The nine days' queen, Lady Jane Grey, and her times

LADY JANE GREY

FROM THE PAINTING BY LUCAS DE HEERE AT ALTHORP

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THE

NINE DAYS' QUEEN

LADY JANE GREY ^,

AND HER TIMES ^

EDITED, AND WITH INTRODUCTION,

MARTIN HUME, M.A.

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WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

LONDON: METHUEN & CO.
1909

BY • If •'=

RICHARD DAVEY

TO
MY DEAR WIFE

ELEANORA DAVEY

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ...... xiii

CHAP.

I. BRADGATE HALL AND THE GREYS OF GROBY . . i

II. BIRTH AND EDUCATION . . . . -14

III. THE LADY LATIMER . . . . .28

IV. THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD . . . ' . .42
V. MRS. ANNE ASKEW . . . . -58

VI. THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS . . -73

VII. HENRY vm ....... 100

VIII. CONCERNING THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 115

IX. THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL . .136

X. THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE . . 147

XL THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE

XII. JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK

XIII. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET

XIV. THE LADY JANE MARRIES THE LORD GUILDFORD

XV. ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER ....

XVI. THE LADY JANE is PROCLAIMED QUEEN
XVII. THE NINE DAYS' REIGN .....

XVIII. THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND .
XIX. THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE ....

XX. THE SUPREME HOUR 1 . . . . '328

XXL THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS ....

APPENDIX ......

INDEX ....... 365

IX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

LADY JANE GREY ...... Frontispiece

From the Painting by LUCAS DE HEERE at Althorp. (Photograph by
HANFSTAENGL)

FACING PAGE

HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK . . . .12

From the Painting by JOANNES CORVUS, in the National Portrait Gallery

)UEEN KATHERINE PARR . . . . -3°

After the Painting formerly in the possession of Horace Walpole

[ENRY vm IN 1547 . . . . . ' . 48

From an old Engraving

ROGER ASCHAM'S VISIT TO LADY JANE GREY AT BRADGATE . 172

After the Painting by J. C. HORSLEY, R.A.
JOHN DUDLEY, DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND . .192

From an Engraving by G. VERTUE

EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET . . . 208

From an Engraving after the Painting by HOLBEIN

SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OF LADY JANE GREY . . . 224

Formerly in the Collection of Col. Elliott of Nottingham, and now at
Oxford University. From an Engraving after the Painting by
HOLBEIN

LDWARD VI ....... 246

From an Engraving by G. VERTUE

,ADY JANE GREY BY WYNGAERDE .... 270
, The earliest engraved Portrait of her, from a Picture said to be by
HOLBEIN, now lost

QUEEN MARY AT THE PERIOD OF HER MARRIAGE . .322

From the Painting by ANTONIO MOR, in the Prado Museum. (Photo-
graph by R. ANDERSON)

PORTRAIT OF THE LADY FRANCES BRANDON, DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK,

AND HER SECOND HUSBAND, ADRIAN STOKES, ESQ. . 352

Probably by CORVINUS, property of Col. Wynn Finch

xi

AUTHOR'S NOTE

MY object in writing this book has been to interest
the reader in the tragic story of Lady Jane
Grey rather from the personal than the political
point of view. I have therefore employed, more perhaps
than is usual, what the French historians term le document
humain in my account of the extraordinary men and
women who surrounded Lady Jane, and who used her as
a tool for their ambitious ends. The reader may possibly
wonder why in several of the earlier chapters Lady Jane
Grey plays so shadowy a part, but I deemed it impossible
for any one who is not very familiar with our History at
this period to understand, without having a complete idea of
the chain of conspiracies that preceded and rendered possible
her proclamation, how a young Princess, not in the immediate
sion to the Crown, came to be placed, if only for nine
in the towering position of Queen of England. These
racies were four in number. The first was that of the
ards and the Catholic party against Queen Katherine
The second, the conspiracy of the Seymours against
owards, which ended in the downfall of the great House
<Arfolk, whereby Edward Seymour was enabled to proclaim
himsejlf Lord Protector of the Realm. The third plot was that
"hmas Seymour to cast down his brother Edward from his

tation, and, if possible, to usurp the same for himself — a

e story of folly and intrigue and overvaulting ambition

ended in one of the most terrible fratricidal tragedies

found in the history of the nations. Fourthly, the

high s
strang
which

to be

i~

^V'll of the brothers Seymour from the scene enabled John
Dudley t Duke of Northumberland, to work his own will and
to prepare the way, during the last days of Edward vi, for his
laughtGr_m_iaW) much against her will, to usurp the throne.

I have consulted every available document, as well in our

i

a

Vll

viii THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

national archives and private libraries as in those of foreign,
countries, concerning Lady Jane and her friends and foes, the i
better to paint as vivid a picture as possible of the times in i
which they lived.

I need scarcely add how greatly I appreciate the honour
Major Martin Hume has conferred upon my work by his
scholarly Introduction, which gives so succinct and deeply inter-
esting an account of our foreign politics at a most momentous
period of English history. To him, to Dr. Gairdner, to Earl
Spencer, to Earl Stamford and Warrington, and to many other
gentlemen and friends, including the officials at the State Paper
Office and the British Museum, I beg to tender my sincere
thanks for their courtesy and for the valuable information with
which they have helped me to complete my picture of one of
the most interesting periods in our national history.

I cannot, moreover, allow this opportunity to pass without
recording, with sincere gratitude and affection, the aid which
I received, when I first thought of writing this life of Lady Jane
Grey, from the kindness of my old valued and lamented
friend, Dr. Richard Garnett.

RICHARD DAVEY

200 ASHLEY GARDENS, LONDON, S.W.

jth September 1909.

INTRODUCTION xv

defiance of Luther and the spread of the reformed doctrines,
the political parties in the English Court were divided more
distinctly than ever by the new element introduced ; and,
despotic as the Tudor sovereigns were, the apparently personal
and fickle character of their policy, which proves so puzzling
to students, really arose in nearly every case from the tem-
porary predominance in their counsels of one or the other
school of thought represented in their Court. It is only by
recognising this fact that the strange and sudden changes
which took place in the reigns of Henry vm and Edward vi
can be made comprehensible, and by it also the rise and fall
of Lady Jane Grey can be seen in its true light.

During the last twenty years of the reign of Henry vm
his bewildering mutations of policy and of wives were the
result of efforts on the part of rival sets of politicians to utilise
his brutal sensuality and inflated pride to their respective
ends. With him, as with the most of them, religion was a
mere stalking horse for other interests. The traditional
and more Conservative party, which usually leant towards
the imperial alliance, naturally took the Catholic side, the
established nobility such as the Howards backed by the
Catholic bishops being contrasted with the more recently
ennobled men, aided by bureaucrats like Cromwell and by
the reforming churchmen. Thus it came to be understood
before the end of Henry's reign that the men in the English
Court most favourable to emancipation from the Papacy were
generally speaking the advocates of a French alliance, whilst
those who clung to the orthodox view of religion favoured
the traditional adherence to the house of Burgundy. It is
true that the men on both sides were equally eager to partici-
pate in the plunder of the Church and in filching the commons
from the people of England ; and that both parties included
men who were ready to profess themselves faithful Catholics
or ardent reformers as their interests demanded at the time.
But the political aims of the respective parties were quite
distinctly divided, notwithstanding religious affinities, for
the Emperor was just as desirous of having Protestant friends
in England as the King of France was willing to accept Catholic
support there. The object of the English sovereigns, it
must be recollected, was usually somewhat different from
*

xvi THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

that of their bribed councillors who had their own interests
to serve. The aim of Henry vn and Henry vm, and especi-
ally of Elizabeth, who alone was successful in attaining it,
was so to distribute the weight of England's influence as to
avert any coalition of the two great Continental powers
against her, rather than to become the permanent tool of
either ; the efforts of Charles v, and his French rival being
respectively directed towards preventing England from
throwing in her lot with their enemies.

Until religious bitterness infinitely complicated the
question, and finally led to the long state of war with Spain,
the side which commanded most sympathy amongst the
English people at large was unquestionably that which favoured
a cordial understanding with the sovereign of Flanders and
Spain. The country had been in close antagonism with
France on and off for centuries, the proximity of the coasts
and the aspirations of the French to dominate the Channel
represented a constant danger and source of anxiety, and it
was instinctively felt in England that the time-honoured policy
which bound her to the monarch who was able when he
pleased to divert the aggression of the French by threatening
any of their land frontiers, was the safest friend of this country.
The English merchants who found their richest markets in
Flanders and Spain, and who were in chronic irritation at
the French piratical attacks upon their commerce, were
equally anxious for a friendship which they looked upon as
the best assurance against a war which they dreaded ; so
that the chief English advocates of the French connection
were usually those whose adherence to the reformed religious
doctrines overbore their political interests, and the newer
nobility and politicians who found themselves at enmity
on social and other grounds with the traditional conservatives.

It must not be forgotten that both France and the
Emperor strove ceaselessly to gain friends amongst the
English councillors. Immense bribes found their way into
the pockets of ministers and secretaries of State, in many
cases regular yearly pensions being settled upon influential
political supporters, and by means of flattery, social attentions,
and promises, the ambassadors in England of the rival powers
became centres of intrigue to influence English policy in

INTRODUCTION xvii

favour of one or the other. The goal to which both the
rivals directed their eyes was one in which, curiously enough,
England had no interest whatever, namely, the hegemony
over Italy ; but England which by activity on the northern
coasts of France or on the Scottish border could weaken
the French power for harm in other directions, could
enable the Emperor at any time to check his enemy's Italian
ambitions ; whilst with England as her friend France could
brave the imperialists, certain that she would not be taken
in the rear, especially when, as she usually managed to do,
she had enlisted on her side the Turks on the Hungarian
frontier and the Lutheran princes and towns of Germany.

The marriage of Henry vm with Jane Seymour was looked
upon by the Imperialist Conservative party in England as a
victory for their cause. Her brother, Sir Edward Seymour,
had been in the Emperor's service, and Jane had supplanted
the hated Anne Boleyn, whose sympathies were, of course,
entirely French. It is true that later Seymour, a parvenu
noble, be it recollected, was driven into the anti-papal camp
mainly by the antagonism of Norfolk and the older nobles
who led the Conservative party, but, notwithstanding his
Protestantism, he never wavered in his attachment to the
imperial alliance and his opposition to French interests.

When the death of Henry vm made Seymour, as Duke
of Somerset and Protector, virtually ruler of England with
Paget as his principal minister, both of them were almost
servile in their professions of devotion to the cause of the
Emperor ; and made no secret of their distrust of France
with which a hollow and temporary peace had only been
recently patched up. Somerset harried the Church and
changed religious forms ruthlessly ; his greed was insatiable
and the devotional endowments were looted without com-
punction, the Catholic bishops were treated with stern severity,
and even the schismatic Catholicism of Henry vm was cast
aside in favour of an entirely new creed and ritual. Norfolk
was kept in the Tower, Wriothesley was disgraced and the
Catholic Conservative nobles were warned not to stand in
the Protector's way. But through it all Somerset and Paget
were politically the sworn servants and friends of the
Emperor, pledged to discountenance any attempts of the

xviii THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

French to injure him : whilst Charles v on his side, much as
he deprecated the religious changes, could no more afford
to quarrel with Somerset than he could with Henry vm,
twenty years before when he contumeliously repudiated his
blameless Spanish wife and scornfully threw off the papal
supremacy which was the keystone of the imperial system.

Submissive as were the words of Somerset and Paget to
their imperial master l not by words alone but by acts also
they sought to serve him as against France. The strong
policy adopted by Somerset towards Scotland, and his defiant
attitude at Boulogne, then temporarily held by the English
against the payment of a great ransom, served the Emperor's
turn excellently at a period when he was at grips with his
Lutheran subjects, at issue with the Pope and faced by a
series of dangerous French intrigues in Italy. That the
French themselves understood this perfectly well is seen
by the desperate efforts they made to conciliate Somerset
and win him to their side. Early in July 1547, only five
months after his accession to power, Somerset told the imperial
ambassador in strict confidence, when the latter was com-
plaining of his religious innovations, that the special French
envoy, Paulin — " immediately after the death of King
Henry had striven to win him, the Protector, to the side of
France by means of a large annual pension, which, as was
only right, he had always declined. Notwithstanding this,
however, Paulin, the last time he came hither, was instructed
to offer him the assignment of the pension, which he had
brought with him already signed and sealed. But with all
these offers and grand promises of the French to divert the
English Government from their alliance with your Majesty
(the Emperor), he said he would^always remain constant and
loyal to you, knowing well that the strict preservation of
the ancient alliance was so important for both parties.'1
Even a month previous to this Somerset had informed
the ambassador that the French had greatly scandalised
him by offering him as an inducement to join France, in an
offensive and defensive alliance, the cession of the Emperor's
Flemish province to England when it had been conquered

1 This will be seen conspicuously in my new volume of Spanish State Papers
of Edward vi, now in the press to be issued next year by the Record Office, i

INTRODUCTION xix

by the allies, Boulogne at the same time to be restored to
France.

What wonder that the Emperor's reply to this was to
send flattering autograph letters to Somerset, assuring him
of his unalterable regard, but saying not a word about his
Protestant proceedings. " Of course," continues the Emperor,
writing to his ambassador, ' the Protector would naturally
refuse to accept the pension from the French, if only in the
interests of duty and decency. The goodwill he displays
towards us must be encouraged to the utmost by you on
all occasions, and you must lose no opportunity of confirm-
ing the Protector in these favourable sentiments/1 Somerset
and Paget were therefore from first to last " Emperor's men '
and opponents of French interests, that is to say advocates
of the same policy as that identified with the older nobles
and Catholics, most of whom were now under a cloud in
consequence of their religion or in consequence of their per-
sonal enmity to Somerset whom they regarded as a greedy,
unscrupulous interloper.

From the first days after the death of Henry vm, it had
been seen by close observers that personal and not political
rivalry alone was likely in the future to bring about a split
in Somerset's Government. The imperial ambassador, writing
less than a fortnight after Henry's death, says that whilst
Hertford (Somerset) and Warwick (Northumberland) would
apparently be supreme in authority, "it is likely that some
jealousy or rivalry may arise between them because, although
they both belong to the same sect, they are nevertheless widely >^
different in character : the Lord - Admiral being of high
courage will not willingly submit to his colleague. He is in
higher favour with the people and with the nobles than is
the Earl of Hertford, owing to his liberality and splendour.
The Protector, on the other hand, is not so conspicuous in
this respect, and is looked down upon by everybody as a
dry, sour, opinionated man " : the sequel to this being that
both these nobles with Paget and Wriothesley should, in
:he opinion of the ambassador, be " entertained ' by the
Emperor " in the usual way."

Before many months had passed, as we have seen, it was
recognised by the Imperialist party that Somerset and Paget

xx THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

were their fast friends and that the rising personal opposition
of Dudley had adopted, not unnaturally, as its policy that
of a rapprochement with France. It would, of course, be
untrue to say that Dudley's attack upon Somerset had for
its sole object the substitution of one international policy for
another. Dudley, like his rival, was in the first place am-
bitious and self-seeking ; but it was necessary for both of them,
in order to serve their ends, that they should obtain the co-
operation and support of one or other of the two main currents
of public opinion, the adhesion of both rivals to the advanced
Protestant practices in religion being dictated in the first
place by their need for the money and patronage that the
religious confiscations provided, and, secondly, by the great
predominance of the reformed doctrines in and about London.
But Somerset having embraced the Conservative or Imperial-
istic policy, and infused, under the influence of Catholic
Paget, some consideration for the professors of the old faith
into his reforming zeal, it was incumbent upon Dudley, who
wished to overthrow him, to adopt in both respects an entirely
opposite policy.

It is the fate of most Governments to be judged by results,
and it was a comparatively easy matter for Dudley to pick
holes in Somerset's management of affairs. The debasement
of the coinage and the consequent dislocation of business
and the terrible distress it caused, the enclosures of the
commons and the process of turning customary copyholds
into tenancies at will, had reduced the people of England to a
condition of misery such as they had never seen before. The
cruel confiscation of the monastic properties had deprived
the sick and the poor of their principal source of relief, the
drastic changes in religion had produced indignation in the
breasts of many citizens, whilst slackening the hold of
authority generaUy and promoting lawlessness. When to
all this is added the grasping selfishness of Somerset per-
sonally, and above all the success of the French arms before
Boulogne, attributed to the parsimony of the Protector, it
will be seen that Northumberland had a large area of dis-
content upon which to work for support against his unpopular
rival. But even so, it is improbable that he would have
ventured to take so bold an action against the Protector as

INTRODUCTION xxi

he did, but for the consciousness that he had behind him the
support, moral and financial if not military, of France and the
Lutheran enemies of the Emperor.

When the loss of the English forts protecting Boulogne

made negotiations for peace necessary, a French Embassy

was sent to London, and a keen observer present at the time 1

thus records what was evidently the public impression of

events- ' It was suspected that the principal object of this

embassy was to bribe them (i.e. the English Government)

to make war on the Emperor. Whilst these ambassadors

were there they were greatly feasted by the Earl of Warwick

(Northumberland) and the Grand Master (Paulet, Marquis

of Winchester) much more than any other of the lords ; for

it appears that the French ambassadors could not gain the

ear of the others — The King of France found out from his

ambassadors which of the English lords showed more leaning

towards France and against the Emperor. These were the

Earl of Warwick and the Grand Master (of the Household), and

it is believed that the King (of France) wrote to them warning

them against the Protector and the Earl of Arundel who were

plotting their destruction." If this contemporary belief was

well founded, as it probably was, the overthrow of Somerset

is proved to a great extent to have been an international

intrigue promoted and probably well paid for by France.

As the observer already quoted remarks, the sequel of
the Embassy which thus ensured Northumberland's neutrality
in favour of France was the almost immediate declaration
of war by the French King against the Emperor, and the
wholesale plundering of the imperial subjects at sea. Seen
in this light, therefore, Northumberland's complete change
of England's policy, his truckling to France, his merciless
measures against Catholics, although, as events proved he
was a Catholic at heart himself, his imprisonment of Paget
the Emperor's humble servant, and his ostentatious disregard
for the imperial friendship, his whole attitude indeed, as-
sumes a new aspect. His ambition was boundless for himself
and his house ; but it must have been evident to him that
it could only be successfully carried into effect if he had behind

1 Antonio de Guaras, a Spanish merchant. This was just before Somer-
set's final downfall. See Spanish Chronicle of Henry vni.

xxii THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

him a strong body of public opinion in England itself, and
the countenance of one of the great continental powers. Both
these desiderata he had in the earlier months of his domination;
and if Edward vi had died or had been despatched late in
1551, or in the earlier weeks of 1552, it is quite possible that
Northumberland might have carried through his great con-
spiracy successfully.

But the eighteen months that elapsed between the execu-
tion of Somerset and the death of Edward were fully sufficient
to prove to the people of England that they had cast off the
yoke of a King Log to assume that of a King Stork — North-
umberland's overbearing arrogance and roughness had offended
everyone with whom he came into contact : his colleagues
dreaded and hated him, especially after the marriage of his
young son Guildford to a lady of the Royal house in the direct
line of succession had to some extent opened the eyes of men
to the magnitude of his aspirations. The condition of the
country, moreover, instead of improving under his rule was
considerably worse even than it had been under Somerset.
The coinage had now reached its lowest point of debasement,
the shilling containing only one quarter of silver to three
quarters of copper, and even was ordered by decree to be
only valued at half its face value. The gold had all left the
country and foreign trade was killed by the lack of a decent
currency. Labour, driven from the land by the wholesale
conversion of the estates from tillage to pasture, crowded the
towns clamouring for food, and the disgraceful treatment of
the Princess Mary by the ruling minister had aroused a strong
feeling against his injustice and tyranny.

The Emperor was at war with France and the Lutherans,
and was obliged to speak softly to Northumberland. Again
and again he tried to win him over to his side, and the ruler
of England knew full well that, whatever he might do he was
safe from any overt interference from the imperial power.
But for this fact it is certain that Northumberland would
not have attempted the bold stroke of disinheriting Mary
and placing Jane Grey and his own son upon the throne of
England. When Edward vi was known by him to be sick
beyond recovery Northumberland, with an eye to the near
future, endeavoured to conciliate the Emperor somewhat and

INTRODUCTION xxiii

to bring about peace upon the Continent. His object in doing
so was twofold — first to persuade Charles that he was still a
potential friend ; and, secondly, to set his French friends free
from their war with the Emperor, and so enable them at the
critical moment he foresaw to come to his aid in England if
necessary. The English trading classes were by this time in a
fever of indignation against the French for their piratical
interference with English shipping, and Northumberland must
have known that with this and the fear aroused by the French
successes in the Emperor's Flemish dominions — always the
key of English policy — even he could not for very long with-
stand the demand of the English people to help the Emperor
against his enemies. It was Northumberland's misfortune
that he was obliged to deliver his blow against the legitimate
English succession in this state of public affairs. The Em-
peror and his ministers were keenly alive to the situation,
and although they were of course not yet aware of the details
of Northumberland's intended coup d'dtai, they feared that
the Princess Mary might by his influence be excluded from
the throne. This of course would have been a serious blow
to the imperial cause ; for it would in all probability mean
the permanent adhesion of England to the French alliance.
But Charles had swallowed so much humiliation to keep
England friendly in the past that he was not disposed now
to be too squeamish. He did not know how far his enemies
the French had gone in their promises of support to North-
umberland when Edward should die, but if by blandishments
and conciliatory acquiescence he could win the friendship
of England he was willing to smile upon any occupant of
the throne or any power behind it who would keep to the
old alliance and turn a cold shoulder to the French.

As soon as it was known in the imperial court that Edward
was approaching his end the Emperor's ambassadors hurried
over to England with instructions to conciliate Northumberland
at all costs, and to assure him that the Emperor's affection for
England and its young King was much greater than that of the
King of France. ' But," continues the Emperor's instructions,
' if you arrive too late and the King is dead, you must take
counsel together and act for the best for the safety of our
cousin the Princess Mary, and secure, if possible, her acces-

xxiv THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

sion to the Crown, whilst doing what you judge necessary
to exclude the French and their intrigues. You must en-
deavour also to maintain the confidence and good neighbour-
ship which it is so important that our States should enjoy
with England . . . and especially to prevent the French
from getting a footing in the country, or of gaining the ear
of the men who rule England, the more so if it be for the pur-
pose of embarrassing us.'1

News had already reached Flanders of Northumberland's
intention to exclude Mary from the throne on her brother's
death, and although the Emperor saw that in such case the
life of his cousin would be in grave peril, especially if French
aid, as was feared, were given to Northumberland, the
principal efforts of the imperial envoys were to be directed
to assuring the English government in any case that the
Emperor was their friend and not France ; Northumber-
land was to be persuaded that the Emperor had no thought
of proposing a foreign husband for Mary ; and that any
match chosen for her by the ruling powers in England would
be willingly accepted by her imperial kinsman. In short,
the envoys were to promise anything and everything to secure
the throne for Mary, even to endorsing the religious changes
effected under Edward. But failing success in this it is
made quite clear that the Emperor was willing to accept
Jane Grey or any other sovereign who would consent to
regard him as a friend and exclude French influence from
the country.

The French were just as much on the alert to serve their
own interests, and Northumberland, knowing how unpopular
the French were at this juncture, and how much his supposed
dependence upon them was resented, was extremely careful
not to show ostensibly any leaning towards them. But as
soon as he heard, late in June, that the imperial envoys were
coming to London he came specially from Greenwich to the
French ambassador's lodging at the Charterhouse to inform
him that the Emperor was sending an embassy. " I doubt
not," writes the French agent to his King, " that they will do
their best to interrupt the friendship that exists between your
Majesty and the King of England. I will keep my eye upon
them and will leave no effort untried to subvert them."

INTRODUCTION xxv

Edward died on the very day that the imperial ambassadors
arrived in London, though the death was kept secret for
some days afterwards, and it soon became evident, both
to the French and the Imperialists, that Northumberland
had prepared everything for the elevation of Jane Grey
to the throne. At this juncture, which called, if ever
one did, for prompt and bold action, only one of the several
interests took a strong course, the Princess Mary herself.
It is quite evident that everyone else had deceived himself
and was paralysed in fear of action by another. Again and
again the French ambassador expressed a belief that the
coming of the imperial envoys portended an active inter-
ference on the part of the Emperor in favour of Princess
Mary ; and Northumberland and his council, notwithstanding
all the protestations of the imperial envoys, were of the same
opinion ; whereas we now see that the Emperor was quite
willing to throw over Mary, and even the Catholics, if only
he could persuade Jane Grey and her government to join
him against France.

When Mary's bold defiance of the usurper was announced,
the Emperor's envoys, whom many believed to be fore-
runners of a strong foreign armed force to aid her, had
nothing but shocked condemnation for her action. They
considered her attitude " strange, difficult and danger-
ous " ; and predicted her prompt suppression and punish-
ment. In reference to the suggestion of her Catholic friends,
that imperial aid should be sent to her, the envoys, who were
supposed to be in England for the purpose of forcing her
upon the throne, could only say to their master, " Consider-
ing your war with the French, it seems unadvisable for your
Majesty to arouse English feeling against you, and the idea
that the Lady will gain Englishmen on the ground of religion
is vain." Serious remonstrances were sent to Mary herself
by the imperial envoys, pointing out the danger and the
hopelessness of her position in the face of Northumberland's
supposed strength, and they laboured hard to dissuade the
Duke from his idea that they had been sent to England
to sustain Mary's cause.

Nor was the Emperor himself bolder than his envoys.
He instructed the latter to recommend Mary, " with all soft-

xxvi THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

ness and kindness," to the mercy of Jane's government, but
they were to make it quite clear that he would strike no blow
in her favour, and would receive with open arms any sovereign
of England who would not serve French interests. Mr. Davey
has indicated in the present book the eagerness with which
the great imperial minister, Don Diego Hurt ado de Mendoza,
greeted Guildford Dudley as King of England. That Mendoza,
one of the most trusted and ablest of the Emperor's coun-
cillors, could take such a step without knowing that it would
not, at least, be against his master's policy is inconceivable :
and all through it is clear that, if Mary had waited for effective
help from her imperial cousin, Jane Grey might have reigned
for a long lifetime.

Just as the Emperor was paralysed in his action by
the fear that he might alienate England from his side, so

France allowed discretion to wait upon valour for fear of
driving the English government irretrievably into the arms
^of the Emperor. When the news of Mary's rising came to
London the French ambassador bitterly deplored North-
umberland's want of foresight in not having seized the person
of the Princess in time to prevent it. He confessed that
Northumberland was excessively unpopular, but believed
that his possession of the national forces would enable him to
crush Mary and her malcontents. But he took care not
to pledge himself too deeply to Jane, and whilst full of sym-
pathy and good wishes for Northumberland's success always
kept in touch with some of Mary's friends. Neither the
French ambassador nor the English council really under-
stood the Emperor's attitude. When the council communi-
cated to the imperial ambassadors Jane's succession, they
haughtily told them that it was known they were here to
force Mary upon the throne, and that a new sovereign now
having been successfully proclaimed, the sooner they left
England the better. The French ambassador, writing to
his king at the same time, remarked that the imperial ambas-
sadors had informed the English council, that rather than
submit to Jane's wearing the crown to Mary's deprivation his
master would make friends with the French on any terms and
would deal with Jane in a way which she would not like.
It is almost amusing, now that we have the correspondence

INTRODUCTION xxvii

of all parties before us, to see how they all deceived them-
selves. The Emperor, as has been said, would not lift a
ringer to help Mary, even when she was in the field with a
strong armed force, for fear of alienating hopelessly the sover-
eign of England whoever he might be ; the King of France,
whilst giving the same sort of hesitating implied support to
Northumberland and Jane as Charles held out to the Princess
Mary, would give no effective help for the same reason that
tied the Emperor's hands. Both sides, indeed, were waiting
to greet success without pledging themselves to a cause which
might fail.

But the person who miscalculated most fatally of all was
Northumberland himself. He had been during the whole
time of his rule the humble servant of France. He had
violated the treaty of 1543, by which England was bound
to side with the Emperor in case his territory was invaded
by France, and he stood between the throne and Princess
Mary who it was known would serve the cause of the Emperor
and her mother's country to the utmost. He was obliged,
as has been shown, to cast his hazard when the public opinion
was strongly against him, the commercial classes of England
well nigh ruined, the labourers in a worse condition than
had ever Keen known before, and the nobility jealous and
apprehensive. Knowing this, as he did, it is difficult to
believe that he would have dared to take up the position he
assumed unless he had persuaded himself that, as a last
resource, French armed aid would support him. That
such a thing was not remotely probable is now evident from
the correspondence of the French ambassadors. They were
only full of sorrow for ' r this poor Queen Jane ' and feared
for the fate of their unfortunate friend the Duke of Northum-
berland. And yet London itself was in a panic, born of the
conviction that 6000 French troops were on their way to
keep Jane upon the throne ; Northumberland, in fact, pre-
sumably believing that his past services to France had de-
served such aid, had actually sent and demanded it of the
King. If it had been afforded in effective time the whole
history of England might have been changed.

We know now, although none knew it then, that the
Emperor would have greeted with smooth assurances the

xxviii THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

victorious Jane and Northumberland, and would have
deserted his cousin Mary until a turn of the wheel gave her
hopes of success again. There was, indeed, nothing to pre-
vent Henry of France, but groundless fear of his rival, from
sending to England the small force necessary to keep Jane
upon the throne and defeat Mary. But time-serving coward-
ice ruled over all. The edifice of Northumberland's ambition
crumbled like a house of cards under the weight of his un-
popularity alone, and when Mary the victorious entered into
the enjoyment of her birthright, the Frenchman who had
plotted and intrigued against her in secret, vied with the
imperial ambassadors who had stood by, unsympathetic in
the hour of her trial, in their professions of devotion to her
and her cause. The people of London, overwhelmingly
Protestant as they were, greeted the Queen with effusion
and had few words of pity for poor Jane, not because they
loved the old observance but because they dreaded the French,
and hated Northumberland the tyrannous and unjust servant
of France. In the country districts, too, where Catholicism
was strong, the enthusiasm for Mary was not so much religious,
for all the people wanted was quiet and some measure of
prosperity, as expressive of joy at the hope of a return to the
, national policy of cordial relations with the sovereign of
Flanders, which in past times had ensured English commerce
from French depredations and the English coast from French
menaces, with freedom from the arrogant minister who had
harassed every English interest and had reduced to ruin all
classes in the country.

The unhappy Jane, a straw upon the rushing torrent,
was not raised to her sad eminence that the Protestant faith
might prevail, though that might have been one of the results
of her rule, nor was she cast down because Catholicism was
triumphant, but because the policy which her dictator,
Northumberland, represented was unpopular at the time of
Edward's death, and the English sense of justice rebelled
at the usurpation and its contriver. Mary, in addition to
her inherent right to the succession, which was her strong
point, had only her own boldness and tenacity to thank for
the success which she achieved. The Emperor, notwith-
standing all his sympathy and the enormous importance

INTRODUCTION xxix

--

to him of her success, did nothing for her until she was inde-
pendent of him, and only promised her armed aid then in
case the French should attempt to overthrow her by force.

Northumberland fell, not because the country at large
and London above all, was yearning for the re-submission
of England to the Pope, but because the eighteen months of
his unchecked dictatorship had made him detested, and
because he overrated the boldness and magnanimity of the
King of France. The English public, by instinct perhaps
more than by reason, believed in the ideal policy of Henry
vn : that of dexterously balancing English friendship between
the rival continental powers, making the best market possible
for her moral support, keeping at peace herself and adhering
mostly to the more prosperous side without fighting for either.
Such a policy required statesmanship of the highest order,
and Elizabeth alone was entirely successful in carrying it
out. Somerset and Northumberland both failed because
they were unequal to it. Each of them took the minister's
view rather than that of a monarch. They were party
leaders, both of them, and incapable of adopting the view
above party considerations which marks the successful sover-
eign. They pledged themselves too deeply to the respective
foreign alliances traditional with their parties ; and in both
cases, as a penetrating statesman would have foreseen, their
allies failed them at the critical moment.

Mary's tragical fate was the result of a similar short-
sighted policy. When she determined against the wishes
of her people and the advice of her wisest councillors, Catholics
to a man, to hand herself and her country, body and soul,
over to Spanish interests, she ceased to be a true national
sovereign ; the nice balance upon which England's prosperity
depended was lost, the love and devotion of the people turned
to cold distrust, and failure and a broken heart were the result.
Not until Elizabeth came with her keen wit and her "con-
summate mastery of the resources of chicanery was England
placed and kept firmly again upon the road to greatness
which had been traced for her by the first Tudor sovereign.

MARTIN HUME

THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

CHAPTER I

BRADGATE HALL AND THE GREYS OF GROBY

T

is no more picturesque spot in England than
Bradgate Old Manor, the birthplace of Lady Jane
Grey. It stands in a sequestered corner, about three
miles from the town of Leicester, amid arid slate hillocks, which
slope down to the fertile valleys at their feet. In Leland's
Perambulations through England, a survey of the kingdom
undertaken by command of Henry vm, Bradgate is described
as possessing " a fair parke and a lodge lately built there by
the Lorde Thomas Grey, Marquise of Dorsete, father of Henry,
that is now Marquise. There is a faire and plentiful spring
of water brought by Master Brok as a man would judge agyne
the hills through the lodge and thereby it driveth a mylle."
He also informs us that " there remain few tokens of the old
castelle," which leads us to believe that at the time of Lady
Jane Grey's birth Bradgate was a comparatively new house.
The ruins show that the mansion was built of red brick and in
that severe but elegant form of architecture known as the
Tudor style." Worthy old Leland goes on to say that Jane's
paternal grandfather added " two lofty towers at the front
of the house, one' on either side of the principal doorway.'1
These are still remaining.

In Tudor times the park was very extensive and " marched
with the forest of Chartley, which was full twenty-five miles
in circumference, watered by the river Sore and teeming with
game." Another ancient writer tells us, in the quaint language
of his day, that ' here a wren and squirrel might hop from
tree to tree for six miles, and in summer time a traveller could

2 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

journey from Beaumanoir to Burden, a good twelve miles,
without seeing the sun." The wealth of luxuriant vegetation in
the old park, the clear and running brooks, that babble through
the sequestered woods, and the beautifully sloping open spaces,
dotted with venerable and curiously pollarded oaks, make
up a scene of sylvan charm peculiarly English. Here culti-
vation has not, as so often on the Continent, disfigured Nature,
but the park retains the wild beauty of its luxuriant elms
and beeches that rise in native grandeur from amidst a
wilderness of bracken, fern, and flags, to cast their shadows
over heather-grown hillocks. On the summit of one of the
loftiest of these still stands the ruined palace that was the
birthplace of Lady Jane Grey. The approaches to Bradgate
are beautiful indeed, especially the pathway winding round by
the old church along the banks of a trout-stream, which rises
in the neighbourhood of the Priory of Ulverscroft, famous for
the beauty of its lofty tower. When Jane Grey was born, this
Priory had been very recently suppressed, and the people
were lamenting the departure of the monks, who, during the
hard winter of 1528, had fed six hundred starving peasants.

Bradgate Manor House was standing as late as 1608, but
after that date it fell into gradual decay. Not much is now
left of the original structure, but its outlines can still be traced;
and the walls of the great hall and the chapel are nearly intact.
A late Lord Stamford and Warrington roofed and restored
the old chapel, which contains a fine monument to that
Henry Grey whose signature may be seen on the warrant for
the execution of Charles I.

A careful observation of the irregularities of the soil reveals
traces of a tilt-yard and of garden terraces ; but all is now
overgrown by Spanish chestnut trees, wild flowers, nettles,
and brambles. The gardens were once considered amongst
the finest in England, Lord Dorset taking great pride in the
cultivation of all the fruits, herbs, and flowers then grown in
Northern Europe. The parterres and terraces were formal, and
there was a large fish-pond full of golden carp and water lilies.
Lady Jane Grey must often have played in these stately
avenues, and there is a legend that once, as a little girl, she
toppled into the tank and was nearly drowned — a less hideous
fate than that which was to befall her in her seventeenth year.

THE GREYS OF GROBY 3

"This was thy home, then, gentle Jane!
This thy green solitude ; and here
At evening, from, thy gleaming pane,
Thine eyes oft watched the dappled deer
(Whilst the soft sun was in its wane)
Browsing beside the brooklet clear.
The brook yet runs, the sun sets now,
The deer still browseth— where art thou?':

These sentimental lines were written in the eighteenth
century, when deer still browsed in Bradgate Park, whence
they have long since departed. Many curious traditions con-
cerning Lady Jane are even now current among the local
peasantry. Some believe that on St. Sylvester's night
(3ist December) a coach drawn by four black horses halts at
the door of the old mansion. It contains the headless form
of the murdered Lady Jane. After a brief halt it drives away
again into the mist. Then again, certain strange1 stunted
oaks are shown, trees which the woodmen pollarded when they
heard that the fair girl had been beheaded. The pathetic
memories of the great tragedy, reaching down four slow
centuries, prove how keenly its awful reality was felt by the
poorer folk at Bradgate, who, no doubt, had good cause to
love the " gentle Jane."

The Manor of Bradgate was settled upon the Lady Frances
Brandon, Henry vm's niece, when she espoused Henry Grey.
It had been inherited by the Greys of Groby, Lady Jane's
paternal ancestors, from Rollo, or Fulbert, said to have been
chamberlain to Robert, Duke of Normandy, who gave him the
Castle of Croy in Picardy, the ruins of which are still to be seen
not far from Montre,uil-sur-Mer. It was hence he derived the
surname of de Croy, afterwards anglicised to de Grey. This
Rollo accompanied William the Conqueror into England, and
was settled, soon after the Conquest, at Rotherfield, in Oxford-
shire. The first of the family to be noticed by Dugdale is
Henry de Grey, to whom Richard i granted the Manor of

; The oak trees there [Bradgate] were pollarded after her [Jane's]
execution. Some old members of the family remember a watch with a
case made of a hollowed ruby or carbuncle, which is said to have belonged
to Lady Jane. But this, with other relics of Lady Jane, seems to have
disappeared mysteriously some fifty or so years ago." — Extract from a letter
from Earl Stamford and Warrington, dated 2Oth November 1907.

4 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Grey's Thurrock, in Essex, which grant was confirmed by
King John in the first year of his reign. The descendant of
this nobleman, Edward de Grey, was summoned to Parliament
in 1488 in right of his wife's barony of Ferrers of Groby, and
his son John, afterwards Earl Rivers, who was slain in the
battle of St. Albans, married the beautiful daughter of Sir John
Woodville, subsequently the Queen of Edward iv. Bradgate
is thus associated with two of the most unfortunate of England's
Queens : Elizabeth Woodville, who passed much of her life
in its leafy glades ; and Lady Jane Grey, who first saw the light
in the stately red brick Manor House of which the crumbling
ruins are now so beautiful in their decay.

Jane Grey's grandfather, Thomas, the eldest son of
Elizabeth Woodville, was summoned to Parliament on the
I7th October 1509 as Lord Ferrers of Groby, his mother's
barony, and to the second Parliament in 1511 as Marquess
of Dorset. He was a man of great note. In the third year
of Henry vm's reign he had charge of the army of 10,000
men sent into Spain to assist the forces invading Guyenne
under the Emperor Ferdinand. This force returned to
England without doing service. We next hear of the Marquess
figuring at the jousts with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk,
Lady Jane's maternal grandfather, on the occasion of the
latter 's adventurous journey to France to bring back Mary
Tudor, widow of Louis xn of France, whom he subsequently
married. The Marquess was also sent to Calais to attend
Charles v to England ; indeed, he was very conspicuous
throughout the early years of Henry's reign. King Hal paid
him the compliment of calling him ' that honest and good
man " — a title which he thought he richly deserved, since he
signed the celebrated letter to Pope Clement vn touching
the King's divorce. He died in 1530, and was succeeded by
his eldest son, Henry, Lady Jane's father. The inheritance
of this nobleman included the Marquisate of Dorset and the
baronies of Ferrers,1 Grey, Astley, Boneville, and Harrington,
besides vast estates in Leicestershire and other parts of Eng-
land. Henry Grey, though his portraits show him to have

1 The barony of Ferrers was merged in the Townshend peerage by the
marriage, in 1751, of George, Viscount Townshend, with Charlotte, last
Baroness Ferrers.

THE GREYS OF GROBY 5

been a very good-looking man, did not enjoy a good con-
temporary reputation for ability or strength of character.
During the brief reign of Edward vi he became the patron
of the Swiss Reformers and was adulated by Bullinger and
Hill. His name will be found attached to many of Henry
vm's anti - papal decrees, and so long as that monarch
lived, he was a staunch " Henryite " or schismatic, professing
belief in all the doctrines of Rome save and except papal
supremacy. In 1531, when the clergy were threatened with
prcemunire and mulcted in a fine, as a punishment for their
too close attention to pontifical interests, young Henry of
Dorset, who had just come to his own, displayed great energy
in carrying out the King's wishes and supporting his attempt to
get himself acknowledged supreme head of the English Church.
He also evinced considerable courage in connection with
Henry vm's resistance to the excommunication of the Pope,
launched against him after his marriage with Anne Boleyn.
Such zeal in his sovereign's service undoubtedly led to his
advancement and paved the way to his marriage with the
King's niece, the Lady Frances Brandon. He may have
owed much to the counsels and influence of Cromwell, to
whom he carried a letter of introduction 'from his mother,1
when he first went to London as a lad of seventeen, im-
mediately after his father's decease. The Dowager recom-
mended her son very earnestly to " Master Cromwell," pleaded
his youth, and besought that worthy, then all-powerful, not to
take heed of certain ill-natured reports concerning alleged
wilful damage to the priory buildings of Tylsey, where she
was then residing.1

The good lady couches her letter in very humble terms,

but does not enlighten us fully about the nature of the

' damage ' to which she refers, or by whom it was done.

>he seems, at any rate, to be in a terrible fright lest the tale

should injure her son's prospects with the all-powerful

Chancellor. Some little' time afterwards the Marchioness

vrote another letter to Cromwell complaining of her son's

undutiful behaviour to her. It is dated from the " House

Our Lady's Passyon " 2 (the Priory of Tylsey), and begins —

1 State Papers, Domestic Series, Henry vm.

1 The Priory of Tylsey was dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows.

6 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

" MY LORDE, — I beseeche you to be my good lorde, con-
syderyng me a poor wydo, so unkyndly and extreymly escheated
by my son."

This curious epistle, now in the British Museum, is much
defaced and in parts illegible. The name of the person to
whom it is addressed is undecipherable, but, taken in
conjunction with two other letters previously addressed
to Cromwell by the same correspondent, there can be little
doubt as to its destination. Her son had evidently with-
held some property intended for her under her husband's
will. Whether he mended his manners and paid her the
money, we know not ; but as the Dowager is occasionally
mentioned as attending Court functions in company with
her daughter-in-law, it seems probable that the ultimate issue
of the difficulty, whatever it was, was satisfactory to her.

Margaret, Dowager Lady Dorset, became one of the
greatest ladies of the Court in the latter years of the reign
of Henry vn and during a part of that of Henry vm. She
was in much request, it seems, at royal christenings, for not
only was she specially invited to that of Mary Tudor, after-
wards Queen Mary I, but she enjoyed the signal honour of
carrying the infant Elizabeth to the font. She was invited
to perform a like office at the baptism of Edward vi, but
this time she was unable to be present, and wrote to make
her loyal excuses, pleading that some of her houseshold at
Croydon had been attacked by the " sweating sickness." It
is probable that she had no desire to attend, for she had been
the intimate friend of Anne Boleyn, and could hardly have
felt kindly towards Jane Seymour.1 Her place was filled by
the Marchioness of Exeter, who eventually, after the execu-
tion of her luckless husband, was sent to the Tower on a
flimsy charge of treason, and kept there until Mary I's time.2

A singular point in the history of Jane Grey's forbears is
that her father, in his hot haste to marry into the royal

1 State Papers, Domestic Series, Henry vin.

2 Miss Strickland and other writers on the Grey family state that Mar-
garet, Marchioness of Dorset, outlived the ruin of her family. This is an
error. She died in September 1541, apparently of the plague. See State
Papers, 1156 and 1489, Domestic Series, Henry vm.

THE GREYS OF GROBY 7

family, set aside, without the slightest scruple, his legitimate
wife, Lady Katherine Fitzalan, daughter of the Earl of
Arundel. Some writers say he was simply ' contracted,"
not married, to this lady, who never demanded her marriage
rights, but retired into a dignified obscurity. None the less
her family resented the affront offered their kinswoman, and
it was Thomas, Earl of Arundel, this discarded lady's brother,
who acted as Dorset's Nemesis, and at last betrayed him into
the hands of his enemies.

Lady Jane Grey's maternal grandfather was, as he wrote
himself in the famous quatrain referring to his marriage with
the King's sister, descended from " cloth of frie'ze." He was
the grandson of a London mercer who had married a lady
allied to the great houses of Nevill, Fitzalan and Howard, and
his father had fought and fallen at Bosworth Field in the
cause of Henry vu. In recognition of his services, Henry
attached young Charles Brandon to the person of his younger
son, Prince Henry, who was of similar age to himself. Thus
began a friendship which was only severed by death. In
appearance the Prince and his comrade were singularly alike :
both were tall and stalwart, both with red hair and fair com-
plexions, and they were equally skilful and agile in sport
and manly pastimes. Charles was more intellectually gifted
than Henry, but there was little to choose between them as
regards their execrable views of moral responsibilities and
their laxity in respect of their marriage vows.

As this last characteristic of Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, touches somewhat upon the legitimacy of Lady Jane
Grey's descent, a short summary of his matrimonial vagaries
may be pardoned here. He was contracted in marriage early
in life to Anne Browne, a daughter of Sir Anthony Browne,
Governor of Calais, by his wife Lady Lucy Nevill, daughter of
George Nevill, Dukeof Bedford, brother of Richard, Earl of War-
wick, " the King maker." In 1513 he was bold enough to flirt
most outrageously with, and seek in marriage, one of the greatest
ladies in Europe, Margaret of Austria, the widowed Duchess
of Savoy, aunt of the Emperor Charles v. But though Margaret
fell in love with him, such a match was soon seen to be impossible,
even by the lady herself, and Brandon came out of the affair
most ungallantly. For this or some other reason never clearly

8 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

explained, Brandon set aside his contract with Anne Browne,
notwithstanding that by the laws of the period it was con-
sidered as binding as the completed marriage ceremony. We
next learn that a probable reason for his unchivalrous conduct
was a chance that suddenly offered itself to him of marrying
the Lady Margaret, the rich widow of Sir John Mortimer of
Essex. Charles and his mature consort — there was a difference
of nearly thirty years between them — did not abide long
together, for he presently endeavoured to annul this marriage
on a plea of consanguinity, the Lady Margaret being sister to
the mother of his neglected bride, Anne Browne, and conse-
quently her aunt, a complication which surely ought to have
been discovered at an earlier stage of the proceedings. Having
settled this matter for the time being to his own, but certainly
not to the lady's, satisfaction, he remarried his discarded
wife, Anne Browne, in the presence of a great concourse of
relations and friends. By this lady he had two daughters :
Mary, who became the wife of Lord Mount eagle ; and Anne,
who married a connection of the Greys, Viscount Powis.
Their mother died in 1515, and Brandon soon afterwards
contracted himself in matrimony with the Lady Elizabeth
Grey, daughter and heiress of Viscount de Lisle. Whether
through the interference of Lady Mortimer or not it is impos-
sible to say, but it is certain that Lady de Lisle refused to carry
out her side of the contract, and the match was broken off.
Brandon, with the consent of Henry vm, filched from the
poor lady her title of Lisle, which he forthwith assumed. In
due time the lady gave her hand to Edmund Dudley, father
of the fateful Duke of Northumberland. It was probably
when in France, and in attendance upon King Henry, at the
time of the negotiations for the marriage of the King's youngest
and most beautiful sister, Mary, to the prematurely aged
Louis xii, King of France, a hideous victim to elephantiasis,
that Charles made so strong an impression upon that ardent
Tudor princess that she swore by all the saints that she would
not wed the French King unless it was thoroughly understood
she was to marry whom she chose after his death, which took
place within eighteen months of the marriage. The romantic
story of how Brandon, now created Duke of Suffolk, wooed
and married the royal widow within a fortnight of the King's

THE GREYS OF GROBY 9

death, and whilst she still wore the white widow's weeds of a
French King's Consort, is too well known to need recapitula-
tion here, nor need we enter into the details of the gorgeous
ceremonies of remarriage that took place at Greenwich, in
the presence of King Henry, Queen Katherine of Aragon, and
their Court, soon after Mary and Suffolk had landed in England.
The Duke of Suffolk took his bride to spend their honeymoon
in his magnificent mansion in Southwark, known as Suffolk
Place, which he had recently inherited by the death of his
uncle, Sir Thomas Brandon. It must have been about this time
that the friends of the Lady Mortimer, and probably that lady
herself, began to spread rumours abroad that made both
Charles and his consort anxious as to the validity of their
marriage and the legitimacy of their offspring. Indeed, even
at the time of his clandestine wedding in the Chapel of the
Hotel de Cluny (now incorporated in the Museum of that
name), he had felt very uneasy about the matter, and, fore-
seeing his peril, wrote to Wolsey, beseeching his assistance
and advice1 on a matter of such vital importance, which, how-
ever, was not decided so easily as Charles expected. It was not
until 1528 that Wolsey dispatched a somewhat garbled account
of the matter to Pope Clement vn, then in exile at Orvieto,
where he received Cardinal Campeggio and the English envoys
who came to him with the first negotiations for the divorce of
Henry vin from Katherine of Aragon. Trusting in the evidence
which Wolsey sent him, the Pope, by a special Bull (dated
I2th May 1528), annulled the marriage of Brandon with the
Lady Mortimer, on the plea of consanguinity, and at the same
time declared valid that of her niece, Anne Browne, and legiti-
mized her two children. The Bull further stated that Lady
Mortimer and her friends were " liable to ecclesiastical
censure if they made any attempt to invalidate the decree '
making valid Brandon's marriage to Anne Browne and Mary
Tudor. The importance of this decree, which was first read
out to the people in Norwich Cathedral in 1529 by Bishop
tfyx, can readily be imagined when we remember that it was
not delivered until after the Queen-Duchess had given birth
to two children. Her only son, the Earl of Lincoln, died
in infancy, and the Lady Frances became in due time the
Marchioness of Dorset and mother of Lady Jane Grey. On

io THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the other hand, the legitimacy of the Lady Eleanor Brandon,

the younger daughter, who was born after the publication of

the papal decree, was never disputed, and moreover, before

she entered upon her sorrowful career, the Lady Mortimer was

dead. That considerable doubt was entertained as to the

validity of Brandon's marriage with the Queen-Dowager is

proved by a variety of facts too numerous to be detailed,

but one of which is very significant. Late in the first half

of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the validity of the claims of the

Lady Mounteagle and her sister, the children of Brandon and

Anne Browne, to be considered legitimate, was ventilated in

the Court of Arches, and after much deliberation confirmed.

Although the legitimacy of these ladies, both of whom were

long since deceased at the time of this trial, had nothing to do

with the legal position of Mary Tudor as the wife of the Duke

of Suffolk, it was none the less an indirect test of the right

to the throne of her granddaughters, the Ladies Katherine

and Mary Grey.

From these briefly resumed facts it is not difficult to under-
stand that although King Henry vm highly approved of his
bosom friend's conduct, his subjects held Charles to be an arrant
rascal. His treatment of his beautiful royal wife was on a par
with his low conception of his moral obligations. He neglected
her, spent her money, and lived openly with a notorious
woman known as Mrs. Eleanor Brandon, by whom he had
an illegitimate son, Charles, who is said to have been the
well-known jeweller to Queen Elizabeth, and whose son, or
grandson, Gregory Brandon, was, according to tradition, the
headsman who executed Charles I.

Lady Jane's grandmother, Mary Tudor, was a most amiable
and long-suffering princess, who after a somewhat secluded life
in South wark withdrew to Westhorpe Hall. Here she died on
24th June 1533. Her two daughters — the Lady Frances, who
had recently married the Marquess of Dorset ; and the Lady
Eleanor, soon to be the bride of Henry, Lord Clifford, eldest
son of the Earl of Cumberland — were with her at the time of
her death, but the Duke was absent in London, and so too
was the Marquess of Dorset, her son-in-law, attending at the
coronation of Anne Boleyn. The Queen-Duchess was interred
in Bury St. Edmunds, Henry vm and Suffolk paying the

THE GREYS OF GROBY n

expenses of a gorgeous alabaster monument to her memory,
' full of little saints and angels," which was destroyed soon
after, during the wreck of the glorious Abbey Church at the
time of the suppression of the monasteries. The remains of
the Queen were then removed to the parish church, where they
still rest, a marble tablet put up in the early nineteenth
century being the only memorial of Mary Tudor, Dowager
Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk.

Within three months of the Queen's death (September 1533)
Suffolk married a fifth wife, the Lady Katherine Willoughby
d'Eresby, who, it seems, was his ward and only fifteen years
old. She was a great heiress, and what made her marriage
all the more singular was the fact that she was a daughter of
that Dona Maria de Sarmiento who, as Lady Willoughby, was
the friend and attendant of Queen Katherine of Aragon. It
must also be remembered that Queen Katherine had no
more bitter enemy than Suffolk. This Duchess developed
into a very pretty woman, of great wit and character, and a
staunch supporter of the doctrines of the Reformation.

The Lady Frances Brandon was born at Hatfield, then
a palace of the Bishop of Salisbury, who had afforded her
mother hospitality ; for it seems that the Queen-Duchess was
obliged to halt here, for reasons easily understood, on her way
to Walsingham Priory, whither she was bound on a pilgrimage.
There is still extant a very curious account of the baptism
of the Lady Frances in the parish church of Hatfield, which
was hung with garlands for the occasion. The Lady Anne l
Boleyn, aunt of the ill-fated Queen Anne of that ilk, stood
proxy for Queen Katherine of Aragon as sponsor.

In 1533-4 the Lady Frances was married, notwithstand-
ing his afore-mentioned " contract ' to the Lady Fitzalan,
to Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset. The wedding took
place at Suffolk Place, Southwark, and the religious ceremony
in the Church of St. Saviour, now the cathedral of the new
diocese. No very great pains seem to have been taken with

1 This lady is occasionally confounded with Queen Anne Boleyn, who was
never Lady Anne Boleyn. The lady in question, who has proved somewhat
of a stumbling-block to historians, who have frequently confused her with
the Queen, was Anne, daughter of the Earl of Pembroke and wife of Sir
William Boleyn.

12 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the lady's education, except in the matter of what we should
call " sports," in which, it seems, she was very proficient.

The Lady Frances was a handsome woman, however, but
somewhat spiteful and wholly unscrupulous. In a well-
known portrait, dated after her second marriage, she is re-
presented as a buxom, fair-haired, well-featured matron, with
a very sinister expression in her light grey eyes. Her eldest
child was a son who died of the plague when a baby, and
the three children who survived were all girls — the Ladies
Jane, Katherine, and Mary Grey. Lady Jane Grey, as we
shall see, had little cause to feel deep affection for either of
her parents, but least of all for her mother. The Lady Frances
seems to have been cast, so far as her heart went, in a mould
of iron. Even the bloody deaths of her husband and her
eldest daughter, and the wretchedly precarious existence of
her two remaining children, did not affect her buoyant spirits,
since she enjoyed her life to the end. It would be difficult
to define her religious opinions. She was a schismatic under
Henry vm, and under Edward vi she appeared a zealous
Protestant and so intimate with the famous Reformer Bucer
that when he died she petitioned Cranmer to obtain a pension
for his widow. She became a pious Papist in Queen Mary's
time, and died a prominent member of the Church of England
as by law established, under Elizabeth.

The Lady Eleanor Brandon, Henry vm's niece and Lady
Jane Grey's only maternal aunt, married, as we have said,
Henry, Lord Clifford, to whom she was united in 1537 at the
Duke of Suffolk's palace in Southwark. The Lady Eleanor
gave birth to two sons and a daughter. At the time of the
Pilgrimage of Grace (in 1536) she was staying at Bolton Abbey,
which Henry vm, after confiscating it from the Church, had
presented to Lord Clifford; and had it not been for the
chivalry and bravery of Christopher Aske, the rebel leader's
brother, she would have suffered at the hands of the infuriated
' pilgrims." By dint of a bold night ride, Aske aided Lady
Eleanor to fly from Bolton Abbey and reach a place of safety.
In 1542 her husband succeeded to the Earldom of Cumberland
on the death of his father, and five years later (November
1547) Lady Eleanor passed away at Brougham Castle and
was laid to rest in Skipton Church.

HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK

FROM THE PAINTING BY JOANNES CORVUS IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

I/

THE GREYS OF GROBY 13

It will be seen by this rapid sketch of her forbears on both
sides that Lady Jane Grey might, without exciting surprise,
have developed a character strongly sensual and unscrupulous.
That she did not do so, apart from the fact that her early
death perhaps prevented the full development of her character
at all, was probably owing to the rigid and severe nature of
the education to which she was subjected. The influence of
Erasmus and the fashion of the newly revived classical learning
had in the childhood of Jane Grey firmly seized upon the
higher classes of England ; and the ladies of royal and noble
birth, schooled in the stern pietism of The Instruction of a
Christian Woman of Luis Vives, which they all studied in
Latin or in English, and, steeped in the classic moralities, they
became prim and self-suppressed in expression and behaviour.
It is likely enough, indeed, that in most cases this prudish-
ness of attitude was but skin deep ; but in the case of the
hapless Jane, who was little more than a child when she was
sacrificed, no other impression of her personality than this
was left upon the world. We may picture the tiny demure
maiden pacing the green alleys and smooth sward of Bradgate,
with her Latin books and her exalted religious meditations,
a fervent mystic, with no knowledge of the great world of
greed, ambition, and lust, of which she, poor child, was
doomed to be the innocent victim.

>*"

A» .-,'V .-

9 •&

L

CHAPTER II

BIRTH AND EDUCATION

ADY JANE GREY was born at Bradgate Old Manor l

most probably in the first days of

the month, for Prince Edward, her cousin, came into
the world on the I2th,2 St. Edward's Eve, and three days later
Henry, Marquess of Dorset, attended the royal christening,
which he would scarcely have done if his own wife, a member
of the royal family, had not been safely delivered. His

1 Lady Jane was certainly christened at Bradgate and not at Groby,
which confirms the statement that she was born at Bradgate ; for if she had
been born at Groby, her baptism would have taken place in the parish church
of that village.

2 There has been some controversy over the date of Queen Jane Sey-
mour's death. Bishop Burnet (p. 33, vol. ii.) says it was the day after Prince
Edward's birth, i.e. i4th October ; which date is adopted by Hall (p. 825),
Stow (p. 575), Speed (p. 1039), Herbert (p. 492), and Holinshed (p. 944).
On the other hand, Henninges (Theatrum Genealogicum, tome 4, p. 105) says
it was the i$th; a letter of the doctors (in Cottonian MSS, Nero C. x. fol. 2),
the iyth; Fabian, 23rd October; King Edward's own Journal, " Within a
few days after the birth of her son, died . . . ; ' and George Lilly (Chronicle),
twelve days after — Duodecimo post die moritur. However, Cecil's Journal,
a document in the Herald's Office, and a letter among the State Papers
dated Wednesday, 24th October, give the 24th October as the date of the
Queen's death. This is in agreement with the statement in the London
Chronicle during the Reigne of Henry VII and Henry VIII (Camden Soc.,
from Cottonian MSS, Vespasian A. xxv. fol. 38-46), which clearly says that
" On Saynt Edwardes eve Fryday in the mornyng (i2th October), was prince
Edward boorn, the trew son of K.H. the viii. and quene Jane his mothur in
Hamton Corte. His godffathurs was the deuke of Norfock, and the deuke of
Suffocke, and the (Arch) Bisschop of Caunterbery ; and his godmother was
his owne sister, which was dooughter of quene Kataryn a fore sayd. On
Saynte Crispyns eve Wensday (24th October), dyid quene Jane in childbed,
and is beryid in the castelle of Wynsor." She was not, however, buried
until 1 2th November. Dorset followed the procession from Hampton Court
to Windsor, riding close to the Princess Mary, who was her stepmother's
chief mourner.

14

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 15

presence in London can be traced in the State Papers from the
date of Prince Edward's birth until the first week in November.
Lady Jane's christening took place, as was then the custom,
within forty-eight hours of her birth, in the parish church,
with all the ancient rites. Some writers state that the babe
was carried to the font by her grandmother, the Dowager
Marchioness ; but this good lady, as we have already seen,
was unable at the time to leave her sick household at Croydon.
She sent her new granddaughter a rich bowl with a chiselled
cover. It was the custom at that time, when a baptism took
place, for the whole family, godfathers and godmothers and
guests, to walk in procession from the mansion to the church.
As is still the case in Catholic countries, the number of sponsors
in pre-Reformation times was unlimited. All these worthy
people brought gifts of more or less value, according to the
nearness of their kinship and the length of their purses. The
Marquess, if he was present, would certainly have worn his
robes of state and ' carried the salt.)J At the church door1
the christening company was met by the clergy, and after a
short prayer the child was named.1 The officiating priest on
this occasion was either Mr. Harding, then chaplain at Brad-
gate, or else Mr. Cook, Rector of the parish. After being
named, the child was carried to the font, which stood in the
middle of the church under an extinguisher-like canopy,
richly carved and painted, which pulled up and down, so as
to keep the holy water clean. In those days the back of
the head and the heels of the infant were immersed in the
water,2 the present ceremony of sprinkling having only been
introduced into this country from Geneva by the Reformers
during Elizabeth's reign. The infant was also anointed with
chrism on the back and breast, a very ancient ceremony, the
abolition of which caused considerable controversy and some
persecution in the reign of Henry vin. This anointing, or
unction, which was performed within the sacred edifice, was

1 Jane Grey was evidently given the name of Jane in compliment to
Queen Jane Seymour, who must have been still living at the time of the
child's birth. The name Jane, a variant of Johanna and Joan, is exceed-
ingly rare in pre-Reformation times. The lady who very likely acted as god-
mother was her paternal aunt, Lady Cicely Grey.

2 This method of baptizing infants is still practised in the Archdiocese of
Milan,

16 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

followed by the presentation of the gifts of the various
sponsors.1 Abundant hospitality in the shape of sweet
wafers, comfits, spiced wine, or hippocras was dispensed in
the porch, not only to the invited company, but to the
promiscuous village crowd that elected to attend the func-
tion ; and at last the procession, with the infant wrapped
in a sort of shawl of rich brocade, returned to the mansion,
where a dinner was served to the guests and to the members
of the household.

The life of an English child in olden times, especially in
the upper classes, was by no means the ideal existence it has
now become. A careful study of contemporary records proves
that the barbarous and filthy system of swathing or " swadd-
ling " an infant was almost universally practised. We may
take it for granted that the baby Jane Grey was swathed or
" swaddled ' according to the prevailing English fashion,
from her armpits to her knees, and was thus able at all events
to move her tiny hands and feet, a privilege denied her infant
contemporaries on the Continent. So late as 1684, Madame
de Maintenon, writing to Madame de Presne, who had just
been delivered of a son, beseeches her to ' ' adopt the English
method of allowing her infant's limbs free play," and stig-
matises the French custom of " tight swaddling ' as " abomin-
ably dirty and unhealthy."

The Lady Frances certainly did not nurse her own baby ;
it would have been considered most indecent for a woman of
her rank to suckle her offspring. A foster-mother was engaged,
and it is likely enough that the good woman who supplied
little Jane Grey with the sustenance nature had intended
her to derive from her parent, was that Mrs. Ellen who,
seventeen years later, attended her beloved foster-child on the
scaffold.

In her eighteenth month the child was weaned, and this
was attended by some considerable ceremony. In the morning
Mass was said in the presence of the whole family, including
the foster-mother and the child, who was blessed with holy
water. This finished, the company returned in procession to
the hall and forthwith sat down to a copious banquet.

1 These ceremonies, which are extremely ancient and essentially Roman
Catholic, are even now carried out in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 17

The archives of Sudeley Castle contain an interesting
description of an aristocratic nursery in the first half of the
sixteenth century. Queen Katherine Parr, having married
Admiral Lord Thomas Seymour, lived at Sudeley, where she
died in September 1548, after giving birth to a child, for
whom was provided an apartment very elaborately furnished
with tapestry, and containing everything a modern infant of
the highest rank could possibly want, all in silver or pewter,
and, moreover, a " chair of state " hung with cloth of gold.

The Lady Frances's nursery was, no doubt, fitted up quite as
luxuriously as that prepared for the infant of Queen Katherine
Parr ; but no inventory of its contents has been handed
down to us. Nearly all the toys commonly used in England
at this period were made either in France or Holland, and
closely resembled those grotesque playthings which were our
grandparents' delight : wooden dolls with roughly painted
heads and jointed limbs, hobby horses, hoops, and even
toy soldiers mounted on movable slides. Jane must have
had an abundance of these nursery treasures, besides
an oaken cradle with rockers and also a sort of little per-
ambulator, wherein she might be carried to take the air
in the park and gardens. She had a complete house-
hold, consisting of Mrs. Ellen, two under-nurses, a gover-
ness, two waiting women, and two footmen. Sometimes, but
very rarely, the voice of nature may have prompted her
mother and father to play with her and enjoy those exquisite
moments of purest love common alike to prince and peasant.
Her babyhood may have been fairly happy, but when that
ended, the stern training which prevailed in every aristocratic
family of the period began in all its severity : long prayers,
tedious lessons, and that terrible " cramming ' system which
as often as not engendered premature physical decline and
even imbecility. The tiny princess, from her third year
upwards, was dressed like a little old lady, in miniature repro-l
duction of her mother, coif and all complete, an exceedingly
irksome garb for so very small a child. Even when full-
grown, Jane, like her sister Katherine, was of very diminu-
tive stature ; and their youngest sister, Mary, was an
actual dwarf, " not bigger, when over thirty, than a child
of ten."

18 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

The greater part of the Lady Jane's 1 infancy was spent at
Bradgate with her little sisters — Katherine, two years her
junior ; and Mary, six years younger than herself. A Mrs.
Ashly, sister or sister-in-law to the Mrs. Ashly, or Astley, who
acted in the same capacity to Princ'ess Elizabeth, was appointed
to attend as governess upon Jane and her sisters ; but of this
lady little is known, whereas Elizabeth's governess is, of course,
frequently mentioned as a woman of great importance. It
was evidently not until the Lady Jane had been named in
Henry vm's will as a possible successor to his throne that any
particular attention was paid to her instruction, and then
only for purely political purposes. Her two sisters received
but an ordinary education, and Jane herself must have been
between nine and ten years of age when she was handed over
to Queen Katherine Parr to begin her more important studies.
No doubt the Dorsets secretly intended their eldest daughter
to become Edward vi's consort and to rule the kingdom
through her, and her education therefore became a matter
of great importance to them, as they wished her to be
thoroughly equipped to hold the high station they desired her
to occupy. In religion she was to be exceedingly Protestant,
but in social matters her training was most varied, including
music and classical and modern languages, even Hebrew and,
if we may credit some of her enthusiastic eulogists, Chaldee ! !

The royal birth of the Marchioness of Dorset and the great
wealth of her lord placed their family in a very exceptional
position in the county. Here, as also in London, they main-
tained semi-regal state. No one could compete with them,
and although they received much company, especially at
Christmas time, they rarely mixed with their neighbours, and
when they did so condescend, they were invariably received
with all the ceremony due to royalty. When, for instance,
the Marquess of Dorset and his lady visited Leicester, they
were entertained with great ceremony. In the archives of
that city for 1540 there is a charge of ' two shillings and
sixpence for strawberries and wine for my Lady Marchioness's

1 The prefix the before the title Lady was considered in the sixteen th
century equivalent to " Princess" ; "the Lady Elizabeth," "the Lady Mary,"
and so forth. "Royal Highness" was not in use, and royal ladies were
addressed as " Your Grace."

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 19

Grace, for Mistress Mayoress and her sisters." Also, on the
occasion of another visit, ' Four shillings ' were paid " to
the pothicary for making a gallon of Ippocras,1 that was given
to my Lady's Grace, Mistress Mayoress and her sisters, and
to the wives of the Aldermen of Leicester, who gave the said
ladies, moreover, wafers, apples, pears, and walnuts at the
same time." From another record, of the city of Lincoln,
we learn that the Dorset family when on its way to London
frequently put up at the White Hall Inn for the night, their
expenses being paid by the town. There is also an entry
specifying the expenses for entertaining the Lady Jane Grey
when on her way to London and on her return journeys through
Leicester to Bradgate in 1548 and 1551.

There was much in the stately mode of life led by our
great aristocracy in the sixteenth century which has not
even now passed altogether out of fashion. At certain seasons
of the year, it appears, the family resided in the main build-
ing of the mansion and kept up a state almost equal in mag-
nificence to that of a royal Court. A great number of servants
— as many as eighty or a hundred — were maintained, and
these, being very ignorant, often formed a rather disorderly
crew. They received very small wages ; but as they wore
brilliant liveries, and served as an escort to their masters
when they went abroad, they made a highly picturesque ap-
pearance. Few people, even in the upper circles of society,
could read or write with ease ; and as there were no newspapers
and scarcely any books, no correspondence, and but few visits
to fill up leisure time, the men's sports were mainly those of
the field, so that large hunting and hawking parties were the
general order of the day. The ladies were frequently invited
to share these pursuits ; and the Lady Frances was well
known in Leicestershire in her day as a great huntress and a
skilful archeress.

1 An old cookery book of the sixteenth century in the possession of the
author contains the following " crafte to make Ypocras" : " Take a quarter
of red wyne, an unce of synamon, and half an unce of gynger : a quarter of
an unce of greynes and of longe pepper, wythe half a pound of sugar : broie
all these not too smalle, and then putte them in a bagg of wullen clothe (made
therefore) with the wyne, and lette it hange over a vessel tylle the wyne be
runne thorow. It is presumed that the wyne should be poured in boiling
hot, else it would gain little of the spicy flavour."

20 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Hospitality, if barbaric, was none the less sumptuous.
Tablecloths and napkins were already in use, and " damask '
was pretty generally to be seen in the houses of the wealthy ;
while the plate belonging to the great nobility was not only
very costly, but exceedingly artistic in design. Then as now,
it was the custom to pass the winter months in the country
and the summer in London. During the hunting season
Bradgate was thrown open to a throng of guests, and since
the mistress of the house was niece to the reigning sovereign,
many of these were of princely rank, including Princess Mary,
who was on very friendly terms with her cousin Frances and
her children. It is not at all unlikely that when the family
gathered in the great hall of an evening, dances, masques, and
other pastimes of a more boisterous kind, described as " romps
and jigs," were indulged in. On occasion, players were sum-
moned from London, and displayed their skill in representing
those rough and unformed plays which delighted our ancestors
until the more shapely Elizabethan drama came into being. 3

People rose and retired to rest earlier in Tudor days than
we do now, especially in summer, when breakfast was served
as early as six o'clock, dinner at ten, and supper at five. Tea
and coffee were as yet undiscovered, and light home-brewed
ale was the usual breakfast beverage. Such very young
ladies as Lady Jane Grey would be served at this meal with
a cup of hot milk and sometimes with a sort of mead, or
barley water, heated and spiced. During Lent breakfast
consisted of bread, with salt fish, ling, turbot and eels, fresh
whitings, sprats, beer and wine. At other seasons there
were chines of beef, roast breast of mutton or boiled mutton,
butter, cooked eggs, custard, pies, jellies, etc., as well as
chickens, ducks, swan, geese, and game.2 Dinner came at
noon, and it was customary in large country houses to close
the gates while the whole establishment sat down, according
to rank, in the great hall. Sometimes a slight alteration
was made, two tables being set in the dining-room, at the first

1 Dorset, when he became Duke of Suffolk, incurred the censure of the
Reformers under Edward vi for his sinful encouragement of players and
other like " vagabonds."

2 In Lent and Advent, and during Passion and Rogation weeks, meat was
only served once a week.

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 21

of which sat the lord and his family, with such titled guests
as they might be entertaining, while the second was occupied
by ' knights and honourable gentlemen/1 In such a case
the tables in the great hall were generally three, the first for
the steward, comptroller, secretary, master of the house,
master of the fish-ponds, the tutor — if one was attached to the
family — and such gentlemen as happened to be under the degree
of a knight. In a very large household it frequently happened
that as many as a hundred and fifty or two hundred people
would sit down to eat at one and the same time, but in
most castles, halls, and manors the ladies of the family,
excepting on state occasions, ate apart from the men, a
separate table being laid for them, and for the chaplain, in
the ladies' chamber, while two others were laid in the house-
keeper's room for the ladies' women. The Lady Frances
usually partook of her dinner in solitary state, waited upon
by young gentlewomen and, when they were old enough to
do so, by her two elder daughters, who stood on either side
of her until she had finished, when they in their turn sat down
and were served by gentlewomen. In their infancy, the
children, attended by their nurses and gentlemen and women,
dined with the housekeeper in her chamber.

All meals were somewhat disorderly, for, forks not being
in general use, it was the custom for the gentlemen to pick
the daintiest scraps out of the common dish with the tips of
their fingers, and place them gallantly upon the platters of
the ladies seated nearest them. It was considered ill-bred
to lick one's fingers after this act of courtesy. Proper be-
haviour was to wipe them daintily upon a sort of napkin or
serviette, sometimes, as in Japan, made of tissue paper.

Grace was said both before and after meals, and as most
large houses had several chaplains and a choir for the service
of the chapel, it was usual for one of the priests, accompanied
by three or four of the choristers wearing their surplices, to
enter the hall and solemnly chant the Benedicite or Grace,
which until Edward vi's time invariably concluded with a
petition for the release of the souls in Purgatory. It was
considered impolite to talk during a repast unless addressed
by the master or mistress of the feast. The chaplain was
employed to read aloud either the Gospel of the day or a

22 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

chapter from that enlivening work The Martyr ology. Occa-
sionally a minstrel was invited to sing an interesting ballad
or tell a story ; otherwise the clinking of the knives was the
only sound heard during meals, which, however copious, were
invariably dispatched with the utmost speed. In proportion
to the amount of meat very little bread was consumed. The
English bolt their food in dead silence," remarked the Venetian
Ambassador Giustiniani, " and, bread being dear, eat very
sparingly of it. They throw their chicken bones under the
table when they have sucked them clean."

When supper, a meal which corresponds with our late
dinner, was over, evening prayers were said, and soon after-
wards, on ordinary occasions, everybody retired to rest. It
should be remembered that artificial light was exceedingly
costly and inadequate, as indeed it remained until the beginning
of the later half of the nineteenth century. Many who are
still in the prime of life can remember the rush tallow dips
made and used in old-fashioned country houses and farms in
their childhood. In the sixteenth century these were the
only lights to be had, except oil lamps and wax candles im-
ported at immense expense from France and Italy, and only
kindled on high days and holidays.1 Resin torches were
burnt in the great hall ; but many complained of the stench
and smoke, so that an early departure to bed was not only
wise but necessary.

It may perhaps be concluded that we who live at the
beginning of the twentieth century would have found life in
an English manor in Tudor days insufferably dull and mono-
tonous. Yet there were compensations. Outdoor exercises
were many and various. There was the tennis-court, bowls
and quoits were much in vogue, and our forefathers practised
many other excellent sports, some of which we might well
revive. There was hawking, then in the zenith of its popularity ;

1 Sir Thomas Garden's account for sums disbursed for the household
expenses of Anne of Cleves in 1552 gives us a curious insight into the manner
and expense of lighting a gentlewoman's house in the middle of the sixteenth
century. Anne was residing at a manor at Dartford, and Sir Thomas sup-
plied her with "35 Ib. of wax lights, sixes and fours to the Ib. at is. per Ib. ;
100 prickets [or candles to be stuck on an iron spike] at 6d. per Ib. ; staff
torches is. 4d. per doz., and of white lights, 18 doz. at 95. per doz." — Losely
MSS, editedjDy A. J. Kempe.

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 23

hunting, archery, slinging, mase or " prisoner's bars,"
wrestling, tennis, of which game Henry vm was exceedingly
fond ; fivestool ball, football, and golf. Cricket does not seem
to have been known, at all events under its present name ;
but there were a score or so of other popular games and
sports, some of which, such as duck-hunting, dog-fighting, and
cock-fighting, were exceedingly barbarous. The cruel sport of
trying on horseback to pull off the greased head of a living
duck or goose suspended by the legs from a cross beam was
exceedingly popular at this time.1 Edward vi, in his Journal,
mentions it in an entry dated 4th June 1550 : "Sir Robert
Dudley, third surviving son of the Earl of Warwick, was
married this day to Sir John Robsart's daughter, after which
marriage there were certain gentlemen on horseback that
did strive who should first carry away a goose's head that
was hanged alive on two cross-posts. " Can we imagine the
whole Court of England, King included, assisting at this
childish and cruel spectacle ?

The Marquess of Dorset and his family did not spend the
whole year at Bradgate,; political and social duties brought
them a great deal to London, especially in the early spring and
summer months. In London they inhabited a mansion at West-
minster, not far from Whitehall Palace. The town residence of
the Marquess of Dorset was not, as usually stated, situated in
Grey's Inn. At no time did his branch of the family of Grey
possess property in or near the Inn which bears their name ;
it belonged from a remote1 period to the house of Grey de
Wilton, who sold it, in Edward iv's time, to the Carthusians
of Sheen, from whom it was confiscated at the Dissolution
and subsequently granted by the Crown for the purpose which
it still serves. Thus Grey's Inn did not fall to Lady Frances,
although she was presented by her uncle the King with
nearly all the other property owned by the Carthusians in and
around London. It has also been said that the, Marquess of
Dorset had a house in Salisbury Place, Fleet Street, but this
is another popular error. This property passed to the Earls
of Dorset in 1611 and is connected, not with Lady Jane and

1 This detestable game is still a favourite in parts of Cuba, but generally
with a goose substituted for the duck. The writer saw it " played " there in
1879.

24 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

her family, but with many worthies of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Henry, Marquess of Dorset, had his
town residence on the Thames above Whitehall,1 precisely
where stood, until quite recently, Dorset Place — the name by
which the house was known in Lady Jane's time. After the
execution of Suffolk it was seized by the Crown and eventually,
in the last days of the sixteenth century, cut up into three
separate houses, one' of which was inhabited by John Locke the
philosopher, who died in it. By a curious coincidence, Locke
had previously lived at Salisbury Square. Dorset Place
must have been a very large house ; we know from contem-
porary evidence that it had a fine garden and a broad terrace
overlooking the Thames. Here Lady Jane Grey certainly
lived for a good many months of her life, and here she formed
the acquaintance of the Reformers Bullinger and Ulmer,
or ab Ulmis. She may also have lived for a time in yet an-
other house owned by the Marquess, near the Temple, of which
no trace now exists.

The Dorsets were in the habit, especially in the winter
season, of paying country visits to their numerous relatives —
to Princess Mary at Newhall ; to the Lady Frances' stepmother,
Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, at Wollaton ; to Dorset's sister,
the Lady Audley, at Walden ; to his orphan wards and cousins
the Willoughbys, at Tylsey ; and to Lady Jane's paternal
grandmother, the Dowager Marchioness of Dorset, either at
her house at Croydon or at Tylsey, where at one time she
presided over the household of the young Willoughbys.

The entertainment of such important personages must
often have been a doubtful pleasure to hosts of limited means,
for they never stirred abroad without a numerous escort of
male and female servants and a guard of thirty or forty retainers
mounted on horseback and armed to the teeth. Carriages
were but little used as yet, and people of quality had to journey
from place to place on horseback, the elderly ladies being
provided with the quaintest but most inconvenient and
perilous of side saddles, while the young girls and children

1 The fact that this house was the Dorsets' usual town residence is proved
by the Marquess's distinctly stating that Seymour, when he fetched away
Jane Grey, came to him " immediately " after Henry vm's death " at my
house in Westminster."

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 25

rode pillion either in front of or behind their nearest male
relatives or some trusty yeoman. In cold or damp weather
the ladies and children and their female attendants travelled
in a huge and very heavy covered vehicle x not unlike a Turkish
araba or a modern omnibus in shape. This was furnished
with leathern curtains and lined with mattresses and cushions,
and could often contain as many as twelve persons, six on
either seat facing each other. To protect themselves from
the cold the ladies wore cloaks and vizors, or " safeguards." 2
The first genuine statute for repairing roads dates only from
1668. Before that the roads were, like those of modernTurkey,
universally execrable, and over them this ponderous vehicle,
with its enormous wheels, moved at a snail's pace : it is not
surprising that most people preferred the hackney, even in
winter time. Yet in spite of all its inconveniences, this old-
world fashion of travel was not without charm, especially
in genial weather, when the passage of a lordly cavalcade
added much to the life of our highways and verdant lanes and
lent to the ever lovely English landscape a picturesqueness
and a gaiety which modern civilisation can never hope to
restore. On the other hand, delicate folk must have
dreaded these excursions, and it is not surprising to learn
that on one occasion, in 1550, after a ten hours' ride in very
bad weather to Newhall, on a visit to Princess Mary, the
Lady Jane was taken very ill, and kept her room for many
days.

The Dissolution of the, monasteries and the general troubles
of the Church had no doubt greatly attenuated the quaint ness
of English life on the high roads by the time Jane had attained
girlhood. No longer did the Lord Abbot or Prior, with his
princely train of ecclesiastics on their gaily caparisoned horses
and mules, pass through the leafy lanes on their way to pay
visits of duty or ceremony. Lady Jane can never have seen
the Abbot of Leicester, for instance, he who attended the
death-bed of Wolsey, go forth with all his monks to pay his
respects to the Prior of the rich house of Ulverston, for both
abbeys were suppressed before she was a year old. She was

1 Coaches, properly so called, were introduced into England in 1601.
a " The gentlewomen in cloak and safeguards." — Stage directions to the
Merry Devil of Edmonton.

26 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

not familiar with the begging friars, with their sacks and their
jokes ; and the pardoner, the palmer, and the pilgrim had also
faded into the near past long before she began to toddle on the
green slopes of Bradgate. Still she must have often witnessed
procession on Corpus Christi, when her own native village

was enlivened by garlands of flowers and on every house front
hung a linen sheet decked with bunches of bright flowers.
She may even have walked with the rest of the children of high
and low degree in the annual procession of Our Lady on
Assumption Day, for throughout the reign of Henry vm this
festival was observed.

The roads were still full of colour in the summer months,
with packmen and peddlers, troops of armed men — not un-
frequently dragging along between them some poor wretch,
tied by the wrists, to his fiery doom at Leicester or London-
with travelling caravans, with itinerant mountebanks and
jugglers, and occasionally with a troop of showmen hastening
to exhibit dancing bears or learned dogs and pigs at some
neighbouring village fair.

The suppression of the monasteries had a disastrous effect
on travelling in Henry vm's time, comparable only to what
would happen nowadays if all the first-class hotels in the
country were suddenly closed. The Marquess and Marchioness
of Dorset, as they journeyed with their children from Bradgate
to London, must have heartily regretted the hospitality they
had enjoyed in their own young days at many a lordly abbey
and wealthy priory now laid in ruins. The inns were pic-
turesque enough, but none too luxurious ; still the beds
were generally comfortable, and the cooking, according to
the taste of the day, was excellent. Conti, an Italian traveller
who visited England some few years after Henry vm's death,
was much struck by the cleanliness of the parlours and the
softness of the feather beds he met with in our country hostel-
ries. The fare, too, he found abundant, and the wines, " sack,"
and beers often of superlative quality — facts to which Shake-
speare has not failed to allude. The innkeepers were great
gainers by the Dissolution, for such rich travellers as did not
care to trouble their peers looked to them for board and lodg-
ing now that they were no longer able to put up at a religious
house. We may be sure that the Dorsets and their people

BIRTH AND EDUCATION 27

were familiar and welcome guests at all the chief inns along
the roads they travelled.

Aylmer, who became Bishop of London in Elizabeth's
time, is. usually described as Lady Jane's earliest tutor. This
is a patent error, for Aylmer, who was born in 1521, would
have been far too young, in Jane's infancy, to be appointed
tutor to the children of the Marquess of Dorset. It is more
likely that Dr. Harding, who was chaplain at Bradgate when
Jane was born, had the honour of teaching his patron's -
daughters their alphabet. He was reputed a learned man, and
posed at one time as a staunch Protestant ; but he resembled
his employers in having a chameleon-like facility for changing )
the colour of his opinions according to the state of the religious
barometer in regal quarters. Under Henry vm he was a
schismatic and a firm believer in transubstantiation and in
the wisdom of invoking saints ; when Edward came to the
throne he turned quasi-Calvmist. Very early in Mary's reign
he became, much to the unspeakable horror of Lady Jane,"*a
penitent Papist. Aylmer, a far more estimable man and a
greater scholar, appeared on the scene at Bradgate as tutor
after the accession of King Edward, when Jane was in her
twelfth year and ripe to receive his learned instruction in
theology and classic lore.

CHAPTER III

THE LADY LATIMER

NO task is more congenial to the earnest student of
history than that of tracing the origin of some
important event, and following its gradual
development from a trivial incident to its culmination in a
great matter destined to alter the fortunes, and even change
the faith, of an entire nation. If we would reach a thorough
comprehension of the chain of events which led up to the pro-
clamation of Jane Grey as Queen of England, we must now
leave her to pursue her Greek and Latin studies and broider her
samplers at Bradgate, while we trace the earlier fortunes of
those who so ruled her destiny as to compel a simple-hearted
and naturally retiring girl to accept a station which, by the time
she was constrained to relinquish it, brought her to the lowest
depths of misfortune and transformed the regal diadem which
she herself had never coveted into a crown of martyrdom.

The Lady Latimer, better known in history as Queen
Katherine Parr, influenced the fortunes of Lady Jane Grey
more than is usually imagined, for it was to her care that the
ten -year-old child was committed (after it had been proposed
by the Seymour faction that she should become Queen-Consort
of Edward vi and head of the Protestant party in England),
in order that her education might be directed and her mind
bent towards " the new learning ' of which Katherine was
secretly a supporter.

Born in 1513 at that lordly Kendal Castle whose ruins
still command one of the loveliest prospects in Westmoreland,
Katherine Parr, though a simple gentlewoman, could boast
royal blood — that of our Anglo-Saxon kings, inherited from
her paternal ancestor Ivo de Talbois, who married Lucy, the

sister of the renowned Earls Morcar and Edwin. She was also

•I

THE LADY LATIMER

29

of Plantagenet descent through her great-great-grandmother
Alice Nevill, sister to Cicely Nevill, Duchess of York, a lineage
that made her cousin four times removed to King Henry vin
himself. We will not enter in detail into the many alliances
of the Parr family with the Nevills, Stricklands, Throckmortons,
and Boroughs, but we are safe in describing it as a wealthy and
honourable county stock, much looked up to in those days.

Katherine 's father, Sir Thomas Parr, married, when his
bride was but little over thirteen, Maud Green, daughter of
the rich Sir Thomas Green of Boughton and Greens-Norton in
Northamptonshire. Lady Parr had a sister, Mary, who, whett
a mere child, married Lord Vaux of Harrowden, and, dying
without issue, left her splendid fortune to her sister Maud.
Lady Parr's eldest son, born before his mother was fifteen,
was the celebrated Sir William Parr, ultimately Earl of Essex
and Marquess of Northampton. Her next child mated with
Mr. William Herbert, who was raised to the peerage in 1551
by Edward vi as Earl of Pembroke six weeks before the death
of his wife. Katherine, the third and youngest child of Sir
Thomas and Lady Parr, was destined to occupy the perilous
position of sixth Queen-Consort to King Henry vin. When
she was a mere child, the proverbial gipsy-woman predicted
that ' she should one day wear a crown, and not a cap ; and
wield a sceptre, not a distaff." l Sir Thomas Parr died in
London in 1517, leaving very scant provision for his two
daughters, the bulk of his fortune having been settled upon

is wife and son ; but both young ladies married wealthy men,
d thus were not seriously affected by their lack of means.

nne married at fifteen ; and Katherine, long before she was
fourteen, was led to the hymeneal altar by Lord Borough of
Cantley Hall, Gainsborough, Yorkshire. The bridegroom had
already been twice married, and so great was the disparity of
age between the couple that Lady Borough was wont to call
her eldest stepdaughter " little mother." Two years after
her marriage Katherine became a widow with a very handsome
dower. Much of her time of mourning was spent at Sizergh
Castle in Westmoreland, the seat of her kinsfolk the Strick-
lands, where she left several fine specimens of her skill as a
needlewoman — notably a gorgeous white satin quilt em-

1 Strype's Memorials.

30 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

broidered with gold — which are still preserved in an apartment
known as Queen Katherine's Room.

.We are fortunate in possessing a good many portraits
of this lady, and at least one wonderful miniature,
formerly in the Strawberry Hill Collection, and which now
belongs to Mr. Brocklehurst-Dent; of Sudeley Castle. This
contains a likeness of Henry vm painted in a space not bigger
than a pin's head, on a tiny medallion suspended round the
Queen's neck. A strong magnifying glass is required to do
justice to the beauty of this microscopic miniature within a
miniature, probably the smallest ever executed. Judged
by all these portraits and by contemporary descriptions,
Katherine Parr must have been a pretty little woman with
delicate features, an intellectual brow — too amply developed
for beauty — fox-coloured eyes, and a rather cunning expres-
sion about the thin yet flexible mouth. When her body was
disinterred in 1786 * it was found not to be decomposed, and
measured exactly five feet and three inches. The' hair, very
long and curling naturally, was of a fine golden auburn.

History does not record the names of the tutors who assisted

1 Queen Katherine Parr was buried in the chapel at Sudeley Castle,
which fell into ruins late in the seventeenth century. The monument having
become much dilapidated, the then Vicar of Sudeley (1786) had the curiosity
to open it and examine the condition of the body, which was found to be in a
perfect state of preservation. The corpse measured 5 ft. 3 in. ; the coffin,
5 ft. 10 in., the width being I ft. 4 in. in the broadest part, and the depth
i ft. 5£ in. The Queen must therefore have had a very slight figure. The
body was fully dressed in a Court costume of the period of cloth of gold and
velvet ; there were untanned leather shoes upon the feet. The profusion of
light golden hair was quite remarkable. Of course several locks of it were
snipped off and preserved as relics, one of them being still exhibited at Sudeley.
Another lock of Katherine Parr's hair was in the possession of Lord Bennet,
who showed it to the author. It was very bright in colour and exceedingly
curly. In 1805 the remains of Katherine Parr were again disturbed, and it
was then discovered that an ivy berry had fallen into a fissure of the skull,
taken root, and twined round the head a verdant coronet. For the last time
the remains were touched in 1842, when they were removed with reverential
care by Messrs. William and John Dent, who had become possessors of Sudeley
Castle, and placed in a handsome monument, having above it a noble figure
of the Queen, which is still one of the chief ornaments of the exquisitely
restored chapel of the ancient castle — a veritable treasure-house of Tudor
relics — now so pleasantly associated with the Dent family. For these notes
on the remains of Katherine Parr the writer is personally indebted to the
late Miss Elizabeth Strickland, who so long survived her sister Agnes, and
to an interesting pamphlet on Sudeley Castle by Dr. Richard Garnett.

QUEEN KATHERINE PARR

AFTER THE PAINTING FORMERLY IN THE POSSESSION OF HORACE WALPOLE

THE LADY LATIMER 31

Katherine Parr to acquire her remarkable education and
numerous accomplishments. We may suppose that some priest
or monk chaplain at Kendal or Sizergh instructed her in Latin
and Greek, in both of which languages she was proficient.
She may have learnt French from Mr. Bellemain, French
tutor to Prince Edward, a pronounced Huguenot, who, notwith-
standing his unorthodoxy, was in high favour at Henry's Court,
received a pension from Edward after he ascended the throne,
and walked in the young King's funeral procession. She
mastered the language sufficiently to be able to write it and
speak it correctly, and even to record her sentimental impres-
sions in tolerable verse. Amongst the MSS at Hat field there
is a curious French poem, partly written by Katherine and
partly by another, probably her teacher. It opens with the
following verse in the Queen's handwriting : —

" Considerant ma vie miserable
Mon coeur marboin, obstine, intraitable,
Outrecuide tant, que non seullement,
Dieu n'estimoit ny son commandement."

The concluding verse runs : —

"Qui prepare vous est devinement
Ainsi que le monde eust son commencement
Au Pere au Filz au Saint Esprit soit gloire
Loz et honneur d'eternelle memoire. FINIS." 1

Katherine's handwriting, though clear and legible, is not to
be compared with that of Elizabeth, King Edward, and Jane
Grey, who very probably took lessons in the then much esteemed
art of caligraphy from Dr. Cheke, chief tutor to the Prince, or
from Ascham, both famous for the beauty of their penmanship.

Although very worldly, Katherine Parr was much pre-
occupied with theological disputations, and a distinctly
evangelical tone pervades her literary remains ; it is
nevertheless certain that during the lifetime of her second

xThe MS. of this poem is contained in a little volume bound in black
morocco. Though evidently contemporary, some doubts have been ex-
pressed as to its authenticity, but a marked allusion to the writer's position
as a Consort of Henry vm is supposed to be a sufficient guarantee as to the
identity of the royal poetess, not to speak of the evidence of her hand-
writing.

32 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

husband, Lord Latimer, she was, or pretended to be, a Catholic,
and that during the few years of her married life with Henry
viu she was a schismatic or " Henryite." Tact and prudence
were her leading characteristics, and she was both amiable
and conciliatory, though she could, when angered, be extremely
vindictive. Thomas Cromwell's downfall, usually attributed
to the machinations of Katherine Howard, was in reality mainly
due to those of Katherine Parr, for she it was, as we shall
presently see, who opened Henry vm's eyes to the prodigious
rapacity and unpopularity of his favourite chancellor.

Lord Latimer, the lady's second spouse, like Lord Borough,
had been twice married, and when he took her to wife was
already the father of several children. The date of this
marriage has not been handed down to us, but as Latimer
lost his second wife in 1526, it could not have taken place
earlier than 1527. He was a staunch Catholic of the belligerent
sort, and a prominent leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, an
insurrection that broke out in the North of England in 1536
in consequence of the popular displeasure at the suppression
of the monasteries and sequestration of church property.
The peasants, suddenly deprived of the monks' accustomed
charity and driven to desperation, began a local crusade,
which soon assumed large proportions, their ranks being
joined by a great number of noblemen and gentlemen belonging
to the old faith, amongst them the Archbishop of York,
Lord Nevill, Lord Darcy, Lord Latimer, Sir Stephen Hamerton,
Sir Robert Constable, a certain mysterious individual who
called himself the " Earl of Poverty," and Robert Aske, who
though of mean extraction was nevertheless considered by
the rest of his party as their nominal general. These motley
pilgrims increased in numbers as they swept southwards
in picturesque confusion ; but despite the enthusiasm of their
members, they seem to have been ill-disciplined and badly
organised, and were presently dispersed at Dunstable, thanks to
the conciliatory attitude of the Duke of Norfolk, whom the King
had empowered to treat with these rebels and disband them.
Latimer, who had been elected their spokesman, withdrew
almost immediately and returned to London, where he soon
afterwards resumed his post as Comptroller of the King's
Household. After this excursion into open revolt against

THE LADY LATIMER 33

his sovereign, Lord Latimer evidently deemed it prudent
to keep himself very much in the background : he did not
join the second Pilgrimage of Grace, which broke out in the
following February (1537) and terminated in the execution
by sword and fire of some seventy of its more prominent
members, among them old Lord Derby, who was over
eighty- three years of age.

When in London, Lord Latimer inhabited a house situated
in the churchyard of the Charterhouse. The Chartreuse, as it
was then called, was rather a fashionable place of residence,
being not far distant from Clerkenwell, which in King Henry's
time was a sort of Court suburb, such as Kensington became
in the eighteenth century. From a letter still extant, it
would appear that Lord Latimer, like many a modern noble-
man and gentleman, was in the habit of letting his mansion
furnished when he himself was absent at Snape Hall, his
country seat in Yorkshire. Sir John Russell, Lord Privy
Seal, who looked meek enough x but was popularly known as
" Swearing Russell ' on account of his profane language,
wrote in January 1537 requesting Latimer to allow a friend
of his to have the loan of his house in the " Chartreuse '
during his absence. Latimer dared not refuse, but his
answer betrays his reluctant compliance with the request
and some temper at the favour having been asked :-

" RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY ESPECIAL GOOD LORD, —
After my most hearty recommendations had to your good
Lordship. Whereas your Lordship doth desire . . . [effaced]
of your friends my house within Chartreuse churchyard, beside
so ... [effaced] I assure your Lordship the getting of a lease
of it costs me 100 marcs, besides other pleasures [i.e. " im-
provements "] that I did to the house ; for it was much my
desire to have it, because it stands in good air, out of press of
the city. And I do alway lie there when I come to London,
and I have no other house to lie at. And, also, I have granted
it to farm [i.e. " have let it "] to Mr.iNudygate,2son and heir

1 He is the gentleman with the beautiful saint-like head and angelic
expression in the splendid series of drawings by Holbein at Windsor.

2 This Mr. " Nudygate " or Newdigate's son became in due time secretary
to Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset, and her second husband.

3

34 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

to serjeant Nudygate, to lie in the said house in my absence ;
and he to void whensoever I come up to London. Nevertheless
I am contented if it can do your Lordship any pleasure for your
friend, that he lie there forthwith. I seek my lodgings at
this Michaelmas term myself. And as touching my lease, I
assure your Lordship it is not here ; but I shall bring it right to
your Lordship at my coming up at this said term, and then
and alway I shall be at your Lordship's commandment, as
knows our Lord, Who preserve your Lordship in much honour
to His pleasure. From Wyke, in Worcestershire, the last
day of September. — Your Lordship's assuredly to command,

" JOHN LATIMER '

" To the right honourable and very especial good lord, my
Lord Privy Seal." 1

Lord Latimer died in February 1543, a twelvemonth after
the execution of Queen Katherine Howard, leaving his widow
the manors of Nunmonkton and Hamerton for life, and his
mansion in the Charterhouse for as long as she should remain a
widow. As soon as her husband was safely buried in St.
Paul's Churchyard, Katherine began to indulge her leaning
towards what was then known as the ' ' new learning ' ' ; and
her house became the resort of the leaders of a movement
which was eventually to complete the Reformation in England.
These gentlemen were wont, it is said, to assemble at regular
intervals and hold conferences on religious subjects in the
presence, not only of Katherine and her household, but of a
select circle of great ladies, among them Katherine's sister,
Anne Herbert, and the charming Katherine, Duchess of
Suffolk, the fourth wife of Lady Jane's singular grandfather,
who were only too willing, notwithstanding the risk they ran,
to sit at the feet of a Coverdale, a Latimer, or a Parkhurst.
Religion, however, sat lightly on this clever Duchess, who — so
brilliant, witty, and amusing are her letters — might well claim
to be the precursor in the epistolary art of Madame de Sevigne.
To these pious gatherings of the widow Latimer came like-
wise the haughty and turbulent Anne Stanhope, Countess of
Hertford, who in due time, as wife of the Protector, was to be

1 British Museum, Vespasian, F. xiii. 183, f. 131.

THE LADY LATIMER 35

Duchess of Somerset and Katherine Parr's arch-enemy ;
Lady Denny,1 wife of Sir Andrew Denny, Privy Councillor
to Henry vin ; the Lady Fitzwilliam,2 wife of Sir William
Fitzwilliam, and acknowledged to be one of the ablest women
of her time ; and the Lady Tyrwhitt,3 who came very near
martyrdom for her heretical opinions, in the last year of
Henry's life. The Countess of Sussex,4 second wife of Henry
Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex, was likewise one of Lady Latimer's
intimes. This lady's alleged familiarity with the black art
eventually led to her being charged with witchcraft, in 1552,
and imprisoned in the Tower, from which durance she was
delivered six months later by order of the Duke of Northumber-
land. The Marchioness of Dorset may also have assisted at
Lady Latimer's religious exercises, which, although noticed
by her contemporaries as matters of general knowledge, seem
to have temporarily escaped the unpleasant attention of King
Henry's chief heretic-hunters. The Lady Frances was cer-
tainly on the most friendly terms with Lady Latimer, and so
too was Princess Mary.

Another guest there was at the Charterhouse who probably
came when the house was quiet, the voices of the preachers

1 Lady Denny was the daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun of Modbury,
Devonshire, and wife of Sir Andrew Denny, Privy Councillor and Groom of
the Stole to Henry vin. Her husband predeceased her on loth September

,1549, and she herself died on i5th May 1553.

2 Lady Fitzwilliam was the daughter of Sir W. Sidney and wife of Sir
William Fitzwilliam of Milton, Northamptonshire, Master of the King's
Bench. Sir H. Gough Nichols, however, thinks she was more probably the
widow of that Sir William's grandfather, Sir William Fitzwilliam of Milton
and Alderman of London, who died in 1534. In this case she would have
been the daughter of Sir John Ormonde and granddaughter of Anne Cooke,
the learned daughter of Sir A. Cooke by his first wife, Anne Fitzwilliam.

3 Lady Tyrritt or Tyrwhitt was not, as Miss Strickland says, the daughter
of Katherine Parr's first husband, but through her husband, Lord Robert
Tyrwhitt of Leighton House, the cousin seven times removed of that gentle-
man. She was the daughter of Sir Gerald Oxenburgh of Sussex.

4 This Countess of Sussex was Anne, daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe and
second wife of Henry, Earl of Sussex. She was sent to the Tower in April
1552 on a charge of witchcraft, and for having said that a son of Edward iv
was yet living. Lodged in the Lieutenant's apartments, she was liberated
by order of the Duke of Northumberland in the following September, after
six months' imprisonment. In all probability the offence of which this
lady was accused was merely that of having predicted the young King
Edward vi's early death.

36 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

hushed, and the great ladies returned to their respective
domiciles. This was Sir Thomas Seymour, the late Queen
Jane's second brother, who was considered the Adonis of
the Court. Lady Latimer seems to have been deeply en-
amoured of his good looks and stalwart figure ; but it is not
unlikely that it was her rich dower, rather than herself, that
tempted Sir Thomas. Be this as it may, the intimacy which
began about this period, paved the way to the tragic close
of the handsome courtier's chequered career. Seymour
appears to have proposed to the widow three months after
Lord Latimer's death, and she seems to have rejected him
" pleasantly," saying " some one higher than he had asked
her to be his wife." For all that, Sir Thomas had certainly
made a deep impression on her heart, a fact all the more
remarkable since he was in every way the opposite to herself :
she was learned and sedate — he was gay and profligate ; the
lady loved rich but sober attire — the gentleman blazed with
brilliant satins and silks and cloth of gold and silver, setting
his brother courtiers the fashion as to the wearing of their
jewels and the number of feathers they should sport in their
caps. Still, the advantage of the alliance was obvious, for
though not a rich man, he was a great favourite with the King,
his potent brother-in-law, and further, he was the second
member of the rising house of Seymour, which many pre-
dicted— in the event of any accident happening to His Majesty,
whose health was fast declining — would at once assume a
preponderating position at his successor's Court.

But although Lady Latimer must have been acquainted
with every detail of the conspiracy organised by the Seymours
against the house of Howard, of which the first fruit was the
revelation of the unfortunate Queen Katherine Howard's
misconduct, she does not seem to have hesitated for a moment
in her determination to become Queen of England, even at
the sacrifice of her passion for Thomas Seymour, which, all-
absorbing as it was, never diverted her from the two great
objects of her ambition : her own political influence, and the
ultimate advancement of the Reformation. She cannot be
described as a Protestant, for in her time that word was not
yet coined. During her second husband's lifetime she must
have concealed her " advanced views," and when she became

THE LADY LATIMER 37

Queen she was — outwardly at least — a schismatic, who at-
tended as many as three and four Masses daily. Henry vui
rarely heard less than three, and sometimes as many as
five Masses every day, and what is more, obliged every official
of his Court and household, high and low, to do the same.
How she first attracted his attention has never transpired ;
but as a great Court lady she must have been in frequent
and immediate relations with the sovereign. The first men-
tion of her personal dealings with King Henry is connected
with trouble in the Throckmorton family. Owing to some
dispute over their respective country seats, Coughton Court
and Oursley, which were contiguous to one another, her
maternal aunt's husband, Sir George Throckmorton, had
incurred Cromwell's ill-will. Cromwell, with a view to ruining
his opponent, went so far as to accuse him of conspiring against
the King's supremacy in ecclesiastical matters. According
to an MS. ballad still preserved in the Throckmorton archives,
Lady Latimer interceded with His Majesty for her uncle, and
obtained full justice for him. At the same time she contrived
the overthrow of Cromwell, whose title of Essex was eventually
conferred upon her brother, Sir William Parr, who married
Anne Bourchier, only daughter of the last Earl of Essex of
the original branch.

The divorce — based on the futile plea that the King did
not find Anne of Cleves physically attractive1 — which
followed six months after Henry vm's pompous marriage with
that lady was accepted by the philosophical Dutchwoman
in a spirit that proved her practical sense to be stronger than
her sentiment. A noble mansion in the country, a dower of
£4000 a year, and precedence over all the great ladies of the
Court, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth except ed, struck her
as more desirable than an anxious and uncertain struggle to

1 There were some very curious rumours circulating in London concerning
the divorce of Anne of Cleves. Cranmer granted the divorce on the plea
that the Queen was still virgo intacta ; but " two honest citizens " (letter
from Chapuys to Charles v) " were arrested on pth December 1541 on a plea
that they published particulars of Queen Katherine Howard's inchastity,
and said ' the whole thing was a judgment of God/ and that the lady of
Cleves was the King's real wife ; and that she was in the family way by the
King, notwithstanding rumours to the contrary. That it was not true the
King had not behaved to her like a husband ; and that she was gone away
from London and had had a son in the country last summer."

38 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

retain the crown matrimonial which, under somewhat similar
circumstances, had proved so sorry a possession to Queen
Katherine of Aragon. None the less, the Reformers took
Anne's humiliation — she was a Lutheran princess — in much
the same spirit as that which possessed the Catholics at the
time of the momentous divorce of Queen Katherine. The
accommodating " daughter of Cleves," as she now styled
herself, continued to receive friendly visits from the King
even in the halcyon days of his brief matrimonial alliance
with Katherine Howard, and shortly after that wretched
woman's execution an influential party appears to have been
bent, in Reformation interests, on reconciling King Henry
with his repudiated spouse. Anne herself seems to have
been not at all averse to the scheme ; and Marillac, the French
Ambassador, who favoured it, found her on one occasion
quite hopeful — " in the best of spirits," and ' thinking only
of amusing herself and of her fine clothes.'3 But when the
matter of a reunion between the King and his discarded wife
was formally proposed to Cranmer by the Duke of Cleves'
Ambassador, it met with a flat refusal. The Archbishop
knew the good-natured lady's character too well to doubt
that she was never likely to influence the King or be of
the least use in furthering the Reformers' interests. In the
meantime, Parliament had urged Henry, for his " comfort's
sake," to take unto himself another wife ; and at the
same time, as if to keep him out of the way, Sir Thomas
Seymour was sent on an embassy to the Queen of Hungary,
and did not return to London until some days after Katherine
Parr's wedding.

The earliest intimation in the State Papers of the King's
connection with Katherine is in a letter from Lord Lisle,
afterwards Duke of Northumberland, to Sir William Parr,
dated Greenwich, 2oth June 1543 : —

" My lady Latymer, your sister, and Mrs. Herbert be
both here in the Court with my Lady Mary's grace and my
Lady Elizabeth." Quite a friendly party !

On 22nd June 1543 the gorgeous State barges streamed
up the Thames from Greenwich to Hampton Court. On
loth July Cranmer issued a licence for the King to marry
Katherine, Lady Latimer, " in any church or chapel without

THE LADY LATIMER 39

issue of banns/1 and two days later Henry vin led Lord
Latimer's widow to the altar of an upper oratory called " the
Quynes Prevey closet ' at Hampton Court Palace,. After
Low Mass, said by Bishop Gardiner, the consent of both parties
was pronounced in English. The King, taking the fair bride's
right hand, repeated after the Bishop the words : " I, Henry,
take thee, Katherine, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold
from this day forward, for better for worse (sic), for richer for
poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part, and
thereto I plight thee my troth." Then, unclasping and
once more clasping hands, Katherine likewise said, " I,
Katherine, take thee, Henry, to my wedded husband, to have
and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for
richer for poorer, in sickness and in health to be bonayr and
buxome in bed and at board, till death us do part, and thereto
I plight unto thee my troth." The putting on of the wedding
ring and offering of gold and silver followed, and after a
prayer the Bishop pronounced the nuptial benediction.

At the wedding were present, amongst others, Lord Hert-
ford and his Countess ; Sir Anthony Browne ; Joan, Lady
Dudley ; Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk ; Lord John Russell ;
the King's niece, the Lady Margaret Douglas ; Mrs. Herbert,
the Queen's sister ; and last but not least, the Princesses Mary
and Elizabeth, to whom their stepmother made handsome
presents of money. There is no mention of the Dorsets attend-
ing the wedding, though both were in London at the time.
Everybody seemed delighted, even Wriothesley, who went so
far as to write to Suffolk, then with the army in the north, that
' on Thursday last the King had married the Lady Latimer,
a lady in his judgment for virtue and winsomeness and gentle-
ness most mete for His Highness, who never had such a wife
more agreeable to his harte than she is." Katherine herself
informed her brother, Sir William Parr, that " it had pleased
God to incline the King's heart to take her as his wife, which
was to her the greatest joy and comfort that could happen."
Wriothesley enclosed this letter in one of his own in which he
entreated Parr to make himself worthy of such a sister as the
new Queen. Chapuys wrote to the Emperor on 27th July :
My lady of Cleves has taken great grief and despair at the
King's espousal of this last wife, who is not, she says, nearly

40 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

so beautiful as she, and besides that there is no hope of
issue, seeing that she has been twice married before and no
children born to her." Richard Hills, " Heretic Hills/' as
they called him, in a letter to Bullinger, the Swiss Reformer,
who subsequently became the friend of Lady Jane Grey,
and dated from Strasburg on 26th September, makes the
following very characteristic comments on the King's sixth
marriage : —

" No news but that our King has, within these two months
as I have already written to John Bucer, burnt three godly
men in one day. In July he married the widow of a nobleman
named Latimer, and, as you know, he is always wont to cele-
brate his nuptials by some wickedness of this kind."

The victims alluded to are known as the Windsor
martyrs." They were men in humble circumstances named
Parsons, Test wood, and Filmer.1 A fourth, John Marbeck,
who was organist at St. George's Chapel Royal, was, it is said,
reprieved at the instance of Dr. Casson, Bishop of Salisbury,
and of the Queen, who is also credited with having saved
the life of Dr. Haines, Dean of Exeter, of Sir Philip Hoby
and his wife, and of Sir Thomas Garden, who had been de-
nounced by Dr. London as spreading heresy even within the
precincts of the palace. The result of the Queen's action
was that London and Simmonds, his coadjutor, were con-
demned for perjury, and sentenced to ride round Windsor
with their faces to the horses' tails — a humiliating punish-
ment which is said to have caused Dr. London's death — no
great loss to humanity.

To save human life and to alleviate suffering is a meri-

1 Robert Testwood was a chorister belonging, with Marbeck, to the
Chapel Royal, Windsor. Parsons was a priest, and Henry Filmer was a
tailor. Marbeck, who is said to have had a very fine voice, was a fairly well-
educated man, who at the time of his arrest had made some progress with a
translation of Calvin's works. Testwood was a well-known ribald jester who
had frequently turned the anthem into ridicule, and on more than one
occasion had been caught singing lewd words while the rest of the congrega-
tion were chanting the right ones. He was arrested for smashing the nose of
a statue of the Virgin ; Parsons was condemned for blasphemy ; and Filmer
for speaking ill of the Host. He had said that if Transubstantiation were
true, he had eaten " twenty Gods " in his time.

THE LADY LATIMER

torious act that brings its own reward ; but in spite of this, and
although the newly made Queen was thus enabled to realise
her own influence, she must have found her honeymoon a
season full of dread, revealing as it did the terrible insecurity
of lives dependent on the fiat of so capricious a tyrant as her
royal mate.

CHAPTER IV

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD

NOT Solomon in all his glory — nor Sultan Suleyman
the Magnificent of Istambul — was lodged more
sumptuously than Tudor King Henry vm of
England. When Katherine Parr espoused the much-married
monarch, she found herself mistress of a score of royal
palaces, each furnished in a manner not unworthy of the
splendour of Aladdin after that fortunate youth had gained
possession of his magic Lamp, and served by the most
numerous retinue ever brought together in this ancient
kingdom of ours. The Venetian envoys, accustomed
to the luxury and artistic elegance of the Queen of the
Adriatic, were fairly dazzled by the sight of the treasures
Henry gathered about him. Although within the space of a
few brief years he suffered vandal hands to rob his country
of more noble abbeys, churches, libraries, and works of art
than had been destroyed by time and foreign and civil war
combined since William's Conquest, the King's own artistic
sense was highly developed, and he revelled, with a glee that
sometimes verged upon the childish, in pomp and luxury and
all things rare and beautiful.1 To the confiscated collections
of Wolsey he added the spoils of a hundred monasteries, and
the Inventory of his effects, taken a few days after his death,2

1 The Royal Household was considerably reduced by Somerset in the
first year of Edward vi, but in Elizabeth's day it was again augmented in
every department, and was the most terrible and disastrous legacy the great
Queen bequeathed to her Stuart successor. The only other example of such
an extraordinary plethora of Court officials and retainers is to be found at
the Court of France under Louis xiv and Louis xv's unhappy successor, and
they were a great factor in bringing about the Revolution.

2 Harl. 1419. The above account of Henry's palaces and their contents
is taken from this important MSS : the Household Expenses, State Papers,

42

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 43

fills two enormous folio volumes preserved among the Harleian
Papers in the British Museum. It is written in a round,
legible hand, on the finest paper of the period, and a glimpse of
its contents cannot fail to excite the longing of the virtuoso
and to stir the imagination as effectually as any brilliant page
of description in the Arabian Nights. A perusal of these
bulky tomes facilitates some partial conception of the extra-
ordinary magnificence of the Court at which Lady Jane Grey
figured as a child, and whence, no doubt, she derived that
taste for " costlie attire, music and other vanities," which was
to evoke the unfavourable criticism of her Puritan friends at
Zurich and Strasburg, who exhorted her, if she really desired
to save her soul, to forswear all such trash, and imitate ' ' the
simplicity in dress and modesty in demeanour ' practised
by her cousin the Princess Elizabeth. We find hundreds
of entries touching bedsteads, tables, card or playing
tables, chairs, couches and footstools of carved ebony,
cedar- wood, walnut, or oak, inlaid with mother-of-pearl,
ivory, or rich metal wirework, and upholstered in silk,
satin, velvet, or Florence brocade, fringed with gold, and
even with strings of seed-pearls. Persian and Turkish
carpets, silks and woollen, covered every available space in
corridor, gallery, hall, and bedchamber, and there is men-
tion of one especially wonderful carpet " of silk," probably
Persian, ' nine yards long by two and a half wide." One
chamber was decorated with " 101 yards of white satin
embroidered and fringed with gold," while the walls of
another were panelled with purple cloth of gold, i.e. purple
silk shot with gold.

There must have been some hundreds of complete sets of
the costliest tapestries and arras in the various royal palaces.
Wolsey, whose passion for tapestry as a mural decoration
became quite unreasonable, collected scores of the finest
specimens the looms of Italy and Flanders could produce and
lavish outlay secure. After his fall these remained as he had
left them at Hampton Court, where we still admire the splendid
series representing the " Story of Abraham," designed by

Royal Society's Papers, temp. Henry vm, and from the very curious Trevelyan
Papers, Camden Society ; also from that admirable work, The History of
Hampton Court Palace, by Ernest Law, M.A.

44 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Raphael's pupil, Bernard van Orly, and another of yet earlier
date illustrating the " Triumphs," of which three, those of
' Death," ' Renown," and Time," occupy their original
positions in Henry vm's Great Watching or Guard Chamber.
As we gaze on their faded beauty, we should remind
ourselves that the immense quantity of gold thread
wrought with infinite care and taste into their composi-
tion, and now tarnished, glistened in King Henry's time in
all the glory of its freshness. In the Audience Chamber at
Whitehall many a great Ambassador may have envied the
arras hangings, representing the ' Acts of the Apostles," *
from designs by Raphael presented to the King by Pope
Leo x when he gave him the proud title of ' ' Defender of the
Faith."

The walls of three State rooms at Hampton Court were
hung " with cloth of gold, blue cloth of gold, crimson velvet
upon velvet, tawny velvet upon velvet, green velvet figury,
and cloth of bawdekin," a regal material woven partly of silk
and partly of gold. Some of the chief tapestries at Whitehall
represented the " History of Our Lady," the ' Story of
Ahasuerus and Esther," the " Crucifixion," the ' Story of
Apollo and Daphne," " St. George and the Dragon," r Hawk-
ing and Hunting Scenes," the " Siege of Jerusalem," and
many other like episodes in sacred and profane history and
in mythology. The King wrould order a score of sets of
tapestry at once, and would spend a sum equal to £10,000 or
£15,000 of our money upon them. The overflow of tapestries,
' picture-hangings," Oriental silks, Genoa velvets, Florence

1 These tapestries were duplicates of those still preserved in the Vatican,
the cartoons for which are at the South Kensington Museum. They re-
mained in Whitehall till the death of Charles i, when they were sold to Don
Alfonso de Cardenas, and passed at his decease to the house of Alva, which
in turn sold them to Mr. Peter Tupper, who brought them to England in
1823 ; in his house they remained until they were resold to Mr. William
Trail. In 1863 they were exhibited at the Crystal Palace, and came very
near destruction in the fire which devastated the Tropical Department.
Their subsequent fate is unknown, but as recently as 1889 the writer saw
two of the series in a shop in Wardour Street. In 1890 a series of finely
painted cartoons, evidently by Raphael and his pupils, representing scenes
from the Acts of the Apostles, identical with these, came from Russia, and
were exhibited by the late Mr. Martin Colnaghi and afterwards sold to an
American financier.

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD

45

and Venice brocades, curtains of French lace, Chinese silks,
and costly furniture, went to the State rooms of the stern
old Tower ; to Windsor — where a few remnants of Henry
vm's belongings still remain ; to Woodstock, to Richmond,
to Greenwich, to Oatlands in Surrey — where Prince Edward
often lived ; to Newhall to Havering atte Bower — the chief
country seat of Princess Mary ; to Hatfield and Enfield
Chase — where Princess Elizabeth spent her girlhood ; to the
Queen's dower-houses at Han worth and Chelsea ; and above all,
to that marvel of the age, the new Palace of Nonesuch, which
Henry had built him at Cheam, Surrey.1 At Whitehall there
were scores of cupboards crammed with gold and silver plate,
and there were ivory and ebony cabinets with crystal doors,
in which glittered strange Italian jewels, and curiosities from
all parts of the then known world. In none of Henry's palaces
does there seem to have been a gallery exclusively devoted to
pictures, such as would be found in most contemporary Italian
and French royal and princely residences ; but there were
plenty of pictures or ' painted tables," as the Inventory
quaintly calls them, in nearly every chamber. In 1540
Holbein's great fresco in the King's Privy Council Room at
Whitehall, representing King Henry vu and Queen Elizabeth of
York in the background, with Henry viu and Jane Seymour
standing in front, was a comparatively recent work. The
illustrious artist, who died in London of the plague in 1543,

1 The Palace of Nonesuch stood near the site of the old manor house'and
the village church of Chuddington, near Cheam, in Surrey. Henry viu ob-
tained possession of the manor as a hunting-seat in 1526 by exchange, and
erected a magnificent structure of freestone, having a central gate-house and
being flanked by lofty towers crowned with cupolas in the form of inverted
balloons, which gave the building a decided Oriental appearance. The
writers of the sixteenth century are profuse in their laudations of this royal
residence, and speak in the most glowing terms of its beautifully furnished
apartments, which contained works of art worthy of ancient Greece or of
Rome, and of its lovely gardens, its orchards stocked with the choicest of
fruit trees, and its extensive park laid out in avenues ornamented by artificial
fountains. Its luxuriousness and beauty soon acquired for the new palace
the proud appellation of " Nonesuch." Henry viu never quite completed
it, but in Mary's reign it passed to the Earl of Arundel, who carried out the
original intentions of its founders. Queen Elizabeth frequently resided at
Nonesuch, but whether as guest or tenant is uncertain. Charles n presented
it to the Duchess of Cleveland, who completely demolished the palace and
disparked the lands.

46 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

had also designed the ceiling of the " Matted Gallery,"
and covered the walls of the Chapel Royal with frescoes
and arabesques.

The King's appearance, as he developed from boyhood to
manhood and middle age, might have been studied in scores
of presentments of him, to be met with at every turn : here,
a plump little boy, by Mabuse ; there, a singularly handsome
fair-haired young man by Paris Bordone ; and yonder, a
full-length portrait by Hans Holbein, in which it was evident
that His Majesty was beginning to ' put on flesh." In the
Audience Chamber was a ' table ' of the monarch painted
by Bartolomeo Penni, wherein the ' peepy eyes ' and the
bloated cheeks of his latter years were only too faithfully
portrayed. Though there were portraits of nearly all the
King's contemporaries, including one of Charles vm of France
and another of Charles v, besides a round dozen of Francis I,
the likenesses of the five queens who preceded Katherine
Parr had all been carefully removed, or, as in the case, of Anne
Boleyn and Katherine Howard, destroyed. A cabinet full of
relics of Queen Jane stood, however, in the anteroom of the
King's bedchamber at the Tower ; and at Westminster, in a
picture-book, there was a portrait of this Queen with another
of the King facing it on the opposite page. Among the great
"tables" at WhitehaU were the "Virgin and Child," by
Leonardo da Vinci,1 given to the King by Francis I in exchange
for a picture by Holbein ; 'St. George and the Dragon," 2
by Raphael ; " Christina of Denmark," 3 by Holbein, full
length ; a portrait, ' Like unto Life," of " Thomas, Duke
of Norfolk," 4 and ' one table of the King's Highness
trampling upon the papal tiara, whence issues a serpent
with seven heads snorting fire. In the King's hand is the
Bible, and a sword whereon is written Verbum Dei." 5

If the art of painting was well represented in the King's
many palaces, that of music was even more cherished. Page

1 Possibly the " Virgin of the Rocks," now in the National Gallery.

2 At the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

3 Lately in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk, and now belonging to
the nation.

4 Windsor Castle.

6 There were several of these allegorical " tables," one or two of which
survive to this day in ancient contemporary engravings.

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 47

after page in the Royal Inventory is devoted to " double "
and ' ' single ' virginals, with cases inlaid and encrusted with
ivory and mother-of-pearl or adorned with arabesques of gold,
studded with gems ; while of lutes and flutes, rebecks and
viols, there seems to have been a perfect arsenal. Then there
was a library of over a thousand precious volumes, a sort of
perambulating feast of reason, for in the Household Expenses
we find various sums of money disbursed from time to time
for the removal of boat -loads of books from one palace to
another. The number of gold, silver, bronze, crystal, and
glass chandeliers, sconces, and candlesticks distributed among
the royal residences baffles belief. Each of the two hundred
and eighty-four guest-chambers at Hampton Court boasted a
bedstead hung with the richest silk and satin, with a gorgeously
embroidered and wadded counterpane to match, an Oriental
carpet, and a toilet set, ewer, basin, and candlesticks
complete, of massive silver ; while one closet at Whitehall
was stored with an immense collection of the choicest
German and Venetian glass. Such, in fact, was the King's
mania for collecting things rich and rare that, in spite of
the hopeless and suffering condition of his health, he was
still ( buying,55 down to the, ultimate week of his life, and
some of his last purchases seem never to have been paid for
by his successors.

These contemporary accounts of the Household of Henry
vin strike the student by their marked resemblance to similar
descriptions, by such writers as Sagrado and Knowles, of the
quaint and numerous population of the Seraglio in the palmy
days of the Ottoman Khaliphats. The Tudor King, like the
Grand Turk, had four battalions of pages — pages of the Outer
and of the Inner Court, of the King's Antechamber, and of
the King's Presence Chamber ; and yet a fifth contingent
was attached to the service of the Queen. These lads, some
hundreds in number, had their captains and even their school-
masters ; they were mostly of good family, and were ap-
parelled, according to their rank, in wondrous State garments
either of satin, green and white, the colours of the house of
Tudor, or else of royal scarlet and gold. There was a legion
of Grooms of the Wardrobe, Keepers of the King's Horse,
Sports and Pastimes, of his Harriers and Beagles, Sergeants-

48 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

at-Arms, Sergeants of the Woodyard, Sergeants of the Bake-
house, Sergeants of the Pantry, Sergeants of the Pastry,
Sergeants of the Trumpeters, Yeomen of the Wardrobe, Yeomen
of the Armoury, Yeomen of the Buttery, Yeomen of the
Chamber, Yeomen of the Chariots, of the Cooks, of the Hench-
men, Stables, and Tents. The Royal Chapel was served by a
full complement of chaplains, sub-chaplains, organists, and
choir-boys. There were apothecaries, physicians, astrono-
mers,1 astrologers, secretaries, ushers, cup-bearers, carvers,
servers, singing-boys, virginal players, Italian singers and
English madrigalists, and a perfect orchestra of players on the
lute, the flute, the rebeck, the sackbut, the harp, the psalter,
and all manner of instruments.

Full fifty cooks and twice as many scullions worked in
the spacious kitchens, and in 1544 we near °f a French pastry-
cook of good repute who rejoiced in the very pleasing and
appropriate name of M. Doux. A regiment of gardeners and
under-gardeners trimmed the pleasaunces and kept the King's
orchards in order.

The dresses and costumes of this army of picturesque,
though often quite useless, folk, numbering some thousands
or so, were sufficiently costly to account in part for the straits
of the Royal Exchequer. Their wages and silks and satins cost
the nation, in the last yearof Henry vm's reign, £56,700 — against
£17,280 in the last year of that of his father ; a prodigious
increase — when we take into consideration the relative value
of money — and sufficient to explain the depletion of the coin.

Scarlet, or rather deep red, was the predominant colour
of the garments of King Henry's retainers, but dark blue and
orange, with the white and light apple green of the house of
Tudor, were not lacking, and added to the kaleidoscopic aspect
of the courtyards and staircases, galleries and audience
chamber, in the stately residences of " bluff King Hal." One
Venetian Ambassador, commenting on the order kept at the
English Court, declared that ' everything is regulated as by
clock-work, and no one ever seems to be out of his place/1

1 Among the astronomers was the learned Nicholas Crager. William
Parr was also a student of astronomy. The State Papers contain some
mention of astronomical instruments purchased for him. Needless to say,
this " astronomy " was really only astrology under another name.

HENRY VIII IN 1548

FROM AN OLD ENGRAVING

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 49

When the King condescended to walk abroad, he was attended
by a host of superbly attired courtiers, by his grand equerries
and chamberlains, the Grand Master of his Horse, his almoners,
ushers, and physicians ; his fool — Will Somers l ; his pages, and
even by a favourite musician or so. In the last years of his
life, owing to his increasing infirmity, Henry was sometimes
carried upon the shoulders of six sturdy noblemen, in a kind of
sedia gestatoria like the Pope's. At His Majesty's approach
every knee was bent, and many who particularly desired
to conciliate his favour ' grovelled ' face downward as
Orientals before some Eastern despot . The officials and serving-
men who prepared the table for His Majesty's meals made an
obeisance each time they passed the vacant chair wherein the
monarch was presently to seat himself. The Queen-Consort,
and the Princesses, his daughters, knelt whenever they ad-
dressed him. In brief, King Henry, having filched from Peter
some of Peter's pontifical prerogatives, exacted the same sort
of homage as that paid to the Roman Pontiff, and turned
himself from mortal into a sort of demigod or idol. But
foreigners and Catholics noted that though people knelt as he
rode past, His Majesty bestowed no blessing upon them.
This slavish etiquette continued throughout the reign of
Edward vi.2 but was modified when Mary renounced the
titular position of Head of the Church. Elizabeth, however,
demanded, and, what is more, received, quasi-divine honours
from her subjects.

Yet another point of resemblance between the Courts of
England and the Ottoman at this period : Whitehall, like the

1 Will Somer, or Somers, Court Jester to Henry vm, and apparently con-
tinued in that office by Edward vi, was originally in the service of Richard
Farmer, Esq., of Easton Newton, Northampton. This gentleman was, in
consequence of his having sent two groats and some articles of clothing
to a priest convicted of denying the King's supremacy, found guilty of a
pramunire and deprived of his estates. The distress to which his former
master was thereby reduced attracted the attention of Will Somers, who
during the King's last illness availed himself of his privileged position to let
fall certain remarks concerning him, which so worked upon the King's mind
that Henry was induced to restore to Mr. Farmer what remained of his estates.
Will Somers was an excellent musician and had a very fine voice.

2 This sort of slavish homage excited the sarcasm of the Ambassadors .
Soranzo, the Venetian Envoy, tells us he once saw Princess Elizabeth kneel five
times before venturing to address her brother Edward.

4

50 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Seraglio, was gay and brilliant on the surface, but in each
case there was an undercurrent of terror and suspicion. The
Tudor Court swarmed with spies and informers, and often
a thoughtless jest, a careless remark, spitefully retailed at
headquarters, would send men or women to the Tower,
or even to the stake. Polks went in fear and trembling
lest what they had said overnight in their cups might be
brought home to them with appalling consequences in the
morning. This state of abject and habitual fear engendered
habits of whispering and talking apart and an atmosphere
of mystery, in spite of which the gossip and rumours of
the King's own chamber passed to the pages, grooms, and
serving-men in the courtyards below, and thence to the
general public, as rapidly as news flies nowadays by telephone
and telegraph.

There can be no doubt that Jane Grey, the daughter of one
so closely connected with the throne as was the Marchioness of
Dorset, must often have mingled in the gaudy crowd that
thronged her grand-uncle's palace. Henry was as ' fond of
children as he was of pastry," although, for obvious reasons,
he did not display any overweening affection for his own
offspring. This engaging little niece, now about six years of
age, is likely to have found favour in the monarch's sight, and
Jane Grey, for all we know, may even have throned it on her
dread relative's august knee. Cranmer's hand, too, must have
rested in benediction upon her head, and she may, perchance,
have won the smile of Gardiner and of Bonner. She must
often have heard the sick King, who had lost his own fine
voice, accompany his favourite fool, Will Somers, on the lute,
in some song or hymn of his own composition. She must have
been familiar with the two Seymour brothers ; with the dreamy
face and austere manner of the Earl of Hertford, and the bluff
good-nature of Sir Thomas. She may even have been tossed
in the strong arms of John Dudley, at this time Lord High
Admiral of England and Viscount de Lisle, reputed a ' ' mag-
nificent gentleman," but otherwise of secondary importance.
Wriothesley, Rich, and foredoomed Surrey and his father, old
Norfolk, must often have watched her run along, clinging to her
portly mother's trailing brocades as she passed on her way to
and from the King's cabinet, and may even have whispered

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 51

one to the other that the little damsel would surely be as good
a match for young Prince Edward as the Scottish Queen's
daughter, Mary Stuart. In the apartment of her grand-aunt
the Queen, where that busy little lady nestled like a sultana
among her innumerable soft pillows and cushions,1 encased
in cloth of gold and silver, the child Jane must have heard
much evangelical counsel from the erstwhile widow
Latimer, who found some consolation in the gorgeousness of
her thraldom for the loss of her handsome lover, Sir Thomas
Seymour.

The Queen's lodgings were parted from the King's by a short
corridor, and nearly all her windows overlooked the Thames.
Here Katherine Parr played the housewife, and in the midst
of her tapestries and brocades and her " stretches " of silver
and gold cloth, made poultices for Henry's ulcered legs, wrote
her pious treaties on probity and prayers, and probably
counted the hours till the Lord in His mercy should deliver her
royal spouse from his sore sufferings. In these rooms, per-
haps, Jane Grey sat for her miniature to Lavinia Tyrling ;
Bartolomeo Penni may here have limned her diminutive but
very pretty features ; and we fancy we can see Mr. Crane or
Mr. John Hey wood, His Majesty's chief virginal players,
teaching her the notes upon the King's " favourite virginal,"
the one " enlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl/1 In the last
months of Henry's life, when Lady Jane is known to have
been much with Katherine Parr, the little girl may have
listened with delight to the wonderful warbling of the King's
Italian singers, Alberto of Venice, Marc Antonio Galiadello of
Brescia, or Giorgio da Cremona, as they vainly endeavoured
to soothe the sufferings of the dying monarch by their elaborate
cadenze.

Queen Katherine soon made her influence felt at Court.
She could not control the violent passions of her wayward
lord, but she did in a measure modify them, and steered her
own course amid the shoals of regal existence with consummate

1 The household inventories of the Queen's rooms contain mention of
innumerable pillows and cushions richly covered with silk and satin, and also
of costly counterpanes. This Oriental custom of using soft pillows may have
been introduced into England by Katherine of Aragon. In England as in
Spain the Sovereign only was allowed a chair.

52 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

skill. No breath of scandal ever sullied her fair name, though
Thomas Seymour, back from his convenient mission to Hungary,
was appointed her Chamberlain, and must have been a good
deal in her company. Even her worst enemies never ventured
on that track. When at a later date they planned a blow,
which they hoped would prove fatal to the Queen, they selected
her religious leanings, not her love affairs, as their fell weapon.
Katherine Parr, to her credit, lost no time in reconciling the
King with his hitherto neglected daughters. Princess Mary
was near her own age, and had been intimate with her when
she was Lady Latimer. The Emperor's Ambassadors praise
' the new Queen for her kindness to the daughter of Katherine
of Aragon,1 who now takes her proper place at Court." Eliza-
beth, too, was summoned from her suburban retreat, but had
not been many weeks under her father's roof ere he became
so exasperated by her pert obstinacy that he summarily
ordered her back to Enfield. In a few weeks, however,
Katherine patched up the quarrel, and on 24th July 1544
Elizabeth wrote Her Majesty, in Italian, a most graceful letter
of thanks for her good offices.2 Edward was too delicate to
be much in London, but none the less his stepmother looked
after his health with so much ' gentleness ' that she soon
won his sincere affection and lasting goodwill. He wrote
her letters in Latin, French, and Italian, addressed to his
charisima Mater, and full of praise for her beautiful penman-
ship, which, on comparison, proves greatly inferior both to
his own and to that of either Elizabeth or Jane Grey.
Katherine induced her stepdaughter Mary to assist in the
translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the Four Gospels. The
Princess selected that of St. John, and when the work was
finished, an amusing correspondence ensued as to the pro-
priety of the future Queen of England placing her name, as
translator, on the frontispiece. f I see not why you should
reject the praise deservedly yours," argued the Queen ; and

1 Political influence of this period no doubt seconded the good offices of
Queen Katherine in favour of Princess Mary. Her cousin the Emperor was
no longer an enemy, but an ally.

2 This is the beautiful letter beginning La nemica fortuna, which, although
written by an English princess, is, in its way, a very masterpiece of Italian
epistolary literature. It may have been written under the auspices of the
famous Baltazar Castiglione, who taught Elizabeth the Italian language.

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 53

the Princess at last allowed the editor of the work, the learned
Dr. UdaJl, to allude to the fact that " the most noble, the
most virtuous and the most studious Lady Mary " had a
hand in its success.1

To occupy her own leisure, Queen Katherine devoted
herself to the composition of a quaint book entitled The
Lamentations of a Penitent Sinner, a pious work which gives
us, at least in one passage, a lucid idea of the methods employed
by Her Majesty to keep her hold over her extraordinary
husband, among which gross flattery was by no means the
least. A copy of this work was once in the possession of
John Thelwall, and was sold at the death of his second wife.
It contained a curious autograph, indicating that it had been
given by the Queen to her " dear cosyn, Jane Grey," who no
doubt read it with veneration and delight. In this tiny
volume Henry had the satisfaction of being likened unto Moses
leading the Children of Israel out of bondage. " I mean by
Moses, King Henry vui, my most sovereign favourable lord
and husband, one (if Moses had figured any more than Christ)
through the excellent grace of God, meet to be another ex-
pressed verity of Moses' conquest over Pharaoh (and I mean
by this Pharaoh the Bishop of Rome), the greatest persecutor
of all true Christians than ever was Pharaoh of the Children
» of Israel.'1

As may well be imagined, Queen Katherine Parr did not
fail to use her influence to obtain prominent positions about
the Court for her own kith and kin. Her uncle and Chamber-
lain, Sir Thomas Parr, was created Lord Parr of Horton ; her
brother was raised from the rank of Baron Parr of Kendal to
be Earl of Essex, in lieu of the lately decapitated Thomas
Cromwell ; and her brother-in-law, William Herbert, was
knighted. These gentlemen received their new dignities in
the Chapel Royal, but were not entertained in one of the
apartments spread with Persian carpets. Their dinner was
served in the choir-boys' mess-room, in which a fresh litter
of rushes was strewn for the occasion — a curious fact, which
leads one to conclude that the acting master of ceremonies
expected the party to indulge in libations which might result
in some injury to Oriental rugs but were not likely to do much

1 After her accession Queen Mary ordered this work to be recalled.

54 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

damage to fresh rushes costing 35. 6d. the litter. Parr nad to
pay 4os. for his new paraphernalia, and the choir-boys got los.
for singing after the dinner.1

On I4th July 1544 King Henry sailed from Dover for
France to superintend in person the approaching siege of
Boulogne. He left our shores in a vessel with sails made of
cloth of gold, the glitter of which does not appear to have
added to the ship's speed, for the King did not get to Calais
for nearly twenty-four hours, although the weather was fine,
and the sea calm — probably too calm. The last time he had
crossed the Channel, on his way to the Field of the Cloth of
Gold, Henry had acted the part of pilot, garbed in nether
garments of cloth of gold, and had blown the pilot's whistle
as loud as any trumpeter. This time he was too anxious
and enfeebled to play at all. His Majesty was attended by his
brother-in-law, the Duke of Suffolk, also a very sick man ; by
Sir William Herbert, who acted as his spear-bearer, by the
Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey, the Spanish Duke
of Alberqurque, John Dudley, the Lord High-Admiral,
afterwards Duke of Northumberland, and half the English
nobility. Before his departure he appointed the Queen
Regent of England and Ireland, with power to sign all official
and State documents, this being almost the first occasion
on which a Queen-Consort of England held so responsible
a position. The Earl of Hertford was to be Her Majesty's
constant attendant, but should he chance to be temporarily
absent, Cranmer was to remain with her, and with these two,
Sir William Petre and Lord Parr of Horton, her Grace's
uncle, Wriothesley, and Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, were
to sit in council.

During this regency Katherine kept aloof from politics
and occupied herself principally with assisting the University
of Cambridge and with the royal children, who were left in
her charge. Princess Mary, who was an almost constant
guest during the King's absence, and Princess Elizabeth, were
both invited to join the circle at Oatlands, where Prince
Edward was residing, and whither, owing to an outbreak
of the plague, the Queen herself soon retired. From the

1 State Papers, Domestic Series, Henry vm, 1544-5. Lord Parr of Horton
died in 1545.

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 55

various suburban palaces in which she was residing, Katherine
addressed letters almost daily to the King, giving him accounts
of the health and the doings of his children ; and the monarch
vouchsafed in return to write most approvingly of all she
did. Towards the middle of August the Lady Dorset and
her daughter, the Lady Jane Grey, came to Oatlands for a
few days' visit. This was perhaps the first and probably
the only time spent by Lady Jane and Prince Edward
under the same roof. The royal kinsfolk may have lived a
very quiet life, spending their days in the gardens and park,
and their evenings either listening to the singing of Princess
Mary, who is reputed to have had a magnificent contralto
voice, or to Princess Elizabeth's playing upon the virginals,
an art in which she already excelled. The Queen may per-
chance have favoured the company with a chapter or so
from some one or other of her remarkably dull theological
compositions. There is no evidence that she was a musician,
and she does not seem to have been infected with the pre-
vailing Court vice — gambling — in which even the pious
Princess Mary indulged, frequently losing much more than
she could pay — as demonstrated by the Household Books
of Henry vm.

Boulogne capitulated to Suffolk on i6th September, after a
lengthy siege, and on the i8th, the King, accompanied by the
Duke of Alberqurque, representing his ally the Emperor,
received the keys of the city from his brother-in-law's hands,
and made what he was pleased to consider his triumphal
entry into the town. But he rode through a city untenanted
and in ruins ; even the magnificent Cathedral had not been
spared, and the townsfolk, who had fled for security, as
they hoped, to Hardelot and Etaples, were massacred, man,
woman, and child, by the allied Spanish, German, and English
troops. English historians have been reticent in dealing
with the siege of Boulogne,1 and the majority have passed

1 Some very interesting particulars unknown to English historians of the
siege of Boulogne and of the sojourn of Henry vm, Suffolk, Surrey, and
their merry men in Picardy, will be found in Les Archives de la Ville de
Boulogne ; Histoire de la Ville de Montr euil-sur-Mer, by F. Leplon ; Memoires
de Martin de Bellamy (Michaud, Paris, 1838) ; Inventaire de I'Histoire de
France, by Le Comte Jean de Serre ; in a very curious little volume
entitled Le Chateau d' Hardelot ; also in Notre Dame de Boulogne, by 1'Abbe

56 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

very lightly over the disagreement which soon broke out
between our King and his ally the Emperor.1 Charles now
urged Henry to join him and march on Paris. Henry,
who knew his troops to be enfeebled by hardship and
suffering, and moreover felt himself far too ill to supervise
fresh military operations, would go no farther, more
especially because he feared to infuriate the French King,
who might at any moment ally himself with his former enemy
the Emperor Charles, and thus form a Catholic coalition
absolutely inimical to the policy of the English King.
Henry's hesitation undoubtedly saved the city of Paris.
Seeing the Emperor's troops approach the capital, Francis
roused himself for a moment from the lethargy in which he
had been plunged, and once more became the hero of Marig-
nano. The King's attitude and the bravery of the Dauphin,
who was covering the capital with 8000 men, stimulated
the drooping spirits of the Parisians, and, with their usual
heroism, they prepared to offer a stout resistance to their foes.
They even made merry at the expense of their two arch-
enemies, ridiculing the gouty Emperor and caricaturing the
corpulent English King — a proof, if one were lacking, that
the fatal diseases destined eventually to carry Henry off had
already made sufficient progress to excite general attention.
Queen Eleanor, the neglected wife of Francis I, foreseeing the
horrors to which the capital and its inhabitants were exposed,
determined, without consulting her husband, to plead person-
ally with the Emperor. Accompanied by a Spanish monk
named Guzman, she proceeded to the Imperial tent, and casting
herself upon her knees before Charles, then writhing in agonies
of gout, obtained terms from him, thus averting a siege which
must have cost rivers of blood. The peace then concluded
was none too satisfactory, so far as England was concerned,
since it stipulated that Boulogne was to be restored in the
space of six years, during which time the place lost us in money
and men far more than it was worth. Never, indeed, was

Haignere, published by Hamain, Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1898 ; and in the Spanish
Chronicle of the Reign of Henry VIII, translated by Major Martin Hume.

1 Full particulars of the reasons for and the progress of this disagreement
will be found in vol. viii. of the Spanish State Papers of Henry VIII, vols. vii.
and viii., edited by Major Martin Hume.

THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD 57

there a more futile expedition than this, nor a greater waste
of money. The much-talked-of sails of cloth of gold wafted
the King home on ist October 1544. In London he was re-
ceived with little enthusiasm, or none at all. The nation was
disappointed by the terms of the peace, the army was dis-
organised, Norfolk already out of favour, and Surrey, accused
of insubordination, was openly disgraced. Boulogne was
left in the hands of Jane Grey's future father-in-law, Lord
High-Admiral John Dudley.

The health of Lady Jane's maternal grandfather, Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, failed him completely soon after
his return to England. He seems to have suffered from a
complication of disorders not unlike those which were afflicting
his brother-in-law, the King. After the siege of Boulogne,
he appears to have been of very little use, and eighteen months
later he retired with his Duchess to Guildford Castle " in much
suffering and pain." There is a portrait extant of Charles
Brandon, taken at this time, which represents him seated in a
large armchair, his head bound up in a sort of nightcap, and
his swollen and gouty feet, one of which rests on a stool,
enveloped in bandages. The bloated face bears a weird
resemblance to Henry vm. Brandon died at Guildford in
1546 after a long illness, during which he was nursed by his
Duchess and his two daughters, the Ladies Frances and
Eleanor, the former of whom brought her eldest daughters,
Jane and Katherine, with her. By his will Charles Brandon
left, after deducting a rather meagre dower for his wife, the
bulk of his vast fortune to his two sons, with remainder to his
daughters in unequal shares, the Lady Frances, in the case of
the death of her two brothers, inheriting considerably more
than two-thirds of her father's lands and money. He desired
to be buried in Lincolnshire, but Henry, overlooking this
request, caused his body to be conveyed to Windsor, where it
was interred with great pomp in St. George's Chapel, in the
presence of his family and of a multitude of courtiers.

CHAPTER V

MRS. ANNE ASKEW

IT was in the latter years of Henry vm's reign that Stephen
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, conceived his scheme
for the reconciliation of England and England's monarch
with the Roman Pontiff. Although a less astute intriguer than
his powerful opponent Cranmer, Gardiner, who was apt to
lose his temper and blurt out things best kept to himself, was
a man of marked ability, one of whom his crafty master made
frequent use, playing him off against the Archbishop, and so
retaining the balance of power in his own jealous hands.
Cranmer was at this period using his influence with Henry to
abolish the use of Latin in the Mass, preparatory to the eventual
introduction of the Book of Common Prayer and the early
and total abrogation of the Eucharistic Service in the Roman
sense. Yet the wily Churchman knew right well that so long
as the King lived there was but faint hope of this change.
For His Majesty clung to the doctrine of Transubstantiation
closer than to any other tenet ; not so much on account of his
faith — did he believe anything ? — as because, in the days of
his youth, he had indited a work in defence of the Catholic
doctrine of the Sacraments, which, so his clergy had averred,
proved him wiser than Solomon himself, and which Pope
Leo x had favourably compared with the writings of
St. Augustine and Gregory the Great, rewarding the royal
author with that title of " Defender of the Faith ' which
is still a cherished appanage of British royalty. Henry
had even made belief in the Sacrament of the Altar a
principal Article amongst the famous Six, any denial of which
was punishable with death. Yet, if the King had searched
Cranmer's study at Lambeth at the very moment when that

wily prelate was professing to accept his beliefs from his King,

58

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 59

as submissively as though the monarch had possessed the in-
fallible powers of his own Maker, he might have laid his hand
on a bulky correspondence between the Primate and every
Lutheran and Calvinistic leader in Germany and Switzerland
-with Calvin, Bullinger, (Ecolampadius, Osiander, Dryander,
Bucer, and the rest. Gardiner, on his side, was in communica-
tion with Cardinal Pole, Charles v, the Pope, and the entire
papal party at home and abroad. This duel between the
papal leader and the Reformers, then, was the true basis of all
political undertakings at this momentous crisis. The rival
parties were really preparing themselves for the departure of
the dying King, and aimed at controlling the inevitable Pro-
tectorate, necessitated by the minority of his successor, a lad
of nine summers. Had Gardiner, the Howards, and the
Catholic party won the day, history would have had little,
perhaps nothing, to record concerning Lady Jane Grey. Her
name, like that of her accomplished friend Lady Jane Seymour,
daughter of Lord Hertford, would have been lost, buried in
the spent sands of the past.

The decline of the King's health began in the summer of
1541-2, when he was attacked by a dangerous tertian fever,
from which, thanks to his powerful constitution, he partially
recovered.

At the time of his marriage with Anne of Cleves he was
again in poor health, and during the proceedings for the King's
divorce from his Dutch consort, Cranmer laid great stress on
the fact that although she had shared his chamber for six
months, the bride was still to all intents and purposes unwed.
At the siege of Boulogne, as we have seen, Henry was terribly
altered, and the French ballad-writers jested about le cercle
de fer, which, they averred, kept his ungainly carcass to-
gether. Queen Katherine was probably espoused rather as a
skilful nurse than as a wife, in the ordinary acceptance of the
term, and a most assiduous attendant she proved, kneeling for
hours at a time rubbing his swelled legs and dressing his many
ulcers. It would be unjust to the Queen's memory to attribute
this wifely devotion to none but selfish motives. But her
contemporaries shrewdly guessed that, while fulfilling her
wifely duty, she did not fail to work in her own interest, and
that of her friends, with her own peculiar skill and tact. She

60 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

certainly wished to be appointed Regent during Edward's

minority, and would gladly have excluded the Howards,

Wriothesley, Gardiner, Rich, and the whole Catholic element

from the King's sick-room, while doing all she could to

strengthen the hand of the Seymours, maternal uncles of the

future King, who were intent on ruling his kingdom for him

on strictly anti-papal lines. In the spring of the year 1546

the King had a bad relapse, and day by day the grey shadows

of approaching death deepened on that broad and bloated

countenance. He would not have the grim word mentioned

in his presence, and any courtier who appeared before him

dressed in mourning l — even for the nearest kin — was driven

in fury from his sight. None the less, he realised that he had

not many months to live. It was imperative, therefore, if

any reconciliation with Rome was to be effected before the

new reign began, that no time should be lost, and that some

sharp and decisive blow should overthrow the influence of

the Queen, now the chief intermediary between her sick spouse,

Cranmer, and the Seymours. But Katherine, in spite of the

notoriety of her intimate friendship with Sir Thomas Seymour,

was far too clever to give her enemies any chance of blasting,

or even smirching, her reputation. With respect to her

religious opinions, which were distinctly heterodox, she was

less guarded, however, and her enemies had good reason to

believe that if they could convince the King, beyond any

doubt, that she was in correspondence with those whom he

was pleased to term " heretics," she would never be able to

weather the storm her treachery must inevitably raise in

the King's resentful breast.

Henry, whose brain remained astonishingly active, not-
withstanding his infirmities, had never been so irritable and
ferocious as during the last few months of his life. He was
like a half-dead rattlesnake, which may recover life and
spring afresh upon its prey at any moment. Never were the
fires at Smithfield so active as in 1546. Early in this, year
six poor wretches were sent to the stake — three Catholics ;
the other three, Reformers. To demonstrate the impartiality

1 See for evidence of this fact a curious document included in the Notes
to the Journal of Edward vi, who himself informs us that his father drove
away anybody who appeared before him in mourning.

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 61

of their merciless judge they were all chained together. People
scarcely knew what they must believe or what disbelieve, to
escape execution. The King's informers were always at
work, spying upon the sayings and doings of people in every
rank of life ; and the wonder is that the Queen and her ladies
were not caught in some imprudent admission or other, and
convicted. At last, however, in the early spring of 1546, an
incident occurred which brought Katherine's foes their longed-
for chance of effecting her downfall.

Anne Askew, second daughter of Sir William Askew, or
Ayscough, of South Kelsy, Lincolnshire, was born at Stalling-
brough, near Grimsby, in 1521. When about fifteen years of
age, she was married, without her consent, to Mr. Thomas
Kyme, a Lincolnshire squire and neighbour, who had been
previously ' contracted ' to her elder sister. During her
early wedded life Mrs. Kyme appears to have been happy
enough, and became the mother of two children. She presently
occupied herself in studying the newly translated Scriptures,
and shortly after imagined she had a divine mission to preach
the gospel and correct what she deemed the theological errors
of her neighbours, especially on the subject of the Lord's
Supper, concerning which she held Genevan views.

After a few years of discomfort, Mr. Kyme, who, according
to the latest researches, entertained contrary religious opinions
to those of his wife, began to complain of the scanty enjoyment
he derived from her society. She was perpetually ' ' gadding
up and down the country, a-gospelling and a-gossiping,
instead of looking after her children.'5 Anne is described as a
handsome and daring young woman with a good deal of native
wit and ability, and was evidently the prototype of not a few
ladies of our own time, who prefer public life and controversy
to domestic duty and retirement. She even took upon herself
to read and comment on the New Testament in the nave of
Lincoln Cathedral, where she was often to be found surrounded
by an interested or amused group of priests and people. This
state of things no Dean or Chapter could be expected to endure,
and one fine day Mrs. Kyme found herself forcibly ejected
from the sacred edifice. After this incident, she must have
had some unusual disagreement with her husband, for her
relations persuaded her to leave the town, and she travelled

62 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

to London, where she soon made herself conspicuous as a
preacher of the new learning, and secured several distinguished
converts. She lodged in a house near the Temple, and one of
her neighbours, Mr. Wadloe, a hot Catholic, who began by
deriding her behaviour, ended by admiring her " godliness " ;
to use his own expression — " At mydnyght when I and others
applye ourselves to sleape, or do worse, Mrs. Askew ' (she had
resumed her maiden name), " begins to pray, and ceaseth not
in many howers after," doubtless to the edification of such of
her neighbours as suffered from insomnia.

By dint of perseverance, and also, it may be, through her
connections, Anne Askew formed the acquaintance of several
great ladies of the Court, and is said to have obtained, through
the offices of the Duchess of Suffolk, an interview with the
Queen, to whom, in the presence of her ladies, notably Lady
Tyrwhitt, Lady Lane, Lady Denny, and the little Lady Jane
Grey,1 she offered some copies of Tyndale's version of the New
Testament, and certain tracts arguing against Transubstantia-
tion, which were subsequently found in the Queen's own
closet and in the possession of the King's " Suffolk nieces."

It was in March 1545 that Mrs. Askew was first arrested
on a charge of heresy and taken to Sadler's Hall, where she
was denounced to the civil authorities and taken before the
Lord Mayor, who in the course of his examination questioned
her as to the probable changes in a consecrated wafer after a
" mowse " had swallowed it, whereupon she " made no answer
but smiled," and was committed to the Counter. That much-
abused man, Bishop Bonner, appears to have taken an interest
in her case, and endeavoured to save her from an awful fate.
He granted her a private interview and drew up a form of
recantation which she signed in the following ambiguous terms :
"I, Anne Askew, do believe all manner of things contained
in the Catholic Church and not otherwise." On this, Bonner,
whose patience had been severely tried, — for Anne was very
sharp-tongued and uncompromising, — waxed wroth, and taking
her by the shoulders, pushed her out of the chamber. Her
next friend was Dr. Weston, afterwards Bishop of West-
minster, who got her liberated on her own security ; and for
some months we hear no more about her, except that she

1 Speed.

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 63

was busy preaching and distributing her tracts secretly. On
loth May 1546 both Mr. and Mrs. Kyme received a summons
to present themselves within a specified time before the Privy
Council, then sitting at Greenwich, and they accordingly
appeared on the igth of the following June before the Chancellor
of the Augmentations, Sir Richard Rich, the Bishops of Durham
and Winchester and a number of other noblemen and gentle-
men, and were put through a severe cross-examination.1 Anne,
we learn, received this summons in London, but her husband
came to town on purpose to attend. Kyme got off with a
caution, on his promise to return forthwith to Lincoln, and
remain there. His wife, in open court, declared she would
never again recognise him as her husband. He went back to
Lincoln, and we lose sight of him. All we know is that he died,
where he is buried, at Friskne in 1591.

Anne Askew was eventually arraigned before the King's
Justices at Guildhall for speaking against the Sacrament of
the Altar, contrary to the Statute of the Six Articles. This
time she appeared with two other " heretics," one of them that
singular personage Dr. Nicholas Shaxton, ex-Bishop of Salis-
bury, whose pupil she is said to have been. Shaxton, a Norfolk
man by birth, was one of the Commission appointed by Gardiner
in connection with the divorce of Katherine of Aragon, and
during the proceedings he so favoured the King's view that he
eventually became almoner to Anne Boleyn and Bishop of
Salisbury. At a later date he preached Zwinglian doctrines
concerning the Eucharist, got himself into serious difficulties
with Archbishop Cranmer, and was forced to relinquish his see.
After a time he became a notorious " gospeller," and was finally
arrested with Anne Askew and a man named Christopher
White. The lady and White were both sent to Newgate ; but
the former recanted, and so escaped a fiery ordeal. Shaxton
did the same, obtained his pardon, and was actually ordered
to visit Anne in prison, and persuade her to follow his example.
But, weak woman though she was, Anne was made of sterner
stuff than the ex-prelate. " It were better for you you had
not been born than do that which you have done," cried she ;
and, crestfallen, her former friend and tutor left her presence.
Her condemnation followed immediately afterwards. It was

1 See Privy Council Papers, 1546.

64 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

presently noticed that Anne enjoyed more creature comforts
in prison than the customs of Newgate allowed. She explained
the matter by saying that ( her maid went abroad into the
streets and made moan to the prentices and they did send her
money ! ' But her persecutors refused to believe this story,
and so one afternoon, not long before her martyrdom, she was
conveyed to the Tower, taken to the torture chamber, and
there racked in the presence of Lord Chancellor Wriothesley,
Sir Richard Rich, Sir John Barker, and Sir Anthony Knyvett,
Constable of the Tower. Hitherto no one had been tortured
in England for conscience' sake, this terrible resource being
solely employed to extract information from persons suspected
of treasonable practices. Wriothesley, exasperated at his
failure to elicit direct information or satisfactory answers from
his victim, turned the screws himself, after Knyvett had
refused to order her to be further tormented by the official
executioner. Sir Richard Rich lent his hand to the Chancellor
in this merciless task, and so, to use poor Anne's own words,
she " was nigh dead." x

Dr. Lingard and other historians have cast doubt upon the
veracity of this horrible story, but the scene is described by
Anne herself in her " Narrative," dictated a few days before
her death, and published at Marburg, in the Duchy of Hesse,
in 1547, with a long running commentary by John Bale,
afterwards Bishop of Ossory. In his Three Conversions of
England, the Jesuit, Father Parsons, who had access to much
information and evidence long since destroyed or lost, not only
confirms the truth of the torture episode, but adds that it was
ordered by the King himself, who, hearing of the intercourse
between his Queen and Anne, " caused her to be apprehended '
and put to the rack, to know the truth thereof. And by her con-
fession he learned so much of Queen Katherine, as he had
purposed to burn her also, if he had lived." Parsons goes on to
say that " the King's sickness and death, shortly ensuing, was the
chief cause of her escape." Mrs. Askew bravely endured the
most horrible torments rather than betray her friends' trust, and

1 Anne Askew's " Narrative." It is but fair to the reputation of both Rich
and Wriothesley to state that Anne herself admits that she sat talking with
both for two hours immediately after the torture, which she could not possibly
have done if it had been very severe.

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 65

only yielded so far as to admit that whilst in prison she had
received ten shillings, delivered by a man in a blue livery. She
thought the money had beenjsent her by the Countess of Hertford,
but was not sure. She had a further sum of eight shillings at
the hand of a footman in a purple livery, and believed it was a
gift from Lady Denny. Questioned if she knew Lady Fitz-
william, the Duchess of Suffolk, Lady Sussex, or any other
great ladies of the Court, she evasively answered that she
" knew nothing about them that could be proved." She does
not seem to have been questioned point-blank as to whether
she had ever had any direct dealings with the Queen. Wrio-
thesley may have thought he had already obtained sufficient
information for his purpose. However that may have been,
the stout-hearted lady was sent back to Newgate, there to
spend her last three days of life, which she occupied in writing
and dictating the " Narrative " to be found among Dr. Bale's
writings.1

On the eve of her execution Anne Askew and three men
who had been condemned for heresy at the same time
as herself were visited in the little parlour at Newgate by
George Throckmorton and his brother, who were kinsmen of
the Queen — a rather suspicious circumstance. They were
cautioned in time, and thus escaped being arrested on a charge
of heresy, which might have proved fatal to themselves and
their royal cousin. John Louthe, the Reformer, who has
left us an account of the meeting, also came, at great risk to
himself, to encourage the unfortunate Anne. Mrs. Askew,
with an " Angel's countenance and a smiling face," talked
' merrily " with her unhappy companions, John Laselles, who
had been a gentleman in attendance upon the King, and is
supposed to have been the individual who betrayed the secrets
of Katherine Howard ; Nicholas Bolenian, a priest from
Shropshire ; and John Adams, a tailor. They talked on religious
subjects until it was time to separate. The next day, i6th
July, Mrs. Askew and her three fellow-prisoners were taken
from Newgate to Smithfield. So dislocated were the poor
lady's limbs that she had to be carried to her doom in a chair.
Cranmer, seeking to throw the full odium of the horrible

1 The text of the full confession of Mrs. Askew will be found among the
State Papers for 1545, Nos. 390, 391.

5

66 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

business on Gardiner, kept much in the background in the
whole matter of Anne Askew. He did not attend the ecclesi-
astical, commission which condemned her to the stake ; but
for all that his signature is affixed to her death-warrant. Six
years later, another martyr, Joan Bocher, one of the last of his
many victims, reminded the Archbishop that he had martyred
her friend Anne Askew for teaching more or less the same
doctrines he now preached himself.

In the 1563 edition of Foxe's Martyrs there is a most curious
engraving, probably after an original drawing, representing
the burning of Anne Askew and her companions. The spec-
tators are kept back by a ring fence within which we see the
stake, and a quaint pulpit, from which Dr. Nicholas Shaxton,
duly restored to grace, preached a sermon, supporting the
very dogma for denying which he had been prosecuted but a
few days previously. Anne is shown dressed in white ; one
side of the pyre is entirely devoted to her, while the three men,
apparently naked to the waist, are bound together, on the
side opposite the pulpit. The concourse of people appears
enormous ; the mob seems to seethe round the scaffold, loll
out of the surrounding windows, and even swarm on the
opposite roofs. On a raised bench, under a canopy,
sit Wriothesley, Rich, the Dukes of Norfolk, Surrey,
" Swearing Russell," and the Lord Mayor. These worthies,
it appears, were sorely perturbed by a rumour that there was an
unusual amount of gunpowder on the spot, and were very
much afraid of a dangerous explosion. Their terrors were
swiftly allayed when Bedford informed the company that the
explosive in question was merely a number of small bags of
gunpowder concealed about the persons of the victims with
the object of shortening their sufferings.

At the very last moment Mrs. Askew was offered a pardon
on condition that she recanted and gave up the names of her
high-born friends. She refused : the Lord Mayor shouted
Fiat justitia, and the faggots were lighted. Presently the fire
crackled. A quick succession of explosions followed, the
smoke concealing the wretched victims from sight. When the
flames and smoke died down only the charred and blackened
remains of four human beings could be descried. Clouds had
been gathering ; a peal of thunder rolled, and heavy drops of

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 67

rain soon dispersed the throng. The show was over, and the
home-returning spectators chatted as they went, blaming or
praising the deed, according to their individual view. The
horror of it does not seem to have affected them much, although
among the Reformers and the better classes of all creeds
expressions of hearty indignation were not lacking. But the
masses were accustomed to such sights of horror, and so,
indeed, were our own immediate forbears, until public exe-
cutions ceased and the death sentence was carried out in the
courtyards of the prisons. We have indeed progressed in
these matters since 1546 and even since 1868.

A few days after the burning of the unfortunate Lincoln-
shire lady, Foxe tells us, Wriothesley, Gardiner, and Rich
waited on the King, and so persuaded him that Anne had made
damaging revelations concerning the Queen's intercourse with
heretics that Henry ' proposed to burn her also/3 His
Majesty, in his rage, actually signed a warrant for the arrest
of his offending Consort and handed it to Wriothesley. That
worthy let the paper drop in a corridor or gallery close to
the Queen's apartment. One of her servants picked it up
and carried it to Her Majesty, who was so terrified by its con-
tents that she fell into violent hysterics. Her apartments
were close to the King's, and Henry, overhearing the outcry,
and probably disturbed by the noise, sent to inquire what was
amiss. The Queen's physician, Wendy, informed the messenger
that Her Majesty was dangerously ill, and her sickness, to his
reckoning, caused by sudden and extreme distress of mind.
Whereupon the King sent word that she was not to trouble
herself further, as no ill was intended to her. Greatly com-
forted by this reassuring message, Katherine presently felt
herself sufficiently recovered to receive a visit from her hus-
band, who, at great personal inconvenience, caused himself to
be conveyed into her apartment in his chair. Nothing could
have been better calculated to revive the drooping spirits of
the scared Consort than the sight of her august spouse in a
good humour. The following evening she was well enough
to return the King's visit. She was accompanied by the Lady
Tyrwhitt, her sister the Lady Herbert, by the King's niece
the Lady Jane Grey, and by the Lady Lane, who bore the
candles before Her Majesty. The King welcomed the Queen

68 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

and her company very courteously, and, bidding her
be seated, in a cheerful tone entered into a controversial
conversation with her. He possibly wished to ' draw '
his Consort upon certain theological questions ; but she
shrewdly observed that " since God had appointed him Supreme
Head of the Church it was not for her to teach him theology,
but to learn it from him/5 ' Not so, by St. Mary," said the
King, tf you are become a doctor, Kate, to instruct us, and not
to be instructed of us, as oftentimes we have seen." " Indeed,
indeed, Sire," quoth the Queen, " if your Majesty so conceive,
my meaning has been mistaken, for I have always held it pre-
posterous for a woman to instruct her lord." ' If," she con-
tinued, " I have occasionally ventured to differ with your
Highness on religious matters, it was partly to obtain informa-
tion, and also to pass away the pain and weariness of your
present infirmity with arguments that interested you." " And
is it so, sweetheart ? ' replied His Majesty, " then we are
perfect friends," and thereupon he kissed her and gave her
leave to depart.

The day appointed by her foes for the Queen's arrest
chanced to be fine and the sun shone brightly. The King
sent for her to take the early air with him on the garden
terrace overlooking the Thames. Katherine came, attended
as before by her sister, the Lady Herbert, the Lady Lane, the
Lady Tyrwhitt, and the little Lady Jane Grey. They had not
been long walking up and down in the sunshine before the Lord
Chancellor, with forty of the guard, entered the garden, ex-
pecting to carry off the Queen to the Tower — for no intimation
of the change in the King's intentions had reached him. Henry
received his minister with a burst of furious invective. Bidding
the Queen and her ladies stand apart, he called up Wriothesley
and cast every evil name he could think of at him, command-
ing him, finally, to ' avaunt from his presence and never
show his face again till he was summoned." Wriothesley,
crestfallen and humbled, was about to withdraw, when the
Queen advanced and interceded for him : ' Poor soul, poor
soul ! " quoth the King ; ' thou little knowest, Kate, how ill he
deserveth this grace at thy hands. On my hand, sweetheart,
he hath been to thee a very knave ! ' So the disappointed
minister departed, and Henry walked up and down the terrace

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 69

again, leaning on his Queen and followed by her escort of ladies.
Although Wriothesley 's part in this tragi-comedy seems to
have been overlooked, the King is said never to have forgiven
Gardiner his share in the matter. A little later, notwithstand-
ing the royal prohibition, both conspirators presented them-
selves with their colleagues. The King forthwith reminded
Wriothesley in his most forcible manner that he had ordered
him never to show his face again, and above all never, on any
pretext whatever, to bring " that beast Gardiner " along with
him. " My Lord of Winchester," replied the cunning Wrio-
thesley, " has come to wait upon your Highness with an offer
of benevolence from his clergy." The King being as usual in
great need of money, began to listen more benignly, allowed
Gardiner to present the address, and finally accepted the bribe.1
But he took no further notice of the Bishop, and is said to have
struck his name off the list of his executors within the next few
days. He also cancelled that of Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster,
because, said he, " he is too much under the influence of
Gardiner." 2 Queen Katherine may have had a hand in this
affair, and after the revelation of the treachery which would
fain have destroyed her she very likely took the opportunity
of letting the King know more concerning the machinations
of Gardiner and Wriothesley than was good for their credit or
likely to serve their influence.

The details of this formidable but abortive plot against
Katherine Parr rest mainly on the authority of Foxe. But
it must be remembered, by those inclined to doubt the " Martyr-
ologist, ' ' that at this time he had attained his thirtieth year,
he was in touch with most of the personages named, and was
consequently in a position to obtain the information which
he wove into his famous narrative — not, we admit, without
considerable embellishment and exaggeration, introduced to
suit the taste of his readers — from living witnesses. Foxe
also made liberal use of Paget's statement during the proceed-

This scene must have taken place, not at Windsor, as stated by Foxe,
for Henry never was there after the early spring of 1546, but at Hampton
Court. The allusion to his striking Gardiner's name out of his will must
refer to some of the many wills he made before his last (in December of the
same year). In this Gardiner's name was not struck out, but simply omitted.
2 Dr. Thirlby's name was not omitted in the last will, but he was absent
abroad at the time of the King's death.

70 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

ings for Gardiner's deprivation, which took place early in
Edward's reign. All the Elizabethan and Jacobean historians
of Henry vm — Herbert, Parsons, Holinshed, Strype, Speed,
Oldmixon, and others — reproduce the story with slight emenda-
tions and additions from Foxe. No direct confirmation of
it is to be found indeed in the State Papers, but this is not
surprising, for such matters were not usually set down in writ-
ing. Nevertheless, it is hinted at.1 Nor do the Ambassadors
seem to have known anything about it. Father Parsons, who,
like Foxe, obtained much of his information at first hand,
introduces the incident in his Three Conversions of England,
a book written to refute some of Foxe's errors, and adds that
although Foxe lays " all the cause of the Queen's trouble upon
Bishop Gardiner and others, and though the King did kindly
and lovingly pardon her, the truth is that the King's sickness
and death were the chief causes of her escape, for had the King
found her guilty he would have commanded her also to be
burned."

Speed, possibly mistaking Lady Lane for Lady Jane, intro-
duces the King's little niece on this occasion, not only as a
witness of the reconciliation of the royal couple, but in the
character of a candle-bearer before the Queen. Jane Grey,
being a Princess of the Blood, could never have been in attend-
ance upon the Queen, and she was too small a child to be laden
with a pair of heavy branch candlesticks. Lady Lane, on the
other hand, was certainly in the Queen's Household at this
particular juncture. She was Her Majesty's cousin-german,
being the daughter of her uncle, Lord Parr of Horton, and wife
of Sir Ralph Lane of Orlingby, Nottinghamshire. Still, since
the fact of her being present is mentioned by so many almost
contemporary writers, we may conclude that Lady Jane was
a witness of the dramatic scenes that took place between
King Henry and his terrified Consort, and may herself, in after
life, have narrated the incident to some friend of Foxe or im-
mediate forbear of Parson's informant. Gardiner's disgrace
does not seem to have been quite as complete as Foxe has been
pleased to represent it, and he was in close enough contact
with those in power to be selected as chief celebrant at the
King's Requiem.

1 See Note at the end of this Chapter.

MRS. ANNE ASKEW 71

That the King was completely reconciled to his wife is
proved by the conspicuous part he assigned her in the splendid
series of festivities in honour of the French Envoy, who arrived
in August, when the Court had removed to Hampton Court.
Not only was her apartment refurnished with sumptuous
tapestries, but her wardrobe was renewed, and the King pre-
sented her with a quantity of magnificent jewellery, which,
after his death, gave rise to considerable misunderstanding
and trouble.

These festivities in honour of Monsieur d'Annebault, Francis
I's special Envoy, were the last flicker of the pageantry of
Henry vm's reign, and revived for a week something of the
brilliance of the Court of England in the great days of Wolsey.
For the first and only time, Prince Edward, as heir-apparent,
played a conspicuous part. On Monday, 23rd August, the
boy-prince rode out towards London to meet the Ambassador,
attended by the Archbishop of York and the Earls of Hertford
and Huntingdon, and by a retinue of " five hundred and forty
persons in velvet coats, and the Prince's liveries wore sleeves
of cloth of gold, and half the coats embroidered also with
gold, and there were the number of eight hundred, royally
apparelled.'3 D'Annebault, who came to ratify the peace
recently concluded between the sovereigns of France and
England, was accompanied by a suite of two hundred gentle-
men, who were all lodged at the King's expense and enter-
tained in the most hospitable manner. His Majesty was not
well enough to receive the Ambassador on his arrival, but he
received him in audience on the following day, after which
monarch and Ambassador proceeded to the Chapel Royal,
where, during Mass, they solemnly received the Host to-
gether.1 Then followed six days of banqueting, hunting, and
merry-making, masques, and mummeries, " with divers and
sundry changes, inasmuch that the torch-bearers were clothed
with gold cloth, and such like honourable entertainments, it
were much to utter and hard to believe." On these occasions
the Marchioness of Dorset and her daughter, the Lady Jane

This curious fact, that the unorthodox if not heretical King actually
communicated at the same time as the orthodox Ambassador, is one of the
most significant incidents in the story of this singular period of religious
disquiet.

72 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Grey, were present, and Prince Edward danced with his little
cousin, who also tripped it with young Lord Edward Seymour,
the Lord Hertford's eldest boy. When the Ambassador took
his leave, Henry made him a present of silver plate to the
value of £1200. After his departure the dying King seems to
have led a very quiet life at Hampton Court and Whitehall.
The end was visibly approaching. His feet and hands were
abnormally swollen ; dropsy had set in, and he was probably
also suffering from an internal tumour. Even his most fervent
admirers were obliged to confess that in appearance, at least,
he had assumed somewhat of the aspect of a monster ; but
music still charmed the suffering monarch, and the last House-
hold Books of his reign contain various items of payments to
musicians and madrigal singers.

NOTE. — Dr. Gairdner makes the following comments on this subject in his
Preface to vol. 21, part i. of the Calendar of State Papers for 1 546 (published in
1908) : " But one word may be permitted here about that dreadful incident, the
racking in the Tower. It took place after her (Anne's) condemnation, the
obj ect being to elicit from her information about persons at the Court who it
was suspected had been her allies in promoting heresy. Besides others whose
names are given, against whom she positively refused to utter a word, she was
probably expected to accuse Queen Katherine Parr herself ; for Parsons
(Three Conversions of England, ii. 493) is no doubt perfectly correct in saying
that the well-known incident related by Foxe, about this Queen, when she
stood in real danger from a charge of heresy, was connected with the affair
of Anne Askew. But Parsons is certainly wrong in saying that the King
would have burned Katherine Parr also if he had lived. For though her
heretical propensities were no secret, she survived the King, and he himself for
fully six months survived Anne Askew. More probably the Queen was saved
by Anne's refusal to commit anyone except herself."

T

CHAPTER VI

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS

"* HE collapse of the conspiracy against Katherine Parr
led to an immediate counter-plot on the part of the
Seymours and their allies to compromise the Duke of
Norfolk and his son, Surrey, and thereby frustrate the aspira-
tions of the Catholics, of whose party Norfolk was the acknow-
ledged chief. A previous attempt to inflict irretrievable
damage on the credit of the Howards had partially failed,
though the unsavoury revelations connected with the arrest
and execution of Queen Katherine Howard had covered the
illustrious name with obloquy, and almost every conspicuous
Howard in England had been sent to the Tower,1 on the charge
of having concealed the Queen's previous immorality from
the King's knowledge when he proposed to marry her. At
that moment Norfolk and his son only escaped by taking
Henry's side against their miserable kinswoman. But the
Duke never regained his full influence over his master, and,
despite his great services, both as statesman and warrior, lived
on, to use the expression of one of his contemporaries, " like
the bird that is wounded i' the wing." Yet he was a great
power in the politics of those days, for though the Catholic
party was of but small account at Court, a good two-thirds of
the people remained firmly attached to the ancestral faith ;
this was the case more especially in the rural districts, where
the vast majority clung to the dogmas and ceremonies of the
ancient Church, and only awaited an opportunity to assert their

1 Among the members of the house of Howard who were prisoners in the
Tower at this time were Agnes, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, the Lord
William Howard and his wife and sister, the Countess of Bridgewater, and
Lord Thomas Howard, Surrey's younger brother, who was imprisoned for
marrying Henry's niece, the Lady Margaret Douglas, without the royal
consent.

73

74 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

preference. For the matter of that, it was shown very
early in Queen Mary's reign that the Protestant fervour of
the official world, being a matter of policy rather than of
conviction, was not to be relied on. The majority of that
aristocracy which had so eagerly accepted the extreme reforms
assented to by Edward vi was to be seen, a few weeks after his
death, parading the streets of London, taper in hand, in the
wake of the revived processions of Corpus Christi and Our Lady.1
Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk, was one of the
most conspicuous figures in Henry's reign. He may not,
perhaps, have been as astute a statesman as has been
asserted, but he showed remarkable qualities as a capable
peacemaker on the occasion of the Pilgrimage of Grace ; while
as a warrior he had no rival, and proved himself a hero on
Flodden Field. If anything, he was excessive in his loyalty
to the King, and he would even seem to have sunk all sense
of his own dignity and importance, humbling himself utterly
before the monarch whose assumption of quasi-divine attri-
butes he had aided and abetted. Thus, when his niece Anne
Boleyn was tried and executed for misdemeanours she was
certainly not proved to have committed,2 he, at her royal
assassin's command, pronounced the death sentence, and with
his son, the young Earl of Surrey, who sat at his feet, holding
the Earl Marshal's baton in his hand, was actually present
at her execution. When, some few years later, Norfolk's
other niece, Katherine Howard, was proved guilty of many
serious offences, both before and after marriage, Norfolk sat
in judgment upon her and would have witnessed her death
too but for an attack of gout which kept him a prisoner.
Two days after the execution he penned an abject letter to
the King apologising for " the naughtiness of his said niece,
the late Queen/' 3 In person, Norfolk was a dark, handsome

1 For an 'account of these processions see Machyn's Diary (The Diary
of Henry Machyn, edited by John Gough Nicholas, F.S.A., Camden Society,
pp. 63, 107, etc. Also note, p. 399).

2 The Lord Mayor, who was at the arraignment of Queen Anne Boleyn,
afterwards said that he " could not observe anything in the proceedings
against her, but that they were resolved to make an occasion to get rid of her '
— thus corroborating the opinions of Sir Thomas Wyatt and other witnesses.

3 When quite a lad, the Duke married the Princess Anne Plantagenet,
youngest daughter of Edward iv and sister to Queen Elizabeth of York.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 75

man, of moderate stature, with piercing eyes and an exceed-
ingly intelligent countenance. Holbein has left us several
magnificent oil portraits of him, and at least one noble draw-
ing, now in the Windsor Collection. He was fairly educated,
a good Latin scholar, and a patron of art. His first wife,
Princess Anne Plantagenet, the King's aunt, died young
in 1512. The day on which he espoused his second,1 the hand-
some Lady Elizabeth Stafford, was an evil one for him. The
alliance was one of convenience on his side and of compulsion
on hers. His duchy had been greatly impoverished by the
attainder of his father, the second Duke, after Bosworth, and
the luckless Buckingham's daughter was possessed of a hand-
some fortune in money and wide lands. She had been previ-
ously contracted to Ralph Nevill, afterwards Earl of West-
moreland, to whom she was greatly attached and with whom
she kept up a correspondence till the end of her life. Although
she bore her husband five children, the Duchess of Norfolk
suffered some neglect at his hands, her rival being a certain
Bess Holland,2 a gentlewoman in her service. The mortifica-
tion caused by this outrage drove the poor Duchess to the
verge of distraction. She seems to have been a naturally
conscientious, if narrow-minded, woman, of an exceedingly
high-strung and excitable temperament. We should describe
her nowadays as an " impossible ' person, whose lack of tact
and outbursts of uncontrollable rage not only alienated her
husband's affections, but deprived her of her children's love
as well as of her servants' respect.

Of all the men of his time, Surrey, this ill-used lady's son,
was the most accomplished. He was an excellent Latin,
French, and Italian scholar, and well versed in ancient and
modern literature. No one could excel him in tourney or
joust — not even John Dudley, afterwards Duke of North-
By this royal alliance he became uncle-by-marriage to Henry vin. Anne,
Duchess of Norfolk, died of consumption in 1512, and shortly afterwards her
widower married again.

: This lady was the second daughter of the unfortunate Duke of Bucking-
ham, who was executed on a public charge of combined sorcery and treason, in
the first years of Henry vm's reign.

2 Elizabeth Holland was the daughter of John Holland of Redenhall,
Norfolk, chief steward and afterwards secretary to the Duke of Norfolk. Her
mother was a Hussey, niece of Lord Hussey of Sleaford, beheaded for the part
he took in the Pilgrimage of Grace.

76 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

umberland, who had exceeding skill with the sword and spear,
and than whom scarce one could pull a bow with surer aim.
Surrey danced more lightly than Thomas Seymour, who
prided himself on the ' altitude of his pirouettes," and the
King himself in his singing youth did not warble a sweeter
note. No Englishman since Chaucer had so enriched our
literature with verse all redolent of those sweet-scented fields
and lanes, meadows and gardens amid which the poet's muse
loved best to linger. An Elizabethan critic well described
him as " a poet new crept out of the school of Dante, Petrarch,
and Ariosto," and " coming nearer to Ariosto " than to either
the prophet of Florence or the inspired singer of Vaucluse.
Though of but medium height, Surrey was so graceful and
well-proportioned as to seem taller than he really was. There
is a portrait of him at Hampton Court, most probably by
Guilliam Streete, which gives us a fair idea of this prince for
a fairy-tale. The face is full of youthful charm : the eyes
hazel, frank, and winning ; the cheeks rounded and flushed with
rosy health ; the hair a darkish chestnut ; the slight mous-
tache of the colour of ripe corn. His costume is superb. The
young Earl stands before us garbed from head to foot in red
velvet, softened by bands of brocade and sarsenet, the only
white spot visible being the silk shirt open at the neck, and
even that enriched with a dainty arabesque wrought in gold
stitchery. On his well-shaped head rests a jaunty cap of
crimson velvet with a feathered plume of the same tint.

There was much that was purely personal in the violent
animosity displayed by the Seymours against the Howards
in general and against Surrey in particular. The Seymours,
although of far more ancient and well-ascertained lineage than
either the Brandons or the Boleyns, were not of the great
aristocracy, but, in a sense, what the modern French would
call arrivistes. Had it not been for the accident which raised
their sister Jane to the towering position of Queen-Consort, the
Seymours would probably have remained what they originally
were, mere country squires of excellent lineage, reputed
to be remotely connected with royalty. Their father,1 Sir

1 Sir John Seymour, father of Queen Jane, was a man of note in his day.
He was born in 1474, and was a doughty soldier, fighting well at the sieges
of Terouenne and Tournay, and at the Battle of the Spurs. On his return to

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 77

William St. Maur, or Seymour, of Wolf's Hall, Wiltshire, had
on one occasion entertained King Henry vm ; and their
mother, Lady Seymour, by birth a Went worth, and a lineal
descendant of Edward in, was highly connected ; but other-
wise there was nothing in their antecedents to distinguish
them from scores of other equally respectable and wealthy
country gentlemen. The sudden * elevation of their sister
Jane brought them a rapid promotion, which first dazzled
them and then turned their heads. Honours and posi-
tions were heaped upon them. Edward, the eldest son, was
first created Viscount Beauchamp, and, after the birth of
Prince Edward, Earl of Hertford ; the second, Thomas, was
knighted. The youngest, Henry, seems to have preferred
obscurity and security to rank and risk, and lived the life
of a country gentleman, married young, and merely accepted
knighthood on Edward vi's accession.

The ranks of the old aristocracy had been thinned by the
prolonged civil wars and the plague, and towards the middle of
the century the Court was so full of new men that at the time of
Henry's last illness there were only two dukes in the peerage —
Norfolk, then seventy-two ; and Suffolk, a lad of seventeen.
The new peers, whose fortunes were mainly derived from
confiscated church property, were eager to obtain recogni-
tion from the few of the old aristocracy who yet remained,
and more especially from the Howards, a sturdy race, full
of sap and vigour, and conspicuous in Court and State. The
Duke of Norfolk was too experienced a man, both socially
and politically, to permit his inborn pride of birth to display
itself out of season. With Surrey it was otherwise. In his
case, pride of ancestry was something more than a mere matter
of vulgar boast. He regarded it with a poet's eye and imagina-
tion, and took delight in remembering that through his veins

England he was appointed Sheriff of Wells, Dorset, and Somersetshire. In
1515 he obtained the Constableship of Bristol Castle. His wife, Margery
Wentworth, was the daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead,
Suffolk, whose grandfather married a granddaughter of Hotspur (Henry
Percy), and was thus descended from Edward in. Sir John Seymour died in

1517-

1 Realising the suddenness of their rise to power, Hayward says of the
Seymour brothers (Life of Edward VI, p. 82) that " their new lustre did dim the
light of men honoured with ancient nobility."

78 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

flowed the blood of emperors and kings who had founded
realms and dynasties, and built up the glory of a great nation.
In the beginning of the fifteenth century a marriage between
Robert Howard and the Lady Margaret Mowbray had brought
the illustrious house into alliance with royalty. His father's
first wife had been the reigning King's aunt, and his mother,
Elizabeth Stafford, had a right to quarter Royal Arms on
her escutcheon. With such a pedigree, and in an age when
rank was paramount, Surrey conceived himself sufficiently
powerful to hold his own against the encroachments of a new
peerage only too eager to claim a fellowship which offended his
sense of propriety.

When the Seymours first came to Court, in the heyday
of their youth and good looks, they sought young Surrey's
society, just as in our day new people seek that of a leader of
the " smartest set." So long as they kept their place, Surrey
consorted with them willingly enough ; but their rapacity and
arrogance jarred on him at last, and he resented their many
attempts at over-familiarity. He himself, on occasion, was
apt to transgress the bounds of good behaviour, and once upon
a time, being in lodgings in St. Lawrence Lane, Old Jewry,
and leading what he himself is pleased to call a ' racketty
life," went brawling about the streets at midnight with young
William Pickering x and young Wyatt, the poet's son, casting
stones into peaceful citizens' windows, and frightening them
out of their wits. One night the party rowed over in a boat to
Southwark, where dwelt in those days that gay and facile
sisterhood whose representatives, in this year of Grace, 1909,
patrol more central parts of our great city. In this fast com-
pany, our young gentlemen, evidently in their cups, behaved
disgracefully. On Surrey's part such conduct was all the more
unseemly since he was already married to the plain-faced, but
wealthy, Lady Frances Vere,2 Lord Oxford's daughter, to whom
he declared himself devotedly attached. These escapades
ended by attracting public attention, and their heroes were
arrested for disorderly conduct. Thanks to their rank, they

1 Little is known of William Pickering except that he was a boon com-
panion ;of Lord Surrey. See Courtships of Queen Elizabeth by Martin
Hume.

2 Holbein's fine sketch of Lady Surrey shows her to have been distinctly
" homely " but extremely intelligent-looking.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 79

were brought before the Privy Council,1 instead of being
haled before an ordinary justice, though, as ill-luck would
have it, Edward, Lord Hertford, was presiding at the Council
board. The opportunity of paying off a few old scores was too
much for him, and he swiftly resolved to give Surrey good
cause to remember him in future. A very comical and char-
acteristic scene ensued.2 Surrey, mimicking Hertford, who
was nothing if not puritanical in his mode of expressing himself,
" having ever God on his lips," assured the Council that if he
had done what he had, it had been for the good of the souls
of the wicked citizens of London, who were behaving more
abominably than the men of papal Rome. Had he not seen
them sitting round tables and playing at cards in the late hours
of the night ? — and was it not a godly thing to whizz a stone
or so at their windows, which stone, passing silently through
the air, fell with all the greater suddenness among them,
thereby recalling them to a proper sense of their duties to their
God, their King, and their country ? 3 Mrs. Arundel, a woman
of good family but greatly impoverished, who kept a sort of
boarding-house for bachelors of rank in St. Lawrence Lane,
Old Jewry, was the Earl's landlady, and imparted a very
different colour to the episode. " Her young gentleman/'
she said, had frankly admitted to her that he considered these

1 An examination of the Privy Papers shows that Surrey was originally
brought before the Council on a charge of eating flesh on days of abstinence —
a grave offence, and one against the law, but at that period of frequent
occurrence, since no less than nine joiners had been a few days previously
arrested and severely reprimanded, and even heavily fined, for the offence
of eating meat in public on Friday. Surrey pleaded guilty, but in extenuation
declared he had received an ecclesiastical dispensation. With regard to the
second charge, of riotous conduct, he declared himself deserving of punish-
ment, but threw himself on the mercy of the Court, alleging, in extenuation of
his misdemeanour, his youth and hot-blooded disposition. He is said to have
written an abject apology ; but, though the letter is extant, it is not in his
handwriting, and may therefore be a forgery. The occurrence took place
on the night of 2ist January 1544.

2 M. Edmond Bapst, Vie de Deux Gentilhommes Poetes du Temps de
Henri VIII.

3 Surrey, in his metrical " Satire," makes use of the same whimsical excuse
for shooting with a bow through citizens' windows. Says he —

" This made me with a reckless brest,
To wake thy sluggards with my bow ;
A figure of the Lord's behest,
Whose scourge for synne the Scriptures shew."

80 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

pranks good jokes : but she herself disapproved of them,
especially the shooting at the windows of women of light
character, or " bawds/' in Southwark, which the Earl, it seems,
was addicted to, going by boat close to their quarters and
firing off petards at the <( trolls " ! There was nothing for it,
therefore, but to pronounce sentence. Surrey was committed
to the Fleet, the most abominable of all the many vile prisons
of those days, while Wyatt and Pickering, though of much
inferior rank, were sent to the stately Tower, whence they
were delivered in a day or two on payment of a heavy fine and
promising good behaviour. How long Surrey remained in
durance it is difficult to say — long enough certainly for him to
compose his " Satire on the Citizens of London " and several
other poems. He never forgave Seymour his share in the
business, and never failed to annoy his enemy openly or covertly
whenever opportunity occurred. It was quite in keeping
with his character to address amatory verses with this intent
to Hertford's handsome and very proud wife, who took his
lines in very bad part, as so many insults to her honour. The
Countess once made a scandal by deliberately turning her back
upon the poet-Earl when, in August 1542, at a ball in his own
father's house,1 he ventured to ask her permission to lead her
out to dance.

1 This ball was, it appears, given for the purpose of conciliating the Sey-
mours and at Surrey's express request. It must have been a picturesque
function, with its rich costumes, its splendid but rather roughly expressed
profusion and hearty welcome. Just such a ball as this old Capulet gave on
that ever-memorable night when Juliet first met her Romeo. Was it to dance
the Volta or the Salta with him that Surrey invited the angry Countess ?
These, the two most fashionable dances of the period, had been but recently
introduced from France and Italy. The latter resembled, and very closely
too, our modern waltz, only in the Salta the gentleman lifts the lady from
time to time an inch or so from the ground, as in the German hop waltz.

" Yet there is one, the most delightful kind,
A lofty jumping, or a leaping round,
When arm in arm, two dancers are en twin' d,
And which themselves, in strict embracements bound
And still their feet, an anapest do sound ;
An anapest is all their music's song
Whose first two feet are short, the rest are long."

Sir John Davids' Orchestra.

See also for an account of the Volta, the Orlando Furioso of Boiardo,

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 81

Late in the summer of 1542 a very serious quarrel broke out
between Seymour and Surrey, over an incident which took
place in Hampton Court Park. Seymour, it was alleged, had
reported against Surrey that he had openly approved of the
Pilgrimage of Grace. Surrey, coming face to face with his
antagonist in a glen in the park, instantly challenged him.
Coats were off in a moment, and the two were in the midst of a
hearty boxing-match when the guard arrived and took both
into custody for violating the royal privilege and fighting
within the precincts of the King's palace. The punishment
for this offence, as readers of The Fortunes of Nigel will
recollect, was loss of the right hand. All the diplomacy and
influence of the Duke of Norfolk had to be exerted to avert the
infliction of this terrible penalty ; but, thanks to his efforts,
both the hot-headed young gentlemen escaped with a sharp
reprimand. Scores of similar curious instances might be
quoted from the chronicles and letters of the time, to prove
the depth and bitterness of the social animosity between the
Howards and the Seymours. The Duke himself resented the
cruel manner in which Hertford had behaved in the matter

-•*,

of His Grace's niece, the unhappy Katherine Howard. There
can be no doubt that at one time both Cranmer and the King
wished to spare her life, and would have spared it had not
Hertford, in his hot haste to ruin the Howards' credit, pre-
maturely dispatched letters to the King's Ambassadors abroad
containing full details of the Queen's disgrace, with orders
to hand them to the sovereigns to whose Courts they were
accredited. This publicity rendered the royal clemency im-
possible.1

Early in the summer of 1546 the Duke of Norfolk made up
his mind, in what he held to be the interests of himself and his
family, to bring about a reconciliation, if that were possible,
between his house and Seymour's. He fully realised that,
ageing as he was, he could no longer be a match for two
unscrupulous and very able men, then reaching the prime of

book xv. stanza 43. These two dances, the Volta and the Salta, were in-
troduced into Scotland by Madeleine de Valois, the first wife of James v,
and gave terrible offence to the " unco' guid " folk of " Auld Reekie."

See State Papers, Domestic Series, Henry vin, 1542-3 ; also Miss
Strickland's excellent biography of Katherine Howard in the Lives of the
Queens of England, and the Wives of Henry VIII, by Martin Hume.

6

82 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

life, and already holding the King's complete confidence.
Further, he felt Surrey to be hopeless in all business calling for
tact and diplomacy, and was convinced the persistent ani-
mosity between his son and Hertford would lead before long
to some awful catastrophe. Surrey's bravery as a fighting
soldier was undisputed, but as a commander his lack of reti-
cent and his rashness had led the King's troops in France
into more than one disaster ; he himself had paid the penalty
of his rashness before the walls of Montreuil, where he was
seriously wounded and only saved from certain death by the
gallantry of Sir Thomas Clere. He had then been recalled,
and Hertford had been sent to take his place, a bitter humilia-
tion to the proud Howards and one which more than anything
else rankled in Surrey's soul. Yet the old Duke recognised
that Hertford's bravery and tact as warrior and diplomatist
had soon ended the war and obtained peace with honour for
the English forces, thus raising his popularity to the highest
pitch ; for there was nothing the nation then desired so much
as peace, at home and abroad. Hertford's brother, Sir Thomas,
was, if anything, still more popular, for he had so successfully
scoured the seas in quest of French galleons laden with pro-
visions that suppressed monasteries had been converted
into storehouses. The magnificent ex-church of the Grey
Friars had become a wine-vault, crammed to the roof with
barrels of Burgundy and other wines of the best French
vintages. In Austin Friars such a stock of cheeses was stored
that there was no moving in that erstwhile beautiful priory
church, and the huge and splendid church of the Black Friars
was literally packed with salt herring and dried cod. Where-
fore the people had good reason to be well pleased with brother

Thomas.

The Duke, then, without consulting his son,— and here hi<
disastrous mistake,— obtained an interview with Hertford,
and, skilfully playing on his well-known vanity and social
ambition, suggested at length that a betrothal should be forth-
with arranged between Hertford's eldest daughter and Surrey's
eldest son, and a similar contract entered into between Lore
Thomas Howard 1 and Seymour's youngest daughter, the Lady
Jane Seymour. His Grace, apparently in a match-making

1 The Duke's second son.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 83

mood, gave his paternal sanction to the wooing and wedding

of his beautiful daughter, the widowed Duchess of Richmond,

by Sir Thomas Seymour. With all these suggestions the

Seymours gladly closed, making but one condition, that Surrey

should accept a slightly subordinate position under Hertford's

command, virtually tantamount to a tacit apology for his

repeated slights, covert and open, in the past. On Tuesday

in Whitsun week 1546, then, the Duke, well pleased with his

own diplomacy, presented himself at Whitehall and laid his

rather complicated scheme of alliances before His Majesty.

Henry was graciously pleased to approve it, and willingly

agreed that his daughter-in-law of Richmond should become

the bride of the handsome Thomas Seymour, with whom,

according to Court gossip, she was already much in love. But

in all these schemes the Duke had reckoned without his host,

for when he put the matter before Surrey, that impetuous

poet flew into a towering rage. He would ' sooner see his

children dead in their coffins than married to Seymour's brats,"

he said. Then, turning furiously on his sister, the Duchess of

Richmond, who had accompanied her father, he cried, — at

least, according to that dangerous Court gossip, Sir Gawen

Carew,- ' Go, carry out your farce of a marriage. My Lord of

Hertford is in full favour, I grant ; but why not do yet better

for yourself and follow Madame d'Estampes' example with

King Francis. Get you into the same sort of favour with

King Henry, and rule through him." This sinister advice was

evidently dictated by that vein of bitter sarcasm usual with

Surrey when the uncontrollable temper which he inherited

from his mother mastered his common sense. It could not

have been seriously meant, for nobody knew better than

Surrey that the King was already more than half dead, utterly

unable to trouble himself about new mistresses, and in any

case not likely to select his own daughter-in-law to replace

his excellent Queen-Consort and nurse, Katherine Parr. The

Duchess of Richmond, however, took the jibe seriously, replied

that she ' ' would sooner cut her throat ' than do ' ' any such

vile thing," and left her irate brother to his own reflections,

which, when he cooled down, cannot have been particularly

agreeable. He knew his sister well ; she was an exceedingly

beautiful woman, to whom Holbein, in his exquisite drawing,

84 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

has given the expression of one of Ghirlandajo's sweetest
Madonnas. But at heart she was a little fiend, capable, when
her passions were roused, of working dire mischief. She said
little at the time, but she nursed her grievance and exaggerated
its importance. She may also have felt not a little embittered
against Sir Thomas Seymour, who had ungallantly refused
her hand because it was not accompanied by her brother's
submission. Be this as it may, ' the Duchess of Richmond
from that day forth hated her brother as much as she had
previously loved him," 1 and when the hour for revenge came
at last, forgetful of her obligations as sister and woman, she
scandalised even that unsentimental age by appearing at her
brother's trial as one of the principal witnesses for the prose-
cution.

Meanwhile the Duke of Norfolk was at his wits' end to
know how to make Hertford aware of the unfortunate results
of his negotiations with his son. He was possessed of a perfect
mania for putting pen to paper on any and every pretext,
although, as every one who has waded through his correspond-
ence knows, there has never been a statesman, before or since,
who could indite more indiscreet and exasperating epistles.
If then, as is likely, he conveyed the unpleasant news by letter,
he was not the man to improve matters by a tactful manner.
The breach between the Howards and the Seymours was now
complete. Hertford, hurt in pride and vanity, would accept
no apologies from the Duke, and the feud between himself
and Surrey soon grew more bitter than ever. To make matters
worse, the Duchess of Richmond made a confidant of her
friend, Sir Gawen Carew, who detested her brother, and was tlie
most inveterate gossip of the Court, as is well known to th< >
who have read the State Papers connected with the tragedy
of Katherine Howard ; it was, indeed, the gossip of Sir Gaw< n
that did most to ruin that Queen. Presently young scions
of the nobility, courtiers who hated the Howards for their airs
and graces and forgot the old Duke's well-known kindness (o
the youthful, buzzed about the King, and did their best to
set him against the luckless Earl. Hertford and his brother
afforded them ample assistance, supplying all necessary
instructions and information ; and, for all we know to the

1 Herbert's Henry VIII.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 85

contrary, the Queen may have lent a helping hand. In fact,
the whole Protestant party was now roused against the
Howards, the representatives of the Catholics, and deter-
mined to bring about their ruin or perish in the attempt.
It had hoped the folly of Katherine Howard would have
sufficed for this purpose, but the great house of Norfolk was
firm enough to resist even that storm. Another pretext
had to be found, and the impolitic behaviour of the poet-Earl
supplied it.

Poor Surrey was no match for the low and cunning intrigues
amongst which ' Fate and metaphysical aid ' had thrown
him. Somewhere in June 1546 he was summoned before the
Privy Council, severely reprimanded for what he could not
possibly help, and imprisoned in Windsor Castle, where he
consoled himself by writing one of his most exquisite poems.
This was his ' Swan Song " ! By August, however, he was
certainly out of durance, and apparently once more in favour
with the King, for he figured as Earl Marshal at the enter-
tainments given in honour of the French Envoy, Claude
d'Annebault, taking precedence of everyone excepting members
of the royal family.

Early in September he left London, and returned to his
wife and children at Kenninghall, accompanied by Churchyard
the poet, who was his secretary, and an extremely numerous
and miscellaneous retinue, which included several Italian
painters, musicians, and jesters. One of the artists, To to,
was soon engaged upon a portrait of him, which was later used
to his great disadvantage ; in the left-hand corner of it ap-
peared his escutcheon, bearing among its numerous quarter-
ings the arms of England, but so arranged that a slide could
be drawn, when necessary, over the coat-of-arms. The Duke
of Norfolk and my Lady of Richmond came to Kenninghall
Palace about this time ; but the mansion, of which not a
vestige now remains, was so enormous that every member of
the ducal family had a separate dwelling. The Duchess of
Richmond had a whole wing to herself, which she shared with
her friend Mrs. Holland. The society of those days was not so
dead to all sense of propriety as not to be scandalised by this
singular intimacy between the Duke's daughter and his mistress
Most people agreed with the Duchess of Norfolk " that her

86 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

dater's abiding ever with that drab Holland " was a " scandayul
and most unnatterall." Owing to the huge size of the mansion,
not much inferior to that of Hampton Court, the Duchess and
Mrs. Holland may never once have come into contact with
Surrey and his family ; otherwise, it is difficult to account for
the fact that we have no record of any fiery scene between
brother and sister. The Duke seems to have spent his time
very quietly, reading the books he most affected, such as
Plutarch's Lives of Illustrious Men, Josephus's History, and
The Confessions of St. Augustin.1

Whilst the Howard family was thus peacefully rusticating
in Norfolk, gossip and slander were making headway in the
metropolis and preparing poor Surrey's ruin. Sir George
Blagg, the " my Blagg " of one of his finest poems, had picked
a quarrel with him in the summer, and was busy as a bee
spreading evil reports against him. Sir Gawen Carew had
confided to everv one what the Duchess of Richmond had

w

related to him anent her brother's advice to hasten and become
the King's mistress. His enemies had even pressed the Court
astrologer into their service, and this functionary had actually
warned the King that unless he was careful, his successor's
monogram would, like his own, be " H.R." The Duke himself
was not spared : he had been seen to enter the French Am-
bassador's house late at night and to leave it again in the
small hours of the morning. A letter of his to Gardiner, then
on a mission to Brussels, was intercepted — and vague though
its terms were, it was held to be proof positive of Norfolk's
adherence to Gardiner's scheme, as planned with Cardinal
Granville, to restore the papal supremacy in England. At
last, truth and lies together rolled themselves up into an
ominous storm-cloud, which burst when Surrey was called
to appear before the Council in London on a charge of high
treason.

Some writers have attempted to extenuate Henry vm's
share in the denouement of this tragedy. They plead that he
was too ill at this time to know exactly what he was doing,
and that, in consequence of the swollen state of his hands, he
was compelled to use a stamp to sign his letters. With regard

1 These are the volumes he desired to have delivered to him whilst im-
prisoned in the Tower.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 87

to this, we know that as far back as ist August 1546 he had
commissioned Sir Anthony Denny, Sir John Gates, and William
Clere to sign documents for him with a dry stamp, the signature
thus made being filled in with ink. And even this is not the
first time Henry had recourse to a mechanical contrivance for
signing letters and State papers. Lord Hard wick has a letter
of the King's signed with a stamp and dated as early as the
seventh year of his reign. Moreover, the official documents,
which were drawn up by Wriothesley, are carefully annotated
and corrected in pencil by Henry himself, with very full
marginal notes and numerous interlineations. The hand-
writing is very shaky, but it is the King's none the less,
and proves that if the monarch's body was infirm, his brain
was as clear and his feelings as vindictive as ever. The death-
warrant of the Earl of Surrey is also scribbled over on the
margin with certain pencil notes in the King's own writing,
proving that Henry must have retained the use of his
hands to the end.

Sufficient evidence having been gathered, and Surrey
being summoned to London, he left Kenninghall 1 in the
last days of September, and appeared before the Privy Council
in Wriothesley's house in Holborn, not far from Chancery
Lane, on 2nd October. His first accuser was Sir Richard
Southwell, at one time in his mother's household at Kenning-
hall, who hated him heartily. He averred that Surrey had
placed the Royal Arms of England in the first quartering
of his escutcheon, thereby claiming the crown. When con-
fronted with Southwell, Surrey, with his foolish impetuosity,
and to the consternation of the Council, proposed a sort
of trial by battle after the mediaeval fashion. Southwell
and he were there and then to divest themselves of their
upper garments, descend on to the floor of the court, and
indulge the Lord Chancellor and the Council with the
spectacle of a boxing-match, the winner of which was to
be declared innocent. The Council, needless to say, did not

1 He must have left Norfolk in a great hurry, for he had to borrow a sum
of money from Sir William Stonor, Lieutenant of the Tower, to buy a dark suit
of clothes in which to appear before the Council. The documents connected
with this transaction are still preserved in the British Museum, Additional MSS
24459, fol. 1497.

THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

see fit to accept the fiery Earl's suggestion, and both Surrey
and Southwell were temporarily detained — the Earl being not
yet formally charged.

The examination of the other witnesses took place privately
a few days later, before the Council but not in the presence
of the prisoner. Sir Edmund Knyvyt, a son of the Lady
Muriel Howard, the sister of the Duke of Norfolk, and
therefore a cousin of Surrey, out of sheer spite, and also
perhaps to give himself importance, accused the Earl of
harbouring Italian spies in his house at Kenninghall, of
affecting foreign airs, of wearing foreign costumes, and,
gravest of all, of entertaining persons suspected of corre-
spondence with Cardinal Pole and other " traitors ' abroad.
Then came Sir Gawen Carew with an exaggerated version
of the Duchess of Richmond's story that her brother advised
her to become the King's mistress, and had spoken lightly
of the King's illness, and speculated as to what might occur
in the event of his death ; and before the week was out a
score or so of other venal witnesses had concocted sufficient
evidence to send fifty men to the block.

The Duke, meanwhile, tarried at Kenninghall, wondering
what had happened to his son, and never imagining how
bitter and relentless was the suddenly, and indeed inexplicably,
developed hatred of the King, which we, however, know
was stimulated by the Seymours and Cranmer for their own
ends. Instead of coming up to London to help the Earl
out of his difficulties, he set himself, as usual, to write
confidential letters to those members of the Council upon
whom he thought he could rely. These effusions were
promptly shown to Hertford, with the result that His Grace
himself was ordered to London with the utmost dispatch.
On I2th December the Duke of Norfolk appeared before
Lord Chancellor Wriothesley at his house in Holborn, near
the present Southampton Buildings, and, to his unutterable
amazement, found himself formally charged with high treason.
He was immediately committed to the Tower, but on account
of his rank and age, and to spare him the humiliation of being
paraded as a prisoner through the city streets, he was
conveyed down the hill, put on board a barge in the Fleet,
and so to the Thames, through the arches of London Bridge,

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 89

and onward to his ominous destination in the ancient fortress.
Later in the same day Surrey too was conducted to the
Tower, but he had to go on foot and through a dense
multitude. To the consternation of his enemies, he was
cheered all along the road, and grave fears were entertained
of a rescue.1 Three commissioners were now dispatched to
Kenninghall to bring the Duchess of Richmond and her
friend Mrs. Holland up to town. Another embassy rode
to Redbourne, to fetch the Duchess of Norfolk, who was
only too delighted to come to London and blurt out all
she could to the detriment of her hated spouse. By this
time London could talk of nothing but the Surrey trial.
In the palaces of the rich, in the hovels of the poor, in all
the little taverns and drinking-houses down by the Thames,
in the parlours of the great inns in Southwark and the Cheape,
the conversation turned upon no other subject, and even the
all-absorbing topic of the King's illness was forgotten for the
time being. A touch of horror was added to the general
excitement when it became known that Norfolk's wife and
his daughter and mistress were to be the chief witnesses
against him and his son. The Duchess did not spare her
husband. Snatching at the welcome chance of avenging
her wrongs, the half-witted lady grew garrulous, and confirmed
everything suggested by those who desired to damn her lord's
cause. She had but little to say, however, concerning her
son, for the simple reason that she had not seen him for
many months and knew nothing about his affairs. He was
very ' ' unnatturell ' towards her, she declared, and so was her
daughter, but nevertheless she " loved her children dearly."
Her husband, she said, had leanings to wards Popery, and caused
his children to be brought up to deny the King's supremacy.
Mrs. Holland behaved with great discretion, considering
her position and antecedents. It was true, she said, that
the Duke of Norfolk had on one occasion told her that " if
he had been young enough he would like to go to Rome to
venerate the Veronica, an image of our Lord miraculously
impressed upon a handkerchief which He had given to certain
women on His way to Calvary.'1 The Duke had bidden her

1 Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII, translated by Major Martin Hume,
and the Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vol. viii., by the same Editor.

QO THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

lay aside some needlework upon which she was engaged,
to oblige the Earl of Surrey, and in a corner of which were
his arms, one quartering of which was to be left blank,
( probably for the introduction of the Royal Arms and
monogram." She had obeyed the Duke's behest and never
set needle into the work again. Before concluding her
evidence, she, perhaps not unnaturally, seized the opportunity
to try and clear her own reputation, and informed the Court
that ' the Earl detested her because she was so friendly
with his sister."

The appearance of Mary, Duchess of Richmond, must have
created a sensation. Her angelic beauty contrasted strangely
with her spiteful and bitter nature. Like her mother, when
she was onde started there was no stopping her, and in her
excitement she materially damaged her brother's cause,
exaggerating every point against him suggested by the
prosecution. With telling and dramatic effect she related
the scene when he advised her to become the King's mistress.
Her brother, she said, had been reading the book about
Lancelot of the Lake, and had introduced that hero's arms,
together with those of Anjou, into his own. He had recently
had his portrait taken by an Italian artist, as already related,
and had caused the arms of England to be painted into the
left corner, with the monogram " H.R." surmounted by a
crown, which she thought was a closed crown, like the King's.
He had also appropriated the Confessor's arms, which belonged
by right to the King, and the King only ; he had spoken
irreverently of His Majesty, and had speculated upon what
might happen after his death ; and, she added, " my lord
of Hertford is particularly hateful to him because he super-
seded him at Boulogne, and indeed he detested the new
nobility in general." The Council, to its credit, discarded
the Duchess's evidence concerning Surrey's alleged infamous
advice to her. They held it too abominable to be even
probable, and it was not included in the indictment ; but
the rest of her evidence was considered very compromising.

On I3th January 1548 Surrey was brought on foot from
the Tower to the Guildhall, which was packed to suffocation,
and the charges of treacherously conspiring, together with
his father, either to usurp the throne or seize the protectorate,

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 91

were read over to him. He made an eloquent defence, and,
while denying every other item of the charge, said he had a
right, in accordance with a grant made by Richard in to
his grandfather, the first Duke of Norfolk, to use the arms
of the Confessor ; which was perfectly true — " Herald-at-
Arms knew this, and was content he used them/1 As to his
ever " having dreamed of usurping the throne," that was
" mere chatter/1 He owned he bore Hertford no goodwill,
but the fault rested with that gentleman, and was " not of
my making." He was innocent on all points, he said, and
called God to witness his loyalty to his King and country.
In spite of all, sentence was passed upon him, and he was
condemned to die on the following morning. The breathless
silence with which the verdict had been awaited gave way
to tumultuous protests from all sides of the Court, and it
was only with great difficulty, even danger, that the hall
was cleared. As the condemned Earl passed from the
Guildhall to the Tower every cap was lifted, and the utmost
sorrow and sympathy were displayed when the result of
the trial was revealed by the sight of the executioner walking
in the procession, the sharp edge of his axe turned towards
the prisoner's person.

The next morning, I4th January, rose bright and frosty.
A huge multitude had assembled on Tower Hill to witness
the closing scene. Surrey, dressed in black velvet, looked
very handsome, as with brave and elastic step he mounted
the scaffold. He delivered the usual speech — a part of the
grim pageant which no prisoner, male or female, ever missed
-in a clear voice. He eloquently declared his innocence,
forgave his enemies, and avowed his loyalty to his sovereign.
He begged the prayers of all the company, and himself
prayed aloud while the final preparations were being made.
These done, in the midst of an awed silence, Surrey knelt to
receive the fatal stroke, and with the sacred name of " Jesus '
on his lips, his brave soul passed into eternity. Thus was
the Court of England robbed of a gallant and magnificent
gentleman, and the country of a man of genius, who, had
he lived into the calmer and fostering atmosphere of Eliza-
beth's reign, might have left a name in literature equal, if
not superior, to that of Spenser.

92 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

The Duke of Norfolk escaped trial, but not attainder.
His dignities and estates were confiscated and distributed
among his enemies. On the 27th of January his death-
warrant was brought to the King ; but Henry was too far
gone, by this time, to be able to affix his autograph, and Sir
Richard Gates stamped the document with the Royal Seal
only. The deed, however, never reached its destination.
Possibly it was detained by the Seymours, who may have
thought that age and infirmity would soon spare them the
blood-shedding of an old man. If so, they were mistaken,
for Norfolk survived them both. A few hours later the
King's death saved the aged Duke's. He remained, however,
a close prisoner throughout the reign of Edward vi, but at
the accession of Queen Mary he was liberated and all his
dignities restored.

The most pitiable part of this strange episode in the
history of an epoch which was one long series of domestic
and political tragedies is that the Duke, in the hope of
saving his life, was induced to address a shameful confession
to the King. This confession His Majesty never read. It
is still in existence, and must be described, even by the most
merciful critics, as a very foolish and impolitic effusion. Yet
that the Duke of Norfolk and his son were both conspiring
— not, indeed, to usurp the throne, but to obtain the
protectorate — is beyond dispute. The Seymours, on their
side, though with much greater skill and diplomacy, were
doing precisely the same thing.

Among our national archives and those of Norfolk House
are full inventories of the estates, goods, and chattels of the
Duke of Norfolk and his son, and also of the Duchesses of
Norfolk and Richmond and of Mrs. Holland. Norfolk's list
is valuable as affording a fair idea of the contents of a great
English nobleman's house and wardrobe in the first half of
the sixteenth century. In his desire to save them, the
Duke had presented his vast landed estates to the Prince
of Wales, who, needless to say, never got an acre of them ;
they were made over to the Duke of Somerset, a title assumed
by Hertford on becoming Lord Protector, to Paget, and to
other members of the new Government. His wearing apparel,
which consisted of many garments, mostly of black or russet

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 93

velvet or satin richly furred, and ' much worn/1 or even
' very much worn," was also seized. The Countess of Surrey
was allowed one of her father-in-law's " coats ' of black
satin much worn, and furred with coney and lamb, which
was delivered to her ' to put about her in her chariot."
This is probably the first mention of a carriage rug in the
domestic history of this realm. All the rest of the Duke's
effects, including f three broad yards of marble cloth and
two pairs of old black slippers," were given to the Duke of
Somerset for his use. The Protector also obtained possession
of the magnificent jewelled collars belonging to the various
Orders of which the Duke was a member. Paget had a
' George, set with diamonds and one ruby," and Lord St.
John had poor Surrey's " Order of St. Michael with its chain,
studded with pearls and diamonds." The Duke left many
pictures, all of a sacred character, and an enormous quantity
of gold and silver plate, which was divided into equal parcels,
and delivered to Somerset, Princess Mary, the Duchess of
Norfolk, the Duchess of Richmond, and Surrey's widow.
Somerset seized a collection of thirty-two splendid rings,
but Mrs. Holland claimed the finest table diamond as her
private property. His Grace had also some fifty sets of
rosary beads, some of coral with paternosters in gold,
others of pearl, agate, gold studded with little jewels,
black enamel, and even of glass. A great quantity of
these were presented to Princess Mary, to whom also
went much of the altar furniture of the Duke's private
chapel.

Surrey's wardrobe was as magnificent as that of any
prince. There was 'a Parliament robe, of rich purple
velvet lined with ermine, and with a garter set with jewels
upon the shoulder," and a gown " of black velvet curiously
figured in gold pasmentary " ; "a coat and cassock of
crimson velvet, wrought with satin in the same colour, with
a cloak, hat and hose to match," was most probably the
identical costume in which he was represented by Streete
in the picture still at Hampton Court. We read of dozens of
gorgeous suits, one more splendid than the other. Somerset
chose the finest for himself, and handed over the rest to his
brother Henry, who had come up to town to be knighted,

94 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

and who doubtless ultimately paraded his Wiltshire market
town, decked in poor Surrey's finery, looking very much
like the fabled jay in peacock's feathers. The furniture of
Surrey's country house, St. Leonard's, near Norwich, which
he had built after designs of John of Padua, was given to
his widow, but some of the altar furniture went to Princess
Mary at Newhall.

Seals had been placed on the goods and chattels of the
Duchesses of Norfolk and Richmond and of Mrs. Holland,
but they were lifted immediately, and the ladies received all
their several properties intact.

The name of Sir Thomas Seymour does not figure in any
connection, even remote, with this tragedy, and he did not
receive a single coat or " night-gown," *• whether of velvet,
satin, or common cloth, belonging to either the Duke or to
his son. It may be that by the time the distribution of the
confiscated property took place the feud between the am-
bitious brothers had already begun. It was destined amply
to avenge Surrey's untimely fate.

Readers may fairly ask what the story of the poet-Earl's
end has to do with Lady Jane Grey ? It may be replied
that his death and his father's imprisonment affected her
very nearly. They cleared the way for the temporary triumph
of the Protestant party, and enabled Seymour to proclaim
himself Protector unopposed. The close intimacy between
the families of Howard and Dorset is easily traced through
at least three generations in the household books of Thomas,
Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk.

When the Earl entertained company, the ladies and
gentlemen, it seems, all dined together in the " great
chamber," and there were often as many as twenty to fifty
guests staying in the house. Their names include nearly
all the leading aristocracy of the time, among them being
Lady Jane Grey's father and mother, the Lord Marquis of
Dorset and the Lady Frances ; Brandon, Duke of Suffolk ;
the Lady Wyndham, the Lady Parker, the Lady Essex ;
Mrs. Brian, afterwards governess to the Princesses Mary
and Elizabeth ; the Lady Vere, the " old ' Lady of

1 These " night-gowns " were most probably what we should now call
" evening dresses " or " dress suits."

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 95

Oxford,1 etc. The ladies attending on the visitors 2 dined
at my Lady's mess, the gentlemen in the hall. When Mr.
Thomas Reddynge, a gentleman of the Duke's household,
brought his bride to Tenderinge Hall for her honeymoon,
" all the company dined and supped in the bride's bedroom."
The little Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards Earl of Surrey,
dined in the nursery.

Hospitality was exchanged between the Howards and the
Dorse ts almost to the end of the Duke's life. The Marquis
and Marchioness of Dorset (the Lady Frances Brandon),
Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, were certainly at Hunsdon 3
on more than one occasion, and when the two families were
in town there was, doubtless, constant visiting between
them. It must be remembered that the Duke of Norfolk,
being uncle-by-marriage to the King, was also uncle to the
Lady Frances's mother, Mary Tudor, the royal Queen-
Duchess of Suffolk. Little Lady Jane must often have sat
perched on Surrey's knee and listened with delight as he
whispered in her ear those tales of fairy enchantment he
himself loved so well. Owing to her tender age, Jane may
never have been told the details of the closing scenes of her
gallant kinsman's life, but she must surely have noticed
that on a certain day in January 1547-8 the curtains of
her father's house were drawn, as for a family in mourning ;

1 This lady was a rather interesting personage, being the first British
peeress who was ever reduced to earning her living by her needle. She was
the widow of that Earl of Oxford who was killed during the Wars of the
Roses and whose estates were so carefully confiscated that his widow was
left penniless.

2 A list of the names of persons in the Earl's retinue is extremely curious.
In the first place, we find that one John Holland was private secretary. He was
the father of George Holland, who in his turn was the father of the husband of
that Mrs. Holland who figured in the Surrey trial. Then we have Mr. William
Sappeworth, Mr. Widdow, Mr. Hairbottle, and Mrs. Ingliss. We learn that
the company was often regaled with boiled neck of mutton ; and a very
favourite dish appears to have been boiled capon with sauce and a roast
breast of veal basted. Occasionally they indulged in rabbit pie, and there was
a bountiful supply of tarts, custards, and sweetmeats.

3 Hunsdon, in Worcestershire, was one of the numerous seats of the Duke
of Norfolk, which he lent on rental to Princess Mary, who first came there in
1536, having in her company Mistress Elizabeth Fitzgerald or Garret. The
house, according to William Worcester, was built in Henry vi's reign by Sir
William Oldhall at an expense of 7000 marks. It had four towers and was
mainly built of brick.

96 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

that her parents moved about with pale and saddened faces ;
and that the servants stirred noiselessly and spoke under
their breath. The shadow lay everywhere, and the various
chronicles of the period afford abundant proof that there
was a genuine sorrow felt in the city on the day of Surrey's
death.

And there is yet another link between Lady Jane Grey
and the unhappy Surrey. The name of her kins woman ;
Elizabeth Fitzgerald, the ' fair Geraldine," must ever be
associated with that of the poet-Earl, for she is as indissolubly
connected with him as is Laura with Petrarch, or Leonora
with Tasso. A daughter of Oge, Earl of Kildare,1 by his
wife, the Lady Elizabeth Grey, daughter of the first Marquis
of Dorset, the fair Fitzgerald was a not distant cousin to
Lady Jane Grey, and there were but a few years between
them. She was born in Ireland, probably at Maynooth
Castle, somewhere in 1528, and was brought to England
whilst yet an infant. In 1533 her father died in the Tower,
broken-hearted at the news that his son, whom the Irish
cherished as a patriot and the English hated as a rebel, had
been captured and brought to London. A few days after
his father's decease, the young man was hanged at Tyburn
with some seventeen other Irishmen. Henry vm appears to
have pitied the widowed Lady Kildare, who was reduced to
the verge of starvation after her husband's death. A small
pension was granted her, and her children were dispersed
among the leading families of the aristocracy, to receive an
education worthy of their rank. Elizabeth, " the fair
Geraldine," an extremely beautiful child, was placed under
the guidance of the Princess Mary.2 It was probably in
the year 1542, whilst attending Her Highness on a visit at
Hunsdon, that she first fell under the notice of Surrey, who,

1 Lady Kildare's frequent petitions to King Henry for money generally
contain some mention of her being his kinswoman and " of his most Royal
blood." See Cottonian MSS, Titus B. xi. 342. It will be remembered that
Lady Elizabeth Grey attended the christening of the Lady Frances at Hat-
field Church as a sponsor.

2 It has frequently been stated that the Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald — or
Garret, as she was generally called — was educated with Princess Mary, but
this is obviously incorrect, since she was born when her future royal mistress
was fully fourteen years of age. But she was certainly in Mary's service, and
not in that of her sister Elizabeth, as stated by Bapst.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS 97

though already married, became desperately enamoured of
her. The young lady cannot have been more than fourteen
or fifteen at this time, but in those days this was quite a
marriageable age. We have Surrey's own word for it that
it was at Hunsdon he first beheld the " fair Geraldine " —

"Hunsdon did first present her to mine eyen:
Bright is her hue, and Geraldine she night.
Hampton me taught to wish her first for mine;
And Windsor, alas! doth chase her from my sight.
Her beauty of kind ; her virtues from above.
Happy is he that can obtain her love!"

They appear to have met again at Hampton Court, and
we seem to have evidence that the ' ' fair Geraldine ' yielded
to some extent to her suitor's prayers. They danced together,
no doubt, in the Great Hall, which still delights us with its
lofty beauty and rich arras. They sat side by side in the
oriel windows, or romped among the flower-beds of the
palace garden. But the lovely Irish girl, true to her race,
was chaste as snow, and when Surrey's ardour grew too
hot for modest endurance, he was firmly repulsed. One £•••
thing is quite certain, that " Geraldine ' ' was very beautiful,
with Irish sea-green eyes x and glorious fair hair. She
seems otherwise to have been a very matter-of-fact young
lady, who presently bestowed her hand on the rich old Sir
Anthony Browne.2 After his death, in 1548, she re-entered
the household of her royal mistress, and as the Lady
Frances and her daughter paid several visits to their cousin,
Princess Mary, in 1551, Jane Grey must often have seen the
bella ma fredda innammorata of poet Surrey. After Queen
Mary's death the " fair Geraldine ' consoled herself with
a second husband, in the person of Clinton, Earl of Lincoln.

There is a fine portrait of her by Kettel at Woburn Abbey, and a copy
at Carton.

2 Princess Mary's present to Mistress Elizabeth Garret on her marriage
was " A gold broach with one bolace of the history of Susanne." Another
gift is mentioned in her list of jewels in the following entry : " A broach of
gold enamelled black, with an agate of the story of Abraham — with iii small
rock rubies — Given to Sir Anthony Brown, drawing her Grace as his valentine."

These gifts were presented to the bride and bridegroom on loth December,
in the thirty-third year of Henry's reign. The youthful bride could not have
been more than fifteen years of age, and Sir Anthony was not much under
sixty.

7

98 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

An account of her funeral still exists, according to which
sixty-one old women walked in the procession, each wearing
a new suit of clothes and carrying a loaf of bread, their
number recording the fact that the lady they mourned had
reached sixty-one years at the time of her decease.

The Duchess of Richmond seems ultimately to have
repented to some extent of her wickedness. At any rate,
her father left her £500 in his will — a considerable sum of
money in those days — in acknowledgment of the expense
and trouble she had borne to obtain his liberation, and of
her care of her brother's children. She died of the plague
in 1556.

It is curious that Surrey's children should have been
placed under his sister's charge, since their mother, an emi-
nently respectable woman, was living, and they were with
her at the time of their father's death. She was, however, a
Catholic, whereas the Duchess had for some years past rather
ostentatiously proclaimed herself a Protestant. Somerset's
religious opinions may have had something to do with
this transaction, concerning which there is a strange legend.
Three days after the Earl of Surrey's execution, Foxe, the
martyr ologist, was sitting in St. Paul's Cathedral, pale, hag-
gard, and almost dying of misery and starvation. Presently
a gentleman approached him and placed a considerable sum
of money in his hand, bidding him be of good cheer, for that
" luck was coming to him at last/1 A few days later
Somerset appointed him tutor to the children of the late
Earl of Surrey, then under the charge of their aunt, the Lady
of Richmond. Notwithstanding his ardent Protestantism,
Foxe was never able to completely detach the future Duke
of Norfolk from the older faith ; but he gave his pupil a
sound and virtuous education, and won his enduring affection.
This Duke shared his father's fate ; he was beheaded, in the
reign of Elizabeth, for espousing the cause of Mary Stuart.
From him the present Duke of Norfolk is descended in a direct
line.

The Countess of Surrey resided for many years at Ken-
ninghall, but, as usual in those days, she presently took
a second husband, in the person of Mr. Thomas Steyning,
of Woodford, Suffolk, most likely her steward or secretary.

THE HOWARDS AND THE SEYMOURS

99

She lived to an advanced age, and is buried in Framlingham
Parish Church, under the elaborate monument she erected
to the memory of her husband, whose remains, however,
are by some believed to be still lying in the interesting
church of All Hallows, Barking, near the Tower, where they
were certainly interred immediately after his decapitation.

CHAPTER VII

HENRY VIII

ON the night of Wednesday, 27th January 1547, Henry
Tudor lay dying on that huge fourpost bedstead
which Andrea Conti, an Italian traveller who visited
Whitehall a few years after the King's death, described as
" looking like a High Altar," so costly were its hangings
of crimson velvet and cloth of gold, so dazzling its rich
embroideries.1 The vast apartment was hung with rare
Flemish tapestry glistening with gold thread ; the furniture,
of carved oak and inlaid ebony, was upholstered in glorious
Florentine brocade. Curtains of " red velvet on velvet '
draped the numerous windows overlooking the Thames,
and the Eastern carpets that covered the floor muffled
the sound of footsteps cautiously moving about the mighty
couch.

The once puissant and magnificent Henry vin, King of
England, France, and Ireland, and Defender of the Faith,
was now a mass of deformed flesh, eaten up and disfigured
by a complication of awful disorders — gout, cancer of the
stomach, rheumatism, ulcers, and dropsy. So swollen were
the miserable man's hands, arms, and legs that he could only
move with great pain, and then only with the aid of a
mechanical contrivance. But his immense head tossed
restlessly from side to side and he groaned piteously, often
praying those about him to cool his parched lips with a drop
of water. Though little over fifty-six years of age, the
dying monarch's hair had turned quite white, and his beard,

1 Hentzner also saw the bedchamber in which Henry vin died, but this
was late in Elizabeth's reign, when it was shown as one of the " lions " of the
palace, a fact which tends to prove that the apartment was never again used
by any other sovereign, but kept as a sort of show-place.

100

HENRY VIII 101

formerly so well trimmed, had grown scant and straggling.
His steel-grey eyes looked as small in proportion to the broad,
bloated face as those set in the elephant's enormous mask,
but they still retained their ophidian glitter.1

The dying King had been unusually irritable throughout
the weary day. At times indeed he was delirious, but on
the whole his mind remained fairly clear. At about six
o'clock in the afternoon he awakened out of a deep sleep
or lethargy and asked for a cup of white wine, which was
given him. Presently he wandered again, — the result,
perhaps, of the draught of wine, — and shouted, ' Monks,
monks ! ' imagining, so it would seem, that he saw cowled
forms hovering about his bed. Three times, too, and very
distinctly, he cried out the name ' Nan Boleyn." After
that he kept his eyes fixed on a certain spot near his bedside,
where, it may be, his fancy showed him the menacing wraith
of his murdered wife. This outburst of feverish excitement
was followed by a lull, and presently the King grew calmer
and fell into a profound slumber.

The principal persons about the death-bed were the Earl
of Hertford and his brother, Sir Thomas Seymour ; Henry's
Chief Secretary, Sir William Paget ; and his Master of the
Horse, Sir Anthony Browne, the only non-schismatic present.
The physicians in attendance upon the King were Dr. Wendy
and Dr. Owen, who had brought the Prince of Wales 2 into
the world, and who subsequently assisted at the death-beds
of Edward vi 3 and Mary. With them was Dr. John Gale,4
the King's surgeon-in-ordinary, who had waited upon Henry
and his army when in France. Notwithstanding the number

1 In his youth Henry's eyes had been considered fine. In the picture by
Paris Bordone, belonging to the Merchant Taylors' Company, they are a light
grey and decidedly good in colour and shape.

2 Edward vi was never officially proclaimed Prince of Wales — the docu-
ment doing so was prepared, but was delayed by the death of his father.
None the less, he is frequently so styled in the last years of Henry's
reign.

3 Dr. Wendy became physician to Elizabeth. He died in 1560 at Hasling-
ford Court, a manor given to him by Henry vm.

1 Dr. Gale was living as late as 1586. He wrote a curious work entitled
The Office of a Chirurgeon, which gives a dreadful picture of warfare in the
sixteenth century. See for an account of this rare work, once possessed by
the author, The Medical Biography, p. 65.

102 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

of priests attached to the Chapel Royal, there were no
clergymen in the room. The Catholic party afterwards
declared they had been purposely kept out of the way lest
the King, whose hatred of the Papacy was purely political,
might recant and make a death-bed submission to Rome.
The elimination of the clerical element from the death-
chamber is significant, and we have no certainty as to
whether the King, who clung so tenaciously to the theory of
the Church as to her Last Sacraments, ever personally
received them.

Another very remarkable fact is that neither in the State
Papers nor in any other contemporary accounts of the death
of Henry vm is there any mention of the Queen's presence
at this time. Her Majesty had certainly been her husband's
assiduous nurse until early in January, but after that we
hear no more of her, and except for one or two hints to
the contrary in documents connected with the household
effects of the King, we might almost conjecture she had left
the palace before the King passed away. The Spanish
Chronicle, introduced to English readers by Martin Hume,
which contains a great deal of what would now be called
back-stair gossip, informs us, however, that Katherine Parr
was summoned to the King's bedside the day before he died,
and that ' he thanked her for her great kindness to him/'
adding that he had " well provided for her.'3 The good
Queen, falling on her knees, burst into such loud sobbing
that she had to be removed and conveyed back to her
apartments. From the same source we learn that Princess
Mary saw her father three or four days before the end, and
received his blessing. Of these statements there is no con-
firmation in the English State Papers ; they are confirmed,
however, by documents in the Simancas archives and in a
pamphlet published at Valladolid some three years after
Queen Mary's death entitled La Muertc de la Serenissima
Reyna Maria d'Inglaterra (Valladolid, 1562). J

The last we hear of Katherine Parr as Queen-Consort
is in a letter addressed to her from Hertford on loth January

1 Father Thiveter, a Franciscan, who obtained some curious facts con-
cerning the death of Henry vui, presumably from Princess Mary, wrote an
account of that event which has been occasionally reprinted.

HENRY VIII 103

by her stepson, Prince Edward, in which he thanks her for
a New Year's gift.1

If we trust the Acts and Monuments, there is direct
evidence that Henry vm deliberately omitted Gardiner's
name from his testament. In the afternoon of the day
before his death, Sir Anthony Browne asked him directly
if ' My Lord of Winchester was left out of His Majesty's
will by negligence or otherwise ? ' He was kneeling at the
moment by the King's bed and endeavouring to recall to
him the Bishop's long services. The broad face of the dying
King turned towards him, and he said angrily, ' Hold your
peace. I remember him well enough, and of good purpose
have I left him out ; for surely if he were in my
testament and one of you, he would cumber you all
and you should never rule him, he is of so troublesome a
nature." If this be a truthful account of the scene, there
can be do doubt that Henry realised the omission
of Winchester's name from the will, which would imply
a truckling to the Seymour faction ; for there was now
no one left to oppose their influence or expose their
intrigues.

Between seven and eight in the evening of 27th January,
Sir Anthony Denny, who had been watching his master
very closely, thought he perceived signs that the end was
approaching. Stooping over him, he whispered into the
dying ear a message especially dreadful to one who, like Henry,
held the mere mention of death in horror, warning him that
his hour was very near, and that " it was meet for him to
review his past life and seek God's mercy through Jesus
Christ." The King, although in great agony, evidently
understood what Denny had said, and is reported to have
answered that he would suffer no ecclesiastic near him but
Cranmer, who was immediately sent for. The Archbishop
was at Croydon, but, being an excellent horseman, he galloped
up to London, and reached Whitehall about one o'clock in

The Queen had sent him a picture of the King, his father, and of herself,
in one frame. Edward was so delighted with the present that he said he
preferred it to gold-embroidered robes and other things most priceless :
" Quamobrem mafores tibi gratias ego ob hanc strenam, quam si misisses ad me
preciosas vestes, aut aurum celatum, aut quidvis aliud eximium."

104 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the morning of Thursday, 28th January.1 He found the
King almost speechless but in full possession of his faculties,
and exhorted him, in a few words, to repent him of his sins
and ' to place his trust in Christ only." Henry pressed
the Churchman's hand, and muttering the significant words,
' All is lost ! " immediately expired.

So passed into eternity Lady Jane Grey's great-uncle
and the most extraordinary of all our kings. Even at this
date it is impossible to define his true character, for whereas,
on the one hand, his cousin Pole, who knew him well, likened
him unto Nero and Tiberius, that painstaking historian
Froude has endeavoured to prove him a well-intentioned
man, whose political and whose domestic troubles especially
were not of his own making, but the result of circumstance
and of Court intrigues beyond his control. Between these
two appreciations the truth doubtless lies. Henry vm
was beyond question a wonderful being — in whom were
reflected, nay, absorbed, all the good and evil qualities of
the subjects whose very Church he contrived to dominate.
With all his treachery, his lust, and his cruelty, he may well
have been a necessary evil, a tool in the guiding Hand that has
shaped the destinies of the British Empire. He tore down
the last vestiges of the Middle Ages ; and if the light so
suddenly admitted was too dazzling for the eyes that first
beheld it, in due time it mellowed into the slowly developed
liberty and progress that have placed our country at the fore-
front of civilisation. Our eighth Henry was the tyrant who
inadvertently forced open the gate whereby Freedom was to
enter.

Much as we loathe his sensuality and his cruelty, his
personal extravagance that emptied the overflowing treasury
left by his father and led him to debase the coin of the realm
in order to replenish it, much as we may deplore his iconoclasm
that destroyed a thousand abbeys, priories, and noble churches
and dispersed the art treasures of ages, as Englishmen we still
entertain a surreptitious liking for Bluff King Hal. His

1 " Thursday," writes Aubrey, " was a fatal day to Henry vm, and so
also to his posterity. He died on Thursday, January 28 ; King Edward
vi on Thursday, July 6; Queen Mary on Thursday, November 17; and
Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, March 24."

HENRY VIII 105

magnificent appearance and the Oriental side of his nature,
his six wives, his fantastic and gorgeous pageants, his out-
bursts of bad language, his masterfulness, his love of art
and music, all appeal to the imagination and help us to
convert a monarch, a very weak and poor specimen of
humanity, who really had much of the vile criminal about
him, into a hero of romance, and cast over his strange career
something of the legendary glamour that so fascinates all
students of the reign of the illustrious daughter who inherited
so many of his good and evil qualities and carried on much
of his chosen policy. To King Henry we owe the formation
of our Army and the creation of our Navy. He abused
his Parliament, but he was its first and greatest organiser.
He shaped it to his own will ; and it eventually shaped itself
to the will of the nation.

Earlier in the evening of that momentous 27th of January
Hertford and Paget had spent slow hours pacing up and
down the long corridor outside the King's chamber, and
consulting as to what it would be best to do as soon as the
monarch was dead. Parliament, then in session, had been
busy with the alleged treasonable transactions of the Duke
of Norfolk, now lying in the Tower under sentence of death.
His Grace, therefore, was one of the only three members of
the Privy Council absent from the death-chamber : the other
two were Dr. Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster, then resident
Ambassador at the Court of Charles v; and Dr. Nicholas
Wotton, Dean of Canterbury, recently dispatched on a
diplomatic mission to France. Gardiner, whose name had
been erased from the Council list, had lately returned from
Brussels, and must have been communicated with at once,
for to him were eventually entrusted all the arrangements
for the late King's obsequies. An improvised Council was
held immediately after Henry's death, and decided that the
event should be kept a profound secret until the Prince of
Wales was brought to London. This was cleverly managed
by putting all the immediate attendants in the King's private
apartments under oath ; and the multitudinous household
in the outer rooms performed its usual vocations as though
Henry, who had long been absent from his general courtiers'
sight, were still alive. The sentinels were changed, and

io6 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

everything at Whitehall went on with clockwork regularity,
as if nothing unusual had happened. At about four o'clock
in the morning of 28th January Hertford and his brother,
Thomas Seymour, stole out of the palace, took horse, and
galloped towards Hertford, where the young heir was then
residing. By an oversight — or was it done purposely ?-
Hertford put in his pocket the key of the coffer in which
the King's will was kept, and Paget had to ride out into the
dark after him to obtain possession of it. At about dawn
the Seymours were joined by Sir Anthony Browne, an
accession which greatly elated them, for he was one of the
most important leaders of the Catholic party. They reached
Hertford l a little after daybreak, and the boy Edward was
instantly roused from his slumbers. They did not at once
inform him of his father's decease, but rode with him to
Enfield Chase, where his sister, the Princess Elizabeth, was
residing with her governess, Mrs. Ashley. Here they broke
the news to both of the dead King's children, who burst into
tears, the Princess Elizabeth holding her young brother's
hand the while. The company stayed all Sunday at Enfield,
their suite being in the meantime reinforced by a numerous
bodyguard, attended by which they started on the following
morning for London, the boy-King riding on a milk-white
palfrey between Lord Hertford and Sir Anthony Browne.
As the procession passed through the villages on its way to
London, the inhabitants were informed of King Henry's
death. We have proof, however, that it was not known
in the metropolis on the Sunday. On that day the Grey
Friar's Church, which had been closed for some years and

1 During the last year of Henry's reign Edward had resided at Hatfield
with his sister Elizabeth. Very early in December it was deemed advisable,
owing to the precarious state of the King's health, to remove the young
Prince from Hatfield, first to Tittenhanger House, in Hertfordshire, and then
to Hertford itself. His various removals can be traced from the dates of his
letters to his father, to the Queen, and to the Princesses his sisters. On
5th December, for instance, he wrote a letter to Elizabeth from Tittenhanger
lamenting his enforced absence from her. And later, on the i8th, he wrote
another in the same strain ; but on loth January he addressed his sister
Mary a Latin letter from Hertford, and on the same day the epistle already
mentioned to Queen Katherine. Elizabeth, in the meantime, was relegated
to Enfield Chase, where she remained until she joined Queen Katherine at
Chelsea, after Henry's death.

HENRY VIII 107

converted into a wine-vault, was restored to public worship
by order of the late King, and his ' munificence and
generosity ' were fulsomely eulogised by the preacher, who,
however, never alluded to the sovereign's demise. Towards
evening, the fact that the King was dead began to circulate
among the upper classes, and next morning it was pretty
generally known all over London.

At three o'clock on the Monday afternoon King Edward vi
entered the capital through Aldgate, where he was met by
the Lord Mayor and a great assembly of the nobility and
gentry. Cranmer greeted him at the Bridge and read him
an address, after which he was conducted in state to the
Tower, being only fairly well received by the populace.
Meanwhile, his father's body, still at Whitehall, after being
' spunged," cleaned, disembowelled, and embalmed with
spices, was exhibited, covered with a silken garment, to the
great nobility. This done, it was sealed up in a leaden
coffin and brought down into the Privy Chamber, where it
lay, ' with all manner of lights thereto requisite, having
divine service about him with Masses, obsequies, and prayers/1
until 3rd February , when it was conveyed into the Chapel Royal,
where Mass was said between nine and ten in the morning.

The Chapelle Ardente was hung with black cloth and with
banners of St. George and England. Eighty huge silver
candlesticks with tall wax tapers in them were ranged on
either side of the catafalque. On the Tuesday, and for five
following mornings, Norreys stationed himself at the entrance
to the chancel and cried out at intervals to the congregation,
' Of your charity pray for the soul of the most high and
mighty Prince Henry vm, our late Sovereign Lord and King/'
Watch was kept day and night by the chaplains and gentlemen
of the Privy Chamber. Then began the saying of Masses
for the benefit of the King's soul, and these were " as numerous
as they were on the occasion of the funeral of his father, Henry
vii." They were continued until the I3th February. Tens
of thousands of Masses were said throughout the country,
both in the capital and the provinces, in the cathedrals as
well as in the parish churches.1 The ritual was everywhere

1 King Francis i, notwithstanding Henry's unorthodox opinions and his
notorious revolt from Rome, ordered a Requiem to be said in the Cathedral

io8 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

absolutely Latin. In London Gardiner was the celebrant at
High Mass each day, assisted by the Bishops of Durham,
London, Ely, St. David's, Gloucester, Bangor, and Bath.
Archbishop Cranmer was present but did not officiate. Low
Masses were said in the chapel at Whitehall, at an altar erected
at the foot of the catafalque, from four o'clock in the morning
until ten, when High Mass was chanted, the Marquis of Dorset
acting as chief mourner. In the evening there were Vespers
for the Dead and Dirge and " a great attendance of noblemen
and gentlemen mourners." The Queen and the King's nieces,
the Marchioness of Dorset and her daughters, the Ladies Jane
and Katherine Grey, the Lady Eleanor Brandon, Countess of
Cumberland, the Lady Margaret Lennox, the Duchess of
Richmond, the Duchess of Suffolk, and all the great ladies *
of the Court, were present, not only at High Mass, but at
countless other Masses in the Chapel Royal. They were, how-
ever, not in the body of the Chapel, but in an upper gallery
overlooking it — mourning cloaks being provided for them out
of the Wardrobe.

Queen Katherine may have left the palace somewhat
hurriedly,2 for in the inventory taken immediately after the
King's death there is an account of the seals being on one
chamber described as full of female attire of the most
sumptuous description, presumably belonging to the Queen,
who certainly left behind her the jewels given her by the
King to wear at the reception of M. d'Annebault, the French
Envoy — an oversight that gave rise to terrible subsequent

of Notre Dame de Paris for the repose of the soul of his well-beloved brother,
Henry vm, King of England, at which service he assisted ; he also left in
his will a sum of money to be devoted to Masses to be said in perpetuity for
the same pious purpose. A Mass is still offered every year in the Metropolitan
Church of Paris for the repose of the soul of our " Bluff King Hal," the custom
having survived even the Reign of Terror.

1 These noble ladies were not present in any official capacity, but simply
" to pray for the soul of the departed King." It was not the custom for
women to attend the funeral of a male, except as an act of devotion. They
wore on these occasions black cloth gowns and black cloaks and hoods or silk
scarfs. This costume was general at funerals, and especially in the country,
until the end of the first half of the last century.

2 Her separate establishment was formed early in March, and she then
took up her residence at Chelsea ; but she may well have hovered between
Whitehall and the Manor House for some weeks after the King's death,
whilst her future residence was being put in readiness for her.

HENRY VIII

109

dissensions between Sir Thomas Seymour and his eldest
brother.

Lord Chancellor Wriothesley dissolved Parliament early
on Monday, ist February, in a neatly turned speech declaring
that " their most puissant master was dead." The eventful
news was received with every demonstration of sorrow, some
members even bursting into tears, or pretending to do so.
Then followed the reading of that portion of the King's will
which concerned the Royal Succession.

By this famous testament *• Henry provided that in case
Edward died childless, and Henry himself had no other children
by his ' ' beloved wife Katherine or any other wives 2 he might
have hereafter," King Edward was to be succeeded by his
eldest sister Mary ; and if she in her turn proved without off-
spring, she was to be succeeded by her sister Elizabeth. Failing
heirs to that princess, the crown was to pass on the same
conditions to the Lady Jane Grey and her sisters Katherine
and Mary Grey, daughters of the King's eldest niece, the Lady
Frances Brandon, Marchioness of Dorset. In the eventuality
of the three sisters Grey dying without issue, the throne was to
be occupied successively by the children of the Lady Frances'
younger sister, the Lady Eleanor, Countess of Cumberland.
The Scotch succession was set aside, from no personal ill-will,
however, to Henry's eldest sister, the Dowager Queen of
Scotland, Margaret Tudor, for he left her daughter a hand-
some legacy. Henry most probably omitted the name of the
young Queen of Scots as heiress to the throne, and gave his
preference to the daughters of his two nieces, because, although
at war with the Regent of Scotland, he still hoped that the
betrothal of his grand-niece, Mary Stuart, then only six years
cf age, to his son Edward might be arranged, and thus

The King's will was dated 26th December 1546, and revoked all other
previous wills that he might have made. The original was not in Henry's
own hand, but written in a book of stout paper, and was, it is said, signed by
His Majesty's stamp as well as his autograph. It should be remembered that
because the act of attainder against the Duke of Norfolk had merely a stamp
affixed to it by Paget, the said attainder was in 1553 treated as null and void,
and the Duke, after his liberation, at once resumed bis seat in the House of
Lords.

1 This significant allusion to " any other wives he might have " inclines
one to think that had His Majesty lived to seventy or eighty, he may have
contemplated having twelve instead of six wives !

no THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

eventually bring about the desired union of the two crowns in
a natural manner. Moreover, there was the religious question
to be considered. The Regent, Mary of Guise, was an ardent
Papist, using all her influence, both in England and in Scot-
land, to thwart the English King's anti-papal policy.

Henry vm mentioned Queen Katherine in the following
eulogistic manner : ' And for the great love, obedience,
chastity of life, and wisdom being in our forenamed wife and
Queen, we bequeath unto her for her proper life, and as it shall
please her to order it, three thousand pounds in plate, jewels,
and stuff of household goods, and such apparel as it shall please
her to take of such as we have already. And further, we give
unto her one thousand pounds in money, and the amount of
her dower and jointure according to our grant in Parliament."
Henry appointed the Earl of Hertford Protector of the Realm
during the minority of his son, and mentioned as his colleagues
all those persons who were interested in keeping him in power
in order to share it with him. Gardiner's name was omitted,
as already stated. The provisions of the will opposed a
serious obstacle to the Earl of Hertford's ambition, for they
made him fifth in order of precedence, thus placing him on a
footing of equality with other executors ; recognising no
claim arising out of his kinship to the young Prince. Sir
Thomas Clere declared that the original will was stamped, a
fact which inclined so careful a writer as Mr. Pollard to con-
clude that the idea that a stamped will was illegal must have
flashed across somebody's mind, and suggested the hasty
drawing up of another, for the King to sign in autograph.
The form now in the Record Office is doubtless this second one.
It displays no trace of a stamp, and the two signatures at the
beginning and end are not sufficiently uniform to have been
impressed mechanically. In the last the up-strokes are very
unsteady, and on comparing them with other signatures of
Henry vui one is justified in thinking that both were forged.
It must not be forgotten, however, that the King was very ill,
and failing ; his hand may well have trembled.1

1 King Henry's will is said to have been inspired not only by the Earl of
Hertford and his party, but by the Queen, Katherine Parr. This, however,
is scarcely probable, since if she had had a hand in the matter she would
assuredly have caused a paragraph to have been inserted appointing her

HENRY VIII in

In those days the funeral of a sovereign and the coronation
of his successor took place almost simultaneously, occasionally
with strange results, considerable confusion arising as to
the arrangements for the two ceremonies : the sombre
preparations for the obsequies of King Henry, for instance,
clashed weirdly with the festivities organised for the accession
of his son. Matters became so confused at last that Bishop
Gardiner found himself obliged to appeal to " My Lord of
Oxford's Players," who were already at Southwark pre-
paring to act a pageant and a comedy. It would be more
decent, His Lordship pointed out, to sing a solemn Dirge
for their master than to perform a merry play, and he
besought them to desist until after the King's funeral.

In the end the Bishop had his way, and the grandeur
of Henry's obsequies suffered nothing from the counter-
attractions of the ' green men," ' morris dancers/' and
' mountain for the gods," which were among the items
promised by the players, who produced their performance
in the hall of the ex-monastery of Blackfriars immediately
after Edward's coronation — doubtless to their own satisfac-
tion and that of the public, albeit they seem to have had
hard work to get the necessary cash for their " properties "
out of Sir William Carwarden or Garden, the official in charge
of such matters, to whom they had to frequently apply for
payment.1

On Monday, 3ist January, the young King entered
London, and passed direct to the Tower, where, in accordance
with traditional etiquette, he was to remain in semi-seclusion
until after his coronation. The next day, Tuesday, ist
February, the late King's executors assembled in the
great hall of the Tower, and having heard the will read from
beginning to end, took the oath for the King, and Hertford 2
was proclaimed Protector during the coming minority. On
4th February the Protector proceeded in state to Westminster
Hall, where he assumed the offices of Lord Treasurer and

Regent during the minority of her stepson. Marillac, the French Ambassa-
dor, informs us in his " Notes " that when Katherine discovered that she
was not so nominated she gave way to a great outburst of indignation and
temper.

See the Losely MSS, edited by A. J. Kempe. John Murray, 1835.
1 His position as Protector was not officially ratified until 22nd March.

H2 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Earl Marshal, rendered vacant by the attainder of the Duke
of Norfolk. He subsequently relinquished his post as Lord
Great Chamberlain to John Dudley, Viscount de Lisle, who
in his turn surrendered his place as Lord High-Admiral to
Sir Thomas Seymour.

On Sunday, I3th February, High Mass was again sung in
the Chapel Royal by Gardiner, assisted by the Bishops of
London and Bristol, and the royal coffin was removed " from
the Chapell to the Chariot ; over the coffin was cast a pall
of rich cloath of gold, and upon it a goodly ymage like to the
Kyng's person in all poynts, wonderfully richly aparrelled
with velvet gold and precious stones of all sorts, holding in
ye right hand a Sceptre of gold, in the left hand the ball of
the world with a crosse ; upon the head a crown imperial of
inestimable value, a collar of the Garter about the neck and
a garter of gold about the leg, with this being honourably
conducted as aforesaid, was tied upon the said coffin by the
Gentlemen of his Privy Chamber upon rich cushions of cloath
of gold and fast bound with silk ribands to the pillars of the
said Chariot for removing." It seems, however, that this
image was not quite complete, for it had presently to be
removed and " touched up."

The gorgeous funeral procession, which is said to have
been four miles long, left the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, at
about eleven o'clock on I4th February for Sion en route for
Windsor. The weather was very fine, and immense crowds
lining the streets, people of every class, holding lighted
candles. Over a thousand ' lights," or torches, were held
by the mourners who preceded or followed the hearse
containing the King's body and upon which was placed
the waxen image already described. This hearse was
drawn by eight black horses emblazoned with the Arms of
England and of the house of Tudor, and surrounded by
noblemen and knights in mourning robes, some on horseback
and others on foot, holding lights and banners, images of
saints, and other glistening devices and symbols. The
procession passed through the streets of London by Charing
Cross, Knightsbridge, Hammersmith, Chiswick, and Brentford,
and, owing to its enormous length, did not reach Sion until
twilight. It is gratifying to note that the vast assemblage

HENRY VIII 113

of nobles and gentry was plentifully supplied with refresh-
ments, wine, and beer throughout the whole of these very
elaborate and costly obsequies, to the tune of about £10,000
of our money.

At Sion the coffin stood all night within the ruined walls of
that erstwhile monastic house which had been the prison of
Katherine Howard, the second of Henry's murdered consorts.
The ravages of ruin to be seen there were now hidden by
hangings of fine black cloth and by two great altars blazing
with lights and jewels. By a curious coincidence, the body
arrived at Sion on the day after the fifth anniversary of
the Queen's execution, a fact which lends additional horror
to the following story, related in a contemporary docu-
ment now in the Soane Collection : : The King's body
rested in the ruined Chapel of Sion, and there, the leaden
coffin l being cleft by the shaking of the carriage, the
pavement of the church was wetted with Henry's blood.
In the morning came plumbers to solder the coffin, under
whose feet, I tremble while I write it," says the author,
' was suddenly seen a dog creeping and licking up the King's
blood. If you ask me how I know this, I answer, William
Greville, who could scarce drive away the dog, told me so,
and so did the plumber also."

The coffin had most likely been abandoned by the
mourners, who had retired to rest for the night, and probably
some gaseous explosion led to this uncanny incident, the
report of which greatly increased the superstitious terror
in which the late King's name was held. Thus was fulfilled,
so the people said, Friar Peyto's denunciation from the
pulpit of Greenwich Church in 1553, when that daring friar
compared Henry to Ahab, and told him to his *face " that
the dogs would in like manner lick his blood."

1 As a matter of fact, the royal corpse was, owing to its weight, not en-
closed in a lead shell until it reached Windsor, so that the chronicler has made
a mistake ; but the fact that it was in a mere wooden case lends support to
the above horrible story. Strype, it is true, declares in his Memorials, which
include a very minute account of Henry vm's funeral, that the body was
enclosed in lead before it was placed in the coffin, thus unintentionally
supporting the story of the leakage of blood ; but the plumbers' bill for the
soldering of the leaden coffin of King Henry vm at Windsor is still extant
among the Royal Household receipts and expenses.

8

n4 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

This horrible occurrence, if it really took place, does not
seem to have made any very deep impression on Bishop
Gardiner, for no more fulsome sermon was ever preached
than that delivered by him at Windsor on i6th February.
He took for his text, " Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord," and, enlarging on the virtues of the late monarch,
lamented the " loss both to high and low by the death of
this most good and gracious King " ; for whom, Sir Anthony
Browne declared, " there was no need to pray, for he was
surely in Heaven." Queen Katherine Parr, the King's nieces,
the Lady Frances, Marchioness of Dorset, and the Lady
Eleanor of Cumberland and their daughters and other noble-
women attended the obsequies at Windsor from a closet
or chamber looking into the chapel, much such a one as
Queen Victoria used in the Chapel Royal, Windsor, on similar

occasions.

Some weird stories of supernatural apparitions were
circulated all over London, especially among the Catholics.
The " old King " had appeared, wreathed in flames, to an
ex-Carthusian friar. Folks at Windsor had beheld him
fleeing along the battlements and corridors of the castle,
blazing like a meteoric ball ; and he had even, so it was
rumoured, paid a warning visit to his widow in the still
hours of darkness.

CHAPTER VIII

CONCERNING THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER

THE will of Henry vm conferred upon the houses of
Seymour and Grey a towering position in the State
which naturally brought forward into extraordinary
relief the hitherto ignored name of Lady Jane. A few weeks
earlier she was but the eldest daughter of the rather weak-minded
Marquis of Dorset, a man whom no one seems to have held
in any great consideration, notwithstanding his royal alliance
and rather showy past career as a soldier under Henry vm ;
to-day she was almost as prominent in the matter of the
succession as the King's two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth,
both of whom could easily be set aside by an ambitious faction :
the elder on account of her religion, the younger on that
of her somewhat doubtful legitimacy. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the intrigues which were to culminate in the
ruin of the unfortunate Lady Jane began almost immediately
after the accession of her cousin, Edward vi ; for it was at this
time that the newly made Lord Sudeley, desiring to possess
' two strings to his bow/' embarked in a most imprudent
intrigue to obtain possession of the person of the Marquis
of Dorset's daughter, who, as the reversionary heiress of
England, was justly regarded by both parties as a most valuable
asset. The intermediary employed in this transaction was one
William Sharington, a gentleman in Seymour's confidence,
who was his equal in the conducting of tricksome intrigues :
it will become apparent as we proceed that whenever Sudeley
had any particularly difficult and dangerous matter to deal
with, he invariably got some subordinate to share the danger
with him. One morning, very soon after King Henry's death,
>harington appeared at Dorset Place, Westminster, to open
negotiations with the Marquis about the transfer of his eldest

n6 THE NINE DAYS1 QUEEN

daughter into Sudeley's charge. He began by informing
Dorset, apparently one of the most credulous of mortals,
that the Admiral, as uncle to the King, ' was like to come
to great authority, and was most desirous of forming a bond
of friendship with him." On the following day Sharington
returned, and after assuring the Marquis that " the Lord High-
Admiral was very much his friend," insinuated that ' ' it were
a goodly thing to happen if my Lady Jane his daughter were
in the keeping of the said Lord Admiral." He said he had
often heard his master say ' that the Lady Jane was the
handsomest lady in England and that the Admiral would see
her placed in marriage much to his (the Marquis's) comfort."

" And with whom will he match her ? " inquired Dorset.

" Marry," replied Sharington, ' I doubt not but you
shall see he will marry her to the King, and fear you not,
he will bring it to pass, and then you shall be able to help all
the friends you have."

After this visit the Marquis held a consultation with the
Lady Frances, which resulted in his accepting a personal
interview with Lord Sudeley.

Thomas Seymour does not appear to have had any fixed
London abode in his bachelor days, but probably lived, on
occasion, as Surrey did, in what we should now call chambers,
somewhere in the Strand. But when he became Baron Sudeley
and Lord High-Admiral, he conceived it incumbent upon him
to live in a style commensurate with his increased rank, and
solicited a suitable mansion from his brother, the Protector.
Somerset forthwith filched Bath House, Strand, from Bishop
Barlow, and presented it to his brother. This house, which
must not be mistaken for Bath House, Holborn, was built
in the fourteenth century and considerably enlarged and
embellished in the beginning of the sixteenth ; it was one of
the finest mansions in London, and, with its gardens, occupied
the whole space now covered by Arundel, Norfolk, and Suffolk
Streets, Strand. The mansion stood on the approximate
site of the present Howard Hotel. It commanded an extensive
view of the Thames, and there was an orchard extending to the
Strand.1

1 After the execution of Thomas Seymour, this fine mansion was purchased
for £41, 6s. 8d. by Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, whose only son, Lord

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 117

To Seymour Place, Strand, therefore, rode my lord of
Dorset, to find Sudeley walking in his garden. The two
gentlemen held a most confidential conversation, in the course
of which Sudeley persuaded Dorset not only to hand the ward-
ship of the Lady Jane over to him, but to send for her then and
there, and allow the young girl to take up her abode under
the roof of one of the most notorious profligates of an exceed-
ingly degenerate Court.

The Lady Jane did not arrive at Seymour Place in formd
pauperis. She was attended by her governess, Mrs. Ashley, by
four waiting women and a number of male servants of various
degrees. Sudeley 's household was at this time ruled over by
his mother, the Dowager Lady Seymour. Since the death of
her husband, Sir John Seymour, in December 1536, this lady
had kept house for her younger son, who brought her for that
purpose either from Hertford or from a suburban house on a
site now crossed by Upper and Lower Seymour Street, Portman
Square.

There is some unexplained mystery connected with Lady
Seymour which the present writer does not pretend to have
fathomed. No explanation is discoverable of the strange
fact that the mother of a Queen and the grandmother of a
King of England seems to have been almost ignored by her
son-in-law Henry vm, by her young grandson Edward vi,
by her own son the Protector, and indeed by all the great
people with whom her high position must have brought her
into contact. Her name is not once mentioned in connection
with that of her daughter, Jane Seymour, after she became

Maltravers, was a paragon of learning and accomplishments. He pre-
deceased his father by nearly twenty years. On the death of the Earl of
Arundel the property passed to his daughter, Mary, Duchess of Norfolk, and
through her the ground-rents are still payable to the premier Duchy of
England. The unfortunate Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, who was
attainted for his religious opinions in the reign of Elizabeth, and who died in
exile, lived here for some time. In the eighteenth century the famous
Arundel marbles, now at Cambridge, were to be seen at Arundel House,
which was finally pulled down and a number of rather mean streets built on
its site. Quite recently the property has been immensely improved, and in
fairly artistic taste. One or two very fine hotels — the Howard and the Arundel,
for instance — have been erected on the site of the old palace. The Colonial
and American guests at these excellent establishments will perhaps be
interested to know that that favourite heroine of history, Lady Jane Grey,
dwelt hereabouts.

n8 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Queen. She did not figure at the christening of the baby
Edward, and did not present the customary gifts offered by
near relations on such occasions. She has left no corre-
spondence, and there is only one allusion to her in the House-
hold Books of Henry vm, and none at all in those of Edward
vi, which contain some reference to almost every lady of im-
portance of the period, as receiving or presenting gifts from
or to the sovereign, either personally or through attendants.
We only know that her banner of arms figured, close to that of
her daughter, Queen Jane, at the obsequies of Henry vm
and Edward vi ; and that Henry, in 1537, during the year of
his marriage with Jane Seymour, when he raised his brother-
in-law Edward Seymour to the rank of Baron Beauchamp,
granted him a pension of £1100 per annum, out of which he
was to pay his mother an annuity of £6ol — but beyond the
papers connected with this pension there is only one other
existing document in which her name figures, and this deals
with an incident that arose after her death, in 1551, when her
grandson the King was induced by the Privy Council, and
by her own son, the Duke of Somerset, to countermand the
wearing of official mourning for her. Beyond the fact that
Lady Seymour was by birth a Wentworth, and .therefore
highly connected, and that in one of his letters to Lady Jane's
mother Seymour represents his own as a fitting person to take
the young girl under her maternal care, Lady Seymour may be
said to have lived and died as much ignored as though she had
been a woman of no birth and no importance.2

Of the sort of life lived by the Lady Jane during the weeks
she spent at Seymour Place we know nothing, but from th<
alacrity with which she consented to return there at a latei
period we may feel justified in believing she was very happy
under the charge of the mysterious Lady Seymour and her
erratic and wilful son. Miss Strickland says, but without
naming her authority, that Lady Seymour was one of the
earliest Englishwomen of rank to adopt the tenets of the

1 State Papers, 1537, under Seymour.

2 It is possible that Henry vm intended, when he married Jane Seymour,
not to allow his mother-in-law to interfere in his concerns. Some such thing
happened with regard to Lady Wiltshire, Anne Boleyn's mother, who is very
little heard of after her daughter's marriage.

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 119

Reformation. If this was the case, Lady Jane Grey probably
met at her house some one or other of the numerous foreign
Reformers who began to invade England shortly after the
death of Henry viu. It is, however, likely that Sudeley
undertook the charge of this young lady at the instigation
of Katherine Parr, and that whilst at Seymour Place her
education was continued under the direction of the scholarly
Miles Coverdale, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, who had
been appointed chaplain to the Queen-Dowager. There is
some little resemblance between the handwriting of this
divine and that of Lady Jane, which leads one to think
he had a considerable share in directing her studies at this
period.

If the Dorsets imagined they were doing themselves and
their daughter a service by placing her under the guardianship
of Thomas Seymour, they made a terrible mistake, for this
incident was certainly at the root of that fatal animosity be-
tween the two brothers which led up to one of the most appalling
tragedies in our history. In the first place, it revealed to
Somerset that Sudeley was fighting for his own hand, and
further, entirely upset the Lord Protector's domestic schemes
and arrangements. Both Somerset and his wife had been
very intimate with the Marquis and the Marchioness, his royal
consort, and the young Earl of Hertford,1 their eldest son,
was a constant visitor at Westminster and at Bradgate. He
was an exceedingly handsome youth, described by Norton,
his tutor, as 'singularly like his father," who, judged by his
portraits, was one of the finest-looking men of his day. So
fond was the Lady Frances of the young Earl that she would
call him ( her son," and undoubtedly looked on him as a
welcome suitor for her eldest daughter ; and if there was any
love romance in Lady Jane's brief life, it was certainly in
connection with this youth, and not with Guildford, whom she
eventually married, but whom she slighted rather than loved.
The Somersets, moreover, had made up their minds that if
the proposed marriage between Mary Stuart and Edward vi
came to nothing, Edward should be contracted as soon as

1 Lord Hertford clandestinely married Lady Jane Grey's second sister,
Lady Katherine, and was imprisoned for many years in the Tower by Eliza-
beth's order " for venturing to marry an heiress to the throne."

120 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

possible to their youngest daughter, the very pretty and
highly accomplished Lady Jane Seymour.1 Under these
circumstances it may well be imagined that the Duke and
Duchess were not only furious when they learned that Lady
Jane Grey was already comfortably installed under their
brother's roof, without their knowledge and consent, but
firmly resolved that the young lady should see as little of her
cousin the King as possible.

Brother Thomas had yet a greater surprise and vexation
in store for Somerset and his Duchess, and even for King
Edward vi himself, than the matter of the wardship of Lady
Jane Grey. He was, if the truth is to be honestly told, about
the most extraordinary scamp of his time. Physically he
eclipsed his elder brother, the Protector, himself considered
a very handsome man. In addition to a fine figure, Thomas
possessed beautiful features, just escaping the long thin nose
which characterised his brother's face and ruined Queen
Jane's pretensions to beauty. He was dark, with a full
beard, a ruddy complexion, and full brown eyes. In a word,
a very fine fellow indeed, and exceedingly attractive to the
fair sex, who found it hard to resist his blandishments, a
cruel fact of which he was apt to boast. He danced to
perfection, was first in all sports, could turn pretty verses
when it suited him — and even godly ones, on occasion. His
love of dress was proverbial, and in that brilliant Court of
Henry vm Sir Thomas Seymour never failed to hold his
own for extravagance and magnificence. Like his brother
Somerset, he could be kindly when it suited his purpose, and
liberal enough to his inferiors when he desired to create a
good impression. He seems to have even been a dutiful
son, for, as we have said, his mother lived with him to
the end of his life, and he spoke well of her.

These comparative virtues were outweighted by his evil
qualities, for not even in that age of rascality and of wicked-
ness in high places did there exist a greater ruffian than this

1 When this proposal was eventually made to the boy- King, he was highly
indignant, and remarks in his Journal that it " was his intention to choose for
his Queen a foreign princess well stuffed and jewelled " — meaning that his
bride should be endowed with a suitable dower and a regal wardrobe.

Lady Jane Seymour died early in the reign of Elizabeth, one of whose
maids-of-honour she was, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 121

seemingly polished gentleman. Thomas was one of those
men who are born without a conscience.1 Henry vui had not
long been dead and the elder Seymour scarcely proclaimed
Protector of the Realm when Sudeley began to realise that
his own part at the Court of his nephew, Edward vi, must be
quite secondary unless he could forthwith contract some
royal alliance and thereby make his position equal to his
brother's. So it fell out that, before the late King's body
was cold, Thomas Seymour had made up his mind to marry
one of the royal princesses ; and ere it was buried he had
offered his hand to the elder of the King's widows, Anne of
Cleves. That cautious Princess promptly refused the dubious
proposal, preferring her independence and present comfort
to the probable sacrifice of a handsome income paid by the
State for the poor pleasure of espousing a cadet of the house
of Seymour. Nothing daunted by this refusal, the undismayed
suitor aimed higher yet, and offered his hand and heart to
Princess Mary, who thanked him, in a courteous letter, for
the honour he paid her, and assured him that she had not
the slightest intention of changing her state, especially so
soon after her father's death. Baffled again, my Lord of
Sudeley now addressed himself to the youthful Princess
Elizabeth, who, according to Leti, answered him in a most
becoming manner, reminding him that her father was just
dead, and that it would ill become her to think of marriage
at such a moment or for at least two years after so sad an
event. She had not, she said, had time to enjoy her maiden-
hood, and wished to do so for that period at least, before
embarking on the stormy seas of matrimony. Elizabeth's
letter, if she really wrote it, — one can never quite trust Leti,
though he lived near enough to the time to have access to
papers and documents long since destroyed, — was a model of
finesse and good taste.

The rejected, but undejected, Seymour now turned his
attention to his old love, Katherine Parr, whom, as we
know, he first courted when she became the widow of
Lord Latimer. He must have been a good deal in her

1 Hayward (Life of Edward VI) describes Sudeley as " fierce in courage,
courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat
empty in matter " (1).

122 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

company in the last months of King Henry's life, and
on her own admission she had not lost any of her old
love for him ; for in a letter, written presumably within
a fortnight of the late King's death, she says, ' I would
not have you think that this, mine honest good will
towards you to proceed from any sudden motion of passion ;
for, as truly as God is God, my mind was fully bent the
other time I was at liberty [that is, after the death of Lord
Latimer], to marry you before any man I know. How-
beit God withstood my will therein most vehemently for
a time, and through His grace and goodness made that
possible which seemed to me most impossible ; that was,
made me renounce utterly mine own will and follow His most
willingly. It were long to write all the processes of this
matter. If I live, I shall declare it to you myself. I can
say nothing, but as my Lady of Suffolk l saith, ' God is a
wonderful man.' In March, after Henry's death, the Queen
removed to Chelsea Manor, a mansion which Henry had built
as a nursery for his children and settled on her as a dower-
house. Princess Elizabeth had joined her within a few days
for the purpose of finishing her education under the auspices
of the learned Queen. At the very time, therefore, that
Seymour was intriguing to secure possession of Lady Jane
Grey, he was clandestinely spending his evenings with
Katherine Parr either at Whitehall or, later, when she
finally removed with her household to Chelsea, at the Manor
House, coming there by a lane that led from the Bishop
of London's house up a path which, until a few years ago,
was still in existence and associated by tradition with the
names of Katherine Parr and Thomas Seymour. Some
authorities assert that the two were secretly married about
three weeks after the King's death, and that the Lord Admiral
prolonged his visits, not leaving his wife till dawn, when she
would let him out by the garden wicket, and then steal back
to her room unobserved (at least, so she hoped).2 According

1 The Queen alludes here not, as generally supposed, to the Lady Frances
Brandon, but to her stepmother, the witty Duchess Katherine, who uses this
curious expression in one of her letters.

2 This belief received confirmation in a letter of " Kateryn the Quene "
to the Lord Admiral in which she says, " When it shall be your pleasure to
repair hither, ye must take some pains to come early in the morning, that

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER

to Edward vi's Journal, however, the marriage was not
officially celebrated until May, and it was certainly not made
public before the end of June 1547. The intrigues of Lord
Thomas to induce the young King, his nephew, to sanction
his marriage with his stepmother began by his poisoning
the King's mind against his brother Somerset, and, taking
advantage of the Protector's absence in Scotland, he did
all in his power to make himself agreeable to Edward vi by
lending him considerable sums of money. Somerset kept
the royal lad very short of petty cash, so that at times he
had none to distribute to such folk as strolling musicians,
servants who brought him presents from his relatives, and
other persons who had obliged him. Seymour, who had
isolated the King, employed a man named Fowler as inter-
mediary between himself and Edward.1 Flattered and
cajoled by his uncle Thomas and well disposed by his
natural affection to his stepmother, the poor little King
was at length induced to write a letter advising the Lord
Admiral to marry the Queen-Dowager. This extraordinary
missive, which is still extant, was penned a few days after
Edward had received a very curious epistle from his step-
mother, then on a visit to him at St. James's Palace, in which
she had dilated upon her extraordinary affection for the
memory of his late father. The letter was written in
Latin, and the young King's answer was in the same dead
language. The King's letter is full of advice, which comes

ye may be gone again by seven o'clock ; and so I suppose ye may come
hither without suspect. I pray you let me have knowledge over-night at what
hour ye will come, that your portress [i.e. herself] may wait at the gate of the
fields for you." This letter is signed, " By her that is and shall be, your
humble, true, and loving wife during her life." This was written from
Chelsea Manor House after Henry vm's death.

1 From one of Fowler's letters to Sudeley we learn that " His Highness
the King is not half a quarter of an hour by himself," and that " in his secret
leisure His Grace hath written his commendations to the Queen's Grace and
to your lordship [Sudeley]." Moreover, he says that the King intends to
write letters " whenever he can do so, that is, when there is no supervision
kept over his actions." Enclosed in this letter from Fowler were two notes
written in Edward's childish hand on torn scraps of paper. The first is a
request for money : " My Lord, send me per Latimer [another go-between]
as much as ye think good, and deliver it to Fowler. — EDWARD." On the
second is written : " My Lord, I thank you and pray you have me commended
to the Queen."

±24 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

oddly from a lad not yet ten to a woman verging upon forty.
He hopes to do what is acceptable in her sight because of,
firstly, ' ' the great love you bear my father the King, of most
noble memory ; then your good-will towards me ; and lastly,
your godliness, and knowledge and learning in the Scriptures.
Proceed, therefore, in your good course ; continue to love
my father, and to show the same great kindness to me which
I have ever perceived in you. Cease not to love and read
the Scriptures, but persevere in always reading them ; for
in the first you show the duty of a good wife and a good
subject, and in the second, the warmth of your friendship,
and in the third, your piety to God." l Very soon after
writing this letter he wrote another to Her Majesty, this
time in English, in which he assured her that, far from being
vexed with her for marrying his uncle, he promised to aid
her in the hour of need, should the alliance prove offensive
to those who were in power.

In June the marriage was made public. The indignation
of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset knew no bounds. They
had been greatly angered over the matter of Lady Jane Grey,
but no words could express their exasperation at what they
were pleased to consider their brother's fresh exhibition of
' indecency and wickedness." The first practical expression
of their wrath was the sequestration of the jewels the Queen
had left behind at Whitehall after King Henry's death. She
had applied for them several times, and now wrote in a
more determined strain ; only, however, to receive a haughty
refusal and the startling information that the jewels belonged
to the Crown, whereas they really were a personal gift to her
from the King at the time of the visit of the French Envoy
M. d'Annebault. These jewels were never returned to
Katherine Parr — a matter which roused the Lord Admiral's
wrath to a culminating pitch. " My brother/' he said, " is
wondrous hot in helping every man to his right save me. He
maketh a great matter to let me have the Queen's jewels, which
you see by the whole opinion of the lawyers ought to belong
to me, and all under pretence that he would not the King
should lose so much, as if it were a loss to the King to let me
have mine own ! '

1 Strype's Memoirs, vol. ii. part i. p. 59. z See the State Papers.

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 125

Then came another unpleasant incident, in the course of
which the Queen-Dowager was subjected to unfair treatment
on account of her marriage. Somerset determined to force
her to lease her favourite manor of Fausterne to a friend of
his named Long. Katherine refused point-blank to receive
this gentleman as a tenant, especially at a ridiculously low
rent, and in a letter to her husband expressed her scornful
indignation at the ' large ' offer for Fausterne which his
brother had made her. Yet in the end she was obliged to
accept Somerset's terms. Fausterne passed from her hands
into those of Long, and was never restored to her.

It is not surprising that she felt a little " warm/' as she
expresses it, at the manner in which the Somersets handled
her. Her position had been recognised by the King and
Parliament, and yet her brother-in-law and his wife refused
to acknowledge her right to precedence : the Duchess of
Somerset declared that she was herself as good as Queen, since
she was the consort of the King's Protector, " who was
virtually the head of the Realm/1 Whenever Katherine
went to Court, if the Duchess of Somerset chanced to be
present, there was sure to be trouble. According to Lloyd,
the Duchess not only refused to bear up the Queen's train, but
actually jostled her so as to pass first. " So that what be-
tween the train of the Queen, and the long gown of the Duchess,
they raised so much dust at Court, as at last put out the eyes
of both their husbands, and caused their executions." Heylin
says the Duchess was accustomed to inveigh against her
royal sister-in-law in her coarsest manner. " Did not King
Henry vm marry Katherine Parr in his doting days, when he
had brought himself so low by his lust and cruelty that no
lady that stood on her honour would venture on him ? And
shall I now give place to her who in her former estate was
but Latimer's widow, and is now fain to cast herself for sup-
port on a younger brother ? If master admiral teach his
wife no better manners, I am she that will."

Historians who, for political and religious purposes, have
exaggerated the virtue and accomplishments of Edward vi,
and endowed Lady Jane Grey with charms and gifts which
that modest young lady never possessed, have woven a legend
around her and Edward vi which would lead the uninitiated

126 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

to believe that she was the constant sharer of his juvenile
tasks and pastimes, whereas in reality it was only in the last
few months of his life that she became in the least prominent
at his Court. Immediately after his birth and the death of
his mother Prince Edward was handed over to the care of
Lady Brian,1 formerly governess to his two sisters, by whom
she was greatly beloved and respected, and also to that of his
dry nurse, Mrs. Sybilla Penn.2 His infancy was spent at
Chelsea Manor House and at the country seats of Ampthill
and Oatlands. In these places he was frequently visited by
his sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and presumably also by his
little cousins of the house of Grey ; but when he attained his
sixth year, in accordance with the peculiar views of his father
on the subject of education, all female influence was with-

1 This lady was a daughter of Humphrey Bouchier, Lord Berners, and
wife of Sir Thomas Bryan or Brian. She was the " my lady maistress " of
Princess Mary, whose Privy Purse Expenses contain several items to her
credit — as in January 1537 : " Item paid for a broach and a frontlet and
the same given to my lady maistress, xxxviij." Lady Bryan or Brian was
for a time governess to Princess Elizabeth as well as to Prince Edward. She
was created a Baroness in her own right, but does not appear from her corre-
spondence and petitions to have had sufficient income to support the
dignity of a peeress. This able lady died on 2Oth August 1551 at Leyton, in
Essex. (See Strype's Appendix to Stowe's Survey of London for 1720, vol. ii.
p. 114.)

2 Mrs. Sybel or Sybilla Penn, dry nurse to Edward vi, was not, as erroneously
stated by Gough Nichols in his Literary Remains of Edward VI, the daughter
of Sir Hugh Pagenham or the wife of John Penne, barber-surgeon to Henry
viii, but the daughter of William Hampton of Dodyngton, Buckinghamshire,
and owed her appointment as dry nurse and foster-mother to the future
King to the good offices of Sir William Sydney. She married Mr. David
Penn, and continued at Court after the death of Edward, being very kindly
treated by both Mary and Elizabeth. She had an apartment in Hampton
Court Palace, and died there in 1562 of the smallpox, at the same time that
Elizabeth herself was attacked by that dreadful malady. She is buried in
Hampton Church, and is said to haunt the palace because her bones were
disturbed when the position of her. monument was altered many years ago
(1820). Mrs. Penn's spirit was greatly displeased at this removal, and forth-
with took to haunting the palace she had inhabited for so many years. Her
ghost has been seen ascending the stairs as recently as 1896, when she nearly
scared the attendant out of his wits. The well-known sketch by Holbein
signed " Mother Jack " is supposed to be a portrait of this lady, but Sir
Richard Holmes, the late learned Librarian at Windsor Castle, disputes
this opinion, and attributes another portrait to her. (See Ernest Law's
History of Hampton Court Palace. George Bell & Sons. Tudor Period, p. 197
et seq.)

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 127

drawn from him, although Lady Brian continued to preside
over his household. A number of very young noblemen
were selected to be his constant companions and playfellows.
Among them were his cousins, the two sons of Brandon, Duke
of Suffolk ; the Lord Edward Seymour, afterwards Earl of
Hertford ; and his great friend, the one being he seems to
have really loved, young Barnaby Fitzpatrick, sometimes
mentioned by the Swiss Reformers as Earl of Ireland.1 His
principal tutors were the extremely Protestant Dr. Richard
Cox, who became Dean of Westminster in 1549 and subse-
quently, in Elizabeth's reign, Bishop of Ely ; the learned Sir
John Cheke,2 Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and his
first schoolmaster ; Sir Anthony Cooke ; M. Jean Bellemain,
his French master ; and Roger Ascham, who taught him
caligraphy. He also received lessons in the art of writing in
the Italian or Roman type, which most nearly resembles the
modern, from Dr. Croke, who had taught this art at an earlier
period to the young Duke of Richmond and Queen Katherine
Parr. Dr. Christopher Tye was his music master ; and Philip

1 Edward's friend and companion, Barnaby Fitzpatrick, was the eldest
son of the Irish chieftain, Barnaby Gill Patrick, Lord of Upper Ossory, who
made his submission to the King in 1537, and was created a Baron by his old
title in 1 541 . Barnaby's mother was the widow of Thomas Fitzgerald, a grand-
son of the Earl of Desmond. Barnaby, who was brought up with Edward,
was sent for a year's education to the French Court : whilst there he received
many letters from his royal friend. On his return to England Barnaby
Fitzpatrick continued to enjoy the King's favour. After Edward's death he
entered the service of Mary and went to fight in Scotland. Under Elizabeth,
Barnaby, who had by this time become Baron of Upper Ossory, fought for
the Queen in Ireland, and actually slew Oge O Moarda, or Rory O'More, one
of the great rebels of the day. Barnaby Fitzpatrick died in 1581 without
issue, and was succeeded by his brother, Florence, whose descendants enjoyed
the title of Upper Ossory until the extinction of the peerage in 1818. (See
for further particulars of his career John Gough Nichols' Literary Remains of
Edward VI, p. 64. Printed for the Roxburgh Club.)

2 Sir John Cheke was an early forerunner of President Roosevelt, for not
only did he reform the pronunciation of Greek, but he actually instituted a
reform of English orthography. His suggestions for the simplification of
our writing were very curious and worth detailing. Firstly, there was to be
no e at the end of words, so he wrote excus, giv, hav, and so on. Secondly,
when a is sounded long, he would have had it doubled, as maad, straat
(made, straight), etc. Thirdly, he replaced y by i, as mi, sai, awai, for my, say,
away ! The rest of the language was phoneticised, as britil (brittle), frute
(fruit), and so on. He translated part of the Bible into his new English, a
copy of which is now at Cambridge.

128 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Van Wylder taught him to play upon his father's favourite
instrument, the lute. Lady Jane was certainly not among
his circle of intimate associates, which did not even include
his two sisters, although the Lady Mary was at one time
officially appointed his guardian, and Elizabeth passed the
greater part of the year 1546 with him at Hatfield. So little
intercourse had he with his sisters after his accession to the
throne that he actually only met Princess Mary three times,
and Elizabeth five. As to Lady Jane, he scarcely ever saw
her, unless indeed she spent a few days with him at Whitehall
some weeks before his death. As soon as the Somersets were
thoroughly acquainted with the true motive that had induced
the Dorsets to part with their daughter, they took every
precaution to prevent its accomplishment ; and so little was
the Lady Jane seen at the Court of King Edward that she is
only once casually mentioned by that monarch in his Journal
as being present at the great functions arranged in 1550 in
honour of the Dowager of Scotland when she passed through
London on her way to her northern dominions ; and this was
at the time that Northumberland was in favour and Somerset
in disgrace.

On Thursday, i8th February 1547, the temporal Lords
assembled at the Tower in their robes of estate to witness a
solemn and significant ceremony. The young King having
ascended his throne, and the officials of his Court taken their
allotted positions about him, the doors were thrown open,
and Edward Seymour, Lord Protector and Earl of Hertford,
was led from the Council Chamber and conducted before
His Majesty. Garter bore his letters-patent, the Earl of
Derby his mantle, the Earl of Shrewsbury his rod of gold ;
my Lord Oxford carried his cap of estate and coronet. The
Lord of Arundel bore the sword, and walked immediately
before the Protector, who was supported by the young Duke
of Suffolk and the Marquis of Dorset. After the usual
ceremonies, Hertford knelt and was invested by his royal
nephew, who put on the mantle, girded on the sword, placed
the coronet upon his uncle's head, and delivered him his
rod of gold. Then the trumpets sounded, and the Herald
proclaimed Edward Seymour to be no longer Earl of Hertford,
but now and hereafter Duke of Somerset.

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 129

After the Protector came the Lord William Parr, Earl
of Essex, brother to the Queen-Dowager, who was created
Marquis of Northampton and of Essex. Then appeared
John Dudley, Lord de Lisle, who had not assumed full im-
portance at that time, but who was presently to become
the protagonist of the ominous tragedy already in preparation.
The future father-in-law of Lady Jane Grey, and the Nemesis
of Somerset, was a man of splendid presence, exceedingly
tall, with regular and majestic features, rendered even more
striking by his long beard and sweeping moustache. He
entered led by the Earls of Derby and Oxford, and was
presently created Earl of Warwick. Dudley was followed
by Wriothesley, who was raised to the peerage as Earl of
Southampton.1 Immediately after him came the majestic
Sir Thomas Seymour, whom the King created Baron Seymour
of Sudeley, at the same time delivering to him his patent
as Lord High-Admiral of England. Sir Richard Rich, Sir
John Sheffield, and Sir William Willoughby followed in suc-
cession and were created barons by the same names they
had borne as knights. When the elaborate ceremony was
over, a grand banquet, at which the King was not present,
was offered to the new peers in the Tower. His Majesty,
who was far from strong, had fainted from fatigue, and no
wonder ! — the function had lasted from seven in the morning
till nearly midday !

In the evening of the same day (i8th February) three
of the handsomest men of the English Court — Somerset,
Sudeley, and Warwick — rode with a small escort from
Whitehall through the Strand to Baynard's Castle, the
residence of Sir William Herbert, Queen Katherine's brother-
in-law, one of the wealthiest men in England, served by not

1 Wriothesley having now become Earl of Southampton, evidently hoped
to represent for some time in the Privy Council the old faith — i.e. schis-
matic— as it had been under Henry vin, probably with the view of eventu-
ally modifying it into the ancient Roman Catholicism which had been the
religion of his youth. But as he showed the extent of his ambition by putting
the Great Seal into commission without the authority of his colleagues, he
offended Somerset and gave him the opportunity of getting a dangerous com-
petitor out of the way by arresting Wriothesley on a vague charge of treason
and ordering him to confine himself to his own house in the Strand. With
the same intention of " clearing the board," the Protector had Winchester
also arrested and thrown into the Tower.

130 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

less than a thousand men, who wore his liveries. Here these
three gentlemen were hospitably entertained at supper.
There was much to talk over, and the party, elated by the
honours so recently showered upon its members and heated
by Herbert's good wine, became ' right merry " — little
dreaming that within two years' time Somerset would
condemn his own brother Thomas to death, and that a few
months later Warwick, as Duke of Northumberland, would
sign the death-warrant of Somerset, only to be beheaded
in his turn for high treason a year or so later by Queen
Mary's command. The Marquis of Dorset may have been
of the company, and his presence would add an addi-
tional note of tragic significance — for Warwick was to become
the direct cause of the deaths both of Lady Jane and of her
father !

King Edward, in the meantime, remained at the Tower
until his official progress thence to Westminster for his
coronation. Although Somerset and his brother were in
office, and the Marquis of Dorset in great favour with
them, it is not probable that his cousin, the Lady Frances,
or her daughters were brought to see him. His boyish
Majesty was left, according to custom, in complete isola-
tion, seen and influenced alone by his uncles, the Seymours,
and by his numerous tutors (for even after his accession his
lessons were continued with curious punctuality), so that,
what with State functions and his education, the unfor-
tunate lad had very little or no time for physical exercise
or recreation.

On iQth February His Majesty rode from the Tower in
the usual procession to Westminster before the coronation
which formed a part of our regal ceremonial until the reign
of James i, when it was omitted on account of the plague.
Edward, garbed in silver, with a white velvet waistcoat
and a cloak slashed with Venetian silver brocade, embroidered
with pearls, cantered on a milk-white pony under a white
silk canopy edged with silver. On either side of him rode
his two uncles, the Lord Protector and the Lord High-Admiral,
whilst Cranmer, dumbly riding with the Emperor's Envoy,
went between him and the Venetian Ambassador. They
passed through streets gay with tapestry and cloth of gold ;

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 131

whilst at the Conduit in Cornhill white and red wine ran free
for the people to drink at their will, and children dressed as
angels sang a quaint greeting : —

"Hayle, Noble Edward, our Kynge and soveraigne,
Hayle, the cheffe comfort of your communaltye:
Hayle, redolent rose, whose sweetness to reteyne,
Ys unto us all such great comodity,
That earthly joy no more to us can be."

At the Standard in the Chepe an erection, " like unto a
tower," and hung with cloth of gold, was surmounted by
trumpeters, who, after a flourish, recited the following poetic (!)
effusion : —

"Ye children that are towardes, sing up and downe,
And never play the cowardes to him that weareth the

crowne,

But always doo your care his pleasure to fulfyll,
Then shall you keep right sure the honour of England still.
Sing up heart, sing up heart,

Sing no more downe,
But joy hi King Edward that wereth the crowne."

Outside the Metropolitan Cathedral there was an
acrobatic display : " An argosine [Ragusan] came from
the batilment of Saint Poule's Church, upon a cable, beyng
made faste to an anker at the deane's doore, Hying uppon
his breaste, aidyng himself neither with hande nor foote,
and after ascended to the middes [middle] of the same cable,
and tumbled and plaied many pretie toies [tricks], wherat
the Kyng and other of the peres and nobles of the realme
laughed hartely." In Fleet Street the King was met by
Faith, Justice, and Truth, the first holding a Bible con-
spicuously in her hands : each of these damsels recited a
long poem in His Majesty's honour. Temple Bar having been

' new painted in dyvers colours," was garnished with cloth
of arras and standards and flags, and seven French trumpeters

' blew sweetly ' to the singing of an anthem by a group of
children. The customary banquet was served in the Great
Hall, Westminster, and was attended by Archbishop Cranmer,
most of the bishops, the ambassadors, and envoys, the
nobility, the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs.

132 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

King Edward stayed at Westminster Palace until the
coronation, which took place on the following Sunday in
Westminster Abbey. On account of the King's poor health,
the service was slightly abridged, otherwise the old Catholic
form was throughout adhered to ; for though Qranmer preached
a sermon in refutation of Petrine claims and urged the young
monarch to abolish " idolatry," he celebrated High Mass, and
the incongruous function concluded with the King's " offering/1
as had always been done in Catholic times, at St. Edward's
shrine ! After the coronation there were public jousts and
tournaments ; and the King and Court attended at Black-
friars those very performances by the " players ' which had
roused the ire of Bishop Gardiner and had been postponed
at his request.1 We may be certain that the Marchioness
of Dorset witnessed the procession and coronation, together
with her two elder daughters, Jane and Katherine, from some
place of vantage set apart for the ladies of the royal
family, who, however, took no active part in either the pro-
cession or the actual ceremony, it not being customary for
ladies to be officially present at the coronation of a bachelor
King.

Notwithstanding that Edward vi is always connected in

1 There is a very minute account of Edward vi's coronation (from an MS.
at the College of Arms) in Nichols' Literary Remains of Edward VI. The
Spanish Chronicle also gives a curious description of it, where the writer says
(p. 153 et seq.) that at the cross in Cheapside there was a triumphal arch
" made to look like the sky," whence descended a boy " like an angel," who
gave the King a purse containing ^1000, which His Majesty handed over to
the captain of the guard, much to the astonishment of the people ; the
chronicler significantly adds that the boy-King " had not the strength " to
carry this weighty gift. The way from the Abbey to Westminster Hall was
spread with " fine cloth " — " at least twenty lengths " — and " the moment
the King passed these cloths disappeared, for whoever could cut a piece off
took it for himself." The Spaniard makes the curious mistake of saying
that Henry vin's death was not made known to the public until after Edward's
coronation. (The coronation to which the Chronicler referred was that called
the first coronation, which took place in the Tower on the 3ist January.
The King's death was not generally known until then. — M. H.)

A large contemporary picture of Edward vi's coronation procession was
destroyed in a fire at Cowdray House (the home of the Montagu family) in
J793 '• Dut in the engraving of it made previously by the Society of
Antiquaries we perceive a man bearing a cross leading the troop of knights,
etc., preceding the King — another proof of the persistence of the old religious

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 133

the popular mind with Protestantism, and notwithstanding
Cranmer's attack on " Popery " at the coronation, for quite
eighteen months, if not two years, after Henry vm's death
the Church in England remained exactly as he left it. True it
is, that the first Book of Common Prayer was issued in 1548,
but, on the other hand, Mass was said daily in the Royal Chapel
(Low Mass every day and High Mass on festivals) for the
first two or three years of Edward's reign ; an MS. account
book of ' the Treasurer of the Chamber ' in the Trevelyan
Papers reveals the fact that the boy-King himself heard Mass
almost daily until 1549. There is every reason to believe that
Mass continued to be said or sung in the parish churches also
until the same year ; certainly the old feasts were still observed
for the first two years of King Edward's reign, especially in
London. These feasts were much more numerous than those
retained by the Established Church ; there were the first three
days in Easter Week, Corpus Christi, — when there was the
usual procession with the Host through the streets, — the
" Days " of St. John, SS. Peter and Paul, St. Mary Magdalen,
St. James the Apostle, the Annunciation, the Nativity, the
Conception, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
All Hallows' Day, All Souls' Day, St. Edward Confessor,
Christmas Day, and the three following holy-days. High
Mass of the Holy Ghost was said in St. Stephen's Chapel
when Parliament met for the first time after Henry's death,
the King and both Houses attending in State. All the same,
things ecclesiastical were not as they used to be ; there was in
different churches much diversity in the matter of details —
one priest would use incense, another not, and so on. In 1548,
however, Compline was sung in English and the Litany of the
Saints also in the vernacular.

So soon as the news that King Henry was dead was
authenticated abroad, an army of foreign Reformers — Swiss,
German, French, and Italian — poured into England, as a
secure refuge from the persecution they endured in their
respective countries. These worthies held the most varied
opinions, some even casting doubt on the Divinity of Christ,
and the Lutherans hating the Calvinists as cordially as they
both detested the Papists. The Londoners in general, who,
when not Catholics, were mostly schismatics and ever jealous

134 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

of foreigners, did not relish this sudden invasion ; but the
leaders of politics and religion in England welcomed the
Reformers with open arms, even overlooking their doctrinal
shortcomings for the sake of their hatred of ' the Scarlet
Lady." Some of them — for instance, Bucer, Peter Martyr,
and perhaps Paul Fagius — were awarded chairs at the Uni-
versities ; whilst others, such as John ab Ulmis, Conrad
Pellican, Oswald Geisshaiisler (better known as Myconius),
Bullinger, Martin Micronius, Bartholomew Traheron, John
Stumphius, Christopher Froschover, Bernardine Ochinus, Peter
Bizarro of Perugia,1 etc., were received into the houses of
some of the aristocracy to teach their children ' the new
learning." The Marquis of Dorset, as already noted, wel-
comed these foreign Reformers with enthusiasm, and we
shall presently learn more concerning his relations with them.
He did not confine his intercourse to a mere empty display of
hospitality, but kept up a regular correspondence with many
of them after their return to their homes. Letter-writing
seems, indeed, to have been a passion with the Reformers,
and their voluminous correspondence, arranged, translated, and
published by the Parker Society,2 throws much valuable light
on their private characters, their politics, and their singular
theological opinions. It is mostly addressed to their brethren
in Basle, Zurich, Geneva, and Strasburg, or to their English
patrons. According to some authorities, there were from ten
to twenty thousand foreign adherents of the " new learning '
— or as we might still better say, new learnings, so many and
diverse were their opinions — in England during Edward vi's
reign, but the former figure is the more likely to be correct.
Very many of these learned men scattered themselves abroad
again when the Catholic reaction set in under Mary ; but
doubtless a few remained, whose descendants to this day

1 Of this man Strype -says : " He was entertained here [England] divers
years with the Earl of Bedford ; and expecting preferment here, failing of it,
he departed and lived abroad." This certainly does not put Master Peter's
reason for coming to this country in quite such a good light as his description
of himself as "an exile from Italy ... by reason of his confession of the
doctrine of the Gospel." See Strype's Annals, iii. i. 660.

2 Original Letters relative to the English Reformation, written during the
Reigns of King Henry VIII, etc. Edited for the Parker Society by the Rev.
Hastings Robinson, D.D., F.S.A. Cambridge, 1847. They are generally
called "The Zurich Letters."

THE LADY JANE AND THE QUEEN-DOWAGER 135

worship in the figlise Reform6e Francaise, 1'figlise Protestante
Suisse, the Dutch Church, and in the other foreign Protestant
churches which are sprinkled over the metropolis, but whose
congregations were materially increased after the Revocation
of the Edict of Nantes.

CHAPTER IX

THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL

AT the time of the much-discussed clandestine
marriage between Thomas Seymour and Katherine
Parr, the Princess Elizabeth was a precocious girl
of fifteen, not beautiful, but tall for her age, well developed,
and of elegant figure. The aquiline features, which age was
to harshen, were softened at this early period by the roundness
of youth ; and the brilliant complexion stood in no need
of the artificial assistance to which the Queen so freely
resorted in her later life. The splendid auburn hair — its
colour may have owed something to a touch of henna —
considerably heightened charms not the least striking of which
were a pair of small but black and penetrating eyes, inherited
from her mother, Anne Boleyn.1 Unmindful of the fact that
a girl of fifteen is not precisely a baby, the Queen had en-
couraged the Admiral to romp with " our Eliza ' in the
garden and even in her bedroom. Seymour was notoriously
devoid of any sense of delicacy or chivalry, and there can
be very little doubt that the object of his play with his
illustrious stepdaughter was to kindle a passion which might
serve his purpose in case the Queen, already advancing in
pregnancy, should die in childbirth — a not improbable
contingency, considering her age and the fact that she had
never borne a child before. At a much later date Mrs. Ashley,
the Princess's governess, deposed as follows before the Privy

1 Anne Boleyn was very dark. Froude mentions her " blonde tresses "
but they were really raven black ; her eyes were black and velvety. Eliza-
beth's hair may have been black, but the habit of dyeing the hair golden and
Venice red was universal, even for children, at this period. The magnificent
portrait by Lucas de Heere at Hampton Court represents the young Queen
with dark hair and eyes.

136

THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL 137

Council : ' At Chelsea Manor,1 after my Lord Thomas
Seymour was married to the Queen, he would come many
mornings into the said Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she
was ready, and sometimes before she did rise, and strike
her familiarly on the back, and so go forth to his chamber,
and sometimes go through to her maidens and play with them.
And if the Princess were in bed, he would put open the
curtains and bid her good morrow, and she would go further
in the bed. And one morning he tried to kiss the Princess
in the bed and I was there, and bade him go away for shame.
At Hanworth, for two mornings, the Queen was with him, and
they both tickled my Lady Elizabeth in her bed. Another
time, at Hanworth, he romped with her in the garden, and
cut her gown, being of black silk, into a hundred pieces ;
and when I chid Lady Elizabeth, she answered, ' She could
not strive with all, for the Queen held her while the Lord
Admiral cut the dress.' Another time, Lady Elizabeth

1 " Considerable confusion exists as to the identity of some of these
historical houses. Messrs. Wheatley and Cunningham, in their most useful
London Past and Present, seem to think that Sir Thomas More resided in
Chelsea Manor before Katherine Parr came to live there. After the execution
of More his estate at Chelsea was confiscated by Henry vm and given to the
Marquess of Winchester. Chelsea New Manor, which was inhabited by
Katherine Parr and others, — and, under the Commonwealth, by Bulstrode
Whitelock, — came into the hands of the Duke of Buckingham, who sold it
to the Duke of Beaufort (hence Beaufort Street). It was purchased in 1738
by Sir Hans Sloane, who pulled it down in 1740. There is, moreover, local tra-
dition, and even historical evidence, that there were two distinct manors at
Chelsea in the first half of the sixteenth century — Chelsea New Manor, and
Chelsea Old Manor. Dr. King, in his MS. account of Chelsea, says that the
' old manor-house stood near the church.' This is the house associated with
the deaths of Anne of Cleves and of the old Duchess of Northumberland. He
mentions another house, Chelsea New Manor, standing on that part of Cheyne
Walk which adjoins Winchester House, and extends as far as ' Don Saltero's
coffee house.' ' This house was built by Henry vm as a nursery for his children,
and here Katherine Parr lived.' A picture of it in Faulkner's Chelsea shows it
not unlike St. James's Palace. Small turrets communicate with the chimneys ;
the windows are long and high, and one of them has a Tudor arch on top. On
the site of the present Durham House, Durham Terrace, the town residence
of Sir Bruce and Lady Seton, there stood, not so many years ago, an ancient
wainscoted house with a fine staircase, rather mysteriously connected by
report with Jane Grey, who, according to a local tradition, lived here before
she was made queen. In the beginning of the century this house was made
a fashionable school for young ladies, but was pulled down in 1860 to make
room for the present mansion." — Mr. Richard Davey's Pageant of London,
vol. i. p. 379.

138 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

heard the master-key unlock, and knowing my Lord Admiral
would come in, ran out of her bed to her maidens, and then
went behind the curtains of her bed and my Lord Admiral
tarried a long while, in hopes she would come out." Upon
Mrs. Ashley's begging the Admiral to be more circumspect,
because his tomfooleries were giving the Princess a bad
reputation, he answered, with an oath, ' ' I will tell my Lord
Protector how I am slandered ; and I will not leave off, for I
mean no evil." " At Seymour Place," continues Mrs. Ashley,
' when the Queen slept there, he did use awhile to come up
every morning in his night-gown and slippers. When he
found Lady Elizabeth up and at her book, then he would look
in at the gallery-door, and bid her good morrow and so go on
his way ; and I did tell my Lord it was an unseemly sight
to see a man so little dressed in a maiden's chamber, with
which he was angry, but left it. At Han worth, the Queen
did tell me ' that my Lord Admiral looked in at the gallery-
window, and saw my Lady Elizabeth with her arms about
a man's neck.' I did question my Lady Elizabeth about it,
which she denied, weeping, and bade us ' ax all her women if
there were any man who came to her, excepting Grindal.'
[This gentleman was her tutor.] Howbeit, methought the
Queen, being jealous, did feign this story, to the intent that
I might take more heed to the proceedings of Lady Elizabeth
and the Lord Admiral." J Mr. Ashley, husband of the above
deponent, and also in Princess Elizabeth's service, concurred
in his wife's opinion that the Admiral was going too far, and
that the Princess was " inclined ' towards him, for whenever
the Admiral was mentioned ' ' she was wont to blush to her
hair-roots." That Elizabeth herself was alarmed is proved
by the fact that she told Parry, her cofferer, " that she feared
the Admiral loved her but too well, and that the Queen was
jealous of them both ; and that Her Majesty, suspecting
the frequent access of the Admiral to her, came upon them
suddenly when they were alone, he having her in his arms.
The Queen was greatly offended, and reproved Mrs. Ashlei
very sharply for her neglect of duty in permitting the
Princess to fall into such reprehensible freedom of behaviour."
The scandalous conduct of her husband at last roused no1

1 Deposition of Mrs. Ashley in the Hatfield State Papers.

THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL 139

only the jealousy but the apprehensions of Queen Katherine.
She feared some misfortune might befall the Princess at her
tender age, and felt that in such a case the blame very
naturally, and not unjustly, would be cast on her ; and
she would be generally regarded as the author of her step-
daughter's ruin. Very quietly, therefore, Her Majesty sug-
gested the departure of the Princess, who was forthwith sent
back to Hat field, attended by her governess and servants.
Elizabeth seems to have borne her late hostess no ill-will on
account of this banishment, and a few months later we see
her affectionately concerned about Her Grace's health, and
greatly rejoiced at the news that she had been safely
delivered. Evidently a letter from the Admiral, received some
days before the event, had assured her the expected child
would be a boy, and it must have been on receiving this
expression of opinion that the Princess indited the following
quaint epistle to her stepmother : —

' Although Your Highness's letters be most joyful to me in
absence, yet, considering what pain it is for you to write, Your
Grace being so sickly, your commendations were enough in my
Lord's letter. I much rejoice at your health, with the well liking
of the country, with my humble thanks that Your Grace wished
me with you till I were weary of that country. Your Highness
were like to be cumbered, if I should not depart till I were
weary of being with you ; although it were the worst soil in the
world, your presence would make it pleasant. I cannot reprove
my Lord for not doing your commendations in his letter, for
he did it ; and although he had not, yet I will not complain
of him, for he shall be diligent to give me knowledge from
time to time how his busy child doth ; and if I were at his
birth, no doubt I would see him beaten, for the trouble he
hath put you to. Master Denny and my lady, with humble
thanks, prayeth most entirely for Your Grace, praying the
Almighty to send you a most lucky deliverance ; and my
mistress [Mrs. Ashley] wisheth no less, giving Your Highness
most humble thanks for her commendations. Written, with
very little leisure, this last day of July.- -Your humble
daughter, ELIZABETH "

The phrase, " If I were at his birth, no doubt I would

140 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

see him beaten, for the trouble he hath put you to," is as
quaint as any metaphor in Shakespeare. This letter was
dispatched some six weeks before the Queen's confinement.
About the same time Katherine received a friendly missive
from the Princess Mary, congratulating her on the rumour
she hears concerning her good condition, and assuring her
she will pray Almighty God to help her in her hour of hope and
danger.

The unpleasant rumours as to the behaviour of ' my
Lord Admiral ' ' and Elizabeth were soon well known all over
London, and caused much spiteful gossip. It was currently
reported that when the Princess left the Queen's house she had
betaken herself to some out-of-the-way dwelling at Hackney,
where a mysterious infant had been born.1 This story was so
generally believed that it had an echo even during the great
Queen's reign. In the twenty-first year of Elizabeth (1579), a
youth who appeared at Madrid asserted himself to be the
Queen's son by the Lord Admiral, and was accepted as
such by the Spanish King and Court. The Lord Admiral
certainly made a great impression on the young girl's heart,
for long after her accession, Elizabeth, very reticent, as a rule,
concerning events connected with her childhood and youth,
would, in the privacy of her closet, confide to the ladies she
admitted to her intimacy that " the Lord Admiral had been
the only man she had ever loved ; and the handsomest she
had ever seen."

Perhaps the departure of Princess Elizabeth left the Queen
more leisure to look after her other charge, the Lady Jane
Grey, who had been removed from Seymour Place to the
Manor House, Chelsea. Katherine, on account, it may be,

1 There are several versions of this story. For instance, Henry Clifford,
a retainer of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria, says, in his MS. Life of that lady
(London, Burns & Gates, 1887) that " In King Edward's time what passed
between the Lord Admiral, Sir Thomas Seymour, and her [Elizabeth] Dr.
Latimer preached in a sermon, and was a chief cause that the Parliament
condemned the Admiral. There was a bruit of a child born and miserably
destroyed, but could not be discovered whose it was ; only the report of the
midwife, who was brought from her house blindfold thither, and so returned,
saw nothing in the house while she was there, but candle light ; only she said,
it was the child of a very fair young lady. There was a muttering of the
Admiral and this lady, who was then between fifteen and sixteen years of
age."

THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL 141

of the restlessness sometimes observed in ladies in her condi-
tion, moved about a great deal during this period. Some-
times she addresses her letters from Hanworth, sometimes
from Oatlands. Then, as political events rendered her hus-
band's position less and less secure, she determined to retire
to Sudeley Castle, Seymour's lately acquired seat in Gloucester-
shire, and to lie-in there. The journey from Hanworth must
have been a troublesome one for a woman in her state of
health. She travelled with her husband, Lady Jane Grey,1
Lady Tyrwhitt, six other ladies, and two chaplains. She
herself was in a waggon, comfortably lined and cushioned,
no doubt, and with every possible precaution to ensure her
comfort, but the roads were atrocious, and the journey lasted
six days. Yet the weary traveller's patience must have been
amply rewarded, for Sudeley Castle in those days was one
of the most splendid houses in England — a gem of Gothic
architecture, furnished in the most sumptuous style. The
Queen's apartments had been fitted up with as much magnifi-
cence as she would have enjoyed if she had still been Queen-
Consort of England and about to present the realm with
an expected heir. Her bedchamber was hung with costly
tapestry, specified, in an inventory still preserved at Sudeley,
as consisting of " six fair pieces of hangings illustrating the
history of the Nymph Daphne/1 The bed had a tester and
curtains of crimson taffeta, with a counterpoint of silk serge
There was another bed for the nurse, hung with " counter-
points of imagery to please the babe " — probably some stuff
such as was common in those days embroidered with animals,

1 Among the guests at Sudeley at this period, with whom Lady Jane must
have come into contact, was the Marchioness of Northampton, wife of
William Parr, the Queen's only brother. This unfortunate lady, who was
closely allied with the Crown, had been so indiscreet that when her marriage
came to be dissolved her children were declared illegitimate. She was living
apart from her husband at the time of this visit to Sudeley. The Tudor
great ladies were distinctly " mixed " in their love affairs, and Lady Nor-
thampton has been saddled with perhaps the worst reputation of any woman
of her time ; yet the Spanish Chronicle, which, as already remarked, contains
much personal " back-stair " gossip, reveals some curious facts about this
lady's behaviour, and shows that a great part of the blame rests on the Marquis
her husband, who, on altogether insufficient evidence, accepted a story of her
having misconducted herself with a man-servant. See the Chronicle of King
Henry VIII of England, etc. (the Spanish Chronicle), chap. Ixii. p. 137 et seq.,
translated by Major Martin Hume,

142 THE NINE DAYS1 QUEEN

birds, and little men. The outer chamber had been arranged
as a day nursery, and was hung with " a fair tapestry re-
presenting the twelve months of the year. In it was set a
" chair of state " covered with cloth of gold — all the other seats
were stools — and a bedstead with tester curtains and rich
counterpoints, or counterpanes, as they are now called. There
is still a lovely oriel window of Tudor architecture at Sudeley
popularly called " the nursery window," but this cannot be
the window of the nursery that was prepared for Katherine
Parr's babe, for the inventory distinctly says ' carpets for
four windows in the nursery." This other " nursery window '
looks out upon one of the most lovely scenes in England-
trie chapel where Katherine Parr sleeps in peace after her
chequered life, the garden in front of it, while beyond, the
lovely green of the famous woods of St. Kenelm soften into
the haze of the distant horizon.

Lady Jane's room, beyond Queen Katherine's, was also
splendidly furnished, and adorned with tapestries representing
the history of St. Catherine. The bed was hung with blue
silk, and a large piece of Turkey carpet l covered the floor.

Queen Katherine's life at Sudeley must have been very
quiet and peaceful. Local tradition tells us that she was
wont, with her young charge and her ladies, to visit the poor
and take an interest in her gardens. Divine service according
to the rites of the Church of England was said regularly twice
a day in the beautiful chapel by one of her chaplains, Coverdale
or Parkhurst, and sermons were preached at least three times
a day. The Lord Admiral's ostentatious absence from these
pious exercises was a matter of great vexation to the Queen,
and gave rise to a report that his Lordship was an atheist.2

The return of the Lord Protector from his campaign in
Scotland boded no good for the Lord Admiral ; the brothers
had a bitter quarrel, and on this occasion it was that Seymour
departed with the Queen for Sudeley. Edward had been
writing to Somerset, calling him ' his dearest uncle ' and
saying that he was well pleased with his many victories, and
on the warrior's return the Admiral found himself quite driven

1 Inventory of furniture and other goods at Sudeley Castle. Dated

1547-8.

2 See Latimer's Sermons in Strype's Memorials.

THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL 143

into the shade. However, about a month before the Queen's
confinement, he made a hurried journey to London, hoping
to induce the young King to write a letter complaining of the
treatment his younger uncle and the Queen were receiving from
the Protector. Edward was easily persuaded to write the
letter, but before the plot was thoroughly matured it was
betrayed to the elder Seymour, and Thomas, arrested by the
Lord Protector's order, was taken before the Council to answer
for his behaviour. Threatened with imprisonment in the
Tower, he made a sort of submission to Somerset, and a hollow
reconciliation took place, the Protector adding a sum of £800
per annum to Sudeley's appointments in the hope of concili-
ating his unruly brother, who hurried back to Sudeley, where he
felt himself comparatively safe ; for so long as the Queen lived
he could defy his foes, his wife's great rank and the well-known
affection entertained for her by the boy-King sufficing to
screen him even from the vengeance of the infuriated head of
the house of Seymour.

On 30th August 1548 Queen Katherine bore the infant for
whom such great preparations had been made. The parents had
fondly hoped it would be a boy, but, alack ! it was a puny girl,
destined to be a child of misfortune. She cost her mother her life,
and grew up to suffer the bitter pangs of poverty and neglect.

My Lord Sudeley, who had been consulting fortune-
tellers and palmists about the expected child, was bitterly
disappointed, for they had predicted the birth of a son. This
lid not prevent him from writing a very flattering account of
lis infant daughter to his brother the Protector. The Duke had
[uite recently sent his brother a very severe letter complaining
f his intrigues ; but the birth of the child seems to have had a
oftening effect, and the following letter was far more friendly,
ontaining a courteous message to the Queen, and continuing: —

We are right glad to understand by your letters that
ie Queen, your bedfellow, hath a happy hour ; and, escaping
11 danger, hath made you the father of so pretty a
mghter. And although (if it had pleased God) it would
ive been both to us, and (we suppose) also to you, a more
>y and comfort if it had, this the first-born, been a son, yet
ie escape of the danger, and the prophecy and good hansell

144 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

of this to a great sort of proper sons, which (as I write) we trust
no less than to be true, it is no small joy and comfort to us,
as we are sure it is to you and to her Grace also ; to whom
you shall make again our hearty commendations, with no less
gratulation of such good success.

" Thus we bid you heartily farewell. From Sion, the ist

of Sept. 1548.— Your loving brother,

"E. SOMERSET '

It is a curious fact that the child was born on soth August,
and that Somerset's letter is dated the ist of September, prov-
ing that communication was much more expeditious in those
days than we are apt to imagine.

Lady Tyrwhitt, who attended on the Queen, has left a

very touching account of her last hours.1 Everything seems

to have gone well until about six days after the child's birth,

when the Queen suddenly became delirious, and conceived a

great dread and a burning jealousy of her husband. Lady

Tyrwhitt says that " two days before the death of the Queen,

at my coming to her in the morning, she asked me ' Where I

had been so long ? ' and said unto me ' that she did fear such

things in herself, that she was sure she could not live.' I

answered as I thought, ' that I saw no likelihood of death

in her.' She then, having my Lord Admiral by the hand,

and divers others standing by, spake these words, partly, as I

took, idly [that is, " in delirium "] : ' My Lady Tyrwhitt, I

be not well handled ; for those that be about me care not for

me, but stand laughing at my grief, and the more good I will

to them, the less good they will to me/ Whereunto my Lord

Admiral answered, ' Why, sweetheart, I would you no hurt

And she said to him again, aloud, ' No, my lord, I think so '

and immediately she said to him in his ear, ' But, my lord, yoi

have given me many shrewd taunts.' These words I perceivec

she spoke with good memory, and very sharply and earnestly

for her mind was sore disquieted. My Lord Admiral, per

ceiving that I heard it, called me aside, and asked me ' Wha

she said ? ' and I declared it plainly to him. Then he con

suited with me ' that he would lie down on the bed by her

to look if he could pacify her unquietness with gentle com

iHaynes' State Papers, p. 104,

THE QUEEN AND THE LORD HIGH-ADMIRAL 145

munication/ whereunto I agreed ; and by the time that he had
spoken three or four words to her, she answered him roundly
and sharply, saying, ' My Lord, I would have given a thou-
sand marks to have had my full talk with Hewyke [Dr. Huick
or Huycke *] the first day I was delivered, but I durst not for
displeasing you.' And I, hearing that, perceived her trouble
to be so great, that my heart would serve me to hear no more.
Such like communications she had with him the space of an
hour, which they did hear that sat by her bedside.'1

Little Lady Jane Grey was no doubt near the afflicted
Queen throughout these trying scenes ; but she would almost
certainly have been excluded from the bedchamber when
the Queen's condition became alarming. Just before the end
Katherine seems to have rallied, for on 5th September she
was able to make her will, leaving everything to her husband,
and ' wishing it had been a thousand times more, so great
was her love for him." The witnesses to this will were Dr.
Huycke, already mentioned, and Dr. Parkhurst, afterwards
Bishop of Norwich, both men of unimpeachable integrity,
who would not have signed the document if there had been
anything illegal about it. Katherine Parr died on 7th Sep-
tember, the second day after the date of her will and the
eighth after the birth of her child. She was in her thirty-
sixth year, and had survived Henry vm just one year, six
months, and eight days. Her funeral took place at Sudeley
Castle, according to the rites of the Church of England, on
Friday, 8th September, and was the first royal funeral so
celebrated in England. Dr. Coverdale was the officiant at
the Queen's burial. A procession was formed of ' con-
ductors ' (i.e. leaders) in black, gentlemen, Somerset Herald,
torch-bearers, Lady Jane Grey, acting as chief mourner, her
train borne by a young gentlewoman, then more ladies and
gentlemen ; finally, " all other following." The Lord
Admiral, according to custom, did not attend his wife's
funeral. The ritual was somewhat curious, and is described

1 Robert Huycke, or Huicke, was an M.A. of Oxford. He was divorced
from his wife in 1546, and later married again. In 1550 Edward vi made
him his physician extraordinary at the munificent salary of ^50 per annum.
Huycke was greatly in favour with Elizabeth, and she gave him a house near
Enfield. He died near Charing Cross in (it is believed) 1581.

10

146 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

in the following terms in an MS. entitled " A Booke of Bury alls
of Trew Noble Persons/' now in the London College of Arms : l
When the corpse was set within the rails, and the mourners
placed, the whole choir began and sung certain psalms in
English, and read three lessons ; arid after the third lesson,
the mourners, according to their degrees and that which is
accustomed, offered into the alms-box. . . . Doctor Coverdale,
the Queen's almoner, began his sermon ... in one place
thereof he took occasion to declare unto the people ' how the
offering which was there done, was (not) done anything to
benefit the corpse, but for the poor only ; and also the lights,
which were carried and stood about the corpse, were for
the honour of the person, and for none other intent nor
purpose ' ; and so went through with his sermon, and made
a godly prayer, and the whole church answered and prayed
with him. . . . The sermon done, the corpse was buried,
during which time the choir sung the Te Deum in English.
And this done, the mourners dined, and the rest returned
homewards again. All which aforesaid was done in a
morning/3

1 This interesting account shows how many Catholic customs still survived
— the offering here mentioned is evidently a relic of the Offertory at the
Requiem Mass, otherwise explained ; and the candles also are distinctly a
part of Roman Catholic ritual, though Coverdale's account of their significa-
tion is not altogether that given by Catholics. The Te Deum is no longer
sung or said at either Catholic or Anglican funerals. The fact that the writer
of this account mentions that the whole service was done in one morning,
shows that the brevity of the new form of worship was somewhat of a novelty
to people accustomed to the long series of Dirges and Masses accompanying
burials in Catholic times. Sir Walter Besant says, on p. 154 of his London
in the Time of the Tudor s, " Before the coming of the Puritans the funerals
continued with much of the old (Catholic) ritual."

CHAPTER X

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE

ALL Thomas Seymour's schemes and conspiracies
and political and domestic intrigues were brought
to nought by his wife's death, and he swiftly
realised that the danger of his position was immeasurably
increased by her decease. She had been an effective
barrier between himself and his foes, for nothing could
persuade the King to consider her otherwise than with great
affection, as one of the only two persons he really loved
(his young companion Barnaby Fitzpatrick being the other).
Sudeley was now, metaphorically speaking, at sea in a storm,
and seeking safety in any port he could discover. For
a few days his troubles seem to have dazed him. He may,
indeed, have loved his wife and have sincerely mourned her.
There is not the slightest reason to believe that there was any
solid foundation for the accusations brought against him of
having ill-treated and even poisoned the Queen. A few
weeks before her death, on the contrary, he swore, with one
of his horrible oaths, that if any man " speak ill of his Queen
in his presence, he would take his fist to his ear, be he of the
lowest or of the highest." After his wife's death, Sudeley
was at first inclined to break up his household and throw
himself once more into public life. He even went so far as
to dismiss some of his servants, and returned to Han worth,
the late Queen's dower-house in Middlesex, taking Lady Jane
and her attendants with him. Hence he wrote to Dorset
to say that, broken-hearted as he was at the departure of
the Queen, his wife, he could not keep the Lady Jane any
longer,1 and begged him to send for her. By i7th September,

1 Froude says, " The Lady Frances, now that the Queen was dead, no
longer thought the Admiral's house a becoming residence for her daughter

147

148 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

however, he seems to have cheered up considerably, for
he dispatched another letter to Bradgate, which runs as
follows : —

" My last letters, written at a time when, partly with the
Queen's Highness's death I was so amazed that I had small
regard either to myself or my doings, and partly then thinking
that my great loss must presently have constrained me -to
have broken up and dissolved my whole house, I offered unto
your Lordship to send my Lady Jane unto you whensoever
you would send for her, as to him that I thought would be
most tender on her. Forasmuch, since being both better
avised of myself, and having more deeply digested whereunto
my power [i.e. property] would extend ; I find, indeed,
that with God's help, I shall right well be able to continue
my house together, without diminishing any great part
thereof ; and, therefore, putting my whole affiance and
trust in God, have begun anew to stablish my household,
where shall remain not only the gentlewomen of the Queen's
Highness's privy chamber, but also the maids that waited
at large, and other women being about Her Grace in her
lifetime, with a hundred and twenty gentlemen and yeomen,
continually abiding in the house together. Saving that now,
presently, certain of the maids and gentlewomen have
desired to have license for a month or such thing, to see their
friends, and then immediately to return hither again. And,
therefore, doubting lest your Lordship might think any
unkindness that I should by my said letters take occasion
to rid me of your daughter, the Lady Jane, so soon after
the Queen's death, for the proof both of my hearty affection
towards you, and my good-will to her, I am now minded to
keep her until I next speak with your Lordship, which should
have been within these three or four days if it had not been
that I must repair to the Court, as well to help certain of
the Queen's poor servants with some of the things now fallen
by her death, as also for mine own affairs, unless I shall be
advertised from your Lordship to the contrary. My lady
my mother shall and will, I doubt not, be as dear unto her

and sent for her." The Lady Frances did nothing of the sort ; Sudeley
himself first suggested the Lady Jane's removal to her parents' custody.

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 149

[i.e. Lady Jane] as though she were her own daughter ; and
for my part I shall continue her half-father, and more, and
all that are in my house shall be as diligent about her as
yourself would wish accordingly." l

To this letter Dorset replied as follows, in a particularly
fine specimen of the strange orthography of those days : —

' My most hearty commendations unto your good lord-
ship not forgotten. When it hath pleased you by your
most gentle letters to offer me the abode of my daughter at
your lordship's house, I do as well acknowledge your most
friendly affection towards me and her therein, as also render
unto you most deserved thanks for the same. Neverthe-
less, considering the state of my daughter and her tender
years, wherein she shall hardly rule herself as yet without
a guide, lest she should, for lack of a bridle, take too much
the head, and conceive such opinion of herself, that all
such good behaviour as she heretofore hath learned, by
the Queen's and your most wholesome instructions, should
either altogether be quenched in her, or at the least much
diminished, I shall, in most hearty wise, require your lord-
ship to commit her to the governance of her mother, by
whom for the fear and duty she oweth her, she shall most
easily be ruled and framed towards virtue, which I wish
above all things to be most plentiful in her ; and although
your lordship's good mind, concerning her honest and godly
education be so great, that mine can be no more ; yet
weighing that you be destitute of such one as should
correct her as a mistress, and admonish her as a mother, I
persuade myself that you will think the eye and oversight of
my wife shall be in this respect most necessary."

Then follows a mention of the proposed scheme for
uniting the Lady Jane to the King ; and the letter concludes
thus : —

< i

My meaning herein is not to withdraw any part of my
promise to you for her bestowing ; for I assure your Lord-

1 Hatfield MSS.

150 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

ship, I intend, God willing, to use your discreet advice and
consent in that behalf and no less than mine own ; only
I seek in these her tender years, wherein she now standeth,
either to make or mar (as the common saying is), the address-
ing [the forming] of her mind to humility, soberness, and
obedience. Wherefore, looking upon that fatherly affection
which you bear her, my trust is that your lordship, weigh-
ing the premises, will be content to charge her mother with
her, whose waking eye in respecting her demeanour, shall
be, I hope, no less than you as a friend and I as a father
would wish. And thus wishing your lordship a perfect
riddance of all unquietness and grief of mind, I leave
any further to trouble your lordship. From my house at
Bradgate, the iQth of September. — Your lordship's to the
best of my power, HENRY DORSET ' ' x

(Endorsed)

" To my very good Lord Admiral : give this."

With this precious epistle was enclosed another, from the
Lady Frances : —

" And whereas/' says she, " of a friendly and brotherly
good will you wish to have Jane my daughter, continuing
still in your house, I give you most hearty thanks for your
gentle offer, trusting, nevertheless, that, for the good opinion
you have in your sister (Lady Frances herself), you will be
content to charge her with her (i.e. charge Lady Frances
with Lady Jane), who promiseth you, not only to be ready
at all times to account for the ordering of your dear niece
[Lady Jane], but also to use your counsel and advice on
the bestowing of her, whensoever it shall happen. Where-
fore, my good brother, my request shall be, that I may
have the oversight of her with your good will and thereby
shall have good occasion to think that you do trust me in
such wise, as is convenient that a sister be trusted of so
loving a brother. And thus my most hearty commenda-
tions not omitted, I wish the whole [or holy] deliverance of

1 Hatfield MSS.

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 151

your grief and continuance of your lordship's health. From
Bradgate, igth of this September. — Your loving sister and
assured friend, FRANCES DORSET " *

(Endorsed)

" To the right Honourable and my very
good Lord, my Lord Admiral."

It will be noted that the Lady Frances evinces a quite
sisterly affection for the Lord Admiral, adopting him as her
brother ; and her daughter, therefore, was to be considered
as his niece.

After this correspondence, the Lady Jane was returned to
Bradgate, whither she proceeded with a semi-regal escort
consisting of not less than forty persons, including Mr. Rous
or Rowse, controller of the Lord Admiral's household, and
Mr. John Harrington, afterwards prominent at Queen Eliza-
beth's Court. On taking their leave of the young Princess,
these gentlemen assured her that all the maids at Hanworth
were expecting her back again. The wily Dorsets themselves
had, indeed, made up their minds she should return, though
in their heart of hearts they had something besides Lady
Jane herself in view. It was somewhere about 20th September
that Lady Jane arrived at Bradgate. On or about the 23rd
of that month the Marquis and his spouse journeyed to
London, where they met Sir William Sharington,2 Seymour's

1 Hatfield MSS.

* Sir William Sharington or Sherington was one of the most benighted
frauds of this age, albeit a very successful one. He was born about 1495,
and was of good Norfolk family. In 1546 he became vice-treasurer of the
Bristol Mint, being created a Knight of the Bath at Edward vi's coronation.
Once installed in this office, he made a sort of " corner " in West-Country
Church plate, which he bought cheap from the Somerset villagers, and coined
into " testons >; or shillings of two-thirds alloy. By this means, and by
shearing and clipping coins, falsifying the account books of the Mint, the
originals of which he destroyed, and by other cheating, he managed to
amass ^4000 (an enormous sum in those days) in three years. Probably fear-
ing that Sudeley, whose friend he was, might reveal these affairs to his
brother the Protector, Sir William lent the Lord Admiral money, placed
the Bristol Mint at his disposal, and, as we shall see, helped him in
his nefarious schemes. He bought manors in Wiltshire from the King
for £2808 ; but he was arrested on iQth January 1548-9. He was
questioned in the Tower, but denied the charge of conniving at

152 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

dme damnee, and the Lord High-Admiral himself. These
gentlemen had a very secret business to discuss, the nature
of which must now be described. The Dorsets, not then
wealthy people, were deep in debt. Now Seymour was
known to be rich, for, in addition to his own fortune, he
had just inherited that of the Queen, and, so far, his brother
had given no signs of any intention of confiscating it. The
Dorsets, therefore, intimated to Sharington that he would do
well to make Sudeley understand that if he desired to renew
his guardianship of the Lady Jane, he must agree to give her
parents £2000, £500 to be paid down at once, on account. It
should be here remarked that Sudeley, by voluntarily re-
linquishing the care of the Lady Jane Grey, had given up his
guardianship, which, by the custom of those times, gave him
more than parental rights over her. It was his desire to renew
his official charge that enabled the Dorsets to make this extra-
ordinary proposal to sell him their child for what in those
days was considered a large sum of money. When the game
was up and Sudeley in prison, the Dorsets threw the blame
of this transaction on everybody but themselves. The Lord
Admiral, asserted Lady Jane's father in his deposition before
the Privy Council, " was so earnestly in hand with me and
my wife, the Lady Frances, that in the end, because he would
have no nay, we were content that Jane should return to his
house." Indeed, Sudeley, not content to treat so important
a matter only through the medium of Sharington, himself
appeared at Dorset's town house and interviewed the Marquis,
who admitted in the above-mentioned deposition that, " At
this very time and place he renewed his promise unto me for
the marrying of my daughter to the King's Majesty, and he

Sudeley's intrigues. In February, however, he turned traitor to the Lord
Admiral and admitted all, throwing himself on the King's mercy. He was
pardoned in acts of 3Oth December 1549 and of i3th January 1550. He
now somewhat settled down, buying back with a part of the purchase-money
given by the French for Boulogne, which money had got into his hands, his
confiscated manors and lands, some of which he presented to the King-
likely enough the reason why Latimer, in a sermon preached before His
Majesty in 1551, described this admitted cheat as "an honest gen tilman
and one that God loveth " (!!). Sharington got himself appointed Sheriff of
Wiltshire, and died in 1551. There is a portrait of him by Holbein in the
Royal Library at Windsor. He was married three times, but left no
children.

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 153

added, ' If I may get the King at liberty, I dare warrant you
His Majesty will marry no other than Jane/

Whilst Sudeley was thus pretending, if nothing more,
that he was able to marry Jane to the King, could he but get
possession of her, the Marquis of Dorset was inditing a letter
to the Lord Protector which contained a passage referring to
some negotiations he was conducting with His Highness for
the marriage of Lady Jane to the Earl of Hertford, Somerset's
eldest son ! " Item, for the maryage of your graces sune to
be had with my doghter Jane, I thynk hyt not met [meet]
to be wrytyn, but I shall at all tymes avouche my sayng."
Dorset's cunning must have nearly matched Sudeley 's !
Young Hertford was the lad mentioned in the papers of the
time of Queen Mary as " contracted ' to Lady Jane Grey :
in later years he married her sister Katherine. Jane probably
made his acquaintance in her childish days, when the Seymours
lived at Whitehall and she was in residence at the ' Bluff
King's ' ' Court under the wing of Katherine Parr. Hertford
was also one of the band of young noblemen selected as com-
panions for Prince Edward under the tutelage of the learned
Dr. Cheke ; and probably had many a romp with Jane, then a
merry little girl. Later on he paid one or two visits to Brad-
gate, the Lady Frances conceiving such a strong affection for
him that she was wont to call him her son. Here again the
young people must have been much together, and their
childish friendship may have inspired the Marquis of Dorset
with the idea of uniting them in marriage. However that
may be, he certainly got as far as corresponding with Somerset
-though in the profoundest secrecy — about the matter.
Was his caution due to a fear of displeasing Sudeley ?
What is more than probable is that the Lord Admiral got
wind of the scheme, and that his desire to get Jane away
from her father and his own brother and nephew was at the
bottom of his readiness to pay so heavy a price to resume her
guardianship, for which object he used the likelihood of her
marriage with the King as a bait to catch the Marquis — who
was eventually " jockeyed ' by both the Seymours, for no
marriage with either the King or Hertford ever took place.
Whilst Seymour was personally negotiating with the
Marquis, the task of persuading the Marchioness fell to

154 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Sharington. " Sir William [Sharington] travailed as earnestly
with my wife," says Dorset, r to gain her good-will for the
return of our daughter to Lord Thomas Seymour as he [prob-
ably Seymour is meant in this case] did with me ; so as in
the end, after long debating and ' much sticking of our sides/
we did agree that my daughter Jane should return to him." J

Their bargain with the Admiral struck, the Dorsets hurried
back to Bradgate, whence they incited the dispatch of the
following ingenuous letter :< —

" To the Right Honourable and my singular
good lord, the Lord Admiral.

" My duty to your lordship, in most humble wise remem-
bered, with no less thanks for the gentle letters which I received
from you. Thinking myself so much bound to your lordship
for your great goodness towards me from time to time, that I
cannot by any means be able to recompense the least part
thereof, I purpose to write a few rude lines to your lordship,
rather as a token to show how much worthier I think your
lordship's goodness, than to give worthy thanks for the same,
and these my letters will be to testify unto you that, like as
you have been unto me a loving and kind father, so I shall be
always most ready to obey your godly monitions and good
instructions, as becometh one upon whom you have heaped so
many benefits. And thus fearing I should trouble your lord-
ship too much, I most humbly take leave of your lordship. —
Your most humble servant during my life,

" JANE GRAVE "

(Endorsed)

" My Lady Jane, the ist of Oct. 1548."

With this letter the Lady Frances sent Sudeley another, in
which she again calls him her " very good lord and brother " :
Jane considers him as " a loving and kind father," and her
mother signs herself, ' Your assured and loving sister, Frances
Dorset " — most friendly !

It was near Michaelmas when the Lord Admiral, with a
numerous retinue, including several ladies, arrived at Bradgate

1 Vide Dorset's deposition in the Hatfield MSS,

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 155

to carry the girl back with him to Han worth. Traces of his
return journey may be found in papers preserved in the Public
Library at Leicester, which, inform us that ' ( beer, cold meat,
and ale was provided by the Mayor for my Lady Jane and
her escort, proceeding from Bradgate with the Lord Thomas
Seymour, to London/' Sudeley brought the £500 with him
and gave it to the father who, for the sake of filthy lucre, had
not scrupled to hand over his young daughter to a notorious
profligate. Thomas treated the matter jovially, saying
' merrily " he would take no receipt for the money, for " the
Lady Jane herself was in pledge of that " ; the Marquis, on
the other hand, sought to endue the affair with a more re-
spectable appearance by declaring the cash was "as it wer
for an ernst peny of the favour that he [Sudeley] wold shewe
unto him [Dorset]/' To our eyes, there is, and can be, but
one redeeming feature in the whole of this sordid transaction —
the fact, proved by sufficient evidence, that Lady Jane Grey
whilst under the Lord Admiral's roof was treated not only
with respect, but with much kindness, and that, even allowing
for the fact that letters such as that already quoted were
inspired by her parents, she seems to have been genuinely
attached to both Sudeley and his mother.

Had Thomas Seymour contented himself with achieving
eminence in any one legitimate direction — the Navy, for in-
stance— he might have succeeded in winning both fame and
honour. But he lacked the clearness of judgment and power
of reticence necessary to carry any one of his more nefarious
schemes to completion, and so ended in pitiable failure. Whilst
his brother was away fighting in Scotland, he had striven,
and with some success, to ingratiate himself with the young
King. To this end, as we have seen, he lent him various sums
of money. He seized every opportunity of belittling and
even calumniating his brother, the Protector, openly accusing
him of conspiring against Edward's liberty, all of which the
poor little King was only too eager to believe ; for Somerset,
with his puritanic views, had not made the boy's existence
very pleasant to him, persistently treating him as a little old
man, and suppressing all those amusements and sports which
lads, even sickly lads, love so dearly. It is said that, on one
occasion, when he came upon the King and Barney Fitz-

156 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

patrick playing cards, he seized them in a fury and threw
them into the fire. He had striven, in a word, to make Edward
look at life as he saw it himself, through smoked Calvinistic
glasses that robbed it of all brightness.

The Duchess of Feria relates that Queen Mary once told
her Edward vi had confessed to her that he was very tired of
sermons — not to be wondered at, since the poor child had to
hear one at least daily on some dogmatic controversy or other,
and these dull homilies often lasted a good two hours. In
fact, the royal lad was bored and ' ' prayed ' to death. For
more than a year after his accession to the throne he was
compelled to hear a daily Mass, celebrated according to the
old rites but with the Epistle and Gospel said in English.
Interpolated into this Latin service was the inevitable lengthy
sermon preached by men well known for their Reforming
zeal, such as Canon William Barlow of St. Osyth's, in Essex,
who became Bishop of Chichester in Elizabeth's reign ; Dr.
John Taylor ; Dr. Redman, a violent opponent of the doctrine
of Transubstantiation ; Dr. Thomas Becken ; Dr. Giles Ayre,
a bitter enemy of Gardiner ; and the extremely Protestant
Dr. Latimer. John Knox, who came to London in 1551, also
preached before the King ; but by that time the Mass had been
replaced by the services of the first Book of Common Prayer.
Knox was in a very bad temper with the Protector at the time
of his visit, and accused him of paying more attention to the
building of his new house in the Strand than to his (Knox's)
sermons. As time went on, poor Edward had to listen to con-
troversies in which Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury,
Ridley, Bishop of Rochester, and " that most zealous Papist,"
Heath, Bishop of Worcester (afterwards, under Mary, Arch-
bishop of York), " debated and disputed ' on such grave
subjects as Transubstantiation, the Intercession of Saints,
Worship of the Virgin, Prayers for the Dead, Purgatory,
etc., and attend sermons preached in the courtyard of White-
hall Palace, where Gardiner delivered his last discourse on
papal supremacy, which sent him to the Tower. Contem-
porary evidence shows exactly how the audience was grouped
round the improvised rostrum built close to the walls of the
palace, so that the King might hear the preacher from an
open window, where he generally sat, notebook in hand, in the

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 157

company of the Lord Protector, and of Dr. John Cheke, his
tutor. Aged people of both sexes were ranged on benches
close to the palace, whilst the general congregation, standing,
filled up the courtyard. The learned Nicholas Udall often sat
at a desk under the pulpit,taking shorthand notes of the sermon,
and by his means many of the more notable of these orations
have been preserved to this day. John Knox preached his
last sermon before Edward vi from the pulpit at Whitehall
Palace. At many, if not at most, of these pious exercises
Lady Jane Grey, her mother and sister must have assisted,
for it was expected that all the great ladies of the Court
should attend ; and consequently, in one or two old engrav-
ings of these interesting functions, we behold them, wearing
their ' ' froze pastes * ' or coifs, seated in rows, looking exceed-
ingly sanctimonious, not to say bored. There are numbers
of young children among them, one or two of whom have
evidently fallen into a deep sleep.

Edward, extremely delicate from his birth, slightly de-
formed, with one shoulder-blade higher than the other, weak
eyes, and occasional attacks of deafness, suffered terribly, we
are told, from headaches, a fact which causes little surprise,
considering the number of sermons he was forced to attend.
The Lord Admiral, during the brief time he held the King's
favour, altered all this. The sermons were reduced, the
sports and pastimes multiplied. No wonder, then, that of
his two uncles Edward vi preferred Thomas to Edward !

Hardly was Lady Jane installed at Seymour Place, whither
she was removed from Hanworth as soon as the weather grew
cold, than her guardian set himself to weave not one but half
a dozen fresh intrigues. Once more he planned to marry the
Princess Elizabeth, or, failing her, a little later on, his young
ward, Lady Jane. He even endeavoured to open a fresh
correspondence with the Princess, and met with some success ;
but the astute damsel made him a very politic response. How-
ever impressed she may have been by the Admiral's good
looks, she was well aware that he had compromised her once,
and was resolved there should be no second edition of the
Chelsea business. Yet she had the imprudence to send his
Lordship letters through her servants, and, thus encouraged,
the Admiral began to make minute inquiries as to her fortune

158 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

and the management of her affairs. He also endeavoured
to find out the amount of the fortunes owned by Lady Jane
Grey and Princess Mary, and, in short, of all the marriageable
ladies of the royal family, not excluding Anne of Cleves. A
report of these inquiries coming to the knowledge of John
Russell, the Lord Privy Seal, that functionary thought it his
duty to look into the matter, and seized an opportunity when
riding with the Admiral through the streets of London to
ask him his object point-blank. As they rode past West-
minster Hall, Russell turned to Seymour, saying, ' My Lord
Admiral, there are certain rumours bruited of you which I
am very sorry to hear."

" What rumours ? " demanded Seymour.

" I have been informed," replied Russell, " that you mean
to marry either the Lady Mary or the Lady Elizabeth, or
else the Lady Jane."

Sudeley remained silent, and his interlocutor proceeded :
" My Lord, if ye go about any such thing, ye seek the means
to undo yourself, and all those that shall come of you.'

Sudeley, shaking his head, denied ever having had any
such intention ; he " had no thought of such an enterprise."
And so, for the time being, the conversation dropped. But a
few days later, when the Lord Admiral was again riding with
his Lordship, he said to Russell, " Father Russell, you are
very suspicious of me ; I pray you tell me who showed you
of the marriage that I should attempt, whereof ye brake
with me the other day."

Russell answered, " I will not tell you the authors of the
tale, but they be your very good friends " ; and he advised
Seymour " to make no suit of marriage that way " — meaning
with Elizabeth or Mary, or eventually with Lady Jane.

Nothing daunted, Seymour replied, "It is convenient for
them to marry, and better it were that they were married
within the realm than in any foreign place without the
realm ; and why might not I, or another man raised by
the King their father, marry one of them ? " — in allusion
to the fact that Henry vni had passed a law legalising the
marriage of a Princess of the Blood with a subject.

Russell warned him honestly, " My Lord, if either you, or
any other within this realm, shall match himself in marriage

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 159

either with my Lady Mary or my Lady Elizabeth, he shall
undoubtedly, whatsoever he be, procure unto himself the
occasion of his undoing, and you especially, above all others,
being of so near alliance to the King's Majesty." Then,
bearing in mind the Lord Admiral's love of money, Lord
Russell straightway asked, ' And I pray you, what shall
you have with either of them ? '

Here Seymour was on his own ground : ' He who marries
one of them shall," he said, ' have three thousand pounds
a year."

" My Lord," responded Russell, "it is not so, for ye may
be well assured that he shall have no more than ten thousand
pounds in money, plate, and goods, and no lands ; and what
is that to maintain his charges and estates who matches
himself there ? J

They must have three thousand pounds a year also,"
said the Lord of Sudeley.

Thereupon Russell lost his temper, and with some strong
expressions retorted " they should not."

Seymour, likewise with an oath, asserted " that they
should, and that none should dare to say nay to it."

Russell answered that he, at least, dared " say nay ' to
the Lord Admiral's greed, " for it was clean against the King's
will." And so they parted.

These inquiries about the royal ladies' fortunes became
known to the Protector, possibly through Russell, and thus
the whole intrigue was brought to light.

Lady Jane at Seymour Place and in the possession of the
Lord Admiral was already a stumbling-block in the way of
Somerset's own matrimonial schemes for his own son, and
the discovery of the underhand manner in which Thomas
had endeavoured to supplant him in the King's affections
goaded the elder man to fury. But Sudeley had grown
reckless, and he openly defied his all-powerful brother, and
vaunted his determination to oust him at any cost from his
high seat.1 He boldly set about ingratiating himself with

1 Nothing could be more forcible as a proof of the manner in which Sudeley,
in the style of the Duke of Northumberland at a later period, threatened
and bullied any who dared to oppose him, than the following story. About
the time that he was endeavouring to supplant his brother in Edward's

160 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the yeoman class, which was embittered against Somerset on
account of his exactions ; and Dorset, now his willing tool,
also strove to secure a following among the farmers and
gentlemen, on bad terms with the existing Government. The
ladies of the Court, who hated the arrogant Duchess of Somerset,
were flattered into a friendly feeling for the Lord Admiral
and what he was pleased to consider his just cause. To keep
up his influence, he had secretly bought over a hundred manors
and stewardships, and he had arranged with his scoundrelly
friend, Sharington — who, to save his skin, turned traitor — to
secure sufficient ammunition and arms to store Holt Castle, to
which fortress he intended to convey the King. Thanks to
this man's frauds on the Bristol Mint, my Lord of Sudeley
got together money enough to raise an army of 10,000 men.
In addition to all this, he was in league with no less than four
distinct gangs of pirates or privateers, and had established
a sort of depot for stolen property in the Scilly Isles, whither
the cargoes of sea-plundered vessels were taken to await
removal to London. Here, then, was an array of crimes and
treasons enough to hang any man, even if he was the Lord
Protector's brother ! One fatal day Thomas made the
egregious mistake of approaching Wriothesley on the subject
of obtaining the Protectorship. He told him Dorset and
Pembroke were on his side. " Beware what you are doing,"
replied Wriothesley gravely ; ' it were better for you if you
had never been born, nay that you were burnt quick alive,
than that you should attempt it." Sudeley, somewhat
dashed by this rebuff, next sought the Earl of Rutland, and
spoke to him in much the same impudent and imprudent
fashion. Rutland, when his visitor departed, went straight
to Wriothesley and told him what he had learnt. Both
agreed to reveal all they knew of the conspiracy to the Council.
Several meetings were held to inquire into the matter ; and

affections, he tried to induce the boy- King to write a letter for him to the
Parliament, which was to meet in the November of that year. It was sug-
gested that Parliament might not grant his demands ; whereupon, said " my
Lord of Sudeley," " I will make [it, if that be so] the blackest Parliament
that has ever been seen in England " — " blackest " perhaps meaning " the
most humbled and depressed " Parliament ever seen, which shows that
Sudeley was sufficiently self-confident to believe that he could coerce whole
bodies of administrators at his will.

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 161

at length Somerset summoned his brother to appear before
him. Sudeley sent a flat refusal. Early in the forenoon of
I7th January 1549 Sir Thomas Smith and Sir John Baker
proceeded to Seymour Place, and there arrested the Lord
Admiral, who was conveyed by water to the Tower, after a
passionate leave-taking with his aged mother.1

To Lady Jane the trial and subsequent execution of her
guardian must have been a matter of intense and painful
interest. She was still his guest at Seymour Place when he
was arrested, and she must have witnessed the tragic parting
of the unhappy mother from the son so remorselessly torn
from her aged arms to meet his doom. Whatever his crimes
and faults, the Lord of Sudeley had been a good son, and the
old Lady Seymour mourned him deeply till she died of her
sorrows, on i8th October in the following year. She was
buried with scant pomp. The King, her grandson, and his
Court did not even put on the customary mourning, on the
plea that black gowns did not really signify respect to the
dead, who were best remembered in the hearts and prayers
of those who survived them — certainly not a popular or
contemporary belief, for on the day following Lady Seymour's
death two State funerals were celebrated with all those honours
which were denied to the remains of the grandmother of the
reigning sovereign. There was probably a political motive
at the back of this want of respect, which may perhaps be
ascribed to the evil influence of Warwick, who, in his desire
to humiliate the Somersets, refused the honours due to the
corpse of the Protector's mother.

Meanwhile, the destruction of Thomas Seymour was being
prepared with skill and secrecy. Whilst the foredoomed
Admiral had been boasting all over London of his immense
influence, his foes, now that he was in their power, subtly
compassed his ruin by buying witnesses against him and
securing the goodwill of his numerous and venomous enemies.
They had long been spreading a rumour that he had poisoned
the late Queen Katherine in order to make an even higher
alliance with one or other of the heiresses to the throne. His

Sudeley's nefarious assistant, Sharington, Sir Thomas Parry, John
Fowler, and Mrs. Ashley were all imprisoned in the Tower at the same time as
Sudeley.

II

I62 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

scandalous proceedings with regard to the Princess Elizabeth
at Chelsea and Hanworth, and the unbecoming manner
which he had regained possession of Lady Jane, were
up against him. Lady Tyrwhitt, one of the bedchamber
ladies of the late Queen his wife, was called to give certain
damaging evidence, pointing to a strong suspicion that
Seymour had not only been most unkind to the deceased
lady, but had actually poisoned her food during the last
days of her life, and set up the fever which carried her off
within a week of her child's birth. Lord Latimer stated
Seymour, when Queen Katherine had prayers said in his
house morning and afternoon according to the order of
Reformed Church, would get out of the way, and swear on
his oath that " The Book of Common Prayer was not
work at all " There was a merciless raking up of misdi
true or false, of the man's earliest youth— as, for instance
" that in 1540 a woman who was executed for robbery an
child-murder had declared that the beginning of her evil life
was due to her having been seduced and desolated 3y Lo
Thomas Seymour." The Dorsets were summoned
eate to give evidence in the matter of the wardship of
daughter, and other witnesses were fetched from different
parts of the kingdom to give damaging testimony.1

During, though not at, Seymour's trial, Elizabeth was
subjected to a private inquiry at Hatfield, and personally
asked whether Mrs. Ashley had encouraged her to marry
Admiral This she declared she had never done, adding
she did not believe Mrs. Ashley had said the things attributed
to her The Princess also wrote the Lord Protector a let
dated 'from her house at Hatfield, saying she had learned
that vile rumours regarding her chastity were in circulat
and that people had even gone so far as to spread abroad
she was confined in the Tower, being with child by the
Admiral The story, she protested, was an outrageous slan
and she demanded that she might be allowed to proceed
Court to disprove these evil reports. On this moment
occasion, Elizabeth, considering her youth, displayed n.
small amount of sagacity and also of that leonine spirit fo

i Sudeley's connection and connivance at the frauds perpetrated by Sir
William Sharington was also made a count of his indictment.

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 163

which she was afterwards celebrated. When confronted,
however, with Mrs. Ashley's written evidence, she blushed to
the roots of her hair, and, abashed and breathless, return-
ed the letter with trembling hands to her inquisitors.
Curiously enough, Elizabeth does not seem to have resented
Mrs. Ashley's outspoken condemnation of her conduct with
the Lord Admiral. On the contrary, hearing of her arrest,
she set to work to save her from the clutches of the law,
declaring the lady had been in her service many years, and
had exerted herself diligently to bring her up in learning
and honesty.

Elizabeth told Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, who was sent by the
Council to examine her on the subject of her intimacy with
the Lord High-Admiral, " that voices, she knew, went about
London that my Lord High-Admiral ' ' should marry her, but
added, with a smile, "It is but London news " — evidently
London was as much a centre of gossip in those days as now.
A little later she asserted that " she did not wish to marry
him, for she who had had him [meaning Katherine Parr] was
so unfortunate."

It would appear that Lady Browne (Surrey's " fair Gerald-
ine ") was also a friend of Seymour's, and that he went to
her and asked her to break up her household and come to
stay with the Princess Elizabeth, so that she might keep him
posted as to what was going on in that Princess's circle. This
the lady had agreed to do, but she was prevented by the
sudden illness and death of her old husband, the famous
Master of the Horse, Sir Anthony Browne. Parry, Elizabeth's
comptroller, seems also to have favoured the Lord Admiral,
although it was mainly owing to him that the revelations
concerning his mistress's conduct with Seymour were made
public. On one occasion, when Parry was advising the
Admiral to leave off his attempt to court the Princess, he
replied that " it mattered little, for, see you, there has been a
talk of late that I should marry the Lady Jane," adding, " I
tell you this merrily — I tell you this merrily."

As for the said Admiral, all the world now turned against
him, excepting the late Queen's brother, the Marquis of North-
ampton, his other brother-in-law, Lord Herbert, and his
deceased wife's two cousins, the Throckmortons, one of whom

164 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

wrote the following homely lines on the wretched man's
piteous plight : —

"Thus guiltless he through malice went to pot,
Not answering for himself, not knowing cause."

No better proof can possibly be quoted in his favour, so
far as the accusation of his having murdered Katherine Parr
is concerned, than the fact that his wife's closest connections
remained his only friends in his trouble.

Still Thomas Seymour stood out boldly for his innocence.
He did not deny his flirtation with Elizabeth ; it was a mere
romp between a man and a child, with no harm in it beyond
such as his enemies chose to impute. But the poor man's
foes proved too much for him, and on 23rd February he was
brought face to face with his accusers, and condemned by the
Council without hearing or defence. The King, his nephew,
seems to have made some effort to save him, but the Council
forced the boy to sign the fatal warrant, which he delivered
with a trembling hand, the tears standing in his eyes, and
this despite the fact that the reference to Seymour's death in
the King's Journal contains not a word of regret. Seymour
had done him, personally, no great ill, and appears to have
shown him kindness on more than one occasion. Cranmer,
who ever ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds,
hastened to affix his signature to the document ordering the
Admiral's execution, and this, as Hume observes, " in contra-
vention of the Canon Law, and in sheer spite.'1 The Bishop of
Ely informed Seymour that his earthly life was shortly to be
ended, and a Catholic priest was sent to confess him ; but he is
said to have refused these ministrations, as well as those of a
Protestant clergyman. He contrived, according to Latimer,
to write letters to the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth denying
the accusations against him, which letters he hid between the
leather of one of his servants' shoe-soles. Suspected of serving
his master too well, the poor faithful creature was arrested,
the letters discovered, and the unfortunate man hanged without
trial.

Without entering into any controversy as to the magnitude
of Thomas Seymour's guilt, it may be admitted, in fairness to
his brother of Somerset, that, if the misdemeanours of a personal

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 165

character attributed to Sudeley rest on the gossiping evidence
of women, the graver charges of collecting stores of arms,
raising an army to strike a blow against his brother, and
unscrupulously attempting to obtain funds even through
pirates and notorious swindlers, do in a measure justify the
severity of his punishment and excuse the infliction of an
apparently unnatural and fratricidal sentence of death.
Somerset, with all his faults, had a high sense of justice and
of the responsibility of his exalted office. His brother had
offended not only as an ordinary subject of the realm, but as
a trusted servant of the nation, and his treason and un-
scrupulous abuse of his position were beyond all pardon.
The voice of nature was stifled in the heart of the statesman,
and thus the Duke, with a tolerably clear conscience, signed a
death-warrant which must at the time have cost him a pang
of horror and which has since branded him as a merciless
fratricide.1

The Lord of Sudeley 's rage against the Council, his
brother, and his enemies in general, when he heard himself
condemned, knew no bounds and admitted of no Christian
forgiveness or resignation. He cursed them one and all with
every terrible oath his tongue could utter. He was beheaded
on Tower Hill on 2oth March 1549, s^x months and some days
after the death of Queen Katherine Parr. His demeanour on
the scaffold caused great scandal : he refused to listen to the
pastor deputed to minister to him, and the attendants had
much difficulty in forcing him to kneel to receive the fatal
stroke. He wrestled hard with the executioner, who, being a
strong man, hurled him down on the scaffold and struck off his
head at last, after a cruel hacking, due to his desperate struggles.

For nearly a week after the death of the Admiral, Lady

1 Queen Elizabeth stated at a later date that " the Admiral's life would
have been saved had not the Council dissuaded the Protector from granting
him an interview." In face of these statements, there would seem to be little
doubt that the Protector, if left to himself, might have visited a less severe
sentence on his brother.

The Protector's wife evidently bore in her time a very bad reputation for
intriguing and interference, for Hayward (Life of Edward VI, p. 82) says the
troubles between Sudeley and his brother were mainly due to the quarrel
(already mentioned) between Katherine Parr and her Ladyship — " to the
unquiet vanity of a mannish, or rather a devilish woman [Lady Somerset] . . .
for many imperfections intolerable, but for pride monstrous."

166 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Jane remained alone with her attendants in the desolate house
in the Strand. Then her father, Lord Dorset, came to London
to take her back with him to Bradgate.

On the Sunday after the execution, Hugh Latimer preached
a sermon at Paul's Cross which for bitterness and uncharit-
ableness has never been surpassed. : This I say," he remarked,
" if they ask me what I think of the Lord Admiral's death,
that he died very dangerously, irksomely, and horribly."
" He shall be to me," he furiously exclaimed, " Lot's wife as
long as I live. He was a covetous man — a horrible covetous
man. I would there were no mo' in England. He was an
ambitious man. I would there were no mo' in England.
He was a seditious man — a contemner of the Common
Prayer. I would there were no mo' in England. He is gone.
I would he had left none behind him."

The worst charge that posterity can bring against Somer-
set is not that he signed his brother's death-warrant, but
that he seized the dead man's estates and even his wearing
apparel, and despoiled his orphaned child, the infant daughter
of Katherine Parr.1

1 As to the unfortunate Seymour's infant child, we learn that after his
death it was carried to Somerset's house at Sion, whence, after a short time,
it was conveyed to the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, at Grimsthorpe, in
Lincolnshire. She had been at one time the dearest friend of Katherine
Parr. Here the child had a governess, Mrs. Aglyonby, and was also attended
by a nurse, two maids, and many other servants, in accordance with her
high rank. The Duke of Somerset had promised that a certain pension
should be settled on his niece, and that her nursery plate and furniture,
which had been brought up from Sudeley to Sion House, should be sent after
her to Grimsthorpe. He pledged his word on this point to the Duchess of
Somerset's gentleman, Mr. Bertie, who subsequently married his mistress,
the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk ; but the promise was never redeemed.
The Duchess herself did not show much maternal tenderness to the child of
her quondam friend. In the second year of Edward vi she wrote a curious
letter to Cecil, begging him to relieve her of the guardianship of the child of
the late Queen. She says: "The late Queen's child hath lain, and yet doth
lay in my house with her company about her, wholly in my charge." Then
she accuses Somerset of not sending money for the child's maintenance, and
adds : " And that ye may better understand that I cry not before I am
pricked, I send you Mistress Glensborough's [the governess's] letter unto
me, who, with her maids, nourice, and others daily call upon me for their
wages, whose voices mine ears may hardly bear, but my coffers much worse."
She declares she is ill, and hopes that the child will be removed at an early
date. There is a very long list in the Lansdowne MSS of plate, hangings,
and even musical instruments, belonging to this child, which the Lord Protector

THE LADY JANE GOES TO SEYMOUR PLACE 167

Princess Elizabeth learnt the death of the courtier she
' loved most ' with a composure singular for so young a
lady, simply remarking that he was over clever — " a man of
the greatest wit and the least judgment."

took and never restored. Cecil paid little attention to the Duchess's appli-
cation. In all probability he never answered her letter at all. At a later
date she wrote to the Marquis of Northampton, the infant's uncle, and
begged him to receive her. He behaved even more heartlessly than the
Duchess, declaring he would neither receive the child nor her attendants at
his house. Thus Katherine Parr's own brother and the Duchess of Somerset,
her old friend, whose life she had actually saved on one occasion from the fury
of Henry vin, besides spending considerable sums out of her private means
to publish the ungrateful woman's devotional writings, actually refused food
and shelter to her orphaned child. It is impossible now to fully trace the
child's eventful history. Strype asserts that she died young, but there is
much reason to believe that she lived and married Sir Edward Bushel, a
gentleman of family, who was in attendance upon Queen Anne of Denmark,
the Consort of James I. His only daughter married Silas Johnson, and their
daughter married into the Lawson family, an old Suffolk house, which until
quite recently possessed a number of Tudor relics, which, their proprietors
alleged and amply proved, originally belonged to their ancestress, the
daughter of Katherine Parr and the Admiral Seymour, a baby doubtless
often caressed by the gentle Jane Grey. At the close of the seventeenth
century some hundreds of papers belonging to the Lawson family were un-
fortunately destroyed by a thoughtless widow. However, an existing copy
of the family pedigree proves almost beyond doubt that the Lawson version
of the fate of Seymour's daughter was accurate in every detail. One thing
is evident, that the infant suffered a good deal of neglect in her childhood,
and that she was passed on from one unwilling relative to another, until at
last some kindly soul took compassion on her desolate state, and brought
about a match between her and Sir Edward Bushel.

CHAPTER XI

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE

THE extraordinary revival of letters in Italy, France,
and Germany at the close of the fifteenth century
did not fail to influence English education, and
especially that of high-born women. In this department
the exclusively classical culture then in vogue, which barred
many subjects now held of far greater importance, would
undoubtedly be deemed unpractical and excessive for women
nowadays. Modern literature, however, was then in its
infancy, and apart from the classics there was little to read
but crude if noble poetry, and some historical, theological,
and legendary works of a very primitive sort. These soon
palled, whereas, to the cultured mind, the classic authors
presented, then as now, an ever-varying and delightful fund
of information and amusement. Science, in the modern
acceptation of the word, was in its infancy, and, in the opinion
of the most learned persons of the day, the secrets of theology
and Nature, and those of art as well, were embodied in the
works of the ancients, and above all in the Holy Scriptures.
A knowledge of Greek and Latin was thus supposed to give
the key to all science. It was the fashion, too, for princesses
and women of noble birth to be, or to pose as being, learned ;
and notwithstanding the political and religious convulsions
of the reign of Henry vm, a number of English ladies of the
highest rank, following the example of their French and
Italian sisters, devoted their leisure to studies usually left
nowadays to that class of pedantic females whom we some-
what scornfully dub ' blue-stockings." This practice was
not confined to women who had embraced the Reformed
tenets. Many Catholics, — the daughter of Sir Thomas More
and her learned friend, Margaret Clement, for instance, — deeply

168

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 169

versed in studies of this description, enjoyed the dialogues
of Plato, and may have laughed over the scorching epigrams
of Martial and the stinging satires of Juvenal in the original,
and even recognised their applicability to the society of their
own times. Most of the women who surrounded Lady Jane
Grey were pedants, and even her shallow-hearted mother
had presumably acquired a fair knowledge of classical
literature.

But it was not till the young girl returned to Bradgate,

after the death of Thomas Seymour, that the system of

' cramming/' which was to give her, at the age of seventeen,

a reputation as a marvel of erudition, began in grim

earnest.

Dorset, who had been summoned to London to attend
the trial of his quondam friend, the Admiral, as a witness
against him, retired to Bradgate in some despondency after
its fatal termination. He and his wife felt they had been
wasting their time over Thomas Seymour ; they were con-
scious, too, that they were living under a cloud, for the re-
velation of their pecuniary interest in the transfer of their
daughter to so notorious a scamp had produced a most
damaging impression on the public mind. But the failure
of their plans had not quenched their ambition. They took
their luckless child back with them, and straightway set about
preparing her to occupy the towering position they felt assured
she would sooner or later be called to fill.

Her education was forthwith entrusted to the celebrated
Aylmer, a native of Leicestershire, whom Elizabeth made
Bishop of London, to reward him for his scathing answer to
John Knox's pamphlet, The First Blast of the Trumpet against
the Monstrous Regiment [i.e. regimen = regime or government]
of Women. Aylmer, at this time a good-looking man in his
early thirties, was, so Bacon tells us, engaged as tutor to the
daughters of the Marquis of Dorset at Bradgate. The new
preceptor was in close correspondence with the Genevan
Reformers, and it must have been through him that Jane
became acquainted with the celebrated Bullinger and with
John ab Ulmis, better known as Ulmer, a learned but destitute
>wiss Calvinist, who visited Bradgate as early as the summer
of 1550. He mastered the English language, and having been

170 . THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

sent to pursue his studies at Oxford at the Marquis of Dorset's
expense, he spent his summer vacation at Bradgate, giving
lessons in Greek and Latin to Lady Jane and her younger
but less talented sister, Lady Katherine, and together with
John Aylmer and Dr. Harding the Rector of Bradgate,
superintended her classical and theological education. A
somewhat crafty young man was Ulmer, skilled in the art of
flattery, and much addicted to repaying solid benefits by
empty compliments. He it was who urged Bullinger, his
master, to dedicate his book, The Holy Marriage of Christians,
to the Lord Marquis of Dorset, a rather venturesome act,
seeing this nobleman was publicly credited with bigamy ! x
Bullinger also presented the Marquis and the Lady Jane
with a copy of his book, dedicated to Henry II of France, on
Christian Perfection, for which the latter wrote to thank him
in her father's name on I2th July 1551. Her epistle is written
in Latin, and may have been suggested and even edited
by Aylmer : it also contains a Biblical quotation in Hebrew.
The following extract from it gives a fair idea of how this
child of fourteen addressed one of the most learned men of
his time : —

' From that little volume of pure and unsophisticated

1 The letter in which Ab Ulmis does this will be found in the Parker
Society's edition of the Reformers' letters, vol. ii. p. 406, and is dated
3Oth April 1550. It simply overflows with flattery of the Marquis, who is
described as " the thunderbolt and terror of the Papists, that is, a fierce and
terrible adversary. . . . He is much looked-up to by the King. He is learned
and speaks Latin with elegance. He is the protector of all students, and the
refuge of foreigners. He maintains at his own house the most learned men ;
he has a daughter, about fourteen years of age, who is pious and accom-
plished beyond what can be expressed ; to whom I hope shortly to present
your book on the holy marriage of Christians, which I have almost entirely
translated into Latin. You may adopt this form of dedication to the book :
' To Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, Baron Ferrers of Groby, Harrington,
Bonville and Astley, one of His Majesty's Privy Council, and my most
honoured lord, &c. &c.' " So far as can be discovered, neither Jane Grey
nor the Marquis her father wrote to thank Bullinger for this work, no letter
to this effect being extant.

In the December of the following year (1551) the Marquis of Dorset wrote
to Bullinger from London (Zurich Letters, Parker Society, vol. i. p. 3) to
thank him for " the book which you have published under the auspices of my
name," but this volume was one of Bullinger's Decades, dedicated to his
Lordship in the preceding March.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 171

religion, which you lately sent to my father and myself, I
gather daily, as out of a most beautiful garden, the sweetest
flowers. My father also, as far as his weighty engagements
permit, is diligently occupied in the perusal of it : but what-
ever advantage either of us may derive from thence, we are
bound to render thanks to you for it, and to God on your
account ; for we cannot think it right to receive with ungrateful
minds such and so many truly divine benefits, conferred by
Almighty God through the instrumentality of yourself and
those like you, not a few of whom Germany is now in this
respect so happy as to possess. If it be customary with
mankind, as indeed it ought to be, to return favour for favour,
and to show ourselves mindful of benefits bestowed ; how
much rather should we endeavour to embrace with joy fulness
the benefits conferred by divine goodness, and at least to
acknowledge them with gratitude, though we may be unable
to make an adequate return !

1 I come now to that part of your letter/' continues Lady
Jane, " which contains a commendation of myself, which as
I cannot claim, so also I ought not to allow ; but whatever
the Divine Goodness may have bestowed on me, I ascribe
only to Himself, as the chief and sole author of anything in
me that bears any semblance to what is good ; and to Whom
I entreat you, most accomplished sir, to offer your constant
prayers in my behalf, that He may so direct me and all my
actions, that I may not be found unworthy of His so great
goodness. My most noble father would have written to you,
to thank you both for the important labours in which you
are engaged, and also for the singular courtesy you have
manifested by inscribing with his name and publishing under
his auspices your Fifth Decade, had he not been summoned
by most weighty business in His Majesty's service to the
remotest parts of Britain ; but as soon as public affairs afford
him leisure he is determined, he says, to write to you with all
diligence."

Here follows an urgent request for a scheme for the study
of the Hebrew language. She concludes : —

' Farewell, brightest ornament and support of the whole

172 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Church of Christ ; and may Almighty God long preserve you
to us and to His Church ! — Your most devoted

" JANA GRATA"1

Besides these visitors, the Lady Frances appears to have
been the friend and patroness of a learned Protestant, Nicholas
Udall, the famous stenographer. She was even guardian to
his daughter, for a letter from her to Cecil still preserved at
Hatfield begs she may be relieved of this responsibility, as
the young lady is about to be married.

Late in the autumn of 1549, within six months of Seymour's
execution, the celebrated Roger Ascham came on a visit to
Bradgate. He too has been described as tutor to Lady Jane,
but this is a mistake ; he was preceptor to the Princess Eliza-
beth. As one of the leading lights of his time, he was already
well known to the Marquis of Dorset, and passing through
the neighbourhood on his way to attend Rutland and Morysone
on an embassy to Charles v, conceived it his duty to pay his
respects to the great man's family.

Walking through the beautiful park at Bradgate, on his
way to the Hall, the visitor came upon the Marquis and his
lady, with all their household, out hunting. When the caval-
cade halted to greet him, Ascham inquired for the Lady Jane,
and was told she was at home in her own chamber. He begged
leave to wait upon her, a favour readily granted, and found
her in her closet " reading the Phcedon of Plato in Greek,
with as much delight as gentlemen read the merry tales of
Boccacio." Much surprised, he asked the young student
" why she relinquished such pastime as was then going on in
the park for the sake of study ? '

With a smile, Jane replied, " I think all their sport in the
park is but a shadow to that pleasure I find in Plato. Alas !
good folk, they never felt what true pleasure means."

" And how attained you, madam," inquired Ascham, " to
this true knowledge of pleasure ? And what did chiefly allure
you to it, seeing that few women and not many men have
arrived at it ? '

" I will tell you," replied Lady Jane, " and tell you a truth
which perchance you may marvel at. One of the greatest

1 Zurich Letters (Parker Society), vol. i. p. 6.

ROGER ASCHAM'S VISIT TO LADY JANE GREY AT BRADGATE

AFTER THE PAINTING BY J. C. HORSLEY, R.A.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 173

benefits that God ever gave me, is that He sent me, with sharp,
severe parents, so gentle a schoolmaster [Aylmer]. When I
am in presence of either father or mother, whether I speak,
keep silent, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be
sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it,
as it were in such weight, .measure and number, even as per-
fectly as God made the earth, or else I am so sharply taunted,
so cruelly threatened, yea, presented sometimes with pinches,
nips and bobs and other things, (which I will not name for the
honour I bear them), so without measure misordered, that I
think myself in Hell, till the time comes when I must go with
Mr. Aylmer, who teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, and
with such pure allurements to learn, that I think all the time of
nothing whilst I am with him [that is to say, " the time passes
pleasantly when I am with him "]. And when I am called
from him, I fall to weeping, because whatever I do else but
learning is full of great trouble, fear, and wholesome misliking
unto me. And this my book, hath been so much my pleasure,
and bringing daily to me more pleasure and more, that in
respect of it, all other pleasures in very deed be but trifles
and troubles to me/'

Poor solitary little girl ! We of this matter-of-fact age
can but feel more of pity than admiration, as down the
long vista of four and a half centuries we picture her sitting
alone, poring over the Phcedon — dull reading, one would
imagine, for a child, even to one so harried by the ill-temper
of her weak father and her sharp-tongued mother, " whether
she stood still or moved about, was merry or sad, sewed or
played," that she felt herself " in Hell " until Mr. Aylmer
called her to her studies !

Ascham's story throws a very unpleasing sidelight on the
conduct of Lady Jane Grey's parents and their harsh treatment
of the child, and proves, moreover, the sort of forcing system
to which she was being subjected. Ascham tells us that he
mentions this interesting interview, which he introduces into
his Schoolmaster, because it was the last time he ever saw
' that sweet and illustrious lady," and also as a protest against
the exceeding severity of the teaching of those times. It is
curious to note, as her historian, Howard, observes, that whilst
her parents were handling her like a froward child, this extra-

174 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

ordinary young lady was in active correspondence with such
famous men as Ascham, Conrad Pellican, Bullinger, and
Sturmius, who all treated her with the respect due to a grown-
up woman of uncommon sagacity and experience. The only
explanation of this fact is the supposition that these worthies,
foreseeing Lady Jane might possibly occupy the throne,
and anxious to promote the cause of the Reformation in every
possible way, may have placed her on a higher pedestal than
her immature talents deserved. They certainly flattered her
father, of whom they spoke and wrote as being well-nigh
apostolic in zeal and sanctity, and a marvel of light and learn-
ing to boot.

At the age of fourteen, then, Lady Jane was fairly conversant
with Latin and Greek,1 and with or without the aid of a dic-
tionary managed to derive some entertainment from Plato.
But when we are told that she had mastered Hebrew, and at
the age of seventeen was forming the acquaintance of ( the
tongue of Chaldea ' and " the language of Arabia," we are
inclined, with Sir Harris Nicolas, to be sceptical. Her Greek
and Latin may have been, and very likely were, thoroughly
mastered. Several letters in these languages are attributed
to her and are possibly of her own unaided composition, but
even in these we note that her style and phraseology in many
cases closely resembles that of Demosthenes or Cicero, whom
she evidently imitated. In one of her letters, written on I2th
July 1551, to Henry Bullinger, she says, " I am beginning to
learn the Hebrew tongue/' and asks him to give her a method
whereby she may pursue her course of study in that language
to the greatest advantage. Bullinger sent the plan, and in
another letter she thanks him and says she will enter upon the
study of the Hebrew language in the method which he so
clearly directs. As this letter is dated July 1552, and her
brief career ended in the following year, her proficiency in the
language of the prophets was probably not very considerable.

That poor Jane Grey was " crammed ' there can be no
question, and the wonder is her weak health did not collapse
altogether under the strain. The figurehead of a party she
was to be, however, and it was necessary that extravagant

1 The above-quoted Latin letter to Henry Bullinger was written when she
was only fourteen.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 175

reports of her learning should be spread throughout her own
country and among the Protestants in foreign lands.

Lady Jane Grey at this period, surrounded by learned men
and women so much older than herself, appears strained, even
artificial, but later, in her culminating misery, she displays a
dignity, a sweetness of nature, and a pious sincerity which
render her worthy of her fame. Her few compositions
which have come down to us, most of them written during
the last days of her life, — her prayer, for instance, the
letter to her sisters, and the lines which, according to
tradition, she scratched on the walls of her cell, — are full of
feeling, and lead us to regret that so fine a nature should not
have been spared to adorn mature womanhood as perfectly
as its unaffected simplicity graced her short maidenhood.
Yet there was a strain of obstinacy and even of coarseness in
Jane's character which leads one to think that after all she
might, had she remained Queen, have displayed in later life
many of the less pleasing peculiarities of her Tudor ancestors.

A very curious letter, written to Lady Jane Grey by Ascham
early in 1552, while he was still at the Court of Charles v,
throws considerable light on the subject of her studies ; it
has also led some authorities to imagine the learned man
had actually fallen in love with his fair pupil. " In this my
long peregrination, most illustrious lady," says he, " I have
travelled far, have visited the greatest cities, and have made
the most diligent observations in my power on the manners of
the nations, their institutions, laws, and regulations. Never-
theless, there is nothing that has raised in me greater admira-
tion than what I found in regard to yourself during the last
summer, to see one so young and lovely, even in the absence
of her learned preceptor, in the noble hall of her family, in the
very moment when her friends and relatives were enjoying
the field sports, to find, I repeat — oh, all ye gods ! — so divine
a maid, diligently perusing the Phcedon of Plato, in this more
happy, it may be believed, than in her royal and noble
lineage.

' Go on thus, O best adorned virgin, to the honour of thy
country, the delight of thy parents, the comfort of thy relatives,
and the admiration of all. Oh, happy Aylmer ! to have such a
scholar, and to be her tutor. I congratulate both you who

176 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

teach and she who learns. These were the words to myself,
as to my reward for teaching the most illustrious Elizabeth.
But to you too I can repeat them with more truth, to you I
concede this felicity, even though I should have to lament
want of success where I had expected to reap the sweetest fruits
of my labours.

" But let me constrain the sharpness of my grief which
prudence makes it necessary I should conceal even to myself.
This much I say, that I have no fault to find with the Lady
Elizabeth, whom I have always found the best of ladies, nor
indeed with the Lady Mary, but if ever I shall have the happi-
ness to meet my friend Aylmer, then I shall repose in his bosom
my sorrows abundantly.

" Two things I repeat to thee, my friend Aylmer [Aylmer
was evidently at Bradgate at this period], for I know thou wilt
see this letter, that by your persuasion and entreaty the Lady
Jane Grey, as early as she can conveniently, may write to me
in Greek, which she had already promised to do. I have even
written lately to John Sturmius, mentioning this promise.
Pray let your letters and hers fly together to us. The distance
is great, but John Hales will take care that it shall reach me.
If she even were to write to Sturmius himself in Greek, neither
you nor she would have cause to repent your labour. [The
" neither you nor she " points clearly to collaboration.]

" The other request is, my good Aylmer, that you would
exert yourself so that we might conjointly preserve this mode
of life among us. How freely, how sweetly, and philosophi-
cally then should we live ! Why should we, my good Aylmer,
less enjoy all these things, which Cicero, at the conclusion of
the third book, De Finibus, describes as the only rational mode
of life ? Nothing in any tongue, nothing in any times, in
human memory, either past or present, from which something
may not be drawn to sweeten life !

"As to the news here, most illustrious lady, I know not
what to write. That which is written of stupid things, must
itself be stupid, and, as Cicero complains of his times, there is
little to amuse or that can be embellished. Besides, at present,
all places and persons are occupied with rumours of wars and
commotions, which, for the most part, are either mere fabrica-
tions or founded on no authority, so that anything respecting

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 177

Continental politics would neither be interesting nor useful
to you.

" The general Council of Trent is to sit on the first of May,"
continues Jane's correspondent, " Cardinal Pole, it is asserted,
is to be the president. Besides there are the tumults this
year in Africa, their preparation for a war against the Turks,
and then the great expectation of the march of the Emperor
into Austria, of which I shall, God willing, be a companion.
Why need I write to you of the siege of Magdeburg, and how
the Duke of Mecklenburg has been taken, or of that commotion
which so universally, at this moment, afflicts the miserable
Saxony ? To write of all these things, I have neither leisure,
nor would it be safe ; on my return, which I hope is not far
distant, it shall be a great happiness to relate all these things
to you in person.

Thy kindness to me, oh ! most noble Jane Grey, was
always most grateful to me when present with you, but it is
ten times more so during this long absence. To your noble
parents, I wish length of happiness, to you a daily victory in
letters and in virtue, and to thy sister Katherine, that she may
resemble thee, and to Aylmer, I wish every good that he may
wish to Ascham.

; Further, dearest lady, if I were not afraid to load thee
with the weight of my light salutations, I would ask thee in my
name to salute Elizabeth Astley, who, as well as her brother
John, I believe to be of my best friends, and whom I believe
to be like that brother in all integrity and sweetness of manners.
Salute, I pray thee, my cousin, Mary Laten, and my wife Alice,
of whom I think oftener than I can here express. Salute,
also, that worthy young man Garret and John Haddon.

Farewell, most noble lady in Christ. R. A."

" August ae "

f(

i8th January, 1551

When we consider that this letter was addressed to a girl ?
who was not yet fifteen years of age, making due allowance for
the high-flown style of the times, we can only conclude that
there was some politic motive for a mode of address so in-
judicious in its flattery, so fulsome and so extravagant even
for that age of courtly adulation.

12

178 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Lady Jane Grey spent the better part of the years 1550-1551
and 1552 at Bradgate, improving her mind by hard study, and
patiently submitting to the ' ' nips ' ' and petty tyranny of her
mother. At one time she seems to have commenced the
study of such music as was then in vogue. This, Ascham
promptly assured her was a frivolous occupation, unworthy of
a godly maiden. In a very curious letter, dated 23rd December
1551, Aylmer writes from London to Bullinger concerning
the Lady Jane, begging him to write to her direct and seek to
influence her to give up practising music so zealously.

" It now remains for me/' writes the worthy Reformer, " to
request that, with the kindness we have so long experienced,
you will instruct my pupil in your next letter as to what
embellishment and adornment of person is becoming in young
women professing godliness. In treating upon this subject, you
may bring forward the example of our King's sister, the Princess
Elizabeth, who goes clad in every respect as becomes a young
maiden ; and yet no one is induced by the example of so
illustrious a lady, and in so much Gospel light, to lay aside,
much less look down upon, gold, jewels, and braidings of the
hair. They hear preachers declaim against these things, but
yet no one amends her life. Moreover, I would wish you to
prescribe to her (the Lady Jane) the length of time she may
properly devote to the study of music. For in this respect
also, people err beyond measure in this country, while
their whole labour is undertaken, and exertions made, for
the sake of ostentation."

We can see by this letter, presumably written with, a view
to the great object all these men kept in their hearts, — that of
influencing Jane in the event of her becoming Queen, — that
they were endeavouring to make a narrow-minded bigot of
her, and it is equally certain that the Princess Elizabeth was
just then playing the part of the discreet and modest maiden.
It is very amusing to find this wily Princess, whose reputation
was already the reverse of good, held up as an example to
innocent Jane Grey. The unhappy child was not even to
practise on her virginals in peace, or dress as she chose, but to
follow the example of Elizabeth, forsooth ! Could Ulmer and
Pellican have seen in a vision the three thousand dresses and

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 179

the sixteen hundred wigs which were to adorn the wardrobe of
the lady they were setting up as a model to their simple music-
pupil ! Even in matters of religion, Elizabeth at this early
stage of her career showed a remarkable discretion, neither
siding with nor offending either party. She was a pious
Catholic in the company of her sister Mary, and an equally
edifying Protestant at the Court of her brother, Edward vi.

In June 1551, after a lengthy absence, the Dorsets returned
to their town mansion. They came to London for the purpose
of examining the vast estate which the Lady Frances had
inherited from the two sons of her father, Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk, by his fourth wife, Katherine Willoughby.
These two brothers died at Bugden Hall, Cams., of the
sweating sickness, within four hours of each other, and the
bulk of their wealth, excepting the Duchess's dower, fell
to the Lady Frances, whose husband, in September of the
following year (1552), was raised to the rank of Duke of
Suffolk. The Dorsets now lived very sumptuously in London,
and with a view, perhaps, of pleasing the King and pushing
forward the interests of the Lady Jane, whom they still fondly
hoped would become Queen-Consort, they invited a number of
English and foreign Reformers, at this time living in exile
in London, to their house.

The Marquis, who was an enthusiastic admirer of Conrad
Bullinger, had on more than one occasion exhorted him to
correspond with his daughter, Lady Jane. In a letter ad-
dressed to that eminent Reformer in December 1551, he says :
( I acknowledge myself also to be much indebted to you on
my daughter's account, for having always exhorted her in
your godly letters to a true faith in Christ, the study of the
Scriptures, purity of manners, and innocence of life, and I
earnestly request you to continue these exhortations as
frequently as possible."

A letter of another Reformer — namely Ab Ulmis — gives us
some interesting glimpses of the Reformation movement in
England. He says : You will easily perceive the venera-
tion and esteem which the Marquis's daughter entertains
towards you, from the very learned letter she has written to
you. For my own part, I do not think there ever lived any
one more deserving of respect than this young lady, if you

i8o THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

regard her family ; more learned, if you consider her age, or
more happy if you consider both. A report had prevailed,
and has begun to be talked of by persons of consequence,
that this most noble virgin is to be betrothed and given in
marriage to the King's Majesty. Oh ! if that event should
take place, how happy would be the union and how beneficial
to the Church. . . . Haddon, a minister of the Word, and
Aylmer, the tutor of the young lady, respect and reverence
you with much duty and affection. It will be a mark of
courtesy to write to them all as soon as possible. Skinner
is at Court with the King. Wallack is preaching with much
labour in Scotland/' and so on. Ascham, in a letter to
Sturmius, describes Jane as excelling in learning Lady Mildred,
Cecil's accomplished wife. She is, says he, the most learned
woman in England. f I hear you have translated the Orations
of ^Eschines and Demosthenes into Latin. I pray you dedicate
the work to this peerless lady."

These and other letters still extant prove, if proof were
needed, that Aylmer, Ulmer, and Ascham, assisted by Pellican,
Sturmius, and Bullinger, were at this time hard at work,
preparing their future Queen and patroness for the position
they fondly hoped she would one day occupy. Hales, too,
was assisting them, — " Club-footed Hales," as he was called-
an English lawyer who had visited Switzerland and adopted
the tenets of the Geneva sect ; he is described as " fanatical,
learned, and ill-tempered." He was a frequent visitor at Suffolk
House and Bradgate, and in after times was much involved
in the troubles of poor Lady Katherine Grey, Jane's youngest
sister. Further quotation from these letters is unnecessary ;
they are all written in the same style of pedantic flattery,
and throw more light on passing events than most people
would imagine, although the epistolary literature of this
period is verbose, and as a rule uninforming. We can
imagine, however, that the meetings at Suffolk House were
exceedingly picturesque, and many will marvel that only one
painter of note, M. M. P. Comte, has ever given us a picture
of the youthful Lady Jane Grey seated among the doctors of
the Reformed faith, in the noble Gothic hall of a mansion
second to none in the old city for its architectural magnificence.1

1 See note at end of this Chapter.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 181

The monotony of Jane's life of close study was frequently
interrupted by long journeys on horseback, or in cumbersome
waggons, to pay various country visits. Late in 1551, the
Greys established, for some reason or other, a close intimacy
with the Princess Mary, and this notwithstanding their
religious differences. With increase of wealth and station,
Jane's parents became more worldly than ever. Perceiving
that Edward vi, who began to show signs of consumption,
might not live long, and that the Crown might after all pass
to her Catholic Grace, they wisely considered it prudent to
be on the right side of a lady who was probably destined to
become their sovereign. Accordingly they paid the Princess
as many as four visits in a single year.

In the summer of 1551, Jane came very near losing her
mother, Duchess Frances, who fell ill of a violent fever. The
sick lady, who was at Richmond, sent for her daughter Jane
from Bradgate, " to help nurse her." Suffolk describes her
illness in the following quaint terms in a letter explaining
her absence from Court addressed to the Duke of Northumber-
land's secretary, Cecil, whom he styles his " cousin Cycell " :
This shall be to advertise you, that my sudden departure
from Court was for that I have received a letter of the state
my wife was in, and I assure you she is mo' like to die than
not. I never saw sicker creature in my life. She hath three
sicknesses, the first is a hot burning nague [ague] that doth
hold her four and twenty hours, the other is the stopping
of the spleen, the third is hypochondriac passion. These three
eing enclosed in one body, it is to be feared that death must
needs follow/5 But it did not " follow " ; by the beginning
of October, the Lady Frances was better, and in November
she was sufficiently convalescent to attend the entry into
London of the Scottish Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, and
be present at the festivities consequent on that rather
unexpected royal visit.

Early in November 1551, Jane appeared at King Edward's
Court for the first time, and took a prominent part in these
merry-makings. The Scottish Queen-Regent, Mary of Guise,
had recently arrived at Portsmouth from France, on her way
to the dominions of her unfortunate daughter, Mary, Queen
of Scots, and wrote begging the English King's licence to pass

182 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

through his dominions. This was readily granted ; and a
pressing invitation to visit the Metropolis was sent to the
Regent, and willingly accepted. On 2nd November, she pro-
ceeded by water to Paul's Wharf, and thence rode in great
state through the City. She lodged in the Bishop of London's
house, where she was entertained with regal hospitality, and,
according to Stowe's Annals, was supplied with " beefs,
muttons, veales, swans, and other kinds of poultry meates,
with fuell, bread, wine, beare, and wax."

The first interview of King Edward vi with the Scottish
Queen took place on 4th November, at Westminster Palace.
She rode in her chariot from the City to Whitehall, attended
by the Lady Margaret Douglas, cousin to the King, and
Countess of Lennox, the Duchesses of Richmond and Suffolk,
the Lady Jane Grey, and many other noble ladies, including
the Duchess of Northumberland.

The Queen and the King dined alone together ; but the
Duchess of Suffolk, the Duchess of Northumberland, and the
Lady Margaret Lennox, together with the Ladies Jane and
Katherine Grey, dined, we are told, in the Queen's hall, and
were sumptuously entertained. Neither the Princess Elizabeth
nor the Princess Mary attended these festivities. They were
not in favour at this time and had not been invited.

The banquet must have taken place at the hour we usually
devote to luncheon, for at four the Queen, having visited the
galleries and state apartments of the Palace, then considered
" show places," left Westminster, and, accompanied by her
escort of nobles and ladies, rode once more through the City
to her lodgings in the Episcopal Palace.

On the following day (5th November), she made a solemn
progress through the City, riding from St. Paul's, through
Cheapside and Bishopsgate, to Shoreditch, whence she took
the high road for her own dominions. She was accompanied
by a great train of nobility, among them the Duchess of
Suffolk and her daughter, the Lady Jane Grey, and that
fateful Duke of Northumberland who was destined to bring
ruin on the unfortunate Jane and her father. Northumberland
had in his train one hundred horsemen, of whom thirty were
gentlemen clad in black velvet, guarded with white, and
wearing white hats with black feathers.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 183

As soon as this state visit, mentioned with considerable
delight by King Edward in his Journal, was over, the Lady
Frances and her daughters returned to Bradgate.

In the middle of November the Ducal party set out again
for Tylsey, the seat of Suffolk's young cousin and ward, the
heir of Willoughby of Woollaton. From here they went on a
visit to Princess Mary. A very curious MS. account book,
still in the possession of the Willoughby d'Eresby family,
shows that, on 2oth November 1551, ' ten gentlemen came
from London to escort my Lady Frances's grace to my Lady
Mary's grace, and they all left Tylsey after breakfast, the
Lady Frances, accompanied by her daughters, the Lady Jane,
the Lady Katherine and the Lady Mary, and repaired to my
Lady Mary's grace." Whilst on this visit to Princess Mary,
who was then at her town house, the former Priory of St.
John of Jerusalem, in Clerkenwell, the Dorset family received
handsome gifts, as appears from the Princess's expense book :
' Given to my cousin Frances beads (i.e. ( rosary ') of black
and white, mounted in gold"; "To my cousin, Jane
Grey, a necklace of gold, set with pearls and small rubies."
In return, the Lady Jane presented Mary with a pair of
gloves.

In the first days of December, the two younger
daughters returned to Tylsey, but the Duchess and
Lady Jane stayed on in London, for the Lady Jane, we
are told, remained with the Princess at her house in
Clerkenwell.

On 1 6th December, the Duke came to Clerkenwell to escort
Jane and her mother back to Tylsey. There they seem to
have spent a merry Christmas in the company of the Lords
Thomas and John Grey. The Duke of Suffolk, in honour of
his young wards the Willoughbys, and in their name, threw
open the gates of Tylsey to all such of the county gentry as
chose to seek hospitality within them. A company of players
was ordered from London, together with a wonderful boy,
who " sang like a nightingale," besides a tumbler and a juggler.
These were presently supplemented by another band of
players, belonging to the Earl of Oxford, who acted several
pieces. Open house was kept until 2oth January 1552, when
the whole family proceeded to Walden, to spend some days

184 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

with the Duke's sister, Lady Audley,1 whose husband, Lord
Audley, or Audrey, was created Lord Chancellor by Henry vm
and presented with the house and property of the London
Charterhouse, as an acknowledgment of his infamous treat-
ment of Anne Boleyn. The record of the doings at Tylsey
is in an account book kept by " old Mr. Medeley," husband
of the heiress of Willoughby's grandmother and a trustee.
This book was lent to Miss Agnes Strickland, who says — in
her Tudor and Stuart Princesses — Lady Jane Grey — that
Medeley " kept a very thrifty notation of all that was spent
in ' man's meat ' and ( horse's meat ' on these journeys ;
likewise the payments of the players who were to assist in
spending the Christmas with the ' godliness and innocence '
dwelt upon with such unction ' by Suffolk and by the Re-
formers.2 After the visit to Walden, the Lady Frances and
her brood went back to Tylsey for about a week, at the end
of January 1552.

These cross-country journeys, even if sometimes broken by
two or three days' stay in one place, must have been extremely
fatiguing to so young and delicate a girl as Lady Jane. The
Duke of Suffolk and the Lady Frances being of the blood royal,
travelled with a great escort, as many as a hundred to a hundred
and fifty horsemen, scouts, etc., preceding and following their
horses and waggons, otherwise called ' chariots." If the
weather was fine, equestrian travel was exceedingly pleasant :
the canter through the leafy lanes, the midday picnic under
the greenwood tree, and the evening meal in some picturesque
inn, full of Shakespearean character, the bustling, bowing and
curtseying host and hostess, the rustic waiters and grooms,
the flicker of lamp and candle light, the glowing wood fire,
the sanded floor, the shining pewter, and the savoury baked
and roasted meats, all combined to make up a scene of primitive

1 A very fine portrait of this lady was formerly in the possession of the late
Martin Colnaghi, Esq. It represents a handsome matron of fifty, dressed in
the costume of the period. She has regular features, light eyes, and auburn
hair. The picture is dated 1552, the year of the Suffolk family's last visit
to Walden. Lady Audley 's only child married that Duke of Norfolk who
was executed under Elizabeth for his attempt to assist Mary Stuart to escape
from Tutbury Castle.

2 The gay festivities at Tylsey were a matter of some annoyance to Aylmer,
and to the chaplain at Bradgate, Haddon, who feared their distracting effect
on the minds of their pupils, Jane and Katherine Grey.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 185

comfort, entirely absent from the great and sumptuous hostel-
ries of our own time, in which luxury often predominates over
more solid qualities of entertainment. But when pouring rain
turned the ill-kept roads into quagmires, when the nipping
airs of autumn and winter whistled through the skeleton
branches of the trees, or the snow lay feet thick on the ground,
and the keen wintry winds whistled over the frozen rivers and
streams, then must the welcome glow cast by the crackling
fires within the inn parlours have made them, however humble,
appear so many havens of celestial refuge to the Lady Frances,
her husband, her daughters, and her merry men and women.
Since there were no other means of locomotion in those days, a
specially swift and steady steed, or a particularly well-cushioned
waggon, must have been considered with much the same
sense of satisfaction as we bestow now on a new type of motor-
car or a specially well-appointed railway train. Our immediate
forbears were by no means dissatisfied with the old stage-
coaches that transported them from one end of the kingdom
to another in a week or ten days ; sailing in luxurious air-
ships which will have so reduced the bulk of the globe that from
being " a vastie sphere " it will have become a mere overgrown
orange — " from London to Rome in less than an hour ; London
to New York in three ! " — our descendants will try to imagine
how it was ever possible for us to travel by train and motor —
so slow and uncomfortable ! And thus we and our civilisation
may presently come to be looked upon with the same sort of
good-natured disdain we now bestow upon the social con-
ditions and travelling arrangements of the days of " My Lord
a Suffhoke."

It may well be that all this hard riding in bad weather and
the unwonted dissipations of Christmas at Tylsey proved too
much for Lady Jane, for in February 1552, Ab Ulmis writes
to his friend Bullinger : " The Duke's daughter has recovered
from a severe and dangerous illness. She is now engaged
in some extraordinary production, which will very soon be
brought to light, accompanied with the commendation of your-
There has lately been discovered a great treasure of
valuable books : Basil on Isaiah and the Psalms in Greek,
. . Chrysostom on the Gospels, in Greek ; the whole of
Proclus ; the Platonists, etc. ... I have myself seen all

186 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

these books this very day. The Duke of Suffolk, his
daughter, (the Lady Jane), Haddon, Aylmer, and Skinner,
have all written to you." l

These literary treasures were probably found in several
parcels of old books purchased about this time by the Marquis
from an Italian merchant.

In March 1552, Lady Jane, then at Bradgate, sent Bullinger's
wife a present of gloves, and a ring. A month later, Ulmer
returned from Switzerland, whither he had been sent on a
mission, and brought with him a letter from Conrad Pellican,
which Jane immediately answered. In Pellican's Journal, still
preserved at Zurich, we find the following marginal note :
" June iQth, 1552-3, I received a Latin letter, written with
admirable elegance and learning, from the most noble virgin,
Lady Jane Grey, of the illustrious house of Suffolk." This
letter is lost.

Early in July 1552, Lady Jane went with her parents to
Oxford,2 and, almost immediately afterwards, repeated her
visit to Princess Mary, now at Newhall — a visit fraught with
much evil, if we may believe the accounts which have come
down to us, from, it must be admitted, rather suspicious
sources ; that is to say, from Aylmer and Ascham, both eager
to represent Jane as even more Protestant than she really was.
Newhall Place, Princess Mary's chief country seat, had
formed part, in days gone by, of the possessions of Waltham
Abbey, and had been exchanged with Sir John de Shadlowe
by the monks in the reign of Edward in for three other pro-
perties. Its most illustrious occupant in pre-Reformation
times had been the unfortunate Margaret of Anjou. After her
capture by the Yorkists it was confiscated by the Crown, and
was eventually granted by Henry vn to Bottler or Butler, Earl
of Ormond, who fortified the mansion and enlarged it. It

1 Zurich Letters, vol. ii. pp. 447-8.

2 Ulmer wrote to Conrad Pellican in the summer of 1552 (Zurich Letters,
p. 451) that " Our Duke (Suffolk) has been staying for the last few days at
an estate here in the neighbourhood of Oxford, which has come to him by
inheritance from the late Duke of Suffolk." The " late Duke of Suffolk "
refers to the Lady Frances's half-brother, who has been already frequently
mentioned. Ulmer continues : " I waited upon him and paid my respects,
according to the custom of the University." Edward vi being at that time
in the neighbourhood, Jane was presented to him, and "received with great
favour."

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 187

passed, as a dower, to Sir Thomas Boleyn, grandfather of
Queen Anne Boleyn, and he exchanged it with Henry vm,
who took a great fancy to the place, and changed its name to
Beaulieu. The monarch stayed here on one occasion, at
least, with Anne Boleyn, so that Mary Tudor may have found
a few of the personal belongings of her mother's chief foe,
when she took possession of the house which Henry bestowed
on her towards the end of his reign. She made it her favourite
abode, principally on account of its gardens, which are often
mentioned in the Household Books of the period, as supplying
the royal palaces of London with fruit and vegetables —
the cherries and grapes being considered particularly fine.
Elizabeth, who did not care for Beaulieu, — its association with
her mother and sister must have been painful to her, — presented
it to Radcliffe, Earl of Suffolk. He sold it to " Steenie," Duke
of Buckingham, who let the place fall into such ruin that its
value so decreased that Cromwell was able to buy it for " five
shillings and no more ! '

In Mary's day it was still a fine old Gothic mansion of the
ecclesiastical type, with three lofty towers and a magnificent
hall, containing a huge chimneypiece and a broad staircase
leading to the upper apartments. In the chapel was that famous
window made at Dort in Flanders by order of Henry vn,
and now the chief ornament of St. Margaret's, Westminster.
The furniture at Newhall, the inventory of which is still extant,
was extremely magnificent, and included many sets of costly
tapestries, hangings of velvet and Florentine brocades, Turkey
carpets and inlaid bedsteads and chairs. The chief artistic
treasure of the house, however, was a superb portrait of Mary
herself by Holbein, and another of the King her father by the
same great painter. These two portraits remained at Newhall
until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when we lose
trace of them, but the portrait of Mary is not improbably
the one now in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk, and
that of King Henry, that which is in the possession of Lord
Leconfield at Petworth House.

A state visit to Newhall must have been conducted on
similar lines to such a function at Sandringham or Windsor
in our times, being a singular mixture of extreme simplicity
and extreme stateliness. The Princess herself, who, had her

i88 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

life been cast in a less exalted sphere, would have been a
kindly woman, had a deep hearty voice and a cheery welcome,
which endeared her to all who approached her ; yet an observa-
tion made by Lady Jane Grey to Lady Wharton proves that
every time anyone passed before her Grace, they made obeisance
by falling on one knee, as if she had been the Host on the altar.
Meals were served somewhat after the French fashion : a
very light breakfast at what we should consider an unearthly
hour — six in summer, seven in winter — a heavy dinner at
eleven, and supper at eight. All sorts of sports and pastimes-
hawking, tennis, horse-riding, hunting — served to pass the
intermediate time, and in the evenings there was card-playing,
boisterous games, and dancing. Before retiring for the night,
prayers were said, and a loving cup full of spiced wine was
passed round, the Princess putting her lips to it before passing
it, with a blessing, to her guests. We may take it for granted
that during the visit of the Marquis and Marchioness, notorious
Protestants, religious controversy did not enter into the
conversation at Newhall. To do her justice, Mary at this
time at least was very free from bigotry ; two of her favourite
ladies, Lady Bacon and Lady Brown, were Protestants, and
her friendship for the imprisoned Duchess of Somerset and
her daughters never failed so long as she lived — and yet the
Duchess was an ardent " Gospeller." That the Princess
enjoyed a little " flutter ' at cards is proved by her house-
hold books, and as the Marquis was an excellent card-player,
no doubt " Ombre " — a game introduced into England by
the Spaniards whilst Katherine of Aragon was Queen — served
to pass the evening, together with " Gresco," " Mountsaint,"
" Newcut," and " Lansquenet." Lady Jane and her little
sisters may have joined in the romping game of " Trump,"
a noisy round game like our ' Old Maid," in which, on the
appearance of a certain card, everybody slapped their right
hand on the table and cried out ' Trump ! ' those who failed
to do so paying a trifling fine. ' Gleke," a primitive sort of
whist, was also greatly in fashion ; and at this game, we may
be sure, the Lady Frances was prudent enough to lose fairly
large sums to her august cousin, whose hot Spanish temper
was apt to be ruffled when the tide of fortune turned
against her.

THE EDUCATION OF LADY JANE 189

It was during this visit that the Princess Mary presented
the Lady Jane with a rich dress, and Jane, willing to practise
some of the precepts which she had received from Zurich,
asked the lady by whom her cousin sent the gown, what
she was to do with it ? ' Marry," replied the lady, " wear
it, to be sure ! ' ' Nay," replied the Lady Jane, " that were
a shame, to follow the Lady Mary, who leaveth God's Word,
and leave my Lady Elizabeth, who followeth God's Word/1
This anecdote was recorded by her tutor, Aylmer, long years
after this world had closed on Jane — at a moment, in fact,
when Elizabeth did not thank him at all for reminding her
subjects of the Puritan style she had affected in her youth.
Another incident, which may be more certainly placed during
this Newhall visit, shows the cousins at issue on those points
of belief then so hotly debated. Lady Wharton, a fervent
Catholic, crossing the chapel with Lady Jane Grey when
service was not proceeding, made her obeisance to the Host
as they passed the altar. Lady Jane asked " if the Princess
were present in the chapel ? ' Lady Wharton answered that
she was not.

Then why do you curtsey ? " demanded Jane.

1 I curtsey to Him that made me," replied Lady Wharton.

' Nay," retorted the Lady Jane, " but did not the baker
make him ? '

Lady Wharton repeated this remark to the Princess,
' who never after loved the Lady Jane as she did before."

NOTE. — The London residence of the parents of Lady Jane Grey was, in
her early days, the house in Whitehall overlooking the Thames and known
as Dorset Place ; but, after the death of the two sons of the Duke of Suffolk,
the Lady Frances inherited Norwich House, Strand, which Henry vm had
confiscated from the Bishops of Norwich, and exchanged with his brother-in.
law for Suffolk Place, Southwark, which he converted into a mint. Norwich
House now became generally known as Suffolk House. Here the Greys lived
in great state, possibly abandoning their other residence in Whitehall for the
larger and more sumptuous residence. The Lady Frances, after the execution
of her husband, sold Suffolk House to the Percys and it presently became
known as Northumberland House, and, altered from a Tudor to a Jacobean
mansion, it remained a prominent feature of London street architecture until
early in the second half of the last century, when it was pulled down for the
improvements at Charing Cross.

CHAPTER XII

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK

IMMEDIATELY after the execution of Thomas Seymour,
John Dudley steps forward on the lurid stage of this
history. If Seymour was a rascal, Dudley, son of a
rascal, was even worse. Divested of his magnificent habili-
ments and picturesque surroundings, this man was a far
meaner and more sordid ruffian than was ever my Lord
of Sudeley — more devilish in his cunning and, if anything,
more unscrupulous.

John Dudley was the son of that notorious Edmund
Dudley who, under Henry vu, had remorselessly plundered
the public coffers, and so earned the execution which fell to
his lot in the first years of Henry vm's reign — on 28th August
1510, to be precise. In common justice, it is fair to say that
this Dudley of evil repute was highly esteemed by his most
illustrious contemporary, Sir Thomas More ; and we may
believe him to have been much calumniated, like many other
men of his time. Dugdale says Edmund Dudley was the son
of a carpenter,1 and the assertion is somewhat supported by

r 1 Mr. H. Sydney Grazebrook, in his interesting outline on the subject of
Northumberland's origin, in the Herald and Genealogical Review, vol. v., 1870,
thinks John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was really descended from the
Dudleys of Sedgley and Tipton, a member of which ancient house married
the widow of John Sutton, Lord of Dudley, in Henry vi's time. On the
other hand, Dugdale says his grandfather was a carpenter and " very base-
born."

Sir Philip Sydney in his curious tract in defence of Robert, Earl of
Leicester, written in answer to " Leycester's Commonwealth," — a scurrilous
attack on Queen Elizabeth's famous favourite, — entirely denies the aspersions
cast upon the honour of a family with which he was closely allied, his father
having married the Duke of Northumberland's daughter, Mary. He contends
that to his certain knowledge the Duke was a man of legitimate descent
from the ancient house of Sutton of Dudley, and moreover connected with the

greatest nobility in England. " How can a man descended from such great

190

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 191

the fact that although he was born twenty years before the
death of the Lord Dudley whom he asserted to be his grand-
father, that gentleman would never acknowledge him. His
real patronym was Sutton, but he assumed that of Dudley after
his acquisition of the ancient castle of that name, and the
expulsion of its rightful owner, who fled abroad. On the
gates of the Castle, Edmund affixed his own arms, together
with those of the ancient houses of Someries and Malpas,
from which he claimed descent. He was at one time Sergeant-
at-Law and at another Speaker of the House of Commons,
and married Lady Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Edward
Grey, Viscount Lisle, a collateral of the great house of Grey,
and the same young lady to whom Charles Brandon was con-
tracted and who, as we have seen, refused to carry out her
side of the engagement.

The John Dudley of these pages was born about 1502,
the eldest of three brothers,who, after their father's ignominious
death, were placed under the guardianship of Sir Edward
Guildford. The latter fought valiantly to obtain some part
of the father's ill-gotten property for his wards, and their
possessions were further increased at the death of their mother,
a considerable heiress. Being a handsome, dashing young
fellow, the father's bad reputation was soon forgotten, and
his gay son John, as Viscount Lisle, was a prominent figure at
Court in the last half of Henry vm's reign. In his early years

Houses as Nevill, Talbot, Beauchamp and Lisley, be deemed otherwise than
honourable and noble ? " He continues : "A railing writer has said of
Octavius Augustus, his father was a silversmith ; another Italian declares
(oh 1 the falsehood) that Hugh Capet was descended of a butcher who was
his father. Of divers English names of the best, foolish dreamers have
said one was the descendant of a miller, another of a shoemaker, another of a
furrier, and forsooth yet another of a fiddler ! — foolish lies ! and by any
who have ever tasted of antiquities, known so to be, yet those however had
luck to treat with honest railers — for they were not left fatherless clean ;
but we as if we were of Ducalion's brood, were made out of stones — they have
left us no ancestors from whence we came. Edmund Dudley was the father
of this younger brother of the same Lord Dudley, and would have been Lord
Dudley, if the Lord Dudley had died without heirs. His father was married
to the daughter and heir of Bramshot in Sussex. This Dudley's father is
buried with his wife at Arundel Castle and left land to Edmund Dudley and
so to the Duke my grandfather, in Sussex." Philip Sydney ought certainly
to have known the true descent of his family, especially since they were
to acquire the title of Leicester from the Dudleys.

192 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

he was a good deal in France with Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, the Lady Frances's father, who knighted him at
Vian, in Normandy. John Dudley's wife, Jane Guildford,
whom he married when he was a mere lad, contrived to
absorb his affections so completely that his domestic life was
remarkably respectable. She was a very beautiful woman,
and part heiress of his former guardian, Edward Guildford,
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. She bore him a numerous
and handsome family, and her behaviour in clinging to her
husband during his hour of danger, and making desperate
efforts to save him, was rare at this strange period. With
all her good qualities, however, she was cordially disliked by
Lady Jane Grey, whom she treated with consistent harshness.

As Viscount Lisle,1 John Dudley worked his way up
legitimately enough until he was nominated Lord High-Ad-
miral and Master of the Horse (1542) to Henry vm. Although
at heart a Catholic, he sided with the Seymours against the
Howards, and thus — for ambition's sake — came to be numbered
among the chiefs of the Protestant party at Edward vi's
coronation, and was then created Earl of Warwick. His
ambition was now well fired — he must become aut Ccesar, aut
nullus, and this he could only achieve by ousting the two
Seymours and taking their place. Like most of his contem-
poraries, he was essentially an opportunist — un arriviste,
as the French would say. For some years he worked like a
rat in the dark, waiting his opportunity : first he nibbled at
Thomas Seymour's good fame — what there was of it ! — and
then cunningly set brother against brother. Patiently,
subtly, he gnawed on till he saw Thomas ascend the scaffold ;
then he promptly undermined Edward Seymour's credit
with King and people. His aim was to become Lord Pro-
tector himself, to reach at supreme power by fair means or
foul.

Soon after the death of his brother, Thomas, Somerset began
to totter. The Admiral's execution had produced a bad
effect. Hardened as men were in those ferocious times, there
were yet certain ties of consanguinity which might not be

1 It will be remembered that the Duke of Suffolk filched the title of Lisle
from the Lady Elizabeth Grey, but on his relinquishing it, it was given to her
eldest son, John Dudley.

JOHN DUDLEY, DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND

FROM AN ENGRAVING BY G. VERTUE

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 193

violated with impunity ; and so, although Elizabeth did write to
her sister Mary, that " had the brothers met, the Lord Admiral
would have been saved," it was none the less the hand of
Cain that signed his death-warrant. The people said so openly.
They had not forgotten the dreadful carnage that had marked
Edward Seymour's return, through Scotland into England,
on the occasion of his first Scotch expedition.1

If the horrors perpetrated by Somerset himself during that
expedition were execrable, those committed with his know-
ledge and connivance in the same forlorn country under
Edward vi were even more atrocious. That " varmint '
Lennox, the husband of the Lady Margaret, niece of Henry
vni, was his chief agent. Reeking corpses of men, women,
and little children marked the passage of the English troops
to and from the Border lands. Thus the Lord Protector's
reputation in the North was of the worst — " his very name
stank of blood." 2

1 On this expedition Somers et carried out to the letter the instructions given
him by Henry vin, which will be found in a document in the State Papers.
Nero might have written them. They run as follows : " Put all to fire and
sword, burn Edinburgh Town, and raze and deface it, when you have sacked
it, and gotten what you can out of it. ... Beat down and overthrow the
castles, sack Holyrood House, and as many towns and villages about Edin-
burgh as you conveniently can. Sack Leith, and burn and subvert it and all
the rest, putting man, woman and child to fire and sword, without exception,
when any resistance shall be made against you ; and this done, pass over to
Fife-land and extend all extremities and destruction in all towns and villages
whereunto you may reach . . . ; not forgetting ... so to spoil and turn
upside down the Cardinal's [Beaton] town of St. Andrew's, as the upper
stone may be the nether, and not one stick stand upon another, sparing no
creature alive within the same, specially such as, either in friendship or blood,
be allied to the Cardinal."

2 For a further account of this campaign, see the dispatches of the Sey-
mours in the State Papers for the reign of Henry viu ; and for the second
expedition, those for the reign of Edward vi.

The most heinous crime of all perpetrated on the second expedition — a
crime which damaged Somerset's reputation to the greatest extent — was the
slaughter of twelve young lads under fifteen years of age, the children of
Scottish horsemen recruited by Lennox, who were held as hostages for the
good behaviour of their parents. Lennox and Lord Wharton had the poor
boys hanged for their fathers' disaffection ; only one escaped, to become
eventually known in the story of Mary Stuart as Lord Maxwell of Herries.
A common soldier to whom he was handed over by Lennox, and who was
sick of the carnage, saved the lad at the risk of his own life. Somerset re-
warded Lennox for his services in this campaign, and wrote to him "right
merrily."

i94 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Dudley had not, therefore, so much difficulty as might be
thought in undermining his formidable rival's position, tower-
ing though it was. In many ways, Somerset had proved
himself a failure, and he had already lost much of his popu-
larity, even among Protestants, who were none too sure of his
loyalty — was he not the friend of Mary and the avowed enemy
of Elizabeth ? By the large Catholic party he was, of course,
entirely and heartily detested.

He was not a Calvinist, although he maintained an
active correspondence with Calvin, but a Church of England
man of the " Low Church ' description, a hater of ecclesi-
astical ritual and formality, and, incidentally , a born iconoclast.
The statement that no man or woman was persecuted or
burnt for religious opinions under his rule, is hardly exact.
There are more ways than one of killing a dog — or of perse-
cuting an opposing faith. True, the fires of Smithfield were
quenched for the time being, but Catholics and Anabaptists
were made to feel they were outside the law, and the prisons
were crowded with men and women of those persuasions,
and of every social grade.1 The cathedrals and parish churches
were cleared of their sacred images, their plate, their rood-
lofts, and their art treasures ; even their frescoed walls were
whitewashed. Stained glass was smashed, because it bore
" idolatrous pictures," and replaced by plain glass or horn.
Even dead men's tombs were overthrown, and the bodies cast
" into filthy ditches and fields beyond the city." 2 In a word,
the artistic treasures of centuries were within a few months
dispersed, destroyed, or sold to a throng of Jews, who
flocked to England to seize so splendid an opportunity.
Somerset pulled down three or four episcopal palaces, the
beautiful North Cloister of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the
Churches of St. Mary-le-Strand and St. John's, Clerkenwell,
for the sake of their building materials, which he used for his
own new and almost royal residence in the Strand. He gave
orders for the demolition of St. Margaret's, Westminster,
and but for the angry protests of the indignant parishioners,
his command would have been obeyed. There was another

1 See documents dealing with the state of the prisons under Edward VI
in the Record Office.

2 See Haylin ; Hayward ; and Hume, vol. hi. (folio edition) p, 328.

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 195

cause of discontent, which has been much neglected by
historians, namely, the doctrinal changes, which necessarily
greatly altered outward observances, much to the disgust
of the older generation, who saw the destruction of the cherished
traditions of a thousand years, and the desecration of their
most sacred social usages. Their pageants, pilgrimages,
and processions were now paralysed ; and it was an offence
deemed worthy of imprisonment, ay, even of burning, to
pray for the dead, or to retain the rosary the dying mother
had given, with her last blessing, on her death-bed.

The average Englishman is apt to think of the Sixth
Edward's reign as an era of peace and plenty, during which, to
the applause of the entire nation, the Book of Common Prayer
was formulated by Cranmer, and the churches emptied of
'hated and idolatrous images and symbols/' In reality,
it was one of the most disastrous epochs in the whole of our
history. Froude, in a passage of uncommon brilliance, sums
up the appalling effect, after a lapse of fifteen years, of Henry
vin's dissolution of the monasteries and hospitals. With
singular vividness he depicts the extreme misery to which the
lower orders were reduced ; the high roads and country lanes
rendered dangerous by hordes of starving and half-naked
men and women, who a few years previously had been
in fairly comfortable circumstances, earning a living wage
from the now banished masters of abbeys and priories.
Now the poor wretches roved in fear and trembling,
begging food and shelter ; or, driven desperate by want,
committing deeds of violence. Dr. Latimer, in his Royal
Sermons, puts his unfailing finger on the right spot when
he remarks that ' the misery the people were enduring was
entirely due to the new order of things. My father," he
continues, "was a yeoman who lived comfortably, educated
his children, served the King, and gave to the poor, on a farm
the rent of which has been increased fourfold since, so that
his successor in the farm has become a pauper in consequence."
Then, turning upon the Seymours, the Pagets, and others of
their kind, who had enriched themselves out of the ecclesiastical
spoils, he thundered : " I fully certify you as extortioners,
violent oppressors, engrossers of tenements and lands, through
whose covetousness villages decay and fall down ; and the

ig6 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

King's liege people, for lack of sustenance, are famished and
decayed. . . . You landlords, you rent-raisers, I may say,
you step-lords, you unnatural lords, you have for your posses-
sions yearly too much ! The farm that was some years back
from £20 to £40 by the year, is now charged to tenants at from
£50 to £100. . . . Poor men cannot have a living, all kinds of
victuals are so dear. I think, verily, that if it thus continue,
we shall at length be obliged to pay twenty shillings for a pig.
If ye bring it to a pass the yeomen be not able to put their
sons to school, ye pluck salvation from the people, and utterly
destroy the realm." ... f In those days/' he says in another
sermon, " they [the monks] helped the scholars. They main-
tained and gave them living. It is a pitiful thing to see schools
so neglected ; every true Christian ought to lament the same.
To consider what has been plucked from abbeys, colleges,
chantries, it is a marvel that no more is bestowed upon this
holy office of salvation. . . . Scholars have no exhibition.
Very few there be who help poor scholars, or set children to
school to learn the Word of God, and make provision for the
age to come. It would pity a man's heart to hear what I
have of the state of Cambridge. ... I think there be at this
day [1550] one thousand students less than were within twenty
years, and fewer preachers.'3

The enclosure, too, by their new owners, of the vast tracts
of lands, which had formerly belonged to the abbeys and
priories, for the purpose of cattle rearing, instead of corn
growing — as hitherto — (wool being at a premium) had thrown
thousands of agricultural labourers out of employment ;
and soon the large cities, London, Bristol, and York, wen
crowded with poor creatures seeking work, only to meet
with flat refusal from the citizens, who were angered and
alarmed by so considerable an addition to that pauper
population whose hapless descendants still form the bulk oi
the very appropriately styled ' Submerged Tenth ' of our
times. This rapid increase of an undesirable class soon
resulted in a marked debasement of the lowest orders, and so
bad did the state of morals in the capital become, that Ridley,
Bishop of London, preached more than one sermon on the
subject, and, in a book entitled The Lamentation of England,
gives a hideous picture of the rising tide of " immorality,

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 197

crime, drunkenness, hatred and scorn of religion and its
ministers amongst the people." Domestic chastity was held
at a discount and reviled, and adultery was so common, even
in the highest ranks, that the Privy Council spoke of bring-
ing the question of prohibitive measures before Parliament.
The Protector himself had set aside his first wife, Catherine
Ffoliot, although she had borne him a son, on no valid pretext,
legal or otherwise, in order to marry the higher born Anne
Stanhope — the temper of this Stanhope lady was so peppery
that he went in fear and trembling, and this led his contem-
poraries to say ' he had got rid of a dove to saddle himself
with a scorpion." Henry, son of William, Earl of Pembroke,
divorced Katherine, daughter of Henry, Duke of Suffolk
(Lady Jane's younger sister), to marry Mary, daughter of
Sir Henry Sydney. The Earl of Northampton, Katherine
Parr's brother, divorced Anne, daughter of the Earl of
Essex, when he married Lord Cobham's daughter Elizabeth.
Even Lady Jane Grey's own legitimacy was disputed ; and
the matrimonial adventures of her grandfather Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk, have already been mentioned.

The wickedness of the upper classes l spread downwards,
and, coupled with intense poverty, made " London worse than
Babylon of old."

Well might honest old Latimer cry out to the King, in one
of his most interesting sermons (preached in 1550 at Paul's
Cross), 'For the love of God take an order for marriage
here in England." Cecil also protests against the prevailing
looseness of morals : ' ' Sacrilegious avarice ravenously invaded
"hurch livings, colleges, chantries, hospitals, and places dedi-
cated to the poor, as things superfluous. Ambition and emula-
tion among the nobility, presumption and disobedience among

1 John Strype says : " About this time [reign of Edward vi] the nation

grew infamous for the crime of adultery. It began among the nobility and

•etter classes, and so spread at length among the inferior sort of people.

Noblemen would frequently put away their wives and marry others, if they

.ked another woman better, or were like[ly] to obtain wealth by her. And

' would sometimes pretend their former wives to be false to them, and

be divorced, and marry again those whom they might fancy. These

adulteries and divorces increased very much ; yea, and marrying again

thout any divorce at all, it became a great scandal to the Realm and to

the religion professed in it." — Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer,

vol. i. pp. 293, 294.

ig8 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the common people, grew so extravagant, that England
seemed to be in a downright frenzy." Hear Bishop Burnet
also on the same subject : This gross and insatiable scramble
after the goods and wealth that had been dedicated to good
designs, without applying any part of it to promote the good
of the Gospel, and the instruction of the poor, made all people
conclude that it was for robbery and not for reformation that
their zeal made them so active. The irregular and immoral
lives of many of the professors of the Gospel gave their enemies
great advantage to say that they ran away from confession,
penance, fasting, and prayer, only to be under no restraint,
and to indulge themselves in a licentious and dissolute course
of life. By these things, that were but too visible in some of
the most eminent among them, the people were much alienated
from them ; and as much as they were formerly against
Popery, they grew to have kinder thoughts of it, and to look
on all the changes that had been made, as designs to enrich
some vicious characters, and to let in an inundation of vice
and wickedness upon the nation/5 To stem this rising tide
would have been a task for a great statesman ; Somerset was
not a great statesman, for, though many of his intentions
were good, his methods were primitively violent. He thought
himself capable of repressing the inevitable result of the evil
wrought by Henry vm and his followers by force of arms,
and by laws which, even in those days, chilled men with horror.
To put down the vagabondage in the country districts, — a
consequence of the disbanding of the great crowd of abbey
retainers, — he signed a decree whereby "Any man or woman
found suspiciously near any house, or wandering by the high-
ways, or in the streets of any city, town, or village, for three
days together, without offering to work, or running away from
their labour, may be brought by the master, or any other person,
before two justices of the peace [these] having the power of
the statute law to exercise the said power by burning into his
or her breast with a hot iron the letter V, and to adjudge him
or her to be the slave of the informer, to have and to hold the
said slave to him, his executors or assigns, for the space of two
years, only giving the said slave bread and water."
" slave " was to be made to work by blows or chains. In tht
event of his disappearing for the space of fourteen days with-

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 199

out leave, he could be punished by chaining up and beating,
' and if he [the owner of the slave] chose to prove the fault
by two witnesses before the justices, they shall cause such
slave to be marked on the forehead, or the ball of the cheek
with a hot iron, with the sign of an S, that he may be known
for a loiterer, and [the justices] shall adjudge the runaway
to be the said master's slave for ever/' The penalty of a second
escape from slavery was death by hanging " from the nearest
tree, if violent/' Any one was permitted to take children
between five and fourteen years of age from any wanderer,
whether they were willing or not, and if the child ran away
from his master the latter had the power " to keep and punish
the said child in chains, or otherwise, and use him or her as
his slave in all points," up to the age of twenty at least. The
master of a grown-up slave had the right, under section 4 of
this law, ' ' To let, set forth, sell, bequeath, or give the service
of such slaves to any person or persons, whatsoever/' The
law further empowered an owner of slaves " to put a ring
of iron about his neck, arm, or leg, for a better knowledge and
surety of keeping him . ' ' Aiding a slave to escape was punished
by the forfeiture of ten pounds by the person so doing.
These and other evils too numerous to detail helped to fan the
flame of popular discontent.

Presently the counties began to rise, the people of Devon-
shire and Cornwall flew to arms to vindicate the rights of
conscience. They would have back the religion which their
forefathers had held for a thousand years. They demanded
that the " Six Articles " should be put in force. The men of
Cornwall refused the Book of Common Prayer, because, they
alleged, they could not speak English, and could not under-
stand it, while they were accustomed to the Latin Mass, which
they had been trained from infancy to comprehend. Down
into the West went Lord Russell (" Swearing Russell "),
dispatched by the Lord Protector. He behaved " more like
a wild beast than a human being " — as abominably as Lennox
in Scotland. Hooper, who went with him to preach to the
rebels, describes his massacres as " the most horrible butcheries
: brave men that ever did happen in this world." Russell's
dispatches do not in any way minimise the horrors he perpe-
trated, and ' our men/' he says, " are daily supplied with

200 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

large numbers of sheep and fowl from the places where the
farmers and squires forfeited such property by their obstinate
adherence to the Popish Mass, and other superstitions."
Some three thousand men and several hundreds of women are
said to have suffered death in the fight for freedom of conscience
in Devonshire. The central counties rose too, and there were
terrible riots in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Derbyshire, and
Huntingdonshire .

But it was in Norfolk that the grandest demonstration
against the tyranny of the central Government occurred. It
commenced at Aldborough, and at first seemed a matter of
little consequence ; but the rumours of what had happened
in Kent, where new enclosures had been broken down, greatly
inflamed the people from one end to the other of the eastern
counties. There was little of the religious element in the
revolt, although two-thirds of the people, at least, still adhered
to the old faith, but now religious differences were set aside,
and Catholics and Protestants stood shoulder to shoulder in
the fight for what we should call liberty. At first the mass
of the people were without a leader, but they soon found one
in the person of an honest tanner, named Robert Ket.1 It fell
out on the 6th July 1549, at Wymondham, near Norwich,

1 Robert Ket was a comparatively rich man, and to some extent a land-
owner, by reason of which he came into connection with the nobleman who
afterwards had him killed — Northumberland. Ket bought Wymondham
Abbey at the Dissolution, and also possessed a large part of Wymondham
Town, and certain rich lands between that place and the royal manor-
house of Stanfield Hall. These lands had been bestowed on the brotherhood
of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem — an offshoot of the Order of Hospitallers of
St. John, who devoted their time to the relief of the sick poor — by Queen
Adelicia, second wife of Henry I. Later on, Ket sold these ex-monastic
lands to John Dudley, afterwards Duke of Northumberland — the suppressor
of the Ket rebellion ! Blomefield (Norfolk, article on " Wyndham or
Wymondham ") indeed attributes the cause of that outbreak to a disagree-
ment between the Ket brothers and Northumberland over these lands.
" John Dudley," says he, " bought some of these charity lands of Ket the
tanner. As for payment, it was done in his own particular mode. . . .
The two brothers (Ket), finding Dudley meant to pull down the magnificent
tower, the preservation of which was most dear to their affections, raised the
Norfolk poor, whom extreme misery had driven to discontent, and Wymond-
ham became the nucleus of the great Norfolk rebellion." It is much more
likely that indignation at the general state of things, social and religious,
under Somerset's Protectorship, was at the bottom of this popular rising,
and not mere platonic affection for an ancient tower.

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 201

where many folk were watching, on a small stage erected in
the market-place, a sort of " mystery," that the actors touched
sarcastically upon the leading events and scandals of the day.
Ket, who was present, leapt on to a barrel, and delivered a
rough and ready oration on burning topics, every word of
which told, and roused the enthusiasm of his audience to a very
delirium. In a surging, motley crowd, his hearers followed him
from Wymondham to Household Heath, near Norwich, a
desolate sweep of country commanding glorious views, im-
mortalised in later times by a Crome or a Vincent. Here-
abouts, on an elevation, grew a stalwart oak, beneath which
Ket and his men encamped, and where he held Courts of Justice,
of Common Pleas, Chancery and King's Bench, ' even as in
Westminster Hall." With a high and generous sense of free-
dom, he allowed the orators, not only of his own, but of the
opposition party, to harangue the multitude from this tree of
liberty, which was now called " the Oak of Reformation."
The venerable tree had become a rostrum, and all who had
anything to say scrambled into it. Aldrich, Mayor of Norwich,
preached thence against the iniquities of Somerset's rule.
Clergymen and priests, parsons and ex-monks, made a rough
pulpit of it. Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury, climbed into its branches one day, and harangued
the mob ' on the unwisdom of their attempt," and the ruin
they were sure to bring on themselves and their families. He
would have done better to hold his peace ; no one listened
to him. So great was the crowd on Mousehold Heath, it
looked on occasions like a surging sea of heads, and sometimes,
as in Hyde Park in our times, separate groups of lecturers and
hearers formed at a distance from the tree.

Suddenly, on July 3ist, a glittering figure bearing the
Royal Arms of England, rode into the midst of Ket's camp —
his white horse sheathed like himself in steel, a plume of white
feathers nodding on its head. In a loud voice the man in
the " coat-of-arms " proclaimed a free pardon to all present in
that multitude, if they " would depart to their homes." Some,
weary of the business and only seeking an excuse, turned their
backs on the oak, and trudged citywards ; but Ket and the
larger mass held their ground, saying they wanted no pardon,
having committed no offence — they only craved justice, and

202 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

that was the right of every Englishman. They were true
subjects of the King, they said, and had done him no harm —
all they needed was justice, justice ! Turning his back on the
tanner and the ancient oak, the glittering herald scattered the
people right and left, as he galloped away across heath and
common, dissolved into the mist like a meteor. When he had
vanished, Ket, fearing a treacherous surprise, called his merry
men together, and marched into Norwich, where they once
more encountered the royal messenger, who again offered them
his master's pardon. Ket replied as disdainfully as ever, and
the gorgeous official departed, whilst the rebels, having seized
all the arms and ammunition they could find, returned to their
camp on Mousehold Heath. To Court sped the herald, and the
Protector, alarmed at the turn of events, sent a force of fifteen
hundred horsemen, under the Marquis of Northampton, and
some Italians led by a condottiere named Malatesta, against
the malcontents. These troops entered Norwich, but Ket
and his men were able to drive both Northampton and the
Italian out of the city, in a fight in which " fell Lord Sheffield
and several gentlemen ; so that now, blood being up on both
sides, the town was set fire to and plundered/' Hearing
this news, the Protector ordered another army of eight thousand
men, two thousand of whom were Germans, who were on their
way to Scotland under the Earl of Warwick, to turn south-
ward, march on Norwich, and disperse the rebels. After some
resistance, Warwick entered the city, only to be so fiercely
assailed on every side that it was as much as he could do to hold
his ground. Ket galloped off towards Dossingdale ; but
Warwick's troopers came after him, and 3500 of his men
were cut to pieces. Yet another massacre followed, in which
many of the royal forces were killed. Ket was captured at
last, and hanged without ado, on the walls of Norwich Castle,
his brother William (who had been a black monk of the Hos-
pitallers of St. John) 1 was swung from the steeple of Wymond-
ham Church, and nine of the ringleaders of the rebellion were

1 William Ket's remains were given " a dip in boiling pitch," and then
hanged, in their monastic dress, in chains. They continued, like a ghastly
scarecrow, to ornament Wymondham Church until 1603, when they began
to fall, bone by bone, the last piece coming away on the very day of Queen
Elizabeth's death, 25th March 1603.

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 203

hanged on the ' Tree of Reformation." In the course of this
expedition, Warwick saw enough to convince him that every
town and village, farmstead and cottage, from the borders
of Cambridge to the sea, was a hotbed of rebellion, and that
the names of Somerset and Warwick had become loathed
bywords.

Such a state of internal strife, combined with foreign
defeat, made up an aggregate of confusion which only a states-
man of the highest genius could attempt to quell. Somerset,
a man of indifferent education, even if of the best intentions,
was quite unequal to the task. His natural defects of char-
acter— his love of power and money, his contempt for the
ancient traditions of the country, his hatred of the religion
of his ancestors, his prejudices and his inveterate habit of
scheming, now began to occupy the malicious attention of his
enemies, who felt the time for striking the decisive blow, which
should crush his power for ever, was drawing nigh.

Their plans were served by Warwick's reception in London
as a conquering hero, recognised by the metropolis as a success-
ful and able leader. His ambitious views were well seconded
by old ex-Chancellor Wriothesley, who had a personal grudge
against Somerset, and who now took up his would-be rival as
a promising instrument for his revenge. Durham House pre-
sently became the rendezvous of a great number of the older
nobility, who were discontented with the new regime ; and here
they plotted and schemed, with one great object in their
hearts — the overthrow of Somerset and the exaltation of
Warwick. The Londoners, too, were against the Protector.
Boulogne had been lost mainly through his blundering policy,
and the French war had been notoriously unsuccessful. More-
over, when Warwick demanded extra pay for some two hundred
soliders who had assisted in quelling the Ket rebellion, and
other risings, Somerset, unconsciously playing into his enemy's
hands, refused the request, and the mercenaries, naturally
incensed against the Protector, held themselves ready to aid
Warwick without compunction.

Realising in some measure — especially after the defection
of Pembroke and Winchester to Warwick's party — that, un-
less he made some effort, his position would soon become
altogether untenable, Somerset metaphorically entrenched

204 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

himself and his family behind the person of the King at Hamp-
ton Court, and thence began to defy Warwick and his followers,
so that, about September 1549, the Court of England was
divided into two distinct camps — Warwick and the Council
at Ely Place, Holborn ; the Protector and the principal
members of his party, Cranmer, Sir John Thynne, his secre-
tary, Sir Thomas Smith, Cecil, Paget, and Petre, at Hampton
Court, where King Edward was held in a state bordering on
captivity. Then Somerset set to work to limit the power
of his sovereign as much as possible, so as to have him on his
own side in the struggle with Warwick, which was now begin-
ning in earnest. On the ground that Warwick was bribing the
Court lackeys to spy on the King, the royal attendants at
Hampton Court were removed and replaced by Somerset's
own men. No one could approach His Majesty's person save
through the Protector. A stop was put to all those games
and sports in which the little King delighted, on the score of
his health, and the lad was made to feel himself so completely
a prisoner, that he alludes sadly to the matter in his " Diary/'
Meanwhile the Duke himself assumed almost regal rank,
styling himself " By the Grace of God Lord Protector of the
Realm, Highness " ; using a prayer in which he is described
as being " called by Providence to rule " ; addressing the
French King as " brother," a title hitherto exclusively em-
ployed by the anointed monarch ; and, as a climax, offending
the nobility by taking a seat in the House of Lords above his
peers. In October, he issued a proclamation, commanding all
the King's loyal subjects ' to repair with all haste to His
Highness at His Majesty's Manor of Hampton Court, in most
defensible array, with harness and weapons, to defend his most
royal person, and his entirely beloved uncle the Lord Pro-
tector, against whom certain have attempted a most danger-
ous conspiracy. And this do in all possible haste. Given at
Hampton Court the 5th day of October in the 3rd year of his
most noble reign." 1 Hundreds of copies of this document
were distributed all over London ; and Lord Edward Seymour,
the Protector's son, was dispatched with letters in the King's
name to Lord Russell and Sir William Herbert, who were still
in the West, stamping out the rebellion, commanding them to

1 Printed in Ty tier's England under Edward VI and Mary, vol. i. p. 205.

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 205

hasten to the aid of the King and himself, with all the troops
they could muster. These worthies, who would seem to have
had personal grievances against Somerset,1 promptly threw
in their lot with Warwick's party, promising assistance, and
sending to Bristol for cannon for that purpose. Somerset now
set the printing-presses to work to distribute thousands of
handbills, calling on townsfolk and villagers to rise and " protect
the King and the Lord Protector/' " because he [the Lord
Protector] is the friend of the poor and the enemy of their
oppressors." The Lord Mayor and Corporation were also
commanded to dispatch a thousand men to Hampton Court,
and the Lieutenant of the Tower received orders to close the
gates of that fortress and refuse admission to members of the
Council. On 5th October, Petre was sent to London to inter-
view Warwick and the Council. He found them at Ely Place ;
but as Petre, thinking all lost, did not return to Hampton Court,
the Protector never got any answer to his message. At the
same time, the Council sent letters to the chief nobles through-
out the country, demanding their aid and dilating on Somerset's
misdeeds. Within a few days, the Lord Mayor, the Aldermen,
and the Lieutenant of the Tower had all turned traitors to
the Protector, and promised Warwick their support.

Hampton Court, put into a state of defence,2 assumed the
aspect of a fortress ; the moat was filled up, the gates were
fortified, and every battlement and tower was made ready in
case of danger. Five hundred suits of armour were brought
out of the armoury for the palace servants, much to the delight
of King Edward, who watched the preparations. A vast
crowd assembled round the palace, and in the neighbourhood ;
and the Protector, hoping that a sight of the King might
rouse it to loyalty, led him into the Base Court, where

1 Mr. Pollard says that Herbert's private park had been ploughed up,
whilst Russell " had been reprimanded for exceeding his instructions in his
severity towards the rebels." It is interesting to learn, by the way, that
Somerset did make some effort to check the butcheries in the West.

2 In making all these warlike preparations Somerset was acting on the
mere premise — since Petre had never returned to Hampton Court, and he
had no news from the metropolis — that Warwick contemplated some sort of
coup d'&tat ; for no open act of violence had been perpetrated. The revolu-
tion of 1549, which practically placed Warwick in the Protectorship and
Somerset (temporarily) in the Tower, proved successful, as we shall presently
see, but it was an entirely bloodless victory.

206 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the soldiers were drawn up to receive him. The stricken
youth l appeared, leaning heavily on his uncle's arm, with
Archbishop Cranmer, Paget, and Cecil behind him ; the heralds
sounded their trumpets, and as the flare of the torches — for it
was an autumn evening — flashed on their armour, the troops
greeted his sickly Majesty with three times three cheers. From
the Base Court the King and his escort passed over the stone
bridge across the moat in front of the great gate, where a
motley throng was gathered. Presently silence was obtained,
and gradually the mumble of many voices was hushed, as the
young King's feeble tones struck on the still evening air,
asking humbly, " I pray you be good to us and to our uncle.'1
Then Somerset made a speech, pleading in such stupid and
selfish fashion for himself and the King that the rude crowd
listened with impatience, and gave no cheers when he had
finished. Mortified and disappointed, the Protector and the
King turned their backs on the mob, and silently re-entered
the palace. The people round Hampton Court were more
bitter against Somerset than he imagined. Their grievance
was not abstract and national, but local ; they could not forget
that it was Somerset who, in the first year of King Edward's
reign, had dechased Hampton Court Chase.

Seeing himself unable to inspire the people with anything
like enthusiasm for their sovereign (or for himself), Somerset
determined on more vigorous action, and on 7th October,
the King, despite his ' rewme," was hurried to Windsor, at
nine or ten o'clock at night. Thence the Protector wrote to the
Council, asking what had become of Petre, and why no answer
had been vouchsafed to his message, adding, ' that if any
violence was intended to the King's person, he would resist
till death/3 Negotiations by letter continued for some days,
and there was even an interview on I2th October at Windsor,
between Warwick's group and the Protector. On the follow-
ing day, a number of charges were promulgated against
Somerset, and the once all-powerful " Lord Protector of these
Realms ' was arrested and confined for the night in Windsor

1 In addition to his incipient consumption, the poor little King would seem
to have caught a cold on his original journey to Hampton Court. The
Literary Remains say, " The Kinge's Majesty is much troubled with a great
rewme ; taken partly while riding hither in the night" (vol. i. p. cxxxi).

JOHN DUDLEY, EARL OF WARWICK 207

Castle. Next day he was conducted to the Tower, whither
most of his adherents and associates in the Hampton Court
adventure had preceded him ; and he had the mixed pleasure
of being received en route by his quondam friend the Lord
Mayor, who had lately turned traitor to his cause. Meanwhile
Edward, very glad, no doubt, to be rid of so austere and
troublesome an uncle, returned from Windsor to Hampton
Court, and appointed Warwick Lord Great Master and Lord
High-Admiral. So far, John Dudley's plot had prospered.

CHAPTER XIII

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET

IN the earlier stages of his struggle for power, when he
felt himself insecure with the Protestant party, Warwick
had endeavoured to secure Catholic support by promising
the old religion a satisfactory amount of freedom ; but no
sooner was he safe in his saddle, during Somerset's im-
prisonment (1549-50), than he became its inveterate enemy.
The Protector had made an effort to liberate Gardiner, but
Warwick kept him more closely confined than ever. During
the new ruler's term of office, the internal disorders of the
country continued as acute, in every detail, as under Somerset's
regime ; all military works fell into decay, no new ships of war
were built, fortifications came to a standstill, and many troops
were disbanded. The coinage was debased, though the Pro-
tector had worked hard to improve it ; the tribunals were as
corrupt as at any period. To ensure the passing of his vigorous
religious measures, and carry on his administration, Warwick
" packed" both Parliament and Council with his own staunchest
followers. It was almost a piece of good fortune for him when
Somerset was released from the Tower, for so great was the
general dissatisfaction with his administration that he would
probably have been overthrown in his turn.

During the winter of 1549-50, Somerset, confined in the
gloomy old fortress, was striving to retrieve his tottering
fortunes. His first move was to sign (in December) a confession
of " his guilt, presumption, and incapacity." Early in January
1550, a bill, brought before Parliament and passed in both
Houses, promised him his life, on condition that he forfeited
his estates to the King, gave up his positions, and paid a fine
of £2000 a year in land. He attempted to appeal against
the extent of the forfeiture, but the Council grew so menacing

208

EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET

FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE PAINTING BY HOLBEIN

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET 209

that the fallen Protector, with visions, it may be, of Tower
Hill and the block before his eyes, thought it best to pocket
his grievance. So on 2nd February he wrote to the Council
expressing his gratitude to the King for sparing his life and
treating him so leniently. According to a letter from Ab
Ulmis to Bullinger, dated from Oxford, 4th December 1551,
Warwick generously made an effort to save the Duke by
imploring him in court to throw himself upon the mercy of
the King, which he did. On the 4th of that same month he
was released, after giving a bond of £10,000 as a guarantee
of good behaviour, and on the peculiar conditions that he
should not go more than four miles away from the Council,
nor yet come to the meetings unless summoned ; further,
if the King went near the palace at Sheen or Somerset's own
house at Sion (in one or other of which two places he was to
abide), the former Protector was to depart instantly. The
Duke's full pardon was given on i6th February. At the
same time, all those who had been imprisoned with him were
released, after being mulcted in heavy fines.

Immediately after his liberation Somerset joined the
Court at Greenwich, and was shortly afterwards made a Privy
Councillor ! Indeed, before many months were over he had
regained his former position and influence over the King so
completely that Warwick considered it safer to become, at
least publicly, reconciled to him. For this purpose he arranged
a marriage between John, Viscount Lisle,1 his own eldest son,
and the Lady Ann Seymour, Somerset's eldest daughter. This
marriage took place on 3rd June (1550) at the royal palace at
Sheen, and in the King's presence. On the following day
occurred yet another aristocratic wedding, also attended by
His Majesty, that of Warwick's third son, Sir Robert Dudley,
afterwards famous as the Earl of Leicester of Elizabeth's
reign, with that renowned heroine of romance, Amy Robsart.
Sir Walter Scott, in his Kenilworth, falls into the error — unless,
indeed, he wilfully disregarded facts for the sake of artistic
effect — of placing the scene of this marriage in Devonshire,
and of describing it as clandestine. On the contrary, it was

1 This nobleman was created Earl of Warwick on his father's assumption
of the title of Duke of Northumberland, and under that title was imprisoned
in the Tower, which has been the cause of some confusion to students.

14

210 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

quite an open affair, mentioned by King Edward in his
Diary in the already quoted entry for 4th June 1550, relating
to the cruel sport of duck-pulling. The King seems to have
attended this wedding, but he was too ill to be present at the
far more important marriages of his two cousins three years
later. About this time, the summer of 1550, the ex-Protector's
forfeited lands were restored to him, and he was allowed to
reconstitute his household as in the past.

In February 1550 a proposal was brought before Parlia-
ment for the restoration of Somerset to the office and title of
Lord Protector, and was only quashed by the prorogation of
that body. He seemed in a fair way of regaining his old
position of power, and the Dorsets, thinking no doubt that
it would be well to be on friendly terms with him, began to
bethink themselves once more of the old project of marriage
between their eldest daughter, Lady Jane Grey, and young
Hertford, who had once been on such intimate terms in their
family circle that, as we have seen, the Lady Frances had
on more than one occasion called him her " son." She now
wrote to Cecil l referring to some service Somerset had rendered
her — this may have been her reason for reviving the matri-
monial project — and stated incidentally that she much desired
a match between his (Somerset's) son and her daughter, but
" that she wished to let the parties have their free choice. "
Somerset does not, however, appear to have approved of the
plan, for there is no evidence that he did anything now to
further it, and when it was originally proposed he had
allowed the matter to fall into abeyance. It is not at all
improbable that the lady's letter, if communicated to him,
put him on his guard against traps such as the wily Dorsets
might set for him and his son. The incident is not devoid
of interest, as demonstrating how the Dorsets never ceased
their intrigues and matrimonial schemes, and also how
even Warwick's best friends were none too sure of his
eventual success, now his rival was again at large. The
Dorsets were evidently anxious to have a foot in each camp ;
but this time they failed, and ended by falling back on
Northumberland's youngest son as a husband for the much-
enduring Jane.

1 9th May 1550.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET 211

Meanwhile, Warwick was contemplating, by no means
complacently, the honours and favour heaped upon the rival
for whose ruin he was only awaiting some favourable oppor-
tunity. His first chance of proving his unvarying hatred of
the Protector came on I5th October of the year 1550, on the
occasion of the death of the aged Lady Seymour. This event
placed her son, as we have already seen, in a quandary — a
State funeral, such as was due to the King's grandmother,
would have enabled Warwick to accuse him of a fresh assump-
tion of regal dignity ; a private funeral, on the other hand,
might be maliciously construed into disrespect shown to the
sovereign. Wherefore Somerset consulted the Council as to
what should be done. The reply, as already mentioned, was
that a State funeral was not at all necessary, nor even any
formal Court mourning, since such observances served " rather
to pomp than to any edifying," an opinion peculiar to the
Council, for in the preceding August a State funeral (that of
Lord Southampton) had been organised with all possible
' pomp." This denial of the honour due to Lady Seymour's
remains did not, of course, proceed from any idea of economy
or Puritanism, but merely from the Council's desire to insult
Somerset and his family. It was an opportunity neglected,
for if Seymour had insisted upon a State funeral, the
events of the following year might have been anticipated,
and the accusation of usurping regal honours brought against
him at once. Another curious fact in connection with this
funeral is that Somerset — a shining light amongst Reformers
-wrote to ask Gardiner to " offer up Mass for the health of his
mother's soul after her death " (!) l

Another method adopted by Warwick was that already
employed by Sudeley in his struggle with his elder brother,
of spreading calumnies against his rival through the agency
of a third person, and ensuring their reaching the King's
ears. After a time these tales began to make their impres-
sion on his juvenile Majesty, though Somerset, for his part,
was working hard to recover the King's favour entirely, and
consolidate his own position. Rich, the Lord Chancellor,

1 This letter is still extant, and seems to point to a possibility that Lady
Seymour's mysterious retirement may have been due to her perseverance in
the old faith."

212 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

an infamous traitor, gave him his aid and acted as his spy,
keeping him informed of every movement made by War-
wick and his party. One of Rich's letters on this subject,
addressed merely " To the Duke," was handed by mistake
to the Duke of Norfolk, next to Warwick, Somerset's bitterest
enemy ; thus each opponent had some idea of his adversary's
plans. Still, so subtle was Warwick's work that there was
no movement against Somerset visible enough to justify
him in taking open measures ; there was nothing for it but
to bide his time, and do his best, meanwhile, to ingratiate
himself with the King. In public, the rivals appeared the
best of friends, and, to maintain this pleasant fiction,
Somerset, on nth October 1551, attended what must
have been a painful ceremony to him — the investiture of
Warwick with the title of Duke of Northumberland in
the Great Hall of Hampton Court.1 The mortification
caused by this evidence of his rival's growing power,
a power he could not openly attack, must have been
bitter indeed.

Side by side with Northumberland's intrigues, the national
discontent, of which we have already given instances, and which
had been intensified by Northumberland's brief term of office,
was a potent factor in the eventual ruin of the Protector :
for we may be sure Somerset's enemies took good care to
father Northumberland's misrule on his rival. It would
be useless for our purpose, though easy indeed, to cite
further and numerous instances of the universal disorder
into which the realm had fallen. Suffice to say that the
England of this period strongly resembled France under
the Directory. Everything was upside down. The faith of
the people had received a staggering blow, from which it
would take nearly a hundred years to recover, and then
only in a measure, for to this day the masses of the lowest
class of the people of England remain in terrible darkness,
alike indifferent to influences religious and moral. In the

1 At the same time the Marquis of Dorset was made Duke of Suffolk ;
Paulet, Earl of Wiltshire, was raised to the Marquisate of Winchester ; Sir
William Herbert, Master of the Horse, was made Earl of Pembroke ; and Mr.
William Cecil, Mr. John Cheke, the King's tutor, Henry Sidney, and Henry
Nevil, were knighted.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET 213

reign of Henry vn, and in the first years of Henry vm, no
hale man or woman dreamt of missing Mass on a Sunday :
under Edward vi, Latimer complained that the churches were
deserted, and Gardiner describes the lower classes as gradually
falling into a state of paganism. This relaxation of religious
observance influenced the popular morals, and in every class
the domestic habits of the country were most disreputable.
So bad was the condition of things, in fact, that Northumber-
land and his party came to realise that Somerset's worst enemy
was himself ; in other words, that the general discontent
and misery arising from his maladministration — or, to be
just, in some cases from causes over which he had no
control — furnished a more powerful argument against him
than the spiteful inventions of his opponents. They must
have felt confident that any blow they struck at him would
meet with little or no opposition, but rather with encourage-
ment from the people, who had turned the cold shoulder on
his appeal at Hampton Court some two years previously.

Accordingly, on i6th October 1551, the Duke of Somerset
was suddenly re-arrested in the Council Chamber l at Hampton
Court, and taken to the Tower to await his trial on charges
made against him to Northumberland by Sir Thomas Palmer,
' a brilliant but unprincipled soldier.'3 Palmer asserted that
Somerset and his friends had plotted to raise the North of
England against Northumberland ; that he had intended to
secure the Tower, to incite the populace of London to revolt,
to seize the Great Seal, with the aid of the City apprentices,
and, finally, to murder the Duke and his principal supporters
at a supper in Lord Paget's house. There would seem to
have been but little truth in these charges ; Northumberland at
a later date, at any rate, confessed that they were fabrications,
and Palmer, before his death, described them as the products
of Northumberland's fertile imagination. This second trial of
the Lord Protector took place on ist December in Westminster
Hall. The judges were seven and twenty peers, amongst

• The day following the Duke's arrest, that hot virago, Anne Stanhope,

his Duchess, together with Mr. and Mrs. Crane, Sir Miles Partridge, Sir

Thomas Arundel, Sir Thomas Holcroft, Sir Michael Stanhope, and others,

were also arrested and conveyed to the Tower, where the Duchess remained

a prisoner until the accession of Queen Mary.

214 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

them all the prisoner's enemies — Northumberland, North-
ampton, and Pembroke, with the Marquis of Winchester as
President. The business was conducted with the unfair-
ness which distinguished nearly all the political trials of this
period ; no witnesses for the prosecution were produced in
person, but their depositions were read. The indictments
accused Somerset of plotting to lay hands on Northumberland
and others, to seize the Great Seal and the Tower, and to deprive
the sovereign of his kingly power ; he was also charged with
having incited the citizens of London to rebel against the King.
The official indictment made no mention of his supposed
intention of assassinating Northumberland ; neither was
Paget, in whose house it was alleged the murder was to
have taken place, ever tried for his share in the plot. This
melodramatic accusation would, in fact, seem to have been
entirely dropped at the last moment. Somerset, who denied
the charges, was acquitted of treason on the first count, but
found guilty on that of felony for inciting the citizens to revolt.
There is ample evidence that he never did anything of the
kind. Winchester, a few months back his enthusiastic ally,
pronounced the death sentence on the unhappy man. Its
effect upon him was sudden and staggering. He be-
came pale, and fell upon his knees before Northumberland,
Northampton, and Pembroke, who turned their backs whilst
he besought the people to pray for him and his family.
And so he was ordered back to the Tower to prepare for
death. The count of treason not having been proved,
the axe did not face the prisoner on the way back
to his cell, and ' the people, supposing he had been
clerely quitt, when they see the axe of the Tower put
downe, made such a shryke [shriek] and castinge up of
caps, that it was heard into the Long Acre beyonde
Charing crosse." l This must have cheered him greatly.
He may have thought and hoped that the people loved
him still.

King Edward is said to have expressed considerable anxiety
on his uncle's account, but his distress did not prevent him
from indulging, according to his own statement, notwith-
standing his delicate health, in exceptionally riotous Christmas

1 Wriothesley's Chronicle, ii. 63.

THE FALL 'OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET 215

festivities.1 The popular joy over his acquittal on the charge
of treason proved fatal to Somerset, for it convinced North-
umberland more than ever of the necessity of destroying his
rival. Holinshed sarcastically informs us that ' Christmas
being thus passed and spent with much mirth and pastime,
it was thought now good to proceed to the execution of the
judgment against the Duke of Somerset." Notwithstanding
the frequency of such events, the execution of so great a noble-
man produced a considerable impression throughout London.
Though every precaution was taken to prevent the assembling
of an unusual crowd, Tower Hill was black with people long
before dawn on 22nd January 1552, the day of doom. The vast
assembly had gathered in the expectation of the Duke's reprieve
rather than of his death. There was an extraordinary muster
of halberdiers, men-at-arms, sheriffs and their officers. At eight
o'clock Somerset was brought forth. He faced the axe man-
fully, knelt down and said his prayers, and then, rising to his
feet, made a speech. Unlike most of his peers, he did not
deny with his last breath the religion he had helped to pro-
mulgate ; there was nothing he regretted less, said he, when
on the brink of his bloody fate, than his endeavours " to reduce
religion to its present state, and he exhorted the people to con-
tinue steadfast in the Reformation principles, and thereby
escape the wrath of God." Just as he was about, according
to custom, to take formal leave of the crowd, great confusion
was caused by the arrival of a body of soldiers with bills and
halberds, who had received orders to attend the execution.
Arriving late, these men dashed towards the scaffold, and their
onrush, combined with some noise as of thunder, — " a great
sound which appeared unto many above in the element as it
had been the sound of gunpowder set on fire in a close house
bursting out," — terrified the mob, and an awful panic ensued :
spectators standing on the edge of the Tower moat lost
their balance and fell into the water, and not a few were

1 Nevertheless, the death of Somerset seems to have rankled in the boy-
king's mind. On one occasion long afterwards, it is said, when Edward
was enjoyed a match of archery with Northumberland and the King made a
remarkably fine shot, the Duke exclaimed, " Well aimed, my liege." " But,"
replied the young King sarcastically, " you aimed better when you shot off
the head of my uncle Somerset ! " Which proves that His Majesty fully
realised Northumberland's share in that matter.

216 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

trampled underfoot and others broke their necks. Presently,
in the midst of the hubbub, during which Somerset was left so
unguarded that, it is said, he might easily have escaped, Sir
Anthony Browne was seen riding towards the spot. The mob,
somewhat recovered from its consternation, imagined he
was bringing a reprieve, and shouted, " A pardon, a pardon ! '
casting their caps and cloaks into the air. But Sir Anthony
brought no message of mercy with him. The doomed Duke
had been standing quietly on the edge of the scaffold, watching
the turmoil. He too, when he heard the shouts of ' ' Pardon ! '
imagined his nephew had remembered him ; but he soon
realised his error. The hectic colour which for a moment

h

had flushed his cheeks with the gleam of hope faded as, in
a ringing voice, he concluded his interrupted speech ; and that
done, he bestowed his rings on the headsman, said a few words
to the Dean of Christ church, bared his neck, knelt on the straw,
and laid his head on the block. Another instant and the axe
had fallen. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and first
Lord Protector of England, was buried in the Church of St.
Peter-ad- Vincula within the Tower on the north side of the
choir, between the coffins of the Queens Anne Boleyn and
Katherine Howard ; the funeral rites were those of the Church
of England, as then constituted, " but hurried and simple as
for a pauper." l

The character of Edward Seymour has been the subject of
much discussion ; but it would seem fair to seek a via media
between the over-severe condemnation of some historians
and the exaggerated praise of others. If we cannot exalt him
to the high pedestal upon which he has been set by Mr. Pollard,
we need not fall into the error of degrading him to the low
level assigned him by eighteenth-century historians. Somerset
must not be judged by modern standards. If the balance of
good and evil in his character is considered, and we contemplate
him by the light of the middle sixteenth century, we may

1 There was, of course, the usual crop of infant prodigies and monsters
which followed as portents after every notable decapitation. A dolphin was
caught in the Thames ; "a child with two heads was born at Middleton in
Oxfordshire ; but although it had four arms it had only a leg, it caughte
cold and died," which was certainly fortunate for the nerves of the Middle-
tonians.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET 217

even come to share the opinion of a large section of the London
populace of his day — mostly those of the Protestant party,
be it said — who looked on him as an admirable and God-fearing
man,1 who did his best to free the people from much of the
superstition, oppression, and injustice from which it suffered.
His faults, his ambition and lust of power, were very human ;
and the evils of his administration were largely due to the
condition to which Henry vm's misrule had reduced the
country. The age in which he lived was very unpropitious
to statesmen and leaders of men, for, no matter how intelli-
gent they might be, some rival lurking in the shade was
sure to be ready to trip them up and take their place at the
first opportunity. On the whole, Somerset seems to have
worked for what he believed to be the interests of his King
and the good of the Protestant religion, to which he was con-
sistently faithful. His domestic life was clean, and in an age
of place-hunters and libertines Edward Seymour was one of
the most respectable men. Neither entirely mediocre nor
altogether great, the Duke of Somerset may be described as
un grand homme manque — one who just missed greatness.

NOTE. — A long letter from a Reformer named Francis
Burgoyne, written from London to John Calvin on 22nd
January 1552, gives a most detailed account of the Duke of
Somerset's execution, and an analysis of his character which
is of great interest. He says : ' Hence arise our tears, hence
arises the all but universal distress, that on this very day,
about 9 o'clock, the Duke of Somerset of pious memory, when

1 We find instances of this in the enthusiastic joy of the people at his
suspected acquittal, in their excitement on thinking he was reprieved, and
the fact that after the execution many dipped handkerchiefs and cloths in
his blood, " so that they might have some token to preserve of the memory
of a man who had always been their friend." It is said that when, some
nineteen months later, Northumberland was going to execution in his turn, a
woman shook one of these handkerchiefs stained with the blood of Somerset
in his face, crying, " Behold the blood of that worthy man, that good uncle
of that excellent King, which, shed by thy malicious practices, does now
apparently revenge itself on thee." This is also a proof that the commonalty
clearly understood how great had been Northumberland's share in bringing
about Somerset's destruction.

218 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

hardly any person looked for or suspected such an event, was
led out publicly to execution. I myself was not present at the
sight . . . but many of my friends related to me what they
had seen and heard/' Then follows a long account, given to
Burgoyne by Utenhovius, of Somerset's last speech, con-
tinuing that ' ' he spake all this . . . with a look and gesture
becoming the firmness of a hero, and the modesty of a Christian ;
(they say) that he was splendidly attired, as he used to be
when about to attend upon the King, or to appear in public
on some special occasion ; that he gave the executioner some
gold rings which he drew from his fingers, together with all
his clothes ; only to a certain gentleman, the Lieutenant of
the Tower of London ... he gave his sword and upper
garment. What weeping, and wailing, and lamentation,
followed upon the death of this nobleman, it is as difficult to
describe as to believe. It is stated by some persons who belong
to the household of some of the Councillors . . . that by the
Royal indulgence the capital punishment had been remitted,
with a free pardon, while the Duke was yet in prison, and
that whole Council sent to inform him of it more than once ;
but when he rejected with contempt the grace that was offered
to him, (I know not whether in reliance on his own innocence, or
on the favour of the King and some other parties, or on his own
influence, and wealth, and rank, or on some other delusive
persuasion), the whole Council were at length so irritated by this
conduct, that they determined that they would no longer
endure that excessive arrogance of the man. ... It is quite
evident, in my opinion, that the deceased nobleman, like other
men, was not without his faults, and those perhaps more
grievous than could be passed over by God without punish-
ment in this life. . . . This man was endowed and enriched
with most excellent gifts of God both in body and mind, but
is not that the best gift, that God has chosen the light of the
Gospel to shine forth by his instrumentality throughout this
'Kingdom. ... I do not now mention how God had so exalted
him, from being born in a private station, that as the late King's
brother-in-law, the brother of a Queen, the uncle of the present
King, he had no one here superior to him in any degree of
honour, and then especially, when appointed Lord Protector
of the Realm, he was all but King, or rather esteemed by every-

K

te

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SOMERSET 219

one as the King of the King." Burgoyne then passes to the
subject of Somerset's religion : ' During almost the whole
time when we were both of us here, he had become so lukewarm
in the service of Christ as scarcely to have anything less at
heart than the state of Religion in this country. Nor indeed
did he retain in this respect anything worthy of commendation,
excepting that, as far as words go, he always professed himself
a Gospeller when occasion required such acknowledgement."
It is notorious to every one in this Kingdom," he continues,
that he was the occasion of his brother's death, who, having
been convicted on a charge of treason which no one could
prove against him by legal evidence, and of which when brought
to execution he perseveringly denied the truth, was beheaded
owing to his information, instigated by I know not what
hatred and rivalry against his brother. ... In fine, that very
act, for which he was last of all thrown into prison, was both
unworthy of a Christian such as he professed himself to be,
and also sufficiently shews that the most part of the crimes
which I have laid to his charge, have their foundation in
truth. For he was himself the head and author of a certain
conspiracy against the Duke of Northumberland, lately called
the Earl of Warwick, whom he pursued with the most un-
relenting hatred, as having been foremost in depriving him
of the rank of Protector, and being himself regarded from that
time by the King's Councillors as occupying that office ; the
Duke of Somerset, I say, gained over some accomplices in this
conspiracy even from among the Council itself (who are now
in prison awaiting the King's pleasure respecting them), by
which it was agreed among them, that on the Duke of North-
umberland being dispatched (together with any of his friends
who should oppose their views) either by violence, or in
secret, or in any other way, they should place the entire
administration of the Kingdom in their own hands, but that
the Duke of Somerset should be invested with the chief auth-
ority, or even be restored to the order of Protector." The
writer, after saying that " at his death he manifested some
favourable marks of Christian penitence," concludes : " Two
reasons are present to my mind which increase my regret ;
one of them is, that we have lost so great a man, and
one who was not so entirely corrupted but that there

220 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

remained some hope both of his reformation, and also
that the interest of the Gospel would in any case be advanced
by his authority and protection, since there is certainly the
greatest scarcity and want of such characters in this
country." 1

1 Zurich Letters, No. cccxlvii.

CHAPTER XIV

THE LADY JANE MARRIES THE LORD GUILDFORD

T

HE execution of the Duke of Somerset left the stage
clear for Northumberland, who was now all-powerful.1
More cunning than his predecessor, he avoided off end-
ing the nation by assuming the title of " Protector," and rousing
his colleagues' jealousy by styling himself " Highness." Little
cared he whether he sat on the King's right hand or on his
left, so long as his young sovereign obeyed him implicitly — on
this point he was resolved. His ambition was sordid enough :
he had no care for the people, but a great deal for his own
advancement to wealth and power ; and his wife and children
were as greedy and ambitious as himself. He had flattered
the Catholics, and if Princess Mary had been younger, and
willing to marry one of his sons, the religious history of England
might have been different. Somerset had always entertained
a friendly feeling for Mary, who was kind to his wife, while
he hated Elizabeth ; Northumberland loathed both Henry
vm's daughters equally. Almost his first act on entering

1 One gets a very fair idea of the improvement in Northumberland's
position after the death of the Duke of Somerset from the letters of the
Swiss and other Reformers. Ab Ulmis, for instance, tells Bullinger that " He
[Northumberland] almost alone, with the Duke of Suffolk, governs the State,
and supports and upholds it on his own shoulders. He is manifestly the
thunderbolt and terror of the Papists." He goes on to say that when Somerset
licensed Mary to have Mass in her apartments, Northumberland said angrily,
' The Mass is either of God or of the Devil ; if of God, it is but right that all
our people should be allowed to go to it ; but if it is not of God, as we are all
taught out of the Scriptures, why then should not the voice of this fury be
equally proscribed to all ? " . . . " Therefore," says Ab Ulmis, " as soon as he
had succeeded into his office, Northumberland immediately took care that the
mass-priests of Mary should be thrown into prison, whilst to herself he entirely
interdicted the use of the Mass and of Popish books." — Zurich Letters, ii. 439.
No wonder Mary did not love Northumberland 1

221

222 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

office, nominally as Great Master of the Household or Lord
High Steward, but virtually as Lord Protector of the Realm,
was to annoyJMary by opening up the question of her chaplains,
and her right to have Mass said in her private chapel — a blunder
which nearly resulted in a war with the Emperor, her cousin,
to whom the Princess appealed. Then he lent Cranmer a
hand in persecuting the Anabaptists. The fires of Smithfield
flared up once more. Joan Bocher, and Peter of Paris a
Dutchman, were put to death, though Cranmer found it hard
to get Edward vi to set his hand to the warrant for Joan's
execution. With great alacrity, then, Northumberland
pushed on Somerset's iconoclastic vandalism, till he made
our glorious cathedrals and churches as bare as meeting-
houses. Shiploads of holy images, chalices, pictures, and
painted windows were carted out of the churches, defaced,
destroyed, or sold, and carried abroad, even as far as Constanti-
nople, where a cargo of ' imaugys ' from England fetched a
high figure among the Catholics of Pera and Galata. So
wanton was the destruction of Church linen at this time that
the citizens, disgusted at seeing it burnt at the street corners,
petitioned Northumberland to hand it over to the hospitals.

\ The Catholics, perceiving they had gained nothing in
return for the help they had given Northumberland, retired
into obscurity, to wait for better days ; whilst the Reformers
acclaimed the zeal of a man who fought so fiercely against
the faith in which he eventually elected to die. It presently
occurred to the Lord High Steward that the young King was
failing fast. The servants about the Court saw death in the
boy's pale face and shrunken form, and heard its stealthy
advance in his feeble voice and hacking cough. To curry
favour for himself, Northumberland allowed the dying monarch
greater freedom than he had hitherto enjoyed. Sports and
pastimes were arranged for his amusement, and if we may
believe his Journal, he enjoyed them after his own fashion.
Nobody had been so kind to him since his uncle Thomas's
death ! But sports and pastimes could not galvanise the
attenuated lad into fresh vigour, and he grew worse every
day, watched with anxious eyes by Northumberland and
Suffolk, and above all by Cranmer, whose hopes were con-
centrated in him.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 223

Since his accession to great wealth the Duke of Suffolk
had gradually abandoned Bradgate for London and fixed
his family's abode at Sheen,1 in the abbot's buildings of the
once opulent Carthusian monastery, which he had adapted as
a private residence.2 Here the Suffolks resided towards
the end of the year 1552 and during the early part of the
momentous year 1553. The house, a large and noble structure,
with a long Gothic gallery running from end to end, stood close
to the venerable palace built by Edward the Confessor. It
was supposed to be haunted — the place was often disturbed
after dark by the sound of footsteps, the rustle of ghostly
garments, and the mutter of unearthly voices ; but the most
ghastly incident of all was one which struck sudden terror
into the hearts of the Duke and Duchess as they paced the
gallery in the gloaming. All at once a skeleton hand and arm
thrust itself from the wall, and brandished in their faces a
sword, or, as some said, an axe, dripping with blood. It

1 The movements of Lady Jane from January 1552 onwards appear to
have been as follows. In January 1552 she was alternately at Tylsey and at
Audley ; later in the spring of the same year she was at Bradgate ; in July
she went to Oxford, and afterwards to Princess Mary at Newhall. After
this she went with her family, on some unknown date in 1552, probably in
the autumn, to this ex-monastery at Sheen, where she continued to reside until
she came up to London, to (most likely) Suffolk House, Westminster, for her
marriage with Guildford Dudley, in the spring of 1553. She perhaps spent
five days after this at Durham House, Strand, and then went to Chelsea
Manor, now a residence of the Duke of Northumberland. Thence she went to
Sion with Lady Sidney (as we shall presently relate in detail) on pth July
(l 553) I on the following day, from Sion to Westminster Palace, then (the same
day) to Durham House to dine, and lastly to the Tower, which she reached
in the afternoon, and did not leave again, being executed in February 1554
within its precincts. Some writers have fallen into the error of thinking
Lady Jane left the Tower at the close of her nine days' reign, at the same
time as her father, the Duke of Suffolk. It is not so. From the day Jane
entered the fortress (loth July 1553) to the day of her death (i2th February
1554) she never left it, except for the few hours of her trial at Guildhall.

'The Priory of Sheen was finally suppressed by Henry vm in 1539, or
rather, it surrendered its estates to the Crown about the time of the passing
of the Act for the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Most of the ex-monks of
this house died in prison in great misery. In 1540 the abandoned monastery
was granted to Edward, Earl of Hertford, brother of Jane Seymour, who
afterwards became the famous Duke of Somerset. After his attainder in
1551 it was granted to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, Jane's father. The
ruins of this building were visible as late as the middle of the eighteenth
century. For further details about this house see Chancellor's History of
Richmond, p. 71.

224 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

should be remembered that the Lady Frances was now in
possession of nearly all the Carthusian property in and about
London, which had been granted by Henry vm to her father,
Charles Brandon, and which she had lately inherited from
her stepbrothers ; and this spectre may have been contrived
by some friend of the exiled Brotherhood to impress on the
Duchess and her brood the sacrilegious origin of this wealth,
which certainly did not bring them good luck.

Nearly opposite to this uncanny residence stood Syon or
Sion House, an ancient Bridgetine convent which had been
presented at the Dissolution to the late Duke of Somerset,
and which his rival, the Duke of Northumberland, had niched
from his widow. As the scene of the most dramatic event in
Lady Jane Grey's short life, it still retains considerable historical
interest ; but although much of the old convent is standing,
the cloisters and other portions have been hidden under the
plaster and stucco of an exceedingly ugly structure of the
debased Victorian villa type.1

Northumberland, although he had not yet evolved the
scheme of marrying his only bachelor and youngest son to
Jane Grey, none the less considered the amity of the Suffolks
too valuable an asset to be neglected. At this time North-
umberland's power and certainly his secrets were largely shared
by his ally, the Duke of Suffolk, who never took any initiative
or made a step in any direction without the consent of his all-
powerful friend, who knew him to. be a " weakling/'

Northumberland, it would seem, did not at first intend
Guildford for Lady Jane Grey, but for the Lady Margaret
Clifford, whose right to the throne was at this time considered
less disputable, she being Henry vm's own grand-niece, eldest
daughter of the Lady Eleanor Brandon, the younger sister of
the Duchess of Suffolk. Born after the nullification of Charles
Brandon's marriage with Lady Mortimer, her legitimacy was
indisputable, whereas the enemies of the Suffolks were busily
engaged about this time (1552) in spreading a report that Jane

1 Syon has interest for yet another reason, for the nuns to whom it
formerly belonged, emigrated to Flanders in Henry vin's time, to return t(
England early in the last century, and thus form the only unbroken com-
munity of pre-Reformation religieuses in England.

2 The History of Queen Jane says of Suffolk that " For as he had few
commendable Qualities, he was guilty of no vices."

SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OF LADY JANE GREY, FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION
OF COL. ELLIOTT, AND NOW AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY

FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE PAINTING BY HOLBEIN

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 225

was illegitimate, her mother, the Lady Frances, having come
into the world during the lifetime of the said Lady Mortimer. *
This insinuation was probably made by Lady Powis, Bran-
don's eldest daughter by his second wife, Anne Browne.
At one moment this matter of Lady Jane's illegitimacy came
very near saving her life, but Queen Mary, to whom the
matter was represented, refused, it is said, to take such a
possibility into consideration, out of respect for the memory
of her aunt, the Queen-Duchess of Suffolk, whose marriage
would have been invalidated if this assumption had been
proved. Among Catholics, however, Lady Jane's legitimacy
was much disputed, and the Lady Eleanor prudently refused
to encourage any great intimacy between her daughter and
Northumberland's son ; she and her family, indeed, kept
themselves in the background as much as they possibly
could. At last, even though the boy-King had been induced
to take an interest in the projected marriage, and had written
both to Northumberland and to the Earl of Cumberland
on the subject, the Duke altered his mind, and in 1553,
with the casual fashion of those days, having decided to
marry Guildford to the Lady Jane, he " offered ' the Lady
Margaret Clifford to his own younger brother, Sir Andrew
Dudley.1

Perhaps that which finally decided Northumberland to
abandon his first project was the unguarded and compromising
language used by a certain Mrs. Huggones, a former servant of
the widowed Duchess of Somerset. This good woman's tongue
having been loosened on one occasion by too liberal potations
-the conversation is said to have taken place during supper —
openly lamented the Duke of Somerset's misfortunes (the
incident occurred about August 1552), called the young King
an unnatural nephew, and vivaciously remarked she wished

1 The negotiations for this marriage got so far that Sir Andrew, who was
at this time Master of the Wardrobe, actually ordered certain splendid gar-
ments to be taken out of it for himself and the Lady Margaret to wear at the
wedding ; and this, needless to say, with the consent of Edward vi. Cumber-
land, however, who approved of this proposal no more than he did the
other, removed himself and the rest of his family as far from London as he
could, and thereby frustrated Northumberland's matrimonial scheme, leaving
poor Sir Andrew to cut a by no means dignified figure. Lady Margaret
eventually married the Earl of Derby.

15

226 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

she " had the jerking of him." She added that Lord Guildford
Dudley was to marry the daughter of the Earl of Cumberland,
the match having been planned by the King, and finally,
" with a stoute gesture," she cried, " have at the Crown, with
your leave." Further, she used " unseemly saiyenges, neither
meet to be spoken, nor conseyled of any hearer." Sir William
Stafford, in whose house at Rochford, in Essex, the affair
apparently occurred, wrote to the Privy Council an account of
these injudicious remarks. On 8th September, Mrs. Huggones
was arraigned before Sir Robert Bowes, Master of the Robes,
and Sir Arthur Darcy, Lieutenant of the Tower, acting for the
Privy Council. She denied what had been said of her, and
expressed great admiration for Northumberland. "And,
moreover she being examined of the last article concerning
the marriage of the Lord Guildford Dudley with the Earl of
Cumberland's daughter, she deposeth that she heard it spoken
in London (but by whom she now remembereth not) that the
King's maty had made such a marriage, and so she told the
first night that she came to Rochford to supper, showing
herself to be glad thereof, and so she thought that all the
hearers were also glad at that marriage." * Maybe the fact
that her daughter was becoming the subject of popular gossip
was another incentive to the proud Lady Eleanor to place
obstacles in the way of Northumberland's proposal.2

There is no evidence that any of the Reformers visited
the Suffolks at Sheen, but it is probable they did so, for the
success of the Northumberlands' scheme depended on the zeal
of Lady Jane for Protestantism being kept at fever heat ;
and we may therefore conclude her Reforming friends were
frequent guests at the ex-monastery.

The foreign Reformers were at this time very active all over

1 This story will be found in a MS. among the Harleian Collection (No/353).

2 As for " having at the Crown," as a matter of fact if the Cumberland
marriage had taken place it would have put six persons between Guildfafl
and any chance of his sharing regal honours ; or else the Duke would hav
had to find some plea for setting aside not only the Princesses Mary an
Elizabeth but also the Duchess of Suffolk and her three daughters
could only have been achieved by urging the irregularity of the Brandoi
Dorset marriages, both of which, as we have seen, were strictly speak
illegal for in both cases the husbands married again before

riages'had been formally dissolved, either by the ecclesiastical or
courts.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 227

England. Cranmer was particularly engaged with them,
sending the smartest among them to lecture at Oxford and
Cambridge, and inviting the great Melanchthon, and even
Calvin himself, to visit England and preach, although the
religious opinions of both were very different from his own. He
even proposed to Calvin the formation of a sort of Protestant
oecumenical council in London in opposition to the Council of
Trent. In March 1552, he wrote to Calvin : " Our adversaries
are now holding their Council at Trent for the establishment of
their errors. Shall we neglect to call together here in London
a godly synod for restoring and propagating the truth ? ]

There is nothing in Reformation correspondence so interest-
ing or so curious as the Zurich Letters — no writings so rich
in details and revelations. The tone of these old letters, of
Melanchthon, Calvin, Cranmer, Hooper, Conrad Pellican,
(Ecolampadius, Hilles, Hales, Gualter, Fagius, Stumphius,
Ab Ulmis, Bullinger, Bucer, etc. etc., is strangely modern.
It is easy to imagine oneself to be reading the documentary
evidence of some great modern revolutionary scheme for " the
betterment of humanity/1 All these worthies held themselves
in a " godly " light uncommon to the rest of mankind. They,
and they only, brandished the torch of truth, albeit they did
not by any means hold identical views on even the most vital
points of Christian faith — but they were as one when face to
face with their common enemy, the Pope, and the religion he
represented, and any blow dealt at Lutheranism was an equal
joy to them. Cranmer would have burnt half of them to cinders
for their " heresies " had they been Englishmen — he sent Anne
Askew and Joan Bocher to the stake for holding " errors '
which coincided with those of some of his foreign friends,
Stumphius, Fagius, and Calvin, for instance ! He would have
hanged a Briton for stating in plain English his belief in pre-
destination— but none the less invited over to a synod the
great teacher of that desperate doctrine. These men were,
no doubt, in earnest, and have left some strange details of
their doings which throw floods of light on the history and
mentality of the times in which they lived. They believed
themselves to be so many God-appointed apostles, and
addressed each other as " father in Christ," even substitut-
ing for their common Teutonic names rich-sounding classical

228 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

ones — (Ecolampadius, Stumphius, Massarius, Utenhovius,
Terentianus, Vadianus, Osiander, Dryander, Ochianus,
etc. They would willingly have suffered death heroically
and patiently for what they believed to be the truth. On the
other hand, they could hate like very devils ; Mary to them
was Jezebel or Ataliah, Philip, Satan, Pole, a hell-hound,
and the Pope, the Scarlet Whore and worse than the
Devil. They could not speak decently of their adversaries ;
and it is precisely here that we see their influence on the
youthful Jane— the reason why, if she really wrote the letter
to Harding after his reversion to Catholicism, she employed
a viragoish language unworthy of so gentle a Christian.

We have no positive proof of how the two families, of
Northumberland and Suffolk, passed their time in the more
genial months of the years 1552-3. when the Thames is
pleasantest, especially in the neighbourhood where they had
elected to pitch their respective camps. The two Dukes
and their Duchesses cannot always have been engaged in
political intrigues; they must have given themselves some
occasional recreation, and we may imagine that archery,
tennis, and other sports, dancing, music, and such amuse-
ments! were frequently indulged in at Sheen and Sion, the
two state barges incessantly crossing and recrossing the river,
from one mansion to the other. We can picture the scene
on the lawn in front of Sion, down which the handsome
Duchess of Northumberland often went to welcome the Lady
Frances and her daughters as they landed from their barge,
leading them, with the stately ceremony of those days, from
the water-gate to the terrace in front of the former convent,
and so into the cloisters along which the sisterhood of St.
Bridget had so often and so recently passed in solemn procession
to their now ruined chapel. And then came the gay romp in
the hall and the merry games of the young folk, in which even
the austere little Lady Jane would condescend to mingle,
to the righteous consternation, doubtless, of her friends from
Zurich and Geneva. Here, too, must have come the handsome
Ambrose Dudley, lately married to the Lady Anne Seymour ; l-

1 On the death of Somerset, Lady Cromwell, widow of Thomas Cromwel
offered to take charge of his four daughters (which would have included
Lady Anne Seymour), the Duchess being, as we have said, imprisoned.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 229

but did that lady visit the house of the man who had compassed
the ruin and death of her father ? And here Robert Dudley,
afterwards the famous Earl of Leicester, may have brought
his affianced wife, the fair Amy Robsart of Kenilworth fame.
And the Lady Mary Sidney, Northumberland's elder daughter,
and wife of Sir Henry Sidney, soon to become the mother of
one of the most illustrious men of the Elizabethan age, no
doubt joined the circle with her clever young husband. In
these hours of relaxation, when the dark undertakings to which
the politics of those bloody days forced them were forgotten,
these youths overflowed with animal spirits, and it is more
than likely that Jane and her sister Katherine, and even the
little Lady Mary, romped merrily with their guests. It was
a romping age, the good old healthy country dances were
in high favour, and the best performer was he who could
lift his lady highest off the ground, or could cross his legs
twice in a pirouette before he touched the floor again !
Northumberland himself was famous as a dancer of extra-
ordinary elegance and skill. That the Calvinism in which
they had dabbled had not as yet stirred up Henry of Suffolk
and his Tudor consort to a proper pitch of " godliness ' is
evident, for a company of players who had enacted comedies,
tragedies, and tragi-comedies at Tylsey in the previous year,
repeated their performances at Sheen in the winter of 1552-3,
and brought a smile, perchance, to the pale lips of the studious
Lady Jane, and evoked a hearty laugh from her materialistic
mother, who, for aught we know to the contrary, — let us hope
it was not so ! — may already have begun to allow a certain
ginger-headed Master Adrian Stokes, His Lordship's Groom of
the Chambers, to pay her compliments which a great Princess
and an honest woman ought to have nipped in the bud.
Tradition has it that Northumberland and his colleague of
Suffolk often played a game of chess together, and that
Suffolk would wax irritable if Northumberland won more
often than himself.

No doubt, as soon as the Cumberland affair was broken
off, and Northumberland had decided to marry his son to
Lady Jane, Guildford was thrown as much into the young

Whether these ladies were in fact placed in Lady Cromwell's charge has never
been ascertained.

230 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

girl's society as was possible in those days of rigid etiquette,
when maidens of rank were not often allowed out of the sight
of their parents and governesses. But there is no record of
any love-making between the young folk : on the contrary,
there is plenty of evidence that the girl disliked her suitor.
About a week before the wedding her parents ordered
her to marry the young gentleman, and, according to
Baoardo,1 she at first stoutly refused, "her heart," she said,
" being plighted elsewhere." The Duke harshly reiterated
his command and, according to the Italian chronicler, even
struck his daughter several hard blows, whilst the broad red
face of the Lady Frances purpled threateningly. The Duke
told Jane her marriage had been ordained by no less a person
than King Edward himself, and sharply inquired ' ' whether
she intended to disobey her King as well as her father ? '
Poor Jane, aching from his blows, could scarcely stammer
her reply, " that she could not marry with Guildford since
she was already contracted to another ' and that with her
father's consent, — she doubtless alluded to the young Earl of
Hertford, the late Duke of Somerset's son. But what could
a forlorn little girl of less than sixteen do, surrounded, as Jane
was, by people whom she believed to be all-powerful ? She
had been so " nipped and pinched and bobbed " in her youth
for an ill-constructed Latin verse or a faulty tran^. tion of a
Greek sentence,2 that her spirit was already more or less broken ;
she gave a reluctant consent at last ; and straightway the
two Duchesses began their wedding preparations. Milliners
and haberdashers, glove-makers, embroiderers and Italian
silk merchants flocked to Sion and Sheen to display their
gewgaws and rich stuffs. Let us hope the little bride-
elect derived some childish pleasure from all this finery,
the ostentatious display of which must have thrown her
Calvinistic friends into hysterics of righteous indignation.

1 Baoardo, a Venetian who was in England in 1 5 5 3-6, wrote a historical
pamphlet on the events he beheld. Edited by the celebrated Luca Cortile,
it was printed and published by the Accademia di Venezia, in 1558, and has
been frequently reprinted.

2 Ascham has told us how bitterly Lady Jane complained of her parents'
brutal treatment of her even when there was little cause that they should ill-
use their daughter so, and we may easily imagine their behaviour when they
had a more serious complaint against her.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 231

And thus, long before she went to the Tower and thence
to her unmerited doom, Jane's life was made a burden to
her. Like the forlorn bride of Lammermoor, she was the
victim of cruel parents, and one only wonders her young mind
did not totter under the weight of so much woe !

Lord Guildford Dudley was born about 1533, and was
consequently not yet of age, as Queen Mary afterwards remarked
to the Imperial Ambassador. He was in his nineteenth year
at the time of his ill-omened marriage. The Duchess of
Northumberland, his mother, was granddaughter of that Lady
Guildford who had been governess to Mary Tudor, sister of
Henry vm, and to whom occasional allusion is made in early
Tudor documents as " Moder Guildford." This lady had
contrived to offend Louis xn of France, who packed her off to
England the day after he married the English Princess. Thus
the great-grandson of the governess and the granddaughter of
the royal pupil eventually became man and wife. Lord
Guildford Dudley's case is believed to be the first instance,
in this country, of the bestowal of a family instead of a Christian
name at baptism ; in stricter Catholic times it had been illegal
to baptize a child by any name but that of a saint. Guild-
ford was a tall, well-built youth, of very fair complexion.1
In contrast with his splendid colouring and light-brown hair,
he had the soft brown eyes which lend so peculiar a charm to
the authentic portraits of his father, whose darling he was.2
The Northumberland family was proverbially beautiful ; —

1 The only portrait of Guildford Dudley which the writer has ever seen is
that at Madresfield attributed to Lucas van Heere, who could not, however,
have painted it, as at the time of Guildford's execution he was only seven
years of age. There is another objection to this picture ; it is dated 1 566, and
Guildford was decapitated in 1553. Still the inscription may have been
painted in at a later date, and the tradition that it is a portrait of Lady Jane's
unfortunate consort may be correct. But the costume is more like that of
the time of James i, so large a ruff not being worn in Guildford's day. There
is also at Madresfield a portrait of Lady Jane Grey attributed to Lucas van
Heere. This is far more beautifully painted than its companion, and is in
all probability by Luca Penni, who painted the alleged portrait of Lady Jane
now in the possession of Lord Spencer at Althorpe, to which it bears a certain
resemblance, both in costume and features.

1 Nevertheless, Heylyn says (in his Reformation) that " of all Dudley's
brood he (Guildford) had nothing of his father in him." Fuller (Worthies)
calls him " a goodly and (for aught I know to the contrary) a godly gentleman,
whose worst fault was that he was son to an ambitious father."

232 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Robert, the famous Earl of Leicester and lover of Queen
Elizabeth, was considered the handsomest man of his time.
Guildford Dudley had a second name, James or Diego, received .
at his christening from a Spanish x nobleman, the famous Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza, a trivial circumstance, apparently, but
fatal in its consequences, for, as we shall see, it was largely
a foolishly worded letter from this godfather that brought
Guildford to the block.

It is uncertain whether Jane's wedding was celebrated
towards the end of May or in the beginning of June 2 (1553),
but the former is the date generally received. Three marriages
occurred on the same day : the first that of Lady Jane Grey
and Guildford Dudley ; the second between Lord Herbert,3
eldest son of the Earl of Pembroke, and the Lady Katherine
Grey, younger sister of Guildford's bride ; whilst the third
was between Henry, Lord Hastings, eldest son of the Earl of

1 The Northumberlands seem to have been in close touch with severa
Spaniards. It was due to the intercession of a Spanish noble that the
Duchess obtained her liberty ; and it was to the Duchess of Alva that she
bequeathed her pet green parrot.

2 The exact date of Jane's marriage is doubtful. Historians assign
various dates ranging from the beginning of May to the beginning of June.
Stowe contents himself with saying " three notable marriages took place at
Durham Place in May 1553." Giulio Raviglio Rosso of Ferrara, who ob-
tained his information from Giovanni Michele, Venetian Ambassador to
England, 1554-7, and from Federigo Badoardo, Venetian Ambassador to
Charles v., speaks of "Nelle feste dello spirito santo, le nozze molto splendide e
reali, e con molto concorso di populo et de' principali del regno." That is, " On
the feasts of the Holy Ghost (i.e. Whit Sunday), the very grand and regal
espousals (took place), and with a great attendance of the people and of the
leaders of the kingdom." Hutchinson (History of Durham, vol. i. 430) says
positively 2ist May; and this agrees with the "feste" (i.e. "feasts" or
within the octave) of Whit Sunday. Pollino also says it occurred on that day.
Strype (Ecclesiastical Memorials, book ii. p. 1 1 1 ) gives more details than most
writers. He says : " And a little before this time were great preparations
making for the match (which was celebrated in May) of the Lady Jane with
Guildford, Northumberland's son, and some other marriages that were to
accompany that ; as the Earl of Pembroke's eldest son with the Lady
Katherine . . . etc."

The 2ist of May was only six weeks and four days before the declining
Edward vi breathed his last (on 6th July).

Noailles, who is often very vague about his dates, fixes this triple wedding
as taking place in July !

3 Lord Herbert's marriage was not consummated on account of the youth
of the parties. He relinquished the hand of the Lady Katherine Grey, and
in 1561 she bestowed it on the Earl of Hertford.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 233

Huntingdon, and Lady Katherine, the young sister of Lord
Guildford Dudley. On the same day, little Lady Mary Grey,
barely eight years of age, was solemnly betrothed to her equally
youthful kinsman, Arthur, Lord Grey of Wilton.

Lady Jane Grey's wedding seems to have been exceptionally
magnificent. Strype tells us that to increase its splendour
and solemnity, the Master of the Wardrobe, Sir Andrew
Dudley, had orders to deliver to the various parties much
rich apparel and jewels out of the royal wardrobe.1 As the
King's ' f table diamond ' ' was delivered to the Princess Mary
about this time, it seems probable that she also attended the
wedding. These articles were not new, but consisted of
velvets, brocades, pieces of cloth of gold, of silver, etc., the
property of the late Duke of Somerset and of his Duchess,
who was still a prisoner in the Tower ; which had been for-
feited to the King, on their attainder. Thus was poor Jane's
bridal party bedecked with the finery of her father's victim,
who preceded her by a few months only on the road to the
bloodstained scaffold. The French Ambassador also mentions
the exceptional pomp displayed at this wedding, but gives
no details.

No contemporary account of this particular ceremony is

' And for the more solemnity and splendour of this day, the master of
the wardrobe had divers warrants, to deliver out of the King's wardrobe
much rich apparel and jewels : as, to deliver to the Lady Frances, Duchess of
Suffolk, to the Duchess of Northumberland, to the Lady Marchioness of
Northampton, to the Lady Jane, daughter to the Duke of Suffolk, and to the
Lord Guildford Dudley, for wedding apparel ; (which were certain parcels of
tissues, and cloth of gold and silver, which had been the late Duke's and
Duchess's of Somerset, forfeited to the King ;) and to the Lady Katherine,
daughter to the said Duke of Suffolk, and the Lord Herbert, for wedding
apparel, and to the Lord Hastings, and Lady Katherine, daughter to the
Duke of Northumberland, for wedding apparel, certain parcels of stuff and
jewels. Dated from Greenwich, the 24th of April. A warrant also there
came to the wardrobe, to deliver to the King's use, for the finishing certain
chairs for his Majesty, six yards of green velvet, and six yards of green
satin ; another, to deliver to the Lady Mary's Grace, his Majesty's sister, a
table diamond, with pearl pendant at the same ; and to the Duchess of North-
umberland, one square tablet of gold, enamelled black, with a clock, late
parcels of the Duchess of Somerset's jewels. And lastly, another warrant
to Sir Andrew Dudley, to take for the Lady Margaret Clifford, daughter of
the Earl of Cumberland, and to himself, for their wedding apparel, sundry
silks and jewels : this last warrant bearing date June 8." — Strype's
Memorials, pp. 1 1 1-2, book ii.

234 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

in existence,1 but the general custom was for the bride, attired
in a dress highly ornamented with gold and embroidery, her
hair hanging down, curiously waved and plaited, to be led to
the church " between two sweet boys, with bride laces, and
rosemary tied about their silken sleeves." Before the bride
was carried " a fair bride cup, of silver gilt," ' therein was a
goodly branch of rosemary, gilded very fair, and hung about
with silken ribbands of all colours ; next there was a noise of
musicians, that played all the way before her." Then
followed a train of virgins in white, crowned with fresh flowers,
with their hair hanging loose, some bearing bride cakes, and
others garlands, adorned with gold. Last came the bride-
groom, splendidly apparelled, with young men following
close behind. There were scarves and gloves, an ' epitha-
lamium ' and masques and dances ; and ' all the company
was decked out with the bride's colours, in every form and
fantasy."

When Jane's marriage took place, the populace, though
far from pleased with the exorbitant pretensions of the Duke
of Northumberland, could not forbear admiring the bride-
groom's extreme beauty of person. The bride was con-
sidered pretty, but small and freckled. She must have come,
in all her bridal bravery, from Suffolk House in the Strand to
Durham House, for it was the custom then, as it is still, for
the bride to start from her paternal roof, and meet the bride-
groom at the church door or even at the altar. The Church
of St. Mary-le-Strand having been destroyed by Somerset, the
service was undoubtedly held in the private chapel of the
ex-palace of the Bishops of Durham, then the town residence
of Northumberland.

Edward vi was too ill to attend the wedding, and there is
no direct evidence that either of the Princesses, his sisters,
were present ; though, as we have already said, Princess Mary
may have been. Their absence, however, points to their fear
of Northumberland's sinister intentions. The young King

1 The only description of the three weddings is that from the pen of
Giulio Raviglio Rosso, who lived at a later date. See the English translation
of the Venetian State Papers.

2 Contemporary account of an English wedding in the sixteenth century
quoted by Howard in his Life of Jane Grey.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 235

made his cousin, Jane, and Lady Katherine Grey some wedding
gifts of jewels and plate.

Burke says in his Tudor Portraits, though on what authority
he does not tell us, that on the morning of her fatal marriage,
' Lady Jane's headdress l was of green velvet, set round with
precious stones. She wore a gown of cloth of gold, and a
mantle of silver tissue. Her hair hung down her back, combed
and plaited in a curious fashion ' then unknown to ladies of
qualitie.' This arrangement was said to have been devised
by Mrs. Elizabeth Tylney, her friend and attendant, who was
with her to the end. The bride was led to the altar by two
handsome pages, with bride lace and rosemary tied to their
sleeves. Sixteen virgins, dressed in ' pure white/ preceded
the bride to the altar. Northumberland and his family were
remarkable on this occasion for the splendour of their costumes.
We have seen that they were jays in borrowed plumes. A
profusion of flowers was scattered along the bridal route,
the church bells gave a greeting, and the poor received beef,
bread and ale for three days.'3

Ascham reports that the wedding was " conducted much
in the old Popish fashion," and adds, curiously enough, as a
rider to this observation, that " Northumberland, notwith-
standing his pretended zeal for the Reformation, was a Papist
at heart." He was quite right, as events proved, though it
should be remembered that at this time of transition the order
of the marriage ceremony, unlike that for funerals, had not
yet been formulated according to the Reformed rite.

Every item in this tragic story would seem predestined to
increase its fateful horror. Part of Jane's wedding dower was
the estate of Stanfield in Norfolk,2 which has more than once

1 The description of this head-dress corresponds with the very beautiful
and picturesque one she wears in the picture, reputed to be her portrait, now
in the possession of Earl Beauchamp at Madresfield.

! There would seem to be some reason to think that Stanfield Hall, which
was often visited by the Plantagenet kings, was part of the monastic lands
purchased by Robert Ket, leader of the famous rebellion. His brother's
remains, hanging on Wymondham Church, were visible from its windows.
After Lady Jane's death, Stanfield Hall went to the Crown. There is no
express mention, however, in any existing documents connected with the
Hall, of Jane Grey's possession of this manor, and Blomefield was unable to
trace it. The tradition that it was part of Jane's dower rests on a statement
by Strype. Perhaps it was amongst the lands bought from Ket by the Duke

236 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

been associated with scenes of horror, not the least dreadful
being the Rush murder, in the second half of the last century.
This property belonged at one time to the Robsart family,
and was believed by many to be the birthplace of the fair
Amy, Countess of Leicester, who was really, however, born at
Syderstone, an adjacent manor.

In the letter to Queen Mary, dated August 1553, quoted by
Pollino,1 and written, according to him, from the Tower, Jane
Grey relates the manner of her existence between her marriage
and Edward's death. " The Duchess of Northumberland,"
she says, " promised me at my nuptials with her son, that she
would be contented if I remained living at home with my
mother. Soon afterwards, my husband being present, she
declared that it was publicly said that there was no hope of the
King's life (and this was the first time I heard of the matter),
and further she observed to her husband, the Duke of North-
umberland, ' that I ought not to leave her house,' adding
' that when it pleased God to call King Edward to His mercy
I ought to hold myself in readiness, as I might be required
to go to the Tower, since His Majesty had made me heir to his
dominions/ These words told me off-hand and without
preparation, agitated my soul within me, and for a time
seemed to amaze me. Yet afterwards they seemed to me
exaggerated, and to mean little but boasting, and by no means
of consequence sufficient to hinder me from going to my
mother.'1 Evidently Jane expressed these sentiments very
frankly, for she proceeds : " The Duchess of Northumberland
was enraged against my mother and me. She answered ' that
she was resolved to detain me/ insisting, ' that it was my duty
at all events to remain near my husband, from whom I should
not go/ Not venturing to disobey her, I remained at her
house four or five days/' These days were most likely spent
at Durham House. " At last," continues Lady Jane,

of Northumberland, as already related ; or else it was taken from him by
force after the rebellion.

1 Pollino relates some personal circumstances omitted by Baoardo. The
former, however, mentions the violence used to Jane by the Duke of Suffolk,
when she refused to marry Guildford, on the grounds of a previous " con-
traction." This is an additional proof of the genuineness of the letter as
rendered by Pollino ; for Jane, from filial respect, does not refer to her
father's cruelty.

THE LADY JANE MARRIES LORD GUILDFORD 237

obtained leave to go to Chelsea for recreation ' (meaning
perhaps change of air), ' where I very soon fell ill." Her
illness was a struggle for life or death, the suffering so acute
as to lead her to imagine she had been poisoned. The mention
of this attack of what we should now call nervous breakdown,
lends an indisputable air of authority to Jane's letter as given
by Pollino. There was really no earthly reason why anybody
should attempt her life — it was certainly too precious to the
Dudleys for the Duchess, an eminently respectable if an auto-
cratic woman, to wish to see it prematurely ended. It is well
known that this fear of being poisoned frequently seizes on
people in time of distress.

Chelsea Manor House, which had lately been in the posses-
sion of the Duke of Somerset, had fallen, with other property,
into the hands of Northumberland, and thence he dates certain
letters to Cecil and his other colleagues.1 Lady Jane apparently
preferred going to Chelsea to stopping at Durham House ;
and so departed without her husband, although so recently
married. Guildford was not present at the scene at Sion
(on Qth July) when the Crown was offered to his wife, which
points to his having been left in bachelor solitude at Durham
House. Possibly the absence of her mother-in-law from the
Chelsea establishment accounts for the bride's preference
for that suburban residence ; and having married Guildford
without entertaining the least affection for him, she probably
did not desire his presence either.

The pomp and splendour of these nuptials were the last
gleam of gaiety in the reign of Edward vi. A very short time
afterwards, the poor young King grew so pitifully weak that
Northumberland thought it was time to carry his great pro-
jects into execution. Otherwise, as he clearly saw, he and
his friends must not expect to continue long in power, or even
in security : all his efforts, his overthrow of Somerset, and the
rest, would be rendered useless if his royally born daughter-

^^_^M^VWi^aM»K«*«^- '*••*' <M"*PIIM*'*-'*m'wV****"*"* ^M**M^M«NflMMP***'l****'*V1^l>w« •* V . ^~J

in-law was not named by the King himself as the lawful
successor to the throne.

Several of these letters are included in the second volume of Tytler's
England under Edward VI and Mary.

CHAPTER XV

ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER

Duke of Northumberland is accused, even by
almost contemporary authorities, of having forged
the will of King Edward vi; but, as we shall presently
see, that King never made a will, but left a sort of tentative
document called a " Devise " for the succession, written in his
own hand ; though maybe it was suggested or even dictated
by the Duke. By an Act — the xxvm of Henry vm, cap. 7-
it was enacted that, failing issue of Queen Jane Seymour,
" Your Highness (Henry) shall have full and plenary power
and authority to give, dispose, appoint, assign, declare, and
limit by your letters-patent under your great seal, or else by
your last will made in writing, and signed with your most
gracious hand, at your only pleasure, from time to time here-
after, the Imperial Crown of this Realm." Other Acts had
recapitulated this ; and King Henry, acting on the same
principle, made a will in his thirty-fifth year, under the terms
of which the Crown was to pass, firstly to his son Edward and
his heirs ; secondly, to his own heirs by the then Queen,
Katherine Parr, ' or any other wife I may have " ; thirdly,
to his daughter Mary ; fourthly, to his daughter Elizabeth ;
fifthly, to the heirs of the body of his niece, the Lady Frances ;
sixthly, to those of her sister, Eleanor ; seventhly, to the next
rightful heirs, meaning the heirs of his sister, the Queen of
Scots. It was also stipulated that if either of his daughters
married without the consent of the Privy Council, they were to
be passed over " as if dead."

Both Edward vi and his father seem to have wished for a
male successor, for in the latter's enactments limiting the
succession, all the female heirs are set aside In favour of their

as yet unborn male issue. King Edward's " Devise ' ' for the

233

ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER 239

limitation of the succession makes no allusion to his two
sisters, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. On the other
hand, in the letters-patent for this limitation of the succession,
which were based on the " Devise," the Princesses' claim is
ruled out for three reasons : that they were illegitimate ; that
they were of half-blood to the King ; that there was a chance
of their marrying foreigners. Besides, as we have said, the
King, like his father, was anxious for a male successor ; in
fact, this desire is on the very surface of the " Devise," wherein
much stress is laid on the " issue masle," since for the one
living male descendant of Henry vn — that is, Edward himself —
there were as many as seven ladies (even excluding the Scotch
line) potential to the English Crown.1

The first limitation decided upon by the young King was
to the Lady Frances's issue male, born before the King's
death, and, failing them, the Lady Jane's issue male. This
scheme suited Northumberland* lor if Jane had a son by
Guildford the Duke would become the grandfather of the
King of England and proportionately powerful. But as time
went on it became evident that the King was doomed to an
early death, and therefore a swifter and more practical solution
of the succession problem had to be arrived at. The next
best arrangement would have been the nomination of the

1 Table showing the heirs female in remainder to the Crown, named in the
will of Henry vin and the " Devise " of Edward VI : —

King Henry the Seventh and Queen Elizabeth of York,

had issue
I

King Henry vm, Margaret, Queen of Scots, Mary, Queen of France,

father of, grandmother of Mary mother of,

by Katherine by Anne Stuart, and great-grand- by Charles Brandon,

of Aragon, Boleyn, mother of King James Duke of Suffolk,

the First. I

The Lady Mary, The Lady Elizabeth, The Lady Frances, The Lady Eleanor,

set. 38 in 1553. set. 20 in 1553. Duchess of Suffolk, Countess of Cum-

set. 36 in 1553. berland, d. 1547.

I I I

Lady Jane, set. The Lady Katherine, The Lady Mary, to The Lady Margaret,

17 in 1553, m. to to the Earl of Hert- Thomas Skye, or Countess of Clifford,

Guildford Dudley, ford, issue, Keyes, no issue. issue,
no issue.

240 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Lady Frances ; l Northumberland, however, could not approve
of such a scheme, since it would have placed the weight of
power in the hands of the Duke of Suffolk, her husband. At
last, all plans failing, Edward decided to nominate the Lady
Jane Grey as his successor to the throne — and thereby the
Duke gained his point. The words in the " Devise," " to the
L'Janes heires masles," were now changed to " to the L'Jane
and her heires masles ' ' : in the copy of the document bearing
the King's signature which is still extant, it can be seen that a
pen has been drawn through the ' s ' at the end of Jane's
name, and the words ' and her ' have been written above.
Thus was manufactured2 the ladder by which Northumberland,
by becoming the father-in-law of a Queen, hoped to reach the
summit of his ambition.

Northumberland had a great deal of trouble to get his
scheme legalised. Edward was not unpliable, and indeed
attributed Northumberland's intense desire to see the " Devise '
carried into effect entirely to his zeal for the Reformed religion ;
but Archbishop Cranmer, Sir Edward Montagu, Lord Chief
Justice, Sir James Hale, Secretary Cecil and others, either
because they saw through Northumberland or else because
they really had qualms of conscience as to its legality, opposed
the plan, taking their stand on the fact that the nomina-
tion of Jane Grey, being contrary to the older " Statute of
Succession," would be illegal. Cranmer, as the result of
an interview with the King, was finally converted to his
views. Lord Darcy, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Marquis
of Northampton were present at this meeting, much to the
Archbishop's disgust. ' I desired to talk with the King's
Majesty alone/' says Cranmer, " but I could not be suffered :
and so I failed of my purpose. For if I might have communed
with the King alone, and at my good leisure, my trust was,
that I should have altered him from his purpose ; but they

1 Antoine de Noailles informs us in his Notes that the Lady Frances was
very sore over the way in which her succession to the Crown was set aside by
King Edward in favour of her daughter Jane ; and the Duke of Suffolk had
some difficulty in inducing her to accept the situation.

2 John Terentianus, writing to John ab Ulmis under date of apth Novem-
ber 1553, says (Zurich Letters, p. 365) : " A few days before his death the
King made a will at the instigation of Northumberland, by which he disin-
herited both his sisters."

ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER 241

(the above-mentioned noblemen) being present, my labour
was in vain. And so at length I was required by the King's
Majesty himself to set my hand to his will (that is, the scheme
for the succession) saying that he trusted that I alone would
not be more repugnant to his will than the rest of the Council
were. Which words surely grieved my heart very sore. And
so I granted him to subscribe his will, and to follow the same.
Which when I had set my hand unto I did it unfainedly and
without dissimulation." x

Directly Northumberland was satisfied that the young
King would not depart from the decision to which he had forced
him, he summoned Lord Chief Justice Montagu to attend at
the Royal Court at Greenwich, on nth June 1553, with Sir
John Baker, Mr. Justice Bromley, Attorney-General Gosnold
and Solicitor-General Griffin. This command was the first step
towards officially depriving Mary of her inheritance, and the
letter was signed by Secretary Petre, Sir John Cheke, and
strange to relate, by Cecil, which is surprising when taken
in conjunction with his subsequent conduct in the matter.
The Lord Chief Justice, coming into the royal presence, found
the King very ill, lying on a couch, surrounded by Lord Win-
chester, Lord Treasurer, the Marquis of Northampton, Sir John
Gates, Sir John Palmer, and others. Raising himself, Edward
declared, in the verbose language of the time, that he had
summoned his Council to hear from his own lips that he had
appointed the Lady Jane Grey his heiress, as the Lady Mary
might change her faith, and " his Highness's proceedings in
religion might be altered.2 Wherefore his pleasure was that
the state of the Crown should go in such form, and to such
persons, as his Highness had appointed in a bill of articles [i.e.,
the " Devise " 3] now signed with the King's hand, which were
read, and commanded them to make a book thereof accordingly
with speed." Montagu refused to do this, saying the nomina-

1 Cranmer's Works (Parker Society), vol. ii. p. 442.

2 That is to say, Princess Mary, at that time only a Schismatic, or " Henry-
ite," might suddenly become a Roman Catholic, and abolish the Reformed
religion. It should be remembered that Mary was not openly in
communion with Rome until about three months after her accession to the
throne.

8 The reader will find the text of the " Devise " at the end of the next
chapter.

16

242 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

tion of Lady Jane would be illegal and against the already
mentioned " Statute of Succession," which had passed Par-
liament. Edward, or rather Northumberland, became so
irritable, that the Lord Chief Justice finally acquiesced so far
as to ask for time to deliberate and consult the laws ; where-
upon the King gave him the " Devise " to study, and dismissed
all present, Northumberland alone remaining. On the follow-
ing day (i2th June), Secretary Petre sent for the Lord Chief
Justice to Durham House, Northumberland's palace in the
Strand, and told him the matter must be executed off-hand.
Montagu immediately went to Ely Place, Holborn, where
he found the Council sitting, but Northumberland absent ;
which emboldened him to warn the Council of the exceeding
danger of the matter they were about to approve. ' In God's
name, my Lords," cried he, " think twice what you do — it will
be treason to us all who have a hand in it." Hardly had he
spoken ere Northumberland, who was, of course, aware of
his opposition, burst, as white as a sheet, into the room like a
whirlwind, " before all the Council there," says a contemporary
account, " being in a great rage and fury, trembling for anger ;
and, amongst his ragious talk, called Sir Edward Montagu
traitor, and further said that he would fight in his shirt
[sleeves] with any man in that quarrel." No one took up the
challenge, and Montagu withdrew in some dismay — thankful,
no doubt, that there had been no actual blows given or received.
Nothing was signed or done that day, but on the next,
Montagu received a fresh order to repair immediately to
Court with the same companions as before. On arrival at
Greenwich, the party was ushered into a room filled with the
notables of the Court, who ' looked upon them with earnest
countenance, as though they had not known them, so that
they might perceive there was some steadfast determination
against them " ; which treatment, combined with uncertainty
as to whether the all-powerful Northumberland might not
persuade the King into punishing them for not preparing the
" book " of the King's scheme as he had wished, made the poor
gentlemen feel very uncomfortable. Edward also (on 15 th
June), received the Lord Chief Justice and his colleagues
haughtily ; His Majesty was apparently better, and seated
in his chair. Montagu's party endeavoured to excuse them-

ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER 243

selves by using the same arguments against the scheme of
succession as they had previously put before the Council.
They said that, by reason of the ' Statute of Succession/'
the plan would be null and void after Edward's death ; and
that the only power which could remove the said Statute was
Parliament, which had made it, and which was not then
sitting. Thereupon the King said he would summon a Parlia-
ment, but, all the same, the drawing up of his scheme must be
proceeded with. He further commanded Montagu to obey his
order, and ' make dispatch." At last Montagu, " in great
fear as ever he was in his life before, seeing the King so earnest
and sharp, and the Duke so angry the day before — who ruled
the whole Council as it pleased him, and they were all afraid
of him (the more is the pity) 1 so that such cowardliness and
fear was there never seen amongst honourable men — being
an old man and without comfort, he began to consider with
himself what was best to be done for the safeguard of his life."
Accordingly he agreed to comply with his sovereign's com-
mand, provided Edward granted him (as a sort of protection)
his commission under the Great Seal, enjoining him to draw
up the instrument of succession, and that a general " pardon '
for having signed it should be made out at the same time.
The King acceded to these terms ; and so the letters patent
nominating Jane Grey as King Edward's successor received
the Great Seal on 2ist June, and over a hundred signatures,
including those of the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs of Middlesex,
Surrey, and Kent, the officers of the Royal Household, and
of Thomas Grey, the Duke of Suffolk's younger brother, were
affixed to the document. It took so long to collect all the
signatures that the work was not finished until the 8th of
July, that is, after Edward's death. Stowe records the attend-
ance of the " chief citizen " of the metropolis on that day in the
following terms : The 8. of July the lord mayor of London
was sent for to the court then at Greenwich, to bring with him
six aldermen, as many merchants of the staple, and as many

Northumberland, in fact, tyrannised over everybody: Noailles (Am-
bassades Fran^aises,ii. 80), says that "toutesces choses [Jane's failure to keep
the throne] sont advenues plus pour la grande hayne que I'on porte h icelluy
due [Northumberland], qui a voulu tenir un chacun en craincte, que pour
que I'on a b ladicte royne [Mary]."

244 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

merchant adventurers, unto whom by the council was
secretly declared the death of King Edward, and also how
he did ordain for the succession of the crown by his letters
patent, to the which they were sworn, and charged to keep it
secret." Sir James Hale, however, refused his signature
with great dignity ; Cecil slipped out of the difficulty on a
pretext of sudden illness. Foreseeing, even before nth June,
the rocks ahead, he wisely retired from Court after a well-
acted scene of simulated faintness, so realistic as to mislead
the shrewd Lord Audley, who, being a great believer in his own
prescriptions, sent the disordered Secretary the following
delightful receipt : —

" Take a sow-pig of nine days old, and flea him and quarter
him, and put him in a stillatory with a handful of spearmint,
a handful of red fennel, a handful of liverwort, half a handful
of red nepe [turnip], a handful of celery, nine dates clean picked
and pared, a handful of great raisins, and pick out the stones,
and a quarter of an ounce of mace, and two sticks of good
cinnamon bruised in a mortar ; and distill it together, with a
fair fire ; and put it in a glass and set in the sun nine days ;
and drink nine spoonfuls of it at once when you list.

"

A COMPOST

" Item. — Take a porcupin, otherwise called an English
hedgehog, and quarter him in pieces, and put the said beast in
a still with these ingredients and boil together ; item, a quart
of red wine, a pint of rose-water, a quart of sugar, cinnamon
and great raisins, one date, twelve nepe. Pass the whole
through a sieve and drink at night, a full cup thereof warm.

"

Possibly his Lordship intended this epistle as a fine piece
of sarcasm, for if Cecil was only to partake of the " sow-pig '
and raisin remedy nine days after it was concocted, there was
every chance of his dying or getting well in the interval.

The fact that so many persons were found to sign the
fateful document is another proof — even if we make allowance
for the majority of the Council being time-servers — tha
Edward's ' Devise ' for the succession, though evident!

1 The original of this letter is among the State Papers.

ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER 245

suggested and forwarded by Northumberland, was not a
forgery.

On 6th July1 (1553), whilst the newly-made bride was
peacefully resting at Chelsea, King Edward vi passed away
at Whitehall Palace. He had been taken out of the hands of
his physicians, Drs. Owen 2 and Wendy, old and trusted Court
doctors, and put into those of a female quack, who soon extin-
guished the feeble ray of life that still flickered in his wasted
body. An hour before Edward passed away, Dr. Owen, who
had been recalled in a hurry, bent over him, saying, ' r We heard
you speak to yourself, but what you said we know not ? J The
weary lad answered, smiling faintly, " I was praying to God."
A little later he was heard to murmur, " Lord have mercy
upon me, and take my spirit." He never spoke again — he
was very tired, and needed rest !

The people had shown their anxiety for Edward's health
by assembling daily in front of Greenwich Palace to ascertain
how he was, and to convince the mob that he was still alive

1 The author's researches lead him to think that this must be the correct
date of Edward's death ; though different dates are given by some writers.
Machyn, Aubrey, and Wriothesley incline to the 6th of July ; but, on the
other hand, Burke (Tudor Portraits, vol. ii. p. 398) says it was the 7th of
that month, and the writer of the article on Edward vi in the Encyclopedia
Britannica (vol. vii. p. 686) declares that the King died on 4th July !
Aubrey says the 6th was a Thursday ; and Burke, that the King died at
nine p.m. These discrepancies are most likely due to the fact that the
King's death was kept a secret for some days.

2 Dr. George Owen was probably the most distinguished physician of
his day. He received honours at Merton College. He attended at Edward
vi's birth, when he is said untruly to have performed the Caesarian operation ;
he afterwards attended that Prince throughout his life, and was well treated by
him. Amongst the grants made to Owen were Bewley Abbey, Cumnor
Place, Gadstow Abbey, and the chapel of St. Giles, Oxford. He died on
1 8th October 1558, and was buried at St. Stephen's Walbrook, his funeral
being thus recorded by Machyn (Diary, p. 177) : " The xxiiij day of October
was bered at sant Stevyn in walbroke master doctur Owyn, phesyssyon, with
a ij haroldes of armes and a cote armur and penon of armes, and iij dosen of
armes, and ij whyt branchys, and xx torchys ; and xx pore men had gownes,
and ther dener ; and iiij gret tapurs ; and the morow masse, and master
Harpfheld dyd pryche ; and after a gret dener." It is strange that Edward's
favourite physician should have been a " Papist." Dr. Owen must also have
been on good terms with " Bluff King Hal," for he received £100 by that
monarch's will. The second son and the daughter-in-law of Dr. Owen were
living at Cumnor Place in 1 560, when the mysterious death of Amy Robsart
took place there.

246 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

it had become necessary to make the royal lad show his sickly
person, robed in velvet and ermine, and his poor wasted face-
crowned with the delightful little velvet cap with the white
feathers, so familiar to us in his portraits — at the window.
The received version among all classes was that the King was
being slowly poisoned by the Duke of Northumberland, whom
they also accused of having forged Edward's ' Devise ' for
the succession in favour of Lady Jane. The Swiss Reformers,
in their letters to Strasburg and Zurich, did not hesitate to
give currency to the report that Northumberland, whom a
few weeks earlier they had called the ' illustrious ' and the
" noble," had murdered his nephew. " That monster of a
man," says John Burcher to Henry Bullinger (letter dated
from Strasburg, i6th August 1553), " the Duke of North-
umberland, has been committing a horrible and portentous
crime. A writer worthy of credit informs me, that our
excellent King has been most shamefully taken off by poison.
His nails and hair fell off before his death, so that, handsome
as he was, he entirely lost all his good looks. The perpetrators
of the murder were ashamed of allowing the body of the de-
ceased King to lie in state, and be seen by the public, as is
usual : wherefore they buried him privately in the paddock
adjoining the palace, and substituted in his place a youth not
unlike him. . . . One of the sons of the Duke of Northumber-
land acknowledged this fact. The Duke has been apprehended x
with his five sons, and nearly twenty persons ; among whom is
master [Sir John] Cheke, doctor Cox, and the Bishop of London,
with others unknown to you. . . . " 2 Burcher does not tell
us which son of the Duke made this confession ; nor is there
evidence that any of Northumberland's boys ever accused
their father of regicide. Besides, Burcher was somewhat
addicted to putting his faith in the reports of untrustworthy
people. A few years earlier (in 1549) ne na(^ written Bullinger
a letter in which he repeated the sensational story of an attempt
to murder King Edward made by his uncle, Thomas Seymour,
a crime frustrated by the vigilance of the King's lap-dog,
which seeing the murderer suddenly appear, flew at him and

1 But of course their arrest was for having placed Jane on the throne,
not for murdering the King. This is a manifest error on the part of Burcher.

2 Zurich Letters, p. 684.

EDWARD VI

FROM AN ENGRAVING BY G. VERTUE

ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER 247

made such a yelping that the bodyguard was in time to
save their sovereign. This story may or may not be true ;
but is as unauthenticated as the other. There is just one
point, however, that supports the poison theory ; which is
that the young King's old and competent nurse, Mrs. Sybil
Penn, was suddenly relieved of her duties, and replaced by a
woman who was an acknowledged quack, and declared she
could cure the lad by a sort of faith-healing not unknown in
our own times. On the other hand, Edward was suffering
from such a complication of diseases that there was no reason
why Northumberland should have troubled to burden his
soul by hastening an end that would in any case have come
before long.1 Born of a debauched father and a sickly mother,
the ' second Josiah ' never throve, and never could have
thriven, for he bore in his puny frame the seeds of early death
from his birth.

King Edward vi lived exactly fifteen years, eight months,
and six days. We can easily believe Strype's assurance that
his wonderful and almost preternatural sagacity was merely
the result of skilful prompting. He informs us that when-
ever the young King was about to attend the Council, North-
umberland carefully rehearsed with him both how he should
behave and what he was to say. Yet the boy does not appear
to have been devoid of exceptional intelligence. It may be
doubted whether his affections were very deep ; he certainly
did not hesitate to bastardise his two sisters at the bidding
of their common enemy. It has been stated that Lady Jane
Grey was devotedly attached to her young cousin ; that there
had even been love passages between them. The King's
youth should mark this report as the veriest gossip. Not a

1 The belief that the King had been poisoned was, however, very widespread.
Another Reformer, Terentianus, says that it was not only rumoured, but
there were not wanting " many and strong suspicions " ; he attributes it to
' the Papists." Machyn, the diarist, fell into the same error as Burcher of
thinking Northumberland's arrest due to his share in Edward vi's " murder."
He says : ' The vj day of July, as they say, dessessyd [deceased] the nobull
kyng Edward the vj. and the vij yere of ys rayne, and sune and here to the
nobull kyng Henry the viij ; and he was poyssoned, as evere body says,
wher now, thanks be unto God, ther be mony of the false trayturs browt to
ther end, and j trust in God that mor shall folow as thay may be spyd owt"
(P- 35)- Osorius, Bishop of Sylva (Portugal), wrote to Elizabeth when she
was on the throne, that her brother had died of poison.

248 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

tinge of affection or regret for her cousin is expressed in any of
Lady Jane's letters, and we have no proof whatever that she was
specially affected by his early death. There is but little evi-
dence, indeed, of her having been much in his company, nor
any proof that he, on his side, held her in exceptional esteem.
Nature added a warning note to the horror of the approach-
ing tragedy. ' Several women were delivered of monsters
on the day of the King's death, one of an infant with two
heads and four feet, and another of a child whose head was
planted in the centre of his body." The ghost of Henry vui
was reported to have been seen stalking along the battlements
of Windsor and at Hampton Court and Whitehall — so that
even the supernatural stimulated popular imagination. The
hour of the young King's death, too, was ushered in by a
tempest of such appalling violence, that heaven and earth
seemed to menace the city. A terrible hailstorm swept over
London and its outskirts, and the ruined gardens and devastated
orchards for miles round were heaped with hailstones ' as
red as blood." Cataracts of water deluged the lower parts of
the city : trees were torn up, and the steeple of the church
in which the first Protestant service was held was shattered
by forked lightning. The people, terrified at the universal
havoc, believed, when they learnt of the King's death, that this
storm was the forerunner of fresh disasters and terrible crimes,
and so indeed it proved to be — for the death of Edward vi was
the signal for the outbreak of the long contemplated revolution
so skilfully prepared by Northumberland.

CHAPTER XVI

THE LADY JANE IS PROCLAIMED QUEEN

NO sooner had King Edward vi given up the ghost,
than Northumberland devised a cunning attempt
to obtain possession of the person of Princess Mary,
then at Hunsdon. The Duke persuaded the Council to address
a treacherous letter to her, after Edward was actually dead,
but before his decease was divulged to the public, in which
they gave no hint that her brother was dead, and informed
her he was only very ill, and " prayed her to come to him,
as he earnestly desired the comfort of her presence." Touched
by this exhibition of brotherly affection, Mary fell into the
trap, and, returning a loving answer, started immediately for
London ; but a timely warning prevented the whole course
of our history being changed. The plot was to seize her on
the high road near the metropolis, and convey her a prisoner
to the Tower.

A young brother of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, however,
who was in Northumberland's service, and in attendance upon
him at Greenwich Palace, was surprised to see Sir John Gates
come, on the morning after the King's death, to the Duke's
chamber before he was dressed. They discussed the move-
ments of the Princess, and young Throckmorton overheard
Gates exclaim angrily, " What sir ! will you let the Lady
Mary escape, and not secure her person ? ' Acting upon this
hint, he forthwith galloped to Throckmorton House, where
he found his father and his brothers, together with Sir Nicholas,
who had just come to inform them of the King's death, of
which he had been a witness, and also of Northumberland's
schemes concerning the proclamation of Lady Jane. On this
the youth related what he had overheard that morning in

Northumberland's bedroom ; and Sir Nicholas, who, although

249

250 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

a Reformer, was none the less loyal to Mary, instantly dis-
patched her goldsmith, a trusty servant, who met her at
Hoddesden, and informed her both of her brother's death
and of the danger in which she stood. Even yet she doubted
the genuineness of the warning, and remarked to the gold-
smith that " If Robert1 had been at Greenwich, she would
have hazarded all things, and gaged her life on the leap." Sir
Robert Throckmorton,2 however, arriving on 7th July, con-
firmed the goldsmith's message, and Mary and her retinue,
in consequence, left the London road and struck off into Suffolk,
reaching her manor of Kenninghall after a two days' hard
gallop. Almost as soon as she arrived there, she addressed
the Council a comparatively mild remonstrance, and at the
same time confirmed her claim to the throne. Mary prized
the fidelity of the Throckmortons so highly as to bestow upon
the chief of that ancient house the position of chief -justice of
Chester, which act of kindness he repaid in after times, when
Mary was long dead, by praying for her soul whenever he said
his mealtime grace.

Lady Jane Grey meanwhile remained at Chelsea until she was
sent for : " There came unto me," she continues in her letter

1 Sir Robert Throckmorton, Sir Nicholas's elder brother, whom she much
preferred to the latter.

a Some historians have represented the warning as coming to Mary by
way of the Earl of Arundel ; but the statement that it came from the Throck-
mortons is confirmed by Jardine's State Trials and Cole's MS. vol. xl., British
Museum. There is a very curious account of the whole proceeding in rough
verse by Sir Nicholas Throckmorton himself, of which we give two verses : —

" Mourning, from Greenwich did I straight depart,
To London, to a house which bore our name.
My brethren guessed by my heavie hearte,
The King was dead, and I confess'd the same :
The hushing of his death I didd unfolde,
Their meaning to proclaim Queene Jane I tolde.

• ••••••

Wherefore from four of us the newes was sent.
How that her brother hee was dead and gone ;
In post her goldsmith then from London went,
By whom the message was dispatcht anon.
Shee asked, ' If wee knewe it certainlie ? '
Who said, ' Sir Nicholas knew it verilie.' "

*

See The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 2 ; also Bishop Good-
man's Memoirs, p. 161.

THE LADY JANE IS PROCLAIMED QUEEN 251

to Queen Mary, " the Lady Sidney, the daughter of the Duke
of Northumberland, who told me she was sent by the Council
to call me before them, and she informed me that I must be
that night at Sion House, where they were assembled, to
receive that which was ordained for me by the King."

The two young ladies went that afternoon (gth July 1553)
by river from Chelsea to Sion House, which they reached
towards nightfall : —

' On arriving at Sion," writes Lady Jane, " I found no one
there. But presently came the Marquis of Northampton, the
Earls of Arundel, Huntingdon, and Pembroke, who began to
make me complimentary speeches, bending the knee before
me, their example being followed by several noble ladies, all
of which ceremony made me blush. My distress was still
further increased when my mother (the Lady Frances), and
my mother-in-law (the Duchess of Northumberland), entered
and paid me the same homage. Then came the Duke of
Northumberland himself, who, as President of the Council,
declared to me the death of the King, and informed me that
every one had good reason to rejoice in the virtuous life he had
led, and the good death he had. He drew great comfort from
the fact that, at the end of his life, he took great care of his
kingdom, praying to our Lord God to defend it from all
doctrine contrary to His, and to free it from the evil of his
sisters. He signified to the Duke of Northumberland ' that
he (the said Majesty of Edward vi), had well considered the
Act of Parliament, in which it had been already ordained that,
whoever shall recognise Mary, or Elizabeth her sister, as heir
to the Crown, were to be considered traitors, seeing that Mary
had disobeyed the King, her father, and her brother (Edward vi)
and was, moreover, a chief enemy to the Word of God, and
that both were illegitimate. Therefore he would not that
she and her sister be his heirs, but rather thought he ought
in every way to disinherit them.' And before his death,
he * commanded his Council, and adjured them by the honour
they owed him, by the love they bore their country, and by
the duty they owe to God, that they should obey his will and
carry it into effect/ The Duke of Northumberland then
added that I was the heir nominated by His Majesty, and

252 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

that my sisters, the Lady Katherine and the Lady Mary Grey,
were to succeed me, in case I had no issue legitimately born,
at which words all the lords of the Council knelt before me,
exclaiming, ' that they rendered me that homage because it
pertained to me, being of the right line,' and they added, that
in all particulars they would observe what they promised
which was, by their souls they swore, to shed their blood and
lose their lives to maintain the same. On hearing all this, I
remained stunned and out of myself, I call on those present to
bear witness, who saw me fall to the ground weeping piteously,
and dolefully lamenting, not only mine insufficiency, but the
death of the King. I swooned indeed, and lay as dead, but
when brought to myself I raised myself on my knees, and
prayed to God ' that if to succeed to the Throne was indeed
my duty and my right, that He would aid me to govern the
Realm to His glory/ The following day, as every one knows, I
was conducted to the Tower/1

Lady Jane's own version as given above differs materially
from the one of this famous scene of the recognition of Jane
as Queen edited by Foxe ; the two are, however, identical
in the main facts, but the bombastic speech put into the
mouth of his heroine by the author of the Book of Martyrs is
much less natural than Pollino's version. The Grey Friars'
Chronicle corroborates in every particular both narratives,
and adds that, ' on loth July, the Lady Jane came from
Richmond to Westminster by water,1 whither she came to
robe herself before proceeding to the Tower/1 On her way
from Westminster, she stopped at Durham House, her father-
in-law's palace on the Thames, where she dined. Lady Jane
afterwards proceeded by the State barge to the Tower, where
she landed about three o'clock in the afternoon, the weather
being exceedingly fine.

In the Genoese Archives there is a letter from a member
of the Spinola family,2 who was then in London, giving details
of that day's doings : —

1 Wriothesley says : " Jane came to the Tower from Greenwich," which
is evidently a mistake. She certainly did not proceed from Westminster to
Greenwich to return thence to the Tower.

2 This letter is from Sir Baptist Spinola, a very rich Genoese merchant,
who flourished in London under Edward vi, — by whom he was knighted,—

THE LADY JANE IS PROCLAIMED QUEEN 253

" To-day [the date is not given, but possibly it figured on
the cover, now lost : it was, of course, loth July 1553] I
saw Donna Jana Groia [an Italianisation of Grey] walking in a
grand procession to the Tower. She is now called Queen, but
is not popular, for the hearts of the people are with Mary, the
Spanish Queen's daughter. This Jane is very short and thin,
but prettily shaped and graceful. She has small features and
a well-made nose (ben fatta ha il naso), the mouth flexible and
the lips red. The eyebrows are arched and darker than her
hair, which is nearly red. Her eyes are sparkling and red
(rossi — a sort of light hazel often noticed with red hair). I
stood so long near Her Grace, that I noticed her colour was
good, but freckled. When she smiled she showed her teeth,
which are white and sharp. In all, a graziosa persona and
animata [animated]. She wore a dress of green velvet stamped
with gold, with large sleeves. Her headdress was a white coif
with many jewels. She walked under a canopy, her mother
carrying her long train, and her husband Guilfo [Guildford]
walking by her, dressed all in white and gold, a very tall strong
boy with light hair, who paid her much attention. The new
Queen was mounted on very high chopines [clogs] to make her
look much taller, which were concealed by her robes, as she
is very small and short. Many ladies followed, with noblemen,
but this lady is very heretica and has never heard Mass, and
some great people did not come into the procession for that
reason."

Queen Jane was received by Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant
oi the Tower, and his brother, Mr. Thomas Brydges, Deputy-
Lieutenant, and walked in procession from the landing-place
to the Great Hall, a crowd of spectators lining the way, all
kneeling as the new Queen passed. The Lady Frances, Duchess
of Suffolk, to the surprise of every one, carried her daughter's
train. Pollino informs us that universal indignation was
expressed by the onlookers when they beheld the Duchess-
mother, who was rightful heiress, playing the part of train-
Mary, and Elizabeth. Frequent mention of him will be found in the State
Papers of this period. On one occasion Elizabeth paid him an enormous
sum — probably for supplies of Genoa velvet and brocade. The " grand
procession to the Tower " refers to the procession from the landing-place
there to the Great Hall.

254 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

bearer to her daughter, and describes as theatrical in the
extreme the obsequious manner in which the Duke of Suffolk
and his consort treated their own child, kneeling to her and
walking backwards before her, ' the which was a most de-
spicable and humiliating sight/'

NOTE. — The following is the full text of the celebrated
" Devise/3 drawn up by Northumberland and approved by
Edward vi.

Deuise for the succession.

1. For lakke of issu (masle inserted above the line, but
afterwards erased) of my body (to the issu (masle above the line)
cumming of thissu f emal, as i haue after declared (inserted, but
erased). To the L. Franceses heires masles (For lakke of
erased) (if she have any inserted) such issu (befor my death
inserted) to the L' Janes (and her inserted) heires masles, To the
L. Katerins heires masles, To the L Maries heires masles, To
the heires masles of the daughters wich she shal haue hereafter.
Then to the L Margets heires masles. For lakke of such issu,
To th'eires masles of the L Janes daughters. To th'eires
masles of the L Katerins daughters, and so forth til yow
come to the L Margets (daughters inserted) heires masles.

2. If after my death theire masle be entred into 18 yere
old, then he to have the hole rule and gouernauce therof .

3. But if he be under 18, then his mother to be gouuernres
til he entre 18 yere old, But to doe nothing w'out th'auise
(and agremet inserted) of 6 parcel of a counsel to be pointed
by my last will to the nombre of 20.

4. If the mother die befor th'eire entre into 18 the realme
to be gouuerned by the cousel Prouided that after he be 14 yere
al great matters of importaunce be opened to him.

5. If i died w'out issu, and there were none heire masle,
then the L Fraunces to be (reget altered to) gouuernres. For
lakke of her, the her eldest daughters, and for lakke of them
the L Marget to be gouuernres after as is aforsaid, til sume
heire masle be borne, and then the mother of that child to be
gouuernres.

6. And if during the rule of the gouuernres ther die 4 of

THE LADY JANE IS PROCLAIMED QUEEN 255

us doo assent to take, use, and repute hym for a breaker of
the common concord, peax, and unite of this realme, and to
doo our uttermost to see hym or them so varying or swarving
punisshed with most sharpe punisshmentes according to their
desertes.

T. CANT T. ELY, CANC WINCHESTER NORTHUBRLAND
J. REDFORD H. SUFFOLK
W. NORTHT

F. SHREWESBURY F. HUNTYNGDON

(PEMBROKE.

E. CLYNTON T. DARCY G. COBHAM
R. RYCHE T. CHEYNE

JOH'N GATE WILL'M PETRE

(JOAN/ CHEEK
W. CECILL EDWARD MOUNTAGU.

JOHN BAKERE

EDWARD GRYFFYN JOHN LUCAS
JOHN GOSNOLD

CHAPTER XVII

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN

AS soon as Jane Grey and her escort had entered
the royal apartments of the Tower, the heralds
trumpeted, and a few minutes later (it was close on
six o'clock), four of them read the new Queen's proclamation,
one of the most tedious State documents in existence, and the
first in which a woman claims the title of " Supreme Head of
the Church." 1 The ceremony of solemn proclamation within
the precincts of the Tower once over, other heralds proceeded
for the same purpose to Cheapside and the Fleet. In Cheap-
side, a potboy who was heard to disapprove of the wordy
document, and of the expression " bastard ' applied to the
Lady Mary, was arrested, and treated after a fashion quaintly
described by Machyn,2 who says, " there was a young man
taken that time for speaking of certain words of Queen Mary,
that she had the right title. The xj day of July, at viij of the
clock in the morning, the young man for speaking was set
on the pillory, and both his ears cut off; for there was
a herald, and a trumpeter blowing ; and incontinent he was
taken down, and carried to the Counter ; and the same day
was the young man's master dwelling at Saint John's head,
his name was Sandor Onyone, and another, master Owen, a

1 A fair number of copies of the Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey have
come down to us, but the original printed Proclamation is in the Collection
of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. Herein the Lady Mary and the Lady
Elizabeth are, as said above, stigmatised as bastards, whilst it calls upon
persons of all degrees to be loyal to " their lawful Sovereign " — i.e. Jane
Dudley. The Proclamation was printed by Richard Grafton, and is a very
fine specimen of his workmanship. In the imprint he styles himself " The
Queen's Printer." One would like to discover what became of Mr. Grafton
after Mary's accession ?

MMachyn's Diary, p. 35.

256

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 257

gun-maker at London Bridge was drowned, dwelling at
Ludgate." l

It is curious that the original of this unique proclamation
should have passed into the hands of Cecil, who endorsed it
with the significant words — " Jana non Regina."

From every point of view, Queen Jane's proclamation was
ill-advised. It was prodigiously long-winded, even for that
period, and the manner in which it dealt with the claims of
Mary and Elizabeth, brutal in frankness, was well calculated
to offend the Catholic Powers, and cruelly wound the personal
feelings of the late King's sisters. Queen Mary's resentment
is proved by the stern simplicity of the language of the death-
warrant of Northumberland, Lady Jane, and Guildford, which
allows none of them the vestige of a title. Elizabeth, in
later life, never alluded to her cousin Jane without bitter-
ness. Jane was, of course, perfectly innocent of the offensive
wording of this document,2 but it nevertheless bore her sig-
nature. The sentence which infuriated the Princesses ran as

1 An unknown, who cautiously dubbed himself " Poor Pratte," addressed
an open letter to Mr. " Onyone " during his imprisonment. The writer, who
was apparently a staunch supporter of Mary, informed his readers that " if
England prove disloyal, evils will come on it ... the Gospel will be plucked
away and the Lady Mary replaced by so cruel a Pharaoh as the ragged bear
(i.e. Northumberland)." " Pratte " points out that Mary is less overjoyed
at becoming Queen than sorry for her brother's death, whilst Northumber-
land was pleased thereat ; " she would be as glad of his life as the ragged
bear of his death." The writer prays God " to raise up Queen Mary and
pluck down that Jane — I cannot nominate her Queen, for that I know no
other Queen but the good Lady Mary, her Grace, whom God prosper." In
conclusion, the writer wishes Jane's supporters " the pains of Satan in hell,"
and to Mary's, "long life and prosperity." See the Appendix, pp. 116-21
of The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary.

2 Cecil was originally selected to draw up the draft of the proclamation,
but with his usual desire — manifested in a like manner on other occasions
when an unpleasant and dangerous task was assigned to him — to save his
own skin at the expense of no matter whom, he passed on the duty to Sir
Nicholas Throckmorton. Cecil himself relates this plainly in his unblushing

' Submission " to Mary, of which more anon. There he says: " I refused
to make a proclamation, and turned the labour to Mr. Throckmorton, whose
conscience I saw was troubled therewith, misliking the matter." It would
be difficult to imagine a meaner trick. It is more than probable that
Northumberland very largely guided Throckmorton in arranging the terms
of this document : one can scarcely imagine that he would have left it
entirely to Sir Nicholas' judgment. Probably it was composed at Sion
House. The editing of it was given to Sir John Cheke.

«7

258 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

follows : " And, forasmuch as the said limitation of the
Imperial Crowne of this Realme, being limited as is aforesaid
to the said Lady Mary and the said Lady Elizabeth, being
illegitimate the marriage between the said King Henry vm
our progenitor and great uncle, and the Lady Katherine,
mother to the said Lady Mary, and also the marriage
between the said late King Henry vm and the Lady Anne,
mother to the said Lady Elizabeth, being very clearly
undone by sentence of divine, according to the word of
God, and the ecclesiastical laws. The Ladies Mary and
Elizabeth are to all intents and purposes divested to claim or
challenge the said Imperial Crown or any other honours, etc.,
appertaining thereunto, etc."

This proclamation, as well as most of the other official
documents of Jane's reign, which are generally attributed to
Northumberland, was, we may take it for granted, edited
by the celebrated Sir John Cheke, who entered the Tower at
the same time as Lady Jane and was her Secretary throughout
the whole of her nine days' reign. We have already mentioned
in more than one place this distinguished Greek scholar, who
had been for a time tutor to Edward vi, over whom he had a
great influence, and by whom he was knighted at the same
time that the Marquis of Dorset was elevated to the Dukedom
of Suffolk in 1551. At the period of Jane's misfortunes he
was between thirty-nine and forty years of age, greatly in
favour with his royal pupil, and holding the office of Clerk
to the Council ; so that when there was a talk of Cecil resigning
his secretaryship, Cheke was, on 2nd June 1553, appointed a
principal Secretary of State, Cecil however continuing in
office ; and on nth June, Cheke sat in the Council for the
first time as Secretary. It is probable that Northumberland
suggested his nomination to the King, for the express purpose
of interesting a diplomat of such ability in the forthcoming-
conspiracy to place Jane on the throne. He was far too high-
minded a man to be influenced by pecuniary motives, but
undoubtedly his zeal for the Reformation was such that he
desired the advent of Jane, which meant a continuance of
the Reformation, rather than the coming of Mary, which
he fully realised would be disastrous to it. Cheke's appoint-
ment to the office of Secretary of State gave great joy

THE NINE DAYS1 REIGN 259

to the Reformers, and Ascham, then in Brussels with our
Ambassador, Morysone, wrote him a laudatory letter, in which
he congratulates England, the State, Cambridge, and St.
John's College on having produced so learned and worthy
a man ! Great must have been Cheke's delight when he
beheld Queen Jane, the hope of Protestantism, actually
enthroned in the Tower ; and it must have been a consola-
tion to Lady Jane to have about her so capable and at the
same time so upright a man — one devoted, not only to her
personally, but especially to the cause she represented. Cheke
tried to induce the cunning Cecil to take an active part in the
Government ; Strype says, ' He checked his brother Cecil
who would not be induced to meddle in this matter, but
endeavoured to be absent."

Before this, the first day of her reign, came to a close, Jane
signed a letter to William Parr, Marquis of Northampton,
Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, informing him of her entry into
the Tower " this day." After the usual preamble concerning
the death of Edward, the document proceeds : " we are entered
into our rightful possession of this kingdom, as by the last
will of our said dearest cousin our late ancestor . . . now
therefore do you understand we do this day make our entry
into our Tower of London as rightful queen of this realm,
and have accordingly set forth our proclamation to all our
loving subjects, giving them thereby to understand . . . their
duty of allegiance which they now of right owe unto
us ... nothing doubting, right trusty and well beloved
counsellor, but that you will endeavour yourself in all things
to the uttermost of your power, not only to defend our just
title, but also assist us ... to disturb, repel, and resist,
the feigned and untrue claim of the Lady Mary, bastard
daughter to our great uncle Henry th' Eight, of famous
memory."

This missive was later on shown to Mary, and increased
her resentment against Jane, whose signature it bore, and
also against Northumberland, who drew up the original
draft, though the copy Jane signed was made by some clerk,
perhaps by Sir John Cheke. Cecil was, therefore, wise to
number the composition of this compromising epistle among
the many dangerous offices out of which he contrived to shuffle ;

260 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

for it is certainly to this letter to Northampton that he refers
in his " Submission," by the words, ' ' I eschewed the writing
of the Queen's Highness, bastard, and therefore the Duke
(of Northumberland) wrote the letter himself which was sent
abroad in the Realm." The Duke so fully appreciated the
dangerous nature of the document, that later on he endorsed
the clerk's copy of it with the words, Jana non Regina '
— just as Cecil did with the proclamation.1

All her State duties over, the young Queen supped in state
at a small table on a dais, the Duke of Suffolk on her right, the
Duke of Northumberland on her left, and the two Duchesses
opposite to her. She was indisposed, and retired early, the
whole company rising as she left her seat.

The following morning (nth July) there was a violent
scene 2 between Jane, her husband, and his mother. So far as
can be ascertained, the marriage had not hitherto gone beyond
the stage of ceremony, and Guildford Dudley and his bride had
never lived as man and wife. The Duchess of Northumber-
land insisted that this state of affairs should cease, resolving
that " her son should share the new Queen's bed and throne,
and forthwith assume the title of King Consort." With this
object, the ambitious parent and her docile son made a sudden
incursion into Jane's chamber, whilst she was still seated at
her toilet. The Duchess vituperated her daughter-in-law, using
coarse and violent language ; the would-be King was noisy
and impertinent ! But Jane stoutly refused to grant the
latter part of the Duchess's request. " The Crown," she said,
" was not a plaything for boys and girls. She could make
her husband a Duke, but only Parliament could make him a
King." 3 On these words the Duchess burst into a fury, and
paced angrily up and down the floor, swearing her strongest
oaths, that her son should be King, whether Jane would or

1 One copy of this interesting letter is in the Lansdowne MSS, 1236, f. 24,
and a facsimile in Ser. iii. No. 4.

2 There are two versions of this interview, differing in some particulars ;
the second is by Jane herself, printed in Pollino's Ecclesiastical History. We
have deemed it best to give both.

3 Pollino (Istoria Ecclesiastica, p. 357) puts Jane's answer slightly differ,
ently — Dissi loro, he makes her say, che se la corona s'appetava a me, io sarei
contenta di fare il mio marito Duca ma non consentirei di farlo R&. That is,
'' I said to them that if the Crown was my concern, I should be pleased to
make my husband Duke, but I would not consent to make him King."

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 261

not. Guildford, who was boyish, began to cry, and left
the room. Jane had to endure another scene of the most
unpleasant description with the Duchess, in the midst of
which Guildford, still sulking, returned. His mother presently
caught his hand and drew him out of the room, saying " she
would not leave him with an ungrateful wife."

Thereupon Jane sent for the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke,
and asked their advice. They apparently approved of the
line she had taken, and going to young Guildford, informed
him he must on no account leave the Tower, nor agree to the
Duchess's proposal that he should separate from his wife,
and return with her (i.e. his mother) to Sion House. It is
quite probable that if he had done so, his life would have
been spared.

Lady Jane's account of this stormy interview is as
follows : The Lord High Treasurer, Winchester," says she,
' brought me the regalia and the Crown, the which were
neither demanded by me nor by any one in my name * ; he
desired to place it on my head to see how it fitted. This I
declined with many protestations ; but he said, ' I might take
it boldly, for that he would have another made to crown my
husband with/ Which thing I certainly heard with infinite
grief, and displeasure of heart. As soon as I was left alone
with my husband I reasoned with him, and after we had had a
great dispute he consented to wait till he was made King by
me and Act of Parliament." Jane then relates what we have
already said — how she sent for the Earls of Arundel and
Pembroke, and the scene with the Duchess and her threat of
carrying Guildford off to Sion ; also how the two Earls were
charged to keep Guildford from going there. " And thus,"
concludes the narrative, " I was compelled to act as a woman
who is obliged to live on good terms with her husband ; never-
theless I was not only deluded by the Duke and the Council,
but maltreated by my husband and his mother."

Disregarding Jane's prudent advice, her ambitious young
husband nevertheless did his best to get himself recognised
King of England. In the minutes of a dispatch which must

There would seem to be an error here. Quite true, the Crown was,
metaphorically, thrust upon Jane ; but surely the request for the release of
the regalia must have been made at least to appear as if it came from her ?

262 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

have been written during the nine days' reign of his wife, and
is addressed to the Duchess-Regent of the Netherlands by
Guildford' s directions, he recalls Sir Thomas Chambeiiayne
(English Minister in that country) and desires that " in all Ms
(Guildford's) affairs " full credit be given to Sir Philip Hoby.1
One of the first acts, therefore, of Jane's Council was to nominate
Sir Philip, then at Brussels, as successor to Chamberlayne ;
this nomination is signed " Jane the Quene." Jane herself,
true to what she said to her mother-in-law and to Guildford,
does not appear to have recognised her husband as King, for
no mention of him appears in such of her official documents as
have come down to us. All the same, Guildford contrived to
get his claims accepted by some Continental notabilities. On
learning of the death of Edward vi, Sir Philip Hoby and Sir
Richard Morysone,2 the English Commissioners in Flanders,-
who had doubtless been primed beforehand by Northumber-
land,— wrote from Brussels to the Privy Council (under date of
July 15 th) that " The xiiih of this presente, Don Diego found
me Sir Phillipe Hobby (Hoby), and me Sir Richard Morysone,
walkyne in our hostes gardene." This Don Diego Mendoza3
was a member of the Spanish administration in the Low
Countries, an old personal friend of the Dudley family, and,

1 Harleian MSS, No. 523, p. 13. Sir Philip Hoby or Hobby was a
Herefordshire man, who had been previously sent to Paris as English Am-
bassador to treat for the marriage of Elizabeth of Valois to Edward vi. He
afterwards passed to Antwerp and then to Brussels and other parts of the
Low Countries, during which period occurred the above-mentioned incident
with Don Diego Mendoza. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir W. Stonor,
who died without issue. Sir Philip's brother and heir, Sir Thomas Hoby,
married Cecil's learned sister-in-law, Elizabeth Cooke. Many memorials of
the Hoby family still exist at Bisham Abbey.

2 The dispatch of the Council to Hoby and Morysone announcing the death
of the King is dated 8th July, and will be found in the British Museum,
Cottonian Collection (Galba B. xii. 249). It makes no mention of either
Guildford or Jane.

3 In her will the Duchess of Northumberland calls this gentleman, to whom
she left " the littell book clock, that hath the sun, the moon on it, &c., and
her dial, the one leaf of it the almanack, and on the other side the golden
number in the midst," " the Lord Don Diagoe Damondesay," which was the
good lady's rendering of de Mendo9a ! She added that she bequeathed
these articles " with commendation for the great friendship he hath shewed
hir in making hir have so many friends about the King's Majesty as she hath
found." The King's Majesty here referred to is Philip n, who had used his
influence with Mary, at the instigation of Don Diego, to recover part of her
property for the Duchess.

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 263

as already stated, godfather to young Guildford, who had, of
course, been baptized a Catholic. On the occasion of this
meeting with the Englishmen, the Spaniard, after the usual
condolences on the death of Edward vi, passed to praises of
that monarch's wisdom in providing England with so good a
King, meaning not " Jane the Quene," the rightful heiress of
the Realm, but Guildford Dudley.1 The truth may be that
Diego said nothing of the kind, and that the English diplomats
simply put these words into his mouth, to confirm the Council
in its allegiance to Jane, and make it look on Guildford as
the King, by creating an impression that his right to the throne
was admitted by leading men on the Continent. Don Diego
Mendoza told the Commissioners (they said) that his con-
dolences on the occasion of the death of King Edward and his
offers of service " to the kyng's majestic " (Guildford) had been
retarded, by the advice of the Bishop of Arras, a member of the
Ministry at Brussels. Therefore says he (i.e. Don Diego,
quoted by the Commissioners) do I (feel) sorry that you lose
so good a King, so much do I rejoice that ye have so noble
and toward a Prince to succeed him, and I promise you,
by the word of a gentleman, I would at all times serve His
Highness myself if the Emperor (Charles v) did call me to
serve him (i.e. " allow me to do so ")." The English Envoys
inform the Council that they told Don Diego " they had
received the sorrowful news (of the death of Edward vi)
but the glad tidings (of the " accession " of Guildford) were
not as yet come unto us by letters " — which was probably
true, so far as official intimations of them went. Upon this
Don Diego replied : "I can tell you this much. The King's
Majesty (Edward vi), for discharge of his conscience, wrote
a good piece of his testament with his own hand, barring
both his sisters of the Crown, and leaving it to the Lady

1 " He (Mendoza) could not but at one (and the same) time both sorrowe
with us for the losse of our good old mastere (Edward vi) a prince of such
vertue and towardnesse, and also rejoyse with us that our master which is
departed, did, ere he wente, provid us of a kynge (Guildford Dudley), in regard
wee had so much cause to rejoyse in." It is a significant fact that throughout
this dispatch of the Commissioners, whenever Guildford is mentioned, it is by
some title such as " kynge," " kynges majestic," etc., and not once by his
proper name, though obviously no one else but he is referred to. This was
done purposely to avoid getting Guildford into trouble in the event of the
letter falling into the hands of Mary's supporters.

264 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Jane, near to the French Queen (that is to say, ' related to
Mary Tudor, Queen of Louis xn of France "). Whether the
two daughters be bastards or not or why it is done, we that
be strangers have nothing to do. You are bound to obey
and serve His Majesty (Guildford Dudley), and therefore it is
reasonable (that) we take him for (i.e. " to be ") your King,
whom the consent of the nobles of your country have
declared for ("to be ") your King, and," he continued,
' for my part of all others, I am bound to be glad that
His Majesty is set in this office. I was his godfather, and
would as willingly spend my blood in his service as any subject
that he hath, as long as I shall see the Emperor willing to
embrace (His) Majesty's amity." " Don Francisson (Fran-
cesco) de Este, general of all the footmen Itallyanes (Italian
Infantry)," the Commissioners add, " is gone to his charge in
mylland (" Milan "), who, at his departure, made the like
offer, as long his master and ours should be friends, which he
trusted should be ever, praying us at our return to utter it to
the King's Majesty (Guildford), and will (we) humbly take
our leave of your honours."

It is obvious that, if Diego de Mendoza ever really used the
words attributed to him in this letter, and did not merely
lend his name to the English Commissioners, he must have
been well " coached ' by the Dudleys in what he was to say,
though his close connection with Guildford as his godfather
would naturally incline him to credit anything in his favour.
Still, knowing Northumberland and Suffolk's deep scheming,
one cannot suppose that Mendoza's enthusiasm for Guildford 's
illegal claim to royal honours and his haste to admit it was
entirely uninspired by outside influences. It is, indeed, a
significant fact that Ascham, a great friend of the Duke of
Suffolk, and very intimate with the inner workings of English
politics, who had been sent abroad as Secretary to Morysone in
1550, was still in Brussels with that knight in the summer
°f J553- It is more than probable, therefore, that Ascham,
being in correspondence with Suffolk, knew beforehand of the
forthcoming elevation of Jane to the throne, and, on behalf of
the Duke, advised Hoby and Morysone as to what they should
say and do when that event took place, and also had an inter-
view with Don Diego to the same end. We may be certain,

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 265

however, that Ascham did not countenance the Catholic side
of the question.

This letter from the Commissioners was not written until
1 5th July, and by the time it reached England the political
scene had changed. It damaged Guildford's position seriously
by its revelation of the schemes of the Dudleys and their party,
who, not content with placing Northumberland's daughter-
in-law on the throne, were also seeking to crown that noble-
man's youngest son. From certain documents in the Belgian
and Viennese Archives it would appear that Diego de Mendoza
went so far as to address the Emperor directly on the subject
of Guildford's right to the throne, even assuring him that his
godson would become a Catholic.

A strong searchlight has been thrown on this hitherto
rather obscure passage in the history of this period by the
learned Editor of this work, in his interesting volume, Two
Queens and Philip .l The author, it is true, had suspected
that Northumberland must have had some strong foreign
support in his audacious attempt to usurp the throne,
ostensibly for Lady Jane, though in reality for his own son,
Guildford, but Major Martin Hume's researches in the Spanish
Archives have proved beyond a doubt that Charles v was
backing him throughout in his perilous undertaking, and this
against the interests of his own cousin, Mary Tudor.

The Swiss Reformers, and especially Bocher, doubted
the sincerity of Northumberland's Protestantism, and it
is not at all improbable that he had promised the Emperor
that, should he succeed in placing Guildford Dudley on the
throne and Jane as Queen-Consort, he would veer round to
the Catholic party and re-establish papal supremacy in
England.

The Emperor had sent the Sieurs de Courrieres and Renard
as Ambassad ^ Edward vi.

Whether the jr .land or were

genuinely of t Diary's succession

were very rei ty was infinitely the

strongest, we , eror, acting on their

advice, backed .e was worth up to the

very day that he was captured at Cambridge and conveyed a

1 Two Queens and Philip, by Major Martin Hume.

266 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

prisoner to London. Bearing these facts in mind, the almost I
incredible story which we have just related concerning Guild-
ford's attempt to secure the throne for himself becomes

intelligible.

On the other hand, Northumberland had apparently done
nothing to obtain favour for poor Jane's own Envoys, sent to
announce her accession to the Courts of Paris and Vienna,
for no sooner had those gentlemen reached the cities in
question than they were refused recognition and turned
back. The elder Dudley, selfishness incarnate, cared little
for the dignity of his daughter-in-law, if only his son might
be proclaimed King.

In the Museum at Hastings there is the impression of a
hexagonal seal which was to have figured on the State docu-
ments of " Queen Jane and King Guildford Dudley." Under
an arched crown, between the initials " G. D." (Guildford
Dudley)— a striking proof of the extent to which his claims
to the Crown were carried— are two escutcheons, one to the
left bearing the royal arms of England, lions and fleurs-de-lys,
and the other to the right, two animals, probably bears,
grappling a ragged staff, the arms of the Dudleys. Properly
speaking, according to heraldic rule, the royal arms should
be on the right and the family arms on the left. Doubtless
the mistake was due to the haste with which this seal was
prepared. Under the escutcheons are the words " loanna
Reg," and on either side the date 1553. The matrix of this
seal seems to have been lost ; at least, its present where-
abouts are unknown.

On the nth of July the Council wrote afresh to the Com-
missioners (Hoby and Morysone) telling them of the "significa-
tion of our sovereign lord's death," and remarking that,
" although the Lady Mary hath been written unto from us
(i.e. in answ, nevertheless

we see her not # she migl

she would disturb having

unto as yet no mam. comfort bul

only the connivance . e people

others the nobility anc ^ . "n their duties

to our sovereign lady Queen Jane. And yet, nevertheless,
because the conditions of the baser sort of people is under-

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 267

stood to be unruly if they be not governed and kept in order,
therefore for the meeting with all events, the Duke of North-
umberland's grace, accompanied with the Lord Marquis of
Northampton, proceedeth with a convenient power into the
parts of Norfolk, to keep those countries in stay and obedi-
ence, and because the Emperor's ambassadors here remain-
ing shall on this matter of the policy not intermeddle, as it is
very likely they will and do dispose themselves, the Lord
Cobham and Sir John Mason repaireth to the same ambassa-
dors, to give them notice of the Lady Mary's proceeding
against the state of this realm, and to put them in remem-
brance of the nature of their office, which is not to meddle in
these causes of policy,1 neither directly nor indirectly, and so
to charge them to use themselves as they give no occasion of
unkindness to be ministered unto them, whereas we would
be most sorry, for the friendship, which on our part, we
mean to conserve and maintain. And for that grace the
ambassadors here shall advertise the others what is said to
them. . . . The xith of July, 1553."

This document was followed, next day, by an official
letter to the Commissioners, signed by Jane, and outlining
what they were to say to the Emperor as to the foreign policy
to be pursued hereafter : —

TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED, — We greet you well. It
hath pleased God of his providence, by the calling of our
most dear cousin of famous memory, King Edward the VIth,
out of this life, to our very natural sorrow, that we both by
our said cousin's lawful determination in his lifetime, with the
assent of the nobility and state of this our realm, and also
as his lawful heir and successor in the whole blood royal,
are possessed of this our realm of England and Ireland."

Then comes a recommendation of the bearer of the letter,

a Mr. Shelley ; the confirmation of Hoby's appointment —

' the whole number of our ambassadors shall there remain to

1 It must always be remembered that the Emperor was Mary's cousin,
and had already defended her religious freedom against Northumberland ;
the Council feared, though without reason, as we know, his Ambassadors'
interference for the purpose of vindicating her rights to the throne.

268 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

continue to dwell in the former commission which ye had
from our ancestor the King," and an order that Hoby
shall make this clear to the Emperor, and assure him that
the friendship between England and the Emperor shall be
continued as hitherto.

Worry, anxiety, and annoyance soon brought on a relapse
of the illness from which Jane had lately suffered. Her pains
at last grew so acute that she again fancied the Duchess of
Northumberland had poisoned her. Possibly this illness
accounts for our hearing so little of her doings during
the second, third, and fourth days of her short reign
(nth, I2th, I3th of July). " Twice," she writes, ' was I
oisoned, once in the house of my mother-in-law,1 and after-
wards in the Tower ; the venom was so potent that all the
\ skin came off my back." This idea was evidently only the
result of the fever, which caused the skin to peel. Trouble
had so reduced the poor girl, no doubt, that she fell an easy
prey to the fevers so prevalent in and about the Tower, as
long as the moat remained uncovered.

On the nth the Council received a letter from Mary, dated
from Kenninghall Qth July, stating she had heard of her brother
the King's death, and was surprised that she had not known
it sooner, and adding her intention to cause her right and title
to"! be published, and proclaimed accordingly. The letter
declared the Princess aware of the Council's desire to undo
her claims, but added that she was willing to grant pardon,
and closed with an order to the Council to have her
proclaimed in the City of London and other places. The
Council's reply was a masterpiece of " bluff." It ran as
follows : —

" MADAM, — We have received your letters (of) the gth of
this instant, declaring your supposed title ... to the Imperial
Crown of this Realm, and all the dominions thereunto belong-
ing. For answer whereof, this is to advertise you, that for
as much as our Sovereign Lady, Queen Jane is after the death
of our Sovereign Lord Edward the 6th, . . . invested and
possessed with the just and right title in the Imperial Crown

1 That was during the few days she spent at Chelsea Manor after leaving
Durham House, as already recorded ; cf. cap. xiv. p. 237.

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 269

of this Realm, not only by good order of ancient laws of this
Realm, but also by our late Sovereign Lord's letters-patent,
signed with his own hand, and sealed with the Great Seal of
England, in presence of the most part of the nobles, councillors,
judges, with divers other grave and sage personages, assenting
and subscribing to the same. We must, therefore, of most
bound duty and allegiance assent unto her said Grace, and to
none other, except we should, which faithful subjects cannot,
fall into grievous and unspeakable enormities. Wherefore we
can no less do, but for the quiet both of the Realm and you
also, to advertise you, that forasmuch as the divorce made
between the King of famous memory, Henry vin and the
Lady Katherine, your mother, was necessary to be had, both
by the everlasting laws of God, and also by the ecclesiastical
laws, and by the most part of the noble and learned universities
of Christendom, and confirmed also by the sundry acts of
Parliament, remaining yet in their force, and thereby you
justly made illegitimate and unheritable to the Crown Imperial
of this Realm . . . you will, upon just consideration hereof,
and of divers other causes lawful to be alleged for the same,
and for the just inheritance of the right line and godly
order, taken by the late King our Sovereign Lord King Edward
the vi, and agreed upon by the nobles and great personages
aforesaid, surcease by any pretence, to vex and molest any of
our Sovereign Lady Queen Jane her subjects, from their true
faith and allegiance unto Her Grace ; assuring you, that if
you will . . . show yourself quiet and obedient, as you ought,
you shall find us all and several ready to do you any service
that we with duty may. . . . And thus we bid you most
heartily well to fare.

Your ladyship's friends, showing yourself an obedient
subject."

This document was signed by the following members of
the Council : Thomas Canterbury, the Marquis of Win-
chester, John Bedford, Will. Northampton, Thomas Ely,
Chancellor ; Northumberland, Henry Suffolk, Henry Arundel,
Shrewsbury, Pembroke, Cobham, R. Rich, Huntingdon,
Darcy, Cheney, R. Cotton, John Gates, W. Peter, W. Cecill,
John Cheeke, John Mason, Edward North, R. Bowes." Of

270 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

all the signatories of this letter, not more than four, if so
many, remained true to Jane to the last !

On I2th July, the second day after Jane's entry into the
Tower, the Marquis of Winchester brought her unwilling
Majesty a curious collection of miscellaneous articles of
jewellery, the contents of sundry boxes and caskets, deposited
at the Jewel House in the Tower, and which had belonged to
Henry's six queens. Jane, despite her poor health, was
constrained to examine these things. The caskets contained,
amongst other articles, ' A fish of gold, being a toothpick.
One dewberry of gold. A like pendant, having one great and
three little pearls. A newt of white silver ' (that is to say,
a silver ornament wrought in the form of a lizard or eft) . ' A
tablet of gold with a white sapphire and a blue one, a balas
ruby, and a pendant pearl. A tablet of gold hung by a chain
with St. John's head, and flat pearls. A tablet with our Lady
of Pity, engraved on a blue stone. A pair of beads of white
porcelain, with eight gauds of gold, and a tassel of Venice gold.
Beads of gold with crymesy (crimson) work. Buttons of gold
with crimson work. Six purse hangers of siver and gilt '
(these were to hang purses or trinkets to the girdle, like the
modern chatelaine). ' Five small agates with stars graven
on them. Pearls in rounnels of gold between pivots of pearls.
Pipes of gold. A pair of bracelets of flaggon chain (pattern),
connecting jacinths of orange coloured amethysts. Many
buttons of gold worked with crimson, and in each button set
six pearls. Thirty turquoises of little worth. Thirteen table
diamonds set in collets of gold. An abiliment set with twelve
table diamonds ' (these were the borderings of the caps like
those of Anne Boleyn, or even of the round hood which was
the fashion that succeeded them). ' Forty- three damasked
gold buttons, and a clock or watch set in damasked gold,
tablet fashion," close the list,1 but Winchester affirms that he
delivered to Jane, on I2th July, not only these, but the regalia 2
and other jewels, together with a supply of cash, books, and
even clothes.

1 This inventory will be found among the Harleian MSS, No. 61 1.

2 Jane herself, as we have already seen, says the regalia was brought to
her on the i ith of July ; perhaps Winchester made a slip of the pen in writing
the 1 2th.

I ANA GRAYA. PECOLLATA ,
n-

j <_/

LADY JANE GREY, BY WYNGARDE

THE EARLIEST ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OK HER, FROM A PICTURE SAID TO BE BY

HOLBEIN, NOW LOST

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 271

About this date, too, Lord Guildford Dudley was sent a
quantity of the Crown jewels, possibly as an earnest of his
future dignity. They certainly cost him dear !

A curious inventory exists at Hatfield, of stuffs delivered to
" the Lady Jane Grey, usurper, at the Tower by command-
ment over and above sundry things already delivered to
her by two several warrants." These goods were her own
personal property, evidently left by her at Westminster
Palace on the occasion of some visit, of which no record now
exists. The stay in question must have occurred very shortly
before Edward's death, and the things may have been for-
gotten in the confusion attendant upon his last illness.
The inventory is endorsed by Sir Andrew Dudley and Sir
Arthur Sturton, deceased, Keeper of the Palace at Westminster,
and was made, according to custom, on the day of the King's
death, when seals were put on the doors of every apartment
in the royal palaces, not to be lifted till the King's burial, after
which such articles as belonged to persons in waiting or
servants were delivered, after verification, to their various
owners. The list of goods and chattels belonging to Lady
Jane is a very lengthy one, and we will only make a few
quotations, to give a glimpse of the contents of her wardrobe
and her minor possessions : —

' Item, a muffler of purple velvet, embroidered with
pearls of damask gold garnished with small stones of sundry
sorts and tied with white satin.

Item, a muffler of sable skin with a head of gold with
4 clasps set with five emeralds, four turquoises, six rubies,
two diamonds and five pearls, the four feet of the sable being of
gold set with turquoises and the head having a tongue made
of a ruby.

' Item, a hat of purple velvet embroidered with many pearls.

Item, a hat of black velvet laced with aglets (tags),
enamelled, with a brooch of gold.

Item, a cap of black velvet, having a fine brooch with
a square table ruby with divers pictures enamelled in red,
black and green.

Item, eighteen buttons with rubies.
' Item, eighteen gold buttons.

272 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

" Item, a helmet of gold with a face, and a helmet upon its
head and an ostrich feather.

" Item, three pairs of garters having buckles and pendants
of gold.

" Item, one shirt with collar and ruffles of gold.

" Item, three shirts — one of velvet, the other of black
silk embroidered with gold, the third of gold stitched with
silver and red silk.

" Item, a piece of sable skin.

" Item, two little images of wood, one of Edward vi, and
the other of Henry vm.

" Item, a dog collar wrought with red work with gold bells.

" Item, a picture of Lady of Suffolk in a gold box.

" Item, a picture of Queen Katherine Parr that is lately
deceased."

This list also contained some articles which must have
belonged to Guildford, for it is not probable that Lady Jane
ever possessed " a sword grille of red silk and gold ' or
Turkey bow and a quiver of Turkish arrows," or * a white
doublet and hose of silk and velvet." The number of clocks
contained in this list is very remarkable : —

" One fair striking clock standing upon a mine of silver ;
the clock being garnished with silver and gilt, having in the
top a crystal, and also garnished with divers counterfeit
stones and pearls, the garnishment of the same being broken,
and lacking in sundry places.

" One alarum of silver enamelled, standing upon four balls.

" One round striking dial, set in crystal, garnished witl
metal gilt.

One round hanging dial, with an alarum closed in crystal
One pillar, with a man having a device of astronomy ii
his hand, and a sphere in the top, all being of metal gilt.

" One alarum of copper garnished with silver, enamelle(
with divers colours having in the top a box of silver, standing
upon a green molehill a flower of silver, the same altar standing
upon three pomegranates of silver.

" One little striking clock, within a case of letten, bool
fashion, engraven with a rose crowned, and Dieu et Moi
Droit r

tt
ft

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 273

The articles enumerated were brought to Lady Jane at the
Tower, during her imprisonment, after her brief reign was
over, and having ascertained their agreement with the In-
ventory, she signed that document, which was returned,
and came into the possession of Cecil, and now lies, as we
have said, among the State Papers at Hatfield. The fact
that the list contains a reference to articles evidently belonging
to Guildford Dudley points to his having accompanied Lady
Jane to Court, and shared his wife's apartment. Probably
the object of the visit had been to bring Jane under the
King's immediate notice, and influence him to name her in
his will, as his chosen successor.

It had evidently been decided that the young Queen was
not to tarry long in the gloomy palace prison, for some of the
documents drawn up during the ' nine days ' have spaces
left blank for the insertion of some other royal residence.
Besides, when Jane appointed her brother-in-law, Lord Ambrose
Dudley, to be her palace-keeper at Westminster, in lieu of his
uncle, Sir Andrew Dudley, one of his first wardrobe orders
was for twenty yards of purple velvet, twenty-five of Holland
cloth, and thirty-three of coarser lining to make her robes,
' against her removal from the Tower/'

On the night of I2th July, according to Machyn, " was
carried to the Tower iij carts full of all manner of ordnance,
as great guns and small, bows, bills, spears, mores-pikes,
arnes [harness or armour], arrows, gunpowder, and wetelle
[victuals], money, tents, and all manner of ordnance, gun-
stones a great number, and a great number of men of
arms; and it had been for a great army toward Cambridge;"1
in other words, all these things were provided for the use of a
great army, to proceed to Cambridge. These warlike prepara-
tions were made none too soon, for on the following morning,
1 3th July, news reached the Tower that the rival Queen was
at Kenninghall, on the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk, and
that the men of Norfolk, knights and squires alike, were
scurrying in their hundreds along the dusty lanes, to offer
Mary their lives and service. In brief, the guilty inmates of
the Tower, the would-be rulers of the realm, learnt to their
consternation that throughout the length and breadth of the

1 Machyn' s Diary, p. 36.
18

274 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

kingdom the people were against Queen Jane, and for Queen
Mary. The Council was hastily assembled, and it was at once
decided that the Lords Robert Dudley and Warwick were too
young and inexperienced ' for such difficulties as these.'1
The first proposal was, that the Duke of Suffolk should leave
the Tower, and take command of the troops ; but Queen Jane,
alarmed for her own safety, insisted she needed her father, and
could not do without him. His age and bad health were also
factors in the final decision that Northumberland would, after
all, be the best man to send.1 The Duke left Her Majesty in
charge of the Council, and swore one of his big oaths that
when he came back ' ' Mary should no longer be in England,

for he would take care to drive her into France, or " He

took a passionate leave of his son Guildford, holding him in a
long and tender embrace, pressing his head in his hands, and
kissing him again and again. Did it flash across the father's
mind that he might never see his darling son again ?

Northumberland ordered the troops he was to command,
which were to be raised by the various noblemen adhering to
Jane's party, to meet him at Newmarket. He gave a sort of
farewell dinner to the Council in the Tower on the i3th, open-
ing the banquet with a threatening speech to his guests. If
you do not keep your oath, or if you turn traitor to Jane,5> said
he, " God shall [will] not acquit you of the sacred and holy oath
of allegiance, made freely by you to this virtuous lady, the
Queen's Highness, who by your and our enticement is rather
of force placed therein [i.e. ' in the position of Queen "],
than by her own seeking and request. But if ye mean deceit,
though not herewith but hereafter, God will revenge the same.
I can say no more/' This was perhaps fortunate, for some
of the assembled gentlemen certainly did ' mean deceit."
The Duke concluded by asking the Council to ' ( wish him no
worse speed in his journey than they would have themselves."

1 We have already seen (vide the letter of the Council to the Commissioners
in Brussels of the nth July) that the Council had intended from the very
first that Northumberland should proceed into Norfolk, the object even
then being to remove his all-powerful and domineering presence from London
and into Mary's hands, since all the members doubtless foresaw they would
have to renounce Jane very shortly, and were not anxious to incur his wrath
for so doing. Probably Suffolk was merely suggested so as to avoid rousing
Northumberland's suspicions that the Council was anxious to be rid of him.

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 275

One of the members of that august body replied in the following
terms : " My Lord, if ye mistrust any of us in this matter [the
forcing Jane to become Queen], Your Grace is far deceived ; for
which of us can wipe his hands clean thereof ? And if we should
shrink from you, as one that is culpable [of having forced Jane
to assume the crown], which of us can excuse himself as guilt-
less ? Therefore herein your doubt is too far cast/1 North-
umberland was not offended by these ambiguous remarks, and
merely added, " I pray God it be so. Let us go to dinner."
When this — as we should imagine — rather gloomy banquet
was over, Northumberland sent a messenger to Jane at the
Tower, and received by his hand his commission as " Lieu-
tenant of the Army." As he passed through the Council
Chamber on his way to Durham House for the night, he
encountered the Earl of Arundel, ' ' who prayed God to be with
His Grace, saying he was sorry it was not his chance to go
with him and bear him company, in whose presence he could
find in his heart to spend his blood even at his feet ; and,
taking Thomas Lovel, the Duke's boy, by the hand, he added,
' Farewell, gentle Thomas, with all my heart.' Then the
Duke, with the Lord Marquis of Northampton, the Lord Grey,
and divers others, took barge and went to Durham Place
and to Whitehall, where they mustered their men." 1 Next
morning, Friday, I4th July, the Duke and his followers rode
proudly forth,2 with a train of guns and a body of six hundred
men, led by some of the greatest in the land ; such as Lord
Edward Clinton, the Marquis of Northampton, the Earls of
Warwick, Huntingdon, and Westmoreland, the Lords Grey de
Wilton, Ambrose and Robert Dudley, Sir John Gates, and a
score of others, equally influential, the majority already tried
in war. As the glittering troop, armed with the motley collec-
tion of weapons brought to the Tower two days before, passed
through the city and along Shoreditch, Northumberland
noticed that, great as the crowd was, it was sullen, no one
greeting the troops and their leaders with anything like

1 Holinshed, vol. iii. pp. 1068, 1069.

2 Machyn says (p. 36) : " And ij days after (the xij day of July) the duke,
and dyvers lordes and knyghts whent with him, and mony gentylmen and
gonnars, and mony men of the gard and men of armes toward my lade Mare
grace, to destroye here grace, and so to bury, and alle was agayns ym-seylff,
for ys men forsok him."

276 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

enthusiasm. The people," he remarked surlily to Sir John
Gates, " press to see us, but no one bids us God speed."

On the day her father-in-law left the Tower, only to return
as a condemned prisoner, the Lady Jane — whose occupations
from the time of her stormy interview with her mother-in-law
up to this point are nowhere recorded, except for her inspection
of the Crown jewels — signed a number of letters and docu-
ments of considerable importance. She wrote to the Duke
of Norfolk, for instance, demanding his allegiance and com-
manding him to come to hjer Court as Earl Marshal, and con-
firming his titles and honours if he proved loyal to her. The
original of this letter is in the possession of Mr. Wilson of
Yorkshire. The body of the document is in Northumberland's
hand, and must have been drafted some days previously, but
the signature is Jane's. She next signed a warrant for the
appointment of Edward Baynard as Sheriff of Wiltshire in
lieu of our old friend, Sir William Sharington, " lately de-
ceased." This curious and little-known document is in the
possession of Mrs. Alfred Morrison, and is exceedingly curious.
The body of the text is in the hand of a Secretary, but the
name is in Lady Jane's handwriting and the signature is an
autograph. Curiously enough, on 6th July Queen Mary had
made the same appointment : later, she issued a proclamation
to the effect that ' no document, appointment, payment, or
gift of land or money made by Jane Dudley,1 usurper," should
be considered valid ; but Baynard's nomination, however,
held good, as we find from the Pipe Rolls of the County of
Wiltshire for 1553. It is strange that Baynard should have
been appointed by both the rival Queens, though this may be
accounted for by the fact that he is said to have been a Wilt-
shire man and popular in his neighbourhood.

Bad news reached London that evening, and before Queen
Jane retired to rest she knew her fortunes were in jeopardy
and she herself rapidly ceasing to be Queen, even in name.
Presently a messenger informed the Council that the men of

1 In this document, as in the indictment, Mary gives neither Jane nor her
husband their legitimate titles. She calls the former " Jane Dudley," and
describes her as " the wife of Guildford Dudley, Esquire," stating that
Sharington's successor has received his appointment " by the traitorous
abuse and usurpation of Jane Dudley . . . and other accomplices."

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 277

Bucks, under Lord Windsor and Sir Edward Hastings, were
rising for Queen Mary. Still worse news flew Londonwards
on Saturday, the sixth day of Jane's disastrous reign. Queen
Mary had been proclaimed at Framlingham and Norwich.
Northumberland, perceiving his weakness, had sent to London
for fresh troops, and was himself speeding as fast as horse
could gallop towards Cambridge, which he reached at mid-
night.

So complete and rapid was the collapse of Jane's cause that
even the most carefully planned precautions taken in her
interest ended by serving her foes. Her partisans, for instance,
fearing Mary might escape by sea, had ordered six men-of-war
to cruise off the east coast, intercept her flight, and bring her
back a prisoner. The weather suddenly became so stormy
that the vessels were driven into Yarmouth Roads just as a
body of men was being levied in that town for Mary's support.
The sailors of the squadron, who had landed, bribed with money
and strong ale to abandon their ships and join the levy, handed
over their vessels to Sir Henry Jerningham, one of the staunchest
supporters of the Tudor Princess, who, being thus supplied
by her enemies with money, ammunition, and a train of
artillery,1 marched forthwith against Northumberland, who
was soon fain to fall back towards Cambridge, where he fancied
himself safe in Trinity College, with his friends Drs. Sandys, and
Parker, and Dr. Bill. As a matter of fact, his enemies, declared
and secret, were as numerous and formidable in Cambridge
as elsewhere ; but during the momentary lull which ensued
he flattered himself with false hopes, and plied the Council
with demands for money and men, many of his followers
having deserted him at Bury to join the enemy. Yet all the
time Cecil 2 was betraying him at every point. Nothing can

1 Only two days after Northumberland started (that is, on the i6th) Mary
had left Kenninghall and ridden without pause to Framlingham, where,
according to Holinshed (vol. iii. p. 1067) she gathered round her an army of
thirty thousand men.

2 William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, was born at Stamford St.
Martin, Northamptonshire, in 1520. In his youth he was a royal page, and
was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Later, he went to Cambridge,
and was a great friend of Roger Ascham and John Cheke. Against his father's
will, he married Mary Cheke, the latter's sister. She died in 1544 ; and he
married again, this time to Mildred, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea
Kail, Essex. This was in 1545. Cecil fought in Scotland under Somerset

278 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

exceed the cunning and treachery he displayed — so deep and
cruel that one cannot but feel some pity for Northumberland,
notwithstanding his many crimes and faults. When Cecil
was forced to order his horsemen to take the fiel,d against Mary,
he contrived to have them ambushed and attacked, and thus
rendered quite useless to the Duke and harmless to his
opponents. The Council informed Northumberland of the
miscarriage of Cecil's men ; but the letter fell into the hands of
Mary, who inquired of Roger Alford, Cecil's confidential servant
in attendance on her, why her master, whom she evidently
knew to be playing traitor to Jane, had sent troops against
her. Alford, so he says, ' being privy to the matter before
(hand), laughed, and told her [Mary] the matter/3 -that
Cecil had never intended his men should do any harm to her
cause, but had simply sent them as a " blind ' to make
Northumberland think the Council was doing all in its power
to send him reinforcements, and thus spur him forward to his
ruin. Under such circumstances, the Duke's position soon
became desperate. " He would sit moodily in his chair lost
in thought, then starting up, would pace the room, muttering
to himself."

Dr. Sandys and several of his friends in Cambridge asked
him to sup with them on the Saturday night, and spoke in a
very friendly manner about Lady Jane. He shook his head,
rose from the table, and seated himself in a vacant chair ;
remained there a long time in silence, and in deep depression ;
and, when his entertainers bade him good-night, took their
hands in his, and begged them severally to pray for him, " for
he was in great distress."

Sandys had been appointed to preach before the Duke on
the following morning (Sunday, i6th July). Before retiring

two years later, being present at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh. He was ap-
pointed a Secretary of State on 5th September 1550. In October of the
next year he was knighted, together with Cheke. His action in the matter of
Edward vi's " Devise " for the limitation of the succession has been already
related ; also his duplicity with regard to Northumberland. Immediately
all hopes of Jane's retaining the crown were gone, he made his well-known
" Submission " to Mary. All the same, he spent the first year of her reign in
retirement, and only appears again as holding a public office in 1554. His
successful career under Elizabeth is foreign to the subj ect of this book, and is
well known. Cecil died in 1598 at his house in the Strand, and is buried in
Westminster Abbey. See The Great Lord Burghley, by Martin Hume.

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 279

to rest, the learned Doctor, intending to choose a text, took
up a Bible, which fell open at the first chapter of Joshua,
the verse that met his eye being, " All that Thou commandest
we will do, and wheresoever Thou sendest, so will we go."
" Upon which text he preached the next day with such
discretion that he [Northumberland] got not such full
advantage of him as he had hoped." On the Monday
the Duke went with his men to Bury. Their " feet marched
forward, but their minds moved backwards " ; in other words,
they were but a half-hearted set, and one by one they deserted
all through the day, hiding behind hedges and in ditches, till
when evening came, the Duke, heart-sore and heavy, rode
back to Cambridge almost alone, " with more sad thoughts
than valiant soldiers about hym." Realising that all was
lost, he bethought him of a dramatic, or rather theatrical,
trick to save himself. He conceived the idea that if he went
to London and fell at the Queen's feet, she would welcome
and forgive him. Had she not pardoned many rebels ? and
was he worse than any of these ?

Presently, considerably cheered by his own but erroneous
reflections, he betook himself, accompanied by the Mayor
and Dr. Sandys, to the market cross, where the crowd greeted
him in silence, ' more believing the grief in his eyes, when
they let down tears, than the joy professed by his hands,
when he threw up his cap," full of gold coins, into their midst.
This show of tardy loyalty — produced by the arrival of the
news of Mary's growing power — having failed in its effect,
Slegg, the Sergeant-at-Arms, accused him of treason, and
brought him back a prisoner to King's College.1

On the morning of the 2ist of July, according to Machyn,
the Earl of Arundel, as treacherous a man as any in that nest
of vipers, who, a week before, had knelt before Northumber-
land and sworn to shed his blood for him and for Queen Jane,
came rapping at his door before he was up. The Duke,
huddling on a cloak, went out to him, and seeing him look so

1 This is mainly derived from Stowe's account ; Burke (p. 417) and others
say that in the first instance Northumberland was arrested by Sir John
Gates, one of his own followers, apparently whilst in the midst of his
toilet, " with his boots half on and half off," and therefore utterly
helpless.

280 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

threatening, fell on his knees, praying him to be good to him
and merciful. ' For the love of God, my lord," said he,
" consider that I have done nothing but by consent of the
Council." " My Lord Duke," quoth the Earl of Arundel,
" I am hither sent by the Queen's Majesty, and in her name I
arrest you." Whereupon the Duke, rising, said, : I obey ;
but I beseech you, my Lord Arundel, have mercy towards
me, knowing the case as it is." ' My good lord," quoth the
Earl, ' ( you should have sought for mercy sooner. I must do
according to the commands that have been given to me,"
and upon this he took the Duke's sword and committed him
in charge of the guard and other gentlemen that stood by.
The miserable Duke went to breakfast with not much appetite,
looking as white as a ghost and feeling most wretchedly ill.
Towards evening, under an escort of eight hundred men, he
left Cambridge with Sir John Gates and Dr. Sandys — both
prisoners— still wearing his red cloak wrapped about him
and suffering agonies from gout in the feet. As night fell, it
began to rain ; and down long country roads, under the lower-
ing clouds, went the weird procession of rough troopers on
horseback, footmen with their pikes, and in their midst the
tall, gaunt, grim figure of the Duke, his soaked and tattered
red cloak clinging about his bent shoulders. He is said to
have spent the night in a barn, to be moved on to London
the next day, entering the city early in the morning, 25th July,
just as the shopkeepers were taking down their shutters.
His plight must have been pitiable, for in the streets men,
recognising him, jeered at him as a ' Traitor," threw mud on
his red cloak and scowled at him, calling him Somerset's
murderer, and so scaring him that he was almost thankful to
reach the Tower and its comparative safety. He had gone
forth in proud security, certain of success, sure he was about
to punish his enemies and reward his friends. He came back,
cold and miserable, knowing he had sacrificed his youngest
son to his ambition ; that the fate of his other children and of
the unhappy Jane hung in the balance ; and that the only
friend left him in the world was his faithful wife, who was
at that moment on her knees to Queen Mary, pleading for
mercy and receiving none, her husband's offence being deemed
too great for pardon. That night surely, in the solitude of his

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 281

prison in the Beauchamp Tower,1 the Duke flung himself on
his knees, and prayed the long-neglected prayers of his child-
hood, the Pater Noster that was now said in English, and the
Ave Maria that had gone out of fashion altogether !

Meanwhile, on Sunday the i6th (the seventh day of Queen
Jane's reign) there was no rest throughout the whole length
and breadth of England ; everywhere the people were rising
for Queen Mary. In the streets of the metropolis there was
great cheering and rioting, even bloodshed. Bonfires were
lighted in the streets, and crowds of rough men and loose
women whirled round the lurid flames shouting, " Queen
Mary ! Queen Mary ! ' In the churches, the claims of the
rival Queens and rival Creeds occupied the preachers. At
Paul's Cross, Bishop Ridley preached against Queen Mary2
and the Scarlet Woman, and in favour of Jane and the Re-
formation. At St. Bartholomew's, a Catholic priest told his
congregation to kneel down and thank God that the victory
was with Queen Mary; while at Amersham,in Buckinghamshire,
John Knox thundered forth in favour of Queen Jane — but all
his eloquence, and that of her other defenders, was in vain :
the people would have Queen Mary, and Queen Mary only.
Late this Sunday night a curious incident occurred. The
Tower had been shut up for the night, when suddenly Jane,
dreading perhaps some unexpected rising, ordered the outer
gates to be locked and the keys carried up 3 to her chamber.

1 With Northumberland were brought prisoners into the Tower on 2 5th
July, John, Earl of Warwick, and the Lords Ambrose and Henry Dudley, his
three sons, his brother, Sir Andrew Dudley, the Earl of Huntingdon, Lord
Hastings, Sir Thomas Palmer, Sir Henry and Sir John Gates, and Dr. Sandys.
They are said to have been escorted by four thousand men ; others say eight
hundred. On the 26th these noblemen were also joined by other prisoners —
namely, the Marquis of Northampton, another of Northumberland's sons
Lord Robert Dudley, the Bishop of London (Ridley), Sir Richard Corbet,
and Cholmondeley and Montagu, Chief Justices : the latter's distress must
have been softened by the feeling that his gloomy forebodings as to the evil
results of the continuance of Edward vi's scheme for the succession had
been amply realised. Next day, Sir John Cheke, Sir Anthony Cooke, and
Sir John York were committed to the Tower. See Strype, vol. iv., and Stowe.

2 After the proclamation of Mary, Ridley went to Framlingham to pay
her homage ; but the Queen being suspicious of his sincerity, he was arrested
at Ipswich, ' ' despoiled of his dignities, and sent back on a lame, halting
horse to the Tower."

5 From the use of the expression (adopted in The Chronicle of Queen Jane
and Queen Mary], " the keys were carried up," it has been suggested that

282 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Then the guards were informed that one of the Royal Seals
was missing ; and Jane had the lately closed gates unbarred,
to send a body of Archers of the Guard after the Marquis of
Winchester, who had left the precincts about seven o'clock
for his house in Broad Street. They found him in bed,
forced him to rise and dress himself, and brought him
back about midnight to the Tower, where, it is said,
he had to explain matters to Lady Jane, who connected
him with the loss of the Seal. The whole incident is some-
what mysterious. Did the poor little Queen fancy Win-
chester was contemplating some move like that of Somerset
when he practically assumed the Kingship at Hampton
Court ? Winchester undoubtedly bore Jane no particular
good-will, and the interview, if it occurred, was probably
somewhat stormy.

The eighth day of the reign, Monday the I7th, opened with
a violent scene in the early morning between the Duchesses of
Northumberland and Suffolk, who wrangled over Guildford
and his Kingship. Poor Jane was most miserable : her eyes
were red with weeping, and she looked more dead than alive
as she endeavoured to calm her belligerent Grace of Northum-
berland and reason with her own headstrong and domineering
parent. By this time everything and everybody in the Tower
were at sixes and sevens. No one seemed to know what to do
or say. In the midst of it all came bad news from the country,
where the peasants, notwithstanding the threats of their lords
and masters, were refusing to take arms against Mary. Trouble

Lady Jane was lodged in the White Tower itself, which was not the case.
Queen Jane proceeded immediately after her arrival at the Tower
to the palatial apartments usually inhabited by royalty when in
residence there. These chambers — in which Elizabeth of York breathed
her last ; where Anne Boleyn spent the night before her coronation and
later, by an irony of fate, that before her execution ; where, afterwards,
Katherine Howard also awaited her doom ; where, in a word, most of our
Kings and Queens had " ruffled it wi' the best " or trembled at their coming
fate — were removed in the seventeenth century. They were contiguous
to the White Tower — indeed, the door communicating between the two
blocks of buildings is still visible — and it is more than probable that Queen
Jane used the chapel and the Council Chamber in the said White Tower ;
but she certainly never inhabited the tower during her brief Queenship.
Later, as we shall presently see, she was removed to the quadrangle opposite St.
Peter's Church, to the apartments which had been vacated by the Duchess
of Somerset, in Partridge's House.

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 283

was drawing unpleasantly near.1 On the previous day (Sunday,
i6th) some ten thousand of Mary's adherents, many of them
county notables, had assembled at Lord Paget's house at
Drayton, and marched to Westminster Palace, which they
sacked of its arms and ammunition, " for the better furnishing
of themselves in the defence of the Queen's Majesty's person
and her title." Paget, whose house was this army's head-
quarters, was at this time, be it observed, amongst the party
in the Tower and ostensibly loyal to Jane ! Meanwhile, the
people, at one with that section of the nobles who would have
none of poor Jane, were shouting, in London and all over the
land, ' God save Queen Mary ! " — whilst poor Jane's name
was never heard except to be scoffed at. The " nine days'
Queen " was now nothing but " a mock."

On Tuesday (the i8th) it was patent that the drama — or
rather, tragi-comedy — was drawing to a close. Of all Queen
Jane's Council only two men, Cranmer and her own father,
remained true to her ; and the former left that afternoon for
Lambeth and Croydon. Winchester, Arundel, Pembroke,
Paget, and Shrewsbury, to save their necks, had by this time
definitely decided to betray the cause of the girl whom they
had helped to put on the throne — and of these men, two,
Arundel and Pembroke, only nine days before, had knelt
before her at Sion House, protesting their loyalty and belief
in her right to the crown ! This day, however, Jane signed
an order to Sir John Brydges and Sir Nicholas Poyntz that those
officers should raise forces, " with the same to repaire with
all possible spead towardes Buckinghamshire, for the re-
pression and subdewing of certain tumultes and rebellions
moved there, against us and our Crowne by certain seditious
men." This order is now to be seen in the British Museum,
Harleian MSS, No. 416, f . 30.

On Wednesday, igth July, the short reign ended — " Jane
the Quene ' became " Jana non Regina." Yet still there
was a flicker of Queendom, for that morning, information
being received from the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Lord Rich,

1 It was on the I7th or the next day that a significant placard was found
attached to the pump at Queenhithe, stating " that the Princess Mary had
been proclaimed Queen in every town and city in England, London alone
excepted." The exception was to cease within two days !

284 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

that the Earl of Oxford, who was then in Essex, had thrown
in his forces with Mary, Sir John Cheke, Queen Jane's Secretary
of State, wrote a letter, to which the treacherous Lords of the
Council affixed their signatures, requiring Oxford ( like a
noble man to remain in that promise and stedfastness to our
sovereign Lady Queen Jane, as ye shall find us ready and firm
with all our force to maintain the same : which neither with
honour, nor with safety, nor yet with duty, we may now
forsake." This morning, too, commenced the betrayal, when
Winchester, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord Privy Seal, Arundel,
Shrewsbury, Pembroke, Sir Thomas Cheney, Sir John Mason,
and Sir John Cheke waited on Suffolk, as the principal leader in
Northumberland's absence, and desired leave to depart from
the Tower so as to confer with the French Ambassador about
the foreign mercenaries l who were to come over and aid
Northumberland2 — at that moment awaiting arrest at Cam-
bridge ! Their zeal evidently touched Suffolk, who granted
them leave to depart. No sooner had they left the grim
fortress behind them than they proceeded straight to Bay-
nard's Castle,3 where, having sent for the Lord Mayor, they

1 It was generally said that Northumberland's son, Lord Henry Dudley,
had been to France to raise a force, and that six thousand French soldiers
were about to embark from Dieppe and Boulogne.

Strype says (Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. part I, p. 23) : " Henry
Dudley, a relation and creature of the Duke [of Northumberland], and in
with him, had, with four servants and certain letters, escaped, and got hither
to Guisnes. Him these officers detained, seizing his men and letters ; which
they sent by a special messenger to the Queen, keeping him in sure custody
till her pleasure were further known. All this they declared to her in their
letter, protesting their steadfast loyalty and obedience. Dudley was soon
after conveyed to Calais and so to England."

It was also rumoured that Northumberland had offered to hand over
Calais to the French in return for the aid which was to be afforded him.
Needless to say, it never came.

2 Rossi, I Successi d'Inghilterra dopo la morte de Edoardo Secto, pp. 15, 16.
This book was printed at Ferrara in 1560.

3 Baynard's Castle, which was standing in Edward n's time, and was later
the residence of Richard in, stood somewhere about the site now occupied by
St. Paul's Station, and was a large square building, with high pitched turrets
at each corner, and having its river front washed by the Thames. Several
royalties visited it in the course of time. In Henry vm's time it belonged to
that Earl of Pembroke who married Katherine Parr's sister, and was in the
possession of that family in 1 5 5 3 . " Bluff King Hal ' ' was sometimes entertained
there. The greater part of the building was burnt down in the Great Fire,
but the towers were standing as late as 1809.

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 285

were presently joined by that dignitary, with the Recorder
and some of the Aldermen. The proceedings of this impro-
vised Council opened with an attack on Northumberland's
ambition and scheming, delivered by Arundel,1 and then
Pembroke drew his sword, and cried out, ' If the arguments
of my Lord Arundel do not persuade you, this sword shall
make Mary queen, or I will die in her quarrel." This speech
was much applauded, and Mary's proclamation was signed
by all present. The conspirators then had Mary publicly
proclaimed Queen at the Cross in Cheapside by four trumpeters
and two heralds in their gorgeous coats. This took place about
five or six in the evening — the very hour at which Jane's
accession had been published nine days earlier ! The pro-
clamation in the Chepe concluded, the Councillors proceeded
to St. Paul's for evensong and the singing of the Te Deum,
whilst Cecil,2 Arundel, and Paget were sent to pay the
Council's homage to Mary. Now that the people had abso-
lutely nothing to fear from the broken power of Jane, they
gave wild vent to their feelings. The bells of the city churches,
swung with a right good will, sounded a welcome to the coming
reign ; bonfires blazed in every street. One of those attacks
of spontaneous feverish enthusiasm which seize nations from
time to time, even in these prosaic days, took hold of London.

1 It is distinctly curious that Arundel should be generally stated to have
been present at the proclamation of Mary in London on igih July, and yet
be said by several writers to have arrested Northumberland at Cambridge
on the 2ist 1 This hardly seems probable ; doubtless the arrest took place
later in that week. But the dates of Northumberland's movements on his
expedition are altogether obscure.

3 Roger Alford, Cecil's servant, gives the following account of this stage
of the intrigue in a letter to Cecil of 1573 : " After this, the Lords not long
after agreed to go to Baynard's Castle to the Lord of Pembroke [Baynard's
Castle was, as we have said, his residence] upon pretence before in Council, to
give audience to the French King and Emperor's Ambassadors, that had long
been delayed audience ; and that the Tower was not fit to him to enter into
at that season. At which time, my Lord of Arundel, upon some overture of
frank speech to be had in Council in respect of that present state, said secretly
to his friend, as I take it yourself [i.e. Cecil] or Sir William Petre, that he
liked not the air. And thereupon it was deferred to Baynard's Castle ; from
which place the Lords went and proclaimed Queen Mary. And yourself was
despatched after my Lord Arundel and my Lord Paget to her Grace, being
at Ipswich ; where, being sent by you a little before, my Lady Bacon told me
that the Queen thought very well of her brother Cecil, and said you were a
very honest man." — Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 349.

286 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Tables were dragged into the thoroughfares, that all might sit

down and drink to the health of her Catholic Majesty. Money

was dispensed freely by the rich ; and " the number of cappes

that weare throwne up at the proclamacion wear not to be

Most enthusiastic and excited of all was my Lord

Pembroke, who filled and refilled his cap with small coin to be

scrambled for by the mob. He could afford to be liberal : he

knew Mary would reward him well for his share in her proclama-

London was a very pandemonium that night. " For my

says a contemporary news-letter/ " I never saw the

lyke and by ;he reporte of otheres the lyke was never seen

I saw myself money was thrown out at windows for joy

bonefires were without number ; and what with shout-

ing and crying of the people, and ringing of bells,' there could

no one man hear what another said ; besides banketyng

[.banqueting] and skipping the street for joy " 3

Archbishop Cranmer is said to have been the last of Jane's
Council, then resident in the Tower, to leave it, which he did
in the course of I9th July, after a sad leave-taking with Lady
J ane. Iis position in the Janeite conspiracy has been severely
criticised by more than one historian, and by none more than
by Lord Macaulay. He had been instrumental in aiding
Northumberland to overthrow Somerset, probably because
he dlsliked the latter's Calvinistic tendencies, and regarded
him as a stumbling-block in the way of his proceedings for the
ishment of a more moderate and orthodox Church of
England. After the death of Somerset, the Archbishop

Mary, p. ' ^' " ' " CknHriehs "' 0««« /«* «* Q*»*

till ^ne^IrN"' ^ ^ the beUS C°ntinUed to ™* " a" «#*
« So complete was the popular desertion of Jane's cause-if so, indeed

heHhat6 F± wT^ "I"' thCre,had nWer been a^ Sreat -thusiasm te
ritot w m T i * remark that " God so tllmed the hear's of the
people: to her [Mary], and against the Council [who represented Jane] that
she overcame them without bloodshed, notwithstanding there was made
vTvi r^ri' hV0t!lby sea ™« *»* " <Foxge, Acts and Mol

been 1 itfl. *' P"* T , WaS DOt disUked' but there would seem «<>
PUlaf g°fWl11 tOWardS the Co^JOlo™ and especially
" dy reC°rded that the French Ambassador

r »

au'onLT ^°.S",[Ma7 s Success3 «M ^nues, plus pour la grande
[Mary] * " V *"' 9U£ P°W l'"mi^ q«'on a * ladicte raynt

THE NINE DAYS' REIGN 287

became one of Northumberland's chief supporters, and, as
Macaulay points out, covered himself with lasting obloquy
by his attempt to seduce an innocent gir! into a treasonable
career which was to lead to her ruin. In her eyes he was
something more than a political Councillor — an Apostle of the
Lord — and his advice no doubt told with her above that of
any one else. The next time they met, Cranmer was a prisoner
on his way to Guildhall,1 whither she too was tramping on
foot to hear her doom, approved of by most of the men who
had been her chief Councillors, read out before the multitude
of Queen Mary's friends and supporters.

There was little joy and much grief within the Tower.
Presently a messenger to Suffolk from Baynard's Castle came
to tell him that the nobles there assembled required him to
deliver up the Tower, and proceed to the Castle to sign Mary's
proclamation. They also ordered Lady Jane to resign the
title of Queen. Instantly Suffolk abandoned the unequal
struggle ; leaving the Lieutenant in charge of the Tower, he
went out, telling his men to leave their weapons behind
them. He himself announced Mary's accession on Tower
Hill, and then, going to Baynard's Castle, he signed her pro-
clamation. This done, the wretched man returned to the
Tower to tell his daughter that her Queenship was a thing
of the past. Jane, meanwhile, having promised Edward
Underbill, the famous " Hot Gospeller/1 then on duty in the
Tower, that she would act as godmother that day to his infant
son, who was to be christened Guildford, and being herself
too ill to attend the baptism, commissioned Lady Throck-
morton to go in her stead. Lady Throckmorton left the
royal apartments and proceeded to St. John's Chapel (some

1 It is a curious fact that Cranmer was not arrested immediately on the
fall of Jane. On 8th August he officiated at a Communion Service at the
funeral of Edward vi at Westminster. He seems to have been eventually
arrested on qu^} another charge than the one in the indictment. A certain
Dr. Thornden, Bishop of Dover, having said Mass in Canterbury Cathedral,
Cranmer published a manifesto against him, and incidentally stated that the
rumour that he was willing to celebrate Mass before the Queen was untrue.
This document being read in Cheapside, the Archbishop was brought before
the Council on 8th September 1553 for " disseminating seditious bills," and
committed to the Tower. Having being tried at the same time as Jane Grey,
he remained a prisoner in the Tower until 8th March 1554, when he went to
Oxford for the celebrated theological disputation which ended in his fiery doom.

288 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

say All Hallows', Barking), leaving Jane surrounded by the
insignia of royalty— the cloth of estate, the throne, and
all that marked her position as Queen. When her ladyship
returned, these had all been removed ; for the Queen of England
had not yet arrived in London, and her subject, " Jane, the
usurper," no longer sat on the throne. During the absence
of Lady Throckmorton Suffolk had rushed back to his daughter.
He found her alone in the Council Chamber, seated, forlorn,
under her canopy of State. " Come down from that, my
child," said he ; " that is no place for you." Then he gently
told her all ; and gladly did poor Jane rise and quit her hateful
office. For a moment father and daughter stood weeping,
locked in each other's arms, in the centre of the deserted hall'
through the open windows of which, borne on the summer air^
came the exulting shouts of " Long live Queen Mary ! "

Then, after a pause, Jane Grey spoke four simple words,
sublime in their pathos. " Can I go home ? " she asked
ingenuously. God help her! what a world of innocence
was in that little sentence, "Can I go home ? " Alack !
alas ! poor little victim of so much ambition and such damnable
intrigue, there is no more earthly home for thee !

liv

CHAPTER XVIII

> V

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND

ALL through the night of Queen Mary's proclamation,
Jane Grey was abandoned in the great fortress to
the care of her personal attendants ; and bitter must
have been her distress, as she realised the cruel plight to which
the mad ambitions of others had brought her. Everything
helped to heighten her terror — the changed attitude of the
guards, and other Tower officials, who a few brief hours
before had treated her with obsequious deference, and who now
marked their loyalty to Mary by an ostentatious display of
scorn for the fallen majesty of the ' Nine Days' Queen " ;
the tears of her women, their whispered talk, the brooding
and ominous silence of the palace, broken only by the dist-
ant shouts of revellers, who acclaimed the triumph of her
successful rival, all combined to increase the nervous and
hysterical agitation into which the poor girl's recent illness
had already thrown her. Her mother, the Duchess, com-
pelled by circumstances beyond her control, most probably,
had left the Tower, and hurried back to Sheen, after having
obtained Queen Mary's pardon for her husband. The Duchess
of Northumberland, white with horror, and trembling with
anxiety for her wretched husband and children, had likewise
departed with her attendants up the river to Sion : so that of
all Jane's Court none remained to help and comfort, except
icr faithful women and servants. Suffolk's movements at
his time are not quite clearly recorded. That he retired to
>heen immediately after Mary's proclamation, appears certain ;
nd also that, on the 27th July, he was arrested and com-
nitted to the Tower, to be released at the intercession of the
)uchess his wife, on his own bail, on the 3ist of the same

290 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

month.1 Yet a contemporary letter, dated August nth, says :
" The Duke of Suffolk is (as his owne men report) in prison,
and at this present in suche case as no man judgeth he can
live." An explanation of these conflicting statements may
be, that the Duke, when officially released, was for some days
too ill to leave the Tower.

There is reason to believe that Lady Jane remained in the
State apartments till late in the eveirng of the iQth July,
when she was transferred to the rooms above the Deputy-
Lieutenant's, recently vacated by the Duchess of Somerset.
The Deputy-Lieutenant of this period was Thomas Brydges
or Bridges, brother of Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant of the
Tower. This last gentleman attended Jane on the scaffold,
in discharge of his duty ; but Thomas Brydges figures a good
deal in the narrative of the last months of Jane's life. There
has been much dispute as to the exact situation of the rooms
in the Tower in which the innocent prisoner was confined, and
the absolute identity of her keeper. But it is now pretty
clearly established that the first period of her detention was
not spent, as so often stated, in the Brick Tower, but in the
modernised house of the Deputy-Lieutenant, which stands
next door to the Lieutenant's or the King's House. Later — we
do not know the precise date of her removal — she was lodged
in a house, also on the Green, adjacent to the Lieutenant's
dwelling, and which then belonged to the Gentleman Gaoler,
Mr. Nathaniel Partridge.2 Earlier historians have denied
the existence of Partridge, and even Harris Nicholas thought
he was Queen Mary's goldsmith ; but his identity is now
conclusively proved, and he is admitted to have been a well-
known figure in and about the Tower at this period. He
died in February 1587, and is buried in St. Peter-ad- Vincula
in the same vault as his illustrious guest. During her^ncar-
ceration, Jane was allowed to walk in the Queen's Garden,
and " on the hill within the Tower precincts." 8

1 See Machyn, p. 38.

8 Dr. Nicholas suggested that this Partridge was Queen Mary's goldsmith,
who bore the same name, and seems to have been living in the Tower about
this time.

8 The site of the Royal Garden in the Tower is now covered by modern
buildings, military stores, etc., of no particular interest. The " hill within
the Tower " may be another term for the Green, for Stowe, in speaking

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 291

Several persons attended on Lady Jane in the Tower,
among them Elizabeth Tylney,1 ' a beautiful young woman
of good birth," Lady Throckmorton, wife of Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton, and ' Mrs. Ellen/1 Some light has been
thrown upon the identity of the last-named lady by Lady
Philippa de Clifford, Lady Jane's cousin, whose curious account
of her unhappy kinswoman's last hours was published in
Brussels in 1660 ; from this we learn that " Mrs. Ellen, an
elderly woman," was Lady Jane's nurse. There were also two
waiting-maids, and a lad, in the suite of the Princess, as we
glean from The Chronicles of Queen Jane and Queen Mary.
Thus she was no ' solitary prisoner," but served by gentle-
women, and in comparative comfort. We must, therefore,
dismiss the old idea that Lady Jane Grey was ever relegated
to a " dungeon deep," to pine in darkness and in loneliness.
That she was not fed on bread and water is proved by the
Privy Council records, from which we learn that ninety-five
shillings a week was allowed for her maintenance whilst in
captivity, and twenty shillings for each of her attendants,
six in number — a very handsome allowance in those days,
and equivalent, in modern coinage, to about fifteen times the
amount.

It must be clearly understood that Lady Jane was never
even formally arrested, as were Henry vm's Queens. No armed
guard took her captive, after the reading of a solemn warrant.
She was simply detained in the Tower,2 partly as a hostage
for the good behaviour of her father, and partly to prevent
her being once more the tool of those who might attempt to
place her on the throne, and make her the figure-head of a
politico-religious party. Northumberland and his followers
had claimed honours for her which rightly belonged to Mary,

of the prisoners who knelt on the Green to invoke Queen Mary's pardon at
her first entry into the Tower, terms that ominous spot " the hill." It is
strange indeed if Lady Jane took her exercise on the place where she after-
wards died 1

1 This lady was a close connection of the Howards, and probably a grand-
niece of Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk, by birth a Tylney.

8 A recent writer on the life of Lady Jane Grey states.but gives no authority,
that she was released from the Tower immediately after her deposition, and
retired to Sion House : but there is no contemporary evidence whatever in
substantiation of this statement.

292 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

and when Mary gained the upper hand, ' Jane the usurper '
had, ipso facto, to be kept in retirement.

There is no trace of any independent movement on Guild-
ford's part, during the nine days of his wife's reign, except
to assist his mother in pushing his " claim ' to the throne.
Either he sulked, because Jane had refused to make him King
Consort on the day following her entry into the Tower ; or else
Northumberland advised him to keep out of the way as much
as possible, so as to escape the blame of having taken an active
part in the usurped administration. Be this as it may, we have
no news of his doings, from the first day or two of the nine
days' reign, until after its termination, when he was parted
from his wife, and sent to the Beauchamp Tower, whither,
on the 25th July, his brothers, Lord Warwick and Lord Ambrose
Dudley, followed him, to be joined the next day by Lord Robert
Dudley.

Jane's peaceful seclusion was of very short duration. On
the day following her deposition (20th July), the Marquis
of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer,1 came to ask for the
return of the Crown Jewels and other articles delivered to her
on the second day of her Queenship. A parcel or so was miss-
ing, it would seem, and Winchester, when he commanded
Jane to restore the Crown Jewels, desired she should also make
good the alleged deficiency. Astonished at this demand, she
declared she knew nothing of the missing articles, but agreed

1 This William Paulet, Lord St. John, Marquis of Winchester, was in many
ways an extraordinary creature. After the attainder and execution of Sir
Thomas More, he was granted the beautiful mansion of Chelsea, and Edward
vi, when Paulet was created Marquis of Winchester in 1551, gave him in fee
both that property and all other possessions in Chelsea and Kensington forfeited
by More. Next we hear of him as Great -Master of the Household to Edward vi,
Mary, and Elizabeth. In the fourth year of Edward vi's reign he was made
Lord Treasurer of England, in which capacity he appealed to Lady Jane for
the jewels left in her charge at her accession. His religious changes were
remarkable ; in Edward's time he was a bitter anti-Papist ; in Mary's, an en-
thusiastic Catholic ; and under Elizabeth we find him a staunch supporter of
the Church by law established. Asked how it was he managed to avoid a
downfall amidst so many changes, he is said to have answered : " By being a
willow and not an oak ! " He died in 1572 in his ninety-seventh year, having
lived to see over a hundred persons descend from him ; and is buried in Chelsea
parish church, where he had attended Mass in Henry vm's time ; an " evan-
gelical " service under Edward vi ; Mass again in Mary's day ; and the
English Morning Prayer in Elizabeth's !

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 293

to give up all the money she had in her possession, and on 25th
July she consigned to the Treasury an extraordinary assort-
ment of coins — angels of the reign of Edward vi, gold corona-
tion medals of Henry vm and Edward vi, some shillings and
half shillings, as well as some deteriorated coinage of Edward
vi, of no value. The whole of her available assets did not
amount to more than £541, 135. 2d. The missing valuables,
it would appear, had not been returned two months later,
or else Queen Mary had not been informed of their receipt,
for on 20th September she writes to Winchester requesting
him immediately to order Lady Jane to give up the jewels
and " stuffs," which had been delivered to her " on July I2th,"
and which were still missing. The inventory of these mislaid
" stuffs ' includes a most curious assortment of odds and
ends, which one would think it hardly worth Queen Mary's
while to reclaim. First we have a large leather box, marked
with Henry vin's broad arrow, containing ' two old shaving
cloths, and thirteen pairs of old leather gloves, some of them
worn." Another " square coffer ' missing, and described as
being covered with " Naples fustian," contained a collection
of old Catholic prayer books, rosaries, and other odds and ends,
which had probably remained among the Tower stores since
Katherine of Aragon had last kept court there, and which
were, needless to say, of no use to Lady Jane Grey ! The first
article in this collection is the half of a broken ring of gold,
perchance some forgotten love-token. Then comes " a book
of prayers, covered with purple velvet, and garnished with
gold. A primer [or Catholic prayer book] in English. Three
old halfpence in silver, seven little halfpence and farthings.
Item, sixteenpence, two farthings and two halfpence. A
purse of leather with eighteen strange coins of silver. A ring
of gold with a death's head. Three French crowns, one
broken in two. Item, a girdle of gold thread. A pair of
twitchers [tweezers] of silver. A pair of knives in a case of
black silk. Two books covered with leather. Item, a little
square box of gold and silver with a pair of shears [scissors]
and divers shreds of satin. A piece of white paper containing
a pattern of gold damask." The third coffer was " Queen's
jewels," and contained chains of gold studded with rosettes
of pearl and other valuables. The fate of this curious

294 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

collection of gewgaws is unknown. About the same time,
Winchester made an exploration of the contents of Guildford's
pockets, which resulted in the discovery that he possessed
exactly £32, 8s., in the debased coinage of Edward's reign.
Miss Strickland, in mentioning this incident, says : Thus
the prisoners were left entirely without the means of bribing
their gaolers." This is not the case, for Lady Jane appears to
have made a will (which may still be in existence, though for
the time being it has disappeared) in which she left certain
jewels, clocks, and valuables to her sisters, her women, and her
servants, and, strange to relate, a gold cup or chalice to Queen
Mary. Wherefore we may conclude she was allowed to retain
the articles brought her from Westminster Palace, some of
which served, no doubt, to decorate her apartment in the
Tower. We possess no record, unfortunately, of the sort of food
provided for the prisoner and her husband ; we can only guess
at its nature by consulting the bills of fare, still extant, pro-
vided for the Duchess of Somerset during her imprisonment
in the Tower : from the fact of the prices of the various dishes
being appended, we may conclude that the wealthier political
prisoners were allowed to pay for their meals. Her Grace's
bill for " dynner " was as follows : —

" Mutton stewed with potage . . . viijd.

Beef boiled ..... viijd.

Veale, rost . . xd."

Suppr " consisted of-

* Slyced beef
Mutton rost
Bred
Bere

Wyne

vjd.

viijd.

xd.

viijd.

viijd.'

Wood, coills (coals) and candull by the weke," cost " xxd."

In the meantime, the Council had retired to Westminster,
whence, as is generally believed, it sent Northumberland
orders to disband his army and await Mary's pleasure before
returning to London ; the herald who bore this order being com-
missioned to proclaim, in certain places en route, that if the
Duke refused to submit he should be arrested as a traitor.
Before this, as we have said (on the iQth instant), the Earl of

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 295

Arundel and Lord Paget had been dispatched to offer the
Council's homage to Mary, bearing with them the following
letter — a good specimen of the barefaced hypocrisy practised
on Lady Jane. ' Our bounden duties most humbly remem-
bered to your most excellent majesty, it may like the same
to understand, that we your most humble, faithful, and obedient
subjects, having always (God we take to witness) remained
your Highness 's true and humble subjects in our hearts, ever
since the death of our late sovereign Lord and Master,
your Highness' s brother, whom God pardon ; and seeing
hitherto no possibility to utter our determination herein,
without great destructions and bloodshed, both of ourselves
and others till this time, have this day proclaimed in your
city of London, your majesty to be our true natural sove-
reign, liege Lady and Queen, most humbly beseeching your
Majesty to pardon and remit our former infirmities, and most
graciously to accept our meaning which have been ever to
serve your Highness truly, and it shall remain with all our
powers and forces to the effusion of our blood. These bearers,
our very good lords, the Earl of Arundel and Lord Paget,
can and be ready now particularly to declare, to whom it may
please your excellent Majesty, to give firm credence ; and thus
we do and shall daily pray to Almighty God for the preserva-
tion of your most royal person long to reign . . . from your
Majesty's city of London this . . . (iQth) day of July, the first
year of your most prosperous reign." This letter needs no
comment ; Paget's treachery towards his late patron is particu-
larly diabolical. He seems to have behaved throughout with
Mephistophelian cunning and falseness. There is something
absolutely Satanic in the hypocritical manner in which this
letter asserts that the Council had hitherto had no oppor-
tunity to express its " determination " in the matter of Mary's
right to the Crown — this in the hope of leading Mary to think
it had been acting under compulsion ! If Jane's friends had
succeeded in establishing her on the throne, and Mary had
been killed or driven out of the country, these Councillors,
the latter 's ' most humble, faithful, and obedient subjects,"
would, no doubt, have rallied about her rival — provided always
it paid them so to do ; Mary being victorious, th,ey saved
their necks and kept their positions by embracing her cause.

296 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Like the Vicar of Bray, no matter who was King, or what
were the social and religious conditions of the country, these
gentlemen were resolved to cling to their offices, and accom-
modate their opinions and actions to those of the party in
power.

It was about this time that Mary received another abject
document of the same sort — the already quoted ' Sub-
mission ' ' or apologia of Cecil, whose conduct throughout had
been as tortuous as that of any of Eugene Sue's Jesuits.

A previous chapter has touched upon the singular intrigues
of the Commissioners in Brussels, who conveyed DiegoMendoza's
acclamation of Guildford, as King of England, to the Council.
We must now relate the sequel. On the 20th July, these
gentlemen followed up their letter of the I5th, by another,
stating that they had vainly endeavoured to obtain an inter-
view with the Emperor, who was exasperated by what had
happened in England, and had even refused to receive Mr.
Shelley, the bearer of the Council's letter of the i2th July.
His Imperial Majesty held that Jane's assumption of the
Crown would lead to trouble with France ; Mary Stuart,
Queen of Scots, at this time consort of the Dauphin of France,
having a claim to the English throne prior to that of Lady
Jane. He does not seem to have approved — or else he feigned
disapproval — of MaryTudor's succession, but desired the matter
should be settled by Parliament in accordance with the will
of the English nation. Within a few days, probably, the
Commissioners, hearing of Jane's downfall, and realising their
own danger, promptly submitted — like the Council at home-
to Mary, and enclosed the letter brought by Shelley in one
of their own dated 29th July to the Council at Westminster,
" fof that it hath pleased God to call my Lady Mary her
grace to the State and possession of the realm, according
to the King's majesty her father's last will and the laws
of the realm." Not quite sure, however, as to what has taken
place, they ask the Council to let them have all news to date,
and desire to know " her majtys pleasure what we should do,
wherunto we shall conform ourselves most willingly ac-
cording to our most bounden duty ... Sir Philip Hoby,
etc., to the Council." 1 In spite of their forethought, Hoby

1 British Museum, Harleian Collection, No. 523, 46.

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 297

and Morysone were recalled by an order of 5th August, their
place at Brussels being taken by Dr. Wootton, Bishop of Nor-
wich ; and the fact that in the said order they are described as
" Mr." Hoby and " Mr." Morysone suggests that they were
in dire disgrace. Most likely their letter about Guildford
rankled in Mary's mind ! Their attempt to shelter them-
selves behind a show of loyalty, at all events, was not as suc-
cessful as that of the Council at home, but they richly deserved
any punishment their duplicity received ; for, like the rest
of the Janeite conspirators, they supported her cause as
long as it seemed likely to profit them, and abandoned
it, as if it were plague-stricken, directly the tables were
turned.

None the less, the Emperor Charles v (who dropped the cause
of Northumberland the moment he perceived that Mary had
won the day), wishing " to show his great love for that Queen
his most dear cousin," requested the Governess of the Nether-
lands, Mary, Queen of Hungary, to entertain the above-named
gentlemen, as well as the newly dispatched Ambassador, Bishop
Wootton of Norwich, " to such a banquet as they had never
partaken of before, for such carvings, and sumptuous dishes,
and frequent changing of wines." The Emperor's Embassy,
which included the Sieur de Courrieres, already mentioned,
Simon Renard, and several other noblemen, was amongst the
first of the numerous Envoys sent from all parts of Europe to
congratulate the Queen on her victory, and, as if to emphasise
his affectionate interest in the Royal cousin whose cause he had
so lately abandoned in favour of that of her chief enemy,
the negotiations for the marriage of the Queen of England
with the young widowed Prince, afterwards King Philip of
Spain, were pushed forward with the utmost alacrity.

The mere idea of a union with her very Catholic cousin
inflamed the imagination of the old maid sovereign with so
ardent a passion as to absorb her whole being, and to bring
about the sad catastrophe of her tragic life. She now " could
think and speak of Philip, and of Philip only." The most
affectionate solicitude was displayed on the part of Queen
Mary for the welfare and comfort of her future Consort, so that
even a special clause was included, allowing him to land at
the most convenient port he should choose, for he was " apt

298 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

to be very sick on the sea, and most eager to be on land
again." 1

In some way or other Lady Jane must have been kept
informed of the current events and gossip of the day. Some
one probably gave her an account of Elizabeth's ride through
London on 3ist July, from Somerset House to Wanstead,
where she joined her sister. The astute Princess had at first
hesitated as to what course she should pursue, but at last,
seeing Jane's position was hopeless, she made up her mind to
side with her sister, and pass through the City and Aldgate
with a numerous escort. The royal prisoner must have heard
of the gay decorations of the streets, brilliant with flags, and
streamers, and splendid tapestries, and how wild was the
popular enthusiasm for Queen Mary.

The foredoomed prisoners must have received a rude
shock on ist August, when the monotony of their existence
was suddenly broken by the appearance of the Constable of
the Tower, Sir John Gage, and his officials, who repaired to
them severally, and read out to them the solemn indictments
made against them in the Queen's name. These indictments-
the originals of which will be found in the Baga de Secretis,
pouch xxiii., at the Public Record Office — were dated ist
August, and had been previously read out and endorsed at
Guildhall, with all due ceremonial, earlier in the day, in the
presence of Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London ; Thomas,
Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal ; the Earls of Derby and Bath ;
Richard Morgan, Chief Justice of Common Pleas ; and other
noblemen and gentlemen, not all of whom were, however,
actually present, but represented by deputies. The first
document, divested of its legal verbosity, declares Lady Jane
Grey, Guildford Dudley her husband, Cranmer, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and the Lords Ambrose and Henry Dudley,
guilty of treason, for having seized the Tower of London,2

1 For a full and very instructive account of the volta face of the Emperor
and his subsequent conduct towards Queen Mary, see the State Papers,
Foreign Series, from 23rd August 1553, the date of the banquet to Hoby at
Brussels, to May 1554, and also Two English Queens and Philip, by Martin
Hume.

2 This count would in itself have been punishable, it may be supposed,
since the Tower was one of the royal palaces, as well as defences : the
" seizure " here referred to consisted in the fact that Jane's Council and

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 299

on nth July ; having sought to depose their rightful sovereign,
Queen Mary ; and having " acknowledged and proclaimed
Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford Dudley, Esq., of the parish
of St. Martin's by Charing Cross, Queen of England." The
address is curious, as it indicates that the town residence of
the unfortunate couple was still Durham House, the Duke
of Northumberland's palace in the Strand.

The second indictment concerns John, Duke of Northumber-
land, William, Marquis of Northampton, Francis, Earl of
Huntingdon, and others, for having, " between the loth and
the 1 7th July, first of Mary, levied men at Cambridge to march
against the Queen."

Yet a third indictment is of even greater historical interest,
and charges Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury,
as ' a false traitor to the Queen," with providing arms for
twenty men, under Barnaby Boylot, Walter Morford, and
Robert Durant of Westminster, and dispatching them to
Cambridge, in aid of John, Duke of Northumberland. This
proves that the original indictment against Cranmer did not
charge him with heresy, but merely as a political offender.
Undoubtedly, as Macaulay points out, by making himself
the accomplice of Northumberland in endeavouring to over-
come the scruples of so amiable a young woman as Lady Jane
Grey, and seducing her into treason, Cranmer committed an
act of most unjustifiable wickedness.

A little later, in the early twilight of 3rd August, the
flickering of hurrying lights, and the boom of cannon — " the
loudest that ever was heard " — could not fail to apprise the
State prisoners in the Tower that some unusual event was
happening, and that the Queen and Princess Elizabeth had
entered its precincts, to prepare for the obsequies of Edward
vi. From her windows Lady Jane noted the flaring torches,

attendants had been lodged there ; that ammunition had been, as we have
seen, brought in there during Jane's reign ; and that the Constable of the
Tower had been changed by Suffolk's manipulation. Sir John Gage, who
had been appointed to that post in the year 1540, and had continued therein
throughout Edward vi's reign, was replaced by Lord Clinton, a Janeite,
about the time the " Nine Days' Queen " entered the fortress — only to be super-
seded on Mary's accession by the very man he had displaced, Sir John Gage !
Gage was followed by Sir Edward Braye, probably losing his appointment
over a whimsical quarrel with the servants of the Princess Elizabeth during
her imprisonment.

300 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

moving hither and thither, in unwonted chambers and court-
yards, and heard the tramp of feet, the heavy tread of the
guards, the changing of sentinels, and the coming and going of
the Ambassadors and courtiers hurrying to pay their homage
to the new Sovereign — amongst them, doubtless, most of those
very men who had solemnly sworn allegiance to herself !

The Protestant funeral service of Edward vi took place
on 8th August, the King's body having been removed, on the
preceding evening, from Greenwich to Whitehall. A great
number of children in surplices were gathered together to
attend his obsequies in the Abbey, and this gave a touch of
poetry to a ceremony described by Noailles as " a very shabby
one, badly attended, without any lights burning, and no official
invitations sent to the Ambassadors." Archbishop Cranmer,
who had organised the function, read the plain English service,
from the Book of Common Prayer. Round about the coffin
were a great number of standard-bearers with their standards,
conspicuous among them being those of his mother, Queen
Jane Seymour, and of his grandmother, Lady Seymour, as
well as one with a white dragon on a red background, and yet
another with a very large white greyhound, the emblem of the
house of Tudor. All the banners were bowed as the little
coffin was lowered into the vault in Henry vn's Chapel, and
the wands were broken and cast in upon the lid. Cranmer
gave a heavy sigh as he watched it pass into the gloom, knowing
full well that with that little corpse passed away all his hopes
and power — that the vengeance of the Queen whose mother
he had outraged was near at hand. He never officiated again
at any State function ; his day was over ! Lady Jane heard
of this particular service with considerable pleasure, for it was
celebrated in accordance with her own religious views ; but
the details of another ceremony in suffrage of King Edward's
soul, according to the ritual and doctrine of the Church of
Rome, celebrated in the Queen's presence in the Royal Chapel
of the White Tower, must have pained her not a little.1

1 Although no official report of it remains, a Requiem for the repose of
King Edward must have been sung at St. Paul's, the bill of costs for choir-
boys, lights, etc., for such a ceremony being still in existence. Edward vi
was the first King of England buried according to the rites of the Church of
England ; at the same time, he was the last King of England for whom a
Requiem Mass was sung in this country. James n died a Catholic, but abroad,

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 301

Mary, in residence in the Tower at this time, had organised
this special Requiem Mass with all permissible pomp and cere-
mony, and we may take it for granted that Jane saw from her
windows a good deal of the coming and going of royal person-
ages, officials, and servants, consequent upon so elaborate a
function. Pained indeed must have been the Reforming
Princess to learn that Dr. George Day, the very Catholic
Bishop of Chichester, had been selected to preach before Her
Majesty the panegyric of her very Protestant brother !

We must now turn our attention to the Duke of Northum-
berland. Soon after entering the Beauchamp Tower on 25th
July, he collapsed, and had to take to his bed. The fates were
not, indeed, propitious to Northumberland in this respect,
for his health broke down when he most needed all his physical
as well as moral strength to help him through his tremendous
task. Even as far back as 1550, John ab Ulmis, in a letter
to Bullinger, mentioned ' ' the Earl of Warwick's very dangerous
illness." He would seem to have never quite recovered from
this attack, for in the following August he was very ill, and
again, late in September 1552, he wrote Cecil that he was
' fevrish and unable to sleep." In January 1553, Warwick
told Petre or Cecil that he was much alarmed about himself,
and feared he was "going to be very ill." Throughout the
year 1553 he was observed to look pale, and to walk with
difficulty, but his indomitable will held him up, and he was able
to do the work of a dozen men, for his energy was as admirable
as its object was detestable. Northumberland is scarcely
a commendable character, but there is none the less a pathos
in the fact that his health was giving way under the terrible
strain that crushed him. He does not deserve much sympathy,
but it is impossible not to pity him in his extremity, abandoned
by every one, a doomed prisoner, his last card played and lost.
To his insane ambition he had sacrificed his youngest and best-
loved son, and the young creature the lad had so recently
married, and now an unnatural death faced him in stark
horror. What nights he must have spent, hopeless and help-
less, alone in that prison on every gate of which the great

in France. It has been remarked by Protestant historians that Mary had no
right to have a Mass of Requiem said for her brother ; they forget that he was
baptized a Catholic.

302 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Italian might have written, Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate.
He knew the Queen hated him with the intense and unforgiv-
ing hatred of a Spaniard. Had he not sided' against her mother,
and framed the pitiless and insulting documents he had forced
his helpless daughter-in-law to sign, stigmatising Mary and
Elizabeth as " bastards ' ' ? Reflecting on these, and a hundred
other offences, he realised his case was hopeless. So bitterly
did the Queen loathe him, as a matter of fact, that she
actually requested Comendone, the Papal Envoy, to put off
his departure for a few days, so as to witness the execution
of her chief foe, and give a personal account of it to the
Pope !

The trial for treason of John Dudley, Duke of Northumber-
land, took place on August i8th in Westminster Hall. The
Marquis of Northampton, and the Earl of Warwick, Dudley's
son, were arraigned at the same time. Thomas, Duke of
Norfolk, sat as High Steward of England ; this was, indeed,
one of his last official appearances. He died in the following
year (on 24th August) at Kenninghall. Several of those
men who sat in Jane's Council, and had only saved their
necks by addressing their hasty submission to Mary, figured
at this trial. Northumberland was very obsequious to his
judges, and " protesting his faith and obedience to the Queen's
Majesty, whom he confessed grievously to have offended, said
that he meant not to speak anything in defence of himself/1
He then demanded of the court, first ' ' whether a man doing
an act by the authority of the Prince and Council, and by
warrant of the Great Seal,1 and doing nothing without the

1 It is quite obvious — Hume and Lingard to the contrary — that the Great
Seal here referred to was that of Edward vi, affixed to that monarch's letters
patent for the limitation of the succession. The judges, however, purposely
misunderstood Northumberland, and pretended to think he was referring to
Jane's seal, which would not, of course, have been recognised as legal. The
Great Seal of King Edward continued to be used upon documents for many
months after Mary's accession ; it will, for instance, be found attached to the
Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer addressed to Thomas White, Mayor
of London, and others for the trials of the indictments against Guildford Dudley
" and Jane his wife," and Ambrose and Henry Dudley, which took place in
November 1553. This seal is circular, and rather indistinct ; on the one side
His Majesty is represented seated, with the sceptre in his right hand and the
orb in his left. He is under a canopy with curious side pillars : on either side of
the throne are round coats of arms, surmounted by crowns. On the other

: THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 303

same, may be charged with treason for anything which he
might do by warrant thereof ? " and secondly, " whether any
such persons as were equally culpable in that crime, and those
by whose letters and commandments he was directed in all
his doings, might be his judges, or pass upon him his death ? '
The answer returned was that the Great Seal to which he
appealed was not that of the lawful Queen of the realm, but
was the seal of a " usurper," and as such had no authority ;
also, that though some of his judges might be equally guilty
with himself, they had no attainder against them, and therefore
were as fit to try him as any one else, provided the sovereign
gave permission. Finding they were bent on his destruction, the
unhappy man pleaded guilty, and besought the Duke of Nor-
folk to obtain the Queen's pardon for him. Following suit,
the Marquis of Northampton and the Earl of Warwick also
pleaded guilty ; the former urged, that " after the beginning
of these tumults he had forborne the execution of any public
ofnce, and that all the while he, intent to hunting and other
sports, did not partake in the conspiracy," whilst Warwick
begged the Queen would have his debts paid out of his con-
fiscated goods. They were both sentenced to death, "to be
had to the place that they came from, and from thence to be
drawn through London unto Tyburn, and there to be hanged,
and then to be cut down, and their bowels to be burnt, and
their heads to be set on London Bridge and other places." l
When he heard this horrible sentence of death, Northumber-
land asked that, as a nobleman, he might be beheaded, and
" begged that his children might be kindly treated." He
had the grace also to confess that Jane, so far from desiring
regal honours, was only induced to accept the Crown " by
enticement and force " — which confirms what we have said
of her parent's ill-treatment of her. The Duke also requested
that a ' ' learned divine ' ' might be sent to him ; and that he
might have an interview with four members of the Council,
' for the discovery (i.e. revelation) of some things which

side is a figure, wielding a mace and with a shield, on a horse in armour — this
is either St. George or the Lord Protector. At the horse's feet is a Tudor
greyhound : there is an illegible inscription at the top margin. (See Baga de
Secretis, pouch xxiii., Record Office.)

1 Machyn, p. 41. This horrible sentence was afterwards commuted to
decapitation, and the same in the case of next day's condemned.

304 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

might concern the State." l What these mysterious " things '
may have been, is now unknown. Lingard says Gardiner
and another member of the Council visited Northumberland
in prison, and that the former interceded for him with the
Queen ; but there is no documentary evidence as to the
purport of the State secrets the Duke had promised to divulge.

On the following day, igth August, four of the chief of
those who had ridden out of London with Northumberland
against Mary — Sir Andrew Dudley,2 Sir John Gates, Sir Harry
Gates, and Sir Thomas Palmer — were sentenced to death in
Westminster Hall.

Next day Northumberland made a public renuncia-
tion of the Protestant religion, either in the Church of St.
Peter-ad-Vincula, or else in the chapel in the White Tower ;
the former place is more generally accepted. Some forty of
the principal citizens of London were present ; and the Marquis
of Northampton, Sir Andrew Dudley, Sir Henry Gates, and
Sir Thomas Palmer, were also reconciled to the Latin Church
at the same time. The ex-conspirators knelt during Mass,
saying the Confiteor after the celebrant, who was probably
Gardiner. When the Mass was concluded, they one after,
another asked each other forgiveness, kneeling as they did
so. After this they all went in front of the altar, where, on
bended knees, they confessed to Gardiner, that " they were
the same men in the faith, according as they had confessed
to him before, and that they all would die in the Catholic
faith/1 Having received the Eucharist, the Duke turned
to the congregation and said, ' Truly, good people, I profess
here before you all that I have received the sacrament, accord-
ing to the true Catholic faith ; and the plague that is upon
this realm, and upon us now, is, that we have erred from the
faith these sixteen years, and this I protest unto you all, from
the bottom of my heart." Northampton, Andrew Dudley,
Gates, and Palmer made the same statement, and they were
all conducted back to their respective prisons.3 There can

1 Harleian MSS, No. 2194.

2 Sir Andrew Dudley was released on i8th January 1554. He died,
without issue, in 1559.

3 For a further account of this recantation ceremony, see Harleian MSS,
284, fol. 128^. Also Stowe, Annals, p. 614.

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 305

be no doubt, that, if this ceremony took place in St. Peter's,
Lady Jane must have seen, from the windows of the Deputy-
Lieutenant's house, the procession of her father-in-law and
his followers on their way to hear Mass, and her grief on
learning that they had abandoned Protestantism was, as we
learn from her own lips, intense.

The evening of the 2ist August, Northumberland was
informed by the Lieutenant of the Tower that he was to die
next day, whereupon he wrote the following abject letter to
his brother-in-law and captor, the Earl of Arundel : —

' Honble lord, and in this my distress my especial refuge,
most woeful was the news I received this evening by Mr.
Lieutenant, that I must prepare myself against to-morrow to
receive my deadly stroke. Alas, my good lord, is my crime so
heinous as no redemption but my blood can wash away the
spots thereof ? An old proverb there is, and that most true,
that a living dog is better than a dead lion. Oh ! that it
would please her good grace to give me life, yea, the life of a
dog, if I might but live and kiss her feet, and spend both life
and all , in her honourable services, as I have the best part
already, under her worthy brother, and most glorious father.
Oh ! that her mercy were such, as she would consider how
little profit my dead and dismembered body can bring her ;
but how great and glorious an honor it will be in all posterity
when the report shall be that so gracious and mighty a queen,
had granted life to so miserable and penitent an object.
Your honble usage and promise to me since these my troubles,
have made me bold to challenge this kindness at your hands.
Pardon me if I have done amiss therein, and spare not, I pray,
your bended knees for me in this distress. The God of
Heaven, it may be, will requite it one day, on you or yours ;
and, if my life be lengthened by you'- mediation, and my good
lord chancellor's (to whom I have also sent my blurred letters),
I will ever owe it to you, to be spent at your honble feet. Oh !
my good lord, remember how sweet life is, and how bitter the
contrary. Spare not your speech and pains ; for God, I hope,
hath not shut out all hopes of comfort from me in that gracious,
princely and womanly heart ; but that, as the doleful news
of death hath wounded to death, both my soule and body,
20

306 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

so the comfortable news of life, shall be a new resurrection
to my woeful heart. But if no remedy can be found, either
by imprisonment, confiscation, banishment, and the like, I
can say no more, but, God grant me patience to endure,
and a heart to forgive the whole world.

' Once your fellow, and loving companion, but now
worthy of no name but wretchedness and misery. J. D." l

It must have cost the haughty Northumberland dear, to
write so humble a supplication ; but he was a man of strong
domestic affections, and realised that if he were spared, his
children and brothers might also be saved. But Mary's hate,
thoroughly Spanish in its intensity, was implacable ; and if,
as some historians seem to think, the prisoner hoped to obtain
his freedom by returning to the religion of his ancestors,2 he
made a terrible mistake. The Queen may have rejoiced that
the chances of his eternal salvation were enhanced, according
to her views, by his conversion, but none the less did the out-
raged sovereign and woman claim the head of her arch-enemy,
and worst detractor.

Machyn tells us of a strange incident, in connection with
the Duke's execution, which tends to prove it was to have
taken place on the 2ist August, and to have been accom-
plished by the common hangman. Says the chronicler in
question : " The xxj of August was, by viij of the clock in
the morning, on the Tower hill about XM (i.e. " about ten
thousand ") men and women for to have seen the execution
of the Duke of Northumberland, for the scaffold was made
ready and sand and straw was brought, and all the men
that belong to the Tower,3 as Hoxton, Shoreditch, Bow,

1 Harleian MSS, No. 2194.

2 Bishop Burnet considered that Northumberland was only insincere in
professing Protestantism — " ht had always been a Catholic at heart " ; John
Knox said the same ; and Jane Srey herself said, about a week after his death,
" but for the answering that ht [Northumberland] hoped for life by turning
(Catholic), though others be of t.ie same opinion, I utterly am not." Burnet's
remark is supported by a statement the Duke of Northumberland made on
one occasion, it is said, to Sir Anthony Browne, that " he certainly thought
best of the old religion ; bu seeing a new one begun, run dog, run devil,
he would go forward." In oth,er words, his Protestantism was a mere matter
of policy.

3 This refers to the trained bands of the Tower Hamlets mentioned, whose

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 307

Ratclyff, Limehouse, Saint Katherines, and the waiters
[attendants] of the Tower, and the guard, and sheriff's
officers, and every man stand in order with their halbards,
and lanes made (i.e. barriers placed so as to admit of the
free passages of the troops and officials) and the hangman
was there, and suddenly they were commanded to depart." 1
The fact that the hangman was present seems to denote
that the order, changing the sentence from hanging and
disembowelling, to decapitation, had not yet been made.
Northumberland had given way at his trial to an unusual
display of emotional terror, as the barbarous details of the sort
of death to which he was condemned were read out to him,
and probably efforts were therefore made, and not in vain,
to spare him so atrocious an ordeal and substitute the more
merciful and dignified death by the axe. Maybe it was this
which occasioned the postponement of the grim ceremony.

According to a MS, now in the Brussels Archives, entitled,
Les evenements en Angleterre, 1553-4, the Duke of North-
umberland was allowed to take a pathetic leave of his youngest
son, ' ' whom he pressed again and again to his breast, sighing
and weeping a deluge of tears, as he kissed him for the last
time."

The executions of Northumberland, Sir John Gates, and
Sir Thomas Palmer, took place on 22nd August, on Tower Hill.
The prisoners were first delivered over to the Sheriffs of London
by the Lieutenant of the Tower. As soon as the Duke was con-
fronted with Sir John Gates, he exclaimed, " Sir John, God
have mercy on us, for this day shall end both our lives, and I
pray you forgive me whatsoever I have offended, and I forgive
you with all my heart. Although you and your counsel was a

headquarters were in the Tower, and took their titles from the districts in
which they were raised.

1 Machyn's Diary, p. 42. The paragraph ends with a reference to their
attendance at Mass : " And at the same tym after was send for my lord mer
and the aldermen and the cheyffest of the craftes in London, and dyvers of the
counsell, and ther was sed mas [Mass] a-for [before] the Duke and the rest of
the prisoners." Was it the sudden arrival of the news that Northumberland
was about to return to Catholicism that occasioned the postponement of the
execution, in the hope that the Queen, touched by his conversion, might spare
him ? Most historians, however, assign the 2Oth as the date of the recanta-
tion, which would mean of course that it took place before the postponement
of the execution, described by Machyn as having occurred on the 2ist.

3o8 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

great occasion thereof (i.e. ' of my troubles "). Well/'
returned Gates, " I forgive you all, as I would be forgiven,
and yet you and your authority was the original cause of it,
altogether, but the Lord pardon you, and I pray you forgive
me." They then bowed to each other, and the Duke, who
was garbed in " swan-coloured (i.e. grey) damask," went
forward to the scaffold, looking dejected. Bishop Heath,
crucifix in hand, walked with him. On the way, when they
were outside the Tower gates, a woman rushed forward, and
waving in his face a handkerchief, which had been dipped in
the blood of Somerset, cried out, ' Behold, the blood which
thou did cause to be unjustly shed, does now apparently begin
to revenge itself on thee ! ' The guards dragged her away,
and the condemned proceeded on their way to Tower Hill.
On the scaffold, the Duke took off his outer cloak, and leaning
over the rail, on the east side, made his farewell speech to the
people, of which several versions exist. He admitted that he
had been " an evil liver " ; begged the Queen's forgiveness,
kneeling ; alluded to his accomplices, and would not name
them ; regretted his religious errors ; professed his attachment
to the Catholic Church, asking the Bishop of Worcester, Heath,
to bear witness to his sincerity, to which the prelate answered
" Yea" ; and finally, asking all to pray for him, he knelt
down, and recited the De Profundis, after which he made the
sign of the cross, in the sawdust of the scaffold, and stooped
and kissed it. Then, rising, he bared his neck, tied true hand-
kerchief over his eyes, and, turning to the executioner, said he
was ready. The fellow, who was lame in one leg, took good
aim — and in a flash, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland,
was no more. Sir John Gates would not have his eyes
bandaged, and died a fearful death, after three blows from
the axe. Palmer was beheaded at one stroke. Both made
lengthy speeches, in which they styled themselves staunch
Catholics. It is said that when the horrible scene was over,
children came and dipped cloths in Northumberland's blood,
to be preserved as a memorial of him, and this despite his
unpopularity.1

1 A very quaint account of the Duke of Northumberland's execution,
published in Paris in 1558 by a French priest named Stephen Perlin, contains,
though full of inaccuracies, some details not to be found in other contemporary

THE LAST DAYS OF NORTHUMBERLAND 309

A pathetic incident occurred in connection with the burial
of the Duke's remains. One of his servants, John Cock,
sufficiently attached to his memory to have a care for the
whereabouts of his last resting place, waited upon Queen Mary
and prayed her to command that his master's head should be
given to him. ' In God's name/' answered Her Majesty,
somewhat irate, ' ( take the whole body as well, and give your
lord proper burial." Acting on this permission, Cock took
Northumberland's corpse and laid it to rest in the Church of
St. Peter-ad-Vincula, beside the coffin of the Duke of Somerset !

reports. " The afore-mentioned prisoners," says he, " were taken to the
Tower. The mob called the milor Notumbellant [sic] vile traitor, and he eyed
them furiously with looks of resentment. Two days afterwards [an error ;
he entered the Tower on 25th July, and was tried on i8th August] he was taken
by water in a little bark to Ousemestre [Westminster], a Royal palace, princi-
pally to indict and try him ; his trial was not long, for it did not last more than
fourteen days at most [there is no reason to suppose it lasted so long] ; and he,
the Duke of Suphor [Suffolk], and the milor Arondelle were condemned by an
arrest of the Council to be beheaded in an open space before the castle of the
Tower ; and they had all three [they were really executed at widely different
periods ; see the text] the pain of seeing one under the hands of a hangman,
before whom a whole kingdom had trembled, which, reader, was a lamentable
spectacle. This hangman was lame of a leg, for I was present at the execution,
and he wore a white apron like a butcher. This great lord made great lamenta-
tions and complaints at his death, and said this prayer in English, throwing him-
self on his knees, looking up to Heaven, and exclaiming tenderly, ' Lorde God
mi fatre prie fort ous poore siners nond vand in the hoore of our teath,' [so in
the original : it seems to be a ludicrous mixture of the Lord's Prayer and the
Hail Mary] which is to say, in French, ' Lord God my Father, pray for us men
and poor sinners, and principally in the hour of our death.' After the execu-
tion you might see little children gathering up the blood which had fallen
through the slits in the scaffold on which he had been beheaded. In this
country the head is put upon a pole, and all their goods confiscated to the
Queen."

CHAPTER XIX

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE

THE writer of the Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen
Mary relates that he dined with Queen Jane in
" Partridge's House/' on 27th August, and inci-
dentally mentions her evident resentment at her father-in-law's
apostacy. This chronicler appears to have been a resident
in the Tower, and a friend of Partridge. He writes : "I
dined at Partridge's house with my Lady Jane being there
present, she sitting at the board's end, Brydges, his wife,
Sarah, my lady's gentlewoman and her man, she commanding
Brydges and me to put on our caps [sic}. Amongst our
communications at this dinner, this was to be noted. After
she had once or twice drunk to me and bade me heartily
welcome, saith she: 'The Queen's Majesty is a merciful
Princess ; I beseech God she may long continue, and send His
bountiful grace upon her/

" After that we fell to discussing matters of religion, and
she asked, ' What he was that preached at Paul's on Sunday

before ' [a blank], and so it was told her. ' I pray you/

quoth she, ' have they Mass in London ? '

" ' Yea, forsooth/ quoth I, ' in some places.'
" ' It may be so/ quoth she. ' It is not so strange as the
sudden conversion of the late Duke, for who would have
thought he would have so done ? '

" It was answered her, ' Perchance he thereby hoped to
have had his pardon/

" ' Pardon/ quoth she, ' Woe worth him. He hath brought
me and our stock in most miserable calamity, and misery by
this exceeding ambition. But for the answering that he hoped
for life by turning, though others be of the same opinion, I
utterly am not,for what man is there living, I pray you, although

310

\

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 311

he had been innocent, that would hope of life in that case —
being in the field against the Queen, in person as general, and
after his taking, so hated and evil spoken of by the Commons,
and at his coming into prison, so wondered at, as the like was
never heard by any man's time ? Who was judge that he
should hope for pardon, whose life was odious to all men ?
But what will ye more ? Like as his life was wicked and full
of dissimulation, so was his end thereafter. I pray God I, nor
no friend of mine, die so. Should I, who am young and in
the flower of my years, forsake my faith for love of life ?
Nay, God forbid. Much more he should not, whose fatal
course, though he had lived his just number of years, could
not have long continued. But life was sweet, it appeared, so
he might have lived, you will say, he did not care how. Indeed,
the reason is good, for he that would have lived in chains to
have had his life, belike would leave no other means attempted.
But God be merciful to us, for He sayeth, ' Whoso denieth Him
before man, He will not know him in His Father's Kingdom/

" With this and much other talk, the dinner passed away,
which ended, I thanked her Ladyship that she would vouchsafe
to accept me in her company, and she thanked me likewise,
and said I was welcome. She thanked Brydges also for
bringing me to dinner. ' Madam/ said he, ' we are all some-
what bold, not knowing that your Ladyship dined before,
until we found your Ladyship there/

A little later, that is, at the end of September and in
October, Lady Jane's hopes of release may have risen, for
Mary had returned from St. James's Palace to the Tower, for
the Coronation. There is no evidence that she ever came
into personal contact with Lady Jane Grey after the friendly
visit to Newhall in the summer of 1552. If so interesting an
event had taken place, there would surely be some trace of it ;
some account, however brief, of the broken words poor Jane's
trembling lips uttered, when she, the Queen-usurping, and
Mary, the Queen-Regnant, stood face to face. But since
there is no contemporary mention of such a meeting, we must
conclude it never occurred, even at this time, when Jane was
awaiting an uncertain fate in one corner of the Tower, while
Mary was receiving the homage of the hypocrite Councillors
in its State chambers.

312 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

A wave of unusual heat swept over England during the
summer of 1553, accompanied by storms of extreme violence.
Jane must have felt the sultriness in her prison, and have
gladly accepted the refreshing walks in the Queen's garden,
which not only brought her amid the last roses of summer,1
but into contact with the busy life of the Palace-fortress, so
that she must have seen many of the preparations for the
forthcoming Coronation. It may well have occurred to her
that, had fate been less cruel, all this coming and going might
have been in her honour, and she, instead of the triumphant
Mary, might have gone forth to Westminster, the first Protestant
Queen of England. And the Coronation ceremony itself-
surely some gossip told her all about that ? How stately was
the procession of 30th September, in which nearly all the
erstwhile ardently Protestant Privy Council of King Edward,
now staunch Papists every one, surrounded the most Catholic
Mary, garbed in their official bravery, and proclaiming them-
selves more orthodox than her Papistical Majesty herself ;
Lord Russell with his big beaded rosary at his waist — that
rosary, which on a famous occasion, hearing Mary might very
likely order his share of the Church lands to be handed back to
the monks, he cast, with a fierce oath, upon the fire ! They
must have told the Lady Jane how fair and gracious Elizabeth
looked in her golden chariot lined with crimson, her robes of
pale blue velvet threaded with silver ; how Anne of Cleves
scintillated with jewels, and how sixty grand dames, in ruby
velvet and ermine, with coronets on their heads, rode in the
gorgeous procession to Westminster. They must have told
her, too, how the charity children, who had sung Calvinistic
hymns a week or so ago, now tunefully invoked the blessings
of the Saints upon their Catholic Sovereign ; how the French
Ambassador, Noailles, rode near to the famous Renard, the
sly fox who represented the Emperor, and contributed to
bring about Jane's death ; how my Lady of Sussex carried
the Queen's crown and the Lord Mayor her sceptre ; how the
people thought the old Duke of Norfolk looked much changed
since he had last appeared in his official robes ; how my Lord
Edward Hastings had been made Master of the Horse, and

1 The beauty and quantity of the roses in the Tower gardens is made
particular mention of in contemporary documents.

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 313

led the Queen's milk-white palfrey ; how the Protestant Mrs.
Bacon had obtained Cecil's pardon, and how Mrs. Barnett,
Sir Thomas More's granddaughter, helped to robe the Queen ;
how Gog and Magog had condescended to leave Guildhall and
go to the Tower gates, where they saluted the Queen, and how
Gog's head had nearly wobbled off his gigantic shoulders ; how
three thousand yeomen, in the apple green and white of the
House of Tudor, and three hundred Beefeaters from the Tower,
in scarlet and black, had added a brilliant touch to the sumptu-
ous procession ; how there were so many giants in the wayside
pageantry, along the route from the City to Westminster,
that people talked about it as a weird contrast, since the Queen
was of such low stature as to be almost a dwarf ; how among
these giants was a colossal angel ten feet high, all clothed in
gold foil, sent by the Florentine merchants to grace a triumphal
arch in Fenchurch Street ; and how, in conclusion, Noailles,
true Frenchman as he was, had waxed excited over the
splendours of the Queen's jewels, and annoyed because Eliza-
beth walked next to her ! And the scene in the Abbey next
day, surely Lady Jane heard all about that ? — how Gardiner,
fresh from the Tower, crowned the Queen — which was deemed
an ugly omen, for both Canterbury and York were in prison,
and no King of this land had ever yet been crowned by a mere
Bishop ! They must have told the young prisoner how
brilliantly the banquet went off ; how Dymoke, hereditary
champion of England, rode into the Hall, armed cap-d-pie,
and championed the Queen's right ; how, no one taking up the
challenge, the Queen drank to him ; how the old Duke of
Norfolk, in true mediaeval fashion, rode into the Hall, too, and
ushered in the first course of the elaborate meal ; how Anne
of Cleves, weighed down with heavy pearls, rubies and emeralds,
sat next Elizabeth, who had precedence of everybody after
the Queen ; and how Hey wood, the dramatist, had returned
from exile to superintend the revels and masques. All that
holiday, poor Jane's ears must have ached with the boom of
cannon,1 and the pealing of bells, and the shouts of the guards
and servants, as they sang and banqueted and drank, and
lighted a big bonfire on Tower Hill. Probably the gossips

1 Wriothesley says the cannonading and gun-firing on this occasion was
positively deafening.

314 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

told her too of the scandals, the tales of petty intrigues, quarrels,
and heart-burnings, the little shames and mortal sicknesses,
which the Muse of History has disdained to record, but which
were of greater interest, one fancies, to the fair prisoner, than
the broader effects of the gorgeous pageant which boded so
little good for her.

Jane's parents and friends, were buoyed up with the hope
that soon after her Coronation, Mary would liberate her young
cousin, and her husband ; and the Queen, her detractors to
the contrary, did make a strong effort to save Lady Jane Grey
and Guildford. When, either late in July or in August 1553—
very soon after Jane's fall — Renard, the Imperial Ambassador,
had an audience with the Queen (probably at Newhall or
Wanstead), and opened the question as to what was to become
of the little usurper, the Queen answered, " she never could
be induced to have her executed, because three days before
she left Sion House, she had deemed herself to be the victim
of intrigues." Neither, said she, was Jane the daughter-in-
law of Northumberland, because she had been validly contracted
to another person ; and had taken no part in the Duke's enter-
prise, and was " innocent." The wily Renard, who had for-
merly backed Jane's party, but now wished to destroy her,
answered that very probably the contract of marriage had been
invented as an excuse, and that she must at least be kept a
prisoner, as her liberation would give rise to a great deal of
trouble and endanger the Realm, and the Catholic religion.
The Queen's answer was, that Lady Jane would not be liberated,
without every necessary precaution having been taken to
avoid all difficulties. Upon this speech being reported to the
Emperor, he reiterated his advice — given in a letter of 2oth
July — that all who were implicated in Northumberland's plot
should be put to death.1

1 A rare French book entitled Nouveaux Eclaircissements sur I'Histoire de
Marie Reine d'Angleterre, says of this interview: " Elle [Mary] lui [Renard]
dit, qu'elle ne pouvait se resoudre a faire mourir Jeanne de Suffolck [Lady
Jane Grey], qu'on lui avait assure, qu'avant d'epouser le fils du due de Nort-
umberland, elle avait ete promise en mariage a un autre par un Contrat
obligatoire, qui rendait son second mariage nul ; d'ou Marie concluait, que
Jeanne n'etait pas veritablement belle-fille du due de Nortumberland. Elle
ajouta qu'elle n'avait eu aucune part a 1'entreprise de ce due, & qu'elle se
f erait conscience de la faire mourir, puisqu'elle etait innocente. Simon Renard

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 315

Noailles, also, spoke to Her Majesty about Lady Jane's
position, and she repeated that she " intended to spare her."
" After all," said she, " the marriage with Guildford is invalid,
since she was already contracted to a youth in the employ
of the Bishop of Winchester " — ung serviteur de I'Eveque de
Wincestre. Was Hertford ever in Dr. Gardiner's employ ?
Even after she had received the Emperor's despatch, crying
for vengeance on all the participants in the late usurpation,
Mary wrote, on 2Qth August, to Dr. Wotton, our Ambassador
to France, ' ' that she would see Jane was kept safe, and that
before giving her liberty, she would see that she was innocuous" ;
but on I gth September, the Imperial Ambassadors wrote rather
jubilantly that at last the Queen is determined to execute
' the five sons of Dudley and Jane of Suffolk." There was
still hope, however, for on 5th November, Renard writes that
being at supper with the Venetian Ambassador, he heard it
said that ' the four sons of Northumberland, were to be
executed, but that Robert might be pardoned, and that he
thought Jane, too, would not be executed." This was as it
should be, for Robert Dudley was of all Northumberland's
sons, the least guilty, his share in the conspiracy being a very
light one. We may add that in a letter preserved in the
Corsini Library at Rome, Cardinal Pole says he has lately
heard that Queen Mary was desirous of saving " Lady Jane
Suffolk," as he calls her. There is not a tittle of evidence
that Mary at any time gave it to be understood, either to Lady
Jane or to others, that she would be pardoned if she embraced

lui repliqua qu'il etait a craindre, qu'on n'eitt imaging cette promesse obliga-
toire pour lui sauver la vie, & qu'il fallait au moins la retenir prisonnidre,
parce qu'il y aurait beaucoup d'inconvenients a lui rendre la Iibert6 . . . La
Reine repondit . . . qu'a 1'egard de Jeanne de Suffolck, on ne la mettrait pas
en liberte, sans avoir pris toutes les precautions necessaires, pour qu'il n'en
put resulter aucun inconvenient. Le Lieutenant d'Amont [i.e. Renard] ayant
rendu compte a 1'Empereur de cette conversation, ce Prince insista de nouveau
dans sa reponse . . . de punir sans misericordes tous ceux qui avaient
entrepris de lui enlever la Couronne, & ceux qui avaient contribue a la mort
du Roi." [The latter phrase evidently refers to the widespread but un-
authenticated idea that Edward vi had been poisoned by Northumberland.]
The author or compiler of the book from which this is takenwas one P£re Griffet,
who flourished in the eighteenth century, and having discovered a number of
Simon Renard's dispatches in the Royal Library at Besangon, wrote this
work in answer to David Hume's attack on Queen Mary : it was published
at Amsterdam in 1766. There is no copy of it in the British Museum.

316 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the Roman Catholic religion. Religion had little or nothing
to do with the matter ; the charge against Jane was, that she
had usurped the throne — treason — and treason to the Queen
was a purely secular offence. The Emperor's desire for Jane's
death, was actuated by a fear that if she were set at liberty,
she might once more be used as an instrument against Mary's
legitimate pretensions, since the late King had named her
his successor in his " Devise." The reason why the Council
shared the Emperor's opinion, and had urged Mary to sign
Lady Jane's death-warrant was, that it was anxious to show
its whole-hearted zeal for Mary, and entirely dissociate itself
from Jane's claims. Let it not be forgotten by those who would
blame our severe judgment of the Council's behaviour, that
the very men who now urged the Queen to destroy Jane 1
and her husband, and who attended Masses with the utmost
unction, had not only been staunch Protestants a few months
previously, under Edward vi, but Janeites of the hottest
during the first two or three days of Jane's brief reign. Beset
on all sides, Mary Tudor yielded at last, and, when the sentence
had been passed, reluctantly signed the death-warrant.

Before that, however, a Writ of Habeas Corpus was issued
on the evening of nth November, commanding John Gage,
Constable of the Tower, ' to bring up [i.e. to Guildhall, two
days later, for their trial] the bodies of the accused, to wit,
Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, Jane Dudley, Guildford
Dudley, Ambrose and Henry Dudley.'' The document bore
the signatures of Thomas White, Mayor, and Thomas, Duke
of Norfolk.

On I3th November 1553, Jane Grey, Guildford Dudley,
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lords
Ambrose and Henry Dudley, were arraigned at Guildhall
for the offences cited in the official indictment already men-
tioned. The accused left the Tower on foot early in the day,
in the company of Sir Thomas Brydges. Lady Jane was
attended by her women, and together with her companions

1 Poinet, the Protestant Bishop of Winchester, says in truth that " those
lords of the Council who had been the most instrumental at the death of
Edward vi, in thrusting royalty upon poor Lady Jane, and proclaiming Mary
illegitimate, were now the sorest forcers of men, yea, became earnest councillors
for that innocent lady's death." See Strype, vol. iii. part I, p. 141.

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 317

in misfortune, was escorted through the thronged streets by
four hundred halberdiers. She was dressed in a black cloth
gown, the cape lined and edged with velvet. Her coif was of
black velvet made like a hood, after the French fashion ;
a book bound in black velvet — probably it was a Bible or
prayer book, hung by a chain from her girdle. She held
another open in her hand, *on the pages of which she constantly
kept her eyes fixed. Her two women, also dressed in black,
walked behind her. Cranmer led the procession, walking
between two gentlemen, and immediately behind, the Gentle-
man-Chief Warder, who bore the axe ; Guildford, in a black
velvet suit slashed with white satin, followed his wife, and
with him were the two Lords Ambrose and Henry Dudley,
though separated from him by officials and guards. Florio,
an Italian writer, who witnessed Jane's trial, declares her
behaviour to have been most dignified. Even the ordeal of
passing on foot through the densely-crowded streets did not
affect her composure. Within Guildhall there was a great array
of lords, prominent among them the old Duke of Norfolk,
who after his long and enforced absence from official life, once
more enjoyed the privilege of sitting on the Bench as High
Steward and Earl Marshal. His aged eyes had mirrored, not
only the State trials of two previous Queens of England,
Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, but also the bloody
death of the first-named, whilst his ears had heard the fire
crackling round Anne Askew.

On entering Guildhall, the prisoners and their attendants
and guards were conducted by an usher with the usual cere-
mony, to the upper part of the fine old hall, where Lady Jane,
owing to her royal rank, was granted the privilege of a chair
draped with scarlet cloth, and a footstool ; her women stood
beside her. Cranmer was placed, according to regulation,
in a railed-off pew or box by himself, which separated
him by a light barrier from the Lords Guildford, Ambrose
and Henry Dudley. The ' innocent usurper/' although
naturally awed by the stately dignity of the scene, may have
sought among the many faces present those of not a few she
had known all her brief life, and who had even caressed her
in her childhood, or been obsequious to her in her ominous
Queendom. There sat the aged head of the house of Howard ;

318 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

then came the Earls of Derby, Bath, and Hastings ; Sir
Richard Morgan, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,1 who sat
with the other Judges and men of law in their furred robes of
office ; Nicholas Hare, Master of the Rolls ; a little further on,
the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, in their crimson satins and velvets,
and their costly sables and glistening chains ; then, a crowd
of noblemen and gentlemen and officials, filling up nearly
the whole of the space at the top of the hall, the body of which
was reserved for privileged persons, whilst the lower part
nearest the entrance was given over to the mob, with diffi-
culty kept in order by the halberdiers and other guards.
The sacred emblems of the ancient Faith, which had been cast
out under Edward vi, were restored by this time ; and before a
small altar, on which stood a crucifix, and six golden candle-
sticks, the Lord Mayor's Chaplain opened proceedings, whilst
all knelt, with the ' Veni, Sancte Spiritus," and other prayers

1 Sir Richard Morgan, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Lady Jane's
judge, was a Catholic. The date of his birth is not known. He was admitted
to Lincoln's Inn on 3ist July 1523, and called to the Bar in 1529. From 1545
to 1547 and again in 1553 he represented Gloucester in the House of Commons.
He was arrested and confined in the Fleet Prison on 24th March 1551, for the
offence of attending Mass in Princess Mary's chapel, but was soon released with
a caution. In 1553 he joined Mary's party at Kenninghall, and when the
Queen came to her own he was knighted [2nd October 1553]. Later in the same
year he was placed on the commission to inquire into Bishop Tunstal's appeal ;
and in November he tried and passed sentence of death on Lady Jane Grey
and others. Sir Richard Morgan retired from the Bench in October 1555.
In the following year (according to Foxe, Book of Martyrs, iii. p. 37) " Judge
Morgan, that gave the sentence against hir [Jane], shortly after fell mad, and in
hys raving cryed continuallye to have the ladie Jane taken away from him,
and so ended his life." His death is mentioned in Holinshed, 1577 edition,
p. 1733. Machyn (Diary, p. 106) records Morgan's funeral in the following
terms : " The ij day of June was bered at sant Magnus at London bryge ser
Richerd Morgayn knyght, a juge and on [one] of the preve consell unto the
nobull Quen Mare, with a harold [herald] of armes bayryng ys cott armur, and
with a standard and a penon of armes and elmett, sword, and targatt ; and
iiij dosenof skochyons, and ij whytt branchys and xij torchysandiiij gret tapurs,
and xxiiij pore men in mantyll ffrysse gownes, and mony in blake ; and
master chansseler of London [a certain Dr. Darbishire] dyd pryche." Morgan
also appears in Machyn as being present at a sermon on 5th November 1553,
" The v day of November dyd pryche master Feknam [Feckenham] at sant
Mare overays afor non [at St. Mary Overies before noon], and ther where at ys
sermon the yerle of Devonshyre, ser Antony Browne, and juge Morgayn and
dyvers odur nobull men " [p. 48]. The same writer makes mention of a Francis
Morgan, Judge of the Queen's Bench, who died in 1558, and may have been a
relation of the Chief Justice.

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 319

in Latin. The reading of the indictments followed, and after
a pause between each, the prisoners were arraigned to plead
guilty or otherwise ; but Cranmer, crying out in a loud voice,

' Not Guilty ! ' the other prisoners also pleaded " Not Guilty ! '
As the counts of the indictment were matters of general know-
ledge, no witnesses were brought forward on either side, nor
were the prisoners cross-examined, nor was any defence made.
A jury, consisting of citizens of Middlesex, was empanelled
and sworn. After an absence of about twenty minutes they
returned, giving as their verdict that the " sufficient and
probable evidence ' was in favour of the Queen's Grace, and
that they therefore returned a verdict of guilty. On this,
Archbishop Cranmer, standing up, reversed his previous plea,
and admitted his offence — an example which was speedily
followed by the other prisoners, who one and all pleaded

' Guilty ! ' Then sentence was pronounced by Chief Justice
Morgan, whose voice is said to have trembled considerably,
especially as he came to that fearful portion of it, in which
Lady Jane was condemned to be burnt alive, or beheaded,

' as the Queen shall please/1 The luckless victim heard her
doom with sublime meekness and dignity. Cranmer and
Guildford were condemned to be hanged at Tyburn, but a
pardon was extended to the Lords Ambrose and Henry Dudley.
Then, after the recitation of the De Profundis, the Court rose,1

1 This description of the trial is mainly derived from the original documents
in the Baga de Secretis, Pouch xxiii., in the Public Record Office, Chancery
Lane, London ; from various contemporary descriptions of previous and
subsequent State trials ; and from ancient and contemporary engravings of
similar scenes. There is, unfortunately, an utter lack of documentary
evidence of a personal character connected with this trial, for, unlike these of
the Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, it was not of a domestic
character, and there was neither cross-examination of witnesses or prisoners
nor defence : the facts were of public knowledge and as such handed to the jury,
who, after considering them, gave the only verdict possible under the circum-
stances, guilty. Thus, this celebrated trial is divested of those many touches
of dramatic interest and human pathos which characterise the records of the
trials of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. Machyn's account of Jane's
trial is very brief, and is in part destroyed. He says (p. 48) : " [The I3th
of November were arraigned at Guildhall Doctor Cranmer, Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Lord] Gylfford Dudlay, the sune of the Duke of Northumber-
land, and my lade Jane ys wyff, the doythur of the Duke of Suffoke-Dassett,
and the Lord Hambrosse Dudlay, and the Lord Hare Dudlay, the wyche lade
Jane was proclamyd Queen ; they all v wher cast for to dee [die]."

There is a contemporary account of the procession to the Guildhall, which

320 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the prisoners were ceremoniously re-conducted to the door
of the hall, and escorted back to the Tower, in much the same
order as that in which they had come thence— but the axe
was reversed ; a sign of condemnation which deeply mov
the populace, especially with pity for young Dudley and
his consort. How weary must have been that tramp
to the fortress, especially to one so young, and in such
frail health, as the unfortunate Lady Jane ! To Guildford
Dudley, too, the journey must have been exceeding par
for he was in the full vigour of early youth ; and the terrible
words of the sentence presented to his imagination that
final scene with which, like most men of his time, he was
but too familiar. Cranmer must long since have reahsec
his days were numbered ; but he was as yet mercifully spared
the knowledge of the gruesome nature of the end in store for

him.

There is, however, no indication that Jane and
were treated with any greater severity than hitherto, and
Mary, even after the condemnation, was certainly still
willing to put her cousin to death. She might, in fact, have
been saved even then from capital punishment, at all events,
if not from imprisonment, if the Wyatt rebellion and the Duke
of Suffolk's indiscreet behaviour had not given colour to the
opinion entertained by the Emperor and the Council, that
Jane's freedom and very existence were a menace to Mary's
safety, and compelled the unwilling sovereign to inflict the
utmost penalty of the law.

In December, Guildford and his brother Robert were

runs as follows : " The xiijth dale of November were ledd out of the Tower on
foot to be arrayned, to yeldhall, with the axe before theym, from theyr ware
[prison], Thomas Cranmer, archbushoppe of Canterbury,

[blank].

" Next followed the lorde Gilforde Dudley between . . . [blaxLCj.

" Next followed the lady Jane, between . . . [blank] and hir ij ge

women following hir.

" Next followed the lorde Ambrose Dudley and the lorde
" The lady Jane was in a black gowne of cloth, tourned downe, the
lyned with fese velvett, and edget about with the same, in a French ho
all black, with a black byllyment, a black velvet boke hanging befon
and another boke in hir hande open, holding hir . . ." [the entry

here].

See also Bishop Burnet's History of the Reformation.

•

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 321

' allowed the liberty of the leads ' ' of the Bell Tower : which
most likely means that they were permitted to walk on the
terrace-like space on the ballium wall between the Bell and the
Beauchamp Tower. Cranmer and Ridley — because they had
been " evill of their bodies for want of ayre " — shared the
right of walking in the Queen's Garden with Lady Jane, and
Ridley even dined with the Lieutenant ; but it is unlikely
that either he or Cranmer were allowed converse with Jane
Grey, whose spiritual adviser, we know, was Dr. Feckenham —
not Abbot of Westminster at this time, as generally stated,
but Dean of St. Paul's,1 — whom the Queen had expressly dele-
gated to attend on her unfortunate cousin, in the hope of
converting her to the Catholic faith.

Towards the end of the year 1553, Lady Jane is said to have
written that coarsely violent epistle to Dr. Harding, once
her tutor and her father's chaplain, which will be found in
Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. iii., p. 27. Harding was a
most unblushing turncoat ; a Protestant and leading Reformer
under Edward vi, under Mary — when his old patron's power
was broken — his Popish opinions were as extreme as his
Protestantism had been fierce. According to some historians,
this letter is wrongly attributed to Lady Jane, and certainly
its wording, of a vulgar polemic type, has nothing in common
with the Christian forbearance and piety of her undisputed
compositions. It is difficult to believe Jane Grey can have
used such expressions as " thou deformed imp of the Devil,"

' sink of sin," ' white-livered milksop," and even worse, hurled
at Harding by the writer of this virulent epistle, more likely to
have been the production of Hales, that stalwart hater of
Rome," than of the gentlest of princesses.

Christmas must have been a dismal season for the poor
prisoners, whose hopes of pardon were failing, and who realised
that the New Year about to open would be their last on earth.
Jane's thoughts flew back, in the long dull evenings, to the
merry scenes of her Yuletide at Tylsey, two years previous,
and to the cheery games and sports at her father's mansion
at Sheen, only twelve short months ago ! And beautiful
Bradgate with its lovely park, the scenes of her childhood,

1 Dr. Feckenham was not installed as Abbot of Westminster until November
1556.

21

322 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

her happy lessons with Aylmer, all must have come back to
the lonely captive. Before the New Year was a week old,
stirring events were happening in the great world beyond the
Tower walls. The Queen's early popularity was already on
the wane. Her obstinate determination to marry Philip of
Spain had sore offended her people, who, in the Midland
counties, began to rise openly against the " Spanish match."
The Duke of Suffolk, thanks to his wife's intercession, and
his own zeal in proclaiming Mary, had been set free after
three days' imprisonment, and was residing at Sheen. Be-
thinking herself that he would make a good leader of her
troops against the rebels, Mary sent for him to take command.1
The Queen's messenger reached Sheen on 25th January 1554,
and summoned the Duke to Court. His answer was, " Marry,
I was coming to her Grace. Ye may see, I am booted and
spurred, ready to ride, and I will but break my fast and go."
He then gave the messenger a present and some refreshment,
and himself departed, accompanied by his brothers, the Lords
John and Leonard Grey,2 — but instead of going to the Queen
in London, he galloped with some fifty followers into Leicester-
shire and Warwickshire, and made an attempt to rouse the
population into open revolt against the Queen's marriage.
That he " proclaimed Jane in every town he passed through '
is not true. He swore he had never swerved from his loyalty
to Mary, and it seems certain that he told the Mayor of
Leicester the Queen was ( the mercifullest prince that ever
reigned." He rebelled against the Spanish marriage and
against that only. The people of the Midlands, however,
notwithstanding his bribes, did not rally to him to any extent
— his own men deserted him. The Earl of Huntingdon took
the field against him, and after a defeat near Coventry, he had
to fly for his life. He reached his own estate of Ashley, and
threw himself on the mercy of Underwood, his pa-k-keeper,
who saved him, for a few days, by hiding him in a hollow tree
in the park, where, according to Pollino, he was nearly starved
to death. One of his brothers, who had managed to escape
with him, was hidden under a pile of grass or hay. At last,
thanks to Underwood's treachery and to the noise made

1 See Rossi, I Successi d'Inghilterra, p. 44, et seq.

8 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 37.

QUEEN MARY AT THE PERIOD OF HER MARRIAGE

FROM THE PAINTING BY ANTONIO MOR IN THE PRADO MUSEUM

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 323

by a dog which persisted in barking at the foot of the tree
where the unhappy Duke was concealed, the two brothers
were delivered up to Warner, Mayor of Coventry, who handed
them over to the Earl of Huntingdon.1 They were brought to
London, and reached the Tower on 6th February,2 towards
the conclusion of the Wyatt rebellion. As he passed through
London the Duke looked, we are told, more dead than alive,
" pale as a ghost and shivering."

Some mystery surrounds the motives of Suffolk's mis-
guided action. He does not seem to have intended, as has
been frequently but wrongly represented, to reconstruct a
party in favour of his daughter, Lady Jane.3 Perhaps, after
all, he was sincerely incensed at the Spanish match, fearing
it would undo all the work of the Reformation, to which
he was honestly attached. It is presumable, too, that a
conspiracy existed to place Princess Elizabeth on the throne,4
which, Suffolk may have hoped, would lead to the release

1 A dispatch of Renard's of 8th February (given by Griffet), confirms t
account, saying : " Le due de Suffolck avail assembU un corps de troupes &> q
ques Gentilshommes de son parti, pour soutenir la rebellion : il fut attaqut par
comte Addincton [a mistake for Huntingdon], qui s'etait declare pour la Reine ;
&> il perdit, dans ce combat, tous ses soldats sans exception, son argent 6- son
equipage. Ce Due s'enfuit avec ses deux freres, &> se voyant poursuivi, il se cacha
dans le creux d'un arbre, ou il fut decouvert par un chien qui ne cessait d'aboyer
autour de cet arbre. Un de ses freres fut pris pareillement sous un tas de foin, &
tous deux furent mis dans la Tour de Londres, avec un grand nombre d'Officiers <&»
de Seigneurs."

z Machyn says (p. 54) : " The same day [Shrove Tuesday, 6th February]
cam rydyng to the Towre the Duke of Suffoke and ys brodur by the yerle of
Huntyngton [i.e. in the Earl of Huntington's charge] with iii. C. [three hundred]
horse."

He also tells us that on the same day " was ij hanged upon a jebett in
Powles churche yerd ; the on [one] a spy of Wyatt, the thodur [the other] was
under-shreyff of Leseter, for carryng letturs of the duke of Suffoke and odur
thinges."

3 Mary was, however, so firmly convinced that this was his object that in the
orders to Lieutenants of Counties to proclaim as traitors Henry, Duke of
Suffolk, the Carew brothers, Wyatt and others (dated 26th January 1554), they
are described as having " threatened her destruction and to advance the Lady
Jane Grey and her husband." These last words are significant, in view of
Guildford's pretensions to regality.

4 Griffet says : "Le due de Suffolck fut le premier a decouvrir lui-meme tous les
secrets de la conspiration. II ecrivit sa confession, & la fit remettre a la Reine,
en implorant sa clemence ; &> il declara, que les conjures ne se proposaient rien
mains que de mettre Elisabeth sur le trdne." There can be no mistaking the
meaning of this statement.

324 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

of his daughter and son-in-law. The result, however, was
entirely opposite. The knowledge of this movement, com-
bined with Wyatt's rebellion, enabled the Spanish party to
force Mary's hand and oblige her to put Lady Jane and her
young husband to death.1 Mary affixed her signature to the
" Nine Days' Queen's " death-warrant on the very day which
saw Suffolk led a prisoner into the Tower.

The terror and anxiety with which Jane received the news
of her father's arrest and imprisonment may be better im-
agined than described. Did she ever see him again ? There
is no trace of such an interview, but we possess the MS. of a
letter she wrote him on the fly-leaf of a prayer book. She
was certainly very much attached to her father, but it is
significant that she never attempted to see her mother, nor
wrote, nor even alluded to her. And whereas the petitions
of the wives of the Dudleys — including, by the way, that of
Amy Robsart, wife of Lord Robert Dudley — to see their
husbands in the Tower, are still extant, and were readily
granted — no document exists to prove that the Duchess of
Suffolk ever made any attempt to visit either her daughter
or her son-in-law in their prison. Perhaps she was otherwise
and more agreeably engaged !

There was a great commotion and consternation in the

1 Renard, in a dispatch of the 8th February, as given by Griffet, says indeed
that " Jeanne de Suffolck, dont elle [Mary] avail epargne les jours, contre I'avis
de VEmpereur Charles-Quint, fut sacrifice a la necessiU d'dter aux rebelles, <&•
aux ennemis du Gouvernement, une idole qu'ils etaient fdchee de n'avoir pas
maintenue sur le trdne. Son mari fut execuU le meme jour."

Besides, Gardiner says that Suffolk himself bewailed " with impatient
dolours not only his own woe, but the calamity his folly had brought on his
daughter." Godwin, however (Rerum Anglicarum Henrico VIII, Edwardo VI
et Maria, Annals, p. 217), throws the blame of Jane's troubles more on her
mother than on her father : " Hunc exitum habuit I ana, majorum titulis illustris
fcemina, sed virtute et ingenii nobilitate longe illustrior, qua dum Virtici et
imperiosce mains ambitioni obsequitur . . . funestum sibi regince sumpsit"

The consensus of historians, nevertheless, lays the blame on Suffolk's ill-
advised attempt at rebellion. Bishop Burnet, writing in 1680 (History of the
Reformation, vol. ii. 437) says : " Indeed the blame of her death was generally
cast on her father rather than on the Queen, since the rivalry of a crown is a
point of such niceness, that even those who bemoaned her death most could
not but excuse the Queen, who seemed to be driven to it, rather from considera-
tions of State, than any resentment of her own . . . He [Suffolk] would have
died more pitied for his weakness, if his practices had not brought his daughter
to her end."

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 325

Tower during the Wyatt rebellion, when London presented a
spectacle not unlike that of Paris during certain of the greatest
outbursts of the Reign of Terror. Lady Jane and the other
State prisoners, most of whom had attendants, who, after
due ransacking of their persons, were allowed to pass in and
out of the Tower and its wards, were well acquainted with
the details of that extraordinary attempt on the part of a youth
of only twenty-three summers, not to overthrow the legitimate
sovereign indeed, but to prevent her marriage with Philip of
Spain, soon to be called King of Naples. The Queen's courage
in risking her person in defence of her rights hajl won the hearts
of the people, opposed though they were to the Spanish
alliance, and the Wyatt crusade was, in every sense, a useless
and a foolish one. Never, however, since the tumultuous
days of Jack Cade had London been so disturbed as during
the early months of the year 1554. On 7th February Wyatt
and his men were as near the Tower as South wark, where they
sacked the shops and destroyed Bishop Gardiner's library,
so that they stood " knee deep among the tattered leaves of
his precious volumes." Later in the day, when the rioting
had got as far as Charing Cross, so great and shrill was the noise
of the shouts of men and of the cries of frightened women and
children, " that it was heard to the top of the White Tower ;
and also the great shot was well discerned there out of St.
James's field." * " There stood upon the leads there [i.e. of
the White Tower]/' continues the same Chronicler, ' the
Lord Marquess [of Northampton], Sir Nicholas Poyns, Sir
Thomas Pope, Master John Seamer and others. From the
battle, when one came and brought word that the Queen
was like to have the victory, and that the horseman had dis-
comfited the tale of his enemies, the Lord Marquess for joy
gave the messenger ten shillings in gold, and fell in great
rejoicing."

We may imagine the anxiety of the condemned prisoners in
the Tower. If Wyatt were victorious, they might yet be
saved by a change of administration, that would send Mar>
flying abroad for her life, and bring Princess Elizabeth to the
throne. Wyatt 's object was to seize the Tower, but alas !
poor .man, when he had approached it as near as the Belle

1 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 5°«

326 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Sauvage Yard, on Ludgate Hill, he collapsed on the bench
of a fishmonger's shop, was swiftly seized and cast into
durance, in that very fortress whence he hoped to proclaim
his victory over ' Spanish tyranny.55 The prisoners in the
Tower must have heard a hundred tales of the appalling
retaliation practised on the promoters of the rebellion ; of
the scores of men hanged in bunches at the street corners l ;
of the bloody heads stuck on London Bridge, and even in front
of the Queen's palace at St. James's. They may even have
seen Wyatt and his fellows enter the Tower. Guildford, too,
since he had the same privileges as Northampton, may have
heard the cries of the frightened populace in those days of
hot rebellion, from the leads of the White Tower, where he
was allowed to take the air, and whence he could see beyond
the precincts over on to Tower Hill without.

Jane may likewise have learnt with considerable distress
that the Earl of Huntingdon and many other Catholic courtiers
— all the Spaniards, for instance — were permitted to attend
Mass in the Tower chapel; and that this, to her, idolatrous cere-
mony had replaced the plain Communion service of Edward vi
in most of the churches of London, and indeed, throughout
the length and breadth of the kingdom. She must also have
heard with disgust that half London was going in procession
nearly every day, with banners, copes, " imauges," and lights,
praying for fine weather.

Unfortunately little is known about the death-warrant of
Lady Jane Grey and her husband. The date of its signature
would seem to have been 6th February — the very day, as we
have said, that Suffolk was brought back a prisoner into the
Tower — a confirmation of the statement that it was his in-
discreet action which eventually decided Queen Mary to put
Lady Jane to death. The warrant itself and the text have dis-
appeared. All we know is that the document unceremoniously
described the unfortunate young couple as " Guildford Dudley

1 Machyn tells us (p. 55) that " The xij day of February was made at every
gate in Lundun a new payre of galaus [gallows] and set up ... the xiiijth
day of February were hangyd at evere gatt and plasse : in Chepe-syd vj ;
Algatt j, quartered ; at Leydyhall iij ; at Bysshope-gatt one, and quartered ;
Morgatt one ; Crepullgatt one ; Aldersgate one, quartered . . ." and so forth,
giving a total of about forty-eight, three being hanged at Hyde Park Corner,
but none at Tyburn.

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN JANE 327

and his wife " ; and named Friday, Qth February 1554, as
the day of execution. The Queen signed the document at
Temple Bar, whither it was brought by the Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs. How Mary came to be at Temple Bar on this occasion
is not clear, but as Her Majesty is not likely to have performed
her dread duty in the middle of the street, it is probable that
the warrant received her signature in the office of the Duchy
of Lancaster, just beyond Temple Bar. If this is the case, the
actual chamber in which the dramatic event occurred still ex-
ists, in the upper storey of the quaint old house now used as a
barber's shop and recently restored (externally) to its original
condition by the removal of a lath and plaster facade, dating
from the early eighteenth century, which masked the fine
Tudor front that now lends so picturesque a note of medievalism
to modern Fleet Street. For a long time this chamber was
believed to have been of the reign of James i, but a close ex-
amination of the scheme of decoration revealed the monogram
of Prince Arthur, younger brother of Henry vm, and from this
we may conclude the building to have been the office of the
Duchy of Lancaster, of which this young Prince was treasurer,
and which is known to have stood hereabouts. This is the
origin of the tradition so popular in London a generation ago,
that the house in question was " the palace of Henry vm and
Cardinal Wolsey " ; who may indeed have forgathered there
for business purposes, but who certainly never inhabited the
building.

CHAPTER XX

THE SUPREME HOUR !

D Dr. Feckenham Mary assigned the melancholy
task of announcing her hopeless position to Jane
Grey. This duty he performed on 8th February,
the day before that originally fixed for the execution, at the
same time exhorting her to prepare for death. The little
victim of great iniquity is said to have learnt her doom with
Christian resignation and princely dignity. She did not fall
into a consternation as when her accession to the throne was
announced to her at Sion, but listened, dry -eyed, to
the worthy prelate's awful words. The call to another world
was more welcome, doubtless, to her weary spirit than had
been that other summons to an earthly throne. Her life, she
told Feckenham, had long been a living death, and the sooner
it ended the better — " I am ready to receive death patiently,"
she said, ' ' and in whatever manner it may please the Queen
to appoint. True, my flesh shudders, as is natural to frail
humanity, at what I have to go through, but I fervently hope
the spirit will spring rejoicingly into the presence of the Eternal
God, Whp will receive it." She pleaded for her husband ; " he
was innocent," she said, " and had only obeyed his father in
all things." Finally, she expressed her desire to see a minister
of her own religion, and prayed that during her last hours she
might not be troubled by the presence of any Roman Catholic
priest or prelate, since " she had no time for that." Mary,
however, was resolved that no minister of the Reformed
religion should visit her cousin, but she had made a judicious
choice in sending Dr. Feckenham, a liberal-minded man of
the gentlest manners,1 to minister spiritual consolation to

1 Fuller says he was " earnest yet modest." Feckenham had been im-
prisoned by Henry vm for his adherence to papal supremacy, until Sir Philip

328

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 329

her. Though the numerous pictures representing the tragic
scene of Jane's death generally depict Feckenham as a dignified
old man with a long white beard, he was in reality a short,
stout, " comfortable-looking " elderly gentleman, with a close-
shaven red face, and twinkling eyes. A devout Catholic, he
desired, no doubt, to convert his illustrious prisoner to his own
faith, and even Pollino, who must have been well acquainted
with all that the Catholic party had to say on the subject,
says that Lady Jane and Feckenham held long conversa-
tions on the subject of the Eucharist, one on which Lady Jane
held distinctly Protestant views : but there is no evidence
that, as some historians allege, she ever engaged in a discussion
on matters of faith and doctrines with Feckenham in a hall
of the Tower set apart for that purpose, and in the presence
of an assembly of learned Catholic prelates and theologians.
We may be sure that any controversy between Lady Jane
Grey and Dr. Feckenham, either in the last week of her life or
at any other time, took place in the privacy of her own apart-
ment. Florio, the Protestant Italian historian, who has written
a life of Lady Jane Grey — concocted out of Foxe's Book of
Martyrs and other similar works, — prints at the end of his
book a dialogue between Lady Jane and Feckenham on the
subject of Transubstantiation, and this conversation is also
given in Harris Nicholas's Literary Remains of Lady Jane
Grey. This is most likely a report dictated by some one to
whom Jane communicated the substance of what passed
between herself and the Benedictine. Dr. Feckenham has
left his own account of what took place, and admits that in
the course of several lengthy conversations with Jane on
matters of dogma, by means of which he had hoped to convert
her to Catholicism, he had been deeply impressed by her
gentleness, her dignity, and her evident sincerity.

Feckenham obtained the respite of three days, generally
given in such cases, and the execution was postponed until
Monday, i2th February. On his informing Jane of what he
had done, she is said to have replied, " Alas, sir ! I did not
intend what I said to be reported to the Queen, nor would I
have you think me covetous for a moment's longer life ; for

Hoby, whom we have seen advocating a Protestant monarch, " borrowed
him out of the Tower."

330 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

I am only solicitous for a better life in Eternity, and will
gladly suffer death, since it is her Majesty's pleasure."
Feckenham, it appears, had misunderstood the phrase, ' ' she
had no time for that," as meaning that Jane might be disposed
to listen to his religious teaching if allowed more time for its
consideration ; and had therefore requested the respite granted
by the Council. But she proved no more amenable to the
worthy priest's arguments on the last day than on the
first.

Lord Guildford Dudley, unlike his stoical wife, received
his sentence with a flood of tears. Of all the* victims of
this terrible tragedy, he was, in truth, the most inoffensive.
The poor lad had done no harm, except to obey the instruc-
tions of his father and mother — especially in respect to
his foolish attempt at Brussels, which was probably the
real cause of his condemnation — and there was nothing, now
that his father was removed, to be gained by putting him to
death. Except by his marriage, he was not connected with
the royal family ; he was therefore not in the line of succession,
and his liberation would not have involved the slightest
danger to Queen Mary or her throne. His execution may be
described as a useless murder, even a darker stain on Mary
Tudor and her advisers — the Emperor Charles v, his agent
Simon Renard, and the Council — than that of Lady Jane Grey,
who certainly might have been used again, in the near future,
as the tool of some unscrupulous statesman. Mary, as we
have said, was herself perfectly willing, almost to the last, to
spare both Guildford and his wife, but their chance of pardon
was ruined by the Duke of Suffolk's abortive rebellion. Had
he obeyed Mary's orders, put himself at the head of her
troops, remained loyal, and defeated the rising in the Midlands,
as Huntingdon eventually did, his children's lives would
doubtless have been spared by the grateful sovereign.

The original order, as we have seen, was that Jane and
Guildford should perish together on Tower Hill. Harris
Nicholas seems to think the plan was abandoned because the
Council dreaded the effect of the prisoners' youth and inno-
cence on the populace. This view has been adopted by other
writers, but the real motive of the change was a matter of
political etiquette. Lady Jane was of the Blood Royal, and

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 331

therefore entitled to be executed within the precincts of the
Tower, on the Green where the two Queens of Henry vin and
the old Plantagenet Princess, Margaret of Salisbury, had been
beheaded. Guildford, on the other hand, on the paternal side
of even plebeian origin, could only be decapitated without
the Tower.

On the evening of the day originally fixed for the execution
(Friday, gth February), Jane wrote the following letter to her
father, in which she herself holds him responsible, through
his rashness, for her death : —

" FATHER, — Although it hath pleased God to hasten my
death by you, by whom my life should rather have been
lengthened, yet can I patiently take it, that I yield God more
hearty thanks for shortening my woeful days, than if all the
world had been given into my possession, with life lengthened
at my own will. And albeit I am well assured of your im-
patient dolours, redoubled many ways, both in bewailing your
own woe, and especially, as I am informed, my woeful estate ;
yet, my dear father, if I may without offence rejoice in my own
mishap, herein I may account myself blessed, that washing
my hands with the innocence of my fact, my guiltless blood
may cry before the Lord, ' Mercy to the innocent/ And yet,
though I must needs acknowledge that being constrained,
and, as you know well enough, continually assayed ; yet, in
taking [the Crown] upon me, I seemed to consent, and therein
grievously offended the Queen and her laws, yet do I assuredly
trust, that this my offence towards God is so much the less,
in that being in so royal estate as I was, my enforced honour
never mixed with mine innocent heart. And thus, good
father, I have opened unto you the state in which I presently
stand, my death at hand, although to you it may seem woeful,
yet to me there is nothing that can be more welcome than from
this vale of misery to aspire to that heavenly throne of all joy
and pleasure, with Christ our Saviour : in whose steadfast
faith (if it be lawful for the daughter so to write to the father),
the Lord that hitherto hath strengthened you, so continue
to keep you, that at last we may meet in heaven with the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. — I am, Your obedient
Daughter till death, JANE DUDLEY "

332 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

Jane probably spent Sunday (loth February) in prayer
and meditation ; or perhaps as an unwilling listener to
Feckenham's exhortations. The next day Gardiner, preaching
before the Queen, then at Whitehall, blamed her for what he
considered her leniency. He ' axed a boon of the Queen's
Highness, that like as she had before extended her mercy
particularly and privately, so through her lenity and gentleness
much conspiracy and open rebellion was grown, according to
the proverb nimia familiaritas parit contemptum ; which he
brought then in, for the purpose that she would now be merciful
to the body of the commonwealth, and conservation thereof,
which could not be, unless the rotten and hurtful members
thereof were cut off and consumed." 1

Some communication seems to have reached Jane from
her ruined home on this Sunday, for in consequence of the
transports of grief into which her sister, Lady Katherine,
was plunged, she wrote that evening the following beauti-
ful letter, on the blank pages at the end of her Greek
Testament : —

" I have sent you, good sister Katherine, a book, which,
although it be not outwardly rimmed with gold, yet inwardly
it is more worth than precious stones. It is the book, dear
sister, of the laws of the Lord ; it is His Testament and last
Will, which He bequeathed unto us wretches, which shall lead
you to the path of eternal joy, and if you, with a good mind,
read it, and with an earnest desire follow it, shall bring you to
an immortal and everlasting life. It will teach you to live,
and learn you to die ; it shall win you more than you should
have gained by the possession of your woeful father's lands,2

1 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 54.

2 This allusion to a possible inheritance by Lady Katherine of her father's
possessions, does not, as Miss Strickland thinks, " prove that the insurrection
of Suffolk was intended to replace Jane on the throne." " If," says that writer,
" it had been in favour of any other heiress or heir, it is not likely that the Lady
Jane would have rested under the attainder and surrendered the means of her
subsistence to increase her younger sister's portion. Moreover, if Jane had
been the sovereign of England, she would scarcely have claimed a third
portion of her father's inheritance." As a matter of fact, what Jane wrote
proves nothing ; Lady Katherine, had Suffolk kept out of political strife,
would, after Jane, have inherited his fortune, which was confiscated at his
arrest. Jane simply penned this sentence to make the contrast stronger

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 333

for as if God had prospered him, ye should have inherited his
lands, so if you apply diligently [to] your book [i.e. the Bible],
trying to direct your life after it, you shall be an inheritor
of such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you,
neither the thief shall steal, neither yet the moth corrupt.
Desire, sister, to understand the law of the Lord your God.
Live still to die, that you by death may purchase eternal life ;
or after your death enjoy the life purchased [for] you by
Christ's death ; and trust not the tenderness of your age
shall lengthen your life, for as soon, if God will, goeth the young
as the old ; and labour alway to learn to die. Deny the world,
defy the devil, and despise the flesh. Delight yourself only
in the Lord. Be patient for your sins, and yet despair not.
Be steady in faith, yet presume not, and desire with St. Paul
to be dissolved and to be with Christ, with whom even in death
there is life, ^e like the good servant, and even at midnight
be waking ; lest when death cometh and stealeth upon you,
like a thief in the night, you be with the evil servant found
sleeping, and lest for lack of oil ye be found like the first
foolish wench,1 and like him that had not on the wedding
garment, and then be cast out from the marriage. Resist
[sin] in ye [yourself] as I trust ye do, and seeing ye have the
name of a Christian, as near as ye can, follow the steps of your
master Christ, and take up your cross ; lay your sins on His
back, and always embrace Him ; and as touching my death,
rejoice as I do, and assist [perhaps, ' consider '] that I shall
be delivered of this corruption, and put on incorrupt ion, for I
am assured that I shall for losing of a mortal life find an im-
mortal felicity. Pray God grant you [and] send you of His
grace to live in His fear, and to die in the love [here is an
illegible passage, perhaps made so by fast falling tears], neither
for love of life, nor fears of death. For if ye deny His truth
to lengthen your life, God will deny you, and shorten your
days ; and if ye will cleave to Him, He will prolong your
days, to your comfort and His glory, to the which glory
God bring mine and you hereafter, when it shall please God
to call you.

between the mutability of the things of this world, and the unchangeability of
that better land to which she knew she was hurrying.
1 This is an^allusion to the parable of the foolish virgins.

334 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

' Farewell, good sister, put your only trust in God, who
only must uphold you. — Your loving sister,

" JANE DUDLEY "

The precious volume containing this letter is fortunately
the property of the nation, deposited in the MS. department
of the British Museum.

In the British Museum 1 there is also a small and beautiful
MS. vellum prayer book, imperfect in one or two pages. Four
inches in length, and nearly two inches thick, bound in red
morocco, and richly ornamented, it contains thirty-five dis-
tinctly Protestant prayers. The catalogue of the Harleian
Collection states that it " was perhaps written by the direction
of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Protector of
England, upon his first commitment to the Tower of London ;
and that the last five prayers were added after his second
commitment, which ended in his execution/' On the margin
of several pages, not more than three lines occupying the same
leaf, are a series of interesting autographs. The first of these
is in the hand of Lord Guildford Dudley, and runs as follows :-

" Your loving and obedient son wisheth unto your grace
long life in this world, with as much joy and comfort as ever
I wish to myself ; and in the world to come, joy everlast-
ing.— Your most humble son till his death,

" G. DUDLEY "

It has been conjectured from this inscription that Guild-
ford presented the book to his father-in-law, on the occasion
of his wedding with Lady Jane ; unless the inscription was
addressed to his father, Northumberland. It is also supposed
that the Duke of Suffolk, having received it from Guildford,
left it behind him after his release from his three days' imprison-
ment in the Tower. Others say that Sir John Gage, Constable
of the Tower, gave it himself to his prisoners, so that they
might write something in it for him to keep in remembrance
of them. It was certainly in Jane's possession for some time,
for she carried it with her to the scaffold ; and it contains
in her hand, a solemn farewell to, and prayer for, her father,
in the following terms : —

1 British Museum, Harleian Collection, No. 2342.

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 335

" The Lord comfort your grace, and that in his word,
wherein all creatures only are to be comforted. And
though it hath pleased God to take ij of your children, yet
think not, I most humbly beseech your grace, that you
have lost them ; but trust that we, by leaving this mortal
life, have won an immortal life. And I, for my part, as I
have honoured your grace in this life, will pray for you in
another life.1 — Your grace's humble daughter,

" JANE DUDLEY "

Shortly before proceeding to her execution, Jane's kindly
jailor, Sir Thomas Brydges, begged her to give him something
to keep in memory of her ; whereupon she offered him this
very prayer book, and at his request wrote in a third sentence :

' Forasmuch as you have desired so simple a woman to
write in so worthy a book, good master Lieutenant, there-
fore I shall as a friend desire you, and as a Christian require
you, to call upon God, to incline your heart to His laws,
quicken you in His ways, and not to take the word of truth
utterly out of your mouth. Live sMll to die, that by death
you may purchase eternal life ; and remember how the
end of Methuselah, who as we read in the Scriptures was
the longest liver that was of a manner, died at the last.
For, as the preacher saith, there is a time to be born and
a time to die ; and the day of death is better than the day of
our birth. — Yours as the Lord knoweth as a friend,

" JANE DUDLEY "

Finally, at some time or other during her imprisonment,
Jane wrote three further inscriptions on the last page of this
book in Latin, Greek, and English, which run as follows : —

The Latin — " If justice is done with my body, my soul will
find mercy with God."

The Greek — " Death will give pain to my body for its sins,
but the soul will be justified before God."

1 This declaration of her intention of praying for her father in the next
world suggests a survival of some Roman Catholic ideas in Jane's theology ;
and one cannot imagine that it would have been exactly approved by the more
extremely Protestant of the Reformers.

336 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

The English — " If my faults deserve punishment, my
youth at least and my imprudence were worthy of excuse.
God and posterity will show me favour." 1

It was on this, the last Sunday evening of her unhappy
life, that Jane wrote the well-known prayer, which, although
quoted in full by Foxe and Howard, is not now extant in
Lady Jane's own hand, and may therefore, like several letters,
etc., attributed to her, be apocryphal.2

The few details we possess as to the acts of other State

1 This book was either mentioned to Florio, or seen by him, for he has trans-
lated these three touching sentences into Italian in his Historia di Giana Gvaia.

2 It is said that Jane scratched some verses on the walls of her apartment
with a pin, but, although numerous devices inscribed by the unfortunate
persons who have at different times been the inhabitants of the Tower
were discovered in divers parts of it some years ago, during alterations, not
the slightest trace of these verses were found. This does not, however, prove
that they never existed, and as they are constantly attributed to Lady Jane,
we have thought it best to reprint them here : —

" Non aliena putes homini qua obtingere possunt ;
SOYS hodierna mihi, eras erit ilia tibi."

This has been thus translated : —

" To mortals' common fate thy mind resign,
My lot to-day, to-morrow may be thine "

These lines are also paraphrased as follows : —

" Think not, O mortal ! vainly gay,

That thou from human woes art free ;
The bitter cup I drink to-day,

To-morrow may be drunk by thee."

The following is also said to have been written by Jane in like manner : —

" Deo juvante, nil nocet, livor mains ;
Et non juvante, nil fuvat labor gravis,
Post tenebras, spero lucem" :

Which has been translated in two ways : —

" Whilst God assists us, envy bites in vain,
If God forsake us, fruitless all our pain —

I hope for light after the darkness."
Or:—

" Harmless all malice if our God be nigh,

Fruitless all pains if He His help deny,
Patient I pass these gloomy hours away,
And wait the morning of eternal day."

In the Beauchamp Tower, in that room which was occupied by Northumber-
land, the name " Jane " appears twice, cut into the wall. It has been said
that this was the work of Lord Guildford Dudley, but it is more probable that
it was carved by Northumberland, his faithful wife's name being Jane.

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 337

prisoners, implicated in Northumberland's plot, on the day of
their execution, are lacking in the case of Lady Jane ; no
record has come to us of how she slept on her last night of life ;
of those who were present at her last mournful meal. How-
ever, enough has been reported by contemporary writers to
enable us to reconstruct the events of the later portion of the
day, when the hour of the execution drew near. It is clearly
stated that Lord Guildford Dudley made an attempt to see his
wife before his death, and even informed his guards of his
desire to do so. Hearing of this, Mary sent word, 'on the very
morning of the fatal day, that " if it would be any consolation
to them, they should be allowed to see each other before their
execution." When this concession was communicated to Lady
Jane she declined it, saying ' ' it would only disturb the holy
tranquillity with which they had prepared themselves for
death " ; and unnerve them for the supreme moment. At the
same time she sent a message to Guildford to the effect that
such a meeting " would rather weaken than strengthen him " ;
that he ought to be sufficiently strong in himself to need no
such consolation ; that " if his soul were not firm and settled,
she could not settle it by her eyes, nor confirm it by her words ;
that he would do well to remit this interview till they met in a
better world, where friendships were happy and unions in-
dissoluble, and theirs, she hoped, would be eternal." But
Jane took her stand at the window of her room to watch
her husband pass, a little before ten o'clock, to his doom on
Tower Hill. Sir Thomas Brydges stood by her, as she waved
her hand to Guildford. Burke (Tudor Portraits) says,
but without naming his authority, that ' ' like his father and
brothers," Guildford Dudley, " recanted his supposed Pro-
testantism whilst in the Tower " ; and that " he was attended
to the scaffold by two Benedictine Fathers/' Other and earlier
writers do, indeed, declare that Guildford received Communion
according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church before
his death ; but The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen
Mary makes no mention of this recantation, and clearly says
no minister of any religion attended at Guildford Dudley's
execution.1 At the Bulwark Gate of the Tower (its outside

1 The Protestant chaplains appointed under Edward vi had at this time
been replaced by Benedictine monks.

22

338 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

entrance), Guildford was met by Sir Anthony Browne and Sir
John Throckmorton, and several other gentlemen who had
assembled to bid him farewell, and with whom he shook hand;
" pleasantly." Here, too, Sir Thomas Offley, the Sherifl
Middlesex, in accordance with precedent,1 took charge of
prisoner. The mob that in those days invariably assem
to witness such sinister functions, was on Tower Hill in its
hundreds, nay thousands, to see the poor boy beheaded,
looked very handsome, in his suit of black velvet
with dark coloured cloth : his tall and youthful figure
pressed the people most favourably, and a murmur of sympathy
ran through the motley throng. Guildford did not attempt
to make a speech. He knelt down and said his prayers-
simple prayers he had learnt as a child— and, it was sa*
he shed some tears at the thought of dying so young,
But despite the youth's natural emotion, he faced deat
bravely. He begged the "good people' to pray for
took off his doublet himself, unfastened his collar with his
own hands, knelt on the straw, stretched out his graceful
limbs laid his head on the block ; and in an instant, with 01
stroke of the axe, his spirit passed into Eternity.2
stained corpse, covered with a sheet, was thrown into a turn!
or handcart filled with straw, and his head, wrapped in a

cloth, was cast at its feet.

And now a horrible incident occurred. Whethe
accident or design,3 Jane caught a glimpse of her husband's

i The Bulwark Gate marked the boundaries of the County of Middlesex

» - me monuay, ucux6 the xij of Februarie, about ten of the dock ther
went out of the Tower to the scaffolde on Tower Hill, the lord Guildforc
Dudley sone to the late Duke of Northumberland, husbande to the lady Jai
Gray daughter to the Duke of Suffoke, who at his going out tooke by
hande sir Anthony Browne, maister John Throgmorton, and many othe,
gentyllmen, praying them to praie for him, and without the bulh
Offeley the sheryve receyved him and brought him to the scaffolde where
after a small declaration, having no gostlye father with him, he knee
downe and said his praiers, then holding upp his eyes and
many tymes, and at last, after he had desyred the people to pray foi
he laide himselfe along, and his hedd upon the block, which was at ,
stroke of the axe taken from him." -The Chronicle of Queen Jane an

^it has been stated that this additional horror was commanded by Queen
Mary herself, but the charge is absolutely without foundation.

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 339

mutilated remains as they were carried into the Tower for
interment. We have several versions of this story : some
say she saw the body taken out of the cart x and carried into
St. Peter's Chapel, whilst a passage in Graf ton 2 lends colour
to the belief (adopted by many historians, including Turner
and Nicolas) that she met the corpse as she was herself pro-
ceeding to the scaffold. What most likely happened is, that
she was waiting to be summoned by the Lieutenant of the
Tower and the Sheriffs, when she heard the rumbling of cart
wheels, and before her attendants could prevent her, rushed to
the window, and beheld the hideous sight, without, however,
it seems, expressing any great emotion. " Oh Guildford,
Guildford ! ' we are told she exclaimed, " the antepast that
you have tasted, and I shall soon taste, is not so bitter as to
make my flesh tremble ; for all this is nothing to the feast
that you and I shall partake this day in Paradise."

The direful procession which was to conduct a young and
innocent Princess of the Blood Royal, of barely seventeen
summers, to the foot of an ignominious scaffold, was formed
according to established precedent. But for some unex-
plained reason, it was nearly an hour late in starting from
Partridge's house to the place of execution, opposite the
Church of St. Peter-ad-Vincula, where, since that day, countless
pilgrims from the Old and New Worlds have paused to ponder
a moment over the fate of Lady Jane Grey, and have learnt
to hate Mary Tudor with an almost personal detestation.
The delay may have resulted from the state of nervous
prostration into which the unfortunate Princess had been
thrown by the sight of her husband's mangled remains. It
would have been impossible, even in those hard times, to convey
the victim to execution if she had swooned. It was nearly

Turner, amongst others, was of opinion that " the meeting with the bleeding
body was purely accidental."

1 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary says : " Guildford's carcass
was thrown into a carre, and his hed in a cloth, he was brought into the
chappell within the Tower, wher the Lady Jane, whose lodging was in Part-
ridge's house, dyd see his ded carcass taken out of the cart, as well as she dyd see
him before a lyve going to his death, a sight to hir no lesse than death."

1 The Lord Guildford Dudley's dead carkas lyin in a carre in strawe was
againe brought into the Tower at the same instant that my Ladi Jane his wyfe
went to her death within the Tower, which myserable sight was to her a duble
sorrowe and grief e.' '

340 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

eleven o'clock, then, before the drums began to beat, and the
procession fell into order.

The morning had dawned grey and misty, heavy clouds
veiling the sun that now and then shone feebly athwart them,
but it was fairly fine for London at that early season, and no
rain fell throughout the day. The bells of St. Peter-ad- Vin-
cula, and of All Hallows', Barking, tolled at regular intervals,
whilst the grand outline of the White Tower stood out
luminous against the threatening sky, as the dread procession
wended slowly onwards. First, came a company of two
hundred Yeomen of the Guard ; then, the executioner, in a
tight-fitting scarlet worsted and cloth garment, displaying
the swelling muscles of his chest, arms, and legs ; 1 his face
was masked, and his head hooded in scarlet. Beside him
marched his assistant, a rough-looking man, who carried the
axe over his shoulder ; then Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant of
the Tower, with Sir Thomas Brydges, Deputy-Lieutenant,
and between them Sir John Gage, Constable of the Tower,
with two Sheriffs, in their robes of office. Lastly, the young
prisoner herself, dressed as on the occasion of her trial at the
Guildhall in the same black cloth dress, edged with black
velvet, a Marie Stuart cap of black velvet on her head, with a
veil of black cloth hanging to the waist, and a white wimple
concealing her throat ; her sleeves edged with lawn, neatly
plaited round the wrists. Not wearing chopines to increase
her height, as on the occasion of her State entry into the
Tower, the people who had not seen her since were greatly
surprised at her diminutive stature. On her right walked
Abbot Feckenham, in his black robe, without a surplice, and
carrying a crucifix in his hand. Behind him came the Chap-
lains attached to the Chapel Royal of the Tower. Lady
Jane's ladies, Mrs. Tylney and Mrs. Ellen, and Mrs. Sarah ;
two other women and a man-servant, all in deep mourning,
and weeping bitterly, closed the doleful procession. The route
was a short one, and the crowd of spectators — about five hun-
dred— allowed to be present at the execution, was silent and
respectful. From Partridge's house to the scaffold, the Lady
Jane continued to read the open Prayer-Book in her hand-
it was that containing the various inscriptions already

1 He is said to have been of almost gigantic height, and very powerful.

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 341

mentioned — and paid little or no heed to Feckenham's pious
exhortations, if, indeed, he made any.

At the foot of the scaffold stood a jury of forty matrons,
who had been previously called upon to testify that the
Princess was not with child ; a rumour that she was in this
condition was so widespread as to be mentioned by Radcliffe
-who says, ' Lady Dudley was very brave, considering the
condition she was in " — and by Fuller, Pomeroy, Challoner,
and Fox. The presence of these matrons is also mentioned by
Bishop Godwin. There is no record of the presence of the
Duke of Norfolk in his usual seat as Earl Marshal, but no
doubt he was there with Lord Mayor White and several
Aldermen, Sheriffs, and noblemen. Before ascending the three
or four steps that led to the scaffold, the Lady Jane took leave
of her ladies, who sobbed bitterly ; Mrs. Ellen and Mrs. Tylney
followed her on to the platform, ominously littered with fresh
straw. Here Feckenham, the executioner, and his assistant
also took their stations, with Sir Thomas Brydges. " When
she appeared on the scaffold," writes a contemporary, " the
people cried, and murmured at beholding one so young and
beautiful about to die such a death." Nevertheless, though
the writer of The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary
says ' her countenance [was] nothing abashed, neither her
eyes misted with tears," there can be little doubt but that
the long spell of anxiety had left some trace on Jane's sweet
face. She advanced to the edge of the scaffold, and in the
dead silence spoke in a distinct voice : ' Good people, I am
come here to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same.
My offence against the Queen's Highness was only in consent-
ing to the device of others, which is now deemed treason ;
but it was never of my seeking, but by the counsel of those
who should seem to have further understanding of such things
than I, who knew little of the law and less of the title to the
Crown. The part, indeed, against the Queen's Highness was
unlawful, and so the consenting thereunto by me ; but touching
the procurement and desire thereof by me, or on my behalf, I
do wash my hands thereof in innocency before God and in the
face of you, good Christian people, this day," and therewith
she wrung her hands in which she had her book. Then she
continued, ' I pray you, all good Christian people, to bear

342 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

me witness that I die a true Christian woman, and that I
look to be saved by none other means, but only by the mercy
of God, in the merit of the blood of His only Son Jesus Christ ;
and I confess that when I did know the Word of God, I neglected
the same, loved myself and the world, and therefore this plague
of punishment has worthily happened into me for my sins ;
and yet I thank God of His goodness that He hath thus given
me a time and respite to repent. And now, good people,
while I am living, I pray you to assist me with your prayers.1'
Lady Jane's relative, Lady Philippa de Clifford, in her
little known report,1 adds that, " After a pause, and wiping

1 This little volume, which purports to give an account of the last days of
Lady Jane Grey, is quoted by Burke in his Tudor Portraits, the Lady Philippa de
Clifford being there described as the author and as a cousin of Lady Jane Grey,
who certainly had no first cousin of this name ; but among the English Bene-
dictine nuns who took refuge at Mechlin in the early part of the seventeenth
century there is a mention of a Philippa de Clifford, but of which branch of the
Clifford family it is difficult at this period to ascertain. That the little volume
exists there can be no doubt, as a copy of it was seen by the author at Brussels
a few years ago. It was written in French and apparently from notes in the
possession of its author, who, although a Catholic, says nothing disparaging
of Lady Jane's faith. Its authenticity, like that of another little volume on
the same subject quoted elsewhere, also published in Belgium, must be taken
with considerable caution. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a
sort of fashion was started in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy
for the writing of apocryphal memoirs of popular heroes and heroines : and as
Lady Jane Grey was a great favourite with the Protestants, both at home and
abroad, she has been the heroine of several of these volumes, most of which
are founded upon the famous letter to Queen Mary, quoted by Pollino. They
must not, however, be disparaged as entirely worthless, for some of them
undoubtedly contain details that have been handed down during many
generations. In the British Museum will be found a curious little volume
called The Diary of Lady Mary Grey, which also contains a number of
very amusing details concerning that unlucky lady which have all the
appearance of being absolutely true. Similar monographs exist on the lives
of Anne Boleyn, and especially of Mary Stuart ; all of these purport to be
written by attendants or persons who have derived their information from
original sources now lost. I am assured that in the Dutch libraries there are
several contemporary pamphlets on Lady Jane Grey written in the Dutch
language ; and there are also one or two in the Swiss Libraries — in the main
they all bear a strong resemblance one to the other, but differ in matters
of detail. Lady Philippa tells us, for instance, that the headsman of Lady Jane
was a man of exceptional stature ; and this is confirmed by other writers
whose work could not have been known to the author of the pamphlet in
question. For lists of the Benedictine nuns at Mechlin, etc., amongst whom
was Lady Philippa, see in the Brussels Archives: No. 11205, Prevost ; Les
Refugees Anglais et Irlandais en Belgique & la suite de la Re forme Anglaise
sous Elizabeth et Jacques 1. Gand : Messager des Scenes Historiques,

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 343

her eyes, she (Jane) said in a firmer voice, ' Now, good people,
Jane Dudley bids you all a long farewell. And may the
Almighty preserve you from ever meeting the terrible death
which awaits her in a few minutes. Farewell, farewell, for
ever more/ Jane, when she had finished speaking, was much
affected, and hid her face upon the neck of the old nurse who
attended her on the scaffold." This nurse must have been
Mrs. Ellen, into whose arms she threw herself when she first
perceived the towering figure of the masked executioner,
garbed from head to foot in scarlet. Clinging to the aged
woman, the poor girl sobbed convulsively. Growing calmer,
after a while, she knelt down, and asked Feckenham what
prayer she should recite — " Shall I say this Psalm ? " — pro-
bably pointing to her prayer-book as she did so. " Yes,"
answered he ; and then, as she and many of the people knelt,
he said the fifty-first Psalm, the Miserere, in Latin, Jane
repeating it after him in English. This done, she rose, and
said very courteously to Dr. Feckenham, " God will abundantly
requite you, good sir, for all your humanity to me, though
your discourses gave me more uneasiness than all the terrors
of approaching death." Bishop Godwin says, " Just before
she knelt down, Lady Jane embraced the venerable prelate
and thanked him for his kindness to her." She then gave
her handkerchief and gloves to Mrs. Tylney ; and turning to
Sir Thomas Brydges, said gently, ' You asked me for a parting
memory of me," and handed him the prayer-book which she
had been using and in which she had written her farewells.

The supreme moment had arrived. Without the assistance
of her two female attendants, who were too completely over-
come to assist her, she untied the collar of her gown. The
executioner offered to help her, but she curtly desired him
to desist, and turning to her ladies, spoke a few words to them.
Mastering their emotion, they took off her outer dress, leaving
her in her kirtle, or under gown with close-fitting sleeves.
They also removed her headdress (described by the old
chroniclers as a " frose paste ") and kerchief, giving her at the
same time a handkerchief to tie over her eyes. Then the
executioner knelt and besought her pardon ; she replied

1865. Also: Cachet, Catholiques Anglais et Ecossais Pensionnaires du Due
d'Alve. Bruxelles, 1850.

344 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

simply, ' Most willingly." Now came what was perhaps
the most painful episode of the horrible ceremony — the pause
of five minutes " for the Queen's mercy." The poor girl had
to stand, with the ghastly preparations for her approaching
death about her, for a space of time which, brief as it really
was, must have seemed an eternity to her, waiting for a
clemency she no longer expected nor desired. But no white
wand was waved — there was no mercy for Jane Grey ! The
five minutes ended, the executioner motioned the unfortunate
Princess to take her place upon the straw, and she, noticing
the block for the first time, began to tremble a little, and said,
as she knelt down, " I pray you dispatch me quickly," adding,
" Will you take it off before I lay me down ? " * " No, madam,"
replied the executioner. With her own hands she bound
the handkerchief about her eyes, and being now in that dark-
ness from which death would soon release her, lost conscious-
ness of where she was, and groping about for the block, asked
eagerly, " Where is it ? What shall I do ? Where is it ? '
Someone guided her to the fatal spot, and the ' ' Nine Days'
Queen," laying herself down with her fair head upon the block,
stretched out her body, and cried aloud that all might hear
her, " Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit ! " 2 A
flash, a thud, a crimson deluge on the straw-strewn scaffold
— and, as the cannon boomed, an innocent soul was borne
towards a Throne more high, and a Justice more sure than
those of Queen or Emperor ! 3

1 As Lady Jane's " neckerchief " had been taken off before, one can but
suppose that she meant to ask the headsman if he would cut her head off as she
knelt with her body upright, as was sometimes done, and not with her head on
the block. " Before I lay me down " may be a mistake for, " Without that I
lay me down." We may add that there is no mention in any contemporary
record of Jane's hands having been tied : probably she held them clasped in
the attitude of prayer.

2 An old book, entitled, The Ende of the Ladie Jane Dudlie on the Scaffulde,
which was printed at Antwerp in 1 560, says her last words were, " I die in peace
with all people ; God save the Queen." It is more probable, however, that the
pious Lady Jane used the religious ejaculation printed above.

3 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary thus describes Lady Jane's
last moments : " By this tyme was ther a scaffolde made upon the grene over
agaynst the White Tower for the saide Lady Jane to die upon. . . . The saide
Lady being nothing at all abashed, neither with feare of her own deathe, which
then approached, neither with the ded carcase of her husbande, when he was
brought into the chapell, came forthe the Lieutenant leading hir, in the same

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 345

There are several conflicting accounts of what subse-
quently happened. The more generally received version is
that the body was handed over to Lady Jane's women, who
reverently placed it in a common deal coffin, and conveyed it
to St. Peter-ad- Vincula, precisely as the women of Anne
Boleyn and Katherine Howard had conveyed the mangled
remains of those slaughtered Queens. But on the other hand,
Antoine de Noailles,1 the French Ambassador, who had arrived

gown wherein she was arrayned, hir countenance nothing abashed, neither
her eyes mysted with teares, although her two gentlewomen, Mistress Elizabeth
Tylney and Mistress Eleyn wonderfully wept, with a boke in hir hand, whereon
she praied all the way till she came to the saide scafEolde, whereon when she
was mounted, this noble young ladie, as she was indued with singular gifts
both of learning and knowledge, so was she as patient and mild as any lamb
at her execution." Here the chronicler describes her gift of the book to
Brydges, etc., and continues, " Forthwith she untied her gowne. The hang-
man went to her to have helped her therwith, then she desyred him to let
her alone, turning towards her two gentlewomen, who helped her off therwith,
and also her frose paste and neckercher, geving to her a fayre handkercher to
knytte about her eyes. Then the hangman kneled downe, and asked her
forgiveness, whom she forgave most willingly. Then he willed her to stand
upon the strawe, which doing she sawe the block. Then she sayd ' I pray you
despatche me quickly.' Then she kneled downe saying, ' Will you take it off
before I lay me downe ? ' And the hangman answered her, ' No, madame.'
She tied the kercher about her eyes. Then feeling for the block, saide, ' What
shal I do, where is it ? ' One of the standers by guyding her thereunto, she
layde her head downe upon the block, and stretched forth her body, and said,
' Lord, into Thy handes I commende my spirite,' and so she ended."

1 Historians are very apt to speak of the famous French Ambassador
de Noailles, as one person, whereas in reality there were two Ambassadors of
this name, the first of whom was Antoine de Noailles, the son of Louis and
Catherine de Pierre-Bussiere, who entered diplomacy when he was quite a
young man and continued in the service until his death, which took place in
his fifty-ninth year. His tomb can still be seen at Noailles, where his ancestors
are buried. His wife, Jeanne de Gontault de Biron, is not, however, buried
with him, although her heart was placed in his coffin.

The second Ambassador to our Court of this illustrious family was Fra^ois
de Noailles, brother of the last named, who was born on 2nd July 1519. He
was a very zealous Catholic and extremely pious. He entered the Church
when he was only twelve years of age, to eventually become Bishop of Acqs
in 1556. His extraordinary ability for diplomatic intrigue led the King,
Henry n, to send him to various countries on sundry diplomatic missions, even
at the same time as his brother, and he first appeared in England on the
occasion of Mary's victory over the rebels in 1553. He remained in England
altogether about two years, and his dispatches are frequently confounded with
those of his brother. Fra^ois de Noailles died in 1 560.

Both brothers were greatly, opposed to the policy of Queen Mary, and
thought her unnecessarily harsh and cruel. On more than one occasion they
were very outspoken to her, especially in the matter of the extraordinary

346 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

in London early in the morning, passing that way about three
o'clock in the same afternoon (he was living at Marillac's old
house on the Tower Green), saw Lady Jane's half-naked
body lying abandoned on the scaffold, and was amazed at the
immense quantity of blood that had poured out of so small
a corpse.1 Peter Derenzie tells us her remains <( were left for
hours half naked on the scaffold streaming with blood, and
were placed in a deal coffin." It would seem indeed that, in
death as in life, Lady Jane Grey, the moment fortune turned
against her, was abandoned by all those, even by her own
mother, who by reason of natural ties should have rallied round
her in the hour of need. Thus after death her bleeding remains
were treated with corresponding neglect ; the puppet which was
to have made Northumberland's fortune was thrown aside, with
none to care for it, when once its purpose failed. This unusual
treatment of the body may not, however, have proceeded en-
tirely from heartlessness ; but from the difficulty and un-
certainty as to the nature of the religious service to be said over
the remains of one who, though born a Catholic, had died a
" heretic"; St. Peter's Chapel having been lately restored to the
Catholics, Jane could not be buried there without ecclesiastical
licence, and to obtain this, Feckenham probably had to see
Queen Mary, or get some sort of " permit " from Archbishop
Heath. But, granting all this, the corpse might, at least, have
been decently covered. The delay as to the burial of Jane
Grey's corpse may have given rise to the popular report that it
was transported to Bradgate, and interred there. There is no
question, however, that the body was eventually conveyed
into the Church of St. Peter-ad- Vincula and buried in the vault
which already contained the mangled remains of so many
of her contemporaries.2 Many years ago, a very small and

number of executions which took place immediately after the quelling of the
Wyatt insurrection ; and they both appear to have thought that she made her
own unpopularity by her bigotry, and her abject subservience to the wishes
of her husband.

1 Noailles was certainly not present at the execution in the Tower. He
gives, however, a very concise account of it, including her speech. His
version of the tragedy follows that of Foxe very closely.

2 Peter Derenzie states that " the corpse was interred in the Chapel of
St. Peter-ad- Vincula within the Tower, close by that of her husband, Lord
Guildford Dudley, and between the decapitated bodies of Anne Boleyn and
Katherine Howard, without any religious ceremony."

THE SUPREME HOUR ! 347

broken coffin was discovered in this vault, containing the
remains of a female of diminutive stature, with the head severed
from the body. The skeleton, which crumbled to ashes
immediately it was exposed to the effect of the atmosphere,
was surmised to be that of Lady Jane Grey, and the dust was
enclosed in an urn and placed immediately under the oval
inscription in the chancel above, which records her death.
Yet in Leicestershire, the tradition still persists that the body
was brought to Bradgate late at night, and secretly interred
in the parish church. And with this tradition, of course, is
connected the legend of the coach with the headless occupant,
said to appear before the gates of Bradgate on the anniversary
of Lady Jane's death.

Thus, in blood and in neglect, ends the tragic story of
Lady Jane Grey, one of the most popular heroines in our
history, the helpless victim of circumstance, and of the
soaring ambition of a singularly masterful and unscrupulous
man.

CHAPTER XXI

THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS

THE Reforming Leaders, who had so flattered Lady Jane
Grey when they saw a chance of her becoming Queen,
do not seem to have felt much concern at her death.
In a letter of 3rd April 1554, addressed to Bullinger, Peter
Martyr says, " Jane, who was formerly Queen, conducted her-
self at her execution with the greatest fortitude and godliness ' ' ;
Burcher, writing on 3rd March 1554 to Bullinger, casually
remarks, " I have heard, too, that the Queen has beheaded his
[Suffolk's] daughter Jane, together with her husband ; that
Jane, I mean, who was proclaimed Queen " ; lastly, a less
well-known Reformer named Thomas Lever wrote to Bullinger
in the April of 1554, that Jane had been beheaded.1 As to the
Imperial Ambassadors, Montmorency Marnix, Jehan Schefer,
and Simon Renard, they were one and all jubilant over the
death of Lady Jane, her father, and Northumberland. There
was not much sympathy ever expressed for Lady Jane among
the people. No doubt her execution was the main topic of
chatter in all the taverns of London, as well in the little dark-
some dens, down by the wharves, where seafaring men congre-
gated, as in the luxurious hostelries in Cheapside, the Strand,
Holborn, and Westminster, where rich gossips forgathered; but
of demonstrative sympathy there was none. Yet the erection
on that fateful Monday of some fifty gibbets intended for the
hanging of the Wyatt rebels did impress the hardened populace
with a sense of horror and anxiety. It marked the beginning
of the reaction against Mary, which set in violently a few
months later on with the burnings in Smithfield, to blast her
name for ever by the fearful epithet of — " Bloody/1

Let us give a parting glance to the remaining actors in

* See Zurich Letters (Parker Society), pp. 154, 515, 68<>,

348

THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS 349

this tragedy. Jane's father, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk,
was brought to trial for high treason in Westminster Hall
on 1 7th February. The indictment was for levying war
against the Queen, adhering to Sir Thomas Wyatt, in order
to depose the Queen and set the Crown on his daughter
Jane ; and having opposed the Earl of Huntingdon when the
latter was in command of the Queen's forces.1 The Duke's
defence was, that he had not attempted to proclaim Jane
during his expedition of January 1554, and had only gone out
to rouse the people against the Spaniards, which, as a peer
of the Realm, he claimed he was entitled to do. As to the
accusation of opposing Huntingdon, he answered that he did
not know that nobleman was acting under the Queen's orders :
he also took refuge behind his brother Thomas, who, he said,
had advised him to go into the country, where he would be safe
among his tenants, whereas if he remained in London he would
be sent to the Tower again. This feeble defence was not
accepted ; and Henry Fitzallan, Lord Maltravers (Lord
Arundel), the Queen's Lord Steward, who had brought the
record into court, pronounced sentence of death, as a traitor,
on that Henry Grey who had so greatly injured his sister,
Lady Katherine Fitzallan, his first and neglected wife, from
whom he was never legally divorced. He had his hour of
revenge at last ! The Duke was " much confounded at his con-
demnation " ; contemporaries inform us that when he left the
Tower he went " stoutly and cheerfully enough," but when he
re-entered Traitor's Gate " his countenance was heavy and
pensive.'1 He had not to wait long for his coup de grace. On the
following Friday (23rd February) he was brought out of the
Tower, between nine and ten in the morning, to be executed on
Tower Hill. He had some trouble with Dr. Weston, the Roman
Catholic priest Mary had appointed to accompany him to the
scaffold. When they arrived at its foot, the Duke refused to
listen to him, and even went so far as to prevent his ascending

1 Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, having ridden out of London against Mary
in company of Northumberland, was arrested at Cambridge on ipth July
and conveyed to the Tower of London a day or two later. He was indicted
with Lady Jane and the others, but was released before the following January,
by which time he had so completely re-established himself in the Queen's
favour that he was given the command of Her Majesty's troops sent into
Leicestershire against Suffolk, whom he brought back to the Tower a prisoner.

350 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the steps. Dr. Weston, however, insisted in the Queen's
name ; whereupon, with an expressive gesture of resignation,
Suffolk submitted to his presence, but the attempt to change
his religious convictions failed utterly. Dr. Weston told
him in a loud voice that the Queen forgave him, to which
the Duke replied, ' God save her Grace ! ' and the people
murmured, and some said they hoped he (Weston) would have
a like pardon. The Duke at last made a brief speech, saying
simply, " Masters, I have offended the Queen, and her laws,
and thereby I am justly condemned to die, and am willing to
die, desiring all men to be obedient ; and I pray God that this
my death may be an example to all men, beseeching you all
to bear me witness that I die in the faith of Christ, trusting
to be saved by His blood only, and by no other (sic) trumpery :
the which died for me, and for all men that truly repent and
steadfastly trust in Him. And I do repent, desiring you all
to pray to God for me, that when ye see my breath depart from
me, you will pray to God that He may receive my soul." l
After this, kneeling and raising his hands in supplication to
Heaven, he repeated the Miserere — the very Psalm his daughter
had said under like circumstances a week or so before. Then,
rising, he continued — also as she had done — saying, " Into
Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Just as he was
about to make his final preparations for death a very human
incident occurred. A man to whom he was deeply in debt
stood up and asked him, " Who will now pay me my money ? '
Well," quoth the Duke, " ask not me now, but go and see my
officers, who will, I doubt not, satisfy you." On this the man
departed, saying, ' God save your soul, Sir ! ' Suffolk now
removed his cap and neck-cloth, and to the headsman's usual
appeal for forgiveness, replied, " God forgive thee, and I
do ; and when thou dost thine office, I pray thee, do it quickly,
and God have mercy on thee." 2 Lastly, having tied a hand-
kerchief over his eyes, he knelt down and recited the Lord's
Prayer aloud, and appealing for mercy to the Throne of Grace,
Henry Grey laid his head on the block, and on the stroke
of the headsman's axe expired. Suffolk's body was laid to

1 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. ii. p. 1467.

8 It is strange and significant that both in his prayer and in his request for
haste, Suffolk should have acted exactly as his daughter had done !

THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS 351

rest in St. Peter's Chapel ; but his head, for some reason which
has never been explained, was sent to the Church of the Holy
Trinity in the Minories.1 Here it was embalmed after a
fashion, by being placed in a small vault by the altar, in the
dust of oakwood, which, as it contains a quantity of tannin,
is a strong preservative ; and when unearthed about fifty
years ago, it was sufficiently perfect for the mark of a blow
made by the axe above the actual place of severance (rather low
on the neck), to be still visible. Sir George Scharf was greatly
struck by the resemblance between this head and the portrait
of Suffolk now at Hatfield and the copy of it in the National
Portrait Gallery. The author has himself inspected the relic
closely, and recognised the resemblance to the portrait :
the exceedingly arched eyebrows and the rather weak chin
are identical : three of the teeth are perfect, the eyes are closed,
the mouth open, the head beardless and bald.

Lady Jane's uncle, Lord Thomas Grey, shared the fate of
his brother of Suffolk and of Lord Leonard Grey. At the time
of the Duke's rising, he attempted to escape to the Continent
by way of Wales ; but he got no farther than the borders of
the Principality, where he was captured, according to a con-
temporary, ' through his great mishap and folly of his man
who had forgot his cap case with money behind him in his
chamber one morning at his inn, and, coming for it again,
upon examination what he should be, it was mistrusted that
his master should be some such man as he was indeed, and
so he was stopped, taken, and brought up to London."
Lord Thomas, however, took no very prominent part either
in the rebellion in Warwickshire, or in the previous attempt
to establish Lady Jane on the throne ; and it is difficult to
understand why he should have been sacrificed, especially
when Lord John Grey, who had been caught as it were red-

1 Did the Duchess of Suffolk cause her husband's head to be removed to
his own house, which stood on the site now occupied by the buildings adjacent
to this Church ? The mansion in question had been the convent of the Order
of Religious known as the Poor Clares, or in Latin, Sorores Minores (from which
' Minories " has been formed) and was given to Suffolk by Edward vi. The
Church known as Holy Trinity was the convent chapel. It is not altogether
improbable that the Duchess had the head brought there ; on the other hand,
Suffolk's will may have contained a request that it should be placed in the
chapel.

352 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

handed in hiding with the Duke of Suffolk at Ashley, was
released after two trials.1 However, the mention of the Lord
Thomas by Suffolk at his trial was distinctly damaging to
him ; perhaps also Mary had some personal grudge against
him, or his unloving sister-in-law, the Duchess of Suffolk, who,
despite her husband's action, was much in favour with Mary,
may have prejudiced the Queen against him. According to
Noailles, Thomas Grey frankly avowed his determination to
see Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, King, or to be King himself.
He did not explain how this was to be achieved ; but added,
" If I am not King, I'll be hanged." He was beheaded instead !
This reference to Courtney gives support to Suffolk's admis-
sion, that the Wyatt rebellion and his own expedition had for
their immediate object the proclamation of Elizabeth as
Queen. Curiously enough, Lord Thomas Grey, unlike his
relatives, always remained a Catholic, and is said to have
asked for a confessor before he died. After being brought to
trial at Westminster on gth March 1554, as Machyn says :
" The xxviij day of April was beheaded on Tower hill, between
ix and x of the clock before noon, my lord Thomas Gray,
the Duke of ' Suffoke-Dassettf's] ' brother, and buried at
Allalow's [All Hallows'], Barkyne, and the head . . . (the
sentence is unfinished).2

The Duchess of Suffolk, Lady Jane's strange and untender
mother, did not, as might have been expected, even in those
unfeeling times, go into retirement after the bloody deaths of
her daughter, son-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law, but
within a fortnight, and on the very day that Lord Thomas
Grey was arraigned (gth March 1554, not, as some writers say,
the day he was executed), she married her late husband's
Groom of the Chambers, a red-haired lad of middle-class
origin, fifteen years her junior, one Mr. Adrian Stokes. She
received a reminder of ' the dear departed ' on this her
wedding-day, in the shape of a demand to deliver, ' ' unto the

1 See Machyn, pp. 56, 64.

2 What was to have been the ending of this sentence ? Was the chronicler
going to add that the head was removed from the Tower after decapitation ?
Perhaps, after all, the head in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Minories, is
that of Thomas Grey, and not of the Duke of Suffolk ; its resemblance to the
latter's portrait arising from a mere family likeness, common to all the
brothers.

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THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS 353

Lord-Admiral the Parliamentary robes, lately belonging to
the Duke her husband ; or, if she had them not, to let the Lord-
Admiral understand where they remain, to the end he may
send for the same/' This widow of Ephesus was not in the
least disturbed by the message, and after returning the para-
phernalia in question, gaily proceeded with her nuptial prepara-
tions ! To account for so extraordinary and apparently
heartless a proceeding, we must remember the position in
which the Lady Frances now found herself. She realised that
unless she was married, and that speedily, to some one much
beneath her station, she might be proposed by the Protestant
party as one of its candidates for the succession, and her life
and tranquillity be thus endangered. Her marriage with
one who was little better than a menial l rendered this im-
possible ; and besides (she was a Tudor), she may have been
really in love with her red-haired Mr. Stokes. That Queen
Mary did not resent the match is evident, for throughout her
reign the Lady Frances occupied a towering position at Court,
with precedence of all other peeresses, sometimes even of
Princess Elizabeth herself. Her daughters, the Ladies Katherine
and Mary Grey, were appointed Maids-of-Honour to the Queen
who had so lately signed the death-warrants of their father,
sister, brother-in-law, and uncles, and seem to have been very
much attached to their mistress. They probably convinced
themselves that the recent tragedies had been purely political,
and not the least domestic or personal. The lives of these
two young ladies were not a jot happier than that of their
sister ; but this was due to Queen Elizabeth, who played with
them both much as a cat plays with a mouse, and literally
worried them into early graves. Lady Frances and her
youthful husband had their portraits taken the very year of
their marriage, both in one panel ; the picture was lately in

1 The writer is of opinion that Adrian Stokes was a son or near relation
of John Stokes, the Queen's brewer, who supplied the Suffolks with beer and
wine, as appears in the household accounts of the Duke of Suffolk. This
John Stokes was a notability in his way, and his funeral, which must have
been a costly function for those days, is recorded by Machyn (p. 177) in the
following terms : " The vj day of November [1558] was bered at sent Benettes
at Powlles Warff master John Stokes the queen's servand and bruar [brewer],
with ij whytt branchys and x gret stayffes-torchys and iij gret tapurs ; and x
pore men had rosett gownes of iiijs. the yerd [four shillings the yard], and xvj
gownes, and cottes of xijs. [coats of eleven shillings] the yerd."

354 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the possession of Colonel Wynn Finch. The Duchess ap-
pears as a buxom, puffy-looking dame of thirty-six, — the age
given on the margin of the picture, — whilst her sheepish-
looking, ginger-headed husband is put down as twenty-one.
He is represented in a superb costume of black velvet, edged
with ermine and sparkling with jewels. The lady wears black
satin cut somewhat after the fashion of the year 1830. Her
garment is edged with ermine, and she wears two wedding-
rings on the fourth finger of her fat hand, and several handsome
chains and carcanets about her short neck. A close examin-
ation of this picture reveals the extraordinary breadth of the
Duchess's face. Divested of her feminine head-dress, and with
a very little " make up," she might easily be the very image
of her uncle, King Henry vm. Lady Jane's mother lived
happily enough with Mr. Stokes, to whom she bore a daughter
so soon after her marriage — a little under nine months — that
if she had visited her husband in the Tower (which she did
not) the question of her paternity might have been raised.
This child, baptized Elizabeth, died the day it was born. The
Lady Frances herself died in October 1559, leaving most of
her fortune — by this time considerably reduced — to her
husband, and very little to her two surviving daughters.
She was buried in Westminster Abbey in great pomp on
5th December 1559. Elizabeth, out ' of the great affection
she bore the Duchess and because of her kinship," ordered
that the Royal Arms should be borne at her funeral, which
was attended by Garter-King-at-Arms and by Clarencieux.
Her monument, still in existence, occupies the exact site of
the shrine of St. Edmund in the chapel of that saint, and is
a fine specimen of the early and best period of Elizabethan
art. The inscription is in old English, and, modernised, runs
as follows : " Here lieth the Lady Frances, Duchess of Suffolk,
daughter to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Mary the
French Queen ; first wife to Henry, Duke of Suffolk, and after
to Adrian Stokes, Esq." This is followed by a few lines of
high-flown panegyric in Latin. After the death of his Duchess,
Mr. Stokes obtained a new lease of twenty-one years of " her
Highness's manor of Beaumanor," in Leicestershire. Aboul
1571 he was returned as M.P. for Leicestershire, and took as
his second wife Anne, relict of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton.

THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS 355

Mr. Adrian Stokes died on 3Oth November 1586, leaving his
brother William as his heir.1

The widow of the once all-powerful Duke of Northumber-
land spent some months with her daughter, Lady Mary Sidney,
endeavouring to restore her shattered health and to recover
some shreds of the property taken from her at the time of her
husband's condemnation. It was mainly through the instru-
mentality of Don Diego de Mendoza, or " Damondesay," as she
styles him, whose imprudent conduct had brought such mis-
fortune on her luckless son, that Philip n was led to solicit the
restoration of a considerable part of the Duchess's fortune.
She also obtained permission to inhabit the empty Manor
House at Chelsea, where she endeavoured to collect some
of the magnificent furniture which had once adorned the
royal mansion, Durham House, in the Strand, recovering,
amongst other things, a set of green curtains shot with gold
thread and certain carved chairs and tables. But peace and
shelter, even combined with a measure of comfort and inde-
pendence, availed not to restore her broken health, and on
22nd January 1555 the famous Duke of Northumberland's
widow died broken-hearted at Chelsea Manor in her forty-
sixth year. Her will is one of the most curious extant. After
declaring it written entirely in her own hand, without the advice
of one learned in the law, she bequeaths to " the Lord Diegoe
Damondesay, that is beyond the sea, the littell book clock
that hath the moon in it, etc.," and her dial, " the one leaf
of it the almanac and the other side, the Golden Number in
the middle." What would we not give for a glimpse of this
curious little clock or dial ? To Sir Henry Sidney she leaves
the gold and green hangings in the gallery at Chelsea ; to her
daughter, Mary Sidney, her gown of black barred velvet,
furred with sable ; to her daughter, Katherine Hastings, a
gown of purple velvet, and a summer gown ; to the Duchess
of Alva, her green parrot, * having nothing else worthy of
her " ; to Elizabeth, wife of Lord Cobham, a gown of black
barred velvet, furred with lizards. The document ends with
the following quaint directions : ' My will is earnestly and
effectually, that little solemnities be made for me, for I had
ever have a thousand folds my debts to be paid, and the

1 Vide Notes and Queries for 1855, v°l- x"- P- 45 *•

356 THE NINE DAYS* QUEEN

poor given unto, than any pomp to be showed upon my
wretched carcase ; therefore to the worms will I go, as I
have afore written in all points, as you will answer it afore
God ; and you break any one jot of it, your will hereafter may
chance be to as well broken. . . . After I am departed from
this world, let me be wound up in a sheet, and put into a
coffin of wood, and so laid in the ground with such funerals
as pertaineth to the burial of a corpse. I will at my year's
mind (i.e. anniversary of her death) have such divine service
as my executors shall think meet, with the whole arms of
father and mother upon the stone graven ; nor in any wise to
let me be opened after I am dead. I have not loved to be
very bold afore women, much more would I be loth to come
into the hands of any living man, be he physician or surgeon."
She was buried in Chelsea Parish Church on ist February 1555,
two heralds attending the funeral, at which there was a brilliant
display of escutcheons and banners, etc. Her tomb is against
the south wall of the church, and is under a Gothic canopy,
supported by pillars of mosaic. It bears a long inscription, to-
gether with effigies of the Duchess and her five daughters, kneel-
ing : a similar plate with her eight sons on it has been torn off.1

1 The entire family of the Duke of Northumberland and his Duchess was as
follows : —

Henry, killed at the Siege of Boulogne in the thirty-fifth year of Henry viu,
aged nineteen.

Thomas, who died when two years old.

John, who bore the title of Lord Lisle and Earl of Warwick during his
father's life. He adopted a martial life, acting as Lieutenant-General during
Somerset's expedition into Scotland. He married, in June 1550, Anne
Seymour. He was sentenced to death at the same time as his father, was
pardoned, and died at Penshurst, in Kent, ten days after his release from the
Tower, in 1554.

Ambrose was born about 1528. He was tried, together with Lady Jane
Grey and her husband, in 1553, was pardoned and released in October 1554,
and died in 1 590, being created Earl of Warwick in the fourth year of Elizabeth.

Robert, who was born about 1532, having proclaimed Jane Queen at King's
Lynn, was sent to the Tower. He was condemned to death on 22nd June
1554, but was released and pardoned in October 1554. He was created Earl
of Leicester by Elizabeth, and became famous in her reign.

Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey.

Henry, who was tried at Guildhall with his brothers Ambrose and Guild-
ford in 1 5 53, but liberated. He was killed at the battle of St. Quentin, in 1 55 5.

Charles, who died aged four years.

The daughters of Northumberland were —

Mary, who married Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, etc., and
was the mother of Sir Philip Sidney.

THE FATE OF THE SURVIVORS 357

The Duchess of Somerset, the Protector's widow, followed
the example of my Lady of Suffolk, and ensured her personal
tranquillity by contracting a mesalliance with Mr. Newdigate,
son of that Mr. Newdigate to whom, as recorded in an early
chapter of this work, Lord Latimer, Katherine Parr's second
husband, used to let his house furnished. The Duchess had
been released from the Tower with other notable prisoners
when Mary first entered its precincts. She was much beloved
by that Queen, who used to address her as " my good Nan,"
and this despite the fact that the Duchess was an ardent
Protestant. She died in her ninetieth year, and was laid
to rest under a monument which is reckoned as one of the
finest in Westminster Abbey.

Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, Charles Brandon's
fourth and last wife and Lady Frances' stepmother, had
followed the prevailing custom and married her secretary, Mr.
Bertie or Bartie, " a gentleman of fair family and little means."
Her Grace was one of the first Englishwomen of noble birth
to embrace the principles of the Reformation, and greatly
incensed Queen Mary by doing so. This lady's mother,
Lady Willoughby d'Eresby, was Queen Katherine's closest
friend, and a staunch Catholic, a fact that probably in-
creased the Queen's resentment against the Duchess and her
second spouse ; and a hint that he might be arrested on a
charge of heresy sent Mr. Bertie flying to Flanders. He had
not the kindness to inform his wife of his intended flight,
and she, feeling herself forsaken and in danger in London,
escaped one foggy morning from her house in the Barbican
and followed in the wake of the truant, whom she found at
Wesel, where their famous son, Peregrine, the brave Lord
Willoughby, was born. After Elizabeth's accession, the Duchess
returned to London with her children by Mr. Bertie and that
gentleman himself. She was favourably received by the Queen,

Catherine, the second daughter, who married the Earl of Huntingdon,
died in 1620, aged seventy- two.

Margaret, the fourth daughter, died at the age of ten.

Frances, fourth daughter, died as an infant.

Temperance, the fifth daughter, died at seven years old.

Of all these daughters, the only one who came into intimate contact with
Lady Jane was Lady Mary, who, it will be remembered, fetched the Lady Jane
to Sion from Chelsea, on the memorable occasion when she received the homage
of the Council.

358 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

who saddled her, however, with many unwelcome obligations
among them the custody of her step-granddaughters, the
Ladies Katherine and Mary Grey. The Duchess, who was on
friendly terms with Cecil, kept up a constant correspondence
with him ; and even after the lapse of nearly five hundred
years, her humorous descriptions of people and things raise
not a smile only, but a hearty laugh — she was, in fact, con-
sidered the wittiest woman of her day. Katherine, Dowager
Duchess of Suffolk, died late in the reign of Elizabeth.

Queen Jane's Secretary, Sir John Cheke, was arrested on
27th or 28th July 1553 (Strype says, " together with the Duke
of Suffolk ") and committed to the Tower. There he remained
a close prisoner. On I2th or I3th August an indictment as
a traitor was made out against him, which brought forth a
private letter to him from Cranmer, with whom he was on
intimate terms. In this epistle Cheke is described as ' one
who had been none of the great doers in this matter [i.e. of the
accession of Jane] against her [Queen Mary]." In 1554 Sir
John Cheke was, after his estates had been confiscated, released
from the Tower and given a licence by the Queen to travel
abroad,1 whereupon he made no delay in getting to Switzer-
land and thence to Italy.2

1 Cheke continued to travel on the Continent until 1556, when, being
invited by Lord Paget and Sir John Mason to go and see them in Brussels in a
friendly way, he was suddenly taken prisoner en route by the Provost Marshal,
on the road between Antwerp and Brussels, blindfolded, tied, flung into a
waggon, taken to the nearest port, and conveyed by sea to the Tower of London,
" being taken as it were by a whirlwind," as he says himself. The excuse
given for his arrest was that he had overstayed the leave of absence granted
by the royal licence, having endeavoured to establish himself abroad. In
the Tower he submitted to the Roman Catholic Church. He was later
released and granted extensive lands ; but he died in September 1557, after,
so it is said, a partial return to Protestantism. He is buried in St. Alban's
Church, Wood Street, under a monument bearing some verses by Dr. Haddon.

2 The remainder of the actors in the drama are soon disposed of. The end
of Judge Morgan we have already mentioned. Feckenham was imprisoned
for twenty-three years under Elizabeth, and died in Wisbeach Jail. Aylmer,
once Jane's tutor, was, on the other hand, extremely fortunate. He fled at
the coming of Mary, taking refuge in Switzerland, whence he wrote a
reply — entitled An Harborowe for Faythfull and True Subjects — to Knox's
Blast. He returned to England at Elizabeth's accession ; became Arch-
deacon of Lincoln in 1562, Bishop of London in 1576, and died in 1594.
Ascham remained in England during Mary's reign, protected, despite his
ardent Protestantism, by Gardiner. He died in December 1568. The
treacherous Lord Paget was restored to office under Mary, and appointed Lord
Privy Seal.

APPENDIX

ICONOGRAPHY OF LADY JANE GREY AND

HER FAMILY, ETC.

HE painted portraits of Lady Jane Grey are exceed-
ingly scarce, and probably not a single one of them
is authentic ; on the other hand, very early and
almost contemporary engraved portraits are fairly
numerous. The oldest of these latter is one by E. V. Wyn-
gaerde. It bears a certain resemblance to the portrait of her
grandfather, the Duke of Suffolk, by Jacobus Corvinus, in
the possession of Sir Frederick Cook at Richmond. Although
Wyngaerde engraved it in the middle part of the reign of
Elizabeth, when many persons were still living, the Queen
herself included, who had seen Jane Grey, and who could
have set him right, he attributes the original to Hans Holbein,
who died in London of the plague, according to recent dis-
covery, in 1543, that is to say, when Jane was but six years old,
a fact which renders it impossible for him to have painted any
of the numerous portraits attributed to him of Edward vi
as a lad in his teens, Edward being born in the same year and
month as Lady Jane. The portrait of Jane Grey from which
Wyngaerde engraved is evidently by some other artist who
painted in the style of Holbein, presumably one of his pupils.
It must be remembered that in our own time people are con-
stantly attributing to Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits
they could not have painted, so in the seventeenth century it
was the fashion to attribute every portrait of the early part
oi the preceding century to Holbein, whose great name was
remembered, whilst those of his lesser contemporaries were
forgotten.

(2) In the Earl of Stamford and Warrington's collection
there is a very ancient portrait of Lady Jane Grey, engraved
by Lodge. It is not well painted, but is none the less extremely
interesting. The features are small and delicate. The costume

359

360 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

is rich but simple, and the pretty neckerchief is fastened at
the bosom by a bunch of flowers.

(3) Another frequently engraved portrait of Jane Grey,
also attributed to Holbein, and engraved in George Howard's
Life of Lady Jane Grey, was for many years in the possession
of the late Mr. Wenman Martin, of Upper Seymour Street.
The costume is exceedingly rich.

(4) Probably on account of its excessive prettiness, the
celebrated picture called " Jane Grey," in the possession of Lord
Spencer, at Althorpe, is likely to remain the most popular
likeness of Lady Jane. It represents a sweet-looking young
woman of about sixteen, seated by a window, reading an
illuminated missal. By her side, on a table, stands a richly
chiselled goblet or chalice. The dress is of ruby velvet, made
very plain, and with hanging sleeves of a darker material.
It was engraved in the last century by Dibden, as the frontis-
piece of the Decameron, a work which certainly has no associa-
tion whatever with the poor little " Nine Days' Queen." By its
general neatness and vivid colouring, this picture may very
reasonably be attributed to Luca Penni, an Italian and pupil of
Raphael, who painted a good deal in England under Henry vin,
Edward vi, and Mary. There is a very singular fact connected
with this Althorpe picture. The noble Milanese family of Trevulzio
has possessed for many generations an almost identical picture
which has always been known as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey.
A photograph of this picture is in my hands, and certainly
the resemblance between it and the Althorpe picture is
remarkable. Lord Spencer has most kindly afforded me some
interesting details connected with his own picture. ' It has
been," he said, " for many generations in our family, and can
be traced as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey as far back as the
seventeenth century." Some years ago, Lord Spencer took
it down from its place in his gallery, and found on the back
of it an inscription in the handwriting of his grandmother,
Lavinia, Countess Spencer, to the effect that the picture was
a portrait of the Lady Jane Grey, and that what she had
written was copied from a much older inscription, which had
been nearly obliterated by time. Lord Spencer many years
ago saw at Milan the picture above mentioned, and was
struck by its likeness to his own, of which it might have been
a copy. Sir George Scharf, although an authority on por-
traiture, was apt at times to have prejudices and to cast doubt
on those historical portraits which have been handed down
as authentic for many generations ; and his singular ignorance
or rather disregard of the value of costume in determining
the period of a picture often led him into ludicrous errors of

APPENDIX 361

judgment. His reason for discarding the Althorpe portrait
of Lady Jane Grey appears rather unreasonable. He objected
to it because a tall standing goblet or chalice figures con-
spicuously on the table beside the lady, such a chalice being,
according to him, an attribute of St. Mary Magdalen, and so,
too, is the skull, which is not present in this picture. How-
ever, an extraordinary number of Tudor portraits represent
great ladies with a similar goblet standing beside them. These
gold and silver chalices or cups were a common gift from royal
god-fathers and mothers in Tudor times, and were frequently
stolen from the churches. Lady Jane, we know from the
inventories of her effects, had several in her possession.

(5) An exceedingly beautiful portrait, said to represent
Lady Jane Grey, is at Madresfield, Lord Beauchamp's seat
in Worcestershire. The face bears a resemblance to that in
the engraving by Wyngaerde, and the costume is undoubtedly
one that Lady Jane might have worn, and consists of a rich
velvet gown, cut square at the neck and filled in with soft
lawn and lace. Her head-dress is very elaborate and graceful.
Her expression is sweet and noble. This picture is wrongly
ascribed to Lucas Van Heere, and is more likely to have been
painted by Street e. Independently of its historical interest,
it is a beautiful picture. On the other hand, its companion,
supposed to represent Lord Guildford Dudley, is absolutely
wrong. It represents a tall young gentleman with strongly-
marked features and a vapid expression. It is the costume
that gives the lie to the tradition that it is the portrait of Lady
Jane's husband, for the dress, with its voluminous ruff, is of
the mid-Elizabethan period, and at least twenty-five years
later than the death of the unfortunate young gentleman
it is said to represent ; but, on the other hand, the little velvet
cap, with its two plumes, is certainly of the time of Edward vi.
The ruff may have been added at a later date by an ignorant
restorer.

(6) There is a curious portrait, probably of Lady Jane
Grey, in the possession of J. Knight, Esq., of Chawton House,
Alton.

(7) A very remarkable portrait, called "Jane Grey," was
formerly in the possession of Colonel Elliot ; said to be now in
one of the Colleges at Oxford. It was, however, engraved in
1830, and has lately been reproduced in colour by Messrs. Graves
of Pall Mall. The face is that of an older person than Lady
Jane, but the features are small and pretty, the expression
being rather defiant and world- wise. She wears a turban-
shaped hat of velvet, studded with immense pearls, which was
certainly not in fashion in the days of Edward vi, or even in

362 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

the last years of Henry vm. Here again is an instance of
costume giving the lie to tradition. Lady Jane could no more
have worn such a hat and costume than a lady in 1909 could
be painted as wearing the crinoline and spoon-shaped bonnet
of mid- Victorian days.

(8) The small semi-miniature in the National Portrait
Gallery is wrongly attributed to Lucas Van Heere, who was
born in the year of Jane's execution, and could therefore
neither have painted the portrait in question nor any one of
the numerous likenesses of Queen Mary ascribed to him,
since he was only five years of age when that Queen died.

(9) A small portrait called ' Jane Grey " is in the possession
of Lord Hastings at Melton Constable, Norfolk.

(10) "A splendid portrait of Jane Grey" was exhibited
at the Derby Art Exhibition in 1841 — mentioned by Howard.
It belonged to a Mr. Harrington, who inherited it from two
ancient ladies, the Misses Gray of Derby, in the possession of
whose family this picture had been for many generations.

(n) There is a sweetly pretty contemporary Tudor portrait,
reputed to be that of Lady Jane Grey, in the possession of
Colonel Horace Walpole, at Heckfield Place, Hants.

The Wyngaerde engraving has been frequently reproduced.
In the Print Room at the British Museum there are no less than
six variations of it. There are also engravings, more or less
apocryphal, of Lady Jane by G. W. Krauss and G. C. Schmidt,
1782.

Engraved and fanciful portraits : —

Jane Grey, by G. Smerton, 1824.

Lady Jane Grey, by G. Buckland, 1776.

Lady Jane Grey, by Sherwin.

Lady Jane Grey presenting her prayer-book to Sir Thomas
Brydges. Engraved by Wells. 1786.

Lady Jane Grey as Queen. By J. P. Simons.

Lady Jane Grey " From a contemporary miniature at
Strawberry Hill/1 by Vertue. (The original is now in the
National Portrait Gallery.)

Lady Jane Grey. From a portrait in the possession of the
Marquis of Buckingham. No name of engraver. She wears a
velvet gown open at the throat to display a double chain with
pendant cross. On table, large gold chalice.

Paul Delaroche has painted two famous historical pictures,
representing events in the last days of Lady Jane Grey's life-
her farewell to Guildford and her execution. They have been
frequently engraved.

APPENDIX 363

PORTRAITS OF LADY JANE'S MOTHER, FATHER, AND

GRANDFATHER

"Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, and her second
husband, Adrian Stokes " (dated 1554). Small half-lengths of
the Duchess of Suffolk on the left, and Adrian Stokes on the right.
She wears a black dress with tags and jewels, gold-edged ruffs
at neck and wrists, black jewelled hoods, two necklaces of
pearls, one with pendants, right hand resting on cushion and
holding glove, left holding ring. He wears a light-coloured
embroidered doublet, black fur-lined surcoat slashed and with
tags, ruffs at neck and wrists edged with pink, chain round
neck, right hand on hip, left holding gloves, sword at his side.
Above her head, JEtatis xxxvi : above his, JEtatis xxi. Dated
MDLIV. Panel, 19!- x 27 in. Probably by Corvinus. This
picture was engraved by Vertue. Colonel Wynn Finch.

Frances , Marchioness of Dorset . A superb Holbein drawing.
H.M. the King, at Windsor.

Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk. Miniature. Was
lent to the Tudor Exhibition by Lord Willoughby d'Eresby.

There are fine portraits of Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, in the National Portrait Gallery, and in the possession
of Sir Frederick Cook. There is also a fine portrait by Corvinus
of Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, in the National Portrait
Gallery, and another in the possession of G. P. Boyce, Esq.

A portrait of Katherine, Baroness Willoughby d'Eresby,
and Duchess of Suffolk, is in the possession of her descendant,
Lord Willoughby d'Eresby.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LADY JANE GREY

In literature, Lady Jane Grey has been a popular heroine.
She figures in : The Tower of London, by Harrison Ains worth.
Jane Grey (French novel), by Alphonse Brot. Lady Jane
Grey, by Philip Sidney. The life story of Lady Jane is told in
Jeanne Grey, by Mdme. de Genlis. The Chronicle of Queen
Jane and Queen Mary. Lives of Lady Jane Grey, by Howard,
Agnes Strickland (in Tudor and Stuart Princesses), and Dr.
Harris Nicholas.

There is a fine elegy of Lady Jane Grey by Sir Thomas
Chaloner, one of the best Latin writers of the reign of Elizabeth,
the original of which is preserved in the Bodleian Library. It
is contained in the collection called the Illustrium, Jan. n. 68.

P- 33-

364 THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

" Jana luit patriam profuso sanguine culpam,

Vivere Phoenicis digna puella dies.
Ilia suit Phoenix, merito dicenda manebat ;
Ore placens Venerio, Palladis arte placens.

Culta fuit, formosa fuit : divina movebat
Scepe viros fades, soepe loquela viros.

Vidisset faciem ? porterat procus improbus un :
Audisset culta3 verba ? modestus era," etc.

Lady Jane Grey's tragic fate has been several times drama-
tised : — John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, a tragedy,
by Scriptor Ignotus. London, 1686. Lady Jane Grey, by
J. W. Ross, 1882.

Independently of Rowe's tragedy, Lady Jane Grey, there
is the German tragedy of Von Sommer, entitled Johanna
Grey ; and Jane Grey, an opera-epilogue, acted 25th February,
1723, for the benefit of Mrs. Sterling at Dublin.

The literary works attributed to Lady Jane Grey are :-

1. Four Latin epistles — three to Bullinger, and one to Lady
Katherine Grey. The originals of the first three are preserved
at Zurich, the other is in the King's Library, British Museum.

2. Her conference with Feckenham (probably apocryphal),
although quoted by such early writers as Foxe and Florio.

3. A letter to Harding (doubtful).

4. A prayer for her own use in prison.

5. Four Latin verses scratched on her prison walls with a
pin. These will be found on p. 336.

6. Her speech on the scaffold.

7. The Complaint of a Sinner.

8. The Duty of a Christian.

9. The annotations in the famous prayer-book.

10. A fragment of a letter has been recently found, and
is printed in volume vii of the State Papers ; Edward vi.
Domestic Series. Addenda.

Hollingshead and Sir Richard Baker state " that she hath
wrotten other things," but they do not tell us where they are
to be found. Several of her letters, notably the one to Sudeley
and the famous letter to Queen Mary, are not extant in her
own handwriting.

Lady Jane's fine autograph signature figures on a number
of contemporary documents. It is nothing like so elaborate
as that of Elizabeth, but it is easy to see that the two Princesses
received lessons in Italian caligraphy from the same teacher,
probably Castiglione.

INDEX

Ab Ulmis or Ullmer, John, Reformer,
24, 169 ; letters of, 179-80, 185,
186 In.

Anne Askew, birth and marriage,
6 1 ; her preaching, 61 ; arrest
and recantation, 62 ; second
trial and condemnation, 63 ;
racked, 64 and f.n. ; is burnt
alive, 66 ; 72 note

Anne of Cleves, Queen, 37 and f.n.,
38, 39, 59, 312, 313

Arundel, Earl of, 7, 128, 251, 261,
275 ; arrests Northumberland,
279-80, 283 ; 284 ; proclaims
Mary, 285 and f.n.; 295, 305,

349
Ascham, Roger, 127, 172 ; his story

of Lady Jane, 172-3 ; his letter
to Lady Jane, 175-7; 259^64-5;
death, 358 f.n.

Ashley, Mrs., Princess Elizabeth's
attendant, 106 ; on Elizabeth's
behaviour with Sudeley, 136
et seq. ; 161 f.n. ; 162, 163

Aske, Robert, 32

Audley, Lady, 184 and f.n.

Aylmer, John, 67, 169, 170 ; letter
to Bullinger, 178 ; death, 385
f.n.

Baynard's Castle, 284 and f.n.

Bradgate, Old Manor of, and Park
(Lady Jane's birthplace), 1-4
life at, in the olden times, 19-23
223

Brandon, Charles, Duke of Suffolk
(Lady Jane's grandfather), 4 ;
origin of, 7 ; matrimonial peculi-
arities, marries Lady Mortimer,
7-11 ; marries Mary Tudor,
Queen of France, 8-9 ; goes to
France with Henry vin, 54, 192 ;
death, etc., 57 ; 94 ; portraits

of, 363
Brandon, Lady Eleanor, 10, 12, 108,

109, 114
Brandon, Lady Frances. (See

Frances Brandon, Lady)
Browne, Sir Anthony, 39, 97 and

f.n., 101, 106, 163, 216, 338

Brydges, Sir John, Lieutenant of the

Tower, 253, 283, 290, 310, 311,

340
Brydges, Sir Thomas, 253, 290, 316,

335, 337 ; at Lady Jane's execu

tion, 340, 341, 343

Carew, Sir Gawen, 84, 86, 88

Cecil, William, Lord Burghley, 166-7
f.n., 204, 206, 210 ; knighted,
212 f.n.; 237, 240, 241, 244, 257
and f.n., 259-60 ; his treachery,
277 and f.n., 278 ; 285 and f.n.;
296

Charles v, Emperor, 56, 263 ;
supports Northumberland, 265,
267 and f.n. ; 268 ; abandons
Northumberland, 296, 297, 298
f.n. ; urges Lady Jane's execu-
tion, 314, 315 f.n.; 316; 330

Cheke, Dr., afterwards Sir John, 127
and f.n. ; knighted, 212 f.n. ; 241 ;
acts as Queen Jane's Secretary
of State, 257 f.n., 258-9 ; im-
prisoned, 281 f.n.; writes to Lord
Oxford and leaves the Tower,
284 ; imprisonment, recantation,
and death, 358 and f.n.

Chelsea, Manor House, 137 f.n., 237,

355
Council, the Privy, letters of, to the

Commissioners in Brussels, 262
f.n., 266-7 ; to Princess Mary,
268-9, 295 I obtains leave to
depart from the Tower, 284 ;
proclaims Mary Queen, 285 ;
attends St. Paul's, 285 ; retires
to Westminster, 294 ; its sub-
mission to Mary, 295-6; 312;
its treachery to Queen Jane
considered, 316 and f.n., 320

Coverdale, Dr. Miles, as Jane's tutor,
119; at Katherine Parr's funeral,
145, 146

Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of
Canterbury, 54, 65-6, 103-4,
107, 108, 131, 156, 204, 206;
connection with the Reformers,
227 ; his interview with Edward
vi about the succession, 240-1 ;

365

366

THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

his conduct towards Lady Jane,
286-7 ; the original charge
against, 287 f.n.; indictment
against, 299 ; at Edward vi's
funeral, 300 ; trial of, 316, 317,
319, 320; 321

" Devise " for the succession drawn
up, 238-9 ; Jane named in,
240 ; Council object to, 240-3 ;
signed, 243 ; text of, 254-5

Diego de Mendoza, Don, 232, 262
and f.n., 263 ; accepts Guildford
Dudley as King, 263-4 > pro-
bably influenced by North-
umberland and the Suffolks,
264; 265 ; 355

Dissolution of the Monasteries, dis-
astrous effect of, 25-6, 195

Dorset, Henry Grey, Marquess of,
afterwards Duke of Suffolk
(Lady Jane's father), 4-5 ;
marriage of, 1 1 ; 14 ; 94 ; nego-
tiations with Sharington and
Sudeley about parting with Lady
Jane, 115, 116; 128; 130;
welcomes Reformers, 134 ; corre-
spondence with Sudeley about
Jane, 149-50 ; has fresh negoti-
ations with- Sudeley and Sharing-
ton for the purchase of Lady
Jane, nature of the affair, 152 ;
also negotiations with Somerset,
153 ; conclusion of negotiations
with Sudeley, the money paid,
154-5; supports Sudeley, 160;
169 ; goes to live in London, 179 ;
letter to Bullinger, 179 ; created
Duke of Suffolk, 179, 212 f.n. ;
goes to Sheen, 223 ; 224 and
f.n. ; social intercourse with the
Dudleys, 228-9 » coerces Jane
into marrying Guildford Dudley,
230 ; gives the Council leave to
depart from the Tower, 284 ;
is ordered to give up the Tower,
signs Mary's proclamation, 287 ;
announces her downfall to Queen
Jane, 288 ; his subsequent
movements, 289-90 ; raises
revolt against Mary, his defeat
and betrayal, 322-3, 323 f.n. ;
the injury done to Queen Jane's
cause by this revolt, 323-4, 323

, f.n., 324 f.n., 326, 330; 334;
trial and defence, 349 ; exe-
cution, 349-50; burial, 350-1 ;
his head, 351 and f.n., 352 f.n.;
portrait of, 363

Dorset, Margaret, Dowager Lady,
5-6 and f.n.

Dorsets, residences of the, in London,
23-4 ; friendship of the Howards
for, 94, 95

Dudley, Lord Ambrose, 228, 273,
275; imprisoned, 281 f.n., 292;
298; 316; trial of, 317, 319; 356
f.n.

Dudley, Sir Andrew, 225 and f.n.,
233, 271, 273, 281 f.n. ; con-
demnation and recantation, 304
and f.n.

Dudley, Edmund, 8, 190-1

Dudley, Guildford. (See Guildford
Dudley)

Dudley, Henry, 281 f.n., 284 f.n.,
298, 316; trial of, 317; 319;
356 f.n.

Dudley, John. (See Northumber-
land, Duke of)

Dudley, Lord Robert, 23, 209, 229,
275, 292, 315, 320, 324, 356 f.n.

Durham House, 234, 236, 299, 252

Edward vi, King, birth, 14 and f.n.,
52 ; never Prince of Wales,
101 f.n. ; 103 and f.n. ; learns
of his father's death, 106 ; his
movements at that time, 106 f.n.;
enters London, 107, in ; writes
to Katherine Parr on her
marriage, 123-4 » infancy, 126 ;
education, 126-8 ; little inter-
course with his sisters, 128 ;
Coronation procession, 130-1 ;
Coronation, 132 and f.n. ; has
to hear innumerable sermons,
J56-7 ; state of his health, is
deformed and deaf, 157 ; prefers
Sudeley to Somerset, 157; at
Hampton Court, 204-6, 206 f.n. ;
214 ; becomes weaker, 222 ;
does not attend Jane's wedding,
but makes gifts, 234-5 ; his
scheme for the succession, 238
et seq. ; names Jane Grey as his
successor, 240 ; declares his
will to the Council, 241, 242-3 ;
his death, 245 and f.n. ; rumours
of his having been poisoned by
Northumberland, 246-7, 247 f.n.;
supernatural visitations, 248 ;
funeral of, 300 ; Masses for,
300 and f.n., 301 ; his Great
Seal, 302-3 f.n.

Elizabeth, Princess, 39, 52, 94, 106,
121 ; joins Sudeley, 122 ; her
appearance at fifteen, 1 36 ; her
behaviour with Sudeley, 137
et seq., 162-3 ; is sent away from
Sudeley. 139; letter to Katherine
Parr, 139 ; her feelings towards

INDEX

367

Sudeley, 140; 157; 167; 178;

omitted from the succession,

239 ; declared illegitimate,

257-8 ; dislikes Lady Jane, 257 ;

enters London, 298 ; 312
" Ellen," Mrs., Lady Jane's nurse,

17, 291, 340, 341, 343
England, state of, under Somerset's

protectorate, 195-6 et seq., 212 ;

immorality in, 196-7 ; slavery

in, 198-9 "

Feckenham, Dr., afterwards Abbot,
321 and f.n. ; announces hour
of her death to Lady Jane, 328
and f.n. ; appearance of, 329 ;
340; 341; 343; 358 f.n.

Fitzpatrick, Barnaby, 127 and f.n.

Frances Brandon, Lady, Marchioness
of Dorset, afterwards Duchess
of Suffolk (Lady Jane's mother),
4, 9 ; birth and baptism, 1 1 ;
marries Henry Grey, Marquis of
Dorset, n ; her appearance,
children, etc., 12; 35; 94; 108;
114; 132; letter to Sudeley,
150-1 ; 154 ; falls ill, 181 ; 183 ;
proposes a marriage between
Lord Hertford and Jane, 210;
pays homage to Lady Jane as
Queen, 251 ; enters the Tower
with Queen Jane, 253-4; 282;
289 ; marries Adrian Stokes,
352 ; portrait of, 353, 363 ;
appearance, gives birth to a
child, dies, her monument,
354

Gage, Sir John, Constable of the
Tower, 298, 299 f.n., 316, 334,

340

Gardiner, Bishop, 39, 54, 58 ; en-
deavours to overthrow Katherine
Parr, 67 ; Henry's anger against,
69 and f.n. ; omitted from
Henry vm's will, 69, 103, no;
70; 105; 108; 109; in; 112; 114;
156; 211 ; 304; 325 ; urges Jane's
execution, 332

Gates, Sir Harry, condemnation and
recantation, 304

Gates, Sir John, 87, 241, 249, 275,
279 f.n., 280, 281 f.n. ; condemna-
tion, 304 ; execution, 307-8

" Geraldine, Fair," birth and ante-
cedents, 96 and f.n. ; her
beauty, connection with the
Earl of Surrey, marriages, etc.,
97 ; funeral, 98 ; 163

Greys of Groby, family of, 3-4

Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, I, 4

Grey, Lord Thomas, Lady Jane's
uncle, 183 ; signs the "Devise,"
243 ; captured and executed,
351-2

Grey, Lady Jane, " the Nine Days'
Queen," birth, 14 ; christening,
15 and f.n. ; babyhood and
childhood, 16-18 et seq. ; 24 ; 50 ;
51 ; Lady Jane and Prince
Edward, 55, 72, 120, 125-6, 128,
247-8 ; 62 ; 67 ; 68 ; 70 ; 94 ; 97 ;
108 ; 109; effect of Henry vm's
will on her political position, 115;
goes to Seymour Place, 117; her
life there, 118-9; proposal of
marrying her to the Earl of Hert-
ford, 119, 132, 153, 210, 230;
life at Chelsea, 140 ; at Sudeley
Castle, 141 et seq. ; as chief
mourner at Katherine Parr's
funeral, 145 ; goes back to
Bradgate, 151 ; letter to Lord
Sudeley, 154; returns to Sudeley' s
charge at Hanworth, 155 ; goes
again to Seymour Place, 157 ;
returns to Bradgate, 166 ; her
education, 169 et seq. ; letter
to Bullinger, 170-2 ; Ascham's
story of, 172-3 ; ill-treated by
her parents, 173, 230 and f.n.,
303 ; her knowledge of languages,
174 ; appears at Court, 181, 182 ;
her travels in 1551-2, 183-4;
illness, 185 ; makes presents to
Bullinger's wife, 186; move-
ments in 1552-4, 1 86, 223 f.n. ;
story of, 189 ; her doubtful
legitimacy, 197, 224-5 » coerced
into marrying Guildford Dudley,
230 ; preparations for the
wedding, 230 ; date of wedding,

232 and f.n. ; special attire for,

233 and f.n. ; details of the
wedding, 233-4, 235 ; ner dress
at her wedding, 235 and f.n. ;
her own account of her interview
with the Duchess of Northumber-
land, 236 ; goes to Chelsea and
falls ill, 237 ; nominated suc-
cessor to Edward vi, 240 ; goes
to Sion House, 250-1 ; is
informed of Edward vi's will,
251; homage done her as Queen,
252 ; her distress thereat, 252 ;
proceeds to the Tower, 252 ;
her entry into the Tower
as Queen, her appearance, 253 ;
proclaimed Queen, 256 ; signs
documents, 259, 267, 276, 283 ;
dines in State, 260 ; scene with
the Duchess of Northumberland,

368

THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

refuses to make Guildford Dudley
King, 260 ; receives the Regalia,
261, 270 ; her Royal Seal, 266 ;
falls ill, 268 ; list of her property
sent to the Tower, 271-3 ; makes
appointments, 276 ; collapse of
her cause, 281, 283 ; strange
incident, sends for Lord Win-
chester, 282 ; Suffolk announces
her downfall to her, abandons
the Throne, 288 ; deserted in
the Tower, 289 ; her imprison-
ment, 291, etc. ; relinquishes
the Regalia and her money,
292-3 ; her will, 294 ; indict-
ment against, 298-9 ; writ
against, 316 ; proceeds to Guild-
hall for her trial, 316-7 ; trial
and condemnation, 318-9, 319
f.n. ; her letter to Harding, 321 ;
her death-warrant, 326-7 ; her
death announced to her, 328-9 ;
postponement of execution, 329-
30 ; reasons why she was not
executed with Guildford, 330-1 ;
letter to her father, 331 ; last
letter to her sister Katherine,
332-4 ; last writings, 335-6 ;
inscriptions in her cell, 336 f.n. ;
last hours, 337 et seq. ; refuses
to see Guildford but watches
him go to execution, 337 ; sees
his bleeding remains, 339 and
f.n. ; the execution delayed,
339 ; the procession to the
scaffold, 340 ; Jane said to be
enceinte, 341 ; her last speech,
341-3 ; behaviour on the scaffold,
prepares for death, 343-4 ; last
moments and decapitation, 344 ;
contemporary account of execu-
tion, 344-5 f.n. ; treatment of
her body after death, 345-6 ;
burial, 346 and f.n. ; legend
about, 347 ; portraits of, 359-62 ;
writings on Jane Grey, 342 f.n.,
363-4 ; her literary works, 364

Grey, Lady Katherine, 10, 17, 18,
108, 109, 119 f.n., 132, 183, 232
and f.n., 235, 252 ; Lady Jane's
last letter to, 332-4; 353

Grey, Lady Mary, 10 ; a dwarf, 17;
18; 109; 183; 233; 252; 353; 358

Guildford Dudley, Lord, proposal to
marry him to Lady Margaret
Clifford, 224, 226 ; 229 ; birth
and antecedents, 231 ; appear-
ance, 231 ; his portrait, 231 f.n. ;
date of his marriage with Jane
Grey, 232 and f.n. ; details of
the marriage, 234-5 » remains

at Durham House, 237 ; enters
the Tower with Queen Jane, 253 ;
his endeavours to become King
of England, 260, 261-6 ; im-
prisoned, 292 ; his money taken
from him, 294 ; indictment
against, 298-9 ; writ against,
goes to trial, 316-7 ; trial and
condemnation, 319; 320; 326;
receives his death sentence,
330 ; his autograph, 334 ; de-
sires to see Lady Jane, 337 ;
supposed recantation, 337 ; goes
out to execution, 337-8 ; his
execution, 338 and f.n.

Hampton Court, 43, 44, 47 ; Ed-
ward vi at, 204-6
Harding, Dr., Jane's tutor and
rector of Bradgate, 15, 27, 170,
321

Henry vm, his religiosity, 37 ;
divorces Anne of Cleves, 37-8 ;
marries Katherine Parr, 39 ;
his appearance, 46 ; in expedi-
tion to France, 54, 55-7;
declines in health, 59 ; defeats
the plot against Katherine Parr,
67-9 ; his will, 69 f.n. ; text
of, 109 and f.n., no, 238, in;
72 ; his last illness, 100-1 ;
does not 'receive the last Sacra-
ments, 1 02 ; death, 104 ; his
body embalmed, 107 ; funeral
arrangements, 107-8, m;
funeral procession and sermon,
1 1 2-4 ; weird occurrence at
Sion, 113 ; supernatural ap-
paritions of Henry, 114; effect
of his will, 115

Hertford, Earl of, son of the Duke
of Somerset, proposal to marry
him to Jane, 119, 153, 210, 230;
119 f.n.; 127; 232 f.n.; 315 '

Hoby, Sir Philip, English Ambas-
sador to Brussels, 40, 262 and
f.n., 266, 267-8 ; submits to
Mary, 296 ; recalled, 297 ; 328 f.n.

Holland, Mrs. Elizabeth or Bess, 75
and f.n., 85-6 ; gives evidence
at Surrey's trial, 89-90 ; 92 ; 93 ;
94; 95 f-n.

Household, Henry vm's, 42 et seq. ;
etiquette in, 49

Howard, the house of, 73 and f.n. ;
feud between the Howards and
the Seymours, 73, 76, 81 et seq. ;
their relations with the Dorsets,
95-6

Huggones, Mrs., 225 ; called before
the Privy Council, 226

INDEX

369

Hunsdon, 95 f.n.
Huyck, Dr., 145 and f.n.

Inventory of the Howards' effects,
92 et seq. ; of the Crown Jewels,
etc., delivered to Queen Jane,
270, 293 ; of Queen Jane's own
effects, 271-2

Jane Grey, Lady. (See Grey, Lady
Jane)

Ket, Robert, 200 and f.n. ; his
rebellion, 201-2 ; captured and
hanged, 202; 235 f.n.

Knox, John, 156, 157, 281

Kyme, Thomas, husband of Anne
Askew, 6 1, 63

Latimer, Lord, 32-3 ; correspond-
ence with Sir John Russell,
33-4; dies, 34; 162

Latimer, Lady. (See Parr, Kather-
ine)

Margaret Clifford, Lady, proposal to
marry her to Guildford Dudley,
224, 226 ; 225 and f.n.

Mary of Guise, Queen-Regent of
Scotland, no; enters London,
1 8 1-2

Mary, Princess, afterwards Queen of
England, 39, 52-3, 94, 102, 121 ;
the Dorsets and Mary, 181 ;
visited by the Dorsets, 183 ; her
feelings towards Lady Jane
Grey, 189; 233; omitted from
the scheme for the succession,
239, 241 f.n. ; Northumberland's
intrigues against her and her
escape, 249, 250 ; declared il-
legitimate, 258, 259; her letter
to the Council, 268 ; risings in
favour of, 273-4, 277, 281, 283 ;
proclaimed Queen, 285 ; popular
enthusiasm for, 285-6 ; affec-
tion for Philip of Spain, 297 ;
enters London, 298 ; enters the
Tower as Queen, 299 ; . her
hatred of Northumberland, 302,
306 ; Coronation, 312-3 ; wishes
to spare Lady Jane's life, 314
and f.n., 315-6, 320; decline of
enthusiasm for, 322 ; signsjane's
death-warrant, 327; 337

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, 109,
238

Mary Tudor, Queen of France, 8 ;
marries Charles Brandon, Duke
of Suffolk, 9 ; her children, 9 ;
dies, 10 ; her monument, n

24

Montagu, Lord Chief Justice, 240
241, 242, 243, 281 f.n.

Morgan, Judge, 298 ; presides at
Queen Jane's trial, 318 ; his
career and death, 318 f.n. ;
condemns Jane to death, 319

Mortimer, Lady. (See under Bran-
don, Charles)

Morysone, Sir Richard, English Am-
bassador, 262, 266 ; recalled,
297

Newhall Place, description of, 1 86-7 ;
life at, 1 88

Noailles, the de, French Ambassadors,
312, 315, 345, 345-6 f.n.

Nonesuch, Palace of, 45 and f.n.

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, third
Duke of, 32, 54, 66, 73, 74 ;
appearance, 74 - 5 ; marriage,
75 ; his attempt to reconcile his
son and the Seymours, 8 1 et seq. ;
charged with treason and taken
to the Tower, 88 ; his death-
warrant prepared, 92 ; release, 92 ;
dispersal of his lands and ward-
robe, 92-3; 105 ; 298; death, 302;
312, 313; 316; attends Lady
Jane's trial, 317; 341

Norfolk, Duchess of, is neglected
by her husband, 75 ; her
grievances, 85-6 ; gives evi-
dence against her husband, 89 ;

94
Northampton, William Parr, Earl of

Essex and Marquis of, 29, 53,
54; created Marquis, 129; 163;
197; 202; 214; 240; 241; 251 ;
letter to, 259; 275; 281 f.n.;
indictment against, 299 ; trial,
302-3; 304; 325

Northampton, Marchioness of, 141
f.n.

Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke
of (previously Viscount Lisle
and Earl of Warwick), 38, 50,
54, 57 ; becomes Lord Chamber-
lain, 112; created Earl of
Warwick, 129; 130; his ante-
cedents, 190 and f.n., 191 ;
birth, 191 ; goes to France,
192 ; his wife, 192 ; his in-
trigues, 192 ; successful expedi-
tion into Norfolk, 202 ; popu-
larity, 203 ; becomes Lord Great
Master and High- Admiral, 207 ;
governs badly, 208 ; endeavours
to overthrow Somerset, 211 ;
is created Duke of Northumber-
land, 212 ; makes false accusa-
tions against Somerset, 213 ;

370

THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

attends Somerset's trial, 214 ;
position improved by Somerset's
death, 221 and f.n. ; interferes
with Princess Mary's religion,
221 f.n., 222; social intercourse
with the Suffolks, 224, 228-9 ;
induces Edward vi to nominate
Jane Grey as his successor,
239-40, 240 f.n. ; coerces the
Council, 242 ; tyrannises over
every one, 243 f.n. ; rumours
that he had poisoned Edward
yi, 246-7, 247 f.n., 315 f.n.;
intrigues to destroy Princess
Mary, 249 ; informs Jane that
she is Queen, 251 ; his schemes
for changing the State religion,
265 ; 267 ; his farewell dinner,
274-5 ; takes command of Queen
Jane's forces against Mary, and
leaves London with them, 275 ;
sends for reinforcements and
retires to Cambridge, 277 ; made
prisoner, 279 ; brought to the
Tower, 280 ; indictment against,
299 ; his bad health, 301 ; Mary's
hatred for him, 302, 306 ; his
trial and condemnation, 302
and f.n., 303 ; his recantation,
304 and f.n. ; pathetic letter to
Arundel, 305-6 ; his sincerity in
changing his faith, 306 f.ns. ;
his execution postponed and
the probable reason, 306-7,
307 f.n. ; leave-taking of Guild-
ford, 307 ; his execution, 307-8 ;
Curious account of, 308 f.n. ;
burial, 309 ; Lady Jane's opinion
of him, 310-11 ; his family,
356-7 f.n.

Northumberland, Duchess of, dis-
liked by Lady Jane, 192 ; ante-
cedents, 231 ; quarrels with
Lady Jane, 236 ; does homage
to Jane as Queen, 251 ; has a
violent scene with Queen Jane
in the Tower, 260-1 ; her
bequests to Don Mendoza, 262
f.n. ; pleads for her husband to
Mary, 280 ; quarrels with the
Duchess of Suffolk, 282 ; 289 ;
her existence after the Duke's
execution, 355 ; death, 355 ; her
will. 355 I strange last directions,
355-6; funeral, 356

Owen, Dr. George, 101, 245 and f.n.

Paget, Sir William, 101, 105, 106,

213, 283, 285, 295, 358 f.n.
Palmer, Sir Thomas, 213, 281 f.n. ;

condemnation, 304 ; execution,
307-8

Parr Katherine, Queen (previously
Lady Latimer), birth, 28 ;
first marriage, 29 ; her appear-
ance, 30 and f.n. ; her education,
writings, etc., 31 ; first dealings,
with Henry vni, 37, 38 ; her
marriage with Henry viu, 39 ;
public opinion on, 39-40; 51-2 ;
her writings, 53; 54; 59; her
connection and encouragement
of Anne Askew, 62, 64, 72 note
is nearly arrested for heresy
67-9 ; the plot against, 69 et seq.
at Henry vm's death-bed, 102
108 and f.n. ; mentioned in
Henry's will, no, uo-u f.n.,
238; at Henry vm's funeral, 114;
119; her liaison with Thomas
Seymour, 121-2; marriage
to Seymour, 123 ; indignation
of the Somersets at the marriage,
124 ; her life at Sudeley Castle,
142 ; gives birth to a child, 143 ;
her last days, 144 et seq. ; makes
her will, 145 ; death and funeral,
145-6

Parr, the family of, 28-9

Parr, Sir Thomas, 29, 53

Partridge, Nathaniel, Lady Jane's
warder, 290 and f.n. ; 310

Pembroke, William Herbert, Earl of,
29, 53, 54, 130, 160, 163, 214,
251, 261, 283, 284, 285, 286

Penn, Mrs. Sybel, Prince Edward's
nurse, 126 and f.n., 247

Proclamation of Queen Jane, 256 and
f.n., 257 and f.n.

Reformers, the Swiss and other, 59,
133-5 ; their letters, 134, 180,
227 ; Lady Jane Grey and the
Reformers, 180, 226; their
ways and opinions, 227-8 ; their
comments on Lady Jane's exe-
cution, 348

Religion, in England, return of
Catholicism, 74 and f.n., 326 ;
state of, in the first year of
Edward vi's reign, 133 ; under
Edward vi, 213 ; Northumber-
land's schemes anent a change
in, 265

Renard, Simon, the Imperial Am-
bassador, 265, 297, 312, 314,

315, 330, 348
Richmond, Mary, Duchess of, Earl
of Surrey's sister, 83-4, 85 ;
gives evidence against Surrey, 90 ;
repentance and death, 98 ; 108

INDEX

37i

Ridley, Bishop, 156, 281 and f.ns.,
321

Russell, Lord John, Privy Seal, 33
and f.n., 39, 66, 199 ; connec-
tion with Sudeley, 158-9; 204;
205 f.n. ; 284; 312

Sandys, Dr., 277, 278 ; preaches
before Northumberland, 278-9 ;
279; 280; 281 f.n.

Seymour, Dowager Lady, 117-8 ;
death, 161 ; 211 and f.n.

Seymour, Edward, Earl of Hertford,
Duke of Somerset, Lord Pro-
tector, 39, 54, 77 ; quarrels
with the Earl of Surrey, 81 ;
attempted reconciliation, 82-3 ;
failure of same, 84; attends
Henry vm's death-bed, 101,
105 ; after Henry's death leaves
Palace, 106 ; appointed Pro-
tector, no; proclaimed Pro-
tector, in and f.n. ; assumes
the office of treasurer, etc.,
111-2; his intrigues, 119;
indignation at Thomas Seymour
(Sudeley's) marriage, quarrels
with him, 120, 124 ; is created
Duke of Somerset, 128 ; dines
with Sudeley and Warwick,
129-30 ; quarrels with Sudeley,
letter to, 143-4 '• unpopular in
Scotland, his massacres there,
I92~3> J92 f-n- »' unpopular in
England, 194-5 ; his loose
morals, 197 ; risings against his
maladministration, 199 ; takes
refuge at Hampton Court, 204 ;
assumes higher rank, 204 ; flies
to Windsor, 206 ; arrested and
sent to the Tower, 206-7 '> con-
f esses his guilt, is fined and
released, 208-9 I regains his
lost position, 209-10; 212; re-
turn of unpopularity, 212-3 J
second arrest, 213 ; trial, 213-4 ;
sentenced to death, 214 ; scene
at his execution, 215 ; decapita-
tion and burial, 216 ; his
character considered, 216-7 ;
contemporary letter about him,
217-20 ; his prayer-book, 334

Seymour, the family of, 76-7 ; feud
between the Seymours and the
Howards, 81 et seq.

Sharington, Sir William, 115, 116,
151 and f.n., 152, 154, 160,
161 f.n., 276

Sheen, ex-Priory of, 223 and f.n.

Sidney, Lady Mary, Northumber-
land's daughter, 229 ; sent to

Jane by the Council, 251 ; 355 ;

356-7 f.n.
Sion House, 224 and f.n. ; life at,

228-9 ; homage paid to Lady

Jane at, 251
Somers, Will, Court jester, 49 and

f.n., 50
Somerset, Edward Seymour, Duke

of. (See Seymour, Edward)
Somerset, Anne Stanhope, Duchess

of, 34, 39, 80 ; quarrels with

Katherine Parr, 125, 165 f.n. ;

imprisoned, 213 f.n. ; her prison

fare, 294 ; second marriage,

friendship for Mary, death, 357
Stanfield Hall (Lady Jane's dower),

235 f.n.
Stokes, Adrian (Lady Frances

Brandon's second husband), 229,

352» 353 and f.n., 354 ; death,

355
Sudeley Castle, in olden times, 141-2 ;

Jane Grey's room at, 142
Sudeley, Thomas Seymour, Lord,
36, 77, 82 ; at Henry vm's
death, 101, 106 ; becomes Lord
High- Admiral, 112 ; his intrigues
to obtain possession of Lady
Jane Grey, 115 ; his London
residence, 116 and f.n. ; obtains
wardship of Lady Jane, 117;
his appearance, morals, and early
intrigues, 120-1 ; endeavours
to marry a Princess, 121 ; his
courtship of Katherine Parr,
1 2 1-2 ; marriage with her, 123 ;
gets Edward vi to countenance
this marriage, 123 ; the marriage
made public, 123-4 »' indigna-
tion of the Somersets thereat,
124 ; created Baron Sudeley,
129; 130; his improper be-
haviour with Princess Elizabeth,
136 et seq.; rumours about the
same, 140 and f.n. ; intrigues
against the Protector, 143, 155 ;
is arrested but released, 143 ;
conduct during Katherine Parr's
illness, 144-5 > effect of her
death, 147 ; writes to Dorset
relinquishing Jane, 147-9 ; in-
trigues to again obtain posses-
sion of Lady Jane, on payment
of money, and interviews Dorset,
152 ; negotiations concluded,
154; pays for Jane and takes
her back to Hanworth with
him, 155 ; again plots to marry
a Princess, 157-9 '• tries to
obtain the Protectorship, 160 ;
arrested, 161 ; evidence against

372

THE NINE DAYS' QUEEN

him, 162 ; condemned to death,
164 ; beheaded, 165 ; sermon
on, 1 66 ; fate of his child,
166-7 f-n-

Suffolk, Katherine, Duchess of, u,
34, 39, 1 08, 357-8 ; portrait of,

363

Suffolk, Duke of. (See Dorset, Mar-
quess of)

Suffolk, Duchess of. (See Frances
Brandon, Marchioness of)

Surrey, Earl of Surrey (the " Poet-
Earl"), 54, 66, 74; his many
talents, 75-6 ; appearance, 76 ;
riotous life, 78 ; brought before
the Privy Council, 79 and f.n. ;
committed to prison, 80; quarrels
with Edward Seymour (then
Lord Hertford), 81 ; makes
impolitic remarks, 83 ; again
summoned before Privy Council,
85, 86, 87 ; his trial, 90-1 ;
execution, 91 ; dispersal of his
effects, 93-4 ; his children, 98 ;
his place of burial, 99

Surrey, Countess of, 78 and f.n., 93 ;
second marriage and death,
98-9

Table of the heirs female to the Crown,
named in the " Devise," 239 f.n.

Throckmorton brothers, the, 37, 163 ;
save Mary's life, 249-50, 250 f.n.

Throckmorton, Lady, 287-8, 291

Tower of London, the, Queen Jane's
entry into, 253 ; Queen Jane
proclaimed in, 256 ; ammunition

• brought into, 273 ; part of it in
which Queen Jane was lodged,

281-2 f.n. ; place of her im-
prisonment in, 290 ; seizure of,
made a count against Queen
Jane, 298, 298-9 f.n. ; Mary's
entry into as Queen, 299 ; the
Bulwark Gate, 337, 338 f.n.

Tylney, Mrs. Elizabeth, Lady Jane's
attendant, 291 and f.n.; 235;
340; 341 ; 343

Tyrwhitt, Lady, 35 and f.n., 62, 67;
her account of Katherine Parr's
last illness, 144-5,

Udall, Nicholas, 157, 172
Underbill, Edward, his child, 287

Warwick, John Dudley, Earl of.
(See Northumberland, Duke of)

Warwick, John, Earl of, the Duke of
Northumberland's son), 209 and
f.n., 275, 281 f.n., 292 ; trial,
302-3; 356 f.n.

Wendy, Dr., 67, 101 and f.n., 245

White, Thomas, Lord Mayor of
London, 298, 316, 341

Winchester, William Paulet, Marquess
of, 203; created, 212 f.n.; 214;
241 ; brings Jane the Regalia,
261, 270 and f.n. ; 282 ; 283 ; 284;
292 and f.n. ; 293 ; 294

" Windsor Martyrs," the, 40 and f.n.

Wriothesley, Lord Chancellor, 39, 54,
64, 65, 66; tries to ruin Katherine
Parr, 67 ; Henry's anger against
him, 68-9; 87; 88; 109; created
Earl of Southampton, 129 and
f.n.; 1 60; 203; 313 f.n.

Wyatt rebellion, the, 325 ; capture
of Wyatt, 326

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