The Tudor Brandons

by Sarah-Beth Watkins

  Wolsey had stayed in the city, fighting off several bouts of the sickness himself, working towards his universal peace agreement. The French side of the negotiations revolved around the captured town of Tournai that Francis still wanted to reclaim. It was Wolsey’s bargaining chip but when he was informed of a rumour that Charles had told French ambassadors that they could have Tournai back, he was furious. There was far more to the negotiations than that, the Princess Mary’s betrothal to the Dauphin, for one. Charles and Wolsey had a working relationship or really one that worked when Charles didn’t interfere too much with Wolsey’s policies.

  Pace, the royal secretary, wrote to Wolsey:

  ‘The Duke of Southfolke arrived here yesternight, and this morning he did speak with me very effectually of one the same matter which I have declared unto your grace in time past, viz. of faithful amity to be established between your grace and him, confirming with solemn oaths, in most humble manner, the most faithful love and servitude that he intendeth to use towards your grace during his life in all manner of cases touching your honor. And he said that he doubted but little but this thing should come to good pass if such persons did not let it, by untrue and evil relation’.13

  Not just letting the words of others vouch for him, Charles wrote placating letters to the cardinal assuring him of his loyalty and that he had always striven to do Wolsey’s pleasure. He urged Wolsey to find those that had maligned him and make them see if they would repeat their accusations of his involvement in French policy, stressing he hoped to meet with him personally soon to explain everything. Later in July, they met at Elmswell. Wolsey knew that Charles had the ear of the French king and although his diplomatic skills were somewhat lacking, he still had his uses. All was remedied. Whatever the rumours, no damage had been done to the peace agreement that Wolsey had devised and Henry had reluctantly agreed to.

  On 3 October, the Treaty of London was signed by King Henry VIII for England and Admiral Gouffier de Bonnivet for France in St Paul’s Cathedral, surrounded by French and English nobility. The treaty was a non-aggression pact between England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, the papacy, Spain, Burgundy and the Netherlands and provided a united front against an expanding Ottoman empire. Wolsey had designed it to ensure perpetual peace but more pressing was the Anglo-French element. Agreement was made to return Tournai for 600,000 crowns, the Princess Mary and the Dauphin were to marry, the French were asked not to become involved in anti-English politics in Scotland (thus making Margaret’s life easier) and a settlement was agreed for the Queen Dowager, Mary, plus arrangements to be made for more regular dower payments. There was also a clause that Francis and Henry would meet the following year to cement their alliance.

  After the negotiations, Wolsey celebrated high mass and the nobles retired for dinner in the Bishop’s Palace, but the highlight of the evening was the sumptuous banquet held at York Place. The Venetian ambassador reported:

  After supper a mummery, consisting of twelve male and twelve female maskers, made their appearance in the richest and most sumptuous array possible, being all dressed alike. After performing certain dances in their own fashion, they took off their visors: the two leaders were the King and Queen Dowager of France, and all the others were lords and ladies, who seated themselves apart from the tables, and were served with countless dishes of confections and other delicacies. Having gratified their palates, they then regaled their eyes and hands; large bowls, filled with ducats and dice, being placed on the table for such as liked to gamble: shortly after which, the supper tables being removed, dancing commenced, and lasted until after midnight.14

  Princess Mary’s betrothal to the Dauphin followed two days later at Greenwich –

  The King stood in front of his throne: on one side was the Queen and the Queen Dowager of France. The Princess was in front of her mother, dressed in cloth of gold, with a cap of black velvet on her head, adorned with many jewels. On the other side were the two legates. Tunstal made an elegant oration; which being ended, the most illustrious Princess was taken in arms, and the magnificos, the French ambassadors, asked the consent of the King and Queen on behalf of each of the parties to this marriage contract; and both parties having assented, the right reverend legate, the Cardinal of York, placed on her finger a small ring, juxta digitum puellæ, but in which a large diamond was set (supposed to have been a present from his right reverend lordship aforesaid), and my Lord Admiral passed it over the second joint. The bride was then blessed by the two right reverend legates, after a long exordium from the Cardinal of York; every possible ceremony being observed. Mass was then performed by Cardinal Wolsey, in the presence of the King and all the others, the whole of the choir being decorated with cloth of gold, and all the court in such rich array that I never saw the like, either here or elsewhere. All the company then went to dinner, the King receiving the water for his hands from three Dukes and a Marquis. The two Legates sate on the King’s right: on the left were the Lord Admiral and the Bishop of Paris; and the Dukes of Buckingham, Norfolk and Suffolk were seated at the inside of the table.15

  A joust was held, then more celebrations, then to Richmond for hunting and more banquets at Hampton Court. It was said to have cost the king in the region of £9,600, a tremendous amount of money for a few days of pleasure. Katherine had taken a back seat during the revelries as her next pregnancy progressed. Mary was more than happy to step in and shine again at court. Speaking fluent French, she delighted the ambassadors with her vivacity and charm. She may also have been glowing with pregnancy herself as her second daughter Eleanor was born the following year but her exact date of birth is unrecorded. Katherine however was not to be so lucky. Her child was stillborn and to add to her misery Henry’s mistress, Bessie Blount, gave birth to a bouncing baby boy named Henry after his father.

  The proposed meeting of Henry and Francis, England and France, was postponed until 1520 due to the Holy Roman Emperor’s death in January 1519. Both Henry and Francis were possible choices for the election of the new ‘King of the Romans’ although the title was given to Maximilian’s grandson and Mary’s previous betrothed, Charles of Castile in June.

  Around the time of the emperor’s death, Henry wrote to Wolsey to watch Charles, the Duke of Suffolk, and the Dukes of Buckingham, Northumberland and Derby, and any others ‘which you think suspect’.16 It’s not certain why Henry was wary of his closest companions at this time. Charles especially was helping him with the arrangement of French ‘hostages’ as an assurance that Francis would meet the terms of the Treaty of London. As a known Francophile perhaps Henry thought that Charles was interfering in French politics again, but the matter wasn’t a grave one. The hostages were really several young French noblemen that would be treated as honoured guests but Henry had stipulated that they should be high-ranking and of great importance to Francis. He wasn’t happy with those Francis proposed to send over telling Charles to write to Wolsey to tell him ‘that they were not the personages that the French king did favor greatly’.17 Wolsey sent out instructions that they required hostages of more value. If Wolsey’s nose was out of joint, he could have used the opportunity to bring Charles down but there seems to have been no response to the king’s letter or at least not one that disparaged Charles. To Wolsey, Charles still had his uses.

  In September, Mary was leaning on Wolsey to help her in a matter concerning one of her servants. Susan Savage implored Mary to help her brother, Anthony Savage, one of several men of the family who had been indicted of crimes such as abuse of authority, rioting and even murder. Mary obviously believed in his innocence as she arranged for him to meet with Wolsey and swear his loyalty. She wrote ‘I do pray you in my most heartest manner that according unto your promise to me made you would be [a] good and gracious lord unto the foresaid Antony in all his foresaid cases’.18 Wolsey certainly helped as he was later pardoned for the homicide of one John Pauncefote.

  As Mary’s household edged its way into a quiet winter, Wolsey was already making plans
for Henry’s meeting with Francis, now arranged for the summer of 1520. In March, 6,000 workmen were sent ahead of the royal party to prepare for their stay. The meeting was to take place in the Val d’Or with the English staying at Guisnes and the French at Ardres so that each king had his own territory.

  The court was in a flurry of organisation. Over 5,000 people would accompany the king as well as the food, furniture, tents, horses and other supplies they would need. The ladies of the court were also in a flurry of excitement but Mary was once again suffering with her health. Charles wrote to Wolsey to explain why he had not been at court of late. ‘The cause why, hath been that the said French queen hath had, and yet hath, divers physicians with her, for her old disease in her side, and as yet cannot be perfectly restored to her health’.19 Even the court physician, Master Peter, could not make her any better but Mary felt that being in London would vastly improve her condition.

  She wrote to Henry:

  My most dearest and best beloved brother, I humbly recommend me to your grace. Sire, so it is that I have been very sick, and ill at ease, for the which I was fain to send for Master Peter the physician, for to have holpen me of the disease that I have. Howbeit, I am rather worse than better. Wherefore I trust surely to come up to London with my lord; for and if I should tarry here, I am sure I should never aspear the sickness that I have. Where fore, Sire, I would be the gladlier a great deal to come thither, because I would be glad to see your grace, the which I do think long for to do; for I have been a great while out of your sight, and now I trust I shall not be so long again ; for the sight of your grace is to me the greatest comfort that may be possible. No more to your grace at this time, but I pray God send you your heart’s desire, and shortly to the sight of you.20

  Mary rallied as soon as she got to London and joined in the excitement of organising the royal journey to France. As preparations were made for them to leave, the new Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, arrived, on 26 May. His visit had been delayed due to bad weather and was hurried due to Henry’s need to cross the Channel to meet with Francis. Still there was time for him to be rightly entertained and for him to meet his aunt, Queen Katherine, who wept as she kissed him in welcome. He would also meet Mary for the first time and Mary, her illness forgotten, shone in front of the man who she nearly married. She had ordered a whole new wardrobe for the upcoming trip to France and she was resplendent. So much so that Charles V is reported to have cried tears of bitterness on seeing her, devastated at the woman he had lost. ‘At their first interview, he was so struck by her beauty, that he hardly knew what he said; and at the evening ball he sat moodily apart, and refused to dance, his eyes everywhere following the form of the lovely being whom, but for the impediments of state politics, he might have called his own’.21

  The same day Charles V departed, Mary left England with Charles and the king and queen in a fleet of twenty-seven ships arriving in Calais on 31 May. Henry and Francis then met for the first time on 7 June, galloping towards each other as if in combat before embracing heartily. Both were young kings, eager to prove themselves, and to this end Francis had had built a tremendous tiltyard, 900 ft long and 320 ft wide, where both countries could show off their skills. Although their meeting at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, as it was to become known, was essentially a mark of peace between them, it also had another side ‘demonstrating personal and national military strength through the joust’.22

  For the two weeks of jousting, feasting, drinking, pageant displays, wrestling, archery and diplomatic discussions, Henry stayed in a temporary palace albeit a magnificent one. While the French only had tents, albeit made from cloth of gold or silver, Henry’s ‘palace of illusions’ covered an area of nearly 12,000 square yards with four wings surrounding a central courtyard. It was built on a brick base about 8 ft high and above that the walls were made of canvas painted to look like brick and stone with glass windows. A gatehouse was added to add to the illusion and topped with symbolic lions and Cupid looking down on the proceedings. In front of the palace was the most welcoming sight of a fountain topped by the god Bacchus flowing freely with wine. Henry had had 40,000 gallons of wine shipped over for the spectacle and continuous consumption.

  Mary and Charles had three rooms in between Wolsey and Katherine’s apartments, sumptuously decorated with tapestries, silk hangings and the symbols of the Tudor rose and King Louis’ porcupine, a reminder that Mary was the deceased French king’s dowager queen. She could retire there after each day’s round of activities in which she took full part. She spent a lot of time with Henry, sometimes more prominently than Katherine, taking pride of place at many banquets and leading the dancing with nobles from the French court. Mary was in her element and could easily move between both the English and French making her a valuable asset that Henry utilised. Out of the three queens that attended, Mary, Katherine, and Francis’ Queen Claude, Mary was the most beautiful, the most fashionable and she had experience of both the royal courts. Ambassador Wingfield had warned Wolsey that the French were taking only their most beautiful women. Mary was known for her beauty and youthfulness whilst Katherine was now in her thirties, prematurely aged by at least five failed pregnancies. Henry was proud to have his sister with him, not only because she stood out amongst the other women, but because she was a political advantage.

  Mary attended all the jousts in part to support Charles but appearance was everything. She was carried out on a litter on 11 June that was monogrammed with L’s and M’s for Mary and Louis (as were her rooms) – to the French she was still their queen and they delighted in her. Charles’ luck was not holding at the joust. He had helped to organise them but he performed poorly after hurting his hand. Taking more of a background role as his wife dazzled and enthralled, Charles spent a lot of time with Wolsey making sure everything ran accordingly for the king and his wife.

  To end their time at the Field of Cloth of Gold, Henry and Mary visited Queen Claude at the French court, riding out on horses draped in white and yellow velvet. Henry was disguised ‘in the dress of Hercules, and his sister wore a Genoese costume of white satin, ornamented with crimson satin and cloth of gold, with a square head-tire and flowing veil’.23 There was nothing like dramatics to leave a lasting impression. Returning after yet more feasting, Henry met with Francis to say their goodbyes, Mary by his side.

  After the excitement of the Field of Cloth of Gold, Henry took off to meet Charles V at Gravelines on his way home, with Francis appeased it was time to cement his relationship with the Holy Roman Emperor, and Mary accompanied him there too. He may have met with Francis and showed his commitment to the Treaty of London but he was ever wary of the French. It would be as well to have Charles V’s support. For Mary, the trip was a chance for her to meet the woman who would have been her aunt. After all her correspondence during the time of her betrothal, she finally met Margaret of Savoy. Charles Brandon kept a low profile.

  An Eighteenth Century Engraving of Katherine of Aragon

  Chapter Seven

  1521–1528

  A Hostile World

  Over the next few years, life for Mary would never match up to the excitement of the Field of Cloth of Gold and she would appear less and less at court, falling out with her brother and becoming disillusioned with her husband. Charles however was becoming much more enmeshed at court – still trusted by Henry and kept by his side as much as possible, whether it was on the council or during times of leisure.

  Charles was involved in the trial of the Duke of Buckingham in May 1521. Henry still had no legitimate male heir and Buckingham was a threat to the throne, being descended from Edward III. His trial was a farce. He was charged with seventeen offences including listening to prophecies of the king’s death and expressing an intention to kill the king. He had raised an army but swore it was for his own protection as he toured his estates in Wales. In reality Henry just wanted this potential threat dead. The Duke of Norfolk presided over the trial with Charles Brandon and fifteen other peers by
his side. It was said that the duke cried when he read out the guilty verdict yet after the execution of Buckingham on Tower Hill, both the Duke of Norfolk and Charles acquired some of his lands in Suffolk. Not only did they benefit from his death but by doing the king’s bidding, they stayed in his favour.

  Later in the year hostilities escalated between Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and Francis I, King of France. Wolsey’s attempt to create a lasting peace between the nations had failed. Henry was more than happy to side with Charles V, his lust for war with France once more inflamed. Under Henry’s orders, Wolsey was sent to Bruges to meet with the Holy Roman Emperor to give English support to a French invasion planned for 1523. Charles and Mary were both worried at this turn of events. Charles had been loyal to his king, and Francis, up until now but with England at war, Charles’ role would change. He hated coming up against the French king who had been so amenable to his marriage to Mary and had smoothed things over with Henry but Charles could not be disloyal to the King of England, he was Henry’s man first and foremost. Mary too was anxious for an entirely different reason - if hostilities broke out, her dower payments would surely be affected.

  Mary’s relationship with Charles was strained as would be any couples when money was an issue but Charles hadn’t helped matters. During his time at court he had taken a mistress. Sometime in 1521, Charles’ illegitimate son, named after his father, was born but his mother is not known. Charles would be in contact with his son throughout his life but nothing is known of his early upbringing or in whose household he was brought up. Mary had generously taken in Charles’ daughters from his marriage to Anne Browne but an illegitimate son was another matter.