"[Most dread]est sovereign lord, with the most sorrowful and [heavy] heart I your most poor subject beseech you, most [dear]est lord, of forgiveness of mine offences now made un[to you], and for this said marriage, the which I have [done great]ly amiss. Where[fore], Sir, for the passion of God let it not be in your heart against me, but punish me rather with prison or other wise, as may be your pleasure. Sir, rather than you should have me in mistrust in your [he]art that I should not be true to you as there may be accusing [str]ike off my head and let me not live. Alas, Sir, my lord of York hath written to me two letters that it should be thought that the French King would make [h]is hand with your Grace, and that a would occupy me as [a]n instrument there unto. Alas, Sir, that ever it should be thought or said that I should be so, for, Sir, your Grace not offended, I will make good against all the world to die for it, that ever I thought any such thing or did thing, saving the love and [ma]rriage of the Queen, that should be to your displeasure, I pray God let me die as shameful a death as ever did man. Alas, that I ever did this, for afore this done I might have said that there was never man that had such a loving and kind master, nor there was never master that ever had a truer servant than your Grace has had of me, and ever shall have, whatsoever your Grace shall think of me, or any man else. And thus I make an end with the most sorrowful heart that ever had man, and not without cause, seeing mine unhap to use myself so [ill unto] so noble and gracious a master, whose favour [for long time] I had so sure and so largely that and I had been master of ten realms I should never have deserved, as k[nows God, who] send your Grace long life with much h[onour and your heart's] desire."[ [429]
Surely this was penitent enough, but the offering of a merely contrite heart was not enough for Henry: it had to be gilded.
CHAPTER X
THE LOVERS COME HOME
THEY turned to the question of money. Henry had already, at the instance of his Council perhaps, told Suffolk that he was not quite content with his handling of the dower question, and wrote to him about the end of February that had he done his devoir, or would do his devoir, the Queen would obtain all her stuff and jewels. Suffolk replied, "as touching that, and if I have not done the best therein and will do the best therein, never be good lord to me, and that I report [i.e. refer] me to my fellows. Alas, Sir, if I should not do the best it were pity [that I] lived, for I find you so good lord to me that there is none thing that grieves me but that she and I have no more to content your Grace. But, Sir, as she has written to you by her own hand, she is content to give you all that her Grace shall have by the right of her husband, and if it come not so much as your Grace thought, she is content to give to your Grace what sum you shall be content to ask, to be paid as her jointure, and all that she has in the world."[ [430] Mary's letter confirmed this. "[Please it y]our Grace to understand [that wh]ereas I wrote unto your Grace touching my jewels and plate which I promised your [Gr]ace, such as I have shall be at [yo]ur commandments ever while [I live]. Howbeit 'tis not so well [as] I would it had been, for there is much sticking thereat. Howbeit I doubt not but I hall have it at the link with the good help [of] your Grace and your [Coun]cil that be here. Sir, I think my lord of Suffolk will wr[ite m]ore plainlier to your Gra[ce tha]n I do of these matters. Then when you and the[y be] agreed with your Gr[ace, and] I have them, I will [give] you my part of th[em]. Sir, the French King speaks many ki[nd word]s unto me, a[nd doth affirm] that he ha[th a] special mind to ha[ve] peace with your Gra[ce be]fore any prince in Christendom, and, Sir, I would beseech your Grace that it may be so, if it [might] stand with your favour [and] pleasure, for by the means and favour of your Gr[ace] I have obtained as much honour in this realm as was possible to any woman to have, which causes me to write to your Grace in this matter. Over and ab[ove] this I most humbly beseech your Grace to write to th[e Fr]ench King and all [yo]ur ambassadors here [that they] make all sp[eed] possible that I m[ay come] to your Gra[ce, for my] singular des[ire] and [co]mfort [is to see] your Grace, above [all thi]ngs in this world. As knoweth our Lord, who [ev]er preserve your Grace.
By your loving sister, Mary."[ [431]
Francis on his accession had secured Mary's dower to her, and there was no trouble about her actual jointure, but on the question of movables the dispute arose. On October 13, 1514, Louis XII. had signed letters of acquittance on the delivery of his wife, with her jewels, furniture, etc., representing the 400,000 golden crowns promised as her dowry, provided that in case of restitution the King and his heirs should only be bound to restore what she brought with her into France, with the expenses of her passage. The Queen-dowager was, according to the marriage contract, to have the use of plate and furniture, presumably that belonging to the late King, but Francis said it was unreasonable to expect him to allow this if the Queen left the kingdom. However, Mary's chief contention was that all the jewels which Louis had laid in her lap from out those seven coffers at Abbeville and elsewhere, and the gold plate which she had used, were to be considered by her as her own, independent of her position as Queen, and that she could do with them as she liked.[ [432] This was distinctly contrary to the legal instrument, but both Mary and Henry were keen on that point, and the haggle, called negotiations, dragged on. Francis, on the other hand, contended that by law all the property of the late King should go to pay his debts, and said that if she kept the property she must take the debts too, and pay them, for she had no right to the movables. Suffolk was all desire to content his master, but the legalities of the matter were beyond his disentangling, "as touching whether she have right or no, I cannot tell, for it is past my learning."[ [433] He made the best friends he could about Francis, "to persuade him, if so it were that she had none right, that he on his honour might depart with her so that the King [Henry] might see that he dealt not to the extremity." And so, my lord," he wrote to Wolsey, "in conclusion I am assuredly advertised that he will be content to give her the one half of the plate of gold, the which is valued 50,000 crowns—for the whole is but 100,000 crowns—and also he will be content to give her in jewels to the sum of 50,000 crowns, the which, by as far as I can perceive, shall be the one half of the jewels. My lord, this he will do upon the condition that the King's Grace and all his Council shall see that she has no right, and that he does it of his own good will, and for the love of the King's Grace and for hers, for he will not that it should be thought and she had right but that she should have all." If division were to be made, then all the jewels would need to be shown, and Suffolk, as already seen, had to ask for the return of the jewel sent as a peace-offering to Henry.[ [434] But Henry would not send back the famous "Miroir de Naples" and it remained in England, grudged by the French King. Mary's acknowledgment of the jewels she received from Francis includes a large diamond called "le Miroir de Naples" with a large pearl attached; 20 diamonds "enchassez et mis en œuvre en une bordeur d'or," to serve as a head-dress; 8 large pearls as buttons for the sleeves; 8 others for a carcanet; a large emerald; a large ruby and 2 large diamonds set in 4 "chatons d'or": all of which belonged to her late lord and husband, Louis XII.[ [435] The jewel and the promise of many more, and also of two-fifths of her jointure, seems to have pacified her brother, for he sent letters of recall almost at once, and wrote to Francis desiring him to allow the return of the Queen to England. As things were it would be just as well to get the pair home and let them be married openly in England, but before that, Suffolk's request that he might be married before leaving France was acceded to, and a semi-private ceremony took place on the last Saturday in March, the 30th, and in Lent. Louise de Savoie's diary is the authority for this date, though probably she was not present, for she had been ill. "Samedi dernier jour de mars le duc de Suffort, homme de basse condition lequel Henry VIII de ce nom avait envoyé ambassadeur devers le roi, épousa Marie." On April 4 definite news of the marriage arrived at Ghent.[ [436] It seems fairly probable—but with mutilated and undated documents it is flying in the face of criticism to be dogmatic—that it was at this time that Suffolk's cousin, Sir William Sidney, arrived with letters and a "credence" which brought the duke "great ease and comfort." He caused Wingfield to write to Wolsey that the archbishop "had bound him and all his to be yours during their lives."[ [437] At this date, too, Henry did his best to silence gossip, and wrote to Margaret of Austria asking her to contradict all reports in the Prince's court of a secret marriage.
Henry's anger was short-lived after all. He was genuinely attached to Suffolk, who had done his business as well as could be expected, and the King knew what to expect from Francis in the matter of straight dealing, so the Duke was overjoyed to receive, as a mark of partially renewed confidence, orders to treat with Francis for the final clauses of the peace. Wolsey was truly a friend worth having, prodigal of tact and unwearying in effort. The Duke and the Queen were to come home as soon as the peace was concluded, and the hitch in the proceedings arose from Francis' refusal to prevent the departure of the Duke of Albany into Scotland, for the Scots were to be comprehended in the peace only on the distinct understanding that the old Franco-Scottish alliance was broken. Francis, however, said he had no mind to withdraw his protection and amity from Scotland. By the marriage treaty now concluded he had detached Flanders from England, and knew that Henry without its aid and with an hostile "friend" across the border would have small power against him, but he gave his word as a gentleman, with his hand on his heart, that his ambitions were entirely Italian. All the same there was talk of Guelders besieging Tournay, and Francis boasted that he could have it any day. However, stop Albany he would not, "though he swore he would jeopard his head and bind him by the censures of the Church that if the Duke did not bring peace to Scotland in four months he would bring him home again." And Albany set out to take ship at St Malo, "mawgre all the ships now in the sea" to stop him. The English had a great day with the King for his keeping. Francis suggested that if he stopped Albany for three months then Suffolk should remain the same time in France as hostage for Henry's behaviour towards the Scots.[ [438] The ambassadors promptly said No, they had no authority to do this and would not if they had, and if the Duke were to help the one party in Scotland, Henry would certainly send aid to his sister, Queen Margaret. Francis was too impatient to be off towards Italy to stand long on the order of his treating, and the same day, April 5, Holy Thursday, while the Queen and Suffolk were in the church of the Maturins, "adjoining fast to her Grace's lodging, the French King came in to take pardon and spake not past two or three words with [the] Queen, but came over to my lord and showed him [as far] as he could understand, as my lord showed unto us, that he had stopped the said Duke of Albany's going [into] Scotland, and that he would send another ambassador that should come through England and s[how the King and his] Council his instructions."[ [439] The upshot was that Francis gave the Scots three months to come into the amity, "so that it might [seem to] his friends there that he forsook them not," and peace was signed in London on Easter Monday, March 9. The only bit of public business now remaining was the Tournay question, but Suffolk had been bitten and would not again treat of the matter, and referred it for settlement to the meeting of the Kings.[ [440] So Tournay remained to the English.
Francis had promised that Mary should be allowed to depart as soon as "le tans se trouvera convenable,"[ [441] and now gave her liberty to depart the Saturday next after Quasimodo Geniti (Low Sunday, April 15).[ [442] The date being settled, Wingfield and West were more than ever anxious to get her affairs definitely settled. The costs of her "traduction" made the Chancellor hold up his hands in horror that all that money should have been spent in seven or eight days, but the King, he said, was willing to make a composition without asking for particulars. They replied that the hiring and manning of the ships had occupied a much longer time than that, and that it had been necessary to scour the seas both east and west beforehand that no enemy might impeach her passage. As to the question of composition, there could be none in truth, for the costs were included by an article in the treaty and they had no other basis for treating. However, if the King would tell them what sum he had decided on they would either take it or refer it to Henry. No sum had been decided on, and the answer was deferred till the next day. Francis told the Chancellor to make an end of the matter and offer 30,000 francs. Wingfield and West haggled for 20,000 crowns of the sun, equal to 39,000 francs, which, after consulting together, they agreed to take, "considering we could bring him to no greater sum, and in what necessity the Queen was, not having one penny towards her charges, seeing also the exclamation of the merchants and other victuallers, and her servants for their wages, especially by them that be now warned out of (service), we were by force driven to consent to the said offer, and could not otherwise make shift to furnish her charges, which be exceeding great as you shall know hereafter, to your no little marvel."[ [443] Thus far everything was adjusted but the question of the jewels and plate, the offer of half of which had been favourably entertained by Henry. Francis offered 30,000 crowns for the "Miroir de Naples,"[ [444] and was exceeding wroth when he found the jewel had passed the sea beyond recall, and no doubt his wrath accounts for his scant courtesy to Mary in church on Holy Thursday. Mary must have made "a good Pask," for England and home were in sight at last, but it needed another eight days to conclude matters. On Saturday, April 14, in the Clugny Abbey, Mary signed a receipt for 200,000 gold crowns, including 20,000 paid for her travelling expenses, returned as moiety of her dowry that had been already paid.[ [445] And on the same day Suffolk authorized his wife to receive and give receipt for jewels, etc., which formed part of her dowry.[ [446] This authorization may have been demanded by Francis to strengthen his point that Mary did not receive the jewels as right but as a gift from him. On the following Monday Mary gave the required receipt, and set out at once for home, glad to get out of her prison, where she had not known a day's health, and to leave Paris with its mud and smells and innumerable horses. The gold plate was left behind, with the marriage present which the prudent Venetian ambassador, who arrived after Louis XII.'s death, had thriftily suppressed, though Mary had asked for it.[ [447] Dean West was to try and extract the plate from the King at the signing of the treaty, and, failing that, Suffolk said he would give its value to Henry. The impulsive dispatch of the jewel had spoiled the negotiations, and Francis still was so incensed that he had "done nothing about the present which he had promised the Queen by the Grand-master and Bonnivet," and had only given her at her departing "four baagues of no great value."[ [448] With the present he sent the message that she could have the movables if she paid the debts. West did his best at Montargys, where the treaty of peace with England was signed, to get more out of the King. On the Dean breaking roundly with him on the subject, Francis "studied a little," and said he would give him an answer next day. West then said that the interview desired by the two Kings depended on Henry's side on the answer he got about the jewels and plate, and if "he dealt not well with the Queen's Grace, your sister, in that matter, your Grace would take it so unkindly that there would be great difficulty to bring it to pass." Next day, after the ceremony of subscribing the treaty at the high altar, "the King desired him to repeat in the presence of the Chancellor what he had said the day before touching the Queen's moveables," and when he had done so, the Chancellor requested West to withdraw. On being recalled, West was told by the Chancellor at the King's desire that "if the King under[stood] that the Queen had any right to the said m[oveables] he would have given her altogether. And [upon this] as I said she had received no part, the Chancellor replied that she had the jewel of Naples, for which the King offered 30,000 crowns, and 18 pearls valued at 10,000 crowns; but the King trusted to see Henry shortly and they would settle the matter together."[ [449] No other answer was to be had, and West sent Mary's useless seal after her by Suffolk's servant. Suffolk's commonsense spoke truth when he said they could not compel Francis to "gyf soo moche wyet howth (without) he lyst."
The Queen was now (April 16) on her way to Calais with Suffolk. Francis had gone with her almost to St Denis, and Monsieur and many of the personages kept her company to Boulogne. The day she left peace was proclaimed, fires were made at night, and on the morrow there was a holiday. On the 22nd they came to Montreuil, and there Suffolk's uneasiness at Wolsey's silence for the past fortnight ("one in his position was glad of tidings") found vent in a letter to Henry beseeching pardon and forgiveness.