It is obvious that he felt Anne was doing him and his family a disservice and not listening to his complaint about wages but as we can see from the rest of this note he was actually spying on Anne and informing the king of any letters she received. It did not endear him to her and when she received correspondence from her brother she sent it directly to the king rather than have Carew inform on her.
The councillors returned to Richmond on the 21st to bring Anne gifts from the king and show her letters ‘as, by the Bishop’s letter, it seemed that Olisleger feared she was not well treated’.27 She wrote in her own language to her brother:
Brother, Because I had rather ye know the truth by mine advertisement, than for want thereof be deceived by false reports, I write these present letters to you, by which ye shall understand that being advertised how the nobles and commons of this realm, desired the king’s highness here, to commit the examination of the matter of marriage between me and his majesty to the determination of the clergy, I did the more willingly consent thereto; and since the determination made, have also allowed, approved, and agreed unto the same, wherein I have more respect (as becometh me) to truth and good pleasure than any worldly affection that might move me to the contrary. I account God pleased with what is done, and know myself to have suffered no wrong or injury, my person being preserved in the integrity which I brought into this realm, and I truly discharged from all bond of consent. I find the king’s highness, whom I cannot justly have as my husband, to be, nevertheless, a most kind, loving and friendly father and brother, and to use me as honourably, and with as much liberality, as you, I myself, or any of our kin or allies, could wish; wherein l am, for mine own part, so well content and satisfied, that I much desire my mother, you, and other, mine allies, so to understand, accept, and take it, and so to use yourself towards this noble and virtuous prince, as he may have cause to continue his friendship towards you, which on his behalf shall nothing be impaired or altered in this matter—for so it hath pleased his highness to signify to me, that like as he will show to me always a most fatherly and brotherly kindness, and has so provided for me, so will he remain with you and other, according to the knot of amity which between you hath been concluded (this matter notwithstanding), in such wise as neither I, ne you, nor any of our friends, shall have just cause of miscontentment. Thus much I have thought necessary to write to you, lest, for want of true knowledge, ye might take this matter otherwise than ye ought, and in other sort care for me than ye have cause. Only I require this of you, that ye so conduct yourself as for your untowardness in this matter, I fare not the worse, whereunto I trust you will have regard.28
This message was not just for William but for her sister Sybilla and her husband John Frederick who after years of stalled negotiations with Henry over his admission to the Schmalkaldic League, was furious and wanted no more to do with the king. Anne feared their retaliation and urged them to caution. She was happy with her settlement and wanted nothing more than to be left in peace. Across Europe the news of Henry and Anne’s annulment sent shockwaves through courts and commoners alike. Anne had the sympathy of the people but also a lucky escape. As a final gesture she sent her wedding ring back to Henry ‘desiring that it might be broken in pieces as a thing which she knew of no force or value’.29
On July 28 Cromwell was executed. It was a stark warning to Anne that those who displeased the king suffered with their own lives. Henry, forever the master of inappropriate timing, married Katherine Howard secretly at Oatlands Palace the same day. Katherine was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper but after her mother’s death had been raised in the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk’s undisciplined and some would say scandalous household. Henry was utterly besotted with her. She was everything Anne was not. Young, beautiful and lively but with only one portrait of her historians have differed in their description of her. Starkey describes her as having ‘auburn hair, pale skin, dark eyes and brows, the rather fetching beginnings of a double chin and an expression that was at once quizzical and come-hither’30 whilst Denny describes her as ‘demure and dainty, with peaches-and-cream complexion and blonde hair’.31 Marillac writing at the time said she ‘had everything necessary not only to content the king her lord, but also to win the hearts of his subjects; for, apart from her excellent beauty in which she surpassed all the ladies in England… she has a very gentle face, gracious of speech, her bearing moderate, restrained and her conversation humane’.32 But she would drive the king to distraction.
However in the early days of their marriage all was well. The king had not forgotten his fourth wife and visited Anne on 6 August to tell her of his marriage. As Marillac reported:
This King being lately with a small company at Hampton Court, ten miles hence, supped at Richmond with the Queen that was, so merrily that some thought he meant to reinstate her, but others think it was done to get her consent to the dissolution of the marriage and make her subscribe what she had said thereupon, which is not only what they wanted but also what she thinks they expected. The latter opinion is the more likely, as the King drew her apart in company with the three first councillors he had, who are not commonly called in to such confidences. Thinks it would show great inconstancy to take her back now, and moreover she did not sup with him as she did when she was Queen, but at another table adjoining his, as other ladies who are not of the blood do when he eats in company.33
The French ambassador also reported how joyous Anne had become and that she wore different dresses every day. Anne was happy at Richmond and was now one of the richest ladies in the kingdom.
Richmond Palace
Chapter Six
A New Queen Katherine
1541
Anne had been living the quiet life during the first few months of Henry’s marriage to the young Katherine Howard but on 3 January she travelled to Hampton Court for the New Year celebrations. Her gift to the newlyweds were two horses with ‘violet velvet trappings’.1 She was welcomed at court by ‘the duchess of Suffolk, the countess of Hertford, and certain other ladies, who, after conducting her to the rooms destined for her lodging, took her to the queen’s apartments’.2
Both Anne and Katherine had been anxious about this meeting but Anne conducted herself ‘with as much reverence and punctilious ceremony, as if she were herself the most insignificant damsel at court, all the time addressing the queen on her knees, notwithstanding the prayers and entreaties of the latter, who received her most kindly, showing her great favour and courtesy. At this time the king entered the room, and, after making a very low bow to Anne, embraced and kissed her’.3
Henry took his place next to Katherine at the top of the table. Anne sat at ‘a seat near the bottom of the table, all the time keeping as good a mien and countenance, and looking as unconcerned as if there had been nothing between them’.4 She spent the evening talking and dancing with the queen after Henry had retired. A year in England had passed and Anne had picked up more of the language and a lot of the customs, enough for the two women to spend a pleasant evening together. The next day the King sent Katherine a present of a ring and two small dogs, which she gave to Anne before she returned to Richmond. The two women were not recorded as ever seeing each other again.
All were delighted that the meeting of ex-queen and new queen had gone so smoothly. Anne had accomplished the feat of truly acting like the king’s sister. Not only was Henry pleased with her but he now gave her permission to see the Princess Elizabeth as she had previously requested with strict instructions that the princess must always refer to her as Lady Anne and never queen. Elizabeth was living a peripatetic life moving between Ashridge, Hatfield, Hunsdon, Enfield and Havering Bower so we are uncertain where they met. As later evidence shows she also nurtured a relationship with the Princess Mary, now welcome at court after a long estrangement with her father not helped by his marriage to a girl much younger than her and a relative of the hated Anne Boleyn no less.
Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, who had sta
unchly supported Katherine of Aragon was back at court in July 1540 after several months’ absence. Noted for his reports he was carefully watching how the new queen would fare. In May he wrote she was unhappy as she had heard rumours ‘that he (the king) was about to take back Anne of Cleves as his wife. To which the king replied that she was wrong to believe such things (of him) or attach faith to reports of the kind; even if he had to marry again, he would never retake Mme. De Cleves’.5 In fact rumours that the king might take Anne back started as early as October 1540 and would continue for quite some time. But the king was very much in love with Katherine and he wanted to show her to the nation. So at the end of June they set off on a royal progress into the North, culminating at York, taking the Princess Mary part of the way with them.
Hall recorded:
This Sommer the Kyng kepte his progresse to Yorke, and passed through Lyncolne Shire, where was made to hym an humble submission by the temporaltie, confessyng their offence, and thankyngthe kyng for his pardon: and the Toune of Staunforde gaue the Kyng twentie pounde, and Lyncolne presented fourtie pounde, & Boston fiftie pound that parte whiche is called Lynsey gaue three hundred pounde, and Kestren and the Churche of Lyncolne gaue fiftie pounde. And when he entred into Yorke Shire, he was met with two hundred gentlemen of the same Shire in coates of Veluet, and foure thousande tall yornen, and seruyng men, well horsed: whiche on their knees made a submission, by the mouthe of sir Robert Bowes, and gaue to the Kyng nyne hundred pounde. And on Barnesdale met the kyng, the Archebishoppe of Yorke, with three hundred Priestes and more, and made a like submission, and gaue the kyng sixe hundred pounde. Like submission was made by the Maior of Yorke, Newe Castle and Hull, and eche of theim gaue to the Kyng an hundred pounde. When the Kyng had been at Yorke twelue daies, he came to Hull, and deuised there certain fortificacions, and passed ouer the water of Homber, and so through Lyncolne Shire, and at Halontidee came to Hampton Court.6
Anne of course was not invited. In the summer there were two weddings that Anne could not attend but that nonetheless interested her. The first was her brother William’s marriage to the twelve-year-old Jeanne of Navarre who although dressed in a rich gold and silver skirt dotted with precious jewels and a crimson cloak edged with ermine had to be carried to the altar under protest. Francis I had arranged the marriage as part of a peace treaty with the Duke of Cleves and as many women before her Jeanne had to suffer a choice that was not hers. She wrote down ‘I, Jeanne de Navarre, persisting in the protestations I have already made, do hereby again affirm and protest by these present, that the marriage which it is desired to contract between the Duke of Cleves and myself, is against my will; that I have never consented to it, nor will consent…’7 Not a happy start to wedded bliss and like Anne’s own marriage it would remain unconsummated until its annulment.
The second was that of the Duke of Lorraine, her previously betrothed, who now married Christina of Denmark in Brussels. ‘Great preparations had been made to do honour to the Emperor’s niece, and the guests came from far and wide. Christina’s trousseau was worthy of her exalted rank, and the Queen presented her with a wonderful carcanet of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, with pendants of large pear-shaped pearls. The marriage was solemnized on Sunday, the 10th of July, in the great hall where, twenty-six years before, Isabella of Austria, had been married to the King of Denmark. Only two of the foreign Ambassadors were absent from the wedding banquet — the Englishmen Vaughan and Carne — a fact which naturally excited much comment. King Henry changed colour when Chapuys told him of Christina’s marriage, and was at no pains to conceal his surprise and vexation’.8
Henry was not pleased. He had made much of wanting to marry Christina himself and spat ‘I hold that Anne de Cleves is the real and legitimate wife of the said marquis, for I myself have never seen or heard of any deed or authentic documents breaking through their mutual marriage engagement that being the chief reason and cause of my separation from her’.9 Of course it was one of the reasons for his divorce but as Henry was allowed to remarry so was Anne and the duke. The marriage of Francis and Christina was perfectly legal but Henry never a man to be thwarted could not refrain from his grumbling complaints.
Henry may have been away on progress but he made sure that a watch was kept on Anne and her correspondence. In the Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, it is noted that in July that ‘William Sheffield, lately one of the retinue at Calais, was apprehended, for having said he had letters from the lady Anne of Cleves to the Duke of Norfolk, and was brought before the council and searched, when it was found that his letters were only from one Edward Bynings of Calais to Mrs. Howard, the old duchess of Norfolk’s woman, to Mrs. Katharine Bassett, and Mrs. Sympson, the lady Anne of Cleve’s women, which were but letters of friendship from private individuals; yet he was committed for further examination’.10 They found no evidence of wrongdoing on Anne’s part and she would be grateful given the circumstances that followed.
Henry was devoted to his new queen but Katherine Howard was besotted with Thomas Culpeper and it was now her chequered past came to light. On 2 November 1541, Cranmer slipped Henry a letter at mass that told of her life in the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk’s household. Mary Hall, who had worked at the Dowager’s, had informed her brother John Lascelles who in turn told Cranmer of Katherine’s behaviour with Francis Dereham and Henry Mannox. Cranmer interviewed Mary and was astounded by what he heard. When she tried to talk to Mannox about his behaviour he had apparently told her ‘Hold thy peace, woman! I know her well enough. My designs are of a dishonest kind, and from the liberties the young lady has allowed me, I doubt not of being able to effect my purpose. She hath said to me that I shall have her maidenhead, though it be painful to her, not doubting but I will be good to her hereafter’.11 Dereham had also been many times to the girl’s dormitories and worse had spent time in Katherine’s bed.
Henry would not believe his rose without a thorn had acted inappropriately but agreed to an investigation. He said ‘he could not believe it to be true, and yet, the accusation having once been made, he could be satisfied till the certainty hereof was known; but he could not, in any wise, that in the inquisition any spark of scandal should arise against the Queen’.12 From the testimony of witnesses including the men involved there was no doubt that Katherine had not been a virgin when she married the king. Mannox swore ‘he never knew her carnally’13 but admitted they had had a relationship. Dereham however ‘hath had carnal knowledge of the Queen’.14 Still this was before her marriage so for the time being Katherine was still safe.
Henry left Katherine at Hampton Court while he returned to London and left his councillors to her interrogation. Dereham in the meantime brought up the name of Thomas Culpeper in a bid to show his relationship with the queen had ended with her marriage and not continued on and that Culpeper had succeeded him in the queen’s affections. This was explosive news and a search of his lodgings turned up a letter from the queen:
Master Culpeper,
I heartily recommend me unto you, praying you to send me word how that you do. It was showed me that you was sick, the which thing troubled me very much till such time that I hear from you praying you to send me word how that you do, for I never longed so much for a thing as I do to see you and to speak with you, the which I trust shall be shortly now. The which doth comfortly me very much when I think of it, and when I think again that you shall depart from me again it makes my heart to die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be always in your company. It my trust is always in you that you will be as you have promised me, and in that hope I trust upon still, praying you that you will come when my Lady Rochford is here for then I shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment…
yours as long as life endures,
Katheryn.15
Katherine’s maid Jane Boleyn, wife of Anne Boleyn’s brother George, who had testified against her husband and sister-in-law now admitted that Culpeper had been in the queen’s private chamber and
‘hath known the queen carnally considering all things that this deponent hath heard and seen between them’.16 She believed they had committed adultery.
Katherine was moved to Syon Abbey, Middlesex under house arrest refusing to admit her relationship with Culpeper but she did confess her relationship with Mannox and Dereham in a letter to the king:
First at the flattering and fair persuasions of Manox being but a young girl (I) suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require. Also Frauncis Dereham by many persuasions procured me to his vicious purpose and obtained first to lie upon my bed with his doublet and hose and after within the bed and finally he lay with me naked and used me in such sort as a man doth his wife many and sundry times but how often I know not and our company ended almost a year before the Kings majesty was married to my Lady Anne of Cleves and continued not past one quarter of a year or a little above. Now the whole truth being declared unto your majesty I most humble beseech the same to consider the subtle persuasions of young men and the ignorance and frailness of young women.17
She never would admit to her liaison with Culpeper. It made no difference. The evidence was damning enough and Culpeper and Dereham were executed at Tyburn on 10 December 1541 whilst Katherine awaited her fate. Jane Boleyn was incarcerated in the Tower and there too had to bide her time.
Henry returned to Hampton Court. Apparently Anne’s only comment on her successor’s fall from grace was ‘She was too much of a child to deny herself any sweet thing she wanted’.18 Anne knew she had had a lucky escape. She was at Richmond waiting for news or perhaps a summons to see the king but the only message she received was a request to return a ring Katherine had given her. The ring was ‘only worth 3 gold cr. unless the stone, as is said, has some virtue against spasms’.19 Chapuys reported that Anne ‘greatly rejoiced at the event’20 of Katherine’s downfall but how he came about that conclusion we cannot tell.
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