Mary Tudor (33 page)

On 1 January 1556 Philip also took over from his father responsibility for the crowns (Aragon and Castile) of Spain, which added massively to his workload, and helps to explain the minimal attention that he seems to have paid to England over the succeeding months. Charles remained in theory Holy Roman Emperor, but in practice he had already handed over most of the responsibilities of that office to his brother Ferdinand. He did not finally retire to Spain until September, and continued to write letters of advice to his son and others, but there is little evidence that anyone was paying attention to them.

One of the first consequences of the handover in Spain was the Truce of Vaucelles with France, signed in February. The war had been going badly for the Emperor, and why Henry II of France was prepared to call a halt at this point is unclear. But when Philip sacrificed his honour by making the first move, Henry responded.
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In so doing he left the pope temporarily frustrated. Julius III, the architect of the English reconciliation, had died in March 1555, and his successor (after the three-week pontificate of Marcellus II) was Paul IV. As Gian Pietro Carafa he had led the hard-line reformers in the 1540s, and as a Neapolitan he was bitterly anti-Habsburg. Charles and Philip had bungled the conclave that had elected him, and his incumbency spelled trouble. He was preparing to enter the war on the French side when the Truce of Vaucelles supervened. From an English point of view the truce was important, partly because it suspended Henry’s desire to destabilise Mary’s pro-Imperial government, and partly because it later provided a pretext to involve England in the war, when it was renewed (and from which England should have been excluded by the terms of the marriage treaty).

However, the most immediate consequence for Mary of the suspension of hostilities was that it took the wind out of the sails of what might have been a dangerous conspiracy. This is usually known by the name of Henry Dudley, a soldier and political adventurer who was one of the leaders.
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The idea was for the English exiles in France, of whom there were between two and three hundred, mostly disaffected gentlemen, to launch an invasion of the south of England with French military and financial backing. A sympathetic rebellion would be raised at the same time to link up with the invaders, using the unpopularity of the Spanish connection – and particularly the threat of Philip’s coronation – as an incentive. The objective, which was thinly disguised behind the xenophobic rhetoric, was to replace Mary with Elizabeth, and send the former to her husband, wherever he might be. It sounds wild and implausible, and so eventually it was, but in spite of strenuous efforts the English end of the conspiracy was never fully unravelled.

About Christmas Henry Dudley had been warmly received at the French court and promised generous (but apparently unspecified) aid. When he went back in February he got short shrift. Dudley, however, was not deterred by this rebuff. If he could find the money elsewhere he could still raise a mercenary force for a short campaign. Henry had not refused to allow him to recruit, he had merely refused to pay. In the hands of Nicholas Brigham, teller of the exchequer, there was some £50,000 worth of Spanish silver bullion, and that would do nicely if the plotters could lay hands on it. Astonishingly, they came within a whisker of success. Brigham himself was a man of unimpeachable integrity, but his wife was corruptible and they got an impression of his keys.
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A small ship, a ‘crayer’, was hired to take the plunder to France where an illegal mint waited to turn it into coin. The thieves even got into the vault, only to find that the chests were too heavy to be moved, and they lacked the tools to break them open. Before they could try again the plot was detected, and on 18 March about twenty of the conspirators were rounded up and sent to the Tower. Henry Dudley and many of the other leaders were in France, but without money they were helpless, and the plot collapsed. Christopher Ashton and several of the other gentlemen turned their attentions to piracy instead, and made a considerable nuisance of themselves until they were caught by the queen’s ships in July.
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Most of those whose complicity in the plot was proven were minor figures, but they did include Sir Anthony Kingston and Richard Uvedale, the captain of the Isle of Wight. There was dark talk of major noblemen, even councillors, being implicated, but nothing was ever proved.
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The opportunity was taken to remove one or two of Elizabeth’s servants from their posts, but the princess herself was merely informed that her name had been taken in vain. The plot collapsed principally because, after the signing of his truce with the Emperor, the French king was no longer interested in so provocative an action.

A CLIMATE OF FEAR AND SUSPICION

GIOVANNI MICHIELI, VENETIAN AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND, TO THE DOGE AND SENATE, 14 APRIL 1556.

The suspicion induced apparently by the conspirators on the Isle of Wight
*
has caused the government … to send thither the Marquis of Winchester, the Lord Treasurer, and Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral. The latter … has had a large amount of guns and ammunition conveyed thither … while the Marquis of Winchester, being a personage of great esteem and authority … will consequently be better able than anyone to ascertain whether clandestine designs in favour of the conspirators were on foot there …

Besides the precautions taken in the Isle of Wight … it is told me that all the nobility and gentry of the country have been desired to keep on the watch, and ready to present themselves on the first summons; many persons adding that an order has been issued for the recall of all English absentees, both those who have permission to reside abroad and those who have not, without any exception, and that the proclamation will soon be printed.
†
And a certain rumour purporting that the conspirators had a special understanding with the King of France has been more rife than usual … [because he fears] that the Emperor and the King his son will by force endeavour not only to render themselves stronger and more secure than they are at present, but to make themselves absolute masters of this kingdom … a friend of mine … having lately seen a letter from M. de James [sic], French resident in Luxembourg addressed to the French ambassador here, telling him that in that neighbourhood … ten companies of infantry have lately been raised … all which are to serve in England, the King intending to bring them with him, having to return hither. For the guard and security of his person, and he gives a preference to German and Flemish troops, because they are less hateful to the English than the Spaniards, or any other nation … If, as premised by me, the advices be true, there would be cause for anxiety in every respect.

In the meanwhile here, not only does there not seem to be any expectation of the arrival of King Philip with these fresh troops, but on the other hand an irritation and anger is manifested against the Most Christian King …
‡
[because] of the harbour which it is understood he gives to English rebels, contrary to the agreements and express treaty between the two countries.

I am told that the Lord Paget will settle the mode to be observed in the heading of Patents and Public Acts, which all commence with ‘Philip and Mary’, enumerating first of all, the titles of their realms according to their order, it not seeming by any means proper to the English ministry that amongst these titles the Kingdom of Spain should take precedence of those of England and France.

[
Calendar of State Papers, Venetian
, vi, pp. 411-12. The original ms, in Italian and partly in cipher, is in the Vienna Staatsarchiv]

*
The Dudley conspiracy. The Captain of the Isle of Wight, Richard Uvedale, was involved.

†
No such proclamation survives, or appears to have been issued.

‡
Henry II.

For a while the council was seriously alarmed by the Dudley conspiracy. The regime had lost credibility since the previous summer, the succession was uncertain, and anti-Spanish sentiment was a force of unknown potential. Castro, Philip’s confessor, who had left England in December, had later painted an alarming picture of ‘foul language uttered by the English, indicating their ill will towards his majesty and the Spanish nation’.
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There was, he observed, the greatest possible contrast between Mary’s longing for her husband, and her subjects’ rejoicing at his absence. Was Castro seeing spooks? And if not, what would it take to turn such ill will into action?

Renard had finally left England in the previous September, and he had not been replaced.
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Without his self-interested but indefatigable reports, our picture of English politics during 1556 is relatively sketchy. In March, while the investigations into the Dudley plot were proceeding with feverish intensity, Thomas Cranmer, the highest-profile victim of Mary’s mission against heresy, was burned in Oxford and Reginald Pole succeeded him as Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer’s death, though, was another setback for the crown – and a completely unnecessary one. After his trial and conviction for heresy he had recanted, reluctantly but fully, and could well have been consigned to oblivion as a failed prophet. The damage that that might have done to his cause is incalculable. Instead, Mary was determined to have him dead, partly because she regarded his sins as unforgivable and partly out of personal revenge. His recantation was disregarded, and his execution duly proceeded. Having nothing to lose, he publicly and spectacularly renounced his surrender and reaffirmed his Protestant convictions – thus dying as an unlikely but extremely memorable martyr.
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He was not the only person to die in that cause during these months, but he was by far the most conspicuous. Eight or nine gentlemen also died for their part in the Dudley plot, as the alarm gradually subsided and the hunt was called off.

In the midst of these depressing events, Mary made another attempt to persuade Philip to return. Sir John Mason was instructed to enquire pointedly whether the ships that were on standby to escort him should be stood down. In a direct message she pleaded that she needed him, and that he should not despair of getting an heir – although she was not getting any younger. He responded with excuses, and bland professions of affection. He certainly had enough to occupy him in Europe, but that was not really the point. In spite of all his efforts, and notwithstanding Mary’s hints to the contrary, the government of England was managing perfectly well without him. The council of state continued to send him its reports, but in truth there was not very much to say. There was no Parliament during 1556, and although anti-government polemics, both Protestant and secular, continued to appear, there was nothing new in that. Philip himself continued to be the main object of attack, but conspiracies to ‘give away the crown’ and hand over the kingdom’s fortresses to strangers hardly represented creative or original opposition.
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Moreover, Philip was listening to other voices. His own servants were able to see no reason why he should do anything to gratify a wife who did nothing for him, or spend money and effort in England to no purpose.

In early April, Mary tried again, this time sending no less an envoy than Lord Paget. Federico Badoer, who reported on the mission, believed that Paget had been chosen because of his known favour with the king, which would make it easier for him to be frank. Mary, Badoer believed, was becoming exasperated by Philip’s contemptuous neglect of her, and some at least of his own advisers were warning him not to turn her love into hatred.
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He paid no attention. Either he was completely confident of his ascendancy over his wife, or he did not much care. It was probably confidence at this stage, because there were still cards to be played in England, and he was maintaining a hefty pension list. Mary’s health was not yet giving grounds for concern, but he was seriously interested in neutralising Elizabeth by marrying her to his ally Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy. Having failed with Paget, Mary now turned for the last time to the Emperor:

… the return of the king my husband … I implore your Majesty most humbly for the love of God, do all that is possible to permit it. I see every day the end of one negotiation and the beginning of another …
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However, there was no longer any question of permission. Her old friend and protector was a spent force, as she came to recognise, writing for the last time in July: ‘I must perforce be satisfied, although to my unspeakable regret.’ The French chose to believe that she was infuriated by Philip’s behaviour, and had gone around the privy apartments smashing his portraits – but that was probably just wishful thinking.

Both French and Italian reports paint a very gloomy picture of Mary in the summer of 1556. Antoine de Noailles had been declared
persona non grata
for his encouragement of Henry Dudley, and had been replaced as ambassador by his brother Francois, who was neither very close to the court, nor sympathetic to it. Mary was alleged to be living in fear of assassination, her apartment filled with armed men, and only five of her women trusted with access to her. ‘She rages against her subjects’, he declared,