The first to break the news to Mary was Cardinal Pole, who feared the effect it might produce on her. But he was able to report to Philip that, “in this present case her Majesty really shows, that in generosity of nature and in pardoning she is very like herself,” adding politely, “and no less connected with your Majesties in this respect, than she is by ties of blood”.[673] Nevertheless, while she lived, she never ceased urging the King and her Council to devise some means for the recovery of Calais, and grievous as was its loss to the whole realm, it was remarked that the burden of sorrow lay most heavily on the Queen herself.[674] She declared that if her ministers should dare to conclude peace with France, without stipulating for the restoration of that place, they should pay for the concession with their heads; and on her death-bed she assured the bystanders, that if her breast were opened after death, the word “Calais” would be found engraven on her heart.[675]
Philip, less ponderous in action than usual, was not slow to respond to Mary’s appeals, and at once proposed to join a given number of Spaniards to an equal number of Englishmen, and to set about the recovery of the town and castle before the French had time to repair the damages to the castle walls. As Surian had foretold, money was speedily forthcoming, the nation being stirred to the quick. The clergy granted a subsidy of eight shillings in the pound, the laity one of four shillings on lands, and two and eightpence on goods, besides a fifteenth and tenth, the whole to be collected in nine months. Seven thousand men were levied and trained for service in the field, and a fleet of 140 ships sailed out of Portsmouth harbour, in the spring. But Philip’s offer was for various reasons declined, the Queen’s ministers preferring to fortify the coast of Devonshire against an expected descent by Dudley, and to send an expedition to attack the French harbour of Brest, an alternative which the King had himself proposed, and seconded with a strong contingent of Flemish troops. The expedition resulted in failure, but the English Admiral Malin, by supporting the Count of Egmont, in an engagement with the French, on the banks of the Aa, gained him a splendid victory. In this encounter the French lost 5,000 men, their gallant Marshal de Fermes and many distinguished officers being taken prisoners. Peace would then undoubtedly have resulted from the conferences which took place in the Abbey of Cercamp, between Philip and Henry, had not the King of Spain felt bound in honour to make the restoration of Calais an indispensable condition.
With the fall of Guisnes, three weeks after that of Calais, England lost for ever her last foothold of territory on the French side of the Channel. The place was so well defended “that had the like been done by Calais,” wrote Surian, “that fortress had never been lost,” and he goes on to say that “Lord Grey showed incredible valour, for although he had been badly wounded in the assault, he nevertheless, with very great courage, stood firm to the defence, until he found himself fainting; and even then, rather to avoid alarming the soldiers than from any personal consideration, had himself carried, all bleeding into a house near at hand; but scarcely had he got there when he was told that the enemy had taken the ravelin, and were attacking the bastions; then half dead as he was, he made his men take him on a chair, to the scene of action, where he so increased the courage and resolution of the soldiery, that the French were doubtful of victory; but the assault becoming more vigorous, Lord Grey seeing that all his men were worsted,[676] and that there was no remedy, demanded terms, and it having been granted him, that his soldiers might go out free with their arms, and what they could carry, he surrendered himself prisoner, the glory he thus obtained exceeding the infamy of those who through negligence or treachery lost Calais, which is close to Guisnes”.[677]
Lord Grey remained a prisoner in the hands of Prince Strozzi, by whom he was sold for 8,000 crowns to the Count de la Rochefoucauld, who had been captured at the battle of St. Quentin. La Rochefoucauld demanded 25,000 crowns as Lord Grey’s ransom, a sum which would go a long way to pay his own ransom of 30,000 crowns. But the money, when raised, so weakened Lord Grey’s estate, that the hero of Guisnes was obliged to sell his ancestral castle of Wilton-upon-Wye to his nephew, Charles Bridges, second son of John, first Lord Chandos.[678] The fortress of Hammes fell with Guisnes, and both places were razed to the ground by the French.
It would seem that Mary might reasonably have hoped, whatever her troubles from other sources, to have enjoyed the favour and confidence of the Roman Pontiff. All her life long, most of her trials had resulted from an unswerving devotion to the Holy See, and now the time had come, when she might expect to reap a rich reward for her faith and fidelity. Julius III. had sent her the Golden Rose, as an expression of his affection and esteem, and Paul IV., throughout his differences with Philip, and however severe his language with reference to the Catholic King, always disassociated Mary from the blame which he lavished freely on her consort. Even when he recalled his representatives, in the length and breadth of Philip’s dominions, and made no exception of Cardinal Pole, it was thought that Mary’s protests would procure a speedy revocation of the decree, so far as it affected her kinsman and principal adviser. But peace was ultimately made between Philip and the Holy See, and Pole’s recall as legate a latere from a country whose King was at war with the Head of the Church, was found to be but one aspect of a contest in which Mary, to her grief and vexation, found herself suddenly involved.
As Cardinal Caraffa, Paul IV. had at one time expressed doubt as to Pole’s orthodoxy, and although since his elevation to the Papacy, he had acknowledged that this suspicion had been unfounded, repeatedly expressing his high opinion of the English Cardinal, he once more allowed the doubt to gain possession of his mind. Possibly Pole’s enemies, and the Queen’s, may have contrived to revive the suspicion for their own ends—the conspiracy in England was hydra-headed—but the whole case is enveloped in obscurity, and the only certainty is, that when Cardinal Morone was arrested in Rome on a charge of Lutheranism, Pole was accused of sharing his friend’s heterodoxy. He defended himself in various letters to the Pope,[679] and represented that a legate was necessary in the actual state of affairs in England, although it was immaterial whether that office were filled by himself or by another. Mary expostulated directly by letters, and also through her ambassador in Rome, Sir Edward Carne. Paul replied by creating Friar Peto, a Cardinal, and giving him the English legation. Peto had formerly distinguished himself by a firm and bold adhesion to Queen Katharine’s cause, for which he had incurred Henry’s anger, and would no doubt have shared Friar Forest’s fate, had he not fled to the Low Countries. He was afterwards a chaplain in Cardinal Pole’s household, where he attracted the attention of the Pope, by the great austerity of his life. But he was now a very old man, and scarcely fit for active service, and the appointment caused much surprise in Rome. In an interview with the English ambassador, Paul expatiated on the goodness and learning of the new Cardinal, and said that he hoped what he had done would be agreeable to her most serene Majesty, and beneficial to the whole kingdom. Carne replied that, as for Friar Peto personally, he was willing to believe in his virtue and learning, but that he was old, and could not bear fatigue, and would merely remain in his cell praying; and that it would scarcely please the Queen to have the legation taken away from one so nearly related to her, and to whom she was so much attached, and to see it conferred on a decrepit friar, who although he had once confessed her Majesty,[680] it was only before she had attained her seventh year. As for benefiting the kingdom, the people, Carne declared, esteemed no one, who was not of very noble lineage, or very wealthy, or powerful through armed retainers and dependent on the Crown; the friar having none of these prerogatives, no respect would be paid to him.
But the Pope only replied to these objections, that he regretted not being able to do otherwise, as he wished to have Cardinal Pole in Rome, and to avail himself of his advice and assistance.[681]
No one felt his incompetence for the dignity and office conferred upon him more than Friar Peto himself, and he entreated the Pontiff to be allowed to decline them, as too great a burden for his old and feeble shoulders. In the meanwhile, Mary wrote that although his Holiness had not instantly granted her request, she believed that he would do so, like the Lord, who when entreated more than once, at length satisfies those who pray to Him heartily. In like manner, she again prayed and supplicated the Holy Father to restore the legation in the person of Cardinal Pole, and to pardon her, if she professed to know the men who were good for the government of her kingdom, better than the Pope, and also, if she wondered, that a legate, after being confirmed by him, and after the performance of so many good works, whereby it might be truly said, that through him alone England had resumed her obedience to the Church, should be recalled without cause. The Queen further protested that should any disturbance take place in England, it would be on this account, but that she would do her utmost to prevent it.[682]
This letter Carne delivered to the Pope, whose expression while reading it, showed extreme exasperation; he also presented another protest from Friar Peto, and then said that he besought his Holiness, seeing the Queen’s submission and reverence for him to be such, as would not have been shown to him by any other sovereign, that he would be pleased to grant her demand. After a long silence, the Pope declared that the matter was one of very great importance, that he would confer with the Cardinals, and give him a reply.