CHAPTER 29
“MATTERS IN THIS REALM ARE RESTLESS FOR CHANGE,” VAN der Delft wrote on September 15, 1549. Somerset’s handling of the rebellions and the continuing war with France and Scotland had lost him the confidence of the nobility and gentry. “The people are all in confusion, and with one common voice lament the present state of things.”1
It was the beginning of the end of Somerset’s protectorate. Dudley and the conservative nobles, Thomas Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, and Henry FitzAlan, earl of Arundel, were plotting against him and the country was drawing close to civil war. Matters came to a head on Saturday, October 5, when Somerset issued a proclamation commanding men to come to Hampton Court “in most defensible array” with harness and weapons, to defend the king against “a most dangerous conspiracy.”2 Dudley and his supporters immediately took up arms riding through the city, their retinues following behind “attending upon them in new liveries to the great wondering of many.”3 Letters were sent to other members of the nobility across the country, ordering them to ignore Somerset’s proclamation and repair to London armed. Somerset moved Edward to Windsor as chaos engulfed the capital. Four days later, faced with overwhelming opposition among the ruling elite, Somerset surrendered. On October 14, he was arrested and sent to the Tower, charged with treason.
Dudley and his allies had asked Mary to support the coup against Somerset, but on the advice of the emperor she had declined to get involved. “As for certain councillors’ machinations against the Protector, it does not for the present seem opportune that such an important change take place in England,” wrote Charles; “it would be exceedingly hazardous for the Lady Mary to take any share in such proceedings.”4 There now developed a struggle for power on the Council, raising hopes among Mary’s Catholic supporters. Van der Delft cautiously rejoiced, for “religion could not be in a worse state, and that therefore a change must be for the better, and that it was not made by the enemies of the old religion.”5 Wriothesley reassured the ambassador that Mary would be allowed to hear Mass, saying “those who have molested her will do so no more, and even though they were to begin afresh she has many good servants of whom I hold myself to be one.”6 How they were deceived. Dudley emerged as leader of the government and lord president of the Council and, despite earlier indications of conservative sympathies, soon became a supporter of more evangelical reform. Mary was to come under renewed pressure to conform to the new religious practices. By the end of October, a proclamation announced that the government would “further do in all things, as time and opportunity may serve, whatsoever may lend to the glory of God and the advancement of his holy word.”7 When van der Delft visited Mary early the following year, she told him she considered Dudley to be “the most unstable man in England” and that the conspiracy against the protector had “envy and ambition as its motives.” She was anxious and fearful of what lay ahead: “You will see that no good will come of this move, but that it is punishment from Heaven, and may be only the beginning of our misfortunes.” It was for this reason, she declared, that she wished herself “out of the kingdom.”8
IN DECEMBER, EDWARD once more invited Mary and Elizabeth to spend Christmas at court. He wanted all three siblings to be together for the festivities, but Mary suspected a trap.
They wished me to be at court so that I could not get the mass celebrated for me and that the King might take me with him to hear their sermons. I would not find myself in such a place for anything in the world. I will choose a more convenient time to go and pay my duty to the King, when I need not lodge at court, for I have my own establishment in London. I shall stay for four or five days only, and avoid entering into argument with the King my brother who, as I hear, is beginning to debate the question of religion … as he is being taught to do.9
Mary made her excuses on the ground of ill health. It was a wise decision. On Christmas Day, the king and Council, heavily influenced by Dudley, publicly pledged to further the reformation. In a letter written in the king’s name to the bishops, Dudley challenged those “evil disposed persons” who, since the “apprehension” of the duke of Somerset, “have bruited abroad that they should have again their old Latin services, their conjured bread and water, with such like vain and superstitious ceremonies, as if the setting forth of the said book had been the act of the Duke only.” The bishops were commanded to order the clergy to gather up all service books besides the Book of Common Prayer and to “deface or destroy them,” and send to prison anyone who refused to obey. Further, “excommunication or other censures of the Church” were to be imposed on any layman who refused the new Communion service.10 By late January, pressure was mounting on Mary once more. England had signed a peace treaty with France, at the cost of Boulogne, and the necessity to appease Charles V receded.
Yet Mary continued to say Mass and keep a strict Catholic household, its daily routine based around the Mass. As van der Delft described the situation following a visit to Kenninghall:
It is a pleasure to see how well kept and well ordered is her household in the observance of our ancient religion. Her servants are well to do people and some of them men of means and noblemen too whose boast is to be reputed her servants, and by these means they continue to practise the said religion and hear God’s service … six chaplains … say mass in her presence every day.
Mary was now “more than ever afraid that the Council would attempt to disturb her.”11 She wrote to Charles, declaring that she trusted in his goodness and regarded him as her father in “spiritual and temporal matters.” She then asked him what she must do: “Our kingdom is daily approaching nearer to spiritual and material ruin, and matters grow worse day by day.”12 She had heard that her household servants would in future be excluded from all Catholic services held under her roof, and soon she would be ordered to conform to the Act of Uniformity. The emperor again demanded an assurance from England that his cousin “should be permitted to continue in her observance of the ancient religion, and in the enjoyment of the same liberty that had been hers at the time of the death of the late king her father.”13
Mary now waited for the ax to fall, “being neither summoned nor visited by the Council.” Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who had conformed to the statutes, remained in high favor. As van der Delft observed, “It seems that they have a higher opinion of her for conforming with the others and observing the new decrees, than of the Lady Mary who remains constant in the Catholic faith.”14