Queen Mary I to Princess Elizabeth, January 26, 1553 [1554 N.S.]

From the 19^th of July, 1553, when Mary’s allies among the nobility declared her Queen of England at the Cross at Paul’s, she proceeded full speed ahead at transforming the country to match her alliances and personality.  Her first attempts to force a return to the Catholic mass, however, and her negotiations to reward her closest ally, Charles, the Holy Roman Emperor, by marrying his son, were so bereft of tact that there could only be unrest as the result.

She had to be dissuaded from ordering her brother Edward’s funeral be celebrated after the Catholic rite. It is said that she finally relented when Charles himself wrote to suggest that it was inappropriate to bury him as a Catholic who had never repented his heresy while living.

While the countryside welcomed the return to the mass, London was determined to prevent it within its boundaries. Attempts to celebrate the mass within the city were met with violence. An undaunted attempt at St. Paul’s Cross, on August 13, in which the city was chastised for having adopted the heretical religion of Protestantism erupted in a riot.

Even monarchs had to be careful of the opinion of the citizens of London. They depended upon the city in vital ways for their power. On the 18^th, Mary issued a proclamation with a notably vague statement intended to quiet the Protestants’ fears:

she doth signify unto all her Majesty's loving subjects, that of her most gracious disposition and clemency, her Highness mindeth not to compel any her said subjects thereunto, unto such time as further order, by common assent may be taken therein[1]

She would follow this up by sending a bill to her first Parliament abrogating “all laws concerning religion that had been passed during the two preceding reigns”.[2] Foremost among the laws was Henry’s Bill of Divorce from her mother, Catherine. Included was Mary’s express restoration as his legitimate child and heir.

As preparations for Mary’s October 1 coronation were underway negotiations were also underway to come to a marriage agreement with King Philip of Spain. This was Charles first payment for his years of support. The blow to the interest of his enemies the French would be enormous. Those who knew of the negotiations, regardless of their rank in English society were so deeply opposed to being ruled by a foreign king that the reaction was deeply negative even among the Catholics in the realm.

Princess Elizabeth was also summoned to the Royal Court to declare her submission to Mary as Queen. Her resistance toward converting to the Catholic faith had to be overcome. The Princess was highly popular with the English Protestants. Her conversion would count for a great deal. Being constantly in the company of the Queen and her officers, combined with the implication that failure to convert would be received as tantamount to treason, extorted attendance at mass in the Royal chapel and what could be interpreted as a conversion.  That accomplished, Elizabeth was directed to return to her private life at her estate in Ashridge.

The outrage and desperation in the face of a Spanish king on the English throne was deepened further by a December 15 proclamation establishing the Catholic Church as the religion of the country.[3] In early January 1553 [1554 N.S.], the final contract for marriage to Philip was agreed between the parties. At the same time plans were underway in the councils among numerous Protestant noblemen for a military rebellion and to free Lady Jane Grey from her confinement in The Tower and revive her brief Protestant monarchy.

One of the rebels having been inveigled into revealing the plot, Thomas Wyatt, the leader of the rebellion that now bears his name, ordered the operation to begin prematurely. At the same time, he sent a letter to Elizabeth advising her to move her household away from the danger to Donnington Castle. Elizabeth received the following letter forthwith.

Right dear and entirely beloved Sister, We greet you well: And where certain evil-disposed persons minding more the satisfaction of their own malicious and seditious minds, than their duty of allegiance towards us, have of late foully spread divers lewd and untrue rumours; and by that means and other devilish practices, do travail to induce our good and loving subjects to an unnatural rebellion against God, us and the tranquillity of our realm, we tendering the surety of your person, which might chance to be in some peril, if any sudden tumult should arise, where you now be, or about Donnington, whither, as we understand, you are minded shortly to remove, do therefore think expedient, you should put yourself in good readiness, with all convenient speed, to make your repair hither to us. Which we pray you, fail not to do; assuring you, that as you may most surely remain here, so shall you be most heartily welcome to us. And of your mind herein we pray you to return answer by this messenger. And thus we pray God to have you in his holy keeping.

Given under our signet, at our manor of St. James's, the

26 Jan. in the first year of our reign.

Your loving sister

Marye the Queen.[4]

 

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[1] Stone, J. M. The History of Mary I,… as found in the Public Records (1901). 239.

[2] Ibid. 257.

[3] Nichols, J. G. Chronicle of Queen Jane And Two Years of Queen Mary (1850 ). 33. “Note, the xv^th of December, 1553, the proclamacion for the stablyshing again of the masse was proclaymed.”

[4] Stone, 277-8. Citing Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii., part i., p. 126.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• Excerpts from Letters about the Origin of the 1563 Plague. January 17, 2021.  “on the progress of the conflict between Queen Elizabeth I’s forces and those of the French Regent, the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici.”
• A Thousand Years of English Terms.  June 2, 2019.  ‘One person did not say to another, “Meet you at three o’clock”.    There was no clock to be o’.  But the church bell rang the hour of Nones and you arranged to meet “upon the Nones bell”.’
• A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603.  April 28, 2019.  “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• 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.