In December a Spaniard named Ferdinando Lygons was commissioned to raise 300 mounted archers in the city of London and county of Middlesex.[1461] At the opening of the new year (2 Jan., 1558) the queen wrote to the corporation desiring to be at once furnished with 500 men out of the 1,000 men the city had been ordered to keep in readiness since July. As the matter was urgent they were not to wait to supply the men with coats.[1462] The force was required for the defence of Calais, which was now in a critical position. On the 9th January another letter was sent by Mary marked, Hast, Hast Post, Hast, For lief, For lief, For lief, For lief! demanding the full contingent of 1,000 men.[1463] Calais had fallen two days before,[1464] and Mary was determined not to rest until the town had been recovered. Diligent search was at once instituted throughout the city for all persons, strangers as well as freemen, capable of wearing harness;[1465] and the livery companies and fellowships were called upon to provide double the number of men they had furnished in July last.[1466][pg 481] On the 13th the queen wrote to say that a violent storm, which had occurred on the night of the 10th January, had so crippled the fleet that her forces could not be conveyed across the channel; the civic authorities were therefore to withhold sending their force to the sea-coast until further orders, but to keep the same in readiness to start at an hour's notice.[1467] On the 19th January the citizens were informed by letter that Philip's forces were on their way to Flanders, under the Duke of Savoy, and that the channel was being kept open by a fleet under Don Luis Carvaial. One half of the force of 1,000 men, furnished with armour and weapons and coats of white welted with green and red crosses, was to be despatched to Dover by the end of the month, thence to sail for Dunkirk for service under the Earl of Rutland. The City was to take especial care that the contingent should be chosen from the handsomest and best picked men, and superior to those last sent.[1468] The force mustered at the Leadenhall, the 24th January, for inspection by the mayor, and at five o'clock in the evening were delivered over to the captains for shipment.[1469] Three days later the lords of the council instructed the mayor to make a return of the number of foreigners residing still within the city, and to make proclamation on the next market day that it should be lawful thenceforth for anyone to seize the persons of Frenchmen who had not avoided the city pursuant to a previous order,[pg 482] and to confiscate their goods and chattels to his own proper use.[1470]
A city loan of £20,000, March, 1558.
Mary succeeded in March in raising a loan in the city of £20,000 (she had asked for 100,000 marks or £75,000[1471]) on the security of the crown lands. The loan bore interest at the rate of twelve per cent., and a special dispensation was granted to avoid the penalties of the Usury Act.[1472] The money was raised by assessment on the livery companies. On the 16th March the Court of Aldermen summoned the wardens of the twelve principal companies to attend at the Guildhall at eight o'clock the next morning, in order that they might learn how much the lords of the council had "tottyd" against each of them towards the loan. The smaller companies were to attend in the afternoon of the same day in order to be informed of the sums the Court of Aldermen deemed fit that each should contribute to assist their wealthier brethren. The total amount subscribed by the greater companies was £16,983 6s. 8d., of which the Mercers contributed £3,275. The lesser companies subscribed £1,310, in sums varying from £30 to £500.[1473]
Death of Mary, 17 Nov., 1558.
It is probable that Mary wanted this loan to enable her to prosecute the war. The country was[pg 483] not disposed, however, to assist her in this direction. The people were afraid of rendering Philip too powerful. Disappointed both in her public and domestic life, she fell a victim to dropsy and died on the 17th November—"wondering why all that she had done, as she believed on God's behalf, had been followed by failure on every side—by the desertion of her husband, and the hatred of her subjects." The loss of Calais so much affected her that she declared that the name of the town would be found impressed upon her heart after death. On the occasion of her funeral the City put in its customary claim for black livery cloth, but more than one application had to be made before the cloth was forthcoming.[1474]
CHAPTER XVII.
The ascension of Elizabeth, 17 Nov., 1558.
The accession of Elizabeth, after the gloomy reign of her sister, was welcomed by none more joyfully than by the citizens of London, who continued to commemorate the day with bonfires and general rejoicing long after the queen had been laid in her grave.[1475] When news was brought of her sister's death Elizabeth was at Hatfield. Within a week she removed to London and took up her abode at the Charterhouse. The sheriffs went out to meet her as far as the boundary of the county of Middlesex, the limit of their jurisdiction, dressed in coats of velvet, with their chains about their necks and white rods in their hands. Having first kissed their rods, they handed them to the queen, who immediately returned them, and the sheriffs thereupon joined the gentlemen of the cavalcade and rode before her majesty until they met Sir Thomas Leigh,[1476] the mayor, and his brethren the aldermen. The sheriffs then fell back and took their places among the aldermen.[1477][pg 485] From the Charterhouse she removed after a stay of a few days to the Tower, amid the blare of trumpets, the singing of children and the firing of ordnance.