[182] Henry’s elaborate testamentary directions for the erection and adornment with precious stones of a sumptuous monument to himself and Jane were never carried out.

[183] An account of these confiscations will be found in the Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 13.

[184] Chastillon Correspondence in Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 13.

[185] The extraordinary attentions showered upon the elderly French lady, Mme de Montreuil, and her daughter, Mme de Brun, and their large train of attendant ladies, in the autumn of 1538, is an amusing instance of Henry’s diplomacy. It has usually been concluded by historians that it was a question of amour or gallantry on Henry’s part; but this was not the case. The lady had been the governess of the late Queen Madeleine of Scotland, and was passing through England on her way home. The most elaborate comedy was played by Henry and Cromwell on the occasion. The ladies were treated like princesses. The Lord Mayor and all the authorities on their way to the coast had to banquet them; they were taken sight-seeing and feasting everywhere, and loaded with gifts; and the most ostentatious appearance made of a close intimacy with them, in order to hoodwink the imperial agent into the idea that a French match was under discussion. Henry himself went to Dover to see them, and gave them all presents. But the French and imperial ambassadors were in close touch one with the other, and themselves dined with the ladies at Chelsea; having a good laugh with them at the farce that was being played, which they quite understood. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 13, part 2.)

[186] The terms of the arrangement were the maintenance of the status quo ante, but were generally in favour of France, which retained Savoy and some of the Lombard fortresses threatening Milan, that State, the principal bone of contention, being still held by the Emperor’s troops; but with a vague understanding that it might be given as a dowry to a princess of the Emperor’s house, if she married a French prince. The latter clause was hollow, and never intended to be carried out, as Henry knew.

[187] Her own well-known comment on Henry’s proposal was, that if she had two heads one should be at the disposal of his Majesty of England.

[188] Pole had been sent to Spain by the Pope for the purpose of urging the Emperor to execute the decree against England, at least to the extent of stopping commerce with his dominions. Charles saw Pole in Toledo early in March 1539. The Cardinal found the Emperor professedly sympathetic, but evidently not willing to adopt extreme measures of force against Henry. Pole, disappointed, thereupon returned to Papal Avignon instead of going on to France with a similar errand. Nothing is clearer in the correspondence on the subject (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 14) than Charles’ determination—which was invariable throughout his life—not to allow Churchmen or ecclesiastical polity to guide his state action. Whilst Pole was thus seeking in vain to urge the Catholic powers to overthrow Henry, Wyatt the English ambassador in Spain, poet and gentle wit though he was, was busily plotting the murder of the Cardinal, together with some secret device to raise trouble in Italy and set Charles and Francis by the ears. This was probably the treacherous surrender of Parma and Piacenza to England for France, to the detriment of the Emperor and the Pope—who claimed them.

[189] The influence of this party led by Norfolk and Gardiner, though it sufficed to secure the passage of the Six Articles, did not last long enough to carry them into rigid execution. Cromwell, by arousing Henry’s fears that the German confederation would abandon him to his enemies, soon gained the upper hand; and the Saxon envoy Burchardus, writing to Melancthon in the autumn, expressed hopes that the coming of Anne would coincide with the repeal of the Act. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 14, part 2.) The English Protestants blamed Cranmer for what they considered his timid opposition, soon silenced, to the passage of the Bill, and approved of the action of Latimer, who fled rather than assent to it, as did the Bishop of Salisbury. Before the Bill had been passed three months, of its principal promoters Stokesley of London was dead, Gardiner sent away from Court, and Norfolk entirely in the background.

[190] Wotton to the King, 11th August 1539. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 14, p. 2.)

[191] It has been suggested that the Duchess with whom this comparison was instituted was Anne’s sister, the Duchess of Saxony, who was quite as beautiful as the Duchess of Milan.

[192] Memorandum in Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 14, part 2, p. 96.

[193] Marillac to Francis I., 3rd October 1539.

[194] The last passage meant that a union with France or the empire might have led to the putting of the Princess Mary forward as heir after the King’s death, as against Prince Edward. The letter with Hertford’s truly dreadful spelling is printed by Ellis.

[195] A list of the personages appointed to attend will be found in the Calendar of Henry VIII., vol. 14.

[196] As usual, tedious lists of the finery worn on the occasion are given by Hall, and copied by Miss Strickland.

[197] The Duke of Suffolk to Cromwell. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 14).

[198] Deposition of Sir A. Browne. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 14, 2.)

[199] Russell’s deposition. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 14, 2.)

[200] Cromwell (after his disgrace) to the King. (Hatfield MSS.)

[201] For descriptions of the pageant see Hall, also Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15, and Chronicle of Henry VIII., edited by the present writer.

[202] Hall.

[203] Cromwell to Henry. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 14.)

[204] Cromwell’s statement. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15, p. 391.)

[205] Wriothesley’s deposition. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 15.)

[206] The King got a double grant of four fifteenths and tenths, payable by instalments in four years; a shilling in the pound on all lands, and sixpence in the pound on personal property; aliens paying double; besides the confiscation of the great revenues of the Order of St. John. Such taxation was almost without precedent in England, and certainly added to Cromwell’s unpopularity, already very great, owing to the oppressiveness of his religious policy with regard to the religious houses and his personal harshness.

[207] The Spanish Chronicle Of Henry VIII., edited by the present writer. In this record, Seymour, Earl of Hertford, is made to take a leading part in the fall of Cromwell in the interests of his nephew the Prince of Wales (Edward VI.), but I can find no official confirmation of this.

[208] Memo. in Gardiner’s handwriting, Record Office. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 15.)

[209] She does not appear to have done so, however, until the King had received a letter from the Duke of Cleves, dated 13th July, couched in somewhat indignant terms. She then wrote to her brother that she “had consented to the examination and determination, wherein I had more respect, as beseemed me, to truth than to any worldly affection that might move me to the contrary, and did the rather condescend thereto for that my body remaineth in the integrity which I brought into this realm.” She continues that the King has adopted her as a sister and has treated her very liberally, more than she or her brother could well wish. She is well satisfied. The King’s friendship for her brother, she says, will not be impaired for this matter unless the fault should be in himself (i.e. Cleves). She thinks it necessary to write this, and to say that she intends to live in England, lest for want of true knowledge her brother should take the matter otherwise than he ought. The letter is signed “Anna Duchess, born, of Cleves, Gulik, Geldre and Berg; your loving sister.” The English and German drafts are in the Record Office, the former abstracted in Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15. The King instructed Wotton and Clerk, his envoys at Cleves, to deal with the Duke in the same spirit, holding out hopes of reward if he took the matter quietly, and to assume a haughty tone if he seemed threatening.

[210] Within a week of this—to show how rapid was the change of feeling—Pate wrote to the King and to the Duke of Norfolk saying how that “while Thomas Cromwell ruled, slanders and obloquies of England were common,” but that now all was changed. The brother of the Duke of Ferrara had sent to him to say that he was going to visit the King of England, for “the Emperor these years and days past often praised the King’s gifts of body and mind, which made him the very image of his Creator.” This praise had “engendered such love in the stomach” of Don Francesco d’Este that he could no longer defer his wish to see such a paragon of excellence as Henry, and he rejoices “that so many gentlemen belonging to the Emperor” are doing likewise. This was even before the marriage with Anne was declared invalid. (12th July, Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15.) Chapuys, the Emperor’s ambassador, was again sent to England immediately, and cordial relations were promptly resumed. (Spanish Calendar, vol. 6, part 1.)

[211] Richard Hilles, the Protestant merchant, writing to Bullinger in Latin (Zurich Letters, Parker Society), says that for some weeks before the divorce from Anne of Cleves, Henry was captivated by Katharine Howard, whom he calls “a very little girl”; and that he frequently used to cross the Thames from Westminster to Lambeth to visit, both by night and day, the Bishop of Winchester (Gardiner) providing feasts for them in his palace. But at that time Katharine was, Hilles tells us, looked upon simply as Henry’s mistress—as indeed she probably was—rather than his future wife.

[212] Hilles to Bullinger (Parker Society, Zurich Letters) gives voice to bitter complaints, and Melancthon wrote (17th August, etc.) praying that God might destroy “this British Nero.” (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15.)

[213] There is in the British Museum (Stowe MS. 559) a list of the jewels and other things given by Henry to Katharine at the marriage and subsequently. The inventory was made at the time of her attainder, when she was deprived of everything. The jewels appear to have been very numerous and rich: one square or stomacher, given on New Year’s Day 1540, containing 33 diamonds, 60 rubies, and a border of pearls. Another gift at Christmas the same year was “two laces containing 26 fair table diamonds and 158 fair pearls, with a rope of fair large pearls, 200 pearls.” Magnificent jewels of all sorts are to be counted by the dozen in this list, comparing strangely with the meagre list of Katharine of Aragon’s treasures. One curious item in Katharine’s list is “a book of gold enamelled, wherein is a clock, upon every side of which book is three diamonds, a little man standing upon one of them, four turquoises and three rubies with a little chain of gold enamelled blue hanging to it.” This book, together with “a purse of gold enamelled red containing eight diamonds set in goldsmith’s work,” was taken by the King himself when poor Katharine fell, and another splendid jewelled pomander containing a clock was taken by him for Princess Mary.

[214] He had on the same morning taken the Sacrament, it being All Souls’ Day, and had directed his confessor, the Bishop of Lincoln, to offer up a prayer of thanks with him “for the good life he (Henry) led, and hoped to lead with his wife.” (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 16, p. 615.)

[215] Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 16, p. 48, September 1540. This was a year before he made his statement to Cranmer. The hatred expressed to the King’s new Catholic policy by Lascelles proves him to have been a fit instrument for the delation and ruin of Katharine.

[216] They are all in the Record Office, and are summarised in the Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 16.

[217] Lady Rochford, who seems to have been a most abandoned woman, was the widow of Anne Boleyn’s brother, who had been beheaded at the time of his sister’s fall.

[218] In the Record Office, abstracted (much condensed) in Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 16. For the purposes of this book I have used the original manuscripts.

[219] In the curious and detailed but in many respects unveracious account of the affair given in the Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII., edited by the present writer, it is distinctly stated that Culpeper made his confession on the threat of the rack in the Tower. He is made in this account to say that he was deeply in love with Katharine before her marriage, and had fallen ill with grief when she became Henry’s wife. She had taken pity upon him, and had arranged a meeting at Richmond, which had been betrayed to Hertford by one of Katharine’s servants. The writer of the Chronicle (Guaras), who had good sources of information and was a close observer, did not believe that any guilty act had been committed by Katharine after her marriage.

[220] Record Office, State Papers, 1, 721. The Duke had gone to demand of his stepmother Derham’s box of papers. He found that she had already overhauled them and destroyed many of them. In his conversation with her, she admitted that she knew Katharine was immoral before marriage.

[221] The Commissioners included Michael Dormer, Lord Mayor, Lord Chancellor Audley, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, with the Lords of the Council and judges. Norfolk, in order to show his zeal and freedom from complicity, jeered and laughed as the examination of the prisoners proceeded. For a similar reason he brought his son, the Earl of Surrey, to the trial: and it was noted that both the Queen’s brothers and those of Culpeper rode about the city unconcernedly, in order to prove that they had no sympathy with the accused. As soon as the trial was over, however, Norfolk retired to Kenninghall, some said by the King’s orders, and rumours were rife that not only was he in disgrace, but that danger to him portended. We shall see that his fate was deferred for a time, as Henry needed his military aid in the coming wars with Scotland and France, and he was the only soldier of experience and authority in England.

[222] One of Katharine’s love letters to Culpeper, written during the progress in the North, is in the Record Office; and although it does not offer direct corroboration of guilt, it would have offered good presumptive evidence, and is, to say the least of it, an extremely indiscreet letter for a married woman and a queen to write to a man who had been her lover before her marriage. The letter is all in Katharine’s writing except the first line. “Master Culpeper,” it runs, “I heartily recommend me unto you, praying you to send me word how that you do. I did hear that ye were sick and I never longed so much for anything as to see you. It maketh my heart to die when I do think that I cannot always be in your company. Come to me when my Lady Rochford be here, for then I shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment. I do thank you that you have promised to be good to that poor fellow my man; for when he is gone there be none I dare trust to send to you. I pray you to give me a horse for my man, for I have much ado to get one, and therefore I pray you send me one by him, and in so doing I am as I said before: and thus I take my leave of you trusting to see you shortly again; and I would you were with me now that you might see what pain I take in writing to you. Yours as long as life endures, Katheryn. One thing I had forgotten, and that is to speak to my man. Entreat him to tarry here with me still, for he says whatsoever you order he will do it.” The letter is extremely illiterate in style and spelling. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 16.)

[223] Spanish Calendar, vol. 6, part 1.

[224] Marillac Correspondence, ed. Kaulec. There is a transcript in the Record Office and abstracts in the Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 16.

[225] They were soon afterwards pardoned.

[226] This difficulty seems to have been met by sending to the unhappy girl a committee of the Council to invite her to appear in person and defend herself if she pleased; but she threw herself entirely upon the King’s mercy, and admitted that she deserved death. This facilitated her condemnation, and there was no more difficulty. The Duke of Suffolk in the House of Lords and Wriothesley stated that she had “confessed her great crime” to the deputation of the Council, but exactly what or how much she confessed is not known. She most solemnly assured the Bishop of Lincoln (White) in her last hours that she had not offended criminally after her marriage; and as has been pointed out in the text, she is not specifically charged with having done so in the indictment. This might be, of course, to save the King’s honour as much as possible; but taking all things into consideration, the probability is that no guilty act had been committed since the marriage, though it is clear that Katharine was fluttering perilously close to the flame.

[227] This was Anne Bassett. Lord Lisle, the illegitimate son of Edward IV., was at this time released from his unjust imprisonment in the Tower, but died immediately.

[228] Chapuys to the Emperor, 29th January 1542.

[229] The accounts of Chapuys, Hall, and Ottewell Johnson say simply that she confessed her faults and made a Christian end. The Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII. gives an account of her speech of which the above is a summary.

[230] The book which, although it was largely Gardiner’s work, was called “The King’s Book,” or “The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition of any Christian Man,” laid down afresh the doctrines to be accepted. It was authorised by Parliament in May 1543, and greatly straitened the creed prescribed in 1537. Just previously a large number of persecutions were begun against those who questioned Transubstantiation (see Foxe), and printers were newly harried for daring to print books not in accordance with the King’s proclamation. Strict inquests were also held through London for any householders who ate meat in Lent, the young, turbulent Earl of Surrey being one of the offenders. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 17, part 1.) It is to be noted, however, that, side by side with these anti-Protestant measures, greater efforts than ever were made to emphasise the King’s supremacy; the Mass Books being carefully revised in order to eliminate all reference even indirectly to the Pope, and to saints not mentioned in the Bible.

[231] In his account of these and similar interviews Chapuys dwells much upon Gardiner’s anxiety to adopt the best course to induce Henry to enter into the agreement. He begged the imperial ambassador not to rub the King the wrong way by dwelling upon the advantage to accrue to England from the alliance. (Spanish Calendar, vol. 6, part 2.)

[232] The treaty is in the Record Office. Printed in full in Rymer.

[233] At the time of Katharine’s marriage, her brother, Lord Parr, was on the Scottish border as Warden of the Marches; and a few days after the wedding the new Queen-Consort wrote to him from Oatlands saying that “it having pleased God to incline the King to take her as his wife, which is the greatest joy and comfort that could happen to her, she desires to inform her brother of it, as the person who has most cause to rejoice thereat. She requires him to let her hear sometimes of his health as friendly as if she had not been called to this honour.” (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 18, part 1.)

[234] It depends upon a metrical family history written by Katharine’s cousin, Sir Thomas Throckmorton.

[235] The document is in the Record Office. About half way down the margin is written, “For your daughter.” At the top is written, “Lady Latimer.”

[236] The author of the Chronicle of Henry VIII. thus portrays Katharine’s character: “She was quieter than any of the young wives the King had, and as she knew more of the world she always got on pleasantly with the King and had no caprices. She had much honour to Lady Mary and the wives of the nobles, but she kept her ladies very strictly.... The King was very well satisfied with her.”

[237] Many years afterwards when Parr, then Marquis of Northampton and a leading anti-Catholic, was with other nobles urging Queen Elizabeth to drop shilly-shally and get married in earnest, the Queen, who was of course playing a deep game which they did not understand, turned upon Parr in a rage and told him that he was a nice fellow to talk about marriage, considering how he had managed his own matrimonial affairs. (Hume, “Courtships of Queen Elizabeth.”)

[238] Record Office. Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 18, part 1.

[239] Spanish State Papers, Calendar, vol. 6, part 2. The author of the Chronicle of Henry VIII. (Guaras) says that the King ordered Anne to come to the wedding, but if that be the case there is no record of her presence; though all the other guests and witnesses are enumerated in the notarial deed attesting the marriage. The Spanish chronicler puts into Anne’s mouth, as a sign of her indifference, a somewhat ill-natured gibe at the “burden that Madam Katharine hath taken upon herself,” explaining that she referred to the King’s immense bulk. “The King was so fat that such a man had never been seen. Three of the biggest men that could be found could get inside his doublet.” Anne’s trouble with regard to her brother was soon at an end. The Emperor’s troops crushed him completely, and in September he begged for mercy on his knees, receiving the disputed duchies from Charles as an imperial fief. Anne’s mother, who had stoutly resisted the Emperor’s claims upon her duchies, died of grief during the campaign.

[240] Strype’s “Memorials of Cranmer.”

[241] Strype’s “Memorials,” Foxe’s “Acts and Monuments,” and Burnet; all of whom followed the account given by Cranmer’s secretary Morice as to Cranmer’s part.

[242] Morice’s anecdotes in “Narratives of the Reformation,” Camden Society. See also Strype’s “Memorials” and Foxe. The MS. record of the whole investigation is in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. I am indebted for this fact to my friend Dr. James Gairdner, C.B.

[243] How necessary this was is seen by the strenuous efforts, even thus late, of the Pope to effect a reconciliation between Charles and Francis rather than acquiesce in a combination between the former and the excommunicated King of England. Paul III. sent his grandson, Cardinal Farnese, in November 1543 to Flanders and to the Emperor with this object; but Charles was determined, and told the Cardinal in no gentle terms that the Pope’s dallying with the infidel Turks, and Francis’ intrigues with the Lutherans, were a hundred times worse than his own alliance with the schismatic King of England. (Spanish Calendar, vol. 7.)

[244] Hertford had sacked Edinburgh and Leith and completely cowed the Scots before the letter was written. His presence in London at a crisis was therefore more necessary than on the Border.

[245] Hatfield Papers, Hist. MSS. Commission, part 1.

[246] Spanish Calendar, vol. 7. This reparation to Mary had been urged very strongly by the Emperor, ever since the negotiations began. Mary, however, was not legitimated, and not only came after Edward, but also after any children Katharine might bear. The Queen undoubtedly urged Mary’s cause.

[247] It was constantly noted by foreign visitors that English ladies were kissed on the lips by men. It appears to have been quite an English custom, and greatly surprised Spaniards, who kept their women in almost oriental seclusion.

[248] MSS. British Museum, Add. 8219, fol. 114.

[249] A full account of his visit and service will be found in my Chronicle of Henry VIII. In the Spanish Calendar and in the Chronicle it is asserted that the Duke stayed with Henry very unwillingly and at the Emperor’s request.

[250] We are told that even the sails of his ship were of cloth of silver, and probably no King of England ever took the field under such splendid conditions before or since.

[251] Hearne’s Sylloge.

[252] “Prayers and Meditations,” London, 1545. The prayer is printed at length by Miss Strickland, as well as several extracts from Katharine’s “Lamentations of a Sinner,” which show that she had studied Vives and Guevara.

[253] Although this letter is always assigned to the period when Henry was at Boulogne, I have very considerable doubt as to its having been written then. I should be inclined to ascribe it to the following year.

[254] The following is his letter to Katharine informing her of this: “At the closing up of these our letters this day the castle aforesaid with the dyke is at our commandment, and not like to be recovered by the Frenchmen again, as we trust, not doubting with God’s grace but that the castle and town shall shortly follow the same trade, for as this day, which is the 8th September, we began three batteries and have three mines going, besides one which hath done its execution, shaking and tearing off one of their greatest bulwarks. No more to you at this time, sweetheart, but for lack of time and great occupations of business, saving we pray you to give in our name our hearty blessings to all our children, and recommendations to our cousin Margaret, and the rest of the ladies and gentlewomen, and to our Council also. Written with the hand of your loving husband—Henry R.”—“Royal Letters.”

[255] Spanish Calendar, vol. 8. Hume.

[256] Spanish Calendar, vol. 8. Hume.

[257] Spanish Calendar, vol. 8. Hume.

[258] Ibid. The Duchess of Suffolk, a great friend of Katharine Parr’s, and widow of Charles Brandon, who had recently died, was the daughter of a Spanish lady and of Lord Willoughby D’Eresby, which title she inherited. She soon after married one of her esquires, Francis Bertie, and became a strong Protestant.

[259] Spanish Calendar, vol. 8. Hume. September 1546.

[260] Spanish Calendar, vol. 8. Hume. September 1546.

[261] Surrey prompted his sister on this occasion to appeal to the King for permission to marry Seymour, and to act in such a way that the King might fall in love with her, and make her his mistress, “so that she might have as much power as the Duchess d’Etampes in France.” The suggestion was specially atrocious, as she was the widow of Henry’s son.

[262] Spanish Calendar, vol. 8. Hume.

[263] Chronicle of Henry VIII. Hume.

[264] The author of the Chronicle of Henry VIII. makes Paget and his wife the first promoters of the match between Seymour and Katharine, though I can find no confirmation of his story. He says that the Queen being in the great hall with her ladies and Princess Mary, Lord Seymour came in as had been arranged, looking very handsome. Lady Paget whispered to the Queen an inquiry as to what she thought of the Lord Admiral’s looks, to which Katharine replied that she liked his looks very much. “All the ill I wish you, Madam,” whispered Lady Paget, “is that he should become your husband.” “I could wish that it had been my fate to have him for a husband,” replied Katharine; “but God hath so placed me that any lowering of my condition would be a reproach to me.” The arguments used to both lovers by Lady Paget are then detailed, and the final consent of Katharine to accept Seymour. There may have been a small germ of truth in this account, but it can hardly have happened as described, in view of the correspondence of the lovers now before us.

[265] This use of the words brother and sister as referring to the Herberts, who were no relations of Seymour’s, indicates that the latter and the Queen were already betrothed.

[266] State Papers, Domestic, vol. 1.

[267] Hearne’s Sylloge, &c.

[268] The deposition of Katharine Ashley. (Hatfield Papers, part 1.)

Transcriber’s Notes:

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