Lady Katherine Knollys

by Sarah-Beth Watkins

  Whilst Elizabeth was treading carefully with Mary, Katherine was managing to keep away from the changes at court and concentrated on raising her own family. In the years leading up to Mary’s succession, Katherine had given birth to four more children; Maud, Elizabeth, Robert and Richard. All were born before 1552 and by 1553, Katherine was pregnant again. Her next son, Francis, was born on the 14th August when Katherine was twenty nine. Katherine had had ten children in twelve years. She was constantly in and out of pregnancy and childbirth and away from court but she stayed in contact with Elizabeth as much as she could.

  Aside from her family duties, Katherine and her husband were practising Protestants which put them in direct opposition to Mary, the newly crowned Queen. Francis had attended the 1551 Eucharistic debates at the houses of Sir William Cecil and Richard Moryson and he was active in the furious discussion that centred around religious reform. With Mary on the throne now, the couple were also in a precarious position. As Katherine and Francis began to talk of leaving England, Elizabeth appealed to Mary again to let her go to her house at Ashridge. This time her wish was granted and for now, she could sigh with relief at being out from under the gaze of her watchful sister.

  Mary could not immediately change worship back to the Catholic ways, however much she may have wanted to, but she wasted no time in starting the process. Many of the reforms that came before her accession were set in law and to change them meant a process of repeal. The First Act of Repeal was passed in Mary’s first parliament and it abolished all religious legislation passed in her brother Edward’s reign and reinstated the validity of her mother’s marriage to Henry VIII.

  But trouble was brewing. The people of England had welcomed Mary to the throne, believing she was her father’s rightful heir and they too believed that Henry and Catherine of Aragon had been truly wed but when it became common knowledge that Mary wished to marry a foreign husband, Philip of Spain, discontent spread. Mary didn’t just want a husband, she wanted a King to reign with her and many disagreed with having a Spanish King on the throne. Although Mary had managed to convince her Privy Council that she would marry no other save Philip, others were not convinced of the match and began to organise revolt.

  Sir Thomas Wyatt along with Lady Jane Grey’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, Sir James Croft and members of the Carew family plotted uprisings in different parts of the country. The plan was to take control of four separate regions and then combine their troops to march on the capital but the rebellions in the Welsh marches, the midlands and the south-west fizzled out leaving Sir Thomas Wyatt to carry out the rebellion in the southeast.

  On 26th January 1554, Wyatt took Rochester in Kent and many local people rallied to his cause. The Duke of Norfolk was sent after him but his men joined Wyatt’s troops swelling his ranks to around 4,000 men. Wyatt demanded that Mary should be put under his charge in the Tower of London and he began to march towards London. Mary, listening to her advisors, believed that Elizabeth had had a hand in the rising and she allowed her building resentment of Anne Boleyn’s daughter to take firm hold. If Mary was to be placed in the Tower then it followed that Elizabeth would replace her as Queen and surely Elizabeth had some part in organising such a rebellion that would benefit her and put her on the throne. Mary wanted Elizabeth back from her retreat in the country so that she could be watched and dealt with as necessary. She wrote to her:

  We tendering the surety of your person, which might chance to be in some peril, if any sudden tumult should arise, either where you now be, or about Donnington, whither (as we understand) you are bound shortly to remove, do therefore think it expedient you should put yourself in readiness with all convenient speed to make your repair hither to us, which, we pray you, fail not to do, assuring you, that as you may more surely remain here, so shall you be most heartily welcome to us. And of your mind herein we pray you return answer by this messenger.3

  Mary had heard rumours that Elizabeth was about to move to Donnington Castle, a semi-fortified house, that could have been used to consolidate her position. She wanted her back at court but Elizabeth wouldn’t budge. Elizabeth used illness as her excuse or perhaps she truly was ill, either way her reply was written by a member of her household and it stated that she was in hope every day of her amendment and would then repair to the Queen. Elizabeth was buying herself time, waiting to see which way the rebellion would end and for the moment, she was allowed to stay away from court as the situation worsened.

  At London Bridge, Wyatt was met by a large force and cannon, many having rallied to support Mary after hearing her rousing speech in London’s Guildhall. Mary had told the gathered people:

  I am your Queen, to whom at my coronation, when I was wedded to the realm and laws of the same (the spousal ring whereof I have on my finger, which never hitherto was, not hereafter shall be, left off), you promised your allegiance and obedience to me…. And I say to you, on the word of a Prince, I cannot tell how naturally the mother loveth the child, for I was never the mother of any; but certainly, if a Prince and Governor may as naturally and earnestly love her subjects as the mother doth love the child, then assure yourselves that I, being your lady and mistress, do as earnestly and tenderly love and favour you. And I, thus loving you, cannot but think that ye as heartily and faithfully love me; and then I doubt not but we shall give these rebels a short and speedy overthrow.4

  Wyatt’s army waited for three days before it turned towards Kingston in Surrey where the bridge had been destroyed to stop his men from crossing the river. But they repaired it and marched on to Ludgate where Wyatt’s men were overcome. Wyatt surrendered and was imprisoned in the Tower where he was tortured in the hope that he might incriminate Elizabeth.

  Mary had had enough. She wanted Elizabeth with her immediately. She sent her commissioners, with a litter for Elizabeth should she still be unwell, to bring her to London. Once at Elizabeth’s residence in Ashridge they entered her bed chamber and found Elizabeth in a state - probably more from fear than from illness. Doctors were called to pronounce whether she was fit for travel and when they confirmed that she could be moved she was bundled into a litter and taken to London - on the same day that Lady Jane Grey was executed.

  Elizabeth was loved by the people and they came out of their houses to watch her procession into the city. Elizabeth, in fear of her life, and knowing that public opinion could certainly be swayed in her favour, played to the crowds. One hundred horsemen wearing scarlet coats rode before and after her litter. She drew back the curtains so that the people could see her dressed in virgin white, a pure and precious Princess of the realm. This did nothing to improve Mary’s mood who at 37 was not the young and pretty Princess that Elizabeth was. When Elizabeth arrived at Whitehall, Mary refused to see her and she was sent to secluded and secure chambers, out of sight but close by.

  Some of Mary’s advisors, especially Renard, the Spanish ambassador who had filled Chapuys’ position at court, were determined that Elizabeth should be sent to the Tower where she would be questioned further. On 16th March 1554 Mary finally acquiesced and Elizabeth was charged with prior knowledge of the Wyatt rebellion and informed she would be taken to the one place that filled her with dread and fear. The following day, a barge was arranged to take Elizabeth up river to the Tower. Elizabeth was petrified. She knew how Tudor politics worked only too well, how someone could be subject to trumped-up malicious charges and put to death with little evidence. If Mary wanted rid of her she would find a way and so she asked that she could write to her sister. In it she refuted the charges against her and pleaded her innocence. She wrote:

  If any ever did try this old saying, ‘that a king’s word was more than another man’s oath,’ I most humbly beseech your Majesty to verify it to me, and to remember your last promise and my last demand, that I be not not condemned without answer and due proof, which it seems that I now am; for without cause proved, I am by your council from you commanded to go to the Tower, a place more wanted for a false traitor than
a true subject, which though I know I desire it not, yet in the face of all this realm it appears proved. I pray to God I may die the shamefullest death that any ever died, if I may mean any such thing; and to this present hour I protest before God (Who shall judge my truth, whatsoever malice shall devise), that I never practised, counselled, nor consented to anything that might be prejudicial to your person anyway, or dangerous to the state by any means. And therefore I humbly beseech your Majesty to let me answer afore yourself, and not suffer me to trust to your Councillors, yea, and that afore I go to the Tower, if it be possible; if not, before I be further condemned. Howbeit, I trust assuredly your Highness will give me leave to do it afore I go, that thus shamefully I may not be cried out on, as I now shall be; yea, and that without cause. Let conscience move your Highness to pardon this my boldness, which innocency procures me to do, together with hope of your natural kindness, which I trust will not see me cast away without desert, which what it is I would desire no more of God but that you truly knew, but which thing I think and believe you shall never by report know, unless by yourself you hear. I have heard of many in my time cast away for want of coming to the presence of their Prince; and in late days I heard my Lord of Somerset say that if his brother had been suffered to speak with him he had never suffered; but persuasions were made to him so great that he was brought in belief that he could not live safely if the Admiral lived, and that made him give consent to his death. Though these persons are not to be compared to your Majesty, yet I pray to God the like evil persuasions persuade not one sister against the other, and all for that they have heard false report, and the truth not known. Therefore, once again, kneeling with humbleness of heart, because I am not suffered to bow the knees of my body, I humbly crave to speak with your Highness, which I would not be so bold as to desire if I knew not myself most clear, as I know myself most true. And as for the traitor Wyatt, he might peradventure write me a letter, but on my faith I never received any from him. And as for the copy of the letter sent to the French King, I pray God confound me eternally if ever I sent him word, message, token, or letter, by any means, and to this truth I will stand in till my death.

  Your Highness’s most faithful subject, that hath been from the beginning, and will be to my end,

  ELIZABETH,

  I humbly crave but only one word of answer from yourself.5

  Mary was infuriated by the letter and it did nothing to change her mind. Elizabeth was taken to the Tower and she is reported to have said ‘Here lands as true and faithful a subject as ever landed a prisoner at these stairs. Before thee, O God, I speak it, having now no friends but thee alone’ as she arrived at Traitors Gate but it is more likely that she actually landed at the wharf and kept her own counsel. This way in would have been just as frightening as it took her past the lions in the menagerie and under the Bloody Tower where the scaffold on which Lady Jane had met her death was still visible in the courtyard. Elizabeth was housed in the apartments in the royal palace that had once been used by her mother and it must have terrified her to think that she too could be heading for the executioner’s block at the tender age of twenty.

  Members of the Privy Council came to question her but could make nothing stick. Elizabeth answered all their questions astutely and with great care, making sure that she said nothing that could incriminate her and lead to her death. Whilst she was there, the leader of the rebellion, Sir Thomas Wyatt, was executed but as he stood on the scaffold he exonerated Elizabeth saying, ‘And whereas it is said and whistled abroad that I should accuse my lady Elizabeth’s grace and my lord Courtenay; it is not so, good people. For I assure you neither they nor any other now in yonder hold or durance was privy of my rising or commotion before I began. As I have declared no less to the queen’s council. And this is most true.’6 His words could not save him and he was beheaded, quartered and his bowels and genitals were burnt before his head was placed in a gibbet at St James’s which later disappeared.

  Elizabeth stayed in the Tower until Sir Henry Bedingfield arrived. Seeing the courtyard busy with officers, Elizabeth felt that her time had come and asked if the platform on which Lady Jane Grey had been beheaded had been taken away, in fear that it still awaited her. The constable of the Tower, Lord Chandos, explained that the men were there to accompany her to her new residence - Woodstock, close to Oxford - a journey that took four days. As Elizabeth left the Tower people cheered, delighted that she was free but what they didn’t know was she was swapping one prison for another. Elizabeth was under house arrest. Mary did not want to antagonise Elizabeth’s supporters by keeping her in the Tower without charge but she still wanted her under her command and somewhere where she could be monitored.

  Elizabeth continued to be uneasy. She stopped at Richmond Palace for a night on her way to Woodstock and was reported to have said that she was in fear of her life. She couldn’t trust Mary or her council. Even though she was out from under the shadow of the Tower, she still felt her life to be endangered. Woodstock was to be her prison and home for the next year. It had been a fine palace once but had fallen into ruin and Elizabeth was made comfortable in the lodge there. She whiled away the time in riding and walking in the grounds, occasionally being called to court at Mary’s whim. It was during this time that she scratched this short poem into a window frame:

  Much suspected by me,

  nothing proved can be,

  Quoth Elizabeth prisoner.

  During Elizabeth’s house arrest, Mary was married to her Spanish Prince by proxy on 6th March 1554. Philip was a widower with one son and at twenty six was a good royal match but he also had no knowledge of England, very little interest in marrying a woman he referred to as his aunt, and with whom he would find it difficult to communicate, given that he spoke very little English. But aside from all this, he developed a soft spot for Elizabeth.

  He asked Mary to show mercy and let her return to her own home. Whilst Mary may not have wished to soften her attitude towards her sister, she did want to appease her new husband. Elizabeth wanted to return to Hatfield but Mary was not going to let her go without talking to her first. The two sisters met one night in May and Elizabeth did her best to assure Mary that she had nothing to do with the Wyatt rebellion. Mary gave her a ring as a token of her affection and Elizabeth was allowed in the coming days to return home and end this troublesome period in her life.

  For Mary, the rebellion did nothing to change her feelings about her Prince of Spain. Elizabeth was now irrelevant as she planned her future reign alongside the man she loved regardless of the country’s feelings. She firmly believed that God approved of the match and on 5th July, Mary became Philip’s wife at a full wedding ceremony held at Winchester Cathedral. It may have softened her temperament for a while. She had waited a long time to marry and was delighted at her new husband but it was not long before Mary pushed sentimentality aside and began her campaign of religious persecution.

  The Revival of the Heresy Acts was passed in November of 1554 and read:

  For the eschewing and avoiding of errors and heresies, which of late have risen, grown, and much increased within this realm, for that the ordinaries have wanted authority to proceed against those that were infected therewith: be it therefore ordained and enacted by authority of this present Parliament, that the statute made in the fifth year of the reign of King Richard II, concerning the arresting and apprehension of erroneous and heretical preachers, and one other statute made in the second year of the reign of King Henry IV, concerning the repressing of heresies and punishment of heretics, and also one other statute made in the second year of the reign of King Henry V, concerning the suppression of heresy and Lollardy, and every article, branch, and sentence contained in the same three several Acts, and every of them, shall from the twentieth day of January next coming be revived, and be in full force, strength, and effect to all intents, constructions, and purposes for ever.7

  Full force indeed. Mary was on a crusade to rid her country of those she saw as heretics, t
o restore the practice of saying Mass and to outlaw the Book of Common Prayer. One of the main people in her sights was Archbishop Cranmer, who had led much of the previous reformation and who, on a personal note, was instrumental in the divorce that separated Mary’s mother and father and led to her mistreatment during her youth. Archbishop Cranmer had been sentenced to death on 13th November 1553 but in 1554, he was moved to ‘Bocardo’ prison in Oxford to await a further trial for heresy. Mary was certain to make an example of the one man she blamed above all other men for her previous unhappiness.

  Many of those who had welcomed Protestant reform in Edward’s reign would flee to Europe. If they stayed in England, they would either be punished, put to death or made to convert to Catholicism. Hundreds of Protestants chose to relocate to Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Basle, Zurich and Geneva. In the July of 1555, Katherine gave birth to another daughter and her eleventh child, Anne, whilst Francis began to travel abroad, meeting with exiled Protestants and his friends and preparing for Katherine to join him. It seems that Francis had an early role to play as an envoy sent by Sir William Cecil, who would become one of Elizabeth’s most trusted advisors, to establish where communities of Marian exiles would be welcomed. Their oldest son, Henry (Harry), joined him on a trip to Geneva as early as 1553 to meet Calvin, the great theologist and preacher, who wrote of him that he merited ‘higher praise for piety and holy zeal’.

  Back in England, the Second Statute of Repeal was passed in 1555 and built on the earlier repeal by nullifying any legislation that was anti-papacy apart from Mary’s role as head of the Church of England. Things were getting increasingly difficult for Protestants still living at home and those that had the means made their plans to relocate to Europe, Katherine included. On 21st March 1556, Cranmer was put to death. He made his final recantation at a service at the University Church in Oxford where he was supposed to renounce his faith and admit that Catholicism was the one true religion. However, what he renounced were his previous recantations and he flatly stated that the Pope was Christ’s enemy and furthermore the Antichrist. He was dragged from the pulpit and taken to the stake where he placed his right hand - the hand that had signed away his true faith - into the fire as the flames rose higher. Cranmer would die for his beliefs and he wanted those watching to know that he remained true to them until the end. It was a warning to those who still practised the Protestant faith and Katherine knew she was no longer safe. Francis made the move first, going to Basle in Switzerland around 1556, where he was recorded as a student at the university that was founded there in 1460, along with John Foxe, Richard Grason, John Bartholomew, John Audley and Richard Springham.