Chapter 24
Kate missed Francis and Hal terribly, yet she was glad that Will would be keeping in contact with her, although she feared that he might be in danger at court. But he assured her in his first letter that it was safer for him to be where he could keep his ear to the ground.
She was not convinced, and she became less so when Elizabeth wrote to say that the Queen had been showing increasing anger at her failure to attend Mass.
“I have been subjected to mounting pressure to conform, and I have been censured by the Council to my face for ignoring the Queen’s wishes.
I fear I gave them a very rude response.
My sister is also trying to make me cast off my plain clothes and wear magnificent gowns like her own.
Fear not, dear cousin, I shall dissemble in these matters.
” Kate smiled at that. No one knew better how to dissemble than Elizabeth.
She deciphered the next page so that she could read on.
“It is rumored that the Emperor has offered his son, Prince Philip of Spain, as a husband for the Queen. The French ambassador is in a frenzy and doing his utmost to enlist the support of those who are vehemently opposed to her Majesty taking a foreign consort. He has the right of it, I fear. Once the Spaniards have a foothold here, England will become a satellite of the Empire. They would assuredly introduce the Inquisition and there would be great persecution, as has been seen in Spain.”
Kate shivered, praying that it was just a rumor.
Yet there must be more to it to have the French ambassador in such a state.
He had his spies (as Elizabeth had told her) and was well informed.
Elizabeth certainly seemed to be very well informed about him, which suggested that she was too friendly with him for comfort, and that she was trying to store up credit with France.
Kate wished she would not dabble with him; it was foolhardy to antagonize the Queen further. She boldly stated as much in her reply.
When next Elizabeth wrote, it was to say that she had come to the conclusion that some kind of compromise was called for.
Much as she wished to remain a focus of hope for her sister’s Protestant subjects, she dared not risk incurring the Queen’s wrath by openly adhering to the reformed faith.
She had therefore requested an audience.
Mary had kept her waiting for two days before agreeing to see her.
Then it became very clear that the Imperial ambassador had been poisoning the Queen’s mind with his suspicions of Elizabeth.
“She said she knew it was being said that the Papists were having their turn, but that I would remedy all in time. She said that was not going to happen and that I must conform to her wishes. In faith, I do not know how much longer I can put off going to Mass.”
Kate wondered about that, too. Parliament was due to sit shortly, and she was fearful of what might ensue.
Will was, too, judging by the tone of his letters.
When he visited her unexpectedly in late October, she ran out into the Base Court to greet him, bursting with questions.
One look at his face warned her that he did not bring good news.
She did her duty as hostess, sending grooms to take the horses, ushering Will up to the warmth of the solar, taking his cloak, and serving him ale, then dispatching Thomasina to the kitchen to order a hearty supper.
Only when they were alone did she sit down, clenching her hands in her lap. “What has happened?”
“As we expected, Parliament has repealed the late King’s religious laws,” he told her.
“It means that things now stand as they were at the end of King Henry’s reign.
The Queen is Supreme Head of the Church, and the Church is Catholic.
A new Act has restored all the sacraments, images, and holy days we have rejected.
There was little opposition.” He snorted in disgust. “Parliament stopped short, however, of providing for a reconciliation with Rome. Many lords and landholders are concerned that they will have to give back the church properties they acquired when the monasteries were dissolved. But the new Act forbids any criticism of the Mass and bans priests from marrying. Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer is suppressed. ”
“No, this cannot be.” Kate was wringing her hands in distress. “That beautiful liturgy…I have found such consolation in it.”
“Well, church services will be in Latin again,” Will said.
“Has Parliament revived the heresy laws?” Kate asked nervously.
“No, there has been no word on that. But this latest legislation is bad enough. Most people are accepting of the new laws, but some Protestants are in an uproar. Churches have been vandalized and priests attacked. There has been a flood of propaganda tracts. But none of it will have any effect, I fear. The Queen is determined to have her way.”
“What will we do?” Kate cried.
“We shall conform outwardly and practice our faith in private,” Will said, stony-faced. “God will understand. It is what is in our hearts that matters.”
Kate nodded. “I agree.”
Will hesitated. “I’ve discussed the situation at length with Dot. If life here becomes intolerable, we shall go abroad. Protestants are welcome in Switzerland and parts of Germany.”
“But if you go…” Kate stopped herself. She hated the thought of life without Francis and Will, yet it was selfish to expect Will to stay in danger when he had his wife and son to consider.
“It is worth thinking about,” he said. “Francis would approve, if things got too perilous here.”
Kate had been thinking of little else. “I want us all to be safe, but I’d hate to leave England,” she told him. “The thought of being away from Greys Court and all I hold dear is a horrid one. And with eight children, it wouldn’t be easy.” She fell silent, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He rose, bent down, and put a fatherly arm around her. “But you would be with Francis—and safe. And you could worship God as you please. Take heart, though, for it may not come to that. The Queen has not signaled any intention of persecuting Protestants.”
“Is it not persecution enough effectively to outlaw their religion?” Kate burst out.
“We should be grateful that she is not sending them to the stake—or not yet.” Will’s face was grim. “At the first intimation of that, I’m leaving.”
“Let us hope that God grants her Majesty tolerance and mercy,” Kate said fervently.
—
That night, lying in her lonely bed, she was wakeful, her fears overwhelming her.
It was upsetting to hear that there had been so little resistance to the new laws, except for those few hotheads on the streets.
Maybe most people had conformed to the late King Edward’s edicts only for form’s sake; maybe they had secretly been hankering for a return to the old ways.
But what of those, like herself, Francis, and their friends, who had devoutly embraced the new religion?
What of her children, and Dr. Palmer, whom she had now instructed to be circumspect when teaching them about the Scriptures?
Could not the Queen understand that there were different ways to God?
Could she not pause to learn a little more about Protestant beliefs?
It was no use wishing. Mary had not hesitated to put pressure on Elizabeth, whose views she must know to be sincere.
Did it not occur to her that her sister—and many other educated people—had come to their beliefs through reasoning?
Thinking of sisters, Mary probably had no idea that she had another one who had never been acknowledged.
Nor did she have any idea of how bad an impact her policies were having on that sister.
But, given that she had not hesitated to hound Elizabeth, would she have cared anyway?
—
Will had only been gone two days when Kate received a letter from him.
The Council was opposing the Spanish marriage, which was good news.
Some wanted the Queen to marry Edward Courtenay, a young aristocrat who had royal blood, being descended from the Plantagenets.
Others thought that Courtenay should marry Elizabeth, who was said to have shown him marked favor.
“I do not think that either the Queen or Elizabeth will marry him,” Will opined.
“He is deep in the pocket of the French ambassador and the two of them have done nothing but stir up trouble.”
Kate did not think that Elizabeth would marry Courtenay either, however much favor she showed him. Elizabeth had consistently reiterated that she did not wish to marry at all, and Kate now believed her.
Elizabeth did not mention Courtenay in her next letter.
She said she had asked permission to withdraw from court, but the Queen had refused it.
“She wants to keep an eye on all my doings. I fear there are some who would have me in the Tower. They will have to find good cause first.” She sounded bullish, but Kate could imagine how difficult and nerve-racking her position must be, with different parties pulling her in all directions.
She wrote back, keeping the tone of her letter light and filling it with news of the children and trivial domestic matters. She had resolved not to refer to anything contentious in writing. You never knew who might decipher the letter.
—
In November, Will managed another brief visit.
“You would not believe how violently the people have reacted to the announcement of the Queen’s betrothal to the Prince of Spain,” he said, over a quiet supper of quail in verjuice.
“They hate Spaniards and fear, quite rightly, that England will become subject to the Spanish Inquisition. The Queen has made the mistake of underestimating the temper of her subjects and their suspicion of all foreigners.”
“In this case, they are right to be suspicious, I am sure,” Kate said, helping him to more meat.