CHAPTER XV
1553 The King dying—Noailles in England—Lady Jane married to Guilford Dudley—Edward’s will—Opposition of the law officers—They yield—The King’s death.
The King was becoming rapidly worse, and as his malady increased upon him, strange suspicions were afloat amongst the people, their hatred to Northumberland giving its colour to their explanation of the situation. He himself, or those upon whom he could count, were ever with the sick boy, and hints were uttered—as was sure to be the case—of poison. For this, murmured the populace, had the King’s uncles been removed, his faithful nobles disgraced; and the condition of public opinion caused the Duke, alarmed at its hostility, to publish it abroad that Edward was better.[142]
In May a rally appears to have in fact taken place, giving rise in some quarters to false hopes of recovery, and Mary wrote to offer her congratulations to her brother upon the improvement in his health. On May 13 the new French ambassador, Noailles, whose audience had been deferred from day to day, was informed by the Council that their master was so much better that he would doubtless be admitted to the royal presence in the course of a few days. The doctors told a different story, and Noailles believed the doctors. A diplomatist himself, he knew the uses of lying perhaps too well to condemn it severely. That the King was dying was practically certain, and though those whose object it was to conceal the fact lest measures should be concerted to ensure the succession of the rightful heir, might do their best to disguise the fact, the truth must become known before long.
Meantime the French envoy, in the interest of the reformed party in England—not by reason of their religion, but as opposed to Mary, the Emperor’s cousin—was quite willing to play into Northumberland’s hands, and to assist him in the work of spreading abroad the report that the King’s malady was yielding to treatment. He and his colleagues were accordingly conducted to an apartment near to the presence-chamber, where they were left for a certain time alone, in order to convey the impression that they had been personally received by the sovereign. Some days later it was confessed, but as a peril past, that Edward had been seriously ill. He was then stated to be out of danger, and the ambassadors were admitted to his presence, finding him very weak, and coughing much.[143]
The rally had been of short duration. Hope of recovery had, in truth, been abandoned; and those it concerned so intimately were forced to face the situation to be created by his death. It was a situation momentous alike to men whose fortunes had been staked upon the young King’s life, and to others honestly and sincerely solicitous regarding the welfare of the realm and the consequences to the new religion should his eldest sister succeed to the throne.
Every one of the Lords of the Council and officers of the Crown, with almost all the Bishops, save those who had suffered captivity and deprivation, had personal reasons for apprehension. Scarcely a single person of influence or power could count upon being otherwise than obnoxious to the heir to the crown. That most of them would be displaced from their posts was to be expected. Some at least must have felt that property and life hung in the balance. But it was Northumberland who, as he had most to lose, had most to fear. The practical head of the State, and wielding a power little less than that of Somerset, he had amassed riches and offices to an amount bearing witness to his rapacity. In matters of religion he had been as strong, though less sincere, in his opposition to the Church claiming Mary’s allegiance as his predecessor. During the preceding autumn the iconoclastic work of destruction had been carried on in the metropolitan Cathedral; the choir, where the high altar had been accustomed to stand, had been broken down and the stone-work destroyed.[144] Gardiner and Bonner, who, as prominent sufferers for the Catholic cause, would have Mary’s ear, were in prison. For all this Northumberland, with the King’s Council as aiders and abettors, was responsible. Not a single claim could be advanced to the liking or toleration of the woman presently to become head of the State. If safety was to be ensured to the advisers of her brother, steps must be taken at once for that purpose. Northumberland and Suffolk set themselves to do so.
It was on May 18 that Noailles and his colleagues had been at length permitted to pay their respects to the sick boy. On Whitsunday, the 23rd—the date, though not altogether certain, is probable—three marriages were celebrated at Durham House, the London dwelling-place of the Duke of Northumberland. On that day the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk became the wife of Lord Guilford Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland’s fourth and, some say, favourite son; her sister Katherine was bestowed upon Lord Herbert, the earl of Pembroke’s heir—to be repudiated by him the following year—and Lady Katherine Dudley, Northumberland’s daughter, was married to Lord Hastings.[144]
The object of the threefold ceremony was clear. The main cause of it, and of the haste shown in carrying it through, was a dying boy, whose life was flickering out a few miles distant at Greenwich. It behoved his two most powerful subjects, Northumberland and Suffolk, to strengthen their position as speedily as might be, and by this means it was hoped to accomplish that object.