The Manner of Amy's Death (13 page)

     The good news is that Amy may once again visit Robert and that Henry Sidney is working with
Prince Philip to secure the release of all of the brothers now that it has been established that they were not involved in the plot in any way. 

    And so it is that we find ourselves crossing the
Thames on a cold April morning to disembark at the Tower wharf.  Amy has not seen Robert since before Christmas so it’s a touching scene as they embrace and hold each other tightly as if they will never allow anyone to part them ever again.  The Lieutenant Warden asks us if we would like to join him for dinner while Amy and Robert talk in private.

     
“So what news does Robert have?” I ask on the journey back across the Thames, as we wave farewell to Henry on the wharf.  I’m careful not to mention Elizabeth’s name. 

     
“He says the Tower’s been so crowded with prisoners for the past few weeks that the smell was unbearable but now so many of them have been tried and executed that it’s getting back to normal.  He says that he and his brothers are allowed to walk out again and the first thing he did was to walk down to the menagerie to see the porkie-pines.”

     “The what?”

     “Porkie-pines.  He says they’re like giant hedgehogs and they like apples.  He bought apples for them in the autumn but now there’s nothing for them until the harvest in September.”

      “How strange.  God made some very peculiar animals.”

      “None as strange as mankind.”

     There’s a pause and then Amy says, “He saw
Elizabeth when she was brought into the Tower.  He says she looked terrified and angry at the same time and she looked at the scaffold where Jane was executed as she walked past.  He was very sorry to see her so.”

     “Is she allowed the freedom to walk outside?”

      “No, well not yet.  She has very comfortable lodgings but they’ve put her in the apartments her mother used before she was executed.”

      “How cruel.”

      “Yes.  Her life is in the balance.  Each day she’s questioned about her part in the plot but even Wyatt himself has refused to implicate her and claims she’s innocent and knew nothing.”

      “What do you think?”

      “It’s hard to say.  After all, Wyatt intended to depose Mary and put Elizabeth on the throne.  She probably knew something but Robert believes that Mary will think again before executing her.  Elizabeth still has many allies and a huge following among the evangelicals so there could be another uprising if her life is threatened.  Anyway enough about Elizabeth!  She’s no longer important because – you will not believe this, Kate! – when Robert is released from the Tower, we are going to live in Norfolk.  We’ll have our own manor house in the countryside close to my family and away from all the plotting of the court.”

      I can’
t believe my ears when I hear this.  Robert was tried for treason after his brothers but found guilty and attainted nevertheless.  As a result of this attainder Robert now has no fortune of his own and no property anywhere.  In effect, he and Amy are penniless and we’re all dependent on the charity of their relatives in order to live.  Where will they obtain the money to buy a manor house?

      Amy reads my mind and says, “Robert says that he would make a pact wi
th the devil in order to revive our fortunes.  Oh don’t look like that, Kate.  He’s merely jesting.  He means that soon Queen Mary will marry her Spanish prince and he will be Prince Philip’s loyal servant until we’re restored in blood to the Dudley lands and titles.”

      I nod sagely as if I understand all but, deep down, it makes no sense.  First there is the small matter of religion.  Robert is from a
n evangelical family while Mary and Philip are committed Catholics so why would they wish to have Robert to work for them?  What makes Robert think that he and his brothers will have a role to play? 

      Unless ….. unless – I can hardly believe this
but I’ve heard it said – Philip intends to draw England into his ambitions in Europe and use our young men to fight his wars for him.  What’s gone on between Henry Sidney, the Spaniards and the Dudley brothers?  And does the Queen know of Philip’s plans?  Indeed, is this the reason why Prince Philip, a young man, is marrying her, a woman most people would admit is now too old to have children.  Is this the real reason for the marriage?

     
And Robert himself, can he be deceiving Amy into believing that he’ll soon settle down?  To me it sounds as if he’s even more calculating than he ever was and the life of a Lord of the Manor in Norfolk will never suit his soaring ambitions - even if he survives the Tower.  

      My thoughts are interrupted by Amy’s cheerful voice
.  “Robert says that when he’s released he’ll have revenge on those people who turned traitor to his father, Arundel and Pembroke and the like.  He’s carving a motto on the wall of his prison.  ‘O Mightie Lord to whom all vengeance doth belong.’   Oh look there’s Harry Scott waiting for us by the wharf.”

      She waves wildly to her kinsman.  That’s Amy, madly optimistic or in the depths of despair, but nev
er in between!

Freedom and Poverty

Wyatt’
s been executed and his boiled head placed on a spike on London Bridge, only for it to be stolen the following day. The executions continue but the Queen’s decided to be merciful and pardons some of the poorer rebels from Kent when they parade before her with ropes round their necks to beg for mercy.

      The city
of London has been a grisly sight with body parts festooned in every public place and the smell is stomach turning.  Even seasoned soldiers are revolted and our family avoids the city at all costs.  But by spring Queen Mary has other things to think about as she prepares for her forthcoming marriage to Prince Philip; she orders the gibbets to be taken down and the cleaning up to begin.  Elizabeth’s been spared the executioner’s axe due to lack of evidence and is banished to house arrest far away from court at Woodstock near Oxford.   Ironically it’s Mary’s change in the law that saves Elizabeth’s life; from now on, the Queen has decreed, no one will be convicted of treason on an accusation unless full proof can be found.  Elizabeth’s been lucky again but the Queen is not fooled.

     
Queen Mary marries her prince in July 1554 at Winchester Cathedral far away from any London protesters.  She now believes that all evangelicals are trouble causers, says Henry Sidney, on one of our visits to his London residence, and he’s having a difficult time at court concealing his beliefs.  Strangely enough it’s Philip and the Spanish courtiers who are his friends and protectors.  They’ve promised to do all they can to secure the release of the remaining Dudley brothers from the Tower.

      There’
s some other good news too.  Mary Sidney is expecting the birth of her first child and Henry says, if the baby is a boy, he will name him Philip to show his gratitude to the family’s benefactor. 

      The summer passes slowly and uneventfully.  Amy continues to visit Robert and enjoys a new peace of mind now that
Elizabeth is far away.  By the end of the summer there’s more joyful news; the Queen is apparently already pregnant and in her happiness, she’s been persuaded by Philip to release Robert and his brothers.

      The Scott’s home becomes a flurry of activity as Amy’s little household prepares for the move to
Penshurst Place where Mary Sidney and Lady Dudley, the former Duchess of Northumberland, are now residing.  Henry’s going to bring his brothers-in-law to the family home in Kent where we’ll all be reunited and Amy can scarcely conceal her excitement.

      “It’
ll be wonderful for all our kin to be together again,” says Amy.  “You know, Kate, I think that I won’t even mind his mother’s sharp tongue from now on!”

      But there’
s a tragedy looming.  When Henry and the Dudley brothers arrive at Penshurst we have no real cause for celebration; first Ambrose has not yet been released and then we find that John, the oldest, has a fever caught from the bad air in the Tower and is very ill.  His freedom turns out to be short lived and he dies a few weeks after his release.   Lady Dudley’s hysterical in her grief.  An air of gloom descends over Penshurst Place. 

      There’
s further bad news for Amy as she hears that her beloved father has also died.  Her half brother John Appleyard together with Sir John Robsart’s illegitimate son, Arthur Robsart, arrive in Kent to break the bad news to their sister and Amy is devastated with grief and guilt; she’s not seen her father since before Robert’s imprisonment, always intending to visit him when we were staying at Mr Hyde’s house in Throcking.  “Poor father.  Poor father,” sobs Amy, “I should have been with him when he died.”

      John
Appleyard explains to her, gently, that Sir John died suddenly and there was nothing anyone could do.  His own mother, Lady Elizabeth, who’s also Amy’s mother, will inherit Syderstone and the vast Robsart estate in Norfolk to which Amy is the sole heir when her mother dies.  I feel sorry for Arthur who’s now dependent on the charity of his deceased father’s family and can expect nothing for himself.  This was, of course, Northumberland’s doing when the marriage settlement was thrashed out before Robert and Amy married.  Poor Arthur stands by quietly while John explains the situation to Amy; he is fond of, but hardly close to, his natural sister. 

      
On the other hand all the Appleyard children saw Amy as the baby of the family after their mother was remarried to John Robsart - and spoiled her considerably when she was small!  The Appleyard house, Stanfield Hall, will become theirs and not Amy’s when their mother dies so there’s no rivalry between them and their half sister.

      Christmas
1554 arrives and despite the birth of Mary Sidney’s child, a son named Philip, we’re all subdued for the second year running.  Ambrose, tired and ill, is released from prison and joins his brothers just before Christmas and together they mourn the death of John.  Robert and Ambrose are delighted with the new baby since they have no children of their own and there’s a wistful sadness as Ambrose remembers the deaths of his own baby daughter and then his first wife.  Elizabeth Tailboys, his second wife, is a wealthy baroness in her own right and has been allowed by the Queen to retain her land and property in Lincolnshire, despite being married to a Dudley.  But personal happiness in the form of a family has not yet been granted to the couple as, indeed, it has not to Amy and Robert.

      We all adore young Philip and make plans for his future.  His mother i
s a talented writer and poet so will the baby inherit his mother’s intellect, we wonder? Robert seems mesmerised by the little one and spends time holding his tiny hand and talking to him as if he can understand, much to everyone’s amusement. Lady Dudley, however, has become very frail and weak and is too ill to pay the new arrival any attention; she is still consumed with grief over the death of John but manages the strength to write to Prince Philip to thank him for delivering her sons from the Tower and to ask him to protect them in the event of her death.  The result is that Ambrose and Robert are summoned to court again to take part in the festivities celebrating the twelve nights of Christmas, which may go on well into January!  Amy is once more downcast at the prospect of another separation from Robert.

      
Prince Philip has planned an exhibition of jousting and fighting with canes, popular among the Spanish nobles at court, and intends to entertain the English courtiers over the Christmas holiday.  This will be an opportunity to show off the athleticism and fighting skills of Philip’s own men but they have to have opponents to fight against.  The two brothers are more than eager to take part, in the hope that they will restore the Dudley family fortunes by befriending the Spaniards.  To Amy’s dismay they set out for London immediately.

 
    By the end of January they’re back at Penshurst for their mother’s funeral and Robert and Amy have a shock in store.  Lady Dudley’s will practically ignores them and all they can expect is a very small amount each year to live on.  Everyone else in the family has been provided for and has been left some small token of their mother’s affection despite the fact that Lady Dudley had little to spare after her husband’s execution and had accumulated several debts.

      “It’s because Robert did not arrest Princess Mary when his father sent him into
Norfolk,” wails Amy.

     “But he couldn’t be blamed for that.  Northumberland was too slow and Mary guessed his plan.  She fled several days before he even realised she’d gone.  And Robert was just twenty one.  John and Ambrose were older and more suited to the task.  The Duke should have sent his older sons.”

      “He thought Robert was dispensible,” says Amy bitterly, “Because of his marriage to me, Kat.
He didn’t have the fine prospects of the other sons.  Even Henry the youngest had married a rich heiress.  I don’t think Lady Dudley liked me much.  Now what will we do?”

      Well I really
have no idea.  We can’t live on the charity of other people forever.

      While we’
re pondering our own problems, there’s bad news from court.  In an attempt to show the strength of her Catholic faith and dissuade any further Protestant rebellions, Mary has persuaded her Council, now a huge body of forty or so committed Catholics bent on imposing religious discipline, to sanction the burnings of heretics – that is to say, us.   The first is a preacher from St Paul’s, John Rogers, who’s burned on the 4th February 1555 at Smithfield and we’re horrified to learn that the poor man died with his wife and children looking on and calling encouragement to him in his torment.  We learn even more dreadful details later; how the wind blew the flames away from him and the poor man had been slowly burned alive, only dying after almost an hour of the most horrific agony.  Then there are more burnings; Bishop Hooper in Gloucester as well as other Protestant clergy in Coventry and Suffolk.  We’re shocked that the Queen, who showed mercy to rebels and indeed to our own family, can be so cruel to her fellow loyal countrymen merely for following their own religious beliefs.