Crown of Blood

by Nicola Tallis

  23 Ibid.

  24 Ibid.

  25 Ibid.

  26 De Guaras, Accession, p. 88; Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 5.

  27 CSPS, XI, p. 106.

  28 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 5.

  29 C. Wriothesley, A chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, ed. W.D. Hamilton (London, 1877), p. 86.

  30 CSPS, XI, p. 80.

  31 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, pp. 252–3.

  32 Ibid., p. 253.

  33 CSPS, XI, pp. 82–3.

  34 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 253.

  35 Ibid.

  36 Ibid., p. 252.

  37 Originally a fifteenth-century manor house, Hunsdon was later owned by Henry VIII. Edward VI spent much of his childhood there, and during his reign it was to become a favourite residence of Mary’s. Much of the old house has now vanished, and it was largely rebuilt in the eighteenth century.

  38 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 251.

  39 Ibid.

  40 Ibid.

  41 Ibid.

  42 Ibid.

  43 Ibid., p. 252.

  44 Ibid., p. 252.

  45 Foxe, Acts and Monuments, VI, p. 1430.

  46 Ibid.

  47 Ibid., p. 1431; H. Nicolas, Memoirs and Remains of Lady Jane Grey (London, 1832), p. 49.

  48 Commendone, Accession, pp. 8–9.

  49 W. Cobbett (ed.), A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, I (London, 1809), p. 739.

  50 CSPS, XI, p. 78.

  51 Commendone, Accession, p. 48.

  52 CSPS, XI, p. 113.

  Chapter 14: Falsely Styled Queen

  1 Robinson (ed.), Original Letters, p. 274.

  2 Ibid.

  3 Commendone, Accession, p. 8; Wriothesley, Chronicle, p. 86; Nichols (ed.), Diary of Henry Machyn, p. 36.

  4 CSPS, XI, p. 82; De Guaras, Accession, p. 91.

  5 Commendone, Accession, p. 8.

  6 Cited in Ellis (ed.), Original Letters, p. 185.

  7 Robert Dudley had actually departed from London in order to apprehend Mary on 7 July, the day after King Edward’s death; Commendone, Accession, p. 13.

  8 CSPS, XI, p. 94. Henry Dudley was also a relative of Jane’s, for his mother Cecily was the sister of Jane’s paternal grandfather, Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset. He was later arrested and sent to the Tower on Mary’s orders, but was released.

  9 CSPS, XI, p. 87.

  10 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, pp. 261–2.

  11 Frances may have told Wingfield that Jane wished her father to fight on her behalf in order to portray Jane as a strong queen – an image that would have been distorted if it had been known that, in actual fact, Jane forbade him from leaving.

  12 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 7. Given what we know of Jane’s behaviour on learning that the burden of monarchy was now hers, when she was overcome with weeping and seems to have found comfort in the presence of her mother, this seems more likely.

  13 Ibid.

  14 Ibid.

  15 Commendone, Accession, p. 8.

  16 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 7. His reference to ‘I and mine’ refers to his sons, for though Robert had already left London and Guildford would remain in the Tower, John, Ambrose and Harry accompanied their father on his expedition.

  17 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 7.

  18 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 262.

  19 De Guaras, Accession, p. 91.

  20 Commendone, Accession, p. 13.

  21 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 7.

  22 Ibid., pp. 7–8.

  23 Ibid., p. 8.

  24 Ibid.

  25 CSPS, XI, p. 107; CSPS, XI, p. 103.

  26 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 8.

  27 Ibid., p. 7.

  28 CSPS, XI, p. 89.

  29 De Guaras, Accession, p. 90.

  30 CSPS, XI, pp. 88–9.

  31 De Guaras, Accession, p. 92.

  32 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 9.

  33 CSPS, XI, p. 83.

  34 New College Library, Oxford, MS 328, ff. 38–40.

  35 Ibid., f. 36. Holland cloth is a type of linen used to cover furniture. It was frequently imported from Europe, but more specifically the Netherlands.

  36 The inventory in New College Library, Oxford, lists in excess of six hundred individual pieces.

  37 New College Library, Oxford, MS 328, ff. 38–40. A girdle was a kind of belt; aiglettes were a type of metal tag through which laces and ribbons could be passed through to adjoin to clothes, which became increasingly more elaborate and decorative; glass was a term used for a mirror.

  38 Ibid. It is tempting to speculate that the book covered with black velvet is the same that hung from Jane’s girdle on the day of her trial, but this cannot be proven. Moreover, the jewels were crown property, so presumably it must have been relinquished by her following her deposition.

  39 Ibid.

  40 HMS Salisbury, I (1883), p. 129.

  41 Ibid., pp. 128–9.

  42 All of these items were crown property, which entitled Jane to use them. They were never owned by her personally.

  43 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 255.

  44 Ibid., p. 253; Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 8.

  45 CSPS, XI, p. 86. The figure of 15,000 is probably an error, and should have read 1,500; CSPS, XI, p. 91.

  46 CSPS, XI, p. 87.

  47 De Guaras, Accession, p. 92.

  48 Stow, Two London Chronicles, p. 27.

  49 Wriothesley, Chronicle, p. 88.

  50 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, pp. 254–5.

  51 Ibid.

  52 CSPS, XI, p. 91.

  53 CSPS, XI, pp. 91–2.

  54 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 253.

  55 CSPS, XI, p. 91.

  56 Ellis (ed.), Original Letters, pp. 186–7.

  57 Ibid., pp. 187–8.

  58 Ibid.

  59 De Guaras, Accession, p. 95.

  60 CSPS, XI, p. 92.

  Chapter 15: Jana Non Regina

  1 Today a marble slab marks her resting place.

  2 CSPS, XI, p. 107.

  3 Ibid., p. 94.

  4 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 261.

  5 Ibid., p. 263.

  6 CSPS, XI, p. 103.

  7 Robinson (ed.), Original Letters, p. 366.

  8 De Guaras, Accession, p. 95.

  9 The Castle was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was never rebuilt.

  10 Baynard’s Castle was granted to Pembroke in 1551.

  11 Arundel was a Catholic, and though uncle by marriage to Jane, there is no record of him and his family spending any time with Jane and other family members in a similar manner to the Christmas celebrations at Tilty in 1549. This is not to say that they did not spend time together, but Arundel’s children, Jane’s cousins, were also being raised as Catholics, so perhaps the religious differences between them meant that they naturally did not see much of one another. Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 11.

  12 Commendone, Accession, p. 17.

  13 De Guaras, Accession, p. 95.

  14 In an act of desperation, both Katherine and her groom claimed that their marriage had been consummated, but to no avail. The marriage was annulled, and Katherine was returned home.

  15 Jane’s father and the Earl of Pembroke were chosen as godfathers, though neither attended the christening.

  16 From ‘The examination and imprisonment of Edward Underhill’, in A.F. Pollard (ed.), Tudor Tracts (New York, 1964), p. 181.

  17 CSPS, XI, pp. 107–8.

  18 Ibid., p. 105.

  19 Commendone, Accession, p. 20.

  20 P.L. Hughes and J.F. Larkin (eds), Tudor Royal Proclamations (London, 1964), p. 3.

  21 Commendone, Accession, p. 20.

  22 De Guaras, Accession, p.
96; CSPS, XI, p. 108.

  23 Stow, Two London Chronicles, p. 27.

  24 Robinson (ed.), Original Letters, p. 368.

  25 CSPS, XI, p. 96.

  26 De Guaras, Accession, p. 96.

  27 CSPS, XI, p. 108.

  28 Commendone, Accession, p. 20.

  29 Ibid., p. 19. The figure of 1,000 men is a gross exaggeration, and was almost certainly a mistake.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Ibid. According to another contemporary, Henry was threatened with death if he refused to comply.

  32 Ibid.

  33 Cited in Chapman, Lady Jane Grey, p. 146.

  34 Ibid.

  35 Robinson (ed.), Original Letters, p. 367.

  Chapter 16: Shut Up in the Tower

  1 Pollard (ed.), Tudor Tracts, p. 181.

  2 Commendone, Accession, p. 19.

  3 Ibid., p. 21. Commendone relates that Henry was joined in the Tower by several of the lords, who jointly explained that the ladies would have to withdraw.

  4 Ibid.

  5 Ibid. None of the contemporary sources explicitly name Cheyne (sometimes called Cheney); however, on balance of probability, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports he is likely to have been the Lord Warden to whom Commendone referred. Cheyne was a favoured courtier under Henry VIII and Edward VI, but the Imperial ambassador believed that he was against Northumberland’s plan to make Jane queen. Nevertheless, he was among the councillors who had signed the letter to Mary from the Tower declaring Jane to be the rightful queen, but on 19 July he was one of the first to switch his allegiance to Mary. He may have proceeded to the Tower from Baynard’s Castle, there to guard Jane.

  6 Commendone, Accession, p. 21.

  7 CSPS, XI, p. 114.

  8 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 11.

  9 Frances’s daughter Katherine returned to the Charterhouse shortly afterwards.

  10 W. Thornbury, ‘The neighbourhood of the Tower: Introduction’, in Old and New London, II (London, 1878), p. 95. Among those who had been executed on Tower Hill were Thomas More, the five men accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell, and Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.

  11 Though Jane’s parents had been allowed to leave the Tower, giving the appearance that they carelessly abandoned Jane to her fate, in truth they did no such thing. They simply had no other choice, for not only had her mother been ordered to withdraw, but they also no doubt realized that they had more hope of obtaining mercy for both themselves and their daughter if they were at liberty to do so.

  12 Among the graffiti carvings at this time were those of Thomas Abel, Chaplain to Katherine of Aragon, who was later hung, drawn and quartered for his opposition to Henry VIII. Two carvings that spell out the name ‘Jane’ can still be seen in the Beauchamp Tower, and these have been traditionally attributed to Guildford. However, there is no evidence to prove that this was the case, and even if Guildford were responsible, the name is equally likely to refer to his mother, also named Jane. Another carving in the Beauchamp Tower certainly refers to Guildford and his brothers. This is the ornate inscription depicting Guildford and the four brothers who were incarcerated alongside him, and it has been suggested that this may have been the work of a professional carver employed by their father. Equally, it may have been the work of Guildford and/or all or any one of his brothers.

  13 Today, the Lieutenant’s Lodging is called Queen’s House. Dendrochronology has confirmed that the house was built in 1540 and replaced another building that stood on the same site. Prisoners were certainly imprisoned and interrogated there, but there is no evidence that this was the case with Jane. One of the earliest prisoners to be held there was Jane’s second cousin Lady Margaret Douglas, for whom graffiti dated 1566 still survives.

  14 CSPS, XI, p. 109.

  15 The precise identity of these three women has never been definitively proven. Leanda de Lisle has suggested that ‘Ellen’ may have been a misspelling of the surnamed ‘Allen’. This is entirely possible, but it does not bring us any closer to her identity. Similarly, John Stow refers to her as Mistress ‘Helen’. There is no truth in the story that Mistress Ellen was Jane’s nurse. Mistress Tilney was almost certainly the younger sister of Katherine Howard, Elizabeth. The identity of Mistress Jacob is a mystery.

  16 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 265.

  17 De Guaras, Accession, p. 98.

  18 CSPS, XI, p. 112.

  19 De Guaras, Accession, p. 98.

  20 Ibid., p. 99.

  21 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 268.

  22 CSPV, VI (884).

  23 Ibid.

  24 Ibid.

  25 Ibid.

  26 The year in question was 1483, which witnessed the untimely death of Edward IV and the deposition of his son, Edward V, by the Duke of Gloucester, who usurped the throne as Richard III. Edward V and his younger brother became the two Princes in the Tower, and were never seen again.

  27 CSPS, XI, p. 109.

  28 De Guaras, Accession, p. 97.

  29 Foxe, Acts and Monuments, VI, p. 2087.

  30 Stow, Two London Chronicles, p. 28; Sir John Cheke was also arrested and imprisoned in the Tower, but was released in September.

  31 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 10.

  32 Ibid.

  33 Ibid.

  34 Ibid.

  35 Ibid.

  36 De Guaras, Accession, p. 99. Three thousand is almost certainly a huge exaggeration.

  37 CSPS, XI, p. 112.

  38 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 268.

  39 De Guaras, Accession, p. 99.

  40 CSPS, XI, p. 120.

  41 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 268. Sir John Gage had been Constable of the Tower since 1540, but had been suspended in his role for his failure to support Northumberland’s coup. He was married to Philippa Guildford, the younger half-sister of Northumberland’s wife Jane, by their father’s second marriage.

  42 Robert was captured in King’s Lynn, where he had proclaimed Jane queen.

  43 It is improbable that all of the Dudley brothers were imprisoned in the Beauchamp Tower at the same time for the duration of their imprisonment. They appear to have been separated at some point, but whether this was always the case or implemented at a later date is unclear. The carved signature of Robert Dudley can still be seen in the lower chamber of the Beauchamp Tower.

  Chapter 17: Jane of Suffolk Deserved Death

  1 Commendone, Accession, p. 38; Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 13.

  2 Wingfield, Vitae Mariae, p. 271.

  3 CSPS, XI, p. 133.

  4 Commendone, Accession, p. 38; Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 271.

  5 CSPS, XI, p. 168.

  6 According to the Imperial ambassador, Simon Renard, a fine of £20,000 (£4 million) was inflicted on Henry, which was later remitted. Renard, however, is the only source that mentions this, and given the fact that none of the other lords who had supported Jane’s accession were fined, it seems unlikely that Henry was singled out, despite his relationship with Jane.

  7 CSPS, XI, p. 113. The reference to the ‘eight days’ reign’ is an error on the part of the ambassador.

  8 CSPS, XI, p. 125.

  9 Ibid.

  10 Cited in S.J. Gunn, ‘A Letter of Jane, Duchess of Northumberland, in 1553’, English Historical Review, CXIV (1999), pp. 1267–71.

  11 CSPS, XI, p. 150.

  12 Commendone, Accession, p. 24; De Guaras, Accession, p. 100.

  13 Wriothesley, Chronicle, p. 93.

  14 Ibid., p. 94.

  15 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 12.

  16 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 274.

  17 Commendone, Accession, p. 24.

  18 De Guaras, Accession, p. 100.

  19 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 12.

  20 The Catholic Gardiner had held great influence during the reign of Henry VIII, but following the King’s death he opposed the religious changes implemented by Edward VI, leading to his imprisonment. Thomas Howard, 3
rd Duke of Norfolk, was the uncle to both Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. Imprisoned for treason at the end of the reign of Henry VIII and under sentence of death, Norfolk was only saved by the death of the King, which took place in the early hours of the morning that his sentence was due to be carried out. Though saved from death, he remained in the Tower for the entirety of Edward VI’s reign. Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset, had been arrested alongside her husband, the Lord Protector Somerset, in the latter half of 1551. Edward Courtenay had been imprisoned in the Tower since childhood, sent there with his father by Henry VIII. Edward’s father, Henry Courtenay, was executed in 1539 for complicity in the Exeter Conspiracy, and though Edward was not involved, as a great-grandson of Edward IV (his paternal grandmother was Edward’s daughter, Katherine of York) he was considered too dangerous to release. He remained in the Tower until his release in 1553.

  21 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, pp. 271–2.

  22 Ibid., p. 272.

  23 Two similar versions of Jane’s account now survive. This version is cited by Pollini, L’Historia, p. 355.

  24 Pollini, L’Historia, p. 355.

  25 Ibid.

  26 Ibid.

  27 Unsurprisingly, I have been unable to find any evidence that Jane was poisoned. It seems probable, however, that Jane was laying the blame for the illness she experienced following her marriage at the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland’s door.

  28 More than 450 years on, a diagnosis is almost impossible to ascertain with any certainty, but it is perhaps possible that Jane had suffered from some form of alopecia exacerbated by stress, and that she had mistaken this as a sure indication that she had been poisoned.

  29 Pollini, L’Historia, p. 355.

  30 CSPS, XI, p. 168.

  31 Ibid.

  32 Ibid. The example given to Mary was that of the Roman Emperor Theodosius, ‘who caused Maximus and Victor, his son, to be put to death notwithstanding his tender age, because Maximus had arbitrarily attributed to himself the title of Emperor with the intention of transmitting it to his son’. Maximus had usurped the throne of Emperor Gratian, and was later overthrown by Theodosius.

  33 CSPS, XI, p. 169.

  34 CSPS, XI, p. 168.

  35 CSPS, XI, p. 169.

  36 De Guaras, Accession, p. 102.

  37 Ibid.

  38 Wingfield, Vita Mariae, p. 272.

  39 Nichols (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane, p. 14.