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26 - 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 five 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 three.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody implicated in the scandals was imprisoned, mostly in the tower,
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  Speaker 1: several members of the House of Howard being put under guard,
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  Speaker 1: and Norfolk trembling for his own position, showed as much
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  Speaker 1: zeal as anyone to condemn his unfortunate niece. He knew, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: at this time that he had been used simply as
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  Speaker 1: a catspaw in the advances towards France, and complained bitterly
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  Speaker 1: that the match he had secretly suggested between the Prince
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  Speaker 1: as Mary and the Duke of Orleans was now common talk,
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  Speaker 1: which gave ground for his enemies, who were jealous of him,
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  Speaker 1: to denounce him to the King as wishing to embrace
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  Speaker 1: all great affairs of state. It is clear that at
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  Speaker 1: this period it was not only the Protestants who were
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  Speaker 1: against Norfolk, but his own colleagues who were planning the
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  Speaker 1: alliance with the Emperor, which to some extent explains why
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  Speaker 1: such men as Ryathlusley, Fitzwilliam and Brown were so anxious
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  Speaker 1: to make the case of Catherine and her family look
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  Speaker 1: as black as possible, and why Norfolk aided them so
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  Speaker 1: as not to be left behind. When on the fifteenth December,
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  Speaker 1: the old Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, his stepmother, his half brother,
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  Speaker 1: Lord William Howard, and his wife and his sister, Lady Bridgewater,
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  Speaker 1: were imprisoned on the charge of having been privy to
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  Speaker 1: Catherine's doings before marriage. The Duke wrote, as follows to
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  Speaker 1: the King quote, I learned yesterday that mine ungracious mother
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  Speaker 1: in law, mine unhappy brother and his wife, and my
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  Speaker 1: lewde sister of Ridgewater were committed to the tower, and
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  Speaker 1: am sure it twas not done but for some false
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  Speaker 1: proceeding against your Majesty. Weighing this with the abominable deeds
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  Speaker 1: done by my two nieces, that is Catherine Howard and
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  Speaker 1: Anne Boleyn, and the repeated treasons of many of my kin,
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  Speaker 1: I fear your Majesty will abhor to hear speak of
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  Speaker 1: me or my kin again. Prostrate at your Majesty's feet.
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  Speaker 1: I remind your Majesty that much of this has come
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  Speaker 1: to light through my own report of my mother in
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  Speaker 1: law's words to me when I was sent to Lambeth
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  Speaker 1: to search Durham's coffers. My own truth and the small
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  Speaker 1: love my mother in law and nieces bear me make
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  Speaker 1: me hope. And I pray your Majesty for some comfortable
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  Speaker 1: assurance of your royal favor, without which I will never
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  Speaker 1: desire to live. Kenninghall, Lodge, fifteenth December fifteen forty one
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  Speaker 1: end quote. On the first December, Culpeper and Durham had
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  Speaker 1: been arraigned before a special commission in Guildhall, accused of treason.
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  Speaker 1: The indictment set forth that before her marriage, Catherine had
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  Speaker 1: quote led and abominable, base, carnal, voluptuous and vicious life
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  Speaker 1: like a common harlot, whilst at other times maintaining an
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  Speaker 1: appearance of chastity and honesty. That she led the King
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  Speaker 1: to love her, believing her to be pure, and arrogantly
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  Speaker 1: coupled with him in marriage, and quote that upon her
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  Speaker 1: and Durham being charged with their former vicious life, they
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  Speaker 1: had excused themselves by saying that they were betrothed before
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  Speaker 1: the marriage with the King, which betrothal they falsely and
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  Speaker 1: traitorously concealed from the King when he married her. After
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  Speaker 1: the marriage, they attempted to renew their former vicious courses
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  Speaker 1: at Pontefract and elsewhere, the Queen having procured Durham's admission
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  Speaker 1: into her service and entrusted secret affairs to him. Against Calpepper,
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  Speaker 1: it was alleged that he had held secret and illicit
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  Speaker 1: meetings with the Queen, who had incited him to have
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  Speaker 1: intercourse with her and insinuated to him that she loved
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  Speaker 1: him better than the King and all others. Similarly, Calpepper
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  Speaker 1: incited the Queen, and they had retained Lady Rockford as
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  Speaker 1: their go between, she having traitorously aided and abetted them
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  Speaker 1: end quote. It will be noticed that actual adultery is
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  Speaker 1: not alleged, and the indictment follows very closely the deposition
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  Speaker 1: of the witnesses. The liaison with Durham before the marriage
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  Speaker 1: was not denied, nor were the meetings with Culpeper after
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  Speaker 1: the marriage. This and the concealment were sufficient for the
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  Speaker 1: King's purpose without adding to his ignominy by laboring to
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  Speaker 1: prove the charge of adultery after pleading not guilty. The
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  Speaker 1: two men, in face of the evidence and their own admissions,
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  Speaker 1: changed their plea to guilty, and were promptly condemned to
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  Speaker 1: be drawn through London to Tyburn quote, and there hanged,
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  Speaker 1: cut down alive, disembowled, and they still living, their bowels burnt,
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  Speaker 1: the bodies then to be beheaded and quartered end quote.
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  Speaker 1: A brutal sentence that was carried out to the letter.
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  Speaker 1: In Durham's case only on the tenth December, Culpeper being beheaded.
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  Speaker 1: Although the procedure had saved the king as much humiliation
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  Speaker 1: as possible, the affair was a terrible blow to his
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  Speaker 1: self esteem as well as to his affections, for he
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  Speaker 1: seems to have been really fond of his young wife. Chapoos,
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  Speaker 1: writing on the third December, says that he shows greater
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  Speaker 1: sorrow at her loss than at any of his previous
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  Speaker 1: matrimonial misfortunes. Quote. It is like the case of the
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  Speaker 1: woman who cried more bitterly at the loss of her
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  Speaker 1: tenth husband than for all the rest put together, though
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  Speaker 1: they had all been good men. But it was because
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  Speaker 1: she had never buried one before without being sure of
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  Speaker 1: the next. As yet, it does not seem that he
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  Speaker 1: has anyone else in view. End quote. The French ambassador
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  Speaker 1: a few days later wrote that quote. The grief of
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  Speaker 1: the king was so great that it was believed that
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  Speaker 1: it had sent him mad, for he had called suddenly
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  Speaker 1: for a sword with which to kill the queen whom
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  Speaker 1: he had loved so much. Sometimes, sitting in council, he
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  Speaker 1: suddenly calls for horses, without saying whither he would go.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes he will say irrelevantly that that wicked woman had
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  Speaker 1: never had such delight in her incontinency as she should
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  Speaker 1: have torture in her death. And then finally he bursts
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  Speaker 1: into tears, bewailing his misfortune and meeting such ill conditioned wives,
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  Speaker 1: and blaming his counsel for this last mischief end quote.
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  Speaker 1: In the meanwhile, Henry sought such distraction as he might
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  Speaker 1: at Oatland's and other country places, solaced by music and mummers,
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  Speaker 1: whilst Norfolk, in grief and apprehension, lurked on his own lands,
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  Speaker 1: and Gardiner kept a firm hand upon affairs. The discomfiture
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  Speaker 1: of the Howards, who had brought about the Catholic reaction
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  Speaker 1: gave new hope to the Protestants. That the wheel of
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  Speaker 1: fate was turning in their favor, and of Cleaves they
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  Speaker 1: began to whisper had been confined of a fair boy quote,
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  Speaker 1: and who should it be but the King's majesties begotten
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  Speaker 1: when she was at Hampton Court end quote. This rumor,
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  Speaker 1: which the King apparently was inclined to believe, gave great
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  Speaker 1: offense annoyance to him and his counsel, as did the
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  Speaker 1: severely repressed but frequent statements that he intended to take
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  Speaker 1: back his repudiated wife. It was not irresponsible gossip alone
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  Speaker 1: that took this turn, for on the twelfth December, the
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  Speaker 1: ambassador from the Duke of Cleves brought letters to Cranmer
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  Speaker 1: at Lambeth from Chancellor Auscilager, who had negotiated the marriage,
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  Speaker 1: commending to him the reconciliation of Henry with Ann. Cranmer,
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  Speaker 1: who understood perfectly well that with Gardiner as the King's factotum,
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  Speaker 1: such a thing was impossible, was frightened out of his
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  Speaker 1: wits by such a suggestion, and promptly assured Henry that
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  Speaker 1: he had declined to discuss it without the sovereign's orders.
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  Speaker 1: But the envoy of Cleaves was not lightly shaken off,
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  Speaker 1: and at once sought audience of Henry, had himself to
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  Speaker 1: press the cause of Madam Anne. He was assured that
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  Speaker 1: the king's grief at his present troubles would prevent his
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  Speaker 1: giving audience, and the Protestant envoy then tackled the Council
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  Speaker 1: on the subject. As may be supposed, he met with
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  Speaker 1: a rebuff. The lady would be better treated than ever,
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  Speaker 1: he was told, but the separation was just and final,
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  Speaker 1: and the Duke of Cleaves must never again request that
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  Speaker 1: his sister should be restored to the position of the
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  Speaker 1: King's wife. The envoy begged that an answer might be
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  Speaker 1: repeated formally to him, whereupon Gardiner flew into a rage
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  Speaker 1: and said that the King would never take Anne back.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever happened. The envoy was afraid to retort for fear
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  Speaker 1: of evil consequences to Anne, But the Duke of Cleaves,
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  Speaker 1: who was now in close league with the French, endeavored
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  Speaker 1: to obtain the aid of his new allies to forward
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  Speaker 1: his sister's cause in England. Francis, however, saw like everyone else,
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  Speaker 1: that war between him and the Emperor was now inevitable,
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  Speaker 1: and was anxious not to drive Henry into alliance with
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  Speaker 1: Charles against him, Cleaves by himself was powerless, and the
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  Speaker 1: trend of politics in England under Gardiner and with Henry
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  Speaker 1: in his present mood, was entirely unfavorable to a union
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  Speaker 1: with the Lutherans on the continent. So Anne of Cleaves
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  Speaker 1: continued her placid and jovial existence as the King's good
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  Speaker 1: sister rather than his wife, Whilst the Protestants of England
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  Speaker 1: soon found that they had misjudged the situation produced by
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  Speaker 1: Catherine Howard's fall, All that the latter rarely had done
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  Speaker 1: was to place Snorfolk and the French sympathizers under a
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  Speaker 1: cloud and make Gardener entirely master of the situation whilst
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  Speaker 1: he carried out the king's own policy. Henry returned to
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  Speaker 1: Greenwich for Christmas fifteen forty one, and at once began
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  Speaker 1: his bargaining to sell his alliance with the Emperor at
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  Speaker 1: as high a price as possible. He had already in
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  Speaker 1: hand the stoppage of trade with Flanders, which his ministers
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  Speaker 1: were still laboriously and stiffly discussing with the Emperor's representatives.
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  Speaker 1: Any concession in that respect would have to be paid for.
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  Speaker 1: The French, too, were very anxious according to his showing
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  Speaker 1: for his friendship, and were offering him all manner of
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  Speaker 1: tempting matrimonial alliances. And when Henry, on the day after
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  Speaker 1: Christmas Day, received Chapoos at Greenwich, he was all smiles
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  Speaker 1: but determined to make the best of his opportunities. The
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  Speaker 1: Emperor had just met with a terrible disaster at sea
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  Speaker 1: during his operations against Algiers, and had returned to Spain
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  Speaker 1: depressed at his losses, and the more ready to make
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  Speaker 1: terms with Henry if possible. Chapoos was a hard bargainer,
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  Speaker 1: and it was a fair game of brag that ensued
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  Speaker 1: between him and Henry. Chapoos began by flattering the King
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  Speaker 1: quote and got him into very high spirits by such
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  Speaker 1: words which the Lord Privy Seal, that is Fitzwilliam says,
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  Speaker 1: are never thrown away upon him end quote, and then
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  Speaker 1: told him that he would give him, in strict confidence
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  Speaker 1: some important information about French intrigues. After dinner, the ball
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  Speaker 1: opened in earnest Chapous and Henry being alone and seated
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  Speaker 1: with Fitzwilliam, Russell and Brown at some distance away. The
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  Speaker 1: Imperial ambassador began by saying that the King of France
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  Speaker 1: had made a determined bid to marry his second son, Orleans,
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  Speaker 1: with the Infanta of Portugal. This was a shock to Henry,
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  Speaker 1: and he changed color for One of his own trump
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  Speaker 1: cards was the sham negotiation, in which Norfolk had been
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  Speaker 1: the tool to marry the Princess Mary to Orleans. For
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  Speaker 1: a time he could only sputter and exclaim, But when
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  Speaker 1: he had collected his senses, he countered by saying that
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  Speaker 1: Francis only wished to get the Infanta into his power,
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  Speaker 1: not for marriage, but for objects of greater consequence than
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  Speaker 1: people imagined. Besides, the French wanted the Princess Mary for
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  Speaker 1: Orleans and were anxious to send an embassy to him
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  Speaker 1: about it. Indeed, the French ambassador was coming to see
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  Speaker 1: him about it with fresh powers next day. Chapoos protested
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  Speaker 1: that he spoke as one devoted to Henry's service, but
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  Speaker 1: he was sure the French did not mean business. They
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  Speaker 1: would never let Orleans marry a princess of illegitimate birth, ah,
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  Speaker 1: replied Henry. But those she may be a bassaard. I
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  Speaker 1: have power from Parliament to appoint her my successor if
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  Speaker 1: I like. But Chapoos gave several other reasons why the
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  Speaker 1: match with Mary would never suit the French. Why, cried Henry,
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  Speaker 1: Francis is even now soliciting an interview with me with
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  Speaker 1: a view to alliances. Yes, I know, they say that,
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  Speaker 1: replied the ambassador. But at the same time Francis has
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  Speaker 1: sent an ambassador to Scotland with orders not to touch
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  Speaker 1: at an English port. This was a sore point with Henry,
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  Speaker 1: and he again winced at the blow. Then he began
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  Speaker 1: to boast he was prepared to face anyone, and James
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  Speaker 1: of Scotland was in mortal fear of him. Chapoos then
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  Speaker 1: mentioned that France had made a secret treaty with Sweden
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  Speaker 1: and Denmark to obtain control of the North Sea and
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  Speaker 1: divert all the Anglo German trade to France, which Henry
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  Speaker 1: parried by saying that Francis was in league with the
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  Speaker 1: German Protestants, and notwithstanding the new decree of the Diet
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  Speaker 1: of Ratisbon could draw as many mercenary soldiers as he
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  Speaker 1: liked from the Emperor's vassals. He felt sure that Francis
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  Speaker 1: would invade Flanders next spring, and if he Henry had
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  Speaker 1: cared to marry a daughter of France, as her father
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  Speaker 1: wished him to do, he might have had a share
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  Speaker 1: of his conquests. This made Chapoos angry, and he said
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  Speaker 1: that perhaps Holstein in Cleeves had also been offered shares.
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  Speaker 1: Henry then went on another tack and said that he
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  Speaker 1: knew quite well that Francis and Charles together intended if
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  Speaker 1: they could, to make war on England. Considering, however, the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor's disaster at Algiers and the state of Europe, he
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  Speaker 1: was astonished that Charles had not tried to make a
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  Speaker 1: close friendship with him. Chapoose jumped at the hint and
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  Speaker 1: begged Henry to state his intentions that they might be
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  Speaker 1: conveyed to the Emperor. But the king was not to
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  Speaker 1: be drawn too rapidly and would not say whether he
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  Speaker 1: was willing to form an alliance with the Emperor until
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  Speaker 1: someone with full and special power was sent to him.
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  Speaker 1: He had been cheated too often and left in the
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  Speaker 1: lurch before, he said, quote, he was quite independent. If
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  Speaker 1: people wanted him, they might come forward with offers end quote.
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  Speaker 1: This sparring went on for hours on that day and
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  Speaker 1: the next, interspersed with little wrangles about the commercial question
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  Speaker 1: and innuendoes as to the French intrigues. But Chapous, who
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  Speaker 1: knew his man, quite understood that Henry was for sale, and,
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  Speaker 1: as usual, might, if dexterously handled, be bought by flattery
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  Speaker 1: and feigned submission to his will. Hurriedly wrote to his
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  Speaker 1: master that quote, if the Emperor wishes to gain the king,
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  Speaker 1: he must send hither at once an able person with
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  Speaker 1: full powers to take charge of the negotiation end quote,
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  Speaker 1: since he us was in ill health and unequal to it.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Thus the English Catholic reaction that had been symbolized by
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the repudiation of Anne of Cleves and the marriage with
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  Speaker 1: Catherine Howard was triumphantly producing the results which Henry and
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  Speaker 1: Gardiner had intended. The excommunicated king, the man who had
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  Speaker 1: flung aside his proud Spanish wife and bade defiance to
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  Speaker 1: the vice Gurant of Christ, was to be flattered and
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  Speaker 1: sought in alliance by the head of the House of
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Aragon and the appointed champion of Roman Orthodoxy. He was
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  Speaker 1: to come back into the fold, unrepentant, with no submission
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  Speaker 1: or reparation, made a good Catholic, bought his own pope.
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  Speaker 1: It was a prospect that appealed strongly to a man
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  Speaker 1: of Henry's vane and Austin tayervicious character, for it gave
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  Speaker 1: apparent sanction to his favorite pose that everything he did
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  Speaker 1: was warranted by the strictest right and justice. It promised
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of an extension of his continental territory and
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  Speaker 1: the establishment of his own fame as a warrior and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: a king. We shall see how his pompous self conceit
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: enabled his ally to trick him out of his reward,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and how the consequent reaction against those who had beguiled
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: him drew his country farther along the road of the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Reformation than Henry ever meant to go. But at present
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: all looked rose colored. For the imperial connection and the
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: miserable scandal of Catherine Howard rather benefited than injured the
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  Speaker 1: chances of its successful negotiation. Cranmer, Heardford and Audley had
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: shot their bolt in vain so far as political or
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: religious aims were attained. In the meanwhile, the evidence against
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Catherine and her abettors was being laboriously wrung out. Of
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: all those who had come into contact with her, The
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: poor old Duchess of Norfolk and her son and daughters,
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  Speaker 1: and several underlings were condemned for misprision of treason to
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: perpetual imprisonment and confiscation, and in Parliament on the twenty
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: first January, a bill of attainder against Catherine and three
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: lady accomplices was presented to the Lords. The evidence presented
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: against Catherine was adjudged to be insufficient in the absence
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: of direct allegations of adultery after her marriage, or of
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: specific admissions from herself. This and other objections seemed to
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: have delayed the passage of the bill until the eleventh
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  Speaker 1: of February, when it received the Royal assent by Commission
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: condemning Catherine and Lady Rockford to death for treason. During
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the passage of the bill, as soon indeed, as the
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: procedure of Catherine's condemnation had been settled, Henry plucked up
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: spirits again, and with characteristic heartlessness, once more began to
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: play the gallant. The king writes Chapoos had never been
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: married since first hearing of the queen's misconduct, but he
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: has been so since the attainder was arranged, especially on
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the twenty ninth, when he gave a supper and banquet
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: with twenty six ladies at the table besides gentlemen, and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: thirty five at another table, adjoining. The lady for whom
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: he showed the greatest regard was a sister of Lord Cobham,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: whom Wyat some time ago divorced for adultery. She is
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: a pretty young creature, with width enough to do as
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  Speaker 1: badly as the others if she were to try. The
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  Speaker 1: King is also said to fancy a daughter of Mistress
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  Speaker 1: Albert and niece of Sir Anthony Brown, and also for
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a daughter by her first marriage of the wife of
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Lord Lyell, late Deputy of Calais. Up to this time,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Catherine had remained at Sion House, as Chapoos reported, making good, cheer, fatter,
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  Speaker 1: and more beautiful than ever, taking great care to be
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  Speaker 1: well apparelled, and more imperious, and exacting to serve than
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: even when she was with the King. Although she believes
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  Speaker 1: she will be put to death, and admits that she
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: deserves it, perhaps if the King does not wish to
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  Speaker 1: marry again, he may show her some compassion. No sooner, however,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: had the Act of attained her past its third reading
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  Speaker 1: in the Commons tenth January, than Fitzwilliam was sent to
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Isleworth to convey her to the tower. She resisted at first,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: but was of course overpowered, and the sad procession swept
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: along the wintry River londonward. First came Fitzwilliam's barge with
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: himself and several privy councilors. Then in a small covered
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: barge followed the doomed woman, and the rear was guarded
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  Speaker 1: by a great barge full of soldiers under the aged
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  Speaker 1: Duke of Suffolk, whose matrimonial adventures had been almost as
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: numerous as those of his royal brother in law. Under
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the frowning portcullis of the Trader's Gate. In the gathering
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: twilight of the afternoon, the beautiful girl in black velvet
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: landed amidst a crowd of councilors, who treated her with
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: as much ceremony as if she still sat by the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: King's side. She proudly and calmly gloried in her love
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: for her betrothed, called Pepper, whom she knew she would
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: soon join in death. There was no hysterical babbling like
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: that of her cousin Anne Bolin, no regret in her
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: mien or her words. Now, even as he, with his
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: last breath had confessed his love for her, and mourned
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: that the king's passion for her had stood in the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: way of their honest union. So did she, with flashing
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: eyes and blazing cheeks, proclaim that love was victorious over death,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and that since there had been no mercy for the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: man she loved, she asked no mercy for herself from
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: the king, whose plaything of a year she had been.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: On Sunday evening, twelfth February, she was told that she
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: must be prepared for death on the morrow, and she
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: asked that the luck should be brought to her room
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: that she might learn how to dispose her head upon it.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: This was done, and she calmly and smilingly rehearsed her
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: part in the tragedy of the Morrow. Early in the morning,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: before it was fully light, she was led out across
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the green upon which the hoar frost glistened, to the
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: scaffold erected on the same spot that had seen the
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: sacrifice of Anne Boleyn. Around it stood all the counselors
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: except Norfolk and Suffolk. Even her first cousin, the poet Surrey,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: with his own doom not far off, witnessed the scene.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Upon the scaffold half crazy with fear, stood the wretched
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Lady Rockford, the ministress of the queen's amours, who was
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: to share her fate. Catherine spoke shortly she died, She said,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: in full confidence in God's goodness, she had grievously sinned
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and deserved death, though she had not wronged the king
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in the particular way that she had been accused of.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: If she had married the man she loved, instead of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: being dazzled by ambition, all would have been well. And
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: when the headsman knelt to ask her forgiveness, she pardoned him,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: but exclaimed, quote, I die a queen, but I would
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: rather have died the wife of Culpeper end quote, and then,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: kneeling in prayer, her head was struck off whilst she
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: was unaware. Lady Rockford followed her to the block as
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: soon as the head and trunk of the queen had
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: been piteously gathered up in black cloth by the ladies,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: who attended her at last, and conveyed to the adjoining
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: chapel for sepulture, close to the grave of Anne Bole. Lynn.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Catherine Howard had aired much for love and had aird
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: more for ambition, but taking a human view of the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: whole circumstances of her life and of the personality of
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the man she married, she is surely more worthy of
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: pity than condemnation. Only a few days after her death
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: we learned from Chapoos twenty fifth February that the King
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: has been in better spirits since the execution, and during
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: the last three days before Lent there has been much feasting.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Sunday was devoted to the lords of his counsul and courtiers,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Monday to the men of the law, Tuesday to the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: ladies who all slept at the court. The King himself
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: did nothing but go from room to room, ordering and
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: arranging the lodgings to be prepared for these ladies, and
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: he made them great and hearty cheer, without showing special
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: affection for any particular one. Indeed, unless Parliament praise him
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to take another wife, he will not be in a
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: hurry to do so, I think. Besides, there are few,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: if any ladies now at court who would aspire to
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: such an honor. For by a new act just passed,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: any lady that the King may marry, if she be
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a subject, is bound, on pain of death, to declare
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: any charge of misconduct that can be brought against her,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: and all who know or suspect anything against her must
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: declare it within twenty days on pain of perpetual imprisonment
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and confiscation. End quote. Henry, with five unsuccessful matrimonial adventures
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to his account, might well pause before taking another plunge,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: though from the ex extract printed above it was evident
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: that he had no desire to put himself out of
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: the way of temptation. The only course upon which he
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: seemed quite determined was to resist all the blandishments of
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the Protestants, the German Lutherans, and the French to take
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: back and of Cleaves, who we are told had waxed
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: half as beautiful again as she was since she had
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: begun her jolly life of liberty and beneficence away from
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: so difficult a husband as Henry. End of Section twenty
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: five