Elizabeth I's Secret Lover

by Robert Stedall

  Somerset failed to recognise the growing antipathy to his leadership and, with his judgement impaired, retired to his Hampshire estates for several weeks of hunting. Although this ‘made the task of palace revolutionaries very much easier’,20 the coup, when it came, was far from straightforward. Although Russell had achieved similar success in quelling the rebels in the west country, it was Warwick who took the credit for restoring peace. He pushed the Council into accelerating the process of religious change and establishing foreign alliances to confirm the Protestant faith. With religious change engulfing the whole of Europe in international conflict, England had ‘to decide which alliances she might be obliged in principle or self-interest to enter into’.21

  Warwick’s principal ally to remove Somerset was the devious Southampton who was seeking a Catholic coup with support from Arundel in the Council and Bishop Gardiner in the Tower. They were seeking to appoint the Catholic Princess Mary, now aged 33, as Regent for her half-brother. They needed Warwick to overthrow Somerset, because of his ‘obvious stature and the support he commanded’, but planned to dispose of him later as an ‘accomplice in the Protector’s treasons’.22

  Meanwhile the royal household had been moved to Hampton Court, where Somerset, who maintained an affectionate bond with his nephew, encouraged Edward to become more involved in Government administration. By this time, Cheke had been appointed Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, in recompense for his efforts to smooth ruffled feathers in Norfolk. Somerset had tasked William Thomas, one of the clerks of the Council, noted as an advanced Protestant and a very clever man, with providing political training to the King.23 It was not until Somerset’s return to court on 1 October 1549 that the atmosphere deteriorated, setting the stage for a coup.

  Somerset soon became aware of the strength and unity of the opposition to him within the Council. When he sought allies to bring troops to Hampton Court to assist him, no one arrived. Londoners supported the Council and rose in arms against the Protector. Somerset told Edward and his household that the Council was planning to do away with the King, just as Richard III had with the princes in the Tower. Although this gained him some local support, Ambrose and Robert, who were at court, were caught between the two factions. With no army appearing from London, Somerset decided to make a run with the King for the relative security of the Tower. On arriving at Kingston bridge, he received news that the Tower was in the Council’s hands. He turned back, taking the King and his household to Windsor. This involved a hard ride well into the night only to find ‘unmade beds, unfurnished chambers and an empty larder’.24

  With so many of the King’s companions in the Privy Chamber being allied to Council members, pamphlets were smuggled into the castle outlining Somerset’s crimes and explaining that the Council’s only motive was his removal from power. Somerset replaced them with 500 of his own men, who complained to the King of the Council’s disloyalty. Nevertheless, Edward supported the Council. He had developed ‘a great rheum’ (a cold) after his exertions and complained that he was being held ‘in prison’25 without galleries or gardens to walk in.

  Two days were spent in fruitless negotiation, during which more and more Council members, particularly his two principal generals, Herbert and Russell, turned against the Protector. On 10 October, Somerset realised that the game was up, and Paget wrote to Warwick that he would resign the protectorate in return for assurances that he would not face trial for treason. He was escorted to the Tower, where he was received graciously by the Lord Mayor. ‘The good Duke’ was still popular and Warwick had to play his cards carefully.

  After recovering from his cold, the King returned to Hampton Court, where he welcomed Council members, but on hearing of Somerset’s imprisonment, called for his life to be protected. With Cecil being Somerset’s secretary, he too was arrested and spent eight weeks in the Tower but was released after paying a hefty fine. When Somerset tried to build an alliance with Gardiner, hitherto his enemy, Cecil, on Warwick’s behalf, tried to resurrect his career by preparing a case against Gardiner for his offences against the Council and the King. This prosecution lost Gardiner his bishopric. Although he had been assured that he would be released, this did not happen, and he remained in the Tower until Mary’s accession.

  On 17 October, Edward returned to London attended by his entire retinue, riding through the City to the cheers of its relieved populace. Warwick was one of six nobles appointed to be attendant on him and he became Lord Great Master of the Household ‘to give order for the good government of his royal person, and for the honourable education of his highness in these tender years in learning and virtue’.26 He was reappointed as Lord High Admiral, and became President of the Council, Lord Warden General of the North and Earl Marshal of England.27

  Chapter 4 Warwick establishes control

  Although Warwick now dominated the Council, he was suffering one of his periodic bouts of illness, so meetings were arranged at Ely Place, sometimes in his bedchamber. He set up an oligarchy of four to supervise Government, with Southampton being one of them to maintain a religious balance. Paget, Somerset’s erstwhile ally, was given a peerage. Southampton, with assistance from Arundel, now began to put in motion the second part of his plan. With four other Catholics being promoted to the Council, there were rumours that the Reformation would be stopped in its tracks with Protestant leaders being persecuted and the Princess Mary becoming Regent. This would inevitably lead to the restoration of Catholicism and a new alliance with the Papacy. Southampton examined Somerset in the Tower to gather evidence for his attainder. The prospect of an ‘impending ruthless political purge’1 alarmed Archbishop Cranmer and even those politicians inclined to the old religion.

  Although Southampton thought he was manipulating Warwick to achieve his Catholic ambitions, it was Warwick who was pulling the strings. After making minor concessions to uphold Catholic days of fasting, he used his friends around the King to obtain royal assent to appoint some new Protestant Council members to counterbalance Southampton’s Catholic allies. The denouement came when the Council was meeting round Warwick’s bed, with Southampton outlining Somerset’s treasonable actions to justify his execution. After silencing him, Warwick placed his hand on a falchion (curved sword) lying on his bed, saying: ‘My Lord, you seek [the Protector’s] blood. He that seeketh his would have mine also.’2 The meeting broke up in embarrassment, but Warwick’s allies were sufficiently powerful to announce what had happened. At the end of October, a royal proclamation confirmed, on pain of imprisonment, an end to rumours that Somerset’s imprisonment would lead to a return to ‘the old Romish service, Mass and ceremonies’.3 Southampton was a broken man. He was quietly dropped from the Council and retired from court due to illness, dying in the following year.

  With waverers hurrying to Ely Place to confirm their loyalty to Warwick, he now held complete control. To remove any cause for future conflict, moves to attaint Somerset, who continued to have allies and remained popular, were quashed. On 6 February 1550, after a decent interval, he was released from the Tower and, two days later, was restored to the Council. Warwick’s only objective was to keep him away from controlling the King. He needed allies with Protestant leanings. On 5 September 1550, the 29-year-old Cecil, who had spent nearly a year in the wilderness after Somerset’s demise, became Warwick’s Secretary of State with a place on the Council. To fulfil his new role, he acquired a house at Canon Row in Westminster. He now acted as the conduit for all legislation and religious debate, but carefully disassociated himself from his master’s policies, sometimes by feigning illness at crucial times.

  Warwick made no immediate attempt to become Protector or to obtain a Dukedom, being content with his role as the Council’s president to promote clear-cut plans and provide proficient leadership. By packing the Council with his own supporters, he was able to delegate to it genuine power, and, given his declining health, his absences sometimes made this a necessity. It soon developed into ‘the efficient administrative and
executive body’4 once enjoyed by Thomas Cromwell. He had no fear of stamping on civil disorder and he reformed revenue collection methods. This restored order at home and peace abroad.5 Currency values started to recover, and the Protestant religion settled down to use the book of Common Prayer produced by Cranmer in 1549 (but revised by him in 1552). With former church lands becoming available for sale, landowners took the opportunity to increase their acreages.

  Edward adopted the 47-year-old Warwick as a father figure. Having been brought up as a fervent Protestant, perhaps even more so than his mentor, he can only have approved of and even encouraged the Council’s policies. Warwick ‘never treated [Edward] as a cypher, never used him to bolster his own authority’.6 With Cheke restored as his tutor, Edward’s daily routine was changed to accelerate his ‘assumption of sovereignty and to relieve the studious solemnity of his life’.7 ‘Frequently [Warwick] expressed his longing for the day when the young Tudor would assume full kingship and allow Warwick to take his sick and ageing body into weary retirement.’8 Edward often attended Council meetings and spent long hours closeted with Warwick ‘understanding the day-to-day concerns of his ministers’.9 To counterbalance this workload, Warwick encouraged court entertainments and promoted Edward’s interest in the martial arts. As Lord Great Master of the Household, Warwick also enjoyed ‘supreme control of the court’.10 He was well-supported by his family. His son, John, became Master of the Buckhounds and, in 1552, was appointed Master of the Horse. His brother, Sir Andrew, became keeper of the Wardrobe, keeper of the Palace of Westminster and, in 1552, became Chief Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, being granted the Order of the Garter in the following spring. John, Ambrose and Robert were frequent participants in court ‘triumphs’ – ‘chivalrous exercises such as jousts, tilts and barriers, accompanied by spectacular masques, pageants and interludes’.11

  To cement his rapprochement with Somerset, Warwick even arranged for John to marry Anne Seymour, the deposed Protector’s eldest daughter, and their wedding took place at Sheen on 3 June in the presence of the King, who was in excellent health and gave the bride a ring valued at £40. With Robert being 18, he gained his father’s approval to marry Amy Robsart and the wedding took place on the following day with both Edward VI and Elizabeth present. Both celebrations were at Somerset’s home at Sheen, as Warwick was too unwell to attend. While John’s wedding was a lavish affair, accompanied by jousts with dinner and dancing, that of Robert and Amy was less elaborate, but Amy met Warwick’s exacting expectations in terms of dowry. As an only child, she was heiress to the manors of Syderstone, Newton and Great Bircham in north-west Norfolk. Warwick added to these by settling on them the reversion of substantial neighbouring lands at Coxford Priory. He also provided them with £50 and Sir John with £20 per annum. In 1552, he added the manors of Hemsby near Yarmouth and later Saxlingham near Holt to their inheritance. They were now prominent Norfolk landowners, with considerable local standing on the back of Warwick’s achievement in putting down Kett’s rebellion. Cecil later described Robert’s union with Amy as ‘a carnal marriage, begun for pleasure and ended in lamentation’.12 With Sir John Robsart being ‘a relatively insignificant country squire’,13 the connection has to be viewed as a genuine love match. Warwick generally sought politically helpful alliances for his sons and daughters. His other children all made more glittering connections. He arranged for Ambrose to marry Anne, daughter of William Whorwood, the Attorney General, for Henry to espouse Margaret, daughter of Thomas Audley, Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, for Mary to wed Sir Henry Sidney, Edward’s close schoolroom friend and for Catherine to marry Henry Hastings, heir to the Earl of Huntingdon, the Plantagenet pretender to the throne.

  After his marriage, Robert was soon put to work. He was employed as the royal agent in Norfolk to collect subsidies granted to the King by Parliament or to move prisoners between jails. In 1552, he became Lieutenant for Norfolk and in 1553 was returned as a Member of Parliament. Yet his responsibilities at court also increased. In August 1551, he had become a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and was present whenever Edward held an audience. With Amy revelling in the luxury and glamour of court life, they enjoyed all the entertainment and ‘occupied quarters close to the royal apartments in every house where the court was lodged’.14 Robert was in constant attendance, keeping watch on servants and ‘ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the household’.15

  The King showed a natural aptitude for outdoor games. In May 1551, Daniele Barbaro, the Venetian ambassador reported that he:

  is of a good disposition, and the whole realm hopes the best from him, as he is handsome, affable, of becoming stature, seems to be liberal, beginneth to interest himself with public business and, in bodily exercises, literary studies and knowledge of languages, appears to surpass his contemporaries and the standards of his age.16

  Edward had still hoped to arrange his betrothal to Mary Queen of Scots, and he received her mother, Marie of Guise, in October 1551, as she returned overland to Scotland after visiting her daughter in France. Robert formed part of the retinue, which received her with special honour at Hampton Court, but the Queen Regent put paid to any hopes of the marriage, as Mary was already betrothed to the French Dauphin.

  A particular bone of contention for both Warwick and Edward was continuing agitation by the Catholic party, led by Gardiner from the Tower, to allow the Princess Mary to celebrate Mass in private. She was also in close alliance with the meddlesome Duchess of Somerset, who had persuaded Somerset to support her. Soon after his accession, Edward had promised to ‘wink at’ the celebration of Mass by his elder sister, of whom he was indisputably fond. Nevertheless, the Council had understood that the concession related to Mary alone and not to her entire household of fifty persons. Since then, Mary’s determined adherence to the Catholic faith had become an embarrassment, and the Emperor Charles V even invited her to take refuge with him on the Continent. Warwick encouraged Edward to hold meetings with her aimed at seeking her conversion. She blamed Cecil for the Council’s hardened attitude, but Edward had to establish control and called Mary to see him. Having delayed her visit, she burst into tears when they met. Edward did not give in and wrote to explain that exceptions had been made for too long and she should conform to the new religion. Mary became confrontational, riding into London supported by Catholic peers to the cheers of Catholics in the streets. This only hardened Edward’s and the Council’s views. Neither side would back down. Charles V sent an ultimatum. If Mary were refused the Mass, he would declare war. As alliance with France was not yet formalised, the Council had to be pragmatic. It agreed to her celebrating Mass in private for a further unspecified period. As Edward had not been present, the Council had difficulty in persuading him to confirm his agreement. He dug in his heels, but eventually capitulated after having ‘burst out into weeping and sobbing’. He exclaimed: ‘Be content … be content … Let me alone.’ The Council warned the Imperial ambassador, Jean Scheyfve, that they would later have to insist on the Princess’s obedience, but she could continue holding Mass in private for the time being. Edward would take a final decision when older.

  By this time, Warwick was operating with ‘colourless efficiency’, revealing ‘neither wit, charm, intellect nor force’.17 Yet he was careful to act as the ‘ideal companion for an intelligent and lively’ king.18 He kept Edward so well briefed that when ‘His Majesty entered the Council Chamber, his initiative and grasp of detail amazed and sometimes perturbed his ministers’.19 Yet Warwick continued to balance this with distractions such as archery, tilting and running at the ring.

  With the King showing fanatical Protestant zeal, he encouraged the Council to revive Catholic persecution. Cranmer conducted a purge on the shortcomings of Catholic priests. Many did not reside in their parishes, and some did not know the Lord’s Prayer, or who wrote it.20 Protestant clergy were encouraged to preach against the Virgin Mary and popery.21 ‘Ultra-Protestant’ legislation authorised the replacement of altars with tables.
More significantly Warwick was empowered to sweep ‘up gold and silver altar plate and vestments valuable for their gold and silver thread’.22 Although this supplemented royal coffers, it also lined his pocket. Robert had responsibility with Sir John Robsart for the ‘removal of objects of [Popish] superstition’23 from churches in Norfolk.

  To establish himself in the international arena, Warwick opened negotiations for a new French alliance to be cemented by the betrothal of Edward to Elisabeth de Valois, the daughter of Henry II. With England crucial to the balance of power between France and the Habsburg dominions, his overtures were welcomed by Henry II, who saw an alliance against Charles V as more important than concerns about the spread of heresy.24 The French King became a Knight of the Garter and Edward was granted the Order of St Michel, the highest order of French chivalry. Jacques d’Albon, Marischal de Saint-André, made a visit to England to receive the Garter on Henry’s behalf, during which Edward played to his visitors on the lute. Most importantly, approval was given for his betrothal to Elisabeth de Valois, although she was more than six years younger than him. Charles V warned Scheyfve, the Imperial ambassador, that, in view of England’s French alliance, it could no longer expect Imperial support.

  Warwick’s principal problem was the continuing popularity of Somerset, who was still seen as the ‘Good Duke’ after having supported the peasantry against landowners. This assured him his position on the Council and left Warwick unable to rely on Somerset’s allies for support. With Cecil now firmly allied with Warwick, he tried to infiltrate Somerset’s staff. Warwick was impressed at his loyalty. Somerset now realised that he dared not step out of line from Council policy. When asked to seek more tolerant treatment for the Princess Mary, he backed Warwick’s stance. Warwick held another meeting with Scheyfve without Edward being there, to tell him that Edward had reached the maturity to take a decision on Mary’s continued use of the Mass. The young King made his position perfectly clear: ‘It would be against my conscience to allow the Mass, but in other matters I will treat the Lady Mary’s Grace as my good sister.’25