The Queen was pleased to see him, soon after, when he
entered her chambers. She was not, however, able to read the letter Feria had
brought from Philip.
Most of Mary’s councilors were present, observed Feria, and
Sir John Mason, a close advisor to the Princess Elizabeth. In an earlier visit prospects
must already have been grim as Feria wrote to Philip to ask permission to visit
the princess at Hatfield which he received. Further visits made him witness to
the activities at Hatfield House where Elizabeth was in residence.
Feria’s most important task, on that first visit, was to arrange for
Elizabeth to be married to an ally of the Spanish Court. This we learn from
Michiel Surian, Venetian ambassador from the Doge, who was with Philip in
Brussells. In the words of Surian’s dispatch to his master in Venice
Now the matter to be treated by him is the marriage of Miladi
Elizabeth, to keep that kingdom in any event in the hands of a person in his
Majesty's confidence.[2]
This was to be
arranged under the utmost secrecy, continues Surian,
because these lords suspect, that were the French to come to
know it, they would easily find means to thwart the project, as the greater
part of England is opposed to the Queen, and most hostile to King Philip and
his dependents, and much inclined towards Miladi Elizabeth, who has always shown
greater liking for the French faction
Mary’s marriage to King Philip was a disaster on just about
every level. Her reign of five years and five months would be too short to
recover from it and it is unlikely that she would have been willing to address
the failure if there had been more time.
As the final few days of Mary lingered out, Feria, back in
London, turned once again to the princess Elizabeth. On the 10 of November he
visited her at the house of an unnamed knight where he found her having dinner
with Lady Clinton and three other female friends. He noticed that she was not so happy to see him as usual. The ladies, she assured him, could understand
only the English language so they could speak freely in any of his other.
Feria had come to remind the princess that Philip had
prevented her from suffering the worst of Mary’s temper in the past and taken
her part with the dying Queen. The King, he reported, hoped their kingdoms
would be allies in light of his support. He assured her that he wished always to
be her friend. During his visits, Feria informed the King, he found Elizabeth “extremely
vain and sharp… much in the manner of her father,” Henry VIII.[3]
He held out little hope for a Catholic reign.
In these last days of Mary’s life, Surian seems to have
returned from Philip’s Court, in Brussells, to serve in London. He is the
source of a fascinating detail.
Many personages of the kingdom, flocked to the house of
Miladi Elizabeth [at Hatfield], the crowd constantly increasing with great frequency.[4]
In the words of Stone, when the end finally came
It is scarcely matter for surprise that Mary's time-serving Council
should have made no long lingering over their mistress's yet warm ashes. The
scene was quickly changed from St. James's to Hatfield, where Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton was the first to acquaint Elizabeth with the news of her
accession.[5]
Like so much of the vituperation by English Protestants that
followed Mary into the grave, the observation is specious. John Nichols is
likely to have given the true interpretation of the actions of the deceased
Queen’s council.
Elizabeth, to prevent an alarm among the partisans of the
Catholic Communion, had prudently retained thirteen of Mary's Privy
Counsellors.[6]
This had to have been agreed upon between the parties before
Mary’s death. The new Queen showed unusual wisdom from the first. Surely, both
Catholic and Protestant counselors were hopeful that the invitation would keep sectarian
violence to a minimum.
Again, arrangements had clearly been made, before Mary’s
death, to announce within hours that all parties at Court and in Parliament knelt
before Elizabeth as their new monarch. As for Elizabeth herself and her
household Nichols provides details:
The Lady Elizabeth was at her seat at Hatfield when Queen
Mary died. Thither some great persons forthwith repaired to her; namely, the
Earl of Pembroke; Lord Clinton, Lord Admiral; the Earl of Arundel, Lord
Chamberlain; which three, with Sir Thomas Parry, Sir William Cecil, Sir Ambrose
Cave, Sir Ralph Sadleir (who was sent from the Lords at London), and Sir
Richard Sackville, sat at Hatfield in Council with her, being the first Privy
Council she held. (Yet the Lords of the deceased Queen's Council sat at
London.) The chief matters then done were, that Sir Thomas Parry, Knight,
aforesaid, who had been a servant much about her, was by her command, and in
her presence, declared the Comptroller of her Household, and sworn of her Privy
Council; Sir Edward Rogers, Knight, her Vice-Chamberlain, and Captain of her
Guard, and one of her Privy Council ; Sir William Cecyl, Knight, her Principal
Secretary, and one of her Privy Council.
*
In the afternoon the bells in all the churches in London rung
in token of joy; and at night bonfires were made, and tables set out in the
streets, where was plentiful eating and drinking, and making merry.[7]
[1] Gonzales, Tomas. Memorias de la
Real Academia de la Historia (1832). VII. 253.
[2] Stone,
J. M. The History of Mary I., Queen of England As Found in the Public
Records... (1901). 463. Citing Ven. Cal., vol. vi., pt. iii., 1274.
[3] Gonzales, 254. “una muger vanísima
y aguda… mucho la manera de proceder del Rey su Padre.”
[4]
Tytler, Patrick Fraser. England Under
the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary (1839). II.
[5] Stone,
470.
[6] Nichols,
John. The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (1823).
29.
[7]
Nichols, 29-30.
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