.jpg) |
| Anne de Montmorency |
At the French Court
The arrival
of the two English boys at court was not taken much notice of by the courtiers;
but Anne de Montmorency, Marshall of France, Constable of France and the Dauphin’s Governor, reported;
‘The King of England has
sent here his bastard son, and the son of the lord of Norfolk, who are being
nurtured with the King’s children. I assure you that the dauphin is now nearly
as tall as I am.’[i]
By 11th
December Henry’s fever had broken. The two boys ate with the French princes,
both of whom showed mental scars from their 4½ years as hostages in Spain where
they had been kept in dark, damp cells[ii].
The Dauphin François was cold and staid and only ever wore sombre clothes.
His younger brother Henri, Duc d’Orléans, was prone
to melancholy and the brothers were both subject to mood swings. Also living
with the Dauphin and his brothers were scions of the Lorraine, Cleves and Guise families.
François was impatient with his two more
staid and deeply introverted elder sons, instead lavishing his attention on the
youngest and most boisterous Charles[iii], Duc d’Angoulême.
All three French princes loved playing tennis and hunting which must have
struck a chord with Henry and Fitzroy. While the boys were in Paris Fitzroy’s
physician David Edwardes, dedicated an anatomical treatise, ‘Introductio ad Anatomicen’, to his patron’s friend;
‘I see you established above
what can be said for many young men in this age, and turning your mind so
seriously to those things which will render it better.’[iv]
On Progress
 |
| Fontainebleau |
On 23rd
April François celebrated the Feast of St George at Fontainebleau. Shortly after the court left to
travel on a circuitous route to Provence. François was going on progress prior to the marriage of the Duc d’Orléans and Henry and Fitzroy
accompanied him. The court travelled to Lyons, reaching there at the end of May. Once there it was found that the town
was too overcrowded to house all the court so the king’s sons went with their
stepmother Queen Eleanor to Nîmes.
The king
then journeyed on to Toulouse and thence to Montpellier with Henry and Fitzroy in his train. His final destination
was Marseilles where the marriage between Henri of
Orléans and Catherine de’ Medici[v] was to take place; in addition
François was to meet with the Pope.
Henry VIII
sent Norfolk to remind François of his responsibilities under the agreement
made in Calais. Henry VIII was now married to Anne Boleyn[vi]
and she was pregnant. Norfolk was to remind François that Clement VII was still
under the sway of their joint enemy, Charles V, in an attempt to get François
to cancel the interview.
.jpg/800px-Riom_d'apr%C3%A8s_Guillaume_Revel_(vers_1450).jpg) |
| Riom |
Norfolk
outrode his colleagues on the journey south. Henry was impatient to see his
father and rode out with Fitzroy from Riom, where the court was ensconced. François greeted Norfolk with flattering
attention. On 11th July the Pope declared that the English king’s
divorce and subsequent remarriage were invalid. Henry VIII was livid with
anger. The pope demanded that Henry put aside Anne and replace Catherine in her
rightful position as queen.
According to
one member of the court;
‘The poor Duke [Norfolk] was
so astonished that he nearly fainted.’[vii]
François
suggested that his visitor travel on to Marseilles while the court resumed its
leisurely progress. Norfolk was ordered home when it became clear to Henry VIII
that François would not be dissuaded from his meeting with the pope. Norfolk
was to bring the two boys home with him.
Norfolk
arrived back in England in time for the birth of Princess Elizabeth. Henry and Fitzroy travelled back in
a more leisurely fashion, arriving in Calais on 25th September. Norfolk
was pleased with his son’s demeanour after his stay with the French court and
determined that he would send his son younger Thomas for a French polish when
he was of age.
A Dysfunctional Family
 |
| Catherine of Aragon |
When Henry
arrived home it was to find that Bess Holland had replaced his mother as head
of the house at Kenninghall. By 1533 things had become so bad in the Norfolk
household that Norfolk tried to persuade his brother-in-law Lord Stafford to
take his wilful sister back into the bosom of her family. Stafford refused,
saying that having his sister in his house;
‘Shuld be my utter undoing.
Which is to put your Grace in remembrance of her acustomed wild langiage whiche
lyeth not in my power to stope, wherebye so greate daunger might insue to me
and all mynne.’[viii]
At court
Elizabeth Howard had championed the cause of Queen Catherine who she had served
as a lady-in-waiting for sixteen years. She spied on her
husband and passed messages to Catherine, at times using the offices of the
Spanish ambassador. Elizabeth refused to attend Anne’s coronation or the
christening of Princess Elizabeth.
Norfolk
offered to divorce his wife but Elizabeth refused, despite a relatively
generous offer of jewellery, apparel and household goods. At Easter 1534
Elizabeth was packed off to Redbourn[ix] where Norfolk rented a manor house
and provided twenty servants. Elizabeth claimed that;
‘He [Norfolk] hath taken away all my jewels and my
apparel. And kept me four years and more like a prisoner.’[x]
 |
| Redbourn church |
Elizabeth was
not allowed to leave the manor and nor were her friends allowed to visit. She enlivened
her dull hours by venting her spleen in letters to Henry VIII, the council and
to Thomas Cromwell, who had replaced Wolsey. Norfolk
was aghast that his wife should wash her dirty linen to one of his enemies; her
letters were full of allegations that her husband vigorously denied[xi].
Cromwell was more than happy to correspond with the discarded wife in the hopes
of getting hold of information he could use against his rival.
Elizabeth’s
children took their father’s side in the war between their parents. Elizabeth
called her offspring ‘ungracious’ and
unkind’ and referred to them as ‘his
offspring’, despite this she wrote;
‘Though my children are
unkind to me I have always loved them.’[xii]
Elizabeth
also complained that Norfolk failed to provide sufficient monies for her
upkeep; this allegation may be true as the notoriously stingy duke failed to
pay his wife, and his son and heir, anything but a pittance by way of an
allowance. Elizabeth received £200 per annum[xiii].
Henry and his father’s mistress did not get on and Bess claimed that;
‘The Earl of Surrey loved
her not.’[xiv]
The feeling
appears to have been mutual. Mary, however, became firm friends with Bess much
to her mother’s distress.
Young Marriage
Although
Mary was related to Fitzroy within the bounds on consanguinity[xv], dispensation was received in
November 1533. The couple were married shortly thereafter, but did not live
together[xvi].
From now on Fitzroy and Henry were to grow apart, no longer seeing each other
every day and sharing chambers.
Plans to
send Fitzroy to Ireland[xvii]
where the situation had deteriorated recently were not actioned; as long as
Queen Anne failed to produce a male heir the king may have preferred to keep
his son at court. The relationship between Norfolk and Cromwell exploded[xviii];
the imperial ambassador reporting that the cause of the disagreement was;
‘His [Norfolk’s] wishing to
keep the Duke of Richmond near him, and near his daughter, his wife.’[xix]
Henry VIII
may also have been moved by the considerations of cost; fitting out Fitzroy
with a quasi-royal household would cost and there was only one person the king
liked to spend money on, himself. For a New Year 1534 gift the king gave Henry
a silver ewer, conceivably in a fit of enthusiasm because Queen Anne, whose
star was waning fast[xx],
was pregnant again and the possibility of a legitimate male heir was close
enough to touch. Anne lost the baby at eight months.
Bibliography
Henry VIII’s
Last Victim – Jessie Childs, Vintage Books 2008
The Ebbs and
Flows of Fortune – David M Head, University of Georgia Press 2009
House of
Treason – Robert Hutchinson, Phoenix 2009
Henry VIII –
Robert Lacey, Weidenfeld & Nicholson & Book Club Associates 1972
The Earlier
Tudors – J D Mackie, Oxford University Press 1992
Bastard
Prince – Beverley A Murphy, Sutton Publishing 2001
Rivals in
Power – David Starkey, MacMillan London Ltd 1990
The Six
Wives of Henry VIII – Alison Weir, Pimlico 1992
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
Bastard Prince - Murphy
[ii]
The elder brother François was
to die four years later, possibly from complications arising from his
imprisonment
[iii]
Later Duc d’Orléans
[iv]
Henry VIII’s Last Victim - Childs
[vii]
Henry VIII’s Last Victim - Childs
[viii]
The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune - Head
[x]
Rivals in Power - Starkey
[xi]
After five years of these letters from Elizabeth Cromwell became tired of the
correspondence and brusquely told her to go back to Norfolk and live in peace
with her husband
[xii]
House of Treason - Hutchinson
[xiii]
In 2015 the relative: historic standard of
living
value of that income or wealth is £122,400.00 labour earnings of that income or wealth is
£1,113,000.00 economic status value of that income or wealth is £3,803,000.00 economic power value of that income or
wealth is £51,400,000.00 www.measuringworth.com
[xiv]
Henry VIII’s Last Victim - Childs
[xvi]
The marriage was never consummated
[xviii]
Cromwell was to remain in the ascendant until after the death of Henry VIII’s
third queen
[xix]
Bastard Prince - Murphy
It would look far-fetched if you made it a soap opera and didn't give their titles wouldn't it?
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