Mary Tudor (69 page)
Authors: Linda Porter
Mary’s bishops were realistic enough to appreciate the extent of the problem they faced. It would not be easy to reinvigorate Catholic worship while the churches remained bare. Their austerity was uninspiring, but, while it had been swiftly achieved, it could not so quickly be reinstated. Many of the items confiscated remained in private hands, and though some were recovered, most of the plate taken from churches was not. Nevertheless, by the end of 1554 Mary could take some satisfaction in the progress that had been made, which provided a basis for moving forward. High altars were rebuilt and vestments and copes for the clergy provided.This was a sound start, and many parishes set about the task of building side altars and providing themselves with the many other accoutrements of Catholicism as best they could. But the various books describing the different services, the altar cloths for different seasons, the decoration of the rood-screen and the acquisition of religious ornaments all came more slowly. Bequests were encouraged, but in Marian England, with its growing problems of poverty and want, the faithful were often more concerned to provide for the living, in alms and charity, than to make generous provision for the local church on their deathbeds.When Archdeacon Nicholas Harpsfield conducted his visitation of Kent in 1557, he found that neglect of the churches was still considerable. At Goudhurst, for example, he was met by a sorry sight. There was no register book for births, marriages and deaths and no fair record of the church’s accounts; the glass windows of the church and the vicarage house both needed repair; the churchyard was overgrown. He also noted that ‘the window in the belfry be glassed before Midsummer, and to be closed otherwise decently (so that no pigeons may come into the church) before All Saints’.
26
It is a picture of general neglect, a lapse of standards and, perhaps more profoundly, of a malaise brought about by the conflicting demands of mid-Tudor religious legislation. Most parishes did their best. They were not ill intentioned, only wearied by the demands of government.
26
It is a picture of general neglect, a lapse of standards and, perhaps more profoundly, of a malaise brought about by the conflicting demands of mid-Tudor religious legislation. Most parishes did their best. They were not ill intentioned, only wearied by the demands of government.
Whatever might have been desired in terms of decoration, repair and observance, the Marian Church did not want to restore medieval Catholicism to England. Reviving the mass was central to its programme, as it was to the daily life of Queen Mary herself. Despite the fact that it was a profoundly personal experience, appreciated in varying ways by people of differing social classes and education, the mass was a focus for social cohesion and national unity. It mattered much more to the average Englishman than the distant authority of the pope. Progress was being made on what the queen viewed as spiritual reconstruction for England, and it seems that she had much of the country on her side. The lurid woodcuts of Protestant victims in Foxe’s publications are only part of the story of the religious experience under Mary.
In other areas, too, Mary’s reign saw achievements that have long gone unacknowledged. Hers was a cultured court, with a strong emphasis on music and drama. Thomas Tallis, one of the greatest of English 16th—century composers, was a Gentleman of Mary’s Chapel Royal, as he had been in the reigns of HenryVIII and EdwardVI. As a lay singer, she would have heard his voice often. His works from this period cannot be dated with accuracy, but he may have written his great seven-part mass,
Puer natus est nobis
, in 1554 as a celebration of Mary’s supposed pregnancy.
Puer natus est nobis
, in 1554 as a celebration of Mary’s supposed pregnancy.
John Heywood, who had so charmingly celebrated the beauty of the young Princess Mary 20 years earlier, thrived while she was queen. He wrote a ballad to celebrate her marriage to Philip,‘The eagle’s bird hath spread his wings’, and his allegorical poem,
The Spider and the Flie
, was completed and published in 1556. The year before, the queen had awarded him a pension of
£
50 per annum.There were also two editions of his ongoing magnum opus on English proverbs and epigrams, in 1555 and 1556. It eventually ran to over 1,260 entries.
The Spider and the Flie
, was completed and published in 1556. The year before, the queen had awarded him a pension of
£
50 per annum.There were also two editions of his ongoing magnum opus on English proverbs and epigrams, in 1555 and 1556. It eventually ran to over 1,260 entries.
Mary was fond of masques and plays, as she reminded the Master of the Revels in December 1554. Requiring him to provide the costumes and props for a play by Nicholas Udall, she noted: ‘Whereas our well-beloved Nicholas Udall hath at sundry seasons convenient … shewed and mindeth thereafter to show his diligence in setting forth of dialogues and interludes before us for our regal disport and recreation’.
27
Udall and Heywood were not the only people who wrote for her. Baldwyn’s play
, Love and Life
, was ‘set down’ on Christmas Eve, 1556.This was described as a comedy, but its touch was very heavy. All the characters had names beginning with the letter ‘L’. They included Leonard Lustyguts, an epicure, and Sir Lewis Lewdlife, a chaplain. Whether Mary would have been amused by this reference to the continued failings of the clergy is a moot point. She did, though, like to enjoy herself and be entertained. Apparently she could even hold her own in the cut and thrust of witty exchanges with John Heywood.
27
Udall and Heywood were not the only people who wrote for her. Baldwyn’s play
, Love and Life
, was ‘set down’ on Christmas Eve, 1556.This was described as a comedy, but its touch was very heavy. All the characters had names beginning with the letter ‘L’. They included Leonard Lustyguts, an epicure, and Sir Lewis Lewdlife, a chaplain. Whether Mary would have been amused by this reference to the continued failings of the clergy is a moot point. She did, though, like to enjoy herself and be entertained. Apparently she could even hold her own in the cut and thrust of witty exchanges with John Heywood.
Mary’s love of music and drama was an essential part of her character. These interests provided an important outlet for relaxation. They were a necessary antidote for the sheer grind of government, and though the court was quieter when Philip was not there, Mary did not go completely into her shell. Once she had recovered from the trauma of her phantom pregnancy, the queen accepted that there was much still to be done if she was to improve the state of her country. With Philip gone, she must assume full responsibility and work with her advisers to encourage commerce, improve fiscal management and tackle the question of social and municipal reform. A number of the improvements she set in motion were developed by the Elizabethan government. But her sister never acknowledged the debt she owed to Mary.
Helping commerce to thrive was a priority. Initially, relations with the queen’s overseas merchants were prickly and rather contradictory. The stranglehold of the Hanseatic merchants of northern Europe and their privileged position in England was deeply unpopular with their English competitors in European trade, the Merchant Adventurers. The Hanse paid only 1 per cent duty on its merchandise and had complete control of prices. Mary’s first parliament passed a bill of tonnage and poundage requiring them to pay the same duties as other merchants, but the quid pro quo was a lifting of the ban on Hanseatic purchases of cloth in England.This may have been partly the result of imperial pressure but it also reflected the uncomfortable truth that the merchants of the Hanse had provided loans to the English monarchy for a long time. The Merchant Adventurers were furious and by 1555 Mary and the government were rethinking their Hanseatic strategy. Two years later the ban was reimposed and the Hanse’s charter revoked.
Tensions in traditional markets encouraged the search for new ones. The great age of exploration is associated with Elizabeth, but Mary had her own adventurers. When it became clear that there would be no immediate opening of South America to English merchants, whatever hopes may have been raised by the marriage to Philip of Spain, attention turned east.The first expedition looking for a north-eastern passage to the wealth of the Orient set out as Edward VI lay dying, in June 1553. It was led by Sir Hugh Willoughby and consisted of three ships.The little fleet was scattered by a violent storm off Norway, and though Willoughby eventually reached the Russian coast, he was to die there, trapped by the extreme cold of the winter.
His second-in-command, Richard Chancellor, was more fortunate. He found his way into the White Sea as far as Archangel, and from there he travelled through Russia to Moscow, where he was received by the tsar known to history as Ivan the Terrible. Chancellor found life in Russia very different from England. ‘Moscow itself is great: I take the whole town to be greater than London with the suburbs: but it is very rude and standeth without all order.’ He thought the timber houses a fire risk and those inhabited by ordinary citizens were crude, made of ‘beams of fir-trees’. The Russian religion he correctly described as a variant of the Greek Church, with no graven images of saints but many icons and paintings. Both Old and New Testaments were available in the vernacular, but no one seemed to understand them and neither the Lord’s Prayer nor the Ten Commandments was widely known.To Chancellor, Russia seemed to have the building blocks of civilisation, but to be a society very much on the edge of the world.
The unexpected visitor was, though, favourably impressed by the welcome he received from Ivan. The informality of proceedings was congenial - Ivan knew all his nobles by name and he made legal judgements himself, without recourse to lawyers. This might be seen as an indication of autocracy rather than directness, but Chancellor, who evidently did not like lawyers as a class, found it refreshing. ‘This duke’, Chancellor wrote,‘is lord and emperor of many countries and his power is marvellous great … he is able to bring into the field two or three hundred thousand men.’
28
No doubt this was an impression of might that Ivan wanted to make, but he had no hostile intentions against his visitor’s country. In fact, he was keen to reach a trade agreement. So was Mary, and on 5 April 1555 she and Philip signed a letter thanking the tsar for his hospitality and confirming their desire to trade. Chancellor’s colourful depiction of life in Russia provoked huge interest and excitement. The Muscovy Company was issued a royal charter in 1555 for northern, north-eastern and north-western discoveries and was allowed to raise the flag of England over new territories, in the name of the king and queen. Sebastian Cabot was nominated first governor of the company, empowered to trade with any part of the world,‘before the late said adventure or enterprise unknown, and by our merchants and subjects not commonly frequented’,
29
a suitably broad undertaking to be headed by someone who, like his father before him, had committed his life to exploration and cartography.
28
No doubt this was an impression of might that Ivan wanted to make, but he had no hostile intentions against his visitor’s country. In fact, he was keen to reach a trade agreement. So was Mary, and on 5 April 1555 she and Philip signed a letter thanking the tsar for his hospitality and confirming their desire to trade. Chancellor’s colourful depiction of life in Russia provoked huge interest and excitement. The Muscovy Company was issued a royal charter in 1555 for northern, north-eastern and north-western discoveries and was allowed to raise the flag of England over new territories, in the name of the king and queen. Sebastian Cabot was nominated first governor of the company, empowered to trade with any part of the world,‘before the late said adventure or enterprise unknown, and by our merchants and subjects not commonly frequented’,
29
a suitably broad undertaking to be headed by someone who, like his father before him, had committed his life to exploration and cartography.
Mary’s councillors were eager to invest in the new venture. Its initial capital of £6,000 is said to have been raised by 240 men subscribing
£
25 each. Seven peers were members, including the marquis of Winchester, Lord Paget, the earl of Arundel and the earl of Bedford. So were Mary’s household staff, Sir Robert Rochester, William Waldegrave and Henry Jerningham, as well as a selection of aldermen of the City of London and other knights, esquires and gentlemen. Two of the company’s members were women, widows who were merchants in their own right.
£
25 each. Seven peers were members, including the marquis of Winchester, Lord Paget, the earl of Arundel and the earl of Bedford. So were Mary’s household staff, Sir Robert Rochester, William Waldegrave and Henry Jerningham, as well as a selection of aldermen of the City of London and other knights, esquires and gentlemen. Two of the company’s members were women, widows who were merchants in their own right.
But Richard Chancellor did not live to reap the rewards of his discovery. He went back to Moscow to negotiate a commercial treaty and set off for home accompanied by a newly appointed Russian ambassador to the English court.When their ship was wrecked off the coast of Scotland, Chancellor drowned. The ambassador survived this ordeal, though he had to be ‘rescued’ from the Scots and brought down to London, with due honours.The treaty was eventually concluded on very advantageous terms for the English, allowing for imports of much-needed naval supplies in return for selling to the Russians herbs, wool-lens and metalwork. It gave a great boost to English trade.
Chancellor had gone north and been killed by the very risky nature of exploration. His fate did not deter Mary’s other adventurers, though they turned south. Voyages by William Winter, John Lok and William Towerson along the west coast of Africa established a foothold in Guinea. Here there were rich sources of gold, ivory and pepper. Unfortunately, the Portuguese were already active in this part of Africa and Philip felt obliged to defend their interests against those of his wife’s merchants. Mary agreed, but Elizabeth reacted differently when she came to the throne. Here, as in other commercial areas, she was able to build on the closer ties between the mercantile community and the government begun in her sister’s reign.
Interest in foreign lands is exemplified by what is perhaps the most beautiful piece of work to survive from Mary’s reign.The Queen Mary Atlas was commissioned around 1555 as a gift for Philip from his wife. She could not have chosen anything he would have liked more. Maps were the closest thing that Philip had to a hobby. He consulted them for all his military campaigns and commissioned them whenever he felt it necessary. Mary must have known this, but she probably also wanted the atlas to remind him of their joint inheritance. No record of her actual commission survives but the careful attention paid to the heraldry that decorates the pages gives us a clue; this was a statement of grandeur and power, as well as a record of the known world.
It was also fitting that the atlas should be commissioned by an English monarch, in keeping with the country’s long tradition of map-making. Under Edward VI, Sebastian Cabot had himself created a world map which was printed and hung on the walls of the Privy Chamber in Whitehall. Perhaps Philip had seen it there and Mary, alert to his interest, decided to go one better by employing one of the greatest of all 16th—century cartographers to produce an atlas specially for him. That man was the Portuguese map-maker and pilot Diogo Homem.
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