The marriage of the Elector Palatine with the Princess Elizabeth, 14 Feb., 1613.
The marriage of his daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, with Frederick, the Elector Palatine, which was soon to follow, not only involved James in further pecuniary difficulties, but eventually plunged him into a continental war. Although the marriage articles were signed in May, 1612, the Elector did not arrive in England until October, just at the time when Sir John Swinnerton was about to enter on his duties as mayor for the ensuing year. Special precautions were taken to keep order and guard against accident on lord mayor's day[177] as soon as it was known that the Elector would attend, and a pageant, entitled Troja nova triumphans, was written expressly for the occasion by Thomas Dekker.[178] The Elector afterwards attended the banquet, and paid a special compliment to the lady mayoress and her suite.[179] The number of nobles invited was so great that there was scarcely room for the customary representatives from the principal livery companies, and none at all for members of the lesser companies. The latter were[pg 060] asked to take their exclusion in no ill part, as it was a sheer matter of necessity.[180] Before leaving the Elector was presented on behalf of the city with a bason and ewer weighing 234-3/4 ozs., and a "dansk pott chast and cheseld" weighing 513-5/8 ozs., and engraved with the city's arms and the words civitas London, the whole costing £262 15s. 10d.[181] There was but one thing to mar the general gaiety, and that was the illness of the Prince of Wales, whose death a week later shed a gloom over the whole of England,[182] and caused the marriage of his sister, by whom he was especially beloved, to be postponed for a time.[183] The ceremony eventually took place on the 14th February, 1613, amid great pomp and splendour, and in the following April the youthful bride and bridegroom left England for Holland.
A further search for Recusants, Feb., 1613.
It was currently reported that many Papists and Recusants had taken the opportunity afforded by the recent court festivities to secrete themselves in London, and Swinnerton, who had already displayed considerable activity in searching for them as soon as he became lord mayor,[184] was urged to redouble his efforts in that direction by a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury a few days before the marriage of the princess took place.[185]
The king and court entertained in Merchant Taylors' Hall, 4 Jan., 1614.
The close of the year witnessed a marriage of a very different character, viz., the union of the king's favourite, Carr, Earl of Somerset, with Frances Howard, the divorced wife of the Earl of Essex. Murderess and adulteress as she was, she was received at court with every honour; but when the king proposed to sup one night in the city, and to bring his whole court with him (including, of course, the newly-married couple), the lord mayor, Sir Thomas Middleton, demurred, excusing himself on the ground that his house was too small.[186] This excuse was of no avail, and the supper took place in Merchant Taylors' Hall, the earl and countess being specially invited as well as the entire court. The supper was followed by a masque devised for the occasion by a namesake of the mayor, Thomas Middleton, the dramatic poet.[187] The entertainment cost the City nearly £700,[188] besides the sum of £50 which the Court of Aldermen directed to be laid out in a present of plate to Somerset.[189] In acknowledgment of the gift the earl presented the mayor and sheriffs with pairs of handsome gloves.[190]
The "addled parliament," 1614.
Financial difficulties, which a fresh issue of "privy seals" to the aldermen for loans of £200[pg 062] apiece had done little to alleviate,[191] and which had been aggravated by recent court festivities, at length drove James to run the risk of summoning another parliament. He had learnt from the wire-pullers of the day—or "undertakers" as they were then called—that he could depend upon a majority being returned which would be willing to grant supplies in return for certain concessions. In this he was deceived. No sooner did constituents discover that pressure was being brought to bear in favour of court candidates than they used their best efforts to frustrate such a manifest design to pack parliament. The session was opened on the 5th of April by a speech from the king, in which he set forth his financial difficulties, which the extraordinary charge in connection with his daughter's marriage had helped to increase. He would not bargain for their money, he said, but would leave it entirely to their love what supplies should be granted. In token of his own affection towards his subjects he was ready to make certain concessions, and he entirely disavowed any complicity with the "strange kind of beasts called undertakers." The new parliament, however, stood out like the last and refused to grant supplies until public grievances had been considered. The result was that on the 7th June James dissolved what he had fondly hoped would have proved to be a "parliament of love," but which from its inability to pass a single[pg 063] measure came to be nick-named, "the addled parliament."[192]
A City loan of £100,000 declined, July, 1614.
At his wit's end for money, James had recourse to benevolences. The bishops offered him the value of the best piece of plate in their possession to help him out of his difficulties, and their example induced many of the nobles to open their purses. Application was again made to the City for a loan of £100,000.[193] This they declined, but made the king a free gift of £10,000, one moiety being paid by the City's Chamber and the other being furnished by the livery companies.[194]