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25 - Henry VIIIs Wives Their Impact on History by Martin A. S. Hume · Henry VIIIs Wives Their Impact on History

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Speaker 1: Section twenty four of the Wives of Henry the Eighth
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Speaker 1: and the Parts they played in History by Martin Hume.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Fifteen forty
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Speaker 1: through fifteen forty two. The King's Good Sister and the
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Speaker 1: King's Bad Wife The Lutherans and English Catholics, Part two.
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Speaker 1: When the reign of Terror had humbled all men to
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Speaker 1: the dust, the king could venture to travel northward with
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Speaker 1: the purpose of provoking and subjecting his nephew, the King
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Speaker 1: of Scots, the ally of France. All this seems to
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Speaker 1: point to the probability that, at this time fifteen forty one,
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Speaker 1: Henry had decided to take a share on the side
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Speaker 1: of the Emperor in the war which was evidently looming
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Speaker 1: between Charles and Francis. He was broken and from hopeful,
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Speaker 1: but his vanity and ambition were still boundless, and Gardener,
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Speaker 1: whose policy and not norfolks, it undoubtedly was, would easily
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Speaker 1: persuade him that an alliance in war with Charles could
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Speaker 1: not fail to secure for him increased consideration and readmission
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Speaker 1: into the circle of Catholic nations, whilst retaining his own
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Speaker 1: supremacy unimpaired. Henry's pompous progress in the North, accompanied by Catherine,
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Speaker 1: occupied nearly five months till the end of October. How
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Speaker 1: far the young wife was influential in keeping Henry to
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Speaker 1: the policy just described, it is impossible to say, but
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Speaker 1: beyond acquiescence in an occasional petition or hint, it is
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Speaker 1: difficult to believe that the elderly, self willed man would
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Speaker 1: be moved by the thoughtless, giddy girl whom he married.
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Speaker 1: If the opposite had been the case, Norfolk's traditions and
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Speaker 1: leanings would have been more conspicuous than they are in
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Speaker 1: Henry's actions at the time. It is true that during
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Speaker 1: the whole period a pretense of cordial negotiation was made
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Speaker 1: for a marriage between Princess Mary and a French prince.
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Speaker 1: But it is certain now, whatever Norfolk may have thought
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Speaker 1: at the time, that the negotiation was solely in order
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Speaker 1: to stimulate Charles to nearer approach and to mislead Francis.
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Speaker 1: Whilst the English preparations for war and the strengthening of
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Speaker 1: the garrisons towards France and Scotland went steadily on. An
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Speaker 1: alliance with the Emperor in a war with France was
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Speaker 1: evidently the policy upon which Henry instigated by his new adviser,
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Speaker 1: now depended to bring him back with flying colors, into
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Speaker 1: the Committee of Catholic Sovereigns, whilst bating no jot of
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Speaker 1: his claims to do as he chose in his own realm.
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Speaker 1: Such a policy was won after Henry's own heart. It
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Speaker 1: was showy and tricky, and might, if successful, cover him
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Speaker 1: with glory as well as redound greatly to his profit
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Speaker 1: in the case of the dismemberment of France. But it
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Speaker 1: would have been impossible whilst the union symbolized by the
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Speaker 1: Cleaves marriage existed. And seen by this light, the eagerness
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Speaker 1: of Gardiner to find a way for the king to
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Speaker 1: dismiss the wife who had personally repelled him is easily understood,
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Speaker 1: as well as Cromwell's disinclination to do so. The encouragement
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Speaker 1: of the marriage with Catherine Howard, part of the same intrigue,
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Speaker 1: was still further to attach the king to its promoters,
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Speaker 1: and the match was doubtless intended at the same same
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Speaker 1: time to conciliate Norfolk and the nobles. Whilst Gardiner carried
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Speaker 1: through his policy, we shall see that, either by strange
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Speaker 1: chance or deep design, those who were opposed to this
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Speaker 1: policy were the men who were instrumental in shattering the
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Speaker 1: marriage that was its concomitant. Henry and his consort arrived
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Speaker 1: at Hampton Court from the north on the thirtieth October
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Speaker 1: fifteen forty one, and to his distress he found his
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Speaker 1: only son, Edward, seriously ill of court and fever. All
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Speaker 1: the physicians within reach were summoned and reported to the
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Speaker 1: anxious father that the child was so fat and unhealthy
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Speaker 1: as to be unlikely to live long. The King had
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Speaker 1: now been married to Catherine for fifteen months, and there
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Speaker 1: were no signs of probable issue. Strange whispers were going
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Speaker 1: about on backstairs and chambers with regard to the queen's proceedings.
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Speaker 1: She was known to have been a giddy, neglected girl
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Speaker 1: before her marriage, having been brought up by her grandmother,
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Speaker 1: the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, without the slightest regard for
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Speaker 1: her welfare or the high rank of her family, and
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Speaker 1: her confidants in a particularly dissolute court were many and untrustworthy.
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Speaker 1: The King naturally was the last person to hear the
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Speaker 1: malicious tittle tattle of jealous waiting maids and idle pages
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Speaker 1: about the Queen, and though his wife's want of reserve
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Speaker 1: and dignity often displeased him, he lived usually upon affectionate
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Speaker 1: terms with her. There was other loose talk also going on,
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Speaker 1: to the effect that on one of the visits of
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Speaker 1: Anne of Cleaves to Hampton Court after Henry's marriage with Catherine,
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Speaker 1: the King and his repudiated wife had made up their
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Speaker 1: differences with the consequence that Anne was pregnant by him.
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Speaker 1: It was not true, though later it gave much trouble
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Speaker 1: both to Henry and Anne, but it lent further support
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Speaker 1: to the suggestions that were already being made that the
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Speaker 1: King would dismiss Catherine and take Anne back again. The
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Speaker 1: air was full of such rumors, some prompted, as we
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Speaker 1: shall see, by personal malice, others evidently by the opponents
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Speaker 1: of Gardiner's policy, which was leading England to a war
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Speaker 1: with France and a close alliance with the imperial champion
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Speaker 1: of Catholicism. On the second November, Henry, still in distress
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Speaker 1: about the health of his son, attended Mass as usual
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Speaker 1: in the chapel at Hampton Court, and as he came out,
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Speaker 1: Cranmer prayed for a private interview with him. The Archbishop
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Speaker 1: had for many months been in the background, for Gardiner
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Speaker 1: would brook no competition, but Cranmer was personally a favorite
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Speaker 1: with the King. Cromwell said once that Henry would forgive
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Speaker 1: him anything, and when they were alone, Cranner put him
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Speaker 1: in possession of a shameful story that a few days
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Speaker 1: before had been told to him, which he had carefully
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Speaker 1: put into writing, and after grave discussion with the Earl
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Speaker 1: of Hertford, Seymour and the Lord Chancellor Oddly had determined
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Speaker 1: to hand to the King the conjunction of Cranmer, Seymour
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Speaker 1: and Oddly as the trio that thought it their duty
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Speaker 1: to open Henry's eyes to the suspicions cast upon his
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Speaker 1: wife is significant. They were all of them in sympathy
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Speaker 1: with the Reformed religion and against the Norfolk and Gardiner policy,
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Speaker 1: and it is difficult to escape from the conclusion that,
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Speaker 1: however true, may have been the statements as to Catherine's behavior,
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Speaker 1: and there is no doubt that she was guilty of
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Speaker 1: much that was laid to her charge. The enlightenment of
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Speaker 1: Henry as to her life before and after marriage was
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Speaker 1: intended to serve the political and religious ends of those
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Speaker 1: who were instrumental in it. This story, as set forth
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Speaker 1: by Cranmer, was a dreadful one. It appears that a
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Speaker 1: man named John Laskells, who was a strong Protestant and
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Speaker 1: had already foretold the overthrow of Norfolk and Gardiner, went
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Speaker 1: to Cranmer and said that he had been visiting in
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Speaker 1: Sussex a sister of his, whose married name was Hall.
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Speaker 1: She had formerly been in the service of the Howard
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Speaker 1: family and of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in whose
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Speaker 1: houses Katherine Howard had passed her neglected childhood, and Laskell's,
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Speaker 1: recalling the fact, had he said, recommended his sister to
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Speaker 1: apply to the young Queen, whom she had known so
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Speaker 1: intimately as a girl, for a place in her household. No,
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Speaker 1: replied the sister, I will not do that, but I
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Speaker 1: am very sorry for her. Why are you sorry for her,
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Speaker 1: asked Laskells. Mary quoth she because she is light, both
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Speaker 1: in living and conditions, that is behavior. The brother asked
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Speaker 1: for further particulars, and thus pressed Mary Hall related that
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Speaker 1: quote one Francis Durham had lain in bed with her,
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Speaker 1: and between the sheets and his doublet and hose, a
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Speaker 1: hundred knights and a maid in the house had said
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Speaker 1: that she would lie no longer with her Catherine, because
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Speaker 1: she knew not what matrimony was. Moreover, one Mannock, a
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Speaker 1: servant of the Dowagered Duchess, knew and spoke of a
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Speaker 1: private mark upon the Queen's body end quote. This was
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Speaker 1: the document which Cranmer handed to the King quote, not
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Speaker 1: having the heart to say it by word of mouth
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Speaker 1: end quote. And it must be admitted that as it
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Speaker 1: was only a bit of second hand scandal, without corroboration,
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Speaker 1: and could not refer to any period subsequent to Catherine's marriage,
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Speaker 1: it did not amount to much. Henry is represented as
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Speaker 1: having been inclined to make light of it, which was natural,
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Speaker 1: but he nevertheless summoned Fitzwilliam Southampton, Lord Russell, Lord Admiral,
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Speaker 1: Sir Anthony Brown, and Ryethlusley, and deputed to them the
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Speaker 1: inquiry into the whole matter. Fitzwilliam hurried to London and
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Speaker 1: then to Sussex to examine les Kells and his sister,
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Speaker 1: whilst the others were sent to take the depositions of Durham,
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Speaker 1: who was now in Catherine's service and was ordered to
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Speaker 1: be apprehended on a charge of piracy in Ireland sometime previously,
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Speaker 1: and Mannoch, who was a musician in the household of
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Speaker 1: the Duchess. On the fifth November, the ministers came to
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Speaker 1: Hampton Court with the shocking admissions which they had extracted
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Speaker 1: from the persons examined. Up to that time, Henry had
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Speaker 1: been gay and had thought little of the affair. But
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Speaker 1: now when he heard the statements presented to him, he
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Speaker 1: was overcome with grief. Quote. His heart was pierced with pensiveness.
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Speaker 1: We are told so that it was long before he
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Speaker 1: could utter his sorrow, and finally, with copious tears, which
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Speaker 1: was strange in his courage, opened the same end quote.
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Speaker 1: The next day Sunday, he met Norfolk and the Lord
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Speaker 1: Chancellor secretly in the fields, and then, with the closest privacy,
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Speaker 1: took boat to London without bidding farewell to Catherine, leaving
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Speaker 1: in the hands of his counsel. The unraveling of the
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Speaker 1: disgraceful business. The story, pieced together from the many different
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Speaker 1: depositions and divested of its repetitions and grossness of phraseology,
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Speaker 1: may be summarized as follows. Katherine, whose mother had died early,
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Speaker 1: had grown up uncared for in the house of her
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Speaker 1: grandmother at Horsham in Norfolk, and later at Lambeth, apparently
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Speaker 1: living her life in common with the women servants, whilst
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Speaker 1: she was yet quite a child, certainly not more than thirteen,
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Speaker 1: probably younger. Henry Mannock, one of the Duchess's musicians, had
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Speaker 1: taught her to play the virginals, and, as he himself professed,
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Speaker 1: had fallen in love with her. The age was a
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Speaker 1: licentious one, and the maids, probably to disguise their own amours,
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Speaker 1: appeared to have taken a sport in promoting immoral liberties
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Speaker 1: between the orphan girl and the musician, carrying backwards and
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Speaker 1: forwards between the ill matched pair tokens and messages, and
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Speaker 1: facilitating secret meetings at untimely hours, and Mannoch deposed unblushingly,
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Speaker 1: to have corrupted the girl systematically and shamefully, though not criminally.
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Speaker 1: On one occasion, the old Duchess found this scamp hugging
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Speaker 1: her granddaughter, and in great anger she beat the girl
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Speaker 1: upbraided the musician, and forbade such meetings for the future.
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Speaker 1: Mary Hall, who first gave the information, represents herself as
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Speaker 1: have being remonstrated indignantly with Mannoch for his presumption in
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Speaker 1: pledging his troth. As one of the other women told
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Speaker 1: her he had with Katherine, he replied impudently that all
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Speaker 1: he wanted of the girl was to seduce her, and
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Speaker 1: he had no doubt that he should succeed in doing so,
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Speaker 1: seeing the liberties she had already permitted him to take
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Speaker 1: with her. Mary Hall said that she had warned him
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Speaker 1: that the Howards would kill or ruin him if he
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Speaker 1: did not take care Katherine, according to mary Hall's tale,
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Speaker 1: when told of Mannoch's impudent speech, had angrily said that
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Speaker 1: she cared nothing for him, But he managed, the next
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Speaker 1: time he saw her, by her own contrivance, to persuade
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Speaker 1: her that he was so much in love as not
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Speaker 1: to know what he said. Before long, however, a more
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Speaker 1: dangerous lover, because of better rank, appeared in the field
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Speaker 1: and spoilt Mannock's game. This was Francis Durham, a young
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Speaker 1: gentleman of some means in the household of the Duke
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Speaker 1: of Norfolk, of whom he seems to have been a
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Speaker 1: distant connection. In his own confession, he boldly admitted that
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Speaker 1: he was in love with Catherine and had promised her marriage.
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Speaker 1: The old Duchess always had the keys of the maid's dormitory,
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Speaker 1: where Catherine also slept, brought to her chamber after the
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Speaker 1: doors were locked. But means were found by the women
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Speaker 1: to laugh at locksmith's, and the most unbridled license prevailed
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Speaker 1: amongst them. Durham, with the lovers of two of the women,
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Speaker 1: used to obtain access almost nightly to the dormitory, where
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Speaker 1: they remained feasting and rioting until two or three in
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Speaker 1: the morning. And there can remain little doubt that, on
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Speaker 1: the promise of marriage, Durham practically lived with Catherine as
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Speaker 1: his wife, thus clandestinely, for a considerable period, whilst she
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Speaker 1: was yet very young Mannoch, who found himself supplanted, thereupon
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Speaker 1: wrote an anonymous letter to the Duchess and left it
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Speaker 1: in her pew at Chapel, saying that if her grace
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Speaker 1: would rise again an hour after she had retired and
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Speaker 1: visit the gentlewoman's chamber, she would see something that would
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Speaker 1: surprise her. The old lady, who was not free from
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Speaker 1: reproach in the matter herself, railed and stormed at the women,
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Speaker 1: and Catherine, who was deeply in love with Durham, stole
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Speaker 1: the anonymous letter from her grandmother's room and showed it
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Speaker 1: to him, charging Mannoch with having written it. The result,
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Speaker 1: of course, was a quarrel and the further enlightenment of
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Speaker 1: the Duchess with regard to her granddaughter's cane action with Durham.
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Speaker 1: The old lady herself was afterwards accused of having introduced
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Speaker 1: Durham into her household for the purpose of forwarding a
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Speaker 1: match between him and Catherine, and finally got into great
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Speaker 1: trouble and danger by seizing and destroying Durham's papers before
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Speaker 1: the King's Council could impound them. But when she learnt
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Speaker 1: the lengths to which the immoral connection had been carried,
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Speaker 1: and the shameful licentiousness that had accompanied it, she made
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Speaker 1: a clean sweep of the servants inculpated, and brought her
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Speaker 1: granddaughter to live at Lambeth amongst a fresh set of people.
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Speaker 1: There is no doubt that Katherine and Durham were secretly
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Speaker 1: engaged to be married, and apart from the immoral features
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Speaker 1: of the engagement, no very great objection could have been
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Speaker 1: taken to it. She was a member of a very
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Speaker 1: large family and or with no dower or prospects, and
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Speaker 1: her marriage with Durham, who was a sort of relative,
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Speaker 1: would have been not a glaringly unequal one. With lover
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Speaker 1: like alacrity, he provided her with the feminine treasures which
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Speaker 1: she coveted, but which her lack of means prevented her
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Speaker 1: from buying artificial flowers, articles of dress or materials for them,
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Speaker 1: trinkets and adornments, not to speak of the delicacies which
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Speaker 1: he brought to furnish forth the tables during the nightly orgy.
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Speaker 1: He had made no great secret of his engagement too
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Speaker 1: and intention of marrying Catherine, and had shown various little
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Speaker 1: tokens of her troth that she had given him on
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Speaker 1: one of his piratical raids. Moreover, he had handed to
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Speaker 1: her the whole of his money as to his affianced wife,
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Speaker 1: and told her she might keep it if he came
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Speaker 1: not back, whilst on other occasions he had exercised his
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Speaker 1: authority as her betrothed to chide her for her attentions
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Speaker 1: to others. When at last the old Duchess learnt fully
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Speaker 1: of the immoral proceedings that had been going on, Katherine
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Speaker 1: got another severe beating, and Durham fled from the vengeance
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Speaker 1: of the Howards. After the matter had blown over, and
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Speaker 1: Catherine was living usually at Lambeth. Durham found his way
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Speaker 1: back and attempted clandestinely to renew the connection, but Catherine,
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Speaker 1: by this time was older and more experienced, as beseemed
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Speaker 1: a lady at court. It was said that she was
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Speaker 1: affianced to her cousin Thomas Culpeper, but in any case
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Speaker 1: she indignantly refused to have anything to do with Durham
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Speaker 1: and hotly resented his claim to interfere in her affairs.
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Speaker 1: So far, the disclosures referred solely to misconduct previous to
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Speaker 1: Catherine's marriage with the King, and however reprehensible this may
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Speaker 1: have been, it only constructively became treason post facto by
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Speaker 1: reason of the concealment from the King of his wife's
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Speaker 1: previous immoral life, whereby the royal blood was quote tainted
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Speaker 1: end quote, and he himself injured. Cranmer was therefore sent
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Speaker 1: to visit Catherine with orders to set before her the
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Speaker 1: iniquity of her conduct and the penalty prescribed by the law,
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Speaker 1: and then to promise her the King's mercy on certain conditions.
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Speaker 1: The poor girl was frantic with grief and fear when
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Speaker 1: the Primate entered, and he, in compassion spared her the
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Speaker 1: first parts of his mission, and began by telling her
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Speaker 1: of her husband's pity and clemency. The reaction from her
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Speaker 1: deadly fear sent her into greater paroxysms than ever of
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Speaker 1: remorse and regret. This sudden mercy made her offenses seem
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Speaker 1: the more heinous. This was about the hour six o'clock
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Speaker 1: she sobbed that Master Heneage was wont to bring me
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Speaker 1: knowledge of his grace. The promise of mercy may or
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Speaker 1: may not have been sincere, but it is evident that
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Speaker 1: the real object of Cranmer's visit was to learn from
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Speaker 1: Catherine whether the betrothal with Durham was a binding contract.
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Speaker 1: If that were alleged in her defense, the marriage with
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Speaker 1: the king was voidable, as that of Anne of Cleves
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Speaker 1: was for a similar cause. And if by reason of
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Speaker 1: such prior contract, Catherine had never legally been Henry's wife,
21:56
Speaker 1: her guilt was much attenuated, and she, in her splices,
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Speaker 1: could only be punished for concealment of fact to the
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Speaker 1: King's detriment, a sufficiently grave crime, it is true, in
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Speaker 1: those days, but much less grave if Catherine was never
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Speaker 1: legally Henry's wife. It may therefore have seemed good policy
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Speaker 1: to offer her clemency on such conditions as would have
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Speaker 1: relieved him of her presence forever with as little obloquy
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Speaker 1: as possible, But other councils eventually prevailed. Orders were given
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Speaker 1: that she was to be sent to Sion House with
22:34
Speaker 1: a small suite and no canopy of state, pending further inquiry.
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Speaker 1: Whilst the Lord Chancellor, counselors, peers, bishops and judges were
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Speaker 1: convened on the twelfth November, and the evidence touching the
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Speaker 1: Queen laid before them, It was decided, however, that Durham
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Speaker 1: should not be called, and that all reference to a
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Speaker 1: previous contract of marriage should be suppressed. On the following Sunday,
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Speaker 1: the whole of the Queen's household was to be similarly
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Speaker 1: informed of the offenses and their gravity, and to them also,
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Speaker 1: no reference to a prior engagement that might serve to
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Speaker 1: lighten the accusations or their own responsibility was to be made.
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Speaker 1: Katherine Howard's fate, if the matter had ended here, would
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Speaker 1: probably have been divorce on the ground of her previous
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Speaker 1: immorality tainting the royal blood and lifelong seclusion, but in
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Speaker 1: their confessions the men and women involved had mentioned other names,
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Speaker 1: and on the thirteenth November, the day before Catherine was
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Speaker 1: to be taken to Scion, the scope of the inquiry widened. Mannock,
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Speaker 1: in his first examination on the fifth November, had said
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Speaker 1: that Mistress Catherine Tilney, the Queen's chamberwoman, a relative of
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Speaker 1: the old Dutchess, could speak as to Catherine's early immoral life,
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Speaker 1: and when this lady found herself in the hands of Ryethlusley,
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Speaker 1: she told some startling tales. Did the Queen leave her
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Speaker 1: chamber any night at Lincoln or elsewhere during her recent
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Speaker 1: progress with the King? Yes, her Majesty had gone on
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Speaker 1: two occasions to Lady Rockford's room, which could be reached
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Speaker 1: by a little pair of backstairs near the Queen's apartment.
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Speaker 1: Missus Tilney and the Queen's other attendant, Marjorie Morton, had
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Speaker 1: attempted to accompany their mistress, but had been sent back.
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Speaker 1: Missus Tilney had obeyed and had gone to bed, but
24:42
Speaker 1: Marjorie had crept back up the stairs again to Lady
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Speaker 1: Rockford's room. About two o'clock in the morning, Marjorie came
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Speaker 1: to bed in the same dormitory as the other maids.
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Speaker 1: Jesus is not the Queen of ed yet, asked the
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Speaker 1: surprised Tilney, as she awoke yes, in effect, replied Marjorie,
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Speaker 1: she has just retired. On the second occasion, Catherine sent
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Speaker 1: the rest of her attendants to bed and took Tilney
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Speaker 1: with her to Lady Rockford's room. But the maid with
25:17
Speaker 1: Lady Rockford's servant were shut up in a small closet
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Speaker 1: and not allowed to see who came into the principal apartments.
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Speaker 1: But nevertheless, her suspicions were aroused by the strange messages
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Speaker 1: with which she was sent by Catherine to Lady Rockford's quote,
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Speaker 1: so strange that she knew not how to utter them
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Speaker 1: end quote. Even at Hampton Court lately, as well as
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Speaker 1: at Grimsthorpe during the progress, she had been bidden by
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Speaker 1: the Queen to ask Lady Rockford quote when she should
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Speaker 1: have the things she promised her end quote, the answer
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Speaker 1: being that she Lady Rockford was sitting up for it
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Speaker 1: and would bring the Queen word herself. Then Marjorie Morton
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Speaker 1: was tackled by Sir Anthony Brown. She had never mistrusted
26:10
Speaker 1: the Queen until the other day at Hatfield, quote, when
26:15
Speaker 1: she saw her Majesty look out of the window to
26:17
Speaker 1: mister Culpeper in such sort that she thought there was
26:21
Speaker 1: love between them end quote. Whilst at Hatfield, the Queen
26:27
Speaker 1: had given orders that none of her attendants were to
26:29
Speaker 1: enter her bedroom unless they were summoned. Marjorie, too had
26:35
Speaker 1: been sent on mysterious secret errands to Lady Rockford, which
26:39
Speaker 1: she could not understand, and with others of the maids,
26:44
Speaker 1: had considered herself slighted by the Queen's preference for Catherine
26:49
Speaker 1: Tilney and for those who owed their position to Lady Rockford,
26:53
Speaker 1: which lady, she said, she considered the principal cause of
26:58
Speaker 1: the Queen's folly. Thus far, there was nothing beyond the
27:02
Speaker 1: suspicions of jealous women, But Lady Rockford was frightened into
27:07
Speaker 1: telling a much more damning story, though she tried to
27:11
Speaker 1: make her own share in it as light as possible.
27:15
Speaker 1: The Queen, she confessed, had had many interviews in her
27:20
Speaker 1: rooms with Culpeper at Greenwich, Lincoln, Pontefract, York, and elsewhere.
27:27
Speaker 1: For many months passed, But as Culpeper stood at the
27:31
Speaker 1: farther end of the room with his foot upon the
27:34
Speaker 1: top of the back stairs so as to be ready
27:37
Speaker 1: to slip down in case of alarm, and the Queen
27:40
Speaker 1: talked to him at the door. Lady Rockford professed to
27:44
Speaker 1: be ignorant of what passed between them. One night, she recalled,
27:49
Speaker 1: the Queen and herself were standing at the back door
27:52
Speaker 1: at eleven at night when a watchman came with a
27:55
Speaker 1: lantern and locked the door. Shortly afterwards, however, Culpeper entered
28:01
Speaker 1: the room, saying that he and his servant had picked
28:05
Speaker 1: the lock. Since the first suspicion had been cast upon
28:09
Speaker 1: the Queen by Lascelles, Katherine, according to Lady Rockford, had
28:14
Speaker 1: continually asked for Culpeper. Quote. If that matter came not out,
28:20
Speaker 1: she feared nothing end quote. And finally, Lady Rockford, although
28:26
Speaker 1: professing to have been asleep during some of Culpeper's compromising visits,
28:31
Speaker 1: declared her belief that criminal relations had existed between him
28:37
Speaker 1: and the Queen. Calpeper, according to the depositions, made quite
28:43
Speaker 1: a clean breast of it, though what means were adopted
28:46
Speaker 1: for making him so frank is not clear. Probably torture
28:51
Speaker 1: or the threat of it was resorted to. Since Hertford
28:56
Speaker 1: reisch and oddly had much to do with the examineations,
29:01
Speaker 1: whilst even the Duke of Norfolk and ryathlessly not to
29:05
Speaker 1: appear backward in the King's service, were as anxious as
29:08
Speaker 1: their rivals to make the case complete. Culpeper was a
29:13
Speaker 1: gentleman of great estate in Kent and elsewhere, holding many
29:18
Speaker 1: houses and offices, a gentleman of the chamber, clerk of
29:22
Speaker 1: the armory, steward, and keeper of several royal manners, and
29:27
Speaker 1: he had received many favors from the King, with whom
29:31
Speaker 1: he ordinarily slept. He deposed too, and described many stolen
29:37
Speaker 1: interviews with Catherine, all apparently after the previous passion week
29:42
Speaker 1: fifteen forty one, when the Queen, he said, had sent
29:47
Speaker 1: for him and given him a velvet cap. Lady Rockford,
29:51
Speaker 1: according to his statement, was the go between and arranged
29:55
Speaker 1: all the assignations in her apartments, whilst the Queen, whenever
30:00
Speaker 1: she reached a house during the progress, would make herself
30:04
Speaker 1: acquainted with the back doors and back stairs in order
30:08
Speaker 1: to facilitate the meetings at Pontifract. She thought the back
30:13
Speaker 1: door was being watched by the King's orders, and Lady
30:17
Speaker 1: Rockford caused her servant to keep a counter watch. On
30:21
Speaker 1: one occasion, he said, the Queen had hinted that she
30:25
Speaker 1: could favor him, as a certain lady of the court
30:29
Speaker 1: had favored Lord Parr. And when Culpeper said he did
30:33
Speaker 1: not think that the Queen was such a lady as
30:36
Speaker 1: the one mentioned, she had replied, well, if I had
30:40
Speaker 1: tarried still in the maiden's chamber, I would have tried you.
30:45
Speaker 1: And on another occasion she had warned him that if
30:48
Speaker 1: he confessed, even when he was shriven, what had passed
30:53
Speaker 1: between them, the King would be sure to know, as
30:57
Speaker 1: he was the head of the church. Call Pepper's animus
31:01
Speaker 1: against Lady Rockford is evident. She had provoked him much,
31:06
Speaker 1: he said, to love the Queen, and he intended to
31:09
Speaker 1: do ill with her. Evidence began to grow too that
31:14
Speaker 1: not only was Durham admittedly guilty with the Queen before marriage,
31:19
Speaker 1: but that suspicious familiarity had been resumed afterwards. He himself
31:26
Speaker 1: confessed that he had been more than once in the
31:29
Speaker 1: Queen's private apartment, and she had given him various sums
31:34
Speaker 1: of money, warning him to heed what he said, which,
31:38
Speaker 1: truth to tell, he had not done. According to other deponents,
31:45
Speaker 1: end of Section twenty four