Mary Rose (10 page)

Mary’s entry into Paris was an affair of the greatest magnificence. Despite the miserable November weather, the citizens had decked the streets with lilies and roses, some in silk, others painted upon arras, or on the giant billboards which marked out the route. Paris was one of the great cities of Europe, far larger than London, where all kinds of people mingled in a violent and turbulent environment, where learning, brigandage and trade rubbed shoulders. It was in English eyes a centre of vice, of whoredom and of murder, and Mary must have shared her countrymen’s prejudices. Nevertheless all such thoughts were set aside as she enjoyed the pageants which the Parisians had organised in her honour. The first was at the St Denis gate, by which she was bound to enter the medieval walled city, and consisted of a ship in full sail, complete with real mariners climbing the rigging. Ceres and Bacchus were at the helm, symbolising the wine and corn trades of the city. The allusion was to Mary’s crossing the Channel, and peace was the main theme.
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The civic and university dignitaries met her at this gate, and escorted her to the Palais Royale, where the King awaited her. At the same time a choir sang songs of welcome.

Noble Lady, welcome to France
Through you we now shall live in joy and pleasure,
Frenchmen and Englishmen live at their ease,
Praise to God who sends such a blessing …
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Many of these verses were written by the humanist Pierre Gringore, who was appointed to make the official record of the entry, and he presented her with a handsome souvenir programme, lavishly illustrated. Mary had chosen to show herself to the best advantage, and was riding in her litter, wearing a crown studded with diamonds which had been made for the occasion, and preceded by Francis together with the dukes of Alençon, Bourbon and Vendôme. On the way from the St Denis gate she was also met by a delegation of the French clergy, thought by one optimist to number 3,000, but probably only a fraction of that number.
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The second tableau showed a fountain playing, out of the bowl of which grew lilies and roses, lovingly entwined, while the third represented Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, in overt reference to Louis’ alleged wisdom. Passing on to the church of the Holy Innocents, she was confronted by a scaffold bearing a figure of God the Father holding a large heart over images of the King and Queen. The fifth tableau, however, was the most ingenious, because it showed a walled city, enclosing a garden wherein grew a bush, and out of the bush sprouted an enormous rosebud which ascended by means of hidden machinery to a balcony whereon grew a lily of equal size. When the rosebud had completed its ascent, it opened to reveal a damsel, who recited the most complimentary of all Gringore’s verses, comparing Mary to the ‘rose vermeille’, which had grown in the gardens of Jericho. This rose featured in many contemporary romances, and signified that to Parisians their king’s bride was love incarnate.
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Moving on to the Chastellet, she was confronted by the images of Justice and Truth, and by an orator who compared Louis to the sun and Mary to the moon. Finally at the Palais Royale itself there was a double stage showing the angel of the annunciation addressing the Virgin Mary in a thinly veiled reference to hopes of an heir, while rustic shepherds sang of the Mary of heaven and the Mary of earth. It was late in the afternoon before the Queen, who was bearing up remarkably well, arrived at Notre Dame for a reception prepared by the University, where after mass she was welcomed by the Archbishop of Paris. At about six, she returned from Notre Dame to the Palais Royale for the obligatory state banquet at which, unsurprisingly, she is alleged to have fallen asleep and been borne off to her rooms.
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Louis, not as robust as he would like the spectators to believe, had long since retired from the fray. It had been a very long day, and it was only after a suitable rest for all concerned that the celebratory tournament began on 13 November. Mary was now wedded, bedded and crowned as Queen of France.

The afternoon following their strenuous night, on 7 November, the royal couple retired to the Hotel des Tournelles, where they rested until the great tournament in the Queen’s honour, which began on the 13th. It would be difficult to say which of them was in more need of the respite. The tournament was Francis’s idea, and had originally been intended as a friendly encounter between English and French nobles to celebrate the royal wedding at Abbeville. However, it was decided that so exciting a spectacle deserved a grander setting, and so it was deferred, taking place eventually after Mary’s coronation and entry into Paris in the splendour of the capital city.
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It also lost some of its original purpose, becoming instead a great renaissance spectacle, and a trial of strength between the nations. In assuming the aspect a great sporting encounter, like a modern football or rugby match, it developed a slightly sinister side, because it became Francis’s intention to use the encounters as a means of demonstrating his own skill, and hopefully lowering the colours of the English jousters, at that time reputed the finest in Europe. Local interest was intense, and patriotic pride became engaged, so that it assumed an overriding importance in the long calendar of celebrations. Francis was responsible for the French team, and took it upon himself and the other nine ‘challengers’ to meet all the English ‘answerers’, both on foot and horseback.
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The English, for their part, were equally concerned for their team’s success, realising perfectly well what Francis was about. Their representatives were chosen by Henry, who must have regretted that Louis’ incapacity meant that he was unable to take part himself, because in the circumstances for him to have appeared would have been an abuse of hospitality. The team was led by the Duke of Suffolk and the Marquis of Dorset, and consisted of Sir Edward Howard, Sir Edward Neville. Sir Giles Capell, Sir Thomas Cheyney, Sir William Sidney and Sir Henry Guildford. All of them were expert lancers, and Suffolk had the reputation of being the finest in Europe (after King Henry, of course).
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The list had been set up in the Parc des Tournelles, and large stands erected for the spectators, who were expected to be numerous and partisan. The whole court was there. Louis, troubled with recurrent gout, reclined on a couch, with Mary and Claude supporting him. Unfortunately it rained remorselessly, and ten days were needed to get through five full days of fighting. The procedure was complicated, because each participant was required to run numerous courses over three days; these were the jousts proper and consisted of individual combat on horseback with spears. However, these courses were followed by fighting on foot with swords, and by a general melee, in which many knights, organised in groups, engaged simultaneously. Altogether over 300 men took part, and there appear to have been a few fatalities which ‘were not spoken of’.
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In the midst of this organised chaos, public interest was focussed on the principals, Francis and his brother-in-law the Duke of Alençon on the French side, and Suffolk and Dorset on the English.

On the first day Alençon distinguished himself by running ten courses, and shattering a spear in each, but it was Suffolk who carried off the day’s honours, running no fewer than fifteen courses, thirteen of them as challenger, which was the more demanding role. Remarkably, there appears to have been only one death, although we are told that several horses were slain, presumably by misdirected lances. On the second day also, Suffolk received the most commendation, actually unhorsing his opponent (a very difficult feat to accomplish) in three successive rounds. These bouts were fairly clinical, but the melee which followed was rough. Dorset wrote later that the fighting was as furious as he had ever experienced. He and Suffolk, he explained, had

put our aids thereto because there was no nobleman to be put unto us, but poor men of arms and Scots, many of [whom] were hurt on both sides, but no great hurt, and of our Englishmen none overthrown nor greatly hurt …’
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The climax was reached on the 21st, when the courses on foot began, fighting at the barriers. Because he had injured his hand, Francis felt unable to take part, but so arranged matters that Suffolk and Dorset, whom he described as his ‘aides’ for the whole tournament, were set to fight alone against all comers. By elevating them to this place of honour, he seems to have hoped to bring about the Englishmen’s defeat, and so to reduce the prestige which they had gained from the jousting of the first two days. If so, he miscalculated, because Suffolk was victorious in all his encounters, including one with an enormous German who had been infiltrated into the ranks of the French challengers specifically to humiliate him. The German was immensely strong, and came at him fiercely, so that the Duke was almost beaten down. However, he was also relatively unskilled, and did not know how to take advantage of his opportunity. Suffolk rallied, and defeated his opponent, pummelling him about the head until the blood gushed out of his nose.
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The unfortunate fellow was immediately removed before his identity could be discovered. Far from being diminished by this encounter, the Englishman’s reputation was enhanced, and Francis became jealous. Dorset withdrew after losing his spear, but his place was taken by his nineteen-year-old brother, Lord Edward Grey, who also fought with distinction, overthrowing another giant – only this time a legitimate Frenchman! Only in their accoutrements did the French clearly excel. Francis, the Duke of Bourbon and the Count of St Pol all appearing in stunning armour, changing their tabards each day in a rich variety of colours – purple velvet and cloth of silver. By comparison the English were soberly clad, each man displaying a cross of St George on some part of his apparel.
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There were clowns and trick riders to enliven the scene between bouts, and the crowd obviously enjoyed the spectacle, in spite of their disappointment at the English success. Suffolk and Dorset both wrote to Wolsey after the event, being suitably modest about their triumph; news of that, Suffolk alleged, would best come from others.

Meanwhile, Brandon’s mission had been more than a response to Francis’s challenge in the lists, because he had also been entrusted with a secret mission to Louis XII. This was secret because there were divisions in the English Council over the desirability of a French alliance, and Henry had so far acted upon his own initiative. The ‘bedchamber crisis’ over the sacking of Jane Guildford had brought this to the surface, because Suffolk blamed his rival the Duke of Norfolk for this development, claiming that Norfolk, who was in France at the time, had sanctioned it in order to weaken the Anglo-French friendship, which he distrusted.
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There was no reason to suppose that this was so, but Brandon hastened his journey to Paris, to conduct his business with the King before the Howards could stop him – as he alleged. His business was to suggest to Louis a meeting between the kings in the spring of 1515 to concert a strategy against Ferdinand of Aragon. Hence the need for secrecy, because if the Howards had gained information to that effect, they would undoubtedly have informed the Queen, and thus warned the King of Spain. In spite of his lack of diplomatic experience, and his preoccupation with the forthcoming tournament, this mission was reasonably successful. He secured Louis’ agreement to the meeting, and even began to put some possible strategies in place. He also succeeded in delaying the Duke of Albany’s passage to Scotland, which Henry would have regarded as an unfriendly act, given the delicate state of politics in that kingdom and his sister Margaret’s role in them.
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Louis thought well of his efforts and expressed the opinion to Henry that ‘no prince christened hath such a servant for peace and war’. The Marquis of Dorset thought that his diplomatic mission had been at least as fruitful as his appearance in the lists, which was commendation indeed.
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After the tournament and its accompanying celebrations, Suffolk returned home, to be warmly welcomed by Henry, and by Wolsey, who was the true architect of the Anglo-French alliance, and in view of the King’s reaction, his opponents in the Council kept a low profile for the time being.

The day following the tournament, 24 November, was marked by a banquet given for the Queen at the Hotel de Ville by the University of Paris. This signalled the end of the court season, and on the 27th the King and Queen removed to St Germain-en-Laye for a three-week break before returning to Paris for Christmas. At the dinner there were many speeches, and the orators competed with one another in their flattery of the Queen of France, and of the coming together of the kingdoms, with France being given the benefit of the comparisons. No king of France, it was alleged, since the days of Clovis, had ever been killed in battle, exiled or murdered by his own people – a clear allusion to the fate of Edward II and Richard II of England, which was a country ‘naturally prone to revolution’.
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Mary’s husband, it was implied, was more secure than her brother, a hint that the Queen was too diplomatic to take exception to. She may also have been too pleased with the adulation to notice, because such a crowd had gathered around the banqueting hall that the official party had been unable to enter by the front door. Instead they had been obliged to make a detour via the porter’s lodge and the back stairs. Once inside, she was received by the elite of the City and the University, and treated to a meal of the utmost magnificence. No action or gesture on her part was unobserved, and she earned special commendation for asking that a portion of the specially prepared dessert should be sent to the royal nursery at Vincennes for her four-year-old stepdaughter, Renee.
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One observer, who was not inexperienced in such matters, declared that he had never seen so many distinguished guests so sumptuously attired at any comparable occasion.
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The politics of the court were complicated at this juncture by the King’s attitude. That he admired and respected Mary is obvious, and she used that favour to help the Duke of Suffolk in his negotiations, because he lacked not only experience but also subtlety, which it was the Queen’s job to present to her husband as ‘plainness’, a virtue which he appreciated. So successful was she in this that Louis came to favour the Duke above his own cousin Francis, whose ambition he obviously distrusted. During these weeks Mary’s behaviour won plaudits all round, except for Francis’s family, who could not stand her. She also flattered his Council by discreetly seeking their advice as to how to deal with her husband. As Suffolk reported she wanted to know