The Duchess of Suffolk was one who left. Mary’s government would later try to stop the duchess and other exiles from receiving revenue from their lands. William Cecil, who would feature prominently in Elizabeth’s reign, opposed the bill, informally named after the duchess. He echoed many councillors thoughts when he said ‘although with danger to myself, I spoke my opinion freely and brought upon me some ill will thereby, but it is better to serve God than man’.23 Many were caught between their religious beliefs and the threat to their safety. But Anne was more than happy to follow Mary’s example. After all her mother had raised her as a Catholic and she would be content to attend mass unlike the Princess Elizabeth.
Mary, who Anne had remained friends with throughout her life in England, now took the throne. Anne was included in the celebrations. The day before her coronation Mary travelled from the Tower to Westminster in a chariot
of cloth of tissue drawen by sixe horses, all trapped with the like cloth of tissue. She sate in a gowne of purple velvet furred with powdered ermine, having on her head a caule of cloth of tinsell, beset with pearle and stone, and above the same upon her head, a round circlet of gold beset so richly with precious stones, that the value thereof was inestimable, the same caule and circlet being so masste and ponderous, that she was faine to beare up her head with her hand, and the canapy was borne over her chariot. Before her rode a number of gentlemen and knights, then judges, then doctors, then bishops, then lords, then the councell: after whome followed the knights of the Bathe, thirteene in number, in their robes, the bishop of Winchester lord Chancelor, and the marquesse of Winchester lorde high treasurer, next came the duke of norffolke, and after him the Earle of Oxforde, who bare the sword before her, the maior of London in a gowne of crimosin velvet bare the scepter of gold, &c. after the Queenes chariot, sir Edward Hastings led her horse in is hand: then came an other chariot, having a covering all of cloth of silver all white, and sixe horses trapped with the like, therin sate the lady Elizabeth and the lady Anne of Cleve, then Ladies and Gentlewomen riding on horses trapped with red velvet, and their gownes and kirtles likewise of red velvet: after them followed two other chariots covered with red sattin, and the horses betrapped with the same, and certaine gentlewomen betweene every of the saide chariots riding in crimosin sattin, their horses betrapped with the same, the number of the gentlewomen so riding were 46 besides them in the chariots.24
Mary was crowned on 1 October 1553 and at the coronation banquet afterwards Anne sat with Elizabeth at the top table with their new queen. It would be Anne’s last public appearance but after the trials and troubles of Edward’s reign she would now be in favour and have a far better relationship with the reigning monarch – or so she hoped. Amongst the many letters of congratulation was one from Mary, Duchess of Cleves and Juliers, Anne’s sister-in-law.
Anne was welcome at court and visited Mary in October. Discussions about who Mary should marry were rife and Anne suggested Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria. Ferdinand was Charles V’s nephew and also related to her brother William through marriage. A match between them would again link Cleves to England but Anne was to be disappointed. Mary had already set her sights on Philip of Spain. Supporters of this match saw Anne as a threat and the Spanish ambassador Renard was unhappy with Anne’s interference. He also reported:
My Lady [Anne] of Cleves is taking steps to get her marriage to the late King Henry VIII declared legitimate, so that she may enjoy the dowry, treatment and prerogatives of a Queen Dowager of England, and also continue to enjoy her dowry even if absent from England. We hear that the case will be adjourned till later; when more urgent and important affairs have been settled and decided.25
Again it was rumoured that Anne wanted to go home but whereas her situation in Edward’s reign had been an uncomfortable one, her future was now looking brighter. Anne was no threat but neither would she be granted her wish to be made queen dowager. Her relationship with Mary was such that she could approach her with suggestions but the new queen had much more pressing issues to deal with than Anne’s concerns.
Edward VI
Chapter Nine
Queen Mary’s Reign
1554–1556
Although Anne may have had Mary’s ear she was not so favoured as to deter suspicion. The people of England had welcomed Mary to the throne but when rumours spread that Mary wished to marry a Spanish husband, discontent surfaced. Sir Thomas Wyatt along with the Duke of Suffolk, Sir James Croft and members of the Carew family plotted uprisings in different parts of the country. The plan was to take control of the Welsh marches, the midlands and the south-west and then march to London but with lack of support only Wyatt carried out the rebellion in the south-east.
On 26th January 1554, Wyatt took Rochester in Kent and demanded that Mary should be imprisoned in the Tower of London before he began to march towards London. If Mary was to be placed in the Tower then it followed that Elizabeth would replace her as queen and surely Elizabeth had some part in organising such a rebellion that would put her on the throne. Mary suspected her sister but also Anne of aiding her.
Mary was still determined to marry Philip of Spain, the Emperor’s son, and Renard, the Imperial ambassador who had filled Chapuys’ position at court, informed Charles V that the king of France would do anything to stop the marriage, even if it meant war ‘because he has promised the Duke of Cleves, at the lady Elizabeth’s request, thus to revenge himself for Henry VIII’s repudiation of his sister’.1 Both Elizabeth and Anne were seen as being in league with France. It was Anne who had suggested a marriage to Ferdinand after all which proved her loyalty to her brother certainly but not the king of France. He also reported ‘The Queen, moreover, told me that the Lady (Anne) of Cleves was of the plot and intrigued with the Duke of Cleves to obtain help for Elizabeth’.2
Anne was also suspected of her involvement by her association with Thomas Cawarden. Cawarden had been arrested at the outbreak of the rebellion by Lord William Howard, James Skinner and John Skinner. After being questioned he was allowed to return to Bletchingley, which he was renting from Anne, and told to prepare his servants to march at an hour’s notice to intercept the rebels. Bletchingley had a vast armoury and it seems Cawarden could not be trusted to use it for the queen’s sake. Lord William Howard sent instructions to the sheriff Sir Thomas Saunders to ‘immediately take, carry and convey away from the house of Sir Thomas Cawarden, knight, all such harness, weapons, guns, munitions of war, and horses…’3 He was arrested again and after a spell at Skinner’s house in Reigate was taken to London and finally placed under house arrest in Blackfriars.
Wyatt first made for London Bridge where Mary’s forces turned the rebels away with cannon shot. Wyatt’s army made for Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey where the bridge across the river had been destroyed to stop his men from crossing the murky waters. After repairing it they marched on to London.
Mary gave a rallying speech at London’s Guildhall. She told the crowds of people who had gathered to see her:
I am your Queen, to whom at my coronation, when I was wedded to the realm and laws of the same (the spousal ring whereof I have on my finger, which never hitherto was, not hereafter shall be, left off), you promised your allegiance and obedience to me…. And I say to you, on the word of a Prince, I cannot tell how naturally the mother loveth the child, for I was never the mother of any; but certainly, if a Prince and Governor may as naturally and earnestly love her subjects as the mother doth love the child, then assure yourselves that I, being your lady and mistress, do as earnestly and tenderly love and favour you. And I, thus loving you, cannot but think that ye as heartily and faithfully love me; and then I doubt not but we shall give these rebels a short and speedy overthrow.4
The rebellion was halted at Ludgate. Wyatt surrendered and was imprisoned in the Tower where he was tortured in the hope that he might incriminate Elizabeth.
Renard reported on 12 February 1554:
The Queen of England summoned me this morning and i
nformed me that the Council had issued orders for Courtenay’s arrest and imprisonment in the Tower, because Wyatt, without having been tortured, accused him and several others, such as Pickering and Poignz, of being of the conspiracy. Pickering escaped arrest by flight into France, where he is said to have joined Carew… The Council has sent two of the Queen’s physicians to visit the Lady Elizabeth and find out whether she is still unwell or only pretending, and whom she has in her house; and if she is not ill the Admiral, Hastings and Cornwallis are to arrest and bring her in to the Tower. The Queen, moreover, told me that the Lady (Anne) of Cleves was of the plot and intrigued with the Duke of Cleves to obtain help for Elizabeth: matters in which the King of France was the prime mover. In order to smooth them over the French ambassador had audience to-day, though I do not yet know exactly what he said. The Queen says that God has miraculously permitted all this to come out and furnished her with means to put a stop to it by punishing the guilty authors in time, for otherwise heresy would have found its way back to the kingdom, she would have been robbed of her state and England subjected to the will of the French. So she is now absolutely determined to have strict justice done and make herself strong against further eventualities.5
On the same day that Renard wrote his despatch Lady Jane Grey was executed. Dressed in black and carrying her prayer book, she was led out to the green at the Tower were she spoke her final words.
Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same; the fact indeed against the Queen’s Highness was unlawful and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency before the face of God and the face of you good Christian people this day…
I pray you all good Christian people to bear me witness that I die a true Christian woman and that I do look to be saved by no other mean, but only by the mercy of God, in the merits of the blood of his only son Jesus Christ. I confess when I did know the word of God I neglected the same and loved myself and the world, and therefore this plague or punishment is happily and worthily [deservedly] happened unto me for my sins. I thank God of his goodness that he has given me a time and respite to repent.
Now good people, I pray you to assist me with your prayers. Now good people, while I am alive, I pray you to assist me with your prayers.6
Jane then recited Psalm 51, the Misere, in English ‘Have mercy upon me O God, after they great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences’. She took off her gown, headdress and collar and asked the executioner to despatch her quickly. Placing a blindfold over her eyes, Jane panicked as she tried to feel for the block. She was helped to find it and praying ‘Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit’ she was swiftly killed with one blow.
On 16 March 1554 Elizabeth was charged with prior knowledge of the Wyatt rebellion but no further action was taken against Anne. Elizabeth was interrogated but they had no proof of her involvement. Sir Thomas Wyatt was executed but as he stood on the scaffold he exonerated Elizabeth saying, ‘And whereas it is said and whistled abroad that I should accuse my lady Elizabeth’s grace and my lord Courtenay; it is not so, good people. For I assure you neither they nor any other now in yonder hold or durance was privy of my rising or commotion before I began. As I have declared no less to the queen’s council. And this is most true’.7 Elizabeth was released but placed under house arrest. Both the princess and Anne had had a lucky escape. Nothing could be proved against Cawarden either and he returned to his official duties in March. Anne had not even been interrogated which seems surprising given Mary’s distrust. But neither was she now in favour.
In April 1554 the ambassador Cruser was sent to inform Anne of the deaths of Sybilla and John Frederick. Sybilla had died at the end of February and John at the beginning of March. They were buried in the church of St Peter and St Paul at Weimar. Their eldest sons John Frederick II and John William inherited their father’s lands when he was imprisoned but after his death they divided his remaining lands between them. The electorship of Saxony had been lost through the Capitulation of Wittenberg and John Frederick II would unsuccessfully spend the rest of his life trying to regain his father’s title.
Mary was married on 25 July 1554 at Winchester Cathedral with Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester, officiating. Mary was delighted to finally have a husband but the twenty-six-year-old Philip had little interest in Mary. His adviser Ruy Gomez reported that ‘it will take a great God to drink this cup [but]… the king realises that the marriage was concluded for no fleshly consideration, but in order to remedy the disorder of this kingdom and to preserve the Low Countries’.8 For Philip their match was purely political. Anne was not invited to the celebrations but she wrote the queen a note:
To the Queen’s Majesty. After my humble commendations unto your majesty, with thanks for your loving favour showed to me in my last suit, and praying of your highness your loving continuance, it may please your highness to understand that I am informed of your grace’s return to London again, and being desirous to do my duty to see your majesty and the king, if it may so stand with your highness’ pleasure, and that I may know when and where I shall wait on your majesty and his. Wishing you both much joy and felicity, with increase of children to God’s glory, and to the preservation of your prosperous estates, long to continue with honour in all godly virtue. From my poor house at Hever, the 4th of August.9
Mary returned to Westminster on 18 August before travelling to Hampton Court for the rest of the summer. Anne was not called to court as she had hoped in her letter and had to content herself with her needlework and an interest in cookery. In November it was reported Mary was pregnant but there would never be any children born to the couple. In the same month The Revival of the Heresy Acts was passed and read:
For the eschewing and avoiding of errors and heresies, which of late have risen, grown, and much increased within this realm, for that the ordinaries have wanted authority to proceed against those that were infected therewith: be it therefore ordained and enacted by authority of this present Parliament, that the statute made in the fifth year of the reign of King Richard II, concerning the arresting and apprehension of erroneous and heretical preachers, and one other statute made in the second year of the reign of King Henry IV, concerning the repressing of heresies and punishment of heretics, and also one other statute made in the second year of the reign of King Henry V, concerning the suppression of heresy and Lollardy, and every article, branch, and sentence contained in the same three several Acts, and every of them, shall from the twentieth day of January next coming be revived, and be in full force, strength, and effect to all intents, constructions, and purposes for ever.10
Mary wanted heretics to be punished with the full force of the law. She would earn the title ‘Bloody Mary’ for her persecution of Protestants throughout her reign with the deaths of over 280 men and women. She was devout and fervent in her belief. Those who did not follow her lead would suffer.
Thankfully Anne towed the religious line, never giving Mary any other cause to doubt her but she was saddened at not being asked to attend court. Her money troubles plagued her and she was by now having trouble with Thomas Cawarden who in December was three months late with his rent. She was staying at Hever and wanted the money so that she could travel to Penshurst Place for Christmas ‘for I have a fair home and would fane be going before the holyday’.11 Cawarden was angry with Anne for not spending any money on the upkeep of Bletchingley and may have been withholding her rent but Anne was in no position to provide financial assistance.
Anne still stayed at Bletchingley on occasion but she had also upset him when her staff had cut down trees for firewood and built new, and as he thought, useless outbuildings. He complained:
I gave her Grace wood for dispendinge in the house sythen her first comynge thether, of greate Oke, beache and Asshe by fowere, five, syx and seven score lodes at a time. And at hallowtyde laste, I gave them at there re
queste ageanste her Graces comynge thether, syx hundred lode of wood or there aboutes by there owne reporte, which before the having thereof, theye sought by waye of requeste. After I had given them the seide lodes of wood, they seide it was there owne and that they myghte by present patente take it where and when they wolde and that I might nor oughte not denye them. And in myne absens her Officers did commence the making of coles and felled doune myne woodes by the grounde for the same, also fayre Okes, Asshes and Beches beinge good tymber wood (which they never presumed nor the lyke before this tyme) made to the number of 40 lodes and also besides a great deale which yet remanithe uncoled. Also where I did appoynte and delyver at her requeste sufficiente tymber for the necassarie reparinge of the house, they ithout myne consente and knoleage did fell a greate meanye of tymber trees and thereof made fower new houses of tymber and borde where none was before, which cannot be justified by the lawe. Also with my seide wooddes did furnesshe a commune bruhouse and also a vittelynge house in the contreye not without a great number of lodes and that of no worse wood than is before resyted.12
Back in May 1554 George Throckmorton was appointed by the Privy Council to govern Anne’s household and it was reported that Anne was ‘verye desirous to have (him) in the same rowme’.13 One member of her household Florence de Diaceto was ambassador Olisleger’s nephew. In December 1554 he was petitioning the Queen Mary for ‘losses sustained in Wyatt’s commotion’ and for a licence to import 4000 tons of French wine.14 He had been in Henry VIII’s service receiving payments from him up until 1546 and was sent by Edward VI to the king of Denmark. It is uncertain what he was doing for Mary as a ‘small time envoy and agent’15 whilst in Anne’s household but something went wrong in 1555. Wotton wrote:
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