by David Field
Cecil nodded his agreement with a sad face, just as the doors to the Chamber were thrown open by a page.
‘The Earl of Leicester and two attendants, Your Majesty.’
Their eyes switched to the end of the Audience Chamber as Robert Dudley walked confidently towards them accompanied by two ruddy-faced men dressed like city merchants, clearly somewhat overawed by their surroundings and apprehensive of their first audience with their Queen. Robert bowed formally and kissed the proffered royal hand before straightening up and waving in the direction of his companions.
‘Allow me to introduce Captains John Hawkins and Francis Drake, Your Majesty.’
Each of the men bowed and Elizabeth lowered her head in a gesture of welcome, then turned her attention to Robert.
‘I assume that you journeyed to Plymouth in order to bring these men to me? Would that explain why you have been missing for over a week and have you heard of the uprising in the north?’
‘Indeed I have, Your Majesty, and my companions are here to offer vessels to transport your troops north to Hull, or wherever else they might best be disembarked.’
‘They are most loyal and generous, Robert, but unless you have men at your disposal then there will be no-one to transport.’
‘What Her Majesty means,’ Cecil explained, ‘is that without the finances that we undoubtedly do not hold within the Treasury, we cannot put men into the field. That remains a matter of the utmost secrecy,’ he added for the benefit of their visitors. It fell silent for a moment, then one of them cleared his throat and spoke out.
‘Might we be permitted the honour of contributing to the Exchequer in this hour of need, Your Majesty?’
‘That is most generous of you, Master...?’
‘Drake, Your Majesty,’ was the reply. ‘Francis Drake of Devon and ever your loyal subject.’
Elizabeth’s face muscles tightened under her ceruse mask. ‘Presumably the same Master Drake of whom I am constantly bombarded with complaints from the Spanish Ambassador?’
‘Your Majesty?’
‘Piracy on the high seas, according to the Ambassador. His last reported outrage is that you sank several Spanish cargo vessels off the coast of some unpronounceable place across the ocean.’
‘That would be San Juan de Ulúa, off the coast of Mexico, Your Majesty,’ Drake replied with a slow grin.
‘Regardless of the location, Master Drake, what have you to say of the allegation?’
‘That it is true, Your Majesty, in the sense that we were able to sink several Spanish “man of war” vessels that attacked us as we were seeking to trade legitimately with the Mexicans.’
‘They attacked you, say you?’
‘Indeed, as my cousin John Hawkins here can also attest, Your Majesty. We were called upon to defend ourselves after they sank four of our vessels for no obvious cause other than their outrageous claim that the ocean belongs to Spain.’
‘But you sank some of theirs?’
‘Three, Your Majesty. We were, however, fortunate, in that before their cargoes sank to the bottom we were able to rescue them and bring them back with us.’
‘According to the Ambassador, they took the form of gold intended for payment to Spanish traders in order that they might establish trade with the Mexicans.’
‘Indeed, Your Majesty. Valued at some thirty thousand pounds in all.’
‘And you brought it back to Plymouth?’
‘Indeed we did.’
Elizabeth tried to hide the smile and forced a frown onto her face. ‘Regardless of the circumstances and even after making allowance for the fact that you were obliged to defend yourselves, Master Drake, what you did constituted an act of piracy. The Ambassador will demand that I punish you, or hand you over to Spain. I would much prefer the former.’
‘Perhaps a heavy fine, Your Majesty?’ Drake suggested. ‘Shall we say thirty thousand pounds, payable to the Exchequer once I can arrange for an armed escort back to London?’
This time Elizabeth couldn’t hold back the smile, adding a mischievous chuckle for good measure. ‘I can see that we shall become good friends, Master Drake. Cecil, will you instruct the Chamberlain to prepare suitable temporary chambers for Masters Drake and Hawkins here at Whitehall? That way they will be free to join us for supper, along with yourself and Robert. And would you please send word to the Earl of Lincoln and the Duke of Sussex to begin recruiting men to England’s cause? We shall nip this rebellion in the bud.’
When Cecil brought the glad tidings to Elizabeth that the uprising was at an end, although its ringleaders had escaped, he was not smiling as enthusiastically as she might have expected and she looked carefully into his eyes.
‘There is something else, is there not? Something that will not please me?’
‘There is indeed, Your Majesty. It is with considerable regret, although no great surprise, that I have to advise you that I have grounds for suspecting that the man who was behind the entire business is a trusted member of your own Council.’
‘I hope for his sake you are wrong, whoever he is, for he will pay with his head,’ Elizabeth muttered darkly. ‘Whom do you suspect?’
‘The Duke of Norfolk, Your Majesty. If you would permit me, I will lay out my grounds for suspecting him and you may then have his neck laid out on the block.’
XV
‘I want to see the Queen immediately!’ Tom Ashton announced as he appeared in Cecil’s chamber doorway before anyone could prevent him progressing through the outer chamber in which he normally worked as a copying clerk.
‘I doubt whether she’d want to see you, in that state,’ Cecil said as he looked over his desk at the mud that spattered both Tom’s hose and his boots and what looked like indelible sweat stains under the armpits of his tunic. ‘But to judge by your demeanour and your unexpected return from Carlisle, you have something of moment to impart, so if you unburden yourself to me, I’ll seek an early audience.’
‘You misunderstand,’ Tom insisted. ‘This time I need to take my reward in the form of an estate somewhere and only Her Majesty can grant me one. Believe me, I have my reason.’
‘So do most men of modest means,’ Cecil replied calmly. ‘But since you already have an estate that you manage as if it were a piggery, why do you need another one?’
‘In order to marry the fine lady I’ve met, whose father would not approve of me otherwise.’
‘I doubt if any father would approve of a man like you as a husband for his daughter, fine estate or no fine estate,’ Cecil said. ‘But do I deduce that you have finally met someone whose legs you cannot open outside of marriage?’
‘I have never before met one that I wish to marry,’ Tom explained. ‘Be in no doubt that I am serious and that a fine estate is my price for disclosing what I have learned regarding the former Queen Mary’s involvement in the death of her husband.’
‘Close the door!’ Cecil demanded urgently and when Tom had done so he was instructed to take the seat in front of Cecil’s desk and divulge what he had learned.
Tom shook his head. ‘If I do that, you will take it to the Queen and earn the reward for yourself. You have no need of further estates and you have riches beyond avarice. I, for my part, have nothing.’
‘Not even your continued life, if you do not reveal what it is you have learned without further delay,’ Cecil reminded him ominously. ‘One word from me, linking you with a plot against the crown and your head would be feeding the crows on London Bridge. On the other hand, when I am able to pass your information on to Her Majesty, I will be well positioned to argue your cause, always assuming that she is sufficiently grateful for your efforts. I am to take supper with her this evening, to divulge what I have learned regarding the identity of the man whose treasonous ambition lay behind the recent uprising in the north. I can easily add what additional intelligence you have gleaned. Now lose no more time — what may I tell Her Majesty?’
Elizabeth looked far from happy as she sat at the supper tabl
e and instructed the page to grant admission to Master Secretary Cecil. She had anticipated the meal with one of her favourite sugared almonds and had lost yet another tooth in the process. It was the third this year and it now lay hidden inside her napkin as Cecil approached the board, bowed and took the seat across from hers that she gestured towards with a languid hand gesture.
‘Please feel free to eat, Cecil, before you ruin my appetite with the glum tidings that you foreshadowed during our meeting earlier today. How can you lay the guilt of the recent uprising at the door of my own Earl Marshall and Lieutenant of the North? Surely it fell to his office to suppress that rebellion?’
‘Precisely, Your Majesty, and did he?’ Why was it necessary to rely upon the President of the Northern Council and the Earl of Lincoln to send the rebels packing? Where was Norfolk?’
Elizabeth tutted with irritation. ‘Remember that he is my cousin, Cecil,’ she replied with warning in her voice. ‘He has many duties here at Court and not merely ceremonial ones. When Robert is away, at Plymouth or so he assures me, my cousin Thomas Howard is required at my side, hosting events at Court. So even though it may be true that others were obliged to take up arms in order to defend my kingdom in the north, you cannot lay the blame for that at Norfolk’s door. I assume that there is nothing else?’
‘Would that there were not, Majesty, but consider other family connections. Presumably Thomas’s sister Jane is also your cousin?’
‘Naturally, since they are brother and sister,’ Elizabeth replied petulantly. ‘What of it?’
‘Do you also mind who Jane Howard is married to?’
‘Really, Cecil, how can I be expected to follow the personal lives of the entire Howard family? There are so many of them.’
‘You may therefore be forgiven for not remembering that Jane Howard is married to Charles Neville, Earl of Westmorland. She took urgent ship to France when her husband retreated with his men into Scotland.’
Elizabeth suddenly looked more solemn. ‘So you say that the wife of one of the main conspirators in the recent uprising is Norfolk’s sister?’
‘Indeed, Your Majesty, and that is by no means the sole Howard connection with treasonous attempts to install the Scottish Mary in your place on the English throne.’
‘Go on,’ Elizabeth invited him in a far more muted tone than she had adopted a few moments earlier.
‘The retreat of Westmorland and Northumberland across the border was not the end of the uprising, Your Majesty, although it may be that this latest pathetic gesture has not been reported to you and in any case is all but suppressed, thanks to Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon. As the first wave of rebels fell back in the face of the combined forces of Sussex and Lincoln, Leonard Dacre took up a siege position in Greystoke Castle, south of Carlisle, which was not his to occupy anyway, since it rightfully belonged to other members of his family. He also further fortified his own Naworth Castle, which lies nearby and assembled a force of some three thousand men. When Henry Carey challenged him to journey to Carlisle in order to argue his loyalty, Dacre gave battle and having lost he also fled north into Scotland.’
‘I am well aware of all this, Cecil,’ Elizabeth told him as she stifled a yawn, ‘since it was I who authorised Carey to seek an assurance from Dacre that his actions were in defence of my throne and not aimed at assisting the Scots Mary.’
‘It is a pity that you did not also instruct him to shake the Dacre family tree, in order to observe what fruit fell from it,’ Cecil said.
‘More Howards?’
‘Indeed, Your Majesty. Leonard Dacre has three nieces, all married to sons of Thomas Howard.’
Elizabeth stared back at him for a moment, then shifted uneasily in her chair. ‘The worst that Norfolk can be accused of, it would seem, is his poor choice of relatives. That is hardly treasonous.’
‘Your own sister thought that one could be held to account for the treasonous actions of one’s cousins,’ Cecil reminded her. ‘In your case, the Lady Jane Grey.’
‘Enough, Cecil!’ Elizabeth commanded him with a sour face. ‘You do your argument no favour by reminding me of the injustice of those false insinuations.’
‘Forgive me if I pursue one aspect of that matter a little further,’ Cecil wheedled. ‘Your sister Mary demonstrated her position of strength to the whole world by having Jane Grey imprisoned as soon as she was able and there were no more rebellions.’
‘Your meaning?’ Elizabeth asked with irritation.
‘Simply this, Your Majesty — that Norfolk should be committed to the Tower until such time as he can demonstrate his lack of involvement in the northern rebellions. He need not be treated harshly — simply sent to the Tower as a warning to others who might be inclined to challenge your right to rule. Most notably, of course, the Catholic Mary of Scotland, in whose cause the recent rebellions were raised. And I have more news regarding her previous misdeeds that would merit that she be taken out and hanged as a murderess.’
Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide. ‘Your man has unearthed proof of this?’
‘He has, Majesty, although it would seem that it has cost him his heart.’
‘How?’
‘He was commissioned to lay siege to the emotions of a young lady who serves one of Mary’s Ladies and who was well positioned to be aware of the true events surrounding the death of Darnley. However, it would seem that the wily girl turned the tables and ensnared his heart and he is now seeking the gift of an estate from you, in order that they may be wed.’
‘Would it not best suit our purpose if they were?’
‘Indeed it would, Majesty, but until I learn more of this lady I am inclined to be suspicious of the information that she purports to be able to divulge. It all seems too convenient, to my mind.’
‘Be that as it may, what does she say?’
‘That on the day that Darnley was killed, Elizabeth was visited in her Palace of Holyrood by the man known as “Bothwell”, who was undoubtedly her lover at that time and subsequently became her husband. Shortly after his departure, Mary announced that she had taken it into her mind to attend the wedding celebrations of a Palace servant, something she had never been known to do before. Darnley was at that time laid up in his house in a place called Kirk o’ Field, close to the Palace, in which he was recovering from smallpox. It was Mary’s habit to visit him every evening after supper and she would have been there on the evening that the house was destroyed by an explosion, had it not been for the visit from Bothwell, which it is believed was by way of a warning, or confirmation that their wicked scheme was about to be executed.’
Elizabeth frowned. ‘Be that as it may, Cecil and even if it be true, any crime of which Mary was guilty occurred in her own country, which is not England and we cannot try her in England for a crime — even a heinous one such as murder — that was committed in Edinburgh. I cannot have her put to death for that and your man must try harder if he wishes to be granted an estate.’
‘I told him as much, Your Majesty, and I have no doubt that he will work eagerly in our cause to that end. But what is to be done with the Scots Mary in the meantime?’
‘For once I am ahead of you, Cecil. It seems to me that we must keep Mary close confined, but further away from either Carlisle, from which she may still receive assistance from her former followers in Scotland and London, from which others of a Catholic persuasion could easily travel to her side. Also a good distance from the sea and any possible attempt by France, or even Spain, to rescue her. The Earl of Shrewsbury has several large estates in the north of the country, but well south of the border and he has agreed — not that I gave him a great deal of choice — to accept responsibility for the Scots baggage. She will shortly be transferred south to Bolton Castle, where she will be allowed to live temporarily in somewhat straightened, but comfortable, circumstances and we may send your man there in order to discover whether she continues to plot for my throne, while flushing out others who might be sympathetic to her cause.’
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bsp; ‘And Norfolk, Your Majesty?’
Elizabeth sat for a moment with a frown, then nodded. ‘It shall be as you advise. Imprisonment in the Tower, but under such mild conditions as may be experienced in there. See to it that he is not oppressed in any way — other, of course, than with the loss of his liberty. And the moment that his innocence is established, he is to be released. Is that clearly understood?’
‘Yes, Majesty. And now, if I may withdraw, I have much to arrange.’
‘Indeed. And see that your man is well watched for any sign that he may have been drawn into Mary’s web of intrigue.’
Cecil bowed and withdrew from the Audience Chamber. On his way down the hallway outside, he became aware of the Spanish Ambassador Guerau de Spes waiting for an audience with Elizabeth. The Ambassador’s face was a beetroot red and he appeared to be chewing his own gums in suppressed anger. He and Cecil had never formed the same friendly relationship that Cecil had enjoyed with de Spes’s predecessor and Cecil nodded curtly as he passed, then allowed himself a smile as he anticipated the angry exchange that was no doubt about to occur in the Audience Chamber he had just left.
De Spes burst into the Chamber before its doors had been fully opened for him and he made an insolent point of omitting to bow as he approached the board from which Elizabeth was distractedly removing a jellied fruit.
‘I am here to express the anger and disappointment of my master King Philip!’ he thundered, as Elizabeth’s face hardened at the studied insult.
‘So overcome with anger that you forget to bow, Senor Ambassador?’
‘I do not bow to Spain’s enemies!’ he insisted.
‘And I do not grant audience to men of insolence who cannot even observe the basic courtesies,’ Elizabeth responded in a warning tone that de Spes either failed to notice, or chose to ignore. ‘Particularly not when, as you can see, I am at supper. In the circumstances, you will forgive me if I do not invite you to join me?’