Preparations for reception of the princess, Nov., 1499.
The removal of Warwick—"the one judicial murder of Henry's reign"—if not suggested by Spain, was an act which could not be otherwise than grateful to the Spanish king. For five years past negotiations[pg 335] had been proceeding for a marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Warwick's death cleared away the last of Henry's serious competitors, and "not a doubtful drop of royal blood" remained in the kingdom to oppose Arthur's claim to the succession. The princess was expected shortly to arrive in England, and a committee composed of aldermen and commoners was appointed (Nov. 1499) to consult with the king's commissioners as to the preparations to be made for her reception.[999] Nearly two years, however, elapsed before she set foot in England. In May, 1500, there were again rumours of her approach, and the Common Council voted a sum of money to be levied on the wards to defray the expenses of her reception.[1000]
Death of an infant prince, June, 1500.
The "garnysshyng of the pagents" for the festive occasion[1001] was interrupted by the death of Edmund, the king's infant son. On the 19th June the members of the various craft guilds were ordered to line the streets of Old Bailey and Fleet Street, through which the funeral procession was to pass on its way to Westminster. The mayor and aldermen were to stand, clad in their violet gowns, near Saint Dunstan's Church, and the next morning to go to Westminster by barge to attend the solemn requiem.[1002]
The marriage of Prince Arthur with Catherine of Aragon, 14 Nov., 1501.
There was no necessity for hurry in regard to the pageants. More than a twelvemonth was yet to elapse before they were wanted. At length—on the 2nd October,[1003] 1501—the princess landed at Plymouth,[pg 336] and five days later the City received notice from the king of her approach to London. The marriage was solemnized at St. Paul's on the 14th November, the princess being presented with silver flagons by the City in honour of the occasion.[1004] Five months later (2 April, 1502) the bride was a widow, Prince Arthur having died at the early age of fifteen.
More rejoicings in the city, March, 1503
In 1503 the streets of the city were again put into mourning, for in February of that year Henry lost his queen. A long account of the manner of "receyvyng of the corps of the most noble princes Quene Elizabeth" is given in the City's Archives.[1005] In the following month the streets presented a very different appearance, the occasion being the solemnization of the league made between Henry and the King of the Romans. Bonfires were ordered to be lighted at nine different places, and at each of them was to be placed a hogshead of wine, with two sergeants and two sheriffs' yeomen to prevent disturbance; but seeing that it was the Lenten season and that the queen had so recently died, there was to be no minstrelsy. The City Chamberlain was instructed to provide a certain quantity of "Ipocras," claret, Rhenish wine and Muscatel, besides comfits and wafers, and two pots of "Succade" and green ginger, to be presented on the City's behalf to the ambassadors of the King of the Romans, lying at "Pasmer Howse"; a similar gift being presented the following day on behalf of the sheriffs.[1006]
Charter of Henry VII to the Tailors of London, 6 June 1503.
Henry's chief merit was that he established order, and for this the citizens were grateful. This improvement on the weak government of his immediate predecessors had only been carried out, however, at the cost of extension of royal power, and the City was made to suffer with the rest of the kingdom. In 1503 the civic authorities were deprived by statute of their control over the livery companies,[1007] and in the same year the Tailors of London obtained a charter which gave umbrage to the mayor and aldermen of the City, as ousting them of their jurisdiction. The Tailors maintained their independence, and their wardens are expressly mentioned as refusing to join the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths and other fraternities in a petition to parliament (1512) for placing them formally under the rule of the mayor and aldermen, from which they were frequently breaking away.[1008]