Although my fault be such that, but for the goodness and clemency of the queen, I can have no hope of finding pardon nor in craving forgiveness, having given ear to those who at that time appeared, not only to myself, but also to a great part of this realm to be wise, and now have manifested themselves the contrary, not only to my and their great detriment, but with the common disgrace and blame of all, they having with such shameful boldness made so blameable and dishonorable an attempt to give to others that which was not theirs, neither did it become me to accept (wherefore rightly and justly am I ashamed to ask pardon for such a crime) nevertheless, I trust in God, that as now I know and confess my want of prudence, for which I deserve heavy punishment, except for the very great mercy of your majesty, I can still on many grounds conceive hope of your infinite clemency, it being known that the error imputed to me has not been altogether caused by myself. Because, although my fault may be great, and I confess it to be so, nevertheless I am charged and esteemed guilty more than I have deserved. For whereas I might take upon me that of which I was not worthy, yet no one can ever say either that I sought it as my own, or that I was pleased with it, or ever accepted it. For when it was publicly reported that there was no more hope of the King’s life, as the Duchess of Northumberland had before promised, that I should remain in the house with my mother, so she, having understood this soon after from her husband, who was the first that told it to me, did not wish me to leave my house, saying to me that if God should have willed to call the King to his mercy, of whose life there was no lingering hope, it would be needful for me to go immediately to the Tower, I being made by his majesty heir of his realm. Which words being spoken to me thus unexpectedly, put me in great perturbation, and greatly disturbed my mind, as yet soon after they oppressed me much more. But I, nevertheless making little account of these words, delayed to go from my mother. So that the Duchess of Northumberland was angry with me, and with the duchess my mother, saying that if she had resolved to keep me in the house, she should have kept her son, my husband near her, to whom she thought I would certainly have gone, and she would have been free from the charge of me. And in truth, I remained in her house two or three nights, but at length obtained leave to go to Chelsea, for my recreation, where soon after, being sick, I was summoned by the Council, giving me to understand that I must go that same night to Sion to receive that which had been ordered for me by the King. And she who brought me this news was the lady Sidney, my sister-in-law, the daughter of the Duchess of Northumberland, who told me with extraordinary seriousness, that it was necessary for me to go with her, which I did. When we arrived there, we found no one, but soon after came the Duke of Northumberland, the marquis of Northampton, the earl of Arundel, the earl of Huntingdon, and the earl of Pembroke. By which lords I was long held in conversation before they announced to me the death of the King, especially by the earls of Huntingdon and Pembroke, who, with unwonted caresses and pleasantness, did me such reverence as was not at all suitable to my state, kneeling down before me on the ground, and in many other ways, making semblance of honouring me. And acknowledging me as their sovereign lady (so that they made me blush with infinite confusion) at length they brought to me the duchess Frances my mother, the duchess of Northumberland, and the marchioness of Northampton. The duke of Northumberland, as president of the council, announced the death of King Edward, shewing afterward what cause we had all to rejoice for the virtuous and praiseworthy life that he had led, as also for his very good death. Furthermore he pretended to comfort himself and the bystanders, by praising much his prudence and goodness, for the very great care that he had taken of his kingdom at the very close of his life, having prayed God to defend it from the Popish faith, and to deliver it from the rule of his evil sisters. He then said that his Majesty had well weighed an act of Parliament, wherein it was already resolved, that whoever should acknowledge the most serene Mary, that is your most serene Majesty or the Lady Elizabeth, and receive them as true heirs of the crown of England should be had all for traitors, one of them having been formerly disobedient to her father Henry the 8th, and also to himself, concerning the truth of religion, and afterwards also capital enemies of the Word of God, and both bastards. Wherefore, in no manner did he wish that they should be heirs of him, and of that crown, he being able in every way to disinherit them. And therefore, before his death, he gave order to the council that, for the honour they owed to him, and for the love they bare to the realm, and for the affection that was due to their country, they should obey this his last will. The Duke then added, that I was the heir named by his Majesty, to succeed to the crown, and that my sisters should likewise succeed me, in case of my default of issue. At which words, all the lords of the council kneeled down before me, telling me that they rendered to me the honour that was due to my person, I being of true direct lineage heir to that crown, and that it became them, in the best manner, to observe that which, with deliberate mind, they had promised to the King, even to shed their blood, exposing their own lives to death. Which things as soon as I had heard, with infinite grief of mind, how I was beside myself stupefied and troubled, I will leave it to those lords who were present to testify, who saw me, overcome by sudden and unexpected grief, fall on the ground, weeping very bitterly; and then, declaring to them my insufficiency, I greatly bewailed myself for the death of so noble a prince, and at the same time, turned myself to God, humbly praying and beseeching him, that if what was given to me was rightly and lawfully mine, his divine Majesty would grant me such grace and spirit that I might govern it to his glory and service, and to the advantage of this realm. On the day following (as is known to every one) I was conducted to the Tower, and shortly afterwards were presented to me by the Marquis of Winchester, lord high treasurer, the jewels, with which he also brought me the crown, although it had never been demanded from him by me, or by any one in my name; and he further wished me to put it on my head, to try whether it really became me well or no. The which, although with many excuses I refused to do, he nevertheless added, that I might take it without fear, and that another also should be made, to crown my husband with me. Which thing, I, for my part, heard truly with a troubled mind, and with ill will, even with infinite grief and displeasure of heart. And after the said lord was gone, and I was reasoning of many things with my husband, he assented, that if he were to be made King, he would be made so by me, by act of parliament. But afterwards I sent for the earls of Arundel and Pembroke, and said to them that if the crown belonged to me, I should be content to make my husband a duke, but would never consent to make him king. Which resolution of mine gave his mother (this my opinion being related to her) great cause for anger and disdain, so that she, being very angry with me, and greatly displeased, persuaded her son not to sleep with me any longer as he was wont to do, affirming to me moreover that he did not wish in any wise to be a duke, but a king. So that I was constrained to send to him the earls of Arundel and Pembroke, who had negotiated with him to come from me, otherwise I knew, that the next morning he would have gone to Sion. And thus in truth was I deceived by the duke and the council and ill-treated by my husband and his mother. Moreover (as Sir John Gates has confessed) he (the duke) was the first to persuade King Edward to make me his heir. As to the rest, for my part, I know not what the council had determined to do, but I know for certain that, twice during this time, poison was given to me, first in the house of the duchess of Northumberland, and afterwards here in the Tower, as I have the best and most certain testimony, besides that since that time all my hair has fallen off, and all these things I have wished to say, for the witness of my innocence, and the disburdening of my conscience.
D.
CORONATION.[726]
The last of September Queen Mary rode through the city of London towards Westminster, sitting in a chariot of cloth of tissue drawn with six horses and trapped with the like cloth of tissue. She sat in a gown of purple velvet furred with powdered ermine, having on her head a caul of cloth of tinsel beset with pearl and stone, and above the same upon her head, a round circlet of gold beset so richly with precious stones, that the value thereof was inestimable, the same caul and circlet being so massy and ponderous, that she was fain to bear up her head with her hand, and the canopy was borne over her chariot. Before her rode a number of gentlemen and knights, then judges, then doctors, then bishops, then lords, then the Council, after whom followed the Knights of the Bath, thirteen in number, in their robes, the bishop of Winchester, Lord Chancellor, and the Marquess of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer; next came the Duke of Norfolk, and after him the Earl of Oxford who bare the sword before her, the Mayor of London in a gown of crimson velvet bare the sceptre of gold, etc., after the Queen’s Chariot, Sir Edward Hastings led her horse in his hand: then came another chariot, having a covering all of cloth of silver, all white, and six horses trapped with the like. Therein sate the Lady Elizabeth and the lady Anne of Cleves, then ladies and gentlemen riding on horses trapped with red velvet, and their gowns and kirtles likewise of red velvet: after them followed two other chariots covered with red satin, and the horses be trapped with the same, and certain gentlewomen between every of the said chariots, riding in crimson satin, their horses betrapped with the same, the number of the gentlewomen so riding were forty-six, besides them in the chariots. At Fenchurch was a costly pageant made by the Genoese; at Gracechurch corner there was another pageant made by the Easterlings. At the upper end of Grace Street, there was another pageant made by the Florentines, very high, on the top whereof there stood four pictures, and in the midst of them and most highest, there stood an angel all in green with a trumpet in his hand, and when the trumpeter who stood secretly in the pageant did sound his trump, the angel did put his trump to his mouth, as though it had been the same that had sounded, to the great marvelling of many ignorant persons. This pageant was made with three thoroughfares or gates, &c. The Conduit in Cornhill ran wine, and beneath the Conduit, a pageant made at the charges of the City, and another at the great Conduit in Cheap, and a fountain by it running wine. The standard in Cheap new painted, with the waits of the City aloft thereof playing. The Cross in Cheap new washed and burnished. One other pageant at the little Conduit in Cheap next to Paul’s made by the City, where the Aldermen stood. And when the Queen came against them, the Recorder made a short proposition to her, and then the Chamberlain presented to her in the name of the Mayor and the City, a purse of cloth of gold and 1,000 marks of gold in it. Then she rode forth, and in Paul’s Churchyard against the School, one Master Haywood sate in a pageant under a vine, and made to her an oration in Latin and English. Then was there one Peter a Dutchman stood on the weather-cock of Paul’s steeple, holding a streamer in his hand of five yards long, and waving thereof stood some time on the one foot and shook the other, and then kneeled on his knees, to the great marvel of all people. He had made two scaffolds under him, one above the Cross, having torches and streamers set on it, and one other over the bole of the Cross, likewise set with streamers and torches, which could not burn, the wind being so great. The said Peter had sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and four pence given him by the City for his costs and pains, and all his stuff. Then was there a pageant made against the Dean of Paul’s gate, where the choristers of Paul’s played on vials, and sung. Ludgate was newly repaired, painted and richly hanged, with minstrels playing and singing there. Then was there another pageant at the Conduit in Fleet Street, and the Temple Bar was newly painted and hanged. And thus she passed to Whitehall at Westminster, where she took her leave of the Lord Mayor, giving him great thanks for his pains, and the City for their cost. On the morrow, which was the first day of October, the Queen went by water to the old palace, and there remained till about eleven of the clock, and then went on foot upon blue cloth, being railed on either side unto Saint Peter’s Church, where she was solemnly crowned and anointed by the Bishop of Winchester, which coronation and other ceremonies and solemnities then used according to the old custom, was not fully ended till it was nigh four of the clock at night, that she returned from the church, before whom was then borne three swords sheathed and one naked. The great service that day done in Westminster Hall at dinner by divers noblemen would ask long time to write. The Lord Mayor of London and twelve citizens kept the high cupboard of plate as butlers, and the Queen gave to the Mayor for his fee, a cup of gold with a cover weighing seventeen ounces.
E.
TRANSLATION OF CRANMER’S OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE POPE ON HIS RECEIVING THE PALLIUM.[727]
In the name of God Amen. I Thomas elect of Canterbury from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the holy Church of Rome, and to my lord the Pope, Clement VII. and his successors canonically entering. I shall not be of counsel nor consent that they shall lose either life or member, or shall be taken, or suffer any violence, or any wrong by any means. Their counsel to me credited by them, their messengers or letters I shall not willingly discover to any person. The papacy of Rome, the rules of the holy fathers and the regality of St. Peter I shall help and maintain, and defend against all men (saving my order). The legate of the see Apostolic going and coming, I shall honourably entreat and assist in his necessities [in suis necessitatibus]. The rights, honours, privileges, authorities of the Church of Rome, and of our Pope and his successors I shall cause to be conserved, defended, augmented and promoted. I shall not be in council, treaty or any act, in the which anything shall be imagined against him, or the Church of Rome, their rights, seats, honours or powers. And if I know any such to be moved or compassed, I shall resist it to my power, and as soon as I can, I shall advertise him or such as may give him knowlege. The rules of the holy fathers, the decrees, ordinances, sentences, dispositions, reservations, provisions and commandments apostolic to my power I shall keep and cause to be kept by others. Heretics, schismatics and rebels to our holy father and his successors I shall resist and prosecute to my power. I shall come to the Synod when I am called, except I be letted by a canonical impediment. The threshold of the Apostles I shall visit yearly, personally or by my deputy. I shall not alienate or sell the possessions of my Archbishopric without the Pope’s counsel. So help me God and the holy Evangelists.