The Scandal of Christendom

by G Lawrence

  “What news, my love?” I asked. Norris broke from the pack of men at Henry’s back and went to pour his master wine.

  “My sister has sent her daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas, to England for safety,” he said. “She is too young to reside at court permanently. At the moment she is staying with my sister, Mary, but I have decided Margaret will enter the household of my daughter.”

  I was none too pleased about this. Princess Mary was devoted to her mother, and thought me the Devil. Margaret Douglas was the daughter of the Queen of Scotland, and even though Margaret Tudor had lost that title upon marriage to her second husband, Archibald Douglas, there were many who still saw her as Queen in Scotland, and her daughter as a princess. Mary would inform her cousin of the annulment and no doubt paint me as a conniving whore. I had no wish for Margaret Douglas to take the same stance as her cousin, and have to add her name to the ever-growing list of my enemies.

  Seeing my face, Henry hurried on. “But, when you are Queen, my love, I will have my niece serve in your household. You have many good women, but a queen should be attended by royal blood.”

  “So, it is but a temporary measure?” I asked, feeling my spirits settle.

  “Indeed… I have to put Margaret somewhere,” he continued. “Placing her with Katherine would be unthinkable. My daughter, although committed to her mother, honours me above her. If you fear Mary will say or do something to set Margaret against our cause, you should cease. My daughter obeys me.”

  Henry sounded so very sure about that, but I was not. Princess Mary had already been heard saying much against me. She would not insult her father, as she was not a complete fool, but she blamed me for the division in her parents’ marriage.

  “And when my household is assembled, Margaret Douglas will serve me?”

  “As one of the highest ladies in your royal chamber, my love.”

  I was satisfied. It was true that Henry had to place Margaret Douglas somewhere suitable. He did not trust Katherine, and I suspected he did not trust his sister, the Duchess of Suffolk, either, since she was close to Katherine. Mary, he believed he could trust, but only because he thought his daughter was devoted to him. Henry was blind to Mary’s rampant disapproval. But if it was only temporary…

  I stopped as a spark of understanding ignited in my mind. My eyes flashed up to see Henry grinning like a smug cat.

  “Finally my Anne sees what I am trying to tell her!” He laughed loudly and clapped a hand on one of his muscular thighs. “I thought you would understand much sooner, my love.”

  I did understand. If Margaret’s position in Mary’s household was only temporary, then Henry was thinking about assembling my royal household… soon. I gaped as he beamed. “The decision has been made,” he said. “It is time to bring the English clergy to heel. They will be shown who their true master is, and then there will be none to stand in our way. When Parliament reconvenes in January, Convocation will be meeting as well.” Convocation was a gathering of clergy. Canterbury’s Convocation met alongside Parliament, to make decisions for the Church in England. “When they meet, I will ask them to support my conviction that I am Emperor and Pope in my own kingdom. They will make me Supreme Head of the English Church, and if they dare oppose me, I will charge them with praemunire.”

  Knowing what had happened to Wolsey when he faced the charge of supporting a foreign power over Henry, I could imagine not many would risk being accused of such a crime.

  “All of them recognised Wolsey’s authority over mine,” he said, his voice rumbling with a sanctimonious tenor. “And they have upheld the Pope’s powers as above mine, too.”

  “So they are already guilty.”

  “They will recognise my title and they will be fined, but I will be gentle with them. Until now, they have not had the leader they need. I will show them where they have gone astray, and in doing so I will bring them back to virtue and goodness.”

  “No one but you could do it, Henry.” I felt as though my heart might burst for the joy that galloped through my veins! How could one heart hold such happiness?

  “Then I have pleased you?”

  He looked like a young boy who had ridden at the rings for the first time and achieved his target. I ran to him, threw my arms around his huge shoulders and lifted my lips to his. I became swallowed by his embrace, crushed against the gemstones sewn into his tunic, and I cared not. What worry was there left for me? My beloved was about to do what he should have done from the moment the crown was set upon his head. He was about to change England, govern the unruly Church, and bring peace and light to all. I had never been so proud.

  “But,” I said, breaking away. “What of Spain and France?”

  “What of them?” Henry chuckled, holding me tight. “God’s curse upon those who stand in our way, Anne! France is our almost-friend, and with their friendship, we have no cause to fear the Emperor. Chapuys races about court telling everyone his master will invade if his aunt is set aside, but I have different reports from Spain. Charles is stretched too thin about his Empire to invade. And besides…” his face took on a prudish cast. “They are in the wrong. We have God on our side.”

  He was right. Whatever happened, no matter the consequences, I had prayed for Henry to find his courage for so long that I could not mourn what trouble might come. I pulled him closer. “After all this time,” I said, seeing my sparkling black eyes reflected in his blues ones. “Finally there is an end.”

  He shook his head. “This is not an end, Anne,” he said. “It is the beginning. We have suffered, we have waited, and we will prevail. The old will die away, and the new will rise in their place. We are the future, Anne, you and me and our children.”

  “When will we be married?”

  Henry chuckled. “It will take some months at least.”

  “But the beginning is in sight,” I teased.

  “Not just our beginning, Anne. This is the dawn of a new world.”

  Chapter Six

  York Place

  Christmas 1530

  “I want to contribute to the Christmas pageant,” I announced as I entered the room where Tom and George were sitting, poring over diagrams and sketches. As I entered they looked up, but for once their eyes were not upon me. “Like you my servants’ new livery?” I asked, grinning at their gaping faces.

  My men were dressed in deepest black, with a startling red ribbon across their chests. Picked out in glaring white thread was a new motto I had chosen, Ainsi sera, groigne qui groigne; Let them grumble, that is how it is going to be.

  “Is that not a Hapsburg motto?” George asked, still staring.

  “Indeed. I thought it fitting, brother, although you will note that I left off the end, et vive Bourgoigne.”

  Tom wore a wary expression. “Do you not think perverting an Imperialist motto will set people against you, Anna?” he asked. “Everyone knows Katherine’s ties to the Hapsburgs. You may cause the common people to turn on you if they think you are insulting the Queen.”

  I frowned. I had thought using a motto of the Imperialists would be a bold strike… I had not really considered public opinion. I glanced back at the devises. They had taken me and my ladies a great deal of time to make, and I had taken pleasure in the work, knowing it would demonstrate my courage. I had come across the motto whilst in Mechelen, serving Archduchess Margaret. Henry had approved of my using it, for he was growing increasingly angry at Katherine and her family. But Henry was well-beloved by his people. I was not.

  Yet my reason for garbing my servants in such an outrageous motto was not to anger the people. A week ago, Henry had received a request from Clement, asking him to send me away from court. The Pope still wanted Henry to come to Rome and for the annulment to be decided there, but Henry had no intention of either going to Rome or sending me away. A second message had followed, threatening Henry with excommunication should he marry a second time before his first marriage was decided upon. Henry feared excommunication, but now that terror was based
predominantly on political, rather than personal reasons. Excommunication could lead to other nations deciding to wage holy war on England, and could make Henry’s people rise against him. This was daunting, but if Henry had once been afraid of what such a sentence would mean for his soul, he was no longer. Henry believed he was the spiritual leader of England, and therefore Clement had no authority to set his soul in peril. When I had showed him my servants’ ribbons, Henry had laughed, for he, too, was done with being subtle. Let them grumble. We would be together.

  “I am not about to remove them,” I said. “This is a message to the Emperor and his aunt. It has nothing to do with the common man.”

  “Anything done at court is reported back to them,” Tom said and held up his hands as I glared at him. “I only tell you what I think, Anna,” he said. “That is what I am here for, is it not? To advise you?”

  “Well… I like it,” George said. “It sends a clear message, sister. Continue to use it.”

  “I have another message,” I said. “I have been working on a song for Christmas.”

  “Let us hear you sing it,” said Tom.

  “It requires accompaniment.” I handed a sheet of music to Tom. “I am sure you recognise the tune, my friend.”

  “Pastime with Good Company,” he said, after only a cursory glance.

  “The King’s great masterpiece,” I said. “With a few alterations.”

  Tom went to the virginals, and I lifted my high, sweet voice in song.

  Grudge on who list, this is my lot:

  Nothing to want if it were not.

  My years be young, even as ye see;

  All things thereto doth well agree;

  In faith, in face, in each degree,

  Nothing to want, as seemeth me,

  If it were not.

  Some men doth say that friends be scarce,

  But I have found, as in this case,

  A friend which giveth to no man place

  But makes me happiest than ever was,

  If it were not.

  A heart I have, besides all this,

  That hath my heart, and I have his,

  If he doth will, it is my bliss,

  And when we meet no lack there is,

  If it were not.

  If he can find that can me please,

  A-thinks he does his own heart’s ease,

  And likewise I could well appease

  The chiefest cause of his mis-ease,

  If it were not.

  A master eke God hath me sent,

  To whom my will is wholly lent

  To serve and love for that intent

  That both we might be well content,

  If it were not.

  And here an end: it doth suffice

  To speak few words among the wise;

  Yet take this note before your eyes:

  My mirth should double once or twice,

  If it were not.

  As I finished, both of them were staring at me. “I know it is not as accomplished as some of your work,” I said. “But do you like it?”

  “It is bold,” said George. “And you mean to sing it before court?”

  “This Christmas,” I said.

  “You do not want to alert either Parliament or Convocation to Henry’s plans,” my brother warned.

  “Where do I mention anything sure about the annulment?” I asked. “Men may think they know what I mean, but I do not say it is the thing that will make me happy.”

  “I do not think this will warn the clergy of what is about to happen,” said Tom. “But it will anger Katherine’s supporters.”

  “Just as they have angered me.”

  “Perhaps that is true,” he went on. “But there is a long way to go, Anna, no matter what the King protests, or believes.”

  “I have been in the shadows too long,” I said. “Katherine plays her bleeding heart to the world and gains sympathy. I will hide no more. This motto and this song will show everyone what is in my heart and hint at what is about to be done here in England.”

  “Hence my concern,” added George.

  “There is nothing to fear anymore, brother,” I said. “The King has told me that this end will be our beginning. If this is Katherine’s dusk, I would have everyone know it is my dawn.”

  “We will incorporate it into the pageant,” George said, rising from his chair. “If you want it done, so shall it be, as always.”

  I was determined to go ahead with the song, but after a few weeks I abandoned the motto. Some people, not understanding I had spent years in service to Archduchess Margaret, thought the adoption of a Hapsburg motto was a mistake on my part, and started to giggle about it. Katherine’s supporters shouted “et vive Bourgoigne!” when my men strode past them, mocking the motto. It had not done as I wished, for the simple reason that many at court were too foolish to understand the premise behind it. Chapuys was apparently delighted when I had my servants remove their ribbons, and told everyone I must have abandoned it upon discovering the original version.

  But one night, as Katherine and Henry sat on the dais during the Christmas celebrations, I took to the stage. With Tom and George accompanying me, and musicians playing on lutes and virginals, my heart was laid bare. As I finished, I saw Henry’s eyes misting with tears. Katherine, however, stared at me as though I was a monster crawled up from the belly of the sea.

  People spoke of my daring, my courage and my haughty high-handedness. Those who loved me thought me bold. Those who despised me thought I was arrogant. And where a man would never be censured for courage, I, as a woman was. But perhaps some of it was arrogance, or at least it was the pretence of arrogance. My empire of glass had never felt so fragile. I was but one step away from my dreams. One step… but a mighty one.

  *

  Just before Christmas I was sent a letter from a man I had helped. Thomas Alwaye had been chased by Bishop Stokesley of London for handling banned books and owning a copy of Tyndale’s New Testament. Imprisoned for a while, I had asked Henry to free him, and it had been done. “I remembered how many deeds of pity your goodness had done within these few years,” Alwaye wrote. “And that without respect of any persons, as well to strangers and aliens as to many of this land, as well as to poor and rich; whereof some looking for no redemption were by your gracious means not only freely delivered out of costly and very long imprisoning, but also by your charity largely rewarded and all things restored to the utmost, so that every man may perceive that your gracious and Christian mind is everywhere ready to help, succour and comfort them that be afflicted.”

  Pleased that I was able to help some men of true faith, I looked forward to the season of Christ’s birth with glee.

  That Christmas, Margaret Douglas moved into the household of Princess Mary. Henry sent Margaret a magnificent gown of crimson velvet trimmed with cloth of gold and a matching kirtle with black sleeves. She also received a nightgown lined with warm fur and a cloak of black velvet, and I sent two French hoods, decorated with pearls. If Margaret Douglas was to one day join my retinue, I wanted her to come as an ally, not as a spy for her soon to be bastardized friend.

  Despite the best efforts of Tom and George, that Christmas was miserable. Katherine was still gloating over her triumph at Blackfriars, and she presided at court. I held Christmas at York Place, my seat in London, and Henry joined me whenever he did not have to be with Katherine. In so many ways, even as I pranced and tripped my way through joyous dances, or feasted beside Henry, I felt as though this were last Christmas, and we were no closer to our goal. But I reminded myself of his promise to make the English clergy come to heel. I comforted myself with those thoughts. Katherine believed if she continued to resist Henry, he would eventually come to his senses.

  She did not know what was coming. Neither did the clergy.

  And Henry had given me reason to feel more confident, for on Christmas Day, Katherine had berated him about spending the Eve of Christmas with me. He had arrived at York Place that night i
n high spirits, for, as he told me, he had for once got the better of Katherine.

  “She rebuked me for dallying with a mistress rather than spending time with my Queen,” he informed me as he entered my apartments. “She said I was doing her a great personal wrong, and setting a scandalous example.”

  “And what said you?”

  I had been expecting that Henry would have been trounced by Katherine. She had beaten him into retreat so many times that I presumed this theme would continue, but there was something different about Henry that night.

  “I told her there was nothing improper about our relationship,” he said. “I said I merely wanted to spend time getting to know the woman who will one day be my lawful wife.” He paused and grinned. “And I told Katherine that I would have you, whatever she or her Pope might say!”