Chapuys had now begun to speak very openly to the King and Cromwell, insisting on the discussion of matters over which they would rather have drawn a veil. Of some of these Cromwell declared that “neither sugar nor sauce would make them go down”.
It was evident to the envoy, that all their hope lay in the Queen’s death, and he was at no pains to conceal the fact that he had fathomed their designs. He had petitioned the King for leave to attend Parliament when Katharine’s cause was tried, and to state her case plainly. But Henry refused, on the plea that it was not customary for foreigners to be present at parliamentary debates. Chapuys protested that there had never been such a case before, and that no Parliament could stigmatise the birth of the Princess, for the cognizance of such cases belonged to ecclesiastical judges, and that even if his marriage with the Queen were null, Mary was still his legitimate daughter, owing to the lawful ignorance of her parents. The Archbishop of Canterbury, he declared, had not dared to cast a slur on her birth, and the King himself had considered her as the heir to the throne, until the birth of his new daughter. Henry seemed more moved by this, than by anything else that Chapuys had said; but he still maintained that there was no need for Katharine, or any one else to be summoned to Parliament, as he himself being a party could not be there, and that according to the laws of the kingdom, Mary was unable to succeed, and there was no other Princess except his daughter Elizabeth, who was the heir, until he had a son, which he thought would happen soon, adding that he did not care for all the canons which might be alleged, as he preferred his own laws, according to which he would have legitimacy judged by lay judges, who could also take cognizance of matrimonial causes. “As,” remarked Chapuys, “I thought this was strange, he said he would send me books. I asked him to do so, and also to show me the law which, he says, makes against the Princess; but he will do neither the one nor the other, for he will not find what he wants.”[124]
Soon after Anne’s visit to Hatfield, Elizabeth was removed to the More, and Mary, thinking that she would prejudice her own and her mother’s cause by consenting to go in her suite, declared that she had no objection to go to the same place either before or after Elizabeth, but that she would not pay court to her on the road, unless she was led by force. She was accordingly put into a litter, when she took the opportunity of making a public protest. Chapuys thought this ill-advised, since it might only serve to irritate the King, and draw upon herself worse treatment than before, “at the desire of his mistress, who is constantly plotting the worst she can against the Princess”.
SIR THOMAS MORE, LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.
From the original portrait by Holbein.
The shrewdness of the ambassador was not at fault, and Mary was treated more rigorously than ever. When Henry paid a visit of two days to the More, she was commanded not to leave her room, and was told that her father did not care in the least, whether she renounced her title or not, since by statute she was now declared illegitimate, and incapable of succeeding. It was also reported to her, that Henry had said he would make her lose her head, for violating the laws of his realm. She was constantly watched, so that it was extremely difficult for her to communicate this new danger to Chapuys. Her ingenuity provided her, however, with a means which proved successful. Her old schoolmaster and friend, Master Featherstone, happened to be in the house, and Mary asked to speak with him privately. This being refused, she contrived to tell him what she wished he should know, without exciting the suspicion of the bystanders. She began to say to him that she had been now so long without speaking Latin, that she could not say two words properly, and he desiring to judge for himself, asked her to say something in that language. Then she told him what the King had said that day, no one present understanding Latin. He was astounded, and could only answer, that that was not good Latin, and immediately sent to inform Chapuys,[125] who related the occurrence to the Emperor. In the same despatch the envoy says:—
“It is feared the King will put to death the Bishop of Rochester, and Mr. More, late Chancellor, who, as I lately wrote, are confined in the Tower with others, for refusal to swear. The Scotch ambassadors laugh at this King, with good reason, for imagining to strengthen his cause and his laws by this oath violently extorted, for it rather tends to show that they are worth nothing, since they require such help to maintain them.”
On the 14th May he wrote:—
“Some days ago the King asked his mistress’s aunt, who has charge of the Princess, if the latter had abated her obstinacy, and on being answered ‘No,’ he said there must be some one about her who encouraged her, and conveyed news from the Queen, her mother. The said gouvernante, on consideration, could suspect no one, except the maid of whom I lately wrote, who had been compelled to swear, and on this suspicion, she drove her out, and she has been for some days without any one to go to, or means to support herself. The Princess has been much grieved at this, for she was the only one in whom she had confidence, and by her means, she had letters from me and others. The Queen also is very sorry, but still more because the King has taken from the Princess her confessor, a very good man, and given her another who is a Lutheran, and a tool of his own. During the last few days, the King perceiving that neither by force nor menaces could he get his way with the said Princess, or for some other reasons, has shown her more honour than usual, and used more gracious words, begging that she would lay aside her obstinacy, and he would promise her before Michaelmas to make such a bargain with her, that she should enjoy a royal title and dignity, to which, among 1000 other wise answers, she replied that God had not so blinded her as to confess for any kingdom on earth that the King, her father, and the Queen, her mother, had so long lived in adultery, nor would she contravene the ordinance of the Church, and make herself a bastard. She believes firmly that this dissimulation the King uses is only the more easily to attain his end, and cover poison. But she says she cares little, having full confidence in God, that she will go straight to Paradise, and be quit of the tribulations of this world; and her only grief is about the troubles of the Queen, her mother.”[126]