Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (26 page)

First, Mary wanted to deal with religion. Edward’s antiCatholic laws were still in force, and Protestant preachers were taking full advantage. So Mary started to arrest them. Next, Protestant refugees from the Continent were expelled from England. Mary added her own particular piece of nastiness by sending the Emperor details of the vessels on which the refugees would be returning, so that they could be seized immediately on disembarking with everything that was bound to follow.

All married priests were sacked, and those who had been monks were ordered to separate from their wives and children and were prohibited from ever seeing them again. Then the Mass was restored, and it was made illegal to attend a Protestant service.

Much of this took place without trouble as the English hated foreigners even if they were of the same faith, and few people accepted the notion of married priests. The only issue was Mary’s proposed marriage; the English did not want a Spanish king.

In January 1554, a Protestant rebellion broke out. The plan was for simultaneous uprisings in Kent led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, in Wales led by Sir James Croft, in Devon led by Sir Peter Carew and in the Midlands led by Jane Grey’s father, the Duke of Suffolk. They were all to march on London. Their ambition was never made clear; certainly to prevent the Spanish marriage, probably to depose Mary, perhaps to kill her. Wyatt moved first, and his supporters took to the street in Maidstone. The Duke of Norfolk was sent with a force to confront them. When Norfolk’s men reached Rochester and saw the size of Wyatt’s army, most of them joined him and the others retreated.

Within a week the rebel army was at Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames. Mary was advised to flee, but she stood fast. At the Guildhall she addressed the aldermen, demanding support in a war against traitors. It led to 20,000 men taking up arms to defend Mary against Wyatt and his 7,000 supporters.

Wyatt’s army advanced and they crossed the Thames during the night, making their way to the Palace of Westminster. Killing the Queen would bring immediate victory, end the threat of a Spanish king and make further bloodshed unnecessary. In the early hours of the morning Wyatt’s forces attacked the Palace, shooting arrows at the windows. If enough arrows were fired, perhaps a lucky shot would kill the Queen. Mary was awoken and warned of the likelihood that the Palace would be stormed. She hurried to the main chamber where she found the ladies of the court crying hysterically as arrows clattered against the outside walls, smashing the windows and then flying into the room; but despite the efforts of the rebels, Mary was not harmed.

Courtiers advised Mary to leave by a secret passage and escape in a boat, for to stay meant certain death. Again, she refused to run. Her response was prayer. In the end, Wyatt’s men made no attempt to breach the walls, completely overestimating the strength of the forces in the Palace. They moved on and marched to the City, where they were surrounded by Mary’s troops. Wyatt and his men surrendered without a fight. All the other uprisings failed for lack of support. The Duke of Suffolk hurried to his estates. He was found hiding in a tree, and was taken to join Wyatt in the Tower.

Mary had survived. Now she would wield the axe and light the flame, promising to “strike terror into all those who ventured to do evil”; that is, all who were not orthodox Catholics.

Within days, Jane Grey and her husband had been executed for treason, as were Wyatt and Suffolk. Cranmer was not to be executed for treason, Mary wanted to have him convicted of heresy – that would mean burning. However, Henry’s Heresy Act had been revoked in Edward’s reign, so Cranmer would have to wait for new legislation.

Hundreds were put to death, and corpses were displayed throughout London. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, the man who had warned Mary of her impending arrest by Northumberland, was charged with treason for complicity in Wyatt’s rebellion. He was acquitted, so Mary ordered his imprisonment together with all members of the jury.

Finally, in July 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain. Now it was time to reinstate the Pope’s authority in England. The legate sent by the Vatican was Cardinal Pole, son of the aged Countess of Salisbury who had been executed by Henry VIII. Pole was a grandson of George Duke of Clarence, the executed brother of Edward IV and Richard III. Cardinal Pole now advised Mary and Parliament in the name of the Pope. So, one of the senior survivors of the House of York became the most powerful man in England.

The Act of Supremacy was repealed and a new Heresy Act was passed, as was an Act for the Burning of Heretics. Now the burning could begin, supervised by the Lord Chancellor Bishop Gardiner and Cardinal Pole, who would be the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. However, the most vigorous burner was Mary herself. All Protestant bishops were burned, including Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer. The fact that Cranmer had saved Mary’s life did not help him; Mary would not even read his letter professing that he had converted to Catholicism and pleading for mercy. She said it was a sin to read a letter written by a heretic.

Generally, heretics were burned in public on market days. Many were preachers, others had read the English Bible; but the most common heresy was denial of transubstantiation – the Catholic belief that the bread and wine used at communion become the body and blood of Christ. Friends of heretics were still allowed to tie small bags of gunpowder around the condemned person’s neck so that his or her head might be blown off rather than suffer the agonising burning process, but Mary ended the policy of pardoning heretics who recanted and promised to be good Catholics. For her, it was too late.

Mary apart, an heir was a more important issue than Mass. In late 1554, Mary informed the Council that she was pregnant, in April 1555 it was announced that a son had been born, later that a baby was due. But it was all wishful thinking. Then, in October 1555, Charles V abdicated, and Mary’s husband Philip became King of Spain. Philip left for his kingdom. Mary realised that she would never produce an heir and that Elizabeth would succeed to the throne.

Two years later, Philip returned briefly to England in order to prepare for a Spanish/English invasion of France. For England, the only meaningful outcome was the loss of Calais after 200 years. It was the last English territory on the Continent.

In the spring of 1558, Mary became seriously ill with dropsy (the accumulation of fluid below the skin or in a bodily cavity), and it may have been such a swelling that had led her to believe that she was pregnant. Alternatively, she may have been suffering from a tumour. Mary became extremely depressed; Philip was gone, Calais had been lost, despite the burnings there were more heretics than ever, she would never have a child, and Protestant Elizabeth would succeed her. It had all gone horribly wrong. Then, on 17th November, Mary died. The date was celebrated in England for hundreds of years.

One of the most popular English sovereigns on her accession, she became the most hated. Mary is the only English monarch not to be commemorated with a statue; rather, she is remembered as Bloody Mary. It would have been so much better if Henry had gone through with Mary’s execution, or if one of the arrows shot by Wyatt’s forces had found its intended victim. Better not just for the Protestants, but for the English Catholics who would suffer centuries of persecution, first inspired by the desire to avenge Mary’s burnings.

Wyatt’s Revolt had threatened the lives of three queens. It was very likely the rebels’ intention to kill Mary, it resulted in the execution of Lady Jane Grey, and it nearly sent Elizabeth to the block.

As soon as the rebellion started, Mary assumed that the rebels were planning to replace her with Elizabeth, so Mary ordered Elizabeth to come to London where she could be closely watched. However, Elizabeth was unwilling to be a prisoner; so she declined, claiming that she was too ill to travel. After the rebellion was over, Mary sent soldiers to bring her half-sister to London.

Certainly some of the rebel leaders had visited Elizabeth, certainlytheyhadwrittentoher;butElizabethhadwiselyalways replied orally, never in writing. Under torture Wyatt implicated Elizabeth, then on the scaffold he spoke publicly denying her involvement. Despite that denial, Mary was convinced of Elizabeth’s treason, and she sent Elizabeth to the Tower.

For two months Elizabeth remained in prison while Mary tried to summon up the courage to put her on trial. But all the witnesses had already been executed, and Mary had seen a jury acquit Throgmorton. Even worse, Elizabeth was hugely popular in the country, a trial would risk further rebellion. Elizabeth’s life lay in the balance. Finally, Mary gave up. She had come as close as she dared to killing her half-sister. Elizabeth was sent to Woodstock Palace to live under house arrest. When Mary believed that she was pregnant and would be producing an heir, Elizabeth was allowed to return to court.

Later it became clear that Mary would never have a child, and on the urging of Philip, Mary accepted that she had no choice and she named Elizabeth as her successor. The next in line after Elizabeth was Mary Queen of Scots, and she was betrothed to the Dauphin. If she became Queen of England, then Philip’s enemy the King of France would be King of England in Philip’s place. Fanatical Catholic though he was, Philip preferred an English Protestant monarch to a French Catholic one.

Elizabeth’s accession was widely welcomed. The death of Bloody Mary meant no more Spanish influence, no more burnings of Protestants, and no more Cardinal Pole – the man who had even ordered the exhumation of heretics so that their corpses could be publicly burned. He died a few hours after Mary, and the nation rejoiced.

Religion was dealt with first. England returned to Protestantism; church attendance became compulsory, Catholic practices were banned and the Pope’s authority in England was once more abolished. The new order was not as severe as it had been under Edward, Catholics were only burned if they threatened Elizabeth’s throne. Some Protestants, like the Calvinists, were also proscribed as Elizabeth did not want religious extremists of any persuasion.

As with Mary, the second matter to be considered was marriage and an heir. Suitors or their representatives came from foreign courts, but probably Elizabeth had already decided that she would never marry a foreigner, perhaps that she would never marry anyone. Quite possibly she had been put off the idea by Thomas Seymour, who had euphemistically been accused of forcing his attentions on Elizabeth when she was a ward of his wife, ex-Queen Catherine Parr. She sent Elizabeth to live elsewhere when she caught her in an embrace with Seymour. However, it is more likely that Elizabeth’s reluctance to marry was simply because she was unwilling to share power.

Nevertheless, for a time there seemed to be possibilities for several Englishmen. The front-runner was Lord Robert Dudley, fourth son of the Duke of Northumberland who had been executed by Mary for putting Jane Grey forward as queen. Dudley’s hopes were hindered by the fact that he was already married. Then, in late 1560, Dudley’s wife was found dead with a broken neck at the foot of the stairs at their home. It was apparently an accident, she had been seriously ill. But there was too much talk, and Dudley had to leave court. He would soon be back, later created Earl of Leicester, and there was plenty of flirting, but marriage was no longer an option.

In 1562, Elizabeth contracted smallpox and became gravely ill. She recovered, although her face was pitted with scars, requiring heavy make-up. Parliament, to the Queen’s annoyance, was now more anxious than ever that she should marry and provide an heir.

Without a new heir, there were six leading claimants. The situation had changed little from the time of Lady Jane Grey. Again, the first route was through Henry VIII’s older
sister, Margaret Tudor. Her marriage to James IV of Scotland produced a son, James V, who died leaving a daughter, Mary. So Mary Queen of Scots was clearly the first in line if Elizabeth died. Mary had married the Dauphin, and on his accession she became Queen of France. Francis II died 17 months later at the age of 16, and Mary returned to Scotland, then ruled by a council of Protestant lords.