“What sort of legs has he?”
“Spare,” answered Pasqualigo guardedly; upon which Henry opened the front of his doublet, clapped his hand on his thigh, and exclaimed: “Look here, I have a good calf to my leg”.[6]
Pasqualigo was to return to France, and before his departure, Henry took part in a tournament, in which he is declared to have looked “like St. George on horseback”. Sagudino adds slyly, “the king exerted himself to the utmost, that Pasqualigo might make a good report of his prowess to Francis,” and he “never saw so beautiful a sight”.[7]
Henry’s love of learning, his knowledge of theology, his piety, are still more praised. Were it not for the little saving-clause concerning his jealousy of the King of France, and one or two youthful indiscretions, one might ask in vain for a sign of human frailty. He heard three Masses a day, when he hunted, and on other days, often four or five. He followed Vespers and Compline every day in the queen’s closet. Of the regularity with which he despatched business we have still proofs, in the papers belonging to this period in the Record Office.
But corruptio optimi pessima, and Wolsey is mainly responsible for his degeneration, by exercising an almost boundless influence over the King, to flatter his already inordinate vanity. The Venetians were meanwhile so much dazzled by Henry’s brilliant qualities, that they had little admiration left for the Queen. Sagudino dismisses her with the disparaging remark, “she is rather ugly than otherwise,” and the ambassador himself says, “she is not handsome, but has a very beautiful complexion, is very religious, and as virtuous as words can express”.[8] Gerard de Pleine, in a letter to Margaret of Savoy, describes her as of a lively and gracious disposition, quite the opposite of her sister, Joan of Arragon.[9] Her music and dancing were admired, and it was said that she read, wrote and composed in English much better and more correctly than half the ladies of her court. To this Erasmus adds his testimony and says, “Katharine is not only a miracle of learning, but is not less pious than learned”.[10] She was a tertiary of St. Francis, and wore a religious habit under her ordinary dress. Lord Herbert of Cherbury remarks on her virtue and sweet disposition.[11] But to appreciate qualities such as the Queen’s needed more than the rather superficial discernment of Giustinian and his companions, who were so much struck with the pomp and glitter of the English court, that its real worth almost escaped their notice. Erasmus declared that in its serious aspects, it was “more like a museum than a court”.
During the first years of their marriage, the King and Queen had lived together in almost perfect happiness. Katharine was Henry’s chosen adviser, the confidante of his state secrets, and the principal negotiatrix between England and Spain.[12] We have Henry’s own words to prove that the union was not a mere political one. In a letter written in the highest spirits to Ferdinand of Arragon, the King declared that his love for his wife was such that, if he were still free, he would choose her again in preference to all others.[13] Of Katharine’s wifely devotion to Henry there has never been any doubt. She adored him, and thought him a paragon of perfection. But the birth of her daughter threw Katharine henceforth into the shade, and Wolsey, by his consummate state-craft, rapidly gained an ascendency over the King.
For years, Mary was the pivot on which the personal advantages of both King and Chancellor turned, now in one direction, now in another. Her title of Princess of England was equivalent to that of heiress apparent, and thus from the moment of her birth, she became an important piece on the chess-board of European politics. By effecting a brilliant matrimonial alliance for her, Wolsey conceived that he would enhance his master’s prestige among his contemporary sovereigns, and pave the way for his own aggrandisement, always the primum mobile of his schemes.
Before she was a year old, Mary was provided with a household, and Margaret, Lady Bryan,[14] a woman of sound sense and ability, was appointed “lady maistress” over it. Her nurse, Katharine Pole, received £26 in March 1517, being half a year’s salary. Her priest, chaplain or clerk of the closet, Sir Henry Rowte, had a stipend of sixpence a day. Alys Baker, a gentlewoman of her household, received £10 a year, and to Avis Wood, her laundress, was paid the sum of thirty-three shillings and four pence, as wages for six months.[15]
While still in her cradle, the Princess figured in a part she was often called upon to play afterwards. Henry’s sister, the Queen Dowager of France, being now married to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, gave birth to a daughter, and Katharine and Mary were the child’s godmothers. Dignity followed upon dignity, and before she was two years old Mary was an important factor in the treaty by which Henry VIII. ceded Tournay to the French for the sum of 600,000 crowns. The peace between France and England had been brought about partly through Wolsey’s increasing influence, partly (the Venetians flattered themselves mainly) through the tact and diplomacy of Giustinian, sent for that purpose back to England, and when a Dauphin was expected in 1518, Wolsey eagerly entered into negotiations with the French King, for the purpose of contracting a union between Henry’s only daughter and the hoped-for heir to the throne of France. Giustinian was, however, not so much in Wolsey’s confidence in this matter as might have been expected from the nature of his embassy to England, and some time after the birth of the Dauphin he wrote: “The French secretary has left, and is to be replaced by two great personages, to conclude, as it is said, a marriage between the Princess Mary and the Dauphin. The Cardinal will not admit this, but I am convinced of the truth of it.”
The secret soon oozed out, with the result that Mary was treated with even greater respect and ceremony than before, being regarded not only as heiress apparent to the throne of England, but as future Queen of France also. The Venetian envoys, in reporting to the Doge an interview which they had had with Henry and Wolsey, on the 28th February 1518, conclude their account of the audience in these words:—