- Queen Mary I to Princess Elizabeth, January 26, 1553 [1554 N.S.]
- Sir Henry Bedingfeld’s Notes Regarding Princess Elizabeth in The Tower.
- Bedingfield’s Remembrances of Princess Elizabeth’s Journey to Woodstock, May 1554.
- Queen Mary I to Henry Bedingfeld, 21 May 1554. Instructions for care of Princess Elizabeth at Woodstock.
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 18th, 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]
[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 xvth 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.
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