churches to educate the masses, if only they listened to what I tried to teach them.’

  Henry placed both hands on his aching leg. ‘Should I offer these rebels peace and a pardon if they give up?’ he asked. ‘Is that what you think, Thomas?’

  ‘It would be far cheaper than any civil war, Your Majesty. I would need 100,000 men ready to mount a war. A pardon would give the men a chance to disperse and take with them the details of the dissolution of the monasteries. I aim to educate all men in the English faith. Killing men in their thousands shall bring nothing but continued anger.’

  ‘Can we not save the monasteries and abbeys?’ Jane asked.

  ‘Stop it, you stupid woman!’ Henry cried at his wife. ‘Lest you wish to be like my other wives!’

  Cromwell stood back a few steps as Henry pulled himself to his feet. ‘Send word north at once to Suffolk and Norfolk. I shall offer peace in return for the end to the rebellion. All shall be pardoned at once. But if not, Suffolk can slaughter every man, woman and child in the north until York is safe and my authority is safe!’

  Every word in Henry’s voice grew louder. Cromwell swallowed hard and bowed low. ‘At once, Your Majesty.’

  ‘If I must take heads from commoners, Cromwell,’ Henry added, ‘then your common head shall be first!’

  Cromwell flew from the room without acknowledging his king, Nicòla trailing behind him. The slew of guards waiting outside the privy chamber assembled about the Lord Privy Seal and his secretary once again as he pounded the hallways to Cromwell Chambers.

  ‘How dare you speak to the King in such tones?’ Cromwell cried at Nicòla, given the space of private hallways, too narrow for any person to approach the wide group of black-clad guards.

  ‘He threatened to take your head!’ Nicòla yelled at Cromwell’s back. ‘I care nothing for the worry Henry suffers, and I care not for the pain in his leg. How dare he threaten you, threaten all you have done in his service, just because he wants to blame someone? The King wanted this reformation, he was the one who asked you to destroy the Catholic Church in England.’

  ‘We only have to look around the court to know the Reformation is losing,’ Cromwell replied. ‘We only have to look at the blessings and ceremonies Cranmer is forced to perform in the court chapels, all filled with idolatry and pronounced in Latin. We must step up reform in England, and the King must understand this. If there is rebellion, nothing good will come of our work.’

  ‘We know the Queen shall help us none in our quest,’ Nicòla replied as they entered the offices.

  Cromwell dismissed the guards at the front entrance of the chambers where the clerks worked in silence. They walked into the private office where servants were stoking a small fire to prepare for nightfall. Cromwell kicked them from the room with a click of his fingers. ‘Never speak to the King without permission,’ Cromwell reminded Nicòla. ‘We have none of the constant openness that we had when Anne by Henry’s side. The King has become as dangerous as the dragon on his father’s banners. You are my only solace in the world, Nicò, and we know that one day the King could turn against his discretion towards our situation.’

  ‘Perchance we should end our situation.’

  ‘What do you mean? Not weeks ago, you swore that my idea to send you and the children to Calais was madness. Now you think we should not work this way any longer?’

  ‘You worry too much on the issue,’ Nicòla replied as she sat at her desk in the corner. ‘Who would balance your accounts and monitor your gambling debts if I left you?’

  Heavy footsteps yielded the face of both Wriothesley and Rich in the doorway. ‘What?’ Cromwell asked with a sigh.

  ‘We have received word that the rebels in Lincolnshire have disbanded under the threats of Suffolk and his troops,’ Rich said with a flourish. ‘They are dispersing around the area with all haste. They fear Suffolk and his men may slaughter them.’

  ‘They assume rightly,’ Cromwell scoffed.

  ‘I also have a letter hither from your nephew Richard,’ Wriothesley added. ‘Richard was to muster another 10,000 men to protect London from a base in Herefordshire, but now feels he has lost the opportunity to be a soldier, as the rebels are breaking up their units to
return home.’

  ‘I shall still send word to Suffolk that a pardon is possible if they return home and stop the violence against the men of the monastery dissolutions. We shall threaten them with extreme violence if they do not. Some areas may be quiet, but I know Norfolk has been struggling with men on their march north as the weather is poor and moving the artillery has proved difficult in the mud.’

  ‘There be many guards posted outside your rooms, Lord Cromwell,’ Wriothesley commented.

  ‘I am paying one hundred extra men out of my own pocket. Already I have had to melt gold plate from the King’s Jewel House to pay extra salaries to Norfolk’s men and must pay guards in the palace myself. I hope you men have enough protection?’

  ‘The men you sent us are working,’ Rich said and Wriothesley nodded. ‘I know Cranmer is feeling safe.’

  ‘How be the King?’ Wriothesley asked.

  ‘Angry either at the rebellion, his sore leg or Queen Jane. He fears for his crown, his tone and his humours prove so,’ Nicòla answered. ‘Rebellion is a betrayal to His Majesty.’

  ‘They are not calling it a rebellion, but a pilgrimage, the Pilgrimage of Grace,’ Rich replied. ‘Our men commissioned to halt the monasteries and abbeys are under threat and in hiding.’

  ‘The only pilgrimage will be of soldiers marching north to take lives,’ Cromwell spat back. ‘We must work at once, for much correspondence must reach Suffolk and Norfolk. The rebels in Lincolnshire may go home, but they could arm themselves at any moment. The Yorkshire rebels are two hundred miles north and want the city of York for themselves. Our messengers with the pardons and the threats of death must reach these men with all haste.’

  ~~~

  Days passed but Cromwell focused not on the country. Men marched in their thousands to see him dead. There were no words to describe the pain of knowing so many wished him killed. No prayers to God could soothe his heart. The loss was so great; he had fought since childhood to be respected, and all had come to nothing. He sat, a man of fifty years, hated by a nation. The King hid away with Queen Jane, while all the courtiers dispersed to their estates to prepare for war, to prepare for sending their tenants to be soldiers against the north of England. At any moment, someone loyal to the Pilgrimage of Grace could burst into Cromwell’s rooms and stab him in revenge for his desire to remove corruption from the Church. Cromwell had fought off a pope to make Henry the leader of the Church, had gone against the threat of war by the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, just so Henry could take a new wife. Cromwell beheaded a queen with a torrent of lies at Henry’s command. All the while, Cromwell tried to reform England for the better.