The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katherine Parr (11 page)

“What… what do you here?” he stammered.

“John Marbeck,” said one of the men, “we come on the King’s business. You are our prisoner. There will be questions for you to answer.

“Questions… questions? I beg of you, give me those papers…. They are mine….”

“Not so,” said the man. “These papers are our prisoners also. Come, master chorister. There is no time to waste.”

“Whither do you take me?”

“To London. To the Marshalsea.”

Marbeck was trembling, remembering tales he had heard and had bravely not heeded. Now they were close to him and he would have to heed them. He thought of torture and death; and as he left Windsor for London in the company of his captors he thought of
the smell of crackling wood and burning flesh; he thought of the martyr’s death.

ANNE, LADY HERBERT, came to the Queen and begged a secret audience with her. Katharine forthwith dismissed all her attendants.

“What ails you, sister?” asked the Queen. “I declare you look as if you have seen a ghost.”

Ah! thought Anne Herbert. Mayhap I have. The ghosts of Anne Boleyn and Catharine Howard warn me.

“Gardiner is moving against you. He, with his friend Wriothesley, has ordered a search of the houses in this town.”

“A search!”

“There have already been arrests.”

“Whom have they arrested?”

“Four men of Windsor. Two priests and two musicians. Pearson is one of them, Marbeck another.”

“God help us!” cried the Queen. “I know why these men have been taken.”

“It is a blow at you, dearest sister. They dare not attack you now because you have the King’s favor. But this is a warning. As soon as they consider they have a chance to work against you, they will do so. Dearest Majesty, you must give up your reading, give up those little gatherings of our friends. It was unsafe when you were Lady Latimer; but now that you are the Queen it is desperately dangerous.”

“Anne, what will happen to these men?”

“I know not. Dr. London is preparing a case against them.”

“Dr. London! That rogue. He was Cromwell’s man. That is he, is it not? He roamed the countryside and turned the monks from their monasteries while he took their treasure.”

“He took those treasures for his master, Kate. He is a man without principles. Then he worked against the Catholic monks; now he works for Catholic Gardiner and the King’s Secretary, Wriothesley. He is wily; he is clever and he is unscrupulous. What is to become of these men, I do not know. They say they have found Marbeck’s notes on the Bible. That will ensure a fiery death for him.”

“But, Anne, the King has a fondness for Marbeck. He complimented him on his singing.”

“Gardiner has no fondness for Marbeck’s religious views.”

“The King is all-powerful.”

“But, Kate, Gardiner will show that Marbeck has disobeyed the King’s orders. I am afraid… desperately afraid. Not only for these men… but for you.”

“We must help them, Anne. We cannot let them die.”

“Let well alone. Listen to me, dearest Kate. Remember those who went before you. You have the King’s favor now. Keep it. Do everything you can to keep it, and stay away from trouble.”

“But I must do everything I can for these men, Anne.”

“You tempt Fate.”

“No, Anne. I must prove my courage in this. I have to acquire courage. Something within me tells me this. If I fail now I should fail later.”

“Later?” said Anne Herbert fearfully.

“Anne, there may come a time when I shall have to be very brave indeed.” Katharine put her arm about her sister. “Speak what is in your mind, dearest. You talk of four men of Windsor, and you think of two Queens. Remember, I have an advantage over them. I know what happened to them; though they, poor souls, had no indications of what they would come to. All will be well, I promise you. The King is fond of me and he grows fonder.”

“Dearest sister,” said Anne, “I would that you were merely my sister and not my Queen.”

IN THE DARKNESS
of the royal bedchamber the Queen whispered to the King: “My Lord, you are pleased with me?”

The King’s laugh was a deep, satisfied rumble.

“Your Grace has been good to me.”

“Well, sweetheart, that is what I would wish to be to one who pleases me as you do.”

“In my happiness I think of others less happy.”

“That’s like you, Kate. You’re a kind woman.”

“I trust my ways do not displease you.”

“And what is all this talk of pleasing and displeasing? It seems that women talk in this way when they would ask a favor.”

“You are clever. You follow the workings of my mind.”

“I am well versed, Kate, in the ways of women.”

“It is of those men of Windsor so recently arrested that I think. They have been condemned to the flames.”

The King grunted. This was no time to talk of state matters. He
wished Kate would ask for something for herself, some ornament, some fancy velvets to make a gown. Now, first, she must ask that his daughters might be reinstated; then she must ask for money for them. He had given way to her there. Now she was going to plead for these heretics who were condemned to die.

“Poor Marbeck!” she said.

“Aye!” said the King. “Poor Marbeck.” The man had an enchanting voice. A plague on Gardiner for arresting him. Why should he interfere with the King’s pleasure? For Marbeck, with his pleasant singing, had brought pleasure to his King. “It would be well if Marbeck’s accusers spent their time in no worse way than he does,” growled Henry.

Katharine felt exultant. “Your Majesty will pardon this man?”

Henry himself had been thinking of doing that; but he was not going to say that he would immediately. Katharine was going to ask a pardon for all four, and he did not wish to pardon them all. He was not going to allow men to act with impunity against himself; and these men, in acting against laws which he had approved, were acting against him.

Blood must flow, he reasoned. If any lift the mildest voice against the King’s command, blood must flow …or, as in this case, flesh must burn.

He could not therefore pardon all the offenders; but he liked Marbeck. What if he gave Marbeck to Katharine? But the other three would have to go to Gardiner.

“Kate,” he said, “this man has been condemned. Books have been found in his house.”

He felt the Queen’s shiver, and he knew that, had he allowed those men to search her apartments, they would have found similar books there. Well well, let her read her books for the time being; it was pleasant to discourse with a woman of good sense.

“Pardon them, my dearest lord,” pleaded Katharine. “Show your clemency.”

“Only fools show clemency, Kate. If I let those men go free, what would happen, think you? Others would proclaim themselves heretics without more ado.”

“Only those who do so in secret already would do that.”

“When men practice in secret what they fear to do in the open, that is not a good thing, Kate. Perhaps we should find more of these rogues.”

“No, my lord, I beg of you.”

“There, sweetheart. You are a woman and soft. You plead for these men because it is in your nature to be soft with all. You are our Queen—our wellloved Queen. We will do something to show you our regard.”

“Thank you. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“I give you Marbeck.”

“A thousand thanks, Your Grace. And Pearson… Testwood and Filmer?”

“You’re greedy, Kate. No. Take Marbeck, and be grateful. I cannot interfere further with justice, even for your sake.”

“My lord …”

“The matter is closed, sweetheart.”

She was silent, and the King smiled smugly in the darkness. He felt loving and benign. He had granted his Queen’s request, and he had saved his friend Marbeck, which, after all, he had long made up his mind to do.

GARDINER WAS PLEASED with the Windsor episode. As he explained to Wriothesley, the Queen had Marbeck, but they had kept the other three for the flames which had now consumed them. This was no true victory for the Queen, as the King himself had not wished Marbeck to die and would doubtless have saved him even if the Queen had not asked for his life.

“The woman is soft and a fool,” said Gardiner. “She should have asked for one of the others and left Marbeck to rely on the King’s favor. Well, she is new to her position and I prophesy that she will not long hold it. And this is not an end to the matter. I have set the good Dr. London to pursue his inquiries, and ere long he will have more men and women to bring up for examination. And this time, Master Secretary, I think he might look a little higher. Oh, not so high as I intend him to go, but creeping up, creeping upward.”

“The Queen will protect her friends.”

“She has no chance against us. Remember there is the Act to suppress what is called the New Learning. Has not the King himself said that the ignorant people have contaminated and perverted the Scriptures by their translations, and that these translations are not in accordance with the Catholic Church of which he is head? Tyndale’s translation has been condemned as crafty and false. It is an offense to
be in possession of such books. As for those who add to their sins by further translating and writing, they deserve the flames. If these people are allowed to proceed, the Latin tongue will become a dead one. The three men of Windsor have been rightly burned under the Act of the Six Articles. Rest assured that more arrests will follow. And very soon we may be in a position to take our aim at the main target, eh, Wriothesley, my friend?”

Gardiner was smiling as he spoke. Soon he hoped to see Cranmer fall with Katharine Parr, as Wolsey had with Anne Boleyn, Cromwell with Anne of Cleves. And after Cranmer it would be the turn of those men who had become the greatest enemies of all—the Seymour brothers, Lord Hertford and Sir Thomas. As brothers-in-law of the King, they had enjoyed special favor since Henry’s marriage with their sister; but as uncles of Edward they would be more dangerous still. Gardiner believed that Edward would still be a boy at the time of his accession and, if he were, he could easily be the tool of his uncles. Lord Hertford was constantly with the boy, molding him, dominating him. Hertford was not only an ambitious man; he was also a strong one. He would aim to be nominally the Protector of England and in actuality England’s ruler. Sir Thomas Seymour was even more to be suspected, for while the boy Edward feared his elder uncle he doted on the younger. It would, therefore, be a masterstroke to have the two brothers in their graves before the accession of their nephew. And why not? Powerful as they were, they leaned toward Protestantism, and that created a flaw in their armor. Moreover, Thomas had cast his eyes in the Queen’s direction.

These were ambitious schemes, in which Gardiner would need the help of the entire Catholic Party; they were not, however, impossible of achievement, if crafty patience were employed; and employed it should be.

He could visualize a future with the Lady Mary on the throne— Queen Mary, that true and loyal supporter of the Catholic cause. It might well happen in his lifetime, and he doubted not that if it did he would be one of those whom she would raise to a lofty eminence. He must be beside the Queen; he must teach her what should be done with heretics. When he contemplated his good Catholic Queen Mary on the throne he could almost smell the fires of Smithfield.

“Have no fear, my dear Wriothesley,” he said now. “Our good friend Dr. London will smell out our enemies. I think you will be
surprised when he has done his work. We can rely on that man’s help.”

IN A WAY GARDINER was right. When Dr. London contemplated the future he saw a similar picture to that conjured up by Gardiner: Queen Mary on the throne and the Catholics triumphant.

He was very anxious to show himself a good Catholic, and how could he do this better than by pleasing the Catholic Bishop of Winchester and the King’s Catholic Secretary?

They had brought down the little game; now they looked higher.

“But not
too
high, good Doctor.” Those were the very words.

As usual he selected his victims, and his choice fell on the learned Dr. Haines who had been the Dean of Exeter and was now a Prebendary of Windsor. But he would go even higher than that; he would creep a little closer to that one who he knew was the most important on the list. He would go to the Queen’s household and select Sir Philip and Lady Hoby, together with Sir Thomas Carden. He would also take some of the minor gentlemen and ladies. That would suffice.

He outlined his plan to his friend Simons, the lawyer who had been a great help in the affair of the men of Windsor.

“A difficulty presents itself here,” said the wily lawyer. “We need evidence, and we have not the King’s permission to search the royal apartments.”

Dr. London confessed himself to be in a quandary. These people he had selected, he knew, had interested themselves in the New Learning, but how could he prove it?

He was disturbed, but, remembering the methods he and his master Cromwell had used during the dissolution of the monasteries, he decided on a plan of action. After all, had not the Bishop of Winchester something like this in mind when he had selected the experienced Dr. London for this task?

“It would be necessary,” said Simons, “for us to find men who would testify against them. That would not be easy.”

“We have not been given enough power,” said Dr. London. “Did not the three men who have recently been burned at the stake mention the names of these people?”

Simons looked at the Doctor sharply.

“That was not so, Doctor.”

“An oversight. Doubtless had we tried to extract these names from them we should have done so.”

“But we did not.”

“There was written evidence of what these men said during examination, was there not?”

“There was.”

“And where are these documents?”

“In the hands of the clerk of the court.”

“A man named Ockham. I know him well. He should be easy to handle.”

“What do you propose, Doctor?”

“My good man, the evidence is not there because of an oversight. It is always possible to remedy such oversights.”

“Do you mean to… forge evidence…to insert something those men did not say concerning and implicating these men and women?”