by John Guy
Pan-European events in the 1570s and 1580s were not in her favour. As an almost cosmic battle between Catholics and Protestants played out in France, the Low Countries and on the Atlantic Ocean, the old dynastic monarchies became vulnerable to ideological attacks rooted in religious sectarianism.
FIGURE 18 A letter signed at the top by Elizabeth using her characteristic sign manual, addressed in 1588 to Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby, Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of the English forces against Spain in the Netherlands, some three months before the arrival of the Spanish Armada.
Against her better judgement, Elizabeth was finally pressured by her privy councillors in 1587 to sign an execution warrant for Mary Queen of Scots, who had been plotting against her. Cecil, who raised a false alarm that the Spanish Armada had landed a year early in Wales in order to get her to sign, had drafted the warrant in which he called for speedy justice against a woman who was an ‘undoubted danger’ to Elizabeth and the ‘public state of this realm, as well for the cause of the Gospel and the true religion of Christ’.45
But the day after signing it, Elizabeth backtracked, sending a messenger to order her secretary, William Davison, not to have the warrant sealed until he had spoken with her again. When they met later, she railed against his ‘unseemly haste’, with the result that Cecil intervened, directing Davison to hand the warrant (already sealed) to him, and summoning a group of trusted privy councillors to a clandestine meeting in his chamber at the Court at Greenwich. There, Cecil’s cabal decided to force Elizabeth’s hand and press ahead regardless with the execution, and not to tell her ‘until it were done’.46
After the unauthorized despatch of the warrant, Elizabeth went through an emotional trauma that proved to be deeper and more enduring than the crisis that would be brought about by the Armada of 1588. By executing a sovereign queen after a public trial in a court of law, she knew that she had fatally attenuated her father’s legacy. The execution was a regicide, preparing the way for such future events as the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the deposition of James II in 1688, with the corresponding rise to power of those members of Parliament who called for the deposition or execution of Catholic rulers and the selection and approbation of future monarchs on the basis of criteria that members of Parliament themselves defined.
To a queen who was Henry VIII’s daughter, this was abhorrent. The action of Cecil and his fellow privy councillors smacked of republicanism and the sovereignty of elected assemblies like those of Venice or Holland. Likewise, the flip side of Elizabeth’s decision not to marry was that, when she died a few months short of her seventieth birthday in March 1603, her dynasty died with her and the succession passed to James VI of Scotland.
The waters were indeed uncharted.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE REFERENCES
In citing manuscripts or printed books, the following abbreviations are used:
APC
Acts of the Privy Council, ed. J. R. Dasent, 46 vols (London, 1890–1964)
Baldwin
T. W. Baldwin, William Shakspere’s [sic] Small Latin and Less Greeke, 2 vols (Urbana, Ill., 1944)
BL
British Library, London
BNF
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Bodleian
Bodleian Library, Oxford
Bryson PhD
A. Bryson, ‘“The Speciall Men in Every Shere”. The Edwardian Regime, 1547–1553’, unpublished University of St Andrews PhD (St Andrews, 2001)
Chronicle
The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, ed. J. G. Nichols, Camden Society, Old Series, 48 (1850), pp. 1–196
CPR
Calendar of Patent Rolls, 69 vols (London, 1891–1973)
CSPD, Edward
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Edward VI, 1547–1553, ed. C. S. Knighton (London, 1992)
CSPD, Mary
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Mary I, 1553–1558, ed. C. S. Knighton (London, 1998)
CSPF
Calendar of State Papers Foreign, 25 vols in 28 parts (London, 1861–1950)
CSPScot
Calendar of State Papers Relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots, 1547–1603, Preserved in the Public Record Office, the British Museum, and Elsewhere in England, 13 vols (London, 1898–1969)
CSPSp
Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers Relating to the Negotiations between England and Spain, Preserved in the Archives at Vienna, Brussels, Simancas and Elsewhere, 13 vols in 19 parts (London, 1862–1954)
CSPSp, Supp
Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers Relating to the Negotiations Between England and Spain, Supplement to Volume I and Volume II (London, 1868)
CSPSp, Further Supp
Further Supplement to the Negotiations Between England and Spain, ed. G. Mattingly (London, 1940)
CSPV
Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts relating to English Affairs in the Archives and Collections of Venice and in other Libraries of Northern Italy, 38 vols (London, 1864–1947)
ECW
Elizabeth I: Collected Works, ed. L. S. Marcus, J. Mueller and M. B. Rose (Chicago, 2000)
EHR
English Historical Review
Ellis
Original Letters, Illustrative of British History, ed. H. Ellis, 3 series, 11 vols (London, 1824–46)
ESW
Queen Elizabeth I: Selected Works, ed. S. W. May (New York, 2004)
Fitzroy Inventory
Inventories of the Wardrobes, Plate, Chapel Stuff etc. of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, and of the Wardrobe Stuff at Baynard’s Castle of Katherine, Princess Dowager, ed. J. Nichols, Camden Society, Old Series, 61 (1855), pp. 1–55
FF
Ancien Fonds Français
Foedera
Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae et Cuiuscunque Generis Acta Publica inter Reges Angliae et Alios Quosuis Imperatores, Reges, Pontifices, Principes vel Communitates, ed. T. Rymer, 20 vols (London, 1726–35)
Foxe
The first volume of the ecclesiasticall history contayning the actes [and] monumentes of thinges passed in euery kinges time, in this realme, especially in the Churche of England principally to be noted … Newly recognised and inlarged by the author, 2 vols (London, 1576)
Green
Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, ed. M. A. E. Wood, 3 vols (London, 1846)
Hall
Henry VIII [an edition of Edward Hall’s Chronicle], ed. C. Whibley, 2 vols (London, 1904)
Halliwell
Letters of the Kings of England, ed. J. O. Halliwell, 2 vols (London, 1848)
Haynes
A Collection of State Papers Relating to Affairs in the Reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth From the Year 1542 to 1570 … Left by William Cecil, Lord Burghley (London, 1740)
HEH
Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California
HJ
Historical Journal
HO
A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household (London, 1790)
JEH
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Lambeth
Lambeth Palace Library
Leland
Joannis Lelandi antiquarii de rebus Britannicis collectanea. Cum Thomae Hearnii praefatione notis et indice ad editionem primam, 6 vols (London, 1770)
Lisle Letters
The Lisle Letters, ed. M. St. Clare Byrne, 6 vols (Chicago and London, 1981)
Literary Remains
Literary Remains of King Edward VI, ed. J. G. Nichols, 2 vols (Roxburghe Club: London, 1857)
Lodge
Illustrations of British History, Biography and Manners in the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth and James I, ed. E. Lodge, 3 vols (London, 1791)
LP
Letters and Papers, Foreign
and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, ed. J. S. Brewer, J. Gairdner and R. H. Brodie, 21 vols in 32 parts, and Addenda (London, 1862–1932)
Machyn
The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, From A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1563, ed. J. G. Nichols, Camden Society, Old Series, 42 (1848), pp. 1–464
MS
Manuscript
Murphy
B. A. Murphy, Bastard Prince: Henry VIII’s Lost Son (Stroud, 2001)
NA
National Archives, Kew
ODNB
The New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Colin Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols (Oxford, 2004)
PPE Elizabeth
Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York; Wardrobe Accounts of Edward the Fourth. With a Memoir of Elizabeth of York, and Notes, ed. N. H. Nicolas (London, 1830)
PPE Mary
Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, ed. F. Madden (London, 1831)
Rawdon Brown
Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII: Selections of Despatches written by the Venetian Ambassador, Sebastian Giustinian, ed. Rawdon Brown, 2 vols (London, 1854)
Rogers, Corr.
The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More, ed. E. F. Rogers (Princeton, NJ, 1947)
Rutland Papers
Original Documents Illustrative of the Courts and Times of Henry VII and Henry VIII … from the Private Archives of His Grace the Duke of Rutland, ed. W. Jerdan, Camden Society, Old Series, 21 (London, 1842), pp. 1–133
Samman PhD
N. Samman, ‘The Henrician Court during Cardinal Wolsey’s Ascendancy’, unpublished University of Wales PhD (Cardiff, 1988)
SR
Statutes of the Realm, ed. A. Luders et al., 11 vols (London, 1810–28)
State Papers
State Papers during the Reign of Henry VIII, 11 vols (London, 1830–52)
STC
A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of English Books Printed Abroad, ed. W. A. Jackson, F. S. Ferguson and K. F. Pantzer, 2nd edn, 3 vols (London, 1976–91)
Tytler
England Under the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary, ed. P. F. Tytler, 2 vols (London, 1839)
Verney Papers
Letters and Papers of the Verney Family Down to the End of the Year 1639, ed. J. Bruce, Camden Society, Old Series, 56 (1853), pp. 1–276
Wiesener
La Jeunesse d’Élisabeth d’Angleterre, 1533–1558 (Paris, 1878)
Wriothesley
A Chronicle of England during the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, by Charles Wriothesley, ed. W. D. Hamilton, 2 vols, Camden Society, New Series, 11 and 20 (1875–77), I, pp. 1–226, II, pp. 1–170
Manuscripts preserved at NA are quoted by the call number there in use. The descriptions of the classes referred to are as follows:
E 36
Exchequer, Treasury of the Receipt, Miscellaneous Books
E 101
Exchequer, King’s Remembrancer, Various Accounts
KB 8
Court of King’s Bench, Crown Side, Bag of Secrets
KB 9
Court of King’s Bench, Ancient Indictments
LC 2
Lord Chamberlain’s Department, Special Events
OBS
Obsolete Lists and Indexes
SP 1
State Papers, Henry VIII, General Series
SP 4
State Papers, Henry VIII, Signatures by Stamp
SP 10
State Papers, Domestic, Edward VI
SP 11
State Papers, Domestic, Mary I
SP 12
State Papers, Domestic, Elizabeth I
NOTES ON DATES AND QUOTATIONS
Dates
In giving dates, the Old Style has been retained, but the year is assumed to have begun on 1 January, and not on Lady Day, the feast of the Annunciation (i.e. 25 March), which was by custom the first day of the calendar year in France, Spain and Italy until 1582, in Scotland until 1600, and in England, Wales and Ireland until 1752.
Transcription of primary documents
The spelling and orthography of primary sources in quotations are normally given in modernized form. Modern punctuation and capitalization are provided where there is none in the original manuscript.
Translation from Latin writings
In translations of Latin writings, I have occasionally substituted my own translation where this better matches the sense of the original, avoids an anachronism or is more colloquial.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
Prologue notes
1 Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who first jousted publicly as a 17-year-old at the tournament to celebrate Arthur’s marriage and waited on him the morning after the wedding, testified in 1529 that one of the prince’s body servants informed him that Arthur, ‘after he had lain with the said Lady Katherine at Shrovetide [8 February 1502] … began to decay and was never so lusty in his body and courage from that time unto his death.’ BL, Cotton MS Appendix XXVII, fo. 71; LP, IV, iii, no. 5774 (13). The identity of the witness is established by Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, The Life and Raigne of King Henry the Eighth (London, 1649), p. 243. Herbert had seen the original manuscript before the disastrous fire at Ashburnham House, Westminster, in 1731 that destroyed or severely damaged a quarter of the manuscripts.
2 The Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne, ed. G. Kipling, Early English Text Society, New Series, 296 (1990), pp. 78–9.
3 T. Vicary, The English Man’s Treasure: with the True Anatomie of Man’s Bodie (London, 1596), pp. 80–2.
4 Both F. Hepburn and T. Penn opt for the ‘sweating sickness’, but neither cites any evidence that the disease had returned in 1502. Hepburn states mistakenly that the ‘sweat’ was a form of plague. See F. Hepburn, ‘Arthur, Prince of Wales and his Training for Kingship’, The Historian, 55 (1997), p. 4; T. Penn, Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England (London, 2011), p. 70.
5 A. Dyer, ‘The English Sweating Sickness of 1551: An Epidemic Anatomized’, Medical History, 41 (1997), pp. 362–84; G. Thwaites, M. Taviner and V. Gant, ‘The English Sweating Sickness, 1485–1551’, New England Journal of Medicine, 336 (1997), pp. 580–2; M. Taviner, G. Thwaites and V. Gant, ‘The English Sweating Sickness, 1485–1551: A Viral Pulmonary Disease?’, Medical History, 42 (1998), pp. 96–8; J. L. Flood, ‘“Safer on the Battlefield than in the City”: England, the “Sweating Sickness”, and the Continent’, Renaissance Studies, 17 (2003), pp. 147–76; E. Bridson, ‘The English “sweate” (Sudor Anglicus) and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome’, British Journal of Biomedical Science, 58 (2001), pp. 1–6. Contemporary descriptions of the disease are found in STC nos. 783, 4343, 12766.7; Chronicles of London, ed. C. L. Kingsford (Oxford, 1905), p. 193.
6 A. S. MacNalty, ‘Sir Thomas More as Public Health Reformer’, in Essential Articles for the Study of Thomas More, ed. R. S. Sylvester and G. P. Marc’hadour (Hamden, Conn., 1977), p. 128. See also H. Tidy, ‘Sweating Sickness and Picardy Sweat’, British Medical Journal (July 1945, issue 4410), pp. 63–4; L. Roberts, ‘Sweating Sickness and Picardy Sweat’, British Medical Journal (August 1945, issue 4414), p. 196. Although these appear to be MacNalty’s sources, neither mentions either 1502 or an outbreak of the ‘sweating sickness’ in the West Country.
7 W. D. Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester, Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne, 2 vols (London, 1864), I, pp. 58–61; F. Hepburn, ‘The Portraiture of Arthur and Katherine’, in Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life, Death and Commemoration, ed. S. Gunn and L. Monckton (Woodbridge, 2009), p. 39.
8 J. Fox, Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile (London, 2011), pp. 86–7; K. Brandi, The Emperor Charles V (London, 1965), p. 488.
9 D. Starkey, Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII (London, 2004), pp. 76–7.
10 CSPSp, I, no. 327; Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester, Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne, I, p. 67.
11 Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne, p. 80; D. Starkey, Hen
ry, Virtuous Prince (London, 2008), pp. 164–5.
12 Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne, p. 80.
13 Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne, pp. 80–1.
14 PPE Elizabeth, pp. 79–80, 85, 95.
15 PPE Elizabeth, p. 82; HO, p. 125; Starkey, Henry, Virtuous Prince, p. 168.
16 The Great Chronicle of London, ed. A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley (Gloucester, 1983), p. 321.
17 Materials for the History of the Reign of Henry VII, ed. W. Campbell, 2 vols (London, 1873–7), II, p. 65.
18 PPE Elizabeth, pp. 96–7.
19 Great Chronicle, ed. Thomas and Thornley, p. 321.
20 PPE Elizabeth, p. 94; Starkey, Henry, Virtuous Prince, p. 168.