Had the Queen Lived:

by Raven A. Nuckols

  Were these courses to be successful, they would establish the first mandatory and formal public education system in all of Europe. The idea was both controversial and revolutionary. This program would create a lasting change in English society. The King understood that educating the commons was a matter none of the other European powers had dared to tackle. Friends of the realm viewed it as a clever way to educate the public at large and spread information legitimizing the King and Queen, while enhancing all of society in the process. Critics viewed it as nothing more than indoctrination of reformist principles.

  When word spread of the new program, the public expressed both outrage (from the nobles) and delight (by the commons). The people for the first time would be allowed to truly understand the world in which they lived. Even being able to write one’s own name had long been considered a privilege set aside for the rich. Many commoners felt that they would never acquire enough wealth to be educated and would die ignorant; and the nobility wished to keep them that way. Instead, the crown itself had decreed that a basic education would be provided to every several English man and woman. Anne had managed to alter the course of English society.

  10.3 A Royal Family

  To prepare for his own mortality, Henry ordered that his son’s household be upgraded, and gave him lands previously owned by Lord Rochford, Lord Audley, and Sir Southwell. He also drafted in his own hand the Second Act of Succession of 1547, declaring that Prince Henry be heir to the throne of England and English lands in Ireland, and declaring that the future Prince’s children be immediate heirs to the throne, followed by the Princess Elizabeth’s issue; Elizabeth would herself be monarch if Prince Henry or his heirs had died.

  Although he had less time to frolic and hunt, Henry came to enjoy the responsibilities of running the entire government, which came to him upon having dissolved the position of Chancellor. While his duties became far more demanding and afforded him precious little personal time, he relished the exercise of power. He kept on a clerk to handle most of the writing, but the main decisions in running the kingdom, down to the smallest matters, were solely up to him. He consulted the Privy Council when he felt he needed to, but as he aged he became more confident in his choices. The responsibility also kept his mind fresh as he aged, although he relied more and more heavily on Anne as his principal advisor.

  He had given a great deal of thought to the legacy he would leave behind and spent the free time he did have with his son, hunting, teaching him statecraft, instructing him how to behave at court, and delighting the young man with tales of his own exploits in romance and how to pursue a lady. His son genuinely loved his father and Henry enjoyed being once more the center of attention. Father sparred with son while teaching him combat and Henry lavished the boy with the finest robes that could be found in all of Europe. Prince Henry was a constant delight at court, with the boldness of his father and charm of his mother. The King also spent more time with Elizabeth as well, visiting her household, showing her how to hunt, and often speaking with her in Latin and French. She far exceeded his expectations, not only for a daughter, but as a Princess. He had every confidence she would make an exceptional match to a Prince of Europe. In fact, Henry and Anne would often discuss potential matches for both of their children, without coming to any solid conclusions, at least for the time being.

  While Henry tended to the country’s affairs, Anne maintained a high profile at court. She ran up high expenses from French and Italian tailors for the finest quality fabrics, jewels of magnificent weights and dimensions from the Indies, and all of the accessories she could get her hands on. She would often take Elizabeth with her on shopping excursions and, now that the Princess was heading into puberty, Anne took enormous pride in developing her as a young lady.

  The two were very close; Elizabeth preferred to stay with her mother instead of at her own household most of the time. Besides shopping, the mother-daughter pair also enjoyed long walks in the gardens, dancing, and both shared a fondness for debating religious philosophy. Having Elizabeth in residence brought Anne an enormous amount of joy and kept her calmer. It also helped her to avoid the pitfalls of loneliness that might have resulted from not seeing Henry as much as she had been used to. Without a state minister, his new schedule consisted of rising by five A.M. and retiring to bed shortly before 11 P.M. He would often try to share supper with Anne and Elizabeth when he was able, but most of the time he would miss it.

  Now that the children were getting older and excelling in their studies, Anne brought the Prince to court to stay with the family as a whole. For Queen Anne, Princess Elizabeth, and Prince Henry, 1546 was a period of happiness and comfort. They wanted for nothing, the country was at peace and they were all together. As a mother, Anne was loving and protective. She did not intend, even as a Queen, to be a standoffish mother who sent her children to be raised permanently by a Governess. Even when the children were younger she spent considerable time at their residences or taking them on trips. Henry both admired and grew frustrated at her parenting style. He had expected Anne to be like his own mother. As Queen, certain duties were unbecoming of one’s role, and emotional bonding was not seen as a requirement for royalty. Anne did not grow up as a royal, under such stringent conditions. She had also endured many harsh lessons over the years over having to learn so much on her own, and so she would forge a new model for of royal parenting.

  At Anne’s insistence that they needed to spend some time together away from the formality of court, in summer of 1546, the entire family would go on summer progress to Dudley Castle in the north. The Dudley property had been taken over by Lord Dudley from the Buckingham family in 1537 and had been in continuous renovation since then. The King left Thomas Howard, the 2nd Earl of Surrey in charge as regent in their absence, with extremely limited powers. Surrey was Lord of the Treasury and a trusted cousin of the Boleyn family. To some, the Earl was a highly ambitious man who used lethal methods to retain his standing. To the King and Queen he was nothing more than a trusted friend and loyal adviser.

  As the progress moved through Birmingham en route to Dudley, the Queen greeted the people of the town and gave out alms on Sunday. She performed beautifully, was dressed sumptuously, and clearly wanted it known by all that although she was aging, she was still very much their Queen. Anne had chosen to dress in sumptuous blue velvet with a white damask underlay, threaded on the edges with cloth of gold, and wearing a gold string necklace of pearl and sapphire. The King matched her in his royal sapphire robes and accoutrements. Her almoner, John Skip, preached a sermon to the congregation that day concerning obedience to God and spreading the Lord’s message of good cheer. The positive yet powerful message worked well and afterwards a great banquet was held with dancing by the town folk and a presentation of gifts to their majesties from the people.

  Townspeople from Birmingham and surrounding areas came out to showcase their singing, dancing, juggling and other talents for the couple. In return, Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth performed a brief play for the town and gave out charity to the locals. Their final evening in town, a great bonfire was held and the royal family got to know their subjects even better. The King was incredibly pleased with how the progress turned out. Being with his family lifted Henry’s spirits immensely and, at least for a time, allowed him to forget about the stresses of his office.

  Chapter 11

  The Last Years of Henry VIII

  Most historians agree that the Church of England was initially quite unstable, but Henry would end his reign as a confident monarch firmly in control of both his church and his state. Henry’s early political actions against alleged enemies of the state and forceful suppression of early rebellions like the Pilgrimage of Grace had earned him a reputation for brutality, at least until his debate with Kritchen, but the enactment of the Ten Articles, the publication of the English Bible, and Anne’s education program spread the reforms in an increasingly positive way.


  In truth, the Ten Articles were not radically different from established Catholic doctrine, and certainly did not go as far as many Lutheran reformers hoped. Nevertheless, because the King had become head of the church, Catholics became the equivalent of political enemies. Reformationists in England argued that any opposition to the changing religious doctrine should be counted as treason, and under the Act of Supremacy of 1534, they would be. The crown needed no solid evidence to accuse a person of heresy and treason and the country’s subjects lived in constant fear that any poorly worded statement could be misconstrued as denying the oath. Any papist who wished to deny the reforms had no freedom to do so and speaking such thoughts aloud was sure to result in imprisonment, trial, and execution. Freedom of speech in 16th century England was permitted only for those privileged enough to be close to the crown, or in limited fashion, to the court jester.

  The English legal system of the time was heavily weighted against a defendant. The crown did not permit defendants to be represented by their own counsel; only the crown was allowed a lawyer. Additionally, any speech the accused would make—including confessions made under torture—could be used by the prosecution, or be stricken from trial transcripts entirely if reflecting negatively upon the state. The only religious and political enemies left to dare challenge Henry’s rule publicly were Cardinal Pole, who had fled abroad and was never captured, and passionate Activists such as Reginald Kritchen, who had been humiliated by the King in open debate.

  11.1 Counter Reformation

  Elsewhere in Europe, the flames of reform had been ongoing. The Vatican had begun a “Counter-Reformation” in 1545. At the Council of Trent, beginning that December, the Catholic Church called a Council of Bishops together to more clearly define church doctrine, lay out specific Protestant heresies, and reform the church to bring back followers. This council would meet under several Popes, last over 18 years, and make some highly controversial decisions. Despite the best of intentions, the church failed to prevent the advance of Protestantism, especially in England. The Counter-Reformation came and went without impact on daily life. Only the theological community was interested in its debates, but Henry still headed the English church and no actions would be taken to undo reforms unless at his command; in response to the Council of Trent, he would do nothing.

  Initiatives like the Council of Trent took place because of growing schism in Europe, including open war between Catholic and Protestant. In Germany, a group called the Schmalkladic League formed in the 1530s to further the Protestant reformation. Charles V, as Holy Roman Emperor, nominally ruled the city of Schmalkalden where the league began, but the league repudiated the Catholic Emperor. When the league formed, it had a powerful military, with over 10,000 soldiers. This was enough to catch Charles’ attention.

  Charles turned his focus from constantly preparing for an invasion of England to instead fighting the spread of Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire. Known as the Schmalkaldic War, Charles allied with Papal forces to battle the league. At the Battle of Muhlberg in Saxony, the Spanish and Italian forces succeeded in crushing the Lutheran troops. Spanish forces captured the league’s high-ranking members and forced the remainder to convert back to and abide Catholic tenets of faith. Only two cities were able to hold off the Spanish forces, but with the writing on the wall, those leaders fled to other parts of Europe, mainly to England.

  England welcomed the fleeing reformers, including the highly influential Martin Bucer. Like many reformers, he was influenced by Lutheran ideals and became a staunch advocate for the move towards Protestantism. In a sign of commitment to his reformed beliefs, he had his monastic vows dissolved, cutting his personal ties to the Catholic Church community. He was one of the leaders of the Wittenberg talks that brought together political and religious community leaders and heads of state for open dialogue on reformist principles. In all of Europe at that time, the northern German states were by far the most open and accepting of Luther’s ideals. Bucer united these various German factions of reformists with like-minded reformists in Switzerland, and the Low Countries, proving himself a skilled Activist, diplomat, and scholar.

  Archbishop Cranmer warmly welcomed Bucer upon his arrival in England; Cranmer was an admirer of the German’s work and had sponsored his travel to England. Cranmer enthusiastically sought Bucer’s ideas on how to continue reforms in England. Cranmer and Bucer struck up a great friendship and the Archbishop ensured that his guest was introduced to the best scholarly and theological social circles in London. Shortly after he had arrived, he received the honor of a professorship in Divinity at the University of Cambridge and he dined with the King and Queen, who invited Bucer to join their educational council and help implement changes to their program.

  Anne was asked to help with the preparations for the education program by rebuilding King’s Trinity College at Cambridge. The Queen was successful and the college retained its charter in 1546. The one stipulation of receiving its charter was that the school had to volunteer professors to teach the King’s courses over the period of one year. The college still operates today and houses both undergraduate and graduate students learning a wide variety of subjects.

  Despite mixed emotions about having to leave his homeland Bucer was optimistic at all the progress he saw in England and had hopes for England’s continued reformation. Bucer had every intent of getting the English reformation where it needed to be. Anne had given Lutherans fleeing Europe refuge and permission to stay at Westminster Abbey as long as they needed to. They would be fed, housed, clothed and be provided all the materials they needed. Their repayment for the Queen’s generosity would be to tutor English subjects on the reform plan alongside Tyndale and the others. Henry and Anne would publicly welcome the religious refugees, allowing them sanctuary in England as long as they needed it. This provision of sanctuary to “German heretics” had been one of the factors influencing Reginald Kritchen to condemn the crown, in his early days of protest before his defeat by the King.

  11.2 The Last Papist

  While Henry and Anne pressed on with their reforms, a different sort of reform program would lead to a return by the King’s most vocal opponent. With approximately 100,000 inhabitants, London was the Kingdom’s largest city, and had a booming economy. Unfortunately, most of that economy stemmed from illicit operations. Criminals specializing in providing access to vice earned a healthy profit from their trades and used those funds to bribe court officials to keep silent as to their activities.

  With the King on progress, the Mayor of London appealed to the Earl of Surrey to put an end to these vile practices. He requested additional guards and five hundred pounds to pay informants to find the sources of these operations and shut them down. In return for the crown’s help he promised 10% interest on the 500 pound loan, to be repaid over a period of two years. This was quite a generous sum, considering that average interest rates at that time were far lower, hovering around 4%. Granted, the massive interest would come from intercepting the monies being transferred by the criminals, but the Mayor needed to ensure the crown’s assistance in bringing these people to justice. He also requested that the crown allow pamphlets be put up around the city promising rewards in exchange for information leading to the capture of these criminals. The Earl did not feel comfortable going beyond the bounds of his authority in accepting the loan and repayment terms; he would need to consult Henry directly on the reward campaign. Fortunately it was near September and the King was due to be back by the 18th. The Mayor would not wait for an answer; he began hunting down criminal bosses on his own.

  As word of the crackdown on vice crimes spread, the Lord Mayor would come to have an unwelcome sign of support. Kritchen, after a period in seclusion following his verbal drubbing by the King, had returned to his usual activities. He visited the Mayor personally to commend him on the exceptional job he was doing in ridding the city of such vile persons, and offered his services. The Mayor felt that the a
nxious volunteer was not mentally sound and denied his request. Rejected once again by the state, Kritchen turned to the means of forcing change that he knew worked best.

  As was later determined, around midnight one evening in May 1548, Kritchen waited until the last clerk had left the book repository of a local printing shop. The clerk had, as usual, closed up the shop and extinguished the fire lit lamp before heading home for the night. Kritchen manipulating the lock, broke in, and set fire to the entire depository. The blaze destroyed all copies of Latimer’s lessons, including the Ten Articles and copies of English Bibles for the children being taught under the new program. The fire engulfed the entire building, destroying it in minutes. No witnesses had seen anyone fleeing the building, and the fire was ruled an accident.

  Kritchen came home in the dead of night, waking up his daughter Alice by loudly scrubbing his clothes, which were stained with lamp oil and soot. He had accidentally poured the fuel on his clothes; Alice offered to help only to be yelled at to go back to bed. The following day Kritchen went back into town to see the damage for himself and to purchase new sets of clothes. The problem with arson is that the person who sets the fire often has remnants of the fire particles backfiring on their clothing, along with any remnants of accelerant. If not treated with the right chemicals it smells just as strong as the remains of a burning building cooling. The sales woman assisting him noticed what appeared to be either ashes or soot on his clothing, his anxiety and insistence to get the new clothes quickly and alerted the magistrate. Unfortunately he managed to escape before he could be caught, new clothes and all.