Crown of Blood

by Nicola Tallis

  Wyatt’s strategy consisted of a three-pronged attack. From his base in Kent, Wyatt was confident that he could raise a substantial force, while his colleague Sir Peter Carew would do the same in the south-west. Meanwhile, Henry Grey was a great landholder in the Midlands, so it was only natural that he should be responsible for rallying troops there, with the assistance of Sir James Croft, who had previously lent his support to Jane’s accession. If the plan were to stand any chance of success, it was crucial that the conspirators move swiftly, as plans for the Queen’s marriage were already quickly developing.

  On 9 January Renard reported that ‘the ambassadors have finally concluded the marriage articles and treaties’.37 In what was no doubt an attempt to calm fears, a passage was inserted into the marriage contract whereby it was made clear that Philip would not be given any authority above that of the Queen, and that he would merely ‘assist his consort in the task of government, saving always the kingdom’s laws, privileges and customs’.38 The Queen had demanded that her Council support her marriage, and had called upon them all to sign their approval. There had, however, already been rumours of what was being plotted elsewhere in the realm, and alerted to the suspicious behaviour of Sir Peter Carew, the Council sent a summons, ordering him to court. Twice refusing to obey, Carew ‘declared himself openly a rebel, thereby plainly showing the evil intentions in his mind’.39 As a result, ‘the Council have issued orders to the officers to seize him bodily and take him prisoner to the Tower of London. During the last few days six or seven nobles and commoners have been arrested.’40 Carew, however, managed to evade capture and slipped away to France.41 When Wyatt heard that Carew’s treachery had been discovered, he immediately began to gather men in Kent, ‘stirring up strife in that whole part of the Country and preparing to march swiftly on London’.42

  Until now, Henry’s name had not been mentioned in connection with any of the rebels. When the Queen, though, was informed of Wyatt’s plans, she ‘decided to send against the said Wyatt the Duke of Suffolk with troops’.43 Perhaps she thought that this would provide Henry with the perfect opportunity to redeem himself and to prove his loyalty, but she was to be mistaken. On the morning of 25 January, one of the Queen’s messengers arrived at the Charterhouse to summon Henry to court, there to receive the Queen’s orders. Henry was already outside, on the verge of leaving home in order to rally the Midlands and ‘levy some soldiers’ when he spotted the Queen’s messenger riding into the courtyard.44 As ‘a man who had not a clear conscience’, for a few moments panic probably spread throughout his body and his heart may have beat a little faster as he waited for the message in anxious anticipation: had he been discovered?45 Calming whatever nerves he may have felt, he managed to retain his composure as the messenger relayed to him the Queen’s request that he should repair to court. ‘Marry,’ he began, ‘I was coming to see Her Grace. Ye may well see that I am booted and spurred ready to ride; and I will but break my fast to go,’ he replied steadily.46 If he had any second thoughts about the plot, now would have been the time to abandon them. But Henry did not. Dismissing the messenger to receive refreshments in the Charterhouse kitchens, Henry mounted his horse. Perhaps as he bade farewell to his wife and his two younger daughters that morning, Frances made an attempt to persuade him to desist from his plans, for later evidence suggests that she did not approve of her husband’s plots, and was probably also deeply concerned about the effect they would have on Jane.47 Henry, however, was set on his course, and as he rode out of the Charterhouse that morning with no intention of travelling to court, he must have been aware that there was a chance that he would never see his wife or daughters again. His path was now fraught with danger and uncertainty. In the Tower, though Jane did not know it, her future was about to be determined by the actions of her father; it was do or die.48

  CHAPTER 21

  The Permanent Ruin of the

  Ancient House of Grey

  GUILDHALL WAS ONCE more the setting, but the circumstances were very different. This time a queen was not on trial; a queen was begging for the support of her subjects to help her keep her throne. Standing tall, Queen Mary ‘with her sceptre in her hand in token of love and peace’, rallied her subjects to stand firm against the traitor Wyatt who was marching towards the capital; to stay true to their anointed queen, and if needs be, to fight on her behalf.1 It was Thursday 1 February, at two o’clock in the afternoon, and the Queen, accompanied by her Council and her guard, ‘spoke to the people, and said that the objects she had ever had in view since coming to the throne were to administer justice, keep order and protect the people’s peace and tranquillity’.2 All that Mary had striven for was now under threat, and for a time she may have felt a flicker of the uncertainty experienced by Jane as she waited to learn whether or not her subjects would rally to support her. Renard informed his master that as ‘Wyatt was nearing London’, and as Mary stood with her people before her, she

  wished to hear from her people whether they meant to behave like good subjects and defend her against this rebel, for if they did, she was minded to live and die with them and strain every nerve in their cause; for this time their fortunes, goods, honour, personal safety, wives and children were in the balance. If they bore themselves like good subjects she would be bound to stand by them, for they would deserve the care of their sovereign lady. And thus, with befitting persuasions, she urged them to take up arms.3

  The Queen’s words had the desired effect: ‘So elegant and eloquent was her speech, that all the people cried out loudly that they would live and die in her service, and that Wyatt was a traitor; and they all threw up their caps to show their goodwill.’4 Despite the unpopularity of Mary’s proposed marriage and some of her religious policies, she had thus far retained the love of her people, who were still committed to her and believed in her right to rule. They were determined to fight off the approaching rebels, and to fight for their queen. It was a loyal spirit that they had never displayed for Jane.

  The rain poured in London as the Queen began to muster her troops. The Londoners were unsettled when they heard that ‘3000 well-armed rebels were daily drawing nearer to London, and indeed were within one league of the town’, while the Queen ‘was without the means of resistance’.5 Uneasy about whom she could trust, ‘The Queen summoned Elizabeth’ to court from her estate at Ashridge, determined to have her half-sister where she could keep an eye on her.6 However, ‘Elizabeth is very ill’, or so she claimed, and was unable to make the journey.7 Distracted by the potential threat posed by Wyatt and his rebels, for the time being Mary allowed Elizabeth’s pleas of illness to pass her by, and Elizabeth remained where she was. As a precautionary measure more spies were placed in her household, and like Jane, Elizabeth could only watch, wait and see how events unfolded. It is doubtful if we will ever know the full extent of Elizabeth’s complicity in the plot. That she knew of the rebels’ plans there can be no doubt, but she was too clever to allow herself to be implicated in anything that might lead to her own downfall, and Wyatt would later exonerate her from blame.8

  WITH ANY FEIGNED sentiments of loyalty for Queen Mary now vanished, Henry Grey rode for the Midlands with his brothers in tow. They were determined to rally as many men as they could in the cause of rebellion, and their confidence was high. Henry would later claim that his brother Thomas had persuaded him to flee rather than to come to court as the Queen had commanded, while the Imperial ambassadors had heard that ‘the French ambassador had caused the Duke of Suffolk to fly by telling him that unless he did so the Council would have him arrested’.9 Meanwhile, the day after Henry’s departure, Thomas Wyatt issued a proclamation to the people of Kent urging them to join him. It proved to be successful, and thus it was with a force that numbered around 4,000 men that he began to march towards London.

  When Queen Mary was informed that Henry had not only disobeyed her summons but had abused her clemency by attempting to incite her people to rebel with the support of his brothers, she was furious. A
letter was swiftly issued in her name, declaring that ‘the Duke of Suffolk and his brothers (Lord John and Lord Thomas Grey) with others, forgetting their allegiance to God and us, and the great mercy the duke lately received, conspired to stir our subjects to rebel against us and the laws lately made by Parliament’.10 They were also guilty of ‘spreading false rumours that the prince and Spaniards intended to conquer this realm’.11 The Queen appealed to her subjects to help her in apprehending these rebels. There was one who immediately answered the call and came to her aid.

  Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, ‘who is a mortal enemy of the Duke of Suffolk, has implored the Queen to be allowed to go forth against him and put a stop to his proceedings; and permission has been given to him together with the requisite powers’.12 Just months earlier, Huntingdon’s heir had been married to Northumberland’s daughter alongside Jane and Guildford. His sudden enthusiasm to apprehend Henry therefore seemed perplexing. According to Renard, it was motivated by two factors: first and foremost, having previously thrown himself wholeheartedly into supporting Northumberland’s scheme, Huntingdon was eager to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Queen Mary, and saw the mission as an ideal means of achieving this. Also, as with Henry, many of Huntingdon’s lands were in Leicestershire, and if Henry were removed Huntingdon would reign supreme in the county. The Queen immediately accepted Huntingdon’s offer, and he set off in hot pursuit of the treacherous Duke.

  By now panic had begun to spread through the capital, as word reached the citizens of the rebellion and the anticipated arrival of Wyatt and his men. Hurried preparations were made to protect the city, and in the Tower the faithful Sir John Brydges ensured that the artillery was ready and ‘made great preparation of defence’.13 Jane had heard of what was afoot, and was left in no doubt of her father’s treachery. Was this the moment that her heart sank as she realized that his actions could be the death of her? For unless the rebellion were successful all hopes of liberty – of resuming a normal life with her family – were permanently dashed. By the same token, it was not only Jane’s liberty that was at risk, but her life too. Her fate had yet to be determined, and she had no choice over her own destiny, for it lay in the hands of others. It always had done.

  IN THE TOWER, Jane witnessed the spreading panic but was helpless to do anything other than wait for news. No doubt she absorbed herself in prayer, but for whom was she praying? Perhaps for her father, for by now most people knew that ‘the Duke of Suffolk and his brothers, Lord Thomas and Lord John (Grey), have gone off to the Duke’s house some forty miles hence and have been proclaimed traitors’.14 The Earl of Huntingdon and his men closely followed them. Huntingdon was determined to punish Henry for his shocking betrayal, thereby ingratiating himself in Queen Mary’s favour. He quickly discovered that Henry had left a hot trail, and unbeknown to those in London, Huntingdon had soon ‘routed the Duke of Suffolk, taken all his men prisoners, seized all his money and baggage, and forced him to fly with his two brothers accompanied only by five horse’.15 It was believed that ‘the Duke is making for Scotland. The people would not rise for him, and it is hoped that he will soon be a prisoner or forced to leave the realm.’16 It was a terrifying situation for Jane; her father had been deemed a traitor, his cause was hopeless, and if he were apprehended, death seemed a certainty for them both. To make things worse, another of Henry’s servants had been ‘caught and hanged’, and had been discovered to be ‘carrying a placard issued by the Duke to be published all over the country, to the effect that there were 12,000 Spaniards at Calais and as many more in the West Country, all ready to conquer England’.17 His traitorous intent was clear, and traitors were not pardoned twice. What is more, association had already tainted Jane.

  On 3 February, to the alarm of Queen Mary, Wyatt’s forces had reached Southwark. There was panic in the city as nobody really understood his true intentions: initially the Queen had dispatched the elderly Duke of Norfolk with ‘infantry, artillery and ammunitions’ in an attempt to deal with Wyatt, but this had failed when many of Norfolk’s men had defected to Wyatt’s cause, and the Duke himself had been captured.18 Shortly afterwards, he was released, and beat a hasty retreat back to court. The Queen had then sent desperately to ask Wyatt for his terms, and to inform him that ‘by raising a force against the Queen, he was committing treason and throwing the realm into disorder’.19 Undeterred, Wyatt sent word of his demands: ‘He wished to have London Tower in his hands, and also the Queen in order to furnish her with a better Council than her present one. He also wanted three or four Councillors, whom he meant to punish, and he intended to restore religion to its recent condition.’20 No mention had been made of Jane, who languished in the very Tower Wyatt wished to occupy, confirming that she had no place in Wyatt’s plans. When his terms had been unsurprisingly indignantly rejected, Wyatt and his forces continued in their descent on the capital. However, at Southwark the true loyalties of the Londoners were revealed. Mary’s forces stationed at London Bridge and led by the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John Brydges, thwarted the rebels’ attempts to penetrate further into the city by damaging the city’s bridges, thereby preventing them from crossing the river. So steadfast was Sir John in his loyalty to Mary, he had even threatened to fire on his own forces if necessary.

  By no means discouraged, Wyatt and his men withdrew from Southwark and managed to cross the Thames to the south-west of the city. As they marched through Charing Cross, along the Strand towards the Tower, Jane would have been aware of the high tension and alarm as she waited anxiously in her prison. As Renard observed fearfully, ‘If London rose the Tower would be lost, the heretics would throw religious affairs into confusion and kill the priests, Elizabeth would be proclaimed Queen, irremediable harm would be the result.’21

  When the rebels reached Ludgate on the morning of 7 February, they came to a standstill as they found the gate to be heavily fortified under the command of the Lord Admiral, William Howard, and closed against them. Wyatt and his supporters, ‘not thinking the Queen’s forces to be so strong, and expecting the conspirators and heretics to rise like desperate men in his support’, had completely misjudged the mood of the country, for though many people were opposed to the Spanish marriage, they were still loyal to Queen Mary.22 It was this that prevailed as the Londoners began to repel the rebels from Ludgate and prevent them from travelling further east. Surprised and dismayed by the fighting spirit of the citizens, who it had been hoped would flock to the rebel banner, support for Wyatt began to melt away, with many of his followers choosing this moment to desert him. In addition, the Queen’s Commander, the Earl of Pembroke, and Lord Clinton had followed Wyatt towards Ludgate and had cut down many of his supporters along the way.

  With no choice but to abandon his plans, Wyatt and his remaining followers retreated to Temple Bar, their cause lost. The rebellion had been a dismal failure, and Queen Mary, once more victorious over her enemies, had triumphed. Although the Queen’s Council had taken the rebellion seriously and had been fearful for the Queen’s safety, the Wyatt Rebellion would come to be seen as a poorly organized attack. The lack of secrecy among the conspirators, and action taken by the government to try to minimize the threat, ensured that it was quickly discovered. If the Londoners had risen in support of Wyatt then it may have stood some chance of success, but though they loathed the idea of a Spanish marriage, they ultimately still loved their English queen.

  As ‘“Te deum” was sung in the Queen’s Chapel for joy of the said victory’, Wyatt and his remaining supporters were rounded up and arrested.23 Among those who were imprisoned was Sir John Harington, who had been previously entangled in the Seymour scandal. Harington claimed only to have carried a letter to the Lady Elizabeth from Jane’s father, but the authorities were convinced that he was guilty of more.24 A terrible fate awaited those who had supported him, as ‘A large number of the prisoners, up to 200 were hanged, and it was an awful sight to notice through every street in London gallows and dead men.’25 While his c
omrades suffered death, Wyatt was predictably taken to the Tower, ‘a worthy and extremely fitting place for his wickedness and for wicked men’.26 As he was brought in at five o’clock on the same evening as his failed attempt to pass through Ludgate, perhaps Jane watched as Sir John Brydges grabbed him by the collar ‘in most rigorous manner’, and berated him: ‘Oh! Thou villain and unhappy traitor!’27 He did not end there, and added that if it was not for the fact that ‘the law must justly pass upon thee, I would strike thee through with my dagger’, as he moved one hand to his sheath and shook Wyatt vigorously.28

  Wyatt’s end was a fait accompli, but as of yet no mention had been made of Jane, or of her father, whom she may have believed was still at large.29 However, the odds were not good, for though Jane had been innocent of any complicity, it was clear to all that her father could not be trusted: would Jane pay the price for his treachery?

  INSIDE A HOLLOW tree on his Warwickshire estate of Astley, on which he had once played as a child, Henry Grey was hiding from Queen Mary’s authorities. He had tried his best to rally troops in the Midlands but to no avail, and what was more, in desperation ‘he started again to proclaim his daughter as Queen’.30 Perhaps this was his intention all along, but there was nothing more to be done, and ‘having lost all hopes of any success’, Henry had ‘directed everyone to look after his own salvation, waiting for more favourable times when he could carry out his plans’.31 His brother Thomas fled towards the Welsh border, while his half-brother George also attempted to escape. Henry and his youngest brother John, aware that they were being pursued, approached a labourer who worked on the Astley estate and persuaded the man to help hide them in the park. The winter winds, however, were still swirling, and Henry, ‘having remained almost two days without food, and frozen to death, had left the tree’ for a short time.32 Little did he know that the labourer, hearing of Queen Mary’s damning proclamation naming him a traitor, and knowing that the Earl of Huntingdon was closing in, ‘changed his mind’ and, hoping to be generously rewarded, ‘went to see the Earl disclosing him the hiding place of the Duke’.33 Huntingdon was thrilled to receive this news, and on 2 February he proceeded to Astley in order to apprehend his target. For Henry, time had run out and there was nowhere left to hide. Having returned to the tree, he was discovered there by one of Huntingdon’s dogs, while his youngest brother John was found beneath a pile of hay.34 Before long Thomas and George were apprehended too. This time, there would be no more chances.