Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd [437]
In fact it was a plot, and it had little to do with either Edward or Lady Jane Grey. Cranmer and the Protestant party wanted to keep out Edward’s Catholic sister Mary, daughter of Henry VIII’s Spanish queen. But the prime mover was a far more cynical figure: for the Duke of Northumberland, Protector of the Realm while King Edward was a boy, had no wish to give up his power. Young Lady Jane, still only a girl, would be his puppet; and he made sure of it by hastily marrying her to his son. He was supported by an unlikely and even craftier figure: King Henry of France. Henry had no interest in either Protestantism, Northumberland or Lady Jane Grey; but his own son was married to the young Mary Queen of Scots, another cousin of the English Tudor house, and the more Edward’s surviving sisters could be weakened, the better the chances that one day the Queen of Scots might inherit the English throne as well and make his family monarchs of France, Scotland and England.
The attempt to make Lady Jane queen was a gamble, but for a short time the gamblers seemed in control.
On July 15, at the Tower of London, the Privy Council sent a stirring message to the burgesses of Salisbury. They must know, it said, if Catholic Mary succeeded,
whereof was like to have followed the bondage of this realm, the old servitude of the antichrist of Rome, the subversion of the new teaching of God’s word . . .
The Privy Council’s message was signed by Cranmer, other bishops and magnates – including Lord Pembroke of Wilton.
For one other detail of the conspiracy emerged that day. Not only had the Protector’s son married Queen Jane, but Pembroke had just married his own son to Lady Jane’s sister Catherine. There could be no doubt of the new Earl’s ambition.
The gamble to crown Lady Jane failed miserably. Mary Tudor was not the daughter of Henry VIII and a Spanish princess for nothing. She rallied a huge party to her. She promised religious toleration. She seemed – it was a trick she had from her father – to be almost jovial. And above all, whatever Cranmer’s annulment of her mother’s marriage might make her in the eyes of her enemies, she was, and all England knew it, the true heir to the crown.
She advanced on London. The mood of the people swung towards her. The Privy Council sent the Duke of Northumberland out to confront her – and as soon as he was gone, changed sides behind his back.
None more quickly than Lord Pembroke of Wilton who now swore loudly that he would defend her to the death with his sword.
So ended the reign of the uncrowned Queen Jane. The unhappy girl was put in prison, Northumberland executed, and Pembroke’s son wisely never consummated his marriage to her sister.
Edward Shockley stood before his wife. He was about to submit.
It had taken three months and he could not help admiring her for it. They had been painful months for him, for it was not easy to endure her mistrust.
After the scene in April, there were three days during which she was very quiet, but during which he could see that she had been weeping frequently. He avoided her partly out of shame at what he had done, partly because he was angry with her for making him feel guilty.
He wondered once or twice if she might return to her father’s house; but she had not, and he was thankful for that at least.
The question had remained – what was to happen? She made no further attempt to teach the child any popish doctrines: he felt sure he could trust her not to disobey him.
But she was hurt and that could not be undone.
Nor, it seemed, could he win over the child. Little Celia now looked at him with fear. It was only natural. She did not understand exactly how, but she could see that her father had hurt her mother; and she also had the clear impression, though nothing was ever explained, that her father had committed some terrible crime. If he went towards her now, her pale eyes, just like her mother’s, opened wide and she shrank from him. When she did so, he cursed under his breath, and that made her more frightened still.
For a month Katherine had been