Ascham reports that the wedding was “conducted much in the old Popish fashion,” and adds, curiously enough, as a rider to this observation, that “Northumberland, notwithstanding his pretended zeal for the Reformation, was a Papist at heart.” He was quite right, as events proved, though it should be remembered that at this time of transition the order of the marriage ceremony, unlike that for funerals, had not yet been formulated according to the Reformed rite.

Every item in this tragic story would seem predestined to increase its fateful horror. Part of Jane’s wedding dower was the estate of Stanfield in Norfolk,[201] which has more than once been associated with scenes of horror, not the least dreadful being the Rush murder, in the second half of the last century. This property belonged at one time to the Robsart family, and was believed by many to be the birthplace of the fair Amy, Countess of Leicester, who was really, however, born at Syderstone, an adjacent manor.

In the letter to Queen Mary, dated August 1553, quoted by Pollino,[202] and written, according to him, from the Tower, Jane Grey relates the manner of her existence between her marriage and Edward’s death. “The Duchess of Northumberland,” she says, “promised me at my nuptials with her son, that she would be contented if I remained living at home with my mother. Soon afterwards, my husband being present, she declared that it was publicly said that there was no hope of the King’s life (and this was the first time I heard of the matter), and further she observed to her husband, the Duke of Northumberland, ‘that I ought not to leave her house,’ adding ‘that when it pleased God to call King Edward to His mercy I ought to hold myself in readiness, as I might be required to go to the Tower, since His Majesty had made me heir to his dominions.’ These words told me off-hand and without preparation, agitated my soul within me, and for a time seemed to amaze me. Yet afterwards they seemed to me exaggerated, and to mean little but boasting, and by no means of consequence sufficient to hinder me from going to my mother.” Evidently Jane expressed these sentiments very frankly, for she proceeds: “The Duchess of Northumberland was enraged against my mother and me. She answered ‘that she was resolved to detain me,’ insisting, ‘that it was my duty at all events to remain near my husband, from whom I should not go.’ Not venturing to disobey her, I remained at her house four or five days.” These days were most likely spent at Durham House. “At last,” continues Lady Jane, “I obtained leave to go to Chelsea for recreation” (meaning perhaps change of air), “where I very soon fell ill.” Her illness was a struggle for life or death, the suffering so acute as to lead her to imagine she had been poisoned. The mention of this attack of what we should now call nervous breakdown, lends an indisputable air of authority to Jane’s letter as given by Pollino. There was really no earthly reason why anybody should attempt her life—it was certainly too precious to the Dudleys for the Duchess, an eminently respectable if an autocratic woman, to wish to see it prematurely ended. It is well known that this fear of being poisoned frequently seizes on people in time of distress.

Chelsea Manor House, which had lately been in the possession of the Duke of Somerset, had fallen, with other property, into the hands of Northumberland, and thence he dates certain letters to Cecil and his other colleagues.[203] Lady Jane apparently preferred going to Chelsea to stopping at Durham House; and so departed without her husband, although so recently married. Guildford was not present at the scene at Sion (on 9th July) when the Crown was offered to his wife, which points to his having been left in bachelor solitude at Durham House. Possibly the absence of her mother-in-law from the Chelsea establishment accounts for the bride’s preference for that suburban residence; and having married Guildford without entertaining the least affection for him, she probably did not desire his presence either.

The pomp and splendour of these nuptials were the last gleam of gaiety in the reign of Edward VI. A very short time afterwards, the poor young King grew so pitifully weak that Northumberland thought it was time to carry his great projects into execution. Otherwise, as he clearly saw, he and his friends must not expect to continue long in power, or even in security: all his efforts, his overthrow of Somerset, and the rest, would be rendered useless if his royally born daughter-in-law was not named by the King himself as the lawful successor to the throne.

CHAPTER XV
ON THE WAY TO THE TOWER

The Duke of Northumberland is accused, even by almost contemporary authorities, of having forged the will of King Edward VI; but, as we shall presently see, that King never made a will, but left a sort of tentative document called a “Devise” for the succession, written in his own hand; though maybe it was suggested or even dictated by the Duke. By an Act—the XXVIII of Henry VIII, cap. 7—it was enacted that, failing issue of Queen Jane Seymour, “Your Highness (Henry) shall have full and plenary power and authority to give, dispose, appoint, assign, declare, and limit by your letters-patent under your great seal, or else by your last will made in writing, and signed with your most gracious hand, at your only pleasure, from time to time hereafter, the Imperial Crown of this Realm.” Other Acts had recapitulated this; and King Henry, acting on the same principle, made a will in his thirty-fifth year, under the terms of which the Crown was to pass, firstly to his son Edward and his heirs; secondly, to his own heirs by the then Queen, Katherine Parr, “or any other wife I may have”; thirdly, to his daughter Mary; fourthly, to his daughter Elizabeth; fifthly, to the heirs of the body of his niece, the Lady Frances; sixthly, to those of her sister, Eleanor; seventhly, to the next rightful heirs, meaning the heirs of his sister, the Queen of Scots. It was also stipulated that if either of his daughters married without the consent of the Privy Council, they were to be passed over “as if dead.”

Both Edward VI and his father seem to have wished for a male successor, for in the latter’s enactments limiting the succession, all the female heirs are set aside in favour of their as yet unborn male issue. King Edward’s “Devise” for the limitation of the succession makes no allusion to his two sisters, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. On the other hand, in the letters-patent for this limitation of the succession, which were based on the “Devise,” the Princesses’ claim is ruled out for three reasons: that they were illegitimate; that they were of half-blood to the King; that there was a chance of their marrying foreigners. Besides, as we have said, the King, like his father, was anxious for a male successor; in fact, this desire is on the very surface of the “Devise,” wherein much stress is laid on the “issue masle,” since for the one living male descendant of Henry VII—that is, Edward himself—there were as many as seven ladies (even excluding the Scotch line) potential to the English Crown.[204]