Westminster Palace, Summer 1539
Westminster Palace, Summer
THE COURT’S MOOD swings against old families and the old faith.
At midsummer, we have merry joust of barges on the river.
On one side is a barge dressed in imperial purple, crewed by a gross figure, fattened on indulgences, waving a papal crook, and a whole college of fat lazy cardinals splashing about with oars.
On the other side of the river on their barge are Tudor green rowers and black-and-white soldiers of reform.
Fireworks explode around them, mock cannon fire roars, and jets of water spurt, as battle is joined, and the royal barge, with the king and the ladies of the court, rows close enough to see the action and be thoroughly splashed.
We scream with delight and encouragement as the reform barge throws grappling irons and boards the papal barge.
There is rough and dirty fighting until the righteous reformers triumph and tip the pope and his men overboard into the river, where they bob about, pleading for rescue.
The king orders them fished out of the water with boat hooks before they drown in their great robes and applauds both sides for the spectacle.
The court and the people watching from the riverbank loudly cheer and read this entertainment for the lesson that it is: the old faith, the old Roman Catholic families, the Spanish party have overreached themselves and are defeated as surely as if they were tipped in the river and left to drown.