History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth Volume II Part 50

[584] We shall meet him again in Ireland: he was the queen's cousin, and man of the very highest character and ability. The grand jury of Kent were nominated by Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was sheriff for that year. This is not unimportant, for Wyatt in past times had been Anne's intimate friend, if not her lover.

[585] The indictment found at Deptford was exactly similar; referring to other acts of the same kind, committed by the same persons at Greenwich.

[586] Baga de Secretis, pouch 9.

[587] Sir Francis Bryan, the queen's cousin, was at first suspected. He was absent from the court, and received a message from Cromwell to appeal instantly on his allegiance. The following extract is from the Deposition of the Abbot of Woburn--_MS. Cotton._ Cleopatra, E 4.:

"The said abbot remembereth that at the fall of Queen Anne, whom G.o.d pardon, Master Bryan, being in the country, was suddenly sent for by the Lord Privy Seal, as the said Master Bryan afterwards shewed me, charging him upon his allegiance to come to him wheresoever he was within this realm upon the sight of his letter, and so he did with all speed. And at his next repair to Ampthill, I came to visit him there, at what time the Lord Grey of Wilton, with many other men of wors.h.i.+p, was with him in the great court at Ampthill aforesaid. And at my coming in at the outer gate Master Bryan perceived me, and of his much gentleness came towards meeting me; to whom I said, 'Now welcome home and never so welcome.' He, astonished, said unto me, 'Why so?' The said abbot said, 'Sir, I shall shew you that at leisure,' and walked up into the great chamber with the men of wors.h.i.+p. And after a pause it pleased him to sit down upon a bench and willed me to sit by him, and after that demanded of me what I meant when I said, 'Never so welcome as then;' to whom I said thus: 'Sir, Almighty G.o.d in his first creation made an order of angels, and among all made one princ.i.p.al, which was the ----, who would not be content with his estate, but affected the celsitude and rule of Creator, for the which he was divested from the alt.i.tude of heaven into the profundity of h.e.l.l into everlasting darkness, without repair or return, with those that consented unto his pride. So it now lately befell in this our worldly hierarchy of the court by the fall of Queen Anne as a worldly Lucifer, not content with her estate to be true unto her creator, making her his queen, but affected unlawful concupiscence, fell suddenly out of that felicity wherein she was set, irrecoverably with all those that consented unto her l.u.s.t, whereof I am glad that ye were never; and, therefore, now welcome and never so welcome, here is the end of my tale.' And then he said unto me: 'Sir, indeed, as you say, I was suddenly sent for, marvelling thereof and debating the matter in my mind why this should be; at the last I considered and knew myself true and clear in conscience unto my prince, and with all speed and without fear [hastily set] me forward and came to my Lord Privy Seal, and after that to the King's Grace, and nothing found in me, nor never shall be, but just and true to my master the King's Grace.' And then I said 'Benedictus, but this was a marvellous peremptory commandment,' said I, 'and would have astonished the wisest man in this realm.' And he said, 'What then, he must needs do his master's commandment, and I a.s.sure you there never was a man wiser to order the king's causes than he is; I pray G.o.d save his life.'"

The language both of Sir Francis Bryan and the abbot is irreconcileable with any other supposition, except that they at least were satisfied of the queen's guilt.

[588] Baga de Secretis, pouch 8. The discovery of these papers sets at rest the controversy whether the Earl of Wilts.h.i.+re took part in the trial. He was absent at the trial of his children; he was present at the trial of the other prisoners.

[589] Baga de Secretis, pouch 9.

[590] The Duke of Richmond was under age.

[591] Baga de Secretis, pouch 9.

[592] Constantyne, _Archaeologia_, Vol. XXIII. p. 66.

[593] Baga de Secretis. When the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out four months later, Northumberland was the only n.o.bleman in the power of the insurgents who refused to join in the rebellion. They threatened to kill him; but "at that and all times the earl was very earnest against the commons in the king's behalf and the Lord Privy Seal's."--Confession of William Stapleton: _Rolls House MS._ A 2, 2. See Vol. III. of this work chap. xiii.

[594] I know not whether I should here add the details which Meteren gives of these trials. His authority, a Flemish gentleman, was in London at the time, but was not present in the court. The Lord of Milherve (that was this gentleman's name) was persuaded that the queen was unjustly accused, and he worked out of the rumours which he heard an interesting picture, touched with natural sympathy. It has been often repeated, however. It may be read elsewhere; and as an authority it is but of faint importance. If we allow it its fullest weight, it proves that a foreigner then in England believed the queen innocent, and that she defended herself with an eloquence which deeply touched her hearers.

His further a.s.sertion, that "Smeton's confession was all which was alleged" against her, is certainly inaccurate; and his complaint, which has been so often echoed, of the absence of witnesses, implies only a want of knowledge of the forms which were observed in trials for high treason. The witnesses were not brought into court and confronted with the prisoner: their depositions were taken on oath before the grand juries and the privy council, and on the trial were read out for the accused to answer as they could.

[595] Two grand juries, the petty jury, and the twenty-seven peers.

[596] Constantyne's _Memor., Archaeol._, Vol. XXIII. pp. 63-66.

Constantyne was an attendant of Sir Henry Norris at this time, and a friend and school-fellow of Sir W. Brereton. He was a resolute Protestant, and he says that at first he and all other friends of the gospel were unable to believe that the queen had behaved so abominably.

"As I may be saved before G.o.d," he says, "I could not believe it, afore I heard them speak at their death." ... But on the scaffold, he adds, "In a manner all confessed but Mr. Norris, who said almost nothing at all."

[597] Kingston to Cromwell: Singer, p. 459.

[598] _The Pilgrim_: Appendix, p. 116.

[599] Kingston to Cromwell; and see Constantyne's _Memorial_.

[600] "Now of late, G.o.d, of his infinite goodness, from whom no secret things can be hid, hath caused to be brought to light, evident and open knowledge of certain just, true, and lawful impediments, unknown at the making of the said acts [by which the marriage had been declared legitimate], and since that time confessed by the Lady Anne, by the which it plainly appeareth that the said marriage was never good nor consonant to the laws."--28 Henry VIII. cap. 7. See also the appendix to the fourth volume of this work.

[601] Vol. I. pp. 175, 176.

[602] On the day on which she first saw the archbishop, she said, at dinner, that she expected to be spared, and that she would retire to Antwerp.--to Cromwell: Singer, p. 460.

[603] Burnet raises a dilemma here. If, he says, the queen was not married to the king, there was no adultery; and the sentence of death and the sentence of divorce mutually neutralize each other. It is possible that in the general horror at so complicated a delinquency, the technical defence was overlooked.

[604] Kingston to Cromwell: Singer, p. 461.

[605] Letter of ---- to ----, _The Pilgrim_, p. 116.

[606] Wyatt's _Memoirs_, Hall, Stow, Constantyne's _Memorial_. There is some little variation in the different accounts, but none of importance.

[607] _Pilgrim_, p. 116.

[608] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 24.

[609] This paragraph is of great importance: it throws a light on many of the most perplexing pa.s.sages in this and the succeeding reigns.

[610] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 24.

[611] Speech of the Lord Chancellor: _Lords' Journals_, p. 84. Statutes of the Realm; 28 Henry VIII. cap. 7. Similarly, on the death of Jane Seymour, the council urged immediate re-marriage on the king, considering a single prince an insufficient security for the future. In a letter of Cromwell's to the English amba.s.sador at Paris, _on the day of Jane Seymour's death_, there is the following pa.s.sage:

"And forasmuch as, though his Majesty is not anything disposed to marry again--albeit his Highness, G.o.d be thanked, taketh this chance as a man that by reason with force overcometh his affections may take such an extreme adventure--yet as sundry of his Grace's council here have thought it meet for us to be most humble suitors to his Majesty to consider the state of his realm, and to enter eftsoons into another matrimony: so his tender zeal to us his subjects hath already so much overcome his Grace's said disposition, and framed his mind both to be indifferent to the thing and to the election of any person from any part that, with deliberation, shall be thought meet for him, that we live in hope that his Grace will again couple himself to our comforts."--_State Papers_, Vol. VIII. p. 1.

[612] Burnet, Hume, Strickland, &c. There is an absolute consensus of authorities.

[613] "The king has, I understand, already married another woman, who, they say, is a good Imperialist. I know not whether she will so continue. He had shown an inclination for her before the other's death; and as neither that other herself, nor any of the rest who were put to death, confessed their guilt, except one who was a musician, some people think he invented the charge to get rid of her. However it be, no great wrong can have been done to the woman herself. She is known to have been a worthless person. It has been her character for a long time.

"I suppose, if one may speak so lightly of such things, that when he is tired of his new wife he will find some occasion to quit himself of her also. Our s.e.x will not be too well satisfied if these practices come into vogue; and, though I have no fancy to expose myself to danger, yet, being a woman, I will pray with the rest that G.o.d will have mercy on us."--_The Pilgrim_, p. 117.

[614] Within four months the northern counties were in arms. Castle and cottage and village pulpit rang with outcries against the government.

Yet, in the countless reports of the complaints of the insurgents, there is no hint of a suspicion of foul play in the late tragedy. If the criminality of the king is self-evident to us, how could it have been less than evident to Aske and Lord Darcy?

[615] _Lords' Journals_, p. 84.

[616] He had been very ill.

[617] 26 Hen. VIII. cap. 1.

[618] Ibid. cap. 10.

[619] Including Latimer and Cranmer.

[620] _Lords' Journals._

[621] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 7. The three last paragraphs, I need scarcely say, are a very brief epitome of very copious language.

[622] The archbishop's sentence of divorce was at the same time submitted to Convocation and approved by it.

[623] The King of Scots: 28 Hen. VIII. c. 24.

[624] 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 7.

END OF VOL. II.