Six Wives (27 page)
Authors: David Starkey
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Mary was christened in the Church of the Observant Friars at Greenwich on 20 February 1516 in a magnificent ceremonial which, inevitably, had been prepared for the expected prince. The canopy over her was borne by four knights. They included Sir Thomas Parr, father of Catherine, and Sir Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne. The godparents were the King's minister, Thomas Wolsey, who had been made Cardinal in 1515, Mary's great-aunt, Catherine Plantagenet, daughter of King Edward IV and widow of the Earl of Devon, and the Duchess of Norfolk. At her confirmation, which, according to the usual royal practice, followed immediately after the christening, Margaret Pole acted as her godmother.
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Catherine clearly had a hand in all this. Both Parr and Boleyn had wives who were ladies-in-waiting to Catherine, while Margaret Pole was Catherine's friend from the old days at Ludlow, during her first marriage to Prince Arthur. In 1513, Henry, probably prompted by Catherine as much as by his own conscience, had restored Margaret in blood and status by creating her Countess of Salisbury. But the restoration was incomplete: she was given the lands of the earldom of Salisbury but not the far greater inheritance of the earldom of Warwick, to which she was also heiress.
After the christening and confirmation, Mary, preceded by her godparents' gifts, was carried back in triumph to the Queen's Chamber and presented to Catherine. Then the baby was handed over to the staff of the nursery. Once again, its leading members seem to have been handpicked by Catherine. The wet-nurse, who was critical to the child's immediate survival, was Catherine Pole. Her husband, Leonard, was another member of Lady Salisbury's family. The Lady Mistress, Lady Bryan, had also been one of Catherine's ladies. Under Margaret Bryan was the usual nursery staff of four rockers, who took it in turns to rock the royal cradle, and a laundress, who was needed to wash the large amounts of linen which even the best-behaved royal babies soil. The little establishment was completed by a gentlewoman and a chaplain.
But Lady Bryan's appointment also shows that Henry took a strong interest in the arrangements for his daughter. 'When the Lady Mary was born,' Lady Bryan recollected, 'it pleased the King's Grace to appoint me Lady Mistress; and [he also] made me a Baroness.' Lady Bryan was writing many years later. But her memory is confirmed by the fact that Wolsey, Henry's
alter ego
, personally signed the letters patent which authorised the payment of her wages.
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alter ego
, personally signed the letters patent which authorised the payment of her wages.
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* * *
For the first few years of Mary's life, Catherine kept her daughter close to her at Court. Mary's name appears in all the household lists of the period and her expenses and the wages of her servants were paid on an
ad hoc
basis by the Treasurer of the Chamber, who was the principal paymaster of the Court. In the larger palaces, she had her own 'Chamber', or set of rooms, which formed part of the Queen's much larger suite. The Princess herself had two rooms: an inner one, where she slept in her everyday cradle, and an outer one, where she received visitors in infant state in her great 'cradle of estate', with its canopy, royal arms and quilt of ermine. Lady Bryan had a room, and the laundress another where she both worked and slept. Finally, there was probably a dormitory chamber for the lesser female servants, and slightly better accommodation for Mary's chaplain.
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ad hoc
basis by the Treasurer of the Chamber, who was the principal paymaster of the Court. In the larger palaces, she had her own 'Chamber', or set of rooms, which formed part of the Queen's much larger suite. The Princess herself had two rooms: an inner one, where she slept in her everyday cradle, and an outer one, where she received visitors in infant state in her great 'cradle of estate', with its canopy, royal arms and quilt of ermine. Lady Bryan had a room, and the laundress another where she both worked and slept. Finally, there was probably a dormitory chamber for the lesser female servants, and slightly better accommodation for Mary's chaplain.
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Finding room for so many was impossible in all but the largest palaces. And the problem got worse as male servants, in considerable numbers, were added to the original female nursery staff. The Princess had twenty-two menservants by 1519 and thirty-one a year later. So Mary and her Household had to move out, to an adjacent manor-house. This is what happened during the Christmas season of 1517–8. Catherine and Henry were spending the holidays at Windsor, while Mary was lodged at nearby Ditton Park. Ditton Park is only a couple of miles from Windsor. But it lies on the north bank of the Thames while Windsor Castle is on the south. Fortunately, there was a convenient river-crossing at Datchet ferry, and Mary and her servants were ferried over on two separate occasions.
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One such journey from Ditton to the Castle almost certainly took place on 1 January 1518. For then Mary, aged one year and eleven months, participated in her first recorded ceremony and received the customary New Year's gifts. Her godfather, Cardinal Wolsey, sent her a gold cup by one of his servants; her godmother, the Countess of Devonshire, sent a gold spoon and the Duchess of Norfolk, her other godmother, a primer, from which no doubt Mary was soon expected to learn to read. The servants who delivered the presents each got a reward or tip, strictly graduated according to the rank of their master or mistress. Tips to Henry's and Catherine's servants are not recorded, however, which must mean that Mary's father and mother gave their gifts to their baby in person – probably in the Queen's Presence Chamber in the Castle.
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The problems of accommodation were particularly acute during the summer. This was the time of the Progress, when the King and Queen wandered from house to house, hunting in the parks as they went. Often, the houses they stayed in were little better than hunting lodges, and Henry and Catherine could scarcely accommodate their own, much reduced, travelling Household, let alone that of Mary. The summer was also the time of the plague, when disease struck apparently at random. Henry, rightly, was terrified of infection and maintained a policy of strict quarantine. On Sunday, 18 July 1518, Pace reported to Wolsey from The More (now Moor Park near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire) that Henry had just learned that one of the Princess's servants had fallen 'sick of a hot ague'. He had recovered but Henry decided to take precautions and Wolsey was ordered to prepare 'such gists [list of stopping places] as shall be most for the King's surety and my Lady's'.
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The effect was that Mary spent the rest of July following in her parents' footsteps. She was brought forthwith to Bisham Abbey, Berkshire, which the King and Queen had left on the Saturday, and she stayed there till the following Tuesday. That Tuesday was also Henry and Catherine's removing day from The More, which they vacated for Enfield. This left a few hours to clean and tidy The More, before Mary's arrival there, which was planned for the Wednesday. The arrangement, which required considerable logistical skills to organise, nicely squared the circle. It kept Mary close to the Court. It avoided the mingling of the two Households, with the risk of cross-infection. And it gave Catherine ample opportunity to see Mary whenever she chose. The Queen and Princess were never more than fifteen miles apart and often less. And Catherine was still a good horsewoman. 'The Queen', Pace reported on the 18th, 'intendeth to hunt tomorrow four miles hence in a little park of Sir John Peachy's.' Sometimes, no doubt, her quarry included her daughter.
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At the end of the following year, 1519, Wolsey, acting in Henry's name, carried out a general reform of the royal government and Household. Mary's little establishment received attention as well. It was assigned a fixed income of £1,100 a year from the Treasurer of the Chamber (the same amount, incidentally, on which Catherine herself had so conspicuously failed to make do as Princess-Dowager a decade and a half previously). And responsible head-officers were appointed. It had now become the fully-fledged, independent household appropriate to Mary's status as Princess-Inheritrix of England.
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More importantly, from Mary's point of view, there was also a change of Lady Mistress at about the same time. Lady Bryan was a highly competent manager of the nursery (and went on to perform this role for all Henry's other children). But, good though she was with babies, it seems to have been felt that she lacked the status and perhaps the talents to supervise the education of the rapidly developing little Princess. Her replacement was Lady Salisbury. It seems an ideal appointment. The Countess was Catherine's confidante and she was royal, religious and virtuous.
She was also seriously interested in learning. One of Margaret Salisbury's own sons, Reginald Pole, the future Cardinal, was the most scholarly and most pious English aristocrat of his generation. And while she was Mary's governess, the Countess commissioned a translation of Erasmus's 'sermon',
De immensa dei misericordia
(On the Boundless Mercy of God). The translation, published in 1526, was dedicated to the Countess as one who bore 'great mind and deep affection toward all manner of learning, and especially toward that which either exciteth or teacheth virtue and goodness and concerneth the way of our salvation'. She was certainly in post with Mary by early 1520. But the actual date of her appointment may go back much earlier, to the beginning of 1518 when a royal messenger was sent to Birling to 'my Lady Mistress'. Birling in Kent was the house of Lord Abergavenny, who was a close friend and family connexion of Lady Salisbury's. It would have been a natural place for her to have spent Christmas before taking up her duties at Court.
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De immensa dei misericordia
(On the Boundless Mercy of God). The translation, published in 1526, was dedicated to the Countess as one who bore 'great mind and deep affection toward all manner of learning, and especially toward that which either exciteth or teacheth virtue and goodness and concerneth the way of our salvation'. She was certainly in post with Mary by early 1520. But the actual date of her appointment may go back much earlier, to the beginning of 1518 when a royal messenger was sent to Birling to 'my Lady Mistress'. Birling in Kent was the house of Lord Abergavenny, who was a close friend and family connexion of Lady Salisbury's. It would have been a natural place for her to have spent Christmas before taking up her duties at Court.
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Lady Salisbury proved a great success. Lady Bryan's memory was effaced and Mary became devoted to her new governess, regarding her 'as her second mother'. Henry, on the other hand, was more doubtful of her influence on his daughter. Was it because Margaret Salisbury was too close to Catherine?
The results of the Countess's care were clear in 1520 when Mary carried off her first State visit. A party of French gentlemen had come to England to see the sights. These now included the King's talented daughter, who was then in residence at Richmond. The gentlemen were rowed there on the afternoon of 30 June, with the benefit of a following tide. They were received in the Presence Chamber by Mary, who was attended by her governess, Lady Salisbury, her godmother, the Duchess of Norfolk, and a galaxy of other noble ladies. Mary was on her best behaviour. She welcomed her visitors 'with most goodly countenance, proper communication, and pleasant pastime in playing at the virginals, that they greatly marvelled and rejoiced at the same, her young and tender age considered'. Her parents were delighted: her father with her musicality, her mother with her deportment and linguistic skill.
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But the new arrangements for Mary's Household had little immediate impact on her movements. In part, this may have been because Lady Salisbury fell under a cloud. Her daughter Ursula had married Henry, Lord Stafford, the son and heir of the mighty Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham had sought and received the King's blessing for the match. Even so, it represented a potential danger. Both the Staffords and the Poles had a royal descent and a possible claim to the throne. Now the two claims were fused. Buckingham made matters worse by his ostentatious dislike of Wolsey, his quarrels with Compton, the King's favourite, and, above all, his loose talk about the succession.
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Henry was nervous about this, as well he might be with only Mary as his heir. In the spring of 1521, the King and Wolsey decided to nip matters in the bud.
Catherine and Henry had spent Christmas at Greenwich. They celebrated Candlemas, as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin was known, there as well on 2 February. Mary was with them and her offering at the altar in the Chapel Royal was made by Mountjoy, Catherine's Chamberlain. Then, in the middle of the month the King and Queen journeyed north. They travelled together to Enfield, after which they separated. Catherine, who had not quite abandoned hope of another child, continued on pilgrimage to Walsingham 'to fulfil a vow'. But Henry turned east to his recently rebuilt palace of Beaulieu or New Hall near Chelmsford. Here he spent the next month alone and worrying: about epidemic disease, about his own state of health, and about Buckingham.
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By the time Catherine rejoined him at Beaulieu in mid-March, the die was cast. She had many ties of friendship with the women of Buckingham's family and she had always got on well with the Duke personally. But even if she had wished to intervene, it was too late.
Buckingham was summoned to London at the beginning of April and shadowed en route by the royal guards. On 16 April he arrived and was sent to the Tower. That same day, Henry was at Greenwich, personally interrogating the witnesses against Buckingham. He quickly decided that their evidence was sufficient and that the Duke would be found guilty. Buckingham was tried on 13 May, condemned and executed four days later; his son-in-law Abergavenny was stripped of his offices and subject to penal fines and the Poles were expelled from the Court.
The treatment of the Countess of Salisbury herself was 'under discussion', as Pace cryptically noted in Latin, 'because of her nobility and goodness'. But one thing was certain: in the circumstances, she could not remain in charge of the heir to the throne.
The quest for a replacement occupied much of the rest of the year. Henry's first thought was to turn to the Dowager Countess of Oxford. But, as expected, she refused on grounds of ill health. Henry's second choice was the husband-and-wife appointment of Sir Philip and Lady Calthorpe: Lady Calthorpe to be Lady Mistress and her husband Mary's Chamberlain. This was first mooted in late July. But it took until October to sort out their fee (£40 a year) and the formalities of appointment.
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Henry had originally emphasised the urgency of the need to find a solution to Mary's care: he 'intendeth within brief time to depart hence [from Windsor] to Easthampstead, and to pass his time near hereabouts, in such places as he shall have no convenient lodging for my Lady Princess'. In fact, he remained at Windsor, with only shortish visits to Woking and Guildford, until mid-November. And Mary remained with him, staying either in the Castle itself or at Ditton Park. 'The King, Queen and Princess continue at Windsor,' Lord Darcy's Court agent informed him on 12 October. And when Henry and Catherine moved on 21 November, the Princess followed them and 'was [still] with the King at Richmond'. Not till 2 December 1521 did Mary and her parents go their separate ways. The King and Queen left to spend Christmas at Greenwich; Mary was taken from Richmond to her old abode at Ditton Park, giving alms on the way. And there she had her first Christmas in her own house, complete with a decorated boar's head and a lord of misrule. This year, too, for the first time, her father's New Year's gift, of a silver cup filled with money, was sent by a servant. But Catherine, paying a flying visit, gave hers in person.
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