Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [81]
I am convinced that my sister Mary would provoke great disturbances after I have left this life, and would leave no stone unturned, as the proverb goes, to gain control of this isle, the fairest in all Europe, my resolve is to disown and disinherit her together with her sister Elizabeth, as though she were a bastard and sprung from an illegitimate bed…. Therefore, to avoid the kingdom being weakened by such shame, it is our resolve, with the agreement of our noblemen, to appoint as our heir our most dear cousin Jane … for if our sister were to possess the kingdom (which Almighty God prevent) it would be all over for the religion whose fair foundation we have laid.
For indeed my sister Mary was the daughter of the King by Katherine the Spaniard, who before she was married to my worthy father had been espoused to Arthur, my father’s elder brother, and was therefore for this reason alone divorced by my father. But it was the fate of Elizabeth, my other sister, to have Anne Boleyn for a mother; this woman was indeed not only cast off by my father because she was more inclined to couple with a number of courtiers rather than reverencing her husband, so mighty a King, but also paid the penalty with her head—a greater proof of guilt. Thus in our judgment they will be undeservedly considered as being numbered among the heirs of the King our beloved father.
Lady Jane, by contrast, would support “the religion whose fair foundation we have laid.”9
Finally, confronted by Edward’s frail figure, the judges relented and agreed to help the king draw up his will.10 The letters patent were countersigned by Edward in six places and then by more than a hundred signatories, including judges, peers, nobles, and other dignitaries.
Edward made his final appearance at the window at Greenwich Palace on Saturday, July 1. It was clear to all that death was little more than hours away. “He was doomed, and that he was only shown because the people were murmuring and saying he was already dead, and in order that his death, when it should occur, might the more easily be concealed.”11
THE FRENCH NOW urged Northumberland to commit to war against Charles in return for their support for Jane’s accession; the situation in England had turned to their advantage.12 With Edward in poor health in the spring of 1553, both rulers had sent ambassadors to England. Antoine de Noailles represented the French king, and Simon Renard, who would become the resident ambassador, came as part of a three-man embassy from Brussels. The emperor’s mission, as Charles outlined in instructions drawn up on June 23, was to “preserve our cousin’s [Mary’s] person from danger, assist her to obtain possession of the Crown, calm the fears the English may entertain of us, defeat French machinations and further a good understanding between our dominions and the realm of England.”13
Noailles feared that Northumberland had made a deal with Charles V to hand over Mary to be married, possibly to his eldest son, “a thing which is more to be feared than a thousand others which might happen in this affair.”14 In desperation he presented the Council with further “honest and fine offers” from Henry II, pledging his military support. Northumberland thanked him, saying that he hoped for the support of French troops “when the occasion presents itself,” and a letter was sent to the French court, stating, “We shall never forget this great friendship in so difficult times, although we doubt not but that the estate and power of this realm shall, by God’s goodness, prevail against all manner of practices or attempts either by the Emperor or any other, either foreign or outward enemies whatsoever the same be.”15
A year earlier, Henry II had extended the frontiers of France almost to the