In The Midst of Madness: Tudor Chronicles Book Two

by Lesley Jepson

  ‘He has one of his gentlemen tend his leg. Tom Culpeper has quite a healing touch, knows about herbs and poultices and the like,’ Norfolk took another drink and held his cup out for a refill. ‘Cromwell,’ he almost spat the name, ‘has arranged for another marriage with the sister of the Duke of Cleves. A damned Lutheran!’

  ‘Cromwell is a great supporter of the Lutherans, Monseigneur. He is trying to get a bible written in English into every church in the country, so he’s bound to want a Lutheran marriage for the King.’

  ‘Blasted heresy if you ask me! How can the people possibly understand the bible if it’s not interpreted for them by a priest? Hell’s teeth, Mary. Cromwell should be arrested!’ He drank his cup dry again, and Mary began to wish she had watered the wine a little more before offering it to her uncle.

  ‘Cat has written to tell me that the princess is already on her way from Cleves. She is very excited that she and Kitty are to be part of her household when she gets to England, that they are now old enough to be proper maids in waiting.’

  ‘Hmph!’ grunted Norfolk, pouring himself another cup of wine, as Mary hadn’t noticed his cup was empty. ‘What we need to do’, a long swallow, ‘is to put another Howard girl in the sight of Henry. See what he thinks to his Lutheran marriage then.’ He gazed meaningfully at Mary and lifted his brows.

  ‘Not Cat!’ Mary rose from her seat and came to stand before Norfolk, hands folded in front of her and indignation in her every bone. ‘NOT Cat!’

  Norfolk gave her a grimace that he thought was a smile. ‘No, Mary. Not Cat. We both know what another charge of incest would do to this family.’ He snorted a laugh. ‘People only have to look at her, Mary. As she grows, she looks more and more like the King.’

  ‘He has never acknowledged her, Monseigneur. She is Will Carey’s daughter as far as the world knows. And we hope to announce her betrothal to Sir Francis Knollys very soon.’ Mary was pleased they had made a good match for Cat, who seemed very taken with Sir Francis. Mary was sure they would be happy.

  ‘I was thinking of a different Howard girl, Mary. What do you think about Kitty?’

  ‘I think it would be cruel. She hasn’t the wit to protect herself from the wickedness at court, Monseigneur. Cat writes that she and Jane Rochford do their best with her, but Kitty still attracts all the wrong sort of attention.’

  ‘Let’s hope she can attract the King’s attention, then. Away from Cromwell’s blasted Lutheran. Hell’s teeth, Mary. We Howards deserve some luck!’ and with that Norfolk drained his wine cup again, and to Mary’s delight replaced it on the table. “One that the smith won’t have to repair,” she thought.

  ***

  ‘She’s coming! Kitty, she’s coming!’ Cat ran to the window and squinted through the wavering pane of glass, ‘Meg, you come and see too,’ Cat ran along the gallery, peering through the windows to get her first glimpse of the Lady of Cleves that the King had already married by proxy.

  The vast numbers of King’s horsemen came into the yard first, then the flag-bearers and finally the litter in which the new Queen was being carried.

  ‘Do hurry, Kitty. You’ll miss her.’ Cat was rocking up and down on her heels in excitement.

  ‘We are to serve her, though? Aren’t we, Cat? Then we shall see a lot of her.’ Kitty sounded puzzled by Cat’s excitement, ‘It will be our job to be part of the new Queen’s ladies of the bedchamber, Cat. We shall see her then, won’t we?’

  ‘But to see her arrive, Kitty! It’s so exciting. Aren’t you excited, Meg?’ Cat turned to Meg and smiled.

  ‘Yes, Mistress Cat. I am very excited. It will be such an honour for you and Mistress Kitty. To finally take your places as Ladies in Waiting to the new Queen. And wear all your lovely new gowns.’ Meg gently teased Cat, who was wearing her newest, most favourite moss green gown to greet the Queen.

  Kitty walked forward to the window as Cat beckoned her. In the eighteen months she had been under the care of Jane Rochford, she had blossomed, Meg thought. Although she would always be tiny and delicate, with regular food and proper meals, her slight figure had developed womanly curves at hip and breast, and her cheeks and hair glowed with health, although years of privation as a very young child seemed to have caused her courses to be very irregular and unpredictable. Meg worried that she wouldn’t ever have children.

  Meg was also astounded at the coin Norfolk had given Lady Rochford to have new gowns made for Kitty. She was dressed in her own favourite gown of sapphire blue silk, with silver slashed through the sleeves and under- gown. Kitty had been instructed to wear the French hood for her meeting with the Queen, and her wondrous hair was cascading unbound down her back under the veil of her hood. She looked an absolute jewel, and Meg couldn’t quiet the feeling of unease she had about Kitty serving the Queen.

  ***

  ‘I like her not, Thomas!’ a roar from Henry as he threw his hat at Cromwell and discarded the gift he had brought to give to his new bride onto a side table in his hastily prepared apartment at Rochester.

  ‘She seemed pleasant, Sire. Cheerful.’ Cromwell tried to mollify the King.

  ‘The Lady of Cleves is large, Thomas,’ he boomed, ‘Large! We could almost look her in the eye. We like not large!’

  Henry irritably threw himself into a chair by the fire and helped himself to a cup of wine.

  ‘She didn’t look so large in the portrait, Thomas. Unfashionable, perhaps. Matronly even, with that huge bonnet, but not…. large,’ Henry’s voice had subdued to a truculent mutter.

  ‘The contract is signed, Sire. The proxy marriage has been completed. She is your wife in law. Only consummation is required to …….’ Cromwell’s voice trailed away as Henry glowered at him.

  ‘The consummation is not likely to happen, Thomas. Look into an annulment.’ Cromwell looked at Henry, aghast that the King would renege on a lawfully signed marriage contract and bring the country under threat of war.

  ‘But Sire…,’ His words went unspoken as Henry threw his wine cup at him, and Cromwell left the apartment.

  ***

  ‘My Master says the King doesn’t like the Queen, Meg. He is worried,’ Ralph whispered as he and Meg walked in the herb garden at Richmond Palace.

  Meg tightened her grip on his sleeve in sympathy. She and Ralph had taken to walking in the kitchen gardens whenever they had a few moments away from their duties at the same time, which wasn’t often. She had confided to Ralph her anxieties about Norfolk putting Kitty in the Queen’s household, and he told her how difficult the King was being about this marriage.

  ‘If only he had waited to meet her, Meg. Instead of rushing to Rochester to meet her straight off the ship. No-one would look their best after a sea journey like that!’

  ‘The February storm had not been kind to the ship carrying the Queen to her new home, Ralph. Poor Queen Anne hadn’t had chance to bathe, comb her hair or put on a clean gown. She greeted the King with her hair bound for bed and a borrowed night-robe covering her shift.’ Meg shook her head at the sight that had greeted Henry on his ‘surprise’ visit to greet his new Queen.

  ‘But when she has some English gowns and hoods, instead of those huge Flemish things she wears, I’m sure his opinion will change. She seems very pleasant and eager to please.’ Meg tried to sound reassuring, even if her words sounded hollow to her own ears.

  ‘Master Cromwell thinks the King doesn’t want to be pleased,’ Ralph said worriedly. ‘The King complains she is too large, that he can almost look her in the eye!’ Ralph snorted a brief laugh. ‘Master Cromwell thinks the Queen could probably slaughter and skin a small cow by herself,’ he smiled at Meg, ‘but he doesn’t think she is fat, just tall and quite broad.’ His voice dropped to a whisper, ‘The King
has asked Master Cromwell to look into having the marriage annulled.’

  Meg gasped in horror. ‘Not again,’ she murmured, thinking back to the days when she was a young girl at Hever, and the King decided to cast aside Queen Katharine so he would be free to marry her Lady Anne.

  ‘The King likes to think of himself as a protector, Ralph. Queen Anne was small and delicate, and I have heard that Queen Katharine, before she became stout with the endless pregnancies, was also small and dainty. Queen Jane was small in stature, even if she wasn’t as slender as Queen Anne. Henry likes to tower over his women, like a gallant knight. He won’t want one that can look him in the eye. She might not like what she sees.’ Meg shook her head at the caprices of the King.

  ‘I don’t know if Master Cromwell can secure an annulment this time, Meg,’ Ralph’s anxious tones began to make Meg’s heart pound. ‘He says there was no impediment, no pre-contract. And she hasn’t been here long enough to invent some scandal!’ He looked knowingly at Meg, and she understood his allusion to the trials that rid Henry of his last unwanted marriage.

  They had reached the door back into the main hall of the palace, and both had to return to their respective duties. Ralph lifted Meg’s fingers to his lips and kissed them softly. Her heart started to flutter even more, and he bent his head to claim her lips in a soft, gentle kiss.

  ‘I hope we may walk again soon, Mistress Meg,’ he smiled, giving her the title he always used in front of others.

  ‘As do I, Master Sadler,’ she swept him a curtsey, smiling up at him through her lashes, then she walked in front of him and returned to Cat and Kitty’s apartments.

  ***

  The Queen’s chief ladies in waiting were Lady Margaret Douglas, who was Henry’s niece, as the daughter of Henry’s sister Margaret and her second husband, and Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond. Mary had been married to Henry’s son from his liaison with Bessie Blount, but her husband had died of the sweat. Mary, however, was Norfolk’s youngest daughter so was ideally placed to report about the King’s feelings regarding his new bride. Cat and Kitty had served these ladies since they had first come to court, and now they all served the Queen.

  ‘Your Highness, has the King ….? Do you ….?’ Mary Fitzroy struggled to make herself understood, as the Queen spoke very little English, and Mary spoke no Flemish or German.

  ‘Ja,’ Anne nodded, smiling broadly, ‘Henry – he …’ she make a kissing gesture with her lips “Mwa!”, Henry say, “Good morning sweeting”, then “Mwa! Good night sweeting” then sleep!’ Anne pillowed her head on her folded hands in a pantomime of sleeping.

  ‘Yes, your Highness. But does he ……?’ Anne smiled innocently at Mary, who had no idea how to mime the consummation of a marriage without being too crude with her gestures.

  Anne beamed round her ladies, and ate another sweetmeat. She was becoming very fond of English sweetmeats, she found, and her ladies were very kind to her.

  She realised that they thought, because she couldn’t speak English, that she was somehow stupid; Anne could have told them she was far from stupid. She had been brought up as a Duchess of Cleves, suitable to marry the ruler of any court in Europe, and she could speak, read and write many languages other than English.

  They failed to appreciate the fact that although she could not always understand what was said, it didn’t mean that she didn’t know what was happening. For instance, she knew every gown little Kitty Howard wore was new; she saw her spin and turn and show all the other ladies her outfit. She knew the King had no eyes for anyone in her court other than Kitty; he watched her like a starving man looks at a feast. So she could guess that he wanted to dissolve their marriage so he could have Kitty as Queen. Anne worried about Kitty; she had a vacancy about her sometimes that struck Anne as alarming.

  Anne knew that Mary Fitzroy checked her linens to see if Henry had consummated their marriage. Her mother had told her what to expect, so she knew why they looked. She also knew they would look in vain, for if Henry’s taste for women ran in the direction of Kitty, then he would have no desire for her. She popped another sweetmeat in her mouth and smiled to herself, licking honey from her fingers.

  She was aware that Henry’s ministers wanted her to go quietly. The awful Gardiner, sliding round her chambers like a stoat, spoke to her with a never ending smile. No-one who smiled all the time like that could be trusted, she thought. But they hadn’t yet come up with a plan that would allow her to stay in this wonderful country, away from the bullying of her dreadful brother. When they did, she would sign whatever they put in front of her.

  Anne giggled softly to herself and thought that she could say the words ‘expedient withdrawal’ in German, Flemish, probably Dutch if she thought hard enough, and she could write it in Latin or Greek if they asked. She just didn’t know the English translation yet. While they fed her sweetmeats, she thought, she was happy to wait.

  ***

  ‘They’ve kissed, my Lord.’ Mary Fitzroy looked up at her father as he paced the floor.

  ‘Hell’s teeth, they’ll need to do a damned sight more than that if he wants an heir from her!’ Norfolk had asked his daughter, rather than Cat, to find out if the marriage was a true one.

  ‘There has been no sign on the sheets.’ Mary blushed at the fact she must discuss such things with her father.

  ‘He says she’s no maid, so I wouldn’t expect there to be.’

  ‘But if they haven’t…. If they don’t …..! I don’t know how he can make that judgement, my Lord. I don’t think he’s known her in that sense. She would have said something. Even in Flemish, she would have said something!’

  ‘Well, Cromwell says this marriage cannot be undone. I rather think he’s going to be undone by this marriage.’ Norfolk chuckled. ‘Gardiner is looking into it as well. And I’m sure such a supporter of the Holy Mother Church as he will be able to find something wrong with a Lutheran marriage. Even if it costs the country Cromwell!’

  Norfolk, in his heart, felt torn about the fact that, if they managed to dissolve the King’s marriage to Anne of Cleves, and put another Howard girl in the King’s sight it may cost Cromwell’s head. He had come to respect, if not actually like, Thomas Cromwell. He was a good servant to the country, and England had prospered under his governance. What a shame he had to be a Lutheran, thought Norfolk.

  ‘And how is little Kitty in the service of the Queen, daughter?’ Norfolk thought how much he had spent on her gowns and hoods to attract the King.

  ‘She does exactly as she is told, my Lord. Exactly! As if she has no capacity to think for herself, but can only do as others tell her.’

  ‘A good choice then! We’ll tell her how to manage the King when he is free of Flanders.’ Norfolk smiled wolfishly at the thought of replacing the hated Seymours at Henry’s side.

  ***

  ‘I have brought you quills and paper, Master Cromwell, as you requested. And a little money.’ Ralph placed the precious items on the rough table and tried to smile at his friend. The walls of the Tower seemed to seep sorrow as well as moisture, and Ralph shivered.

  Cromwell rose from the bed and came across to Ralph, clasping him around the shoulders in a swift embrace.

  ‘Thank you Ralph. I am sorry you have to see me thus.’ Cromwell gestured round the room in which he was imprisoned. It was not one of the better apartments in the tower, but it was no-where near the dungeon and for that Ralph was grateful.

  ‘Will you take a letter to the King, Ralph? I trust no-one else.’ A smile passed across Cromwell’s grim face at the realisation that there was no-one he could trust now, except Ralph. ‘You have always been as a son to me, my boy.’

  Ralph struggled to find his voice, his throat was so clogged, so he simply nodd
ed.

  ‘I don’t know if Henry will even read it, Ralph. But I must write and let him know that I am not guilty of those things they say of me.’ He took a quill and dipped it in ink. ‘I would no more take up a sword against the King than fly to the moon, but Gardiner twists my words.’

  He looked up from his writing and met Ralph’s eyes. ‘Beware of Gardiner, Ralph. He is not what he represents himself to be. He is a vengeful zealot, Ralph, not the pious churchman he would have you believe.’ Ralph nodded again, and Cromwell continued to write.

  ‘He has never forgiven me for the downfall of Thomas More,’ Cromwell muttered as he wrote, ‘Even though Henry wanted him gone – once, More was his best friend, but still he wanted him gone!’

  Cromwell sanded the letter, then folded and sealed it. ‘I doubt this will have any effect on the outcome, Ralph. I shall go to the block regardless of this.’ He waved the letter. ‘But I wanted to see you, to tell you that no man could have wished for a better son than you have been to me.’ Ralph began to interrupt, but Cromwell held up his hand and Ralph was silent.

  ‘Gregory is loving and kind, Ralph. Like his mother. But you, my boy. You are the son of my heart, and my head. You have the ability to think ahead, like me, and see all the permutations that an action might cause, and then wait to take action, until the permutations you see are to your benefit. Don’t lose that ability, Ralph. Surrounded by madness as we are, it is an important skill.’

  Tears were in Ralph’s eyes as Cromwell spoke.

  Cromwell handed him the letter, and Ralph barely had time to conceal it in his robe when Cromwell again took him in another strong embrace.

  ‘God bless you, my son. Look out for Gregory for me, would you? Don’t let him spend all his money on fripperies. And take the time to enjoy life with your Meg. Don’t waste a minute of it.’ Cromwell shook Ralph’s shoulders to emphasise the point.

  ‘I shall try to come again if they allow it, my Lord.’ Ralph was determined not to be overcome in front of Cromwell; he wanted to allow the older man his dignity. Cromwell smiled and walked him to the door.