The art with which Mary received gifts was no less happy than her manner of giving, and the letter of thanks which she wrote to Cromwell, just after he had been made Lord Privy Seal, in acknowledgment of his services to her, is a pleasant contrast, in its spontaneous expressions of gratitude, to the former grovelling effusions, which purported to have emanated from her, but which were really the compositions of Cromwell himself.
“My Lord,
“In my heartiest manner I commend me unto you, as she which cannot express in writing the great joy and comfort that I have received as well by your letters as by the report of my servant this bearer, concerning the King my Sovereign father’s goodness towards me; which I doubt not but I have obtained much the better by your continual suit and means. Wherefore I think myself bound to pray for you during my life; and that I both do and will continue with the Grace of God. Sir, as touching mine apparel, I have made no bill. For the King’s Highnes favour is so good cloathing unto me, that I can desire no more; and so have written to his Grace, resting wholly in him, and willing to wear whatever his Grace shall appoint me. My Lord, I do thank you with all my heart for the horse that you sent me with this bearer. Wherein you have done me a great pleasure. For I had never a one to ride upon sometimes for my health, and besides that my servant sheweth me that he is such a one, that I may of good right accept not only the mind of the giver, but also the gift. And thus I commit you to God, whom I do and shall daily pray to be with you in all your business, and to reward you for so exceeding great pains and labours that you take in my sutes.”[201]
And again:—
“My Lord,
“After my most hearty commendations, I think the time so long since I heard from the King’s Highness, my most benign father, that nature moveth me to be so bold as to send my servant this bearer with letters to his Grace, and also to the Queen, because I would very fain know how their Graces do, desiring you, my Lord, if for lack of witt I have sent sooner than I should have done, molesting his Grace with my rude letters, you will make such an excuse for me as your wisdom shall think best. For till it may please his Highness to license me to come into his presence which of all worldly things is my chiefest desire, my next comfort is, to hear often of his Grace’s health and prosperous estate; which I beseech our Lord long to preserve. My lord, your servant hath brought me the well-favoured horse that you have given me, with a very goodly saddle; for the which I do thank you with all my heart. For he seemeth to be, indeed as good as I have heard report of him, which was that he had all the qualities belonging to a good horse. Wherefore I trust in time to come, the riding upon him shall do me very much good concerning my health. For I am wont to find great ease in riding.”[202]
Mary’s appearance at court was still delayed, probably on account of the difficulty with regard to her rank. If the King’s eldest daughter was thenceforth to be regarded as heiress apparent, she must appear as Princess of Wales, with pomp and circumstance, but all was as yet uncertain, and for the same reason, Henry came to no conclusion, respecting the various marriages again proposed for her. If he had no son, he would be unwilling for her to leave the kingdom, but in any case hers was a name to intrigue with. “He feels,” wrote Chapuys to the Emperor, “that he is getting old, and has no male children to succeed him on the throne, and knows that he will have enough to do to keep the peace in his own kingdom, where the novelties he has introduced are not generally approved of. He therefore thinks of nothing else save making of good cheer, and filling his coffers with the feathers of those whom he wishes to put down. All his late shifting and dissimulation have no other origin, than the fear he has of your Majesty’s affairs becoming prosperous again, and your coming over to England to chastise him.”[203]
But unpopular as Henry was, Cromwell was looked upon as the evil genius of the throne. It was he who had inspired the divorce of Katharine, the disinheriting of Mary, the suppression of the monasteries, the execution of those who denied the royal supremacy, and the introduction of such heretics as Cranmer and Latimer into the sees of Canterbury and Worcester. In the south, the general discontent was paralysed by dread, but the hardy, frugally living people of the eastern and northern counties knew no fear. The dissolution of the smaller monasteries was the signal for revolt. The Canons of Hexham fortified their house. One of their number appeared in armour on the leads, and declared to the King’s Commissioners, that the twenty inmates would all die before they would yield, and the Commissioners thought it prudent to withdraw. But the Lincolnshire men rose first. The rebels in the east numbered at the outset from forty to fifty thousand men, and their ranks swelled daily. They would undoubtedly have carried all before them, had not the leaders of the King’s army been as prompt as they were efficient. The Duke of Suffolk swept up from the south, the Earl of Shrewsbury from the west, and the King himself would have headed a third contingent, had it been necessary. But no sooner were Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk subdued, than Yorkshire, Lancashire and all the northern counties were up in arms. Soon, Skipton Castle, held by the Earl of Cumberland for the King, was the only spot north of the Humber that Henry could count upon. If the rebels had triumphed, there is no doubt that Mary would have been placed on the throne.[204]
A statute had been passed on the 8th July 1536, declaring Elizabeth base-born,[205] and on Sunday, 30th August, Mary was proclaimed heiress-apparent in one of the London churches. When the Yorkshire men rose, on the 9th October, they swore to be true “to the King’s lawful issue and the noble blood”. Robert Aske, leader of the insurgents, was declared Grand Captain of the Commons of Yorkshire. He could rely on the staunch loyalty of 30,000 “tall men and well horsed,” as well as on the enthusiastic adherence of the whole population, while the King’s forces, under the Duke of Norfolk, only amounted to 6,000 men, hampered in their every movement northwards by the disaffection of the midland and eastern counties. Had all these advantages been husbanded by the rebels, they might have dictated terms to Henry; but the strongest arm is powerless against a subtle brain, and Cromwell soon perceived that his one chance lay in negotiation. The word meant with him stratagem and fraud. The promise of a free pardon, and a Parliament at York was so worded, that it was understood by all the leaders of the rising to mean consent to their demands. They disbanded their troops, and by degrees order was restored. Then, all the northern towns were strongly garrisoned by the King, and the last palpitating throes of the rebellion were eagerly seized upon as a pretext for withdrawing every concession that had been made. The Lords Dacre and Hussey were arrested and sent to the block. The Earl of Northumberland and Sir Robert Constable, with the Abbots of Barlings, of Fountains and of Jervaulx, were hanged in chains. Lady Bulmer, for encouraging the rebels, was burned at the stake. A letter from Henry to his lieutenant in the north gave him carte blanche for every atrocity. The King wrote:—