The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor (44 page)

PART 1: THE SEEDS OF SCANDAL

Chapter 1: Affection Shall Lead Me to Court…

1.  Wriothesley.

2.  Ibid., p. 64.

3.  
CSP Spanish
, Vol. V, Part 2, p. 43.

4.  Seymour (1972) gives considerable detail about Edward’s early life.

5.  Skelton.

6.  Survey of Wolf Hall from Edward VI’s reign (Locke, p. 5).

7.  Locke (p. 29) and Ward (p. 264). The Seymours had always been country gentry, inheriting Wolf Hall from the Esturmy family. Details of the relationship are in BL Stowe MS 143 f. 29, f. 34, f. 35 and 40.

8.  He is not, sadly, the Sir Thomas Seymour who in 1529 was an alderman of London and elected to Parliament for the capital (J.G. Nichols, 1859, p. 295). This was a distant cousin, Sir Thomas Seymour of Saffron Walden: see
History of Parliament
, Sir Thomas Seymour I, and also
The Aldermen of the City of London Temp. Henry III–1912
(London, 1908: pp. 168–195). This same Sir Thomas later served as mayor of the Staple of Westminster (
L&P
, Vol. V, 1040). It is most likely the elder Sir Thomas who was appointed to commissions for the peace for Essex and Hertfordshire in 1532 (
L&P
, 1694).

9.  
ODNB
, for Sir Thomas Seymour. Also, in Bryan’s letter to Henry of 20 April 1530 he records that his ‘cousin Seymour’ had delivered the king’s letter to him (
L&P
, Vol. V, 202).

10. HMC,
Bath
, 222 and 371.

11. BL Add. MS 46354.

12. BL Sloane MS 1523 f. 36v.

13. 
L&P
, Vol. XIV, Part 2, Appendix 9.

14. Welsh poem composed by Lewys Morgannwg for Lady Troy (quoted in Richardson, p. 3).

15. TNA PROB 11/21/327.

16. Latimer made his will at York on 12 September 1542, suggesting that he was unwell.

17. Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour,
c
. February 1547 (Parr, p. 131).

18. Sir Ralph Sadleir to Cromwell, 14 July 1538 (Maclean, p. 4).

19. Ibid.

20. 
L&P
, Vol. XXI, Part II, 555.

21. Leti (paraphrased in Bernard, p. 212).

22. Although George Constantyne in the late 1540s referred to Henry and other old men as lusty and able to father children (Norton).

23. Verses written by Henry VIII in a volume containing a sermon by St John Chrysostom, belonging to Catherine Parr, between February and July 1543 (Parr, p. 40).

24. Notarial Instrument witnessing the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, 12 July 1543 (Parr, p. 44).

25. Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour,
c
. February 1547 (Parr, p. 131).

26. Ibid.

27. Ibid., p. 48.

28. Notarial Instrument witnessing the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, 12 July 1543 (Ibid., p. 45).

29. John Neville named his eldest daughter (b. 1545/6) ‘Catherine’ after the queen. It was only his second daughter (b. 1548) who received the name of his mother, Dorothy. Margaret Neville’s will contains strong evidence of her affection for Catherine (PROB 11/31/45).

30. Elizabeth to Catherine, 31 July 1544 (Perry, p. 15).

31. Resolution Taken by Henry and His Privy Council, 7 July 1544 (Parr, p. 50).

32. Edward VI,
Diary
, p. 15.

33. Resolution Taken by Henry and His Privy Council, 7 July 1544 (Parr, p. 50).

34. Inventory of Catherine Parr’s personal effects (ibid., p. 625).

35. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 124. Princess Mary declared in 1547 that she had only met Thomas once, suggesting that he had not been a regular visitor to the queen. In a letter to his brother of 14 March 1544, however, Seymour did comment from Westminster that ‘our master and mistress, with My Lord Prince, are merry’, indicating that he had seen Queen Catherine at court (
L&P
, Vol. XIX, Part I, 198).

36. Maclean, p. 8.

37. Thomas Seymour to Henry VIII, 4 July 1542 (ibid., p. 8).

38. Thomas Seymour to Henry VIII, 10 July 1542 (ibid., p. 9).

39. Thomas Seymour to Henry VIII, 8 August 1542 (ibid., p. 10).

40. 
History of Parliament
, for Sir Thomas Seymour.

41. Thomas Seymour to Henry VIII, 16 May 1543 (Maclean, p. 19).

42. Maclean, p. 21

43. 
L&P
, Vol. XII, Part I, 601.

44. Ibid., 602.

45. Loades, p. 9.

46. 
L&P
, Vol. XIX, Part II, 501.

47. Ibid., 502.

48. Ibid., Vol. XII, Part I, 600.

49. Ibid., Vol. XIX, Part II, 502. Loades (p. 96) gives details of the weaponry aboard the ships. The similar sized
Mary Rose
carried 96 guns in 1540, for example, 6 of which were classed as heavy.

50. Thomas Seymour to the Council, 6 November 1544 (Maclean, p. 30).

51. Thomas Seymour to the Council, 12 November 1544 (ibid., p. 31).

52. Ibid.

53. Loades, p. 128.

54. See
L&P
, Vol. XX, Part I, 856, 872, 1144;
L&P
, Vol. XX, Part II, 389, 391, 513;
APC
, Vol. I, pp. 245, 253.

Chapter 2: …Interest Keeps Me There

1.  
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 7.

2.  Burtt.

3.  Somerset to Mary, early in Edward’s Reign (Burnet, pp. 161–2), notes Princess Mary’s doubts over the will. She also voiced these to Van der Delft in conversation.

4.  
Testamenta Vetusta
, Vol. I, p. 38.

5.  
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 101.

6.  
APC
, Vol. I, 2 January 1547.

7.  Earl of Hertford to Sir William Paget, 29 January 1547 (Tytler, p. 16).

8.  
APC
, Vol. I, 9 January 1547.

9.  Ibid., 16 January 1547.

10. Edward wrote regularly in Latin to his stepmother, including on 12 May 1546, 24 May 1546, 10 June 1546, 12 August 1546, 20 September 1546, 7 November 1546 and 10 January 1547 (Parr, pp. 116–25).

11. A silver-gilt inkwell is mentioned in an inventory of Catherine’s possessions taken after her death (Ibid., p. 636)

12. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 2.

13. Hayward and Ward, f. 515r.

14. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 2; Hume, p. 147.

15. BL Sloane MS 1523 f. 29v.

16. Hume, p. 147.

17. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 2.

18. Hume, p. 147.

19. The inventory of items taken after Henry VIII’s death includes two silver and gilt watering cans from the gallery at Westminster (Starkey 1998, f. 83v).

20. Alford, p. 67

21. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 7.

22. Surrey History Centre, LM 1331/1.

23. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 31.

24. Ibid., p. 19

25. Hayward and Ward, f. 510r–510v.

26. Description taken from the Longleat portrait of Hertford, which names him as Earl of Hertford (dating it to 1537–47).

27. TNA E101/424/12 f. 135.

28. Ibid., f. 76.

29. Ibid., f. 74 and f. 76.

30. The fact that Catherine briefly visited Westminster in January can be demonstrated from her accounts for that month, which include a record of milk and cream purchased for her at Westminster (ibid., f. 80). In January, Thomas Beck was paid for arranging the boat ‘for going of the queen’s highness from Greenwich and Westminster going and coming’ (ibid., f. 78).

31. Ibid., f. 69.

32. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 341.

33. Certain Brief Notes (BL Add. MS 48126, f. 6–16, and in Adams
et al.
).

34. 
APC
, Vol. I, 23 January 1547.

35. Ibid., 26 January 1547.

36. 
History of Parliament
, for Sir John Harington II.

37. Hughey (p. 22) and Harington II (
Orlando Furioso
, p. xvi).

38. John Harington’s Examination (S. Haynes, p. 83).

39. BL Sloane MS 1523 f. 34v.

40. Tytler, p. 14.

41. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 4.

42. Colvin, Vol. III, Part I, p. 254.

43. Endorsement to Hertford’s letter to Paget, 29 January 1547 (Tytler, p. 16).

44. Earl of Hertford to Sir William Paget, 29 January 1547 (ibid.)

45. Naunton, p. 172.

46. Perry, p. 24.

47. Colvin, Vol. III, Part I, p. 87.

48. J. Hayward (1840), p. 7.

49. Naunton, p. 172.

50. Colvin, Vol. III, Part I, p. 87.

51. J. Hayward (1630), pp. 4–5.

52. Henry VIII’s personal entreaty to one of his daughters at Elton Hall (Parr, p. 626).

53. William Wightman to Cecil, 10 May 1549 (SP 10/7/33).

54. BL Sloane MS 1523 f. 38v.

55. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 7.

56. Locke, p. 48.

Chapter 3: Adoration Until Death

1.  Leti.

2.  Dent, p. 316, and Nash, p. 2

3.  Leti (from Bernard, p. 213). Leti is a disputable source, since many of the letters that he published have not been found to exist in any archive. However, his very specific detail for the relationship between Seymour and Catherine, and for Seymour’s interest in Elizabeth, does accord with other sources, suggesting it is accurate.

4.  Leti.

5.  HMC,
Salisbury
, Vol. I, p. 220.

6.  Tantalizingly, in a file of heavily damaged letters relating to Catherine Parr (TNA E101/426/3), two letters are signed in this way, including that on f. 23, which is just a fragment of letter with no surviving date. Most of the letters in the file date to the reign of Edward VI, so it is tempting to assign these two to that period. However, Catherine had, of course, served as regent – and signed in this way – in 1545, and some of the letters, such as that on f. 22, date to Henry VIII’s reign.

7.  Duke of Somerset’s Commission to Be Protector (Burnet, Vol. 2, Part II, p. 137).

8.  For details of some of Seymour’s lands, see TNA SC/6/EDWVI/188, TNA SC6/EDWVI/187 and TNA SC6/EDWVI/630.

9.  Loades, p. 77.

10. Ibid., p. 88.

11. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 19.

12. Surrey History Centre, LM 1865.

13. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 31.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid, p. 341.

16. Ibid.

17. ‘A Journal’ (BL Add. MS 48023 f.380-369v), p. 54, and ‘Certain Brief Notes’, p. 124.

18. ‘Certain Brief Notes’, p. 124.

19. ‘A Journal’, p. 55, and ‘Certain Brief Notes’, p. 124: both give the same account.

20. ‘A Journal’, p. 55.

21. ‘Certain Brief Notes’, p. 124.

22. Ibid., p. 123.

23. John Harington’s Confession (in S. Haynes, p. 83).

24. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 89.

25. Ibid., p. 99.

26. Ibid., p. 341.

27. Duke of Somerset to Princess Mary (Burnet, Vol 2, Part II, pp. 161–2).

28. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 101.

29. Ibid., p. 47

30. Maclean, p. 43.

31. Elizabeth’s Dedication to Henry VIII, 30 December 1545 (Perry, p. 20).

32. Articles Against Thomas Seymour (Cobbett
et al.
).

33. Leti.

34. Ibid.

35. Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, 17 May 1547 (Parr, p. 138). The letter ends: ‘from him whom ye have bound to honour, love, and such in all lawful things obey’.

36. Articles Against Thomas Seymour (Cobbett
et al.
).

37. Strype (1822), Vol. II, Part I, p. 197.

38. 
CSP Foreign
, p. 22

39. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 49.

40. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, to Sir William Paget, 5 February 1547 (Tytler, p. 21).

41. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 52.

42. Ibid., p. 7.

43. Surrey History Centre, LM 1865.

44. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 19.

45. Ibid., p. 48.

46. TNA E15/340 f. 21.

47. SP 46/124 f. 24.

48. SP 46/1 f. 16.

49. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 85.

50. Ibid., p. 52.

51. Two entries in Catherine’s accounts make this move to St James’s clear (TNA E15/340 f. 22v). Also, milk and cream were purchased for her use at St James’s in March (TNA E101/424/12 f. 80).

52. Deposition of Katherine Ashley, 4 February 1549 (SP 10/6/57).

53. TNA E15/340 f. 22v.

54. Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour (Parr, p. 130).

55. Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour (ibid., p. 135).

Chapter 4: What We Cannot Remedy

1.  Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour,
c
. mid-February 1547 (Parr, p. 130).

2.  Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, March 1547 (ibid., p. 133).

3.  Ibid.

4.  Hume.

5.  Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, March 1547 (Parr, p. 132).

6.  TNA E15/340 f. 23v.

7.  Ibid.

8.  Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, March 1547 (Parr, p.133).

9.  Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour,
c
. April 1547 (ibid., p. 134).

10. Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, March 1547 (ibid., p. 133).

11. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 83.

12. SP 10/1 f. 120.

13. Raleigh, p. 307.

14. Raleigh’s report notes that the changes had happened in the previous forty years (Raleigh, p. 309).

15. 
CSP Spanish
, Vol. IX, p. 57.

16. Ibid., p. 72.

17. Ibid., p. 88.

18. Ibid., p. 85.

19. Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour,
c
. April 1547 (Parr, p. 134).

20. TNA E101/424/12 f. 12, f. 26.

21. Roger Ascham to Anne Parr Herbert, 1545 (Ascham,
Letters
, p. 75).

22. Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, 17 May 1547 (Parr, p. 137).

23. Ibid.

24. Catherine Parr to Thomas Seymour, late May 1547 (ibid., p. 139).

25. Thomas Seymour to Catherine Parr, late May 1547 (ibid., p. 143).