The Fifth Queen: And How She Came to CourtFord, Ford Madox
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The Fifth Queen: And How She Came to Court
Ford, Ford Madox
Catharine Howard, Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England, -1542 -- Fiction
For the after scene they had a display of theology. There were three
battles of men. In black with red hats, horns branching above them and
in the centre a great devil with a triple tiara, who danced holding up
an enormous key. These stood on the right. On the left were priests in
fustian, holding enormous flagons of Rhenish wine and dancing in a
drunken measure with their arms round more drunken doxies dressed like
German women. In the centre stood grave and reverend men wearing
horsehair beards and the long gowns of English bishops and priests.
Before these there knelt an angel in flame-coloured robes with wings
like the rainbow. The angel supported a great volume on the back of
which might be read in letters of gold, '_Regis Nostri Sapientia._'
The great devil, dancing forward, brandishing his key, roared that
these reverend men should kneel to him; he held out a cloven foot and
bade them kiss it. But a venerable bishop cried out, 'You be
Antichrist. I know you. You be the Arch Devil. But from this book I
will confound you. Thank God that we have one that leads us aright.'
Coming forward he read in Latin from the book of the King's Wisdom and
the great devil fell back fainting into the arms of the men in red
hats.
The King called out, 'By God, goodman Bishop, you have spoken well!'
and the Court roared.
Then one from the other side danced out, holding his flagon and
grasping his fat wife round the waist. He sang in a gross and German
way, smacking his lips, that these reverend Englishmen should leave
their godly ways and come down among the Lutherans. But the old bishop
cried out, 'Ay, Dr Martinus, I know thee; thou despisest the Body of
God; thou art a fornicator. God forbid that our English priests should
go among women as ye do. Listen to wisdom. For, thank God, we have one
to lead us aright!'
These words spread a sudden shiver into the hall, for no man there
knew whether the King had commanded them to be uttered. The King sat
back in his chair, half frowning; Anne blinked, Philip of Wittelsbach
laughed aloud, the Catholic ambassadors, Chapuys and Marillac, who had
fidgeted in their seats as if they would leave the hall, now leant
forward.
'Aye,' the player bishop called out, 'our goodly Queen cometh from a
Court that was never yet joined to your Schmalkaldners, nor to them
that go by your name, Dr Martinus, thou lecher. Here in England you
shall find no heresies but the pure and purged Word of God.'
Chapuys bent an aged white hand behind his ear to miss no word: his
true and smiling face blinked benevolently. Cromwell smiled too,
licking his lips dangerously; Baumbach, the Schmalkaldner,
understanding nothing, rolled his German blue eyes in his great head
like a pink baby's, and tried to catch the attention of Cromwell, who
talked over his shoulder to one of his men. But the many Lutherans
that there were in the hall scowled at the floor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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