Mary Tudor (52 page)
Authors: Linda Porter
Renard, always wanting to depict himself as firmly in the lead, was still greatly relieved to be able to work with someone of Paget’s ability, who knew how matters could be taken forward effectively.The ambassador had made it clear to the bishop of Arras exactly what he thought of Mary as a ruler, belittling her judgement and intimating that she would be lucky to survive many months. She was, he wrote,‘easily influenced, inexpert in worldly matters and a novice all round … To tell you between ourselves what I think of her, I believe that if God does not preserve her she will be deceived and lost, either by the machinations of the French, the conspiracies of the English, by poison or otherwise.’
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But this patronising assessment he concealed from the queen herself. It has always been thought that she was entirely in thrall to his undoubted energy, seeing him as the visible link with her cousin and bowing to his every whim. But Mary was more hard-headed than he realised. She knew how to press him for information and she told him what she wanted him to hear. And now she could talk things through with her minister before she gave audience to Renard.The ambassador was aware of this but assumed that she was merely Paget’s mouthpiece, a woman who could not think for herself in matters of state. It reassured him that the marriage discussions could now proceed on a man-to-man basis. Paget, who had sat in council meetings with the queen, knew differently. Mary possessed a very strong mind of her own. She would want things done thoroughly and through the proper channels.There was never any question of her sacrificing her power or handing over her realm to become a Habsburg satellite. Mary, who did not much care for Paget as a person, appreciated his skill. She was willing to hand over the detail of negotiation to him now that she had a formal offer to consider and his expertise at her disposal.
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But this patronising assessment he concealed from the queen herself. It has always been thought that she was entirely in thrall to his undoubted energy, seeing him as the visible link with her cousin and bowing to his every whim. But Mary was more hard-headed than he realised. She knew how to press him for information and she told him what she wanted him to hear. And now she could talk things through with her minister before she gave audience to Renard.The ambassador was aware of this but assumed that she was merely Paget’s mouthpiece, a woman who could not think for herself in matters of state. It reassured him that the marriage discussions could now proceed on a man-to-man basis. Paget, who had sat in council meetings with the queen, knew differently. Mary possessed a very strong mind of her own. She would want things done thoroughly and through the proper channels.There was never any question of her sacrificing her power or handing over her realm to become a Habsburg satellite. Mary, who did not much care for Paget as a person, appreciated his skill. She was willing to hand over the detail of negotiation to him now that she had a formal offer to consider and his expertise at her disposal.
Paget decided to take a decisive role almost as soon as the decorations from the coronation were removed from London’s streets.There was too much to be risked by waiting longer. There were great burdens resting on the queen, but the country was not in a good condition, he divulged to Renard.The succession was a tricky area that could not be left up in the air because of lack of a true heir in the direct line, and ‘the stain of bastardy on the Lady Elizabeth’ could not be overlooked.There was no alternative for Mary but to marry. ‘So as to restore the succession and continue the line, they [the council] considered it necessary for the good of the kingdom that the queen should enter into an alliance and marry, and the sooner the better because of the state of her affairs and her years.’
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What was urgently needed was for the emperor to write to Mary in the same vein, and a week later the emperor followed Paget’s advice, using almost identical wording. ‘The sooner you make up your mind the better,’ he told her, ‘for many reasons.’ The same day he thanked the Englishman in a separate letter, for his devotion to Mary, to England and to Charles himself. He was careful to add a sweetener at the end, assuring Paget ‘we will show recognition of your goodwill and devotion as occasion shall offer’.
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This does not mean that Paget acted only out of the desire for reward; like most politicians of the period, he probably expected no more. His main aim was to move things forward for the benefit of England. If he succeeded, then, of course, it would enhance his political stature. First and last, he was a servant of the Crown.
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What was urgently needed was for the emperor to write to Mary in the same vein, and a week later the emperor followed Paget’s advice, using almost identical wording. ‘The sooner you make up your mind the better,’ he told her, ‘for many reasons.’ The same day he thanked the Englishman in a separate letter, for his devotion to Mary, to England and to Charles himself. He was careful to add a sweetener at the end, assuring Paget ‘we will show recognition of your goodwill and devotion as occasion shall offer’.
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This does not mean that Paget acted only out of the desire for reward; like most politicians of the period, he probably expected no more. His main aim was to move things forward for the benefit of England. If he succeeded, then, of course, it would enhance his political stature. First and last, he was a servant of the Crown.
Less than two weeks after the coronation, Mary received the offer for which she had been waiting. She was fully ready with questions and comments when, on 10 October, the ambassador knelt before her and offered the hand of his highness Prince Philip in marriage.This was by no means the first time the emperor’s son had been mentioned and Mary had dealt very cleverly with Renard in the past by telling him that she knew Philip was already promised elsewhere. ‘She said straight out that his highness was married to the princess of Portugal, daughter of the queen dowager of France.’
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Caught on the back foot at that time, Renard told her that he did not think the marriage was concluded. Now, he could assure her that Charles V wanted her, not Dona Maria, as Philip’s wife. Ever conscious of the place he occupied in Mary’s affections, the emperor offered Philip as a substitute for himself: Renard told her that he was commanded to say that, ‘if age and health had permitted, you would have desired no other match, but as years and infirmity rendered your person a poor thing to be offered to her, you could think of no one dearer to you or better suited than my lord the prince, your son, who was of middle age, of distinguished qualities and of honourable and Catholic upbringing’. But, of course, the decision was entirely Mary’s—Charles had ‘no private object in this’.
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Caught on the back foot at that time, Renard told her that he did not think the marriage was concluded. Now, he could assure her that Charles V wanted her, not Dona Maria, as Philip’s wife. Ever conscious of the place he occupied in Mary’s affections, the emperor offered Philip as a substitute for himself: Renard told her that he was commanded to say that, ‘if age and health had permitted, you would have desired no other match, but as years and infirmity rendered your person a poor thing to be offered to her, you could think of no one dearer to you or better suited than my lord the prince, your son, who was of middle age, of distinguished qualities and of honourable and Catholic upbringing’. But, of course, the decision was entirely Mary’s—Charles had ‘no private object in this’.
She responded graciously, saying it was a ‘greater match than she deserved’. If she was thrilled, however, she kept herself well in check, beginning immediately to address the wider implications. There were difficulties that must be faced and she sounded more lukewarm than elated. She could not say whether the people of England or her councillors would be supportive. Was it realistic to suppose that Philip, the heir to ‘many realms and provinces’, would come to live in England, as her countrymen would expect? An absentee consort was not acceptable. And she did not know the young man at all, though she had heard that ‘he was not as wise as your majesty and was very young, being only twenty-six years of age’. There were aspects of the relationship that needed to be made clear from the start: ‘If he were disposed to be amorous, such was not her desire, for she was of the age your majesty knew of and had never harboured thoughts of love.’ She would pledge herself to be a good wife and ‘love and obey him to whom she had given herself’, as God’s law required, but secular aspects of the marriage were a different consideration. The limits of her husband’s role were made clear from the outset.‘If he wished to encroach in the government of the kingdom she would be unable to permit it, nor if he attempted to fill posts and offices with strangers, for the country itself would never stand such interference. It was difficult, indeed almost impossible, for her to make up her mind so quickly and without the assistance of some of her council, for the step was of great importance, and for all her life.’Almost as an afterthought, she added defiantly that ‘she was as free as on the day of her birth, and had never taken a fancy to anyone’. The best way to handle the proposal, she concluded, would be for the emperor to write directly to half a dozen or so of her councillors, whom she named, and she would then sound out their response.
Paget had already discussed the need to smooth things by adopting this course, so Renard was not surprised by it. He dealt with each of the other objections raised by Mary briskly.The people of England and the council would surely be aware of the benefits to the realm of such a marriage, promising as it did ‘peace, repose, prosperity and liberty’. Councillors would not oppose if the matter were raised with them appropriately and, anyhow,‘means should be contrived to bring them to a favourable view’.They surely could not be blind to the advantages of Philip ‘because he was a prince so puissant that the kingdom would be able to look to him for succour and aid, and vassals for advancement out of his own patrimony, not England’s’. And as for his being an absentee, he would have ‘no dearer wish than to stay with her’.
He then catalogued the prince’s virtues in the most glowing of terms: ‘His highness’ nature was so admirable, so virtuous, prudent and modest as to appear too wonderful to be human, and though the queen might believe me to be speaking the language of a subject or servant I was in reality minimising his qualities.’ A husband of 50 was a totally unrealistic option. He would be too old to have children and, besides,‘men grew old at fifty or sixty, which age very few passed’. Experience had matured the prince; indeed, it had aged him:‘His highness had already been married, had a son of eight and was a prince of so stable and settled a character that he was no longer young, for nowadays a man nearly thirty was considered as old as men formerly were at forty.’ Renard did not enlarge on what had happened to mid-16th-century European males to bring about this effect, which many might have found unfortunate rather than encouraging. He managed to refrain from any further extrapolation about what the world thought of ladies who were close to 40 in age. Mary listened but made no comment. She reiterated her conviction that the council must be involved and she reassured him, in response to his repeated warnings about the intentions of her enemies,‘the heretics and schismatics, the rebels and partisans of the late Duke of Northumberland, the French and Scots, and the Lady Elizabeth’, that she was better informed than even he was, because she had her own channels of information:‘She well knew what the French were doing and saying, and put no trust in their words … but they should not approach Courtenay or Elizabeth without her knowledge, for Courtenay’s mother had promised to inform her.’ Renard remained unconvinced by this, telling Mary ‘she had better not believe all that was said to her’.
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But he knew he could go no further without the letters for her councillors that the queen required.
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But he knew he could go no further without the letters for her councillors that the queen required.
The next three weeks must have seemed very slow to the imperial ambassador.The queen asked for a memo in writing from him, covering the main points of their meeting. She was still unconvinced that Philip was not pre-contracted to his Portuguese cousin. Then she requested draft marriage articles that she could discuss with the council. The ambassador could oblige with assurances of the former but not the latter, and Charles V baulked at being required at very short notice to produce the terms of a treaty for a marriage that neither Mary nor her council had yet accepted. But he did provide letters for individual councillors in which he explained that he was proposing Philip as Mary’s husband. Renard was, though, reluctant to present them until his three colleagues, who were being very slow to depart, actually left England. As Scheyfve did not go till 27 October, his hands were tied until he was finally left alone.
Mary herself did not reach a decision until the very end of the month, and in between she had been put under further pressure by all and sundry to consider alternatives to Philip. Even Anne of Cleves intervened, favouring the other Habsburg wing, in the person of Archduke Ferdinand. But the greatest pressure came from her household staff and the Lord Chancellor. Gardiner, Rochester, Englefield and Waldegrave would not easily abandon the idea of an English marriage. Conscious that the initiative was passing from them, they made a determined attempt to state the case for Courtenay.The bishop was forthright, as he had always been. ‘The country never would abide a foreigner, Courtenay was the only possible match for her.’ Englefield also did not mince words, saying ‘that his highness had a kingdom of his own he would not wish to leave to come to England and that his own subjects spoke ill of him’.Waldegrave kept up the attack by invoking the spectre of war with France, if Mary wedded Philip.
Faced with this onslaught, Mary held her ground and, apparently, kept her temper. She ‘begged them all to lay aside private considerations [a shrewd dig] and think of the present condition of affairs, the French plottings, the marriage of the French dauphin with the queen of Scotland, what benefit the country could look for were she to marry Courtenay, and what profit might accrue to it if she chose a foreigner’.
And there the matter rested, for the time being, but Mary felt sure they would try again. When she related all this to Renard, he reassured her that he had the letters for the council that she wanted. But why was she so deferent to her council, who were urging her ‘to marry a vassal for whom she had no liking’? Mary was piqued. ‘She retorted that they had no authority in matters that touched her so nearly.’ Yet she still insisted, as she inched her way to a decision, that a core of councillors more favourably disposed to a foreign marriage meet with Renard on 27 October so that they could be informed personally of what Charles V was proposing. The emotional toll on her was, by this time, rising alarmingly. ‘She had wept over two hours that very day, praying God to inspire her in her decision.’ There was more to be told, about what she had said to Courtenay on this topic, but ‘she could not say more without bursting into tears’. As Gardiner, Paget, Arundel and Secretary Petre awaited her, she found the strength to pull herself together. She commanded them to give close attention to Renard and left him to put the case for Philip of Spain. But she had already intimated to the ambassador that her mind was made up for the emperor’s son.
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