This and many other long dispatches, however, are dominated
by the ghastly prospect that Mary could wed King Philip of Spain. During the
long years of rejection by her father, Henry VIII, and brother, Edward VI, and her dedication to the Catholic church, far
and away her staunchest ally had been Philip’s father, Charles V, Emperor of
the Holy Roman Empire. For long years he was her shield and the sum of all her
hopes for which reason she would seek to provide an heir to combine both the
kingdoms of England and Spain.
For France, the marriage would be an absolute disaster.
It would be surrounded by an empire that could leave it a poor second on the
continent. All of the Low Lands would be at risk of falling under the rule of
Spain. Together with the gold and silver beginning to pour into Spain from its
possessions in the New World, the wealth and power of Spain would threaten to overwhelm
the natural dominance of the French.
The job of an ambassador was to get a good look behind
the curtain pulled over the affairs of the nation to which he was
assigned. Noailles knew each player and their motivations. In this dispatch he describes a conversation
with an anonymous English gentleman in which young Queen of Scots already features as a popular claimant to an
English throne that still seemed up for grabs to many. Of course, the gentleman
could instead have been a Protestant trying to divert the French king’s support
for Mary — especially given the prospect of the Spanish marriage — by
portraying his daughter-in-law as the rightful and most popular heir to the
throne. This was also a constant use to
which ambassadors were put.
Antoine de Noailles to the King of France.
London, September 22, 1553.
... I must not forget to tell you. Sire, that Madame Elizabeth, after much solicitation, has been compelled to hear the Mass with the Queen, her sister. Nevertheless, everyone believes that she is acting rather from fear of danger and peril from those around her than from real devotion; for, since this, the Queen, in order to keep her under control, has bestowed upon her many favours, thinking that this will greatly serve to the establishment of religion, and the declaration of Parliament in its favour, which will not come to pass, it is easy to believe, without great difficulty. This has been told me by one of those who should help in it, and who has not been afraid to tell me that between this and then there will be a great many placards and other things written, scattered abroad, and published against the intention and wish of this Queen. He tells me, moreover, that he does not love this said lady, being assured that the crown does not belong to her, but most certainly to the Queen of Scotland, your daughter, for whom
he promises to do
many things, both in this kingdom and in Ireland; as before long, I hope. Sire,
to send you word with all particulars, and, in the meantime, I will not forget
to talk with him and several other Englishmen whom he is to present to me, and
who come to confer by a door behind a park, which is very convenient for this
lodging, and secret for such matters. I assure you, Sire, that I am unable to
declare to you the large number of men who are ill-content with what is
happening in this country; some for religion, others because they have not
received the reward which they consider they have deserved; and there is also
the reason that all those who have been in arms against this Queen are
compelled to pay heavy fines, from which she will draw, as I have written to
you, a large sum of money, which she says she wishes to employ for the
improvement of the currency.
Source: The Girlhood of Queen Elizabeth (1909), 83-4, citing Ambassades: de Messieurs de
Noailles en Angleterre (1763). II.155-164@160.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Gossip as History: The Murder of Amy Robsart. February 17, 2020. "The first sudden death Leicester was rumored to have caused was that of his wife, Amy Robsart, in 1560. In that year, it was still not clear whether the Queen would marry. But certainly not her beloved Leicester if he were married."
- Who Saved Southampton from the Ax? September 2, 2019. “One of the popular mysteries of the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I is why the Queen executed her favorite, the Earl of Essex, for treason, and left his accomplice, the Earl of Southampton, to languish as a prisoner in The Tower until King James I ascended the throne.”
- Lady Southwell on the Final Days of Queen Elizabeth I. March 24, 2019. “her majesty told [Lady Scrope] (commanding her to conceal the same ) that she saw, one night, in her bed, her body exceeding lean, and fearful in a light of fire.”
- , that cam yn with King Henry the vii., the Castelle of Hengham was yn much ruine,…”
- Shakespeare on Gravity. August 26, 2018. “So carelessly does Shakespeare throw out such an extraordinary divination. His achievement in thus, as it were, rivalling Newton may seem in a certain sense even more extraordinary than Goethe's botanical and osteological discoveries;…”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
No comments:
Post a Comment